tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-64624212331370321842012-01-14T05:22:06.659-08:00RKLnoreply@blogger.comBlogger11121100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-75137988196368159572010-02-18T03:42:00.001-08:002010-02-18T03:42:24.871-08:00

A public feud between Kenya's prime minister and president, whose agreement two years ago to share power ended the country's worst violence since independence, has many of their compatriots worried that the bloodshed could resume if efforts by the U.S. and African powers fail to cool tensions. Relations between the two leaders — never strong to begin with — broke down this week over the

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-17501494424659042010-02-17T03:33:00.001-08:002010-02-17T03:33:31.210-08:00

Muslim guerrillas said Wednesday they have rejected the Philippine government's latest autonomy offer, making it difficult to forge any peace accord before President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo leaves office in June. Government negotiators and the 11,000-strong Moro Islamic Liberation Front, which has fought for Muslim self-rule in the southern Philippines for decades, last month resumed talks

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-43681240451898648362010-02-17T03:32:00.000-08:002010-02-17T03:32:19.637-08:00

Fashion designer Alexander McQueen was found hanging in the wardrobe of his London apartment last week with a note left nearby, a British coroner's official told an inquest Wednesday. No details of the note were released by the coroner's office, which is charged with formally identifying the circumstances of the designer's death. Coroner's officer Lynda Martindill said the 40-year-old McQueen

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-24097194087866174042010-02-16T06:51:00.001-08:002010-02-16T06:52:00.130-08:00

The mayor of Kiev's daughter told police she was robbed of euro4 million ($5.5 million) worth of jewelry as she traveled by car from Charles de Gaulle airport to the French capital, Paris police said Tuesday. A spokesman for her wealthy father, however, immediately denied the report, which could be embarrassing considering that his daughter heads a charity organization funded by his own city

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-83712452814986952382010-02-16T03:31:00.001-08:002010-02-16T03:31:50.664-08:00

One train driver survived the head-on crash that killed at least 18 people outside of Brussels and will be be questioned as soon as his serious injuries permit it, railway officials said Tuesday as the search resumed for more victims. The Eurostar and Thalys high speed trains from London and Paris to Brussels were suspended for a second day Tuesday and other train conductors held a wildcat

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-44256777609317621692010-02-15T11:24:00.001-08:002010-02-15T11:24:42.642-08:00

Tropical Cyclone Rene pounded Tonga with powerful winds overnight, causing major damage to buildings in the capital city, tearing off roofs, downing trees and cutting power and phone lines in the South Pacific island nation. When phone service was restored early Tuesday, police said they had no immediate reports of death or injury during the storm that has hammered the three main island groups

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-67411201769951762362010-02-15T03:00:00.001-08:002010-02-15T03:00:34.213-08:00

Julia Lira, Rio's 7-year-old Carnival drum corps queen, didn't like one bit of the cameras that honed in on her as she led a lavish samba parade, and reacted as any child might — by having a good cry. But the sprite of a samba dancer did her best to brush away the tears, and after a few minutes of holding her mom's hand and resting in the arms of a doting official from her Viradouro samba group,

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-46381113948252768582010-02-12T04:46:00.001-08:002010-02-12T04:46:24.109-08:00

Tourists took rare pictures of snow falling on the Colosseum and the Trevi fountain on Friday, and the Pope reportedly appeared at a Vatican window to watch Rome's heaviest snowfall in nearly a quarter century. In scenes usually only glimpsed in souvenir "snow domes" Italy's capital was blanketed in white, snarling road and air traffic but delighting many Romans who rode scooters with their feet

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-6825943304084496252010-02-11T11:02:00.001-08:002010-02-11T11:02:31.224-08:00

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd conceded Thursday that there had been slow progress on improving the lives of Aborigines, two years since delivering an historic apology for past abuses. Submitting his second annual "Closing the Gap" report to parliament, Rudd said change was a "slow path" requiring action from Aboriginal people and the wider community, not just the government. More

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-28214190212707214952010-02-11T05:52:00.001-08:002010-02-11T05:52:49.125-08:00

Thai prosecutors dropped charges against the five-man crew of an aircraft accused of smuggling weapons from North Korea, saying Thursday the men might be guilty but would be deported to preserve good relations with their home countries. The Attorney General's Office said the decision was made after the governments of Belarus and Kazakhstan contacted the Thai Foreign Ministry and requested the

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-24708210484687732162010-02-11T05:51:00.001-08:002010-02-11T05:51:54.081-08:00

South Africans on Thursday celebrated the steps that sounded apartheid's death knell 20 years ago: Nelson Mandela walking to freedom after 27 years in prison. Thousands gathered for commemorations near Cape Town at what was known in 1990 as Victor Verster, the last prison where Mandela was held. The crowds milled around a 10-foot (3-meter) high bronze statue erected at the prison in 2008

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-69205526229339498182010-02-10T07:45:00.000-08:002010-02-10T07:45:01.108-08:00

It may not be Swinging London — but the British capital's aging baby boomers may soon be flexing muscles that haven't gotten much use since the 1960s. London is getting its first playground dedicated to older people, complete with what the woman behind the plan describes as equipment designed "specially for gentle exercise." "Every park has a children's playground, very few have playgrounds for

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-51969992766401447012010-02-10T03:41:00.001-08:002010-02-10T03:41:07.877-08:00

Nigeria's Vice President Goodluck Jonathan on Wednesday held his first cabinet meeting since parliament made him acting head of state in place of the ailing President Umaru Yar'Adua. With Africa's most populous country still in political turmoil top ministers appointed by Yar'Adua have still not said publicly whether they accept the votes on Tuesday which made Jonathan the interim leader.

