News For Thursday Aug 21, 2008 News For Thursday Aug 21, 2008

World World

Police: Attacks at Pakistan arms factory kill 20 - Added 1 minute ago

Two suicide bombers blew themselves up at the gates of Pakistan's main weapons complex on Thursday, killing at least 20 people and wounding about 50, police said. The bombers struck at two different gates just as many...

Nuclear exporters to discuss India trade ban - Added 22 minutes ago

A group of nations that export nuclear material was meeting Thursday to discuss whether to grant India access to nuclear fuel and technology, a decision crucial to finalizing a landmark U.S.-India deal lifting a ban on...

US coalition says 30 militants die in battle - Added 23 minutes ago

!!-- pobj:XNK101-0820080932 -->U.S.-led coalition troops killed more than 30 insurgents in a battle in eastern Afghanistan while three Polish soldiers serving with NATO forces died in a roadside blast elsewhere,...

Australian officials to euthanize baby whale - Added 26 minutes ago

An abandoned baby whale that has been attempting to suckle boats in the waters off north Sydney will be euthanized because it is in such poor condition, an environmental official said Thursday. Veterinarians and marine...

14 bodies ID'd so far in Spain plane crash - Added 30 minutes ago

Spain began three days of mourning Thursday for the 153 people who died when a jetliner crashed shortly after takeoff in the nation's worst air disaster in nearly 25 years. Only 19 people survived Wednesday's crash of...

Pakistan party threatens to quit, coalition wavers - Added 35 minutes ago

A key party in Pakistan's ruling coalition threatened Thursday to quit unless judges fired by former President Pervez Musharraf are quickly reinstated _ dashing hopes that Musharraf's departure would end the nation's...

Pirates seize Japanese, Iranian ships off Somalia - Added 1 hour ago

Armed pirates hijacked a Japanese-operated tanker and an Iranian ship off Somalia's coast Thursday, the latest in a series of attacks that have sent jitters among seafarers in an area known for its lawlessness. The...

Police detain more foreign activists in Beijing - Added 1 hour ago

Swarms of plainclothes police took away four foreign activists who tried to unfurl a Tibetan flag outside the main Olympics venue on Thursday, squelching the latest attempt to demonstrate during the Beijing Games. ...

Russia blocks Georgia's main port city - Added 1 hour ago

Russian forces blocked the only land entrance to Georgia's main port city on Thursday, a day before Russia promised to complete a troop pullout from its ex-Soviet neighbor. Armored personnel carriers and troop trucks...

Philippines peace process in tatters - Added 1 hour ago

A Muslim rebel organization rejected demands by the Philippine government Thursday for the surrender of two renegade commanders blamed for attacks that killed dozens of people, setting the stage for a possible...

Mugabe's govt: parliament to convene next week - Added 1 hour ago

President Robert Mugabe's government says he will open parliament next week despite the opposition's saying the step would undermine power-sharing talks. Cabinet clerk Austin Zvoma said Wednesday that members of...

Norway: Russia to cut all military ties with NATO - Added 1 hour ago

Russia has informed Norway that it plans to suspend all military ties with NATO, Norway's Defense Ministry said Wednesday, a day after the military alliance urged Moscow to withdraw its forces from Georgia. NATO...

UN urges South Korea to offer food aid to North - Added 2 hours ago

The U.N. food agency has asked South Korea to provide emergency aid to North Korea to help it avert a food crisis, an official said Thursday. The World Food Program earlier this week officially requested that Seoul...

Al-Qaida in Iraq says it killed US-allied Sunni - Added 3 hours ago

An al-Qaida in Iraq front organization is claiming responsibility for a suicide attack that killed a U.S.-allied Sunni leader in northern Baghdad on Sunday. The Islamic State of Iraq says the suicide bomber who...

At least 74 killed in flooding in India - Added 3 hours ago

Monsoon rains pummeled northern India, bringing dozens of buildings crashing down and killing 74 people, police said Thursday. The deaths were reported in Uttar Pradesh state, one of India's poorest, bringing this...

Mexico outraged over corrupt police, kidnappings - Added 3 hours ago

After kidnappers in police uniforms set up a fake checkpoint to snatch 14-year-old Fernando Marti off a Mexico City street, his businessman father paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in ransom, and waited for his...

