Thursday, May 31, 2007

25 killed in suicide bombing

25 killed in suicide bombing in Fallujah (AP)

Residents gather near a burnt vehicle after an air strike by U.S. forces in Baghdad's Sadr City May 31, 2007. In a statement, the U.S. military said they arrested two suspected insurgents during a raid on Thursday in Sadr City.      REUTERS/Kareem Raheem  (IRAQ)AP - A suicide bomber hit a police recruiting center in Fallujah on Thursday, killing at least 25 people and wounding 50, police said. U.S. forces backed by helicopter gunships clashed with suspected al-Qaida gunmen in western Baghdad in an engagement that lasted several hours.


7 dead in Afghan crash

5 Americans among 7 dead in Afghan crash (AP)

U.S. soldiers take cover as a CH-47 Chinook helicopter takes off, in Helmand province, southern Afghanistan, in this 2006 file photo. Five U.S. soldiers were killed when their Chinook helicopter was apparently shot down in southern Afghanistan on Wednesday, a U.S. military official said. The Taliban claimed responsibility.  (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd, file)AP - NATO troops on Thursday secured the wreckage of a CH-47 Chinook helicopter apparently shot down by Taliban militants, an attack that killed everyone on board — five U.S. soldiers, a Canadian and a Briton, officials said.


Top Spammer arrested

Man described as a top spammer arrested (AP)

A 27-year-old man described as one of the world's most prolific spammers was arrested Wednesday, and federal authorities said computer users across the Web could notice a decrease in the amount of junk e-mail. (AP GRAPHIC)AP - A 27-year-old man described as one of the world's most prolific spammers was arrested Wednesday, and federal authorities said computer users across the Web could notice a decrease in the amount of junk e-mail.


Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Russia - new ICBM can beat any system

Russia says new ICBM can beat any system (AP)

Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, and Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates speak during their meeting in the Kremlin in Moscow, Tuesday, May 29, 2007. President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday accused the West of double standards on human rights and used colorful language to make a point about a dispute that has blocked talks on a new partnership deal with the European Union. (AP Photo/RIA-Novosti, Presiential Press Service, Dmitry Astakhov)AP - Russia tested new missiles Tuesday that a Kremlin official boasted could penetrate any defense system, and President Vladimir Putin warned that U.S. plans for an anti-missile shield in Europe would turn the region into a "powder keg."


Turkey builds up forces on Iraqi border

Turkey builds up forces on Iraqi border (AP)

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, right, with his deputy and Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul before his address to the lawmakers of his Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party at the Parliament in Ankara, Tuesday, May 29, 2007.  Erdogan on Tuesday said the United States and Iraq should destroy bases of separatist Kurdish guerrillas in northern Iraq. Prime Minister Erdogan told private NTV television in an interview that Turkey was expecting the United States and Iraq to destroy bases of Kurdish guerrillas in northern Iraq. Erdogan did not rule out a cross-border Turkish operation against the rebels. (AP Photo/Burhan Ozbilici)AP - Turkey has sent large contingents of reinforcement soldiers, tanks and armored personnel carriers to its border with Iraq as debate heated up over whether to stage a cross-border offensive to hit Kurdish rebel bases.


Venezuela's Chavez widens attack on opposition media

Venezuela's Chavez widens attack on opposition media (Reuters)

Riot police face off against Venezuelans protesting in the rain in downtown Caracas May 29, 2007 against the decision by President Hugo Chavez to take the country's oldest television channel, Radio Caracas Television (RCTV), off the air and replace it with a state-run channel to promote his socialist programs. (Carlos Garcia Rawlin/Reuters)Reuters - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Tuesday called opposition news channel Globovision an enemy of the state and said he would do what was needed to stop it from inciting violence, only days after he shut another opposition broadcaster.


Fighting continues in Lebanon

Fighting flares again at besieged Lebanon camp (AFP)

Lebanese soldiers patrol in the outskirts of the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp, 26 May 2007. Fighting between the Lebanese army and Islamist militants flared again as their deadly standoff entered its 10th day and relief workers tried to get aid to stranded civilians.(AFP/File/Patrick Baz)AFP - Fighting between the Lebanese army and Islamist militants flared again as their deadly standoff entered its 10th day Wednesday and relief workers tried to get aid to stranded civilians.


Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Two Koreas launch talks

Two Koreas launch talks amid tensions over aid (AFP)

South Korean Unification Minister Lee Jae-joung(R) toasts with North Korea's delegation head and chief councillor of the cabinet Kwon Ho-Ung during their dinner in Seoul. North and South Korea launched a new round of reconciliation talks Tuesday, calling for successful negotiations despite tensions over delays in Seoul's rice aid and Pyongyang's nuclear disarmament.(AFP/POOL/Jo Yong-hak)AFP - North and South Korea launched a new round of reconciliation talks Tuesday, calling for successful negotiations despite tensions over delays in Seoul's rice aid and Pyongyang's nuclear disarmament.


Brazil to subsidize birth control pills

Brazil to subsidize birth control pills (AP)

A vendor works at a government run pharmacy that distributes free condoms and birth control pills in Sao Paulo, Monday, May 28, 2007. Just weeks after Pope Benedict XVI denounced government-backed contraception in a visit to Brazil,  President President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva unveiled a program to provide cheap birth control pills at 10,000 drug stores across the country. The sign reads in Portuguese 'Popular Pharmacy of Brazil.' (AP Photo/Victor R. Caivano)AP - Just weeks after Pope Benedict XVI denounced government-backed contraception in a visit to Brazil, the president unveiled a program Monday to provide cheap birth control pills at 10,000 drug stores across the country.


Multiple-warhead missiles from Russia

Russia tests new multiple-warhead missile (Reuters)

Soldiers march during a World War Two victory parade at the Red Square in Moscow May 9, 2007. Russia test-fired a new intercontinental ballistic missile on Tuesday featuring multiple warheads which can be independently targeted, Russian agencies reported. (Denis Sinyakov/Reuters)Reuters - Russia test-fired a new intercontinental ballistic missile on Tuesday featuring multiple warheads which can be independently targeted, Russian agencies reported.


Do not violate our airspace again - Turkey

Turkey asks U.S. not to violate its airspace again (Reuters)

Turkish sailors stand guard on the deck of naval ship Salih Reis during the Sea Wolf-2007 Military Exercise in the Aegean, off Turkey's coastal city of Izmir May 26, 2007. (Umit Bektas/Reuters)Reuters - Turkey asked the United States formally on Tuesday to avoid another violation of its airspace after an incident that exposed tensions between the NATO allies.


Obama is running for the president of the universe

Obama offers universal health care plan (AP)

Democratic presidential hopeful U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., speaks during a Memorial Day reception with veterans, Monday, May 28, 2007, in Davenport, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)AP - Seeking to add heft to his presidential bid, Democrat Barack Obama is offering a sweeping plan that would provide every citizen a means to have health coverage and calls on government, businesses and consumers to share the costs of the program.


Monday, May 28, 2007

Bill Urges Farmers to Grow Energy Crops

Newsvine - Bill Urges Farmers to Grow Energy Crops

Sarah Viet, a fermentation research analyst for ethanol producer Poet, adds water to a beaker of ground corn stover, April 24, 2007, at Poet's lab in Sioux Falls, S.D. The company, which produces about a billion gallons of corn-based ethanol each year, plans to adapt its Emmetsburg, Iowa, plant to also produce cellulosic ethanol. (AP Photo/Dirk Lammers)

Bill Urges Farmers to Grow Energy Crops

(AP/Newsvine) Legislation introduced in the U.S. Senate this week would entice farmers located near ethanol biorefineries to grow dedicated energy crops.

Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., said his bill would offer incentives to farmers who plant switchgrass, fast-growing trees and other cellulosic feedstocks and deliver them to the nation's next generation of ethanol plants. Cellulose is the woody material in branches and stems that makes plants hard.


Not in a good mood

Putin sulks as Soviet car giant stumbles (AFP)

Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) drives 18 May 2007 a new model of a car during his visit to the AvtoVAZ automobile plant in Togliatti.(AFP/PPS/Itar-Tass/File/Vladimir Rodionov)AFP - TOLYATTI, Russia AFP) - Judging by the sulk on Vladimir Putin's face and the force with which he was slamming the car doors shut, the president was not in a good mood.


19 killed from car bomb

Car bomb kills at least 19 in Baghdad (AP)

A young boy seeks shelter behind a soldier with the U.S. Army's 82nd Airborne division after gunshots rang out at the scene where just a few minutes earlier a suicide car bomber blew himself up in a busy commercial district in central Baghdad on Monday, May 28, 2007, killing at least 21 people and wounding 66, police and hospital officials said. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed )AP - A car bomb exploded in central Baghdad on Monday, killing at least 19 people and wounding 46, police and hospital officials said.


