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INSIDE HIS UNRAVELING EMPIRE
Murdoch To Face Parliament Over Hacking Scandal

PREVIOUSLY: The Rise Of Rupert Murdoch – In Pictures

Libya rebels fighting to capture eastern oil town

Libyan rebels maintain a heavy machine gun mounted on top of a pickup truck during an exchange of fire with pro Gadhafi forces, along the front line outside the eastern town of Brega, Libya Thursday, March 31, 2011.
photo: AP / Nasser Nasser
MISRATA, Libya (Reuters) – Libyan rebel forces on Sunday entered the oil town of Brega and fought street battles there with forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi, a rebel spokesman said, in the biggest offensive in eastern Libya in weeks. “The news coming from there is there is a street war going on between Gaddafi troops and the rebels, and 127 are…

David Petraeus hands over Afghanistan command

Gen. David Petraeus talks during the Landon Lecture Series at Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kan., Monday, April 27, 2009.
photo: AP / Orlin Wagner

Gen David Petraeus, the commander of Nato forces in Afghanistan, is due to hand over command to his successor, Lt Gen John Allen. Gen Petraeus will start a new role as head of the US CIA in September.

‘THIS MAY BRING MY PRESIDENCY DOWN BUT I WILL NOT YIELD’

‘READY TO GO’

French Minister Says Gaddafi Is Prepared To Leave

ASSASSINATED
Afghan President’s Brother Slain, Sending Shockwaves Through Government

U.S. Suspends Pakistani Military Aid Rahmat Gul / AP Photo

U.S. Suspends Pakistani Military Aid

The U.S. is suspending $800 million in military aid to Pakistan after the country expelled American military trainers. The move also serves to pressure Pakistan’s army to fight militants more seriously. The suspended aid includes $300 million that would have reimbursed Pakistan for deployments along the Afghan border; the rest would have come in the form of training assistance and expensive military equipment. “When it comes to our military aid, we are not prepared to continue providing that at the pace we are providing it unless and until we see certain steps taken,” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said.

 

Hack job! Murdoch axes paper to save deal

A security guard stands outside the offices of News International in London, Thursday, July 7, 2011. News International announced Thursday it is shutting down the News of the World, the best-selling tabloid at the center of Britain's phone hacking scandal.
photo: AP / Matt Dunham

read more Khaleej Times

LONDON – Rupert Murdoch will shut down Britain’s biggest selling Sunday newspaper, the News of the World, in a startling response to a scandal engulfing his media empire. As allegations multiplied that its journalists hacked the voicemails of thousands of people, from child murder victims to the families of Britain’s war dead, the tabloid…

Pakistan turns ‘new front line’ of war on terror

Troops of the Pakistan army and other security forces, gather in Nusrat Dara in Upper Dir, Pakistan, Wednesday, July 6, 2011.
photo: AP / Rohullah Shakir
read more Deccan Herald

Toronto, July 7 (IANS) Thursday, July 07, 2011 –> Pakistan is now the new front in the war on terror as it has become a new safe haven for al-Qaeda, says the Canadian media a day after the country blacklisted the Pakistani Taliban and started withdrawal from Afghanistan Tuesday. “The war on terror has shifted, and Pakistan is its new front line,”…

Obama officials: Pakistan’s spy agency ordered slaying of journalist

Dominique Strauss-Kahn Tried to Rape Me, Says French Journalist

PHOTO: Tristane Banon is seen in this publicity photo.

Tristane Banon is seen in this publicity photo taken in Paris, France on Sept. 28, 2004. (Ginies/Sipa)

Strauss-Khan Rape Accuser Step Forward [Photo & Video] Update

FRENCH WRITER TO FILE ASSAULT CASE AGAINST DSK

Strauss-Kahn’s celebrity wife defends him, again

Strauss-Kahn’s celebrity wife defends him, again

As the trial of IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn unfolds before the world’s eyes, the French are likely to focus their attention on his celebrity wife Anne Sinclair (pictured), who already endured a previous sex scandal in 2008.

