Al Qaeda's no. 2 Ayman al Zawahri warned his group would not stand by and watch Israel bombard Lebanon and the Palestinians, calling on Muslims in a video aired on Thursday to fight attacks on their countries. Al-Qaida's leader on Thursday warned that the terrorist group would not stand idly by while "these (Israeli) shells burn our brothers'' in Lebanon and Gaza. He affirmed al-Qaida now saw "all the world as a battlefield open in front of us

The London inhabitants have got under a sight of water pistols British police have condemned a role-playing game in which contestants travel all over London armed with water pistols looking to "assassinate" other players, saying it could spark terrorism alerts. "StreetWars," described as a "three-week-long, 24/7, water-gun assassination tournament," began Tuesday

The Japanese government will officially approve the resumption of US beef imports from selected meat processing plants tomorrow, a news report said today. The report came after Japanese officials briefed the ruling Liberal Democratic Party on a plan to conditionally resume US beef imports. The party accepted the plan, and the government is set to officially approve it tomorrow, Kyodo News agency reported. Kyodo did not say how it got the information

Israeli forces killed nine Palestinians, including a three-year-old, and injured 30 others in attacks across Gaza today. Israeli troops have continued their offensive in Gaza while fighting on a second front in Lebanon following the capture of two soldiers by Hezbollah guerrillas in a raid on 12 July. Among those killed in today's attacks were six loyalists of the governing Hamas and one gunman from the Islamic Jihad faction

Tropical storm Kaemi lost much of its punch early on Wednesday after drenching southern China overnight with heavy rain. China's coastal Fujian province was lashed with up to 150 mm of rain and battered by winds gusting at 108 kph after Kaemi roared ashore on Tuesday. Kaemi was downgraded to a severe tropical storm soon after making landfall near the Fujian province city of Jinjiang. By early Wednesday, the storm was moving northwest at about 16 kph, with winds gusting at 57 kph

Pakistan on Monday neither denied nor confirmed reports that a major expansion of its nuclear program was under way and it was building a new reactor close to its facility in Khushab. Foreign Office Spokesperson Tasnim Aslam remained non-committal on the question and left it at: “Pakistan is a nuclear weapons state

Sectarian violence continues to kill about 100 civilians each day, but recently elected Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki says Iraq will not resort to civil war. Three bombs killed at least 62 people in Baghdad and Kirkuk before Maliki met with British Prime Minister Tony Blair in London and prepared for later talks with American President George W. Bush

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made an unannounced visit to Beirut on Monday in a show of support for that country's weakened democracy, which is struggling to contain the fighting between the Hezbollah militia and Israel. Rice planned to meet with Lebanese Prime Minister Faud Saniora, other leaders of his government and members of parliament about the surge in fighting along the southern border in the last two weeks

The trial of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein is set to resume in Baghdad whether or not the former Iraqi leader is well enough to attend. Saddam was taken to hospital yesterday as a result of a hunger strike, which he reportedly began on July 7 in protest at the murder of his lawyer. Court officials say he should still be well enough to attend the hearing, but he is threatening to boycott it. He and seven co-defendants are on trial charged with crimes against humanity

The death toll from the Indonesian tsunami rose to 659 after emergency workers reached a previously inaccessible area along Java Island’s southern coast, the government said Saturday. Drajat Santosa, an official at the government's National Disaster Management Coordinating Board, said nearly 100 bodies were found in a part of Ciamis district that had been cut off by a broken bridge. The toll climbed to 659, he said, with 330 others missing. A magnitude 7