2 Delegates vow action at UN 'Hunger Summit'
by Gina Doggett, AFP
2 hrs 12 mins ago
| ROME (AFP) - The UN Hunger Summit on Monday vowed "urgent action" to combat food shortages but drew fire for failing to pledge new funds or set a timetable to beat the scourge affecting more than one billion people.
As Pope Benedict XVI slammed the "greed" of grain speculators, participants at the summit in Rome declared hunger was "an unacceptable blight on the lives, livelihoods and dignity of one-sixth of the world's population."
Their joint final declaration -- which was rolled out on the first day of the three-day summit -- also outlined five "principles" including "direct action" to help the most vulnerable. Reax: Pope slams 'greedy speculators' |
3 Obama presses Internet freedoms in China
by Stephen Collinson, AFP
1 hr 18 mins ago
| SHANGHAI (AFP) - US President Barack Obama Monday pushed for an unshackled Internet and expanded political freedoms, seeking to get around China's media curbs with a webcast town hall event in booming Shanghai.
Obama also said the United States and China, two economically interlocked rivals, need not be adversaries, appealing to millions of Chinese web surfers on the first day of his first visit to what he termed "a majestic country".
"I have always been a strong supporter of open Internet use. I am a big supporter of non-censorship," Obama said, before flying to Beijing for a welcome dinner and talks with Chinese President Hu Jintao. |
4 GM to repay aid early, sees 2010 share offering
by Rob Lever, AFP
Mon Nov 16, 10:29 am ET
| WASHINGTON (AFP) - General Motors said Monday an improving global auto market will allow the struggling auto giant to repay government loans early and move forward toward a 2010 share offering.
But the automaker that needed massive aid to avert collapse earlier this year also reported a net loss of 1.15 billion dollars in the period since emerging from bankruptcy in July.
The number one US automaker said it is making progress toward reviving its fortunes, although predicted more losses in the coming months. |
5 All eyes on Murdoch as newspapers ponder digital future
by Chris Lefkow, AFP
Sun Nov 15, 6:12 pm ET
| WASHINGTON (AFP) - Is Rupert Murdoch bluffing? Making a bold high-stakes gamble that will save the troubled newspaper industry? Or pursuing a pipe dream that can only end in failure?
The News Corp. chairman has prompted a fierce debate among media watchers with his accusation that Google is "stealing" from his vast newspaper empire and his threat to block the search engine from accessing its content.
The 78-year-old Murdoch has already announced plans to make readers pay to read his newspapers online but his warning that he may also make them invisible to Google has given rise to much speculation about the wisdom of the move. |
6 Bernanke sees sustained US growth despite 'headwinds'
by Rob Lever, AFP
1 hr 50 mins ago
| WASHINGTON (AFP) - Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke said Monday he expects the US economy to sustain its growth into 2010 despite "important headwinds" including tight credit and weak employment.
Bernanke said he sees the economy maintaining growth -- after expanding in the third quarter following four quarters of declines -- despite fears of a so-called double-dip recession.
"The stabilization of financial markets and the gradual restoration of confidence are in turn helping to provide a necessary foundation for economic recovery," he said in a speech to the New York Economic Club. |
7 Australia apologises to abused migrant children
AFP
Mon Nov 16, 6:29 am ET
| CANBERRA (AFP) - Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on Monday made an emotional apology to half-a-million "Forgotten Australians" who faced sexual abuse, violence and forced labour in childcare homes over a period of decades.
Hundreds of thousands of disadvantaged children, including some 7,000 sent from Britain, were ripped from their homes to live in poorly monitored state and church institutions where many were abused, ignored or forced into unpaid labour.
Victims among the 1,000 people who packed Parliament House for the address burst into tears as Rudd detailed heart-rending cases of neglect in Australia's orphanages and institutions from 1930 to 1970. |
8 Suicide car bomb kills four in NW Pakistan
by Lehaz Ali, AFP
Mon Nov 16, 4:37 am ET
| PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AFP) - A suicide bomber on Monday blew up a car packed with explosives near a college in Peshawar, killing four people in the latest attack on a city beset by Taliban-linked violence.
The bomber struck in a suburban road as children were going to school in the northwestern Pakistani city, devastating a mosque, destroying two rooms at a boys' college and bringing down one wall of a police station, witnesses said.
It was the fifth suicide attack in eight days to hit the sprawling city of 2.5 million people, which lies on the edge of Pakistan's lawless tribal belt, where US officials say Al-Qaeda are plotting attacks on the West. |
9 Obama says Washington not trying to contain China
By Patricia Zengerle and Jason Subler, Reuters
Mon Nov 16, 5:17 am ET
| BEIJING (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama told Chinese students on Monday he did not fear their nation's rise, ahead of talks on trade imbalances and currency strains that underline the sometimes tense embrace between the two giants.
Testy exchanges between the world's biggest and third biggest economies have continued even after Obama began his first visit to China on Sunday. A Chinese government spokesman rebuffed calls for the yuan currency to appreciate, a step Obama has urged to correct imbalances in the global economy.
