The camera never blinked but it did play a role in the two-run homer by Alex Rodriguez when video technology was used to reverse a call for the first time in World Series history. A-Rod hit a disputed drive in the right-field corner that clanked off the lens of a TV camera above the wall [...]
Two Ontario men wanted by the FBI for alleged involvement in a radical Islamist group were arrested after police went to homes in Windsor, Ont., Saturday morning. Police in the border city say Mohammad Al-Sahli, 33, and Yassir Ali Kahn, 30, both from the Windsor area, were apprehended “without incident.” The two men were taken [...]
Even by the mafia’s brutal standards, the killing of a man smoking a cigarette outside a central Naples bar in broad daylight was shocking in its ruthlessness. But perhaps more disturbing is the reaction of witnesses, who can be seen in a video that has been released by Naples prosecutors in an unprecedented step to [...]
China’s Customs Authority said Friday that all the solid wastes imported from overseas will undergo electronic inspections to prevent garbage smuggling. China allows the imports of some types of recyclable wastes by limits such as Poly-silicon and artificial fiber which could be remade into raw materials. However, some undisposed trash like electronic gadgets, computers, home appliances [...]
A Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant guards on the top of a building during an anti-Israel rally in Gaza City October 30, 2009. Tens of thousands of Islamic Jihad members and supporters attended the rally on Friday. Palestinians gather at an anti-Israel rally in Gaza City, Oct. 30, 2009. Tens of thousands of Islamic Jihad members [...]
Nadaya, a male western lowland gorilla, eats a pumpkin at the Brookfield Zoo in Brookfield, Illinois October 28, 2009. Whirl, a two-year-old-Amur tiger, plays with a pumpkin at the Brookfield Zoo in Brookfield, Illinois October 28, 2009. Zookeepers fed pumpkins to the zoo’s lions, tigers, bears and gorillas, in honor of the upcoming October 31 [...]
A major new road joining Jerusalem to Israeli settlements in Hebron bisects land owned by the Jaber family. They have farmed these fields for 300 years. They once owned 60 dunums (60,000 square metres) but now have four (4,000 square metres) – the rest has been confiscated by Israeli settlers. The Jabers fight to farm [...]
Jacques Chirac, France’s former President, has been ordered to stand trial on embezzlement charges dating back to his time as Paris Mayor. A French magistrate on Friday said Chirac, 76, must stand trial for “misuse of public funds” and “breach of trust”. The trial would hinge on allegations that he gave 21 political allies false contracts [...]
Colombia has signed an agreement that will expand the U.S. military’s exposure in the South American nation. The pact, ratified on Friday in a low-key ceremony at the Foreign Ministry in the capital, Bogota, allows U.S. forces greater access to seven Colombian military bases for ten years in order to combat drug traffickers and left-wing opposition groups. Colombia’s Foreign Ministry said in [...]
Mark Teixeira and Hideki Matsui shook the New York Yankees from their lumber slumber and sent the World Series to Philadelphia all tied up. Teixeira and Matsui hit solo homers off familiar foe Pedro Martinez, backing a sharp performance by A.J. Burnett and giving the Yankees a 3-1 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies in Game [...]
Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, has questioned Pakistan’s commitment to the fight against al-Qaeda, saying she found it hard to believe that no-one in the government knows where senior figures are hiding. “I find it hard to believe that nobody in your government knows where they are and couldn’t get them if they [...]
At least five people have died, and about 150 others have been injured after a huge fire broke out at an oil refinery in India’s western state of Rajasthan. Witnesses reported hearing two explosions at the plant near Sitapura late on Thursday before the flames began to spread. Troops were still battling to bring the [...]
Paresh Mokashi, whose Marathi film of “Harishchandrachi Factory” has been selected as India’s official entry to the Oscars, is stuck without a visa to the United States, said the film director.The U.S. consulate in Mumbai refused to give him the visa, saying they didn’t know him or that his film is going to the Oscars, [...]
The U.S. recession remains “alive and acute” despite the economy recording its strongest growth in two years, said Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Thursday. “Unemployment remains unacceptably high for every person out of work. For every family facing foreclosure, for every small business facing a credit crunch, the recession remains alive and acute,” Geithner said in [...]
The Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party’s(MPRP) Leading Council on Wednesday nominated Sukhbaataryn Batbold, the current Foreign Minister of Mongolia, as the new PrimeMinister. The Mongolian parliament on Wednesday accepted the resignation of Prime Minister Sanjaa Bayar, who apologized for not being able to continue to perform his duties due to health reasons. Observers here predict that Batbold’s appointment [...]
An al-Qaeda sleeper agent has been jailed in the US for plotting to provide material support for terrorism. Ali al-Marri was held two months after the 9/11 attacks. He admitted having regular contact with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind. Al-Marri, a dual Saudi-Qatari national, pleaded guilty in May, having spent about six years in [...]
A Rwandan man found guilty under Canadian law of war crimes committed in his home country has been sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years. Quebec Superior Court Justice André Denis handed down the sentence for Désiré Munyaneza in Federal Court in Montreal on Thursday morning, in a precedent-setting [...]
Serena Williams claimed the world number one spot at the season-ending WTA Championships in Doha after her rival Dinara Safina quit the championships through injury. The American was guaranteed a top place finish for the first time since 2002 after Safina pulled out of her game against Serbia’s Jelena Jankovic after just two games in her [...]
The Phillies drew first blood in the opening game of baseball’s World Series with a 6-1 victory over hosts New York Yankees. Strong pitching by Cliff Lee and two home runs by Chase Utley powered Philadelphia to victory with Game Two of the best-of-seven series taking place in New York on Thursday. Lee tantalised the [...]
A U.S. group that arranged for an independent lab to test 10 children’s face paints for heavy metals and also review ingredient labels of Halloween products sold at a seasonal holiday store, has reported that Halloween face paints are contaminated with lead and other heavy metals, and other Halloween products contain hazardous ingredients. They recommend [...]
The leader of a radical Islamic group was killed in a shoot out during an FBI raid on a crime ring run by a group of mostlyAfrican American converts to Islam, officials said. The FBI said it employed “special safeguards” to secure the safe arrest of 11 men accused of operating an organized crime ring in the [...]
Two coyotes attacked and killed a 19-year-old folk singer in a national park in eastern Canada, officials say. Taylor Mitchell, 19, a promising musician from Toronto, died in hospital after the animals pounced on her as she hiked alone in Cape Breton Park, Nova Scotia. Hikers alerted Park Rangers after hearing her screams. The Rangers [...]
The 60 children peer out from the screen, watching, wondering, hoping for cheerful endings to their tales. For each of them, the story starts the same: kidnapped, stolen, missing, gone without a trace.And despite the best police efforts, even if the children are found, reuniting them with parents whose names and whereabouts may be unknown [...]
The Hamas-run Interior Ministry in the Gaza Strip has ordered Palestinians in the territory not to take part in elections called by Mahmoud Abbas, the West Bank-based President. Abbas issued a decree announcing that presidential and parliamentary polls would take place on January 24, 2010 but an Interior Ministry statement on Wednesday said the elections had been [...]
An 88-year-old former member of the Waffen SS is on trial in Germany over the Second World War killings of three civilians in The Netherlands. Heinrich Boere, who faces three counts of murder, admitted the killings to Dutch authorities when he was in captivity after WWII but has managed to avoid prosecution for decades. Wednesday’s court session lasted just [...]
The United Nations’ General Assembly has voted to condemn the United States’ trade embargo of Cuba, in a signal that worldwide opposition to the policy remains strong. The 187-3 vote on Wednesday to condemn the embargo marked a slight rise in opposition to the U.S. policy from last year, when 185 General Assembly member states [...]
