‘Fierce clashes’ near Damascus as 58 killed in Syria

A handout image released by the Syrian opposition’s Shaam News Network shows the bodies of people allegedly killed during a Syrian government offensive kept cool using plastic bottles in the town of Daraa on Monday. — AFP photo

Rebel forces and Syrian army units engaged in deadly combat around elite Republican Guard posts in the suburbs of Damascus on Tuesday, as 58 people were killed across the country, a monitoring group said. Full story

China forced refugees back to Myanmar conflict zone

Chinese authorities have forced back into Myanmar some ethnic Kachin refugees who have fled across the border to escape civil war, and China is denying basic care to many who remain, a human rights group... Full story

Al-Qaeda threatens Arab Spring nations

Al-Qaeda militants are using the countries which toppled their leaders in the Arab Spring as bases to train radical Western youths for potential attacks on Britain, the chief of the MI5 Security Service said on Monday. Full story

Pranab Mukherjee resigns to run for president

The Indian finance minister, Pranab Mukherjee, stepped down Tuesday, leaving behind a faltering economy and a plunging rupee as he set his sights on the country’s presidency. Full story

Romney cautious in response to immigration ruling

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney blasted president Barack Obama on Monday after the US Supreme Court’s divided ruling on Arizona’s illegal-immigration law, and said he wished the court had... Full story

Japan police probe man who cooked own genitals

The Tokyo police are investigating whether a man who cooked his own severed genitals and served them to five paying diners committed a crime, the force said Tuesday. Mao Sugiyama had his penis and testicles... Full story

Immolations expression of freedom: Tibet’s exiled PM

Tibet’s exiled political leader Lobsang Sangay on Tuesday said a spate of self-immolations in China was a strong message being sent by oppressed and desperate people who want to assert their freedom. Full story

Suu Kyi in France on last leg of historic tour

Myanmar democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi arrived in Paris Tuesday for the last leg of a European tour that has seen her hailed as a powerful symbol of peaceful defiance to dictatorship. Full story

PM faces crucial test in Japan sales tax vote

The Japanese prime minister, Yoshihiko Noda, was Tuesday facing a sizable mutiny from his fractious party that could threaten his government, as lawmakers readied to vote on controversial tax bills. Full story

18 killed in Uganda landslides: Red Cross

A landslide killed at least 18 people in two hamlets following torrential rains in eastern Uganda, a region affected by similar disasters in the past, the Red Cross said Monday. ‘Eighteen people have so far been... Full story

1-in-5 Philippine youth a child labourer: survey

Almost one in five children in the Philippines works as a labourer, according to a government survey released Tuesday that also found over three million of them work in hazardous conditions. Full story

Egypt’s Morsi gets to work on cabinet, economy

President-elect Mohamed Morsi was on Tuesday drawing up a battle plan to confront Egypt’s economic and security crises as he pushed ahead with selecting a government of technocrats, a senior aide said. Full story

Abbas seeks Putin’s help on stalled peace process

The Palestinian president, Mahmud Abbas, on Tuesday urged the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, to help unblock long-stalled negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. Full story

Teens favour face-time over Facebook, US survey finds

For all the time they spend online, and it’s a lot, nearly half of US teenagers say they’d much rather spend time with friends in the real world, a major survey published Tuesday indicated. Full story

‘War on drugs’ is fuelling HIV epidemic

A pressure group that includes six former presidents called Tuesday for the United Nations to acknowledge that ‘repressive drug law enforcement’ was driving an HIV/AIDS pandemic. Full story