2 Pakistan court charges seven over Mumbai attacks
by Sami Zubeiri, AFP
1 hr 51 mins ago
| ISLAMABAD (AFP) - A Pakistani anti-terror court on Wednesday charged seven suspects in connection with the Mumbai attacks that killed 166 people one year ago, a defence lawyer said.
The men were indicted at the court in a high security prison in the city of Rawalpindi on the eve of the first anniversary of India's worst militant attacks, which dramatically soured relations with rival Pakistan.
All those in the dock pleaded not guilty to the charges. |
3 Heavens open as 2.5 million pilgrims begin the hajj
by Adel Zaanoun, AFP
52 mins ago
| MECCA, Saudi Arabia (AFP) - A day-long downpour fouled the start of the annual hajj on Wednesday, soaking thousands of people as they walked from Mecca to Mina, snarling traffic and stranding buses for hours.
Some of the 2.5 million Muslims on the world's largest annual pilgrimage said they would skip the traditional overnight stay in Mina valley because the rain had bottled up bus transport from Mecca.
Instead they said they would stay in the holy city and travel on Thursday morning directly to Mount Arafat, where the Prophet Mohammed gave his last sermon and where pilgrims are required to recite the Koran and pray. |
4 Belgium on the block as GM outlines Opel cuts
by Simon Sturdee, AFP
2 hrs 14 mins ago
| BERLIN (AFP) - A top General Motors executive said Wednesday the future of Opel's Belgian plant was "uncertain" as he outlined plans to cut 9,000 jobs at GM's loss-making European unit, over half of them in Germany.
"Overall, we are going to reduce our capacity by around 20 percent and we expect to reduce the number of people by about 9,000 people," Nick Reilly, interim head of GM Europe, told reporters after briefing German unions.
"We have to create a sustainable, viable business case, business plan for the future of Opel and Vauxhall," he said. |
5 Wall dividing Slovak village sparks Roma outcry
by Tatiana Bednarikova, AFP
2 hrs 31 mins ago
| OSTROVANY, Slovakia (AFP) - Lucia Kucharova never cared much about the view from her window until its main feature became a wall separating her and more than 1,000 other Roma from the rest of their village.
The white concrete wall, built last month in Ostrovany, a village of 1,800 in eastern Slovakia, has locals as well as Roma and human-rights organisations fuming.
"It's discrimination, the mayor should have used the money to build houses for us instead," Kucharova, a 25-year-old Roma, told AFP. |
6 Arroyo vows justice as massacre toll hits 57
by Ted Aljibe, AFP
Wed Nov 25, 10:10 am ET
| COTABATO, Philippines (AFP) - Philippine President Gloria Arroyo vowed on Wednesday to hunt down the perpetrators of a political massacre that left 57 people dead, as one of her allies was named the prime suspect.
Arroyo faced increasing pressure to take decisive action as more bodies were pulled out of shallow graves and relatives of the victims reported horrifying details of the killings, including that two women shot dead were pregnant.
"This is a supreme act of inhumanity that is a blight on our nation," Arroyo said in a statement as she declared Wednesday a national day of mourning. |
7 Congo has failed to disarm Rwandan rebels: UN
by Dave Clark, AFP
Wed Nov 25, 8:15 am ET
| PARIS (AFP) - Rwandan Hutu rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo have thwarted UN-led attempts to disarm them militarily and global action is needed to cut off their financing, UN experts say.
In a major report for the United Nations Security Council, unpublished but seen by AFP, researchers said this year's attempts by Congolese, Rwandan and UN forces to disarm FDLR fighters in eastern DR Congo have failed.
"This report concludes that military operations against the FDLR have failed to dismantle the organisation's political and military structures on the ground in eastern DRC," the detailed 93-page document begins. |
8 China 'will not sacrifice growth' for emissions cuts
AFP
Wed Nov 25, 8:02 am ET
| BEIJING (AFP) - China said Wednesday it will not sacrifice growth to cut gas emissions, illustrating the difficulty in reaching a global climate deal at a major summit next month despite US moves to boost the talks.
The comments from China's special envoy to the December 7-18 UN summit in Copenhagen showed the sharp divide between rich nations and emerging countries and came after the United States indicated it would set targets for reducing emissions.
