Revellers across the world have ushered in the 2010 New Year with spectacular fireworks displays and massive parties amid tightened security. More than 200,000 people lined the banks of the River Thames in London to watch fireworks explode out of the London Eye, the giant ferris wheel across from the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben. Party-goers in the South [...]
A US judge has dismissed all charges against five Blackwater security guards accused of killing unarmed Iraqi civilians in a crowded Baghdad intersection in 2007. District Judge Ricardo Urbina said on Thursday that US Justice Department prosecutors improperly built their case on sworn statements that had been given under a promise of immunity. Urbina said [...]
The Transportation Security Administration is going after bloggers who wrote about a directive to increase airline security after the Christmas Day attempt to destroy a Northwest Airlines jet as it approached Detroit. TSA special agents served subpoenas on travel bloggers Steve Frischling and Chris Elliott, demanding that they reveal who leaked the security directive to [...]
For five years, as the world convulsed with war, the unassuming Soviet couple rubbed elbows with the likes of Walt Disney and Orson Welles. They took in a private screening of “The Great Dictator,” at the invitation of Charlie Chaplin. Their son’s earliest memories are set in Los Angeles — the yellow house nestled in [...]
An artwork by Impressionist artist Edgar Degas has been stolen from a Marseilles museum, police have said. Les Choristes (The Chorus) was missing when staff at the Catini Museum opened the premises on Thursday morning. There were no signs of a break-in, said Jacques Dallest, the French city’s public prosecutor. Local police originally said that [...]
Four people have been killed by a gunman at a shopping centre in the southern Finnish city of Espoo, near the capital Helsinki, police have said. The three men and a woman were shot dead with a 9mm handgun at a grocery store inside the Sello Center. Police named the attacker as Ibrahim Shkupolli, 43. [...]
Local police arrested two suspected drug dealers with the largest haul of drugs seized in Thailand’s capital this year, officials stated. According to the police they seized drugs worth more than $15 Million U.S. dollars, including 1.98 million speed pills, 2 kg of crystal methamphetamine and 3.5 kg of heroin. Authorities said it was the [...]
The U.S. intelligence community knew of al-Qaeda’s plot to bomb a U.S. flight on Christmas Day, but it could not pinpoint the terrorist group’s target out of a flood of information received before Dec. 25, according to officials. A high-ranking counterterrorism official said that despite knowledge of a “Christmas surprise” al-Qaeda threatened to make, the [...]
A massive roadside bomb has killed four Canadian soldiers and a Canadian journalist in a dramatic signal of an upsurge of violence in the crucial battleground around Kandahar city. The blast hit a military convoy patrolling near Dand, considered a relatively peaceful district in the restive south that had been the focus of Canadian counterinsurgency [...]
At least eight Americans were killed and six others injured when a suicide bomber penetrated the heart of a heavily fortified complex in eastern Afghanistan, according to multiple U.S. officials in both Afghanistan and Washington, and a Congressional source told reporters that they were all connected to the CIA. The Congressional source could not confirm [...]
Nearly 40 homes have been razed in wildfires tearing through farming areas north of the Western Australian capital, Perth. State Premier Colin Barnett declared a natural disaster, freeing up emergency funds for those in need. The blazes have consumed about 33,000 acres of land. Wildfires are common during the summer, and experts had warned that [...]
Israel’s supreme court has ordered the military to allow Palestinians to travel on part of a major highway that runs through expropriated Palestinian land in the West Bank. The move, heralded by human rights activists after it was announced on Tuesday, reopens to Palestinians a 12 mile section of Route 443, which links Jerusalem and [...]
Myanmar has agreed to take back some 9,000 Muslim Rohingya refugees currently living in camps in Bangladesh, the Bangladeshi foreign minister has said. Mohamed Mijarul Quayes said after meeting his Myanmar counterpart that the two sides had agreed to begin returning the Rohingya to Myanmar as soon as possible. Human rights groups have said the [...]
Somali pirates have captured a freighter, a bulk carrier and a chemical tanker – despite a large foreign warship presence in the Gulf of Aden. Ending 2009 with a flurry of hijackings in one of the most profitable years to date, the Somali sea bandits’ latest catch on Tuesday was the St James Park, a [...]
At least 25 people have been killed in twin suicide bombings in the western Iraqi city of Ramadi. Another 57 people were injured in the blasts on Wednesday in Anbar province, including Qassim Mohammed Abid, the provincial governor. Police said the attacks took place in quick succession in the provincial capital and that many of [...]
When Habiba’s elderly husband was badly beaten in a village brawl there was only one place, she said, that she could turn to for help and justice. Barefoot and weeping, the farmer’s wife, 50, trekked for four hours through Afghanistan’s Hindu Kush mountains to meet the local Taliban commander. “My feet were bleeding and I [...]
President Obama has condemned the “systemic failure” of the $40 Billion US airport and airline security system that allowed Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab on to a flight to Detroit on Christmas Day. As officials scrambled to plug gaps in the system, President Obama said last night that it was “totally unacceptable” that information on Mr Abdulmutallab [...]
The Christmas Day airline bomb plot suspect organized a conference under the banner “War on Terror Week” as he immersed himself in radical politics while a student in London. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, a former president of the Islamic Society at University College London, advertised speakers including political figures, human rights lawyers and former Guantánamo [...]
Soheila, an Egyptian village housewife visiting Cairo, traded her kidney for $2,185 to pay off debt — the best option the desperate mother of three could find to keep food on the family table. The 32-year-old from the fertile Nile Delta region is one of many people caught up in a thriving trade for illegal [...]
You are now free to move about the cabin. Or not. After a two-day security clampdown prompted by a thwarted attempt to bomb a jetliner, some airline officials told The Associated Press that the in-flight restrictions had been eased. And it was now up to captains on each flight to decide whether passengers can have [...]
Police called to the home of the Lebanese ambassador to Vienna say they found the body of a woman in the basement who had apparently been stabbed to death. They have tentatively identified the victim as a woman from the Philippines who worked as a housekeeper at the residence. Police say the ambassador is abroad. [...]
A federal appeals court on Monday issued one of the most comprehensive rulings yet limiting police use of Tasers against low-level offenders who seem to pose little threat and may be mentally ill. In a case out of San Diego County, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals criticized an officer who, without warning, shot [...]
Somali pirates have hijacked a UK-flagged chemical tanker in the Gulf of Aden, officials say. The St James Park was captured on Monday while on its way to Thailand from Spain, said the Kenya-based Seafarers Assistance Programme. Its 26 crew hail from Russia, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Romania, Poland, Georgia, India, Turkey and the Philippines. Pirate attacks [...]
A group calling itself Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has said it was behind the failed attempt by a Nigerian man to bomb a US aircraft on Christmas day. The group said in statements posted on the internet on Monday that the attempt had been carried out to avenge US operations in Yemen. “We tell [...]
China has executed Akmal Shaikh, a 53-year-old British national who was sentenced to death last year for drug smuggling. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he was “appalled and disappointed” by the decision. Shaikh’s family as well as the British government asked for clemency in the case, citing Shaikh’s history of mental illness. However, the [...]
Spanish police have intercepted a two-ton shipment of cocaine, smuggled into the country from Colombia. The drugs, which Spanish media reports say were worth $100 Million, were hidden beneath a consignment of thousands of cut flowers. They were discovered by police in an operation code-named “Flower Power” at Foronda airport, in the Basque Country. Spain’s [...]