Martial law

Venezuela replaces opposition TV with state network (Reuters)

Workers of RCTV cry while singing the national anthem after the channel was forced off the air, in Caracas May 28, 2007. (Jorge Silva/Reuters)Reuters - Venezuela shut down an opposition television channel on Monday and replaced it with one promoting President Hugo Chavez's self-proclaimed socialist revolution in a move widely criticized as a threat to democracy.


Japanese minister commits suicide

Japan minister commits suicide, adds to PM's woes (Reuters)

The coffin of Japan's farm minister Toshikatsu Matsuoka, who killed himself on Monday, is carried into a funeral hall by officials in Tokyo May 28, 2007. (Kyodo/Reuters)Reuters - A scandal-tainted minister in Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's cabinet committed suicide on Monday, compounding problems for the Japanese leader whose support has slumped ahead of a July election.


US, Iran reach consensus on Iraq

U.S., Iran reach Iraq policy consensus (AP)

U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker arrives at the Iraqi Prime Minister's office in the Green Zone, Baghdad, before a meeting with his Iranian counterpart Hassan Kazemi Qomi, unseen, on security in Iraq Monday, May 28, 2007. Iran and the United States resumed public diplomacy Monday for the first time in more than a quarter century. The meeting in Baghdad between ambassadors on security in Iraq could produce a chapter in world history for its success or a footnote for its failure. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)AP - The United States ambassador in Baghdad said he and his Iranian counterpart agreed broadly on policy toward Iraq during four-hour groundbreaking talks on Monday, but insisted that Iran end its support for militants.


Sunday, May 27, 2007

Syrians support President

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Hundreds of thousands of Syrians throng the main square in Damascus, Thursday, May 24, 2007, chanting their support for Syrian President Bashar Assad, who is about to start his second seven-year term. The rally is one of several that have been held across Syria since the people's 250-seat parliament unanimously nominated Assad for a new second term. Syria will go Sunday, May 27, to the polling stations in a national referendum, endorsing the re-election of the 42-year-old Assad, who is the sole candidate and whose victory is a foregone conclusion. Assad's pictures hang from the buildings around the square. (AP Photo Bassem Tellawi).

Syrians March to Support President


(AP) Hundreds of thousands of Syrians thronged the capital Thursday to support a second seven-year term for President Bashar Assad.

The rally came ahead of a referendum Sunday when voters are expected to approve a second mandate for Assad, who succeeded his father, Hafez Assad, in 2000 at the helm of Syria's autocratic regime. There are no other candidates.  (contd. in newsvine.com)


Outcome on Talks with Iraq uncertain

Outcome of talks on Iraq uncertain (AP)

A Russian technician works inside the nuclear power plant in Bushehr, about 1,215 km (755 miles) south of Tehran in this April 3, 2007 file photo. Iran has met its commitments to Russia over building the Islamic Republic's first nuclear power plant and is ready to go beyond those commitments to assist the work, an Iranian official said on Sunday. REUTERS/Raheb HomavandiAP - The United States is pursuing a two-track strategy with Iran that reflects the high stakes in any engagement with a nation President Bush accuses of bankrolling terrorism and building a nuclear bomb.

Myanmar calls for Suu Kyi release

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Activists Call for Suu Kyi's Release

Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, offers prayers at the Shwedagon temple in this Monday, May 6, 2002 photo, in Yangon. Supporters of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi roundly condemned Myanmar's decision to extend her house arrest for a fifth year, with some calling Saturday, May 26, 2007, for the regime to be expelled from the Southeast Asian regional block. (AP Photo/David Longstreath)

Supporters of Aung San Suu Kyi demanded her release during a rally Sunday, as pro-democracy advocates urged the junta to honor the 1990 election that the Nobel laureate's party won in a landslide.

Holding photos of the detained 61-year-old, about 200 members of her National League for Democracy party shouted "Free Aung San Suu Kyi" as they rallied outside its headquarters in Myanmar's largest city, Yangon.

About 100 soldiers watched the protest, but took no action.


Australia marks referendum anniversary

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Australia Marks Referendum Anniversary

Aboriginal women perform the Woggan-ma-gule morning ceremony on Australia Day in Sydney in this Jan. 26, 2007 file photo. Australia marked 40 years since a historic referendum granted Aborigines citizenship on Sunday, May 27, 2007 but celebrations were muted by stark reminders that the continent's original inhabitants are still poorer and die much younger than the rest of society. (AP Photo/Paul Miller, File)

Australia on Sunday marked 40 years since a historic referendum granted Aborigines citizenship, but celebrations were muted by stark reminders of the hardships facing the continent's original inhabitants.