While defending China's refusal to accept mandatory emissions cuts at the meeting, Yu Qingtai accused developed nations of failing to fulfill pledges under the Kyoto Protocol which is meant to be replaced by a new deal in Denmark. |
9 Obama to outline Afghan endgame in speech
By Ross Colvin and Jeff Mason, Reuters
1 hr 49 mins ago
| WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama will address Americans on the war in Afghanistan on December 1 and spell out a strategy that would see U.S. forces withdrawing within eight or nine years, the White House said on Wednesday.
Obama's spokesman, Robert Gibbs, said the president would use his prime-time speech to stress the "sheer cost" of the eight-year-old war, explain to Americans why their army was still in Afghanistan, and press Afghan President Hamid Karzai to improve governance after a fraud-tainted election.
"We are in the ninth year of our efforts in Afghanistan. The American people are going to want to know why we are here, they are going to want to know what our interests are," Gibbs said. |
10 Health public option fight - symbol over substance
By John Whitesides, Reuters
2 hrs 34 mins ago
| WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The fight over a U.S. government-run public insurance plan may be getting louder and noisier, but for now the program's political symbolism far exceeds its practical impact on expanding health coverage.
The Senate's version of a public option would serve just 3 million to 4 million of the 46 million uninsured living in the United States, and charge slightly higher premiums than private plans, according to non-partisan budget analysts.
But the limited impact has not eased the raging debate over the option, which has split the Democratic Party and threatened prospects for a sweeping healthcare overhaul, President Barack Obama's top domestic priority. |
No Public Option, No Mandates. Stupak-Pitts is worse than no bill at all.
11 India vigilant but remains vulnerable to attacks
By Rina Chandran, Reuters
Wed Nov 25, 11:38 am ET
| MUMBAI (Reuters) - The paramilitary troops outside the Trident and Taj Mahal hotels suggest a higher level of security a year after militants laid siege to Mumbai, but it may all be a mirage as the country still remains very vulnerable.
While some improvements in security have meant there has not been another attack by Islamist militants since Mumbai, the country's many chaotic cities and its 1.2 billion people make it almost impossible to plug all security loopholes.
"I can't say there won't be another attack or a blast," said D. Sivanandan, Mumbai's police chief. "But if something happens, our response will be quicker and better." |
12 Khmer Rouge jailer expresses "excruciating remorse"
By Ek Madra, Reuters
Wed Nov 25, 3:43 am ET
| PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - The Khmer Rouge's chief torturer and jailer expressed "excruciating remorse" on Wednesday for more than 14,000 people killed under his watch at a notorious prison during Cambodia's ultra-Maoist revolution of the 1970s.
In the final week of testimony for the first senior Khmer Rouge cadre to face the U.N.-backed "Killing Fields" tribunal, Kaing Guek Eav, better known as Duch, said he was solely liable for the killings but that he served a "criminal organization."
"I found I had ended up serving a criminal organization which destroyed its own people in outrageous fashion. I could not withdraw from it," said the 67-year-old former maths teacher. |
13 Toyota replacing some 4M gas pedals that could jam
By KEN THOMAS, Associated Press Writer
2 hrs 1 min ago
| WASHINGTON - Toyota Motor Corp. said Wednesday it will replace accelerator pedals on about 4 million recalled vehicles in the United States because the pedals can get stuck in the floor mats, another blow to the reputation of the world's largest automaker.
Toyota said dealers will offer to shorten the length of the gas pedals by about 3/4 inch beginning in January, as a stopgap measure while the company develops replacement pedals for their vehicles. New pedals will be installed by dealers on a rolling basis beginning in April, and some vehicles will have brake override systems installed as a precaution.
Toyota announced the massive recall in late September and told owners to remove the driver's side floor mats to keep the gas pedal from becoming jammed. |
14 Americans search for cheaper Thanksgiving trips
By MICHAEL TARM, Associated Press Writer
2 hrs 22 mins ago
| CHICAGO - Millions of Americans got an early jump on their Thanksgiving travel Wednesday, with many opting to drive or take trains and buses instead of shelling out more money for flights amid a sour economy still hitting household budgets hard.
At a Greyhound station in Louisville, Ky., 18-year-old Cathy Smith waited patiently to catch a bus to Tennessee. Smith has flown home in the past, but her grandparents - who paid for her bus ticket - ruled that out this year.
"It was the price of the ticket," she said. |
Yup. That economy sure is turning around.
