Allegations of   excessive purges and misuse of power have been raised against North Korea's Minister of State Security (MSS) Kim Won-hong, whose position corresponds to South Korea's Director of the National Intelligence Service, a reecnt international media report said. He is known…

AFP, Kiev:  Eight Ukrainian troops have been killed and 16 wounded in the war-torn east as pro-Russian  rebels launched one of their fiercest attacks since the signing of a shaky ceasefire deal, Kiev security officials said on Wednesday. "Over the past day there was one of the most intense…

AFP, TEHRAN: Iran's nuclear deal with world powers is a sign of a common will to end conflict in the region and defeat the Islamic State jihadist group, Iraq's premier said Wednesday. "Daesh seeks to drag our region into perpetual conflict," Haider al-Abadi said on social media, using…

AFP, NEW DELHI: India's defence ministry has cleared the purchase of military equipment worth $4.74 billion, including four long-range patrol aircraft from US aerospace giant Boeing, an official said Wednesday. The Defence Acquisition Council, which approves big-ticket purchases, also approved an…

AFP, NEW DELHI: India's Maoist rebels have killed four policemen they abducted from a bus in the restive central state of Chhattisgarh, a senior officer said Wednesday. The guerrillas stopped the bus transporting the security personnel as it was passing through the Maoist-dominated Kutru village…

AFP, TOKYO: Japan's Mitsubishi Materials said Wednesday that it would offer a landmark apology to US prisoners of war forced to work for the industrial giant during World War II, seven decades after the conflict ended. A senior company executive will apologise to 94-year-old survivor James Murphy…