2 Climate talks set to hand major problems to Copenhagen
by Richard Ingham, AFP
2 hrs 40 mins ago
| BARCELONA, Spain (AFP) - Talks on a new UN climate pact were wrapping up Friday, leaving a roster of bitterly divisive issues to be hammered out at a showdown in Copenhagen next month.
Senior officials meeting over five days made scant headway on the problems dogging a negotiation blueprint for the December 7-18 conference, and activists feared the much-trumpeted outcome would be a fudge.
More than 190 nations are called to action under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), aiming for a post-2012 accord to slash emissions from fossil fuels that trap solar heat and drive global warming. |
3 Two NATO soldiers missing in Afghanistan
by Lynne O'Donnell, AFP
37 mins ago
| KABUL (AFP) - At least 25 NATO and Afghan soldiers were wounded Friday as the hunted for two US paratroopers missing in remote northwestern Afghanistan, NATO said.
The two missing soldiers were from the 82nd Airborne Division, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said. Afghan police said they had died by drowning, apparently accidentally, during a routine logistics operation in Badghis province.
It was not immediately clear how the soldiers carrying out the search for the missing paratroopers had been wounded, although Afghan police reported clashes with Taliban militants. |
4 Zelaya says Honduras crisis deal has failed
AFP
45 mins ago
| TEGUCIGALPA (AFP) - Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya said Friday a deal aimed at ending the country's months-long crisis had failed after the interim leader announced a government without his participation.
"Practically speaking, we have decided not to continue with this theater of Mr Micheletti," Zelaya said, speaking on Radio Globo.
"The international community will have to see what measures" to take after the agreement faltered, he added. A Zelaya aide had earlier said the deal had "failed." |
5 US reels after Muslim doctor kills 13 on army base
by Sig Christenson, AFP
1 hr 15 mins ago
| FORT HOOD, Texas (AFP) - A stunned nation battled to understand Friday why a Muslim army psychiatrist may have snapped, mowing down 13 people and wounding 30 others in a massacre at a sprawling US military base.
Alleged shooter Major Nidal Malik Hasan, 39, a specialist in combat stress, was under guard and on a ventilator after a police officer shot and seriously wounded him during Thursday's rampage at Fort Hood, Texas, officials said.
But so far Hasan, who had been fighting orders to deploy to Afghanistan, has not spoken about his actions. |
6 New pathway for DNA damage from nano-particles: study
by Marlowe Hood, AFP
Thu Nov 5, 4:22 pm ET
| PARIS (AFP) - Scientists reported Thursday that nano-particles used in medical applications can indirectly damage DNA inside cells by transmitting signals through a protective barrier of human tissue.
The stunning discovery adds to a growing body of research highlighting proven and potential health hazards from the rapidly expanding universe of engineered objects measured in billionths of a metre.
Nano-scale products already widely in use range from cosmetics to household cleaning products to sporting goods. |
7 China hits back at US tariffs, trade spat escalates
by Dan Martin, AFP
Fri Nov 6, 7:42 am ET
| BEIJING (AFP) - China slammed new US tariffs on Chinese steel goods Friday and launched its own probe into US car imports as a tit-for-tat trade tussle escalated just a week before a visit by US President Barack Obama.
China's commerce ministry harshly criticised as "protectionist" a US announcement Thursday that Washington had imposed anti-dumping tariffs of up to 99 percent on imports of some Chinese steel products used in the oil industry.
China "firmly opposes the abuse of protectionism and will take measures to seriously protect the interests of the domestic industry," the ministry said in a statement on its website. |
8 APEC seeks to slash emissions by 2050
by Martin Abbugao, AFP
Fri Nov 6, 2:03 am ET
| SINGAPORE (AFP) - Asia-Pacific powers including the United States, China and Russia are expected to call next week for sweeping cuts in greenhouse gas emissions on the final countdown to a crunch climate meeting.
US President Barack Obama and 20 other regional leaders will also say it is too early to wean their economies off stimulus spending, according to a draft summit communique obtained by AFP on Friday.
At their November 14-15 summit in Singapore, the leaders of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum will call man-made climate change "one of the biggest challenges facing the world", the draft declaration said. |
9 U.S. jobless rate surges to 10.2 percent
By Lucia Mutikani, Reuters
13 mins ago
| WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. jobless rate unexpectedly jumped to a 26-1/2-year high of 10.2 percent last month, adding to pressure on the Obama administration to do more to tackle unemployment even as signs of recovery mount.