15 AP Newsbreak: Records show WH health care talks
By SHARON THEIMER, Associated Press Writer
42 mins ago
| WASHINGTON - Top aides to President Barack Obama met early and often with lobbyists, Democratic political strategists and other interests with a stake in the administration's national health care overhaul, White House visitor records obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press show.
The AP in early August asked the White House to produce records identifying communications that top Obama aides - including chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, senior advisers David Axelrod, Valerie Jarrett and Pete Rouse, and 18 others - had with outside interests on health care. The AP in late September narrowed its request to White House visitor records for those officials on health care.
The White House on Wednesday provided AP with 575 visitor records covering the period from Jan. 20, when Obama was inaugurated, through August. The records give the name of each visitor to the White House complex to see people on AP's list, the date of the visit, who they were supposed to see, how many people attended the gathering, and in a sampling of cases, the purpose of the visit. The records do not identify the visitors' employers, say on whose behalf they were there or give any specifics on what was discussed. |
Hopey Changiness.
16 Studies: Fighting global warming reduces diseases
By SETH BORENSTEIN, AP Science Writer
Wed Nov 25, 11:13 am ET
| WASHINGTON - Cutting global warming pollution would not only make the planet healthier, it would make people healthier too, newly released studies say.
Slashing carbon dioxide emissions could save millions of lives, mostly by reducing preventable deaths from heart and lung diseases, the studies show. They were published in a special issue of The Lancet British medical journal, released Wednesday.
The calculations of lives saved were based on computer models that looked at pollution-caused illnesses in certain cities. The figures are also based on the world making dramatic changes in daily life that may at first seem too hard and costly to do, researchers conceded. |
17 Philippine massacre probe focuses on Arroyo ally
By AARON FAVILA, Associated Press Writer
Wed Nov 25, 7:00 am ET
| AMPATUAN, Philippines - Philippine authorities, under intense public pressure to make arrests in the country's worst election massacre, said Wednesday they are investigating a member of a powerful clan allied with the government along with four police commanders.
Officials recovered 11 more bodies Wednesday - six in a large pit buried alongside three vehicles and five in a mass grave - bringing the death toll in Monday's attack on an election caravan to 57, including 18 journalists.
The military also announced it will disarm two government-armed civilian militia companies, or about 200 men, in southern Maguindanao province, which is ruled by the powerful Ampatuan clan. The militia are meant to act as an auxiliary force to the military and police in fighting rebels and criminals but often serve as a private security force of local warlords. |
18 Panel 1st up in SC Gov. Sanford impeachment debate
By JIM DAVENPORT, Associated Press Writer
Wed Nov 25, 6:55 am ET
| COLUMBIA, S.C. - Gov. Mark Sanford's tearful confession that he quietly disappeared from the state for five days to rendezvous with his lover in Argentina has shattered his marriage and dimmed his once-bright political future.
A small group of lawmakers on Tuesday started the debate whether his decision to vanish last summer without telling his staff his whereabouts or leave anyone in charge rises to the "serious crimes or serious misconduct in office" standard necessary to impeach him.
Two proponents of a measure to remove Sanford likened his absence to a soldier leaving his post. But others on the seven-member legislative panel questioned whether the two-term Republican's actions rose to a high enough level to warrant removal - something usually reserved for officeholders who break the law. |
19 Authorities: Hanged Ky. census worker killed self
By BRUCE SCHREINER and ROGER ALFORD, Associated Press Writers
Wed Nov 25, 6:54 am ET
| FRANKFORT, Ky. - When an eastern Kentucky census worker was found naked, bound with duct tape and hanging from a tree with "fed" scrawled on his chest, suspicion fell on the hardscrabble Appalachian area where bad news seems like a way of life.
Perhaps Bill Sparkman had been a victim of violent anti-government sentiment in an area known for a rampant drug trade and where "revenuer" is still a dirty word.
That speculation was doused Tuesday when authorities said that Sparkman killed himself but staged his death to make it look like a homicide. The conclusion that Sparkman died by his own hands, and not by those of anti-government zealots, was seen by Clay County community activist Doug Abner as a vindication for the area. |
20 Impatience with Obama trade policy grows
By JIM ABRAMS, Associated Press Writer
Wed Nov 25, 3:02 am ET
| WASHINGTON - The third anniversary of the signing of the U.S.-Colombia free trade pact came and went this month with the Obama administration still negotiating the fine print, Congress showing little interest and business groups frustrated by the lack of action on trade deals.