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-22990904661117555332010-02-09T08:12:00.000-08:002010-02-09T08:12:04.727-08:00

There's a reason for the gritty feel of reality in "Ajami," an Oscar-nominated Israeli film about the lives of Arabs and Jews in the impoverished, crime-ridden neighborhoods of this Mediterranean city: Its amateur actors' lives eerily mirror their art. An actress who lost her ex-husband to gang violence plays a woman fearful her son will die the same way. Neighborhood police are played by

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-46877206233393162982010-02-09T07:41:00.000-08:002010-02-09T07:41:16.567-08:00

After three years living alone in South Korea - paranoid and scared to talk to anyone - North Korean defector Kang Ok Sil decided she'd had enough. She wanted to make a real effort to settle in her newly adopted country. She decided to marry a South Korean man. "Life was difficult. I didn't know how things worked and I was lost," recalls Kang, who escaped to South Korea in 2002 via Thailand. "I

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-21079064162279883252010-02-08T04:32:00.002-08:002010-02-08T04:32:52.942-08:00

Walking on a dusty field of cut rice that was once rainforest, researcher Flavio Wruck explains how farming, the Amazon's biggest killer, can be turned into its best defender. At the government-run experimental farm where he works, he points toward plots where crops, cattle and timber live together. It's a simple system, long practiced in the U.S., of rotating crops and revitalizing pasture

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-549625212491208132010-02-08T04:32:00.000-08:002010-02-08T04:32:12.233-08:00

France has agreed to sell Russia an advanced amphibious warship and is considering a Russian request for three more, French defense officials said Monday. It would be the first major arms deal between Russia and a NATO member. French President Nicolas Sarkozy approved the sale of one Mistral assault ship after months of discussions, but then Russian naval officials submitted a request for three

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-85076198584084597912010-02-08T04:31:00.001-08:002010-02-08T04:31:28.085-08:00

A massive avalanche hit an Indian army training center at a ski resort town in Indian-controlled Kashmir on Monday, killing at least 11 soldiers and trapping nearly 50 others. Fifteen soldiers, all in need of emergency medical care, were found during the search-and-rescue operation under way at Gulmarg, a ski resort about 30 miles (50 kilometers) northwest of Srinagar, the main city in Indian

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-27684135873294498802010-02-05T05:56:00.001-08:002010-02-05T05:56:26.287-08:00

Canada has reached a tentative deal with the United States to end a dispute over "Buy American" provisions that had strained bilateral ties, the two trading partners announced on Friday. Under the terms of the deal, Canada will give U.S. suppliers access to a range of construction contracts across its provinces and territories. The United States will let Canadian suppliers bid for a small

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-74415376832928330952010-02-05T05:55:00.001-08:002010-02-05T05:55:42.816-08:00

Ten Baptist missionaries are facing kidnapping charges in Haiti for trying to take 33 children out of the country, and the lawyer for all the defendants is putting the blame on the group's leader. Attorney Edwin Coq said Laura Silsby knew the group couldn't remove the youngsters without proper paperwork, while he characterized the other nine missionaries as unknowingly being caught up in actions

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-234168478192317122010-02-05T05:53:00.001-08:002010-02-05T05:53:53.714-08:00

An EU naval spokesman says Danish special forces have recaptured a ship taken over by armed Somali pirates and freed the 25 crew on board. Cmdr. John Harbour says the incident marks the first time a warship has intervened once pirates have boarded a vessel. Harbour says the Antigua and Barbuda-flagged Ariella sent out a distress signal early Friday. Special forces approached the vessel in

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-22150853850840038552010-02-03T01:51:00.001-08:002010-02-03T01:51:21.675-08:00

Fifteen people were wounded on Wednesday when a disgruntled customer ignited a shopping trolley filled with petrol cans and fireworks at a branch of an Australian insurance company, police said. Witnesses said the man wheeled the makeshift bomb into the insurance office in the northern city of Darwin and set it ablaze, leaving passers-by with cuts, burns and smoke inhalation injuries. Two people

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-87609567715165570762010-02-02T09:42:00.001-08:002010-02-02T09:42:22.815-08:00

The pigtail-wearing tycoon Nina Wang may have lavished her feng shui master lover with hundreds of millions during her lifetime to cure her cancer and improve her luck. But a Hong Kong judge ruled Tuesday that the woman who was once Asia's richest never intended to leave him a multibillion dollar fortune. The territory's High Court said a 2006 will that names Tony Chan Chun-chuen as the sole

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-74480757963017164072010-02-02T09:41:00.001-08:002010-02-02T09:41:38.004-08:00

Evidence shows that John Demjanjuk was a guard at the Sobibor death camp in occupied Poland, and everyone who was there was either a victim or a cog in the Nazi machinery of death, a German investigator testified Tuesday. Thomas Walther, who led the investigation that prompted Germany to prosecute Demjanjuk, told the Munich state court that "the Sobibor death camp was a hermetically sealed area

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-74337799470207805222010-02-02T03:47:00.000-08:002010-02-02T03:47:24.774-08:00

A South African presidential spokesman on Tuesday called a newspaper story that the country's polygamist leader had fathered a child out of wedlock "a private, personal issue" without confirming or denying the report. Some political opponents already have criticized President Jacob Zuma, who has three wives and is engaged to a fourth woman, saying his alleged actions send the wrong message in a

