Afghan President Hamid Karzai will arrive in Islamabad on March 10 on a two-day state visit to Pakistan, the Foreign Ministry said Monday. The president of Afghanistan will meet Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani, said Abdul Basit. This will be President Karzai's first visit to Pakistan after his re-election in November 2009. "President Karzai's visit will contribute towards further strengthening brotherly ties between Pakistan and Afghanista ...

In a bid to ensure that well- prepared-security steps will smoothly be implemented to maintain law and order during a mass anti-government rally, Thailand's Prime Minister Monday decided to cancel a planned March 13-17 trip to Australia. The cancellation of the trip by Premier Abhisit Vejjajiva was made after a meeting of Thailand's panel for monitoring national security resolved to propose the weekly cabinet Tuesday to impose the Internal Security Act (ISA) during March 11 to 23 to ensure se ...

Indian army and police killed a militant commander of Hizbul Mujahideen ( HM) militant outfit, while suspected militants gunned down a former militant at his residence in India-controlled Kashmir, defense officials and police Monday said. The gunfight broke out Sunday late evening in Karandidhar forest of district Doda, around 190 km northeast of Jammu, the winter capital of India-controlled Kashmir. "A militant commander of HM was killed in the gunfight during the exchange of fire. The op ...

Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said here on Monday that Vietnam wants to deepen cooperative relations with the United States in a constructive and friendly spirit and on the basis of mutual respect for common benefits and development of the two countries, the government website reported. Dung made the remarks when meeting with the visiting Chairman of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs Lester Crown on Monday. At the meeting, Dung said the visit would contribute to promote the ...

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Monday held a national meeting to mark the 100th anniversary of International Women's Day. Ro Song Sil, chairwoman of the Central Committee of the Democratic Women's Union of Korea, a mass political organization of women, said at the meeting that unity and solidarity among progressive women over the world had been boosted in the struggle for national independence and social development. She also said a big stride had been made in the deve ...

A United Nations report said on Monday that among Asia and the Pacific countries, East Asian countries are doing very well in realizing gender equality, while South Asian countries are doing poorly. Releasing the report on the International Women's Day, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) said in its 2010 Asia- Pacific Human Development Report that discrimination and neglect are threatening women's very survival in some countries of the Asia-Pacific region, especially South Asia and ...

Mindset of both males and females must change in order to provide more opportunities for women to progress and play greater role in the country, an Malaysian scholar said on Monday. Mohamed Fadzil Che Din, Director of Social Institute of Malaysia (SIM), told Xinhua in conjunction with the celebration of International Women's Day that the obstacles hindering women to develop came from the external and internal sides. On the external part, Fadzil said that men, who did not mind working toget ...

Afghan and NATO-led troops have made big success in the biggest-ever operation against Taliban in Marja district of Helmand province in southern Afghanistan but tough fighting is on the way, United States Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Monday. "Afghan and international troops have succeeded in clearing almost all parts of Marja and Nad Ali districts," Gates said at a joint press conference with Afghan President Hamid Karzai here. Establishing security is the first step, he said add ...

Singapore last month experienced the driest month in 140 years, and a new climate study projects that the city state's average daily temperature could jump by more than four degrees Celsius by 2100. According to Channel NewsAsia reports on Monday night, the new climate study, which was commissioned by Singapore's National Environment Agency (NEA), projects that the temperature in the country could rise by between 2.7 to 4.2 degrees Celsius from the current average of 26.8 degrees Celsius. And ...

The 6.0-magnitude earthquake that struck east Turkey early Monday killed 51 and injured dozens, local government said, a lower toll than earlier reported. Thirty-four people were being treated at several hospitals around the Karakocan town of the eastern Elazig Province, the epicenter of the earthquake, the Elazig governor's office was quoted by the semi-official Anatolia news agency as saying in a statement. Rescue efforts ended on Monday afternoon as there were no more people trapped und ...

&$ &$U.S. Vice President Joe Biden (L) and his wife Dr. Jill Biden gesture upon their arrival at the Ben Gurion airport, near Tel Aviv, Israel, March 8, 2010. Biden arrived in Israel Monday afternoon, kicking off a five-day visit to the region aimed at jump-starting the stalled peace process between Israel and the Palestinian. (Xinhua/Pool-Baz Ratner) &$&$ The U.S. Vice President Joe Biden arrived in Israel Monday ...