"For most of 2009 we were willing to sit on our hands" as the new president struggled with the recession and health care, said Bill Lane, a government affairs official for Caterpillar Inc.
"We can't maintain that anymore. It's time we started moving forward," said Lane, who is also corporate co-chairman of the Latin American Trade Coalition. |
More NAFTA with a facist narco state. What could possibly be wrong?
21 Gay marriage momentum stalls in liberal NY, NJ
By GEOFF MULVIHILL, Associated Press Writer
1 hr 22 mins ago
| MOUNT LAUREL, N.J. - The state-to-state march to legalize gay marriage across the left-leaning Northeast has lost more momentum since a major setback three weeks ago at the ballot box in Maine.
Since then, legislatures in New York and New Jersey have failed to schedule long-expected votes on bills to recognize the unions in those states.
"If they are unable to pass gay marriage in New York and New Jersey, combined with the loss in Maine, it will confirm that gay marriage is not the inevitable wave of the future," said Maggie Gallagher, president of the National Organization for Marriage, which mobilizes social conservatives to fight against same-sex marriage. |
More good news for civil rights.
22 Ky. court says state must readopt lethal injection
By BRETT BARROUQUERE, Associated Press Writer
1 hr 30 mins ago
| LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The Kentucky Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that the state improperly adopted the same three-drug lethal injection protocol that was upheld in the nation's highest court and is used by dozens of other states.
The ruling does not challenge the technique of using three drugs to put inmates to death. It only says the state did not follow proper administrative procedures, including public hearings, before putting it in place.
It came just days after state Attorney General Jack Conway requested execution dates for three condemned inmates, one of whom, Ralph Baze, was a plaintiff in the lawsuit. |
23 Why do we dream of a White Christmas?
By NICHOLAS K. GERANIOS, Associated Press Writer
1 hr 44 mins ago
| SPOKANE, Wash. - Bing Crosby didn't have to dream of a white Christmas - he could bank on it.
The crooner was from Spokane, a city that is among the most likely to have a white Christmas each year. According to weather experts, Spokane has a white Christmas about 70 percent of the time.
In the United States, only a few high-latitude cities beat those odds: Duluth, Minn. (97 percent) Anchorage, Alaska, (90 percent), Marquette, Mich., (90 percent) and Concord, N.H. (87 percent). |
24 Pro-immigration reform PACS growing in influence
By LAURA WIDES-MUNOZ, AP Hispanic Affairs Writer
2 hrs 5 mins ago
| MIAMI - Two fledgling political action committees that support allowing some illegal immigrants to become citizens are raising more money than their immigration-control counterparts, signaling a possible fundraising shift ahead of next year's congressional races.
Immigrants' List and ImmigrationPAC, both established less than four years ago, have raised $100,000 combined this election cycle. That's a relatively small amount in the influential realm of PACs but still more than established groups that back enforcement-only policies, who have seen donations slow to a trickle.
"Even a small amount of pro-immigration reform PAC money, pro-immigration muscle, makes it a two-sided debate," said Tamar Jacoby, who heads ImmigrationWorks USA, a federation of mostly small and medium businesses that support a path to citizenship for some illegal immigrants and streamlining the employment visa process. |
25 Honolulu police posting DUI mug shots on Internet
By MARK NIESSE, Associated Press Writer
Wed Nov 25, 3:48 am ET
| HONOLULU - Mug shots of drunken driving suspects are landing on the Honolulu Police Department's Web site, creating a virtual wall of shame long before suspects get their day in court.
Supporters say the experiment in public humiliation to be launched Wednesday should be used elsewhere in the nation if it reduces the number of drunks on the road.
Critics counter the photo gallery is a heavy-handed tactic that threatens to violate constitutional rights and stain reputations without court convictions. |
Note the no due process and presumption of guilt.
26 The challenge in Copenhagen: reshaping the world
By ARTHUR MAX, Associated Press Writer
Wed Nov 25, 12:00 am ET
| AMSTERDAM - Next month's climate summit in Copenhagen seeks to transform the way we run the planet, from the generation of energy, to the building of homes and cities, to the shaping of the landscape. It would also shift wealth from rich to poor countries in the process.
No wonder a deal will be tough to cut.