If a defense attorney, a prosecutor and a judge were to walk into a music hall what would be the first thing they’d do? “Spend a half-hour arguing legal motions,” veteran Los Angeles lawyer David Waller says one of his colleagues told him when he learned Waller would be toting his cello to a rehearsal [...]
The North African branch of al-Qaeda has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of two Italians in Mauritania earlier this month. Al-Qaeda of the Islamic Maghreb said in an audio message broadcast on the Al-Arabiya television news channel that they had kidnapped the Italians on December 19, 2009 because of Italy’s involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan. [...]
At least 30 people have been killed after a bomb blast struck a procession of Shia Muslims in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi, according to police sources. The explosion struck on Monday as Shia worshippers marked Ashoura, the holiest event on the Shia Muslim calendar. Police sources told reporters that at least 50 people [...]
The New England Patriots and Cincinnati Bengals clinched division titles and playoff spots but the previously unbeaten Indianapolis Colts lost to the New York Jets in a stunning upset. On the penultimate weekend of the regular season, the Colts, unbeaten in 14 starts this year and 23 regular season games in total, finally crashed to [...]
Russia has opened a new oil export terminal in the far eastern port of Kozmino, a key gateway for Russian energy exports to Asian markets including energy hungry China. Vladimir Putin, Russia’s prime minister, pressed a button to fill a Russian tanker bound for Hong Kong on Monday, the first official export from the terminal. [...]
Investigators have found no evidence that the man arrested for allegedly trying to blow up a US airliner on Friday was part of a larger plot, a senior US official has said. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a 23-year-old Nigerian, is accused of trying to detonate explosives attached to his body as the plane began its descent [...]
A Chinese cargo ship was released off the coast of Somalia on Monday, more than two months after it was hijacked, state media reported. The De Xin Hai was now under the protection of a Chinese naval fleet, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu was quoted as saying by the official Xinhua news agency. A ransom [...]
When the Canadian dollar topped 95 cents (U.S.) last week, approaching a three-week high toward the end of a year that has seen the currency gain 16 per cent against the U.S. dollar, it deftly illustrated the biggest influence on what will be Mark Carney’s most crucial decision of 2010. As economists and investors debate [...]
Some 125 pilot whales died in New Zealand after stranding on the beach over the weekend — but vacationers and conservation workers Sunday managed to coax 43 others back out to sea. Rescuers monitored the survivors as they swam away from Colville Beach on North Island’s Coromandel peninsula, and by Monday morning they were reported [...]
Thailand has begun deporting a group of about 4,000 ethnic Hmong back to communist Laos, despite international concerns for their safety. Thai officials said unarmed soldiers began closing a camp for Hmong refugees in northern Phetchabun province. Thailand describes them as economic migrants. The Hmong say they face persecution in Laos because they sided with [...]
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the 23-year-old Nigerian man charged with trying to blow up a transatlantic flight on Christmas Day, appears to have lived a life of privilege. As the son of one of Nigeria’s most prominent businessmen he had access to international travel and a world-class education. He has been described by one former British [...]
South Korea has won a contract to set up four nuclear reactors for the oil-rich United Arab Emirates (UAE). The deal signed on Sunday will authorize a consortium led by the state-owned Korea Electric Power Corp (KEPCO) to design, build and run the reactors that will produce 5,600 megawatts of electricity. While the contract to [...]
Iranian security forces opened fire on anti-government protesters in the capital Sunday, killing at least four people in the fiercest clashes in months, witnesses said. Another four people were reported killed in the northern city of Tabriz. Thousands of opposition supporters chanting “Death to the dictator,” a reference to hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, defied official [...]
Playing her best at the most important events, Serena Williams re-established herself as the top player in women’s tennis in 2009 and was a landslide choice as Female Athlete of the Year by members of The Associated Press. Williams received 66 of 158 votes cast by editors at U.S. newspapers that are members of the [...]
The plot to blow up an American passenger jet over Detroit was organized and launched by al Qaeda leaders in Yemen who apparently sewed bomb materials into the suspect’s underwear before sending him on his mission, federal authorities tell reporters. Investigators say the suspect had more than 80 grams of PETN, a compound related to [...]
At least 40 people were feared killed after a bridge under construction in the Indian state of Rajasthan collapsed, police said on Saturday. The accident occurred when laborers working on the bridge being built over the Chambal river in the western state’s Kota city fell into the water after the metal structure collapsed late on [...]
Scientists have shown how a family of “limpet-like” proteins play a crucial role in repairing the DNA damage which can lead to cancer. They hope the finding could pave the way for a new type of drug which could help kill cancer cells, and promote production of healthy replacements. The proteins seem to have a [...]
Nine sailors were confirmed dead aboard a Greek cargo ship off a Venezuelan Caribbean island after the vessel caught fire, the official Venezuelan news agency ABN reported Friday. The “Aegean Wind”, which was carrying iron ore, was en route from Brazil to Houston when one engine room caught fire before dawn on Friday about 33 [...]
The Wuhan-Guangzhou high-speed railway with the world’s fastest train journey with a 217 miles per hour average speed, started operation Saturday. Two passenger trains rolled out the Wuhan Railway Station and Guangzhou North Railway Station at about 9 a.m. and were expected to reach the terminals at 12 a.m., cutting the 664 mile journey to [...]
Dozens of villagers in the Kenyan district of Kisii are falling prey to superstitious groups accusing them of witchcraft, reports Al Jazeera. The poverty-stricken western district, known as Kenya’s sorcery belt, has seen an increase in mob attacks on individuals and even killings. The poor and elderly in particular are being targeted. Three months ago, [...]
Israeli soldiers have killed six Palestinians in two separate incidents. Three of the deaths occurred when Palestinians trying to cross the security barrier from the Gaza Strip into Israel were shot on Saturday, news agencies reported citing a Palestinian medical source. Palestinian medics and sources said the other three Palestinians were killed by Israeli soldiers [...]
Carlos Irwin Estevez , also known as Charlie Sheen. Mugshot from Aspen, CO after he was arrested for a domestic violence incident today. Bad boy Charlie Sheen spent his Christmas in an Aspen, Co., jail house. Cops arrested the “Two and a Half Men” actor on domestic violence charges at about 8:30 a.m., Aspen Police [...]
Four construction workers plummeted to their deaths after scaffolding collapsed at an apartment building in Toronto on Thursday – Christmas Eve. A fifth worker was found alive and was rushed to Sunnybrook Hospital with life-threatening injuries. The man is in an intensive-care unit in critical condition on Friday, said George Akleh, shift manager at the [...]
A passenger on board a transatlantic Northwest Airlines flight has reportedly set off firecrackers as it was arriving in Detroit, Michigan. A spokeswoman for the airline said some minor injuries were caused during the incident on the Airbus 330, which had flown from Amsterdam, the Netherlands. She said the passenger involved was “immediately subdued”. FBI [...]
Russia’s Supreme Court today ruled that the 2003 arrest of jailed oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky’s main business partner, Platon Lebedev, was illegal. The ruling on Russia’s most politicized case came as a surprise in a country that often chooses to ignore those who question the legality of its court’s decisions, while pressing on with a trial [...]
