Seoul: North Korea fired three short-range missiles from its east coast on Saturday, South Korea's Defence Ministry said, but the purpose of the launches was unknown.
Launches by the North of short-term missiles are not uncommon, but the ministry would not speculate whether these latest launches were part of a test or training exercise.
"North Korea fired short-range guided missiles twice in the morning and once in the afternoon off its east coast," an official at the South Korean Defence Ministry spokesman's office said by telephone.
The official said he would not speculate on whether the missiles were fired as part of a drill or training exercise....
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01:59 PM, May 18, 2013
Washington: President Barack Obama warned Syria on Friday that its use of chemical weapons would be a "game changer" for the United States but made clear he was in no rush to intervene in the civil war there on the basis of evidence he said was still preliminary. Speaking a day after the disclosure of US intelligence that Syria had likely used chemical weapons against its own people, Obama talked...
05:13 PM, Apr 27, 2013
Washington: An 80-year-old US woman accidentally swallowed a $5,000 diamond from her champagne glass at a charity event. The Tampa Woman's Club held a fundraiser over the weekend where they poured 400 flutes of champagne. For $20, members could buy a flute of champagne and a chance to win a one-carat, $5,000 diamond. Each flute contained a cubic zirconia stone, and only one of them contained the prized gem donated...
06:29 PM, Apr 26, 2013
New Delhi: Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg are soon going to be seen in Baltasar Kormakur's '2 Guns'. This explosive action film tracks two operatives from competing bureaus who are forced on the run together. But there is a big problem with their unique alliance, neither knows that the other is an undercover federal agent. ...
11:06 AM, Apr 24, 2013
Washington: Five people, including a woman, were killed in a shootout, apparently sparked by a dispute, at a Washington state apartment complex, police said on Monday. Officers responding to an emergency call on Sunday night at the apartments in Federal Way, about 32 kilometres south of Seattle, encountered a chaotic scene, with bullets flying. "When officers arrived there were still shots being fired," said Federal Way police spokeswoman Cathy Schrock....
04:05 PM, Apr 22, 2013
Washington: The global economy might have avoided the worst but it is by no means out of the woods, the International Monetary Fund said on Saturday adding that emerging markets face the risk of avoiding potential financial excesses and as such they should rebuild macroeconomic policy space and further strengthen financial regulation and supervision. "Emerging markets face the new risk of avoiding potential financial excesses. They should rebuild macroeconomic policy...
11:55 PM, Apr 20, 2013
Washington: With most major issues ironed out, a bipartisan group of senators is expected to announce on Tuesday a plan to legalise America's 11 million illegal immigrants, including 260,000 Indians, according to various media reports. The deal being crafted by the so-called "Gang of Eight" senators would exclude any immigrants who arrived in the country after December 31, 2011, the New York Times said, citing three people with knowledge of...
10:24 AM, Apr 13, 2013
Washington: Bipartisan immigration legislation emerging in the Senate could prevent hundreds of thousands of immigrants in the US illegally from ever becoming citizens, according to a Senate aide with knowledge of the proposals. The bill expected to be unveiled next week would bar anyone who arrived in the US after December 31, 2011, from applying for legal status and ultimately citizenship, according to the aide, who spoke on condition of...
09:12 AM, Apr 13, 2013
Washington: Observing that nearly 30 per cent of all companies started in the US in 2011 had immigrant founders, Indian IT professionals have appealed to Congressmen to not only consider increasing the H-1B quota but also quick and smooth green card for them. They told the Congressmen that the immigrant-based businesses have generated more than $775 billion in revenue for the American economy. Over the past few days, a large...
10:55 AM, Apr 12, 2013
Washington: An influential professional body of Indian-American doctors on Friday appealed to US lawmakers "not to ignore" physicians from the comprehensive immigration reforms, arguing that America faces shortage of doctors. During its day-long activities at the Capitol Hill, members of the powerful American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI) - which is a national representative's body of thousands of Indian-American doctors - met Congressmen to press for their points....