In recent weeks, prospects brightened, then dimmed, then revived again. |
27 Off-reservation Indian gambling raises concerns
By SUDHIN THANAWALA, Associated Press Writer
Tue Nov 24, 9:23 pm ET
| RICHMOND, Calif. - An Indian tribe wants to build a grand, $1.5 billion, Las Vegas-style casino resort on a swath of land overlooking San Francisco Bay - a spot more than 100 miles from its tribal lands.
Across the country, in fact, a number of Indian tribes are seeking to construct casinos well away from their reservations or other tribal lands. And the trend may be about to accelerate: The Obama administration is expected to decide soon whether to loosen the rules on some of these projects.
Gambling opponents deplore the trend and complain that Indian tribes are trying to game the system to expand their operations and get closer to lucrative big-city markets. They fear that more gambling will bring more crime and other social ills. |
28 Philippines massacre: State of emergency declared, but will Arroyo pursue justice?
By Donald Kirk, The Christian Science Monitor
Tue Nov 24, 4:00 am ET
| Philippines President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo declared a state of emergency for parts of the southern island of Mindanao on Tuesday, after a political massacre there left at least 46 people dead.
But her strong response came amid widespread questions over whether action will be put to her words. The murders are alleged to have been arranged by one of her political allies and the Philippines has a long-standing culture of impunity for political violence.
"The government definitely has the numbers but not the political will," says Vilnor Papa, Philippine campaign manager of Amnesty International. "We have political killings. We have summary executions. This is a culture of impunity. You have seen how people from the military have gotten away with murder." |
29 Arrest video sparks scrutiny of BART cops - again
By Michael B. Farrell, The Christian Science Monitor
Mon Nov 23, 4:00 am ET
| San Francisco - For the second time this year, a cellphone video is raising questions about the conduct of Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) police.
The video, circulated on YouTube and other websites, shows an officer arresting a disorderly passenger at a station in Oakland, Calif., on Saturday evening. The police officer grabs the man and hauls him out of the train, holding the man's head down. In the video, the officer appears to push the man against the glass barrier, shattering the glass and injuring both officer and suspect.
The incident has revived the intense scrutiny the agency has faced since one of its officers was caught on camera in a fatal shooting of a passenger on New Year's Day. |
30 Iran seeks to quiet critic inside ruling system
By BRIAN MURPHY, Associated Press Writer
Wed Nov 25, 12:35 pm ET
| DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - When Iran holds state-run ceremonies this week for an important Islamic feast day, there will be one very noticeable change: former President Hashemi Rafsanjani will not be leading the prayers.
The removal of Rafsanjani from the high-profile role is the latest slap by the ruling establishment against the single figure they may fear most - a powerful combination of elder statesman, super-wealthy tycoon and head of the only group empowered to remove Iran's supreme leader.
It's also a reflection of the Islamic leadership's deep worries about how to deal with a dissenter within the inner ranks. |
31 India basks in lavish White House welcome
By TIM SULLIVAN, Associated Press Writer
2 hrs 32 mins ago
| NEW DELHI - When Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met in Washington this week with President Barack Obama, the White House lavished attention on the unassuming, bookish Indian leader. There was a state dinner. There were movie stars. There was a chandelier-filled tent packed with powerful Americans chatting up powerful Indians. There was talk that the two nations had forged "one of the defining relationships" of the century.
It was Washington's way of telling the world's largest democracy that it matters - despite America's ties to India's main rivals, Pakistan and China.
The visit was heralded by the Indian media, which on Wednesday was awash with descriptions of Singh's welcome. Obama "hit all the right buttons ... to erase any impression that he had downgraded ties with New Delhi in deference to China," The Times of India said on its front page. |
32 UN report: Congo rebel network spans 25 countries
By RUKMINI CALLIMACHI, Associated Press Writer
2 hrs 39 mins ago
| CONAKRY, Guinea - One of Africa's most brutal rebel movements relies on a vast, international network of supporters in at least 25 countries including in the United States and Europe, a United Nations report said.
The U.N. findings show that the network of people help rebels in Congo buy arms and transfer money. The findings were slated to be discussed by the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday and are a scathing indictment of how little the international community has done to cut off logistical support to the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, known by its French acronym FDLR, an ethnic Hutu militia which has wreaked havoc in Congo.