The Labor Department said Friday that employers cut 190,000 jobs in October, more than the 175,000 markets had expected but fewer than the 219,000 lost in September.
Taking some of the sting out of the report, job losses for August and September were revised to show 91,000 fewer jobs were lost than previously reported. |
10 House Democrats scramble for healthcare votes
By John Whitesides, Reuters
2 hrs 14 mins ago
| WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives scrambled on Friday to allay lingering concerns about a broad healthcare overhaul and raised the possibility a vote planned for Saturday could slip into next week.
House Democratic leader Steny Hoyer said "we're very close" to having the 218 votes needed to pass the healthcare reform bill, but he said the debate could be extended to Sunday or next week if necessary.
Democratic moderates, concerned about abortion provisions in the bill as well as its $1 trillion price tag and possible effect on budget deficits, have threatened to derail the drive for President Barack Obama's top domestic priority. |
11 IMF warns G20 off cutting economic support too fast
By Sumeet Desai and Jan Strupczewski, Reuters
Fri Nov 6, 12:03 pm ET
| ST ANDREWS, Scotland (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund warned global financial leaders on Friday not to repeat the mistakes of the Great Depression and choke off emergency support for their economies too quickly.
In a document prepared for a meeting of Group of 20 finance ministers and central bankers in Scotland and seen by Reuters, the IMF stressed the fragility of global recovery, saying it was largely dependent on government and central bank support.
"One of the key lessons from the experience of similar crises (such as the Great Depression and Japan in the 1990s) is that withdrawing policy stimulus too early can be very costly, particularly if the financial system remains vulnerable and prone to adverse shocks," the IMF paper said. |
12 SPECIAL REPORT: Are doctors what ails U.S. healthcare?
By Chris Baltimore, Reuters
Thu Nov 5, 8:08 pm ET
| WHITE PLAINS, New York (Reuters) - Nowhere in the United States has more doctors at its beck and call than White Plains, one of the wealthiest cities in the nation.
Doctors have been flocking to the area and surrounding Westchester County since the 1970s, drawn in part by an upper-class clientele who demand top-notch medical care and have the means to pay for it. The county has one of the highest median household incomes in the nation (about $77,000 a year in 2007), and the figures soar above six digits in suburbs like Scarsdale and Chappaqua, which former President Bill Clinton calls home.
Nearly 3,000 miles away, scaring up a doctor in Bakersfield, situated in California's economically battered Central Valley, is a lot harder. In fact, White Plains has more than twice the number of doctors per capita as Bakersfield, where needy patients until recently had to take a 2-hour bus trip to Fresno to see a diabetes treatment specialist. |
13 Okinawans split over U.S. military base's future
By Isabel Reynolds, Reuters
Fri Nov 6, 2:16 am ET
| GINOWAN, Japan (Reuters) - Idyllic beach resorts jostle for space with U.S. military bases on Japan's subtropical island of Okinawa, at the center of a feud that may cast a shadow over U.S. President Barack Obama's visit to Japan next week.
Nowhere is the contrast between the U.S. troop presence and the laid-back local culture more jarring than in Ginowan. Seen from a hilltop, the city's low-rise concrete buildings, including schools and hospitals, huddle around the perimeter of the Futenma U.S. Marine air base, a dispute over which is straining the 50-year-old security alliance between Tokyo and Washington.
Many of Ginowan's nearly 90,000 residents welcome a plan to relocate the base, especially after safety fears rekindled by a 2004 helicopter crash in the city added to irritation over noise, but others are ambivalent. |
14 Jobless rate tops 10 pct. for first time since '83
By CHRISTOPHER S. RUGABER, AP Economics Writer
9 mins ago
| WASHINGTON - The unemployment rate has hit double digits for the first time since 1983 - and is likely to go higher. The 10.2 percent jobless rate for October shows how weak the economy remains even though it is growing. The rising jobless rate could threaten the recovery if it saps consumers' confidence and makes them more cautious about spending as the holiday season approaches.
The October unemployment rate - reflecting nearly 16 million jobless people - jumped from 9.8 percent in September, the Labor Department said Friday. The job losses occurred across most industries, from manufacturing and construction to retail and financial.