Sri Lankan troops break through rebel defenses - Added 4 hours ago

The Sri Lankan military says it has broken through the Tamil Tigers' defenses in recent weeks, ending a prolonged stalemate and stirring predictions of an imminent rebel defeat after 25 years of civil war. Troops...

Red Cross gets radio threats in Mexico border city - Added 4 hours ago

Red Cross workers stopped treating gunshot victims for several hours in a violent city across the border from Texas after receiving death threats over their radio frequencies, officials said Wednesday. Two voices were...

US coalition: 30 militants die in Afghan battle - Added 5 hours ago

U.S.-led coalition troops battled a group of militants in eastern Afghanistan, killing over 30 insurgents, while three NATO soldiers were killed in a roadside blast elsewhere, officials said Thursday. The coalition...

Typhoon moves away from Philippines after 7 dead - Added 5 hours ago

Rains from Typhoon Nuri triggered a series of landslides and floods in the northern Philippines, killing seven people before the storm moved on Thursday toward Hong Kong. Nuri, packing winds of 87 mph and gusts of up...

Some of the deadliest plane crashes on takeoff - Added 8 hours ago

Some of the deadliest plane crashes that have occurred during takeoff: _ Aug. 20, 2008: Spanish airliner bound for the Canary Islands crashes, burns and breaks into pieces while trying to take off from Madrid's Barajas...

Saakashvili doubts Russians will withdraw - Added 9 hours ago

Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili said Wednesday that he does not believe Russia will soon withdraw from most of the country, suggesting there was little Georgians could do but offer "passive resistance." ...

Mexico starts campaign to save endangered porpoise - Added 9 hours ago

Mexico said Wednesday it will invest 163 million pesos ($16 million) to save a highly endangered species of porpoise in the upper Gulf of California, asking reluctant fishermen to adopt safer methods or give up their...

Puerto Rico governor denies fraud, other charges - Added 10 hours ago

The governor of Puerto Rico denied new charges of alleged campaign finance violations on Wednesday, accusing federal authorities of political sabotage. Anibal Acevedo Vila declared his innocence in a televised speech...

Canada says 1 dead, 16 ill in listeriosis outbreak - Added 10 hours ago

An outbreak of listeriosis has killed one person and sickened at least 16 others, Canadian public health officials said Wednesday, as a food company suspended production at a Toronto plant and expanded a recall of...

Top Greek fugitive arrested in kidnapping probe - Added 10 hours ago

Police arrested the country's most wanted man while tracking down the alleged kidnappers of a prominent businessman, officials said Thursday. Convicted armed robber Vassilis Paleokostas escaped from a maximum security...

US military deaths in Iraq war at 4,145 - Added 11 hours ago

As of Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2008, at least 4,145 members of the U.S. military have died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. The figure includes eight military civilians...

Capt. Cook's boomerang to be auctioned in London - Added 11 hours ago

Christie's says it will auction an Aboriginal boomerang collected by the explorer Capt. James Cook. The auctioneer says the antique throwing stick was probably collected by the British naval officer during his first...

Zambia mourns president; funeral set for Monday - Added 12 hours ago

Zambians wept on the streets of the capital, Parliament suspended its session and even a doctors' strike was called off as the southern African nation mourned its president Wednesday. The Zambian flag flew at half...

Iraq's Sunni politicians angry over arrests - Added 12 hours ago

Top Sunni politicians on Wednesday accused Iraq's Shiite-dominated security forces of carrying out political arrests, and warned that this could push Iraq into another round of sectarian fighting. The outcry came in...

Norway: Russia to cut all military ties with NATO - Added 12 hours ago

Russia has informed Norway that it plans to suspend all military ties with NATO, Norway's Defense Ministry said Wednesday, a day after the military alliance urged Moscow to withdraw its forces from Georgia. NATO...

US, Poland OK missile defense base, riling Moscow - Added 12 hours ago

The United States and Poland signed a deal Wednesday to place a U.S. missile defense base just 115 miles from Russia _ a move followed swiftly by a new warning from Moscow of a possible military response. For many...

Twin car bombings hit Algerian hotel, barracks - Added 13 hours ago

Twin car bombs rocked a hotel and military headquarters in Algeria, killing 12 people Wednesday, a day after a suicide bombing nearby killed 43. The new bombings were the sixth major terrorist action this month in the...

