Rebel News - Independent News and Analysis

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has arrived in India for multibillion dollar defense and nuclear cooperation deals.

Putin, who arrived in New Delhi along with a high-ranking delegation on March 12, is scheduled to meet with his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh.

Two bombers have blown themselves up near a military convey, killing at least 39 people and injuring several others in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore.

According to Pakistani officials, the bombers detonated their explosives within a few seconds near a military base on Friday.

Myanmar's government has allowed the party of detained Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi to re-open offices that have been shut for seven years.

A spokesman for the National League for Democracy (NLD) says about 100 branch offices of party have been re-opened across the country since Wednesday.

Russia and India may jointly produce navigation equipment for Global Positioning System (GPS) and its Russian equivalent Glonass, the head of the Russian federal satellite navigation operator says.

Glonass, or the Global Navigation Satellite System, is the Russian equivalent of GPS, designed for both military and civilian use. Both systems allow users to determine their positions with an error margin of a few meters, Russian news agency RIA Novosti reported Thursday.

A NATO soldier has been killed in a bomb blast in southern Afghanistan, taking this year's total death toll to 121, the alliance says.

NATO's International Security Assistance Force said on Thursday that a makeshift bomb explosion killed the soldier, but withheld the nationality of the victim.

Thai security officials are gearing up for a series of opposition rallies which have vowed to bring Bangkok to a standstill.

Around 50,000 troops will be deployed in the capital before supporters of ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra start their protest on Friday.

A 7.2-magnitude earthquake has struck Central Chile while President-elect Sebastian Pinera was preparing to swear in as the country's new head of state.

The strong quake hit on Wednesday in the vicinity of Libertador General Bernardo O'Higgins, near the Chilean coast.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai says his government is ready to hold talks with Taliban leaders, including Mullah Mohammad Omar.

"We have contacts [with the Taliban] as high as you wish to go," Karzai told reporters in Islamabad on Thursday.

A blast in the troubled northwest Pakistan has killed at least four people and wounded ten others amid rising violence there.

The bomber apparently meant to target a convoy of paramilitary forces in the Khyber Agency.

China has joined international condemnation of an Israeli plan to build 1,600 homes on occupied Palestinian land in an East Jerusalem (al-Quds) settlement calling for a halt to the expansion scheme.

"We request the Israeli side to stop the establishment of new Jewish settlements and make concerted efforts and concrete actions to contribute to the resumption of peace talks," Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Qin Gang said on Thursday.