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-13047487357967314022010-02-02T03:39:00.001-08:002010-02-02T03:39:18.992-08:00

The mourning is far from over, but the politicking has resumed. Hundreds gathered Monday at a gravel pit where countless earthquake victims have been dumped, turning a remembrance ceremony for the dead into one of the first organized political rallies since the disaster, with followers denouncing President Rene Preval. Many called for ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's return — a

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-22458149033969074532010-01-29T03:27:00.001-08:002010-01-29T03:27:30.272-08:00

U.S. Ambassador John Roos defended U.S. troops levels in Japan Friday, saying their presence is essential for maintaining peace and prosperity in the region, and stressed the importance of a key Marine base whose delayed relocation has frayed bilateral relations. In a speech at Tokyo's Waseda University, Roos reaffirmed the importance of the U.S.-Japan security pact, now in its 50th year, under

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-25866852651824605732010-01-28T08:22:00.001-08:002010-01-28T08:22:35.545-08:00

A frightened, shivering dog has been rescued from the Baltic Sea after floating alone on an ice floe 15 miles (24 kilometers) off the Polish coast. Now his seamen saviors just have to figure out who really owns him. Four people have already claimed him, but so far rescuers say there's been no wagging tail of joy from the miracle dog nicknamed "Baltic." His frozen saga comes as Poland suffers

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-44099730639191708562010-01-28T04:22:00.001-08:002010-01-28T04:22:27.338-08:00

A U.S. Navy vessel has detected the flight recorders from a crashed Ethiopian Airlines jet at some 1,300 meters (4,265 feet) under the sea, the Lebanese army said Thursday. The plane went down early Monday just minutes after takeoff from Beirut in a fierce storm. All 90 people on board were feared dead. It could take days to retrieve the plane's flight recorders, which were located late

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-69556081260238183892010-01-28T04:19:00.001-08:002010-01-28T04:19:17.175-08:00

A French search team that wouldn't go home pulled off another "miracle" rescue in Port-au-Prince, lifting a 17-year-old girl alive from beneath this cityscape of rubble. Above ground, hundreds of thousands of other survivors hoped for a breakthrough of another kind — in delivering badly needed food aid. Key players in the Haiti earthquake relief effort, in what may have been a pivotal meeting,

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-77291374547487169842010-01-28T04:01:00.000-08:002010-01-28T04:01:00.157-08:00

A decades-old military plane crashed Thursday into a residential area in the southern Philippines, killing a senior air force commander and seven other people aboard, officials said. Two people on the ground were injured. The twin-prop Nomad aircraft crashed shortly after taking off from in Cotabato city and burst into flames, regional military commander Lt. Gen. Raymundo Ferrer said. It crashed

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-32516479453237680802010-01-27T06:04:00.001-08:002010-01-27T06:04:39.307-08:00

Zimbabwe's Supreme Court has ordered the central bank to safeguard millions of dollars' worth of diamonds from a mine where the military is accused of killings and forced labour, a lawyer said Wednesday. The latest ruling stems from an ownership battle over the mines in eastern Zimbabwe, with a British firm and a government mineral corporation locked in a tug-of-war over the valuable deposits.

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-31672807113982147392010-01-27T06:03:00.002-08:002010-01-27T06:03:31.820-08:00

The smallest survivors of Haiti's catastrophic earthquake are growing into one of the biggest problems in its aftermath. Many of the countless thousands of children scattered among Port-au-Prince's makeshift camps of homeless have nobody to care for them, aid workers say, leaving them without protection against disease, child predators and other risks. "They are extremely vulnerable," said Kate

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-68618440507267051882010-01-27T06:03:00.000-08:002010-01-27T06:03:02.668-08:00

North Korea fired artillery rounds toward its disputed sea border with South Korea on Wednesday, prompting a barrage of warning shots from the South's military and raising tensions on the divided peninsula. No casualties or damage were reported, and analysts said the volley — which the North announced was part of a military drill — was likely a move by Pyongyang to highlight the need for a peace

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-78164790298342522132010-01-26T05:18:00.001-08:002010-01-26T05:18:27.859-08:00

The dusty soccer field lined with spacious tents is an oasis for earthquake survivors among Haiti's homeless sheltering in acres (hectares) of squalid camps. Competition for the canvas homes has boiled into arguments and machete fights, a sign of the desperation felt by the hundreds of thousands of people without homes struggling for shelter in this wrecked city. Haiti's president has asked the

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-54073469073713965762010-01-25T11:56:00.001-08:002010-01-25T11:56:48.716-08:00

A French parliamentary panel will recommend a ban on face-covering Muslim veils in public areas from hospitals to schools but will stop short of pressing for the garb to be outlawed in the street, the panel's president says. The 32-member panel's report due Tuesday culminates a six-month inquiry into the wearing of all-encompassing veils that began after President Nicolas Sarkozy said in June

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-49234290263639344052010-01-25T05:34:00.000-08:002010-01-25T05:34:03.084-08:00

An Ethiopian Airlines plane carrying 90 people caught fire and crashed into the sea minutes after taking off from Beirut early Monday, setting off a frantic search as passenger seats, baby sandals and other debris washed ashore. At least 34 bodies were recovered. The cause of the crash was not immediately known. Lebanon has seen stormy weather since Sunday night, with crackling thunder,

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-43889080469073271882010-01-21T04:08:00.001-08:002010-01-21T04:08:41.179-08:00

