2 Intel to pay AMD $1.25 billion in antitrust case
by Rob Lever, AFP
1 hr 39 mins ago
| WASHINGTON (AFP) - Intel Corp. agreed Thursday to pay Advanced Micro Devices 1.25 billion dollars to settle a series of long-running legal disputes between the two chipmakers on antitrust and patent issues worldwide.
The announcement comes as the Santa Clara, California-based Intel, the world's biggest maker of semiconductors, is facing litigation around the world alleging it abused its dominant position in the sector.
The companies said in a joint statement that the settlement represents "a comprehensive agreement to end all outstanding legal disputes between the companies, including antitrust litigation and patent cross license disputes." |
3 Obama announces December jobs crisis talks
AFP
2 hrs 6 mins ago
| WASHINGTON (AFP) - President Barack Obama on Thursday announced a jobs forum to be held at the White House in a bid to combat unemployment that has soared to the highest level in 26 years.
"In December, we'll be holding a forum at the White House on jobs and economic growth," Obama said before departing on a trip to Asia.
The meeting among CEOs, small business owners, economists, financial experts as well as representatives from labor unions and non-profit groups is to see "how we can work together to create jobs and get this economy moving again." |
4 Obama embarks on debut Asia mission
AFP
1 hr 55 mins ago
| WASHINGTON (AFP) - Barack Obama embarked Thursday on his first tour of Asia as US president, bound for Japan before later stops in Singapore, China and South Korea on a week-long trip.
Obama will seek to counter charges that America's influence in the world's most populous region is fading amid the rise of China and the distraction of US-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"It's a common perception in the region that US influence has been on the decline in the last decade, while Chinese influence has been increasing," said Obama's top East Asia aide Jeffrey Bader. |
5 Medvedev pushes reforms under Putin's watchful eye
by Alexander Osipovich, AFP
1 hr 19 mins ago
| MOSCOW (AFP) - President Dmitry Medvedev on Thursday called for Russia's transformation into a democratic, high-tech society but warned that efforts to "destabilise" the country would not be tolerated.
In his annual address to the nation, Medvedev walked a tightrope between liberal political and economic reforms and the strongman legacy of his predecessor, Vladimir Putin.
Medvedev, who became president last year, is widely seen as being weaker than Putin, now prime minister, and the speech was closely watched for any signs of Medvedev's independence from his powerful mentor. |
6 Bikinis, hugs and hairy heroics on world records day
by Robin Millard
Thu Nov 12, 11:24 am ET
| LONDON (AFP) - Stripping down to bikinis, cuddling strangers in railway stations and dragging buses with their hair, thousands of people across the globe attempted to break curious world records Thursday.
From Australia to China, Britain, Egypt, Lebanon and Tennessee, people put their scalps, stomachs and reputations on the line.
The antics were all in the name of the fifth annual Guinness World Records Day, with hopefuls trying to secure a spot in the next edition of their famous Guinness World Records book. |
7 As US mourns war dead, Afghanistan stalks Obama
by Laurent Lozano, AFP
Wed Nov 11, 3:50 pm ET
| WASHINGTON (AFP) - As Americans marked Veterans Day, President Barack Obama huddled with his war cabinet Wednesday to discuss whether to deploy more troops to Afghanistan having whittled his options down to four.
But Americans, still reeling from last week's shooting at a Texas military base, will have to wait a few weeks yet before the commander-in-chief unveils one of the most important decisions of his presidency.
Obama leaves Thursday for his first presidential tour of Asia with the question of what course to pursue against the bloody insurgency in Afghanistan certain to dominate his talks. |
8 Europe sets down firm deficit deadlines
AFP
Wed Nov 11, 12:58 pm ET
| BRUSSELS (AFP) - The European Commission on Wednesday gave 13 countries -- including Britain, France and Germany -- firm deadlines to bring bloated public deficits back under tight control.
Budget overspending and consequent national debt, already a severe problem for many countries before the financial crisis, are now turning into a critical dilemma for some nations as they recover from the slump with deficits three times the required limit.
Four of them, Britain, France, Ireland and Spain, were deemed by European Union Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs Joaquin Almunia to have taken "effective action" since existing recommendations in April. |
Idiots.
9 UN court cuts jail term for Bosnian-Serb general
AFP
Thu Nov 12, 7:38 am ET
| THE HAGUE (AFP) - A UN court on Thursday cut an ex-Bosnian Serb general's sentence by four years after finding there was no evidence he ordered certain shootings of civilians during a siege of Sarajevo.
The ruling reduced his sentence from 33 years to 29.