Economists say the unemployment rate could surpass 10.5 percent next year because employers are reluctant to hire. |
15 House Dems say Sat. vote on health care may slip
By ERICA WERNER and RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR, Associated Press Writers
11 mins ago
| WASHINGTON - House Democrats acknowledged they don't yet have the votes to pass a sweeping overhaul of the nation's health care system, and signaled they may push back the vote until Sunday or early next week.
Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., told reporters in a conference call Friday that the make-or-break vote on President Barack Obama's push to make health coverage part of the social safety net could face delay. Democrats were originally hoping to pass the bill on Saturday_and officially, that's still the plan.
But Democrats have yet to resolve a intraparty disputes over abortion funding and illegal immigrants' access to medical coverage. They cleared one hurdle Friday when liberals supporting a government-run Medicare-for-all system withdrew their demand for a floor vote. |
16 Obama signs homebuyer, jobless bill assistance
By JIM ABRAMS, Associated Press Writer
1 hr 22 mins ago
| WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama signed a $24 billion economic stimulus bill into law Friday, giving tax incentives to prospective homebuyers and additional jobless benefits to those idled by the business slump.
The bill-signing came a day after the House, displaying rare bipartisan agreement over the troubling employment picture nationally, voted 403-12 to pass the measure. The Senate had approved it unanimously on Wednesday.
The White House said the law, which also includes tax cuts for struggling businesses, builds on provisions in the $787 billion stimulus package enacted last February to avert an economic meltdown. |
17 Brown: UK staying in Afghanistan, but wants reform
By GREGORY KATZ, Associated Press Writer
19 mins ago
| LONDON - Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Washington's closest ally in Afghanistan, toughened his tone Friday with this harsh message for the Afghan leadership: Clean up your act - for real this time - or risk a cutoff of support.
In what 10 Downing Street billed as a major speech, Brown reflected public outrage over troop casualties by threatening to pull back support - and perhaps even additional troops - unless Afghan President Hamid Karzai cracked down on corruption. It was his first challenge since the Afghan leader was declared the winner of an election deeply marred by charges of fraud and ballot-rigging.
"I am not prepared to put the lives of British men and women in harm's way for a government that does not stand up against corruption," he said. |
18 Zelaya: US-brokered pact for Honduran crisis fails
By JUAN ZAMORANO, Associated Press Writer
1 hr 5 mins ago
| TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras - Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya said Friday that a U.S.-brokered pact failed to end a four-month political crisis after a deadline for forming a unity government passed.
But the U.S. still thinks the accord can work, and is working to move forward on it, said a State Department official speaking on condition of anonymity because an official statement was still being prepared.
The Obama Administration's position contradicts the ousted leader of Honduras. |
19 Delegates discuss way forward in UN climate talks
By KATY DAIGLE and ARTHUR MAX, Associated Press Writers
Fri Nov 6, 10:53 am ET
| BARCELONA, Spain - U.N. climate negotiators said Friday that, despite low expectations for setting legally binding emissions targets next month, it is still possible to conclude a strong, 192-nation deal to define future work in fighting global warming.
Countries most vulnerable to climate change said they were incensed that rich nations were rethinking the timetable for concluding a legally binding treaty.
Delegates were spending the final day of U.N. climate talks in Spain hammering out a draft accord in which rich nations would make hard pledges to reduce emissions and to finance aid to help the world's poorest cope with the effects of Earth's rising temperatures. |
20 Salmonella victims upset no prosecutions yet
By GREG BLUESTEIN, Associated Press Writer
Fri Nov 6, 9:31 am ET
| ATLANTA - At the height of the nationwide salmonella outbreak nearly a year ago, FBI agents raided two peanut plants and carried away boxes of evidence. FDA inspectors found roaches, mold and a leaky roof. Then, Congress revealed e-mails from the peanut company's top executive that seemed to suggest the pursuit of profits over ensuring public safety.
Despite the fanfare over the criminal probe of one of the largest product recalls ever, no one has yet been charged in the outbreak, which was linked to hundreds of illnesses and nine deaths.