By Joseph BAMAT (text)

HOW TO WIN A DRUG WAR

Strauss-Kahn news stuns France as Socialists discuss comeback

Prosecutors to release Strauss-Kahn on ‘own recognizance’

Live: Strauss-Kahn’s surprise court appearance
STRAUSS-KAHN INQUIRY
Former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn is making a surprise court appearance in New York Friday following revelations that prosecutors in the sexual assault case against him are having problems with the accuser’s credibility. Follow our live blog.

Strauss-Kahn Broke Ranks And Was Crushed Like A Bug Updated

Accuser Has Credibility Issues





Obama sees precision strikes as key to Al Qaeda defeat

White House outlines its new counter-terrorism strategy, which emphasizes drones and special operations over large land-based wars.

John BrennanWhite House counter-terrorism advisor John Brennan, seen here in May, on Wednesday outlined the Obama administration’s newly released strategy for fighting Al Qaeda and other terrorists. (Jewel Samad / AFP/Getty Images)

By Ken Dilanian, Washington Bureau June 30, 2011

Reporting from Washington—

Precision strikes and raids, rather than large land wars, are the most effective way to defeat Al Qaeda, the Obama administration has concluded in a newly released counter-terrorism strategy.

FBI drops by for a chat over Anon links

FBI agents recently raided the Iowa home of a 29-year-old woman over her alleged links to Anonymous and Lulz Security.

Although Laurelai Bailey wasn’t arrested, the FBI questioned her for over five hours about various hack and extract campaigns, including the infamous pwnage of HBGary by Anonymous.

However, Bailey insisted the FBI already knew everything she did and claimed the Bureau asked her to infiltrate LulzSec.FBI stops by for a chat over Anon links

“They wanted to know if I could get close to them,” Bailey told Gawker. “I told them these people hate me… it wouldn’t do any good.”

Bailey said the hackers “held a grudge” against her for leaking logs from a closed Anonymous chat room in which the HBGary hack was planned.

Nevertheless, the agents continued to question Bailey about “Kayla,” who has been linked to both Anonymous and LulzSec. (Note: the latter  officially disbanded just a week ago).

But Bailey emphasized that she was never really a member of either group. Rather, Bailey claimed, she became close to Anonymous via her involvement with CrowdLeaks, a WikiLeaks related news site.

Unsurprisingly, the FBI concluded its “interview” with the 29-year-old by seizing two hard drives, a camera and other electronic equipment.

ALL TALK, NO WALK

‘Jump in a nuclear reactor and die!’

TEPCO: Will Someone Turn Off the Lights?

TEPCO: Will Someone Turn Off the Lights?

Truly a Great Freedom Fighter

Myanmar's democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi speaks to reporters at her National League for Democracy Party headquarters on Wednesday, June 29, 2011, in Yangon, Myanmar.
photo: AP / Khin Maung Win
Myanmar’s Suu Kyi defies government warning ahead of tour
read more m&c

Yangon – The Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi said Wednesday she would go ahead with a planned tour of the country, her first since being released from house arrest in November, despite a letter of warning from the government. ‘I will go ahead with my plan,’ Suu Kyi told journalists after a meeting with visiting Japanese vice foreign…
Egyptian security forces, unseen, fire tear gas toward protesters at Tahrir Square, the focal point of Egyptian uprising, in Cairo, Egypt early morning Wednesday, June 29, 2011. Egyptian security forces firing tear gas clashed with protesters in central Cairo late Tuesday.
photo: AP
Egypt: Security forces clash with Cairo protesters
read more The Associated Press

CAIRO (AP) — Egyptian security forces firing tear gas clashed with more than 5,000 rock-throwing protesters in central Cairo late Tuesday, leaving dozens injured in the latest unrest to rattle the country, witnesses and medical officials said. Clouds of tear gas and the wail of police sirens engulfed Tahrir Square as lines of security forces in…
The Inter Continental hotel is on fire during an attack in Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, June 29, 2011.
photo: AP / Gemunu Amarasinghe
10 killed as Taliban attack Kabul hotel, NATO choppers end siege
read more DNA India

