Gunman kills six in Bosnian town
Posted on Thursday, May 29, 2008 at 9:21am
A man has shot dead at least six people near the northern Bosnian town of Tuzla, police say. One more person was seriously wounded in the shooting, which took place at about 0600 local time (0400 GMT). Full Story
Macedonia votes in shadow of violence, uncertainty
Posted on Thursday, May 29, 2008 at 9:25am
Macedonians vote on Sunday in a parliamentary election marred by campaign violence and held against a backdrop of uncertainty over progress towards European Union and NATO membership.The conservative VMRO-DPMNE party of Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski is expected to win the most seats in the 120-seat parliament on a surge of nationalist sentiment after neighbouring Greece blocked a NATO invitation in April. Full Story
Rightist coalition formed in Belgrade
Posted on Thursday, May 29, 2008 at 9:29am
Serbian nationalists and allies of the late president Slobodan Milosevic signed a coalition agreement Wednesday to form the city government in Belgrade, making it very likely that an extreme-right politician would become the capital's powerful mayor. The agreement among the ultranationalist Radicals, Milosevic's Socialists and the Popular coalition of the outgoing prime minister, Vojislav Kostunica, would see the pro-Western Democrats forced from power in Belgrade for the first time in more than 10 years. Full Story
Prosecutor to probe Turkish opposition bugging claims
Posted on Thursday, May 29, 2008 at 9:31am
The Ankara prosecutors office has opened an investigation into claims by the opposition Republican Peoples Party (CHP) that state officials bugged the office of one of its senior officials. Full Story
Police seize computers in extreme-right search
Posted on Thursday, May 29, 2008 at 9:40am
Police have searched the house of an individual suspected of ties to the 'Holland-hardcore' website, one of the biggest extreme-right websites in The Netherlands. During the search, which took place near The Hague, several computers were seized. Full Story
US to ask Turkey to join Intelligence-Sharing Network
Posted on Thursday, May 29, 2008 at 9:40am
The United States has asked Turkey to join an instant intelligence-sharing network to help fight terrorism. US Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff discussed the FBI-initiated program yesterday with Turkish Interior Minister Beşir Atalay during a visit to Ankara, officials said. Chertoff is expected to have further discussions with justice, defense and interior ministers as well as officials from the General Staff before wrapping up his visit today. Full Story
French police detain 22 people in probe of suspected computer hacking ring
Posted on Thursday, May 29, 2008 at 9:41am
French police say they've detained 22 people across France in an investigation of a suspected computer hacking network. The sweep stems from a probe begun in the eastern city of Dijon in February after about 30 domestic and foreign companies reported cases of computer network vandalism and destruction of some files. Full Story
Spain to block Basque referendum on "right to decide"
Posted on Thursday, May 29, 2008 at 9:50am
The Spanish government said Wednesday that it would block a plan by authorities in the Basque Country for a referendum-style vote on ties with the rest of Spain and ending a decades-long conflict with ETA rebels. The head of the Basque Country's regional government, Juan Josi Ibarretxe, said he wanted Basques to vote yes or no on Oct. 25 on whether to seek peace talks with ETA. Full Story
China earthquake death toll rises to 68,516 by mid-Thursday
Posted on Thursday, May 29, 2008 at 10:58am
The death toll in China's major earthquake increased by about 400 to 68,516 as of 12 p.m. Thursday, the Information Office of the State Council said. Full Story
India to get advanced missile warning system soon
Posted on Thursday, May 29, 2008 at 10:58am
The DRDO and European defence consortium EADS have successfully developed an advanced missile warning system and will start its serial production in Bangalore soon. Full Story
Police tear gas Gujjar protestors, roads blocked, train stoppedPosted on Thursday, May 29, 2008 at 10:58am
Stone-pelting Gujjar protestors were tear gassed by police as the agitation hit the national capital region disrupting roads and rail traffic and causing acute hardship to commuters. Full Story
Tamil Tigers kill 13 in Sri Lankan navy camp raid
Posted on Thursday, May 29, 2008 at 10:59am
Separatist Tamil fighters launched a pre-dawn attack early Thursday against a naval camp on an island off northern Sri Lanka, killing at least 13 sailors, a pro-rebel website said. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) said its Sea Tiger wing also seized weapons, including a radar, from the camp on Chiraththivu islet, close to the Jaffna peninsula. Full Story
Flooding destroys 100 villages in India's northeast
Posted on Thursday, May 29, 2008 at 10:59am
Floods triggered by heavy rain destroyed more than 100 villages and affected thousands of people in India's northeast over the last two days, officials said on Thursday. Full Story
Three dead in blast near south Philippines air base
Posted on Thursday, May 29, 2008 at 11:12am
A bomb believed to have been set off by a mobile phone exploded outside an air base in southern Philippines on Thursday, killing three people and wounding 17, police and the military said. Full Story
NATO optimistic Pakistan will resume border operations
Posted on Thursday, May 29, 2008 at 11:13am
The head of NATO forces in Afghanistan, US General Dan McNeill, said Thursday he was optimistic Pakistan would resume operations against militants along its border with Afghanistan. The three-month-old government in Islamabad has scaled down operations as it pursues peace talks with Taliban in a bid to end a wave of bloody violence. Afghanistan fears this could see more attacks this side of the border. Full Story
After 05 Uzbek Uprising, Issues Linger for West
Posted on Thursday, May 29, 2008 at 11:16am
The theater that burned has a fresh coat of paint. Bullet holes have been plastered over. Newspapers talk of cattle farming, tennis courts and World War II victories. Most Uzbeks are more concerned with making ends meet than with fears that the secret police will come for them. The authorities have opened up to the West in some ways but also tried to erase signs of the 2005 uprising in Andijon. Full Story
German jobless rate goes below 8%
Posted on Thursday, May 29, 2008 at 12:14pm
Germany's unemployment rate has fallen below 8% for the first time in more than 16 years, government figures show. The number of people out of work in May was 131,000 lower than in the previous month to 3.283 million. The jobless rate was 7.8% - from 8.1% in April. Full Story
Iraq abduction anniversary appeal
Posted on Thursday, May 29, 2008 at 12:17pm
The families of five British men being held hostage in Iraq for a year have made a joint appeal for their release. The civilian contractors were kidnapped by armed militants at the Iraqi Ministry of Finance in Baghdad. Full Story
'IRA visit' to McCartney witness
Posted on Thursday, May 29, 2008 at 12:21pm
A friend of Robert McCartney, who is a witness at his murder trial, has said he was visited by representatives of the IRA within days of the killing. Mr McCartney, 33, was beaten and stabbed to death outside a Belfast bar on 30 January 2005. Full Story
Riot police clear striking French fishermen
Posted on Thursday, May 29, 2008 at 12:24pm
French Riot police cleared striking fishermen from several oil depots on Thursday as fleets in Italy, Spain and Portugal prepared to join Europe-wide protests over fuel prices. Police launched special dawn operations to move fishermen away from oil depots at Fos-sur-Mer and Lavera and a refinery in La Mede on the Mediterranean coast which faced blockades for the past three weeks, union officials said. Full Story
France to propose EU-wide immigration pact
Posted on Thursday, May 29, 2008 at 12:30pm
France will propose a European Union-wide "pact on immigration" when it takes over the bloc's presidency in July, the Financial Times reported Thursday. According to the business daily, which cited government documents it had seen, the pact calls for more effective deportation measures, compulsory language lessons for immigrants and the fast implementation of biometric visas. Full Story
EU web watchers warn of new internet dangers
Posted on Thursday, May 29, 2008 at 12:34pm
Six million computers worldwide have already been taken over by remote viruses, and social networks such as Facebook put an ever-increasing number of people at risk from data theft, the heads of the EU's web-security agency warned on Tuesday. Full Story
Terror limit compromise 'planned'
Posted on Thursday, May 29, 2008 at 12:52pm
The government will compromise to avoid defeat over plans to extend pre-charge detention for terror suspects from 28 days to 42 days, the BBC understands. It comes as rebel Labour MPs threaten to vote against the proposed extension. Full Story
International security chiefs meet in Jerusalem to discuss counterterrorism
Posted on Thursday, May 29, 2008 at 1:27pm
Chertoff said Thursday that progress is being made in the war on terror but it is being sabotaged by critics of American foreign policy in the West. Chertoff was speaking at a security conference in Jerusalem with counterparts from around the world, aimed at sharing information and techniques to fight terrorism. Full Story
Suicide Bomb Kills 4 in Kabul
Posted on Thursday, May 29, 2008 at 2:09pm
A suicide car bomb exploded near a convoy of international forces here on the eastern side of Kabul, killing four civilian bystanders and wounded 14 others Thursday, police officials said. Full Story
Bangladesh raids anti-India insurgent camp: Report
Posted on Thursday, May 29, 2008 at 2:09pm
A squad of Bangladesh's high-profile anti-crime force, the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), demolished a secret camp of the Kamatapur Liberation Organisation (KLO), a separatist outfit active in West Bengal, says Prothom Alo, a Dhaka-based daily. Full Story
China and Taiwan to resume talks
Posted on Thursday, May 29, 2008 at 2:09pm
After a break of almost a decade, China and Taiwan agreed Thursday to resume discussions on issues like visits by mainland Chinese to the island and the introduction of regular direct charter flights between them, according to Xinhua, the official press agency. Full Story
'Scotland's fury' over fuel costs
Posted on Thursday, May 29, 2008 at 2:16pm
It is a "national outrage" that Scotland is not benefiting from extra North Sea oil revenues, First Minister Alex Salmond has claimed. He said there was a mood of fury because Scots were paying "sky-high" prices at the petrol pumps. Full Story
Venezuela says arrests suspected U.S. drugs agent
Posted on Thursday, May 29, 2008 at 6:12pm
Venezuela said on Thursday it arrested a man who identified himself as a U.S. anti-drugs agent, which if confirmed could inflame tensions between the United States and one of its biggest oil suppliers. Full Story
World Bank approves $1.2 bln funding for food crisis
Posted on Thursday, May 29, 2008 at 6:12pm
World Bank President Robert Zoellick on Thursday announced $1.2 billion in loans and grant financing to expand its assistance to poor countries struggling with the effects of soaring fuel and food costs. Full Story
Chile police chief dies in copter crash
Posted on Thursday, May 29, 2008 at 6:16pm
Chile's national police chief and five other visiting Chileans were killed Thursday when their Panamanian government helicopter crashed into a three-story building in Panama City. Full Story
US probes whether laptop copied on China trip
Posted on Thursday, May 29, 2008 at 7:07pm
U.S. authorities are investigating whether Chinese officials secretly copied the contents of a government laptop computer during a visit to China by Commerce Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez and used the information to try to hack into Commerce computers, officials and industry experts told The Associated Press. Full Story
NY prosecutors: Reputed Gambino captain arrested
Posted on Thursday, May 29, 2008 at 7:08pm
On the run for nearly four months, a reputed Mafia capo strolled up to the FBI's New York City office on Thursday and surrendered on charges he ordered a decades-old gangland hit that took an innocent bystander's life. Full Story
Courtesy Terrorism Research Center, Inc.
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Thursday, May 29, 2008
CONFLICT & TERROR 05/29
Red Cross warns of food riots over soaring prices
Posted on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 8:40am
The Red Cross warned Tuesday of a possible surge in "food-related violence" because of soaring prices that are increasing hunger around the world. Most of the debate surrounding the global food crisis has focused on boosting aid to poorer countries, but there is also concern about the potential for violence as people become desperate for food, said Jakob Kellenberger, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross. Full Story
Italy condemned for 'racism wave'
Posted on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 8:41am
International human rights group Amnesty International has said it is extremely alarmed by Italy's "climate of discrimination". The Italian section of the rights body said recent tough new immigration measures were a worrying trend. Full Story
Alitalia calls for urgent support
Posted on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 8:42am
Debt-laden Italian airline Alitalia has warned it needs an urgent injection of capital on top of a recent government loan in order to survive. It was recently saved from collapse by a 300m-euro ($473m; #238.8m) government loan, which is under scrutiny to see if it breaches European state aid rules. Full Story
Brown urges increased oil boost
Posted on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 8:45am
Gordon Brown has urged oil industry leaders to come up with ideas for improving supplies as fuel prices soar. The government has announced new moves to increase oil production in the North Sea. Number 10 says it wants to make the most of the UK's reserves. Full Story
Fuel bills are 'burden' on firms
Posted on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 8:47am
Rising fuel costs are placing an intolerable burden on business, the Scottish Chambers of Commerce has said. Its chief executive Liz Cameron was speaking ahead of a Holyrood debate which will hear calls for a fuel price regulator and help for rural areas. Full Story
Energy costs fuel rising German inflation in M
Posted on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 8:52am
Steadily climbing energy prices pushed German inflation higher in May, regional data showed on Wednesday, sending a gloomy signal regarding hopes for a pick-up in consumption. Consumer prices rose by more than 3.0 percent in four major German states -- gaining 3.5 percent in western Hesse, 3.2 percent in southern Bavaria and 3.1 percent in the eastern states of Brandenbourg and Saxony, regional statistics services said. Full Story
Iran sees gas pipeline deal with India, Pakistan by mid-year
Posted on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 9:12am
Iran's ambassador to New Delhi said Tehran hopes to finalise a gas pipeline deal with India and Pakistan by mid-year, in an interview released on Wednesday. The 7.5-billion-dollar project which aims to transport natural gas from Iranian oilfields to Pakistan and India was discussed during a visit to India last month Iranian by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Full Story
Belgian woman wages war for Al Qaeda on the Web
Posted on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 9:25am
On the street, Malika El Aroud is anonymous in an Islamic black veil covering all but her eyes. In her living room, El Aroud, a 48-year-old Belgian, wears the ordinary look of middle age: a plain black T-shirt and pants and curly brown hair. The only adornment is a pair of powder-blue slippers monogrammed in gold with the letters SEXY. But it is on the Internet that El Aroud has distinguished herself. Writing in French under the name Oum Obeyda, she has transformed herself into one of the most prominent Internet jihadists in Europe. Full Story
Home-made bomb seriously injures man near Paris
Posted on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 9:32am
Anti-terrorist investigators were probing Wednesday a bomb blast which ripped through an apartment west of Paris, injuring a man who was handling the explosives, sources said. The man who lived in the apartment in Clichy-la-Garenne was seriously injured in the blast, the sources close to the investigation said. Full Story
Government pledges to boost counterterrorist agents by 500
Posted on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 10:49am
Spain will expand the ranks of its intelligence services by 500 agents dedicated to fighting Islamist and ETA terrorism over the next four years, Interior Minister Alfredo Pirez Rubalcaba announced Tuesday. The dramatic increase in the number of spies at the National Intelligence Centre (CNI) and the intelligence branches of the National Police and Civil Guard forms part of a plan to reinforce Spain's security forces over the coming years, Rubalcaba told a congressional committee. Full Story
Turkey PM announces rural boost
Posted on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 11:43am
Turkey's prime minister has launched a $14.5bn development plan aiming to ease the poverty that feeds violent Kurdish separatism in the country's south-east. Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the money would be spent over the next five years to boost employment and improve welfare in the rural region. Full Story
Russian justice 'fails thousands'
Posted on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 11:47am
Russia's prosecutor-general has admitted that thousands of people are wrongly charged with criminal offences in the country each year. Yury Chaika has promised measures to remedy the situation. Full Story
Serbia insists it is cooperating with UN war crimes court though top suspects remain free
Posted on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 11:51am
Serbia said Tuesday it will seek to counter criticism from a U.N. war crimes tribunal accusing it of not doing enough to hunt down the most-wanted fugitives. Serbia's council dealing with the Netherlands-based court said in a statement it was preparing a report to key U.N. members states describing Serbia's efforts as "constructive and successful." Full Story
Serbia argues UN court has no jurisdiction in Croatian genocide suit
Posted on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 11:54am
Serbia said Monday the brutalities of its war with Croatia fell short of genocide and argued the U.N.'s highest court has no jurisdiction to consider Croatia's claims for compensation for humanity's worst crime. Full Story
15 Afghans killed, 56 injured in crash
Posted on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 11:54am
A passenger truck ran off the road in a remote mountainous region of Afghanistan on Wednesday, killing 15 people and wounding 56, an official said. Full Story
Three protestors killed by Nepal police, says official
Posted on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 11:54am
Three people in western Nepal were shot dead by police Wednesday after a dispute between residents spiralled out of control, a local official said. Full Story
Floods kill 50 in China after torrential rains
Posted on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 11:54am
Torrential rain in southern and eastern China has killed at least 50 people in the past week and left 4,000 stranded, state media said on Wednesday, a fortnight after a big earthquake rattled Sichuan province. Full Story
Two suicide blasts in Afghanistan
Posted on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 11:54am
An Afghan civilian was killed and at least nine wounded in two suicide attacks in the south of the country on Wednesday, the latest in a wave of violence in the region. Full Story
3-nation press seminar held in Seoul
Posted on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 11:54am
The first session of a seminar among the Chinese, Japanese and South Korean press was held in Seoul,the capital of South Korea, on May 27th. Full Story
China seeks Japan military help after quake
Posted on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 11:55am
China has asked Japan to send its military to help with rescue operations after a devastating earthquake this month that killed more than 67,000 people, Japan's foreign ministry said on Wednesday. Full Story
Indonesia pulling out of OPEC because it is no longer a net oil exporter
Posted on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 11:55am
Indonesia is pulling out of OPEC, because it is no longer a net oil exporter, the energy minister said Wednesday. Purnomo Yusgiantoro told reporters it did not make sense for Indonesia to be a member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries when the nation's domestic reserves were drying up and its consumption increasing. Full Story
NATO says can't be police force for Kosovo
Posted on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 11:57am
NATO troops should not be left to shoulder police tasks in Kosovo, the U.S.-led alliance said on Wednesday as signs grew that a European Union plan to take over police duties there faced months of delay. Kosovo's ethnic Albanian government asked the EU to take over policing from the United Nations when it declared independence from Serbia in February, but Serb ally Russia has so far blocked any formal handover. Full Story
Georgia demands Russian apology over spy plane
Posted on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 12:00pm
Georgia demanded on Tuesday that Russia apologise after a U.N. report said a Russian air force jet had shot down a Georgian spy plane last month, but Moscow said it did not trust the report's conclusions. "Georgia protests and demands from Russia an apology and compensation for the cost of the drone," Deputy Foreign Minister Grigol Vashadze told reporters after Russia's envoy was summoned to his ministry. Full Story
Trying to head off an Arctic 'gold rush'
Posted on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 12:05pm
Five states bordering on the potentially energy-rich Arctic Ocean have been meeting in Greenland in an attempt to head off a new "gold rush" in the high north. But all is yet to play for as the competition for resources intensifies in a world growing short of oil, and disputes and confrontations could develop. The US Geological Survey estimates that the Arctic could contain 25% of the world's undiscovered oil and gas. Full Story
More Russian nuclear technology in China
Posted on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 12:08pm
Among seven agreements signed in Beijing by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, the most impressive and sensitive is no doubt the nuclear agreement. According to Sergei Kiriyenko, head of Russia's Federal Nuclear Power Agency, or Rosatom, "the total worth of nuclear contracts signed in Beijing is more than $1.5 billion." Full Story
US concerned about Putin appointment to Russia-Belarus post
Posted on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 12:10pm
The United States is concerned about a new sign of deepening ties between Belarus and Russia at a time of heightened tensions with both countries. On Tuesday, Russia and Belarus named Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to the post of prime minister of an alliance of the two neighbors. Full Story
Russia: Moscow Pushes Ahead With Pipeline Bypassing Belarus
Posted on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 12:13pm
Russian media quote Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as announcing on May 14 that the state pipeline monopoly Transneft has chosen the port of Ust-Luga, in Russia's northern Leningrad Oblast, as the terminal for the new pipeline. The idea for the Baltic Pipeline System-2 (BPS-2) was first floated in January 2007 following a bitter dispute with Belarus over oil-transit fees that briefly disrupted supplies to Europe. Once the pipeline is completed, Russia is unlikely to fully suspend oil transit through Belarus. But Yury Drakakhrust, a correspondent for RFE/RL's Belarus Service, says the new pipeline will severely dent Belarus's economy and bargaining power. Full Story
Ukraine cancels contract awarded to Texas company for Black Sea drilling
Posted on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 12:15pm
Despite seeking to reduce its dependence on Russia for energy, Ukraine has torn up a contract awarded to a Texas company to drill in the Black Sea, citing national security and suspicions of murky dealings by the previous government. But the contract holder, Vanco International of Houston, says it is an innocent victim of political infighting and the personal vendettas that have plagued Ukraine since the heady days of the pro-western Orange Revolution in December 2004. Full Story
Ukraine: Kyiv Summit Seals Caspian Energy Project
Posted on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 12:19pm
Seven former Soviet-bloc countries, seeking to lessen dependence on Moscow's energy supplies and transport routes, have agreed to launch a joint project aimed at bypassing Russian territory to bring Caspian oil to European markets. A joint declaration on creating a "Caspian energy space" was signed in Kyiv at the end of a two-day summit attended by seven presidents, including Georgia's Mikheil Saakashvili and Ilham Aliyev of oil-rich Azerbaijan. At its heart lies a bid by Ukraine to become a transport corridor for Caspian oil to Europe -- challenging Moscow's traditional domination of energy in the region. Full Story
Central Asia: Kazakhstan Debates Polygamy Amid Regional Rise In Popularity
Posted on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 12:41pm
Want a second wife? Then simply get your first wifes consent and prove you can financially support another family. A new draft law in Kazakhstan would allow any man who is able to meet those two requirements to take a second, third, or even a fourth wife. Proponents of legalizing polygamy say the new bill will help improve the demographic situation in the country. They cite Islamic customs, which allow Muslim men to marry up to four wives. And they say the new bill would give more rights to the wives and children of polygamous husbands. Full Story
Uzbekistan: Government Launches Campaign Against Missionaries
Posted on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 12:43pm
Religious persecution is well-known in Uzbekistan, where human rights group accuse the government of imprisoning hundreds of Muslims for practicing their faith outside state-approved institutions and labeling them extremists bent on overthrowing the secular government. Now, the government of President Islam Karimov is taking a broader aim against believers -- this time targeting primarily fringe Christian missionary groups. Full Story
Turkish president tries to defuse tension with judiciary
Posted on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 12:50pm
Turkeys president is seeking to defuse the growing tension between the government and the judiciary, saying it was vital that political and legal debates should not be allowed to destroy strategic interests and targets; and erode stability. Full Story
UK will ban use of cluster bombs
Posted on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 1:48pm
Britain is to take cluster bombs out of service, Prime Minister Gordon Brown has said. The announcement came after he said diplomats in Dublin were "very close" to reaching an international treaty banning their use. Full Story
France to let in eastern workers
Posted on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 1:51pm