Standing at nearly 43 inches tall from paw to shoulder and weighing a staggering 245lbs could this be the world’s new tallest dog? The gentle giant, who measures 7ft 3ins from nose to tail, could be a prime contender to take the title from the former record holder, Gibson, a harlequin Great Dane who passed [...]
Andre Birotte Jr., inspector general of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), was nominated by President Barack Obama on Thursday to be U.S. attorney for the Central District of California. If confirmed by the Senate, the 43-year-old son of Haitian immigrants will be the first black U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California, the [...]
Moments before celebrating Christmas Eve mass, Pope Benedict XVI was knocked to the floor after a woman lunged at him as he walked down the aisle of the main church in the Vatican. As security men tried to tackle the woman, both Benedict and Roger Etchegaray, a French cardinal, were knocked to the floor in [...]
A Salvation Army major was fatally shot in front of his three children Thursday afternoon as he walked into the the organization’s community center in North Little Rock, Arkansas authorities said. Two black men dressed in black approached Philip Wise, 40, of Maumelle outside the community center at 1505 W. 18th St., Pulaski County Coroner [...]
Vietnamese authorities have charged a leading human rights lawyer with working to overthrow the state – a more serious charge than he initially faced. Le Cong Dinh, arrested in June, was first accused of a lesser charge of spreading anti-government propaganda. He had strongly advocated free speech while defending two other dissident lawyers two years [...]
Thousands of people have crowded into the Palestinian town of Bethlehem to take part in Christmas celebrations. Pilgrims and Palestinians gathered on Thursday outside the Church of the Nativity, built at the spot where Jesus is believed to have been born. Live rock music mingled with traditional carols on bagpipes in Manger Square outside, bringing [...]
A Chinese court sentenced a prominent dissident to 11 years in jail Friday on subversion charges after he called for sweeping political reforms and an end to Communist Party dominance. The sentencing of Liu Xiaobo comes despite international appeals for his release, which China sternly rejected as interference in its internal affairs. Liu was the [...]
The Nazi gang that ordered the theft of the infamous ‘Arbeit Macht Frei’ sign from the gates of Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland planned to sell it to fund violent attacks against the Swedish Prime Minister and Parliament, it was claimed today. A spokesman for the Swedish security police confirmed that the authorities were taking [...]
A father and his 9-year-old son at the center of a five-year custody battle on two continents arrived in Florida from Brazil Thursday. Sean Goldman and his dad, David Goldman of Tinton Falls, N.J., landed in Orlando on a private jet chartered by NBC. They reunited earlier in Rio de Janeiro, ending an epic battle [...]
Residential land prices hit a new high yesterday after heavyweight property developers wrangled over a 114,517-sq m piece of real estate in Shanghai. After several rounds of aggressive bidding, State-owned China State Construction Property Company Ltd bought the parcel for an astonishing $545 Million – 217 percent more than the starting price of $2 Million. [...]
Family members of the victims of a drunken driving fatality in Nanjing last June have sought the death penalty for the alleged perpetrator, with one calling yesterday’s life term “too lenient” for an act that had endangered public safety. Earlier, the Nanjing Intermediate People’s Court sentenced 44-year-old Zhang Mingbao to life in prison after he [...]
Poverty has forced at least 225,000 children in Haiti’s cities into slavery as unpaid household servants, far more than previously thought, a report said Tuesday. The Pan American Development Foundation’s report also said some of those children — mostly young girls — suffer sexual, psychological and physical abuse while toiling in extreme hardship. The report [...]
Security forces and hard-line militiamen assaulted opposition protesters, beating men and women and firing tear gas, as thousands gathered in a central Iranian city for a memorial commemorating the country’s most senior dissident cleric, who died this week. The government’s crackdown showed signs of moving for the first time against clerics who support the opposition: [...]
Japanese whalers and militant conservationists have clashed in the Antarctic Ocean over two days, with weapons including water cannon, blinding lasers and bottles of rancid acid, both sides said Wednesday. Each accused the other of coming dangerously close during the clashes. Neither reported any injuries or ship damage. The New Zealand-registered Sea Shepherd Conservation Society [...]
As was expected, the Senate has passed the final 60-vote hurdle for the health-care legislation. By a partisan-line, 60-40 vote, the Senate voted to invoke cloture, to end debate and to break the GOP filibuster on the underlying bill. This vote sets the stage for tomorrow’s 7:00 am ET vote on passage of the Senate [...]
An American Airlines passenger jet has crashed and broken into two after landing at the international airport in Kingston, the capital of the Caribbean nation of Jamaica, according to local media. The aircraft, a Boeing 737, overshot the runway while landing in heavy rain on Tuesday night, the US Federal Aviation Authority said. Forty passengers [...]
The body of a Colombian state governor who had been abducted, allegedly by leftist fighters, has been found with his throat slit, according to the Colombian president. Alvo Uribe, the president, announced that the body had been found on Tuesday, hours after the launch of a massive military operation to rescue the man. Uribe has [...]
Spanish Police have seized a ship carrying nearly $600 Million worth of cocaine, in a joint operation with London’s Metropolitan Police, Britain’s Serious Organized Crime Agency, and maritime authorities, Scotland Yard announced today. The Destiny Empress, carrying an estimated 1.5 tons of cocaine, was boarded 200 miles off the Iberian coast early Tuesday morning, police [...]
Brazil’s chief justice upheld late Tuesday a lower court order handing 9-year-old Sean Goldman over to his American father. The Brazil custody case has been dragging on for five years, reflecting the difficulty of international custody disputes. The ruling by Brazil’s chief justice in favor of an American man seeking to gain custody of his [...]
Egypt’s High Appeal Court has upheld the four-year prison sentence given to an Egyptian blogger who was convicted of insulting Islam and Egypt’s president. Egypt’s official news agency said Tuesday that the court rejected 24-year-old Abdel Kareem Nabil’s last appeal. Nabil, a former student at Cairo’s Al-Azhar University, was sentenced by an Alexandria court in [...]
Gunmen mowed down the family of a Mexican marine just hours after the military honored him as a national hero for losing his life during a raid that took down powerful drug kingpin Arturo Beltran Leyva. The brazen attack happened shortly before midnight Monday at the home of fallen marine Melquisedet Angulo in the town [...]
Kim Peek, the real Rain Man whose almost unimaginable powers of memory were coupled with severe disabilities and who inspired the Oscar-winning film role played by Dustin Hoffman, has died of a heart attack in his home town of Salt Lake City, aged 58. Peek has been called a “mega-savant” for his ability to memorise [...]
An Ethiopian court has sentenced five people to death and 33 others to life in prison for planning to assassinate government officials. Prosecutors had said the convicted were part of the Ginbot 7 (15 May) group led by Berhanu Nega, a US-based dissident. He was among those sentenced to death, as was opposition leader Melaku [...]
Four people were killed and 17 others injured after a suicide bomber attacked a Press Club in Pakistan’s northwestern city of Peshawar. The attacker blew himself up on Tuesday when stopped by police, an official said. “It was a suicide attack. The bomber wanted to get into the Press Club and when our police guard [...]
James Cameron launched his science-fiction epic “Avatar” into a safe orbit as the costly film soared to No. 1 with $73 million domestically and $159.2 million overseas, for a $232.2 million worldwide total. With that big a start, distributor 20th Century Fox was quick to proclaim it made a good investment with the estimated $400 [...]