Federal prosecutions in food-illness outbreaks are rare, but food safety experts and legal analysts say the salmonella investigation seemed as cut-and-dry as any case. |
21 Texas sect man guilty of sexual assault of minor
By MICHELLE ROBERTS, Associated Press Writer
Fri Nov 6, 3:16 am ET
| ELDORADO, Texas - After being duped by false leads and chastised by a court for its handling of polygamist sect children, the state of Texas has won a criminal conviction in its first trial of a sect member charged with sexually assaulted an underage girl.
Raymond Jessop, 38, was convicted late Thursday for having sex with the teen with whom he had a so-called spiritual marriage. He faces up to 20 years in prison when the jury reconvenes Monday to begin deciding his sentence.
Early on, the weeklong raid of the Yearning For Zion Ranch was hounded by missteps. After scouring the ranch for days in April 2008 in search of a caller who claimed to be an abused girl, law enforcement acknowledged "Sarah Barlow" didn't exist. |
22 NM city prepares for salt cavern collapse
By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN, Associated Press Writer
1 hr 22 mins ago
| CARLSBAD, N.M. - The bright yellow signs on U.S. 285 are the first indication that things aren't right in Carlsbad.
"US 285 south subject to sinkhole 1,000 feet ahead," motorists are warned.
But there is little other evidence that in southeastern New Mexico's oil country, a giant cavern sits beneath the earth, ready to swallow part of the highway and possibly a church, several businesses and a trailer park. |
23 Schools emerge as new tactic in gay marriage votes
By LISA LEFF and DAVID SHARP, Associated Press Writer
1 hr 35 mins ago
| SAN FRANCISCO - In one ad after another, voters in California and Maine were besieged with images of what would supposedly happen if same-sex marriage were legal: Students on a field trip to a lesbian wedding, elementary kids gobbling up books featuring gay couples, kindergartners learning about homosexuality from their teachers.
The strategy worked. Overruling the courts and lawmakers, voters defeated gay marriage ballot measures in California last year and in Maine this week after conservatives convinced residents that same-sex unions would become common classroom fodder without any say from parents.
The punch-to-the gut claim has emerged as the latest tool in the ever-evolving playbook of same-sex marriage opponents, and the Achilles' heel of the gay-marriage movement. Voters seem to be swayed by the notion that gay marriage will be a corrupting force among children, even though critics blasted the message as a blatantly misleading case of fear-mongering. |
24 Exonerated man seeks cash for 27-year sentence
By SARAH LARIMER, Associated Press Writer
1 hr 51 mins ago
| SATELLITE BEACH, Fla. - No bars or razor wire hold former Florida inmate No. 082629. Instead, William Dillon sits on furniture the color of ripe lemons, surrounded by cheerful animal statues and blooming plants, a prisoner no longer after 27 years.
He could get more than a million dollars in state compensation for his wrongful imprisonment, though how much he'll get - if anything - is up to lawmakers because he has a prior conviction for felony drug possession. A hearing on the matter took place this week in Tallahassee, though Dillon says it's impossible to put a dollar amount on his freedom.
"When I actually did walk down those steps, I was so lightheaded, felt like I was being lifted down those steps, I really did," Dillon recently told The Associated Press. "It was so awesome. I don't think I can ever replace that feeling, coming out of there after so many years of feeling I never, ever would." |
25 Medical marijuana shops abound in California
By MARCUS WOHLSEN and GREG RISLING, Associated Press Writers
Fri Nov 6, 4:31 am ET
| SEBASTOPOL, Calif. - A surge in medical marijuana in California has left communities trying to regulate or ban the drug. This wine country town has welcomed a dispensary as a strong source of tax revenue during the recession.
Peace in Medicine marijuana dispensary is a clean, modern operation in a former auto dealership, and has more registered patients than the town has residents. It could easily be mistaken for a doctor's office, if not for the three security guards and overwhelming skunky smell of pot.
"I guess I had my prejudices that it was going to have bars on the windows and be something very obvious and unappealing to the public," longtime city councilman Larry Robinson said. |
26 Its 'Mother' dead, doomsday sect's future in doubt
By MATTHEW BROWN, Associated Press Writer
Fri Nov 6, 4:31 am ET
| BOZEMAN, Mont. - Members of a Montana-based sect whose influence expanded as it prepared for a nuclear holocaust that never came, now search for new directions after the death of Elizabeth Clare Prophet - "Mother" to her thousands of followers.
