KARLSRUHE (GERMANY), March 5 (AP): The pistol used by the suspect in the slaying of two US airman at the Frankfurt airport malfunctioned during the attack, preventing even greater loss of life, a German investigator said on Friday.Suspect Arid Uka, a 21-year-old ethnic Albanian from Kosovo, refused to talk when formally charged before a judge with two counts of murder and three counts of attempted murder, but made lengthy statements to police shortly after the Wednesday attack, prosecu

Libyan gunmen from the forces against Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi fire in the air during a mass funeral for rebel gunmen killed in fighting  in Ajdabiya, eastern Libya on Thursday, March 3. (AP Photo) AL-UQAYLA, March 4 (Reuters): Libyan rebels vowing "victory or death" advanced toward a major oil terminal on Friday, calling for foreign air strikes to set up a "no-fly" zone after three days of attacks by Muammar Gaddafi's warplanes. Eastern-based rebels

VIENNA, March 4 (AP): A Serbian colonel who defected to Bosnia's army at the start of the conflict between the two sides has been detained on a Serbian warrant and is awaiting a hearing on whether he should be extradited on suspicion of war crimes, Austrian officials said Friday. Jovan Divjak was taken into custody in Vienna Thursday night on arrival from a flight from Sarajevo, officials said. Serbia alleges his role in an attack that killed dozens of predominantly Serb Yugoslav soldi

KHUSHPUR, March 4 (AFP): Hundreds of chanting Christians bearing black flags gathered in a dusty village in central Pakistan on Friday for the burial of their figurehead, shot dead by suspected Islamic extremists. Minority affairs minister Shahbaz Bhatti, 42, an outspoken campaigner against Pakistan's Islamic blasphemy laws, died in a hail of bullets as he left his mother's home in the capital Islamabad on Wednesday.Wailing women in his ancestral village of Khushpur beat their chests a

Washington, March 4 (PTI): The US Department of Justice has targeted Indian origin Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal as part of a investigation to find out whether the American state is complying with federal voting laws. J Christian Adams, a former attorney in the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department, claimed that the ultimate purpose of the investigation is to file a federal lawsuit against the Jindal administration, a report published in 'Washington Examiner' said.Meanwhile

NEW YORK, March 4 (Reuters Health):  Mothers who smoke during the first trimester of pregnancy are more likely to give birth to babies with some of the most common types of birth defects, a new study finds.Specifically, women who smoked early in pregnancy were 30 percent more likely to give birth to babies with obstructions in the flow of blood from the heart to the lungs, and nearly 40 percent more likely to have babies with openings in the upper chambers of their hearts. "F

BREGA, Libya, March 3 (Reuters): Muammar Gaddafi's forces struck at rebel control of oil export hubs in Libya's east for a second day on Thursday as Arab states weighed a plan to end turmoil Washington said could make the nation "a giant Somalia". A leader of the uprising against Gaddafi's 41-year-old rule said he would reject any proposal for talks with Gaddafi to end the conflict in the world's 12th largest oil exporting nation.Witnesses said a warplane bombed the eastern o

FRANKFURT, March 3 (AP): Two U.S. airmen were killed and two others were wounded at Frankfurt airport when a man opened fire on them at close range with a handgun, the first such attack on American forces in Germany in a quarter century. US President Barack Obama called the Wednesday shooting an ``outrageous act.''The alleged assailant, identified as a 21-year-old Kosovo man, was taken immediately into custody and was being questioned by authorities, said Frankfurt police spokesman Man

London, Mar 2 (ANI): Air traffic controllers in Siberia claim to have been buzzed by a high-speed UFO with a female sounding alien speaking to them in an unintelligible cat-like language. The object had suddenly burst onto flight monitors over the remote Russian diamond capital of Yakutsk, and it was shown flying at a speed of slightly over 6000 mph, and rapidly changing direction.The UFO was logged at a height of 64, 895 feet above sea level and appeared to interfere with aviation fre

MOSCOW, March 3 (AFP): A lavish holiday complex on Russia's southern Black Sea coast that has been linked to Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has been sold to a wealthy investor for around $350 million, a report said Thursday. Alexander Ponomarenko, the former owner of the Black Sea port of Novorossiisk, bought the complex for a sum close to $350 million (250 million euros) through a Cyprus-based company that he controls, he told Kommersant business daily.Whistleblower businessman Sergei

ISLAMABAD, March 3 (Reuters): Pakistan must not buckle to extremism, President Asif Ali Zardari said on Thursday, a day after Taliban militants killed his government's only Christian minister for challenging a law on blasphemy toward Islam.The assassination of Minister for Minorities Shahbaz Bhatti in broad daylight on Wednesday threatens to further destabilize the nuclear-armed U.S. ally where many fear a strain of violent religious conservatism is becoming more mainstream in society.

