Jijo Jacob

Syria on Tuesday offered olive branch to the swelling ranks of protesters by announcing the intent to carry out a full clean-up of the government even as the country slipped into a visible division between those who support president Bashar Al-Assad and those baying for his blood.

The Apple iPad 2 has flown off the shelves in as many as 25 countries where it was launched over the weekend, but this time Apple is facing uneasy questions from disappointed customers about the real reasons behind the sudden sell-out.

Three percent of Japan's total demand for LPG has been wiped out by the earthquake that hit the county earlier this month, though intensive buying by the Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) could compensate for the reduction in demand to some extent.

The Fiat group has topped a chart showing car brands that have emerged closest to European Union's fuel-efficiency goals while Toyota is the closest group to meeting its target. Following are the top ten most economical car manufacturers in Europe.

Gaddafi did more than just showering bounties on Sirte and the middle region and won some lasting loyalty. He created state-of-the-art infrastructure in the region, explicitly making it the logistical nerve center of his military. He created air bases and sea ports besides making Sirte the base of the elite special response army units. Moreover, these elite crack troops were manned by members of his own tribe and factions allied with him.

The Libyan rebels have claimed they have captured Sirte, the stronghold of the Gaddafi tribe, according to reports on Monday. Sirte was once seen as the place Gaddafi could flee to, if and when he loses Tripoli. A rebel advance into Sirte could be the heaviest blow to the tottering regime of Gaddafi since the uprising started.

Libyan rebels have formed a transitional government under the leadership of Mahmoud Jebril, and the new cabinet is slowly taking shape. The interim rebel government, which vies with the official regime for control of the country, has been boosted by the sovereign recognition by France and generous western support. Following is a glimpse into some of the major Libyan opposition outfits that have been fighting Gaddafi overtly or covertly in the last three decades:

Ehrman reads a feminist subtext into his new arguments to prove bible forgery. He cites the letter to Timothy attributed to apostle Paul. He says the letter was written by someone long after Paul's death, and with a vested interest to diminish the status of women.

The situation at the Fukushima Daiichi plant remains very serious, the International Atomic Energy Agency said in its latest update on Japan's nuclear crisis.

A Chinese activist who published pro-democracy articles online has been handed a 10-year jail term, reports said, as edgy leadership went about killing dissent in the wake of the 'Jasmine Revolution.'

Australian defense minister Stephen Smith has apologized to his Afghan counterpart after footage of racial abuse involving Australian troops in Afghanistan were aired by television channels.

Japan's Suzaku observatory has made some findings about the mass and chemical content of the Perseus Galaxy Cluster which can potentially lead to better understanding of the evolution of the universe.

From lecturing handpicked group of young western women on Islam to his fear of flying over waters, and from virgin bodyguards to maniacal imperial delusions, Muammar Gaddafi’s traits are as strange and funny, or even more so, as his weird dress sense. The following are some of his idiosyncrasies, peculiar hatreds, strange loves and manifestations of borderline psychosis:

More than 60 people have been reported killed in a powerful magnitude 6.8 earthquake that rocked the Indochina region on Thursday.

The swelling ranks of protesters in the Syrian city of Deraa demanded the end of the cancerous regime of Bashar al-Assad and warned that the country was a bomb ready to explode.

About 20,000 people have gathered in the southern Syrian city of Deraa for the funeral of six people killed on Wednesday allegedly by the Syrian security forces.

Two Japanese nuclear workers have been hospitalized after getting exposed to high levels of radiation while working on the cooling system in one of the damaged reactors, according to reports.

In a weird twist in the tale, the Egyptian government has approved a law criminalizing strikes and protest marches in the country, raising questions from various quarters whether this was the outcome expected by millions of Egyptians who passionately fought for the ouster of Hosni Mubarak's oppressive regime.

Soon after the launch of the military strike against official Libyan forces, the U.S. also sought to de-Americanize the war by trying to underplay its role in the UN-sanctioned action. But according to a new poll a vast majority of Americans still support military action in Libya to enforce a no-fly zone.

The UK budget, which was unveiled on Wednesday, has revealed no significant changes to the deficit-reduction plans set out by the coalition Government just after last summer’s election, an analyst has commented.

China is planning to build meltdown-proof nuclear plants conforming to the fourth generation technology in the wake of the Japanese nuclear crisis which highlighted the safety inadequacy of a reactor that depends on external sources of cooling.

The U.S. army failed to detect tell-tale signs of mental disorder in an army scientist who unleashed the anthrax letter attacks that killed five people in 2001, according to a panel of behavioral analysts.

As many as six people were killed by Syrian forces in a mosque in the city of Deraa, a flash point in the unfolding struggle against the Baath party despotism, media reports said on Wednesday.

Chinese oil demand rose more than 10 percent year-on-year in February to reach the second strongest demand level on record, as refineries scampered to pile up supplies in view of the upcoming peak demand season and adverse weather conditions.

Apple is apparently beating a retreat from its much-scorned 'mission' to cure the 'gay community', according to reports on Tuesday. Apple's ‘gay cure app’, which has been on sale for more than a month is no longer available, though the company has not said if it has finally withdrawn the app in the face of rising protests from the gay community.

Apple said on Tuesday the new version of its game-changing tablet, the iPad 2, will go on sale in as many as 25 countries this Friday, putting an end to speculation over the device's international launch and rumors about possible supply constraints.

The average transaction prices for key fuel-efficient Japanese imported cars in the United States are starting to creep up in the wake of the quake and tsunami in Japan that caused supply disruptions, according to an analyst.

Hit hard by defections of high profile government functionaries and the loss of support among a key tribal group, Yemen's embattled president Ali Abdullah Saleh has decided to call it quits earlier than planned.

CNN ripped apart rival news channel Fox News for airing a story that said foreign journalists were used by Libyan authorities as human shields. CNN correspondent Nic Robertson said the report was outrageous and hypocritical and that he did not expect journalists to lie. I expect lies from the government here. I don't expect it from other journalists. It's frankly incredibly disappointing, he said.