“It’s a love story, baby.” Taylor Swift sang those words about a young romance, but they apply just as well to America’s feelings for the 20-year-old country singer. Swift, adding to the heap of awards already bestowed on her, has been voted The Associated Press entertainer of the year. Swift was chosen by newspaper editors [...]
A California appeals court on Monday rejected Roman Polanski’s bid to have his sex case dismissed, but cited grave concerns over possible judicial and prosecutorial misconduct. The California 2nd District Court of Appeal announced it had denied the petition, with justices saying they are “deeply concerned” about the alleged misconduct. “We encourage all participating parties [...]
Plunging temperatures and heavy snows have caused the deaths of at least 80 people across Europe. Thousands of other people have found their holiday travel plans left in tatters as air, road and rail links have been brought to standstill. Poland, where temperatures have dropped to -20C, was worst affected with 42 people having died [...]
A pregnant Brooklyn woman suffering a fatal seizure in a coffee shop in the shadow of FDNY Headquarters was ignored by two callous city medics who continued to buy their breakfast, eyewitnesses told reporters. “The EMTs just said we had to call 911. They got their bagels and left,” said a disgusted worker. Frantic employees [...]
Iranian authorities are holding several family members of Osama bin Laden, according to Abdul Rahman bin Laden, the al-Qaeda leader’s second son. In an interview published on Monday, Abdul Rahman bin Laden said that Eman, his sister, one of his stepmothers and five of his brothers have been detained in Tehran since 1997. He alleged [...]
American R&B pioneers Kool & the Gang helped Cuba get its funk on, bringing their eclectic mix of sounds Sunday to an open-air stage a stone’s throw from the sparkling waters of the Caribbean. Robert “Kool” Bell,” his brother Khalis Bayyan, saxophonist Dennis Thomas and drummer George “Funky” Brown became one of the few U.S. [...]
Cuban President Raul Castro has lashed out at the US, accusing President Barack Obama’s administration of endorsing efforts to undermine the communist regime. In his annual address, Mr Castro said the US had sent a government contractor to supply dissidents. The unnamed US citizen was detained two weeks ago. Speaking during his annual address, he [...]
Israel has admitted that it harvested organs from the dead bodies of Palestinians and Israelis in the 1990′s, without permission from their families. The admission follows the release of an interview with Jehuda Hiss, the former head of Israel’s forensic institute, in which he said that workers at the institute had harvested skin, corneas, heart [...]
Saudi air raids in northern Yemen have killed 54 people, including several women and children, according to Shia fighters in Yemen’s north. A statement from Yemen’s Houthi rebels, released on Sunday, said that the alleged Saudi attack had targeted the border town of Razeh in the mountainous northern province of Saada, destroying at least five houses. The claim, which was [...]
Police in Poland have found the stolen “Arbeit Macht Frei” sign, taken from the entrance to the former Nazi death camp at Auschwitz. The metal sign, which was taken in the early hours of Friday morning, was found cut into three pieces, officials said in a statement early on Monday. Five people have been detained in [...]
Legislators in the US senate have passed a highly contentious healthcare reform bill that could lead to significant changes in the country’s medical system. Democrats unanimously backed the bill in a vote that began at 1:01am local time on Monday, the first of three crucial ballots on the reforms. “We’ll get this bill passed before [...]
The administrators of Flyglobespan, the bankrupt Scottish airline, will meet E-Clear, its credit card payment processor, this morning to demand payment of tens of millions of pounds. Any monies recovered will go into a pot for Flyglobespan’s creditors, who include 4,500 passengers stranded abroad when the airline collapsed last week and thousands of other customers [...]
Los Angeles Police have opened an investigation into circumstances surrounding the death of actress Brittany Murphy. Police were dispatched to Cedars-Sinai Hospital and to the Los Angeles home where Murphy, 32, went into cardiac arrest earlier today. Police sources emphasized that their inquiry was preliminary, adding they could not say whether it would point to [...]
The United States has sent home 12 detainees from its Guantanamo Bay detention facility in Cuba. Six Yemenis, four Afghans and two Somali prisoners, from the the autonomus Somaliland region, were transferred over the weekend, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a statement on Sunday. “These transfers were carried out under individual arrangements between the United States and [...]
Tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets of Taiwan’s third-largest city to protest against closer ties with neighbouring China. The mass demonstration in Taichung on Sunday came ahead of a visit to the central city by a senior Chinese envoy for talks on a free trade deal. Organizers said that as many as 100,000 [...]
Galit Popok, a mother of six in Gaza, went to Israel with three children in 2006 to see her parents, and never came back, leaving the other three behind. Last week, Galit told the Israeli Daily Ma’ariv that she has applied to the Israeli government with a request to include her three children in Gaza [...]
Shots were fired from the Gaza Strip on Saturday at Egyptians installing an underground barrier meant to choke off the smuggling of goods and weapons through tunnels into blockaded Gaza. No one was reported injured in the attack, Palestinian and Egyptian officials said. But Egypt increased security in the border area after the fourth cross-border [...]
The stepfather of a 2-year-old boy claimed he pushed 42 “blessed” sewing needles deep into the toddler because his lover told him to while in a trance, saying it would keep the couple together, according to police. Roberto Carlos Magalhaes, a 30-year-old bricklayer, told detectives the woman would enter a trance and “command him to [...]
The main suspect in the Philippines’ worst political massacre, wearing a bulletproof vest and handcuffs, was pushed by guards through an angry crowd Friday to appear at a preliminary investigation hearing. Dozens of Filipino journalists, whose 30 colleagues were among 57 people killed in southern Maguindanao province on Nov. 23, jeered Andal Ampatuan Jr. outside [...]
The Senate cleared its year-end plate of some must-do work Saturday as it passed a critical budget bill that blends money for the Pentagon with additional help for the jobless. The early morning 88-10 vote, taken as a blizzard buffeted the Capitol, permitted lawmakers to resume their acrimonious debate on health care, which Democrats now [...]
A treacherous wintry storm slammed the East Coast on Saturday, dumping more than a foot of snow in some areas and creating misery for motorists on the weekend before Christmas. Five deaths appeared to have been caused by the storm system, which stretched from the Carolinas north to New England and also spread into some [...]
The mystery telephone bidder who paid a record $33 Million for a Rembrandt painting described as one of the Dutch artist’s greatest masterpieces was named yesterday as Steve Wynn, the Las Vegas casino owner. Wynn, 67, who once accidentally put his elbow through a Picasso while showing it off to friends, is estimated by Forbes [...]
Scotland Yard has warned businesses in London to expect a Mumbai-style attack on the capital. In a briefing in the City of London 12 days ago, a senior detective from SO15, the Metropolitan police counter-terrorism command, said: “Mumbai is coming to London.” The detective said companies should anticipate a shooting and hostage-taking raid “involving a [...]
General Electric, one of the world’s biggest corporations, is using the London libel courts to gag a senior radiologist after he raised the alarm over the potentially fatal risks of one of its drugs. The multinational is suing Henrik Thomsen, a Danish academic, after he described his experiences of one of the company’s drugs as [...]
Iran’s military prosecutor has charged three state employees with killing inmates at a prison used to hold demonstrators arrested during protests over the disputed results of the presidential election. According to the ISNA news agency on Saturday, the prosecution asked a court to try the members of staff from the Kahrizak detention centre for “taking part in beatings which [...]