An overwhelming 91 percent of Australians voted in favor of reforms in the 1967 referendum that gave the federal government the power to make laws covering Aborigines and to count them in the official census for the first time.


US sends more arms to Lebanon

U.S. sends more arms to Lebanon (Reuters)

Lebanese soldiers travel on a vehicle at the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp in northern Lebanon May 26, 2007. (Jerry Lampen/Reuters)Reuters - The United States sent more ammunition on Saturday to Lebanon, whose army is struggling to defeat a group of heavily armed Islamist militants holed up inside a Palestinian refugee camp.


Thousands rally for ousted Pakistani judge

Thousands rally for ousted Pakistani judge (AFP)

AFP - Pakistani lawyers and opposition party members rallied outside the Supreme Court here on Saturday to support the judge at the centre of a row threatening President Pervez Musharraf's grip on power.


Mass grave in Darfur

Mass grave, memories feed fear in Darfur (AP)

Sudanese Darfur survivor Ibrahim stands by the site of a mass grave where he says the remains of 25 of his friends and fellow villagers lie, on the outskirts of the West Darfur town of Mukjar, Sudan, April 23, 2007. The prosecutor for the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, says most of the killings were done by the Sudanese army and the janjaweed, Arab militiamen backed by the Sudanese government. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)AP - Uncovered by a restless wind, skulls and bones poke above the thin dirt in this corner of Darfur, lying surrounded by half-buried, rotting clothes.


Lohan booked for DUI suspicion

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Lindsay Lohan Booked on Suspicion of DUI

Lindsay Lohan was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence Saturday after her convertible struck a curb, and investigators found what they believe is cocaine at the scene, police said.

Lohan, 20, and two other people were in her 2005 Mercedes SL-65 when it crashed on Sunset Boulevard around 5:30 a.m., Sgt. Mike Foxen said. It appeared the actress was speeding, Lt. Mitch McCann said at an afternoon news conference.

Saturday, May 26, 2007

Israeli pounds on Gaza anew

Israel pounds Gaza, arrests Palestinian minister (Reuters)

Palestinians inspect a destroyed compound used by Hamas' Executive Force after an Israeli air strike in Gaza May 26, 2007. Israel pounded Hamas positions in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, killing at least four fighters, and seized a minister in Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh's cabinet, stepping up a campaign against the ruling Islamists. (Mohammed Salem/Reuters)Reuters - Israel pounded Hamas positions in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, killing at least five fighters, and seized a Palestinian cabinet minister.


US violated international law on human rights

U.N. expert faults U.S. on human rights in terror laws (Reuters)

Former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan (center back) addresses the inaugural session of the newly created Human Rights Council at the United Nations European headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, June 19, 2006. The United States apparently violated international law in its military tribunals by using coercion to extract confessions and writing counter-terrorism laws that restrict immigration on questionable grounds, Martin Scheinin, a U.N. investigator said on Friday. (Denis Balibouse/Reuters)Reuters - The United States apparently violated international law in its military tribunals by using coercion to extract confessions and writing counter-terrorism laws that restrict immigration on questionable grounds, a U.N. investigator said on Friday.


UN pleads for civilians caught in crossfire

UN pleads for civilians trapped by Lebanon camp siege (AFP)

A Palestinian refugee and her daughter cross to safety after fleeing their besieged camp of Nahr al-bared in north Lebanon. The United Nations has pleaded for the welfare of thousands of civilians trapped by the Lebanese army's siege of Islamist militants as the handful who managed to get out told harrowing tales of their escape.(AFP/Ramzi Haidar)AFP - The United Nations pleaded for the welfare of thousands of civilians trapped by the Lebanese army's siege of Islamist militants as the few hundred who managed to get out on Saturday told harrowing tales of their escape.


