World

Geneva, September 6: Switzerland ranked as the world's most competitive economy for the fourth year running, while the United States continued a four-year slide down the table, the World Economic Forum (WEF) said in its annual survey on Wednesday. The study by the WEF, best known for running the annual meeting of world business leaders at the ski resort of Davos, ranks 144 countries by examining

Paul Ohia Abuja, September 5: An oil tanker with 23 Indian sailors aboard was today hijacked by pirates off the shores of Nigeria, the third such attack in over two weeks in the Gulf of Guinea. International Maritime Bureau (IMB) officials said the Singapore-owned vessel, MT Abu Dhabi Star, which was carrying fuel, was sailing towards the open sea when it was hijacked. Twenty three Indian sailors

North Carolina, September 5: First lady Michelle Obama acknowledged on Tuesday that the change her husband Barack Obama sought in his White House campaign four years ago has proven difficult but urged voters to give him another term to fix the weak U.S. economy. "He reminds me that we are playing a long game here, and that change is hard, and change is slow, and it never happens all at once," she

Dayton (Ohio), September 4: Arriving from Kuwait to attend college here, Mai Alhamad wondered how Americans would receive a Muslim, especially one whose head scarf broadcasts her religious identity. At any of the countless secular universities she might have chosen, religion - at least in theory - would be beside the point. But she picked one that would seem to underline her status as a member of

Berlin, August 30: Turkey's Kuveyt Turk investment fund plans to open the first Islamic bank in Germany in October, the Financial Times Deutschland reported. Kuveyt Turk plans to open its first branch, following the principles of the Islamic sharia law, in Frankfurt-am-Main in cooperation with Ernst & Young auditing company and Norton Rose law firm. Sharia law prohibits a fixed or floating payment

Washington, August 28: The US will hand over administrative punishment to its six soldiers for their role in desecration of Holy Quran in Afghanistan early this year, an incident that had caused wide-spread protests and riots in the country and forced President Barack Obama to apologise. The report of the investigation, conducted by a senior army official and released by the US Central Command

San Jose (California), August 25: A California jury awarded Apple Inc more than $1.05 billion on Friday in its patent infringement claim that Samsung Electronics Co copied technology used in its iPad and iPhone. The nine-member jury in a federal court in San Jose, California, found overwhelmingly in Apple's favour, saying Samsung had infringed on six of seven smartphone patents in question. The US

Washington, August 24: The US government was surprised by the news that a navy Seal who participated in the raid on Osama bin Laden's compound in Pakistan has written a book about the operation in which the al-Qaida leader was killed, US officials said on Wednesday. 'No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account of the Mission that Killed Osama bin Laden' was written by a navy Seal under the pseudonym Mark

Ajmer, August 18: It was a thriller till the end. The long-awaited distribution of the promised $1 million to the dargah of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti by Pakistan president Asif Ali Zardari finally came to fruition on Friday but not without its share of drama. A long three-hour-long, marathon closed-door meeting between delegates from the Pakistan high commission, members of Anjuman Syed Zadgan

London, August 17: Israel is preparing for a ground attack on Iran before Christmas, after conducting commando dry runs in the Iraq desert, a media report said. Top military officials in Tel Aviv believe they have until the end of the year to strike at Iran's nuclear programme, The Sun reported. The main target would be a heavily fortified uranium enrichment plant at Fordo, near the holy city of