2 UN chief meets Karzai over Afghan vote chaos
by Chris Otton, AFP
Mon Nov 2, 5:47 am ET
| KABUL (AFP) - UN chief Ban Ki-moon flew into Kabul on Monday to meet President Hamid Karzai over Afghanistan's election crisis as pressure mounted for a run-off poll to be axed after the only challenger pulled out.
The surprise visit from Ban accompanied a diplomatic push to ensure the November 7 one-horse race does not take place, despite the insistence from some officials that it is too late to halt the process.
Ban's visit comes a day after former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah announced he would not participate in this week's election for fear that widespread fraud which discredited the first round would be repeated. |
3 Karzai declared Afghan vote winner
by Chris Otton, AFP
32 mins ago
| KABUL (AFP) - Election organisers on Monday declared Hamid Karzai president of Afghanistan for another five years, cancelling a run-off which threatened to descend into farce and further destabilise the country.
The announcement followed intense diplomatic pressure and sought to draw a line under two months of political chaos in a war-torn nation where 100,000 NATO and US troops are battling an increasingly virulent Taliban insurgency.
"We declare that Mr Hamid Karzai, who won the majority of votes in the first round and is the only candidate in the second round, is the elected president of Afghanistan," Independent Election Commission (IEC) chairman Azizullah Ludin said. |
4 Suicide bomber kills 35 outside Pakistan hotel
by Khurram Shahzad, AFP
2 hrs 20 mins ago
| RAWALPINDI, Pakistan (AFP) - A suicide bomber targeted workers queuing for their salaries outside a Pakistani bank and hotel on Monday, killing 35 people as the United Nations pulled expatriate staff from the northwest.
The twin blows to Pakistan eclipsed the military's announcement that troops had captured a key Taliban-held town during a major offensive in the tribal belt and offered five million dollars for Taliban chiefs dead or alive.
Monday's attack, near army headquarters in Rawalpindi, turned a routine day into bloodshed for the second time in less than a week, showing the enormity of the threat that Al-Qaeda-linked militants pose in Pakistan. |
5 Japan aims to bury greenhouse gas emissions
by Kimiko de Freytas-Tamura, AFP
Mon Nov 2, 6:50 am ET
| OMUTA, Japan (AFP) - Swathes of dirty clouds brood over a coal plant in rural Japan, but scientists are now hoping to send the pollutants the other way, deep into the bowels of Mother Earth.
The cutting-edge but controversial technology of carbon capture and storage (CCS) is being tested at the Mikawa power station, located near the coast of Japan's southern Fukuoka prefecture.
Toshiba Corp. has chosen it as a pilot site for a technology it sees as a necessary complement to renewable energies such as wind and solar in the battle to cut industrial emissions blamed for global warming. |
6 Europe probe tracks global warming impact on water
by Marlowe Hood, AFP
Mon Nov 2, 8:40 am ET
| PARIS (AFP) - The European Space Agency on Monday launched a water tracking satellite that will help give faster predictions of floods and other extreme weather incidents caused by global warming.
The 315 million euro (460 million dollar) Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) probe was carried into space on a Russian Rockot launcher from the Plesetsk cosmodrome in northern Russia.
The ESA said it is now orbiting 760 kilometers (470 miles) above Earth from where it will gauge the impact of climate change on the movement of water across land, air and sea. |
7 Carve out clear options, UN climate talks told
AFP
1 hr 30 mins ago
| BARCELONA, Spain (AFP) - Negotiators meeting for a final session before a worldwide conference on climate change were urged on Monday to craft simple, clear options for politicians facing next month's haggle in Copenhagen.
"The clock has almost ticked down to zero and, as always, time will fly," the head of the UN's climate convention, Yvo de Boer, warned the 192-nation forum, meeting in Barcelona until Friday.
"These last five days are critical on the road to success to Copenhagen. They need to be used wisely." |
8 Karadzic sanctioned massacres of civilians: prosecutor
by Mariette le Roux, AFP
1 hr 39 mins ago
| THE HAGUE (AFP) - Bosnian Serb wartime leader Radovan Karadzic was behind one of "humanity's dark chapters," prosecutors said Monday as he vowed to attend a hearing on the fate of his war crimes trial.
Karadzic, who has boycotted the trial so far, told the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia he would attend a procedural hearing on Tuesday to determine how to proceed in the face of his defiance.