But the U.S. president held to a reassuring, sometimes folksy tone at a forum of students in Shanghai, with the mostly gentle questions providing little scope for political hardball. |
10 U.S. raises pressure on Pakistan over Taliban, al Qaeda
By Zeeshan Haider, Reuters
Mon Nov 16, 7:37 am ET
| ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - The United States has stepped up pressure on Pakistan to expand its fight against Taliban and al Qaeda militants, the New York Times reported on Monday, as a suicide bomber killed four people in the latest militant attack.
Pakistan has faced a surge of attacks, most in or near the northwestern city of Peshawar, since the army went on the offensive against the Pakistani Taliban in their South Waziristan bastion near the Afghan border last month.
The United States, weighing options for how to turn around deteriorating security in Afghanistan, has welcomed the offensive but is also keen to see Pakistan tackle Afghan Taliban factions in lawless enclaves along the border. |
11 Palin says presidency "not on my radar screen"
By Andrew Stern, Reuters
29 mins ago
| CHICAGO (Reuters) - Sarah Palin said a run for the White House in 2012 is "not on my radar screen right now" as the Republican carefully did not close the door to a possible candidacy in an interview that launched her big book tour.
Palin spoke to TV talk show hostess Oprah Winfrey as she began the roll-out to her memoir, "Going Rogue: An American Life." Palin made clear she wanted to concentrate on the 2010 congressional elections in which Republicans hope to make inroads into Democratic majorities in the U.S. Congress.
"I'm concentrating on 2010 and making sure that we have issues to tackle," Palin said in the interview taped last week and broadcast on Monday. "I don't know what I'm going to be doing in 2012. (Running for president is) not on my radar screen right now." |
12 Climate deal key to fight "devastating" hunger-UN
By Silvia Aloisi and Daniel Flynn, Reuters
1 hr 7 mins ago
| ROME (Reuters) - The United Nations said on Monday that agreeing a climate change deal in Copenhagen next month is crucial to fighting global hunger, which Brazil's president described as "the most devastating weapon of mass destruction."
Government leaders and officials met in Rome for a three-day U.N. summit on how to help developing countries feed themselves, but anti-poverty campaigners and even some participants were already writing off the event as a missed opportunity.
The sense of skepticism deepened at the weekend, when U.S. President Barack Obama and other leaders supported delaying a legally binding climate pact until 2010 or even later, though European negotiators said the move did not imply weaker action. |
13 Sex infections still growing in U.S., says CDC
By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor, Reuters
Mon Nov 16, 1:38 am ET
| WASHINGTON (Reuters) - American squeamishness about talking about sex has helped keep common sexually transmitted infections far too common, especially among vulnerable teens, U.S. researchers reported Monday.
Latest statistics on chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis show the three highly treatable infections continue to spread in the United States.
"Chlamydia and gonorrhea are stable at unacceptably high levels and syphilis is resurgent after almost being eliminated," said John Douglas, director of the division of sexually transmitted diseases at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. |
14 Obama prods China to take global role on climate
By JENNIFER LOVEN, AP White House Correspondent
1 hr 4 mins ago
| BEIJING - Aiming beyond mere rivalry, President Barack Obama declared Monday in his first visit to China that the U.S. and the Chinese carry a "burden of leadership" as he meets with President Hu Jintao to confront climate change, nuclear proliferation and other urgent global problems. Economic and trade tensions shadowed their talks.
Obama is strongly suggesting that China, now a giant in economic impact as well as territory, must take a bigger role on such issues as global warming. He is also prodding the Chinese on freedom and Internet controls.
"I will tell you, other countries around the world will be waiting for us," Obama said in an American-style town-hall discussion with Chinese university students in Shanghai, where he spent a day before flying to China's capital for a state visit with President Hu. |
15 AP Poll: Americans fret over health overhaul costs
By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR and TREVOR TOMPSON, Associated Press Writers
1 hr 9 mins ago
| WASHINGTON - It's the cost, Mr. President.
Americans are worried about hidden costs in the fine print of health care overhaul legislation, an Associated Press poll says. That's creating new challenges for President Barack Obama as he tries to close the deal with a handful of Democratic doubters in the Senate.
Although Americans share a conviction that major health care changes are needed, Democratic bills that extend coverage to the uninsured and try to hold down medical costs get no better than a lukewarm reception.
The poll found that 43 percent oppose the health care plans being discussed in Congress, while 41 percent are in support. An additional 15 percent remain neutral or undecided. |
16 Millions will have to repay part of tax credit
By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER, Associated Press Writer
Mon Nov 16, 11:38 am ET
| WASHINGTON - More than 15 million taxpayers could unexpectedly owe taxes when they file their federal returns next spring because the government was too generous with their new Making Work Pay tax credit.
Taxpayers are at risk if they have more than one job, are married and both spouses work, or receive Social Security benefits while also earning taxable wages, according to a report Monday by the Treasury Department's inspector general for tax administration.
The tax credit, which is supposed to pay individuals up to $400 and couples up to $800, was President Barack Obama's signature tax break in the massive stimulus package enacted in February. |
17 Food summit turns down UN funding appeal
By FRANCES D'EMILIO, Associated Press Writer
1 hr 25 mins ago
| ROME - Pope Benedict XVI decried the rise in hunger in what he called a world often ruled by profit in an address to a food summit Monday shortly after it rebuffed a U.N. appeal to commit billions of dollars annually to helping farmers in poor countries.