General Motors (GM) has announced plans to shut down SAAB, its Swedish automobile brand, after talks failed to find a buyer for the money-losing unit. The Detroit-based vehicle manufacturer released a statement on Friday saying that it had failed to reach an agreement with Spyker, a Dutch sportscar maker. GM said that “during the due diligence, certain issues [...]
The US provided firepower and intelligence to help the Yemeni government launch a series of deadly raids against suspected al-Qaeda bases in the country. President Barack Obama approved the military and intelligence support after receiving a request from the Yemeni government reported officials familiar with the operations. Yemeni security officials said that at least 34 [...]
Four trains have broken down in the Channel Tunnel due to cold weather, as snow is expected to cause further disruption in parts of Britain. The temperature difference between the cold air and warm tunnel caused the trains to break down, Eurostar said. Passengers from two of the services have been moved to different trains; [...]
A U.S. court has, for the first time, charged suspected members of al-Qaeda with plotting to traffic cocaine in order to fund terrorism. The three suspects, who are believed to be from Mali, were extradited to New York from Ghana. They were arrested this week in an operation involving informants posing as Colombian leftist rebels. [...]
A Texas jury has awarded $100 Million in damages to 10 workers who said a leak at a BP oil refinery in Texas in 2007 had made them sick. The source of the leak at the refinery south of Houston was never identified and environmental agencies reported no evidence linking it to the refinery. BP [...]
Santa Claus, a suspiciously bearded foreign man carrying a large number of “packages” receives some “special treatment” courtesy of the NSA’s number one interrogator, Jack Bauer.
Palestinian security agents who have been detaining and allegedly torturing supporters of the Islamist organisation Hamas in the West Bank have been working closely with the CIA, claims the Guardian newspaper in the UK. Less than a year after President Barack Obama signed an executive order that prohibited torture and provided for the lawful interrogation of detainees [...]
The iron sign bearing the Nazi slogan “Arbeit Macht Frei” that spanned the main entrance to the former Auschwitz death camp was stolen before dawn today, Polish police said. The sign with the German words for “Work Sets You Free” is believed to have been stolen from the gates of the Auschwitz memorial between 3.30am [...]
It’s no mistake. This credit card’s interest rate is 79.9 percent. The bloated APR is how First Premier Bank, a subprime credit card issuer, is skirting new regulations intended to curb abusive practices in the industry. It’s a strategy other subprime card issuers could start adopting to get around the new rules. Typically, the First [...]
The wife of Ayman al-Zawahiri, the second-in-command of the Al Queda network, urged Muslim women to join the “holy war” in a message published on Islamist websites Thursday. A message purportedly from al-Zawahiri’s wife, Omaima Hassan, encouraged Muslim “sisters” to join the jihad, calling it “an obligation for all Muslims, men and women”. “Fighting is not easy for women, [...]
Lawyers for a small US technology firm said it is suing Microsoft on the grounds its has prior claim to the name “Bing.” Bing! Information Design (BID) filed suit in a circuit court in the state of Missouri accusing Microsoft of trademark infringement, unfair competition, and “tortious interference with business expectancy.” “For nearly ten years [...]
Pakistan’s Defence Minister Ahmed Mukhtar said he has been barred from leaving the country for an official visit to China after a Supreme Court decision revived a corruption case against him. Mukhtar told local television late Thursday that his name was on a so-called exit list restricting travel and that the federal investigation authorities had [...]
FIFA announced a 60 percent hike in prize money Thursday for next year’s World Cup and the winners can bring home $31 Million US dollars. FIFA promised to offer frustrated Ireland “special compensation” for missing out due to French striker Thierry Henry’s handball. Emerging from a historic meeting on Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela and current South [...]
Gold futures on the COMEX Division of the New York Mercantile Exchange went sharply down on Thursday as dollar strengthened on credit worries, dropping below $1,100 dollars for the first time in a month. Silver and platinum both plunged. The most active gold contract for February delivery tumbled $28.80, or 2.5 percent, to finish at [...]
Mexican President Filipe Calderon received the Global Legislators Organization (GLOBE) Award for his leadership on the environment at the Copenhagen Climate Conference on Thursday. President Calderon said it was a great honor to receive this award and he considered it as recognition of the efforts of the Mexican government and people in protecting the environment, [...]
Reporters learned from the National Domain Name Complaint Center of the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) that since December 10, 2009 when the complaint hotline for pornographic domain names was made public, netizens have made quite a number of complaints. The Center, as well as registration service institutions, also actively conducted self-examinations. It received [...]
A Chongqing woman who gave birth to a baby is now in good health, one month after she was diagnosed with the A(H1N1) flu, China National Radio reported today. But she became emotionally ill after she saw that the medical bill for her treatment was $24,888.On October 31, Yan Miao gave birth to a girl [...]
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s December 13 attack has sparked the creation of dolls modeled on the PM’s injuries which are selling like hot cakes. Souvenir vendors reported brisk business on Tuesday in statuettes of Milan’s Cathedral like the one hurled at Berlusconi in an attack at the weekend.“Sales have definitely gone up,” stall owner [...]
A thick fog delayed about 100 flights and left more than 8,000 passengers stranded at an airport in southwest China’s Sichuan Province Thursday. “The heavy fog had blanketed the airport from about 5 a.m. to 9p.m., which reduced the visibility to only 200 meters,” said Lu Junming, of the Shuangliu International Airport in Chengdu, capital [...]
Rescuers are searching for survivors after a ship with 83 people on board sank off the northern Lebanese coast during stormy weather. The Panamanian-flagged Danny II capsized 11 miles off Tripoli after sending a distress signal. At least 19 survivors from the vessel – transporting livestock from Uruguay to the Syrian port of Tartous – [...]
Insurgents in Iraq have hacked into live video feeds from unmanned American drone aircraft, U.S. media reports say. Shia fighters are said to have used off-the-shelf software programs such as SkyGrabber to capture the footage. The hacking was possible because the remotely flown planes have an unprotected communications link. Obtaining such video feeds could provide [...]
U.S. diplomats have complained that Pakistan is delaying the extension of visas of more than 100 U.S. officials. They say that those affected are engaged in diplomatic, military and aid services and may not be able to return to Pakistan after the Christmas break. There are also reports of U.S. diplomatic vehicles being repeatedly stopped [...]
An operation is under way to fly back to the UK thousands of people left stranded after Flyglobespan, Scotland’s biggest airline, collapsed. Its parent company, Globespan, entered administration on Wednesday, with all flights cancelled and 800 jobs terminated. About 4,500 passengers are stranded – mostly in Spain, Portugal, Cyprus and Egypt. The Civil Aviation Authority [...]
One of Mexico’s most-wanted drug lords has been killed in a shoot-out with state security forces, officials say. Arturo Beltran Leyva and four alleged members of his cartel died in a raid on a flat in Cuernavaca, just south of Mexico City. The Beltran Leyva cartel, based on the Pacific coast, is one of Mexico’s [...]
Pakistan’s main opposition party has called for Asif Ali Zardari, the country’s president, to resign after the supreme court declared void an amnesty deal protecting him from corruption charges. Following the ruling, officials from the Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) said Zardari should be obliged to step down. “It will be in his own interest, it will [...]
