Top international news of the week

Islamabad: In a new twist in the Mumbai terror attack case, Pakistan approaches the Interpol seeking Red Corner notices for arresting Ajmal Kasab and Fahim Ansari, currently undergoing trial in India.

Baghdad: Gunmen in army uniforms swooped on a village south of Baghdad at dawn today, stormed three houses and shot dead 20 men and five women from families linked to an anti-Qaeda militia, officials say.

Melbourne: A 34-year-old Indian man's throat is slashed at one of the busiest train stations in Australia's Queensland state following which a suspect was charged, amid allegations that police kept the latest in a slew of attacks against the community under wraps.

Baghdad: Three bombings just minutes apart in Baghdad killed 15 people and wounded 35, an interior ministry official says.

Moscow: Two policemen are killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up in a police station in escalating violence in Russia's volatile Muslim-dominated north Caucasus region of Ingushetia, bordering Chechnya.

Peshawar: Multiple blasts and gunfire rock this provincial capital of Pakistan's restive northwest, close to the US consulate and highly sensitive military installations, hours after 25 people are killed when a suicide bomber struck a political gathering in Timergara.

Beijing: Seeking China's backing for a permanent UNSC seat for India, External Affairs Minister S M Krishna calls on Beijing to "review" its policies on UN reforms to "welcome" its neighbour to the core group of the world body.

New York: Major Indian missile and armament systems may have been compromised as Chinese hackers have reportedly broken into top secret files of the Indian Defence Ministry and embassies around the world.

Beijing: In a significant step in taking their bilateral relations to a new level, India and China sign an agreement to establish a hotline between Prime Ministers of the two countries.

Washington: Hours after Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said that his country "qualifies" for a civilian nuclear deal with the US, like that of India, the Obama Administration in a blunt message told it that such a deal is not on platter of its talks with Islamabad.

Lahore: Lashker-e-Taiba commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, facing trial with six others for his alleged involvement in the Mumbai attacks, files a petition in Pakistan's Supreme Court asking it to bar the prosecution from using Ajmal Amir Kasab's confessional statement against him.

Prague: US President Barack Obama and Russian leader Dmitry Medvedev sign a landmark treaty committing their nations to major nuclear arms cuts and boosting Obama's drive for a world without atomic weapons.

Tehran: Iran unveils a new faster centrifuge for enriching uranium, as President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad warned major powers mulling fresh UN sanctions that it would not give in to threats.

Colombo: Confident of a resounding win in the Parliamentary polls, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa- led ruling UPFA was far ahead of a fractured opposition, bagging 70 of the 95 seats declared so far for the 225-member House while detained ex-army chief Sarath Fonseka's DNA is yet to open its account.