Some 60 heads of state and dozens of ministers from other nations rejected the U.N.'s call to commit to $44 billion annually for a new strategy focusing on agricultural development in poor nations as a way to enable farmers to produce enough food for their own countries.
"Hunger is the most cruel and concrete sign of poverty," said Benedict. "Opulence and waste are no longer acceptable when the tragedy of hunger is assuming ever greater proportions." |
18 Study raises new questions about Merck pill Zetia
By MARILYNN MARCHIONE, AP Medical Writer
Mon Nov 16, 8:20 am ET
| ORLANDO, Fla. - A new study raises fresh concerns about Zetia and its cousin, Vytorin - drugs still taken by millions of Americans to lower cholesterol, despite questions raised last year about how well they work.
In the study, Zetia failed to shrink buildups in artery walls while a rival drug, Niaspan, did so significantly. Zetia users also suffered more heart attacks and other problems although the numbers of these events were too small to draw firm conclusions.
Zetia "has been on the market for about seven years and we still haven't proven that it improves clinical outcomes," said Dr. Roger Blumenthal, preventive cardiology chief at Johns Hopkins University. The new results will be "very influential" in getting more doctors to turn to Niaspan, he said. |
19 Census: Small US cities lose luster in downturn
BY HOPE YEN and FRANK BASS, Associated Press Writers
Mon Nov 16, 6:36 am ET
| WASHINGTON - America's small cities are losing some of their traditional appeal to upwardly mobile families seeking wholesome neighborhoods, a stable economy and affordable living.
A review of newly released census data shows, for example, that cities of between 20,000 and 50,000 residents have lagged behind their larger counterparts in attracting higher-educated residents in this decade.
In 2000, small cities, which include remote towns and the distant suburbs known as "exurbs," ranked at the top in the share of people with college diplomas. They slipped to No. 2 last year with 30 percent holding degrees - in between medium-sized cities, which had 31 percent, and big cities, at 29.8 percent. |
20 AP IMPACT: Kenyans recruited to fight in Somalia
By KATHARINE HOURELD, Associated Press Writer
Mon Nov 16, 11:03 am ET
| DADAAB, Kenya - The recruits assembled by moonlight at a watering hole. Hundreds of boys and young Kenyan men were herded onto trucks, which were covered with heavy canvas, and driven through the night.
It was so hot inside they could hardly breathe. One recruit, Salad Dahir, said they banged the sides of the truck for water but got none. Some had to urinate where they stood.
Their destination: a secluded training camp deep in the Kenyan bush. |
21 Henderson: GM to begin repaying aid by year-end
By KEN THOMAS, Associated Press Writer
Mon Nov 16, 9:29 am ET
| WASHINGTON - General Motors Co. will begin paying back $6.7 billion in U.S. government loans by the end of 2009 and could pay off that full amount as early as 2010, five years ahead of schedule, CEO Fritz Henderson said Monday.
The government debt represents about 13 percent of the $52 billion that U.S. taxpayers have invested in General Motors, the majority of which was exchanged for a 61 percent ownership stake in the company.
GM said Monday it lost $1.2 billion from the time it left bankruptcy protection through Sept. 30, showing better results than the auto company had reported in previous quarters and signaling the auto giant is beginning to rebound. |
22 Iran media plans stir talk of elite force at helm
By BRIAN MURPHY, Associated Press Writer
Mon Nov 16, 6:38 am ET
| DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - The portfolio of Iran's Revolutionary Guard keeps on growing. Its troops watch over nuclear facilities, its rocket scientists enlarge Iran's missile arsenal and its engineers have taken on a rail line as their latest big-ticket project. Could media mogul be next?
Sometime early next year, a new voice is expected to join Iran's state-sanctioned media blitz: a full-service news agency with video, photos and print.
The arrival of another government-backed news outlet is not much of a surprise. It fits into Iran's two-pronged media strategy: controlling its message with a constant flow of statements, trial balloons and news items while trying to muzzle those who disagree, including new plans to now police the Internet for opposition sites. |
23 Dozens of Gitmo detainees finally get day in court
By PETE YOST, Associated Press Writer
Mon Nov 16, 3:35 am ET
| WASHINGTON - In courtrooms barred to the public, dozens of terror suspects are pleading for their freedom from the Guantanamo Bay prison, sometimes even testifying on their own behalf by video from the U.S. naval base in Cuba.
Complying with a Supreme Court ruling last year, 15 federal judges in the U.S. courthouse here are giving detainees their day in court after years behind bars half a world away from their homelands.
The judges have found the government's evidence against 30 detainees wanting and ordered their release. That number could rise significantly because the judges are on track to hear challenges from dozens more prisoners. |
24 12 Afghans killed in attack on meeting with French
By ALFRED de MONTESQUIOU, Associated Press Writer
9 mins ago
| TAGAB VALLEY, Afghanistan - Rockets slammed into a market northeast of Kabul on Monday, killing 12 civilians but missing their presumed target: a meeting between France's top general in Afghanistan and dozens of tribal elders and senior local officials.