Continued attacks, deaths in Palestinian grounds

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A Palestinian man runs with an injured boy after an Israeli missile strike on a Hamas base after they gathered at the scene of an earlier airstrike on the area in Nusseirat, central Gaza Strip, Friday , May 25, 2007. An Israeli airstrike hit a Hamas training center south of Gaza City on Friday, destroying the compound and lightly injuring at least three, witnesses said. (AP Photo / Adel Hana)

Texas storms leave 5 dead

Texas storms leave 5 dead, 1 missing (AP)

A couple, who wished not to be identified, sits in the windows of their vehicle as floodwaters along Priest Drive wash over the road Friday, May 25, 2007, in Killeen, Texas. (AP Photo/Killeen Daily Herald, David Morris)AP - Forecasters predicted more heavy thunderstorms in the Plains over the holiday weekend after two days of storms and flooding that left five people dead and one missing in central Texas.


Friday, May 25, 2007

Gunmen kidnap oil workers in Nigeria

Gunmen kidnap oil workers in Nigeria (AP)

An oil rig in a file photo. Oil rose to $71 a barrel on Friday, near a nine-month high, as a strike in Nigeria threatened more of the country's output and Iran remained defiant over its nuclear programme. (File/Reuters)AP - Gunmen kidnapped a group of foreign oil workers on Friday, including three Americans and four Britons, in Nigeria's unruly southern petroleum-producing region, officials said.


Israeli air strike near Palestinian PM's home

Israeli air strike near Palestinian PM's home (Reuters)

A Palestinian Hamas militant shouts after an Israeli air strike at a Hamas security force's position in Gaza, May 24, 2007. (Mohammed Salem/Reuters)Reuters - Israel carried out an air strike near the Gaza residence of Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas on Friday but insisted he was not the target.


Japanese media: North Korea fires missiles

Japanese media: NKorea fires missiles (AP)

Missiles are carried during a massive military parade in Pyongyang, North Korea, in this file image made from television April 25, 2007 to mark the 75th anniversary of the Korean People's Army. North Korea is developing a new long-range ballistic missile that may be capable of hitting the U.S. territory of Guam, a Japanese official said Wednesday, May 16, 2007. (AP Photo/APTN, File)AP - North Korea fired several short-range missiles toward the Sea of Japan on Friday, Japanese media reported. Japanese Defense and Foreign Ministry officials said they could not immediately confirm the reports.


Al Sadr blasts at America anew

Al-Sadr makes public appearance in Iraq (AP)

Members of the Mahdi Army, followers of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, take part in a parade marking the seventh anniversary of the death of Muqtada's father Mohammed Sadiq al-Sadr, in Najaf, Iraq, in this Sunday, Nov. 26, 2006 file photo. From hiding, possibly in Iran, U.S. nemesis and radical anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr is believed to be honing plans to sweep into the power vacuum made all the more intense by news that his chief Shiite rival has lung cancer. And he's betting the U.S. won't keep its troops in Iraq much longer.     (AP Photo/Alaa Al Marjani, file)AP - Radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr appeared in public for the first time in months on Friday and delivered a fiery anti-American sermon in the holy Shiite city of Kufa.


Thursday, May 24, 2007

Castro says he is better

Castro says he's better, weight stable (AP)

In this undated photo released Tuesday Sept. 5, 2006 by Granma, Cuba's government official publication, Cuba's President Fidel Castro reads a newspaper. Fidel Castro said he was eating solid foods after months of being fed intravenously in his recuperation from several operations, in a written statement distributed by the government Wednesday, May 23, 2007.  (AP Photo/Granma)AP - Fidel Castro's recovery from intestinal surgery 10 months ago was delayed because the first of several operations he had went badly, the communist leader said in a statement that gave the most detailed account of his health since August.


Wednesday, May 23, 2007

UK seeks extradition of former KGB man

UK seeks extradition of former KGB man (AP)

Alexander Litvinenko, then an officer of Russia's state security service FSB, attends a news conference in Moscow in 1998. (Vasily Djachkov/Files/Reuters)AP - British officials seeking to prosecute a former KGB bodyguard for murder worked Wednesday on a formal extradition request which Russia has already said it will reject.

NYC taxis go green

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In this handout file photo provided by Yahoo.com, five of ten eco-friendly hybrid taxis donated to New York City by Yahoo! are displayed below the Brooklyn Bridge, Saturday, May 12, 2007 in New York. The city's yellow taxi fleet will go entirely... GREEN

(AP/Newsvine)


Cabinet Members Defend Immigration Plan

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Day laborer Tomas Lopez, right, from Guatemala, expresses his optimistic hope to the tentative immigration reform proposal Friday, May 18, 2007, outside a Home Depot in Los Angeles. Illegal immigrants and advocacy groups sharply criticized the Senate's immigration reform proposal, saying the provisions are overly harsh and will drive many people deeper into the shadows. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

Cabinet Members Defend Immigration Plan

WASHINGTON — Two Cabinet secretaries on Sunday promoted the White House's immigration deal with Congress and played down criticism it would reward people who illegally have entered the country.