Manfred Nowak, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on torture, has been prevented from entering Zimbabwe after being stopped at the airport in the capital, Harare. The Austrian academic had been invited to Zimbabwe by Morgan Tsvangirai, the Prime Minister, but when he arrived in Johannesburg, South Africa, he was told his visit had been cancelled. Airport officials said [...]
United States President Barack Obama has signed into law a $680 Billion defense budget for the next fiscal year, which includes $170 Billion in funding for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The 2010 Defense Authorization Bill, which President Obama signed at the White House on Wednesday, drops funding to several expensive projects. “I have [...]
It’s an expensive lesson on the importance of reading your mail. A Wisconsin judge has ordered PepsiCo Inc to pay $1.26 Billion to two men who said it stole their idea to sell purified water after a secretary mislaid a document alerting the world’s No. 2 soft drink maker the lawsuit existed. The case was [...]
Ahmed Wali Karzai, the brother of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, is said to be receiving regular payments from the Central Intelligence Agency, U.S. officials reported on Tuesday. Citing both current and former U.S. officials the papers said Karzai was being paid for a number of services including helping to recruit an Afghan paramilitary force that operates [...]
Ras al-Khaimah, United Arab Emirates cannot host the America’s Cup based on the 19th-century document that governs sailing’s marquee regatta, a New York judge has ruled. The decision by Justice Shirley Kornreich of the New York State Supreme Court was a blow to two-time defending champion Alinghi of Switzerland. The Swiss picked the little-known Persian [...]
When the popular former team manager of Israel’s most famous basketball club killed himself last week, it seemed like a sad tale of a heartbroken man who couldn’t adjust to life after sports. Now it appears there’s more to the story. Authorities suspect Moni Fanan was running a multimillion dollar investment scheme for some of [...]
Sweden has released Biljana Plavsic, the former Bosnian Serb president, two-thirds into an 11-year jail term for war crimes. Plavsic, who served her sentence in Sweden’s Hinseberg prison, arrived at Serbia’s Belgrade airport shortly after 2pm (1300GMT) on Tuesday. She made no official comment upon arrival. The Yugoslavia war crimes tribunal in The Hague convicted [...]
Hillary Clinton is in Pakistan on her first visit since becoming U.S. Secretary of State. She will meet senior officials on Wednesday as part of a three-day visit accompanied by Richard Holbrooke, the U.S. special representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan. Clinton’s trip comes as the Pakistani military is involved in a nearly two-week long battle against members of Tehreek-e-Taliban [...]
A car bomb has exploded in a crowded market in the northwest Pakistani city of Peshawar, killing at least 100 people, officials have reported. A huge blaze erupted after the explosion on Wednesday, which came just hours after Hillary Clinton, the U.S. secretary of state, arrived in Islamabad, the Pakistani capital, for talks with government officials. [...]
Israeli authorities have torn down several Palestinian houses in occupied east Jerusalem on grounds that the structures were built illegally. Gidi Schmerling, a Jerusalem municipality spokesman, said the affected houses and structures were in the neighbourhoods of Shuafat, Zur Baher, Silwan and Jabel Mukabar. “All the houses were demolished in accordance with a court order,” [...]
A spokesman for the Taliban in Afghanistan claims that they carried out an attack on a guest house used by United Nations staff in the heart of the capital, Kabul. The U.N. said six of its staff were killed in the attack on the Bakhtar Guest House, although no other details have been released. Police [...]
The licenses of two Northwest Airline pilots who over-shot the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport last week by 150 miles have been suspended. The pilots who were using their laptops while in the air broke company policy. The National Transportation Safety Board reported that the pilots — Capt. Timothy B. Cheney, 53, and First Officer Richard I. [...]
Dozens of top nuclear scientists around the world are busy working on the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) construction site in southern France. They plan to make an “artificial sun” in 2018.Currently there are seven national and supranational parties participating in the multibillion-euro ITER project. They are the European Union, India, Japan, People’s Republic of [...]
The Internet is about to get more accessible for millions worldwide with the imminent approval of a new multilingual address system that uses Asian and Arabic scripts, a global regulator said yesterday.The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) said it would declare an end to the exclusive use of Latin characters for website [...]
Prosecutors have branded Radovan Karadzic, the former Bosnian Serb leader, as “supreme commander” of ethnic cleansing during the 1992-95 Bosnian war. But Karadzic, who faces 11 charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, was not in the court in The Hague on Tuesday to hear the prosecution begin to outline its case. Karadzic boycotted proceedings for a second [...]
A U.S. official has resigned from his contract post in protest over the US led war in Afghanistan, becoming the first U.S. political representative to step down over the conflict since it began eight years ago. Matthew Hoh, who was the U.S. government’s Senior Civilian Representative in Afghanistan’s Zabul province, said in a letter released on Tuesday [...]
Arkadi Gaydamak, a Russian-born Israeli businessman and Pierre Falcone, his French associate, have been sentenced to six-year jail terms for organising the illegal trafficking of weapons to Angola. Gaydamak, who fled France before the trial, and Falcone were among 42 politicians, businessmen and members of the Paris elite accused of defying a UN embargo to arm the Angolan government [...]
Israel is denying Palestinians adequate access to clean, safe water while allowing almost unlimited supplies to Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank, human rights group Amnesty International has said. “Swimming pools, well-watered lawns and large irrigated farms in Israeli settlements… stand in stark contrast next to Palestinian villages whose inhabitants struggle even to meet [...]
NEUHAUSEN AM RHEINFALL, Switzerland — Swiss police say a UBS bank employee has admitted stealing millions from the bank’s safe to fund her $90,000 a week gambling habit. Police in the northern canton of Schaffhausen say the 41-year-old woman confessed to embezzling $2.8 million over the course of five years. Investigating magistrate Martina Fankhauser says the unidentified [...]
One immigration agent was accused of running an Internet pornography business and enjoying an improper relationship with an informant. Another let an informant smuggle in a group of illegal immigrants. And in a third case, an agent was investigated for soliciting sex from a witness in a marriage fraud case. These troubling misdeeds are a [...]
The younger sister of Fidel and Raul Castro, Juanita Castro, collaborated with the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency against her brothers’ rule in Cuba before going into exile in Miami in 1964, she said on Sunday. Juanita Castro, 76, who has not spoken to either of her brothers for more than four decades, made the revelation [...]
A farmer walks on a dried-up field at Sanshigang Village of Hefei, Anhui province October 25, 2009. Lingering drought continues to play havoc in southern and eastern China, stunting rice crops, lowering water levels in reservoirs and leaving hundreds of thousands of people short of drinking water. The water level drops to a record low [...]
Fireworks light the night sky and West Lake during a show of 2009 West Lake International Fireworks Fair in Hangzhou, east China’s Zhejiang Province, Oct. 24, 2009. This incredible display fills the entire downtown Hangzhou skyline with amazing fireworks that defy discription. Only photographs can provide any sense of the magnitude of these displays.
Jeffry Picower, a philanthropist accused of profiting more than $7 billion from the investment schemes of his longtime friend Bernard Madoff, was found at the bottom of the pool at his oceanside mansion and died Sunday, police said. He was 67. Picower’s wife discovered his body and pulled him from the water with help from a [...]
Palestinian youths hurl stones towards Israeli riot police during clashes in Jerusalem’s Old City. Israeli riot police firing stun grenades and crowds of young Palestinians throwing stones clashed in the compound around the al-Aqsa mosque in the heart of Jerusalem’s Old City today. It was the latest flare-up in several weeks of protests around the [...]
Police are gathering the personal details of thousands of activists who attend political meetings and protests, and storing their data on a network of nationwide intelligence databases. The hidden apparatus has been constructed to monitor “domestic extremists”, the Guardian can reveal in the first of a three-day series into the policing of protests. Detailed information about [...]