A controversial United Nations-backed operation in the Democratic Republic of Congo that is reported to have claimed hundreds of civilian lives will be wrapped up by year’s end, a senior UN envoy has said. Speaking to the Security Council on Wednesday, Alan Doss, the UN special envoy to the Congo said the objective of the [...]
After more than three decades in prison, James Bain is eager to be able to help his wheelchair-bound mother. If all goes as planned in a Florida courtroom Thursday, Bain, 54, will be allowed to go home for the first time in 35 years — free from his life sentence thanks to a DNA test [...]
Dubbed the ‘new luxury commuter concept car’, and based on the Toyota iQ, the newcomer will lack the performance that Aston Martin customers have come to expect over the firm’s 94-year history. But what it lacks in bare-chested machismo it will make up for with low emissions from its one-litre engine and with its high [...]
David Headley, a Pakistan-born American national arrested in Chicago in October, is alleged to have carried out reconnaissance missions in the run-up to the Mumbai attacks, in which 166 people were killed. He is also believed to have been present in the terrorists’ “control room” in Pakistan where their handlers directed the killing spree over [...]
The man accused of being Toronto’s most notorious bike thief has pleaded guilty to the possession of drugs and only 10 stolen bicycles. Although it was believed many of his horde of 3,000 bikes were stolen, he was only charged with 58 to keep the case manageable, Crown prosecutor Ruth Kleinhenz said outside provincial court [...]
Despite an official unemployment rate of 27 percent, the real jobs problem in Detroit may be affecting half of the working-age population, thousands of whom either can’t find a job or are working fewer hours than they want. Using a broader definition of unemployment, as much as 45 percent of the labor force has been [...]
Swiss banking group Credit Suisse has agreed to pay a $536 Million fine for violating US sanctions against Iran. The Settlement Agreememt says that Credit Suisse systematically hid the identity of its Iranian clients when moving millions of dollars on their behalf. The bank is also accused of helping Libya, Sudan and Burma evade sanctions. [...]
Three Russian activists critical of the Kremlin have received the EU’s top human rights award, in recognition of the dangers they face in carrying out their work. Lyudmila Alexeyeva, Sergei Kovalyov and Oleg Orlov from human rights group Memorial were awarded the Sakharov Prize, which comes with a $72,850 honorarium, at a European parliament ceremony in [...]
German authorities say thieves posing as police officers have made off with $1.45 million in gold and jewelry. The German news agency DAPD reports four thieves in a dark BMW with a police light and a red VW van with Nuremberg plates pulled the transport truck over Tuesday morning near the southern city of Ludwigsburg. [...]
A court in east China Wednesday handed down jail terms of up to three years to 11 people for their roles in writing and distributing viruses designated to steal usernames and passwords of online games. Lv Yizhong and Zeng Yifu wrote Trojan horse viruses that were used to steal 5.3 million usernames and passwords of [...]
The U.S. government on Tuesday delivered to Mexico five helicopters as part of its assistance to the country in its combat against organized crimes such as drug trafficking. The Mexican Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the delivered Bell-412 helicopters would be used by the Mexican Air Force for transportation and reconnaissance tasks. The United [...]
The Federal Trade Commission sued Intel Corp. on Wednesday, looking to block pricing deals and other tactics the government said the world’s biggest chip maker has used to snuff out competition. The FTC said Intel, which makes 80 percent of the world’s central processing units, the brains that run personal computers, has shut rivals out [...]
Australia’s prime minister threatened legal action against Japan if it does not stop its research whaling program that kills up to 1,000 whales a year. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s comments came as the Australian Broadcasting Corp. quoted Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada as saying in an interview that Japan has no plans to halt its [...]
Danish police have detained at least 100 protesters and used pepper spray and batons to disperse activists attempting to break into a UN climate conference in Copenhagen. The action came as hundreds of protesters marched towards the conference venue on Wednesday in a bid to take over the summit and turn it into a “people’s assembly”. Local [...]
Federal agents arrested 26 suspects in three states Tuesday, including a doctor and nurses, in a major crackdown on Medicare fraud totaling $61 million in separate scams. Arrests in Miami, Brooklyn and Detroit included a Florida doctor accused of running a $40 million home health care scheme that falsely listed patients as blind diabetics so [...]
A man who spent 28 years in prison for a rape and murder has been released, after DNA testing showed he is innocent.“I’m happy that I’m a free man and I’m going home,” Gates said.Tucson federal prison officials say 58-year-old Donald Eugene Gates was released Tuesday morning from the federal prison on Wilmot Rd.“I’m just [...]
Angry settlers beat and seriously injured a female Israeli police officer Tuesday, police said, as she tried to enforce a government ban on new housing construction in Jewish West Bank settlements. It was the most serious clash between settlers and authorities since the building restrictions were imposed last month. Settlers have vowed to defy the [...]
In November 2007, a new video of a 34-year-old Indonesian man named Dede Koswara with a rare disease appeared on the internet. His story has appeared in the Discovery Channel and TLC series “My Shocking Story” (“Extraordinary people” on UK’s Five) in the episode “Half Man Half Tree”. And then on August 12, 2008, Dede Koswara’s story was the [...]
Oral Roberts, the evangelist who rose from humble tent revivals to found a multimillion-dollar ministry and a university bearing his name, died Tuesday. He was 91. Roberts died of complications from pneumonia in Newport Beach, Calif., according to his spokesman, A. Larry Ross. The evangelist was hospitalized after a fall on Saturday. He had survived [...]
In a scene straight out of the Dark Ages, this Somali man accused of adultery was stoned to death by Islamic thugs while horrified villagers were forced to watch. Mohamed Abukar Ibrahim, 48, was buried in a hole up to his chest and then pelted with rocks by fighters from the rebel group Hizbul Islam on [...]
Police officers must obtain a search warrant before searching the contents of a suspect’s cell phone unless their safety is in danger, a divided Ohio Supreme Court ruled Tuesday on an issue that appears never to have reached another state high court or the U.S. Supreme Court. The court ruled 5-4 in favor of Antwaun Smith, [...]
For the first time, the Taliban has allowed International Red Cross workers to check the condition of its detainees in Afghanistan. The International Committee of the Red Cross announced today that its team recently visited three Afghan soldiers being held by the Taliban in the northwestern province of Badghis. A small Red Cross team visited [...]
NASA satellites have weighed the water lost by California’s heartland since 2003. The Sacramento and San Joaquin River Basins which support the highly productive Central Valley have shed over 18 cubic miles of water in that time. The data comes from the GRACE Mission which detects changes in gravity caused by water as it cycles [...]
Robbers have stolen at least $4 Million from a bank in Karachi, in what is being called Pakistan’s biggest bank heist. The robbery took place at the main branch of Allied Bank, one of Pakistan’s largest banks, less than 300 feet from city police headquarters. Police say the gang was led by one of the [...]
At least five people have been killed and several others injured in a series of car bombs in central Baghdad. Three explosions went off in separate locations across the city on Tuesday, an Iraqi interior ministry official said. A police source said that the explosions were near the Iranian embassy, the foreign ministry and the entrance to the [...]
Taking an important step on the thorny path to closing the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the White House plans to announce today that the government will acquire an under utilized state prison in rural Thomson, Illinois to be the new home for a limited number of terrorist suspects held at Guantanamo. Administration officials as well as Illinois [...]