Taliban suicide bombers and gunmen attacked a top Kabul hotel, sparking a five-hour battle with Afghan commandos backed by a NATO helicopter in an assault that left at least 10 people dead today. Red tracer bullets arced through the night sky around the hilltop Intercontinental Hotel, whose faded grandeur frequently pays host to Afghan officials…

Photo Credit: Nathan Andrew Bailey

Fukushima: World’s Worst Industrial Disaster Reveals How Nation States Are Powerless to Protect Us from Advanced Technology

Arrest warrant issued for Gaddafi

Muammar Gaddafi plays chess with Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, the president of the international chess federation, in Tripoli on 12 June, 2011 in a still image taken from Libyan state TV broadcast

The International Criminal Court issues an arrest warrant for Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi, accusing him of crimes against humanity.

Anarchy at Sea

A Voyage through Pirate-Infested Waters

By Andreas Ulrich

Photo Gallery: Fighting the Pirates off the Horn of Africa

Andreas Ulrich / DER SPIEGEL

While the European naval mission Atalanta avoids definitive contact with the pirates who plague the waters around the Horn of Africa, shipping companies are protecting their vessels with armed private security personnel. SPIEGEL joined one such ship as it ran the pirate gauntlet on the world’s most important trade route.

She’s Abroad!

ladies-abroad-tease

Michelle Obama was welcomed with open arms in South Africa this week. From Laura Bush in Afghanistan to Hillary Clinton in China

Hundreds rally to protest of rejection of new political party in Russia

The government refuses to register the People’s Freedom Party, or PARNAS, which seeks to unite Russia’s fractured opposition, citing flaws in its charter. Hundreds turn out to protest that action in Moscow’s Pushkin Square, calling it a political maneuver.

 

A man holds a poster saying “stop Putin” during an opposition meeting in Moscow’s downtown Pushkin Square protesting the authorities’ refusal to register the liberal Party of People’s Freedom. (Sergei L. Loiko / Los Angeles Times / June 25, 2011)

Khmer Rouge trial fraught with drama in Cambodia

Khmer Rouge trial fraught with drama in Cambodia

By Brendan Brady

Four former Khmer Rouge leaders accused of genocide go on trial in Cambodia on Monday before a U.N.-backed tribunal amid charges of political meddling in the investigation of other cases.

POWER GRAB?

A special Afghan tribunal overturned nearly 25 percent of last year’s legislative election results Thursday, alleging massive fraud and putting into question who will control the parliament – one of the few checks on President Hamid Karzai.

Lawmakers on the parliament floor shouted about the “illegal” special tribunal and threatened to hold demonstrations against what they saw as a power grab by Karzai.

The panel appointed by Karzai on Thursday threw out results for 62 races in the 249-seat legislative body. Special Court Judge Sidiqullah Haqiq said the panel will reconvene on Saturday, meaning even more results could be overturned.

The packed courtroom in Kabul gasped at times as the five-judge panel detailed some of the fraud it said it had uncovered from the September 2010 election – including one race in Kunduz province in which the tribunal said it counted 20,000 votes for someone marked as receiving zero.

“There was protest and even some killings in the provinces,” Haqiq said.

Election officials discarded 1.3 million ballots from the poll – nearly a quarter of the total – and disqualified 19 winning candidates.

The Supreme Court set up the special tribunal in December after it received more than 400 complaints and lawsuits over the poll, Haqiq said. International advisers consider the re-counts illegal, but the tribunal insists that it has the power to overturn results and even order entire provinces to revote.

During Thursday’s hearings, judges simply declared new winners for the races after offering their new tabulations. Haqiq said their re-counting and investigations were monitored by different groups to ensure fairness.