San Jose police officers repeatedly used metal batons and a Taser gun on an unarmed San Jose State student, including at least one baton strike that appears to come after the man is handcuffed, as they took him into custody inside his home last month. A video, made by one of the student’s roommates without [...]
At least 147 people have been killed and 721 wounded in two car bomb attacks in central Baghdad. The blasts hit the Ministry of Justice and the Provincial Government building near the Green Zone, causing severe damage. The blasts came in quick succession, about one minute apart, at 10:30 local time (0730 GMT), and were [...]
According to foreign media reports on Oct. 22, a nine-month-old baby has seen passages of the Koran appear on his leg twice a week and has shocked his local community in Kizlyar, Russia’s Dagestan Region. The baby named Ali Yakubov receives hundreds of pilgrims lining up to visit him and catch a glimpse of 9-month-old miracle [...]
In August 1860, the Anglo-French Allied Forces plundered the cultural relics of the Old Summer Palace. In 1900 the Palace was again looted by Eight-Power Allied Forces invaders. After the Xinhai Revolution, many warlords, bureaucrats and politicians stole cultural relics from the Palace in order to build their private villas. During the Cultural Revolution, many organizations [...]
The United States recently provided several significant deliveries of equipment to the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF), a statement made by the U.S. Embassy said on Friday. The statement said the Lebanese Navy was given eight Rigid Hulled Inflatable Boats which are specially suited for coastal patrolling and counter-smuggling operations. The United States also contributed nine Humvee ambulances [...]
The Bulgarian State Fund Agriculture signed with mayors of small municipalities a total of 216 contracts for $300 Million U.S. dollars provided by the European Union (EU) under the Rural Development Program here on Friday. The contracts are under two measures of this program: “Basic services for the economy and rural population” and “Renovation and [...]
Millions of gallons of oil pouring into the Timor Sea from a ruptured well is causing an environmental disaster that will continue to unfold for years to come, campaigners say. A fourth attempt was made on Friday to plug the West Atlas oil platform off Western Australia, amid claims the amount of spillage could be [...]
The leader of a banned Kenyan gang has been freed after charges that he murdered 28 people were dropped. Maina Njenga was freed on Friday and called on all fellow Mungiki members to renounce membership and become Christians. Speaking in a church in the centre of Nairobi, the Kenyan capital, Njenga said: “I have now come to [...]
At least 20 people were killed and 50 others injured in a collision between two trains on Saturday in Giza district 30 miles southwest of the Egyptian capital. An Egyptian Security Services official said: “The two trains collided at Al-Ayyat, in Giza. There are deaths and injuries.” “The trains were travelling on the same track. [...]
U.S. President Barack Obama has declared H1N1 flu a national emergency. The White House said the president signed the proclamation concerning the 2009 H1N1 outbreak on Friday evening. It increases the ability of treatment facilities to handle a surge in H1N1 patients by easing the implementation of emergency plans. Last week U.S. officials said swine [...]
A hand-picked team from CO19, the Metropolitan Police’s elite firearms unit, will walk the beat in gun crime hotspots where armed gangs have turned entire estates into “no go” zones. Local politicians and anti-gun campaigners have reacted with anger at the news that the officers will carry Heckler & Koch MP5 submachine guns – capable [...]
In one of the largest stimulus awards to state housing agencies, the U.S. Treasury announced on Friday $284 million would go to California, bringing the nationwide total since May to $3.12 billion. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act passed in February included a payment in lieu of tax credits program for housing. Designed to support [...]
South African traditional leaders plan to perform ritual animal slaughters to bless stadiums for the 2010 World Cup tournament ahead of the start of the showcase event next June, they said on Friday. Zolani Mkiva, chairman of the Makhonya Royal Trust, a grouping responsible for co-ordinating cultural activities, said the tournament, the first to be [...]
There’s Sasha, the youngest at 8 years old, casually draping her arm over the shoulder of the president of the United States. Older sister Malia embraces her mom, first lady Michelle Obama, as they all sit for their first official first family portrait in the Green Room at the White House on Sept. 1. It [...]
Britain’s economy contracted unexpectedly in the third quarter of this year, quashing hopes that the downturn was ending and instead marking the country’s longest recession since records began in 1955. Sterling plunged more than a cent against the dollar and government bond futures surged as traders and analysts bet the Bank of England may now have [...]
North Korea must take immediate steps to reverse its “abysmal” human rights record, including providing food to more than 8 million hungry citizens, a UN human rights official has said. Vitit Muntarbhorn, the UN’s Special Rapporteur for North Korea, called on the country’s leaders to replace their so-called “military first” policy with a “people first” [...]
A former military dictator of Uruguay has been sentenced to 25 years in jail for murder and rights violations during his 1981-1985 rule. Gregorio Alvarez, 83, was convicted by a court in Montevideo of 37 “aggravated homicides”, prosecution lawyer Oscar Lopez Goldaracena said. Alvarez was not present in court to hear the sentence because of ill health. [...]
Officials in the US have formally asked Switzerland to extradite Roman Polanski, the Oscar-winning filmmaker, over a 30-year-old child-sex case. Swiss authorities said on Friday that the request will now be forwarded to the canton of Zurich, where Polanski was detained on September 26 during a visit to collect an award at the city’s film festival. “The US embassy [...]
About 350 people have been evacuated from their homes on the outskirts of San Juan, Puerto Rico’s capital, after an explosion and fire at an oil storage and refinery site. Two people were hurt after the blast on Friday morning at the Caribbean Petroleum Corporation facility, which supplies petrol and other products to the US. [...]
More than 4,000 ethnic Tamils have been released from government-run detention camps in northern Sri Lanka, and allowed to return home. The freed detainees are part of a larger group of 40,000 who have been cleared to return to former Tamil Tiger strongholds, in the largest release from the camps since the end of the [...]
With Vivendi Universal SA on the edge of financial turmoil in 2002, Edgar Bronfman Jr. began selling shares in the company using inside knowledge that the business was in shambles, according to allegations made in a French court. Mr. Bronfman, the former Vivendi vice-chairman and the music-loving heir to the fortune behind iconic Canadian liquor [...]
The U.S. Treasury and the Federal Reserve Board unveiled unprecedented measures to slash executive pay at bailed-out firms and police banker compensation, marking a landmark moment in the government’s clampdown on Wall Street excess. White House pay czar Kenneth Feinberg set deep pay cuts for the top-earning officials at seven ailing companies bailed out by the [...]
You know things are really dismal in an industry, when even sex doesn’t sell. Playboy, the iconic American men’s magazine, is cutting its rate base – the minimum circulation numbers a publication guarantees to advertisers – by 42 per cent. Playboy founder Hugh Hefner announced the cut Tuesday via his Twitter page, which features a [...]
Allegations of corruption have been swirling like effluent through Montreal’s body politic in recent weeks, and today Montrealers have reason to wonder just how deep the muck really goes. In a single day Thursday, Mayor Gérald Tremblay admitted in a report that he feared for his family’s safety. An opposition politician, who resigned Sunday over [...]
Paul Mason, who needs emergency surgery to reduce his weight or else he could die, currently lives on government benefits in a specially adapted bungalow in Ipswich, England where he spends his time playing video games and watching TV, at a cost of approximately $166,000 a year to the taxpayer. The 48-year-old was jailed in [...]
Radovan Karadzic, the former Bosnian Serb leader, has threatened to boycott the start of his genocide trial at the Yugoslavia war crimes tribunal next week. The 64-year-old said in a letter to judges at the UN court in The Hague, the Netherlands, that he was being denied a fair trial by being given insufficient time [...]
Hundreds of demonstrators have besieged the television studios of the BBC in London to protest against an appearance by the leader of the far-right British National party (BNP) on a flagship political programme. A small number of protesters burst into the headquarters of the country’s national broadcaster in the capital, dodging a heavy security cordon, [...]