"The appeals chamber... reduces (Dragomir) Milosevic's sentence to 29 years of imprisonment," judge Fausto Pocar of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia said in The Hague. |
10 China extends Rio Tinto probe 2 months: Australia
by Amy Coopes, AFP
Thu Nov 12, 3:59 am ET
| SYDNEY (AFP) - China has extended an investigation of detained Rio Tinto mining executive Stern Hu by two months, Australian officials said Thursday, calling for a quick resolution to the long-running case.
A foreign office spokesman said Chinese authorities had announced a second extension to the probe into Hu, who was arrested in July and accused of industrial espionage and bribery.
"We were informed during the consular visit on November 9 that the Chinese authorities had extended the investigation by another two months," a foreign office spokesman told AFP. |
11 Jobless claims fall, but hiring gains seem far off
By CHRISTOPHER S. RUGABER, AP Economics Writer
1 hr 41 mins ago
| WASHINGTON - Fewer people are claiming unemployment benefits - but still too many to signal that the economy is close to gaining jobs.
First-time claims for jobless benefits dropped last week to a seasonally adjusted 502,000, the Labor Department said Thursday. That's the fewest claims since the week ending Jan. 3, and below economists' estimates.
Claims would have to fall to the high 400s to indicate the economy could soon produce even a slight gain in jobs, estimates Abiel Reinhart, an economist at JPMorgan Chase. That level of claims could be reached by January, he said, and the economy should start gaining jobs sometime in the first quarter of 2010. |
U6 17+%. Everything else is bullshit.
12 Obama said to want revised Afghanistan options
By BEN FELLER and ANNE GEARAN, Associated Press Writers
2 hrs 42 mins ago
| WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama rejected the Afghanistan war options before him and asked for revisions, his defense secretary said Thursday, after the U.S. ambassador in Kabul argued that a significant U.S. troop increase would only prop up a weak, corruption-tainted government.
Obama's ambassador, Karl Eikenberry, who is also a former commander in Afghanistan, twice in the last week voiced strong dissent against sending large numbers of new forces, according to an administration official. That puts him at odds with the current war commander, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, who is seeking thousands more troops.
Eikenberry's misgivings, expressed in classified cables to Washington, highlight administration concerns that bolstering the American presence in Afghanistan could make the country more reliant on the U.S., not less. He expressed his objections just ahead of Obama's latest war meeting Wednesday. |
The piece Rachel was talking about.
13 John King to be replacing Dobbs' show on CNN
By DAVID BAUDER, AP Television Writer
1 hr 23 mins ago
| NEW YORK - John King is replacing Lou Dobbs on CNN.
Jon Klein, CNN president, said Thursday that veteran reporter King will move into the 7 p.m. EST slot that's been vacated by Lou Dobbs. King will host a show about politics beginning early next year.
That puts him in direct competition with MSNBC's Chris Matthews, whose "Hardball" is also about politics. Fox News Channel's Shepard Smith, who does a more general interest newscast, dominates the cable news ratings in that hour. |
Good riddance to bad rubbish.
14 Americans may be settling into spending less
By ANNE D'INNOCENZIO, AP Retail Writer
Thu Nov 12, 10:34 am ET
| NEW YORK - Americans spent about the same amount in October as in August and September, according to figures released Thursday by a key data service, and they may be settling into new low-spending habits.
Including everything from toys to food, but not cars or gasoline, U.S. retail sales rose slightly in October - 1.5 percent - from a year earlier even as consumers grappled with rising unemployment and tight credit.
Compared with the month before, however, sales fell 2.3 percent in October, the biggest month-to-month decline since December 2008. |
70% of the Economy. Look for a market crash when the Holiday sales figures are reported.
15 AP poll: Family dinner survives distractions
By CALVIN WOODWARD, Associated Press Writer
1 hr 8 mins ago
| WASHINGTON - Pass the gravy - plus the phone and the remote control. It's dinnertime in America.
Between the blare of the TV, the ring of the phone and Junior texting his buddies under the table or from the couch, the modern dinner comes with a heaping helping of distracting bells and whistles, an Associated Press-iVillage Food poll found.
Yet the sit-down, home-cooked family meal is an enduring tradition. And not just on Thanksgiving or other special occasions. |
16 Gunmen kill Pakistani working at Iranian Consulate
By RIAZ KHAN, Associated Press Writer
Thu Nov 12, 8:52 am ET
| PESHAWAR, Pakistan - Gunmen killed a Pakistani working at the Iranian Consulate in the northwestern city of Peshawar on Thursday, adding to security fears in the country as it presses an offensive against the Taliban along the nearby Afghan border.