The Church Universal and Triumphant still keeps its 750-person underground shelters stocked with food - "insurance," its leaders say, against possible dark days ahead.
Yet with Prophet gone, it's uncertain the spiritual movement she embodied will prove as lasting as all the concrete and steel hidden beneath a Montana mountainside north of Yellowstone National Park. |
27 Mohamed ElBaradei looks to US to fix nuclear system 'in tatters'
By Howard LaFranchi, The Christian Science Monitor
Wed Nov 4, 4:00 am ET
| New York - Mohamed ElBaradei, the outgoing director of the United Nation's nuclear watchdog agency, has a categorically negative view of the world's nuclear security system.
"Our security system is in tatters," says the seasoned Egyptian diplomat, who on Nov. 30 will step down after 12 years at the helm of the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Noting that the world currently operates in an environment where the most dangerous weapon - the nuclear bomb - has only enhanced its standing as a ticket to "power, prestige, and an insurance policy" against foreign intervention, he adds, "We haven't done [well] at all." |
28 G-20 officials to wrestle over economic imbalances
By JANE WARDELL, AP Business Writer
1 hr 44 mins ago
| ST. ANDREWS, Scotland - The world's top financial officials on Friday sought a blueprint for securing future global growth and worked to break a deadlock over who bears the cost of fighting climate change.
Even as the world emerges hesitantly from recession, finance ministers and central bankers from the Group of 20 leading rich and developing countries meeting in Scotland are likely to agree that it is too early to pull the plug on economic stimulus measures.
While Britain remains officially in recession, the United States, Germany, and Japan have all recorded renewed growth and the 16-country euro zone is expected to do the same when figures are released next week. |
29 Thaksin on a mission to humiliate Thai government
By JOCELYN GECKER, Associated Press Writer
Fri Nov 6, 12:40 pm ET
| BANGKOK - Thailand's fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra has spent much of the past three years roaming the globe, shopping for diamonds in Africa, golfing at Asian resorts - and humiliating the government from a distance.
After stirring up sometimes violent passions from afar among his supporters and opponents inside Thailand, the deposed leader has now entangled his homeland in a diplomatic imbroglio with neighboring Cambodia, which this past week named him a special adviser on economic matters.
The idea of Thaksin being made welcome by Cambodia's mercurial Prime Minister Hun Sen has jangled nerves in the Thai capital. Thailand already has a nasty dispute with its neighbor over border territory, which has led to several small but deadly clashes over the past year and a half. |
30 Dalai Lama visit highlights India-China tensions
By RAVI NESSMAN and MUNEEZA NAQVI, Associated Press Writers
Fri Nov 6, 11:38 am ET
| TAWANG, India - This remote town in the Himalayan foothills spruced up its monasteries Friday to prepare for the Dalai Lama's arrival, a trip highlighting the growing friction between China and India - two nuclear-armed giants vying for economic and political power in the region.
While a repeat of the 1962 border war between the two countries seems unlikely, the quarrel has underscored tensions - some stemming from India's swift economic growth and the increasing challenge it poses to Chinese dominance of the region.
"At the heart of all this anger, you see the subtext of India, this upstart, trying to compete with China," said Brahma Chellaney, an analyst at the Center for Policy Research in New Delhi. |
31 Honduras leadership in limbo as accord dissolves
By MARTHA MENDOZA and OLGA R. RODRIGUEZ, Associated Press Writers
1 hr 1 min ago
| TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras - They can't both be right. Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya says a deal that could have returned him to power is defunct. Roberto Micheletti, who took power after a coup, says the same deal has been successfully accomplished.
The Obama Administration, caught in the middle of a power struggle in this tiny Central American nation, was urgently pressing Friday for the survival of an accord it hailed as "a historic victory for democracy."
"No, it's not dead, but maybe sleeping for the time being," said State Department press spokesman Fred Lash. "Both sides need to return to the table and negotiate the formation of a government of national unity." |
32 In Europe, an orderly approach to swine flu shots
By MARIA CHENG, AP Medical Writer
42 mins ago
| LONDON - In Britain, there are no long lines of people seeking swine flu vaccine. Doctor's offices aren't swamped with desperate calls. And there are no cries of injustice that the vaccine is going to wealthy corporations or healthy people who don't really need it.
