Obama picks new CIA, Pentagon chiefs
US President Barack Obama on Monday nominated controversial former Republican senator Chuck Hagel to lead the Pentagon and proposed that hard-nosed counterterrorism czar John Brennan to head the CIA.
US politician hopes for 'positive' Pyongyang trip
Former US governor Bill Richardson said Friday he hopes to assess what is happening in North Korea under its new leader Kim Jong-Un during what he hopes will be a "positive" visit.
06 January 2013 18:11
Venezuela assembly meets amid Chavez health crisis
Venezuela's National Assembly meets Saturday to elect its leadership in a session that also is expected to thrash out the country's political future as President Hugo Chavez battles cancer in Cuba.
06 January 2013 17:19
Syria's Alawite area Assad's last resort: analysts
The last option for Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, who is determined not to back down after 21 months of deadly conflict, is to battle to the end from a fortified Alawite statelet, analysts believe.
06 January 2013 12:34
Japan scrambles jets to head off China plane
Japan scrambled fighter jets Saturday to head off a Chinese state-owned plane that flew near islands at the centre of a dispute between Tokyo and Beijing.
06 January 2013 11:45
Sudan, South Sudan meet to push security, oil deals
The rival presidents of Sudan and South Sudan met for face-to-face talks Saturday to push forward stalled security, oil and border deals, and discuss the fate of the contested Abyei region.
06 January 2013 11:43
US criticizes Google chairman's N. Korea visit
The United States on Thursday criticized a planned visit to North Korea by Google chairman Eric Schmidt, calling it ill-timed in the wake of Pyongyang's widely condemned rocket launch last month.
05 January 2013 10:04
TENGRI LIFE
TENGRI TRAVEL
As Chavez fights cancer, aides build his myth
As Hugo Chavez battles cancer in Cuba, his lieutenants here are actively glorifying Venezuela's firebrand leader in what observers see as a campaign to erect a heroic myth that can survive his death.
04 January 2013 14:03
Fresh start for Congress, but fiscal battles loom again
With nearly 100 new members, the US Congress convened Thursday fresh from the year-end "fiscal cliff" fiasco, as lawmakers cast a wary eye towards the tough budget battles ahead.
Kazakhstan zeros mobile phone import duties
The duties will remain unchanged for equipment and electronic devices, however, they will gradually go down for some goods starting from 2013: expert.
03 January 2013 18:38
Obama signs sweeping US defense spending bill
President Barack Obama has signed into law a $633 billion US defense spending bill that funds the war in Afghanistan and boosts security at US missions worldwide.
03 January 2013 17:51
An heir for North Korea's Kim Jong-Un?
North Korea's next dynastic succession may have been secured, with new TV images of leader Kim Jong-Un's wife suggesting that Pyongyang's first lady recently gave birth.
Obama signs 'fiscal cliff' bill into law
President Barack Obama has signed into law a contentious compromise bill hammered out in Congress that narrowly averted the US 'fiscal cliff of tax hikes and drastic, immediate cuts in spending.
03 January 2013 13:42
US House to vote imminently on 'fiscal cliff' deal
The House of Representatives will vote late Tuesday on a bill already approved by the Senate to avert huge New Year tax hikes and spending cuts known as the "fiscal cliff".
