The first of several convoys carrying badly-needed aid to besieged areas of Syria has arrived at its destination. Trucks have entered the rebel-held town of Muadhamiya, near the Syrian capital Damascus, the Red Crescent said. Aid is heading as well to Madaya and Zabadani, also near the capital, and to the pro-government northern villages of Foah and Kefraya. The deliveries …

Republican presidential front- runner Donald Trump has secured a big lead among party voters nationwide, according to a latest US opinion poll. The real estate tycoon has support of 39 per cent of Republican voters, his highest total so far, and is followed by Senator Marco Rubio of Florida with 19 per cent, who is almost locked in a tie …

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday he is sure that relations between Russia and the European Union will get back to normal sooner or later. “It will happen sooner or later. Relations between Russia and the European Union will be normalised,” Putin said after talks at his residence near Moscow with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. The EU imposed …

Hillary Clinton took a page out of Kanye’s book. The Democratic front-runner thumbed a flurry of tweets slamming Senate Republicans for their “new low” — pledging to block President Barack Obama’s pick for Justice Antonin Scalia’s replacement. “I have news for Republicans who would put politics over the Constitution,” Clinton wrote late Monday. “Refusing to do your duty isn’t righteous, …

Australian police have seized more than Aus$1 billion (US$712 million) in methamphetamine, or ice, some concealed in inserts for bras in one of the country’s biggest drug busts, authorities said on Monday. Three Hong Kongers and a Chinese national were arrested during the joint operation with China which Justice Minister Michael Keenan described as the largest seizure of liquid methamphetamine …

The third phase of the Presidential Initiative ‘English as a Life Skill’ through which the President takes English Language Skills across the country with a special focus on Spoken English, is being launched by the President from Temple Trees in the morning of Tuesday February 19, 2013. Releasing the creativity latent within the State Education System For the first time …

More than 40 people had to be rescued after a tram got stuck on a New Hampshire mountain. The tram was halfway up Cannon Mountain in Franconia when it got stuck Sunday afternoon. A young couple from Connecticut and their 8-month-old baby were amongst those rescued following the “mechanical engine failure”. “It was kind of scary,” George Lewis, who was …

President Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday ordered officials to bring all international schools operating in the country under a regulatory mechanism. He stressed that the younger generation should not be led astray. The President was speaking at the Education Ministry progress review meeting at the Ministry auditorium yesterday. It was the first meeting chaired by the President at ministry level to review …

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Monday accused Russia of acting as a “terrorist organisation” in Syria and vowed to deliver a robust response. “If Russia continues behaving like a terrorist organisation and forcing civilians to flee, we will deliver an extremely decisive response,” Davutoglu said through an official translator during a visit to Kiev. Tensions between Russia and Turkey …

Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad speaks during an interview with Venezuelan state television TeleSUR in Damascus, in this handout photograph distributed by Syria’s national news agency SANA on September 26, 2013. REUTERS/SANA/HANDOUT VIA REUTERS Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said on Monday any ceasefire did not mean each side had to stop using weapons, and nobody was capable of securing the conditions …