General Motors, the US vehicle manufacturer, has said its auditors have raised “substantial doubt” about its ability to survive bankrupty unless it stems massive losses. The warning underlined the grim situation for the company as it continues to seek $30bn in government aid amid a slump in sales and a global financial crisis. The company [...]

China faces “unprecedented” challenges as a result of the global economic downturn, but will ride out the storm and still manage to achieve at least eight per cent growth, Wen Jiabao, the Chinese premier, has said. In his annual state of the union-style address to China’s parliament, Wen said that with the right policies, he [...]

Pakistani authorities have arrested up to 100 people as they search for at least 12 armed men behind an attack on a bus carrying Sri Lanka’s cricket team. Tuesday’s assault in the eastern city of Lahore left eight Pakistanis, including six policemen, dead and several Sri Lankan cricketers wounded. A reward of $125,000 has been [...]

The United States is set to pledge $900m for the Palestinians at a donors’ conference in Egypt, but only a third of that will go towards reconstruction in the Gaza Strip and none of the money will go to Hamas, who rule the territory. Robert Wood, a spokesman for the US state department, said the [...]

Barack Obama, the US president, has announced that US combat forces will leave Iraq by August 2010. The plan would pull combat troops out of Iraq 19 months after Obama took office in January this year, slightly longer than the 16 months he promised while on the campaign trail in 2008. “Let me say this [...]

South-East Asian leaders are facing pressure to take firm action on human rights and halt cases of abuse against migrants and refugees, as they gather for a regional summit in Thailand. Leaders from the 10-member Association of South-East Asian Nations (Asean) are expected to consider plans for a regional human rights body when they begin [...]

Bangladeshi paramilitary forces have begun mutinying over pay at barracks across the country after fighting with border guards in the capital Dhaka subsided. Military sources said sporadic fighting had broken out on Thursday at dozens of barracks for the paramilitary Bangladesh Rifles (BDR), the border security force. “There’s 46 baracks across the country, and there’s [...]

 A fierce gun battle has broken out inside the headquarters of Bangladesh’s border security force in the capital Dhaka, police say. “There has been a huge exchange of gunfire at BDR (Bangladesh Rifles) headquarters complex this morning. We have heard mortar fire,” Nabojit Khisa, a local police chief, said on Wednesday “The gunfire is still going on. [...]

 Asian stock markets have fallen sharply following Wall Street’s plunge to a 12-year low. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei share average fell 2.6 per cent by midday on Tuesday while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost nearly four per cent and South Korea’s Kospi more than three per cent. Other markets across the region were also lower after [...]

A bomb blast at the heart of the Egyptian capital’s tourist district has left one person dead and 23 injured. Police said a French woman was killed in the explosion on Sunday outside Cairo’s historic Hussein mosque in the popular Khan el-Khalili bazaar area. Egyptian, French, German and Saudi nationals were injured by flying stone [...]