Bigger than Hiroshima

Iran says anti-U.S. policy "bigger than Hiroshima" (Reuters)

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks in Mashhad, 924 km (574 miles) east of Tehran May 15, 2007. Iran's policies of standing up to the United States have set off a 'powerful bomb in the world of politics' bigger than the atom bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Khamenei said on Monday. (IRNA/Mohammad Babaei/Reuters)Reuters - Iran's policies of standing up to the United States have set off a "powerful bomb in the world of politics" bigger than the atom bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Monday.


Monday, May 21, 2007

The many evils of war

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Palestinian girl Asmaa Al Masri, 12, cries as she is treated in a hospital after being injured by a tank shell in the Jebaliya refugee camp, northern Gaza Strip, early Monday, May 21, 2007. Five youths from the family were injured when a shell fired by an Israeli tank hit their home in northern Gaza, Palestinian sources said. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

Israeli Airstrike Kills 8 in Gaza Strip

GAZA CITY, GAZA STRIP — Palestinian rockets slammed into southern Israel on Monday morning after an Israeli airstrike hit a Hamas lawmaker's house and killed eight people in the deadliest attack of a renewed Israeli campaign against incessant rocket fire.

The Israeli airstrike Sunday night, which followed a government decision to step up operations against Islamic militants, hit the house of lawmaker Khalil al-Haya, who was not at home and was unharmed.

Cutty Shark gutted by blaze

London's Cutty Sark ship gutted by blaze (Reuters)

A fire burns on board the clipper boat The Cutty Sark in south London May 21, 2007. (Ali Sadeghi/Reuters)Reuters - The Cutty Sark, a famous London landmark and thought to be the world's last surviving 19th century tea clipper, was severely damaged in a blaze on Monday, the British fire service said.





(AP) Firefighters spray water onto the 19th century clipper Cutty Sark, which started burning earlier Monday morning, on the ship's dry dock in Greenwich, east London, Monday, May 21, 2007. A fire caused heavy damage to the clipper ship Cutty Sark

Dozens killed in Lebanese fighting

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Lebanese soldiers, take up positions next to their APC armored personnel carrier during clashes with fighters from an Islamic militant group, in the north city of Tripoli, Sunday May 20, 2007. Lebanese security forces fought Islamic militants in the northern city of Tripoli and an adjacent Palestinian refugee camp early Sunday, that left 13 soldiers and 17 militants dead and wounded dozens. (AP Photo)

Dozens Killed in Lebanese Fighting

TRIPOLI, LEBANON — Lebanese troops tightened a siege of a Palestinian refugee camp Monday where a shadowy group suspected of ties to al-Qaida was holed up, pounding the camp with artillery a day after the worst eruption of violence since the end of the country's 1975-90 civil war.

Lebanese officials said one of the men killed in Sunday's fighting was a suspect in a failed German train bombing — a new sign that the camp had become a refuge for militants planning attacks outside of Lebanon. In the past, others in the camp have said they were aiming to send trained fighters into Iraq.


Sunday, May 20, 2007

Brown heckled by protester

Brown heckled by Iraq war protestor (AFP)

Prime minister-designate Gordon Brown, seen here on 17 May 2007, has experienced at first-hand lingering resentment over the Iraq war when his opening address to a Labour Party meeting was disrupted by a protester.(AFP/Pool/File/Clara Molden)AFP - Britain's prime minister designate Gordon Brown has experienced at first-hand lingering resentment over the Iraq war when his opening address to a Labour Party meeting was disrupted by a protester.


Bill factor

The May 28 issue of Newsweek (on newsstands Monday, May 21), ...

photo(AP) - The May 28 issue of Newsweek (on newsstands Monday, May 21), 'The Bill Factor' explores the complex role and effect former president Bill Clinton is playing in his wife's presidential campaign. Columnist Jon Alter writes that voters may not want to put another Clinton in the White House. In a guest essay, author Carl Anthony examines what Bill Clinton's life may be like as 'First Gentleman,' Plus: Top 100 of America's Best High Schools and Tip Sheet explores organic wines. (PRNewsFoto/NEWSWEEK)


2 Lawmen, 2 Civilians Shot

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Idaho Police: 2 Lawmen, 2 Civilians Shot

MOSCOW, IDAHO — Two law enforcement officers and two civilians were wounded and police said they believed they had the shooter cornered in a church early Sunday morning.