More than 300 people have been arrested in a series of drug raids targeting a Mexican drug cartel operating in the US, American officials have said. The two-day operation, which involved thousands of police officers in 19 US states, is the latest aimed at the cartel known as La Familia. It was part of Project [...]
A triumphant Philadelphia Phillies strolled past the Los Angeles Dodgers with a 10-4 home victory to seal the National League Championship Series and advance to the World Series. The Phillies wrapped up the best-of-seven series 4-1 and will face the winner of the American League Championship Series. The New York Yankees are poised to take that [...]
Richard Goldstone, the jurist who authored a U.N. report accusing Israel of war crimes and crimes against humanity during its war on Gaza, has challenged the U.S. to justify its claims that his findings are flawed and biased. Goldstone said on Thursday that he had not heard from the administration of Barack Obama, the U.S. president, about [...]
Cocaine kingpin Diego Montoya, the one-time head of Colombia’s Norte del Valle cartel, apologized in a U.S. court to the victims of drug violence and was sentenced on Wednesday to 45 years in prison. Montoya pleaded guilty in August to drug and racketeering charges as head of the cartel that the FBI said was once [...]
Organizing For America, the Democrat’s grass-roots group, came out enmass in support of the biggest telephone drive yet. Planning to make 100,000 telephone calls to the U.S. Congress, all in one day, in support of health care reform the organizers were stunned to learn that 315,023 Americans telephoned the U.S. Congress yesterday, all to voice their [...]
Israel’s prime minister has instructed his government to draw up plans for a “world wide campaign” to lobby for changes in the international laws of war. The order from Binyamin Netanyahu follows a special cabinet meeting on Tuesday to discuss Israel’s response to the UN’s Goldstone report, which condemned Israel’s actions during the 22-day war [...]
A train crash in northern India has killed at least 21 people and wounded many others. The accident on Wednesday was caused when one passenger train crashed into another near the town of Mathura, 93 miles south of New Delhi, the capital. Many passengers were trapped in a smashed carriage and rescuers had to cut the coach open [...]
Three suspected drug traffickers have been killed by police in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro, bringing to 29 the number of deaths since violence broke out over the weekend. They were killed on Wednesday after they opened fire on police officers searching a slum in the north of the city for gang members [...]
People living in a slum district of the Algerian capital have taken to the streets for a second day to protest against job and housing shortages. Residents of the Diar Echams area, frustrated over high unemployment and inadequate housing, clashed with police on Wednesday having started their protest on Monday night. The police said at [...]
California has launched a $200 Million legal action against State Street, accusing the institutional money manager of committing “unconscionable fraud” against Calpers and Calstrs, the largest U.S. pension funds. The complaint accuses Boston based State Street of illegally overcharging the two pension funds for the costs of executing foreign currency trades since 2001. Calpers, the [...]
AT&T Inc. sued Samsung Electronics Co., LG Display Co., AU Optronics Corp. and other manufacturers of liquid-crystal displays over claims they colluded to fix prices of their panels sold in the U.S. AT&T, the biggest U.S. phone carrier, filed the complaint yesterday in federal court in San Francisco. The lawsuit claims Samsung, the world’s biggest maker [...]
Galleon Group’s analysts, portfolio managers and traders in New York are seeking legal advice and updating their resumes after the arrest of Raj Rajaratnam, the hedge-fund firm’s founder, led to a flood of redemption requests, people familiar with the matter said. Rajaratnam, arrested on Oct. 16 for alleged insider trading and released on $100 million [...]
Attorneys for the artist Shepard Fairey, who created the iconic HOPE poster of President Obama, admitted that he based the poster off of an Associated Press photo in legal papers filed Friday. The Associated Press has been undergoing a long legal battle with Fairey over his use of the copyrighted image since February. The Associated [...]
It’s been a full seven decades, but it’s finally time: Berlin’s Neues Museum (New Museum) officially reopens to the public tomorrow. The latest of the city’s museums to open its doors after extensive renovations, the Neues Museum will house Berlin’s Egyptian and papyrus collection, as well as pieces from the Museum of Pre- and Early [...]
Down a back alley in Soho, in the middle of London’s theater district, the gallery owner Paul Jones is showing recent paintings by Adam Neate, a former street artist, in a space converted from a set-painting workshop, the Elms Lesters Painting Rooms. Stars like Charlie Chaplin and Stan Laurel used to come here to prepare [...]
Former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik was jailed on Tuesday when a federal judge revoked his bail a week before his trial on conspiracy and fraud charges was due to begin. The judge agreed to a request to jail Kerik for leaking sealed information to a legal defense fund-raiser — information the fund-raiser [...]
An Iranian-American academic has been sentenced to 15 years in an Iranian prison for his role in the protests after the disputed presidential election in June 2009, a U.S. State Department spokesman said Tuesday. The United States is “deeply concerned” that Kian Tajbakhsh has been sentenced to prison, spokesman Ian Kelly said. “Mr. Tajbakhsh poses [...]
Botswana President Ian Khama said on Tuesday that peace and stability remain elusive for many countries and that Batswana should not take their stable political environment for granted. Botswana President Ian Khama reviews an honor guard after being sworn-in as the country’s forth democratically elected president in Gaborone. Khama has been sworn-in as Botswana’s fourth [...]
Indian soldiers march to commemorate the 60th Anniversary of the Territorial Army (TA) in New Delhi October 19, 2009.
A cargo train carrying oil derailed on Monday afternoon near the central station in Yaounde, the capital of Cameroon.The derailment occurred at 14:10 local time just as the train was leaving the railway station for Ngaoundere. Two wagons of the cargo train overturned in a curve, pouring out oil from inside the wagons. The leakage blocked [...]
Afghanistan will hold a deciding round of its problem-hit presidential poll on November 7th, pitting Hamid Karzai against his rival Abdullah Abdullah. News of the run-off vote follows weeks of mounting international pressure. It comes a day after a U.N. backed panel said it had clear evidence of fraud in August’s first round, lowering Mr. [...]
Visitors at the Exhibition of “Louis XIV, the Man and the King” at the Versailles Palace, west of Paris, on October 19, 2009. The exhibition opened on Monday revealing the little-known private and creative side of Louis XIV, the “Sun King” who remains one of France’s most flamboyant monarchs. Private collections are seen at the [...]
South Korean Air Force’s aerobatic team, the Black Eagles, which consists of T50 aircraft, fly over the Seoul Military Airport in Seongnam, south of Seoul on October 20, 2009 at the opening of the Seoul International Aerospace and Defense Exhibition (ADEX).
Hundreds of clowns from Latin American countries gathered in Mexico City for their annual conference on October 19, 2009.
On October 18, a program was launched to collect information on relics that have been lost from the Old Summer Palace and are currently preserved overseas. Next month, personnel from the Yuanmingyuan Management Office and experts from Tsinghua University will go to the U.S., their first stop on a tour to find as many lost [...]
The name of the Chinese bulk carrier hijacked in the Indian Ocean earlier on Monday has been identified as DE XIN HAI, a spokesperson of the EU naval force said, adding there are 25 Chinese aboard the ship. John Harbour said that the EU NAVFOR Maritime Patrol Aircraft (MPA) has located the ship and has [...]
An American scientist who worked for the U.S. Department of Defense and the space agency NASA has been charged with attempted espionage, officials say. “Stewart David Nozette is charged with attempted espionage for knowingly and willfully attempting to communicate, deliver, and transmit classified information relating to the national defense of the United States to an [...]