No group claimed responsibility for the attack, which comes amid tensions between Pakistan and Iran over Tehran's allegations that Pakistani intelligence agents had a role in a deadly suicide bombing last month in Iran.
The attackers opened fire on Abul Hasan Jaffri while he was in a car near his home in a central part of Peshawar, said police official Mohammad Kamal. Jaffri, who was the director of public relations at the consulate, died at a military hospital. The gunmen escaped after the shooting. |
17 Unions prod Obama to fix ailing airline industry
By JOAN LOWY, Associated Press Writer
1 hr 38 mins ago
| WASHINGTON - The Obama administration reached out Thursday to the nation's airlines and their unions for solutions on how to restore health to the ailing industry, which is losing billions of dollars, shedding jobs and blamed for using a business model critics say undermines safety.
The response, at least from one airline chief executive, was that the government should pay for a new air traffic control system without help from airlines. US Airways CEO Doug Parker said in a letter to Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood the industry wants the new system - which is expected to reduce airport congestion, fuel use and greenhouse gas emissions - but doesn't have the money to pay for it.
LaHood hosted a forum Thursday on the state of the industry. Airlines have suffered repeated shocks in recent years, including the 9/11 terror attacks, the SARS virus, volatile oil prices and the current economic downturn. |
18 5 charged in child sex abuse case appear in court
By DAVID TWIDDY and BILL DRAPER, Associated Press Writers
2 hrs 10 mins ago
| LEXINGTON, Mo. - Five family members charged in a child sex abuse case in western Missouri made their first court appearance Thursday while crews resumed scouring property where some of the abuse allegedly occurred years ago.
The five men, wearing orange jumpsuits and shackled at their wrists, waists and ankles, appeared downcast as Associate Circuit Judge John Frerking of the Lafayette County court read the charges against them, including forcible sodomy, rape with a child younger than 12 and use of a child in a sexual performance.
Burrell Edward Mohler Sr., 77, of Independence, looked ill, keeping his eyes closed during much of the proceeding and coughing several times. |
More Mormons.
19 Report: 10 states face looming budget disasters
By JUDY LIN, Associated Press Writer
Wed Nov 11, 9:21 pm ET
| SACRAMENTO, Calif. - In Arizona, the budget has grown so gloomy that lawmakers are considering mortgaging Capitol buildings. In Michigan, state officials dealing with the nation's highest unemployment rate are slashing spending on schools and health care.
Drastic financial remedies are no longer limited to California, where a historic budget crisis earlier this year grew so bad that state agencies issued IOUs to pay bills.
A study released Wednesday warned that at least nine other big states are also barreling toward economic disaster, raising the likelihood of higher taxes, more government layoffs and deep cuts in services. |
20 Afghan future threatened by ex-warlords in gov't
By TODD PITMAN, Associated Press Writer
Wed Nov 11, 6:35 pm ET
| KABUL - Warlords helped drive the Russians from Afghanistan, then shelled Kabul into ruins in a bloody civil war after the Soviets left. Now they are back in positions of power, in part because the U.S. relied on them in 2001 to help oust the Taliban after the Sept. 11 attacks.
President Hamid Karzai later reached out to them to shore up his own power base as America turned its attention to Iraq after the Taliban's rout.
With the Taliban resurging, the entrenched power of the warlords is complicating Karzai's promises to rid his new government of corruption and cronies, steps seen as critical to building support among Afghans against the insurgents. |
21 UN says hunger stunts some 200 million children
By ARIEL DAVID and MARIA CHENG, Associated Press Writer
Wed Nov 11, 5:29 pm ET
| ROME - Nearly 200 million children in poor countries have stunted growth because of insufficient nutrition, according to a new report published by UNICEF Wednesday before a three-day international summit on the problem of world hunger.
The head of a U.N. food agency called on the world to join him in a day of fasting ahead of the summit to highlight the plight of 1 billion hungry people.
Jacques Diouf, director-general of the Food and Agriculture Organization, said he hoped the fast would encourage action by world leaders who will take part in the meeting at his agency's headquarters starting Monday. |
22 Will followers still obey evangelist from prison?
By JON GAMBRELL, Associated Press Writer
19 mins ago
| LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Evangelist Tony Alamo controlled his followers from behind bars for years when he was in prison for tax evasion. Even as he awaited trial on child-sex charges over the past year, he had sufficient power to warn a young follower who questioned an order not to cross him.