The main rebel group in Sudan's Darfur has said peace talks in Qatar with the Khartoum government were unlikely to resume as hoped Sunday but instead there may be "consultations" to choose another date. "As far as the January 24 date is concerned, we cannot say that there will be negotiations. This depends on our discussions with the mediators," Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) spokesman

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-20185477497063088672010-01-20T05:38:00.000-08:002010-01-20T05:38:05.794-08:00

A powerful new earthquake struck Haiti on Wednesday, shaking rubble from damaged buildings and sending screaming people running into the streets only eight days after the country's capital was devastated by an apocalyptic quake. The magnitude-6.1 temblor was the largest aftershock yet to the Jan. 12 quake. The extent of additional damage or injuries was not immediately clear. Wails of terror

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-64537232218055995732010-01-20T05:36:00.001-08:002010-01-20T05:36:28.745-08:00

A U.N. warning that Himalayan glaciers were melting faster than any other place in the world and may be gone by 2035 was not backed up by science, U.N. climate experts said Wednesday — an admission that could energize climate change critics. In a 2007 report, the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said the Himalayan glaciers are very likely to disappear within three decades if the

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-67144439654506193132010-01-20T05:35:00.001-08:002010-01-20T05:35:39.114-08:00

Britain suspended direct flights with Yemen on Wednesday and the prime minister said the U.K. will introduce new no-fly lists as it seeks to tighten airport security following the failed Detroit airliner attack. Prime Minister Gordon Brown told the House of Commons the measures are in response to a growing threat from al-Qaida affiliated terrorists based in Yemen. "We know that a number of

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-33192560367750921432010-01-20T02:27:00.001-08:002010-01-20T02:27:49.779-08:00

Prince William, who is visiting Australia, said on Wednesday he was so thrilled by his warm welcome to Sydney that he'd like to buy a house in the harbourside city. William, 27, told guests at a traditional Australian waterfront barbecue in his honour that he had enjoyed "the most warm welcome ever, not just with the weather but with all Sydney people. "It has been a terrific couple of days in

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-27166691736093989252010-01-20T02:26:00.001-08:002010-01-20T02:26:47.690-08:00

Clashes between Muslim and Christian gangs subsided on Wednesday in Nigeria's central city of Jos, but sporadic gunfire could be heard in neighboring communities as fighting spread to other parts of Plateau state. Hundreds of soldiers and police were stationed throughout the state's capital city to enforce a 24-hour curfew, which has left many streets deserted and businesses closed. At least

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-83391167413206845952010-01-19T11:39:00.001-08:002010-01-19T11:39:53.310-08:00

They arrive at this gritty desert crossroads weary from a 13-hour train ride but determined. The promised land lies just across the railway station plaza: a large, white sign that says "Easy Connection Internet Cafe." The visitors are Internet refugees from China's western Xinjiang region, whose 20 million people been without links to the outside world since the government blocked virtually

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-13043104143439457422010-01-19T04:57:00.000-08:002010-01-19T04:57:55.419-08:00

Prince William was on Tuesday welcomed to Australia by an Aboriginal elder daubed in body paint and bearing smouldering gum leaves, on his first visit since he came here as a baby 27 years ago. Up to 2,000 cheering fans in a poor inner-city Aboriginal neighbourhood in Sydney greeted the prince, 27, who last visited the country in the arms of his late mother, Princess Diana, when he was just

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-7650248576326245342010-01-19T04:53:00.001-08:002010-01-19T04:53:50.143-08:00

Thousands of Haiti quake victims are struggling to board buses to flee hunger and violence in the shattered capital, hoping that food will be easier to find in the countryside. But both gasoline and food are scarce in Port-au-Prince, and bus drivers have hiked fares, forcing some to pay more than three days' wages for a seat. "Thousands and thousands are leaving, I've never seen such a rush,

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-71485313484755633692010-01-18T08:55:00.001-08:002010-01-18T08:55:18.408-08:00

Zimbabwe's enormous foreign debt is hampering efforts to mend the economy, Finance Minister Tendai Biti said, urging the government urgently to resolve the debt crisis. "Zimbabwe is suffering as a result of its debt overhead," Biti told journalists after meeting with representatives of the African Development Bank. "We have to resolve our debt crisis as a matter of urgency." Zimbabwe owes 5.4

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-75008517490323666252010-01-18T08:54:00.003-08:002010-01-18T08:54:49.953-08:00

A strong earthquake has rocked Guatemala and parts of El Salvador, but no there were no immediate reports of injuries or damage in either country. The U.S. Geological Survey says the quake had a preliminary magnitude of 6.0. The USGS says it hit Monday morning about 60 miles (97 kilometers) southwest of Guatemala City, where it was felt by many residents. There were reports of shaking in the

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-47872426117771919032010-01-18T08:54:00.001-08:002010-01-18T08:54:21.752-08:00

Conservative Party chief David Cameron is turning back to basics — focusing on marriage and education as Britain's general election looms this spring. The man who in the last two years promised a "green revolution" and reached out to gay Britons to widen the party's appeal now has based his early campaign on traditional conservative topics, emphasizing the importance of marriage and vowing to

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-72389998586440020812010-01-18T08:53:00.001-08:002010-01-18T08:53:55.820-08:00

A shootout between rival Somali pirate gangs over their biggest ransom ever threatened to turn an oil supertanker and the 28 hostages aboard into a massive fireball until bandits begged the anti-piracy force for help, a negotiator said Monday. A group of pirates showed up in two speedboats just before a $5.5 million ransom was to be dropped by parachute onto the Maran Centaurus, according to a