The Indian Air Force has cleared a chartered U.S. military plane which was detained at the Mumbai airport Sunday morning by the Indian authorities for failing to correctly identify itself, said Defense Ministry sources. The plane took off about 14:30 p.m. after being given green light by the Air Force and having its procedural formalities [...]
Shanghai authorities said Sunday that they found industrial salt in food that sickened 26 people at a local delicatessen. One of the poisoned patients died in the Pudong District People’s Hospital and 10 were still receiving treatment there. Those with light symptoms have left hospital, according to a health department official in Pudong District, on Saturday. The [...]
Ali Bongo Ondimba, the victor in the Aug. 30 presidential elections, took oath of office on Friday at the Presidential Palace in Libreville and succeeded his father Omar Bongo Ondimba, who died on June 8 at the age of 73, after ruling the West African country for 41 years. “I swear to use all my [...]
The Philippines has put rescue teams on standby and stockpiled food supplies as the country braces for the third typhoon in as many weeks. Typhoon Lupit is predicted to hit the country on Wednesday and follows in the wake of two storms that have killed more than 900 people. The government weather service said the outer bands of the latest [...]
Hindu priests carry an idol through Shivm Kovi temple during the festival of Diwali in Colombo October 17, 2009. Indian Border Security Force (BSF) soldiers light candles to celebrate Diwali, the the annual Hindu festival of lights, at the India-Bangladesh border on the outskirts of the eastern Indian city of Siliguri October 17, 2009. A [...]
The British government has denied that a program for tackling religious extremism is used by its security agencies to spy on Muslim communities. In a statement released on Saturday, the Home Office said its $230 Million “Preventing Violent Extremism” strategy did not engage in covert intelligence-gathering on potential terrorists. “Any suggestion that Prevent is about [...]
A wild throw from Maicer Izturis in the 13th inning handed the New York Yankees a 2-0 American League Championship Series lead over the Los Angeles Angels. The error at the new Yankee Stadium gave the home side a 4-3 win in game two on Saturday as LA self-destructed again – one night after making [...]
Chandana Sirimalwatte, the editor of Sri Lanka’s Sinhala language newspaper “Lanka” and one of its journalists Priyantha Liyanage were taken into custody by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of Sri Lankan Police Saturday afternoon, said the police. The CID arrested them at around 4:30 p.m. (1100 GMT) while a cricket match between the editorial board of [...]
A police helicopter was shot down here on Saturday during a drug traffickers shoot-out, which claimed two police officers and 10 suspected gangsters, said the police. An armored police vehicle sits near two public buses set on fire by drug gangs trying to distract the police from their battle for the control of a slum, [...]
Several top commanders in Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards have been killed in a suicide bombing in the volatile south-east of the country. Iranian state television said 31 people died in the attack, in the Pishin region of Sistan-Baluchistan, and more than 25 were injured. Shia and Sunni tribal leaders were also killed. A Sunni resistance [...]
The Pakistani military has launched its ground offensive against Taliban strongholds in South Waziristan, hitting back after a string of deadly attacks across the country. The ground operation began early on Saturday, with troops advancing from three directions, officials said. Tens of thousands of civilians are said to have fled the area ahead of the [...]
French farmers struggling with slumping grain prices blanketed the Champs-Elysees with bales of hay and set them ablaze Friday, and blocked highways around the country as they demanded government help. About 150 farmers blocked traffic and unloaded hay and tires onto the most famous shopping street in Paris. The protesters set the hay on fire [...]
The U.S. government said on Thursday that China did not manipulate its currency against the U.S. dollar during the first half of 2009. In its Semi-Annual Report to Congress on International Economic and Exchange Rate Policies, the U.S. Treasury Department said on Thursday that “no major trading partner of the United States” met the standards [...]
The list of the richest women in the Chinese mainland was released on October 15. Zhang Yin tops the list with a personal wealth of $5 Billion. As the founder and director of the family company Nine Dragons Paper Holdings, which recycles paper into cardboard boxes, Zhang Yin also ranks second on this year’s List [...]
Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said he is more worried about the increasing U.S. debt than the weakening dollar during a meeting in New York on Thursday.Speaking at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, Greenspan said he is “not overly concerned” about the most recent decline in the dollar, which has hit [...]
At a time when the global economic crisis dominates the news, the world needs to be reminded that not everyone works in offices and factories. The crisis is stalking the small-scale farms and rural areas of the world, where 70 percent of the world’s hungry live and work. With an estimated increase of 105 million [...]
Alfonson Sanchez displays a large sign on top of his Davie, Florida home on Thursday, Oct. 15, 2009. His $1.7 million luxury home has Chinese drywall throughout which has lowered its value to zero, since he can not sell the house or rent it out. Soon, the family will move out of it in order [...]
A contentious issue around net neutrality and citizen journalism is buzzing in the cyberactivism world. There is emerging evidence that some US blog web hosts are systematically denying services to international bloggers living in and/or writing with a dissident voice against regimes such as Iran, Belarus, Zimbabwe and other sanctioned states. The US Web hosts [...]
A portrait of a young woman thought to be created by a 19th century German artist and sold two years ago for about $19,000 is now being attributed by art experts to Leonardo da Vinci and valued at more than $150 million. The unsigned chalk, ink and pencil drawing, known as “La Bella Principessa,” was [...]
More than a dozen countries bordering the Indian Ocean have joined a test of a regional tsunami warning system, nearly five years after the 2004 Asian tsunami killed nearly a quarter of a million people. The UN-backed initiative on Wednesday dubbed the “Exercise Indian Ocean Wave 09″ aimed to simulate a tsunami similar to the [...]
A Cuban blogger who has criticized her government has been denied permission to travel to New York to pick up a prestigious journalism award Wednesday. Yoani Sanchez writes a blog that gets more than 1 million hits from around the globe every month, and Time magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people [...]
The US senate finance committee has voted to approve a healthcare package, boosting attempts by Barack Obama, the US president, to overhaul the present system. The Democratic-controlled senate finance committee voted 14 to nine in favour of the proposal on Tuesday, with Olympia Snowe becoming the first Republican in congress to back a healthcare reform bill. Snowe [...]
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao met Tuesday in Beijing with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, who is on his first official visit to China since taking office in May 2008. Wen hosted a welcome ceremony for Putin at the Great Hall of the People before their private talks and a larger session involving ministerial officials from [...]
The United States has set Oct. 15 as the deadline for Americans to report their income from foreign countries, or face criminal charges. The move has caused panic and could draw backlash abroad. In the past, Americans living and working abroad could open bank accounts in foreign countries and most Americans did not report their [...]
The miniature “Teacup Pigs” which have become tremendously popular as pets in the U.K. are now selling for $1,100.00 each. The two shown in the photograph are full grown. “They make fantastic pets. They’re really clean. They’re highly intelligent and just love to be loved. They give so much back to you,” said Jane Croft, [...]
More than 900 cargo ships are stranded in a section of a river in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region due to low water level amid continuous drought, the local maritime authority said Monday. A severe drought began to hit Guangxi in early August. The average water level in the Changzhou ship lock in Wuzhou City dropped [...]
With no money, no stars and virtually no special effects, first-time writer-director Olen Peli has crafted an efficient and very effective horror film by letting the audience’s imaginations do most of the work. That may sound tame to hardcore horror movie fans used to ultra-violent “Saw” and “Hostel” brand of horror, but the sneak review [...]
More than 50 people have been killed and dozens more wounded in a suicide bombing in a crowded marketplace in northwestern Pakistan, officials say. The attack, which apparently targeted a military convoy, occurred on Monday in Shangla, a district bordering Swat valley in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP). “Fifty people have been killed – 30 [...]
A 2-year-old has become the youngest boy in Britain to be accepted into Mensa.Oscar Wrigley has an IQ of at least 160 – the same as Stephen Hawking and Albert Einstein.The child’s father Joe said: “Oscar was recently telling my wife about the reproductive cycle of penguins.“He is always asking questions. Every parent likes to [...]