"Just because I'm in jail, you'll find out that I'm still in charge. OK, kid? You understand?" Alamo chillingly told the girl, whose scared voice crackled across the recording played at his trial.
Now, with Alamo set to spend the rest of his life in prison, the question becomes whether his 200-odd followers will again obey his demands after the charismatic, apocalyptic preacher is led out of court in handcuffs. |
23 Lawyer: FBI asked terror suspect to be informant
By DENISE LAVOIE, AP Legal Affairs Writer
21 mins ago
| BOSTON - A Massachusetts man accused of plotting to kill Americans was portrayed by federal prosecutors Thursday as a jihadist who is too dangerous to be released on bail, but the man's lawyer said he was charged only after he refused to become an FBI informant against Muslims.
Tarek Mehanna, 27, of Sudbury, was arrested a year ago and charged with lying to the FBI. New, more serious charges were added last month, when Mehanna was accused of conspiring with two other men to shoot shoppers at U.S. malls, to kill two unnamed prominent U.S. politicians and to kill American soldiers in Iraq.
Authorities said he and the other men never came close to pulling off an attack, but did seek training at terrorist camps in the Middle East. The men allegedly told friends they were turned down for terrorist training because of their nationality, ethnicity or inexperience, or that they were unable to make contact with people they hoped would get them into such camps. |
24 Patrick Kennedy clashes with outspoken RI bishop
By RAY HENRY, Associated Press Writer
30 mins ago
| PROVIDENCE, R.I. - Thomas Tobin, the Roman Catholic bishop of Providence, has made a career out of putting politicians in his crosshairs, but his latest battle over abortion threatens to spiritually exile Rep. Patrick Kennedy, a son of the nation's most famous Roman Catholic family.
Their feud over a proposal expanding the nation's health insurance system has escalated to the point where Tobin has publicly questioned Kennedy's faith and membership in the church and said he should not receive communion, the central sacrament in Catholic worship.
It's an uncomfortable tangle of faith and politics for a congressman whose uncle John F. Kennedy was elected the first Roman Catholic president in 1960 after declaring to wary Protestants that he did not speak for his church on public matters, and that the church did not speak for him. |
25 Friday the 13th phobia? You have plenty of company
By DON BABWIN, Associated Press Writer
40 mins ago
| CHICAGO - Henry Ford would have hated 2009, and not just because it's been a tough year to sell cars.
Ford, as the story goes, refused to do business on Friday the 13th, and this week marks the third time this year that the 13th will fall on a Friday - the most times it can happen in one year.
It's a day when people rearrange travel plans, delay surgery or just pull up the covers and stay in bed until Friday the 13th turns into Saturday the 14th, convinced that even stepping out of the house would cause bad luck to find them the way an anvil finds the head of Wile E. Coyote. |
DeMolay and the Knights Templar. Don't let non-illuminati tell you different.
26 Women face tough choices on abortion coverage
By DAVID CRARY, AP National Writer
1 hr 9 mins ago
| NEW YORK - Millions of American women will face tough choices about abortion coverage if restrictions in the House health care bill become law, both sides in the abortion debate agree.
Divisions over abortion are a major obstacle in President Barack Obama's push for health care overhaul, with both sides arguing over how to apply current law that bars taxpayer dollars for abortions in a totally new landscape. Under pressure from the Catholic Church and abortion foes, the House added tough restrictions to its version of a health care bill.
The measure would prohibit the proposed new government-run insurance plan from covering abortions except in cases of rape, incest or to save a mother's life, and bars any health plan receiving federal subsidies in a new insurance marketplace from offering abortion coverage. If women wanted to purchase abortion coverage through such plans, they'd have to buy it separately, as a so-called rider on their policy. |
A deal breaker. 50 - 50 even without it.
27 Charles Taylor war crimes trial gets mixed reviews in Liberia
By Jina Moore, The Christian Science Monitor
Wed Nov 11, 4:00 am ET
| Monrovia, Liberia - The local ataye center is a small, leisurely oasis on an otherwise bustling commercial street in Liberia's capital of Monrovia. Here, men sip bitter green tea, play checkers and Scrabble, and debate the day's politics.
At first, the name of Charles Taylor, an ex-president and notorious warlord, hushes the crowd. But by the time the afternoon's heat peaks, blustery opinions drown out the latest Akon music video as some 70 men gathered here on a lunch break argue over Mr. Taylor's ongoing war crimes trial.
