China has engaged in widespread cyber espionage in a bid to extract information about the U.S. government's foreign policy and military plans, said a Pentagon report issued Monday.China kept up a steady campaign of hacking in 2012 that included attempts to target U.S. government computer networks, which could provide Beijing a better insight into America's policy deliberations and military capabilities, according to the Pentagon's annual assessment of China's military."China is using its compute

A 93-year-old man who was deported from the U.S. for lying about his Nazi past was arrested by German authorities Monday on allegations he served as an Auschwitz death camp guard, Stuttgart prosecutors said.Hans Lipschis was taken into custody after authorities concluded there was “compelling evidence” he was involved in crimes at Auschwitz while there from 1941 to 1945, prosecutor Claudia Krauth said.Lipschis has acknowledged being assigned to an SS guard unit at Auschwitz but maintains he only

Thousands of protestors filled a Moscow square Monday to denounce President Vladimir Putin a year into his new term and rekindle the momentum that was brutally quashed when a protest last year led to mass arrests.Organisers said tens of thousands turned up for the rally, which marked one year since a chaotic May 6, 2012 anti-Kremlin protest that descended into violence and Putin's return to the presidency a day later.Police estimated the numbers at 8,000."Putin is a thief," charismatic oppositio

Giulio Andreotti personified the nation he helped shape, the good and the bad. One of Italy's most important postwar figures, he helped draft the country's constitution after World War II, served seven times as premier and spent 60 years in Parliament. But the Christian Democrat who was friends with popes and cardinals was also a controversial figure who survived corruption scandals and allegations of aiding the Mafia: Andreotti was accused of exchanging a “kiss of honor” with the mob's longtime

Israeli raids on Syrian targets at the weekend killed at least 15 soldiers, a watchdog said Monday, as UN chief Ban Ki-moon led calls for restraint to prevent the war spilling over borders.UN human rights investigator Carla del Ponte, meanwhile, said that rebels have used the deadly nerve agent sarin in their fight to oust Syria's regime."At least 15 soldiers were killed, and dozens more are missing" after the Israeli strikes near Damascus, said Rami Abdel Rahman of the Syrian Observatory for Hu

BEIRUT (AP) ― Israel rushed to beef up its rocket defenses on its northern border Sunday to shield against possible retaliation after carrying out two airstrikes in Syria over 48 hours ― an unprecedented escalation of Israeli involvement in the Syrian civil war.Syria and its patron Iran hinted at possible retribution, though the rhetoric in official statements appeared relatively muted.Despite new concerns about a regional war, Israeli officials signaled they will keep trying to block what they

NEW DELHI (AFP) ― India and China began pulling troops back Monday from a disputed area of the Himalayas after resolving a border spat that had threatened to reverse a recent warming in ties, Indian officials said.More than three weeks after Chinese troops were reported to have set up a camp far inside a region claimed by India, senior officers from both sides reached an agreement for a joint pullback at talks in the region.“Both sides reached an agreement on Sunday night after a meeting was hel

Protesters criticize leader for reneging on promises over economic stimulus

Japan has never in the past 1,500 years had a smooth relationship with China, Japanese deputy prime minister Taro Aso was quoted Sunday as saying during a visit to India."India shares a land border with China, and Japan has had maritime contacts (with China), but for the past 1,500 years and more there has never been a history when our relations with China went extremely smoothly," Aso said, according to the Nikkei and the Sankei Shimbun newspapers.The comments Saturday at a meeting with Indian

At least 15 people died in clashes Monday between police and Islamic hardliners demanding that Bangladesh implement an anti-blasphemy law, police said.A police official, speaking on customary condition of anonymity, said eight people, including two policemen and a paramilitary soldier, were killed in clashes in Kanchpur just outside the capital, Dhaka.Another seven people died in Motijheel, a commercial area of Dhaka, the official said. The protesters blocked roads in the area with burning tires

Malaysia's long-governing coalition won national elections Sunday to extend its 56 years of unbroken rule, fending off the strongest opposition it has ever faced but exposing vulnerabilities in the process.The Election Commission reported that Prime Minister Najib Razak's National Front coalition captured 127 of Malaysia's 222 parliamentary seats to win a majority Sunday. Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim's three-party alliance seized 77 seats, and other races were too close to call.It was the Nat

MURRAY, Utah (AP) _ A soccer referee who slipped into a coma after being punched by a teenage player during a game a week ago died Saturday night, police said.Ricardo Portillo, 46, of Salt Lake City passed away at the hospital, where he was being treated following an assault, police said. Police have accused a 17-year-old player in a recreational soccer league of punching Portillo after the man called a foul on him and issued him a yellow card.``The suspect was close to Portillo and punched him

BEIRUT (AP) _ Israeli warplanes struck areas in and around the Syrian capital Sunday, setting off a series of explosions as they targeted a shipment of highly accurate, Iranian-made guided missiles believed to be on their way to Lebanon's Hezbollah militant group, officials and activists said.The attack, the second in three days, signaled a sharp escalation of Israel's involvement in Syria's bloody civil war. Syrian state media reported that Israeli missiles struck a military and scientific rese