Air New Zealand said more than 10,000 passengers faced delays of up to two hours because of a widespread computer meltdown on Sunday. Air New Zealand’s passenger check-in kiosks, call center systems and online bookings failed at 09:00 a.m. The kiosks came back online at about 3:30 p.m. on Sunday, though the malfunctions caused multiple backlogs. At about [...]
A junior scientist of Defense Research and Development Establishment (DRDE) of India escaped unhurt when two of his senior colleagues allegedly tried to kill him in the name of “human sacrifice”, police said on Sunday. Scientist Sushil Kumar Mishra’s wife Shridha lodged a complaint on Saturday alleging that two senior scientists of DRDE tried to [...]
The Government of China announced today that it is going to forbid foreign investment for domestic operational services of online computer games, this is according to China’s General Administration of Press and Publication.Foreign investors are not allowed to participate in or control China’s online game management through joint ventures or any kind of cooperation such [...]
Expedition 20 Commander Gennady Padalka, Flight Engineer Michael Barratt and Canadian space tourist Guy Laliberte have completed their stay aboard the International Space Station. The three undocked from the Pirs docking compartment in the Soyuz TMA-14 at 8:07 p.m. EDT and safely landed in Kazakhstan at 11:32 PM Central Time, according to NASA. Padalka and Barratt [...]
Three people arrested after Iran’s disputed presidential election have been sentenced to death, the Iranian ISNA news agency said. “Three people who were accused in the post-election incidents have been sentenced to death,” ISNA quoted Zahed Bashiri Rad, media officer at the justice ministry, as saying on Saturday. Bashiri Rad, giving only the initials of the convicts, said [...]
Mark Teixeira led the New York Yankees to a 4-3 victory over the Minnesota Twins, giving the Yankees a 2-0 lead in their best-of-five division series. In the other American League playoff, the Los Angeles Angels got a strong pitching performance from Jered Weaver and some timely hitting for a 4-1 victory over the Red [...]
Maicon may have made a late appearance as a substitute for Brazil, but he was worth the wait after twice scoring to propel Brazil to a 2-1 victory over Germany in extra-time to reach the semi-finals of the Under-20 World Cup. Brazil, the only remaining team with a previous tournament win, now face Costa Rica, [...]
The Leeds Rhinos have become the first side to win three consecutive Super League Grand Finals after downing St Helens 18-10 in a rugged defence dominated match at Old Trafford in Manchester. Leeds centre Lee Smith, who joins rugby union club London Wasps in the off season, enjoyed a memorable departure with a try in [...]
Iraqi officials have signed a deal with Britain’s BP and China’s CNPC to develop its Rumaila oilfield, a milestone in Iraq’s efforts to renew its oil sector. Officials from Iraq’s state-owned South Oil Company and the two oil companies agreed the deal on Thursday, Assem Jihad, an oil ministry spokesman, said. Final approval is still needed from the [...]
A Hamas delegation is meeting Egyptian officials in Cairo to try to set a new date for the signing of a Palestinian unity deal, a spokesman for the Palestinian group has said. Sami Abu-Zuhri told the AFP news agency that the team led by Moussa Abu Marzuk, an exiled senior Hamas official, is to hold [...]
The UN’s climate chief has warned that time is running out for negotiators to agree on crucial targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. With two weeks of talks due to wrap up in Bangkok on Friday, Yvo de Boer said a deal at the Copenhagen summit in December may not be possible without commitments by [...]
Turkey and Armenia have signed a historic accord, agreeing to resume diplomatic ties and re-open borders after a century of hostility. Ahmet Davutoglu, Turkey’s foreign minister, and Edward Nalbandian, his Armenian counterpart signed the Swiss-mediated deal in Zurich on Saturday, after last-minute disagreements delayed the ceremony for three hours. “It was pulled back from the brink,’ a senior US official said. [...]
Supporters of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah party in the West Bank and Islamic Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip held on Friday separate demonstrations to protest the recent Israeli measures against al-Aqsa Mosque in the Old City of Jerusalem. The protests and rallies were organized in both areas as U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell [...]
The General Motors, undergoing a life-or-death transformation now, said Friday that it would sell its Hummer brand to China’s Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery, a private manufacturing company in southwestern China.The sale is deemed another step in GM’s effort of downsizing itself after emerging from a US government-financed bankruptcy earlier this year.GM’s talks with Sichuan [...]
Visitors view the loricae of Emperor Yongzheng during the exhibition about Emperor Yongzheng (1678-1735) of the Qing Dynasty in Taipei, southeast China’s Taiwan Province, Oct. 9, 2009. The exhibition kicked off in Taipei on Wednesday, in which a total of 246 items, including 37 items of the royal collections from the Palace Museum in Beijing [...]
A car bomb blast on Friday killed at least 30 people in the northwest Pakistani city of Peshawar, the capital of North West Frontier Province (NWFP), the provincial information minister and local police said. Police said the bomb blast took place in a bus at the Khyber Bazaar nearing the NWFP assembly in Peshawar, killing at [...]
President Obama’s letter to Michael Morrison, the Editor of the Morning Post, dated October 9, 2009; Michael –This morning, Michelle and I awoke to some surprising and humbling news. At 6 a.m., we received word that I’d been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009.To be honest, I do not feel that I deserve to be [...]
A VERY RARE AND FINELY PRESERVED UNION FLAG FLOWN FROM THE JACKSTAFF OF H.M.S. SPARTIATE AT THE BATTLE OF TRAFALGAR, 21ST OCTOBER, 1805 comprising thirty-one hand-stitched bunting panels with canvas sleeve and lanyard – 88 x 140in. (223.5 x 355.5cm.) Provenance: James Clephan and thence by descent. Capt. James Clephan R.N. (1768-1851) was born in [...]
LCROSS Centaur Separation occurred at 9:50 p.m. EDT (6:50 p.m. PDT), Oct. 8. After separation, the spacecraft performed a 180 degree pitch maneuver (turning around) to reorient the LCROSS science payload towards the receding Centaur. LCROSS impacted the crater on Friday, October 9, 2009 at approximately 7:35 A.M. EST. NASA has successfully collected data after [...]
President Barack Obama made history again Friday, winning the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize for his “extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.” The Norwegian Nobel Committee recognized Obama’s efforts to solve complex global problems, including working toward a world free of nuclear weapons. “Only very rarely has a person to the same [...]
Five scientists were awarded the Shaw Prize on Wednesday in Hong Kong at a prize-giving ceremony for their outstanding achievements in astronomy, life science and medicine, and mathematical sciences. The astronomy prize went to Professor Frank H Shu, University Professor of the ten-campus University of California System of the United States, in recognition of his [...]
Amid the economic crisis, more California hotels are being pushed into foreclosure, according to an industry report published on Wednesday. Statewide, more than 300 hotels were in foreclosure or default on their loans as of Sept. 30 — a nearly fivefold increase since the start of the year, said the report published in the Los [...]
Dozens of people have been arrested in the US and in Egypt, accused of links to an alleged international identity theft ring targeting American banks. FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said about 100 arrests were expected across California, Nevada and North Carolina as well as in Cairo, Egypt. The alleged ring is accused of using an [...]
A major earthquake with a magnitude of 7.8 struck Thursday morning near the Solomon Islands in the Pacific Ocean, the U.S. Geological Survey said. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued an expanding regional tsunami warning and watch for parts of the Pacific near the earthquake’s epicenter, which was in the ocean about 160 miles (260 [...]
