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Turkey fraud probe: Tip of the iceberg?

27 Dec 2013

 

A wide-ranging corruption scandal has engulfed the highest levels of the Turkish governmentPrime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has reshuffled his cabinet, and replaced 10 ministers, after the three who were implicated in the scandal resigned.Erdogan had long ago announced that the cabinet was due for a reshuffle. But it has not stopped talk… 


Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses his party members in Ankara, Turkey, Wednesday, Dec. 25, 2013.

 

 

China icebreaker steams to rescue science ship trapped off Antarctica

MCMURDO SOUND, Antarctica (Jan. 2) -- During Operation Deep Freeze 2002, both the 399-ft. Polar Star (WAGB-10) and its sister ship Polar Sea (WAGB-11) jointly broke an ice path to create an access channel for supply ships in McMurdo Sound. Supply ships must offload their cargo during the summer months of January and February to ensure that the extensive program of research activities can be conducted and that the facilities in the area remain operational year-round.  U.S. COAST GUARD PHOTO (82051) ( DEEP FREEZE 2002 (FOR RELEASE) )

Chinese icebreaker was on Friday due to reach the frozen seas where a scientific mission ship is trapped off Antarctica, as those onboard welcomed the easing of blizzard conditions. The Australian Maritime Safety Authority, which is co-ordinating…
photo: US Coastguard

Thirty-four children died in Muzaffarnagar relief camps

Thirty-four children died in Muzaffarnagar relief camps

At least 34 children have died in relief camps set up for thousands of people who fled their homes during Hindu-Muslim clashes in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh in September, an official report says. The…
photo: WN / Yeshe Choesang

Who can halt the crisis in South Sudan?

Who can halt the crisis in South Sudan?

When South Sudan celebrated its independence from the Republic of the Sudan in2011 many analysts feared for the future. The conflict now raging in the world’s youngest state has serious regional and international implications. For the US, South
photo: UN / Sylvain Liechti

Legacy debt deadline will be missed

Legacy debt deadline will be missed

A deadline for striking a deal on Ireland‘s legacy debt by mid-2014 will be missed, Taoiseach Enda Kenny has revealed. While he insisted the nation will continue to fight European finance chiefs for the restructuring of its bank debt, he said…
photo: European Community / EC

UN Responds to Ugandan Rebel Attack in Eastern DR Congo

UN Responds to Ugandan Rebel Attack in Eastern DR Congo

Friday, 27 December 2013, 11:36 am Press ReleaseUN Peacekeepers Respond toUgandan Rebel Attack in Eastern DR Congo New YorkDec 26 2013 – United Nations peacekeepers in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) yesterday helped the national…
photo: UN / Sylvain Liechti

UN mission in DR Congo launches attack against rebels

UN mission in DR Congo launches attack against rebels

Tweet KinshasaDec 27 (IANSThe UN peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) Thursday confirmed attacks on rebels who reportedly killed at least 42 civilians in the eastern province of North Kivu. In a statement, the UN…
photo: UN / Sylvain Liechti

African leaders ‘hopeful’ of South Sudan peace deal

African leaders 'hopeful' of South Sudan peace deal

Delegations from Ethiopia and Kenya call first meeting promising, but humanitarian crisis continues to worsen Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta (second right) and Ethiopian PM Hailemariam Dessalegn (right) meeting South Sudanesedetainees in Juba
photo: UN / Rolla hinedi

 

 

 

December 26th

 

MCDONALD’S IN FAST FOOD FLAP

 

LET THE CRACKDOWN CONTINUE
Egypt’s Government Declares Muslim Brotherhood A Terrorist Organization

 

 

 

 

 

Japan’s Abe visits controversial Yasukuni war shrine

26 Dec 2013

 

Nationalist Prime Minister Shinzo Abe went to Tokyo’s controversial Yasukuni war shrine on Thursday morning, in a move certain to roil troubled relations withJapan’s Asian neighbours. The visit came exactly one year after he took power and is expected to further inflame already-tense relations with China and South Korea, both of which are… 
Japan’s Abe visits controversial Yasukuni war shrine

UN troops fire on Uganda rebels in DRC

UN troops fire on Uganda rebels in DRC

A special United Nations (UN) force in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) used helicopters on Wednesday to fire on Ugandan rebels and help government troops retake the town of Kamango after an attack that killed civilians. “South
photo: UN / Sylvain Liechti

Private data storage for NSA draws diverse critics

President Barack Obama speaks in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Monday, Jan. 14, 2013

WASHINGTON — A measure that President Barack Obama is considering as a way to curb the National Security Agency’s mass storage of phone data is already facing resistance — not only from the intelligence community but also from privacy advocates, the…
photo: AP / Carolyn Kaster

Pope Francis prays world will see better days

Pope Francis is driven through the crowd during his general audience, in St. Peter's Square, at the Vatican, Wednesday, March 27, 2013.

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis offered Christmas wishes yesterday for a better world, praying for protection for Christians under attack, battered women and trafficked children, peace in the Middle East and Africa, and dignity for refugees fleeing…
photo: AP / Andrew Medichini

Sudanese family enjoys holiday season together

BALLWIN, Mo. — For years, Munawar Kabashi of suburban St. Louis assumed his oldest child, Mona, was dead. Likewise, she thought her family had been killed. More News Read more News The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that they are reunited,…
photo: UN / Albert González Farran

Holocaust survivors reunite with the woman who cared for them after the war

Holocaust survivors reunite with the woman who cared for them after the war

She was born Martha. But in the years after World War II, at an ivy-covered manse in the English town of Lingfield, the children under her care called her “Manna.”Perhaps the little ones found “Martha” too difficult to…
photo: UN / Evan Schneider

Google strikes back at Apple and Microsoft’s anti-Android patent consortium

Android phone - HTC smartphone

It hasn’t taken long for Google to strike back in the latest patent world war. GigaOM reports that Google this week has filed a lawsuit against Rockstar, a consortium backed by AppleMicrosoft and BlackBerry that has filed lawsuits against Google,…
photo: WN / Yolanda Leyba

Clinton Foundation spends $226M for 2012 projects

Clinton Foundation spends $226M for 2012 projects

LITTLE ROCKArk. — Former President Bill Clinton‘s foundation spent $226 million in 2012 on programs that range from providing medicine to AIDS patients in Africato curbing childhood obesity in the U.S., according to financial information…
photo: UN / Albert González Farran

Crowds throng Bethlehem for Christmas

25 Dec 2013

 

BETHLEHEM, West Bank — Thousands of Christian pilgrims from around the world packed the West Bank town of Bethlehem for Christmas Eve celebrations on Tuesday, bringing warm holiday cheer to the biblical birthplace of Jesus on a cool, clear night. The heavy turnout, its highest in years, helped lift spirits in Bethlehem as leaders expressed
Christian worshippers visit the Church of Nativity, traditionally believed by Christians to be the birthplace of Jesus Christ, in the West Bank town of Bethlehem on Christmas Eve, Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2013.
photo: AP / Majdi Mohammed

Israel launches Gaza airstrikes for worker killing

A photograph made available on November 17, 2012. Showing a view of Rafah City in the southern Gaza Strip during anticipation in Israeli shelling in Rafah city on November 17, 2012. Israel continues to hold off on a ground campaign into the Gaza Strip even as it widens the scope of airstrikes. Israeli military aircraft attacked two buildings used by both Hamas and foreign media outlets on Sunday.Photo by Ahmed Deeb / WN

GAZA CITYGaza Strip — Israeli air and ground forces launched a series of attacks Tuesday on targets across the Gaza Strip, killing a young girl and wounding 10 in response to the deadly shooting of an Israeli civilian by a Palestinian sniper. It…
photo: WN / Ahmed

Judge rules against BP on oil spill

100713-G-5030M-002-- GULF OF MEXICO --  The Q4000 flares off oil and gas Tuesday as Coast Guard Cutter Resolute approaches the "City at Sea" at the site of the BP oil spill Tuesday. The Resolute is serving as search-and-rescue, plane, and hurricane guard for the largest oil spill response in U.S. history. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 1st Class John Masson. (940490) ( )

A US judge tonight rejected BP’s argument that a multibillion-dollar settlement over the company’s massive 2010 Gulf oil spill should not compensate businesses if they cannot directly trace their losses to the spill. District Judge Carl Barbiersaid…
photo: US Coastguard / Petty Officer

Brazil leader overflies flood-hit region

In this photo released by Brazil's Presidency, Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff inspects flood damage from an helicopter in Espirito Santo, Brazil, Tuesday, Dec.24, 2013. Civil defense officials say floods and mudslides caused by heavy rains have killed at least 20 people and forced more than 40,000 to leave their homes in southeastern Brazil.

BrasíliaDecember 24Brazil President Dilma Rousseff on Tuesday flew over the flood-hit southeastern state of Espirito Santo, where at least eight people have died in days of torrential rain. Rousseff said two helicopters and army trucks would be…
photo: AP / Roberto Stuckert Brazil’s Presidency, ho

Apple, China Mobile sign iPhone deal

A customer tests the new iPhone 5 at the Apple store in Hong Kong Friday, Sept. 21, 2012.

NEW YORKApple on Sunday unveiled a long-anticipated deal with China Mobile, the world’s biggest wireless carrier, to bring the iPhone to customers in a market dominated by low-cost Android smartphones. The deal gives Apple a bigger entry into the…
photo: AP / Kin Cheung

Snowden reflects six months later, says mission’s accomplished

24 Dec 2013

 

MOSCOW — Edward Joseph Snowden emerged at the appointed hour, alone, blending into a light crowd of locals and tourists. Late this spring, Snowden supplied three journalists, including this one, with caches of top-secret documents from the National Security Agency, where he worked as a contractor. Dozens of revelations followed, then… 
File - A demonstrator holds up a poster with a drawing depicting National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden with a message that reads in Portuguese; "Snowden in Brazil," during a protest outside the regional office of the presidency in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Thursday, July 18, 2013.

70 killed Nigerian clashes: military

In this Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2011 photo, a police officer armed with an AK-47 rifle walks past pedestrians as he patrols a major road in Maiduguri, Nigeria. The radical sect Boko Haram, which in August 2011 bombed the United Nations headquarters in Nigeria, is the gravest security threat to Africa's most populous nation.

Tweet LagosDec 24 (IANS) Over 70 people have been killed in clashes between the army and members of the Boko Haram militant group in the northeast, following last Friday pre-dawn attacks on a…
photo: AP / Sunday Alamba

 

Air raids kill 300 in Syria

In this citizen journalism image provided by Shaam News Network SNN, taken on Wednesday, July 11, 2012, smoke leaps the air from purported forces shelling in Homs, Syria.

More than 300 people have been killed in a week of air raids on the northern Syriancity of Aleppo and nearby towns by President Bashar al-Assad‘s forces, a monitoring group says. Many of the casualties, who included scores of women and children,…
photo: AP / Shaam News Network, SNN

$40 Million in Aid Set for Bangladesh Garment Workers

Building collapse in Dhaka

Eight months after the Rana Plaza factory building collapsed in Bangladesh, killing more than 1,100 workers and leaving hundreds of families bereft and financially adrift, several prominent retailers and labor groups have joined with the Bangladesh…
photo: Creative Commons / Sharat Chowdhury

Britain pardons gay ‘father of computing’ Alan Turing

Alan Turing memorial statue in Sackville Park, 18 Sep 2004. He is holding the forbidden fruit, the apple. Photograph taken by en:User:Lmno 18 September 2004

ALAN TURING, the British mathematician who helped to crack the Enigma code but who took his own life after a conviction for “homosexual activity”, has been given a posthumous pardon. The official British government announcement marks the successful…
photo: GFDL

Mikhail Kalashnikov, Inventor of AK-47 Rifle, Is Dead at 94

FILE- In this Wednesday, Oct. 29, 1997 file photo Mikhail Kalashnikov shows a model of his world-famous AK-47 assault rifle at home in the Ural Mountain city of Izhevsk, 1000 km (625 miles) east of Moscow, Russia. Kalashnikov, whose work as a weapons designer for the Soviet Union is immortalized in the name of the world’s most popular firearm, died Monday at the age of 94 in a hospital of the city of Izhevsk where he lived. The AK-47 has been favored by guerrillas, terrorists and the soldiers of many armies. An estimated 100 million guns are spread worldwide.

MOSCOW — Mikhail Kalashnikov, whose work as a weapons designer for the Soviet Union is immortalized in the name of the world’s most popular firearm, died Monday at the age of 94. Enlarge This Image Dima Korotayev/Agence France-Presse— Getty Images
photo: AP / Vladimir Vyatkin

Pussy Riot Members, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova And Maria Alyokhina, Freed From Jail In Russia Under Amnesty Deal

Nadezhda Tolokonnikova speaks to the media after leaving prison in Krasnoyarsk, Russia, Monday, Dec. 23, 2013. The third member of the Russian punk bank Pussy Riot has been released from custody following an amnesty law passed by parliament. Tolokonnikova left the prison colony in the eastern Siberian city Krasnoyarsk on Monday, hours after another band member, Maria Alekhina, was released in another region.

KRASNOYARSK, RussiaDec 23 (Reuters) – Pussy Riot member NadezhdaTolokonnikova was freed from prison on Monday under an amnesty that allowed for her early release from a two-year sentence for a protest in a church againstPresident Vladimir Putin….
photo: AP / Tatyana Vishnevskaya

Pussy Riot member Maria Alyokhina released from jail in Russia

Pussy Riot

Maria Alyokhina, a member of Russian punk band Pussy Riot, walked free from jail on Monday under an amnesty allowing her early release from a two-year sentence for a protest in a church against President Vladimir Putin….
photo: GFDL

Pakistani army launches offensive near Afghan border

23 Dec 2013
Residents of Pakistan‘s ethnic Pashtun region of North Waziristan accused government troops on Monday of killing dozens of civilians during a military operation against Taliban insurgents. The operation started just after a Dec. 18 suicide bomb attack on a checkpoint in North Waziristan, a stronghold for al Qaeda-linked Taliban militants on…
Students from Pakistani tribal region of Waziristan hold a rally demanding peace in their areas, in Peshawar, Pakistan, Friday, Dec. 20, 2013.