“There were rumors that a list came from the palace” on who should win, the chief judge said. “I promise you no list came to me.”

File - An Mi-26 heavy lift cargo helicopter of the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) is seen landing as UNMIS troops prepare to depart from their mission site in armoured personnel carriers for a patrol around Abyei town, 26 May, 2011.
photo: UN / Stuart Price
Sudan to Pull Troops From Abyei and Allow Peacekeepers
read more Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

NAIROBI, Kenya — The Sudanese government has agreed to pull its troops out of the flashpoint Abyei area and allow Ethiopian peacekeepers to come in, the result of a deal signed Monday that could ease tensions along Sudan’s disputed north-south border. The status of Abyei, which straddles northern and southern Sudan and is claimed by both, has been…
** TO GO WITH MEXICO OBAMA DRUG WAR ** Mexican Army soldiers patrol near a crime scene following a shoot-out in Tijuana, Mexico, Thursday, Oct. 16, 2008.
photo: AP / Guillermo Arias
‘La Familia cartel boss’ Mendez Vargas held in Mexico
read more BBC News

Mexican President Felipe Calderon has congratulated police on the capture of the alleged leader of one the country’s…
Greek protesters, some waving national flags, gesture at Syntagma square in front of the Greek Parliament in central Athens, during a peaceful ongoing rally against plans for new austerity measures, Tuesday, June 21 , 2011.
photo: AP / Lefteris Pitarakis
Greek Government Survives Confidence Vote
read more Orange News

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou’s government has survived a confidence vote in Parliament – gaining more than 151 votes. Papandreou called the vote to stop an internal party revolt and help him pass unpopular austerity measures that have caused strikes,…
Loyalist rioters attack police in East Belfast, Northern Ireland, Wednesday, June 22, 2011. Rioting began for the second night between Catholic and Protestant gangs.
photo: AP / Peter Morrison
Violence erupts in Belfast for second night as hundreds clash
read more The Independent

A second bout of violence broke out on the streets of Belfast yesterday with police clashing with loyalists and republicans as petrol bombs and other missiles were thrown for a second night. Some 200 loyalists wearing balaclava helmets appeared in the late evening and attacked the Catholic Short Strand enclave in east Belfast with fireworks, bricks…

BAHRAIN JAILS ACTIVISTS FOR LIFE

Michelle Obama meets with Mandela in South Africa

Craig Johnson, For CNN
June 21, 2011
First lady Michelle Obama is on her second official visit to the African continent.

First lady Michelle Obama is on her second official visit to the African continent.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • NEW: The South African trip underscores the nation as viable partner, expert says
  • The visit will further raise profile of the Obamas on the continent
  • The first lady and family are scheduled to visit neighboring Botswana Friday

First lady Michelle Obama met with former South African President Nelson Mandela on Tuesday as part of a weeklong visit to the continent, according to a spokeswoman for the first lady.

Accompanying her on her visit with Mandela were a nephew, Avery Robinson, 19, and a niece, Leslie Robinson, 15, children of Obama’s brother, Craig Robinson, according to Semonti Stephens, deputy communications director for the first lady.

Obama also was expected to visit other luminaries in the country Tuesday after arriving in Pretoria Monday night.

The first lady’s trip highlights the value of South Africa as a viable partner with the United States in issues other than politics, said John Campbell, who holds the Ralph Bunche chair in African Policy Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations.

“What is significant about the trip is that it underscores the fact that South Africa, since the establishment of nonracial (politics) has had a string of credible elections, is a country characterized by the rule of law, and is a democracy,” Campbell said. “Twenty-five years ago I think relatively few of us would have predicted such a happy outcome.”

Obama is scheduled to visit several historical sites, including Robben Island, where Mandela was held for much of his 27-year imprisonment in his fight against apartheid

Bashar Assad Speech Blames Crisis On ‘Saboteurs’

Bashar Assad Speech

Greece prepares to sell off state assets to get loans read more

Demonstrators gesture towards the Greek parliament during a peaceful rally in central Athens' Syntagma square, Sunday, June 19, 2011.