French President Nicolas Sarkozy says France will open its labour market in July to migrants from eight EU members in Central and Eastern Europe. Visiting Poland, Mr Sarkozy said France would lift all the curbs it put in place when the countries joined the bloc four years ago. Full Story
Mediator says Russia faces 'enormous work' before admission to WTO
Posted on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 2:40pm
Russia, the only major country still outside the World Trade Organization, faces major barriers to membership even after 14 years of negotiations, officials said Monday. Stefan Johannesson, who heads the WTO committee steering talks with Russia, said he could not predict when the country would be ready to enter the 152-member body, which sets the rules on global trade. Full Story
Military: Sri Lanka fighting kills 16 Tamil rebels
Posted on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 4:30pm
Fighting between government soldiers and Tamil separatists along the northern front lines of Sri Lanka's civil war killed 16 rebels, the military said Wednesday. Full Story
Japan vows to double Africa aid
Posted on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 4:30pm
Japan's Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda has promised to double his country's aid to Africa within five years. Mr Fukuda made the pledge in front of leaders from more than 50 African countries at a conference in the Japanese city of Yokohama. Full Story
Nepal abolishes monarchy, declared a republic
Posted on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 4:31pm
In a historic meeting of the Constituent Assembly on Wednesday, Nepal was proclaimed as a federal democratic republic, abolishing the 240-year-old monarchy. Full Story
India rejects US offer of joint operations against LeT
Posted on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 8:59pm
India has rejected a US proposal for joint operation against Lashkar-e-Toiba, in a move that has baffled many given that LeT is the principal terror threat to India, and that counter-terrorism has been a high bilateral priority. Full Story
UK police make new arrest after restaurant blast
Posted on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 9:02pm
British police in southwest England arrested a third man Wednesday in connection with a restaurant blast that rattled the English city of Exeter last week. Full Story
Ahmadinejad rival gets powerful post in Iran
Posted on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 9:03pm
Iran's lawmakers overwhelmingly picked conservative Ali Larijani as parliament speaker Wednesday, sending another strong message of discontent with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's leadership by boosting one of his likely challengers in elections next year. Full Story
China invites Taiwan to more talks as ties warm
Posted on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 9:28pm
China has invited Taiwan to hold more talks, state media said on Thursday, as ties between the two sometimes bitter diplomatic and political rivals warm following the election of a new, more pro-Chinese president on the island. Full Story
Dozens held in Naples mafia raids
Posted on Tuesday, May 27, 2008 at 7:40am
About 50 alleged members of the Naples mafia, the Camorra, have been arrested, Italian police say. The raids in Caserta, north of Naples, targeted the Iovine clan, believed to be one of the most powerful groups in the Camorra, police said. Full Story
China earthquake death toll rises to 67,183 by Tuesday noon
Posted on Tuesday, May 27, 2008 at 9:35am
The death toll in China's major earthquake increased by more than 2,100 to 67,183 as of midday Tuesday, according to the Information Office of the State Council. Full Story
Dutch ship 'hijacked' off Somalia
Posted on Tuesday, May 27, 2008 at 10:52am
A Dutch cargo ship is reported to have been hijacked by pirates off Somalia. The MV Amiya Scan, with a crew of nine, was seized after leaving the Kenyan port of Mombasa on 19 May, reports say. Full Story
Bulgaria and Germany sign technical co-operation agreement
Posted on Tuesday, May 27, 2008 at 10:55am
Bulgarian Economy and Energy Minister Petar Dimitrov and the German ambassador to Bulgaria Michael Geier have signed signed on May 26 2008 the last of a series of agreements on technical co-operation between the two countries, Focus news agency reported. Full Story
British truckers jam route into London to protest fuel costs
Posted on Tuesday, May 27, 2008 at 10:57am
Hundreds of trucks rolled into central London on Tuesday and jammed a major route into the capital to protest the rising price of fuel. Around 300 truck drivers honked their horns and parked on a highway on the edge of the city, forcing police to close off a section of road and divert hundreds of motorists during the busy morning rush hour. Full Story
French president to propose suspension of VAT tax on fuel
Posted on Tuesday, May 27, 2008 at 10:58am
President Nicolas Sarkozy reached out to the common folk Tuesday with a visit to butchers and cheesemakers at France's largest wholesale market, before proposing on the radio that fuel taxes be cut across Europe amid growing economic discontent. With the day's events Sarkozy reprised his role as a hands-on "omnipresident" who eschews France's stuffy presidential traditions a role that has marked his first year in office, which began with a burst of hope and ended with plunging popularity ratings. Full Story
Need to pressure Iran on nuclear issue: Germany
Posted on Tuesday, May 27, 2008 at 11:48am
The U.N. nuclear watchdog's report on Iran this week showed the international community must push for a faster response from Tehran over its nuclear program, Germany said on Tuesday. The five permanent U.N. Security Council members plus Germany are offering Iran a package of incentives to give up its uranium enrichment, so far without success. Full Story
Nine British soldiers go on trial for Cyprus resort rampage
Posted on Tuesday, May 27, 2008 at 11:53am
The trial began on Tuesday of nine British soldiers accused of smashing up a pub and attacking locals in the Cypriot holiday resort of Ayia Napa. The hearing in the southern coastal town of Paralimini was adjourned after the defence lawyer said the defendants were wrongly arrested by police following the fracas in February. Full Story
US tourist drugged, killed by train in Rome
Posted on Tuesday, May 27, 2008 at 12:00pm
An American tourist was killed by a train as he walked on the tracks in a daze after he drank a cappuccino laced with drugs and then was robbed, railway police said Monday. Frank Phel, 74, of California, died early Friday at the suburban Tiburtina station, police official Giovanni Piccolantonio said. Phel's hometown was not disclosed. Full Story
Swiss to return drug lord's money
Posted on Tuesday, May 27, 2008 at 12:41pm
Switzerland's supreme court has ruled that a convicted drug trafficker may reclaim a confiscated $500,000 (317,000 euros; #253,000) bank deposit. The unnamed Australian asked for the money back when he arrived in Switzerland on a false passport after serving a prison sentence in Australia. Full Story
Italy set for wider Afghan role
Posted on Tuesday, May 27, 2008 at 12:42pm
Italy is willing to send its troops based in western Afghanistan to more dangerous areas of the country if requested by Nato, ministers say. Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said Italy was aiming to be able to move its forces faster and to a wider area. Full Story
Osama hiding in Karakoram range: Report
Posted on Tuesday, May 27, 2008 at 12:44pm
Al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden is hiding in the "rooftop of the world", the Karakoram section of the Himalayan range along Pakistan's borders with Afghanistan and China, a media report has claimed. Full Story
Maoists blow up railtracks in Bihar
Posted on Tuesday, May 27, 2008 at 12:45pm
Activists of the banned CPI (Maoist) blew up railway tracks at Masudan station in Munger district, disrupting train movements on Jamalpur-Malda section of East Central Railway. Full Story
Maoists gun down BJP leader in Orissa
Posted on Tuesday, May 27, 2008 at 12:45pm
Maoists gunned down a local BJD leader early on Tuesday in Orissa's southern Malkangiri district after abducting him. Full Story
Flash floods kill 20 in southern China
Posted on Tuesday, May 27, 2008 at 12:45pm
Floods triggered by rain and hail storms in southern China have killed at least 20 people and left 16 missing, Xinhua news agency reported on Tuesday, citing local authorities. Full Story
NATO urges Pakistan to prevent Afghanistan spillover
Posted on Tuesday, May 27, 2008 at 12:45pm
NATO's secretary-general urged Pakistan on Tuesday to prevent a spillover of violence from its border region into Afghanistan and called for stronger political dialogue between Pakistan and the U.S.-led alliance. Full Story
Sri Lanka vows to crush rebels as attacks mount
Posted on Tuesday, May 27, 2008 at 12:46pm
Sri Lanka will press on with a military campaign against Tamil Tiger rebels, President Mahinda Rajapaksa said on Tuesday, vowing not to be intimidated by bombings in the capital blamed on the rebels in recent weeks. Full Story
Thirteen police, 11 civilians killed in Afghanistan
Posted on Tuesday, May 27, 2008 at 12:47pm
Eleven civilians and 13 policemen were killed in a series of blasts and Taliban attacks in Afghanistan on Tuesday, officials said. Full Story
NPAs intelligence chief in Leyte surrenders -- military
Posted on Tuesday, May 27, 2008 at 12:48pm
An alleged rebel leader in Leyte has surrendered to the military. Lieutenant Colonel Henry Bumiltac, commanding officer of the 19th Infantry Battalion in Kananga town, Leyte, identified the alleged rebel leader who surrendered last Saturday as Junnymel de los Reyes. Full Story
More protests and arrests in Korea over U.S. beef imports
Posted on Tuesday, May 27, 2008 at 12:48pm
Thousands of protesters marched through Seoul against a U.S. beef import pact that has renewed fears about mad cow disease. The police said Tuesday that 29 demonstrators were arrested after scuffling erupted. Full Story
Parents of quake victims to be allowed 2nd children
Posted on Tuesday, May 27, 2008 at 12:48pm
As the death toll in southwest China rose to more than 65,000, a provincial planning commission issued what it called a clarification Monday of the country's one-child policy, saying that a family whose child dies young can obtain a certificate to have another child. Full Story
Bomb found in city centre store
Posted on Tuesday, May 27, 2008 at 1:36pm
A bomb left at a shop in Belfast city centre partially exploded during the night, police have said. Army bomb experts were sent to JJB Sports on Royal Avenue on Tuesday morning after the device was discovered. Full Story
Spain's ex-IMF chief questioned in corruption probe: reports
Posted on Tuesday, May 27, 2008 at 2:00pm
Former International Monetary Fund head Rodrigo Rato appeared before a judge Tuesday probing corruption allegations at Spanish bank Banesto whilst he was economy minister, Spanish media said. Rato, his brother Ramon, the head of Santander bank Emilio Botin and 12 others are being investigated in connection with the 1999 purchase by Banesto of 45.3 percent of the Aguas de Fuensanta water utility company from the Rato family. Full Story
France's president wants tax cut on fuel in Europe
Posted on Tuesday, May 27, 2008 at 2:02pm
French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Tuesday proposed cutting fuel taxes Europe-wide, responding to economic discontent that has prompted French fishermen to launch protests now spreading to other European shores and sectors. Sarkozy urged the European Union to suspend part of the value-added tax on fuel to counter rising crude oil prices that have risen repeatedly to new highs in recent weeks. Full Story
Kercher death suspect cleared -- lawyer
Posted on Tuesday, May 27, 2008 at 2:31pm
A lawyer says that a Congolese pub owner who had been arrested and placed under investigation in the slaying of a British student in the Italian city of Perugia has been formally cleared. Diya "Patrick" Lumumba was arrested and quickly released because of lack of evidence, but remained a suspect in the Nov. 1 stabbing death of 21-year-old Meredith Kercher. Full Story
Five injured in bomb blast in Kathmandu
Posted on Tuesday, May 27, 2008 at 3:59pm
At least five persons were injured on Tuesday when a bomb exploded in the capital, a day before Nepal's elected representatives are expected to dethrone King Gyanendra and declare the country a republic. Full Story
Indonesian police, protesters clash over fuel price hike
Posted on Tuesday, May 27, 2008 at 3:59pm
Indonesian police clashed with protesters on Tuesday amid ongoing anger at the government's decision to hike fuel prices to rescue the budget from soaring subsidy bills, reports said. Full Story
Sri Lanka vows to 'crush' train bombersPosted on Tuesday, May 27, 2008 at 3:59pmSri Lanka's president vowed Tuesday to crush Tamil Tiger rebels after a rush-hour train bombing blamed on the insurgents killed eight passengers and wounded 70 others. Full Story
Courtesy Terrorism Research Center, Inc.
Posted on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 8:40am
The Red Cross warned Tuesday of a possible surge in "food-related violence" because of soaring prices that are increasing hunger around the world. Most of the debate surrounding the global food crisis has focused on boosting aid to poorer countries, but there is also concern about the potential for violence as people become desperate for food, said Jakob Kellenberger, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross. Full Story
Italy condemned for 'racism wave'
Posted on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 8:41am
International human rights group Amnesty International has said it is extremely alarmed by Italy's "climate of discrimination". The Italian section of the rights body said recent tough new immigration measures were a worrying trend. Full Story
Alitalia calls for urgent support
Posted on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 8:42am
Debt-laden Italian airline Alitalia has warned it needs an urgent injection of capital on top of a recent government loan in order to survive. It was recently saved from collapse by a 300m-euro ($473m; #238.8m) government loan, which is under scrutiny to see if it breaches European state aid rules. Full Story
Brown urges increased oil boost
Posted on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 8:45am
Gordon Brown has urged oil industry leaders to come up with ideas for improving supplies as fuel prices soar. The government has announced new moves to increase oil production in the North Sea. Number 10 says it wants to make the most of the UK's reserves. Full Story
Fuel bills are 'burden' on firms
Posted on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 8:47am
Rising fuel costs are placing an intolerable burden on business, the Scottish Chambers of Commerce has said. Its chief executive Liz Cameron was speaking ahead of a Holyrood debate which will hear calls for a fuel price regulator and help for rural areas. Full Story
Energy costs fuel rising German inflation in M
Posted on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 8:52am
Steadily climbing energy prices pushed German inflation higher in May, regional data showed on Wednesday, sending a gloomy signal regarding hopes for a pick-up in consumption. Consumer prices rose by more than 3.0 percent in four major German states -- gaining 3.5 percent in western Hesse, 3.2 percent in southern Bavaria and 3.1 percent in the eastern states of Brandenbourg and Saxony, regional statistics services said. Full Story
Iran sees gas pipeline deal with India, Pakistan by mid-year
Posted on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 9:12am
Iran's ambassador to New Delhi said Tehran hopes to finalise a gas pipeline deal with India and Pakistan by mid-year, in an interview released on Wednesday. The 7.5-billion-dollar project which aims to transport natural gas from Iranian oilfields to Pakistan and India was discussed during a visit to India last month Iranian by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Full Story
Belgian woman wages war for Al Qaeda on the Web
Posted on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 9:25am
On the street, Malika El Aroud is anonymous in an Islamic black veil covering all but her eyes. In her living room, El Aroud, a 48-year-old Belgian, wears the ordinary look of middle age: a plain black T-shirt and pants and curly brown hair. The only adornment is a pair of powder-blue slippers monogrammed in gold with the letters SEXY. But it is on the Internet that El Aroud has distinguished herself. Writing in French under the name Oum Obeyda, she has transformed herself into one of the most prominent Internet jihadists in Europe. Full Story
Home-made bomb seriously injures man near Paris
Posted on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 9:32am
Anti-terrorist investigators were probing Wednesday a bomb blast which ripped through an apartment west of Paris, injuring a man who was handling the explosives, sources said. The man who lived in the apartment in Clichy-la-Garenne was seriously injured in the blast, the sources close to the investigation said. Full Story
Government pledges to boost counterterrorist agents by 500
Posted on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 10:49am
Spain will expand the ranks of its intelligence services by 500 agents dedicated to fighting Islamist and ETA terrorism over the next four years, Interior Minister Alfredo Pirez Rubalcaba announced Tuesday. The dramatic increase in the number of spies at the National Intelligence Centre (CNI) and the intelligence branches of the National Police and Civil Guard forms part of a plan to reinforce Spain's security forces over the coming years, Rubalcaba told a congressional committee. Full Story
Turkey PM announces rural boost
Posted on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 11:43am
Turkey's prime minister has launched a $14.5bn development plan aiming to ease the poverty that feeds violent Kurdish separatism in the country's south-east. Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the money would be spent over the next five years to boost employment and improve welfare in the rural region. Full Story
Russian justice 'fails thousands'
Posted on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 11:47am
Russia's prosecutor-general has admitted that thousands of people are wrongly charged with criminal offences in the country each year. Yury Chaika has promised measures to remedy the situation. Full Story
Serbia insists it is cooperating with UN war crimes court though top suspects remain free
Posted on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 11:51am
Serbia said Tuesday it will seek to counter criticism from a U.N. war crimes tribunal accusing it of not doing enough to hunt down the most-wanted fugitives. Serbia's council dealing with the Netherlands-based court said in a statement it was preparing a report to key U.N. members states describing Serbia's efforts as "constructive and successful." Full Story
Serbia argues UN court has no jurisdiction in Croatian genocide suit
Posted on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 11:54am
Serbia said Monday the brutalities of its war with Croatia fell short of genocide and argued the U.N.'s highest court has no jurisdiction to consider Croatia's claims for compensation for humanity's worst crime. Full Story
15 Afghans killed, 56 injured in crash
Posted on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 11:54am
A passenger truck ran off the road in a remote mountainous region of Afghanistan on Wednesday, killing 15 people and wounding 56, an official said. Full Story
Three protestors killed by Nepal police, says official
Posted on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 11:54am
Three people in western Nepal were shot dead by police Wednesday after a dispute between residents spiralled out of control, a local official said. Full Story
Floods kill 50 in China after torrential rains
Posted on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 11:54am
Torrential rain in southern and eastern China has killed at least 50 people in the past week and left 4,000 stranded, state media said on Wednesday, a fortnight after a big earthquake rattled Sichuan province. Full Story
Two suicide blasts in Afghanistan
Posted on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 11:54am
An Afghan civilian was killed and at least nine wounded in two suicide attacks in the south of the country on Wednesday, the latest in a wave of violence in the region. Full Story
3-nation press seminar held in Seoul
Posted on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 11:54am
The first session of a seminar among the Chinese, Japanese and South Korean press was held in Seoul,the capital of South Korea, on May 27th. Full Story
China seeks Japan military help after quake
Posted on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 11:55am
China has asked Japan to send its military to help with rescue operations after a devastating earthquake this month that killed more than 67,000 people, Japan's foreign ministry said on Wednesday. Full Story
Indonesia pulling out of OPEC because it is no longer a net oil exporter
Posted on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 11:55am
Indonesia is pulling out of OPEC, because it is no longer a net oil exporter, the energy minister said Wednesday. Purnomo Yusgiantoro told reporters it did not make sense for Indonesia to be a member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries when the nation's domestic reserves were drying up and its consumption increasing. Full Story
NATO says can't be police force for Kosovo
Posted on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 11:57am
NATO troops should not be left to shoulder police tasks in Kosovo, the U.S.-led alliance said on Wednesday as signs grew that a European Union plan to take over police duties there faced months of delay. Kosovo's ethnic Albanian government asked the EU to take over policing from the United Nations when it declared independence from Serbia in February, but Serb ally Russia has so far blocked any formal handover. Full Story
Georgia demands Russian apology over spy plane
Posted on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 12:00pm
Georgia demanded on Tuesday that Russia apologise after a U.N. report said a Russian air force jet had shot down a Georgian spy plane last month, but Moscow said it did not trust the report's conclusions. "Georgia protests and demands from Russia an apology and compensation for the cost of the drone," Deputy Foreign Minister Grigol Vashadze told reporters after Russia's envoy was summoned to his ministry. Full Story
Trying to head off an Arctic 'gold rush'
Posted on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 12:05pm
Five states bordering on the potentially energy-rich Arctic Ocean have been meeting in Greenland in an attempt to head off a new "gold rush" in the high north. But all is yet to play for as the competition for resources intensifies in a world growing short of oil, and disputes and confrontations could develop. The US Geological Survey estimates that the Arctic could contain 25% of the world's undiscovered oil and gas. Full Story
More Russian nuclear technology in China
Posted on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 12:08pm
Among seven agreements signed in Beijing by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, the most impressive and sensitive is no doubt the nuclear agreement. According to Sergei Kiriyenko, head of Russia's Federal Nuclear Power Agency, or Rosatom, "the total worth of nuclear contracts signed in Beijing is more than $1.5 billion." Full Story
US concerned about Putin appointment to Russia-Belarus post
Posted on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 12:10pm
The United States is concerned about a new sign of deepening ties between Belarus and Russia at a time of heightened tensions with both countries. On Tuesday, Russia and Belarus named Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to the post of prime minister of an alliance of the two neighbors. Full Story
Russia: Moscow Pushes Ahead With Pipeline Bypassing Belarus
Posted on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 12:13pm
Russian media quote Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as announcing on May 14 that the state pipeline monopoly Transneft has chosen the port of Ust-Luga, in Russia's northern Leningrad Oblast, as the terminal for the new pipeline. The idea for the Baltic Pipeline System-2 (BPS-2) was first floated in January 2007 following a bitter dispute with Belarus over oil-transit fees that briefly disrupted supplies to Europe. Once the pipeline is completed, Russia is unlikely to fully suspend oil transit through Belarus. But Yury Drakakhrust, a correspondent for RFE/RL's Belarus Service, says the new pipeline will severely dent Belarus's economy and bargaining power. Full Story
Ukraine cancels contract awarded to Texas company for Black Sea drilling
Posted on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 12:15pm
Despite seeking to reduce its dependence on Russia for energy, Ukraine has torn up a contract awarded to a Texas company to drill in the Black Sea, citing national security and suspicions of murky dealings by the previous government. But the contract holder, Vanco International of Houston, says it is an innocent victim of political infighting and the personal vendettas that have plagued Ukraine since the heady days of the pro-western Orange Revolution in December 2004. Full Story
Ukraine: Kyiv Summit Seals Caspian Energy Project
Posted on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 12:19pm
Seven former Soviet-bloc countries, seeking to lessen dependence on Moscow's energy supplies and transport routes, have agreed to launch a joint project aimed at bypassing Russian territory to bring Caspian oil to European markets. A joint declaration on creating a "Caspian energy space" was signed in Kyiv at the end of a two-day summit attended by seven presidents, including Georgia's Mikheil Saakashvili and Ilham Aliyev of oil-rich Azerbaijan. At its heart lies a bid by Ukraine to become a transport corridor for Caspian oil to Europe -- challenging Moscow's traditional domination of energy in the region. Full Story
Central Asia: Kazakhstan Debates Polygamy Amid Regional Rise In Popularity
Posted on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 12:41pm
Want a second wife? Then simply get your first wifes consent and prove you can financially support another family. A new draft law in Kazakhstan would allow any man who is able to meet those two requirements to take a second, third, or even a fourth wife. Proponents of legalizing polygamy say the new bill will help improve the demographic situation in the country. They cite Islamic customs, which allow Muslim men to marry up to four wives. And they say the new bill would give more rights to the wives and children of polygamous husbands. Full Story
Uzbekistan: Government Launches Campaign Against Missionaries
Posted on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 12:43pm
Religious persecution is well-known in Uzbekistan, where human rights group accuse the government of imprisoning hundreds of Muslims for practicing their faith outside state-approved institutions and labeling them extremists bent on overthrowing the secular government. Now, the government of President Islam Karimov is taking a broader aim against believers -- this time targeting primarily fringe Christian missionary groups. Full Story
Turkish president tries to defuse tension with judiciary
Posted on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 12:50pm
Turkeys president is seeking to defuse the growing tension between the government and the judiciary, saying it was vital that political and legal debates should not be allowed to destroy strategic interests and targets; and erode stability. Full Story
UK will ban use of cluster bombs
Posted on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 1:48pm
