Hasina among top female leaders

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina seventh in a list of top 12 female leaders in the world in 2011. Newly elected prime minister of Thailand Yingluck Shinawatra topped the list published on the popular magazine's website on Aug 5. The leaders are Yingluck, chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel, president of Argentina Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, president of Brazil Dilma Rousseff, prime minister of Australia Julia Gillard, president of Liberia Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Hasina, prime minister of Iceland Johanna Sigurdardottir, president of Costa Rica Laura Chinchilla, president of Finland Tarja Halonen, president of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaite and prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago Kamla Persad-Bissessar. About 63-year-old Hasina, the US-based magazine says she has a history of surviving brutal attacks including one in 1975 when her father independence leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was assassinated along with most of her family members. She lost 17 family members on Aug 15, 1975 during an army coup it says. , Hasina, then 28, survived as she was abroad, it adds. She later survived a grenade attack that killed more than 20 people, dodging the bullets that sprayed her fleeing car, it says. Hasina, also the president of Awami League party, was first elected prime minister in 1996. In a late 2008 election, her party won 230 in the 300-seat parliament, and the consummate survivor found herself prime minister — again, it says.

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US ready to arm Philippines against rise of China

The United States has announced it is ready to provide hardware to modernise the military of the Philippines, which as vowed to "stand up to any aggressive action" amid rising tension at sea with China.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Philippines' Foreign Minister Albert del Rosario meet with reporters at the State Department in Washington .

Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario, on a visit to Washington, said the Philippines hoped to lease equipment to upgrade its aged fleet and called for the allies to revamp their relationship in light of the friction with China.

"We are determined and committed to supporting the defence of the Philippines," Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told a joint news conference when asked about the hardware wish-list from the Philippines.

Mrs Clinton said the two nations were working "to determine what are the additional assets that the Philippines needs and how we can best provide those." She said del Rosario would meet Defence Secretary Robert Gates and other Pentagon officials.

Tensions in the strategic and resource-rich South China Sea have escalated in recent weeks, with the Philippines and Vietnam alarmed at what they say are increasingly aggressive actions by Beijing in the disputed waters.

"We are concerned that recent incidents in the South China Sea could undermine peace and stability," Clinton told , urging "all sides to exercise self-restraint."

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Strauss, Cook lead Birthday Honours list

	Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook helped England win an Ashes series in Australia for the first time in 24 years.

England captain Andrew Strauss and team director Andy Flower have been awarded an OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire), while opening batsman Alastair Cook received an MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) in the Queen's birthday honours list released on Saturday.

The trio was rewarded for their efforts in England's historic victory in the 2010-11 Ashes in Australia - their first series win in the country in 24 years. Strauss captained the team to three innings victories in the five-Test series, which England took 3-1, apart from scoring 307 runs at 43.85. Cook topped the batting charts, with 766 runs at an average of 127.66.

"It is a great honour to receive this accolade," said Strauss, who received an MBE after England's 2005 Ashes victory at home. "It's one of the better items of post you get through the letterbox - certainly better than a gas bill. I'm very proud to receive it and, more than anything, very proud of how the team performed out there in Australia.

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