CNN

Greeks angry over job cuts Athens, Greece (CNN) — Greece is preparing to sell off billions of dollars worth of state assets including airports, highways, state-owned companies as well as banks, real estate and gaming licenses to meet international…

photo: AP / Kostas Tsironis

Debt Europe Greece Photos Wikipedia: European sovereign debt crisis

Iraqi lawmakers attend the parliament session in Baghdad, Iraq, Thursday, Nov. 11, 2010. Iraq's parliament approved key leadership positions Thursday in the first step toward forming a new government, after a breakthrough deal that returns Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to office for a second term but falls short of Sunni hopes for greater political power.

Iraq’s parliament has asked the United Nations for help to track down about $18bn of Iraqi oil money it says was stolen after the 2003 US-led invasion. In a letter to the UN office in Baghdad last month, parliament’s Integrity Committee asked for…
photo: AP / Karim Kadim

Afghanistan’s Karzai: US in peace talks with Taliban

Afghan police at scene of Kabul suicide attack

President Karzai’s comments came hours before an attack on a police station

The US is engaged in talks with the Taliban, Afghan President Hamid Karzai has said, in the first high-level confirmation of US involvement.

Mr Karzai said that “foreign military and especially the US itself” were involved in peace talks with the group.

Hours later, suicide bombers attacked a Kabul police station, killing nine.

Earlier this month, US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said there could be political talks with the Taliban by the end of this year.

The US is due to start withdrawing its 97,000 troops from Afghanistan in July.

It aims to gradually hand over all security operations to Afghan security forces by 2014.

Summer of fighting

“In the course of this year, there have been peace talks with the Taliban and our own countrymen,” Mr Karzai told a Kabul news conference on Saturday.

“Peace talks have started with them already and it is going well. Foreign militaries, especially the United States of America, are going ahead with these negotiations.”

For Syrian Refugees, Shelter of a Precarious Sort

Syrian refugees children crowd a playing area in a camp in Boynuyogun, near the Syrian border, Thursday, June 16, 2011. At least 150 more refugees crossed into Turkey on Thursday afternoon, increasing the number of refugees to more than 9,000.
photo: AP / Vadim Ghirda
KHIRBET AL-JOUZ, Syria — Hundreds of displaced Syrians were gathered at a makeshift refugee camp in a plum orchard near the Turkish border on Thursday, growing increasingly anxious after Syrian security forces attacked two nearby towns. The attacks on the towns of Shighr and…

just a few miles away, represent the security forces’ closest advance to the border with Turkey, which is strung with a necklace of refugee settlements similar to the clump of tents and cars here in the fields and orchards of Khirbet al-Jouz.Syrian forces entered the two farming towns, opening fire in the streets and driving still more people to seek safety across the border with Turkey, or within sight of the border, according to local residents and human rights activists. Turkish officials say they have taken in more than 8,000 refugees since fighting began in Idlib Province about two weeks ago.

Many here in the country’s restive northwest fear that forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad will continue advancing toward the border; the areas closest to it have been an unofficial haven since violence began to flare in the region.

Abu Mohamed, 30, fled from Jisr al-Shoughour when the military attacked the town last weekend. On June 4 and June 5 military defectors, armed antigovernment factions or a mix of both fought with security forces there.

“They don’t need to come into the valley to kill us, they could just shoot from the hillside,” he said of the Syrian military. “They burned all our fields, killed our animals and raped women. They will do anything.”

As sunset approached, a tinny warning blared from a loudspeaker atop the mosque in the village of Khirbet al-Jouz, across a cow pasture from the tent city. The army was getting closer, a prayer leader said, and people should be prepared.

