Sri Lanka has declared a state of emergency after a sudden spike in violence against Muslims in a central town, and amid fears the unrest could spread to other parts of the country. President Maithripala Sirisena said the declaration would “empower” the country’s armed forces and police to respond to ...

Lebanese Army chief Gen. Joseph Aoun said that the Army is determined to defend Lebanon’s rights “with all means and options available, no matter how much the provocative enemy escalates its threats.” An Army statement detailed Aoun’s address to the leaders of the Third Intervention Regiment and to other Army ...

  BEIJING/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – China expressed anger on Thursday after the U.S. Senate passed a bill promoting closer U.S. ties with Taiwan, but the step drew praise from the self-ruled island which pledged to deepen cooperation. The move adds to tensions between China and the United States, already at loggerheads ...

Scientists have received signals from the very first stars ever, and could use them to unlock some of the most profound mysteries of the universe. The new discovery shed lights on how stars – and everything that surrounds us – began. It is a picture of the beginnings of light ...

DHAKA/YANGON: Thousands of Rohingya Muslims have fled a strip of land on the border between Myanmar and Bangladesh after the two countries met to discuss resettling them, an official and a community leader said. The United Nations refugee agency has expressed concern that some 5,300 people who were staying in ...

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani citizens belonging to the North Waziristan Agency who had moved to Afghanistan during operation Zarb-e-Azb, are moving back to their homeland, reads a statement from the office of the Political Agent of North Waziristan. The government has made preparations to receive 4,329 displaced families arriving from Khost, Afghanistan, ...

Microbes can lie dormant for decades under Earth’s surface – and could be doing the same on Mars   Freak rains have exposed bugs that could indicate there’s life on Mars. Scientists have found microbes that have been lying dormant in the soil for decades. Without water, they have entered into ...

  One year after South Sudan briefly declared a famine, more than half of the people in the world’s youngest nation face extreme hunger amid civil war and famine could return, a new report says. More than six million people, up about 40 percent from a year ago, are at ...

  ITALY may struggle to stop the spread of violence that has hits the country’s streets once the election is over, according to an expert who claims the “real issues” of division are not being discussed.   Dozens of violent political protests have rocked Italian streets in the past two ...

Altercation prompts fears about 15-year-old ceasefire between nuclear-armed rivals   India and Pakistan have exchanged artillery fire in the disputed Kashmir region, forcing hundreds of people to flee, police in Indian Kashmir said – raising fresh doubts about a 15-year-old ceasefire between the nuclear-armed rivals in the area. It was not ...