"I hope we will be able to find a solution which will lead not only to an expeditious trial, but a fair one," he said in a letter to presiding judge O-Gon Kwon, made public on Monday. |
9 Miliband in Russia to thaw ties
AFP
Sun Nov 1, 3:11 pm ET
| LONDON (AFP) - David Miliband was starting the first visit by a British foreign secretary to Russia for five years on Sunday, seeking to mend relations damaged by the poisoning in London of a Kremlin critic.
As Miliband embarked on his two-day visit, the British government said it could not "spare" him to be the European Union's foreign affairs chief amid growing speculation that he is in line for the new role.
Miliband's trip to Moscow coincides with the third anniversary of the poisoning of former spy Alexander Litvinenko in 2006, but Russia refuses to extradite the KGB agent-turned-lawmaker who is the chief suspect in the murder. |
10 US lender CIT files for bankruptcy
by Michael Mathes, AFP
Mon Nov 2, 6:53 am ET
| WASHINGTON (AFP) - CIT Group, a key lender to small US firms, has declared itself bankrupt becoming the fifth largest failure in American history and dealing a new blow to market nerves.
CIT said late Sunday it has agreed a restructuring plan with creditors that will reduce its debt by about 10 billion dollars (6.8 billion euros).
But Asian stock markets tumbled after the report amid doubts about the prospects for the bank and the US economic recovery. |
11 Ford post surprise earnings, sees solid profit by 2011
by Mira Oberman, AFP
2 hrs 17 mins ago
| CHICAGO (AFP) - Ford Motor Co. on Monday posted surprise earnings of nearly a billion dollars in the third quarter and said it was on track to become "solidly profitable" by 2011 after years of painful losses.
The number two US automaker swung to a profit of 997 million dollars from a loss of 161 million dollars the same period in 2008 as it continued to restructure to cope with slumping sales amid the worst global downturn in decades.
The gains came after Ford managed to increase market share in North America, Europe and South America and slash operating costs by 4.6 billion dollars in the first nine months of the year. |
12 Independent stirs up New Jersey governor contest
By Ellen Wulfhorst, Reuters
Mon Nov 2, 8:11 am ET
| JERSEY CITY, New Jersey (Reuters) - An independent candidate stressing New Jersey's economic woes is attracting surprising voter support in the governor's race, which features an unpopular Democratic incumbent and a Republican challenger with ties to former President George W. Bush.
The independent, Chris Daggett, is a former federal environmental official who is not expected to win Tuesday's election for governor in New Jersey, which backed President Barack Obama in 2008, but he could affect who does.
Daggett said at a campaign appearance this week he has found unhappy voters across New Jersey, the nation's most densely populated state. |
13 Bomb blast in Pakistan's Rawalpindi kills 35
By Augustine Anthony, Reuters
Mon Nov 2, 9:41 am ET
| RAWALPINDI, Pakistan (Reuters) - A suspected Taliban suicide bomb killed at least 35 people in the Pakistani city of Rawalpindi on Monday, officials said, as the government announced a reward for the capture, dead or alive, of the group's leaders.
Pakistan Taliban militants are being squeezed out of their strongholds near the Afghan border by a massive army offensive, but have retaliated by stepping up bomb attacks and raids on urban targets.
The army offensive is being closely watched by the United States and other powers embroiled in neighboring Afghanistan, as the border area has become a sanctuary for insurgents from both countries as well as foreign al Qaeda militants. |
14 G20 to seek progress on world growth scheme
By Sumeet Desai, Reuters
Mon Nov 2, 10:59 am ET
| LONDON (Reuters) - Group of 20 financial leaders will seek to firm up a plan to rebalance the world economy when they meet this week, looking to beat out how to set national policy goals and make sure everyone keeps to them, officials said on Monday.
Sources from the group of rich and developing nations said that talks were unlikely to deal formally with the charged issue of exchange rates, a major focus of interest for financial markets at the meeting in St. Andrews, Scotland.
Leaders of the group agreed at a summit in Pittsburgh in September to come up with policy outlines to ensure a healthier, more sustainable pattern of growth that would head off a recurrence of the last year's economic turmoil. |
15 Republicans aim for rival health plan in House
By Susan Heavey, Reuters
Sun Nov 1, 6:36 pm ET
| WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives plan to offer an alternative to Democrats' massive healthcare reform bill that would not raise taxes or require people or businesses to buy health insurance, the House Republican leader said on Sunday.