Britain is to take cluster bombs out of service, Prime Minister Gordon Brown has said. The announcement came after he said diplomats in Dublin were "very close" to reaching an international treaty banning their use. Full Story
France to let in eastern workers
Posted on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 1:51pm
French President Nicolas Sarkozy says France will open its labour market in July to migrants from eight EU members in Central and Eastern Europe. Visiting Poland, Mr Sarkozy said France would lift all the curbs it put in place when the countries joined the bloc four years ago. Full Story
Mediator says Russia faces 'enormous work' before admission to WTO
Posted on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 2:40pm
Russia, the only major country still outside the World Trade Organization, faces major barriers to membership even after 14 years of negotiations, officials said Monday. Stefan Johannesson, who heads the WTO committee steering talks with Russia, said he could not predict when the country would be ready to enter the 152-member body, which sets the rules on global trade. Full Story
Military: Sri Lanka fighting kills 16 Tamil rebels
Posted on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 4:30pm
Fighting between government soldiers and Tamil separatists along the northern front lines of Sri Lanka's civil war killed 16 rebels, the military said Wednesday. Full Story
Japan vows to double Africa aid
Posted on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 4:30pm
Japan's Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda has promised to double his country's aid to Africa within five years. Mr Fukuda made the pledge in front of leaders from more than 50 African countries at a conference in the Japanese city of Yokohama. Full Story
Nepal abolishes monarchy, declared a republic
Posted on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 4:31pm
In a historic meeting of the Constituent Assembly on Wednesday, Nepal was proclaimed as a federal democratic republic, abolishing the 240-year-old monarchy. Full Story
India rejects US offer of joint operations against LeT
Posted on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 8:59pm
India has rejected a US proposal for joint operation against Lashkar-e-Toiba, in a move that has baffled many given that LeT is the principal terror threat to India, and that counter-terrorism has been a high bilateral priority. Full Story
UK police make new arrest after restaurant blast
Posted on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 9:02pm
British police in southwest England arrested a third man Wednesday in connection with a restaurant blast that rattled the English city of Exeter last week. Full Story
Ahmadinejad rival gets powerful post in Iran
Posted on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 9:03pm
Iran's lawmakers overwhelmingly picked conservative Ali Larijani as parliament speaker Wednesday, sending another strong message of discontent with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's leadership by boosting one of his likely challengers in elections next year. Full Story
China invites Taiwan to more talks as ties warm
Posted on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 9:28pm
China has invited Taiwan to hold more talks, state media said on Thursday, as ties between the two sometimes bitter diplomatic and political rivals warm following the election of a new, more pro-Chinese president on the island. Full Story
Dozens held in Naples mafia raids
Posted on Tuesday, May 27, 2008 at 7:40am
About 50 alleged members of the Naples mafia, the Camorra, have been arrested, Italian police say. The raids in Caserta, north of Naples, targeted the Iovine clan, believed to be one of the most powerful groups in the Camorra, police said. Full Story
China earthquake death toll rises to 67,183 by Tuesday noon
Posted on Tuesday, May 27, 2008 at 9:35am
The death toll in China's major earthquake increased by more than 2,100 to 67,183 as of midday Tuesday, according to the Information Office of the State Council. Full Story
Dutch ship 'hijacked' off Somalia
Posted on Tuesday, May 27, 2008 at 10:52am
A Dutch cargo ship is reported to have been hijacked by pirates off Somalia. The MV Amiya Scan, with a crew of nine, was seized after leaving the Kenyan port of Mombasa on 19 May, reports say. Full Story
Bulgaria and Germany sign technical co-operation agreement
Posted on Tuesday, May 27, 2008 at 10:55am
Bulgarian Economy and Energy Minister Petar Dimitrov and the German ambassador to Bulgaria Michael Geier have signed signed on May 26 2008 the last of a series of agreements on technical co-operation between the two countries, Focus news agency reported. Full Story
British truckers jam route into London to protest fuel costs
Posted on Tuesday, May 27, 2008 at 10:57am
Hundreds of trucks rolled into central London on Tuesday and jammed a major route into the capital to protest the rising price of fuel. Around 300 truck drivers honked their horns and parked on a highway on the edge of the city, forcing police to close off a section of road and divert hundreds of motorists during the busy morning rush hour. Full Story
French president to propose suspension of VAT tax on fuel
Posted on Tuesday, May 27, 2008 at 10:58am
President Nicolas Sarkozy reached out to the common folk Tuesday with a visit to butchers and cheesemakers at France's largest wholesale market, before proposing on the radio that fuel taxes be cut across Europe amid growing economic discontent. With the day's events Sarkozy reprised his role as a hands-on "omnipresident" who eschews France's stuffy presidential traditions a role that has marked his first year in office, which began with a burst of hope and ended with plunging popularity ratings. Full Story
Need to pressure Iran on nuclear issue: Germany
Posted on Tuesday, May 27, 2008 at 11:48am
The U.N. nuclear watchdog's report on Iran this week showed the international community must push for a faster response from Tehran over its nuclear program, Germany said on Tuesday. The five permanent U.N. Security Council members plus Germany are offering Iran a package of incentives to give up its uranium enrichment, so far without success. Full Story
Nine British soldiers go on trial for Cyprus resort rampage
Posted on Tuesday, May 27, 2008 at 11:53am
The trial began on Tuesday of nine British soldiers accused of smashing up a pub and attacking locals in the Cypriot holiday resort of Ayia Napa. The hearing in the southern coastal town of Paralimini was adjourned after the defence lawyer said the defendants were wrongly arrested by police following the fracas in February. Full Story
US tourist drugged, killed by train in Rome
Posted on Tuesday, May 27, 2008 at 12:00pm
An American tourist was killed by a train as he walked on the tracks in a daze after he drank a cappuccino laced with drugs and then was robbed, railway police said Monday. Frank Phel, 74, of California, died early Friday at the suburban Tiburtina station, police official Giovanni Piccolantonio said. Phel's hometown was not disclosed. Full Story
Swiss to return drug lord's money
Posted on Tuesday, May 27, 2008 at 12:41pm
Switzerland's supreme court has ruled that a convicted drug trafficker may reclaim a confiscated $500,000 (317,000 euros; #253,000) bank deposit. The unnamed Australian asked for the money back when he arrived in Switzerland on a false passport after serving a prison sentence in Australia. Full Story
Italy set for wider Afghan role
Posted on Tuesday, May 27, 2008 at 12:42pm
Italy is willing to send its troops based in western Afghanistan to more dangerous areas of the country if requested by Nato, ministers say. Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said Italy was aiming to be able to move its forces faster and to a wider area. Full Story
Osama hiding in Karakoram range: Report
Posted on Tuesday, May 27, 2008 at 12:44pm
Al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden is hiding in the "rooftop of the world", the Karakoram section of the Himalayan range along Pakistan's borders with Afghanistan and China, a media report has claimed. Full Story
Maoists blow up railtracks in Bihar
Posted on Tuesday, May 27, 2008 at 12:45pm
Activists of the banned CPI (Maoist) blew up railway tracks at Masudan station in Munger district, disrupting train movements on Jamalpur-Malda section of East Central Railway. Full Story
Maoists gun down BJP leader in Orissa
Posted on Tuesday, May 27, 2008 at 12:45pm
Maoists gunned down a local BJD leader early on Tuesday in Orissa's southern Malkangiri district after abducting him. Full Story
Flash floods kill 20 in southern China
Posted on Tuesday, May 27, 2008 at 12:45pm
Floods triggered by rain and hail storms in southern China have killed at least 20 people and left 16 missing, Xinhua news agency reported on Tuesday, citing local authorities. Full Story
NATO urges Pakistan to prevent Afghanistan spillover
Posted on Tuesday, May 27, 2008 at 12:45pm
NATO's secretary-general urged Pakistan on Tuesday to prevent a spillover of violence from its border region into Afghanistan and called for stronger political dialogue between Pakistan and the U.S.-led alliance. Full Story
Sri Lanka vows to crush rebels as attacks mount
Posted on Tuesday, May 27, 2008 at 12:46pm
Sri Lanka will press on with a military campaign against Tamil Tiger rebels, President Mahinda Rajapaksa said on Tuesday, vowing not to be intimidated by bombings in the capital blamed on the rebels in recent weeks. Full Story
Thirteen police, 11 civilians killed in Afghanistan
Posted on Tuesday, May 27, 2008 at 12:47pm
Eleven civilians and 13 policemen were killed in a series of blasts and Taliban attacks in Afghanistan on Tuesday, officials said. Full Story
NPAs intelligence chief in Leyte surrenders -- military
Posted on Tuesday, May 27, 2008 at 12:48pm
An alleged rebel leader in Leyte has surrendered to the military. Lieutenant Colonel Henry Bumiltac, commanding officer of the 19th Infantry Battalion in Kananga town, Leyte, identified the alleged rebel leader who surrendered last Saturday as Junnymel de los Reyes. Full Story
More protests and arrests in Korea over U.S. beef imports
Posted on Tuesday, May 27, 2008 at 12:48pm
Thousands of protesters marched through Seoul against a U.S. beef import pact that has renewed fears about mad cow disease. The police said Tuesday that 29 demonstrators were arrested after scuffling erupted. Full Story
Parents of quake victims to be allowed 2nd children
Posted on Tuesday, May 27, 2008 at 12:48pm
As the death toll in southwest China rose to more than 65,000, a provincial planning commission issued what it called a clarification Monday of the country's one-child policy, saying that a family whose child dies young can obtain a certificate to have another child. Full Story
Bomb found in city centre store
Posted on Tuesday, May 27, 2008 at 1:36pm
A bomb left at a shop in Belfast city centre partially exploded during the night, police have said. Army bomb experts were sent to JJB Sports on Royal Avenue on Tuesday morning after the device was discovered. Full Story
Spain's ex-IMF chief questioned in corruption probe: reports
Posted on Tuesday, May 27, 2008 at 2:00pm
Former International Monetary Fund head Rodrigo Rato appeared before a judge Tuesday probing corruption allegations at Spanish bank Banesto whilst he was economy minister, Spanish media said. Rato, his brother Ramon, the head of Santander bank Emilio Botin and 12 others are being investigated in connection with the 1999 purchase by Banesto of 45.3 percent of the Aguas de Fuensanta water utility company from the Rato family. Full Story
France's president wants tax cut on fuel in Europe
Posted on Tuesday, May 27, 2008 at 2:02pm
French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Tuesday proposed cutting fuel taxes Europe-wide, responding to economic discontent that has prompted French fishermen to launch protests now spreading to other European shores and sectors. Sarkozy urged the European Union to suspend part of the value-added tax on fuel to counter rising crude oil prices that have risen repeatedly to new highs in recent weeks. Full Story
Kercher death suspect cleared -- lawyer
Posted on Tuesday, May 27, 2008 at 2:31pm
A lawyer says that a Congolese pub owner who had been arrested and placed under investigation in the slaying of a British student in the Italian city of Perugia has been formally cleared. Diya "Patrick" Lumumba was arrested and quickly released because of lack of evidence, but remained a suspect in the Nov. 1 stabbing death of 21-year-old Meredith Kercher. Full Story
Five injured in bomb blast in Kathmandu
Posted on Tuesday, May 27, 2008 at 3:59pm
At least five persons were injured on Tuesday when a bomb exploded in the capital, a day before Nepal's elected representatives are expected to dethrone King Gyanendra and declare the country a republic. Full Story
Indonesian police, protesters clash over fuel price hike
Posted on Tuesday, May 27, 2008 at 3:59pm
Indonesian police clashed with protesters on Tuesday amid ongoing anger at the government's decision to hike fuel prices to rescue the budget from soaring subsidy bills, reports said. Full Story
Sri Lanka vows to 'crush' train bombersPosted on Tuesday, May 27, 2008 at 3:59pmSri Lanka's president vowed Tuesday to crush Tamil Tiger rebels after a rush-hour train bombing blamed on the insurgents killed eight passengers and wounded 70 others. Full Story
Courtesy Terrorism Research Center, Inc.
Monday, May 26, 2008
CONFLICT & TERROR 5/26 Memorial Day USA
Cameron hails 'end of New Labour'
Conservative leader David Cameron says his party's first by-election win since 1982 marks "the end of New Labour". Mr Cameron told cheering supporters in Crewe and Nantwich that Labour had run a negative, xenophobic and class war campaign that "completely backfired". Full Story
British police say restaurant blast suspect Islamic convert
A bombing suspect arrested after a blast in the southwest English city of Exeter on Thursday is a vulnerable Islamic convert with mental illness who was taken advantage of and radicalized, police said. Police evacuated a large part of Exeter city center after a small explosion at the Giraffe restaurant around lunchtime. Police said a man identified as 22-year-old Nicky Reilly was seen entering the restaurant's bathroom shortly before the blast. Full Story
Lufthansa strikes cause havoc at German airports
German pilots stopped work briefly at three Lufthansa subsidiaries early on Wednesday, causing cancellations and delays at most of the country's major airports in support of demands for higher pay. Eurowings, Germanwings and Lufthansa-CityLine were hit by the token strikes with 46 flights cancelled by the time the strikes ended at 8am. Full Story
Hungarian police prepare for Euro2008
Hungary's police force has started preparing for the 2008 UEFA European Football Championship taking place in Austria and Switzerland in June, a senior police official said on Thursday. Full Story
Stone 'bomb to go off in minutes
A security guard has told the Michael Stone trial that when he asked him was there a bomb, he replied it would "go off in two minutes". Mark Smith, one of three guards who restrained and disarmed Stone, told the court he was injured when he removed a knife from the defendant's pocket. Full Story
Muslim convert quizzed after blast in Exeter
Police on Friday questioned a "radicalised" convert to Islam after a bomb explosion in the centre of Exeter, as locals revealed more details about him. One neighbour said the man, 22-year-old Nicky Reilly, had been "brainwashed" and took on a Muslim name, adding that he had an image of the burning Twin Towers on his computer screen saver. Full Story
Warning over rising fish prices
The price of fish landed in the UK could rise by an average of 23% in the next 12 to 18 months because of rising fuel prices, a government agency warns. Seafish says the cost of some types of fish could go up by as much as 50%. Full Story
Quebec issues report on ethnic tensions in the French-speaking province
Quebec's premier objected to a proposal to remove a crucifix from the provincial legislature as part of an effort to be more accomodating to minorities, arguing that the Christian icon is part of the province's history. Premier Jean Charest on Thursday rejected the proposal, one of 37 recommendations from a commission that he had formed to look into ethnic tensions in the French-speaking Canadian province. Full Story
Brown, Dalai Lama hold 'warm, constructive' talks
Prime Minister Gordon Brown held "very warm and constructive" talks with the Dalai Lama Friday, his office said, pledging Britain's full support towards a rapprochement between Tibet and China. The 25-minute meeting -- held at the Archbishop of Canterbury's official residence on the south bank of the River Thames in London -- was the most contentious part of an 11-day visit by the Tibetan spiritual leader. Full Story
British eatery bombing suspect has home searched
British police and intelligence officials searched a house in southwest England on Friday to try to determine what drove a young Muslim convert with a history of mental illness to walk into a busy restaurant with two bombs. Armed officers raided the home of 22-year-old Nicky Reilly in Plymouth late Thursday. Police said Friday that the search was continuing. Full Story
Blair jet faced Israeli warplanes
Israeli fighter aircraft were scrambled to intercept a jet carrying former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair after its crew failed to identify themselves. Aircrew used the radio to explain who they were after the two warplanes adopted an attack position, prompting them to peel off and return to base. Full Story
Brown faces leadership concerns
Gordon Brown has said he can steer Britain through "difficult" economic times - amid signs of growing backbench disquiet over his leadership. Mr Brown reacted to Thursday's crushing by-election defeat in Crewe and Nantwich by stressing his economic record and pledging to listen. Full Story
Assault at gas pumps related to attacks on Nigerian pipelines
Violence in oil-rich southern Nigeria is having a ripple effect thousands of miles away -- at gas stations in the United States. One reason for record high gas prices, analysts say, is a spate of attacks on oil pipelines in Nigeria, the fourth largest supplier of oil to the United States. Full Story
Rubbish demonstrators clash with police in Naples
Italian police clashed Friday with demonstrators opposed to the opening of a new rubbish dump proposed by the government to ease the Naples garbage crisis. Demonstrators tried to set fire to a bus and hurled rocks at police who staged a baton charge and fired tear gas in a bid to end the protests. Full Story
Xenophobic party leader emerges as Italy's kingmaker
Umberto Bossi, who once suggested shooting at boats carrying immigrants, is a key force in the right's return to power. Measures against foreigners and violence toward Gypsies have followed. Full Story
Pakistan party leader shot dead in southern city
Tariq Khan, a leader of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), was shot dead in southern port city of Karachi, local TV channel reported Friday evening. Tariq Khan, vice president of PML-N in southern Sindh province, was shot near Tariq road in Karachi and died after being shifted to a hospital, private Dawn TV said. Full Story
Taiwan's new president calls for reopening of dialogue with China
Taiwan's new President Ma Ying-jeou of the Kuomintang (KMT) party Saturday renewed his call on Beijing to set aside sovereignty disputes and reopen negotiations with the island. Full Story
Hezbollah image in Arab world less shiny
Hezbollah's offensive against mostly Sunni Muslim political rivals in Lebanon has sullied its image in the Arab world as an armed force engaged in a righteous struggle against Israel. But interviews with analysts and Arab news media accounts suggest that the Shiite Muslim group still came out ahead. Full Story
China raises quake death toll to 60,560
China's government says the confirmed death toll from this month's massive earthquake has risen to 60,560. A spokesman for the State Council, the Cabinet, told reporters Saturday that aside from the dead, 26,221 people are missing following the May 12th quake that struck central China. Full Story
Israeli attacks kill 5 Palestinian militants in Gaza
Israeli troops killed five Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip on Friday, in violence that complicated efforts to bring a brief truce to the violence-wracked area. Israeli aircraft fired missiles at three Hamas militants on motorcycles, killing all three, Gaza health officials said. The Israeli military said the men were carrying antitank missiles. Full Story
Homicides up sharply in Mexico
Homicides related to organized crime have jumped 47% in Mexico this year, the country's attorney general said Friday in a rare confirmation of how bad the violence has become. Police later made two gruesome discoveries in northern Mexico. Five bodies, two of them decapitated, were found wrapped in blankets in a city on the border with Texas, along with two heads in sacks. Full Story
Egypt police shoot Sudanese migrant at Israel border
Egyptian police shot and wounded a Sudanese man who tried to cross its border illegally into Israel from the Sinai peninsula on Saturday, medical and security sources said. A security official, who asked not to be named, told Reuters the 29-year-old Sudanese Ahmed Khater Mohamed was shot in his thigh by an Egyptian patrol after he ignored orders to stop. Full Story
Militants kill 'US spy' in Pakistan tribal area: official
Pro-Taliban militants in a lawless Pakistani tribal district killed an Afghan after accusing him of spying for the US forces in neighboring Afghanistan, an official said Saturday. The body of Akhtar Nawaz, 40, was dumped in the main bazaar of a border town in North Waziristan district, a known hub of Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants, the official said. Full Story
Serbia withdraws ambassador from Czech Republic
Serbia has withdrawn its ambassador from the Czech Republic after Prague's recognition of independent Kosovo. Serbian ambassador to Prague Vladimir Veres delivered a protest note to the Czech government ahead of his planned departure Sunday, the Czech foreign ministry said Friday. Full Story
UN committed to helping Somalia draw up new constitution
After a call from the Somali Prime Minister for help in drawing up a new constitution, a United Nations official today said the world body is committed to providing assistance for the process. Full Story
Sacked judges to be restored: Zardari
Pakistan's political roller coaster continues. Asif Ali Zardari, leader of the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), has declared finally that the judges sacked after President Pervez Musharraf imposed emergency last year would be reinstated. Full Story
Violence in Iraq falls to lowest level in 4 years
Violence in Iraq has fallen to its lowest level in more than four years, figures released by the U.S. military showed on Saturday, but officials said progress was still fragile and reversible. Full Story
Colombia says rebel leader may be dead
The legendary leader of Latin America's largest guerrilla army may be dead, Colombia's defense minister said in an interview published Saturday. Full Story
Russia and China join to condemn U.S. missile shield
President Dmitri Medvedev of Russia and President Hu Jintao of China met Friday to conclude a deal on nuclear cooperation and together condemn U.S. proposals for a missile shield in Europe. Both countries called the U.S. plan a setback to international trust that was likely to upset the balance of power. Full Story
Arabs keen on boosting ties with Africa
The Arab League (AL) on Saturday expressed its willingness to boost relations with the African Union (AU) and the African people, the official Egyptian MENA news agency reported. Full Story
Lebanon MPs to vote in president
The parliament in Lebanon is expected to elect a new president and end a deadlock which has left the country without a head of state since November. Full Story
North Africa, Southern Europe join hands to tackle terrorism
In light of mounted terrorism risks in North Africa and Southern Europe, interior ministers from western Mediterranean countries have agreed to step up the fight against terrorism and establish a central body to investigate drug trafficking. Ten interior ministers from Libya, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Mauritania, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Malta and France, took part in the 13th Conference of Interior Ministers of Western Mediterranean Countries on May 21-22 in the Mauritanian capital of Nouakchott. Full Story
Toll rises to 37 in Indian caste rioting
Authorities invited leaders of one of India's lowest castes for talks as the death toll rose to 37 Sunday from three days of bloody demonstrations over caste classification. Police repeatedly opened fire on violent protests by the Gujjar community on Friday and Saturday in half a dozen villages and towns in western Rajasthan state. Full Story
Ex-army chief says Israel can 'manage' without Golan
A former army chief said on Sunday that Israel can manage without the Golan Heights, the strategic plateau Syria wants returned as the two countries relaunch indirect peace talks. "We can manage without (the Golan) as we did in the past," Dan Halutz said on military radio. "In exchange for a real peace we must be ready to pay a real price -- if not it's all a waste to time." Full Story
Hamas and Hizbullah Recruiting in Increasingly Islamist Turkey
Turkey, a vacation destination for many Israelis and the home newly launched talks with Syria, is experiencing an upsurge in Islamist programs targeting Israel for destruction. According to Turkish web site Velfecr.com, radical Turkish Islamists have been organizing nightly programs in cities across Turkey under the slogan, A free Al-Quds [the Muslim term for Jerusalem], A world without Israel. Full Story
Europe, and especially Germany, are banking on coal
Much of Europe may be moving toward renewable energy, but here in the Rhine Valley, where coal has always been king, this little town has become more roadkill on the fossil fuels autobahn. Three power plants fueled by lignite coal, the granddaddy of the greenhouse gas emitters, belch more than 64 million tons of carbon dioxide a year into the atmosphere, the highest concentration in Europe. Full Story
ANALYSIS: Iraq PM rides high on successes
After two years in office, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has managed only in the past two months to stamp a semblance of authority in this unwieldy nation with bold crackdowns on Shiite militias and Sunni insurgents in Baghdad, Basra and the north. The progress has brought the Shiite prime minister's political rehabilitation, quieting critics at home who have long seen him as ineffective, indifferent to corruption or biased toward Shiite interests. Full Story
24 extremists sentenced to death in Algeria on terrorism charges
Twenty-four extremists were sentenced to death in Algeria on Saturday on charges of terrorism and other crimes, local media reported.The extremists had also been convicted of illegal possession of weapons, use of explosives as well as involvement in kidnapping, the Algerian Press Service reported. Full Story
Nepal PM urges Maoist chief to form govt
Nepal's Maoists said yesterday the country's prime minister has asked their leader Prachanda to form the next government. The former rebels emerged as the surprise winners in landmark polls last month, garnering more than twice as many seats in a new constitution-drafting assembly as their nearest rivals. Full Story
Pakistan ceasefire doesn't mean respite in Afghanistan, Taliban warns
The ceasefire between some Taliban fighters in Pakistan and the country's government won't bring peace to nearby Afghanistan, a Taliban leader said Saturday. Baitullah Mehsud, a Taliban leader in Pakistan, said he wants to end the fighting with Pakistani government forces but will continue to battle Western troops in Afghanistan, where about 2,500 Canadian soldiers are part of the NATO force. Full Story
