Kabul: Afghan President Hamid Karzai said on Wednesday his government would not join US peace talks with the Taliban and halted negotiations with Washington on a troop pact, underscoring the fragile nature of hopes for a negotiated peace in Afghanistan.
The United States and the Taliban have said officials from both sides will meet in Doha, the capital of Qatar, on Thursday, in a step forward for a stuttering peace process after 12 years of bloody and costly war between US-led forces and the insurgents.
But Afghan officials, angered by the opening of a Taliban political office in Doha on Tuesday, said the United States had violated assurances it would not give official status to the insurgents.
"As long as the peace process is not Afghan-led, the High Peace Council will not participate in the talks in Qatar," Karzai said in a statement, referring to a body he set up in 2010 to seek a negotiated peace with the Taliban....
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03:45 AM, Jun 20, 2013
Washington: FBI Director Robert Mueller said the US law enforcement agency uses drones for surveillance but does so rarely. In an appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Mueller said the bureau is developing guidelines for drones and that the privacy implications of using drones are, in Mueller's words, worthy of debate and legislation down the road. The aerospace industry forecasts a worldwide deployment of almost 30,000 drones by 2018, with...
02:46 AM, Jun 20, 2013
Washington: The Republican-controlled US House of Representatives on Tuesday passed legislation severely restricting abortions, a move that could alienate women from the conservative party. The bill would ban abortions 20 weeks after fertilization occurs, a time when a fetus begins to feel pain, Republicans said. The legislation makes exceptions for victims of rape and incest as long as they first report the crime to authorities. The bill has no chance...
07:29 AM, Jun 19, 2013
Washington: The United States and the Taliban raised hopes on Tuesday for a negotiated peace in Afghanistan with commitments to meet this week after 12 years of bloody and costly war between American-led forces and the insurgents. The Taliban opened an office in Doha, the Qatari capital, on Tuesday to help restart talks and said it wanted a political solution that would bring about a just government and end foreign...
06:17 AM, Jun 19, 2013
Washington: A group of major American business organisations and advocacy groups on Tuesday launched a new alliance against what they allege as India's "discriminatory" economic policies, including intellectual property issues, which they claim hurt US jobs and economy. Co-chaired by the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) and the US Chamber of Commerce's Global Intellectual Property Centre (GIPC), the Alliance for Fair Trade with India (AFTI) was launched in Washington ahead...
01:02 AM, Jun 19, 2013
New York: Starbucks has a new way to wake up its US customers: showing the calories in its drinks. The Seattle-based coffee chain says it will start posting calorie counts on menu boards nationwide next week, ahead of a federal regulation that would require it to do so. Calorie counts on menus are already required in some parts of the country, including New York City. But starting June 25, Starbucks...
10:23 PM, Jun 18, 2013
Even as NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden has said Barack Obama's failed promises led to the leaks, the US President has defended his government's policy, while appearing to champion freedom over security. ...
09:33 PM, Jun 18, 2013
New Delhi: Outsourcing firm iGate has been slapped with class action lawsuit in the US for alleged violations of federal securities laws in view of its sacked CEO Phaneesh Murthy's "improper relationship" with a subordinate employee. The suit has been filed on behalf of persons or entities who purchased or acquired securities of iGate between March 14, 2012 and May 21, 2013. The New York-Based law firm, Pomerantz Grossman Hufford...
07:13 PM, Jun 18, 2013
Mumbai: Resuming its downfall, the rupee on Tuesday sank by a whopping 90 paise to all-time closing low of 58.77 on massive dollar buying by banks and importers as forex markets became jittery ahead of Fed's decision on continuing monetary stimulus. Capital outflows also affected the market sentiment with FIIs offloading shares worth over Rs 750 crore in two days, amid talks of continuing sell-off in debt as well. Since...
06:55 PM, Jun 18, 2013
Amman: Russian President Vladimir Putin, arriving in Britain ahead of an international summit set to be dominated by disagreement over the US decision to send weapons to Syria's rebels, said the West must not arm fighters who eat human flesh. In Syria, rebels fought back on Sunday against forces of President Bashar al-Assad and his Lebanese Hezbollah allies near Aleppo, where Assad has announced a campaign to recapture the rebel-held...
06:20 AM, Jun 17, 2013
London: Wikileaks founder Julian Assange said on Friday that Britain had prevented NSA leaker Edward Snowden from flying to London out of loyalty to its ally, the United States. In an interview given to Reuters and others ahead of the first anniversary of his seeking refuge in the Ecuadorean embassy in London, Assange said he was concerned by reports that Britain had told airlines to stop Snowden from flying to...
06:53 AM, Jun 15, 2013
New Delhi: Acting on its concern and surprise at the internet data mining by US intelligence agencies, including from India, the Indian government has taken up the issue with the US envoy, government sources said on Thursday. National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon, who also helms the India-US cyber security dialogue along with his US counterpart, took up the issue on Monday when he met US Ambassador Nancy Powell. The issue...
04:45 AM, Jun 14, 2013
Islamabad: US Secretary of State John Kerry will visit Pakistan in June 2013, marking the first high-level contact between the two countries since the new government led by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif assumed office last week. This will also be Kerry's first visit to Islamabad since taking office. Shortly before Sharif was sworn in as premier, US Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan James Dobbins visited Pakistan for talks with...
12:57 AM, Jun 14, 2013
United Nations: A new UN report is forecasting that the world's population will increase from 7.2 billion today to 8.1 billion in 2025 and 9.6 billion in 2050. The report, released on Thursday, said most of the population growth will occur in developing regions which are projected to increase from 5.9 billion in 2013 to 8.2 billion in 2050. During that same period, it said, the population of developed countries...
12:30 AM, Jun 14, 2013
A 29-year-old contractor who claims to have worked at the National Security Agency and the CIA allowed himself to be revealed on Sunday as the source of disclosures about the US government's secret surveillance programmes, risking prosecution by the US government. ...
11:46 PM, Jun 13, 2013
Washington: The director of the National Security Agency vigorously defended once-secret surveillance programmes as an effective tool in keeping America safe, telling Congress on Wednesday that the information collected disrupted dozens of terrorist attacks without offering details. In his first congressional testimony since revelations about the top-secret operations, Army Gen Keith Alexander insisted that the public needs to know more about how the programmes operate amid increasing unease about rampant...
05:58 AM, Jun 13, 2013
Ardmore, Pennsylvania: US Open organisers were preparing for severe thunderstorms and high winds for Thursday's opening round at Merion, which has already been saturated by more than six inches of rain since Friday. Though the iconic par-70 East Course drains very well, extra care has been taken over the location of pin positions on greens more susceptible to puddling while the safety of players and spectators has been paramount in...
11:24 PM, Jun 12, 2013
Washington: The US Senate voted on Tuesday to begin debate and amendments on a historic immigration bill, burying a procedural roadblock that opponents regularly use to delay or even kill legislation. With November's election results indicating broad support for updating the country's immigration laws, even some senators who have expressed opposition to the Senate bill voted to allow the debate to go ahead. By a vote of 82-15, the Senate...
06:43 AM, Jun 12, 2013
New Delhi: India said on Tuesday it would be "unacceptable" if it is discovered that Indian laws on privacy have been violated by the surveillance launched on web users worldwide by the US National Security Agency (NSA). "If it is discovered that Indian laws relating to privacy of information of ordinary Indian citizens have been violated we would find it unacceptable," external affairs ministry spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin said at a...
04:20 AM, Jun 12, 2013
The US is pushing Hong Kong to extradite former CIA employee Edward Snowden who claimed responsibility for exposing the NSA spying system. ...
09:18 AM, Jun 11, 2013