Finland and Sweden will boost military cooperation in Afghanistan, Commander of the Finnish Defense Forces Ari Puheloinen said Monday. Finland and Sweden are planning to make some changes to troop composition, said Puheloinen in a speech at the opening ceremony of Finland's National Defense Course in Helsinki. Separate patrol units will be eliminated and traditional squad, platoon and company units will instead be put in place in order to better support Afghan troops and protect local citi ...

by Geng Xuepeng, Deng Yushan The Israelis and Palestinians finally agreed to put themselves back into an unwieldy process to end the decades-old Middle East feud after a 15-month hiatus. The two sides have agreed to begin indirect talks brokered by the United States, U.S. special envoy George Mitchell announced Monday evening. The development marked the first time for the two Middle East neighbors to conduct peace negotiations since U.S. President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Benjami ...

The European Union (EU) introduced a new facility on Monday to provide 45,000 loans over the next eight years to unemployed people who want to start or further develop their own small businesses. The European Microfinance Facility would have an initial budget of 100 million euros (136 million U.S. dollars) which could leverage more than 500 million euros (679 million dollars) in cooperation with international financial institutions, in particular, the European Investment Bank (EIB), according ...

TOUGH JOBS AND ROOM FOR OPTIMISM But as the hard nuts still lies in the way of the negotiation, Israel, the Palestinians and the mediator U.S. are facing tough jobs in the future proximity talks. In regard with the coming talks, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said on Monday that Israel will stick to the principle of two states for two peoples and the Road Map, but he insisted on the recognition of the State of Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people, a position harshly criticiz ...

Russia launched a cash-for-clunkers program on Monday to spur domestic automobile sales. Under the scheme, anyone who trades in a car of 10 years or older will get discounts of 50,000 rubles (1,682 U.S. dollars) to buy a new car built in Russia whose weight does not surpass 3.5 tons. The scheme is scheduled to last until Nov. 1. Russian Industry and Trade Minister Viktor Khristenko said earlier that the cash-for-clunkers program, with subsidies totaling 10 billion rubles (336.5 million dol ...

A heavy snowfall hit Barcelona Monday as 30 provinces were put on alert ahead of another bout of wind rain and snow. Snow fell at sea level in Barcelona as the Autonomous Community of Catalonia bore the brunt of the bad weather with over 60 roads affected. Further south snow was falling at 400 meters altitude in Valencia region and the main motorway north out of Madrid towards Burgos, the N1, was also closed because of the weather. In the far south of Spain, the region of Andalusia was ...

Swedish Prime Minister Frederik Reinfeldt will discuss economic relations and international issues with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev during his one-day visit to Russia on Tuesday. According to the RIA Novosti news agency, cooperative agreements on space, energy and healthcare have been prepared for Reinfeldt's first visit to Moscow in his current post since 2006. He would probably discuss with Medvedev climate change, economic ties between Russia and the European Union (EU). At a m ...

A large amount of illegal weapons have been seized in Russia's North Caucasus republic of Kabardino-Balkaria over the past week, said a local official on Monday. More than 300 light weapons of various kinds were seized, including 53 pistols, 209 muskets and 41 rifles. Some 2 kg of drugs were also seized in the operation. The search involved hundreds of local residencies, private properties and arsenals, the unnamed official from the regional investigation department of the Russian Prosecut ...

The radical Islamist group of Al Shabaab in Somalia on Monday said it will not be weakened by moves by a number of governments to ban it from operating and seeking funds in their respective countries. Britain this week said it plans to follow suit with the U.S., Canada and Australian in listing the hardline group as a terrorist entity and banning its operation within their respective countries. "(The move) is part of the wider conflict between Muslims and Christians and it will not harm us ...

Thirty years ago, there were 20,000 brass brands in Britain. Today, there are fewer than 500 and Dinnington Colliery Band is one of them, but it isn't in very much better shape than the pit from which it takes its name – and that closed in 1992. Enter Sue Perkins and the BBC cameras, to offer mouth-to-trombone resuscitation. A Band for Britain follows a formula familar to anyone who watched The Choir: middle-class music lover (in this case, Perkins, rather than choirmaster Gareth Malone) steams into under-privileged area (in this case, South Yorkshire, near Rotherham) and grabs everyone by the crotchets, generating self-esteem, urban renewal and great lashings of love.