US ambassador: al-Qaida close to defeat in Iraq
The U.S. ambassador to Iraq said Saturday that al-Qaida's network in the country has never been closer to defeat, and he praised Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki for his moves to rein in Shiite and Sunni militant groups. Ryan Crocker's comments came as Iraqi forces have been conducting crackdowns on al-Qaida militants in the northern city of Mosul and on Shiite militiamen in the southern city of Basra. Full Story
Lebanon army chief is elected president
General Michel Suleiman was sworn in as president Sunday after Parliament elected him in a long-delayed vote following an 18-month political stalemate that brought Lebanon to the brink of another civil war. Full Story
U.S. lifts Indonesia travel warning
The United States lifted a travel warning placed on Indonesia following a string of deadly terrorist attacks, saying the security situation in the world's most populous Muslim nation had improved. Full Story
Bemba arrest removes rival to Congo president
The arrest for war crimes of Congo's exiled former Vice-President Jean-Pierre Bemba ends his career as a political challenger to President Joseph Kabila but leaves the risk of a possible backlash from Bemba's followers. Full Story
Eritrea and Djibouti square off over wasteland at the Horn of Africa
The distance between the rival armies is shorter than the barrel of a gun. Hundreds of opposing troops are lined up on the border, staring each other down, from just inches away. Full Story
Angry France diverts Myanmar aid to Thailand
The French navy has given up the idea of trying to deliver humanitarian aid directly to Myanmar and will instead divert its cargo to neighbouring Thailand, the French Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Sunday. Full Story
Nigeria ruling party wins two re-run elections
Nigeria's ruling party has retained the governorships of the oil-producing state of Bayelsa and of northern Sokoto in re-runs of elections last year that were condemned as not credible, officials said on Sunday. Full Story
Colombian rebels say leader dies of heart attack
Manuel "Sureshot" Marulanda, a peasant's son who built Latin America's mightiest guerrilla army but failed in a half century of struggle to trigger a communist revolution in Colombia, is dead. He was believed to be 78. Full Story
US warns Mexico on aid terms
A top member of staff at the US Senate has said that a multi-million-dollar package to help Mexico fight drugs would be agreed by mid-June, but warned that the final version would contain strong conditions on human rights. Full Story
Iraq holy city tells US it wants alms, not armsPosted on Sunday, May 25, 2008 at 5:34pmIraq's holiest Shiite city of Najaf had a blunt message for visiting US Ambassador Ryan Crocker -- your arms are not welcome here, but your alms certainly are. Full Story
Taliban commander shuns Bhutto probe
A Taliban commander in Pakistan said he would not cooperate with a U.N. investigation into the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. Full Story
Israelis Prefer Military Action Against Hamas
Many people in Israel want their military forces to continue to fight Hamas instead of seeking a truce, according to a poll by Maagar Mochot released by Israel Radio. Full Story
Egypt plans to extend emergency law
The Egyptian government plans a one-year extension to an emergency law that grants police sweeping powers of arrest, an official said on Sunday. Full Story
Malta misses crucial terrorism meeting as threat seen increasing
In the wake of a US State Department report citing concern over Maltas potential as a staging post for terrorists entering Europe and another warning from Maltas security service, Malta missed a crucial meeting this week between southern European and north African security ministers on the subject of trans-national terrorism risks threatening both regions. Full Story
Russians, militants clash in Caucasus
Trouble flared in the North Caucasus republic of Ingushetia Saturday when Russian troops and militant separatists engaged in a shootout, state media reported. Full Story
The Return of Iraq's Ayatollah
High-profile visits by political figures are relatively rare in Najaf, the quiet holy city in southern Iraq where Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani lives. Sistani, the most venerated Shi'ite religious leader in the country, shuns the limelight. Full Story
Iran 'paid Iraq insurgents to kill UK soldiers'
The allegations are contained in a confidential "field report" written by a British officer who served in Basra during one of the most dangerous periods of the conflict. The report, which has never been made public, shows the full level of Iran's involvement in the insurgency for the first time. Full Story
Kenya hit by nationwide power outage, sparking panic
A nationwide power outage hit Kenya on Sunday as a result of a transmission fault from its hydro-electric plants, officials said, sparking panic in the east African nation. Full Story
Swelling China lakes a danger 2 weeks after quake
China planned to dynamite rock, mud and rubble forming a dangerously large "quake lake" on Monday, hoping to avert a new disaster two weeks after a catastrophic tremor struck Sichuan province. Full Story
Hindu nationalists claim victory in key Indian state polls
India's opposition Hindu nationalists claimed victory Sunday in provincial polls in southern Karnataka state, dealing a huge blow to the ruling Congress party ahead of next year's national polls. Full Story
Fire erupts at Burma embassy in Bangkok
A fire broke out in the main building of the Burma embassy in the Thai capital Monday. Full Story
Transport grinds to a halt as strikes hit France
Strikes are hobbling train services around France during a day of protests against a pension plan reform that the government says is needed to fill empty coffers. The transport strikes come amid protests by fishermen over rising fuel prices. The state-run train authority estimates one in two trains for the day. However, international lines like the Eurostar to London were expected to run normally. Full Story
French workers in national strike
Workers from France's five largest unions have begun strike action against President Nicolas Sarkozy's plans to reform public-sector pensions. Bus, train and air transport were disrupted across the country, though workers stuck to a commitment to offer a minimum service. Full Story
Fans call for homecoming parade
Manchester United fans are calling for a homecoming victory parade after the club's win against Chelsea in the Champions League final. Police said last week that any parade would be postponed until the summer, a position they are maintaining, citing a "serious risk to public safety". Full Story
Woodward in new weapons appeal
All paramilitaries must get rid of their weapons, Northern Ireland Secretary Shaun Woodward has again said. He said they should do so sooner rather than later, as the legal mechanism for doing so will not last indefinitely. Full Story
Bombs left in baby-changing room
Two fire bombs have been found in a baby-changing room in a fast food outlet, police have said. The incendiary devices - one of which had partially exploded - were found in a McDonald's restaurant in Cookstown, County Tyrone. Full Story
NATO soldier, 2 civilians die in Afghan protest
Officials say a NATO soldier and two Afghan civilians have been killed in a protest over the shooting of the Quran by a U.S. sniper in Iraq. NATO spokesman Maj. Martin O'Donnell says the alliance soldier was hit by gunfire, and it is not clear who had fired. Full Story
Global monitor finds no radioactive leaks in quake zone
A global network of sensors has found no evidence that China's complex of nuclear facilities in the earthquake zone let any radioactivity escape, its operator reported Wednesday. The finding supports reassurances by China and the United States that the giant earthquake of May 12 resulted in no large nuclear releases, even though the stricken zone in Sichuan Province shelters China's main centers for designing, making and storing nuclear arms. Full Story
NATO to keep rotating command in Afghan south
NATO will continue to rotate command of its troops in the violent South of Afghanistan despite U.S. generals' concerns that the arrangement disrupts operations, the Pentagon said on Wednesday. To minimize problems caused by the changeovers, each nation with major troop contingents in the South will take command for one year rather than the current nine months, Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell told reporters. Full Story
UN chief Ban meets Myanmar prime minister
UN chief Ban Ki-moon met Thursday with Myanmar Prime Minister Thein Sein, in a high-profile diplomatic push to press the military government to accept a full-scale relief operation for cyclone survivors. Shortly after Ban's arrival, the two men met for about 20 minutes at the Sedona Hotel in Myanmar's main city of Yangon. Full Story
Bangladesh reports first human case of bird flu
Bangladesh reported its first confirmed case of human bird flu on Thursday, but said the 16-month-old victim had now recovered from the virus. The baby boy from a Dhaka slum was diagnosed with the H5N1 strain of the disease in January, but this was only confirmed by a US laboratory this week, the government said. Full Story
Malaysian PM taking proactive steps to strengthen UMNO
Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi appears to be taking proactive steps to strengthen the ruling party, UMNO. One day after UMNO's highest decision-making body unanimously voiced their support for Mr Abdullah, speculation is rife that the ruling party is now courting Ezam Mohd Nor, the former political secretary of Anwar Ibrahim, to join the party youth wing. Full Story
French unions protest Sarkozy's plan to change retirement system
French unions staged nationwide protests on Thursday against plans by President Nicolas Sarkozy to make people work longer to qualify for a full pension. In a rare show of unity, France's five largest unions called on members to take to the streets in 80 cities to denounce the government's decision to make people work 41 years before retiring against 40 years at present. Full Story
German president will seek 2nd term
President Horst Kvhler announced Thursday that he would seek a second term, setting up a probable replay of the last election that would also pit the governing coalition parties against each other. Kvhler made the announcement a year and a day before the vote is scheduled to take place. In a short statement, he said that he wanted to continue "on the path of change and preservation." He added that he was not afraid of "democratic competition," but that he would not campaign for the office, which is meant to be apolitical. Full Story
Nuclear sabotage suspects released in Sweden
Two men arrested after an explosives scare at a Swedish nuclear plant were released Thursday and police said they were no longer considered a threat to the power station. The two maintenance workers were arrested Wednesday after security guards at the Oskarshamn nuclear plant found traces of a highly explosive substance on a plastic bag that one of them was carrying. Full Story
Functional Afghan airforce five years away: US general
Afghanistan's army will need international air support in combat operations for another five years, the US general leading efforts to build and train the Afghan security forces said Thursday. US Major General Robert Cone, speaking to reporters at NATO headquarters in Brussels, said the support would have to continue until the fledgling Afghan airforce is fully operational, probably in 2013. Full Story
Demos on third day of Dalai Lama visit to Britain
Demonstrators targeted the Dalai Lama on the third day of his visit to Britain on Thursday, on the eve of closely-watched talks between the Tibetan spiritual leader and Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Supporters and critics rallied outside the Royal Albert Hall, where the 72-year-old Buddhist monk made his first public address since arriving in London as part of a five-nation tour. Full Story
Man arrested after blast in Exeter city centre
Police have arrested a 22-year-old man who was injured in a bomb explosion which forced the closure of Exeter city centre Thursday. The centre of Exeter was evacuated after the lunchtime blast at a restaurant in a shopping centre and bomb disposal experts and sniffer dogs were sent in. Full Story
Irish PM urges Yes vote as EU poll looms
Prime Minister Brian Cowen appealed to Irish people Thursday to vote "Yes" in a crunch referendum on the European Union's Lisbon Treaty next month, saying it was of vital national interest. Cowen, who succeeded Bertie Ahern earlier this month, made the comments in a keynote address three weeks to the day ahead of the June 12 referendum, which is being closely watched by Ireland's EU partners. Full Story
Italy wants to bring back nuclear power
Italy's industry minister says the new government plans to restart the country's nuclear power program. Claudio Scajola told a business lobby group Thursday that the government has scheduled the start of construction of the first new nuclear-powered plant by 2013. Full Story
Dalai Lama starts tour in London
The Dalai Lama has arrived in London at the start of a 10-day visit to the UK. The Tibetan spiritual leader will address Parliament and give evidence on human rights to a parliamentary committee during his trip. Full Story
Taliban targeted for Australian offensive
Australian soldiers have started "a major push" against the Taliban in southern Afghanistan, the Australian government said Monday. Full Story
Philippines rebels reject direct talks with Manila
The Philippines' largest Muslim rebel group on Tuesday rejected proposals by Manila peace negotiators for direct talks to move stalled negotiations forward. Khaled Musa, a rebel spokesman, said the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) opposed the government's attempt to "localise the peace process", describing the proposal as a crude attempt to ease out Malaysia, which is brokering the talks. Full Story
Four held over car bomb released
Four men arrested over the attempted murder of a police officer in County Tyrone last week have been released without charge. The officer suffered leg injuries when a booby-trap bomb on his car exploded at Drumnaby Road in Spamount village, outside Castlederg, last Monday. Full Story
Police to decide right-to-strike
Frontline police officers in England and Wales are set to reveal whether they will demand the right to strike. Police are currently banned from taking industrial action, but members of the Police Federation have been balloted on whether they want the law changed. Full Story
7/7 accused denies bomb plotting
A man accused of a reconnaissance trip for the 7 July suicide bombers has told a jury he had nothing to do with 2005's attacks on London's transport system. Michael Wolkind QC, for Mr Ali, told the jury that his client had wanted to train for violent jihad in Pakistan. Full Story
Arrests in fan violence inquiry
Seventeen people have been arrested by police investigating fighting between rival football fans earlier this year. About 130 police officers took part in the morning raids at six addresses in Coventry and 14 in Leicester. Full Story
Police evacuate Berlin school after alert on armed man
German police have evacuated a school in Berlin after a telephone warning that an armed man was inside but after searching all morning, no one was found, a police spokesman said Tuesday. Full Story
Afghan cop beheaded, bombs kill seven civilians
Taliban militants beheaded a policeman in Afghanistan and killed an aid agency's driver in a separate attack, while bombs killed seven civilians, authorities said Tuesday. The decapitated body of the policeman was found in the southwestern province of Farah on Monday, a day after he had been captured by Taliban fighters, the police spokesman for the region told AFP. Full Story
Belgian railway strike paralyzes commuters, halts trains to other nations
A 24-hour nationwide strike by rail workers left commuters struggling to get to work on Tuesday, and the government said it could cost the Belgian economy 40 million (US$62 million) in lost business. Train stations across the country were empty and most people were choosing to either stay home or brave long hours on the highway to get to work. The strike paralyzed rail cargo services to the ports of Antwerp and Zeebruges, causing delays for shipping companies. Full Story
12 Norwegian airports closed after ground crews step up strike
A strike by key ground personnel was stepped up Tuesday and stranded more than 30,000 people at 12 airports, including the one serving Stavanger, a city in western Norway that is considered the capital of the Nordic nation's oil industry. The Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions' LO Stat chapter said the labor conflict that began Friday over wages and working hours was expanded to include six more airports. Full Story
Four injured in grenade blast in Assam
Four persons were injured when militants hurled a grenade at a busy market here, official sources said on Tuesday. Full Story
Bangladesh gets tough on terror, enacts new law
Bangladesh on Monday enacted a tough anti-terror ordinance that may not provide any respite to India, which is battling HuJI terrorists from Bangladesh, but it gives the country new teeth to fight extremism within. Full Story
200 aid workers killed by mudslides in China
At least 200 relief workers have been killed in mudslides caused by aftershocks in the past three days in China's quake-hit southwestern province of Sichuan, the country's transport ministry said on Monday. The workers were travelling in five vehicles when the mudslides overtook them. Full Story
Myanmar opens door to help from Asian neighbors for cyclone victims
Myanmar began three days of mourning Tuesday for some 78,000 cyclone victims after its ruling junta appeared to relent to foreign pressure to let in more outside help. Full Story
Military to add troops, speed up modernization
To boost efforts to meet President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyos 2010 deadline to defeat so-called enemies of the state, the military will recruit 600 Marines and fast track its modernization program, Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. said Tuesday. Full Story
China earthquake toll tops 40,000
Chinese aid workers are struggling to find shelter for millions who lost their homes. Foreign medical teams have started arriving in the area. Full Story
Turkey expects more concrete steps from regional government against PKK
The northern Iraqi regional government should take real steps against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, to expand ties with neighboring Turkey, Foreign Minister Ali Babacan told reporters in Egypt, the Anatolia news agency reported yesterday. Full Story
Iran's nuclear program feeding proliferation
Iran's disputed nuclear program has sent a wave of interest in atomic energy across the Middle East, a think tank said Tuesday, warning that it risked setting the scene for a regional nuclear arms race. Full Story
Iraqi troops enter Baghdad's Shiite stronghold
Thousands of Iraqi troops moved unchallenged into Baghdad's Sadr City Tuesday to seize the Shiite militia stronghold, in the largest attempt yet by the government to impose control, an Iraqi military spokesman said. Full Story
3 Palestinians killed in IDF strikes
Third Palestinian reported killed after Israel launches strikes against targets in Gaza, one fatality said to be 13-year-old youth. Hamas delegation expected to give Egyptian mediators final response regarding ceasefire proposal later in afternoon. Full Story
Qatar sets Lebanon opposition Wednesday deadline
Qatari-led mediators gave Lebanon's Hezbollah-led opposition a Wednesday deadline to respond to proposals aimed at resolving a political crisis which brought the country to the brink of civil war. Full Story
Germany jails attacker of rabbi
A German court has jailed a Muslim of Afghan origin for three and a half years for stabbing an Orthodox Jewish rabbi in the stomach in the street. The court in the south-western city of Frankfurt convicted Sajed Aziz, 23, of grievous bodily harm. Full Story
'Armed man' clears Berlin school
German police have evacuated a school in the capital, Berlin, following an anonymous telephone warning that an armed man had entered the building. Full Story
Record number take UK citizenship
A record 164,635 people were granted British citizenship last year, government figures have shown. Almost one third of the new citizens were from Africa, and 22% were Asian. Full Story
North Korea nearing nuclear declaration
North Korea appears close to making a long-overdue declaration of its nuclear programs, the top U.S. negotiator with Pyongyang said, in an upbeat assessment after months of difficult negotiations. Full Story
Top bankers should be accountable for risks: Buffett
Warren Buffett, the world's richest man, said Tuesday that few banking chief executives appeared willing to assume responsibility for the risks their institutions take. "I think that the head of any bank or financial institution has to be the chief risk officer, you cannot delegate (the job) to someone who comes in once a week," said the famed investor, known widely as the "Sage of Omaha." Full Story
Gov't gives go-ahead for two new aircraft carriers
The government has given a green light for the construction of two new "super-aircraft carriers" for the country's Royal Navy, the defence ministry said Tuesday. The carriers, to be named Her Majesty's Ship (HMS) Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales, will be the biggest and most powerful surface warships ever constructed in Britain, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said in a statement. Full Story
IRA suspect arrested in N.Ireland for 1977 killing
Northern Ireland police arrested an Irish Republican Army suspect Tuesday over his alleged role in the killing of an undercover British soldier more than 30 years ago, one of the most controversial killings from the province's long conflict. Capt. Robert Nairac was abducted from a border pub by an IRA gang on May 14, 1977, taken across the border into a Republic of Ireland forest, and shot through the head. His body was never been found. Full Story
France confirms informal talks to Hamas
France has had informal contacts with Hamas, the militant Palestinian group that rules Gaza, Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said Monday. Kouchner, speaking on Europe-1 radio, was confirming a report in the daily Le Figaro that quoted a retired diplomat as saying he met with Hamas leaders a month ago. Full Story
'Highest ETA commander' arrested
The most senior commander of the Basque separatist movement, Eta, has been arrested in a joint Spanish-French operation, Spanish authorities say. Javier Lopez Pena - alias "Thierry" - was seized with three other Eta suspects in a late-night raid in the city of Bordeaux, in south-west France. Full Story
Arrest at Swedish nuclear plant
A man found with traces of explosives at the entrance to a nuclear plant in Sweden has been arrested, police said. The Oskarshamn plant - owned by German energy giant E.On - has been sealed, the company said. Full Story
Aid workers abducted in Somalia
Two Italian aid workers and a Somali colleague have been kidnapped by gunmen south of the Somali capital, Mogadishu. Dozens of armed gunmen attacked the offices of Italian aid agency Cooperazione Italiana Nord Sud in the village of Awdhigle. Full Story
Naples hosts cabinet crisis talks
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is holding his first cabinet meeting in the southern city of Naples, mired in a rubbish crisis. Angry residents have taken to burning the piles of rotting waste, which have littered the streets for months. Full Story
Smith 'betrayed' police over pay
The home secretary has "betrayed the police service" by refusing to backdate a 2.5% pay rise, the chairman of the Police Federation has said. Jan Berry told its annual conference that Jacqui Smith's decision, affecting Wales, England and Northern Ireland, had been "a monumental mistake". Full Story
Youth crime drive has 'no impact'
A decade-long government drive to cut youth offending has had "no measurable impact", an independent study suggests. Criminologists at King's College London said success in targeting youth crime was far more mixed and ambiguous than ministers liked to claim. Full Story
Gulf states rise higher on oil boom
Gulf countries swimming in oil wealth are using the money to build huge industrial cities and gleaming financial centers to sustain them when the wells run dry. They learned valuable lessons from wrongheaded investments in the 1970s oil boom, but economists worry the countries still aren't making the education and labor reforms crucial to long-term stability. Full Story
Senior IRA leader dies of cancer
Brian Keenan, 66, a former leading member of the IRA has died. Mr Keenan, a father of six, from west Belfast, had been suffering from cancer for some time. Full Story
#80m Irish cocaine trial begins
Three men have gone on trial in Cork charged over the biggest drugs seizure in Irish history. About 1.5 tonnes of cocaine, worth more than #80m, was recovered from the sea off the west Cork coast last July. Full Story
PM Brown 'in by-election bunker'
David Cameron has accused Gordon Brown of hiding in "his bunker" - instead of going out to Crewe and Nantwich to explain axing the 10p tax band. Mr Brown told MPs it was a prime ministerial convention not to campaign at by-elections and he had given #2.7bn to help those hit by tax changes. Full Story
Berlusconi vows to fight trash crisis
He raised a stink about it during his recent election campaign, and now Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is taking action -- moving his entire Cabinet to Naples for a day to address the city's ever-growing rubbish crisis. The waste problems in Naples and the surrounding Campania region were a big issue in Berlusconi's campaign earlier this year. The new premier promised to hold his Cabinet's first official meeting in the southern city to show the government is serious about tackling it. Full Story
Neo-Nazis create 55-cent Rudolf Hess stamp
German neo-Nazis used a service offered by Deutsche Post to create a 55-cent stamp carrying a portrait of Hitler's deputy Rudolf Hess, the company said Wednesday. The latest newsletter of the far-right National Democratic Party gloated about being able to slip the stamp past Deutsche Post's quality control personnel. Full Story
German business confidence up in May
German business confidence posted an unexpected increase for May, bouncing back after sinking to its lowest level in more than two years in the previopus month, a closely watched survey showed Wednesday. The report suggests companies in Europe's biggest economy have so far weathered record euro and oil prices. Full Story
Olmert proposes naval blockade on Iran
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert proposed in talks with a U.S. Congressional leader that a naval blockade be imposed on Iran to try to curb its nuclear program, an Israeli newspaper said on Wednesday. Full Story
India, Pak resume secretary level talks
After a six-month pause, India and Pakistan on Tuesday resumed their composite dialogue with the foreign secretaries meeting here to discuss various bilateral issues including terrorism, Kashmir and confidence building measures. Full Story
Thousands of Indonesians protest plans to hike fuel price
Thousands of students took to the streets across Indonesia on Wednesday to protest the government's plan to sharply raise fuel prices, some briefly clashing with baton-wielding riot police outside the presidential palace. Full Story
Japan- Upper House panel passes bill on space
An Upper House committee approved a bill Tuesday intended to allow the use of space for defensive purposes, an important step on the road for the Defense Ministry to develop and operate spy satellites. Full Story