Police declined to release the condition of the people who had been shot, and few details were immediately available.

14 killed in Afghan bombing

Bomber kills 14 in Afghanistan (AP)

A Canadian armoured vehicle patrols in Panjwayi district, Kandahar province. More than 30 rebel fighters were killed in southern Afghanistan early Sunday, a police chief said, as the NATO force announced it had killed "a significant number" of Taliban leaders.(AFP/File/John D McHugh)AP - A suicide bomber on foot detonated himself in a crowded market in eastern Afghanistan on Sunday just after a U.S. convoy drove by, killing at least 14 people and wounding 31, officials and witnesses said.


First in 50 years

Newsvine - N. Korean Ship Sails in South Waters

A South Korean police boat is seen beside North Korea cargo ship Kang Son Ho near Busan Port in Busan, south of Seoul, Sunday, May 20, 2007. The North Korean cargo ship has arrived in waters off South Korea's southeastern port of Busan for the first time for more than a half-century, officials said Sunday, as part of the opening of a regular cargo service between the two divided countries. (AP Photo/Yonhap, Jo Chung-ho)

Hard-fought Presidency

Newsvine - Nobel Laureate Is Timor's 2nd President

President-elect Jose Ramos-Horta, left, greets a Timorese veteran of the guerilla conflict with Indonesia during a ceremony honoring those that fought Tuesday, May 15, 2007 in Dili, East Timor. Ramos-Horta will be taking over as president from Xanana Gusmao after winning the presidential election held May 9.(AP Photo/Binsar Bakkara)

DILI, EAST TIMOR — Nobel Peace Prize winner Jose Ramos-Horta was sworn in as East Timor's second president on Sunday, and he vowed to unite the desperately poor nation more than a year after violence brought down its first government.

Australian detainee back from Guantanamo

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Confessed Australian al-Qaida supporter David Hicks was transferred to a maximum security prison in his hometown on Sunday after spending more than five years at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Australian detainee back from Guantanamo

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Confessed Australian al-Qaida supporter David Hicks was transferred to a maximum security prison in his hometown on Sunday after spending more than five years at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Thousands flock to see waywayd whales

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AP - Thousands of spectators watched Saturday as two wayward whales swam looping half-mile laps around the Port of Sacramento after declining earlier efforts to lure them into the Pacific Ocean.

Marine's last request inspires charity

Marine's last request inspires charity (AP)

Mary Conboy shows a selection of items, including baby wipes and shaving cream, she sends to Marines in Iraq, at her Philadelphia home Wednesday, May 16, 2007. Five days before her son, Adam Conboy, was killed in Iraq in May of 2006, the 21-year-old called his mother and asked that she send 40 sets of bed sheets over for him and his comrades. He told her of the rough sleeping conditions the soldiers endured and jokingly said, 'C'mon Mom, get Operation Bedding going.' Without realizing it, Adam had just set up his own memorial fund. (AP Photo/George Widman)AP - Five days before Lance Cpl. Adam C. Conboy was killed in Iraq, he inspired his own memorial fund.


Protest in Baghdad

A demonstrator steps on a U.S. flag during a protest in Baghdad ...

photo(Reuters) - A demonstrator steps on a U.S. flag during a protest in Baghdad May 19, 2007. Hundreds of demonstrators took to the streets denouncing the frequent raids of the U.S. forces in Baghdad's Shi'ite neighbourhood, protesters said. REUTERS/Kareem Raheem (IRAQ)


Saturday, May 19, 2007

No regrets

No regrets, Blair tells Iraq in final visit (Reuters)

Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki (L) greets Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair in Baghdad May 19, 2007. (Stefan Rousseau/Pool/Reuters)Reuters - Britain's Tony Blair, on his last visit to Iraq as prime minister, said on Saturday he had no regrets about his part in the U.S.-led invasion that removed Saddam Hussein.


Blair on Iraq final visit as PM

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BAGHDAD — Outgoing British leader Tony Blair, whose premiership has been dominated by his unpopular decision to join the 2003 invasion to topple Saddam Hussein, arrived in Iraq on Saturday for his seventh — and final — visit as prime minister.