Monday, German auto manufacturer Porsche unveiled the Panamera in Abu Dhabi, with which it reinforced the fact that the demand for luxury cars remains strong in the Emirate, in spite of a global economic slowdown. As per a sales representative for Ali & Sons Co LLC, Porsche’s dealer in Abu Dhabi, “The gasoline-powered Panamera is available [...]
Deron Williams(left) of Utah Jazz breaks through during an NBA pre-season game at the O2 stadium in London, Britain, Oct. 6, 2009. Chicago Bulls beat Utah Jazz by 102-101 with a 0.1 second buzzer-beater by rookie James Johnson. Wesley Matthews of Utah Jazz goes for basket during an NBA pre-season game at the O2 stadium [...]
Plastics chemical bisphenol A (BPA) has adverse effects on humans, particularly girls, a new study shows. Girls exposed to higher levels of BPA displayed more “externalizing” behaviors, such as aggression and hyperactivity, according to the study appearing in the Tuesday’s online edition of Environmental Health Perspectives. The study involved 249 pregnant women from Cincinnati, Ohio, who [...]
A court in Saudi Arabia has sentenced a man to five years in prison and 1,000 lashes for speaking about his sex life on Lebanese television, in violation of vice laws in the conservative Muslim country. The lawyer who represents Jeddah resident Mazen Abdul Jawad said the court issued the ruling Wednesday. Jawad appeared on [...]
A new system for tackling the growing number of Global Cyber Attacks has been unveiled at ITU Telecom World 2009, a mammoth exhibition, which showcases the latest advances in ICT or information and communications technology. The International Telecommunications Union, which is sponsoring the event, has put global cyber security at the heart of its agenda. [...]
Italy’s constitutional court has annulled a law that protects Silvio Berlusconi, the country’s prime minister, and other senior officials from prosecution while they are in office. Berlusconi vowed on Wednesday to stay on despite the court’s ruling, saying the court was a “political organ” dominated by the left. The law, passed a few weeks after Berlusconi [...]
British Airways has announced it is shedding 1,700 fulltime jobs, putting 3,000 employees on part-time work and reducing the size of cabin crews in an effort to improve the airline’s finances. The airline, Europe’s third biggest, said on Tuesday it was also planning a two-year freeze on basic pay for cabin crew. Paul Marston, a BA spokesman, [...]
Police in Turkey have dispersed hundreds of demonstrators protesting against the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. Helicopters hovered above the crowds and police used water cannons and tear gas to break up the demonstration as protesters smashed windows of a McDonald’s fast food restaurant and several banks in Istanbul. The protesters, [...]
Idelphonse Nizeyimana was born in the prefecture of Gisenyi, Rwanda. He was second-in-command of military operations and intelligence (S2 and S3) of the school for non-commissioned officers (ESO) in Butare. He held the rank of captain. In this capacity, he exercised authority over the soldiers and personnel of the camp. In addition, Nizeyimana was a [...]
A Spanish judge has ordered that an Argentine-born pilot be held pending extradition to his home country over his alleged role in carrying hundreds of dissidents to their deaths during the 1976-1983 war. Judge Eloy Velasco gave the order in Madrid, the Spanish capital, on Tuesday after he finished questioning Julio Alberto Poch over his [...]
The worst floods to hit southern India in a century have made 2.5 million people homeless and left 250 dead. At least five million people are crammed in temporary government shelters after heavy rains last week triggered flooding that swamped millions of acres of cropland. The worst affected states are Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra. [...]
The most anticipated Asian Contemporary Art Fair will be here once again to set the visual art scene ablaze over four days from 9 – 12 October 2009 at Suntec Singapore. The best art galleries from Asia and beyond will be showcasing millions worth of artworks ranging from painting, drawing, sculptures, installations, photographs, and digital art, [...]
The prison population is now so large that there is the potential for a “catastrophe of widespread disorder” by inmates as jails struggle to make savings demanded by ministers, the president of the Prison Governors’ Association warns tomorrow. Paul Tidball describes the potential for state prisons “to blow”, while private jails are exempt from spending [...]
In a new study of more than 2,000 low-income unemployed workers age 55 and older, 46 percent need to find jobs so they don’t lose their homes or apartments, and approximately half (49 percent) have been looking for work for more than a year. In July 2009, there were two million unemployed workers age 55 [...]
A plane at Kirtland Air Force base in New Mexico has been blasting some targets at White Sands Missile range without bullets or bombs. Instead, the plane employs a laser as its weapon of choice. This is the first time the weapon was successfully fired at a target with the intent of damaging it. Boeing, who [...]
The trial of a former US judge accused of having sex with male inmates in exchange for leniency is set to start in Mobile, Alabama. Herman Thomas, 48, denies the charges, which include sodomy, kidnapping, extortion, sex abuse and assault. Up to 15 current and former prisoners are set to testify against him at the [...]
Three Americans won the Nobel prize for medicine on Monday for discovering and identifying telomerase, the enzyme that renews the little caps on the end of chromosomes whose natural fraying underlies aging and cancer. Australian-born Elizabeth Blackburn, British-born Jack Szostak and Carol Greider won the prize of $1.42 Million, Sweden’s Karolinska Institute said. “The discoveries…have [...]
Supporters of the Greek Panhellenic Socialist Movement Party (PASOK) led by George Papandreou celebrate victory in Athens, capital of Greek, Oct. 4, 2009. The Greek main opposition PASOK party led by George Papandreou have garnered a large enough percentage of the vote on Sunday to form a self-sufficient government in Greece, according to the first [...]
A wildfire was spreading in San Bernardino County near Los Angeles on Sunday, prompting California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to proclaim a state of emergency in the area. Fanned by wind gusts of up to 40 mph, the so-called Sheep fire has burned over 3,500 acres, destroyed several homes and caused the mandatory evacuation of residents at [...]
Texas Governor Rick Perry today removed three of the eight members of the Texas Forensic Science Commission (TFSC), which was set to hold a hearing on Friday to review an arson expert’s report on the controversial 2004 execution of Cameron Todd Willingham. The public meeting set for Friday has been cancelled. Innocence Project Co-Director Barry [...]
With the world’s oceans absorbing six million tonnes of carbon a day, a leading oceanographer warns of eco disaster. Carbon-dioxide emissions are turning the waters of the Arctic Ocean into acid at an unprecedented rate, scientists have discovered. Research carried out in the archipelago of Svalbard has shown in many regions around the north pole seawater [...]
India’s growing status as an economic superpower is masking a failure to stem a shocking rate of infant deaths among its poorest people. Nearly two million children under five die every year in India – one every 15 seconds – the highest number anywhere in the world. More than half die in the month after birth [...]
Every year, thousands of dolphins are herded into a tranquil cove in Japan where some are captured for sale to marine parks, the rest slaughtered for their meat. The picturesque cove at Taiji which becomes a bloodbath between September and March each year as 2,000 dolphins are slaughtered. Despite the efforts of the Japanese authorities [...]
The Venus Flytrap, Dionaea muscipula, catches and digests animal prey. A dead mouse is trapped inside a Nepenthes truncata, left, and right, the mouse is removed. A honeybee trapped in a Spider Orchid.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s vitriolic attacks on the Jewish world hide an astonishing secret. A photograph of the Iranian president holding up his identity card during elections in March 2008 clearly shows his family has Jewish roots. A close-up of the document reveals he was previously known as Sabourjian – a Jewish name meaning cloth weaver. The [...]
A white Bengal tiger dramatically bursts out of the water at feeding time to fight for food in this shot captured by photographer Birte Person, 62, at Singapore Zoo. Charly, a 1,150-pound polar bear, plays with a jack-o’-lantern at SeaWorld San Diego’s Wild Arctic attraction. The 11-foot bear shredded the pumpkin in seconds.