Lieberman advocates stronger Georgia defense - Added 13 hours ago

A prominent U.S. senator advocated strengthening Georgia's capability to defend itself against possible future Russian attack as he visited the country Wednesday in a signal of solidarity. Senators Joe Lieberman and...

In Georgia, Russia digs in as pullback date nears - Added 13 hours ago

Russian forces dug trenches and built sentry posts deep inside Georgia on Wednesday, showing few signs they would pull back later this week as promised. Georgian soldiers suggested the Russians were trying to provoke...

Beijing bishop urges pope to visit China - Added 14 hours ago

The Beijing bishop appointed by China's state-controlled Catholic Church said in an interview Wednesday that he hopes Pope Benedict XVI will visit his country and that relations with the Vatican are improving. "We...

At UN, Russia circulates Georgia resolution - Added 14 hours ago

Russia is countering a French push for immediate withdrawal of Russian troops from Georgia by circulating a competing U.N. Security Council resolution. The Russian draft put forth Wednesday restates the terms of a...

Sudan's president: Darfur genocide 'nonexistent' - Added 15 hours ago

Sudan's indicted president denied Wednesday that his regime is orchestrating genocide in the troubled western region of Darfur _ and offered hope for an end to the violence and the dawn of reconciliation by promising...

Retired UK lawmaker Leo Abse dies at 91 - Added 15 hours ago

Leo Abse, a colorful Welsh politician who took a leading role in liberalizing laws on homosexuality and divorce, has died at age 91. Abse died Tuesday in London, according to Leo Abse and Cohen, the Welsh law firm that...

Officials say US, Iraq finish draft security deal - Added 15 hours ago

Iraqi and U.S. negotiators have finished work on a draft security agreement that would see all American troops leave Iraqi cities by June 30 and the rest of the country by the end of 2011, Iraqi officials said...

Close ally of Colombia's president freed from jail - Added 15 hours ago

A former senator close to President Alvaro Uribe was freed from prison on Wednesday, four months after his arrest on charges of colluding with far-right death squads. Mario Uribe was released after Colombia's No. 2...

Missile strike reported in northwest Pakistan - Added 15 hours ago

Missiles destroyed a suspected militant hide-out near the Afghan border Wednesday where foreign insurgents were known to frequent, killing at least five people, Pakistani officials said. The reported strike _ which...

Musharraf unwinds, but could face court - Added 16 hours ago

Ousted from Pakistan's presidency, Pervez Musharraf has been unwinding with friends and admirers and on the tennis court. He's building a roomy farmhouse on the edge of the capital. But his critics may not be finished...

9 inmates die trying to escape prison in Cameroon - Added 16 hours ago

Nine inmates were electrocuted Wednesday while trying to escape from one of Cameroon's largest prisons, a staff member of the justice minister said. Their bodies were found draped around the prison's perimeter fence,...

Publisher withdraws book after Muslim protests - Added 16 hours ago

A Serbian publisher says it has withdrawn a controversial book by American writer Sherry Jones because of protests from the local Islamic community. The book "Jewel of Medina" is about Aisha, one of the Prophet...

Drug lord's extradition to US approved - Added 16 hours ago

Brazil's Justice Ministry said Wednesday it has approved the extradition of Colombian drug lord Juan Carlos Ramirez Abadia to the United States to face racketeering charges. The announcement comes six months after the...

Far from Beijing, Chinese transfixed by Olympics - Added 17 hours ago

Perched on a stool beside a roadside fruit stand piled high with melons and pears in farming country north of Shanghai, Meng Zhoucui conceded she's not a big sports fan. But like many Chinese who normally wouldn't pay...

Campaigning UK journalist dies of cancer at age 27 - Added 17 hours ago

Adrian Sudbury, a young British journalist who blogged about his fight with cancer and campaigned for more bone marrow donations, died in his sleep Wednesday, his family said. He was 27. "Baldy's Blog" was Sudbury's...

Sarkozy visits Kabul after French soldiers killed - Added 17 hours ago

French President Nicolas Sarkozy vowed Wednesday that French troops would stick it out in Afghanistan despite an exceptionally deadly attack and frustration at home about the war. "We have to be here," he said while...

Philippines peace in tatters after rebel attack - Added 17 hours ago

Police special forces with orders to kill headed into the hinterlands of the southern Philippines on Wednesday, seeking Muslim rebels responsible for shooting and hacking 37 people to death in a brutal rampage that has...