Pussy Riot Members, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova And Maria Alyokhina, Freed From Jail In Russia Under Amnesty Deal

Nadezhda Tolokonnikova speaks to the media after leaving prison in Krasnoyarsk, Russia, Monday, Dec. 23, 2013. The third member of the Russian punk bank Pussy Riot has been released from custody following an amnesty law passed by parliament. Tolokonnikova left the prison colony in the eastern Siberian city Krasnoyarsk on Monday, hours after another band member, Maria Alekhina, was released in another region.

KRASNOYARSK, RussiaDec 23 (Reuters) – Pussy Riot member NadezhdaTolokonnikova was freed from prison on Monday under an amnesty that allowed for her early release from a two-year sentence for a protest in a church againstPresident Vladimir Putin….
photo: AP / Tatyana Vishnevsk

Pussy Riot member Maria Alyokhina released from jail in Russia

Pussy Riot

Maria Alyokhina, a member of Russian punk band Pussy Riot, walked free from jail on Monday under an amnesty allowing her early release from a two-year sentence for a protest in a church against President Vladimir Putin….
photo: GFDL

Arvind Kejriwal’s AAP set to form Delhi government

India's Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), or Common Man's Party leader Arvind Kejriwal speaks at a public meeting in New Delhi, India, Sunday, Dec. 22, 2013.

A new anti-corruption party in India is set to form the government in the capital,Delhi, after a surprisingly strong showing in recent state polls. The Aam AadmiParty (AAP), or Common Man‘s party, won 28 of the 70 seats in the Delhi assembly…
photo: AP / Tsering Topgyal

NATO starts own talks with Afghanistan on post-2014 mission pact

NATO starts own talks with Afghanistan on post-2014 mission pact

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – NATO and Afghan officials started work on Saturday on drawing up a framework for the alliance to stay on after 2014 despite the fact that a separate pact with the United States, which contributes the bulk of the forces, has still…
photo: USMC / James Mast

UN mission in South Sudan mourns fallen peacekeepers

UN mission in South Sudan mourns fallen peacekeepers

Print 21 December 2013 – The United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) held a memorial ceremony in Juba today for two Indian battalion peacekeepers who died in the 19 December in a brazen attack on its base in the town of Akobo in restive…
photo: UN / Martine Perret

Service Learning to Develop Leaders Against Hunger

	Service Learning to Develop Leaders Against Hunger

With Congress planning further cuts to food stamps, hunger in America is likely to escalate. Overseas, wars and disasters in Syria, the PhilippinesCentral African Republic and elsewhere are creating massive hunger emergencies. Rebuilding these…
photo: US Navy / Beverly Lesonik

Musharraf tells TV he did his best for Pakistanis

FILE - In this Monday, April 15, 2013 file photo, Pakistan's former President and military ruler Pervez Musharraf addresses his party supporters at his house in Islamabad, Pakistan. Musharraf spoken out Friday, Dec. 20, for the first time since his house arrest earlier this year, defending his actions while in power and telling a local TV station he did his best for the nation.

Comment () Tweet ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan former military ruler Pervez Musharraf has spoken out for the first time since his house arrest earlier this year, defending his actions while in power and telling a local TV station he did his best…
photo: AP / B.K. Bangash

Cuba’s Raul Castro calls for better US relations

22 Dec 2013

 

22 December 2013 Last updated at 03:39 GMT Cuban President Raul Castro has called for “civilised relations” with the United States, saying the two countries should respect their differences. President Castro said the US should drop its demand for regime change on the communist-run island, which he believes would allow both sides to continue work on… 
The President of Cuba, Raul Castro speaks during the 50th anniversary celebration of the Cuban Revolution at the main plaza in Santiago, Cuba, Thursday Jan. 1, 2009. Fifty years after triumphant armed rebels took power, Cuba celebrated the revolution's anniversary Thursday with toned-down festivities following a trio of devastating hurricanes and under the enduring public absence of an ailing Fidel Castro.
photo: AP / Ismael Francisco/Prensa Latina

Thai army chief warns of ‘civil war’ unless crisis ends

Full ArticleBBC News 

21 Dec 2013

 

The head of the Thai army has warned the current political crisis in the country could “trigger a civil war”. General Prayuth Chan-ocha has proposed a “people’s assembly”, made up of civilians from all sides, not the leaders, to heal the divisions. Thailand is facing its most serious political turmoil since 2010Prime… 
Thai anti-riot police stand guard next to a security guard for the anti-government protesters who stage a rally on the street outside the U.S. Embasy in Bangkok Thursday, Dec. 19, 2013.

Target cyber breach hits 40m payment cards at holiday peak

Full ArticleKhaleej Times 

20 Dec 2013

 

Target did not detect the attack on its own, according to a person familiar with the investigation. Shoppers leave a Target store in North Olmsted, Ohio on December 19, 2013.AP Target Corp said hackers have stolen data from up to 40 million credit and debit cards of shoppers who visited its stores during the first three weeks of the holiday season… 
Target cyber breach hits 40m payment cards at holiday peak
photo: AP / Mark Lennihan

Musharraf tells TV he did his best for Pakistanis

FILE - In this Monday, April 15, 2013 file photo, Pakistan's former President and military ruler Pervez Musharraf addresses his party supporters at his house in Islamabad, Pakistan. Musharraf spoken out Friday, Dec. 20, for the first time since his house arrest earlier this year, defending his actions while in power and telling a local TV station he did his best for the nation.

Comment () Tweet ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan former military ruler Pervez Musharraf has spoken out for the first time since his house arrest earlier this year, defending his actions while in power and telling a local TV station he did his best…
photo: AP / B.K. Bangash

 

‘Conspiracy’ behind US arrest of Indian envoy

Supporters of right wing Rashtrawadi Shivsena, or nationalist soldiers of Shiva, walk with people representing U.S. President Barack Obama near the U.S Embassy to protest against the alleged mistreatment of New York based Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade, in New Delhi, India, Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2013. The Indian diplomat said she faced repeated "handcuffing, stripping and cavity searches" following her arrest in New York City on visa fraud charges in a case that has infuriated the government in New Delhi. One of the persons representing Obama is naked to protest against the alleged stripping of the diplomat.

India has alleged that the recent arrest of one of its top diplomats in the US was part of a conspiracy, a charge that has gained momentum with the emergence of new facts surrounding the incident threatening bilateral ties between the two global…
photo: AP / /Saurabh Das

Thai protesters march in bid to oust PM, but turnout low

Yingluck Shinawatra, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Thailandaddresses the general debate of the sixty-seventh session of the General Assembly.

BANGKOK: Anti-government protesters marched in Bangkok on Thursday in a bid to force Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra from office but their numbers appeared far smaller than earlier in the month, when she called a snap election to try to defuse the…
photo: UN / Rick Bajornas

CAR death toll much higher than thought, says Amnesty

An African Union peacekeeper stands on a chair as a small child sits of the floor at an Islamic center where Peul refugees have sought protection in Bangui, Central African Republic, Wednesday Dec. 18, 2013.

Former rebels in the Central African Republic killed almost 1,000 people in a two-day rampage this month, double an earlier UN estimate, Amnesty Internationalhas said. The group says war crimes are being committed in CAR. In a separate report, Human
photo: AP / Jerome Delay

 

Europe’s Gaia mission ready for galactic survey

Artist's impression of Gaia

The European Space Agency is sending the $1.2 billion Gaia mission to space Thursday to catalog a billion stars, promising to be a prolific discoverer of planets, asteroids and supernovas for generations of astronomers. Artist’s concept of theGaia
photo: AP / ESA–D. Ducros, 2013

European Space Agency   Gaia Mission   Photos   Space   Wikipedia: Gaia (spacecraft)

Ronnie Biggs, one of Britain's most notorious criminals, attends a news conference to mark the release of his autobiography "Odd Man Out: The Last Straw", London, Thursday, Nov. 17, 2011. Biggs was a member of a gang that stole 2.6 million pounds from a Glasgow-to-London mail train in August 1963, in what was called the "heist of the century." He spent decades in exile in Brazil before agreeing to return to Britain, and prison, in 2001.

December 18, 2013 — Updated 1136 GMT (1936 HKTFILERonnie Biggs holds up a poster of himself during the promotion of his book on January 211994 in Rio de JaneiroLondon (CNN) — So-called “Great Train Robber” Ronnie Biggs — one of the most…
photo: AP / Kirsty Wigglesworth

Afghanistan: Mission accomplished is a ‘dangerous’ phrase

Afghanistan: Mission accomplished is a 'dangerous' phrase

16 December 2013 Last updated at 18:17 GMT UK troops can come home fromAfghanistan knowing it was mission accomplished, Prime Minister David Cameronhas said. He met forces stationed at Camp Bastion in Helmand, a year before the last British combat…
photo: USMC / Zachery B. Martin

Mikhail Khodorkovsky To Be Pardoned By Vladimir Putin

By NATALIYA VASILYEVA and VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV 12/19/13
MOSCOW (AP) — President Vladimir Putin said Thursday he will pardon jailed oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, a surprise decision that will let his top foe and Russia’s formerly richest man out of prison after more than a decade. The move, along with an amnesty for the two jailed members of the Pussy Riot punk band and the 30-member crew of a Greenpeace ship, appears designed to assuage international criticism of Russia’s rights record ahead of February’s Winter Olympics in Sochi, Putin’s pet project. Putin waited until just after his tightly choreographed annual news conference to make the announcement, dropping the biggest news of the day after journalists had already peppered him with questions, including one about Khodorkovsky’s fate, in a four-hour marathon. Putin said that Khodorkovsky, who is set to be released in August 2014, had submitted an appeal for pardon, something he had refused to do before. “He has spent more than 10 years behind bars. It’s a tough punishment,” Putin said. “He’s citing humanitarian aspects — his mother is ill. A decree to pardon him will be signed in the nearest time.” In October 2003, masked commandos stormed into his jet on the tarmac of a Siberian airport and arrested him at gunpoint. He was found guilty of tax evasion in 2005 and convicted of embezzlement in a second case in 2010. Critics have dismissed the charges against Khodorkovsky as a Kremlin vendetta for challenging Putin’s power.

Turkey PM brands graft probe ‘ugly’ anti-government plot

Full ArticleThe Times of India

19 Dec 2013
ANKARA: Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan charged on Wednesday that the detention of dozens of people in a high-profile graft probe was an “ugly” operation against his government. Several dozen police chiefs have been sacked in the wake of the dawn raids on Tuesday which led to the detention of 51 people including the sons of three…
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, seen during a funeral ceremony for Serafettin Elci, a prominent Turkish Kurdish politician and a former minister, at the parliament in Ankara

‘Conspiracy’ behind US arrest of Indian envoy

Supporters of right wing Rashtrawadi Shivsena, or nationalist soldiers of Shiva, walk with people representing U.S. President Barack Obama near the U.S Embassy to protest against the alleged mistreatment of New York based Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade, in New Delhi, India, Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2013. The Indian diplomat said she faced repeated "handcuffing, stripping and cavity searches" following her arrest in New York City on visa fraud charges in a case that has infuriated the government in New Delhi. One of the persons representing Obama is naked to protest against the alleged stripping of the diplomat.

India has alleged that the recent arrest of one of its top diplomats in the US was part of a conspiracy, a charge that has gained momentum with the emergence of new facts surrounding the incident threatening bilateral ties between the two global…
photo: AP / /Saurabh Das

Thai protesters march in bid to oust PM, but turnout low

Yingluck Shinawatra, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Thailandaddresses the general debate of the sixty-seventh session of the General Assembly.

BANGKOK: Anti-government protesters marched in Bangkok on Thursday in a bid to force Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra from office but their numbers appeared far smaller than earlier in the month, when she called a snap election to try to defuse the…
photo: UN / Rick Bajornas

CAR death toll much higher than thought, says Amnesty

An African Union peacekeeper stands on a chair as a small child sits of the floor at an Islamic center where Peul refugees have sought protection in Bangui, Central African Republic, Wednesday Dec. 18, 2013.

Former rebels in the Central African Republic killed almost 1,000 people in a two-day rampage this month, double an earlier UN estimate, Amnesty Internationalhas said. The group says war crimes are being committed in CAR. In a separate report, Human
photo: AP / Jerome Delay

Europe’s Gaia mission ready for galactic survey

Artist's impression of Gaia

The European Space Agency is sending the $1.2 billion Gaia mission to space Thursday to catalog a billion stars, promising to be a prolific discoverer of planets, asteroids and supernovas for generations of astronomers. Artist’s concept of theGaia
photo: AP / ESA–D. Ducros, 2013

‘Great Train Robber’ Ronnie Biggs dies, aged 84

Ronnie Biggs, one of Britain's most notorious criminals, attends a news conference to mark the release of his autobiography "Odd Man Out: The Last Straw", London, Thursday, Nov. 17, 2011. Biggs was a member of a gang that stole 2.6 million pounds from a Glasgow-to-London mail train in August 1963, in what was called the "heist of the century." He spent decades in exile in Brazil before agreeing to return to Britain, and prison, in 2001.