House Democrats last week introduced a 1,990-page bill that includes a tax on the wealthy to help fund a government-run public insurance option, which has drawn the most heat amid larger debate on President Barack Obama's efforts to revamp the nation's healthcare system.
John Boehner, the House's top Republican, said his party hoped to introduce one single bill with a "step-by-step approach" that would include allowing the purchase of health insurance across state lines, letting people group together to buy it at lower prices and ending "junk lawsuits." |
16 GOP victory Tuesday won't erase party's problems
By LIZ "Sprinkles" SIDOTI, AP National Political Writer
31 mins ago
| WASHINGTON - For Republicans, an election win of any size Tuesday would be a blessing. But victories in Virginia, New Jersey or elsewhere won't erase enormous obstacles the party faces heading into a 2010 midterm election year when control of Congress and statehouses from coast to coast will be up for grabs.
It's been a tough few years for the GOP. The party lost control of Congress in 2006 and then lost the White House in 2008 with three traditional Republican states - Indiana, North Carolina and Virginia - abandoning the party.
So even if political winds start blowing harder behind them and even if they can capitalize on Democratic missteps, Republicans still will have a long way to go over the next year because of their party's own fundamental problems - divisions over the path forward, the lack of a national leader and a shrinking base in a changing nation. |
17 CDC: Contaminated beef may be linked to 2 deaths
By BEN DOBBIN, Associated Press Writer
42 mins ago
| ROCHESTER, N.Y. - Two deaths and 26 other illnesses may be linked to fresh ground beef that has been recalled because it might be contaminated with E. coli bacteria, a federal health official said Monday.
One of the deaths involved a New York adult with several underlying health conditions, said Lola Scott Russell, a spokeswoman for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The other is a death previously reported by New Hampshire, where state health officials said a patient died due to complications.
Russell said all but three of the suspected infections are in the northeastern U.S. and 18 are in New England. |
18 Health care plan hits rich with big tax increases
By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER, Associated Press Writer
Mon Nov 2, 6:26 am ET
| WASHINGTON - The typical family would be spared higher taxes from the House Democratic plan to overhaul health care, and their low-income neighbors could come out ahead.
Their wealthy counterparts, however, face big tax increases that could eventually hit future generations of taxpayers who are less wealthy.
The bill is funded largely from a 5.4 percent tax on individuals making more than $500,000 a year and couples making more than $1 million, starting in 2011. The tax increase would hit only 0.3 percent of tax filers, raising $460.5 billion over the next 10 years, according to congressional estimates. |
19 Cheney FBI interview: 72 instances of can't recall
By PETE YOST, Associated Press Writer
Mon Nov 2, 6:34 am ET
| WASHINGTON - Federal prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald famously declared in the Valerie Plame affair that "there is a cloud over the vice president." Last week's release of an FBI interview summary of Dick Cheney's answers in the criminal investigation underscores why Fitzgerald felt that way.
On 72 occasions, according to the 28-page FBI summary, Cheney equivocated to the FBI during his lengthy May 2004 interview, saying he could not be certain in his answers to questions about matters large and small in the Plame controversy.
The Cheney interview reflects a team of prosecutors and FBI agents trying to find out whether the leaks of Plame's CIA identity were orchestrated at the highest level of the White House and carried out by, among others, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Cheney's chief of staff. |
20 FACT CHECK: GOP math suspect in stimulus debate
By CALVIN WOODWARD, Associated Press Writer
Mon Nov 2, 3:48 am ET
| WASHINGTON - Beware the math. Some Republican lawmakers critical of President Barack Obama's stimulus package are using grade-school arithmetic to size up costs and consequences of all that spending. The math is satisfyingly simple but highly misleading.
It goes like this: Divide the stimulus money spent so far by the estimated number of jobs saved or created. That produces a rather frightening figure on how much money taxpayers are spending for each job.
On Friday, the White House released estimates that $160 billion in stimulus spending created or preserved 650,000 direct jobs. |
21 New group helps US monitor swine flu shot safety
By LAURAN NEERGAARD, AP Medical Writer
Mon Nov 2, 4:01 am ET
| WASHINGTON - Independent health advisers begin monitoring safety of the swine flu vaccine on Monday, an extra step the government promised in this year's unprecedented program to watch for possible side effects.