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-24468735657368887932010-01-18T01:28:00.000-08:002010-01-18T01:28:01.886-08:00

The Turkish man who shot Pope John Paul II in 1981 was released from prison on Monday after more than 29 years behind bars. Mehmet Ali Agca waved to journalists as he left the prison in a white sedan car in a convoy of several vehicles. He was taken to a military hospital to be assessed for compulsory military service. A 2006 military hospital report said he is not fit for military service

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-67226303370597536672010-01-18T01:17:00.000-08:002010-01-18T01:17:01.192-08:00

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon made an emotional visit to the Haiti peacekeeping mission's devastated headquarters Sunday and delivered a message of hope to the country's earthquake victims, acknowledging that many of the survivors are growing desperate. On a whirlwind trip to the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, Ban said he recognized "that many people are frustrated and they are losing

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-85782498879571636302010-01-12T06:39:00.001-08:002010-01-12T06:39:48.557-08:00

Two 8-year-old boys in a young lifeguards training program rescued a man who was struggling in the ocean off Australia's east coast. Jake Satherley told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio that he and friend Spencer Jeams saw a middle-aged man having trouble Sunday off Northcliffe beach, in Queensland state. "We saw him put his hand up and saying, 'help, help,' so we went over to him and pulled

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-6966198455426017822010-01-12T06:38:00.001-08:002010-01-12T06:38:46.206-08:00

Gunmen kidnapped three Britons and a Colombian working for Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell early Tuesday, shooting dead their police escort, police and security sources said. The four were seized around 0600 GMT on a road leading from the southern oil city of Port Harcourt to the Shell-operated Afam power plant, police said. "They were ambushed by gunmen," Rita Abbey, police spokeswoman for Rivers

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-42607047674293813932010-01-11T11:26:00.001-08:002010-01-11T11:26:45.976-08:00

Voters in Martinique and French Guiana overwhelmingly rejected a proposal Sunday to give local government more autonomy while remaining a part of France. Election officials in Martinique said 80 percent of voters rejected the plan, with 55 percent participation, according to preliminary results. Some votes remained to be counted, but officials did not expect the results to change significantly.

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-77936216497075685522010-01-11T11:20:00.003-08:002010-01-11T11:20:58.062-08:00

Islamists looted and burned a Protestant temple in Algeria, the congregation's leader said Monday, suggesting they were inspired by a recent wave of religious intolerance in the Arab and Muslim world. The temple — hosted in an apartment block in the city of Tizi Ouzou some 100 kilometers (60 miles) east of Algiers, the Algerian capital — was ransacked and set ablaze on Saturday night, several

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-87545843591506340612010-01-11T11:20:00.001-08:002010-01-11T11:20:12.925-08:00

Rival leaders on the divided island of Cyprus launched a round of intensified talks Monday aimed at paving the way for a peace deal this year. President Dimitris Christofias, a Greek Cypriot, and breakaway Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat pledged to stay on course as they started six daylong sessions, hoping to overcome obstacles that hindered progress during 60 meetings over the past 16

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-2810363867661429272010-01-11T11:19:00.001-08:002010-01-11T11:19:34.827-08:00

China announced that its military intercepted a missile in mid-flight Monday in a test of new technology that comes amid heightened tensions over Taiwan and increased willingness by the Asian giant to show off its advanced military capabilities. The official Xinhua News Agency reported late Monday that "ground-based midcourse missile interception technology" was tested within Chinese territory.

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-44027480031061712552010-01-11T03:03:00.003-08:002010-01-11T03:03:58.953-08:00

At least 14 people have been killed in clashes between rival Islamic militias battling for control of a strategic western Somali town, witnesses said on Monday. A moderate Islamic group allied to the government, Ahlu Sunna Waljama, launched an attack Sunday against its rival in Belet Weyne, which borders Ethiopia and is on a major road leading to the capital, the witnesses said. The clashes

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-15601488333067978192010-01-11T03:03:00.001-08:002010-01-11T03:03:41.430-08:00

Authorities have arrested two separatists in Angola's restive Cabinda region following a shooting attack on the Togolese national soccer team that killed three people, a prosecutor announced Monday. According to a brief statement from Antonio Nito, the prosecutor in charge of Cabinda province, two unidentified members of the Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda forces, or FLEC,

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-91566242893486693572010-01-05T14:57:00.001-08:002010-01-05T14:57:19.982-08:00

Israel has approved construction of four new apartment buildings in disputed east Jerusalem, officials said Tuesday, fueling tensions with the Palestinians at a time when the U.S. is laboring to get peace talks moving again. The Palestinians claim east Jerusalem for a future capital and demand all construction there stop before negotiations resume. The 24-unit project is being developed in an

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-23397024839113863912010-01-05T14:56:00.001-08:002010-01-05T14:56:27.904-08:00

Freezing temperatures and heavy snow gripped northern England and Scotland Tuesday, halting transport and major football fixtures and closing airports and hundreds of schools. Storms moved further south late Tuesday, prompting fresh warnings of transport disruptions, with as much as 40 centimetres of snow forecast to fall overnight in some areas. Britain brought in extra gas supplies from

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-32422134033827529252010-01-05T07:33:00.004-08:002010-01-05T07:33:55.736-08:00