Thousands of residents living near the slopes of the Philippines’s most active volcano have been ordered to evacuate as officials warned it could be on the brink of a major eruption. Mount Mayon in the central Philippines began spewing rivers of lava and plumes of ash on Monday. The evacuation order came after state volcanologists [...]
A British court issued an arrest warrant for Israel’s former foreign minister on charges relating to Israel’s 22-day war on Gaza, before apparently withdrawing it after it was found she was not in the country. Tzipi Livni, the leader of the opposition Kadima party, had been expected to travel to London this week for an event [...]
At least nine people have been killed and 40 injured in a suicide bomb attack in Kabul, the Afghan capital, the country’s interior ministry has said. The blast occurred on Tuesday outside the Heetal Hotel in Wazir Akbar Khan, the diplomatic district of Kabul, said Ahmed Bilal, a national security directorate officer at the scene. “Nine people have been killed. Four [...]
Officials have launched a search for Eritrea’s national football team after the players reportedly failed to return home following a tournament in Kenya. The Eritreans were knocked out of the Cecafa competition for East and Central African nations last week. But when the team plane landed back home, it was reportedly only carrying the coach [...]
The following Press Release was issued on completion of President Obama’s meeting today with the heads of major U.S. banks with regard to their obligations; The White House Office of the Press Secretary For Immediate Release [...]
The former chief executive of Italian football club Juventus has been sentenced to three years in prison for his role in a match-fixing scandal. Antonio Giraudo was convicted on charges of criminal association and sports fraud by a Naples court. Giraudo is among the first of the high-profile figures from the world of Italian football [...]
British Airways cabin crew have voted in favor of a strike over job cuts and changes to staff contracts. The strikes are set to begin on December 22, 2009 and run until January 2, 2010 and are expected to cause significant disruption over the Christmas period. Cabin crew voted overwhelmingly in favor of the strike [...]
Negotiations at the U.N. Climate Summit have been suspended after developing countries withdrew their co-operation. Delegations were angry at what they saw as moves by the Danish host government to sideline talks on more emission cuts under the Kyoto Protocol. As news spread around the conference centre, activists chanted “We stand with Africa – Kyoto [...]
The Palestinian movement Hamas is celebrating its 22nd anniversary with a ceremony in the Gaza Strip, an area it took control of more than two years ago. Thousands of supporters wearing green, the party’s color, and waving Hamas flags have flocked to downtown Gaza City where Ismail Haniyeh, the group’s leader, is expected to speak on Monday. [...]
Dubai’s government has said it has received $10 Billion from Abu Dhabi to help it repay an Islamic Bond and fund the troubled property developer Dubai World. The announcement on Monday came on the same day Nakheel, the property development unit of Dubai World, was due to settle the $4.1 Billion bond. The move by [...]
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has been hit in the face and knocked to the ground after a political rally in Milan. Pictures showed Mr Berlusconi, 73, with blood around his mouth and on his face. Reports suggested he had either been punched or hit with an object. Mr Berlusconi was taken to hospital. A [...]
The winners of the annual Digital Camera Photographer of the Year competition have been announced. This year’s competition attracted more than 100,000 images by photographers from 126 countries around the world. The overall winner is Bragi J. Ingibergsson with his picture called Partners. He says: “Two Icelandic horses in Hafnarfjördur on a cold, beautiful day when [...]
Ukrainian boxer Vitali Klitschko claimed a unanimous points victory over Kevin Johnson in Bern to retain his WBC heavyweight title. The previously unbeaten US challenger was kept on the ropes for much of the fight, only landing a few heavy shots to hurt his 30-year-old victor. Klitschko (39-2, 37 KOs) was making a third successful [...]
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo approved the lifting Saturday of a weeklong period of martial law in a southern Philippine province where 57 people were massacred last month in the country’s worst political violence. Elsewhere in the south, authorities sought the help of a tribal chieftain to persuade government-armed former militiamen to release 47 hostages, even [...]
A national Asian American advocacy organization says it plans to file a federal civil rights complaint against the Philadelphia School District after a series of attacks on Asian students at a high school. The Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund said Friday that it would accuse the Philadelphia School District of violating the equal [...]
A Palestinian woman reacts after a mosque was vandalized in the West Bank village of Yasuf south of Nablus, Friday, Dec. 11, 2009. Assailants vandalized a Palestinian mosque early Friday, burning prayer carpets, holy books and leaving behind a graffiti message in Hebrew indicating the rampage was the work of settlers angry over Israel’s plans [...]
An American citizen has been arrested in Cuba and the US Interests Section in Havana is awaiting permission from Cuban authorities to visit him, a spokeswoman for the US office reporters. The official was not at liberty to provide further details of the arrest a week ago, at the individual’s request. But State Department spokeswoman [...]
An official says suspected Islamic militants stormed a jail in the volatile southern Philippines, freeing 31 inmates in a nighttime attack that sparked a gunbattle in which two people were killed. Vice Governor Al Rasheed Sakalahul of Basilan Island says about 30 gunmen destroyed a concrete wall and then barged into the provincial jail in [...]
Eight people were under arrest Saturday after protesters broke windows, lights and planters outside the home of the chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley. University spokesman Dan Mogulof said 40 to 70 protesters also threw lighted torches at police cars and the home of Chancellor Robert Birgeneau late Friday. There were no fires or injuries. [...]
One of China’s leading dissidents has been charged with “inciting subversion”, and faces a possible 15-year jail sentence, amid growing international outrage over his detention and forthcoming trial. Liu Xiaobo was one of 300 democratic activists in China to author a bold call for constitutional reform last December. The manifesto was published under the name [...]
One of France’s favorite rock stars, Johnny Hallyday, was tonight in an induced coma after doctors in Los Angeles performed an emergency operation to remove lesions or tumors from his spine. The 66-year-old singer, dubbed the “French Elvis”, whose ailing health in recent months has held a devoted nation in suspense, was rushed to Cedars-Sinai [...]
Thailand has seized a cargo plane refuelling in Bangkok airport, which it says was carrying weapons from North Korea to an unknown destination. The five crew members were also detained. Rocket-propelled grenades, missiles and other weapons were found aboard, military investigators said. It is believed that the plane had made an emergency request to refuel. [...]
Thousands of people marched through Copenhagen demanding action from leaders at UN climate talks. Most of the march in the Danish capital passed off peacefully, but one group smashed windows and was arrested. Hundreds of others were detained in a preventative action by police. Security has been tight along the 4 mile route, with extra police [...]
Tiger Woods has announced that he is taking an “indefinite break from professional golf.” He also directly admits to adultery for the first time, apologizing for the “disappointment and hurt that my infidelity has caused to so many people, most of all my wife and children.” Here is the full statement: I am deeply aware of [...]
Just over 31,000 homeowners have received permanent loan modifications since March under the Obama administration’s mortgage relief plan, spotlighting some of the program’s failures. Among big lenders, Bank of America Corp. had the worst results. The nation’s largest lender had only completed 98 modifications for the 160,000 borrowers who had signed up by the end [...]
Private security guards working for Blackwater USA participated in clandestine CIA raids against suspected insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to media reports on Thursday. Blackwater’s role points to a much deeper connection between the company and the spy agency than has been previously disclosed and raises concerns over the legalities of involving contractors in [...]
