Brit Indian Varsha Patel, a shopkeeper, yesterday scared off two knife-wielding raiders by throwing a hot cup of tea into one of the attackers faces.

Four British troops were killed in two separate explosions on Friday in troubled southern Afghanistan, the ministry of defence said.

The picture painted by Charles Dickens of starvation rations in an
1830s workhouse north of London is wide of mark, according to an
analysis of menus and other historical evidence.

On the heels of their crusade against girls going to schools, the Taliban have now issued new dictum in the areas under their sway asking parents of the grown up daughters to marry them to militants or "face dire consequences".

Japanese Nobel physics laureate Toshihide Maskawa said today he planned
to bury his medal in the ground as the camera-shy professor returned
from the ceremony in Sweden.

Harold Pinter, the British playwright whose gifts for finding the
ominous in the everyday and the noise within silence made him the most
influential and imitated dramatist of his generation

Toyota is suspending production at all 12 of its Japan plants for 11 days over February and March, a stoppage of unprecedented scale for the nation's top automaker as it grapples with shrinking global demand.

With the glare of the Olympic spotlight gone, China has resumed blocking access to the Internet sites of some foreign media,

Pop diva Celine Dion and two people of Indian origin are among 60
prominent Canadians who have been given the country's highest civilian
award, the Order of Canada.

Several eminent Indian Americans are linked to the corruption scandal involving Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich's attempt to sell the Senate seat vacated by president-elect Barack

A German uproar over another suspected case of stolen personal data was
resolved when police determined it was in fact the result of a hijacked
Christmas cake.

President-elect Barack Obama urged congressional leaders Saturday to move quickly on an economic recovery plan, even as some Republicans are saying they want more time to review the details.

China is launching a four-month food safety campaign on Wednesday that
will include inspections of food makers to weed out illegal or
excessive chemicals in food,

The US military has successfully intercepted a long-range missile target in a "very realistic" simulated attack to test the proposed US missile defence system, the defence department said.

Pirates boarded a Chinese cargo ship off the coast of Somalia but
failed to hijack the vessel on Wednesday, thanks to quick action by a
naval force patrolling the area, a maritime official said.

The Multnomah County Sheriff's Office said an 88-year-old woman fended
off a naked intruder by grabbing the man's crotch and squeezing. Deputy
Paul McRedmond said the man got into the house Tuesday through a
sliding door