25 killed in suicide bombing

25 killed in suicide bombing in Fallujah (AP)

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)

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)

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.

Russia - new ICBM can beat any system

Russia says new ICBM can beat any system (AP)

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)

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)

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)

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.

Two Koreas launch talks

Two Koreas launch talks amid tensions over aid (AFP)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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.

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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.

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)

AP - 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.

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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)

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)

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.

Israeli pounds on Gaza anew

Israel pounds Gaza, arrests Palestinian minister (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)

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)

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)

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.

Gunmen kidnap oil workers in Nigeria

Gunmen kidnap oil workers in Nigeria (AP)

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)

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)

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)

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.

Castro says he is better

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

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.

UK seeks extradition of former KGB man

UK seeks extradition of former KGB man (AP)

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)

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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)

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.

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)

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

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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.

Brown heckled by protester

Brown heckled by Iraq war protestor (AFP)

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), ...

(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

Newsvine - Idaho Police: 2 Lawmen, 2 Civilians Shot

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)

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.