The trial resumed this week in The Hague, where Taylor has been held since his arrest in 2006. He faces 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Taylor is the first African head of state to face an international criminal tribunal. But the indictment - and the court's jurisdiction focus only on crimes allegedly committed in neighboring Sierra Leone. Prosecutors have argued that Taylor backed rebel groups during the same civil war portrayed in the film "Blood Diamond." |
28 As Obama ponders Afghanistan, so does Europe
By PAISLEY DODDS, Associated Press Writer
1 hr 17 mins ago
| LONDON - President Barack Obama's delay in deciding U.S. troop levels in Afghanistan has found an echo chamber in Europe, where coalition leaders in NATO are weighing whether to send more help or bow to public demands for a speedy exit.
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told The Associated Press on Thursday that allied nations have privately pledged more help, but he stopped short of saying that countries would send more troops.
Canada, Finland and the Netherlands have either pulled troops out or set withdrawal dates. Other countries, such as Denmark, Italy, Germany, Norway and Sweden, say they will maintain current troop levels but have no immediate plans to increase them. Only Britain and Turkey have made significant pledges, and Turkey - a Muslim country - has committed noncombat personnel only. |
29 Pakistanis worry about US nuclear intentions
By TIM SULLIVAN, Associated Press Writer
1 hr 29 mins ago
| ISLAMABAD - In Washington, the ultimate Pakistani nightmare is that the country's nuclear arsenal could fall into the hands of Taliban militants or rogue soldiers.
In Islamabad, though, talk of nuclear weapons taps into a very different fear: Washington.
The United States, they'll tell you in this capital city of well-ordered neighborhoods and retired generals, wants to seize Pakistan's arsenal. And as Pakistan spirals into ever-worse bloodshed, they worry Washington might find an excuse. |
30 Medvedev urges modernization of Russian economy
By LYNN BERRY, Associated Press Writer
Thu Nov 12, 12:01 pm ET
| MOSCOW - President Dmitry Medvedev laid out his plan Thursday to move Russia's economy into the modern age and overcome the grim industrial legacy of the Soviet Union.
In his annual state-of-the-nation address, he took a few digs at Vladimir Putin, his predecessor and mentor, but made clear that the tightly controlled political system Putin created is here to stay.
Medvedev warned the opposition that any attempts to upset the current order will not be tolerated. |
31 Japanese cheer emperor's 20th year on throne
By ERIC TALMADGE, Associated Press Writer
Thu Nov 12, 12:07 pm ET
| TOKYO - Tens of thousands of well-wishers gathered outside Japan's moat-ringed Imperial Palace - many shouting "Banzai," a traditional wish for long life - to mark Thursday's 20th anniversary of Emperor Akihito's coronation to the world's oldest throne.
Parades, concerts and speeches by leading athletes, actors, businesspeople and politicians marked the festivities that lasted most of the day.
But in unusually somber comments of his own, Akihito appealed for future generations to learn from the war-marred reign of his father, the late Emperor Hirohito. |
32 Medvedev pitches modern Russia, warns opposition
By Guy Faulconbridge, Reuters
2 hrs 49 mins ago
| MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Dmitry Medvedev said on Thursday Russia needed to embrace sweeping reforms to become a modern world power but warned the opposition against sowing chaos in the name of democracy.
Medvedev spent much of his 100-minute state of the nation speech bewailing the state of Russia's economy which the Kremlin chief said was chronically obsolete and mired in corruption.
Amid a blizzard of general themes, Medvedev gave few concrete details on how to move Russia away from its Soviet roots and reduce "humiliating" dependence on raw materials. |
33 Food summit to make little headway in war on hunger
By Silvia Aloisi, Reuters
Thu Nov 12, 2:06 pm ET
| ROME (Reuters) - A U.N. world food summit next week is not likely to make more than token headway in the fight against hunger, with leaders merely pledging to boost aid to poor countries but setting no targets or deadlines for action.
With more than one billion people going hungry, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization had called the November 16-18 summit in Rome hoping to win a clear pledge by world leaders to spend $44 billion a year to help poor nations feed themselves.
But a final draft declaration seen by Reuters includes only a general commitment to pump more money into agricultural development, and makes no mention of a proposal to eliminate hunger by 2025. |
34 Iran exile group: Khamenei tightens intelligence grip
By Luke Baker, Reuters
Thu Nov 12, 10:57 am ET
| BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has created a powerful new intelligence organization to try to quell any further public unrest following June's disputed election, an exiled Iranian opposition group said on Thursday.
The new organization, responsible for intelligence and security, is an off-shoot of the Revolutionary Guards and will report directly to the supreme leader's office, according to the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), a Paris-based group that has followers in Europe and claims many in Iran.