The report, which was not made public but was made available to The Associated Press, reveals that supporters in North America, Europe and Africa have become the backbone of the group's day-to-day operations, including in formulating its military strategy. |
33 Taliban leader rules out talks with Karzai
By ELENA BECATOROS, Associated Press Writer
2 hrs 43 mins ago
| KABUL - The Taliban's reclusive leader ruled out talks with President Hamid Karzai and called on Afghans on Wednesday to break off relations with his "stooge" administration.
Mullah Omar's message, issued ahead of the Muslim Eid holiday this weekend, comes less than a week before President Barack Obama is expected to announce an increase of thousands of troops for Afghanistan. The White House has said Obama is focusing on how the United States eventually will withdraw from Afghanistan, even as he plans to send more forces.
In a statement, Omar insisted foreign troops were losing the war. |
34 State-run magazine reports on black jails in China
By TINI TRAN, Associated Press Writer
1 hr 48 mins ago
| BEIJING - It read like a muckraking expose: A magazine revealed a system of secret detention centers in Beijing where Chinese citizens are forcibly held and sometimes beaten to prevent them from lodging formal complaints with the central government.
But the report appeared in the state-run magazine Liaowang (Outlook), which is written for the government elite and published by China's official Xinhua News Agency.
For some activist groups, the two state-sanctioned articles published Tuesday signal a possible willingness by the Communist leadership to openly acknowledge a problem it has long denied. |
35 Iran clerics start taking control of schools
By ALI AKBAR DAREINI, Associated Press Writer
Wed Nov 25, 12:48 pm ET
| TEHRAN, Iran - Islamic religious authorities have begun tightening their grip on Iranian public schools, a report said Wednesday, as hard-liners expand an ideological "soft war" against Western influence.
The effort appears to be part of a wider drive to counter opposition groups and other pro-reform factions that have been emboldened by the unprecedented protests after June's disputed presidential election.
Opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi strongly attacked the Revolutionary Guard in a new statement Wednesday, accusing the elite corps of using brutal force to crush the massive street protests. |
36 Putin's rare Siberian tiger goes missing
By LIYA KHABAROVA, Associated Press Writer
1 hr 30 mins ago
| VLADIVOSTOK, Russia - A rare Siberian tiger that Vladimir Putin fitted with a radio-tracking collar is alive and well, the Russian prime minister's spokesman said Wednesday, easing concerns raised when an environmentalist said the tracking device had gone silent.
Putin drew worldwide publicity in 2008 when he shot the five-year-old female with a tranquilizer gun and helped place a transmitter around her neck. Visitors to his Web site could follow the animal's prowlings through Russia's wild Far East. A video of the episode is on YouTube.
Dramatizing the plight of a species some conservationists fear may be approaching extinction, Vladimir Krever of the World Wildlife Fund said Wednesday that the satellite tracking device has been silent since mid-September, which he said could be due to battery failure, a broken collar or poachers. |
37 Kandahar is key city in Afghan war
By KATHY GANNON, Associated Press Writer
Wed Nov 25, 12:07 pm ET
| KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - A wedding was called off because international troops killed the groom. A suicide bomber blew himself up in front of a police patrol. An old woman was beaten by the Taliban after she tried to stop them from taking her son.
And all of this happened in just two weeks in the same place - Kandahar.
The fight for Kandahar, Afghanistan's second largest city, shows some of the biggest hurdles faced by the U.S. as it tries to implement a strategy of winning over the ordinary people of Afghanistan. |
38 U.N. fails to halt Congo rebels: experts
By Joe Bavier, Reuters
Wed Nov 25, 8:21 am ET
| KINSHASA (Reuters) - U.N. backing for Congolese army operations in the east has failed to stamp out Rwandan rebels, the United Nations' own experts said on Wednesday.
Far from resolving the root causes of the violence, the operations backed by the world's biggest peacekeeping mission have aggravated the conflict in North and South Kivu provinces, a U.N. Group of Experts report seen by Reuters concluded.
"Military operations have ... not succeeded in neutralizing the FDLR (Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda), have exacerbated the humanitarian crisis in the Kivus and have resulted in an expansion of CNDP military influence in the region," it said of homegrown Congolese Tutsi CNDP insurgents. |
39 Taliban's Omar rejects Karzai call for peace talks
by Sardar Ahmad, Reuters
Wed Nov 25, 12:31 pm ET
| KABUL (AFP) - Mullah Mohammad Omar, leader of Afghanistan's Taliban militia, on Wednesday rejected a call from President Hamid Karzai for peace talks, in a statement issued ahead of the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha.