December 18, 2013 — Updated 1136 GMT (1936 HKTFILERonnie Biggs holds up a poster of himself during the promotion of his book on January 211994 in Rio de JaneiroLondon (CNN) — So-called “Great Train Robber” Ronnie Biggs — one of the most…
photo: AP / Kirsty Wigglesworth

Afghanistan: Mission accomplished is a ‘dangerous’ phrase

Afghanistan: Mission accomplished is a 'dangerous' phrase

16 December 2013 Last updated at 18:17 GMT UK troops can come home fromAfghanistan knowing it was mission accomplished, Prime Minister David Cameronhas said. He met forces stationed at Camp Bastion in Helmand, a year before the last British combat…
photo: USMC / Zachery B. Martin

UN rolls out aid in Yolanda-hit provinces

UN rolls out aid in Yolanda-hit provinces

MORE than a month after Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) pummeled the Philippines, the aid coming from Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations(UN) is finally arriving in Iloilo province. FAO, in coordination with the Departmentof…
photo: USMC / Codey Underwood

NSA Task Force Calls Out White House Over Press Freedom

The Huffington Post  |  By Posted: 12/18/2013
nsa press freedom
Buried deep in the report on NSA spying by President Obama’s advisory board is a paragraph that implicitly rebukes some of the unprecedented interventions by the White House into journalism this year. Media reform advocate Josh Stearns found this nugget on page 127 of the report: nsa It’s easy to imagine who the panel is referring to. The Justice Department has admitted to spying on members of the press and their sources, and the White House’s tactics and attitude towards the press have led to what many say is a major chilling effect. Elsewhere, the group also stressed that it saw the preservation of the “rights and the security” of journalists as a “particular concern.”

Britain’s MI6 linked to Libya torture scandal

18 Dec 2013

 

False intelligence extracted by torture in Tripoli‘s notorious Abu Salim prison has been linked to arrests of Libyan dissidents in the United Kingdom, an investigation by Al Jazeera’s People and Power has revealed. In this exclusive report, Abdel-Hakim Belhaj, the leader of the anti-Gaddafi resistance group, the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group… 
In this Saturday, Aug. 27, 2011 file photo, a Libyan man takes pictures of the courtyard of Abu Salim prison, in Tripoli, Libya. Human Rights Watch said it has uncovered evidence of a wider use of waterboarding in American interrogations of detainees than has been acknowledged by the United States.

Great Train Robber’ Ronnie Biggs dies, aged 84

Ronnie Biggs, one of Britain's most notorious criminals, attends a news conference to mark the release of his autobiography "Odd Man Out: The Last Straw", London, Thursday, Nov. 17, 2011. Biggs was a member of a gang that stole 2.6 million pounds from a Glasgow-to-London mail train in August 1963, in what was called the "heist of the century." He spent decades in exile in Brazil before agreeing to return to Britain, and prison, in 2001.

December 18, 2013 — Updated 1136 GMT (1936 HKTFILERonnie Biggs holds up a poster of himself during the promotion of his book on January 211994 in Rio de JaneiroLondon (CNN) — So-called “Great Train Robber” Ronnie Biggs — one of the most…
photo: AP / Kirsty Wigglesworth

Afghanistan: Mission accomplished is a ‘dangerous’ phrase

Afghanistan: Mission accomplished is a 'dangerous' phrase

16 December 2013 Last updated at 18:17 GMT UK troops can come home fromAfghanistan knowing it was mission accomplished, Prime Minister David Cameronhas said. He met forces stationed at Camp Bastion in Helmand, a year before the last British combat…
photo: USMC / Zachery B. Martin

UN rolls out aid in Yolanda-hit provinces

UN rolls out aid in Yolanda-hit provinces

MORE than a month after Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) pummeled the Philippines, the aid coming from Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations(UN) is finally arriving in Iloilo province. FAO, in coordination with the Departmentof…
photo: USMC / Codey Underwood

How Bin Laden Escaped in 2001—The lessons of Tora Bora

How Bin Laden Escaped in 2001—The lessons of Tora Bora

By Yaniv BarzilaiDecember 15th 20136:45 am More Stories by Yaniv Barzilai In 2001, a small U.S. special operations force had won extraordinary victories in Afghanistanand closed in on Bin Laden before high-level blunders allowed him to escape into…
photo: USMC / Zachery B. Martin

Pinoy architect suggests Lego-type homes

Pinoy architect suggests Lego-type homes

WHILE President Benigno Aquino III already made pronouncement that thePhilippines needed at least $3 billion (P132 billion) to rehabilitate the areas devastated by killer Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan), an Filipino architect suggested a faster, more…
photo: US Navy / Brian H. Abel

National Guard in last major Afghan tour

National Guard in last major Afghan tour

They’ve taught Afghan troops all they could about policing and fighting insurgents, hooked up Internet at headquarters so they don’t have to hand-carry reports across country anymore, and shipped thousands of containers of military equipment home….
photo: USMC / Zachery B. Martin

CAR Insecurity Worsens Humanitarian Crisis

CAR Insecurity Worsens Humanitarian Crisis

Anne Look DAKAR — The communal clashes that broke out in the Central African Republic just over a week ago have killed more than 600 people and displaced approximately 100,000 in a matter of days. Aid agencies say French and Africantroops there need…
photo: UN / Tobin Jones

What kind of Afghanistan will foreign forces leave?

17 Dec 2013

 

UK Prime Minister David Cameron has said that British troops will return fromAfghanistan having accomplished the main aim of their mission – to achieve a basic level of security. But how secure is Afghanistan, and what shape is the country in?BBC World Service reporter Dawood Azami takes at look at the challenges Afghanistan faces today. Security… 
File - Soldiers from th 6th Khandak, 3rd Brigade, 203rd Corps Afghan National Army added 60mm mortar systems to their entourage of armaments and recieve assistance from Soldiers of the 1st Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment on how to operate their new equipment, 07 July 2013.

Afghanistan: Mission accomplished is a ‘dangerous’ phrase

Afghanistan: Mission accomplished is a 'dangerous' phrase

16 December 2013 Last updated at 18:17 GMT UK troops can come home fromAfghanistan knowing it was mission accomplished, Prime Minister David Cameronhas said. He met forces stationed at Camp Bastion in Helmand, a year before the last British combat…
photo: USMC / Zachery B. Martin

UN rolls out aid in Yolanda-hit provinces

UN rolls out aid in Yolanda-hit provinces

MORE than a month after Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) pummeled the Philippines, the aid coming from Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations(UN) is finally arriving in Iloilo province. FAO, in coordination with the Departmentof…
photo: USMC / Codey Underwood

How Bin Laden Escaped in 2001—The lessons of Tora Bora

How Bin Laden Escaped in 2001—The lessons of Tora Bora

By Yaniv BarzilaiDecember 15th 20136:45 am More Stories by Yaniv Barzilai In 2001, a small U.S. special operations force had won extraordinary victories in Afghanistanand closed in on Bin Laden before high-level blunders allowed him to escape into…
photo: USMC / Zachery B. Martin

 

Pinoy architect suggests Lego-type homes

Pinoy architect suggests Lego-type homes

WHILE President Benigno Aquino III already made pronouncement that thePhilippines needed at least $3 billion (P132 billion) to rehabilitate the areas devastated by killer Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan), an Filipino architect suggested a faster, more…
photo: US Navy / Brian H. Abel

National Guard in last major Afghan tour

National Guard in last major Afghan tour

They’ve taught Afghan troops all they could about policing and fighting insurgents, hooked up Internet at headquarters so they don’t have to hand-carry reports across country anymore, and shipped thousands of containers of military equipment home….
photo: USMC / Zachery B. Martin

CAR Insecurity Worsens Humanitarian Crisis

CAR Insecurity Worsens Humanitarian Crisis

Anne Look DAKAR — The communal clashes that broke out in the Central African Republic just over a week ago have killed more than 600 people and displaced approximately 100,000 in a matter of days. Aid agencies say French and Africantroops there need…
photo: UN / Tobin Jones

‘Yolanda’ victims still need help — UN

‘Yolanda’ victims still need help — UN

HUMANITARIAN and early recovery needs remain great in typhoon-hit Philippines, a senior United Nations official said following a joint international mission to the areas of GuiuanOrmoc and Tacloban. “We saw the enormity of the destruction that…
photo: US Navy / Jacob I. Allison

China Pulled Off the First Soft Moon Landing in Almost 40 Years

 

Israel shoots two Lebanese soldiers

16 Dec 2013

 

Israeli troops have shot two Lebanese soldiers, hours after a Lebanese army sniper killed an Israeli soldier. The shooting took place just after midnight last night afterIsraeli forces identified “suspicious movement” along the border and shot two members of Lebanon‘s armed forces. The shooting occurred near where a Lebanese army sniper killed an… 
Israeli soldiers stand guard in Rosh Hanikra, Israel, near the border between northern Israel and Lebanon, Monday, Dec. 16, 2013. Israeli troops shot two Lebanese soldiers early on Monday.

How Bin Laden Escaped in 2001—The lessons of Tora Bora

How Bin Laden Escaped in 2001—The lessons of Tora Bora

By Yaniv BarzilaiDecember 15th 20136:45 am More Stories by Yaniv Barzilai In 2001, a small U.S. special operations force had won extraordinary victories in Afghanistanand closed in on Bin Laden before high-level blunders allowed him to escape into…
photo: USMC / Zachery B. Martin

 

Pinoy architect suggests Lego-type homes

Pinoy architect suggests Lego-type homes

WHILE President Benigno Aquino III already made pronouncement that thePhilippines needed at least $3 billion (P132 billion) to rehabilitate the areas devastated by killer Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan), an Filipino architect suggested a faster, more…
photo: US Navy / Brian H. Abel

National Guard in last major Afghan tour

National Guard in last major Afghan tour

They’ve taught Afghan troops all they could about policing and fighting insurgents, hooked up Internet at headquarters so they don’t have to hand-carry reports across country anymore, and shipped thousands of containers of military equipment home….
photo: USMC / Zachery B. Martin

CAR Insecurity Worsens Humanitarian Crisis

CAR Insecurity Worsens Humanitarian Crisis

Anne Look DAKAR — The communal clashes that broke out in the Central African Republic just over a week ago have killed more than 600 people and displaced approximately 100,000 in a matter of days. Aid agencies say French and Africantroops there need…
photo: UN / Tobin Jones

Dakar   Humanitarian   Insecurity   Photos   Wikipedia: Central African Republic

‘Yolanda’ victims still need help — UN

HUMANITARIAN and early recovery needs remain great in typhoon-hit Philippines, a senior United Nations official said following a joint international mission to the areas of GuiuanOrmoc and Tacloban. “We saw the enormity of the destruction that…
photo: US Navy / Jacob I. Allison

UN peacekeepers find arsenal of weapons left by Congo M23 rebels

UN peacekeepers find arsenal of weapons left by Congo M23 rebels

UN peacekeepers found an arsenal of weapons, including heavy caliber arms and enough ammunition to last a year, at the site of the last stand by M23 rebels in eastern Democratic Republic of CongoUN peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous said on Friday….
photo: UN / UN

Central African Republic: thousands seek refuge with French troops

Central African Republic: thousands seek refuge with French troops

Along the airfield in the capital of the Central African Republic, a makeshift camp for the thousands fleeing brutal violence now sprawls. Men armed with machetes and whips made of rubber and string stand guard next to an open space that has turned…
photo: UN / Martine Perret

With a hole in its heart, South Africa buries Mandela

Full ArticleChina Daily 

15 Dec 2013

 

With a hole in its heart, South Africa buries Mandela Updated: 2013-12-15 15:28 (Agencies) QUNU, South Africa – South Africa held a state funeral for Nelson Mandela on Sunday, closing one chapter in its tortured history and opening another in which the multi-racial democracy he founded will have to discover if it can thrive without its central… 
The casket bearing the remains of former South African President Nelson Mandela is brought into a makeshift tent for his funeral service for in Qunu, South Africa, Sunday, Sunday, Dec. 15, 2013.

Pinoy architect suggests Lego-type homes

Pinoy architect suggests Lego-type homes

WHILE President Benigno Aquino III already made pronouncement that thePhilippines needed at least $3 billion (P132 billion) to rehabilitate the areas devastated by killer Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan), an Filipino architect suggested a faster, more…
photo: US Navy / Brian H. Abel

 

National Guard in last major Afghan tour

National Guard in last major Afghan tour

They’ve taught Afghan troops all they could about policing and fighting insurgents, hooked up Internet at headquarters so they don’t have to hand-carry reports across country anymore, and shipped thousands of containers of military equipment home….
photo: USMC / Zachery B. Martin

 

CAR Insecurity Worsens Humanitarian Crisis

CAR Insecurity Worsens Humanitarian Crisis

Anne Look DAKAR — The communal clashes that broke out in the Central African Republic just over a week ago have killed more than 600 people and displaced approximately 100,000 in a matter of days. Aid agencies say French and Africantroops there need…
photo: UN / Tobin Jones

‘Yolanda’ victims still need help — UN

‘Yolanda’ victims still need help — UN

HUMANITARIAN and early recovery needs remain great in typhoon-hit Philippines, a senior United Nations official said following a joint international mission to the areas of GuiuanOrmoc and Tacloban. “We saw the enormity of the destruction that…
photo: US Navy / Jacob

UN peacekeepers find arsenal of weapons left by Congo M23 rebels

UN peacekeepers find arsenal of weapons left by Congo M23 rebels

UN peacekeepers found an arsenal of weapons, including heavy caliber arms and enough ammunition to last a year, at the site of the last stand by M23 rebels in eastern Democratic Republic of CongoUN peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous said

Central African Republic: thousands seek refuge with French troops

Central African Republic: thousands seek refuge with French troops

Along the airfield in the capital of the Central African Republic, a makeshift camp for the thousands fleeing brutal violence now sprawls. Men armed with machetes and whips made of rubber and string stand guard next to an open space that has turned…

Beyonce is full of surprises

The surprise release of her new album blends the intimate with the extravagant in a mixture of contradictions that pushes the creative envelope.

