AFP, PESHAWAR, Pakistan: A US drone attack on a militant compound in a restive Pakistani tribal area Saturday killed at least seven militants, security officials said. The drone strike took place in the Shawal area of lawless North Waziristan tribal district bordering Afghanis­tan, where the Pakistani…

AFP, JIANLI, China: A total of 396 people have been confirmed dead after a cruise ship capsized in China, state media said, making it the country's worst shipping disaster in nearly 70 years. Only 14 people have been confirmed alive out of the 456 -- mostly tourists aged over 60 -- on board when…

AFP, SEOUL: South Korea yesterday confirmed nine more cases of the MERS virus, which has killed four people, but said it did not represent a spread of the outbreak as the infected were already in quarantine. The additional cases brought the total number of people infected with the virus to 50. The new…

AFP, SENGGIGI, Indonesia: Dozens of tourists were injured when small explosions hit a ferry crossing between the popular Indonesian islands of Bali and Lombok, officials said Saturday. The explosions were likely to have come from the fuel tank of the ferry, which was carrying 129 passengers on board,…

AFP, KUNDASANG, Malaysia: A strong earthquake that jolted Malaysia's Mount Kinabalu killed at least 11 people and left another 8 missing, an official said yesterday, as authorities searched for survivors on Southeast Asia's highest peak. The 6.0-magnitude quake struck early Friday near the picturesque…

Snakes found on Chinese bus AFP, BEIJING: Police in China are investigating after 15 boxes filled with live snakes were found on a bus, state media reported yesterday. The snakes were packed alongside containers holding toads and rats in the luggage compartment of a coach in central China's Hubei…

AFP, RIYADH: Saudi Arabia said it intercepted a Scud missile fired on its territory by rebel forces in neighbouring Yemen early yesterday as momentum gathers for peace talks in Switzerland next weekend. "The Royal Saudi Air Defence Forces intercepted it with a Patriot missile," said a statement…

AFP, MOSCOW: Russia is not a threat to the West, President Vladimir Putin insisted in an interview published yesterday, saying that he supported a Ukraine peace deal following a fresh outbreak of violence in the east of the ex-Soviet country. "I wouldlike to say - there's no need to be afraid…

AFP, SYDNEY: The Islamic State group has shown it is prepared to use chemical weapons and is likely to have among its recruits the technical expertise to develop them, Australia's Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said. In a speech late Friday, Bishop said Australia had no doubt that the Syrian regime…