Britain will eventually be proud of its role in the Afghanistan war but it could be another decade before its gains are realized, the head of Britain's armed forces said in an interview published in Thursday's Times.

General Sir David Richards, the chief of the defense staff, admitted tactical mistakes had been made but that he had "every expectation" history would judge the war positively.

A small plane carrying three adults and three children crashed in flames in the Superstition Mountains east of the U.S. city of Phoenix on Wednesday night, leaving one child confirmed dead and no signs of survivors, authorities said.

Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu said preliminary reports indicate the twin-engine plane flew from Safford to Mesa's Falcon Field to pick up three children for the Thanksgiving holiday and was headed back to Safford in southeastern Arizona.

North Korea threatened Thursday to turn South Korea's presidential palace into a "sea of fire" in response to any provocation, a day after Seoul's military held a big exercise near the border.

The land, sea and air drill was staged to mark the first anniversary of a deadly North Korean attack on the South's border island of Yeonpyeong, which sparked outrage among South Koreans and prompted international alarm.

China has said it will conduct "routine" naval exercises in the Pacific Ocean, in the week after a major diplomatic campaign by U.S. President Barack Obama to assert the United States as a Pacific power.

The defense ministry said the exercises were pre-arranged and did not target any particular country, but the announcement comes against a background of growing tensions over maritime disputes in the Asia-Pacific region.

The United States will not alter its plans to deploy a NATO missile defense system in eastern Europe, U.S. officials said Wednesday, adding the shield was not aimed against Russia.

"The United States has been open and transparent with Russia on our plans for missile defense in Europe, which reflect a growing threat to our allies from Iran that we are committed to deterring," insisted National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor.

President Dmitry Medvedev says Russia will aim its missiles at the U.S. missile defense sites in Europe if Washington fails to address Russian concerns on its missile defense plans.

Medvedev said that Russia will deploy missiles in its westernmost Kaliningrad region and other areas if Russia and NATO fail to reach a deal on the U.S.-led missile defense plans.

Iran will not back down from its nuclear ambitions despite new Western sanctions announced this week, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Wednesday in a speech broadcast on state television.

"The Iranian nation will not back down an iota, and will not allow the slightest move to encroach on the nation's rights," he told a crowd in the town of Pakdasht, east of Tehran.

More than 14,000 people died in custody in India between 2001 and 2010, most of them from being tortured, a human rights body has said, heightening concern over police abuse.

The New Delhi-based Asian Centre for Human Rights (ACHR) said in a report released on Monday that 1,504 people died in police custody and 12,727 in judicial custody across the country over 10 years.

Thailand's criminal court sentenced a 61-year-old man to 20 years in prison Wednesday for sending text messages deemed offensive to the country's queen.

The court found Amphon Tangnoppaku guilty on four counts under the country's lese majeste and computer crime laws, sentencing him to five years imprisonment for each charge.

Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Wednesday appointed lawmaker and former information minister Sherry Rehman as the country's new ambassador to the United States, an official said.

The appointment came just hours after Gilani asked envoy Husain Haqqani to resign as the government investigates claims that he sought U.S. help, allegedly at the president's behest, to limit the power of the Pakistani military.