Here, and across most of Europe, vaccine to protect against the pandemic flu is mostly given by invitation only to those at highest risk for flu complications.
"That is one of the great advantages of the British health system," said Dr. Steve Field, president of the Royal College of General Physicians. "We have a list of all the names of patients who qualify to be vaccinated." |
33 Forgotten land could decide Turkey-Armenia peace
Reuters
Fri Nov 6, 8:28 am ET
| AGDAM, Azerbaijan (Reuters) - Brief snatches of color -- a washing line, a passing car -- break up the mass of rubble that was Agdam.
A handful of Armenians live off scrap metal and pipes plundered from the ruins of this Azeri town, razed in 1993 as Christian Armenian forces in the mountain region of Nagorno-Karabakh fought to split from Muslim Azerbaijan.
Largely forgotten by the outside world since, the remote territory is now the center of diplomatic attention because it could torpedo a fragile peace deal between historic enemies Armenia and Turkey. |
34 Defusing "poor man's minefield" in Afghan south
By Golnar Motevalli, Reuters
Fri Nov 6, 5:00 am ET
| BARCHA, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Coming face-to-face with Afghanistan insurgents' deadliest and most effective weapon -- improvised explosive devices (IEDs) -- is a near daily event for U.S. Marine Staff Sergeants Tony D'Amato and Aaron Irvin.
Irvin and D'Amato are stationed in Afghanistan's southern Helmand province where they defuse the home-made bombs and where some 10,000 Marines have been deployed to try to turn the tide on the Taliban insurgency there.
Facing death at such close range on a daily basis is something they try not to dwell on while they work. |
35 Zelaya calls for more protests after crisis deal collapses
AFP
58 mins ago
| TEGUCIGALPA (AFP) - Honduran President Manuel Zelaya, ousted in a military-backed coup four months ago, called for fresh protests Friday after the collapse of a US-brokered deal to end the crisis.
Zelaya said last week's deal was no longer valid after de facto leader Roberto Micheletti formed a new "national unity" government without his participation.
"Now I have no commitment to dialogue," Zelaya said Friday on Globo radio, calling his supporters onto the streets. |
36 Third gun attack on brigadier in Pakistan capital
by Khurram Shahzad, AFP
Fri Nov 6, 7:44 am ET
| ISLAMABAD (AFP) - A Pakistani brigadier escaped assassination Friday in the third gun attack targeting top brass in the capital as the army claimed further gains in a major anti-Taliban offensive in the northwest.
Gunmen on a motorbike shot the military intelligence official and his driver at close range in the normally peaceful middle-class neighbourhood of I-8 on the outskirts of the leafy capital during morning rush hour.
"He just came out from his house... when two gunmen on a motorbike sprayed bullets at his vehicle. Luckily he survived. The gunmen fled," deputy superintendent of Islamabad police, Khurshid Khan, told AFP. |
37 Two charged over murders of Russian lawyer, reporter
by Alexander Osipovich, AFP
Thu Nov 5, 1:55 pm ET
| MOSCOW (AFP) - Two Russian nationalists have been arrested and charged in the high-profile killings of a human rights lawyer and journalist who were gunned down in Moscow in January, officials said on Thursday.
The double murder of Stanislav Markelov, a lawyer who had exposed abuses by the Russian army in Chechnya, and Anastasia Baburova, a reporter at opposition newspaper Novaya Gazeta, were condemned by the European Union.
The arrests this week were cautiously welcomed by human rights groups, who complain that many killings of Russian journalists and activists go unsolved. |
38 Tsvangirai calls off Zimbabwe unity government boycott
by Joshua Howat Berger, AFP
Thu Nov 5, 5:07 pm ET
| MAPUTO (AFP) - Zimbabwe's Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai on Thursday called off a boycott of power-sharing ties with President Robert Mugabe that had paralysed the fragile unity government for three weeks.
"We have suspended our disengagement in the government," Tsvangirai told reporters after talks at an emergency regional summit to break the impasse in the Mozambican capital.
Tsvangirai said the summit -- attended by several southern African leaders -- had resolved that the three main political parties will meet within the next 15 days to decide how outstanding issues stalling the unity pact be settled. |
39 Zimbabwe faces new deadline for reforms
by Godfrey Marawanyika, AFP
Fri Nov 6, 6:46 am ET
| HARARE (AFP) - Zimbabwe averted a political meltdown Friday after Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai ended a boycott of the unity government, but faced a new deadline to resolve a slate of thorny disputes.
