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BAGHDAD: The toll from twin suicide bombings Friday near a revered Shiite Muslim shrine in the heart of Baghdad rose to 60 killed, including 20 Iranian pilgrims, a defence ministry official said. Fifty-five people were killed in the attack, including 20 Iranians. Another 125 people were wounded, including 80 Iranian pilgrims, official sources said. An interior ministry official confirmed the tolls, making it the deadliest single attack in Iraq this year. The bombings come less than three months before US forces are to withdraw from all Iraqi cities.

MUMBAI: A special court in Mumbai, has ordered a medical test to determine 26/11 terrorist Mohammad Ajmal Kasab's actual age. The test will be conducted at the Arthur Road Jail, Mumbai, where Kasab is currently lodged and report will be submitted before the court by April 28. The 26/11 trial is being held in the same jail. Earlier, Kasab's lawyer Abbas Kazmi had claimed that Kasab was only 17, when he was arrested in connection with the Mumbai terror attack on November 26. He sought to transfer the case to a juvenile court, which was rejected by the trial court. The court has granted more time to Abbas Kazmi to read the 1,100-page chargesheet filed against Mohammad Ajmal Kasab, a resident of Faridkot, Pakistan. The court, while refusing Kazmi's demand for the adjournment of the case for a month, has given him time till May 2 to read the case and come prepared. Judge ML Tahaliyani, who is hearing the 26/11 trial, also refused Kasab's demand for a copy of the charge sheet...

NEW DELHI: India on Friday told arch-rival Pakistan to rein in the Taliban, warning the militants posed a threat to the security of South Asia as a whole. Deputy Foreign Minister Anand Sharma also labelled Pakistan an "epicentre of terrorism" and said India was closely watching its fellow nuclear-armed neighbour. "We have stated time and again that Pakistan is the epicentre of terrorism," Sharma told a news conference in New Delhi. "The surge of the Taliban is a matter of deep concern to us because it poses a threat to the stability and peace in this entire region. "It is incumbent upon the government and the state of Pakistan to neutralise the Taliban, to neutralise other terror outfits so that this region can have peace," he added.

BAGHDAD: The new US ambassador to Iraq Christopher Hill arrived in Baghdad on Friday, a journalist said, taking up his post nine weeks before American troops are due to pull out of Iraqi cities. Hill arrived around 10 pm (1900 GMT) and was greeted by Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari. "Hill will present his diplomatic credentials to me," Zebari told media shortly before the veteran American diplomat arrived in Baghdad.

WASHINGTON: The U.S. Capitol was briefly evacuated Friday, and the White House was locked down briefly after an airplane was reported headed into restricted Capitol airspace. At the White House, reporters and photographers were not permitted to walk outside the press working area for a few minutes. A short time later, the lockdown was over. Sgt. Kimberly Schneider, a Capitol Police spokeswoman, said a plane had been headed toward Capitol airspace, prompting the threat level to be raised to orange from green. Authorities were able to contact the pilot and he agreed to change course, she said.

NAIROBI: Muslims have accused Christians of trying to convert Sarah Obama to Christianity. Mrs Obama, a figure of substance in her homeland since her grandson was elected US President, was reported locally to have been stopped from going to a Seventh Day Adventist Church by Muslims because they thought the church would try to convert her. However, members of the church said that she was not to be converted and was merely invited to attend an event. "We had invited her to grace our meeting in Kisumu which was to mark the end of a three-week convention, but although she had prepared, she did not attend," Lewis Ondiek, a senior church figure, told local media. It was claimed that family members stopped Mrs Obama from attending the service led by an Australian evangelist, John Jeremic, because they feared the church was trying to convert her to Islam but the family said she did not attend because she had a knee complication and could not go. Sheikh Mohamed Khalifa, the Council of...

PRETORIA: More than half of South Africa's registered voters cast ballots for the ruling ANC, according to the election commission's count, clearing the way for party leader Jacob Zuma to become president.