&$ &$Finalists of the "Miss Russia" beauty contest perform in Luxury Village in Barvikha, outside Moscow, March 6, 2010. Winner Irina Antonenko, 18, will represent Russia at the "Miss World" contest this year. [China Daily/Agencies]&$&$ &$ 【1】 【2】

AP - Lindsay Lohan is feuding with the E-Trade babies.

March is often thought to be China's political month as law makers and political advisers from overall the country gather in Beijing to discuss ways to solve the prominent social and economic problems and draw new plans for 2010. Ambassadors and diplomatic envoys to China expressed their strong interest in this year's sessions. In their words, NPC deputies and CPPCC members represented broader sections of the Chinese people, and the annual sessions were a major political event in China. & ...

Oil prices rallied to settle above 81 U.S. dollars on Friday as the better-than-expected February employment report lifted market sentiment. The U.S. Labor Department said U.S. employers cut a smaller- than-expected 36,000 jobs in February, leaving the unemployment rate steady at 9.7 percent, while economists expected it to rise to 9.8 percent. Meanwhile, the number of temporary help jobs, which is regarded as a sing for future hiring, rose by 48,000 while the average hourly earnings of em ...

Kurt Busch survived a couple of overtime restarts and 16 extra laps to win the Sprint Cup race at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Jeff Bridges has said he'd love to win an Oscar - if only just to hold the statue.

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) -- Two-time Pro Bowl nose tackle Vince Wilfork has agreed to a long-term contract that will keep him with the New England Patriots.

A 4.4-magnitude earthquake on the Richter scale rocked central Costa Rica late Friday, the country's monitoring center confirmed. There was no reports of casualties or damage. Obvious tremor was felt in the capital city and lasted for a few seconds. A local television reported earlier that a strong quake jolted the capital area. &$&$Source: Xinhua&$&$ ...

A United Nations report said on Monday that among Asia and the Pacific countries, East Asian countries are doing very well in realizing gender equality, while South Asian countries are doing poorly. Releasing the report on the International Women's Day, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) said in its 2010 Asia- Pacific Human Development Report that discrimination and neglect are threatening women's very survival in some countries of the Asia-Pacific region, especially South Asia and ...

All due credit to Nick Hornby for fleshing out Lynn Barber's short,

A Naked Pig Skiing Carnival was held at the Lotus Mountains ski resort of northeast Chinese Changchun City, capital of Jilin Province Saturday. More than 1,000 skiers joined the party, wearing underpants and bikinis or costuming as Avatar, Kungfu Panda to ski. The skiers also performed single-line skiing and snowboarding on a frozen pool. "It is my first time to play in this kind of carnival and it is really entertaining," said Shen Lidong, a skier who dressed up as Hua Mulan, a Chinese he ...

From a recent episode of Today On The Spot, we have an awesome Daily Demo for ModNation Racers on the PS3!

&$ &$Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao delivers a government work report during the opening meeting of the Third Session of the 11th National People's Congress (NPC) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, March 5, 2010. (Xinhua/Liu Weibing)&$&$ China will keep the exchange rate of yuan "basically stable" at an "appropriate and balanced" level while further promoting the use of the Chinese currency ...

Sandra Bullock is on the brink of a rare double this weekend which could see her become the first actress to win an Oscar and a slightly less-coveted Razzie award in the space of 24 hours.

Oil refiner Petron Corp., which raised P10 billion from a warmly received issuance of preferred shares, Friday made a new record as the single-biggest perpetual preferred shares listing on the Philippine Stock Exchange.

China's securities regulator yesterday said that it hopes the big banks choose to use their profits to replenish their capital base first. "The big banks should use their profits first for refinancing," Zhu Congjiu, assistant to chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) said at a news conference in Beijing. "If that still doesn't meet the need for refinancing, the banks could then raise capital in the market through a rights offering and issuing of subordinated and co ...

AFP - US Defense Secretary Robert Gates hailed Iraqi voter turnout and the performance of Baghdad's security forces in Sunday's elections.

Julianne Moore has confessed that constantly being asked about getting older makes her think about death.

Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk will pay a four-day official visit to the Caucasus this week, local media reported. Tusk's visit to Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan is the first in history official visit of Poland's prime minister to the countries of the South Caucasus. Tusk's talks in the Caucasus will be dominated by the Polish- Swedish Eastern Partnership initiative, a significant element of the European Neighborhood Policy carried out by the European Union. Eastern Partnership i ...