NATO's top intelligence official has ordered significant changes to information-gathering in Afghanistan, saying the U.S. intelligence community is now only "marginally relevant" to the mission there. U.S. Maj. Gen. Michael Flynn's stinging assessment and plan to focus less on the enemy and more on civilian life was published Monday by the Center for a New American Security think tank in

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-67089573841151223202010-01-05T07:33:00.002-08:002010-01-05T07:33:24.751-08:00

The prime suspect in the massacre of 57 people in the volatile southern Philippines last year pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to multiple counts of murder. The case against Andal Ampatuan Jnr, a local mayor and a leader of a powerful clan, has thrown the spotlight on the nation's corruption-plagued political and justice systems. More than 30 heavily-armed police escorts took Ampatuan to a special

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-15562798118310379672010-01-05T07:33:00.000-08:002010-01-05T07:33:01.191-08:00

A group of Israeli military officers called off an official visit to Britain last week, fearing they could face arrest on war crimes charges, officials said Tuesday. The four unidentified officers, holding ranks from major to colonel, are the latest in a string of Israeli politicians and military officials forced to call off travel to Britain over fears of legal prosecution relating to last

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-48784528590221482622010-01-04T09:01:00.000-08:002010-01-04T09:01:05.127-08:00

South Africa's president formalized his marriage to his third wife during a traditional ceremony Monday amid media reports he plans to take a fourth bride later this year. Some 2,000 guests thronged a homestead in rural KwaZulu-Natal province to watch the ceremony in which 67-year-old President Jacob Zuma and 38-year-old Tobeka Madiba took part. The couple are already married under South

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-56548090618770221462010-01-04T09:00:00.001-08:002010-01-04T09:00:27.807-08:00

A tsunami unleashed by a major earthquake plowed into the Solomon Islands on Monday with the crashing waters devastating at least one village. Initial reports said no one was seriously hurt. A series of major quakes have rocked the South Pacific region since Sunday, with three powerful temblors striking Monday, including a 7.2 magnitude tremor. The Solomon Island's National Disaster Management

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-62306222048551034662009-12-30T09:40:00.001-08:002009-12-30T09:40:50.271-08:00

Nigeria's new chief justice was sworn-in Wednesday by his predecessor instead of by President Umaru Yar'Adua, who is in hospital in Saudi Arabia, sparking claims the appointment is illegal. Aloysius Katsina-Alu, 68, took the oath of office before the outgoing Idris Kutigi, who retires on Thursday. Traditionally, the head of state swears-in the chief justice but Yar'Adua has been receiving

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-75737274340539977192009-12-30T09:39:00.002-08:002009-12-30T09:39:27.962-08:00

An Argentine judge convicted a former Roman Catholic archbishop Wednesday of sexually abusing a seminarian in 1992. Former Santa Fe Archbishop Edgardo Storni received a sentence of eight years, the minimum for aggravated sexual abuse, defense attorney Eduardo Jauchen said. Jauchen told LT10 radio that he has appealed, saying the case against his client lacked proof and was based on "rumors,

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-34674053703644186532009-12-30T09:39:00.000-08:002009-12-30T09:39:00.449-08:00

Belarus' authoritarian leader is promising to toughen control over the Internet and Web users. Alexander Lukashenko said Wednesday that people posting "lies and dirt" online should be subject to prosecution. He told journalists that a new Internet bill proposed Tuesday requires the registration and identification of all online publications and of each Web user, including visitors to Internet

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-60678586568937871572009-12-29T11:06:00.000-08:002009-12-29T11:06:00.124-08:00

The Brazilian family of a 9-year-old boy returned by court order to his U.S. father said Tuesday it will fight to regain custody. Lawyers for the relatives of Sean Goldman said they will push forward with a request from his Brazilian grandmother to allow the boy to make his own wishes known in court. The request was initially denied, but the Supreme Court has not issued a final ruling on that

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-13143127829115866942009-12-29T11:04:00.001-08:002009-12-29T11:04:12.426-08:00

The Cuban government has given a U.S. diplomat access to a jailed American citizen accused of providing communications equipment to dissident groups while working as a government contractor, a U.S. official in Havana said Tuesday. The case has drawn denunciations from Cuban President Raul Castro and further strained U.S.-Cuba relations after months of slow but steady progress toward easing their

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-51131072111542817622009-12-28T13:55:00.000-08:002009-12-28T13:55:22.293-08:00

Thirty-eight people were killed Monday in clashes between joint military-police forces and suspected members of an Islamic sect in the northern Nigerian city of Bauchi, police said. Bauchi State police chief Atikur Kafur said: "All in all, 38 people were killed including a soldier and two innocent neighbours. Among those killed is the leader of the sect," identifying him simply as Malam Badamasi

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-49268876301755716642009-12-28T13:54:00.001-08:002009-12-28T13:54:22.672-08:00

President Hugo Chavez is accusing Colombia and the United States of plotting to set up a fake rebel camp on Venezuelan soil to discredit his government. Chavez accused Colombia of preparing what he called a "false positive" operation, saying on Monday that it's feasible the neighboring country could build a makeshift camp in a remote location, then plant corpses and guns to make it look like a

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-71088289935191075992009-12-28T07:43:00.002-08:002009-12-28T07:43:43.632-08:00

A coal mine explosion has killed 12 people in northern China, while five other miners were killed and six trapped in an accident in the southwest of the country, state media reported Monday. The official Xinhua News Agency said 12 miners were killed in Shanxi province when a pocket of gas was ignited. Four others survived. Xinhua said another five were killed and six trapped underground at a