 

BeyonceBeyonce’s new album pushes the env

Entertainment)

UN chief says ‘world watching’ CAR atrocities

14 Dec 2013

 

The United Nations has warned groups carrying out atrocities in the Central African Republic that the world is watching and will hold them to account, after the killings of hundreds of people, mainly civilians. The warning from UN Secretary-GeneralBan Ki-moon on Friday came a day after a militia killed 27 Muslims in a village outside the capital,… 
Muslim men organized in militias with machetes rough up a Christian man while checking him for weapons in the Miskine neighbourhood of Bangui, Central African Republic, Friday Dec. 13, 2013.

Australian court strikes down gay marriage

In this Dec. 7, 2013 file photo, Ivan Hinton, right, gives his partner Chris Teoh a kiss after taking their wedding vows during a ceremony at Old Parliament House in Canberra, Australia.

Australia’s highest court has struck down a landmark law that allowed the country’s first gay marriages. Dozens have wed in the nation’s capital, but those marriages will be annulled in light of Thursday’s ruling, which found that the country’s…
photo: AP / Rob Griffith, File

 

ESA’s satellite shows Antarctica’s ice loss on the rise

antartic

Tweet WashingtonDec. 11 (ANI): Three years of observations by ESA‘s CryoSat satellite show that the West Antarctic Ice Sheet is losing over 150 cubic kilometres of ice each year- considerably more than when last surveyed. Dr. Malcolm McMillan from…
photo: Public Domain / Felipe Menegaz

Pussy Riot Almost Free, Maybe, Thanks to Suddenly Sensitive Putin

Pussy Riot members, from left, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Yekaterina Samutsevich and Maria Alekhina sit in a glass cage at a court room in Moscow, Russia, Friday, Aug. 3, 2012.

International punk icons Pussy Riot could be released from prison early under a new amnesty bill — proposed by Vladimir Putin — to celebrate the anniversary ofRussia‘s 1993 constitution. See? Not totalitarian-ish at all! The new rule…
photo: AP / Misha Japaridze

Afghan president lashes out at US ‘threats’

Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai, center, greets the guards of honor as he arrives to the Presidential Palace for his inauguration in Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, Nov. 19, 2009

PARISAfghanistan President Hamid Karzai lashed out at the United States, accusing it of making threats in the dispute over an agreement to keep US troops in the country beyond 2014. In an interview published today by the French daily Le Monde,…
photo: AP / Anja Niedringha

Ex-British Prime Minister Tony Blair worth over $123 million 

	Ex-British Prime Minister Tony Blair worth over $123 million

Tony Blair is the $123 million man. The former British prime minister has racked up a staggering fortune since leaving office in 2007, it’s emerged. He’s now so wealthy, in fact, that he’s set to be included on the prestigious annual Sunday…
photo: UN / UN

Thailand’s Embattled Prime Minister Insists She Will Stay

Opposition Pheu Thai party leader Yingluck Shinawatra casts her vote in a general election at a polling station in Bangkok, Thailand Sunday, July 3, 2011.

Steve Herman BANGKOK — Thailand’s government is again rebuffing demands from protest leaders that it be dissolved to make way for an appointed council to lead the country. A day after she moved to dissolve the parliament and call for elections,…
photo: AP / Apichart Weerawong

Thai PM insists she will not resign before polls

Thailand Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra pauses as she talks to media after attending a Cabinet meeting, in Bangkok, Thailand , Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2013. Shinawatra said Tuesday she would not resign ahead of national elections set for Feb. 2, despite opposition demands she step down as the caretaker head of government.

BANGKOK (AP) — Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra said Tuesday she would not resign ahead of national elections set for Feb. 2, despite opposition demands she step down as the caretaker head of government. Yingluck spoke one day after she announced…
photo: AP / Manish Swarup

December 13

ONE KNOCK. TWO MEN. ONE BULLET.

SAY UNCLE Jang Song Thaek’s Execution May Just Be The Beginning Of A Bigger Purge

 Breaking News

See realtime coverage

North Korea says leader’s uncle was executed

CNN  -25 minutes ago
       
(CNN) — An uncle of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has been executed for trying to overthrow the government, the Korean Central News Agency reported early Friday.

US and UK suspend non-lethal aid for Syria rebels

12 Dec 2013

 

The US and UK have suspended all “non-lethal” support for rebels in northernSyria, but not humanitarian aid. A US embassy spokesman in Ankara said the decision was made after Islamist rebels seized bases belonging to the Western-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA). Fighters from the Islamic Front, a new alliance of rebel groups, ousted…
In this photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, which was taken on Saturday November 23, 2013, flames rising from a fuel tank that was burned by rebels shelling according to SANA, at a fuel refinery, in Homs, Syria.

Australian court strikes down gay marriage

In this Dec. 7, 2013 file photo, Ivan Hinton, right, gives his partner Chris Teoh a kiss after taking their wedding vows during a ceremony at Old Parliament House in Canberra, Australia.

Australia’s highest court has struck down a landmark law that allowed the country’s first gay marriages. Dozens have wed in the nation’s capital, but those marriages will be annulled in light of Thursday’s ruling, which found that the country’s…
photo: AP / Rob Griffith, File

ESA’s satellite shows Antarctica’s ice loss on the rise

antartic

Tweet WashingtonDec. 11 (ANI): Three years of observations by ESA‘s CryoSat satellite show that the West Antarctic Ice Sheet is losing over 150 cubic kilometres of ice each year- considerably more than when last surveyed. Dr. Malcolm McMillan from…
photo: Public Domain / Felipe Menegaz

Pussy Riot Almost Free, Maybe, Thanks to Suddenly Sensitive Putin

Pussy Riot members, from left, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Yekaterina Samutsevich and Maria Alekhina sit in a glass cage at a court room in Moscow, Russia, Friday, Aug. 3, 2012.

International punk icons Pussy Riot could be released from prison early under a new amnesty bill — proposed by Vladimir Putin — to celebrate the anniversary ofRussia‘s 1993 constitution. See? Not totalitarian-ish at all! The new rule…
photo: AP / Misha Japaridze

Afghan president lashes out at US ‘threats’

Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai, center, greets the guards of honor as he arrives to the Presidential Palace for his inauguration in Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, Nov. 19, 2009

PARISAfghanistan President Hamid Karzai lashed out at the United States, accusing it of making threats in the dispute over an agreement to keep US troops in the country beyond 2014. In an interview published today by the French daily Le Monde,…
photo: AP / Anja Niedringhaus

Ex-British Prime Minister Tony Blair worth over $123 million 

	Ex-British Prime Minister Tony Blair worth over $123 million

Tony Blair is the $123 million man. The former British prime minister has racked up a staggering fortune since leaving office in 2007, it’s emerged. He’s now so wealthy, in fact, that he’s set to be included on the prestigious annual Sunday…
photo: UN / U

Thailand’s Embattled Prime Minister Insists She Will Stay

Opposition Pheu Thai party leader Yingluck Shinawatra casts her vote in a general election at a polling station in Bangkok, Thailand Sunday, July 3, 2011.

Steve Herman BANGKOK — Thailand’s government is again rebuffing demands from protest leaders that it be dissolved to make way for an appointed council to lead the country. A day after she moved to dissolve the parliament and call for elections,…
photo: AP / Apichart Weerawong

Thai PM insists she will not resign before polls

Thailand Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra pauses as she talks to media after attending a Cabinet meeting, in Bangkok, Thailand , Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2013. Shinawatra said Tuesday she would not resign ahead of national elections set for Feb. 2, despite opposition demands she step down as the caretaker head of government.

BANGKOK (AP) — Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra said Tuesday she would not resign ahead of national elections set for Feb. 2, despite opposition demands she step down as the caretaker head of government. Yingluck spoke one day after she announced…
photo: AP / Manish Swarup

The Handshake Seen Around the World

11 Dec 2013

 

Article by WN.com Corespondent Dallas DarlingPerhaps the United States is once again regaining its revolutionary spirit. But this time instead of a “shot heard around the world,” it will be known as the “handshake seen around the world.” And instead of George Washington as Commander-in-Chief, the hero will bePresident Barack Obama as… 
US President Barack Obama shakes hands with Cuban President Raul Castro at the FNB Stadium in Soweto, South Africa, in the rain for a memorial service for former South African President Nelson Mandela, Tuesday Dec. 10, 2013. The handshake between the leaders of the two Cold War enemies came during a ceremony that's focused on Mandela's legacy of reconciliation. Hundreds of foreign dignitaries and world heads of states gather Tuesday with thousands of South African people to celebrate the life, and mark the death, of Nelson Mandela who has became a global symbol of reconciliation.

ESA’s satellite shows Antarctica’s ice loss on the rise

antartic

Tweet WashingtonDec. 11 (ANI): Three years of observations by ESA‘s CryoSat satellite show that the West Antarctic Ice Sheet is losing over 150 cubic kilometres of ice each year- considerably more than when last surveyed. Dr. Malcolm McMillan from…
photo: Public Domain / Felipe Menegaz

Pussy Riot Almost Free, Maybe, Thanks to Suddenly Sensitive Putin

Pussy Riot members, from left, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Yekaterina Samutsevich and Maria Alekhina sit in a glass cage at a court room in Moscow, Russia, Friday, Aug. 3, 2012.

International punk icons Pussy Riot could be released from prison early under a new amnesty bill — proposed by Vladimir Putin — to celebrate the anniversary ofRussia‘s 1993 constitution. See? Not totalitarian-ish at all! The new rule…
photo: AP / Misha Japaridze

Afghan president lashes out at US ‘threats’

Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai, center, greets the guards of honor as he arrives to the Presidential Palace for his inauguration in Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, Nov. 19, 2009

PARISAfghanistan President Hamid Karzai lashed out at the United States, accusing it of making threats in the dispute over an agreement to keep US troops in the country beyond 2014. In an interview published today by the French daily Le Monde,…
photo: AP / Anja Niedringhaus

Thailand’s Embattled Prime Minister Insists She Will Stay

Opposition Pheu Thai party leader Yingluck Shinawatra casts her vote in a general election at a polling station in Bangkok, Thailand Sunday, July 3, 2011.

Steve Herman BANGKOK — Thailand’s government is again rebuffing demands from protest leaders that it be dissolved to make way for an appointed council to lead the country. A day after she moved to dissolve the parliament and call for elections,…
photo: AP / Apichart Weerawong

Thai PM insists she will not resign before polls

Thailand Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra pauses as she talks to media after attending a Cabinet meeting, in Bangkok, Thailand , Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2013. Shinawatra said Tuesday she would not resign ahead of national elections set for Feb. 2, despite opposition demands she step down as the caretaker head of government.

BANGKOK (AP) — Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra said Tuesday she would not resign ahead of national elections set for Feb. 2, despite opposition demands she step down as the caretaker head of government. Yingluck spoke one day after she announced…
photo: AP / Manish Swarup

Thai House dissolved, yet protests persist

Anti-government protesters in Bangkok

Anti-government protesters pass a giant Thai national flag outside theGovernment House during a demonstration in Bangkok, Thailand, Dec. 9, 2013.Thailand‘s anti-government protesters on Monday demanded interim Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to…
photo: Creative Commons / ilf_

Historic agreement signed to lay pipeline linking Red Sea and Dead Sea

General view showing an empty beach at the Red Sea resort of Sharm el Sheik, Egypt, Sunday, Dec.5, 2010. Security officials say a shark has killed an elderly German tourist at an Egyptian Red Sea resort, a few days after three Russians and a Ukrainian tourist were badly mauled in shark attacks.

In a rare instance of Middle East co-operation, IsraelJordan and the Palestinian Authority (PA) have signed an agreement for laying a pipeline from the Red Sea, at the southern tip of Israel, to the Dead Sea. About 100 million cubic meters of water…
photo: AP

THE WORLD SAYS GOODBYE

Getty

Memorial Draws Mourners And Leaders From Around The World… Obama: Mandela Was ‘Last Great Liberator Of The 20th Century’… Bush, Clinton, Hollande, Raul Castro In Attendance… Crowd Joyous..

French troops start disarming fighters in C. African Republic

10 Dec 2013

 

BANGUI (Central African Republic), Dec 9French troops on Monday began disarming fighters in the Central African Republic to try to restore security after a swell in sectarian violence that claimed hundreds of lives. Bangui was relatively calm after days of fighting involving former Seleka rebels in which nearly 400 people were killed, although… 
French troops detain a suspected Seleka officer , preventing Christian mobs from lynching him near the airport in Bangui, Central African Republic, Monday Dec. 9, 2013.

 

Thai PM insists she will not resign before polls

Thailand Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra pauses as she talks to media after attending a Cabinet meeting, in Bangkok, Thailand , Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2013. Shinawatra said Tuesday she would not resign ahead of national elections set for Feb. 2, despite opposition demands she step down as the caretaker head of government.

BANGKOK (AP) — Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra said Tuesday she would not resign ahead of national elections set for Feb. 2, despite opposition demands she step down as the caretaker head of government. Yingluck spoke one day after she announced…
photo: AP / Manish Swarup

 

Thai House dissolved, yet protests persist

Anti-government protesters in Bangkok

Anti-government protesters pass a giant Thai national flag outside theGovernment House during a demonstration in Bangkok, Thailand, Dec. 9, 2013.Thailand‘s anti-government protesters on Monday demanded interim Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to…
photo: Creative Commons / ilf_

Historic agreement signed to lay pipeline linking Red Sea and Dead Sea

General view showing an empty beach at the Red Sea resort of Sharm el Sheik, Egypt, Sunday, Dec.5, 2010. Security officials say a shark has killed an elderly German tourist at an Egyptian Red Sea resort, a few days after three Russians and a Ukrainian tourist were badly mauled in shark attacks.