Decades of safe influenza inoculations mean specialists aren't expecting problems with the swine flu vaccine, because it's made the same way as the regular winter flu vaccine. But systems to track the health of millions of Americans are being tapped to make sure - to spot any rare but real problems quickly, and to explain the inevitable false alarms when common disorders coincide with inoculation.
U.S. health officials have spotted no concerns to date, Dr. Bruce Gellin, head of the National Vaccine Program Office, told The Associated Press. |
22 Retail faces uncertainty as CIT enters bankruptcy
By STEPHEN MANNING and ANNE D'INNOCENZIO, AP Business Writers
Mon Nov 2, 12:09 am ET
| WASHINGTON - The bankruptcy of a key lender that helps retailers stock their shelves is adding to the industry's worries ahead of the critical holiday shopping season.
CIT Group Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Sunday in New York after months of struggling to avoid collapse. The company provides badly needed credit to thousands of small and mid-sized businesses, and is a critical part of the flow of capital in the retail sector.
CIT stressed that its lending operations will continue to operate as it proceeds through bankruptcy with the hope of shedding $10 billion in debt. Chairman and CEO Jeffrey M. Peek said the company's prepackaged reorganization plan "will allow CIT to continue to provide funding to our small business and middle market customers, two sectors that remain vitally important to the U.S. economy." |
23 Obama says NJ governor is key to his own agenda
By PHILIP ELLIOTT, Associated Press Writer
Sun Nov 1, 11:06 pm ET
| CAMDEN, N.J. - In a final campaign swing on behalf of the only governor seeking re-election this fall, President Barack Obama on Sunday pitched Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine's bid as a key component for the White House to make good on its political promises.
"He's one of the best partners I have in the White House. We work together," Obama said. "We know our work is far from over."
Obama drew 6,500 people at a rally in Camden and another 11,000 later in Newark, according to White House estimates. He urged supporters to work hard to give Corzine another term in office so he can work with Washington to help repair a brittle economy. A Corzine loss would be seen as a political embarrassment for the White House. |
24 Appeals court: Detained Canadian cannot sue the US
By LARRY NEUMEISTER, Associated Press Writer
1 hr 25 mins ago
| NEW YORK - A Canadian engineer cannot sue the United States after being mistaken for a terrorist when he was changing planes in New York a year after the 2001 terrorist attacks, a federal appeals court ruled Monday.
The judges of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals voted 7-4 to uphold a decision by a lower court judge dismissing a lawsuit brought by Maher Arar, a Syrian-born man who was detained as he tried to switch planes in 2002.
Arar sued the U.S. government and top Justice Department officials, saying the United States purposely sent him to Syria to be tortured days after he was picked up at John F. Kennedy International Airport on a false tip from Canada that he had ties to Islamic extremists. The lawsuit said Arar was allowed to see a lawyer only once despite his repeated efforts to receive representation. |
25 Study: Man-eating lions consumed 35 people in 1898
By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID, AP Science Writer
2 hrs 34 mins ago
| WASHINGTON - The nightly attacks by two man-eating lions terrified railway workers and brought construction to a halt in one of east Africa's most notorious onslaughts more than a hundred years ago. But the death toll, scientists now say, wasn't as high as previously thought.
Over nine months the two voracious hunters claimed 35 lives - no small figure, but much less than some accounts of as many as 135 victims.
It was 1898, when laborers from India and local natives building the Uganda Railroad across Kenya became the prey for the pair, a case that has been the subject of numerous accounts and at least three movies. |
26 Tribes claim wind farm would destroy sacred ritual
By JAY LINDSAY, Associated Press Writer
Mon Nov 2, 7:45 am ET
| MASHPEE, Mass. - From a blustery perch over a Cape Cod beach, Chuckie Green gestures toward a stretch of horizon where he says construction of the nation's first offshore wind farm would destroy his Indian tribe's religion.
The Wampanoag - the tribe that welcomed the Pilgrims in the 17th century and known as "The People of the First Light" - practice sacred rituals requiring an unblocked view of the sunrise. That view won't exist once 130 turbines, each over 400 feet tall, are built in Nantucket Sound, visible to Wampanoag in Mashpee and on Martha's Vineyard.
Tribal rituals, including dancing and chanting, take place at secret sacred sites around the sound at various times, such as the summer and winter solstices and when an elder passes. |
27 Ranks of millionaire college presidents up again
By JUSTIN POPE, AP Education Writer
Mon Nov 2, 6:25 am ET
| The fast-growing group of millionaire private college and university presidents hit a new record in recent years, and it's likely more college leaders will make seven-figure salaries once the slumping economy rebounds.
