AFP, MOSCOW: Russian Presi­dent Vladimir Putin on Friday unexpectedly dismissed his close ally and powerful chief of staff Sergei Ivanov, in the highest-level change inside the Kremlin in several years. The Kremlin said in a statement that Putin had “decreed to relieve Ivanov of his duties”…

AFP, NEW DELHI: India’s top court Friday lifted a ban on the registration of new high-end diesel vehicles in New Delhi after carmakers said they had been left stranded with thousands of unsold SUVs. Car manufacturers would however have to pay a one percent green tax to compensate for polluting…

AFP, CAIRO: Twenty-three Egyptian workers kidnapped in Libya were freed and returned to their country on Friday, Egyptian state television reported. One of the freed Egyptians told state television they had been kidnapped by people demanding ransom, in an interview at a border crossing between the neighbouring…

AFP, WASHINGTON: The US State Department updated its already strong travel warning for North Korea on Thursday in light of Pyongyang’s recent warning that it would treat any detained US citizens according to “wartime law.” Althouagh Washington has long warned about the dangers of travelling…

AFP, ISTANBUL: Turkey issued an arrest warrant for its former star footballer Hakan Sukur over last month’s failed coup as Ankara said Friday it had detected the first progress in persuading the United States to extradite the alleged mastermind of the putsch.With the shockwaves from the July 15…

AFP, SANTA CLARA, Cuba: It was just what the fiery communist leader Fidel Castro told them not to do. His admirers say he freed Cuba from tyranny, but…

AFP, MANILA: Ten prisoners in the Philippines were killed when a suspected jailbreak and attempt to kidnap the warden went wrong in a Manila suburb, authorities said Friday. The prisoners, including two Chinese, were meeting with the warden of the Paranaque City jail in his office when the explosion…