Chinese president arrives in Moscow to boost cooperation


Chinese President Hu Jintao (front) arrives in Moscow, Russia, June 15, 2011. Hu Jintao arrived in Moscow Wednesday for a state visit to Russia to deepen pragmatic cooperation between China and Russia. He will attend the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum during visit. (Xinhua/Rao Aimin)

Chinese President Hu Jintao arrived in Moscow on Wednesday for a state visit aimed at deepening pragmatic cooperation between China and Russia.

Hu said in a statement released upon his arrival at the airport that his visit intends to inject fresh impetus into the sustained, healthy and stable growth of the China-Russia strategic partnership of cooperation.

In the Russian capital, Hu will meet with President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. The two sides will exchange views on planning for the development of China-Russia relations in the next decade and on major regional and international issues.

As the international situation is undergoing profound and complicated changes, the great cause of peace and development of the mankind now faces a number of challenges, Hu said in his statement.

Hu expressed China’s willingness to work with Moscow to focus on deepening the China-Russia strategic partnership of cooperation in an all-round way.

Noting that this year marked the 10th anniversary of the signing of the China-Russia Treaty on Good-Neighborliness, Friendship and Cooperation, Hu said the two countries should always adhere to the principles of the treaty and advocate the idea of friendship from generation to generation.

Angelina Jolie to visit Syrian refugees on Turkey’s southern border

Thursday, 16 June 2011

Hollywood superstar Angelina Jolie during a visit to Libyan refugees on the Tunisian border. (File Photo)

Hollywood superstar Angelina Jolie during a visit to Libyan refugees on the Tunisian border.

By AFP
Istanbul

Hollywood superstar Angelina Jolie will meet with Syrians who have fled an anti-government crackdown in their homeland on a tour of refugee camps in southern Turkey on Friday, officials said.

“Ms Jolie will visit Hatay province on Friday after travelling from Istanbul,” Selcuk Unal, a spokesman for Turkey’s foreign ministry, told AFP.

Confirmation of the visit comes after Jolie, who is a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations refugees agency (UNHCR), requested clearance from Turkish authorities to visit the border region.

More than 8,000 Syrians are now staying in three refugee camps in Hataya province after fleeing the crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations.

Many of them are from Jisr al-Shughur, a town some roughly 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the Turkish border, which has been the scene of a major army operation.

Jolie is noted for her humanitarian work and paid a surprise visit to Afghanistan in March to visit refugee camps.

Quotes of the Day »

Today, praise God, America is not facing an individual, a group or a faction. It is facing a nation that is in revolt, having risen from its lethargy to a renaissance of jihad.

AYMAN AL-ZAWAHIRI, former second in command to Osama bin Laden, who has been named the new leader of al-Qaeda

File - Shown on a computer screen is a frame grab from a DVD prepeared by Al-Sahab production showing al-Qaida's No. 2 leader Ayman al-Zawahari delivering his address seen in Islamabad, Pakistan, shown June 20, 2006.
photo: AP / B.K.Bangash
Al-Qaida says al-Zawahri has succeeded bin Laden
read more The Boston Globe

CAIRO-Al-Qaida’s longtime No. 2 leader, a doctor from a prominent Egyptian family who worked with Osama bin Laden for decades, has succeeded the slain terrorist as head of the global network, the group said Thursday. Ayman al-Zawahri, who turns 60 on Sunday, has long brought ideological fire, tactics and organizational skills to al-Qaida. The…

Billions of dollars for Iraq reconstruction missing

May Be Largest Theft In National History

Latest Articles

Lunar Eclipse, June 15, 2011

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Police arrest a demonstrator who tried to block the road to the Parliament during a rally against plans for new austerity measures, in central Athens, Wednesday, June 15, 2011.
photo: AP
Greek workers strike, protesters mass at parliament
read more Khaleej Times

ATHENS – Thousands of Greek demonstrators massed at parliament and workers launched a national strike on Wednesday to protest against the government’s efforts to approve new austerity measures for the debt-stricken euro zone state. Prime Minister George Papandreou must push through a new five-year campaign of tax hikes, spending cuts and sell-offs…
In this citizen journalism image acquired by the AP, Syrian refugees are seen inside Syria, near the Turkish border, Monday, June 13, 2011.
photo: AP
West fails to mobilise world over Syrian crackdown
read more Khaleej Times