The attack also wounded 38 people, 20 of them critically. The market was crowded with shoppers because Monday is bazaar day in Tagab, a sprawling town of mud brick fortress-like compounds and small fields along a river surrounded by the barren slopes and snowcapped peaks of the Hundu Kush mountain range.
Brig. Gen. Marcel Druart told The Associated Press that the meeting, known as a shura, continued despite the attack to show that the Taliban cannot disrupt NATO's plans in a tense valley where both sides are competing for influence. |
25 Australia apologizes to Brit kids sent to colonies
By ROD McGUIRK and JILL LAWLESS, Associated Press Writers
Mon Nov 16, 11:54 am ET
| CANBERRA, Australia - When John Hennessey was 10 years old, he was sent from a war-weary Britain to an orphanage in Australia, where he was told food was plentiful and children rode kangaroos to school.
Instead, he was beaten and sexually abused, leaving him emotionally scarred and with a stutter that persists 60 years later.
"There's no other country in the world that has deported their children to the other side of the world and then abandoned them," the 72-year-old said before an emotional ceremony Monday in Australia, where Prime Minister Kevin Rudd apologized for his country's role in a shameful episode in British colonial history. |
26 Kosovo holds peaceful 1st vote since independence
By NEBI QENA, Associated Press Writer
Sun Nov 15, 8:53 pm ET
| PRISTINA, Kosovo - Kosovo's first independent elections have ended peacefully, with the prime minister claiming his party won convincingly and some minority Serbs ignoring a call to boycott and casting ballots alongside ethnic Albanians.
The elections Sunday for city council and mayors in 36 municipalities were seen as a key test of the fledgling state's viability following its contested February 2008 declaration of independence from Serbia.
Preliminary results were expected later Monday. |
27 AIDS patients to president: Send more money south
By SHELIA BYRD, Associated Press Writer
Mon Nov 16, 7:09 am ET
| JACKSON, Miss. - When Robin Webb lived in New York City, he was treated by HIV specialists and had access to counseling and nutritional programs. Now he lives in Mississippi, where few of those services exist.
Mississippi is just one of several mostly rural states across the South with a dearth of resources for HIV and AIDS patients.
"Here, there's no support group, no case management. There's no daily reinforcement," said Webb, 52, who has been HIV-positive for two decades. |
28 Arrest at Walmart leads to charges of racism
By BETSY TAYLOR, Associated Press Writer
Mon Nov 16, 6:34 am ET
| ST. LOUIS - Nearly three years after Heather Ellis switched checkout lines at a southeast Missouri store and touched off what she calls a racially charged dispute with white customers and authorities, the young black schoolteacher faces a trial that could send her to prison for 15 years.
Witnesses have told authorities that Ellis cut in front of waiting customers at the Walmart in Kennett on Jan. 6, 2007, shoved merchandise already placed on a conveyor belt out of the way, and became belligerent when confronted, according to court filings.
Ellis maintains she was merely joining her cousin, whose checkout line was moving more quickly. She claimed in a written complaint to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People that she was then pushed by a white customer, hassled by store employees, called racial slurs and physically mistreated by Kennett police officers. |
29 Recession intensifies GenX discontent at work
By MARTHA IRVINE, AP National Writer
Mon Nov 16, 12:01 am ET
| CHICAGO - They're antsy and edgy, tired of waiting for promotion opportunities at work as their elders put off retirement. A good number of them are just waiting for the economy to pick up so they can hop to the next job, find something more fulfilling and get what they think they deserve. Oh, and they want work-life balance, too.
Sounds like Gen Y, the so-called "entitlement generation," right?
Not necessarily, say people who track the generations. In these hard times, they're also hearing strong rumblings of discontent from Generation X. They're the 32- to 44-year-olds who are wedged between baby boomers and their children, often feeling like forgotten middle siblings - and increasingly restless at work as a result. |
30 Taliban make gains in Afghanistan's forgotten north
By Hal Bernton, The Christian Science Monitor
Sun Nov 15, 4:00 am ET
| MazariSharif, Afghanistan - The insurgents' tactics are familiar. Night letters warn village elders to cooperate or face death. Religious "taxes" must be paid, and fiery sermons in mosques attack the Karzai government and international forces.
The locale is startling, however: Afghanistan's northern Balkh province, which in the years after the fall of the Taliban emerged as one of the most stable - and in its urban hub of Mazar-i-Sharif - most prosperous places in Afghanistan.
The Taliban, often working with criminal gangs, have regained a foothold in four of the province's 14 districts, and in recent months they've stepped up their campaign using roadside bomb attacks and other tactics. Earlier this month, three Afghan police officers in one of the restive districts were killed in a drive-by shooting. |
31 US eyes China as global partner
By Peter Ford / staff writer, The Christian Science Monitor
Sun Nov 15, 4:00 am ET
| Beijing - As President Obama surveys the range of global problems that his administration is called on to grapple with, he is searching for someone to give him a hand.
His eye is on the new kid on the international block: China. But like an awkward teenager confused by his rapid development, Beijing is fidgety, uncomfortable with Washington's unaccustomed attention.