In a rare instance of Middle East co-operation, IsraelJordan and the Palestinian Authority (PA) have signed an agreement for laying a pipeline from the Red Sea, at the southern tip of Israel, to the Dead Sea. About 100 million cubic meters of water…
photo: AP

 

Two Spanish journalists held by Al-Qaeda group in Syria

In this Tuesday, Dec. 4, 2012 file photo, Syrians walk past damaged homes during heavy fighting between Free Syrian Army fighters and government forces in Aleppo, Syria.

MADRID: A radical group linked to Al-Qaeda kidnapped…
photo: AP / Narciso Contreras

Chinese hacked G20 computers

Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, left, and European Council President Herman Van Rompuy , center, speak during the Russia EU Summit outside St. Petersburg, Russia, Sunday, June 3, 2012.

BostonChinese hackers eavesdropped on the computers of five European foreign ministries before last September’s G20 Summit, which was dominated by the…
photo: AP / RIA-Novosti, Alexei Nikolsky, Government Press Service

 

Mayor of Colombia’s capital ordered removed

Downtown Bogota. Bogotá is the main economic and industrial center of Colombia. In the period 2003–2006, its commercial GDP grew by 10.3% annually, accounting for 25.3% of GDP national trade.

BOGOTA, Colombia — Colombia’s inspector-general ordered Bogota‘s left-leaning mayor removed from office Monday for alleged unconstitutional behavior in a showdown last year with private garbage collectors. Mayor Gustavo Petro was disqualified…
photo: Creative Commons / Thelmadatter

British soldier slayed ‘for Allah’

A police van allegedly carrying 22-year-old Michael Adebowale, a suspect in the murder of British soldier Lee Rigby, heads towards the Westminster Magistrates Court in central London, Thursday, May 30, 2013.

A man accused of killing an off-duty British soldier in a frenzied knife attack on aLondon street has defended his actions in court, claiming he is a soldier fighting for the Muslim religion and declaring his love for al Qaeda. Michael Adebolajo,…
photo: AP / Lefteris Pitarakis

Aid agencies ‘paid Somalia’s al-Shabab’ during famine

09 Dec 2013

 

Humanitarian agencies paid Somalia‘s al-Shabab militants for access to areas under their control in the 2011 famine, according to a joint report by two think tanks. In many cases al-Shabab insisted on distributing the aid and kept much of… Wn.com/
File - A barefoot child stands among ragged tents at a refugee camp in Dolo, Somalia on Wednesday, July 18. 2012. The U.N., which declared a famine in Somalia one year ago, says conditions have improved but that 2.5 million people are still in crisis.

 

India’s BJP set to form government in key states

Chief Minister of Gujarat Narendra Modi speaking at a program organised by business chambers ICC, BCC and MCCI on April 9, 2013 in Kolkata

India‘s main opposition BJP is set to form a government in three key states after winning an absolute majority in assembly elections. The Hindu nationalist party has won 162 assembly seats in the northern state of Rajasthan, leaving the ruling…
photo: WN / Bhaskar Mallick

Soldiers stand guard by communications towers in Corinto in southern Colombia, Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2009

Colombia‘s largest rebel group, the Farc, has announced a 30-day-long ceasefire starting on 15 December. The announcement came a day after five soldiers, one police officer and three civilians were killed by a Farc car bomb attack against a…
photo: AP / Christian Escobar Mora

Venezuela local elections test Maduro

Supporters attend the closing rally of Venezuela's acting President Nicolas Maduro in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday April 11, 2013.

People in Venezuela have begun voting in municipal elections seen as a crucial test for President Nicolas Maduro. Mr Maduro narrowly won a presidential election in April to replace Hugo Chavez who had died from cancer. Since November, Mr Maduro has…
photo: AP / Ariana Cubillos

One Month Later, Typhoon’s Impact on Philippines

131116-N-TE278-399 GUIUAN, Eastern Samar Province, Republic of the Philippines (Nov. 16, 2013) Sailors from the U.S. Navy's forward-deployed aircraft carrier USS George Washington (CVN 73) alongside Marines and Filipino civilians help unload supplies from an  HC-130 Hercules from Marine Wing Support Squadron (MWSS) 172 in support of Operation Damayan. The George Washington Strike Group supports the 3rd Marine Expeditionary Brigade to assist the Philippine government in response to the aftermath of the Super Typhoon Haiyan in the Republic of the Philippines. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Paolo Bayas/Released)

Simone Orendain MANILA — One month ago, a powerful super typhoon slammed the central Philippines, knocking out power and communications, and kicking up piles of debris that cut people off from aid for days. Humanitarian officials say these days,…
photo: US Navy / Beverly Lesonik

Civilians inspect the scene of a car bomb attack in the Kamaliyah neighborhood, a predominantly Shiite area of eastern Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, May 20, 2013.

Related articles Iraq seeks US arms as bombs kill another 55 BAGHDAD — Car bombs killed at least 30 people across Iraq on Sunday and wounded nearly a hundred, with attackers mainly targeting busy commercial streets in the capital, police sources…
photo: AP / Hadi Mizban

UN Inspectors Visit Iranian Nuclear Plant

An aerial view of a heavy-water production plant, which went into operation despite U.N. demands that Iran roll back its nuclear program, in the central Iranian town of Arak, Saturday, Aug. 26, 2006.

VOA News Iranian media have reported inspectors from the U.N. nuclear watchdog visited an Iranian heavy water production facility for the first time in two years. The…
photo: AP / ISNA, Arash Khamoushi

Thousands Gather for Protest Against Ukraine Government

Supporter of Ukrainian opposition leader and presidential candidate Viktor Yanukovych gather during a campaign rally in Kiev, Ukraine, Monday, Jan. 18, 2010.

VOA News Thousands of Ukrainians are flocking to the center of the capital city ofKyiv for what opposition leaders expect to be the largest anti-government demonstration since mass protests started three weeks ago. Organizers…
photo: AP / Alexander Zemlianichenko

Egypt courts release 21 pro-Morsi female protesters

08 Dec 2013

 

CAIRO: Egyptian appeals courts ordered the release Saturday of 21 women and girls jailed over an Islamist opposition protest, after reducing harsh sentences that had sparked outrage. To chants of “God is greatest” from supporters in anAlexandria courtroom, the 14 women, initially jailed for 11 years, were ordered freed after receiving one-year… 
An Egyptian woman supporter of ousted President Mohammed Morsi shows her hand inscribed with the word "freedom," from inside the defendants' cage in a courtroom in Alexandria, Egypt, Saturday, Dec. 7, 2013.

Official: Deadly clashes in northern Kenya

Villagers view the bodies of suspected attackers from the Pokomo tribe, following tribal clashes in Kipao village in the Tana River Delta region of southeastern Kenya Friday, Dec. 21, 2012.

NAIROBI, Kenya — A Kenyan official says several people have been killed and injured in fighting between rival ethnic groups in the country’s north. Marsabitcounty governor Ukur Yatani said there were “many casualties” but…
photo: AP / Photo

Deal to boost global trade reached at WTO summit

Dilma Rousseff with Brazil's Roberto Azevedo ex-ambassador newly named World Trade Organization ( WTO ) director arrives in Malabo ( Guinea Equatorial )

The Associated Press BALI (AP)—A deal to boost global trade has been approved by the World Trade Organization’s 159 member economies for the first time in nearly two decades, keeping alive the possibility that a broader agreement to create a level…
photo: Flickr / PR / Roberto Stuckert Filho

Hagel Arrives In Afghanistan, Has No Plans To Meet With Karzai

Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel walks with Congressman Buck McKeon to the Peace Through Strength Forum and Awards dinner at the Reagan Library in Simi Vally, California, Nov. 15, 2013. Hagel spoke at the forum as well as at the awards dinner where former Secretary Bob Gates and Senator Carl Levin were presented with the Peace through Strength award.  Photo by Erin A. Kirk-Cuomo (Released)

Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel landed in Afghanistan Saturday for a surprise visit with the troops. Despite the fact that the U.S. and Afghanistan are at odds over a security agreement that allows U.S. troops to remain in the country past 2014,…
photo: US DoD / Erin A. Kirk-Cuomo
Photo by Christopher Furlong/G

Dubai’s Camel Races Embrace Robot Jockeys

By Adam Rasmi

December 7th 2013
Just when you thought the most competitive sport in Dubai couldn’t get any more exciting, the owners of purebred racing camels have gone and invented remote-control jockeys to whip their dromedaries to victory.

Pope to launch plan to end world hunger

07 Dec 2013

 

Catholic Relief Services announced that Pope Francis would be leading a major initiative to end world hunger. A global wave of prayer will start at noon on Tuesday, December 10th on the Pacific island of Samoa. The prayer will move through each time zone for the next 24 hoursThe public is asked to become a voice for the hungry. There are 842… 
Pope Francis waves to faithful after celebrating his first Easter Mass in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Sunday, March 31, 2013.

 

Biden visits DMZ as NKorea releases US tourist

South Korean soldiers salute U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, right, at Observation Post Ouellette in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), near the border village of Panmunjom, which has separated the two Koreas since the Korean War, South Korea, Saturday, Dec. 7, 2013.

OBSERVATION POST OUELLETTE, South Korea (AP) ? U.S. Vice President Joe Bidenstepped foot into the no-man’s land between North and South Korea on Saturday, peering out at the furtive nation hours after it released an American tourist the regime had…
photo: AP / Lee Jin-man, Pool

North Korea deports US tourist and Korean War veteran

 A North Korean military honor guard stands at attention at Pyongyang airport Wednesday, May 2, 2001, as Swedish Prime Minister Goeran Persson arrives with European officials. Persson holds the rotating European Union presidency. (AP Photo/Stephen Shaver,

North Korea said he had been released on humanitarian grounds and because he had admitted to his wrongdoing and apologised. US tourist Merrill Newman arrives at Beijing airport on December 7, 2013 after being released by North Korea. AP North Korea…
photo: AP Photo/Stephen Shaver, Pool

Bodies lay in the streets of Bangui, Central African Republic, Friday Dec. 6 2013, a day after gun battles between Seleka soldiers and Christian militias left over 100 dead and scores wounded.

There are fresh reports of violence in the Central African Republic, as the death toll from two days of fighting has risen to nearly 300 people. Joanna Mariner works forAmnesty International in the CAR capital, Bangui. She tells VOA that gunmen…
photo: AP / Jerome Delay

 

Alien planet 11 times bigger than Jupiter found in bizarre, massive orbit

This artist’s impression shows HIP 13044 b, an exoplanet orbiting a star that entered our galaxy, the Milky Way, from another galaxy.

By Denise ChowPublished December 06, 2013Space.com An artist’s conception of a young planet in a distant orbit around its host star. The star still harbors a debris disk, remnant material from star and planet formation, interior to the planet’s…
photo: Creative Commons / ESO/L. Calçada

Jordan takes UN seat rejected by Saudi Arabia

President Barack Obama meets with Jordan's King Abdullah II, Friday, March 22, 2013, at the King's Palace in Amman, Jordan.

The UN General Assembly has elected Jordan to the Security Council to replaceSaudi Arabia, which had rejected the seat in an unprecedented act to protest the council’s failure to end the Syrian and Israeli-Palestinian conflictsArab countrieschose…
photo: AP / Pablo Martinez Monsivais

Obama Traveling To South Africa For Mandela Memorial

U.S. President Barack Obama stands facing out to see, at the 'Door of No Return,' at the slave house on Goree Island, in Dakar, Senegal, Thursday, June 27, 2013.

(Adds more Carney comments) WASHINGTON, Dec 6 (Reuters) – President Barack Obama will travel to South Africa next week to participate in memorial events forNelson Mandela, the former South African president who died on Thursday.Obama‘s exact…
photo: AP / Rebecca Blackwell

Ukraine’s Yanukovich meets Putin

In this Monday, April 26, 2010 photo Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, left, shakes hands with Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych in Kiev, Ukraine.

KIEV – Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich met Russia‘s Vladimir Putin on Friday to lay the grounds for a new “strategic partnership” to shore up Ukraine‘s creaking economy in defiance of protesters back home enraged by his U-turn away…
photo: AP / RIA Novosti, Alexei Nikolsky

 

Two, Even Three, Always Makes for a Better Peace

Full ArticleWorldNews.com 

06 Dec 2013

 

Article by WN.com Correspondent Dallas Darling While Nelson Mandela became the foundation and architect for a free and peaceful democratic South Africa,Frederik de Klerk was the catalyst. They are living witnesses that two, not one, makes for a better peace and democratic system. And when the United States Congress decided to implement economic… 
File - South African President F. W. de Klerk shakes hands with Nelson Mandela, South African anti-apartheid leader and head of the ANC at the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos in 1992.

THE WORLD GRIEVES

Storm causes havoc in Europe and deaths in UK

06 Dec 2013

 

Hurricane-force winds cut transport and power in northern Britain and blasted towards mainland Europe as meteorologists warned Storm Xaver could be the worst to hit the continent in years. British authorities warned of “the most serious coastal tidal surge for over 60 years in… 
Police officers accompany two surfers, centre, after they tried to enter the water during stormy weather, at the coastal town in Blankenberge, Belgium,Thursday, Dec. 5, 2013.

Deadly Violence Erupts in CAR Capital

President of the Central African Republic Francois Bozize speaks to the media at the presidential palace in Bangui, Central African Republic Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2013.