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-7880774266755434742009-12-28T07:43:00.000-08:002009-12-28T07:43:07.499-08:00

Russia has warned the European Union of oil supply cuts because of a fresh row between Moscow and Kiev, the Slovak government said on Monday, hours after Russia played down worries about a new gas row with Ukraine. The Slovak Economy Ministry said Russia has warned the European Union that Slovakia, Hungary and the Czech Republic could experience oil supply cuts. A European Union source said oil

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-33965775895712938922009-12-28T07:42:00.000-08:002009-12-28T07:42:16.922-08:00

Relatives made a last-minute plea for mercy Monday for a Briton scheduled to be executed in China for drug smuggling after visiting the man whom they say may be mentally ill. Akmal Shaikh, a 53-year-old father of three, was not aware that his execution had been scheduled for Tuesday, until his cousins told him. He would be the first citizen of a European country to be put to death in China in

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-14693402037898627882009-12-24T14:08:00.002-08:002009-12-24T14:08:42.707-08:00

Heavy rains and gale force winds battered parts of Morocco, killing at least five people and flooding large parts of the northern city of Tangiers, local authorities said on Thursday. Torrential rains lashed the Agadir region, where three people were killed when the vehicle they were travelling in was swept away by flood waters close to the the Tazentout river, officials said. In Casablanca,

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-60790301853581392822009-12-24T14:08:00.000-08:002009-12-24T14:08:15.185-08:00

Police say 40 people died when a bus carrying mainly Quechua farmers and merchants home for Christmas plunged into a ravine on a remote highway in the southeastern Andes. Alberto Palomino of the Cusco Highway Police says the dawn accident 380 miles (610 kilometers) southeast of Lima injured an untold number of passengers. The cause of Thursday's crash is under investigation. Local teacher

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-47746640312075744352009-12-24T14:07:00.001-08:002009-12-24T14:07:38.509-08:00

Sweden's media reacted sceptically Thursday to Ford's agreement to sell Volvo to China's Geely, reflecting on the iconic Swedish brand's future and the country's once-great auto industry. "Volvo: Money can't buy everything," read an editorial in Dagens Nyheter, Sweden's main newspaper of reference. "In mass-production China, there is a risk that the trademark will hollow out." Summing up

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-4122740858440354782009-12-24T00:19:00.001-08:002009-12-24T00:19:28.979-08:00

Search-and-rescue teams combed the waters of Manila Bay on Thursday for at least 27 people missing after a passenger ferry collided with a fishing boat, the coast guard said. Forty-six passengers and crew of the wooden-hulled ferry MV Catalyn B were plucked from the water and brought to the coast guard's Manila headquarters, said coast guard spokesman Armand Balilo. The coast guard has alerted

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-80597716298763015062009-12-18T10:10:00.000-08:002009-12-18T10:10:00.481-08:00

The union for British Airways cabin crew said Friday it would swiftly hold another strike vote after a court blocked a planned walkout over the Christmas and New Year's holiday travel period. A quick ballot by the Unite union could pave the way for a rescheduled walkout in January, ramping up a dispute over pay cuts and reduced staffing levels that has grown increasingly acrimonious. The strike

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-67127890353083906622009-12-16T09:29:00.000-08:002009-12-16T09:29:13.192-08:00

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown phoned former Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni Wednesday to say she is still welcome in Britain, despite a recent attempt by pro-Palestinian activists to have her arrested during a planned visit to London. Livni's office said the British premier called on Wednesday afternoon to say he objects to the arrest warrant and that he intends to act to change the

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-33727971009761653842009-12-16T09:28:00.000-08:002009-12-16T09:28:04.347-08:00

Doctors say Premier Silvio Berlusconi will stay in hospital at least until Thursday with injuries from an attack by a mentally ill man that left his nose and two teeth broken. Berlusconi had been expected to be released from the Milan hospital on Wednesday evening. But doctors said in the latest medical bulletin that they wanted to keep the premier hospitalized at least one more night. They

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-5018944759911277012009-12-15T11:45:00.002-08:002009-12-15T11:45:35.425-08:00

The Philippines' most active volcano oozed lava and shot up plumes of ash Tuesday, forcing thousands of people to evacuate their homes and face the possibility of a bleak Christmas in a shelter. State volcanologists raised the alert level on the cone-shaped, 8,070-foot (2,460-meter) Mayon volcano overnight to two steps below a major eruption after ash explosions. Dark orange lava fragments

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-24316581936404972009-12-15T11:45:00.000-08:002009-12-15T11:45:05.660-08:00

At least one thousand people were rescued in southern Bangladesh after a packed ferry hit a bridge in dense fog late Tuesday and started taking on water, an official said. The boat's hull developed a crack and took in water after hitting a column of a bridge on the Sandhya river at Shikarpur in southern Barisal district, government administrator Priya Sindhu Talukdar told AFP by phone. "There

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-89347230250494268812009-12-15T11:44:00.001-08:002009-12-15T11:44:34.278-08:00

In a showdown between the world's two largest polluters, China accused the United States and other rich nations Tuesday of backsliding on fighting global warming and the top U.S. envoy said Chinese greenhouse gas emission commitments should be independently verified. Trying to ease the tension, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said rich and poor countries must "stop pointing fingers" and

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-33259055314159439142009-12-10T10:28:00.001-08:002009-12-10T10:28:09.233-08:00