Lebanon to elect president on Sunday; Opposition dismantling tent city in Beirut
Rival Lebanese leaders signed a deal on Wednesday to end 18 months of political crisis. The deal, reached after six days of Arab-mediated talks in Qatar, paved the way for parliament to elect army chief General Michel Suleiman as president, filling a post vacant since November because of the political deadlock. Full Story
Diplomats say UN probe of Iran nukes a failure
Iran has stymied the latest U.N. attempt to investigate allegations that it tried to make nuclear weapons, diplomats said Tuesday. The International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. nuclear watchdog, will acknowledge it was unable to follow up on the allegations in a report to be presented as early as Friday to its 35-nation board, two diplomats told The Associated Press. Full Story
Saudi Critic Jailed After Decrying Justice System
An outspoken critic of the Saudi government who was previously jailed for calling for greater democracy has been arrested, his wife said Tuesday. Full Story
Indo-Pak pact likely on consular access to prisoners
Pakistan and India are expected to sign a pact on Wednesday to provide consular access to nationals of their country imprisoned by the other. Full Story
Sri Lanka launches attacks after top rebel's death
Sri Lanka's armed forces launched ground and air attacks in the rebel-held north of the island on Wednesday as the Tigers mourned the death of a top commander, officials said. Full Story
'Dirty bomb' warning to Olympics
The International Atomic Energy Agency says a group might try to release radioactivity at an Olympic venue, possibly using a "dirty bomb". Full Story
Georgian poll 'result' disputed
An exit poll suggests President Mikhail Saakashvili's governing party has won parliamentary elections in Georgia. Mr Saakashvili's United National Movement took 63% of the vote, said the exit poll - with the opposition trailing with 14%. Full Story
Turkeys ruling party fears it will be closed: Reuters report
Senior officials of Turkeys ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) believe the party will be closed by the countrys Constitutional Court on charges of trying to undermine the nations secular regime, the Reuters news agency reported on Monday. Full Story
Turkey cool to special US X-ray machine at İzmirs port
Turkey has been rather cool toward an American proposal to install a special X-ray machine at Izmir's Alsancak Port to check containers destined for the United States, with one Turkish official arguing that there already is an X-ray machine to do the job. While the Izmir Customs Department noted its support for the American X-ray facility to cut down the time it takes for Turkish goods to reach U.S. markets, officials in Ankara are against it. Full Story
Kazakhstan: President's Former Son-In-Law Offers To Testify In 'Kazakhgate' Probe
Rakhat Aliev, the exiled former son-in-law of Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbaev, says he's ready to give evidence in a U.S. investigation into whether Nazarbaev and other Kazakh officials took bribes from U.S. businesses to receive lucrative oil contracts more than a decade ago. Aliev's offer comes the same week that "The Wall Street Journal" reported that Aliev's former wife -- and President Nazarbaev's eldest daughter -- Darigha Nazarbaeva, hired U.S. firms to monitor the investigation into those bribery allegations, known as "Kazakhgate." Full Story
Italy pledges to bolster security
Italy's interior minister has said he will take immediate action to tackle the country's "security emergency". Roberto Maroni, who belongs to the anti-immigrant Northern League, pledged to bolster the resources available for Italy's police and security services. Full Story
Algeria issues rare kidnapping tally
Algeria recorded 115 kidnappings last year relating to terrorism or involving demands for ransom, the interior minister said Thursday in a rare public tally of abductions. Speaking during a question session in Parliament, Noureddine Yazid Zerhouni also said there were 260 kidnappings involving family disputes. Full Story
Kashmir group to target Indians, Israelis
A Kashmiri terror group has said it welcomes tourists but threatened to target Indian and Israeli
"agents" posing as visitors to the area. Full Story
India: We will fight terror at all costs
A top Indian official said the country will thwart the designs of terrorists who are out to disturb communal harmony in the country. Interior Minister Shivraj Patil Thursday said India will fight terror at all costs and foil the designs of terrorists who want to destroy peace and communal harmony in the country, which is a patchwork of ethnicities and religions. Full Story
Berlin sees spy threat to business
Germany accused Russian and Chinese spies on Thursday of increasing their efforts to steal technical secrets from companies. German business faces a growing threat from foreign spies using illegal means to get information on high-technology products, Heinz Fromm, head of the BfV intelligence agency, said. Full Story
Texas Man Accused of Trying to Sell Cyanide
A Texas man claimed he had a 25-gallon drum of cyanide and tried to sell it to an FBI informant, touting the poison's usefulness in mass killings, according to a court affidavit. Full Story
Russia accuses Georgia of aiding rebels
Russia's domestic spy service on Friday accused Georgia of supporting armed rebels in southern Russia, an accusation that could further damage the strained relations between the two countries. A source in the Federal Security Service (FSB) told Interfax news agency that a Chechen man working for Georgian intelligence had been giving cash to fighters across the turbulent North Caucasus. Full Story
Yemeni Qaeda warns non-Muslims in Arabian Peninsula
An al Qaeda Yemeni wing threatened attacks on Thursday across the Arabian Peninsula against non-Muslim foreigners including tourists and journalists. Full Story
Three killed as violence mars Dominican election
Three people, including a former congressman, were shot and killed as violence marred the close of campaigning before Friday's presidential election in the Dominican Republic, authorities said. Full Story
Bin Laden vows to fight Israel on 60th anniversary
Osama bin Laden vowed in an audio tape marking Israel's 60th anniversary celebrations to continue the fight against the Jewish state and its allies and not give up an inch of Palestinian land. Full Story
Indian police suspect Bangladeshi hand in blasts
Police probing bombings in western India that killed 63 people said on Friday that new evidence pointed increasingly towards Indian Islamists backed by a Bangladeshi militant group as being behind the blasts. Full Story
Spain officials mourn bomb victim
mSpanish ministers and royalty have attended the funeral of a civil guard killed in a car bombing blamed on the banned Basque separatist group Eta. The coffin of Juan Pinuel Villalon was carried into the cathedral in the Basque city of Vitoria by eight civil guards, followed by his widow. Full Story
Eurozone sees March trade deficit
The eurozone recorded a surprise trade deficit in March as the strong euro hit exports and high oil prices drove up the price of imports. The European Union's statistics office said the 15-nation euro bloc had a trade deficit of 2.3bn euros in March ($3.6bn; #1.8bn). Full Story
Nine dead, scores wounded in Sri Lanka suicide blast
At least nine people were killed and 95 others wounded in a Tamil Tiger suicide bombing near the official residence of Sri Lanka's president in the capital Colombo, officials said Friday. Full Story
Maoist rebels kill 2 men before India state election
Maoist rebels have shot and killed two men in southern India, hours before the second phase of polling began in a state election, police said on Friday. The Maoists, who say they are fighting India's government on behalf of the landless poor, have called for a boycott of the election in Karnataka state, home to the outsourcing capital of Bangalore. Full Story
Western experts monitor China's nuclear sites for signs of damage
China's main centers for designing, making and storing nuclear arms lie in the shattered earthquake zone, leading Western experts to look for signs of any damage that might allow radioactivity to escape. A senior federal official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the delicacy of the issue, said the United States was using spy satellites and other means to try to monitor the sprawling nuclear plants. Full Story
Eight dead in Philippine robbery
At least eight people have been shot dead during a bank robbery in the Philippines. Seven of the victims were employees of the bank in the town of Cabuyao, south of Manila, and one was a security guard, police said. Full Story
Foreign rescuers provide unprecedented help in China quake area
Foreign rescue teams arrived in China's quake-devastated southwest on Friday, laden with specialist equipment to aid the desperate search among the rubble of shattered buildings. A Japanese team began work in Sichuan province, the first time the Chinese government has accepted foreign professionals for a domestic disaster rescue and relief operation. Full Story
French arrest 10 in connection with terror probe
Authorities in France, Germany and the Netherlands on Friday detained at least 10 people suspected of helping to fund al-Qaida-linked militants with roots in Uzbekistan, officials said. One suspect was detained in Germany, another in the Netherlands, with the rest detained in France, said a senior French police official who was only authorized to discuss the arrests on condition of anonymity. Full Story
Tibetans protest again in Nepal capital
Hundreds of Tibetan exiles calling for freedom in their homeland demonstrated in the Nepalese capital Friday until police stopped them. About 500 Tibetans, many of them women, marched on the outskirts of Katmandu for about two miles, holding banners that said, "Free Tibet, Tibet for Tibetans." Full Story
Activist resigns from Hong Kong exchange
Hong Kongs most outspoken corporate governance activist has accused the citys government of interfering in the running of Asias biggest stock exchange operator by market capitalisation. Full Story
Outrage over Sarkozy plan to counter school strikes
French teachers, trade unions and opposition leaders expressed outrage on Friday after President Nicolas Sarkozy said he wanted a new law to ensure schools stay open when teachers go on strike so parents can get to work. Sarkozy made the surprise announcement in a televised speech late on Thursday, a day when hundreds of thousands of teachers went on strike to protest against plans to cut 11,200 jobs in the education system next year. Full Story
French workers strike in protest of job cuts
Teachers, postal workers and other public servants staged a one-day strike and tens of thousands marched through French cities Thursday, a widespread protest against President Nicolas Sarkozy's planned job cuts. Schools were shut around the country as nearly half the teachers stayed away from work, while about 15 percent of all public workers adhered to the 24-hour walkout, according to the Public Service Ministry. Full Story
Gordon Brown: I'm the right man for the times
Gordon Brown has for the first time defended his leadership by insisting he was the right person to lead the country through difficult times. The Prime Minister added that he would not consider his position before the next General Election. Full Story
Austria to temporarily reintroduce border checks over soccer Euro
Austria will temporarily reintroduce border checks during the Euro soccer championship although Austrian police chief Erik Buxbaum seemed to state the opposite earlier this week, Rudolf Gollia, spokesman for the Austrian Interior Ministry, confirmed for CTK today. Full Story
Afghan hijacker 'working at Heathrow
An Afghan hijacker who forced an airliner to fly to Britain is now working at Heathrow, it has been disclosed. Nazamuddin Mohammidy, 34, was one of a gang of nine that threatened to blow up an internal flight in Afghanistan, along with 173 passengers and crew, unless they were granted political asylum. Full Story
Bin Laden vows to fight Israel
Osama bin Laden vowed in an audio tape timed to coincide with Israel's 60th anniversary to continue to fight the Jewish state and its allies in the West. Full Story
Iranian Embassy convoy ambushed
Gunmen ambushed an Iranian Embassy convoy in Baghdad, wounding three Iranians, including two diplomats, and an Iraqi, a spokesman said Friday. Full Story
Over 800 people detained by army in offensive against al-Qaeda
A total of 833 people have been detained following the Iraqi military offensive in the southern city of Mosul targeting al-Qaeda militants. Full Story
In Qatar, Muslim, Jewish clerics meet
More than a dozen rabbis, including two from Israel, were in attendance this week as this conservative Muslim sheikdom opened one of the Gulf's first scholarly centers dedicated to interfaith dialogue. Full Story
Burma death toll jumps to 78,000
The official death toll for Burma's cyclone disaster has jumped to almost 78,000 people, with nearly 56,000 missing, according to state TV. Previously, Burma was giving a toll of 43,000 dead and 28,000 missing while the Red Cross and United Nations had estimated a death toll above 100,000. Full Story
Belarus says U.S. sanctions further damage ties
Belarus accused the United States on Friday of harming the interests of ordinary citizens by imposing new sanctions on the ex-Soviet state's industry in a row over human rights. The U.S. Treasury Department imposed punitive measures on Thursday on three Belarussian companies linked to state-run oil refiner Belneftekhim as part of efforts to intensify pressure on President Alexander Lukashenko over alleged rights abuses. Full Story
Dutch cartoonist arrested on suspicion of violating hate speech laws
A Dutch political cartoonist was arrested this week on suspicion of insulting people because of their race or religion through his work, authorities said Friday. The cartoonist, who works under the pseudonym Gregorius Nekschot, was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of violating hate speech laws and held overnight before being released, a spokeswoman for his publisher Uitgeverij Xtra said. Full Story
Nordic central banks act to support Icelandic currency
The Icelandic central bank struck a deal with the central banks of Sweden, Norway and Denmark on Friday that allows it to buy euros with Icelandic kronur, giving strong support to the island's beleaguered currency. Each swap arrangement is for as much as 500 million, or $774 million, but analysts said it was not the amount that mattered but the deal itself, which underlined how the Icelandic central bank, the Sedlabanki, was actively working on ways to support the currency. Full Story
Rebel MPs try to block 42-day detention plans
Rebel Labour MPs today tabled an amendment to the counter-terrorism bill that could block Gordon Brown's attempts to extend the detention without charge limit to 42 days. The amendment seeks to scrap the 42-day limit and replace it with a "comprehensive package of alternatives", including holding suspects on police bail while they are under investigation. Full Story
Synagogue walls daubed with anti-Jewish graffiti
London's Jewish community has been targeted by a wave of anti-Semitic graffiti. Residents were today warned to look out for suspicious activity following the racist attack in north-east London. Vandals sprayed shops, pavements and walls outside four synagogues in Clapton Common and Stamford Hill on Tuesday night. Worshippers were yesterday confronted with slogans such as "Jihad to Israel" and "Jihad to Tel Aviv". Full Story
Police search for ETA car bomb factory in France - reports
Spanish and French police are searching for a "car bomb factory" belonging to the militant Basque separatist group ETA in southern France, Spanish press reports said Friday, two days after a car bombing killed a police officer in Spain's northern Basque region. Juan Manuel Pinuel was killed in an attack against a barracks of the paramilitary Civil Guard in Legutiano. Four other officers were injured. Full Story
Kidnapped Pakistan envoy released by Taliban
Suspected Taliban militants have released Pakistan's envoy to Afghanistan more than three months after he was kidnapped in Pakistan's Khyber tribal region, a senior government official said on Saturday. Full Story
Belfast assassination probe loses sensitive data
A judicial probe into the assassination of a Roman Catholic lawyer in Northern Ireland reported Friday that it has lost sensitive computer data about the investigation. The mishap raises fears that witnesses or confidential intelligence sources mainly Northern Ireland police officers and British intelligence agents could have their personal details compromised. Full Story
Venezuelan opposition leader demands that Chavez clarify rebel ties
A Venezuelan opposition leader is demanding that President Hugo Chavez explain accusations of close ties between his government and Colombian rebels. Opposition leader Manuel Rosales says the Venezuelan leader has not adequately responded after the international police agency Interpol endorsed the authenticity of computer files that Colombia says it seized from a rebel camp. Full Story
Kuwait votes for a new parliament
Kuwaitis vote Saturday for a new parliament that must work with the royal family-controlled Cabinet, whose recent resignation triggered a period of political stagnation in this oil-rich U.S. ally. Full Story
Mexicans arrested at filthy 'drop house' charged
Three Mexican men held dozens of illegal immigrants in a squalid "drop house" in South Los Angeles, where one woman was raped and others say they were threatened with sexual assault, authorities said Friday. Jose Teul, 23, Daniel Pena, 18, and Saul Mendez, 35, were charged with harboring illegal immigrants at the two-story home that immigration agents raided Wednesday, said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Virginia Kice. Full Story
South Korea, Japan end sea confrontation
A standoff between the Japanese and South Korean coast guards ended peacefully after a joint investigation found that a Korean fishing boat did not violate Japanese waters, an official said Saturday. The incident began when the 134-ton fishing boat sent an emergency radio message to South Korea's coast guard saying it was being chased by Japanese patrol vessels. Full Story
Islamist fighters seize town in Somalia
A human rights leader says Islamist fighters have seized a southern town in Somalia that is a major agricultural center and impelled hundreds of refugees to flee. Ali Bashi, of Fanole rights groups, says Islamic Courts Union fighters ousted militiamen loyal to Somalia's fragile government in fighting overnight in Jilib that killed three militia fighters and wounded three others. Full Story
Police find 3 decomposing bodies inside NJ home
Police found three decomposing bodies with multiple stab wounds inside a northern New Jersey home Friday night, a prosecutor said. The bodies of an elderly man, an elderly woman who were not related and a younger man with defensive wounds had been dead for several days in the Tenafly home, Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli said. Full Story
Bush heads for Egypt talks with Palestinians
U.S. President George W. Bush flew to Egypt on Saturday for talks with Palestinian leaders who will be looking for signs they will not be neglected after he lavished praise on Israel during a visit to the Jewish state. Heading for the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh for the final stop of his Middle East tour, Bush faces growing skepticism over his chances of securing an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal before he leaves office in January. Full Story
Qatar hosts Lebanon dialogue
Talks aimed at ending Lebanon's protracted political crisis are to resume in the Qatari capital on Saturday morning. Full Story
Indonesia limits fuel purchases ahead of price rise: reportPosted on Saturday, May 17, 2008 at 4:27pmIndonesia's oil and gas company Pertamina has set limits on subsidised fuel purchases ahead of the government's plans to hike fuel prices, reports said Saturday. Full Story
Bush Says Saudi Oil Boost `Not Enough' to Ease Prices
President George W. Bush said Saudi Arabia's decision to raise oil output 300,000 barrels a day is ``not enough'' to ease U.S. energy prices and that more domestic oil exploration and refining capacity are needed. Full Story
New leaders unlikely to ease U.S.-Russia strains
Russias new president has promised the kind of democratic change that Washington advocated during predecessor Vladimir Putins tenure. At the same time, all the candidates to succeed President Bush have promised a break from a foreign policy that Moscow has bitterly criticized. Full Story
Quake effort resumes after panic
Rescue efforts are resuming in Beichuan in China, after the entire city was evacuated amid fears that it could be engulfed by a river bursting its banks. Full Story
Venezuela protests alleged Colombian cross-border incident
Venezuela issued an official protest to neighbouring Colombia on Saturday denouncing an alleged cross-border incident involving Colombian soldiers. Full Story
Georgia condemns Russian actions
Georgia has shown the BBC a footage which it says proves Russian troops are deploying heavy military hardware in the breakaway region of Abkhazia. Full Story
India to resume Pakistan peace talks
India's foreign minister travels to Pakistan this week for his first meeting with leaders of a new civilian government and to review a peace process that has been in the doldrums for more than a year. Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee will meet his Pakistani counterpart, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, on Wednesday, a day after their top civil servants hold talks. Full Story
Chief PA Negotiator: Jerusalem on the Table
Contrary to denials by top Israeli officials, the future of Jerusalem is being discussed in top-level negotiations between Israel and Palestinian Authority officials. So says Abu Ala, who heads the PA's negotiating team with Israel. Ahmed Qurei, also known as Abu Ala, told the Al-Quds newspaper in eastern Jerusalem over the weekend that the talks are "difficult," and include all the issues in dispute. Full Story
Myanmar health system strained by cyclone
Myanmar's ragged health system has been stretched to the limit after the cyclone two weeks ago left up to 2.5 million people homeless, exposed to pounding rains and potential disease. Until Saturday, the military regime had insisted it was capable of handling the crisis alone, but Thai and Indian doctors have now been given permission to help. Full Story
Iraq detains 1,000 in anti-Al-Qaida crackdown
Nearly 1,000 people have been detained in a sweep to break Al-Qaida in Iraq's sway in Iraq's third largest city, Mosul, but many of the fighters have fled to nearby areas, where troops are hunting for them, Iraqi officials said on Saturday. Full Story
Georgia lures Arab investors
The port city of Poti has long symbolised Georgia's collapse, but President Mikheil Saakashvili sees potential for a Black Sea Dubai in its crumbling buildings and pot-holed streets -- and Arab investors are listening. Full Story
PM pitches for anti-terror federal agency
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday made a strong pitch for a federal agency to deal with terrorist crimes against India, on the same day that Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan called for special anti-terror laws. Full Story
Tropical storm lashes Philippines
Tropical storm Halong has battered the northern Philippines with 95 kilometre per hour winds, triggering floods and landslides and displacing about 6,000 people, relief officials said. There were no immediate reports of casualties but the civil defence office in Manila said huge waves known as storm surges have destroyed 10 houses and displaced 780 people in and around the coastal town of Botolan, about 145 kilometres north-west of the capital. Full Story
Freed hostage fights for those still in chains
As rebel-held hostages, the Colombian politician and the American pilot lived in the jungle like Siamese twins. They had to. For eight months, Luis Eladio Perez and Thomas Howes were shackled together by the neck with a 9-foot chain. Full Story
Kidnapped Indian, Nepalese freed in Afghanistan
Afghan security forces freed an Indian and a Nepalese national kidnapped a month ago in the western province of Herat, a provincial intelligence chief said on Sunday.The men were safe in a police compound in the western Adraskan district. Full Story
Float plane crash in Wash. state kills 2
Two people were killed Saturday when a float plane carrying five people crashed into Lake Chelan in the North Cascades. Three people survived the crash of the single-engine DeHavilland Beaver, which went down about 15 minutes after takeoff from the town of Chelan. Full Story
New drug 'can kill MRSA superbug'
British scientists are working on a drug which they say can destroy the most virulent strains of superbug MRSA. Researchers at Brighton-based Destiny Pharma are testing the drug in the hope it can be used in hospitals by 2011. Full Story
Another Canadian tourist killed in Mexico
Police say a Canadian tourist was shot and killed late Thursday inside his hotel room in the Mexican resort city of Cabo an Lucas. State police commander Enrique Wuilar says a lone gunman shot 29-year-old Bouabal Bounthavorn three times in his hotel room. Full Story
Wildfires rage in Alberta, Saskatchewan
Hot, dry conditions have turned parts of the Prairies into a tinderbox, as wildfires torch rural homes and force people to flee communities in Alberta and Saskatchewan. A big drop in the wind on Saturday morning initially helped crews make gains on wildfires that forced the evacuation of 150 people from the hamlet of Newbrook north of Edmonton. Full Story
Nigerian oil giant NNPC will become real company
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company will be transformed from an impenetrable bureaucratic giant into a real privately run company when restructuring is completed next year, says Nigeria's President Umaru Yar'Adua. After taking office a year ago, Yar'Adua decided to break up the 30 year-old NNPC into five separate new companies, but he has since been heading a committee whose proposals for a new structure are expected in a couple of weeks. Full Story
7 Mexican Tourists Kidnapped On Main Highway to Acapulco
Police say gunmen kidnapped seven Mexican tourists in a rare attack on a heavily-patrolled, four-lane highway leading into the Pacific coast resort town of Acapulco. Police in Mexicos southern Guerrero state say the seven men were kidnapped Saturday about 100 kilometers (60 miles) north of Acapulco. Full Story
Bush and Pakistan's Gilani pledge to fight terror
President George W. Bush and Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on Sunday pledged to fight terrorism with strong relations between the two nations in the aftermath of elections that seated new leaders in Islamabad. Full Story
Arabs Torch Jewish Wheat Fields in Samaria
Arabs burned Jewish-owned wheat fields in the Samaria town of Yitzhar Friday. The regular vandalism has led residents to ponder soliciting assistance from humanitarian groups. Full Story
Medvedev Picks First Governor
President Dmitry Medvedev made his first gubernatorial appointment Friday, replacing the long-serving governor of the Stavropol region. Full Story
Gujarat adds 4 new groups to its terror list
The Jaipur serial bomb blasts added a new name to the list of Islamic terror organizations active in the country Indian Mujaheedin. Full Story
Mexico police chief quits after drug gang threats
A Mexican police chief has quit his post across the border from El Paso, Texas, after receiving death threats from drug gangs that are striking back at a crackdown on smugglers, an official said on Sunday. Full Story
Bin Laden lashes out at Arab leaders in new msg.