Heavy fighting is reported in the capital of the Central African Republic, as the U.N.prepares to authorize deployment of more troops to the troubled country. The initial accounts from Bangui said at least several people were killed Thursday in…
photo: AP / Ben Curtis

Thai King Urges People to Do Their Duty, Declines Comment on Crisis

In this photo released by the Bureau of the Royal Household, Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej, left, and Queen Sirikit pray in Amarin Winitchai Throne Hall during a ceremony marking the 60th anniversary of King Bhumibol's coronation Wednesday, May 5, 2010, in Bangkok, Thailand.

By Reuters on 5:43 pm December 5, 2013. Category InternationalWorld Tags:Bangkok, Thailand protests BangkokThai King Bhumibol Adulyadej called on his people to do their duty for the good of the country in a birthday address on Thursday, but…
photo: AP / Bureau of the Royal Household

15 killed in Yemen ministry bombing

Forensic policemen collect evidence at the site of a suicide bomb attack at a parade square in Sanaa, Yemen, Monday, May 21, 2012.

At least two people have been killed in a bombing at the defence ministry headquarters in Yemen, officials said. Another 20 were wounded when the suicide car bomb was detonated at the complex in the centre of the capital, Sanaa. The blast blew out…
photo: AP / Hani Mohammed

Apple and China Mobile to Strike iPhone Deal, Report Says

Phil Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of worldwide marketing, speaks on stage during an introduction of the new iPhone 5 at an Apple event in San Francisco, Wednesday Sept. 12, 2012.

After years of wrangling over various issues, China Mobile, the world’s largest wireless carrier with 740 million subscribers, has finally struck a deal with Apple to offer the iPhone on its network in China, according to a report in the Wall Street
photo: AP / Eric Risberg

Obama says he’s not allowed iPhone for ‘security reasons’

** FILE ** In this July 7, 2008, file photo Democratic presidential candidate, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., checks his BlackBerry in St. Louis, Mo., prior to a conference call with supporters gathered at a rally in Charlotte, N.C. President-elect Barack Obama used to collect comic books, can't part with his BlackBerry, and once flashed Leonard "Mr. Spock" Nimoy the Vulcan "Live Long and Prosper" sign, evidence to some that he'll be the first American president to show distinct signs of geekiness.

WASHINGTON Dec 4 (Reuters) – The troubled mobile phone maker BlackBerry still has at least one very loyal customer: U.S. President Barack Obama. At a meeting with youth on Wednesday to…
photo: AP / Jae C. Hong

Dementia epidemic looms with 135 million sufferers seen by 2050

Arthur Zitzner, 93, works his arms on a pulley exerciser at the Green Hill retirement home where he lives in West Orange, N.J., Monday, April 3, 2006. Physical fitness protects against high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart disease, stroke and diabetes, all risk factors for Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia.

LONDON (Reuters) – Many governments are woefully unprepared for an epidemic of dementia currently affecting 44 million people worldwide and set to more than treble to 135 million people by 2050, health experts and campaigners said on Thursday. Fresh
photo: AP / Mike Derer

911 calls about Newtown school shooting released

Parents leave a staging area after being reunited with their children following a shooting at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., about 60 miles (96 kilometers) northeast of New York City, Friday, Dec. 14, 2012.

DANBURY, Conn. – “Sandy Hook School, I think there is someone shooting in here, Sandy Hook School.” The female caller’s voice is shaking, the call lasts just 24 seconds and there are few details she can provide. Within moments the Newtown, Conn.,…
photo: AP / Jessica Hill

Swiss scientists stand by Arafat findings

05 Dec 2013

 

The Swiss researchers who concluded that former Palestinian President Yasser Arafat was poisoned are standing by their findings. On Tuesday, a French research team ruled that high levels of Polonium found in Arafat’s body came from the element Radon in the environment. But the Swiss team said on Thursday their radiation… 
A mural depicting the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat (R) in Gaza City as French prosecutors in Paris opened up an official inquiry into Yasser Arafat's death in Gaza City on August 28, 2012. Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas welcomed a decision by French prosecutors to open a murder inquiry into claims the Arafat may have been poisoned.

Apple and China Mobile to Strike iPhone Deal, Report Says

Phil Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of worldwide marketing, speaks on stage during an introduction of the new iPhone 5 at an Apple event in San Francisco, Wednesday Sept. 12, 2012.

After years of wrangling over various issues, China Mobile, the world’s largest wireless carrier with 740 million subscribers, has finally struck a deal with Apple to offer the iPhone on its network in China, according to a report in the Wall Street
photo: AP / Eric Risberg

Obama says he’s not allowed iPhone for ‘security reasons’

** FILE ** In this July 7, 2008, file photo Democratic presidential candidate, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., checks his BlackBerry in St. Louis, Mo., prior to a conference call with supporters gathered at a rally in Charlotte, N.C. President-elect Barack Obama used to collect comic books, can't part with his BlackBerry, and once flashed Leonard "Mr. Spock" Nimoy the Vulcan "Live Long and Prosper" sign, evidence to some that he'll be the first American president to show distinct signs of geekiness.

WASHINGTON Dec 4 (Reuters) – The troubled mobile phone maker BlackBerry still has at least one very loyal customer: U.S. President Barack Obama. At a meeting with youth on Wednesday to…
photo: AP / Jae C. Hong

Dementia epidemic looms with 135 million sufferers seen by 2050

Arthur Zitzner, 93, works his arms on a pulley exerciser at the Green Hill retirement home where he lives in West Orange, N.J., Monday, April 3, 2006. Physical fitness protects against high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart disease, stroke and diabetes, all risk factors for Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia.

LONDON (Reuters) – Many governments are woefully unprepared for an epidemic of dementia currently affecting 44 million people worldwide and set to more than treble to 135 million people by 2050, health experts and campaigners said on Thursday. Fresh
photo: AP / Mike Derer

911 calls about Newtown school shooting released

Parents leave a staging area after being reunited with their children following a shooting at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., about 60 miles (96 kilometers) northeast of New York City, Friday, Dec. 14, 2012.

DANBURY, Conn. – “Sandy Hook School, I think there is someone shooting in here, Sandy Hook School.” The female caller’s voice is shaking, the call lasts just 24 seconds and there are few details she can provide. Within moments the Newtown, Conn.,…
photo: AP / Jessica Hill

French lower house backs prostitution law reform

Prostitutes are seen in Rome in this July 3, 2007 photo. Italian law gives foreign prostitutes a chance to escape human traffickers who force young women from poor countries to sell their bodies to pay for their passage into Western Europe.

The French lower house of parliament passed a reform of prostitution law on today imposing fines on clients, a shift to tougher rules which has split the country and angered some sex workers. Lawmakers voted 268 in favour and 138 against to give…
photo: AP / Andrew Medichini

At least 21 bodies found in mass grave in Mali

A Malian soldier takes cover behind a truck during exchanges of fire with jihadists in Gao, northern Mali, Sunday, Feb. 10, 2013.

Authorities in Mali have found a mass grave believed to contain bodies of soldiers missing since last year The nation’s leading prosecutor has said the find should lead to murder being added to the list of charges being brought against a former…
photo: AP / Jerome Delay

Ivory Coast’s Ouattara says to seek re-election in 2015

Opposition leader Alassane Ouattara addresses the press at a news conference at Golf Hotel in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, Wednesday, Dec. 1, 2010.

Reuters December 4, 2013 – 18:52 PARIS (Reuters) – Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara said on Wednesday he would run for a second term at elections scheduled for October 2015, saying the task of rebuilding the West African country after a…
photo: AP / Rebecca Blackwell

 December 4, 2013

‘EITHER THEY WILL DEFEAT US OR WE WILL DEFEAT THEM’

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Thousands Take To The Streets In Kiev.. Gov’t Shows No Sign Of Yielding

Hezbollah blames Iranian embassy blasts on Saudi Arabia

04 Dec 2013

 

The bombed Iranian embassy in BeirutPhotoAFP Beirut: Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah has blamed Saudi Arabia for a twin suicide attack on the Iranian embassy in Beirut that killed 25 people. The Abdullah Azzam Brigades, an al-Qaeda affiliate that claimed responsibility for the attacks last month, “has an emir and he is Saudi, and I am… 
Hezbollah blames Iranian embassy blasts on Saudi Arabia

Traffickers may target typhoon survivors

Traffickers may target typhoon survivors

Washington – Thousands of women and children in the Philippines risk falling prey to human traffickers in the aftermath of last month’s catastrophic typhoon, lawmakers and the chief US aid agency warned on Tuesday. A US congressman returning from a…
photo: US Navy / Ramon G. Go

 

NY court asked to give chimpanzee ‘legal person’ status

chimpanzee zoo-leipig

A US animal rights group is calling on a New York court to recognise a chimpanzee as a legal person, in what is believed to be a legal first. The Nonhuman RightsProject wants a chimp named Tommy to be granted “legal personhood” and thus…
photo: Creative Commons / Thomas Lersch

 

Hussein al-Laqis Dead: Hezbollah Commander Killed Outside His Beirut Home

Yellow tape seals off the scene where Hassan al-Laqis, a senior commander for the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, was gunned down outside his home, some two miles (three kilometers) southwest of Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2013. In a statement, Hezbollah announced the death of al-Laqis and described him as one of the founding members of the group, suggesting he was a high-level commander close to the Shiite party's leadership. Hezbollah blamed Israel for the killing, something officials there quickly denied.

BEIRUT (AP) — Hezbollah says that one of its commanders has been “assassinated” outside of his home in Lebanon‘s capital of Beirut. A statement issued by the group Wednesday said Hussein al-Laqis was killed as he returned home from work around…
photo: AP / Hussein Malla

U.N. Measure Would Send Forces to Aid Central African Republic

U.N. Measure Would Send Forces to Aid Central African Republic

UNITED NATIONS — France formally circulated a Security Council resolution on Tuesday night that would authorize thousands of African troops, aided by hundreds of French soldiers, to restore order in the Central African Republic, a mineral-rich…
photo: UN / Ryan Brown

India’s Delhi holds key state elections

A woman voter registering her name before cast her vote at a polling booth in Delhi, during the 4th phase of General Election-2009, on May 07, 2009.

Polling is under way in crucial state elections in the Indian capitalDelhi. The rulingCongress party – which is seeking a fourth consecutive term – and the main opposition BJP are the main rivals for the 70-seat assembly. But the new Aam Admi…
photo: PIB of India

Temporary US immigration status urged for Filipinos after typhoon

Temporary US immigration status urged for Filipinos after typhoon

Advocates are putting pressure on the U.S. government to grant temporary refuge to Philippine nationals because of Typhoon Haiyan. Only Filipinos already in theU.S. would be eligible for temporary protected status, which is granted to foreign…
photo: US Navy / Peter D. Blair

Americans see a US in decline, finds Pew survey

The Capitol dome is seen at rear as Chinese and U.S. flags are displayed in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 18, 2011, ahead of the arrival of China's President Hu Jintao for a state visit hosted by President Barack Obama.

For the first time in 40 years, a majority of Americans say the US plays a less important and powerful role in the world than it did a decade ago. The Pew surveyalso found that 70% of Americans saw the US as less respected than in the past, nearly…
photo: AP / Charles Dharapak

UN links Assad to war crimes

03 Dec 2013

 

Opposition protesters in northern Syria stand on a portrait of President Bashar al-AssadPhoto: AP Geneva: The top United Nations human rights official has linkedSyrian President Bashar al-Assad to war crimes and crimes against humanity for the first time, citing evidence collected by her panel of investigators over the course of the 33-month-old… 
File - Navi Pillay, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, addresses the round table discussion on “The post-2015 development agenda and inclusive development for persons with disabilities”, held as part of the General Assembly’s high-level meeting on disability and development, 23 September, 2013.

Ukraine protesters dig in heels, PM condemns ‘signs of coup’

Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich, right, greets new Prime Minister, Mykola Azarov in parliament, Kiev, Ukraine, Thursday, March 11, 2010.

December 02Ukrainian protesters today blockaded government buildings and camped on Kiev‘s central square, seeking to oust President Viktor Yanukovych after police brutality and a row over EU ties plunged the country into its worst political crisis…
photo: AP / Efrem Lukatsky

 

Romania President Won’t Sign IMF Memorandum

Traian Basescu, President of Romania, delivers his statement at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, eastern France, Thursday Jan. 27, 2011.

BUCHAREST, Romania — Romanian President Traian Basescu says he won’t sign a letter of intent and International Monetary Fund memorandum to protest a government decision to hike fuel prices. In November, the government said it would increase 1 liter…
photo: AP / Christian Lutz

Amazon Drones Are Part of Jeff Bezos’s Pre-Lobbying Strategy

Jeff Bezos, CEO and founder of Amazon, is illuminated by a display screen at the introduction of the new Amazon Kindle Fire HD and Kindle Paperwhite in Santa Monica, Calif., Thursday, Sept. 6, 2012. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)

What do Amazon‘s new drone delivery program, Elon Musk‘s Hyperloop, andUber‘s ice-cream sandwiches have in common? They all look like a kind of blogger-bait vaporware — improbable PR stunts designed to garner lots of attention and make the…
photo: AP / Reed Saxon

Vitali Klitschko: could he be the next president of Ukraine?

Vitali Klitschko from Ukraine, center, celebrates after winning a WBC heavyweight boxing world championship fight against Samuel Peter from Nigeria in Berlin, Germany, Saturday, Oct. 11, 2008

Klitschko, leader of the Udar party and champion boxer, has announced plans to run for president in 2015. Is Dr Ironfist, as he is also known, a heavyweight contender? Boxer and WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko: standing for president in…
photo: AP / Herbert Knosowski)

Germany wants UNESCO to recognize beer ‘purity’ law

The Beer tent Barthelmarkt is an annual fair and beer festival in Manching near Ingolstadt, Germany. It is held every year on the last weekend of August

Germany is pushing for the United Nations’ cultural agency UNESCO to recognize a beer ‘purity’ law that has been in place since the 1500s and place it on the ‘intangible cultural heritage list.’ The law is known as…
photo: Creative Commons / Flominator

>Africa’s elephants threatened by killings: report

Elephant from Kruger Park, South Africa.