The shift is the largest overhaul of the intelligence structure since 1989, when Iran's first Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini died, the NCRI believes, and reflects the depth of the leadership's concern about post-election protests. |
35 Aid freeze in post-coup Honduras hurting poor
By Robin Emmott, Reuters
Thu Nov 12, 10:43 am ET
| TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) - Poor Hondurans are going hungry and their sick children cannot obtain medicines as donors cut aid to the country following a June coup that deposed President Manuel Zelaya, doctors and aid workers say.
Soup kitchens have closed, medicines have become scarce, foreign doctors have canceled trips to Honduras and funding for the poor to run small businesses have dried up, increasing unemployment.
With Honduras already suffering from the global economic crisis, international development banks, the European Union and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a close Zelaya ally, froze donor programs after the army-backed coup on June 28. |
36 WITNESS: Afghan night mission ends in bullets
By Deborah Gembara, Reuters
2 hrs 50 mins ago
| BABO KHEYL, Afghanistan (Reuters) - It's just after midnight and I am in the back of a helicopter, jammed in with two soldiers on either side. We are in darkness, save for slivers of moonlight illuminating the door gunners.
I'm tagging along with members of the U.S. Army's 1st Battalion, 501st Infantry Regiment from Alaska, as they conduct a raid on the town of Babo Kheyl in eastern Afghanistan.
It's my first night operation and I'm digesting what I've been told about Babo Kheyl. Taliban stronghold. Surrounded by muddy trenches. Armed to the teeth. |
37 Thai crisis deepens as Thaksin finds Cambodian base
By Martin Petty, Reuters
Thu Nov 12, 8:53 am ET
| PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - Emboldened by a rousing welcome in Cambodia, fugitive former Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra is rallying supporters from just over the border, upping the ante in Thailand's political crisis.
After accusing Thailand's rulers of "false patriotism" in a speech in Phnom Penh on Thursday, Thaksin huddled with more than 20 supporters and leaders of his red-shirted, anti-government protest movement who traveled from Thailand.
That number will swell on Friday when about 100 supporters plan to gather in the Cambodian town of Siem Reap, about 150 km (90 miles) from the Thai border, according to Puea Thai, an incarnation of Thaksin's disbanded Thai Rak Thai party. |
38 China carefully navigates ties with Straits Chinese
By Lucy Hornby, Reuters
Thu Nov 12, 3:52 am ET
| SINGAPORE (Reuters) - When Chinese president Hu Jintao arrived in Singapore for a state visit this week, he announced China's favorite diplomatic gift -- two pandas -- but chose his words very carefully.
Hu spoke of the two nations' "close friendship" and "cultural ties," but avoided any mention of a shared ethnic heritage in a nod to sensitivities in a region with long ties to China, and an equally long wariness of Chinese domination.
The pandas would be a "fitting symbol of the close friendship and strong ties between Singapore and China as we celebrate 20 years of diplomatic relations next year," Singapore's foreign ministry said. |
39 Gates hints at compromise strategy on Afghanistan
by Dan De Luce, AFP
55 mins ago
| OSHKOSH, Wisconsin (AFP) - President Barack Obama is eyeing a compromise strategy on Afghanistan, Defense Secretary Robert Gates suggested Thursday, after the US envoy in Kabul warned against troop reinforcements.
Gates said Obama was seeking to balance a need to show a commitment to Afghanistan with conveying to President Hamid Karzai's corruption-tainted government that America's military presence is not indefinite.
"How do you signal resolve and at the same time signal you are not going to be there forever?" he asked, adding it was a challenge to "get that balance right." |
40 Taliban battles kill 17 Pakistan troops: officials
by S.H. Khan, AFP
Thu Nov 12, 2:05 pm ET
| PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AFP) - Stiff Taliban resistance killed at least 17 Pakistani soldiers Thursday in the military's deadliest day since launching a major offensive in South Waziristan, security officials said.
Pakistan has pressed around 30,000 forces, backed by war planes and attack helicopters, into battle in a US-endorsed mission to wipe out the chief strongholds of Tehreek-e-Taliban in the tribal district of South Waziristan.
But troops were dragged into fighting when trying to clear rebels from areas adjoining Taliban stronghold Kanigurram in part of Pakistan's border area with Afghanistan where US officials say Al-Qaeda are plotting attacks on the West. |
41 Detentions raised in 'difficult' Russia, Georgia talks
AFP
Wed Nov 11, 5:20 pm ET
| GENEVA (AFP) - Russia and Georgia greed to meet again in January after a "difficult" round of talks on Wednesday that was partly dominated by the issue of Georgians recently detained in Moscow-backed South Ossetia, diplomats said.