A tiny King bird drives a red tailed hawk away from its nest on a lake in Colorado, USA. The plucky bird sat on the predator’s back and pecked its head forcing the bird of prey to look for easier pickings elsewhere Picture: PAT GAINES / BNPS Zoo keeper Andres Capdevielle holds a Crowned Eagle [...]
A newly born pygmy hippopotamus walks around its enclosure as the mother feeds at the Blijdorp Zoo in Rotterdam. Happy the hippo has been moved from his home at the Smithsonian Zoo in Washington, DC to Milwaukee County Zoo where it is hoped he will breed with their two female hippos, Puddles and Patti
Baby rhinoceros Geraldine runs beside her mother Claudia at the Serengeti Safari Park in the northern German village of Hodenhagen. A female panda cub named Lin Ping is cared for by a vet during its first appearance in the public enclosure at Chiang Mai Zoo in northern Thailand.
This horse named Poe, is the world’s tallest horse. He is pictured with his owner Shereen Thompson, in Tupperville, Canada. Poe stands 20.2 hands tall at the shoulder and 10 feet tall with his head upright, and weighs 3,000 pounds
New misery hit the Philippines as typhoon Parma made landfall as the island nation was still recovering from last week’s floods. The danger of heavy rains causing more flooding in Manila, the capital, was enough to force families to flee their homes in low-lying areas. Farther north thousands were evacuated. Nearly half a million people [...]
A rally to protest at the grip which Italy’s prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, has on the press has attracted tens of thousands of demonstrators in Rome. Mr Berlusconi, 73, owns three of Italy’s main television channels through his Mediaset empire and as prime minister also wields control over the three main stations of state broadcaster, [...]
The present signs of revival in the global economy should not be confused with the financial crisis being over and all countries should be ready with policies to sustain the recovery, said an International Monetary Fund (IMF) official here on Saturday. “The current numbers should not fool governments into thinking that the crisis is over,” [...]
Supporters of the New Democracy party wave flags during a pre-election rally in Athens, capital of Greece, on Oct. 2, 2009. Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis attends a pre-election rally of his New Democracy party in Athens, capital of Greece, on Oct. 2, 2009. Greeks will vote in a national election on Sunday, while the [...]
China contributed 19.2 percent of the world economic growth in 2007, up from 2.3 percent in 1978, a report by China’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has said, claiming that China tops the world in contribution to the global economic growth. (Fireworks are seen during a grand performance celebrating the 60th anniversary of the founding of [...]
A performer dances with a tiger during the special show by the National Circus of Russia under invitation to Luoyang City, central China’s Henan Province, Oct. 1, 2009. Local spectators enjoy a marvelous circus show during the National Day Festival marking the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China. A performer [...]
Thousands of people celebrated Friday on crowded Copacabana beach as the announcement that Brazil had been chosen as the 2016 Olympics host played live over huge screens erected above the sand. “It was a fantastic victory. We beat the big cities. Passion talked louder,” said one man as he danced to live samba music in [...]
Desperate and debt-ridden, TV producer Robert Joe Halderman threatened to ruin David Letterman in a $2 Million blackmail plot as his life unraveled, prosecutors and sources said Friday. Halderman, who pleaded not guilty to shaking down the “Late Show” host, went through a costly divorce and was anguished after his ex-wife moved to Colorado and took their 11-year-old [...]
Kenya Wildlife Service director Julius Kipng’etich, left, flanked by unidentified officials, lifts an elephant tusk from a case at the Nairobi National Park. Kenya police are looking for the people behind a shipment of 684 kilogrammes of ivory seized at Nairobi’s main airport and destined for Bangkok.
Fanny and Fabio, a couple of street tango dancers, perform in downtown Buenos Aires. The United Nations declared the tango tradition of Argentina and Uruguay a World Cultural Treasure, adding its sultry dance steps and melancholy song lyrics to UNESCO’s heritage list.
A twelve-day-old white lion cub is fed from a baby’s bottle in Belgrade Zoo, Serbia. White lions are unique to the Timbavati area of South Africa and are not albinos but a genetic rarity. These South African natives are extremely rare because of a mutation in their genes that gives them coloration varying from blond [...]
Bangladesh Anthrax Spreads, Public Panics
Top Police Official In Siberia Accused Of Taking $450,000 In Bribes
Russian Banker Shot Dead In Moscow
Russian Performers Drop Fish-Eating Circus Act
Taliban Chief Says Victory Imminent
North Korea Marks 62nd Founding Day
Fear Of Fresh Violence In Nigeria
Rachel Corrie Trial: During War There Are No Civilians
Egypt’s Leprosy Colony Lives On, VIDEO
US Soldiers ‘Kept Afghan Body Parts’
China’s Blind Activist Lawyer Released From Prison
9th Circuit Throws Out CIA Torture Lawsuit For National Security Reasons
Mexican Mayor Gunned Down Inside Own Office
Giant Rats Put Noses To Work On Africa’s Land Mine Epidemic
Fidel: ‘Cuban Model Doesn’t Even Work For Us Anymore’
Vitamin B Halts Memory Loss In Breakthrough British Trial
Bremner: ‘I Represent Seattle Police, You Can’t Arrest Me’
Russian Rokot Carrier With Three Satellites Blasts Off From Plesetsk Space Center
Police In Kamchatka Seize Poached Caviar Worth $1 Million
Europe Raids File-Sharing Groups Including Sweden
Kabul Bank Freezes Assets of Directors And Major Borrowers
Meeting The Taliban In Baghlan, VIDEO
United Nations ‘Failed’ Congo Rape Victims
California Regulators Seek Up To $9.9 Billion In Fines From PacifiCare
18 Murdered In Shoe Factory Shooting In Honduras
The Amazing World Of The Praying Mantis
9/11 Koran Burning Would Put US Troops’ In Danger, Petraeus Warns
Dozens Of Homes Burn Across Detroit, VIDEO
John Lennon’s Killer Denied Parole For The 6th Time
Belize Mob Torches Americans’ Animal Sanctuary
Pastor Wonders If It’s Wise To Burn Qurans Amid U.S. Warnings, VIDEO
Italian Crime Fighting Mayor Is Killed In Mafia-Style Execution
With A Little Help From My Friends
In Russia, No Kasha Creates Political Tension
Thieves Steal 3 Ancient Icons From Moscow Region Church
George Soros Donates $100 Million To Human Rights Watch
Congolese Poachers Destroy Protected Birds
French Unions Stage Nationwide Strike
Oracle Hires Former HP’s Mark Hurd
LAPD Kills Unarmed Migrant, Community Protests
El Salvador: 3rd Migrant Survived Mexico Massacre
Mexican Soldiers Open Fire On Family’s Car At Checkpoint, Killing 15-Year-Old And Father
U.S. Considers Boosting Funds For Mexico Drug War
California’s Union Jobs Take Hit From Recession
Israeli Minister: Speed Up Building, A Promise Is A Promise
Miners Seeking Gold Destroy Suriname Ecosystem
Little Rock Nine Member, Jefferson Thomas
Putin Compares Himself To Roosevelt As He Hints At Third Term
Condoleezza Rice ‘Ordered Bush To Stay Out Of Washington’ After 9/11
Stone Mason Sparks Cathedral Row With ‘Muslim’ Gargoyle
John Travolta Drops Charges In Extortion Case
150 Arrested In Mozambique Following Deadly Protests
U.S. Investors Sue For Payback For Pre-World War II German Bonds
Saad al-Hariri Retracts Charge That Syria Killed His Father
North Korea Plans Succession Meeting
The Arrest And Trial Of Human Rights Activist Shiva Nazar-Ahari
Arsenic Scare Hits Argentina, VIDEO
President Obama Unveils $50 Billion Infrastructure Plan
Cockroach Immune To Deadly Super-Bacteria
Gulf Residents Test Positive For Oil In Blood