PARIS ‘ Individually, Western capitals have issued stern condemnations of Syria’s brutal crackdown on its citizens, but together they have failed to bring coordinated diplomatic pressure to bear. Particularly at the United Nations, Washington and its European allies have struggled to cobble together enough support to repeat their feat of winning a…

Kissinger: China, U.S. Cyber Limits Needed To Prevent Attacks And Spying

Henry Kissinger

REPUBLICAN TARGET REMAINS UNTOUCHED

From left, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and businessman Herman Cain are seen on stage during the first New Hampshire Republican presidential debate at St. Anselm College in Manchester, N.H., Monday, June 13, 2011.
photo: AP / Jim Cole
Republican 2012 hopefuls debate US issues
read more Al Jazeera

Seven US Republican presidential contenders have met face-to-face in their first major debate, with Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, shaping up as the front-runner for the 2012 race. The White House hopefuls criticised President Barack Obama’s handling of the economy from the opening moments of their first major debate of the…

Somalia’s popular prime minister says he won’t quit office unless Parliament ousts him read more Somali Prime Minister Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed addresses officials after his swearing in ceremony at the Presidential residence in Mogadishu, Somalia. Monday Nov. 1, 2010.

MOGADISHU, Somalia – Somalia’s prime minister said Tuesday that he would not resign despite an agreement calling for his ouster to allow for a transitional government. Prime Minister Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed said at a news conference that he would…
photo: AP / Farah Abdi Warsameh

Vegetables

BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s inflation accelerated in May to a 34-month high of 5.5 percent, supporting the case for a tightening in monetary policy as soon as this month even as there are signs that economic growth is slowing down. Bringing inflation…
photo: WN / Yolanda

In this photo taken on April 21, 2011, Palestinian farmers work in turning the household garbage and the remains of plants into compost for farming in stead of the chemical fertilizers in the southern Gaza Strip town of Khan Younis. Using household waste in farming is better for human health than using chemical fertilizers, a Palestinian farmer said. (Photo by Ahmed Deeb/WN)

UN aid agency report criticises Israel for ‘a man-made policy which deliberately impoverishes so many’ An Israeli soldier stands on a tank near the Gaza border. Photograph: Ariel Schalit/AP…
photo: WN / Ahmed Deeb

Senate Website Gets Hacked

By ANDREW MORSE And IAN SHERR A hacker group that has claimed attacks on media and law-enforcement affiliates extended its month-long cyber mischief Monday, boasting that it had cracked the U.S. Senate’s website. The group, Lulz Security, posted on…
photo: WN / Geeta

Two women hug each other as they celebrate following partial results on Italian referendums in Rome, Monday, June 13, 2011. Italian voters dealt Premier Silvio Berlusconi a serious political blow, overturning laws passed by his government

Silvio Berlusconi’s already battered government last night saw voters take an axe to much of the key legislation it has introduced since the 74-year-old tycoon returned to power three years ago. Voting in four referendums, Italians decided to repeal…
photo: AP / Alberto Pellaschiar

A woman looks at some vegetables at the Market section of Walmart Supercentre in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada on June 9, 2011.

LONDON-Scientists are quickly combing the DNA of the killer bacteria behind the world’s worst E. coli outbreak to find clues about how to treat patients and prevent future epidemics. So far, one strain from a German patient has been sequenced by…
photo: WN / Janice Sabnal

Tibetan religious leader, His Holiness the Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso during a Tibetan festival in Dharamshala, District Kangra, H.P, India

CANBERRA, Australia — Prime Minister Julia Gillard has ruled out meeting the Dalai Lama this week in a move that will please China, Australia’s most important trading partner, and rile a crucial government supporter, the Greens party. Gillard ended…