The gunman sentenced to 27 years for killing U.S. nun and Amazon rain forest activist Dorothy Stang has waived his right to a new trial, a prosecutor said Thursday. Just as a new trial was opening for Rayfran das Neves Sales in the northern city of Belem, his attorney told a judge that Sales no longer wanted to contest his original 2005 conviction, said Para state prosecutor Edson Souza. No one

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-50228259900779399242009-12-10T10:27:00.001-08:002009-12-10T10:27:17.084-08:00

Pope Benedict XVI said Thursday there are growing signs of religious freedom in Cuba and that there is an opportunity for reconciliation between the communist nation and the United States. Welcoming Havana's new ambassador to the Vatican, Benedict also expressed sympathy for Cuba's suffering during the global downturn as well as "the devastating effects of natural disasters and the economic

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-75457296782692749802009-12-10T10:20:00.001-08:002009-12-10T10:20:47.634-08:00

A record five women were among the 13 people awarded Nobel Prizes on Thursday, including a writer who depicted life behind the Iron Curtain and researchers who showed how chromosomes protect themselves from degrading. Sweden's King Carl XVI Gustaf handed out the prestigious 10 million kronor ($1.4 million) awards in chemistry, physics, medicine, literature and economics during a glitzy ceremony

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-37983499713388828732009-12-07T09:57:00.000-08:002009-12-07T09:57:24.025-08:00

Police took Liu Xiaobo away one year ago, a day before the publication of a document he co-authored that called for more civil rights in China and an end to the Communist Party's political dominance. The former professor has been held without charge ever since and allowed just two visits from his wife. Other Chinese bold enough to put their names to "Charter 08" — an unusually direct call for a

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-33835233200294351702009-12-07T09:56:00.000-08:002009-12-07T09:56:10.254-08:00

Guinea's military strongman, hospitalized in Morocco with a gunshot wound, is conscious and speaking, the country's foreign minister said Monday as he tried to tamp down speculation that Capt. Moussa "Dadis" Camara is badly hurt. Alexandre Cece Loua told The Associated Press he has spoken with Camara in the hospital and called his condition "encouraging." Few details have emerged about the

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-85560622308168973372009-12-07T09:55:00.000-08:002009-12-07T09:55:25.888-08:00

A Polish historian says he made a surprising find when poring through World War I archives — the death certificate of Manfred von Richthofen, the German fighter ace known as the "Red Baron." Maciej Kowalczyk said Monday that he found the file last month while going through old German archives in the western Polish city of Ostrow Wielkopolski. The area was formerly German, and Richthofen was

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-20189802610764478132009-12-07T09:51:00.001-08:002009-12-07T09:51:47.335-08:00

The largest and most important U.N. climate change conference in history opened Monday, with organizers warning diplomats from 192 nations that this could be the last, best chance for a deal to protect the world from calamitous global warming. Negotiations have dragged on for two years and only recently have shown signs of breakthroughs with new commitments from major emitters such as the United

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-18967115020859566852009-12-04T18:18:00.000-08:002009-12-04T18:18:45.551-08:00

The wounded president of Guinea was airlifted to a hospital in Morocco on Friday, opening a dangerous power vacuum in this mineral-rich country one year after he took over in a military coup. The shooting of Capt. Moussa "Dadis" Camara, reportedly by his second-in-command, has laid bare deep divisions within the junta. The assassination attempt followed an argument between Camara and Abubakar

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-25105777728364684022009-12-04T18:16:00.001-08:002009-12-04T18:16:38.873-08:00

Philippine troops took the patriarch of a powerful clan — a former governor — into custody Saturday after the president put his southern province under martial law to hunt down suspects in the country's worst political violence. The head of the clan, Andal Ampatuan Sr. and at least six other family members who have ruled impoverished Maguindanao province unopposed for years are the main suspects

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-48062110148853355432009-12-03T10:00:00.000-08:002009-12-03T10:00:13.720-08:00

Survivors of the Bhopal gas leak in India on Thursday marked 25 years since the world's worst industrial accident with rallies demanding those to blame for thousands of deaths finally face justice. Residents and activists capped a week of commemorations with a march to the Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal, where on December 3, 1984 a cloud of methyl isocyanate killed up to 10,000 people

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-29053078701291724672009-12-03T09:58:00.000-08:002009-12-03T09:58:53.788-08:00

A Congolese court has upheld death sentences for two Norwegians convicted of espionage and murder, U.N. radio said Thursday, prompting condemnation from Norwegian officials. Radio Okapi said a military court in Kisangani announced the decision on Thursday. Norwegian media identified the two as Tjostolv Moland and Joshua French. The two men, both former Norwegian soldiers, were convicted in May

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-80509485928846119322009-12-03T09:57:00.000-08:002009-12-03T09:57:13.312-08:00

A Swiss adventurer said his first flight using a prototype of a solar-powered plane he will try to fly around the world in was successful. The short, low altitude flight at a Swiss airfield Thursday proved the prototype can fly, said adventurer Bertrand Piccard, pilot of the first hot-air balloon to fly nonstop around the world. "It was absolutely great to see this airplane in the air,"

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462421233137032184.post-11307294688386493122009-12-03T09:55:00.001-08:002009-12-03T09:55:23.094-08:00

India will significantly slow the growth of its climate-warming carbon dioxide emissions over the next decade as its economy keeps expanding, an official said Thursday ahead of world climate change talks. However, the developing country will not accept a binding emissions reduction target, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said. Ramesh told Parliament the country plans to reduce by 20 percent

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0