A record 23 presidents received more than $1 million in total compensation in fiscal 2008, according to an analysis of the most recently available data published Monday by the Chronicle of Higher Education. A record one in four in the study of 419 colleges' mandatory IRS filings made at least $500,000.
Topping the list is Shirley Ann Jackson at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y., whose total compensation the Chronicle pegged at nearly $1.6 million. She was followed by David Sargent at Suffolk University in Boston, who made $1.5 million. However, one-third of his compensation had been reported as deferred compensation last year and counted as salary this year - an example of the difficulty of making straightforward compensation comparisons. |
28 Detroit seeks political stability with election
By COREY WILLIAMS, Associated Press Writer
Mon Nov 2, 3:28 am ET
| DETROIT - The look of the Detroit City Council could change drastically when voters go to the polls in the city's fourth election in just over eight months.
Mayor Dave Bing is expected to easily win re-election in Tuesday's nonpartisan race, but five incumbents are being challenged by 13 newcomers for the nine open seats on the council.
The nine-member board has been the subject for more than a year of a federal corruption probe that nabbed Councilwoman Monica Conyers for taking money for her vote on a waste hauling deal. |
29 Streetcars on the ballot amid trolley revival
By JOHN MILLER, Associated Press Writer
Mon Nov 2, 3:15 am ET
| BOISE, Idaho - A streetcar revival in American cities isn't just kicking up sparks from the tracks, they're flying down at city hall, too.
In Idaho's capital, a proposed $60 million trolley plan has become a major theme of local elections Nov. 3. Likewise, mayoral races in Charlotte, N.C., and Cincinnati hinge at least partially on whether they should build lines of their own.
What links Boise, Cincinnati and Charlotte - and Salt Lake City, Dallas, Atlanta and Kansas City, where streetcar tracks abandoned in 1953 still poke through the city's weathered asphalt - is they're among dozens of local governments hoping their modern street projects will benefit from federal grants, including $1.5 billion in stimulus funding due to be awarded by mid-February 2010. |
Surprised I haven't seen this on Atrios yet.
30 Texas vets reunite with Japanese-American rescuers
By JUAN A. LOZANO, Associated Press Writer
Sun Nov 1, 11:15 pm ET
| HOUSTON - Even though it was 65 years ago, Al Tortolano clearly recalls the one thought, the only thought, that ran through his mind as his military unit was surrounded by German soldiers during World War II.
"About the only thing you could think of was family. Will I ever see my family again?" remembered the 88-year-old Tortolano, part of what was dubbed the "Lost Battalion."
It was October 1944 and Tortolano was part of the 1st Battalion, 141st Regiment, 36th Infantry Division - a Texas military unit that was surrounded by German soldiers in northern France's Vosges Mountains. |
31 Tower of London Beefeaters suspended for bullying
By SYLVIA HUI and GREGORY KATZ, Associated Press
Mon Nov 2, 10:51 am ET
| LONDON - Something is rotten - again - at the Tower of London, long known for its treachery, bloodshed, and executions.
If the new charges are true, it's time to add bullying to the litany of foul deeds committed at the notorious royal fortress where many were tortured and three English queens were executed centuries ago.
At issue is the alleged bullying of a contemporary trailblazer: Moira Cameron, the first woman to serve as yeoman warder at the Tower, which dates back to the 11th century. |
32 Muslim ex-Gitmo detainees face challenges in Palau
By JONATHON KAMINSKY, Associated Press Writer
Mon Nov 2, 12:21 pm ET
| KOROR, Palau - Six former Guantanamo Bay detainees brought to Palau for resettlement have received a warm official welcome, but a plan to deport Bangladeshi workers could halve this Pacific Island nation's already-tiny Muslim community, making integration harder.
The ex-detainees, who are Muslim ethnic Uighurs from a region in China's far west, already face tough challenges to adapt to their new lives in Palau after eight years in the U.S. military camp in Cuba, although they will be provided housing, job training and a full-time interpreter.