Georgia said it had raised the detentions during the eighth meeting on reducing tensions between Russia and Georgia, which fought a five-day war over the separatist region in August 2008.
"This is a huge problem," Georgian First Deputy Foreign Minister Giorgi Bokeria said after the talks in Geneva. |
42 Azerbaijan condemned over jail terms for bloggers
by Emil Guliyev, AFP
Wed Nov 11, 5:26 pm ET
| BAKU (AFP) - An Azerbaijan court on Wednesday jailed two bloggers who posted a satirical Internet video of a donkey giving a press conference, in a ruling rights groups say is aimed at silencing independent media.
Adnan Hajizade, 26, and Emin Milli, 30, were found guilty of hooliganism over a scuffle at a restaurant in Baku, their lawyer, Isakhan Ashurov, told AFP. Hajizade was jailed for two years and Milli two-and-a-half years.
The bloggers, who had been in jail since their arrests in July, say they were targeted for political reasons because of their online criticism of authorities in the oil-rich ex-Soviet republic. |
43 Sri Lanka's top general quits ahead of vote
by Amal Jayasinghe, AFP
Thu Nov 12, 11:30 am ET
| COLOMBO (AFP) - Sri Lanka's top general Sarath Fonseka, a war hero at home credited with crushing Tamil rebels, quit Thursday, heightening speculation he will enter politics to challenge President Mahinda Rajapakse.
"I gave my resignation. I have submitted my retirement papers," Fonseka told reporters at a Buddhist temple he visited after sending his resignation as chief of defence staff to Rajapakse.
Fonseka is thought to have clashed with the president and the president's brother, who is defence secretary, in a wrangle over who should take credit for the victory over the rebels in May, which ended a bloody 37-year conflict. |
44 UN court cuts jail term for Bosnian-Serb general
AFP
Thu Nov 12, 7:38 am ET
| THE HAGUE (AFP) - A UN court on Thursday cut an ex-Bosnian Serb general's sentence by four years after finding there was no evidence he ordered certain shootings of civilians during a siege of Sarajevo.
The ruling reduced his sentence from 33 years to 29.
"The appeals chamber... reduces (Dragomir) Milosevic's sentence to 29 years of imprisonment," judge Fausto Pocar of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia said in The Hague. |
45 Abuse in China's 'black jails': rights group
by Marianne Barriaux, AFP
Thu Nov 12, 3:40 am ET
| BEIJING (AFP) - Chinese state agents regularly abduct citizens and detain them for days or months in secret, illegal "black jails", subjecting them to physical and psychological abuses, Human Rights Watch said Thursday.
The US-based rights group in a new report called on China to shut down the detention facilities, many of which it said were housed in state-owned hotels, nursing homes and psychiatric care units, and bring their managers to justice.
"The existence of black jails in the heart of Beijing makes a mockery of the Chinese government's rhetoric on improving human rights and respecting the rule of law," said Sophie Richardson, the group's Asia advocacy director. |
46 Medvedev calls for overhauling Russia's 'primitive economy'
By Tom Lasseter, McClatchy Newspapers
2 hrs 34 mins ago
| MOSCOW - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev called Thursday for a bold overhaul of his nation's economy, saying that Russia must remedy its "primitive economy" and "humiliating dependence on raw materials."
Medvedev ticked off a long list of changes that Russia should undergo to diversify beyond oil and gas, such as funding high-tech companies, combating corruption and making Russian goods more competitive on the world market.
Left largely unsaid was how he intends to enact such major changes. Most of the measures that Medvedev spelled out in his annual address to parliament, under the bright glow of heavy chandeliers in a Kremlin meeting hall, were similar to those that Russian leaders have proposed for years. |
| From Yahoo News U.S. News |
47 Feds move to seize 4 mosques, tower linked to Iran
By ADAM GOLDMAN, Associated Press Writer
27 mins ago
| NEW YORK - Federal prosecutors Thursday took steps to seize four U.S. mosques and a Fifth Avenue skyscraper owned by a nonprofit Muslim organization long suspected of being secretly controlled by the Iranian government.
In what could prove to be one of the biggest counterterrorism seizures in U.S. history, prosecutors filed a civil complaint in federal court seeking the forfeiture of more than $500 million in assets of the Alavi Foundation and an alleged front company.