10:06 AM, Apr 12, 2013
Washington: The World Bank said on Thursday it would lend between $3 billion to $5 billion annually to India under a new four-year plan that focuses development projects on the country's poorest states. The World Bank said in a statement that 60 per cent of the financing will go to government-backed development projects and half of this, or 30 per cent, will go to the country's poorer states. Under the...
09:28 AM, Apr 12, 2013
Washington: Emphasising that the humanitarian crisis in Syria is getting worse, US President Barack Obama has stressed on the urgency of a political transition in the country. "Obviously the humanitarian crisis (in Syria) has gotten worse," Obama said on Thursday following his meeting with the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, at the Oval Office of the White House. "Secretary General Ban and I shared the view that we are at...
07:42 AM, Apr 12, 2013
Washington: The last recordings of the world renowned sitar maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar would be released in May this year. This would be the first posthumous release of the recordings of Pandit Ravi Shankar, who died in December last year. In a statement on Thursday, East Meets West Music said that the three set of recordings to be released in May is part of the seven recordings that the Indian...
07:33 AM, Apr 12, 2013
Washington: Thousands of immigrants and activists held a rally at the US Capitol to urge Congress to overhaul the immigration system for over 11 million illegal immigrants, including some 260,000 Indians, living in the shadows. The show of support for comprehensive immigration reforms came on Wednesday even as the so-called Gang of Eight senators, four Democrats and four Republicans, announced they were close to a deal after weeks of negotiations....
11:59 AM, Apr 11, 2013
Washington: Senator Joe Manchin became so emotional on Wednesday about the Newtown massacre and his push for background checks for gun buyers that parents whose children were killed at the Connecticut school in December were moved to comfort him. "I'm a parent, I'm a grandparent," the West Virginia Democrat told reporters during a meeting in his office with eight Newtown family members on Wednesday, when asked what he thought it...
07:58 AM, Apr 11, 2013
Washington: Two senators announced on Wednesday that they have struck a bipartisan deal on expanding background checks to more firearms purchases, an agreement that could build support for President Barack Obama's drive to curb gun violence. Democratic Senator Joe Manchin and Republican Senator Pat Toomey announced their pact on Wednesday. Subjecting more firearms purchases to federal background checks has been the chief goal of Obama and gun control supporters, who...
07:46 AM, Apr 11, 2013
Washington: The US assistance to Pakistan has helped in reducing the conditions that foment extremism in the country, the US Secretary of State John Kerry said as the State Department in its annual budget sought $1.3 billion in economic and military assistance for the South Asian nation. "Our economic and military assistance to Pakistan helps reduce the conditions that enable extremism and its calling card - terrorism - to disrupt...
07:29 AM, Apr 11, 2013
Washington: A man has been arrested after police say he made a bomb threat outside the White House. DC police spokesman Araz Alali says the man approached an officer at the White House gates this morning and warned that a bomb would detonate in a truck parked nearby. Surrounding streets and the entrance to a nearby Metro rail station were shut down as the Secret Service inspected the vehicle for...
03:48 AM, Apr 11, 2013
Washington: US President Barack Obama on Wednesday proposed a 40 per cent increase in American aid to Pakistan, amounting to $ 1.4 billion, as part of his $ 3.77 trillion budget that focuses on new job creation and economic growth. Obama among other things proposed to increase the US aid to Pakistan under overseas contingency operations to $ 1.4 billion for the fiscal year beginning October 1, 2013, an increase...
02:49 AM, Apr 11, 2013
Washington: US defenses could intercept a ballistic missile launched by North Korea, the top US military commander in the Pacific said on Tuesday as the relationship between the West and the communist government hit its lowest point since the end of the Korean War. Admiral Samuel Locklear, commander of US Pacific Command, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that Kim Jong Un, the country's young and still relatively untested new...
10:59 PM, Apr 09, 2013