Osama bin Laden released a new message on Sunday accusing Arab leaders of sacrificing the Palestinians and calling on Muslim militants in Egypt to help break the blockade of Gaza. Full Story
Israeli attorney general rules out early charges against Olmert
Israel's attorney general said Sunday it would be unrealistic to expect any swift indictment of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert who is to be questioned again by police next week in a corruption probe. Full Story
Hamas ministry to censor Internet sites in Gaza
The Hamas-run Telecommunications Ministry will start blocking websites deemed unfit according to Islamic rules, an official said Sunday. This was made possible after a deal was struck with the Palestinian telecommunications company, said Ihab al-Hussain, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry in Gaza, adding that the plan went into effect last week. Full Story
SIMI-HuJI partnership at work again
Investigators are working on busting a sleeper module of the Students Islamic Movement of India that its suspects provided logistical support to the Harkat-ul-Jehad-al-Islami unit seen as the actual executors of Tuesdays terror attack. Full Story
One police, three servicemen injured in Chechnya militant clash
A policeman and three federal troops were wounded after a clash with militants in the Republic of Chechnya in Russia's troubled North Caucasus Region, a local police source said on Sunday. Full Story
Radio: ETA bomb strikes Spain's northern Basque
A bomb went off in the early hours of Monday in the northern Basque town of Getxo following a warning call from the separatist group ETA, public radio RNE reported. No injuries were reported, it said. Full Story
Hopes for Myanmar cyclone aid rise as ASEAN meets
Hopes turned to a meeting of Southeast Asian foreign ministers on Monday for a breakthrough in speeding up aid flows to the millions of desperate cyclone survivors in Myanmar. Full Story
US military deaths in Iraq war at 4,080
As of Sunday, May 18, 2008, at least 4,080 members of the U.S. military have died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. Full Story
Philippine soldiers fail anti-terror test in Manila
Philippine soldiers failed to stop a car rigged with bombs as it entered the country's main army base in capital Manila during an anti-terror drill on Monday. "There could have been a big explosion, a big embarrassment," Colonel Ireneo Espino, commander of Camp Aguinaldo, told reporters. "I am sure I would have been reassigned somewhere else after that." Full Story
Forum seeks to ban cluster bombs
Diplomats from around the world are gathering in Dublin for a conference that aims to secure a treaty banning the use of cluster bombs. The proposed ban has the support of more than 100 countries. Full Story
Car bomb explodes in Spanish town
A car bomb has exploded in the northern Basque seaside town of Getxo causing considerable damage to buildings, but no casualties, Spanish officials say. They say it came about an hour after an anonymous call to the police - in the name of the Basque separatist group Eta - had warned about a blast. Full Story
Teachers throng Paris over cuts
At least 20,000 people have marched through central Paris protesting against the French government's plans to cut jobs in the education sector. The protestors are also unhappy about President Nicolas Sarkozy's plans to force schools to stay open in the event of strike action. Full Story
Neapolitans torch rubbish piles
Firefighters battled overnight in the southern Italian city of Naples to extinguish dozens of blazes as angry residents set rubbish piles alight. The city has some 3,500 tonnes of uncollected rubbish, piled up around its streets. Full Story
Afghan bombing kills 4 civilians
A suicide bomber blew himself up next to a police convoy in southern Afghanistan on Sunday, killing four civilians and wounding eight other people, a provincial police chief said. The suicide bomber was trying to kill the district police chief in Musa Qala in Helmand Province, but instead killed four civilians, said Mohammad Hussein Andiwal, the provincial police chief. Full Story
China begins 3 days of mourning
China stood still Monday, mourning for tens of thousands of earthquake victims, while the government appealed for more international aid to cope with the country's deadliest natural disaster in a generation. Construction workers, shopkeepers and bureaucrats across the bustling nation of 1.3 billion people paused for three minutes of tribute at 2:28 p.m. (0628 GMT) exactly one week after the magnitude 7.9 quake hit central China. Full Story
Basque demonstrators call for an end to violence
Basques held a somber ceremony Sunday to commemorate the lives of people killed in attacks by the separatist group ETA and to call for an end to the violence that has plagued Spain for four decades. Hundreds of Basque politicians, survivors and victims' relatives joined together for the ceremony in San Sebastian, a northern resort city. Full Story
Pakistan will not negotiate with militants: PM
Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani vowed on Monday that his government would not negotiate with militants unless they laid down their arms, amid US concerns over Islamabad's talks with the Taliban. Full Story
Southeast's Asia top terror suspect may have fled Indonesia
Southeast Asia's most wanted terror suspect, Noordin Top, may have evaded a massive manhunt and fled Indonesia, according to police documents obtained by The Associated Press. Full Story
18 die on bloodiest day of polls
West Bengal witnessed the bloodiest round of violence in the last phase of the panchayat polls on Sunday, leaving 18 dead and hundreds injured in Murshidabad and Birbhum. Full Story
India to protest to Pakistan over border shooting
An Indian soldier was killed in cross-border fire in Kashmir on Monday, prompting India to lodge a protest with Islamabad, an army spokesman said. The soldier died in shooting from the Pakistani side of a military control line that divides Kashmir between the two countries, the spokesman said. Full Story
Germany Plans New Security Authority
Germany may set up a new authority to combine its various eavesdropping operations in a purpose-built headquarters near Cologne, news organizations reported. The combined police and espionage center would be modeled on the National Security Agency (NSA) in the United States or the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) in Britain. Full Story
Backing for Armed Forces Day plan
An Armed Forces Day public holiday has been recommended by a government-backed study looking into improving public recognition of the military. The report by MP Quentin Davies also said more state school pupils should be encouraged to join cadet forces. Full Story
Jobs fears over health cash cuts
Up to 3,000 health service jobs could be lost in Belfast, a trade union has warned. It follows a leaked report which said nurses would be worst hit by cost-cutting proposals over the next three years in the Belfast trust area. Full Story
Extra immigrant detention places
Places in immigration detention centres are to increase by 60% under plans from the government's UK Border Agency. Between 1,300 and 1,500 extra places will be created, border and immigration minister Liam Byrne said. Full Story
Lebanon crisis deal blow
Tension mounted on yesterday's second day of talks between rival Lebanese leaders trying to end a feud that pushed their country towards all-out sectarian war, as politicians traded charges over the divisive issue of Hizbollah arms. Full Story
Religious hardliners gain in Kuwait
Kuwait's parliamentary elections showed strong gains for Muslim hardliners, official results found Sunday, but women candidates failed to win a single seat. The results show that religious conservatives gained two seats in parliament to hold 24, nearly half of the 50-member body of this oil-rich U.S. ally. Full Story
Bin Laden urges Muslims to fight Gaza closure
Al Qaida leader Osama Bin Laden has called on Muslims to help end the Israeli closure of the Islamist Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, according to an audio tape posted on the Internet on Sunday. Full Story
Bin Laden lashes out at Arab leaders
Osama bin Laden released a new message on Sunday denouncing Arab leaders for sacrificing the Palestinians and saying the head of the Shiite militant group Hezbollah did not really have the strength to take on Israel. Full Story
Protestant flees dissident threat
A Protestant man has fled his home in Londonderry after receiving death threats from dissident republicans. The man said he was told by the police last week that his life was in danger. Full Story
Alleged NPA guerrillas raid Davao Oriental jail, seize guns
Suspected New People's Army (NPA) guerrillas raided the provincial jail of Davao Oriental shortly before noon Monday, carting away a still undetermined number of firearms, police and civilian officials said. Full Story
US giving China satellite images of quake damage
The United States is providing China with satellite imagery of reservoirs, roads and bridges damaged in the earthquake that devastated southwestern Sichuan province, the Pentagon said. The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency is expected to provide the first of the unclassified imagery on Monday if weather permits, in what officials believed to be an unprecedented step. Full Story
Spain arrests 'prolific' hackers
Spanish police have arrested five hackers they describe as being among the most active on the internet. The hackers, who include two 16-year-olds, are accused of disrupting government websites in the United States, Asia and Latin America. Full Story
Courtesy Terrorism Research Center, Inc.
Conservative leader David Cameron says his party's first by-election win since 1982 marks "the end of New Labour". Mr Cameron told cheering supporters in Crewe and Nantwich that Labour had run a negative, xenophobic and class war campaign that "completely backfired". Full Story
British police say restaurant blast suspect Islamic convert
A bombing suspect arrested after a blast in the southwest English city of Exeter on Thursday is a vulnerable Islamic convert with mental illness who was taken advantage of and radicalized, police said. Police evacuated a large part of Exeter city center after a small explosion at the Giraffe restaurant around lunchtime. Police said a man identified as 22-year-old Nicky Reilly was seen entering the restaurant's bathroom shortly before the blast. Full Story
Lufthansa strikes cause havoc at German airports
German pilots stopped work briefly at three Lufthansa subsidiaries early on Wednesday, causing cancellations and delays at most of the country's major airports in support of demands for higher pay. Eurowings, Germanwings and Lufthansa-CityLine were hit by the token strikes with 46 flights cancelled by the time the strikes ended at 8am. Full Story
Hungarian police prepare for Euro2008
Hungary's police force has started preparing for the 2008 UEFA European Football Championship taking place in Austria and Switzerland in June, a senior police official said on Thursday. Full Story
Stone 'bomb to go off in minutes
A security guard has told the Michael Stone trial that when he asked him was there a bomb, he replied it would "go off in two minutes". Mark Smith, one of three guards who restrained and disarmed Stone, told the court he was injured when he removed a knife from the defendant's pocket. Full Story
Muslim convert quizzed after blast in Exeter
Police on Friday questioned a "radicalised" convert to Islam after a bomb explosion in the centre of Exeter, as locals revealed more details about him. One neighbour said the man, 22-year-old Nicky Reilly, had been "brainwashed" and took on a Muslim name, adding that he had an image of the burning Twin Towers on his computer screen saver. Full Story
Warning over rising fish prices
The price of fish landed in the UK could rise by an average of 23% in the next 12 to 18 months because of rising fuel prices, a government agency warns. Seafish says the cost of some types of fish could go up by as much as 50%. Full Story
Quebec issues report on ethnic tensions in the French-speaking province
Quebec's premier objected to a proposal to remove a crucifix from the provincial legislature as part of an effort to be more accomodating to minorities, arguing that the Christian icon is part of the province's history. Premier Jean Charest on Thursday rejected the proposal, one of 37 recommendations from a commission that he had formed to look into ethnic tensions in the French-speaking Canadian province. Full Story
Brown, Dalai Lama hold 'warm, constructive' talks
Prime Minister Gordon Brown held "very warm and constructive" talks with the Dalai Lama Friday, his office said, pledging Britain's full support towards a rapprochement between Tibet and China. The 25-minute meeting -- held at the Archbishop of Canterbury's official residence on the south bank of the River Thames in London -- was the most contentious part of an 11-day visit by the Tibetan spiritual leader. Full Story
British eatery bombing suspect has home searched
British police and intelligence officials searched a house in southwest England on Friday to try to determine what drove a young Muslim convert with a history of mental illness to walk into a busy restaurant with two bombs. Armed officers raided the home of 22-year-old Nicky Reilly in Plymouth late Thursday. Police said Friday that the search was continuing. Full Story
Blair jet faced Israeli warplanes
Israeli fighter aircraft were scrambled to intercept a jet carrying former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair after its crew failed to identify themselves. Aircrew used the radio to explain who they were after the two warplanes adopted an attack position, prompting them to peel off and return to base. Full Story
Brown faces leadership concerns
Gordon Brown has said he can steer Britain through "difficult" economic times - amid signs of growing backbench disquiet over his leadership. Mr Brown reacted to Thursday's crushing by-election defeat in Crewe and Nantwich by stressing his economic record and pledging to listen. Full Story
Assault at gas pumps related to attacks on Nigerian pipelines
Violence in oil-rich southern Nigeria is having a ripple effect thousands of miles away -- at gas stations in the United States. One reason for record high gas prices, analysts say, is a spate of attacks on oil pipelines in Nigeria, the fourth largest supplier of oil to the United States. Full Story
Rubbish demonstrators clash with police in Naples
Italian police clashed Friday with demonstrators opposed to the opening of a new rubbish dump proposed by the government to ease the Naples garbage crisis. Demonstrators tried to set fire to a bus and hurled rocks at police who staged a baton charge and fired tear gas in a bid to end the protests. Full Story
Xenophobic party leader emerges as Italy's kingmaker
Umberto Bossi, who once suggested shooting at boats carrying immigrants, is a key force in the right's return to power. Measures against foreigners and violence toward Gypsies have followed. Full Story
Pakistan party leader shot dead in southern city
Tariq Khan, a leader of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), was shot dead in southern port city of Karachi, local TV channel reported Friday evening. Tariq Khan, vice president of PML-N in southern Sindh province, was shot near Tariq road in Karachi and died after being shifted to a hospital, private Dawn TV said. Full Story
Taiwan's new president calls for reopening of dialogue with China
Taiwan's new President Ma Ying-jeou of the Kuomintang (KMT) party Saturday renewed his call on Beijing to set aside sovereignty disputes and reopen negotiations with the island. Full Story
Hezbollah image in Arab world less shiny
Hezbollah's offensive against mostly Sunni Muslim political rivals in Lebanon has sullied its image in the Arab world as an armed force engaged in a righteous struggle against Israel. But interviews with analysts and Arab news media accounts suggest that the Shiite Muslim group still came out ahead. Full Story
China raises quake death toll to 60,560
China's government says the confirmed death toll from this month's massive earthquake has risen to 60,560. A spokesman for the State Council, the Cabinet, told reporters Saturday that aside from the dead, 26,221 people are missing following the May 12th quake that struck central China. Full Story
Israeli attacks kill 5 Palestinian militants in Gaza
Israeli troops killed five Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip on Friday, in violence that complicated efforts to bring a brief truce to the violence-wracked area. Israeli aircraft fired missiles at three Hamas militants on motorcycles, killing all three, Gaza health officials said. The Israeli military said the men were carrying antitank missiles. Full Story
Homicides up sharply in Mexico
Homicides related to organized crime have jumped 47% in Mexico this year, the country's attorney general said Friday in a rare confirmation of how bad the violence has become. Police later made two gruesome discoveries in northern Mexico. Five bodies, two of them decapitated, were found wrapped in blankets in a city on the border with Texas, along with two heads in sacks. Full Story
Egypt police shoot Sudanese migrant at Israel border
Egyptian police shot and wounded a Sudanese man who tried to cross its border illegally into Israel from the Sinai peninsula on Saturday, medical and security sources said. A security official, who asked not to be named, told Reuters the 29-year-old Sudanese Ahmed Khater Mohamed was shot in his thigh by an Egyptian patrol after he ignored orders to stop. Full Story
Militants kill 'US spy' in Pakistan tribal area: official
Pro-Taliban militants in a lawless Pakistani tribal district killed an Afghan after accusing him of spying for the US forces in neighboring Afghanistan, an official said Saturday. The body of Akhtar Nawaz, 40, was dumped in the main bazaar of a border town in North Waziristan district, a known hub of Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants, the official said. Full Story
Serbia withdraws ambassador from Czech Republic
Serbia has withdrawn its ambassador from the Czech Republic after Prague's recognition of independent Kosovo. Serbian ambassador to Prague Vladimir Veres delivered a protest note to the Czech government ahead of his planned departure Sunday, the Czech foreign ministry said Friday. Full Story
UN committed to helping Somalia draw up new constitution
After a call from the Somali Prime Minister for help in drawing up a new constitution, a United Nations official today said the world body is committed to providing assistance for the process. Full Story
Sacked judges to be restored: Zardari
Pakistan's political roller coaster continues. Asif Ali Zardari, leader of the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), has declared finally that the judges sacked after President Pervez Musharraf imposed emergency last year would be reinstated. Full Story
Violence in Iraq falls to lowest level in 4 years
Violence in Iraq has fallen to its lowest level in more than four years, figures released by the U.S. military showed on Saturday, but officials said progress was still fragile and reversible. Full Story
Colombia says rebel leader may be dead
The legendary leader of Latin America's largest guerrilla army may be dead, Colombia's defense minister said in an interview published Saturday. Full Story
Russia and China join to condemn U.S. missile shield
President Dmitri Medvedev of Russia and President Hu Jintao of China met Friday to conclude a deal on nuclear cooperation and together condemn U.S. proposals for a missile shield in Europe. Both countries called the U.S. plan a setback to international trust that was likely to upset the balance of power. Full Story
Arabs keen on boosting ties with Africa
The Arab League (AL) on Saturday expressed its willingness to boost relations with the African Union (AU) and the African people, the official Egyptian MENA news agency reported. Full Story
Lebanon MPs to vote in president
The parliament in Lebanon is expected to elect a new president and end a deadlock which has left the country without a head of state since November. Full Story
North Africa, Southern Europe join hands to tackle terrorism
In light of mounted terrorism risks in North Africa and Southern Europe, interior ministers from western Mediterranean countries have agreed to step up the fight against terrorism and establish a central body to investigate drug trafficking. Ten interior ministers from Libya, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Mauritania, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Malta and France, took part in the 13th Conference of Interior Ministers of Western Mediterranean Countries on May 21-22 in the Mauritanian capital of Nouakchott. Full Story
Toll rises to 37 in Indian caste rioting
Authorities invited leaders of one of India's lowest castes for talks as the death toll rose to 37 Sunday from three days of bloody demonstrations over caste classification. Police repeatedly opened fire on violent protests by the Gujjar community on Friday and Saturday in half a dozen villages and towns in western Rajasthan state. Full Story
Ex-army chief says Israel can 'manage' without Golan
A former army chief said on Sunday that Israel can manage without the Golan Heights, the strategic plateau Syria wants returned as the two countries relaunch indirect peace talks. "We can manage without (the Golan) as we did in the past," Dan Halutz said on military radio. "In exchange for a real peace we must be ready to pay a real price -- if not it's all a waste to time." Full Story
Hamas and Hizbullah Recruiting in Increasingly Islamist Turkey
Turkey, a vacation destination for many Israelis and the home newly launched talks with Syria, is experiencing an upsurge in Islamist programs targeting Israel for destruction. According to Turkish web site Velfecr.com, radical Turkish Islamists have been organizing nightly programs in cities across Turkey under the slogan, A free Al-Quds [the Muslim term for Jerusalem], A world without Israel. Full Story
Europe, and especially Germany, are banking on coal
Much of Europe may be moving toward renewable energy, but here in the Rhine Valley, where coal has always been king, this little town has become more roadkill on the fossil fuels autobahn. Three power plants fueled by lignite coal, the granddaddy of the greenhouse gas emitters, belch more than 64 million tons of carbon dioxide a year into the atmosphere, the highest concentration in Europe. Full Story
ANALYSIS: Iraq PM rides high on successes
After two years in office, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has managed only in the past two months to stamp a semblance of authority in this unwieldy nation with bold crackdowns on Shiite militias and Sunni insurgents in Baghdad, Basra and the north. The progress has brought the Shiite prime minister's political rehabilitation, quieting critics at home who have long seen him as ineffective, indifferent to corruption or biased toward Shiite interests. Full Story
24 extremists sentenced to death in Algeria on terrorism charges
Twenty-four extremists were sentenced to death in Algeria on Saturday on charges of terrorism and other crimes, local media reported.The extremists had also been convicted of illegal possession of weapons, use of explosives as well as involvement in kidnapping, the Algerian Press Service reported. Full Story
Nepal PM urges Maoist chief to form govt
Nepal's Maoists said yesterday the country's prime minister has asked their leader Prachanda to form the next government. The former rebels emerged as the surprise winners in landmark polls last month, garnering more than twice as many seats in a new constitution-drafting assembly as their nearest rivals. Full Story
Pakistan ceasefire doesn't mean respite in Afghanistan, Taliban warns
The ceasefire between some Taliban fighters in Pakistan and the country's government won't bring peace to nearby Afghanistan, a Taliban leader said Saturday. Baitullah Mehsud, a Taliban leader in Pakistan, said he wants to end the fighting with Pakistani government forces but will continue to battle Western troops in Afghanistan, where about 2,500 Canadian soldiers are part of the NATO force. Full Story
US ambassador: al-Qaida close to defeat in Iraq
The U.S. ambassador to Iraq said Saturday that al-Qaida's network in the country has never been closer to defeat, and he praised Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki for his moves to rein in Shiite and Sunni militant groups. Ryan Crocker's comments came as Iraqi forces have been conducting crackdowns on al-Qaida militants in the northern city of Mosul and on Shiite militiamen in the southern city of Basra. Full Story
Lebanon army chief is elected president
General Michel Suleiman was sworn in as president Sunday after Parliament elected him in a long-delayed vote following an 18-month political stalemate that brought Lebanon to the brink of another civil war. Full Story
U.S. lifts Indonesia travel warning
The United States lifted a travel warning placed on Indonesia following a string of deadly terrorist attacks, saying the security situation in the world's most populous Muslim nation had improved. Full Story
Bemba arrest removes rival to Congo president
The arrest for war crimes of Congo's exiled former Vice-President Jean-Pierre Bemba ends his career as a political challenger to President Joseph Kabila but leaves the risk of a possible backlash from Bemba's followers. Full Story
Eritrea and Djibouti square off over wasteland at the Horn of Africa
The distance between the rival armies is shorter than the barrel of a gun. Hundreds of opposing troops are lined up on the border, staring each other down, from just inches away. Full Story
Angry France diverts Myanmar aid to Thailand
The French navy has given up the idea of trying to deliver humanitarian aid directly to Myanmar and will instead divert its cargo to neighbouring Thailand, the French Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Sunday. Full Story
Nigeria ruling party wins two re-run elections
Nigeria's ruling party has retained the governorships of the oil-producing state of Bayelsa and of northern Sokoto in re-runs of elections last year that were condemned as not credible, officials said on Sunday. Full Story
Colombian rebels say leader dies of heart attack
Manuel "Sureshot" Marulanda, a peasant's son who built Latin America's mightiest guerrilla army but failed in a half century of struggle to trigger a communist revolution in Colombia, is dead. He was believed to be 78. Full Story
US warns Mexico on aid terms
A top member of staff at the US Senate has said that a multi-million-dollar package to help Mexico fight drugs would be agreed by mid-June, but warned that the final version would contain strong conditions on human rights. Full Story
Iraq holy city tells US it wants alms, not armsPosted on Sunday, May 25, 2008 at 5:34pmIraq's holiest Shiite city of Najaf had a blunt message for visiting US Ambassador Ryan Crocker -- your arms are not welcome here, but your alms certainly are. Full Story
Taliban commander shuns Bhutto probe
A Taliban commander in Pakistan said he would not cooperate with a U.N. investigation into the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. Full Story
Israelis Prefer Military Action Against Hamas
Many people in Israel want their military forces to continue to fight Hamas instead of seeking a truce, according to a poll by Maagar Mochot released by Israel Radio. Full Story
Egypt plans to extend emergency law
The Egyptian government plans a one-year extension to an emergency law that grants police sweeping powers of arrest, an official said on Sunday. Full Story
Malta misses crucial terrorism meeting as threat seen increasing
In the wake of a US State Department report citing concern over Maltas potential as a staging post for terrorists entering Europe and another warning from Maltas security service, Malta missed a crucial meeting this week between southern European and north African security ministers on the subject of trans-national terrorism risks threatening both regions. Full Story
Russians, militants clash in Caucasus
Trouble flared in the North Caucasus republic of Ingushetia Saturday when Russian troops and militant separatists engaged in a shootout, state media reported. Full Story
The Return of Iraq's Ayatollah
High-profile visits by political figures are relatively rare in Najaf, the quiet holy city in southern Iraq where Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani lives. Sistani, the most venerated Shi'ite religious leader in the country, shuns the limelight. Full Story
Iran 'paid Iraq insurgents to kill UK soldiers'
The allegations are contained in a confidential "field report" written by a British officer who served in Basra during one of the most dangerous periods of the conflict. The report, which has never been made public, shows the full level of Iran's involvement in the insurgency for the first time. Full Story
Kenya hit by nationwide power outage, sparking panic
A nationwide power outage hit Kenya on Sunday as a result of a transmission fault from its hydro-electric plants, officials said, sparking panic in the east African nation. Full Story
Swelling China lakes a danger 2 weeks after quake
China planned to dynamite rock, mud and rubble forming a dangerously large "quake lake" on Monday, hoping to avert a new disaster two weeks after a catastrophic tremor struck Sichuan province. Full Story
Hindu nationalists claim victory in key Indian state polls
India's opposition Hindu nationalists claimed victory Sunday in provincial polls in southern Karnataka state, dealing a huge blow to the ruling Congress party ahead of next year's national polls. Full Story
Fire erupts at Burma embassy in Bangkok
A fire broke out in the main building of the Burma embassy in the Thai capital Monday. Full Story
Transport grinds to a halt as strikes hit France
