ISLAMABAD (AFP) - Pakistan on Saturday released its most senior Afghan Taliban detainee, Abdul Ghani Baradar, a senior official of the interior ministry told AFP, in a move Kabul hopes will encourage peace talks with the insurgents."Yes Baradar has been released," Omar Hamid, a spokesman for interior ministry told AFP, without elaborating.Abdul Ghani Baradar, a one-time military chief often described as the insurgents' former second-in-command, was the most high profile detained Taliban commande

International Sept. 21, 2013

BEIRUT (AFP) - Syria's opposition National Coalition on Saturday rejected an Iranian offer to broker talks with the regime, saying the bid was "not serious" and calling Tehran "part of the problem.""The Iranian initiative is not serious and lacks political credibility," the key opposition grouping said in a statement.The comments came after Iranian President Hassan Rowhani said Thursday that his government was willing to "facilitate dialogue" between the Syrian government and opposition fighters

International Sept. 21, 2013

The number of female teachers in kindergartens, elementary, middle and high schools rose 36 percent in the last decade that nearly seven out of every 10 teachers are now female, the latest education data showed Saturday.As of April, female teachers numbered 330,696, a 36.2 percent rise from 242,809 in 2003, while the number of their male counterparts fell 6.8 percent from 163,095 to 151,990 during the same period, according to the data.That made the proportion of female teachers rise to 68.5 per

Social Affairs Sept. 21, 2013

ACAPULCO, Mexico (AFP) - More than 100 people have been killed and scores are missing in landslides and flooding caused by heavy rain in Mexico, a senior government official said late Friday.Interior Minister Miguel Angel Osorio Chong delivered the grim news from the resort town of Acapulco, in one of the worst-affected regions, with President Enrique Pena Nieto by his side.The death toll stood at 101, with 68 people missing following a massive mudslide that swallowed half of the village of La P

International Sept. 21, 2013

BRUSSELS (AFP) - European Union governments are bracing for a surge in Syrian refugees that threatens to become a flood as hopes fade for a quick end to the bloody civil war.Some two million Syrians have fled to neighboring countries so far, with four million internally displaced as the death toll mounts to more than 110,000.Thousands are seeking a new life in the EU, especially in the bloc's wealthier member states, with Italy among the worst affected.The European Commission, the EU's executive

International Sept. 21, 2013

WASHINGTON (AFP) - China said Friday that it was ready to talk to Japan over an increasingly heated maritime row, but only if Tokyo declares the islands to be disputed.Foreign Minister Wang Yi faced questions about ties with the US ally during a visit to Washington, where he called for mutual respect in relations between the United States and a growing China.Wang laid blame for tensions on Japan, which in September 2012 nationalized the islands, known as the Senkakus in Japanese and as the Diaoy

International Sept. 21, 2013

WASHINGTON (AP) – China's foreign minister pushed Friday for the restart of international talks on North Korea's nuclear program, saying that Pyongyang is ready to recommit to the goal of denuclearization.North Korea withdrew from the aid-for-disarmament talks in 2009, and over the past year has made clear it wants to be treated as a nuclear weapons state.But Foreign Minister Wang Yi told a Washington think tank the North has recently said it is ready to come back to a 2005 commitment on giving

North Korea Sept. 21, 2013

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The upcoming UN report on climate change is not likely to rattle US deniers of global warming who hold sway in the halls of power, experts say.A hefty analysis of the latest science on global climate change, the report is packed with recommendations for policymakers.It will be released at the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) next week, though most Republicans in the US government are expected to dismiss it outright."The IPCC report will help for the observers a

Sept. 21, 2013

Apple Inc. attracted long lines of shoppers today for the global debut of its latest iPhones, the company’s biggest product introduction this year.In New York, customers lined up around the block to get into Apple’s flagship Fifth Avenue store, while in Munich about 2,000 gathered to buy the new iPhone 5s and 5c, and in London the waiting crowd stretched about a mile. Apple Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook and other executives visited customers at stores in Palo Alto, California, near the compan

Technology Sept. 21, 2013

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) – Syria has sent the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons an ``initial declaration'' outlining its weapons program, the organization said Friday, in keeping with the agreement Russia and the U.S. brokered to have Syria give up its chemical weapons arsenal.Michael Luhan, the organization's spokesman, told The Associated Press the declaration is ``being reviewed by our verification division,'' but details of it will not be released.U.S. State Department

International Sept. 21, 2013

WASHINGTON (AP) – The Obama administration moved Friday to ensure it does not  lose more than $500 million in potential Egypt aid as it weighs suspending assistance after this summer's coup, U.S. officials and congressional aides said.   In a notification to Congress, the State Department outlined its intention to spend the money. But left unclear in the procedural step was how it would use the funds, with officials still mulling whether to punish Egypt's military by withholding economic and mil

International Sept. 21, 2013

WASHINGTON (Yonhap News) – The collapse of North Korea could occur abruptly and with little warning like that of East Germany, a U.S. think tank report said Friday."It is more a matter of 'when' that 'if' it will occur," said the 295-page report by Bruce Bennett, a senior defense analyst at RAND, a nonprofit research organization.South Korea and the United States need to craft detailed contingency plans in case of the communist regime's collapse, which would be far more disastrous than the fall

North Korea Sept. 21, 2013