President Johnson Toribiong himself welcomed the group when they arrived before dawn Sunday on a secret flight, and he will treat them to a personal tour of the Rock Islands, a diving attraction that is country's top tourist destination, later this week as part of their orientation. |
33 Prosecutor blames Karadzic for Srebrenica massacre
By MIKE CORDER, Associated Press Writer
Mon Nov 2, 11:27 am ET
| THE HAGUE, Netherlands - Radovan Karadzic orchestrated the 1995 Srebrenica massacre of 8,000 Muslim men and boys and his only regret was "that some Muslim men got away," a U.N. prosecutor said Monday at the former Bosnian Serb leader's war crimes trial.
Karadzic again boycotted his own trial at the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal, but pledged in a letter to judges that he would attend a procedural hearing Tuesday on his defense.
Prosecutor Alan Tieger focused on Europe's worst atrocity since World War II as he wound up his opening statement Monday for the tribunal's judges. Tieger called the July 1995 slaying in Srebrenica "one of humanity's dark chapters" and laid the blame squarely at Karadzic's feet. |
34 Climate delegates call on US for robust policy
By ARTHUR MAX, Associated Press Writer
Mon Nov 2, 12:07 pm ET
| BARCELONA, Spain - The United States came under increased pressure Monday to come up with a plan for fighting climate change and to offer an internationally acceptable policy for curbing pollution hastening global warming.
As U.N. climate talks reconvened, countries stepped up calls on Washington for specific commitments on reducing carbon emissions and contributing to a global climate fund to help poor countries deal with the damage already being caused by climate change.
The five-day negotiating round in Barcelona is meant to prepare the text of a global warming pact to be adopted at a major U.N. conference next month in Copenhagen. |
35 Iran Guards warn opposition against rallies
By Parisa Hafezi and Fredrik Dahl, Reuters
1 hr 45 mins ago
| TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's Revolutionary Guards, who helped quell protests after the June election, warned the opposition on Monday not to use anti-U.S. rallies this week to stage new demonstrations.
Moderate opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi appeared to urge his supporters on Saturday to take to the streets on November 4, the 30th anniversary of the U.S. embassy takeover in Tehran.
The authorities, seeking to avoid any repeat of the huge demonstrations that erupted after the disputed election in June won by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, say security forces will confront any illegal gatherings. |
36 Putin says Berlin Wall's fall was inevitable
By Michael Stott, Reuters
2 hrs 50 mins ago
| MOSCOW (Reuters) - Vladimir Putin has spoken for the first time to a television interviewer about the fall of the Berlin Wall and his role in confronting an angry German crowd of protesters while working as a KGB officer stationed in Dresden.
Putin, by far Russia's most powerful politician, described the Wall as something artificial and its end as "a normal, natural event," said the journalist who conducted the interview, Vladimir Kondratyev of Russian channel NTV.
"What had to happen, happened. I believe the division of Germany had absolutely no future," Putin said in an advance clip of the interview aired by NTV. |
37 UN suspends support for DR Congo army over killings
AFP
2 hrs 59 mins ago
| KINSHASA (AFP) - The UN has withdrawn its support for Congolese army units operating in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, a top UN official announced Monday, accusing its soldiers of killing 62 civilians.
UN peacekeeping chief Alain Leroy said "civilians have been clearly targeted in attacks by certain elements of the FARDC (the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo)".
"We have decided that MONUC (the UN peacekeeping mission) will immediately suspend its logistical and operational support to the army units implicated in these killings," Leroy told UN-sponsored Radio Okapi. |
38 Russia, Britain fail to heal Litvinenko rift
by Stuart Williams, AFP
Mon Nov 2, 12:01 pm ET
| MOSCOW (AFP) - Britain and Russia on Monday failed to resolve a bitter dispute over the murder of a Kremlin critic in London that badly chilled relations, on the first visit by a British foreign secretary for five years.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that London's calls for the extradition of Russian lawmaker Andrei Lugovoi, the main suspect in the murder of Alexander Litvinenko in 2006, were "absolutely unrealistic."
His visiting British counterpart David Miliband however gave no indication that London was prepared to drop its demands, saying that "we continue to seek justice for him (Litvinenko)." |
39 Fresh diplomatic push to break Zimbabwe impasse
by Godfrey Marawanyika, AFP
1 hr 37 mins ago
| HARARE (AFP) - Zimbabwe's neighbours Monday intensified efforts to break an impasse threatening a fragile unity government, as Congolese leader Joseph Kabila met with feuding leaders and a new summit was set for this week.