A summit of southern African leaders ended late Thursday with Tsvangirai agreeing to end his three-week boycott of the government that he formed in February with President Robert Mugabe.
The summit gave the rival leaders 30 days to negotiate an end to their disputes, including a feud over key government appointments and the arrest and harassment of Tsvangirai loyalists. |
40 Karzai could lose West's support, Brown warns
by Alice Ritchie, AFP
Fri Nov 6, 7:39 am ET
| LONDON (AFP) - The West could withdraw support for Afghan President Hamid Karzai if he fails to live up to its expectations during his second term, Prime Minister Gordon Brown warned on Friday.
While defending Britain's Afghanistan mission against waning public support, Brown admitted Karzai's government had become a "by-word for corruption" -- and also pressed for more Afghan troops to bear the brunt of frontline action.
He said he had spoken to Karzai, whose re-election was confirmed this week, several times in recent days and urged progress on the key issues of security, governance, reconciliation, economic development and regional relations. |
41 Thais to scrap Cambodia oil deal in Thaksin row
by Anusak Konglang, AFP
Fri Nov 6, 6:30 am ET
| BANGKOK (AFP) - Thailand said Friday it would tear up an oil and gas exploration deal with Cambodia, stoking a row over Phnom Penh's naming of fugitive former Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra as an economics adviser.
The government in Bangkok also warned that it could seal the border between the two countries, one day after the neighbours both recalled their respective ambassadors due to the dispute over Thaksin's appointment.
Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya said Bangkok had decided to cancel a 2001 agreement to jointly develop a disputed area in the Gulf of Thailand, which was signed during Thaksin's time in power. |
42 Myanmar vote plan clouds new US dialogue
by Shaun Tandon, AFP
Fri Nov 6, 2:25 am ET
| WASHINGTON (AFP) - US envoys who paid a rare visit to Myanmar say the new dialogue will be slow and cautious, but the junta's plans to hold 2010 elections are casting a shadow that could disrupt the delicate process.
Kurt Campbell, the top US diplomat for Asia, and his deputy Scot Marciel spent two days in the country formerly known as Burma, the highest-level US visit since 1995 as part of a new policy of engagement.
The State Department duo has been at pains to temper expectations for any breakthrough and warned the junta that the United States will not ease economic sanctions without progress on democracy. |
43 U.N. to scale back in Kabul as it ponders better security
By Dion Nissenbaum, McClatchy Newspapers
Thu Nov 5, 1:20 pm ET
| KABUL, Afghanistan - A week after pre-dawn attack killed five members of its Kabul staff, the United Nations on Thursday announced plans to scale back its operations in the city temporarily while it re-evaluates dangers in the country.
Although the U.N. said the decision to relocate about half of its international staff shouldn't be seen as a diplomatic retreat, the move comes amid concerns that the deadly attack has emboldened Taliban fighters, who may try to strike again.
"They realize that if they hit the United Nations again, there's a serious risk of the United Nations leaving the country," said one diplomat in Kabul , who spoke only on the condition of anonymity so that he could speak candidly about the U.N. plans. |
44 Iraqis at the brink: Election law delayed again
By Warren P. Strobel, McClatchy Newspapers
Thu Nov 5, 3:14 pm ET
| BAGHDAD - Iraqi lawmakers blew another deadline Thursday as they continued haggling over an election law that's crucial to the country's political stability and to the Obama administration's plans for a speedy withdrawal of U.S. troops.
At one point Thursday, it appeared that Iraq's Council of Representatives had reached a compromise on the main point of contention: how the oil-rich, ethnically tense province of Kirkuk should be represented in the Iraqi parliament. No deal was reached with the parliament, however, and action was put off until at least Saturday.
The dispute among Arabs, Kurds and Turkomen threatens to paralyze Iraq's brittle democracy. |
45 Afghan insurgents make wreckage of U.S. armored vehicles
By Jonathan S. Landay, McClatchy Newspapers
Thu Nov 5, 7:29 pm ET
WASHINGTON - Taliban led insurgents in Afghanistan have devised ways to cripple and even destroy the expensive armored vehicles that offer U.S. forces the best protection against roadside bombs by using increasingly large explosive charges and rocketpropelled grenades, according to U.S. soldiers and defense officials.