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — An international conservation group says that as many as 20 percent of Africa‘s elephants could be killed in the…
photo: Creative Commons / Rob Hooft

24-Hour Curfew in Nigerian City After Suspected Boko Haram Attack

File - Nigeria troops man a checkpoint in Maiduguri, Nigeria, Wednesday, Sept, 28. 2011. Security forces have arrested a commander of a radical Muslim sect known as Boko Haram, who allegedly ordered various sectarian killings in the northeastern city.

Authorities have imposed a 24-hour curfew in the Nigerian city of Maiduguri after an attack by suspected Boko Haram militants. Local journalists tell VOA that the pre-dawn attack Monday targeted areas in and around the Maiduguri airport, including a…
photo: AP / Sunday Alamba

Thai PM says protesters’ demands unacceptable

02 Dec 2013

 

BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand‘s prime minister on Monday rejected the demands of anti-government protesters locked in street battles with police, saying what they want is unacceptable under the constitution. In a televised news conference Monday, Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra said she is willing to “open every door” for negotiations to find a…  Wn.com/
Anti-government protesters wave Thai national flags during a protest rally in Bangkok, Thailand, Monday, Dec. 2, 2013.

Amazon testing drones for delivery, Jeff Bezos says

 Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com, founder and CEO (dn1)

Amazon‘s PrimeAir drones. Photo60 Minutes Jeff Bezos, the chief executive of Amazon.com, says the company is testing drones to deliver goods, as it works to improve efficiency and speed in getting products to consumers. Bezos unveiled the plan on…
photo: AP Marcus R. Donner, file

Australia spy agency offered to share data on citizens

Journalists work on computers during the the first annual Internet Governance Forum at a resort near Athens, Greece in this Oct. 30, 2006 file photo. Debate over U.S. control of core Internet systems threatens to overtake the second annual IGF meeting in Brazil next week that was meant to cover topics including spam, free speech and cheaper acc

AFP – Australia’s spy agency offered to share information about its own citizens with its foreign intelligence partners, according to leaked documents published Monday. The latest revelations by US intelligence fugitive Edward Snowden, reported by…
photo: AP / Kostas Tsironis, file

Croatians vote to ban gay marriage

Demonstrators wave a gay pride flag outside Congress in support of a proposal to legalize same-sex marriage in Buenos Aires, Wednesday July 14, 2010.

Constitution will be amended after 65% of voters back statement that marriage is matrimony between a man and a woman A gay rights protest in Zagreb on Saturday. PhotographAFP/Getty Images A majority of Croatians have voted in a referendum to ban…
photo: AP / Natacha Pisarenko

Train Derails in New York, at Least 4 Killed

R142 2 Train enters the West Farms Square station in the Bronx.

THE BRONX, NEW YORK CITY (AP) – A New York City commuter train rounding a riverside curve derailed and came to rest only inches from the water Sunday, killing four people, injuring more than 60 and sending a chain of toppled cars shaped like a…
photo: Creative Commons / Bebo2good1

Thousands of Protesters in Ukraine Demand Leader’s Resignation

Demonstrators gather during a rally in downtown Kiev, Ukraine, on Sunday, Dec. 1, 2013.

KIEVUkraine — More than 100,000 people took to the streets of Kiev on Sunday, and thousands more rallied in other cities across Ukraine, to demand the resignation of President Viktor F. Yanukovich, the largest outpouring of fury so far over his…
photo: AP / Ivan Sekretarev

Police Battle Bangkok Protesters as Crisis Deepens

Anti-government protesters hold a Thai national flag during a protest in Bangkok, Thailand, on Tuesday, April 6, 2010

The leader of Thailand&aposs anti-government protests says he has met withPrime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and refused to back down from his movement&aposs demand that her administration step down in favor of an appointed council. Suthep
photo: AP / Wason Wanichakorn

 

Paul Walker’s death in car crash stuns Hollywood

Actor Paul Walker speaks to media members as he arrives to attend the premiere of the film Fast Five in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Friday April 15, 2011.

Actors, artists and celebrities reacted late Saturday to the death of “The Fast and the Furious” actor Paul Walker, who along with another man was killed in a single-car crash in the Santa Clarita ValleySheriff‘s officials said speed was a…
photo: AP / Felipe Dana

Ukraine braces for new mass protests

01 Dec 2013

 

Ukrainian opposition leaders have called for new mass protests against PresidentViktor Yanukovich‘s refusal to sign a trade deal with the EU. They are demanding new elections, and the impeachment of the president. Rallies continued through the night, with thousands gathered on the main square in the capital KievPoliceviolently dispersed an… 
Demonstrators shout slogans in front of Ukrainian Interior ministry soldiers who guard the Independence Square in downtown Kiev, Ukraine, on Saturday, Nov. 30, 2013.

Ukraine protesters denounce rejection of EU pact

30 Nov 2013

 

KIEVUkraine — Ukraine’s president faced growing street protests at home Friday after he rejected an agreement to tie his nation’s political and economic future to the West, instead keeping intact Ukraine’s historical links with Moscow. The news that President Viktor Yanukovich came away from the European Union summit inLithuania… 

 

 Supporters of Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych listen to their leader during a rally in Kiev, Ukraine, Tuesday, April 3, 2007. Thousands of the prime minister´s supporters streamed into the Ukrainian capital Tuesday to protest the preside

Ukraine protests after Yanukovych EU deal rejection

Supporters of Ukrainian opposition leader and presidential candidate Viktor Yanukovych react waving flags of the Party of Regions during a rally, in front of Central Election Commission, in Kiev, Ukraine, Monday, Feb. 8, 2010.

Thousands of people have staged fresh protests in Ukraine‘s capital, Kiev, atPresident Viktor Yanukovych‘s refusal to sign an EU association agreement. Some 10,000 Demonstrators in Independence Square carried Ukrainian and EU flags late on…
photo: AP / Alexander Zemlianichenko

Honduran leftist presidential candidate to unveil ‘fraud’

A riot police officer walks in front of the Brazilian embassy where Honduras' ousted President Manuel Zelaya has taken refuge in Tegucigalpa, Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2009.

AFP – Honduran leftist presidential candidate Xiomara Castro vowed Friday to deliver proof of the fraud she claims cheated her out of the presidency. The electoral authorities called Sunday’s election in favor of her conservative rival JuanOrlando
photo: AP / Esteban Felix

Mozambique passenger plane missing

A 1986-built Jet2.com Boeing 737-377 registered in the United Kingdom as "G-CELS" on approach to land on Runway 08R at Gatwick Airport, England

Mozambique Airlines has said a plane carrying 28 passengers and six crew members did not land as scheduled in Angola, and authorities are trying to determine its location. The airline said in a statement that Flight TM470 took off from Maputo, the…
photo: Creative Commons / MilborneOne

Malian separatist rebels end ceasefire after clashes

File - In this Wednesday, April 11, 2012 photo, a Tuareg separatist rebel from the NMLA (National Movement for the Liberation of the Azawad) stands guard at a checkpoint near the airport in Timbuktu, Mali.

Reuters November 29, 2013 – 23:21 By Adama Diarra BAMAKO (Reuters) – SeparatistTuareg rebels said on Friday they were ending a five-month-old ceasefire withMali‘s government and taking up arms following violence in the northern city of…
photo: AP

Venezuela’s Maduro threatens arrests over prices

Nicolas Maduro

AFP – Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro vowed Friday to arrest shopkeepers who defy government price controls, the latest salvo in a populist “economic war” ahead of key municipal elections. Maduro delivered the warning in a nationally televised…
photo: ABr

Calls for Zuma to repay cost of home upgrades

South African President Jacob Zuma, left, during a guard of honor with South African President Deputy Kgalema Motlanthe, right, during the opening of Parliament in Cape Town, South Africa, Thursday, Feb 9, 2012.

An independent investigation into the security upgrades undertaken at South African president Jacob Zuma’s rural home has provisionally found he received substantial personal benefits from the work done, a local newspaper has reported. The findings…
photo: AP / Schalk van Zuydam

Egyptians Demonstrate Despite New Protest Law

Supporters of Egypt's ousted President Mohammed Morsi hold a rally against a new law regulating protest in Cairo, Egypt, Friday, Nov. 29, 2013. Hundreds of Islamist demonstrators took to the streets on Friday in cities across Egypt, days after a disputed protest law was adopted and police forcefully broke up unauthorized gatherings. The poster at left shows a picture of the ousted president and the Arabic showing part of a phrase that reads, "For these reasons, they fight with the elected President."

CAIRO (AP) — Hundreds of Islamist demonstrators took to the streets on Friday in cities across Egypt, days after a disputed protest law was adopted and police forcefully broke up unauthorized gatherings. Since a popularly backed military coup ousted…
photo: AP / Ahmed Gomaa

Amid tensions, China sends warplanes into new air defence zone

29 Nov 2013

 

China has dispatched fighter jets to a newly declared air defence zone over the East China Sea as a “defensive measure”, after the U.S.Japan and South Korea all sent their military planes through the airspace in defiance of Beijing’s unilateral move. Several fighter jets and an early warning aircraft from the People’s… 
Senkaku Islands(Diaoyu Islands)

UN set to appeal for more aid to Philippines

UN set to appeal for more aid to Philippines

MANILA, Philippines — The United Nations said Friday it will seek more funds for a reconstruction of areas in the central Philippines that were devastated by a super typhoon, in addition to $348 million that U.N. agencies had sought for…
photo: US Navy / Brian H. Abel

Comet Ison ‘May Have Survived’ Brush With Sun

Comet ISON Streams Toward the Sun

Astronomers tracking what they hoped would be the “comet of the century” say some of it may have survived its close encounter with the Sun. It was first reported that the Comet Ison’s nucleus and tail had been destroyed by the Sun’s radiation…
photo: NASA / ESA/NASA/SOHO

EU extends influence eastward to Georgia, Moldova

EU extends influence eastward to Georgia, Moldova

VILNIUS, Lithuania – The European Union is extending its geopolitical reach eastward by sealing association agreements with Georgia and Moldova, but has missed out on a landmark deal with Ukraine as its key objective. Enlarge Ukraine’sPresident
photo: EC / © EU

‘I saw hope in their eyes’: Heroes team up for typhoon relief

'I saw hope in their eyes': Heroes team up for typhoon relief

November 28, 2013 — Updated 2210 GMT (0610 HKTDoc Hendley, a top 10 CNN Hero in 2009, is providing clean water to victims of Typhoon Haiyan. Editor’s note: “CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute” airs Sunday at 8 p.m. ET. TaclobanPhilippines(CNN) –…
photo: US Navy / Ramon G. Go

 

Briton searches landfill for $7.5 mn bitcoin fortune

Nobody gets me Bitcoins.

AFP – A British IT worker has launched a frantic search of a landfill site after realising he accidentally threw away a computer drive holding $7.5 million (5.5million euros) in the online currency bitcoin. James Howells, 28, obtained 7,500bitcoins…
photo: Creative Commons / zcopley

 

Earthquake in Iran near nuclear plant kills 7

A worker rides a bike in front of the reactor building of the Bushehr nuclear power plant, just outside the southern city of Bushehr, Iran, Tuesday, Oct. 26, 2010.

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.6 struck a town Thursday in southern Iran, killing seven people while causing no damage at the country’s only nuclear power plant, state television reported. The U.S.
photo: AP / Mehr News Agency, Majid Asgaripour

Thai prime minister pleads for end to protests

An anti-government demonstrator stands behind a makeshift barricade Friday morning, April 23, 2010, in Bangkok, Thailand

BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand‘s prime minister begged protesters Thursday to call off their sustained anti-government demonstrations and negotiate an end to the nation’s latest crisis. But the protesters marched instead to new targets, including the…
photo: AP / Vincent Yu

CIAO, SILVIO

China says monitored defiant US bomber flights

27 Nov 2013

 

BEIJING – China says it monitored two unarmed U.S. bombers that flew over theEast China Sea just days after Beijing declared it was asserting greater military control over the area. Tuesday’s flight of the two B-52 bombers underscored that the U.S. will not comply with China’s demand that aircraft flying through its newly declared maritime air… 
B-52 Stratofortress, 40th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron, displays a national flag as it prepares to be refueled by a KC-135 Stratotanker, 28th Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron. The bomber´s mission is to provide close air support for coalition tro

US defies China with B-52 flight

An Air Force B-2 bomber along with other aircrafts from the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps fly over the Kitty Hawk, Ronald Reagan and Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike groups.

Two unarmed US B-52 bombers on a training mission flew over disputed islands in the East China Sea without informing BeijingPentagon officials say, defying China’sdeclaration of a new airspace defence zone in the region. The flight on Monday night…
photo: US Navy / Chief Photographer’s Mate Todd P. Cichonowicz

Italy ex-PM Silvio Berlusconi ends cabinet support

In this file photo taken on Sept. 27, 2009, Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi gestures as he attends a meeting in Milan, Italy.

Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has withdrawn his support from the coalition government – ahead of a vote on a budget for 2014. His Forza Italia party is moving into opposition days after a split in the centre-right group he led since…
photo: AP / Alberto Pellaschiar

Military: Gunmen Kill 37 in Central Nigeria

People walk near the hotel that was bombed Saturday night in Kabala west in Kaduna, Nigeria, Sunday, April 17, 2011.