As Mr. Obama arrived in China Sunday evening for a three-day visit,"the big issue will be the degree to which China gets fully engaged as a global partner and actor," says David Shambaugh, who heads the China Policy Program at George Washington University. "So far, they have been reticent." |
32 Yet another anti-corruption unit for Afghanistan
By DEB RIECHMANN, Associated Press Writer
31 mins ago
| KABUL - Afghanistan's newly unveiled anti-corruption unit drew guarded praise Monday from a wary international community, which has heard President Hamid Karzai promise before to end the graft and thievery that's bleeding his nation.
Karzai's inability or unwillingness to tackle cronyism and bribery the past five years has given Taliban insurgents another argument with which to win support from the Afghan people. Nations supplying troops and aid are running out of patience and are threatening to hinge future assistance on his government's ability to ensure accountability.
"Words are cheap. Deeds are required," U.S. Ambassador Karl Eikenberry said at a hotel in Kabul where Afghan officials announced that they had established the Anti-Corruption Unit and Major Crime Force. |
33 Gunmen kill 13 men execution style west of Baghdad
By RYAN LUCAS, Associated Press Writer
24 mins ago
| BAGHDAD - Gunmen in Iraqi army uniforms abducted and killed 13 people whose bodies were found Monday with gunshot wounds to the head, including a local leader of Iraq's largest Sunni party, which once helped fight al-Qaida.
Police played down the incident as tribal violence in an attempt to defuse sectarian tension, but the political connection suggests the killings could also have been the work of insurgents or rival Sunnis vying for power before January elections.
Violence has dropped sharply in Iraq over the past year, but politicians and security officials have warned in recent weeks of a possible spike in violence in the run-up to the national polls as insurgents look to undermine the government and destabilize the country. |
34 Food summit turns down UN funding appeal
By ARIEL DAVID, Associated Press Writer
41 mins ago
| ROME - Pope Benedict XVI decried the steadily worsening tragedy of world hunger on Monday after a global summit rebuffed a U.N. call to commit billions of dollars a year for a new strategy to help poor countries feed themselves.
The meeting at the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization did unite nearly 200 countries behind a pledge to increase aid to farmers in poor countries to help the developing world lessen its dependence on foreign food aid.
Only hours after the three-day summit began, some 60 heads of state and dozens of ministers rejected the U.N.'s call to commit $44 billion annually for agricultural development in these nations. The final declaration also omitted a pledge, sought by the United Nations, to eradicate hunger by 2025. |
35 Mistress' diary: Mussolini was fierce anti-Semite
By ALESSANDRA RIZZO, Associated Press Writer
17 mins ago
| ROME - Benito Mussolini was a fierce anti-Semite, who proudly said that his hatred for Jews preceded Adolf Hitler's and vowed to "destroy them all," according to previously unpublished diaries by the Fascist dictator's longtime mistress.
According to the diaries, Mussolini also talked about the warm reception he received from Hitler at the 1938 Munich conference - he called the German leader a "softy" - and attacked Pope Pius XI for his criticism of Nazism and Fascism.
On a more intimate note, Mussolini was explicit about his sexual appetites for his mistress and said he regretted having affairs with several other women. |
36 Environmentalists alarmed by Puerto Rico policies
By MIKE MELIA, Associated Press Writer
2 hrs 50 mins ago
| SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - Sweeping from lush mountain rain forests to pristine beaches, a corridor of land protected by Puerto Rico's last governor hosts dozens of rare and endangered species and was championed by celebrities who helped fight off resort proposals.
Now new Gov. Luis Fortuno has revoked the reserve as part of a drive to bring jobs and investment for the U.S. territory's struggling economy. And activists see a broader pattern of looser protection for the island's environment.
Fortuno's Oct. 30 order allows large-scale development inside the 3,200-acre 1,300-hectare) parcel of land immediately north of El Yunque, the only tropical rain forest in the U.S. National Forest system. |
37 New Greenpeace chief has fought apartheid, poverty
By DONNA BRYSON, Associated Press Writer
2 hrs 54 mins ago
| JOHANNESBURG - An African took over as director of Greenpeace Monday, bringing experience honed as a teenage opponent of white rule in South Africa and a network of powerful contacts to the battle against global warming.
Greenpeace was founded 38 years ago by activists who wanted to stop the United States from conducting underground nuclear tests in a region off Alaska that harbored endangered sea otters. Kumi Naidoo, the new director, said he still had much to learn about the group's current agenda, from protecting whales and forests to stopping nuclear tests and toxic dumping. But he has already grasped the issues around global warming, an increasingly overriding concern of Greenpeace and other environmental groups.
"We either get it right and all of humanity comes out on the other side with a new world," Naidoo told The Associated Press in an exclusive interview before he took the Greenpeace helm. "Or we get it wrong and all the world is going to sink." |
38 U.S. demands Kenya deliver Rwanda genocide suspect
By David Clarke, Reuters
Mon Nov 16, 11:26 am ET
| NAIROBI (Reuters) - The United States wants Kenya to hand over a Rwanda genocide suspect it believes the east African nation has been harboring for years, President Barack Obama's war crimes envoy said on Monday.
Stephen Rapp, U.S. ambassador-at-large for war crimes issues, said the fact Kenya had not delivered the suspect to the Rwanda war crimes tribunal was part and parcel of the impunity prevalent in east Africa's biggest economy.