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai suspended cooperation with long-ruling President Robert Mugabe more than two weeks ago, accusing the 85-year-old leader of failing to live up to his side of Zimbabwe's power-sharing deal.
The deadlock has heightened fears about the fate of the unity accord, which was meant to end deadly political violence that erupted after last year's failed presidential elections. |
40 Iraq urges UN to stop neighbours' meddling
by Prashant Rao, AFP
Mon Nov 2, 11:58 am ET
| BAGHDAD (AFP) - Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki appealed Monday to the United Nations to take action against Iraq's neighbours for meddling in its internal affairs as he met with a UN special envoy.
The Iraqi premier also said three people behind twin suicide bombings in central Baghdad last week that killed more than 150 people had confessed to receiving help from Syria.
He made the comments during talks with UN Assistant Secretary General Oscar Fernandez-Taranco, here to access the capital's security following the bombings and similar attacks in August that left about 100 dead. |
41 Diamond producers meet on 'conflict diamonds'
AFP
Mon Nov 2, 10:21 am ET
| WINDHOEK (AFP) - Rights abuses in Zimbabwe diamond fields are set to dominate talks that began in Namibia Monday among representatives of the system charged with preventing trade in the gems from fuelling armed conflicts.
Zimbabwe poses a key test for the global scheme known as the Kimberley Process, named after a South African mining town, which is under mounting criticism for failing to effectively stem the trade in "conflict diamonds".
Namibia's deputy mining minister Bernard Esau, who visited the Marange diamond fields last July, said the four-day meeting would "discuss the way forward to sustain compliance with" the Kimberley Process in Zimbabwe. |
42 Tehran Braces for a New Political Showdown
By ROBIN WRIGHT, Time Magazine
Mon Nov 2, 10:30 am ET
| A new showdown looms in Iran this week, as the regime and its intrepid opposition gear up for what may be their biggest street confrontation since the protests that followed the disputed June 12 presidential election. The latest face-off is scheduled for Wednesday, when Iran commemorates the 30th anniversary of the U.S. embassy takeover by radical students. In an ironic twist, however, instead of the traditional festival of America-bashing, students across the country are being summoned to mark the event with a protest against their own government. |
| From Yahoo News U.S. News |
43 Ford suffers UAW setback, Canadian workers OK cuts
By David Bailey, Reuters
Sun Nov 1, 7:25 pm ET
| DETROIT (Reuters) - U.S. factory workers at Ford Motor Co overwhelmingly rejected proposed concessions it has said it needs to stay competitive, while union workers in Canada on Sunday accepted cuts aimed at retaining jobs.
The Canadian Auto Workers union voted 83 percent in favor of an agreement that freezes wages for some 7,000 workers into September 2012 in exchange for protecting most factory jobs in Canada.
The CAW had announced the tentative pact with Ford on Friday and set a whirlwind weekend vote. |
44 Worms infesting computers worldwide: Microsoft
by Glenn Chapman
Mon Nov 2, 2009 3:42PM EST
| SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - A Microsoft security report released Monday warns that cyber crooks are digging into computers for weak spots to penetrate with worms -- malicious software that steals control or data.
Rogue security software remained the top hacker threat to computers during the first half of this year, but the number of infections was dropping while penetrations by worms doubled, according to the Security Intelligence Report.
"We still see rogue security software in high volume but not on the rise," Microsoft Malware Protection Center principal architect Jeff Williams told AFP. "What is on the rise is resurgence of worm activity, particularly Conficker and Taterf." |
45 In Afghan war, US scrambles to fight crude but lethal IED
by Dan De Luce, AFP
Sun Nov 1, 5:34 pm ET
| WASHINGTON (AFP) - The world's most powerful military machine is scrambling to fight a simple, low-tech weapon in Afghanistan that is killing and maiming American and allied soldiers at an alarming rate.
The homemade bomb -- often a mixture of fertilizer, fuel and metal -- is the number one killer of NATO troops in Afghanistan and the US military has launched a massive, costly effort to try to defeat it.
In Iraq, the Americans eventually managed to contain the scourge partly by employing jamming devices and large numbers of unmanned aircraft that could watch for insurgents planting roadside bombs. |
46 Many in US coal country oppose new emission regulations
by Andrew Beatty, AFP
Sun Nov 1, 5:47 pm ET
| CHARLESTON, West Virginia (AFP) - Coal super-powers China, India and the United States are set to dominate world climate talks next month, but even in the heartland of US coal there are doubts their re-branded fuel can be part of the solution.
