Yangon – The Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi said Wednesday she would go ahead with a planned tour of the country, her first since being released from house arrest in November, despite a letter of warning from the government. ‘I will go ahead with my plan,’ Suu Kyi told journalists after a meeting with visiting Japanese vice foreign ...

Prospect of a nuclear conflict in the Middle East is raised by senior diplomat and member of the Saudi ruling family Prince Turki al-Faisal: he said that if Iran came close to developing nuclear weapons Riyadh would not stand idly by. Photograph: Hassan Ammar/AFP/Getty Images A senior Saudi Arabian diplomat and member of the ruling royal family has raised the ...

The Greek parliament has voted in favour of a drastic package of austerity measures intended to save the country from defaulting on its debts. The proposed…

SANAA/ADEN – More than 300 members of Yemen’s security forces have defected, opposition sources said on Wednesday, which could bolster opponents demanding that President Ali Abdullah Saleh end his 33 years in power. The defections come amid intensified military attacks by the Yemeni air force and ground troops on what the government says are Islamist militants affiliated with al Qaeda ...

KABUL – Heavily armed Taleban militants stormed a top Kabul hotel, sparking a ferocious battle involving Afghan commandos and a NATO helicopter gunship that left at least 21 dead including the nine attackers. Officials said all of the gunmen were killed during the night-time raid on the hilltop Intercontinental Hotel, frequented by Westerners and Afghan officials, part of which was ...

When President Barack Obama cited cost as a reason to bring troops home from Afghanistan, he referred to a $1 trillion price tag for America’s wars. Staggering as it is, that figure grossly underestimates the total cost of wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan to the US Treasury and ignores more imposing costs yet to come, according to a study ...

Taliban suicide bombers and gunmen attacked a top Kabul hotel, sparking a five-hour battle with Afghan commandos backed by a NATO helicopter in an assault that left at least 10 people dead today. Red tracer bullets arced through the night sky around the hilltop Intercontinental Hotel, whose faded grandeur frequently pays host to Afghan officials and foreigners. Part of the ...

Greek politicians are to vote later on austerity measures that have sparked nationwide strikes and the worst rioting in Athens for more than year. PM George Papandreou has said that only his 28bn-euro (£25bn) austerity plan…

CAIRO (AP) — Egyptian security forces firing tear gas clashed with more than 5,000 rock-throwing protesters in central Cairo late Tuesday, leaving dozens injured in the latest unrest to rattle the country, witnesses and medical officials said. Clouds of tear gas and the wail of police sirens engulfed Tahrir Square as lines of security forces in riot gear battled to ...

JUSTIN McCURRY in Tokyo TENS OF thousands of children living near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant are to be given personal radiation monitors, as concern grows over the long-term health effects of exposure to radiation. Dosimeters will be given to 34,000 children aged between four and 15 living in Fukushima city, 72km (45 miles) from the plant, after abnormally ...