The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) said last year Kenya was failing to act against Felicien Kabuga -- despite evidence of his entry into the country, application for residency, visa approval and opening of a bank account. |
39 African immigrants drift toward Latin America
By Luis Andres Henao, Reuters
Sun Nov 15, 8:44 pm ET
| BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Stowed away on cargo ships and unsure where their dangerous journeys will take them, increasing numbers of African immigrants are arriving in Latin America as European countries tighten border controls.
Some head to Mexico and Guatemala as a stepping stone to the United States, others land in the ports of Argentina and Brazil. Though many arrive in Latin America by chance, once in the region they find governments that are more welcoming than in Europe.
"One night I went to the seaport. I was thinking I was going to Europe. Later I found out I was in Argentina," said Sierra Leone immigrant Ibrahim Abdoul Rahman, a former child soldier who said he escaped his country's civil war by sneaking onto a cargo ship for a 35-day voyage. |
40 Delegates vow action at UN 'Hunger Summit'
by Gina Doggett, AFP
Mon Nov 16, 12:07 pm ET
| ROME (AFP) - The UN Hunger Summit on Monday vowed "urgent action" to combat food shortages but drew fire for failing to pledge new funds or set a timetable to beat the scourge affecting more than one billion people.
As Pope Benedict XVI slammed the "greed" of grain speculators, participants at the summit in Rome declared hunger was "an unacceptable blight on the lives, livelihoods and dignity of one-sixth of the world's population."
Their joint final declaration -- which was rolled out on the first day of the three-day summit -- also outlined five "principles" including "direct action" to help the most vulnerable. Reax: Pope slams 'greedy speculators' |
41 Deadly attack as French general meets Afghans
AFP
1 hr 30 mins ago
| KABUL (AFP) - Afghan insurgents fired a pair of rockets into a crowded marketplace as a French general met local leaders nearby on Monday, killing 10 civilians, Afghan and French officials said.
A total of 28 other Afghan civilians were wounded in the attack in Tagab district, Kapisa province, just northeast of Kabul, deputy provincial police chief Abdul Hamid Hakimi told AFP.
"The enemy fired two rockets on the main bazaar in Tagab. Ten people, all civilians, were killed and 28 others were wounded," he said. |
42 France welcomes Iraqi leader for state visit
by Carole Landry, AFP
2 hrs 44 mins ago
| PARIS (AFP) - France moved to raise both its profile and its profits in Iraq on Monday, welcoming President Jalal Talabani to Paris with a series of trade and aid deals ready for signing.
Talabani was treated to full ceremonial honours as he arrived at the Elysee palace for his first full state visit featuring a meeting with President Nicolas Sarkozy and a dinner given in his honour.
Iraq's red, white and black flag with its "Allahu Akbar" (God is Greater) inscription flew on the Champs Elysees, celebrating the improving ties between Paris and Baghdad. |
43 Kosovo leaders hail elections as a success
by Ismet Hajdari, AFP
Mon Nov 16, 1:36 pm ET
| PRISTINA (AFP) - Kosovo's prime minister claimed victory Monday in the first local elections since the territory seceded from Serbia, hailing the polls as a success after some minority Serbs ignored a boycott.
And European observers who monitored the Sunday polls said the vote had met "many" international standards.
"The municipal and mayoral elections in the Republic of Kosovo met many of the international standards for elections," Darko Aleksov, head of the observer mission, told reporters. |
44 Unease as S. Lanka general eyes presidency
by Amal Jayasinghe, AFP
Mon Nov 16, 6:54 am ET
| COLOMBO (AFP) - Hailed as a hero for ending decades of civil war, Sri Lanka's most decorated general now looks set to challenge for the presidency -- a move that some analysts view with deep foreboding.
General Sarath Fonseka led the Sri Lankan army's May victory over the separatist Tamil Tigers, achieved in a brutal showdown that eliminated the remnants of the rebel army and its leadership.
But after apparently being sidelined into a largely ceremonial role because of what he says were fears he would lead a coup, Fonseka resigned and now looks sure to challenge his former political masters at the ballot box. |
45 Guarded hope as Obama engages Myanmar
by Shaun Tandon, AFP
Mon Nov 16, 4:02 am ET
| WASHINGTON (AFP) - Supporters of Myanmar's democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi voiced guarded hope after US President Barack Obama raised her case directly with the junta, but some accused Southeast Asian leaders of undercutting his message.
In Singapore, Obama on Sunday held a first-ever summit with leaders of the 10-country Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) where he pressed member Myanmar, earlier known as Burma, to enter dialogue with the opposition.
The summit was a dramatic symbol of the Obama administration's new approach of engaging Myanmar. Just months ago, any senior US official -- let alone the president himself -- meeting the military regime would have been unthinkable. |
46 Obama begins China visit with full agenda
By Margaret Talev, McClatchy Newspapers
Sun Nov 15, 1:07 pm ET
| SHANGHAI - President Barack Obama kicks off his visit to China with a town-hall meeting Monday in Shanghai , a rare chance for the Chinese people - university students in the audience and people of all ages who sent questions via the Internet - to communicate directly with a Western leader.