In the rugged tree-cloaked hills of rural West Virginia, coal is as much a way of life as bluegrass music, pickup trucks or the hundreds of wood-clad baptist churches that spot the countryside.
Mountain tops have been removed to get it, endless trains hurtle across the state carrying it and atop roadside heaps every conceivable piece of industrial equipment is employed to lift, drop, clean or shift lumps of the black sooty rock. |
47 Republicans eye Obama revenge in off-year elections
by Sebastian Smith, AFP
Mon Nov 2, 9:21 am ET
| NEW YORK (AFP) - Republicans are looking to wound President Barack Obama's Democrats on Tuesday in three closely fought elections seen as barometers of a vital battle for Congress in 2010.
In the governor's race in Virginia -- where Obama caused a sensation last year in becoming the first Democratic presidential contender to win since 1964 -- Republican Bob McDonnell looks set to defeat Democrat Creigh Deeds.
New Jersey's Democratic governor Jon Corzine, meanwhile, faces a nail-biting finale in an ugly race against former Republican prosecutor Chris Christie, who is vying to overturn the state's traditional Democratic form. |
48 Fed unlikely to change tack as recession ends
by Veronica Smith, AFP
Sun Nov 1, 6:01 pm ET
| WASHINGTON (AFP) - The US Federal Reserve is unlikely to raise key interest rates this week or unwind emergency support as the economy starts a tough recovery from recession, analysts say.
Fed policymakers were expected to hold the base lending rate at near-zero and maintain a trillion-plus dollar program to underpin the recovery at the conclusion of their two-day meeting Wednesday.
Economists and traders will be poring over the Federal Open Market Committee statement released after the meeting in search of signals for the direction of monetary policy. |
49 One year on, Obamamania cools to luke warm support
by Edouard Guihaire, AFP
Mon Nov 2, 5:03 am ET
| WASHINGTON (AFP) - A year on from a historic election, the spirit of popular goodwill that yielded America's first black president has retreated to tepid support for Barack Obama as he presses his change agenda.
Since the November 4 poll, Obama's visage has been everywhere, conspicuously on the streets of the nation's capital where millions of foreign and domestic tourists have visited over the past year, many of them snatching up poignant souvenirs.
A quick look around downtown Washington confirms that Obama trinkets are still on sale, but several street hawkers have found little point in displaying the t-shirts, posters, and "Yes We Can" buttons bearing the new president's image. |
50 Driver-less car in high-speed rally assault
by Rob Gloster, AFP
Mon Nov 2, 2:35 am ET
| STANFORD, California (AFP) - Imagine driving at top speed on a steep, winding mountain pass in the Alps, or the Himalayas, or the Rocky Mountains.
Now, take your hands off the steering wheel and cover your eyes. Or grab a camera and take some pictures of the snowy mountain peaks. Or send a text message to a friend describing the scenery.
You'd skid off the road and plunge into a deep ravine within seconds, right? |
51 Can Openly Gay Politician Charles Pugh Save Detroit?
By STEVEN GRAY / DETROIT, Time Magazine
1 hr 9 mins ago
| Just one week ago, Charles Pugh was poised to become not only Detroit's first openly gay elected official, but its city council president when voters here go to the polls Tuesday. But the flashy former television reporter has an unpleasant new distinction: Pugh recently acknowledged that his three-story home near downtown Detroit has been foreclosed, raising serious questions about his business acumen at a time when this city is on the brink of financial collapse. |
52 Dubious Ads for 'Madoff' Auctions Pop Up Across U.S.
By TIM PADGETT, Time Magazine
1 hr 11 mins ago
| Ads for "Bernie Madoff Auction" sales have been popping up across the country in recent weeks, getting the word out in such places as Columbus, Ohio, and Charleston, S.C., by placing big stickers on the front page of local newspapers. The ads begin, "Due to losses caused by Bernie Madoff," and then detail such treasures as original art by Peter Max, Salvador DalĂ and Norman Rockwell - as well as Rolex watches and "other flashy items" - that are to be sold to "recover losses from Ponzi scheme." Trouble is, it's hard to tell whether any of the merchandise at these auctions was owned by Madoff or those he ruined or if the ads are just a dubious way to drum up traffic for run-of-the-mill estate sales. |
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Reform Immigration -
March on Washington