At least eight American troops have been killed this year in attacks on so-called Mine-Resistant Ambush-Protected vehicles, or MRAPs, and 40 more have been wounded, said a senior U.S. military official who, like others interviewed on the issue, declined to be further identified because of the issue's sensitivity.
The insurgents' success in attacking the hulking machines, which can cost as much as $1 million each, underscores their ability to counter the advanced hardware that the U.S. military and its allies are deploying in their struggle to gain the upper hand in the war, which entered its ninth year last month. |
Targets.
46 Obama's Asia tour kicks off at critical time on home front
By Margaret Talev, McClatchy Newspapers
1 hr 38 mins ago
| WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama will leave the country for a four-nation tour of Asia starting Wednesday despite a host of domestic concerns, including the massacre at Fort Hood, a sharply rising jobless rate, his health care legislation stalled in Congress and his Afghanistan troop decision still pending.
He planned his Nov. 11-19 trip around the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in Singapore , but added stops in Japan , China and South Korea . The itinerary reflects the growing importance of East Asia - especially China - to everything from financing U.S. debt and powering the global economic recovery to climate change, disease control, and containing nuclear threats from North Korea and Iran .
Asia's importance in global affairs rose over the past decade as U.S. foreign policy was dominated by the war on terror, and as U.S. domestic spending and borrowing from foreign countries spiraled. |
47 Zelaya-Micheletti Honduras Deal Risks Trouble for Obama
By TIM PADGETT / TEGUCIGALPA, Time Magazine
Fri Nov 6, 10:20 am ET
| When the U.S. last week finally brokered a deal between ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya and the man who replaced him following the June 28 coup, de facto President Roberto Micheletti, observers wondered how the Obama Administration had won Micheletti's agreement. That's because the pact allowed for Zelaya to be restored to office before Honduras' Nov. 29 presidential election - a prospect Micheletti had fiercely opposed. But as the dust settles, the more common question this week is, What was Zelaya thinking when he signed this accord? |
| From Yahoo News U.S. News |
48 Case against Bear Stearns men flawed: lawyer
By Grant McCool, Reuters
Fri Nov 6, 1:10 pm ET
| NEW YORK (Reuters) - The government's allegations of fraud against two former Bear Stearns hedge fund managers were built on "hindsight bias," including emails selected out of context, a defense lawyer told a jury in closing arguments on Friday at their trial in New York.
Ralph Cioffi, 53 and Matthew Tannin, 48, have denied charges of securities fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy in a June 2008 indictment that made them the first high-profile Wall Streeters to be criminally charged in a case stemming from problems with subprime mortgage-backed securities in 2007 that fueled the market meltdown.
"This is a case that is built on hindsight bias," Tannin's lawyer, Susan Brune, told the jury in Brooklyn federal court. |
49 Florida grapples slippery giant snake invasion
by Juan Castro Olivera, AFP
Thu Nov 5, 9:08 pm ET
| MIAMI (AFP) - Florida homes and swamps more used to dealing with dangerous critters like alligators now face a more foreign invader -- giant pet snakes escaped into the wild whose numbers are growing at an alarming rate.
Several species of non-native snakes, such as the boa constrictor and the African python, are adapting so well to life in southern Florida's warm semi-tropical climate that they are posing a risk to wildlife and even humans.
Already well camouflaged thanks to their natural coloring, the slippery customers can glide away into the undergrowth of the Florida Everglades easily evading capture. |
50 Polarized News? The Media's Moderate Bias
By JAMES PONIEWOZIK, Time Magazine
Fri Nov 6, 10:50 am ET
| In the argument between the White House and Fox News over whether the cable channel is a conservative mouthpiece, you would think that Fox's viewers would have its back. Not entirely. In an Oct. 29 Pew Research Center survey, TV-news viewers named Fox the most ideological outlet - and 48% of Fox's own viewers called it "mostly conservative" (27% of Fox fans said it was "neither in particular," while 17% said it was "mostly liberal," suggesting that pollsters called G. Gordon Liddy's house more than once). |
|
Reform Immigration -
March on Washington