Strikes are hobbling train services around France during a day of protests against a pension plan reform that the government says is needed to fill empty coffers. The transport strikes come amid protests by fishermen over rising fuel prices. The state-run train authority estimates one in two trains for the day. However, international lines like the Eurostar to London were expected to run normally. Full Story
French workers in national strike
Workers from France's five largest unions have begun strike action against President Nicolas Sarkozy's plans to reform public-sector pensions. Bus, train and air transport were disrupted across the country, though workers stuck to a commitment to offer a minimum service. Full Story
Fans call for homecoming parade
Manchester United fans are calling for a homecoming victory parade after the club's win against Chelsea in the Champions League final. Police said last week that any parade would be postponed until the summer, a position they are maintaining, citing a "serious risk to public safety". Full Story
Woodward in new weapons appeal
All paramilitaries must get rid of their weapons, Northern Ireland Secretary Shaun Woodward has again said. He said they should do so sooner rather than later, as the legal mechanism for doing so will not last indefinitely. Full Story
Bombs left in baby-changing room
Two fire bombs have been found in a baby-changing room in a fast food outlet, police have said. The incendiary devices - one of which had partially exploded - were found in a McDonald's restaurant in Cookstown, County Tyrone. Full Story
NATO soldier, 2 civilians die in Afghan protest
Officials say a NATO soldier and two Afghan civilians have been killed in a protest over the shooting of the Quran by a U.S. sniper in Iraq. NATO spokesman Maj. Martin O'Donnell says the alliance soldier was hit by gunfire, and it is not clear who had fired. Full Story
Global monitor finds no radioactive leaks in quake zone
A global network of sensors has found no evidence that China's complex of nuclear facilities in the earthquake zone let any radioactivity escape, its operator reported Wednesday. The finding supports reassurances by China and the United States that the giant earthquake of May 12 resulted in no large nuclear releases, even though the stricken zone in Sichuan Province shelters China's main centers for designing, making and storing nuclear arms. Full Story
NATO to keep rotating command in Afghan south
NATO will continue to rotate command of its troops in the violent South of Afghanistan despite U.S. generals' concerns that the arrangement disrupts operations, the Pentagon said on Wednesday. To minimize problems caused by the changeovers, each nation with major troop contingents in the South will take command for one year rather than the current nine months, Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell told reporters. Full Story
UN chief Ban meets Myanmar prime minister
UN chief Ban Ki-moon met Thursday with Myanmar Prime Minister Thein Sein, in a high-profile diplomatic push to press the military government to accept a full-scale relief operation for cyclone survivors. Shortly after Ban's arrival, the two men met for about 20 minutes at the Sedona Hotel in Myanmar's main city of Yangon. Full Story
Bangladesh reports first human case of bird flu
Bangladesh reported its first confirmed case of human bird flu on Thursday, but said the 16-month-old victim had now recovered from the virus. The baby boy from a Dhaka slum was diagnosed with the H5N1 strain of the disease in January, but this was only confirmed by a US laboratory this week, the government said. Full Story
Malaysian PM taking proactive steps to strengthen UMNO
Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi appears to be taking proactive steps to strengthen the ruling party, UMNO. One day after UMNO's highest decision-making body unanimously voiced their support for Mr Abdullah, speculation is rife that the ruling party is now courting Ezam Mohd Nor, the former political secretary of Anwar Ibrahim, to join the party youth wing. Full Story
French unions protest Sarkozy's plan to change retirement system
French unions staged nationwide protests on Thursday against plans by President Nicolas Sarkozy to make people work longer to qualify for a full pension. In a rare show of unity, France's five largest unions called on members to take to the streets in 80 cities to denounce the government's decision to make people work 41 years before retiring against 40 years at present. Full Story
German president will seek 2nd term
President Horst Kvhler announced Thursday that he would seek a second term, setting up a probable replay of the last election that would also pit the governing coalition parties against each other. Kvhler made the announcement a year and a day before the vote is scheduled to take place. In a short statement, he said that he wanted to continue "on the path of change and preservation." He added that he was not afraid of "democratic competition," but that he would not campaign for the office, which is meant to be apolitical. Full Story
Nuclear sabotage suspects released in Sweden
Two men arrested after an explosives scare at a Swedish nuclear plant were released Thursday and police said they were no longer considered a threat to the power station. The two maintenance workers were arrested Wednesday after security guards at the Oskarshamn nuclear plant found traces of a highly explosive substance on a plastic bag that one of them was carrying. Full Story
Functional Afghan airforce five years away: US general
Afghanistan's army will need international air support in combat operations for another five years, the US general leading efforts to build and train the Afghan security forces said Thursday. US Major General Robert Cone, speaking to reporters at NATO headquarters in Brussels, said the support would have to continue until the fledgling Afghan airforce is fully operational, probably in 2013. Full Story
Demos on third day of Dalai Lama visit to Britain
Demonstrators targeted the Dalai Lama on the third day of his visit to Britain on Thursday, on the eve of closely-watched talks between the Tibetan spiritual leader and Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Supporters and critics rallied outside the Royal Albert Hall, where the 72-year-old Buddhist monk made his first public address since arriving in London as part of a five-nation tour. Full Story
Man arrested after blast in Exeter city centre
Police have arrested a 22-year-old man who was injured in a bomb explosion which forced the closure of Exeter city centre Thursday. The centre of Exeter was evacuated after the lunchtime blast at a restaurant in a shopping centre and bomb disposal experts and sniffer dogs were sent in. Full Story
Irish PM urges Yes vote as EU poll looms
Prime Minister Brian Cowen appealed to Irish people Thursday to vote "Yes" in a crunch referendum on the European Union's Lisbon Treaty next month, saying it was of vital national interest. Cowen, who succeeded Bertie Ahern earlier this month, made the comments in a keynote address three weeks to the day ahead of the June 12 referendum, which is being closely watched by Ireland's EU partners. Full Story
Italy wants to bring back nuclear power
Italy's industry minister says the new government plans to restart the country's nuclear power program. Claudio Scajola told a business lobby group Thursday that the government has scheduled the start of construction of the first new nuclear-powered plant by 2013. Full Story
Dalai Lama starts tour in London
The Dalai Lama has arrived in London at the start of a 10-day visit to the UK. The Tibetan spiritual leader will address Parliament and give evidence on human rights to a parliamentary committee during his trip. Full Story
Taliban targeted for Australian offensive
Australian soldiers have started "a major push" against the Taliban in southern Afghanistan, the Australian government said Monday. Full Story
Philippines rebels reject direct talks with Manila
The Philippines' largest Muslim rebel group on Tuesday rejected proposals by Manila peace negotiators for direct talks to move stalled negotiations forward. Khaled Musa, a rebel spokesman, said the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) opposed the government's attempt to "localise the peace process", describing the proposal as a crude attempt to ease out Malaysia, which is brokering the talks. Full Story
Four held over car bomb released
Four men arrested over the attempted murder of a police officer in County Tyrone last week have been released without charge. The officer suffered leg injuries when a booby-trap bomb on his car exploded at Drumnaby Road in Spamount village, outside Castlederg, last Monday. Full Story
Police to decide right-to-strike
Frontline police officers in England and Wales are set to reveal whether they will demand the right to strike. Police are currently banned from taking industrial action, but members of the Police Federation have been balloted on whether they want the law changed. Full Story
7/7 accused denies bomb plotting
A man accused of a reconnaissance trip for the 7 July suicide bombers has told a jury he had nothing to do with 2005's attacks on London's transport system. Michael Wolkind QC, for Mr Ali, told the jury that his client had wanted to train for violent jihad in Pakistan. Full Story
Arrests in fan violence inquiry
Seventeen people have been arrested by police investigating fighting between rival football fans earlier this year. About 130 police officers took part in the morning raids at six addresses in Coventry and 14 in Leicester. Full Story
Police evacuate Berlin school after alert on armed man
German police have evacuated a school in Berlin after a telephone warning that an armed man was inside but after searching all morning, no one was found, a police spokesman said Tuesday. Full Story
Afghan cop beheaded, bombs kill seven civilians
Taliban militants beheaded a policeman in Afghanistan and killed an aid agency's driver in a separate attack, while bombs killed seven civilians, authorities said Tuesday. The decapitated body of the policeman was found in the southwestern province of Farah on Monday, a day after he had been captured by Taliban fighters, the police spokesman for the region told AFP. Full Story
Belgian railway strike paralyzes commuters, halts trains to other nations
A 24-hour nationwide strike by rail workers left commuters struggling to get to work on Tuesday, and the government said it could cost the Belgian economy 40 million (US$62 million) in lost business. Train stations across the country were empty and most people were choosing to either stay home or brave long hours on the highway to get to work. The strike paralyzed rail cargo services to the ports of Antwerp and Zeebruges, causing delays for shipping companies. Full Story
12 Norwegian airports closed after ground crews step up strike
A strike by key ground personnel was stepped up Tuesday and stranded more than 30,000 people at 12 airports, including the one serving Stavanger, a city in western Norway that is considered the capital of the Nordic nation's oil industry. The Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions' LO Stat chapter said the labor conflict that began Friday over wages and working hours was expanded to include six more airports. Full Story
Four injured in grenade blast in Assam
Four persons were injured when militants hurled a grenade at a busy market here, official sources said on Tuesday. Full Story
Bangladesh gets tough on terror, enacts new law
Bangladesh on Monday enacted a tough anti-terror ordinance that may not provide any respite to India, which is battling HuJI terrorists from Bangladesh, but it gives the country new teeth to fight extremism within. Full Story
200 aid workers killed by mudslides in China
At least 200 relief workers have been killed in mudslides caused by aftershocks in the past three days in China's quake-hit southwestern province of Sichuan, the country's transport ministry said on Monday. The workers were travelling in five vehicles when the mudslides overtook them. Full Story
Myanmar opens door to help from Asian neighbors for cyclone victims
Myanmar began three days of mourning Tuesday for some 78,000 cyclone victims after its ruling junta appeared to relent to foreign pressure to let in more outside help. Full Story
Military to add troops, speed up modernization
To boost efforts to meet President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyos 2010 deadline to defeat so-called enemies of the state, the military will recruit 600 Marines and fast track its modernization program, Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. said Tuesday. Full Story
China earthquake toll tops 40,000
Chinese aid workers are struggling to find shelter for millions who lost their homes. Foreign medical teams have started arriving in the area. Full Story
Turkey expects more concrete steps from regional government against PKK
The northern Iraqi regional government should take real steps against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, to expand ties with neighboring Turkey, Foreign Minister Ali Babacan told reporters in Egypt, the Anatolia news agency reported yesterday. Full Story
Iran's nuclear program feeding proliferation
Iran's disputed nuclear program has sent a wave of interest in atomic energy across the Middle East, a think tank said Tuesday, warning that it risked setting the scene for a regional nuclear arms race. Full Story
Iraqi troops enter Baghdad's Shiite stronghold
Thousands of Iraqi troops moved unchallenged into Baghdad's Sadr City Tuesday to seize the Shiite militia stronghold, in the largest attempt yet by the government to impose control, an Iraqi military spokesman said. Full Story
3 Palestinians killed in IDF strikes
Third Palestinian reported killed after Israel launches strikes against targets in Gaza, one fatality said to be 13-year-old youth. Hamas delegation expected to give Egyptian mediators final response regarding ceasefire proposal later in afternoon. Full Story
Qatar sets Lebanon opposition Wednesday deadline
Qatari-led mediators gave Lebanon's Hezbollah-led opposition a Wednesday deadline to respond to proposals aimed at resolving a political crisis which brought the country to the brink of civil war. Full Story
Germany jails attacker of rabbi
A German court has jailed a Muslim of Afghan origin for three and a half years for stabbing an Orthodox Jewish rabbi in the stomach in the street. The court in the south-western city of Frankfurt convicted Sajed Aziz, 23, of grievous bodily harm. Full Story
'Armed man' clears Berlin school
German police have evacuated a school in the capital, Berlin, following an anonymous telephone warning that an armed man had entered the building. Full Story
Record number take UK citizenship
A record 164,635 people were granted British citizenship last year, government figures have shown. Almost one third of the new citizens were from Africa, and 22% were Asian. Full Story
North Korea nearing nuclear declaration
North Korea appears close to making a long-overdue declaration of its nuclear programs, the top U.S. negotiator with Pyongyang said, in an upbeat assessment after months of difficult negotiations. Full Story
Top bankers should be accountable for risks: Buffett
Warren Buffett, the world's richest man, said Tuesday that few banking chief executives appeared willing to assume responsibility for the risks their institutions take. "I think that the head of any bank or financial institution has to be the chief risk officer, you cannot delegate (the job) to someone who comes in once a week," said the famed investor, known widely as the "Sage of Omaha." Full Story
Gov't gives go-ahead for two new aircraft carriers
The government has given a green light for the construction of two new "super-aircraft carriers" for the country's Royal Navy, the defence ministry said Tuesday. The carriers, to be named Her Majesty's Ship (HMS) Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales, will be the biggest and most powerful surface warships ever constructed in Britain, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said in a statement. Full Story
IRA suspect arrested in N.Ireland for 1977 killing
Northern Ireland police arrested an Irish Republican Army suspect Tuesday over his alleged role in the killing of an undercover British soldier more than 30 years ago, one of the most controversial killings from the province's long conflict. Capt. Robert Nairac was abducted from a border pub by an IRA gang on May 14, 1977, taken across the border into a Republic of Ireland forest, and shot through the head. His body was never been found. Full Story
France confirms informal talks to Hamas
France has had informal contacts with Hamas, the militant Palestinian group that rules Gaza, Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said Monday. Kouchner, speaking on Europe-1 radio, was confirming a report in the daily Le Figaro that quoted a retired diplomat as saying he met with Hamas leaders a month ago. Full Story
'Highest ETA commander' arrested
The most senior commander of the Basque separatist movement, Eta, has been arrested in a joint Spanish-French operation, Spanish authorities say. Javier Lopez Pena - alias "Thierry" - was seized with three other Eta suspects in a late-night raid in the city of Bordeaux, in south-west France. Full Story
Arrest at Swedish nuclear plant
A man found with traces of explosives at the entrance to a nuclear plant in Sweden has been arrested, police said. The Oskarshamn plant - owned by German energy giant E.On - has been sealed, the company said. Full Story
Aid workers abducted in Somalia
Two Italian aid workers and a Somali colleague have been kidnapped by gunmen south of the Somali capital, Mogadishu. Dozens of armed gunmen attacked the offices of Italian aid agency Cooperazione Italiana Nord Sud in the village of Awdhigle. Full Story
Naples hosts cabinet crisis talks
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is holding his first cabinet meeting in the southern city of Naples, mired in a rubbish crisis. Angry residents have taken to burning the piles of rotting waste, which have littered the streets for months. Full Story
Smith 'betrayed' police over pay
The home secretary has "betrayed the police service" by refusing to backdate a 2.5% pay rise, the chairman of the Police Federation has said. Jan Berry told its annual conference that Jacqui Smith's decision, affecting Wales, England and Northern Ireland, had been "a monumental mistake". Full Story
Youth crime drive has 'no impact'
A decade-long government drive to cut youth offending has had "no measurable impact", an independent study suggests. Criminologists at King's College London said success in targeting youth crime was far more mixed and ambiguous than ministers liked to claim. Full Story
Gulf states rise higher on oil boom
Gulf countries swimming in oil wealth are using the money to build huge industrial cities and gleaming financial centers to sustain them when the wells run dry. They learned valuable lessons from wrongheaded investments in the 1970s oil boom, but economists worry the countries still aren't making the education and labor reforms crucial to long-term stability. Full Story
Senior IRA leader dies of cancer
Brian Keenan, 66, a former leading member of the IRA has died. Mr Keenan, a father of six, from west Belfast, had been suffering from cancer for some time. Full Story
#80m Irish cocaine trial begins
Three men have gone on trial in Cork charged over the biggest drugs seizure in Irish history. About 1.5 tonnes of cocaine, worth more than #80m, was recovered from the sea off the west Cork coast last July. Full Story
PM Brown 'in by-election bunker'
David Cameron has accused Gordon Brown of hiding in "his bunker" - instead of going out to Crewe and Nantwich to explain axing the 10p tax band. Mr Brown told MPs it was a prime ministerial convention not to campaign at by-elections and he had given #2.7bn to help those hit by tax changes. Full Story
Berlusconi vows to fight trash crisis
He raised a stink about it during his recent election campaign, and now Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is taking action -- moving his entire Cabinet to Naples for a day to address the city's ever-growing rubbish crisis. The waste problems in Naples and the surrounding Campania region were a big issue in Berlusconi's campaign earlier this year. The new premier promised to hold his Cabinet's first official meeting in the southern city to show the government is serious about tackling it. Full Story
Neo-Nazis create 55-cent Rudolf Hess stamp
German neo-Nazis used a service offered by Deutsche Post to create a 55-cent stamp carrying a portrait of Hitler's deputy Rudolf Hess, the company said Wednesday. The latest newsletter of the far-right National Democratic Party gloated about being able to slip the stamp past Deutsche Post's quality control personnel. Full Story
German business confidence up in May
German business confidence posted an unexpected increase for May, bouncing back after sinking to its lowest level in more than two years in the previopus month, a closely watched survey showed Wednesday. The report suggests companies in Europe's biggest economy have so far weathered record euro and oil prices. Full Story
Olmert proposes naval blockade on Iran
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert proposed in talks with a U.S. Congressional leader that a naval blockade be imposed on Iran to try to curb its nuclear program, an Israeli newspaper said on Wednesday. Full Story
India, Pak resume secretary level talks
After a six-month pause, India and Pakistan on Tuesday resumed their composite dialogue with the foreign secretaries meeting here to discuss various bilateral issues including terrorism, Kashmir and confidence building measures. Full Story
Thousands of Indonesians protest plans to hike fuel price
Thousands of students took to the streets across Indonesia on Wednesday to protest the government's plan to sharply raise fuel prices, some briefly clashing with baton-wielding riot police outside the presidential palace. Full Story
Japan- Upper House panel passes bill on space
An Upper House committee approved a bill Tuesday intended to allow the use of space for defensive purposes, an important step on the road for the Defense Ministry to develop and operate spy satellites. Full Story
Lebanon to elect president on Sunday; Opposition dismantling tent city in Beirut
Rival Lebanese leaders signed a deal on Wednesday to end 18 months of political crisis. The deal, reached after six days of Arab-mediated talks in Qatar, paved the way for parliament to elect army chief General Michel Suleiman as president, filling a post vacant since November because of the political deadlock. Full Story
Diplomats say UN probe of Iran nukes a failure
Iran has stymied the latest U.N. attempt to investigate allegations that it tried to make nuclear weapons, diplomats said Tuesday. The International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. nuclear watchdog, will acknowledge it was unable to follow up on the allegations in a report to be presented as early as Friday to its 35-nation board, two diplomats told The Associated Press. Full Story
Saudi Critic Jailed After Decrying Justice System
An outspoken critic of the Saudi government who was previously jailed for calling for greater democracy has been arrested, his wife said Tuesday. Full Story
Indo-Pak pact likely on consular access to prisoners
Pakistan and India are expected to sign a pact on Wednesday to provide consular access to nationals of their country imprisoned by the other. Full Story
Sri Lanka launches attacks after top rebel's death
Sri Lanka's armed forces launched ground and air attacks in the rebel-held north of the island on Wednesday as the Tigers mourned the death of a top commander, officials said. Full Story
'Dirty bomb' warning to Olympics
The International Atomic Energy Agency says a group might try to release radioactivity at an Olympic venue, possibly using a "dirty bomb". Full Story
Georgian poll 'result' disputed
An exit poll suggests President Mikhail Saakashvili's governing party has won parliamentary elections in Georgia. Mr Saakashvili's United National Movement took 63% of the vote, said the exit poll - with the opposition trailing with 14%. Full Story
Turkeys ruling party fears it will be closed: Reuters report
Senior officials of Turkeys ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) believe the party will be closed by the countrys Constitutional Court on charges of trying to undermine the nations secular regime, the Reuters news agency reported on Monday. Full Story
Turkey cool to special US X-ray machine at İzmirs port
Turkey has been rather cool toward an American proposal to install a special X-ray machine at Izmir's Alsancak Port to check containers destined for the United States, with one Turkish official arguing that there already is an X-ray machine to do the job. While the Izmir Customs Department noted its support for the American X-ray facility to cut down the time it takes for Turkish goods to reach U.S. markets, officials in Ankara are against it. Full Story
Kazakhstan: President's Former Son-In-Law Offers To Testify In 'Kazakhgate' Probe
Rakhat Aliev, the exiled former son-in-law of Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbaev, says he's ready to give evidence in a U.S. investigation into whether Nazarbaev and other Kazakh officials took bribes from U.S. businesses to receive lucrative oil contracts more than a decade ago. Aliev's offer comes the same week that "The Wall Street Journal" reported that Aliev's former wife -- and President Nazarbaev's eldest daughter -- Darigha Nazarbaeva, hired U.S. firms to monitor the investigation into those bribery allegations, known as "Kazakhgate." Full Story
Italy pledges to bolster security
Italy's interior minister has said he will take immediate action to tackle the country's "security emergency". Roberto Maroni, who belongs to the anti-immigrant Northern League, pledged to bolster the resources available for Italy's police and security services. Full Story
Algeria issues rare kidnapping tally
Algeria recorded 115 kidnappings last year relating to terrorism or involving demands for ransom, the interior minister said Thursday in a rare public tally of abductions. Speaking during a question session in Parliament, Noureddine Yazid Zerhouni also said there were 260 kidnappings involving family disputes. Full Story
Kashmir group to target Indians, Israelis
A Kashmiri terror group has said it welcomes tourists but threatened to target Indian and Israeli
"agents" posing as visitors to the area. Full Story
India: We will fight terror at all costs
A top Indian official said the country will thwart the designs of terrorists who are out to disturb communal harmony in the country. Interior Minister Shivraj Patil Thursday said India will fight terror at all costs and foil the designs of terrorists who want to destroy peace and communal harmony in the country, which is a patchwork of ethnicities and religions. Full Story
Berlin sees spy threat to business
Germany accused Russian and Chinese spies on Thursday of increasing their efforts to steal technical secrets from companies. German business faces a growing threat from foreign spies using illegal means to get information on high-technology products, Heinz Fromm, head of the BfV intelligence agency, said. Full Story
Texas Man Accused of Trying to Sell Cyanide
A Texas man claimed he had a 25-gallon drum of cyanide and tried to sell it to an FBI informant, touting the poison's usefulness in mass killings, according to a court affidavit. Full Story
Russia accuses Georgia of aiding rebels
Russia's domestic spy service on Friday accused Georgia of supporting armed rebels in southern Russia, an accusation that could further damage the strained relations between the two countries. A source in the Federal Security Service (FSB) told Interfax news agency that a Chechen man working for Georgian intelligence had been giving cash to fighters across the turbulent North Caucasus. Full Story
Yemeni Qaeda warns non-Muslims in Arabian Peninsula
An al Qaeda Yemeni wing threatened attacks on Thursday across the Arabian Peninsula against non-Muslim foreigners including tourists and journalists. Full Story
Three killed as violence mars Dominican election
Three people, including a former congressman, were shot and killed as violence marred the close of campaigning before Friday's presidential election in the Dominican Republic, authorities said. Full Story
Bin Laden vows to fight Israel on 60th anniversary
Osama bin Laden vowed in an audio tape marking Israel's 60th anniversary celebrations to continue the fight against the Jewish state and its allies and not give up an inch of Palestinian land. Full Story
Indian police suspect Bangladeshi hand in blasts
Police probing bombings in western India that killed 63 people said on Friday that new evidence pointed increasingly towards Indian Islamists backed by a Bangladeshi militant group as being behind the blasts. Full Story
Spain officials mourn bomb victim
mSpanish ministers and royalty have attended the funeral of a civil guard killed in a car bombing blamed on the banned Basque separatist group Eta. The coffin of Juan Pinuel Villalon was carried into the cathedral in the Basque city of Vitoria by eight civil guards, followed by his widow. Full Story
Eurozone sees March trade deficit
The eurozone recorded a surprise trade deficit in March as the strong euro hit exports and high oil prices drove up the price of imports. The European Union's statistics office said the 15-nation euro bloc had a trade deficit of 2.3bn euros in March ($3.6bn; #1.8bn). Full Story
Nine dead, scores wounded in Sri Lanka suicide blast
At least nine people were killed and 95 others wounded in a Tamil Tiger suicide bombing near the official residence of Sri Lanka's president in the capital Colombo, officials said Friday. Full Story
Maoist rebels kill 2 men before India state election