A leader of the most persistent Palestinian protest movement against Israel’s West Bank separation barrier was asleep in his home when troops broke down his door and arrested him. Supporters of Abdullah Abu Rahmeh, a 38-year-old teacher, say his pre-dawn arrest on Thursday by dozens of troops is part of a recent, heavy-handed campaign by [...]
A 98-year-old woman diagnosed with dementia strangled her 100-year-old nursing-home roommate because she thought the victim was “taking over” their room, authorities said. On Sept. 24, around 6:20 a.m., Elizabeth W. Barrow was found dead in her bed at Brandon Woods of Dartmouth, with a plastic Wal-Mart bag tied around her head. Authorities say her [...]
From Barbie Beach to Pilot Barbie to Hard Rock Barbie, the glamorous and iconic doll has undergone many makeovers since her creation 50 years ago, but none of her previous outfits has probably stirred as much buzz as her latest Islamic look. It’s Barbie in a burka, as it’s been dubbed by the yellow press. Wearing the [...]
A little bit Dances with Wolves, a soupcon of A Man Called Horse, a dash of the eco-doom documentary The Age of Stupid … and a lot of huge-eyed blue aliens. That’s the recipe for James Cameron’s long-awaited, much-discussed new 3-D film, Avatar, which premiered last night in London. This is James Cameron’s latest blockbuster, his first feature since [...]
Politicians in the Republic of Cyprus have voiced outrage after thieves stole the corpse of former President Tassos Papadopoulos from his grave. His ex-rival and successor as president, Demetris Christofias, condemned the “unholy” theft and urged the public to remain calm. The remains were stolen during a thunderstorm, shortly before the first anniversary of the [...]
A French court on Friday ordered a photographer accused of bilking France’s richest woman out of cash and art worth $1.5 billion to stand trial for exploitation. Francoise Bettencourt Meyers has waged a two-year legal campaign against the man she accuses of taking advantage of Liliane Bettancourt, her 87-year-old mother and the heiress to the [...]
Turkey’s Constitutional Court has banned the country’s main pro-Kurdish party for having links to armed separatist fighters. The Court voted on Friday to shut down the Democratic Society Party (DTP) and banned dozens of members from joining other political parties for five years. It also expelled two of the party’s politicians, including Ahmet Turk, the [...]
The Tanzanian Foreign Ministry has summoned the Canadian High Commissioner after a Canadian diplomat allegedly spat at a policeman and a journalist. A Tanzanian ministry spokesman condemned the incident, saying that his country is considering whether to expel the diplomat concerned. Reporters say the diplomat, angered by a traffic jam, wound down his window and [...]
The FBI is investigating the arrest in Pakistan of five suspected US nationals for possible extremist links. The men were held in a raid on a house in Sarghoda in eastern Punjab province, Pakistan’s US Embassy told reporters. The FBI said it was trying to determine whether they were the same men reported missing from [...]
Zsolt and Geza Peladi have no fixed address and eke out an existence by selling junk they find in the street. But their scavenging days are about to be over. The brothers have been informed they are entitled to their long-lost grandmother’s fortune, along with a sister who lives in America. Charity workers in Hungary [...]
In a speech at the Nobel Prize Award ceremony in Oslo, President Obama said violent conflict would not be eradicated “in our lifetimes,” there would be times when nations would need to fight just wars and he would not stand idle in the face of threats to the American people. “Where force is necessary, we [...]
The Pakistani Air Force says it has acquired the first of four AWACS surveillance aircraft from Sweden to boost its air defenses. An Air Force statement said the Saab-2000 AWACS aircraft landed at one of the main operating bases on Tuesday. The acquisition of the AWACS comes after arch-rival India bought its own AWACS systems [...]
Until recently you would never have seen women presenting television programs dressed from head to toe in the niqab or burqa. But on the Saudi religious channel Awtan TV it has now become the norm. Female broadcasters at the station are draped in the all-enveloping dresses, which are usually black and also cover their faces. [...]
A South Korean firm has agreed to build 200,000 homes in Ghana over the next six years at a cost of $10 Billion, Seoul officials say. Construction firm STX will set up a joint venture to share the cost of the project with Ghana’s government. Seoul officials say 90,000 of the homes will be owned [...]
Egypt has begun constructing a huge metal wall along its border with the Gaza Strip as it attempts to cut smuggling tunnels, the BBC has learned. When it is finished the wall will be 6-7 miles long and will extend 60 feet below the surface. The Egyptians are being helped by American army engineers, who [...]
Tens of thousands of people staged rallies across Indonesia on Wednesday to commemorate the World’s Anti-Corruption Day, as the Southeast Asia’s largest economy has been battling against rampant corruption. Students, religious groups, artists and other groups marched in main streets in major cities nationwide, demanding that the government fight graft. Some called for probe into [...]
A corrupt former senior trader with a Chinese securities company was executed Tuesday in Beijing, according to a court statement. Yang Yanming, 51, was sentenced to death on Dec. 13, 2005 by the No.1 Intermediate People’s Court of Beijing in a first-instance trial after being convicted of embezzling and misappropriating $14 Million of public funds [...]
Human rights group Grupo de Apoyo Mutuo (Mutual Support Group) says that so far this year more than 175 of their colleagues have been murdered, many on busy streets, surrounded by traffic. The killings have been blamed on street gangs involved in extortion and intimidation. Recently, fear in the community has turned to anger – [...]
When it snows on the steppes of Chengelsy Gorge in eastern Kazakhstan, hunters saddle up and gallop off with eagles on their arms in search of prey. The men follow the animal tracks in the snow then release their giant eagles into the air to snatch up foxes and rabbits. “Hunting is my life,” said [...]
Iran has accused the US of abducting one of its nuclear scientists who has been missing since June. Shahram Amiri disappeared in Saudi Arabia while on a Muslim pilgrimage. Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told journalists the Iranians expected the US to return Mr Amiri, and asked the Saudis to co-operate too. Another Iranian official admitted [...]
Developing nations taking part in the United Nations climate change conference in Copenhagen have criticized a leaked document which proposes that more power be granted to rich nations. The document, which was leaked on Tuesday, also suggests that the UN’s negotiating role should be sidelined and that the legally-binding Kyoto protocol be abandoned. The text was drawn up by [...]
A rare surfing competition is being held in Hawaii as waves reaching 40 feet pounded the north shore of Oahu. Thousands of people gathered on beaches and cliffs to watch the world’s greatest surfers tackle the waves. It is only the eighth time in 25 years that the Eddie Aikau Competition, named in honor of [...]
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90-Year-Old Man Gets 17-1/2 Years For Battering 89-Year-Old Wife To Death With Hammer
Police Raid Headquarters Of Nicolas Sarkozy’s UMP Party
Romania Attempts To Tax Witches And Fortune Tellers
Pirates Seize Greek Ship In Protected Gulf Of Aden Corridor
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
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Rachel Corrie Trial: During War There Are No Civilians
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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
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Russian Rokot Carrier With Three Satellites Blasts Off From Plesetsk Space Center
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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
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Dozens Of Homes Burn Across Detroit, VIDEO
John Lennon’s Killer Denied Parole For The 6th Time
Belize Mob Torches Americans’ Animal Sanctuary
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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
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150 Arrested In Mozambique Following Deadly Protests
U.S. Investors Sue For Payback For Pre-World War II German Bonds