British security contractor Danny Fitzsimons is escorted out of an Iraqi court, following his sentencing in Baghdad, Iraq on Monday, February 28. (AP Photo) BAGHDAD, February 28 (Reuters): A British security contractor was sentenced Monday to life in prison by an Iraqi court for the killing of two colleagues in 2009, a court official said.The contractor, Danny Fitzsimons, had faced a possible death sentence after he was arrested in August 2009 over the deaths of Paul McGuigan, a B

Libyan boys sitting on the cannon of a destroyed army tank celebrate the freedom of Benghazi, Libya on Monday, February 28. The United States pressed its European allies on Monday to set tough sanctions on the Libyan government, while doubts emerged about the feasibility of a proposed no-fly zone to prevent Moammar Gadhafi’s regime from launching aerial attacks against protesters. (AP Photo) GENEVA, February 28 (AP): The United States pressed its European allies on Monday to

Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi delivers his speech at an Italian Republican Party, PRI, meeting in Rome on Saturday, February 26. (AP Photo) MILAN, February 28 (Reuters): The trial of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on tax fraud charges resumed on Monday, the first of three cases to be revived after Italy's top court stripped him of his immunity from prosecution.Berlusconi was not present for the resumption of the trial, the first showdown in a battle with the judiciary that w

South Korean protesters shout slogans in a rally against the annual joint military exercises, dubbed Key Resolve and Foal Eagle, between South Korea and the United States, in front of the South Korean and United States War Command Center in Seongnam, South Korea on Monday, February 28. (AP Photo) SEOUL, February 28 (Reuters): South Korean and U.S. forces began on Monday military exercises that they say are defensive but which have raised tension and led to North Korean threats to

In this undated file photo released by Reuters, Japanese TV cameraman Hiro Muramoto smiles at his office in Tokyo. (AP Photo/FILE) BANGKOK, February 28 (Reuters): Thai investigators said on Monday they were still trying to establish who killed Reuters cameraman Hiro Muramoto last year after reversing preliminary findings that a soldier probably fired the fatal bullet.Muramoto, a 43-year-old Japanese national, was killed by a high-velocity bullet wound to the chest while covering c

JERUSALEM, February 27 (AFP): A rocket fired from the Gaza Strip hit Israeli territory on Sunday morning, raising Israel's alert level but causing no damage or casualties, according to Israel's military and police. The latest rocket, which the military's spokeswoman said struck a field in the Eshkol region in southern Israel, comes after a string of Israeli air raids targeting militant training camps across the Gaza Strip on Saturday night.A first set of strikes hit two camps belonging

ARGHANDAB, Afghanistan, February 27 (AFP): Two bomb explosions on Sunday tore through a gathering of villagers watching a dogfight in the southern Afghanistan province of Kandahar, killing at least 10, officials said.Zemarai Bashary, Afghan interior ministry spokesman in Kabul, told AFP the bombing in Arghandab district targeted villagers and a police vehicle, killing eight civilians and two police."There have been two bomb blasts, one at the middle of a gathering and the other on

BRUSSELS, February 27 (AFP): European leaders get back to the pressing business of trying to fix the eurozone debt crisis with a hectic series of summits counting down to a March 25 deadline. Governments know they have their work cut out to satisfy expectant markets, with the heat still on over fears for Portugal and Greece, a country that wants its existing bailout renegotiated.Final decisions are due to be reached on the size, shape and scope of a permanent financial rescue system be

HOUSTON, February 27 (PTI): A high school teenager is being held in custody in US until the court determines whether he is a danger to the community following charges that he used internet information to build seven bombs that exploded at different locations during the last two weeks.18-year-old Michael Ranelli pleaded not guilty to the charges relating to placing and throwing explosives and weapons of mass destruction in the city of Lynn, near Boston. "Your honour, if you want I