National

Reuters - The Obama administration is hosting Israeli and Palestinian leaders in Washington this week in an effort to restart direct Mideast peace negotiations after a 20-month hiatus.

Reuters - A review due on Monday can help restore public faith in the U.N. panel of climate scientists and its finding that global warming is man-made despite errors in a 2007 report, the U.N.'s environment chief said.

Reuters - Pakistan's cricket community reacted with shock to fresh allegations that some players took bribes for spot fixing in the current series against England.

Reuters - A month after torrential monsoon rains triggered Pakistan's worst natural disaster on record, flood waters are starting to recede -- but there are countless survivors at risk of death from hunger and disease.

Reuters - Pakistan team manager Yawar Saeed has confirmed that Scotland Yard police officials had questioned him and several players in connection with match fixing allegations during the Lord's test.

Reuters - A brilliant century by opener Tillakaratne Dilshan led Sri Lanka to a crushing 74-run win over India in the final of the Tri-series on Saturday.

Reuters - England swept the feeble Pakistan batting aside on Saturday to move within sight of a series victory after a spirited comeback in the fourth and final test at Lord's.

Reuters - Flood waters threatened to engulf two towns in southern Pakistan on Saturday, a month after the disaster began, as the United Nations warned that tens of thousands of children risked death from malnutrition.

Reuters - India's state-owned MMTC Ltd expects production from its upcoming gold refinery, being jointly built with Switzerland's PAMP S.A., to be delayed by three months as more time had to be spent on installing modern technology, a senior official of the joint venture said.

Reuters - Prosperity and higher savings are changing the way Indians perceive gold, driving them to invest in coins, bars and exchange-traded funds, a senior official in a prominent gold importing bank said on Saturday.

Reuters - China said on Saturday that military ties with India remained on track, despite a visa row that some reports said led to a freeze in defence contacts between the two big neighbours with sometimes testy relations.

Reuters - Indian hopes of a medal at the world badminton championships were finally snuffed out on Friday when world number two Saina Nehwal bowed out in the women's singles quarter-finals.

Reuters - Malaysia's world number one Lee Chong Wei exited the world badminton championships on Friday, beaten 21-15 11-21 21-12 in the quarter-finals by former world and Olympic champion Taufik Hidayat.

Reuters - India may extend an Aug. 31 deadline in its standoff with Research In Motion over access to Blackberry data, if the Canadian firm says it has a solution and asks for time, a government source said on Friday.

Reuters - The Pakistan army is unlikely to change its assessment of the threat from India despite heavy demands on its troops to provide flood relief while also fighting Islamist militants, a senior security official said.

Reuters - Australia must tighten rules governing the behaviour of its companies, especially mining firms, towards indigenous people at home and abroad, a United Nations human rights body said on Friday.

Reuters - One of India's most popular superstars, Shah Rukh Khan, is known for guarding his personal life fiercely from the media glare.

Reuters - India's growth is getting more broad-based and inflationary pressures are easing and the central will calibrate policy action to the evolving growth-inflation dynamics, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor said on Friday.

Reuters - Thousands of people fled on Friday from the southern Pakistani town of Thatta after the swollen Indus river burst its banks and authorities ordered an evacuation.