The assets include Islamic centers in New York City, Maryland, California and Houston, more than 100 acres in Virginia, and a 36-story office tower in New York. |
48 ACORN lawsuit raises question: Can it survive?
By SAMANTHA GROSS, Associated Press Writer
1 hr 23 mins ago
| NEW YORK - ACORN has been cut off by banks, the government and most of its private foundation funders, severely hampering its housing operations and raising the possibility that it will not survive in its current form, according to a lawsuit the group filed Thursday against the U.S. government.
The lawsuit claims that Congress' decision to drop all funding to the group and its affiliates was unconstitutional because it punitively targeted an individual organization.
In affidavits accompanying the lawsuit, ACORN CEO Bertha Lewis and other employees paint a bleak picture of an organization damaged by a string of scandals and the loss of federal funds. |
49 Rural U.S. towns struggle as big employers shut down
By Nick Carey, Reuters
Thu Nov 12, 10:37 am ET
| BARAGA, Michigan (Reuters) - After more than an hour talking about how awful business has been of late, Pete Van Straten, 52, jerks a thumb at the telephone sitting on the desk behind his younger brother, George.
"Have you heard that phone ring in the last hour?" he asks a visitor. "Two years ago that phone was ringing off the hook and we couldn't keep up with orders. Now, it's dead."
Based on the shores of Lake Superior in Michigan's Upper Peninsula region, Van Straten Brothers Inc has built everything from forklifts to bridges for the lumber and construction industries. Those industries have been hammered by the recession. |
50 FDA tackles gray area of social media
By Deepa Seetharaman, Reuters
Thu Nov 12, 2009 2:04PM EST
| WASHINGTON (Reuters)- Drug makers, Internet companies and nonprofits packed a hearing into what is a gray area for U.S. health regulators: how far Twitter, Wikipedia, blogs and other social media can go in promoting drugs.
The two-day public hearing, convened Thursday by the Food and Drug Administration, aims to find out if the agency needs to specifically regulate how drugs and medical devices under its oversight are promoted on the Internet.
"Consumers turn to the Web more often than the traditional channels they historically relied on" such as family, friends and doctors, Wayne Gattinella, chief executive of WebMD, a site for health information, said during a presentation. |
51 Lou Dobbs leaving CNN, does not reveal plans
By Gina Keating and Steve Gorman, Reuters
Wed Nov 11, 9:21 pm ET
| LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - CNN host Lou Dobbs, whose outspoken views on U.S. immigration have made him one of the most controversial figures on television, said on Wednesday he is leaving the 24-hour cable news network immediately because he wants a freer platform to state his opinion.
Dobbs, who announced his departure near the start of his nightly news and commentary show, did not say where he plans to go, after nearly 30 years at CNN.
Dobbs, whose ratings have been on the decline, said he had been released from his contract, effective immediately, and wanted "to contribute positively to the understanding of the great issues of our day ... in the most honest and direct language possible." |
You know, Stewart is going to have to cover this tonight.
52 Could FBI Have Stopped Nidal Hasan, Fort Hood Shooter?
By BOBBY GHOSH / WASHINGTON, Time Magazine
Wed Nov 11, 10:45 am ET
| The FBI might have known nearly a year ago that Major Nidal Malik Hasan was in contact with a known advocate of violent jihad against the West, but the intelligence community is rallying to defend the bureau from any suggestion that it could have prevented the massacre at Fort Hood. |
Racist assholes.
53 Nidal Hasan, Fort Hood Shooter: Lone-Wolf Terrorism?
By NANCY GIBBS, Time Magazine
Thu Nov 12, 11:15 am ET
| What a surprise it must have been when Major Nidal Malik Hasan woke up from his coma to find himself not in paradise but in Brooke Army Medical Center, deep in the heart of Texas, under security so tight that there were armed guards patrolling both the intensive-care unit and checkpoints at the nearest freeway off-ramp. This was not the finalÉ he had scripted when he gave away all his earthly goods - his desk lamp and air mattress, his frozen broccoli and spinach, his copies of the Koran. He had told his imam he was planning to visit his parents before deploying to Afghanistan. He did not mention that his parents had been dead for nearly 10 years. |
More racist assholism.
54Sarah Palin 'Going Rogue' Book Tour Hits Key States
By MARK HALPERIN / WEST ALLIS, WIS., Time Magazine
Thu Nov 12, 11:15 am ET
| The title of Sarah Palin's memoir, Going Rogue, is a little misleading. The gerund suggests that the woman who went from obscurity to the GOP ticket to the exit door of the Alaska governor's mansion in less than a year is still on a journey toward rogue-dom. |
Idiot.
|
March on Washington