Cold rain was pouring Sunday night (Standard China Time) when Obama landed in the mainland's most Western-influenced city. He gave a quick wave, but saved his words for the morning. After a town hall meeting, he is to fly to Beijing , where he has dinners, meetings and tours scheduled through Wednesday.
He'll visit South Korea on Thursday before heading home from a four-nation Asia tour. He began with stops in Japan and at the APEC summit in Singapore , where he said Sunday there would be a new U.S.- Russia nuclear arms agreement by year's end, but also signaled a global warming treaty can't be completed at next month's world meeting in Copenhagen . |
47 Assailants massacre Sunni men, youths in Iraq's Abu Ghraib
By Warren P. Strobel and Sahar Issa, McClatchy Newspapers
Mon Nov 16, 12:53 pm ET
| BAGHDAD - In a massacre that revived memories of Iraq's worst years of sectarian bloodshed, assailants dressed in Iraqi army uniforms savagely killed 13 men and boys late Sunday near the restive city of Abu Ghraib , according to Iraqi officials and villagers.
Most of the victims - some of whom reportedly were beheaded, while others were shot and then mutilated - were members of the Awakening, a Sunni Muslim movement that with U.S. backing and funding has fought the terrorist group al Qaida in Iraq .
Residents and security officials said that shortly before midnight, armed men in civilian vehicles raided two villages near Abu Ghraib - a city to the west of Baghdad that houses a major prison - took captives to a nearby cemetery named Seyid Mhimmed and killed them. |
48 Obama will huddle privately with China's President Hu
By Margaret Talev, McClatchy Newspapers
2 hrs 26 mins ago
| BEIJING - President Barack Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao will meet Tuesday to talk privately about issues ranging from North Korea's nuclear threat to currency and trade disputes. U.S. policy advocates also expect the leaders to announce new joint projects on clean energy.
On the first full day of Obama's visit to the world's largest nation, the president mixed substance with fun stuff: a tour to the Forbidden City and a state dinner. He was to see the Great Wall on Wednesday and visit officials and U.S. troops in South Korea on Thursday before returning home.
On Monday Obama used his first public appearance in China - a town hall meeting in Shanghai - to court China's Internet users and intellectuals, prodding the Chinese government to end its censorship policy. |
49 Obama's Dilemma: Where Are the Afghan Security Forces?
By TONY KARON, Time Magazine
Mon Nov 16, 10:10 am ET
| President Obama's plain-speaking Defense Secretary, Robert Gates, on Nov. 12 summed up the Administration's Afghan dilemma in a single question: "How do we signal resolve and at the same time signal to the Afghans and the American people that this is not open-ended?" The fact that there's no good answer explains the Administration's hesitation in committing more troops to the fight. Indeed, the objectives cited by Gates may function at cross-purposes. |
| From Yahoo News U.S. News |
50 New advice: Skip mammograms in 40s, start at 50
By STEPHANIE NANO and MARILYNN MARCHIONE, Associated Press Writers
24 mins ago
| NEW YORK - Most women don't need a mammogram in their 40s and should get one every two years starting at 50, a government task force said Monday. It's a major reversal that conflicts with the American Cancer Society's long-standing position.
Also, the task force said breast self-exams do no good and women shouldn't be taught to do them.
For most of the past two decades, the cancer society has been recommending annual mammograms beginning at 40. |
51 Soldier mom refuses deployment to care for baby
By RUSS BYNUM, AP Military Writer
46 mins ago
| SAVANNAH, Ga. - An Army cook and single mom may face criminal charges after she skipped her deployment flight to Afghanistan because, she said, no one was available to care for her infant son while she was overseas.
Spc. Alexis Hutchinson, 21, claims she had no choice but to refuse deployment orders because the only family she had to care for her 10-month-old son - her mother - was overwhelmed by the task, already caring for three other relatives with health problems.
Her civilian attorney, Rai Sue Sussman, said Monday that one of Hutchinson's superiors told her she would have to deploy anyway and place the child in foster care. |
52 Red Cross sells pieces of history to cut deficit
By BRETT ZONGKER, Associated Press Writer
hrs 8 mins ago
| WASHINGTON - Rose Percy has a long history with the American Red Cross. Complete with an extensive wardrobe and her own Tiffany jewelry, this 23-inch wax doll was first sold for $1,200 back in 1864 to benefit the U.S. Sanitary Commission - the precursor to one of best-known U.S. charities.
Now, Rose Percy, is on the auction block again.
On Tuesday, Percy will be sold in one of the first rounds of an extensive sale of treasures the American Red Cross has amassed over the decades. The current bid online: $5,000. The Red Cross also is selling a rare four-faced Cartier clock lamp, nurse uniforms from World War I and what could be the last Civil War-era flag of the forerunner U.S. Sanitary Commission. |
53 Mich. caseworkers worry about threats from clients
By DAVID EGGERT, Associated Press Writer
1 hr 56 mins ago
| LANSING, Mich. - One frustrated client hurled a piece of concrete through the window of a welfare agency. Another threw her car keys at a welfare worker before being escorted away. At one point, a woman on public assistance even took a swing at a worker.
As Michigan struggles with the highest-in-the-nation jobless rate, state workers who deal with unemployment, welfare and other aid programs say they have never been so overwhelmed - or so worried about their safety. Some clients have begun taking their anger out on the very people who are offering help. And caseworkers are seeking extra protection.