JOSNigeria — Nigeria’s military says gunmen killed 37 villagers in overnight attacks on four villages in the central Plateau state riven by conflicts over land rights between mainly Christian farmers and Muslim nomadic herdsmen. Special Task Force
photo: AP / Sunday Alamba

Amanda Knox Guilty Verdict Demanded By Italian Prosecutor

File - Amanda Knox, left, is comforted by her sister, Deanna Knox, during a news conference shortly after her arrival at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport Tuesday, Oct. 4, 2011, in Seattle.

FLORENCE, Italy (AP) — An Italian prosecutor has demanded that an appeals court find Amanda Knox guilty for the 2007 murder of her British roommate and sentence her to 26 years for the murder and another four for slander. Prosecutor Alessandro Crini…
photo: AP / Elaine Thompson

Manny Pacquiao’s Bank Accounts Frozen Amid Tax Probe But Boxer Is Borrowing To Give Typhoon Aid

Boxer Manny Pacquiao waves to fans during a news conference, Thursday, Feb. 23, 2012, in New York, to promote un upcoming fight against Tim Bradley Jr. Pacquiao and Bradley will fight on Saturday, June, 9, 2012 in Las Vegas, for Pacquiao's WBO welterweight championship. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

ASSOCIATED PRESS Manny Pacquiao, from the Philippines, raises his arms while wearing the champion’s belt as he celebrates winning his WBO international welterweight title fight against Brandon Rios of the United States, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2013, in…
photo: AP / Frank Franklin II

Petition filed against Sharif for failing to end drone strikes

File - An MQ-1B Predator unmanned aircraft takes off for a training mission at Creech Air Force Base, Nev.

A contempt of court petition has been filed against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and the federal authorities in the Peshawar High Court over the government’s failure to end US drone strikes. Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Sami’s provincial president Maulana…
photo: USAF / Senior Airman Larry E. Reid Jr.

Scottish government publishes blueprint for independent Scotland

Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond, arrives for a meeting with Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron,at St Andrew's House in Edinburgh, Scotland Thursday, Feb 16, 2012. A row between the British government in London and the Scottish National Party (SNP) has escalated sharply after British Prime Minister David Cameron outlined a plan to bring forward the referendum, which the SNP oppose as they want more time to rally support for a break from the United Kingdom.

Scotland’s Future – Your Guide runs to 670 pages and aims to answer all Scots‘ questions about secession from the UK Alex Salmond recently promised that an independent Scotland would renationalise Royal MailPhotograph: KenJack/Demotix/Corbis The…
photo: AP / Scott Heppell

US warns Karzai it may leave no troops in Afghanistan

26 Nov 2013

 

KABUL: US national security advisor Susan Rice told Afghan President Hamid KarzaiMonday that a delay in signing a troubled security deal risked the US pulling troops out of the country completely next year. The US said that Karzai had called for “new conditions” for signing the bilateral security agreement (BSA) to allow US forces to remain in the… 
File - Staff Sgt. Henry Baez, of Chicago, Spc. Todd Verstrate, of Kewanee, Ill., as well as other Soldiers of Delta Company Security Forces, 33rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, conduct a foot patrol in Kabul, Afghanistan.

Petition filed against Sharif for failing to end drone strikes

File - An MQ-1B Predator unmanned aircraft takes off for a training mission at Creech Air Force Base, Nev.

A contempt of court petition has been filed against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and the federal authorities in the Peshawar High Court over the government’s failure to end US drone strikes. Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Sami’s provincial president Maulana…
photo: USAF / Senior Airman Larry E. Reid Jr.

Scottish government publishes blueprint for independent Scotland

Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond, arrives for a meeting with Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron,at St Andrew's House in Edinburgh, Scotland Thursday, Feb 16, 2012. A row between the British government in London and the Scottish National Party (SNP) has escalated sharply after British Prime Minister David Cameron outlined a plan to bring forward the referendum, which the SNP oppose as they want more time to rally support for a break from the United Kingdom.

Scotland’s Future – Your Guide runs to 670 pages and aims to answer all Scots‘ questions about secession from the UK Alex Salmond recently promised that an independent Scotland would renationalise Royal MailPhotograph: KenJack/Demotix/Corbis The…
photo: AP / Scott Heppell

Lockdown at Yale has been lifted after report of gunman on campus

Calhoun College at Yale University

Police believe a phone call where an unidentified person called police to report “his roommate” had intentions of shooting people is a “hoax.” The emergency call stated the unidentified man with a long gun was on his way to Yale University at about…
photo: Creative Commons / GK tramrunner229

Honduras Presidential Vote Count Disputed by Zelaya

Ousted Honduras' President Manuel Zelaya attends a news conference in Managua, Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Former Honduran President Manuel Zelaya, ousted in a 2009 coup, rejected official election results showing his wife, Xiomara Castro, losing the presidential vote with more than half the precincts reporting. Zelaya, whose overthrow prompted violence…
photo: AP / Esteban

Tymoshenko on hunger strike to push for EU deal

In this photo provided by Ukrainian Pravda taken Wednesday, April 25, 2012, former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko shows bruises on her body to Ukrainian Commissioner for Human Rights in Kachanovskaya prison in Kharkiv, Ukraine, which she said she sustained when prison guards attacked her on Friday April 20 when trying to transport her to a local hospital against her will.

Uraine’s jailed former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko declared a hunger strike Monday to push the government to sign a landmark integration deal with theEuropean Union. Thousands rallied in the Ukrainian capital against the government’s decision to…
photo: AP / Ukrainian Pravda

Syrian troops kill over 100 rebels in siege battle

This photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, shows Syrian army troops hold up national flags in the town of Qusair, near the Lebanon border, Homs province, Syria, Wednesday, June 5, 2013.

DAMASCUS, Nov. 25 (Xinhua) — More than 100 rebel fighters have been killed over the past two days in the eastern countryside of Syrian capital Damascus as the rebels attempted to break the government troops’ siege, local al-Watan daily reported…
photo: AP / SANA

 

World Powers Reach Historic Nuclear Deal With Iran

Iran concluded negotiations about Iran's nuclear capabilities on November 2013.

World powers reached a historic deal with Iran on its nuclear program early Sunday, but will face challenges ahead as they work to develop a comprehensive agreement. The United StatesChinaRussiaFrance, Britain, and Germany reached the six-month…

Alarm over Pakistan’s ‘conciliatory’ Taliban approach

25 Nov 2013

 

The chairman of the governing party in Pakistan has told the BBC that the government will continue to use whatever means it can to persuade the Pakistan Taliban to take part in peace talks, even though the militants have already rejected the offer. Senator Raja Zafar ul Haq went so far as to say they would refrain from making any critical comments… 
Pakistani military forces stand guard during the funeral of victims killed in sectarian clashes last Friday, in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, Sunday, Nov. 17, 2013.
photo: AP / Anjum Naveed

 

Egypt’s president issues law restricting protests

Adly Mansour

CAIRO: Egypt‘s interim president Sunday banned public gatherings of more than 10 people without prior government approval, imposing hefty fines and prison terms for violators in a bid to stifle the near-constant protests roiling the country. The new
photo: AP / Amr Nabil

Tokyo rejects China’s air rights claim in East China Sea

In this photo taken on Sept. 15, 2010, Uotsuri Jima in Japanese and Diaoyu Dao in Chinese, one of main islands among the islets of Senkaku in Japanese and Diaoyu in Chinese, is seen from a patrol aircraft P3C of Japan Maritime Self-Defense Forces as it files over the water in the East China Sea  during a press tour arranged by Japan's Defense Ministry. Chinese and Japanese leaders are not planning any talks next week on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, partly because of escalating tension over a collision by a Chinese fishing boat and two Japanese patrol boats near disputed southern islets claimed by both countries, a top Japanese spokesman said Thursday, Sept. 16, as Tokyo stepped up its presence in the area.

The disputed islands known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China in the East China SeaPhoto: Reuters Tokyo: Japan‘s foreign minister on Sunday refused to recognise China’s newly claimed air defense zone over disputed islands, signalling that…
photo: AP / Kyodo News

 

Italy’s president rules out pardon for Berlusconi

Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi smiles before casting his ballot in a polling station, in Milan, Italy, Sunday, March 28, 2010

ROME – Italian President Giorgio Napolitano will not grant Silvio Berlusconi a pardon, the office of the head of state said Sunday, three days before a Senate vote on the former prime minister’s expulsion. Italy‘s upper chamber is expected to kick…
photo: AP / Luca Bruno

Donations come in Philippine typhoon survivors

Donations come in Philippine typhoon survivors

A steady stream of cars lined up here at Cardi’s Furniture in West Warwick Sunday morning.This was one of several stores in Rhode Island and Massachusettscollecting items for those…
photo: US Navy / Peter D. Blair

Iran signs landmark nuclear deal with West

Iran signs landmark nuclear deal with West

Iran and the six global powers have hammered out a landmark nuclear deal-the breakthrough achieved in the early hours on Sunday after seamless rounds of hard bargaining in Geneva in the teeth of a high octane Israeli campaign to scupper the…
photo: UN / Jean-Marc Ferré

Aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan in Philippines: Hope emerges amid devastation

Aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan in Philippines: Hope emerges amid devastation

VideoRelated Columns MANILA, November 23, 2013 — Two weeks after Typhoon Haiyan – known as Typhoon Yolanda in the Philippines – struck the Central Regionof this country, hope emerges as makeshift stalls selling fruits and some local…
photo: US Navy / Jacob I. Allison

Africa to world’s top court: Stop picking on our leaders

Africa to world's top court: Stop picking on our leaders

In northern Uganda, a former altar boy-turned-rebel commander led an army of kidnapped children in a years-long terror campaign that pushed more than a million people into displacement camps. In Darfur in western Sudan, armed attackers riding horses…
photo: UN / ICJ-CIJ

Syria conflict: Children ‘targeted by snipers’

Full ArticleBBC News 

24 Nov 2013

 

More than 11,000 children have died in Syria‘s civil war in nearly three years, including hundreds targeted by snipers, a new report says. Summary executionsand torture have also been used against children as young as one, the London-based Oxford Research Group think tank says. The report says the majority of children have been killed by… 
Children warm their hands by a fire in Idlib, north Syria, Monday, March 5, 2012. Syrian refugees fleeing to neighboring Lebanon on Monday said they feared they would be slaughtered in their own homes as government forces hunted down opponents in a brutal offensive against the opposition stronghold of Homs.

Karzai agrees to Afghan-US security pact

24 Nov 2013

 

Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, has agreed to sign a strategic agreement with the United States if it brings peace to the nation after a more than three-decade-long conflict. Speaking at the conclusion of the “consultative” Loya JirgaGrandAssembly, on Sunday morningKarzai said the result of the Bilateral Strategic Agreement… 
File - A Paratrooper from the 82nd Airborne Division keeps a lookout over a main avenue of approach in the Sangin city district center of Helmand Province, Afghanistan, April 14, 2007.

Philippine children face malnutrition risk

23 Nov 2013

 

The UN says 1.5 million children are at risk of malnutrition in typhoon-ravaged areas of the Philippines as it calls for greater efforts to provide food and water. A UN appeal to cope with Typhoon Haiyan‘s devastation has also… 
Children who say they fled when armed men were seen in their village eat bread while waiting in Tacloban city, Leyte province in central Philippines Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2013.

Kerry, Russian FM join Iran nuclear talks

23 Nov 2013

 

GENEVA: Secretary of State John Kerry and foreign ministers of other major powers were converging Saturday to lend their weight to the Iran nuclear talks after envoys reported progress in marathon negotiations to curb the Iranian program in return for limited sanctions relief. After a third day of talks, State Departmentspokesperson Jen Psaki said… 
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry delivers remarks the Closing Session of the 2013 U.S.-China High-Level Consultation on People-to-People Exchange at the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C., on November 21, 2013.

US gives Afghanistan year-end deadline to sign crucial security deal

22 Nov 2013

 

President Hamid Karzai triggered uncertainty about a vital security pact with theUnited States on Thursday by saying it should not be signed until afterAfghanistan’s presidential election next April, prompting the White House to insist on a year-end deadline. Karzai’s surprise move, which came just a day after US Secretary of State John Kerry… 
Afghan President Hamid Karzai gestures while giving his opening address to dignitaries attending the peace jirga, in Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, June 2, 2010.

 

Eating nuts tied to reduced death rate

Almonds - Dry fruit - health - food

People who eat a daily handful of nuts are 20 per cent less likely to die from any cause over a 30-year period than those who didn’t consume nuts, according to the largest study of its kind. Scientists from Dana-Farber Cancer InstituteBrighamand…
photo: WN / Geeta

Obama orders flags lowered on Kennedy anniversary

President Barack Obama crosses the South Lawn of the White House in Washington Saturday, Dec. 11, 2011, after returning on Marine One from the Army Vs. Navy NCAA college football game at FedEx Field.

President Barack Obama is ordering that flags be lowered at government buildings Friday to…
photo: AP / Jacquelyn Martin

US weighs permitting cellphone calls on planes

President-elect Obama talks on his cell phone after boarding his plane at Washington's Reagan National Airport after meeting with President Bush at the White House in Washington, Monday, Nov. 10, 2008.

WASHINGTON: Rules against making cellphone calls during airline flights are “outdated,” and it’s time to change them, US government regulators said on Thursday, drawing immediate howls of protest from flight attendants, airline officials and others….
photo: AP / Charles Dharapak

Apple Awarded Additional $290 Million From Samsung in Patent Trial

In this Aug. 25, 2011 file photo a lawyer holds an Apple iPad and a Samsung Tablet-PC at a court in Duesseldorf, Germany.

San Jose jury ruled on Thursday that Samsung owes Apple an additional $290 million in damages for infringing on several of Apple’s patents, according to multiple reports. Apple was…
photo: AP / Sascha Schuermann