Maoist rebels have shot and killed two men in southern India, hours before the second phase of polling began in a state election, police said on Friday. The Maoists, who say they are fighting India's government on behalf of the landless poor, have called for a boycott of the election in Karnataka state, home to the outsourcing capital of Bangalore. Full Story
Western experts monitor China's nuclear sites for signs of damage
China's main centers for designing, making and storing nuclear arms lie in the shattered earthquake zone, leading Western experts to look for signs of any damage that might allow radioactivity to escape. A senior federal official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the delicacy of the issue, said the United States was using spy satellites and other means to try to monitor the sprawling nuclear plants. Full Story
Eight dead in Philippine robbery
At least eight people have been shot dead during a bank robbery in the Philippines. Seven of the victims were employees of the bank in the town of Cabuyao, south of Manila, and one was a security guard, police said. Full Story
Foreign rescuers provide unprecedented help in China quake area
Foreign rescue teams arrived in China's quake-devastated southwest on Friday, laden with specialist equipment to aid the desperate search among the rubble of shattered buildings. A Japanese team began work in Sichuan province, the first time the Chinese government has accepted foreign professionals for a domestic disaster rescue and relief operation. Full Story
French arrest 10 in connection with terror probe
Authorities in France, Germany and the Netherlands on Friday detained at least 10 people suspected of helping to fund al-Qaida-linked militants with roots in Uzbekistan, officials said. One suspect was detained in Germany, another in the Netherlands, with the rest detained in France, said a senior French police official who was only authorized to discuss the arrests on condition of anonymity. Full Story
Tibetans protest again in Nepal capital
Hundreds of Tibetan exiles calling for freedom in their homeland demonstrated in the Nepalese capital Friday until police stopped them. About 500 Tibetans, many of them women, marched on the outskirts of Katmandu for about two miles, holding banners that said, "Free Tibet, Tibet for Tibetans." Full Story
Activist resigns from Hong Kong exchange
Hong Kongs most outspoken corporate governance activist has accused the citys government of interfering in the running of Asias biggest stock exchange operator by market capitalisation. Full Story
Outrage over Sarkozy plan to counter school strikes
French teachers, trade unions and opposition leaders expressed outrage on Friday after President Nicolas Sarkozy said he wanted a new law to ensure schools stay open when teachers go on strike so parents can get to work. Sarkozy made the surprise announcement in a televised speech late on Thursday, a day when hundreds of thousands of teachers went on strike to protest against plans to cut 11,200 jobs in the education system next year. Full Story
French workers strike in protest of job cuts
Teachers, postal workers and other public servants staged a one-day strike and tens of thousands marched through French cities Thursday, a widespread protest against President Nicolas Sarkozy's planned job cuts. Schools were shut around the country as nearly half the teachers stayed away from work, while about 15 percent of all public workers adhered to the 24-hour walkout, according to the Public Service Ministry. Full Story
Gordon Brown: I'm the right man for the times
Gordon Brown has for the first time defended his leadership by insisting he was the right person to lead the country through difficult times. The Prime Minister added that he would not consider his position before the next General Election. Full Story
Austria to temporarily reintroduce border checks over soccer Euro
Austria will temporarily reintroduce border checks during the Euro soccer championship although Austrian police chief Erik Buxbaum seemed to state the opposite earlier this week, Rudolf Gollia, spokesman for the Austrian Interior Ministry, confirmed for CTK today. Full Story
Afghan hijacker 'working at Heathrow
An Afghan hijacker who forced an airliner to fly to Britain is now working at Heathrow, it has been disclosed. Nazamuddin Mohammidy, 34, was one of a gang of nine that threatened to blow up an internal flight in Afghanistan, along with 173 passengers and crew, unless they were granted political asylum. Full Story
Bin Laden vows to fight Israel
Osama bin Laden vowed in an audio tape timed to coincide with Israel's 60th anniversary to continue to fight the Jewish state and its allies in the West. Full Story
Iranian Embassy convoy ambushed
Gunmen ambushed an Iranian Embassy convoy in Baghdad, wounding three Iranians, including two diplomats, and an Iraqi, a spokesman said Friday. Full Story
Over 800 people detained by army in offensive against al-Qaeda
A total of 833 people have been detained following the Iraqi military offensive in the southern city of Mosul targeting al-Qaeda militants. Full Story
In Qatar, Muslim, Jewish clerics meet
More than a dozen rabbis, including two from Israel, were in attendance this week as this conservative Muslim sheikdom opened one of the Gulf's first scholarly centers dedicated to interfaith dialogue. Full Story
Burma death toll jumps to 78,000
The official death toll for Burma's cyclone disaster has jumped to almost 78,000 people, with nearly 56,000 missing, according to state TV. Previously, Burma was giving a toll of 43,000 dead and 28,000 missing while the Red Cross and United Nations had estimated a death toll above 100,000. Full Story
Belarus says U.S. sanctions further damage ties
Belarus accused the United States on Friday of harming the interests of ordinary citizens by imposing new sanctions on the ex-Soviet state's industry in a row over human rights. The U.S. Treasury Department imposed punitive measures on Thursday on three Belarussian companies linked to state-run oil refiner Belneftekhim as part of efforts to intensify pressure on President Alexander Lukashenko over alleged rights abuses. Full Story
Dutch cartoonist arrested on suspicion of violating hate speech laws
A Dutch political cartoonist was arrested this week on suspicion of insulting people because of their race or religion through his work, authorities said Friday. The cartoonist, who works under the pseudonym Gregorius Nekschot, was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of violating hate speech laws and held overnight before being released, a spokeswoman for his publisher Uitgeverij Xtra said. Full Story
Nordic central banks act to support Icelandic currency
The Icelandic central bank struck a deal with the central banks of Sweden, Norway and Denmark on Friday that allows it to buy euros with Icelandic kronur, giving strong support to the island's beleaguered currency. Each swap arrangement is for as much as 500 million, or $774 million, but analysts said it was not the amount that mattered but the deal itself, which underlined how the Icelandic central bank, the Sedlabanki, was actively working on ways to support the currency. Full Story
Rebel MPs try to block 42-day detention plans
Rebel Labour MPs today tabled an amendment to the counter-terrorism bill that could block Gordon Brown's attempts to extend the detention without charge limit to 42 days. The amendment seeks to scrap the 42-day limit and replace it with a "comprehensive package of alternatives", including holding suspects on police bail while they are under investigation. Full Story
Synagogue walls daubed with anti-Jewish graffiti
London's Jewish community has been targeted by a wave of anti-Semitic graffiti. Residents were today warned to look out for suspicious activity following the racist attack in north-east London. Vandals sprayed shops, pavements and walls outside four synagogues in Clapton Common and Stamford Hill on Tuesday night. Worshippers were yesterday confronted with slogans such as "Jihad to Israel" and "Jihad to Tel Aviv". Full Story
Police search for ETA car bomb factory in France - reports
Spanish and French police are searching for a "car bomb factory" belonging to the militant Basque separatist group ETA in southern France, Spanish press reports said Friday, two days after a car bombing killed a police officer in Spain's northern Basque region. Juan Manuel Pinuel was killed in an attack against a barracks of the paramilitary Civil Guard in Legutiano. Four other officers were injured. Full Story
Kidnapped Pakistan envoy released by Taliban
Suspected Taliban militants have released Pakistan's envoy to Afghanistan more than three months after he was kidnapped in Pakistan's Khyber tribal region, a senior government official said on Saturday. Full Story
Belfast assassination probe loses sensitive data
A judicial probe into the assassination of a Roman Catholic lawyer in Northern Ireland reported Friday that it has lost sensitive computer data about the investigation. The mishap raises fears that witnesses or confidential intelligence sources mainly Northern Ireland police officers and British intelligence agents could have their personal details compromised. Full Story
Venezuelan opposition leader demands that Chavez clarify rebel ties
A Venezuelan opposition leader is demanding that President Hugo Chavez explain accusations of close ties between his government and Colombian rebels. Opposition leader Manuel Rosales says the Venezuelan leader has not adequately responded after the international police agency Interpol endorsed the authenticity of computer files that Colombia says it seized from a rebel camp. Full Story
Kuwait votes for a new parliament
Kuwaitis vote Saturday for a new parliament that must work with the royal family-controlled Cabinet, whose recent resignation triggered a period of political stagnation in this oil-rich U.S. ally. Full Story
Mexicans arrested at filthy 'drop house' charged
Three Mexican men held dozens of illegal immigrants in a squalid "drop house" in South Los Angeles, where one woman was raped and others say they were threatened with sexual assault, authorities said Friday. Jose Teul, 23, Daniel Pena, 18, and Saul Mendez, 35, were charged with harboring illegal immigrants at the two-story home that immigration agents raided Wednesday, said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Virginia Kice. Full Story
South Korea, Japan end sea confrontation
A standoff between the Japanese and South Korean coast guards ended peacefully after a joint investigation found that a Korean fishing boat did not violate Japanese waters, an official said Saturday. The incident began when the 134-ton fishing boat sent an emergency radio message to South Korea's coast guard saying it was being chased by Japanese patrol vessels. Full Story
Islamist fighters seize town in Somalia
A human rights leader says Islamist fighters have seized a southern town in Somalia that is a major agricultural center and impelled hundreds of refugees to flee. Ali Bashi, of Fanole rights groups, says Islamic Courts Union fighters ousted militiamen loyal to Somalia's fragile government in fighting overnight in Jilib that killed three militia fighters and wounded three others. Full Story
Police find 3 decomposing bodies inside NJ home
Police found three decomposing bodies with multiple stab wounds inside a northern New Jersey home Friday night, a prosecutor said. The bodies of an elderly man, an elderly woman who were not related and a younger man with defensive wounds had been dead for several days in the Tenafly home, Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli said. Full Story
Bush heads for Egypt talks with Palestinians
U.S. President George W. Bush flew to Egypt on Saturday for talks with Palestinian leaders who will be looking for signs they will not be neglected after he lavished praise on Israel during a visit to the Jewish state. Heading for the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh for the final stop of his Middle East tour, Bush faces growing skepticism over his chances of securing an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal before he leaves office in January. Full Story
Qatar hosts Lebanon dialogue
Talks aimed at ending Lebanon's protracted political crisis are to resume in the Qatari capital on Saturday morning. Full Story
Indonesia limits fuel purchases ahead of price rise: reportPosted on Saturday, May 17, 2008 at 4:27pmIndonesia's oil and gas company Pertamina has set limits on subsidised fuel purchases ahead of the government's plans to hike fuel prices, reports said Saturday. Full Story
Bush Says Saudi Oil Boost `Not Enough' to Ease Prices
President George W. Bush said Saudi Arabia's decision to raise oil output 300,000 barrels a day is ``not enough'' to ease U.S. energy prices and that more domestic oil exploration and refining capacity are needed. Full Story
New leaders unlikely to ease U.S.-Russia strains
Russias new president has promised the kind of democratic change that Washington advocated during predecessor Vladimir Putins tenure. At the same time, all the candidates to succeed President Bush have promised a break from a foreign policy that Moscow has bitterly criticized. Full Story
Quake effort resumes after panic
Rescue efforts are resuming in Beichuan in China, after the entire city was evacuated amid fears that it could be engulfed by a river bursting its banks. Full Story
Venezuela protests alleged Colombian cross-border incident
Venezuela issued an official protest to neighbouring Colombia on Saturday denouncing an alleged cross-border incident involving Colombian soldiers. Full Story
Georgia condemns Russian actions
Georgia has shown the BBC a footage which it says proves Russian troops are deploying heavy military hardware in the breakaway region of Abkhazia. Full Story
India to resume Pakistan peace talks
India's foreign minister travels to Pakistan this week for his first meeting with leaders of a new civilian government and to review a peace process that has been in the doldrums for more than a year. Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee will meet his Pakistani counterpart, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, on Wednesday, a day after their top civil servants hold talks. Full Story
Chief PA Negotiator: Jerusalem on the Table
Contrary to denials by top Israeli officials, the future of Jerusalem is being discussed in top-level negotiations between Israel and Palestinian Authority officials. So says Abu Ala, who heads the PA's negotiating team with Israel. Ahmed Qurei, also known as Abu Ala, told the Al-Quds newspaper in eastern Jerusalem over the weekend that the talks are "difficult," and include all the issues in dispute. Full Story
Myanmar health system strained by cyclone
Myanmar's ragged health system has been stretched to the limit after the cyclone two weeks ago left up to 2.5 million people homeless, exposed to pounding rains and potential disease. Until Saturday, the military regime had insisted it was capable of handling the crisis alone, but Thai and Indian doctors have now been given permission to help. Full Story
Iraq detains 1,000 in anti-Al-Qaida crackdown
Nearly 1,000 people have been detained in a sweep to break Al-Qaida in Iraq's sway in Iraq's third largest city, Mosul, but many of the fighters have fled to nearby areas, where troops are hunting for them, Iraqi officials said on Saturday. Full Story
Georgia lures Arab investors
The port city of Poti has long symbolised Georgia's collapse, but President Mikheil Saakashvili sees potential for a Black Sea Dubai in its crumbling buildings and pot-holed streets -- and Arab investors are listening. Full Story
PM pitches for anti-terror federal agency
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday made a strong pitch for a federal agency to deal with terrorist crimes against India, on the same day that Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan called for special anti-terror laws. Full Story
Tropical storm lashes Philippines
Tropical storm Halong has battered the northern Philippines with 95 kilometre per hour winds, triggering floods and landslides and displacing about 6,000 people, relief officials said. There were no immediate reports of casualties but the civil defence office in Manila said huge waves known as storm surges have destroyed 10 houses and displaced 780 people in and around the coastal town of Botolan, about 145 kilometres north-west of the capital. Full Story
Freed hostage fights for those still in chains
As rebel-held hostages, the Colombian politician and the American pilot lived in the jungle like Siamese twins. They had to. For eight months, Luis Eladio Perez and Thomas Howes were shackled together by the neck with a 9-foot chain. Full Story
Kidnapped Indian, Nepalese freed in Afghanistan
Afghan security forces freed an Indian and a Nepalese national kidnapped a month ago in the western province of Herat, a provincial intelligence chief said on Sunday.The men were safe in a police compound in the western Adraskan district. Full Story
Float plane crash in Wash. state kills 2
Two people were killed Saturday when a float plane carrying five people crashed into Lake Chelan in the North Cascades. Three people survived the crash of the single-engine DeHavilland Beaver, which went down about 15 minutes after takeoff from the town of Chelan. Full Story
New drug 'can kill MRSA superbug'
British scientists are working on a drug which they say can destroy the most virulent strains of superbug MRSA. Researchers at Brighton-based Destiny Pharma are testing the drug in the hope it can be used in hospitals by 2011. Full Story
Another Canadian tourist killed in Mexico
Police say a Canadian tourist was shot and killed late Thursday inside his hotel room in the Mexican resort city of Cabo an Lucas. State police commander Enrique Wuilar says a lone gunman shot 29-year-old Bouabal Bounthavorn three times in his hotel room. Full Story
Wildfires rage in Alberta, Saskatchewan
Hot, dry conditions have turned parts of the Prairies into a tinderbox, as wildfires torch rural homes and force people to flee communities in Alberta and Saskatchewan. A big drop in the wind on Saturday morning initially helped crews make gains on wildfires that forced the evacuation of 150 people from the hamlet of Newbrook north of Edmonton. Full Story
Nigerian oil giant NNPC will become real company
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company will be transformed from an impenetrable bureaucratic giant into a real privately run company when restructuring is completed next year, says Nigeria's President Umaru Yar'Adua. After taking office a year ago, Yar'Adua decided to break up the 30 year-old NNPC into five separate new companies, but he has since been heading a committee whose proposals for a new structure are expected in a couple of weeks. Full Story
7 Mexican Tourists Kidnapped On Main Highway to Acapulco
Police say gunmen kidnapped seven Mexican tourists in a rare attack on a heavily-patrolled, four-lane highway leading into the Pacific coast resort town of Acapulco. Police in Mexicos southern Guerrero state say the seven men were kidnapped Saturday about 100 kilometers (60 miles) north of Acapulco. Full Story
Bush and Pakistan's Gilani pledge to fight terror
President George W. Bush and Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on Sunday pledged to fight terrorism with strong relations between the two nations in the aftermath of elections that seated new leaders in Islamabad. Full Story
Arabs Torch Jewish Wheat Fields in Samaria
Arabs burned Jewish-owned wheat fields in the Samaria town of Yitzhar Friday. The regular vandalism has led residents to ponder soliciting assistance from humanitarian groups. Full Story
Medvedev Picks First Governor
President Dmitry Medvedev made his first gubernatorial appointment Friday, replacing the long-serving governor of the Stavropol region. Full Story
Gujarat adds 4 new groups to its terror list
The Jaipur serial bomb blasts added a new name to the list of Islamic terror organizations active in the country Indian Mujaheedin. Full Story
Mexico police chief quits after drug gang threats
A Mexican police chief has quit his post across the border from El Paso, Texas, after receiving death threats from drug gangs that are striking back at a crackdown on smugglers, an official said on Sunday. Full Story
Bin Laden lashes out at Arab leaders in new msg.
Osama bin Laden released a new message on Sunday accusing Arab leaders of sacrificing the Palestinians and calling on Muslim militants in Egypt to help break the blockade of Gaza. Full Story
Israeli attorney general rules out early charges against Olmert
Israel's attorney general said Sunday it would be unrealistic to expect any swift indictment of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert who is to be questioned again by police next week in a corruption probe. Full Story
Hamas ministry to censor Internet sites in Gaza
The Hamas-run Telecommunications Ministry will start blocking websites deemed unfit according to Islamic rules, an official said Sunday. This was made possible after a deal was struck with the Palestinian telecommunications company, said Ihab al-Hussain, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry in Gaza, adding that the plan went into effect last week. Full Story
SIMI-HuJI partnership at work again
Investigators are working on busting a sleeper module of the Students Islamic Movement of India that its suspects provided logistical support to the Harkat-ul-Jehad-al-Islami unit seen as the actual executors of Tuesdays terror attack. Full Story
One police, three servicemen injured in Chechnya militant clash
A policeman and three federal troops were wounded after a clash with militants in the Republic of Chechnya in Russia's troubled North Caucasus Region, a local police source said on Sunday. Full Story
Radio: ETA bomb strikes Spain's northern Basque
A bomb went off in the early hours of Monday in the northern Basque town of Getxo following a warning call from the separatist group ETA, public radio RNE reported. No injuries were reported, it said. Full Story
Hopes for Myanmar cyclone aid rise as ASEAN meets
Hopes turned to a meeting of Southeast Asian foreign ministers on Monday for a breakthrough in speeding up aid flows to the millions of desperate cyclone survivors in Myanmar. Full Story
US military deaths in Iraq war at 4,080
As of Sunday, May 18, 2008, at least 4,080 members of the U.S. military have died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. Full Story
Philippine soldiers fail anti-terror test in Manila
Philippine soldiers failed to stop a car rigged with bombs as it entered the country's main army base in capital Manila during an anti-terror drill on Monday. "There could have been a big explosion, a big embarrassment," Colonel Ireneo Espino, commander of Camp Aguinaldo, told reporters. "I am sure I would have been reassigned somewhere else after that." Full Story
Forum seeks to ban cluster bombs
Diplomats from around the world are gathering in Dublin for a conference that aims to secure a treaty banning the use of cluster bombs. The proposed ban has the support of more than 100 countries. Full Story
Car bomb explodes in Spanish town
A car bomb has exploded in the northern Basque seaside town of Getxo causing considerable damage to buildings, but no casualties, Spanish officials say. They say it came about an hour after an anonymous call to the police - in the name of the Basque separatist group Eta - had warned about a blast. Full Story
Teachers throng Paris over cuts
At least 20,000 people have marched through central Paris protesting against the French government's plans to cut jobs in the education sector. The protestors are also unhappy about President Nicolas Sarkozy's plans to force schools to stay open in the event of strike action. Full Story
Neapolitans torch rubbish piles
Firefighters battled overnight in the southern Italian city of Naples to extinguish dozens of blazes as angry residents set rubbish piles alight. The city has some 3,500 tonnes of uncollected rubbish, piled up around its streets. Full Story
Afghan bombing kills 4 civilians
A suicide bomber blew himself up next to a police convoy in southern Afghanistan on Sunday, killing four civilians and wounding eight other people, a provincial police chief said. The suicide bomber was trying to kill the district police chief in Musa Qala in Helmand Province, but instead killed four civilians, said Mohammad Hussein Andiwal, the provincial police chief. Full Story
China begins 3 days of mourning
China stood still Monday, mourning for tens of thousands of earthquake victims, while the government appealed for more international aid to cope with the country's deadliest natural disaster in a generation. Construction workers, shopkeepers and bureaucrats across the bustling nation of 1.3 billion people paused for three minutes of tribute at 2:28 p.m. (0628 GMT) exactly one week after the magnitude 7.9 quake hit central China. Full Story
Basque demonstrators call for an end to violence
Basques held a somber ceremony Sunday to commemorate the lives of people killed in attacks by the separatist group ETA and to call for an end to the violence that has plagued Spain for four decades. Hundreds of Basque politicians, survivors and victims' relatives joined together for the ceremony in San Sebastian, a northern resort city. Full Story
Pakistan will not negotiate with militants: PM
Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani vowed on Monday that his government would not negotiate with militants unless they laid down their arms, amid US concerns over Islamabad's talks with the Taliban. Full Story
Southeast's Asia top terror suspect may have fled Indonesia
Southeast Asia's most wanted terror suspect, Noordin Top, may have evaded a massive manhunt and fled Indonesia, according to police documents obtained by The Associated Press. Full Story
18 die on bloodiest day of polls
West Bengal witnessed the bloodiest round of violence in the last phase of the panchayat polls on Sunday, leaving 18 dead and hundreds injured in Murshidabad and Birbhum. Full Story
India to protest to Pakistan over border shooting
An Indian soldier was killed in cross-border fire in Kashmir on Monday, prompting India to lodge a protest with Islamabad, an army spokesman said. The soldier died in shooting from the Pakistani side of a military control line that divides Kashmir between the two countries, the spokesman said. Full Story
Germany Plans New Security Authority
Germany may set up a new authority to combine its various eavesdropping operations in a purpose-built headquarters near Cologne, news organizations reported. The combined police and espionage center would be modeled on the National Security Agency (NSA) in the United States or the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) in Britain. Full Story
Backing for Armed Forces Day plan
An Armed Forces Day public holiday has been recommended by a government-backed study looking into improving public recognition of the military. The report by MP Quentin Davies also said more state school pupils should be encouraged to join cadet forces. Full Story
Jobs fears over health cash cuts
Up to 3,000 health service jobs could be lost in Belfast, a trade union has warned. It follows a leaked report which said nurses would be worst hit by cost-cutting proposals over the next three years in the Belfast trust area. Full Story
Extra immigrant detention places
Places in immigration detention centres are to increase by 60% under plans from the government's UK Border Agency. Between 1,300 and 1,500 extra places will be created, border and immigration minister Liam Byrne said. Full Story
Lebanon crisis deal blow
Tension mounted on yesterday's second day of talks between rival Lebanese leaders trying to end a feud that pushed their country towards all-out sectarian war, as politicians traded charges over the divisive issue of Hizbollah arms. Full Story
Religious hardliners gain in Kuwait
Kuwait's parliamentary elections showed strong gains for Muslim hardliners, official results found Sunday, but women candidates failed to win a single seat. The results show that religious conservatives gained two seats in parliament to hold 24, nearly half of the 50-member body of this oil-rich U.S. ally. Full Story
Bin Laden urges Muslims to fight Gaza closure
Al Qaida leader Osama Bin Laden has called on Muslims to help end the Israeli closure of the Islamist Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, according to an audio tape posted on the Internet on Sunday. Full Story
Bin Laden lashes out at Arab leaders
Osama bin Laden released a new message on Sunday denouncing Arab leaders for sacrificing the Palestinians and saying the head of the Shiite militant group Hezbollah did not really have the strength to take on Israel. Full Story
Protestant flees dissident threat
A Protestant man has fled his home in Londonderry after receiving death threats from dissident republicans. The man said he was told by the police last week that his life was in danger. Full Story
Alleged NPA guerrillas raid Davao Oriental jail, seize guns
Suspected New People's Army (NPA) guerrillas raided the provincial jail of Davao Oriental shortly before noon Monday, carting away a still undetermined number of firearms, police and civilian officials said. Full Story
US giving China satellite images of quake damage
The United States is providing China with satellite imagery of reservoirs, roads and bridges damaged in the earthquake that devastated southwestern Sichuan province, the Pentagon said. The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency is expected to provide the first of the unclassified imagery on Monday if weather permits, in what officials believed to be an unprecedented step. Full Story
Spain arrests 'prolific' hackers
Spanish police have arrested five hackers they describe as being among the most active on the internet. The hackers, who include two 16-year-olds, are accused of disrupting government websites in the United States, Asia and Latin America. Full Story
Courtesy Terrorism Research Center, Inc.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