"We are seeing it more and more as a dangerous situation," said Amy Harrison, a caseworker who used to work for the state prison system, where she says she never felt as insecure as she does now. |
54 Pro-Cuba embargo money flows to US lawmakers
By LAURA WIDES-MUNOZ, AP Hispanic Affairs Writer
Mon Nov 16, 12:42 pm ET
| MIAMI - Supporters of tough U.S. sanctions against the Cuban government have given more than $10 million to congressional campaigns over the last seven years, according to a study released late Sunday night by a group supporting campaign finance reform.
The Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit Public Campaign said the study shows how large sums of money from a small group can influence lawmakers. Public Campaign cites a number of times in which lawmakers changed their position on Cuba-related issues within months of receiving funds from a political action committee that supports the U.S. embargo of the communist island.
Meanwhile, recent surveys suggest more Cubans are split on travel restrictions and other sanctions than in the past. |
55 Had flu? You may have H1N1 protection
By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor, Reuters
41 mins ago
| WASHINGTON (Reuters) - People who have had repeated flu infections -- or repeated flu vaccines -- may have some protection against the new pandemic swine influenza, U.S. researchers said on Monday.
They found evidence that the human immune system can recognize bits of the new H1N1 virus that are similar to older, distantly related H1N1 strains.
"What we have found is that the swine flu has similarities to the seasonal flu, which appear to provide some level of pre-existing immunity. This suggests that it could make the disease less severe in the general population than originally feared," said Alessandro Sette, director of the Center for Infectious Disease at California's La Jolla Institute. |
56 Healthy worker programs survive economic crisis
By Michelle Nichols
Mon Nov 16, 9:15 am ET
| NEW YORK (Reuters) - Keeping workers healthy, happy and at work through so-called wellness programs remains a priority for many companies despite financial pressures from the global economic downturn, a survey found on Monday.
Globally, most employers offer at least one program -- ranging from a flu shot to gym discounts -- to ward off health risks such as poor nutrition, obesity, inactivity and stress, said the poll by human resources firm Buck Consultants.
Barry Hall, global research leader for Buck, said in the past an economic downturn brought the end of wellness programs and while a quarter of companies said they had been forced to reduce their initiatives, another 19 percent had actually boosted attempts to keep employees healthy. |
57 China fuels US foreign student boom
by Shaun Tandon, AFP
2 hrs 53 mins ago
| WASHINGTON (AFP) - The number of foreigners enrolled at US universities shot to a record high in the last academic year fueled by an influx of Chinese students, an educators' group said Monday.
India remained the top source of foreign students in the United States but their numbers appeared to be leveling off, with strong new growth coming from China as well as Vietnam and several other emerging economies.
The number of foreign students increased eight percent to a record 671,616 in 2008-2009 from the previous academic year, the sharpest growth since 1980-81 and more than any other country, said the annual report by the Institute of International Education. |
58 Illinois lobbies to land Guantanamo detainees
by Mira Oberman, AFP
Mon Nov 16, 10:08 am ET
| CHICAGO (AFP) - The state of Illinois is lobbying hard to land relocated Guantanamo detainees despite strenuous opposition to bringing the terrorism suspects to the United States, top lawmakers said Sunday.
The aim is to sell a nearly vacant maximum security prison to the federal government, something Governor Pat Quinn called a "once in a lifetime opportunity."
"It's safe and secure it provides lots of economic opportunity," Quinn told reporters in Chicago as he toured the state to tout the plan. |
59 Sarah Palin pushes book -- and perhaps political comeback
by Sebastian Smith, AFP
Mon Nov 16, 1:09 pm ET
| NEW YORK (AFP) - Sarah Palin, queen of the Republican right, was to meet TV talk queen Oprah Winfrey on Monday at the start of a frenzied book tour -- and, some believe, an unlikely White House challenge.
The slot on Oprah kicks off an unusually high profile tour for a political memoir and highlights Palin's return from the sidelines after her failed run for vice president alongside John McCain last year and surprise resignation as governor of Alaska.
"Going Rogue: an American Life" goes on sale Tuesday, but has already been a bestseller with pre-release sales knocking Dan Brown's latest thriller off the number one spot on Amazon.com. |
60 Where have all the protests gone? US students in limbo
by Michael Mathes, AFP
Mon Nov 16, 10:43 am ET
| WASHINGTON (AFP) - When student Hemnecher Amen joined a protest outside the White House recently, it was the latest visible opposition here to US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Hardly anyone took notice.
"There's a lot of apathy and a growing disconnectedness to what's going on in world affairs," the frustrated Howard University junior told AFP as some 200 people, including a handful of students, gathered for the march.
"Students are more interested in trying to get a job and make money. That's essentially the bottom line." |
61 Abortion Funding in Health Care Reform Splits Democrats
By AMY SULLIVAN / WASHINGTON, Time Magazine
Mon Nov 16, 10:25 am ET
| Republican congressional leaders have to be chuckling right now. In the end, all the tea-party town halls, Glenn Beck rallies and "death panel" rumors may have less of a hand in bringing down health care reform than an intraparty Democratic culture war. |
|
March on Washington
