CATONSVILLE, MARYLAND: President Barack Obama sought on Wednesday to correct what he called a “hugely distorted impression” of Muslim-Americans as he made his first visit to a US mosque and pushed back against those who demonize all Muslims for the acts of a few extremists. Inserting himself into aRead More

WASHINGTON: Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton wants to set the record straight on Donald Trump: “We were not friends.” “We knew each other, obviously, in New York,” Clinton, a former US senator from New York, said in excerpts of a People magazine interview released on Wednesday. “I knew a lotRead More

PARIS: France’s government is calling for a three-month extension of the state of emergency that was declared after the November 13 deadly attacks in Paris, a move criticized by human right groups as damaging democracy. The measure proposed Wednesday in a Cabinet meeting now requires parliament’s approval. “The terrorist threatRead More

AKARTA: Indonesia today officially confirmed a case of the Zika virus dating back to last year but said it was prepared to handle any outbreak of the diseasewhich has sparked alarm in the Americas. Government officials confirmed a single case of the mosquito-borne Zika virus had been detected in JambiRead More

Washington, February 2 In a stunning upset, Senator Ted Cruz beat controversial Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump in the crucial Iowa caucuses while Democrat Hillary Clinton eked out a victory over Bernie Sanders as the race for the White House began on Tuesday. As the results of the Iowa CaucusesRead More

WASHINGTON: Defense Secretary Ash Carter said on Tuesday the Pentagon would seek a $582.7 billion defense budget next year and reshape its spending priorities to reflect a new strategic environment marked by Russian assertiveness and the rise of ISIS. Carter, speaking to the Economic Club of Washington, said the Pentagon’sRead More

Washington, February 2 US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter today announced a major boost in military spending to counter future threats and increase presence in eastern Europe and Asia Pacific to deter America’s “most advanced competitors” Russia and China, while also stepping up the war against ISIS. Preparing ground work forRead More

Naypyitaw, February 2 Hundreds of lawmakers from Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League of Democracy were sworn into Myanmar’s parliament on Monday, with enough seats to choose the country’s first democratically elected government since the military took power in 1962. The NLD won some 80 per cent of elected seatsRead More

Geneva, The World Health Organisation declared an international emergency today over the explosive spread of the mosquito-borne Zika virus, which is linked to birth defects in the Americas, saying it is an “extraordinary event.” The UN health agency convened an emergency meeting of independent experts in Geneva to assess the outbreakRead More

London, February 2 Underworld don Dawood Ibrahim is the only “Indian national” on a newly updated list of financial sanctions by the UK that also includes Sikh militant groups. Dawood, India’s most wanted terrorist against whom an international arrest warrant has been issued, appears on the UK Treasury department’s ‘ConsolidatedRead More