Blair, who was making an unannounced visit before he steps down from office in June, planned to reassure Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki that his departure will not bring an end to Britain's support. (David Stringer/AP)

Gonzales rapped as Yes Man for Bush

Gonzales Rapped as President's 'Yes Man'

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales says his long friendship with President Bush makes it easier to say "no" to him on sticky legal issues. His critics, however, say Gonzales is far more likely to say "yes" — leaving the Justice Department vulnerable to a politically determined White House.

Thousands of gold coins from shipwreck site

Largest shipwreck treasure revealed on Yahoo! News Photos

Some of the thousands of gold coins discovered on the SS Republic shipwreck site are pictured in this November 2003 handout photo released on May 18, 2007. Half a million silver coins and hundreds of gold coins have been recovered from a colonial-era shipwreck codenamed "Black Swan" in the Atlantic in the largest such find of its kind, Odyssey Marine Exploration Inc. said on May 18, 2007. REUTERS/Copyright 2003 Odyssey Marine Exploration/Handout ONE TIME USE ONLY. EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS. NO ARCHIVES. NO SALES.

Police Guard City after bombing

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HYDERABAD, INDIA — Hundreds of police in riot gear deployed Saturday throughout the mostly deserted streets of Hyderabad, hoping to prevent anger over a mosque bombing from sparking more of the religious violence that has plagued the southern Indian city.

Most shops closed for a daylong strike to protest Friday's attack at the 17th-century Mecca Masjid mosque that left 10 people dead and 35 wounded, and the ensuing clashes with police that left four others dead.

Friday, May 18, 2007

Mortar rounds hit helis at US base

Mortar rounds hit helicopters at US base (AP)

A U.S. soldier fixes a helicopter at the military base in Taji May 17, 2007.  REUTERS/ Eduardo Munoz   (IRAQ)AP - Mortar rounds hit a U.S. Air Force base north of Baghdad on Thursday, destroying one helicopter and damaging nine others, police said.


Israeli planes pound Hamas targets

Israeli planes pound Hamas targets (AP)

Palestinians search the rubble of a building after an Israeli airstrike on the facility used by the Islamic group Hamas in Gaza City, Thursday, May 17, 2007.  Israel pounded Hamas targets with airstrikes Thursday, killing six people and wounding dozens as it stepped into intense fighting between the Islamic militants and the rival Fatah movement of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. The Israeli attacks followed Hamas rocket barrages on southern Israel. (AP Photo/Hatem Moussa)AP - Israeli planes pounded Hamas targets and rival Palestinian factions exchanged bursts of automatic weapons fire outside Gaza City's Islamic University Friday. The volatile mix of Israeli strikes and Palestinian infighting plunged Gaza deeper into chaos.


US forces kill 6 insurgents

U.S. forces kill 6 insurgents in Iraq (AP)

U.S. Soldiers rest during their search for three missing comrades after an attack, six days ago, which left four U.S. soldiers and an Iraqi translator dead,  in Cargouli village, near Youssifiyah, 12 miles (20 kilometers) south of Baghdad, Iraq, Thursday May 17, 2007.  An exhaustive search for the missing men is in its sixth day.  (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo) Eds Note: image shot through Humvee window, causing shadow at right.AP - About 50 suspected insurgents attacked a U.S. base in the center of a city north of the capital Friday, sparking a battle with U.S. soldiers and helicopters that killed at least six militants, the Iraqi army said.


Mexicans fear US immigration plan

Mexicans fear U.S. immigration plan (AP)

Mexicans line up outside de U.S. Consulate  in Monterrey, Mexico, as they wait for a working visa interview, Thursday, May 17, 2007. Key senators in both the Democrat and the Republican parties, together with the White House, announced an agreement Thursday on an immigration overhaul that would grant quick legal status to millions of illegal immigrants already in the U.S. and fortify the border. (AP Photo/Guillermo Arias)AP - Congress' new immigration plan was bad news for tens of thousands of poor Mexicans who depend on a U.S. guestworker program for temporary jobs in agriculture and other seasonal work, such as landscaping and construction.


Wolfowitz to exit World Bank

Wolfowitz to exit World Bank after scandal (AFP)

World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz gives a press conference at the EU headquarters in Brussels, 02 May 2007. Wolfowitz bowed to weeks of pressure and agreed to step down June 30 to end a favoritism scandal that had rocked the poverty-fighting institution.(AFP/File/Gerard Cerles)AFP - World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz bowed to weeks of pressure and agreed to step down June 30 to end a favoritism scandal that had rocked the poverty-fighting institution.


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