HARARE – Survivors root through the splintered wreckage of their homes searching for loved ones who may be buried beneath. Others are scrambling to find food and water in areas littered with corpses. Three days after Super Typhoon Haiyan, one of the strongest storms in recorded history, scythed across the central Philippines, people here are…
MANILA – Around 10,000 people may have died in just one area of the Philippines hit by Typhoon Haiyan, according to officials. One of the worst storms on record, it destroyed homes, schools and an airport in the eastern city of Tacloban. Neighbouring Samar island was also badly affected, with reports of 300 people dead…
ISLAMABAD – Pakistan’s former military ruler Pervez Musharraf has been released from house arrest and is free to move around the country, prison officials say. It comes days after he was bailed over the 2007 army operation to oust militants from Islamabad’s Red Mosque – the last legal case against him. But the former general…
VIRGINIA – Democrat Terry McAuliffe, buoyed by strong results from voters in Northern Virginia, has defeated Republican Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli in the race for Virginia’s governor, CNN projects. While both campaigns took on national issues, such as the partial government shutdown earlier this year and the health care law’s flawed rollout, the race was…
NEW DEHLI – India has successfully launched a spacecraft to the Red Planet – with the aim of becoming the fourth space agency to reach Mars. The Mars Orbiter Mission took off at 09:08 GMT from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre on the country’s east coast. The head of India’s space agency told the BBC…
WASHINGTON – The White House and top US lawmakers have rejected clemency for the fugitive intelligence analyst Edward Snowden. “Mr Snowden violated US law. He should return to the US and face justice,” said White House adviser Dan Pfeiffer. Mr Snowden asked for international help to persuade the US to drop spying charges against him…
WASHINGTON – US Secretary of State John Kerry has said that in some cases, US spying has gone too far. Mr Kerry is the most senior Obama administration official to have commented directly on an issue that has upset America’s European allies. He said he will work with the president to prevent further inappropriate acts…
DAMASCUS – Syria’s declared equipment for producing, mixing and filling chemical weapons has been destroyed, the international watchdog says. This comes a day before the deadline set by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). Inspectors were sent to Syria following allegations that government forces had used chemical weapons in civilian areas, killing…
WASHINGTON – The US Senate’s intelligence committee has announced a major review of the country’s surveillance operations. The committee’s chair, Diane Feinstein, said eavesdropping on leaders of friendly nations was wrong. She said the White House had told her such surveillance would stop, but a senior administration official told the BBC there was no policy…
HARARE – New claims emerged last night over the extent that US intelligence agencies have been monitoring the mobile phone of Angela Merkel. The allegations were made after German secret service officials were already preparing to travel to Washington to seek explanations into the alleged surveillance of its chancellor. A report in Der Spiegel said…
