ISLAMABAD - A PAKISTANI military helicopter crashed in the northwest of the country on Friday killing all 26 security personnel on board, officials said, ahead of a planned army offensive against a Taleban militant chief.
GARMSIR (Afghanistan) - US MARINES are in a 'hell of a fight' as they storm into Taleban strongholds during a major assault in Afghanistan, their commanding officer said Friday.
Nearly 4,000 Marines launched the operation on Thursday in parts of the southern province of Helmand, suffering their first fatality in a pivotal test of President Barack Obama's aggressive new strategy against the Taleban.
BEIJING - POLLUTION levels in Beijing over the past six months were the lowest seen in nearly a decade, environmental officials said on Friday.
'We can say that air quality in Beijing has already improved. We can feel that and see blue skies here,' said Mr Du Shaozhong, vice-director of the Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau.
HONG KONG - HONG Kong on Friday detected a strain of swine flu that was resistant to Tamiflu, the main anti-viral flu drug, the health department reported on its website.
The statement said the resistant strain of influenza A (H1N1) was detected during routine tests of its sensitivity to anti-virals.