Karzai was inaugurated last week after winning a fraud-tainted August poll and used a speech to again call for the Taliban to rejoin the political process in Afghanistan, where about 100,000 US and NATO troops are stationed.
"The people of Afghanistan will not agree to negotiation which prolongs and legitimises the invader's military presence in our beloved country. Afghanistan is our home," a Taliban statement quoted Omar as saying. |
40 EU commission chief unveils nominees for new team
AFP
Wed Nov 25, 1:17 pm ET
| BRUSSELS (AFP) - European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso announced the nominations for his new team Wednesday, with conservatives to the fore and more women members than the outgoing EU executive.
"I am pleased to have received nominations from all member states. Now it is my job to allocate the right portfolios to the right people," Barroso said.
"I look forward to presenting a strong commission team to the European parliament," which will vet all the commissioners in January. |
41 Guinea junta threatens to keep opposition out of election
AFP
Wed Nov 25, 12:43 pm ET
| DAKAR (AFP) - Guinea's military junta on Wednesday threatened to keep opposition leaders out of a presidential election which the country's poll watchdog said would be impossible to hold anyway.
Political tensions also mounted ahead of the arrival of a UN team to investigate a massacre of opposition demonstrators in a stadium in which at least 150 people were killed, according to the UN and rights groups.
International donors have withdrawn aid in an effort to press Moussa Dadis Camara's junta into talks with the opposition. |
42 Prosecutors demand 40 years for Khmer Rouge prison chief
by Patrick Falby, AFP
Wed Nov 25, 11:31 am ET
| PHNOM PENH (AFP) - Prosecutors demanded a 40-year jail term Wednesday for Khmer Rouge prison chief Duch, as he expressed "excruciating remorse" for the deaths of 15,000 Cambodians at his brutal torture centre.
The country's UN-backed war crimes court heard closing arguments from both sides in the tribunal's first trial delving into the horrors of the communist regime behind the "Killing Fields" atrocities three decades ago.
Under their leader Pol Pot, the Khmer Rouge wiped out nearly two million people through starvation, overwork and execution in their bid to turn Cambodia back to a rural "Year Zero" between 1975 and 1979. |
43 British officials quizzed on WMD at Iraq inquiry
by Cyril Belaud, AFP
Wed Nov 25, 8:08 am ET
| LONDON (AFP) - Top civil servants were grilled Wednesday over fears Iraq was developing weapons of mass destruction -- used to support the 2003 invasion but never borne out -- at a British inquiry into the conflict.
On day two of public hearings in London, senior officials revealed they had found some evidence of contact between Iraq and Al-Qaeda, but that this had scaled down after the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States.
They also addressed an infamous claim by Britain's government in 2002 that Iraq had WMDs and could launch a chemical or biological strike within 45 minutes. |
44 British probe reveals lead-up to Iraq war
by Alice Ritchie, AFP
Tue Nov 24, 9:38 pm ET
| LONDON (AFP) - The first full-scale inquiry into Britain's role in the Iraq war opened with testimony suggesting Washington was gearing up for possible conflict two years before Tony Blair led London to war.
More than six years after the US-led invasion, inquiry chairman John Chilcot said no one was "on trial" in the year-long probe but promised not to shy away from criticism as he seeks to learn lessons from the conflict.
The highlight of the public inquiry will be an appearance by then prime minister Blair, who is due to give evidence in January. |
45 Opening roads or saving lives, Afghanistan's a helicopter war
By Jay Price, McClatchy Newspapers
Tue Nov 24, 3:55 pm ET
| KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan - In one of the worst chapters of their casualty-marred deployment in Afghanistan , Canadian forces earlier this year lost 10 soldiers in 90 days to improvised bombs on one stretch of highway in Kandahar province.
Then a U.S. Army helicopter crew stalking Taliban insurgents who plant bombs at night spotted a five-man team, watched the insurgents through sophisticated optical gear until it was certain that's what the men were doing and got permission to kill them.
After that, no bombs exploded on that section of road for two months, said Col. Paul W. Bricker , 48, a Michigan native who commands the Fort Bragg, N.C. , based 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade , the Army helicopter unit for southern and western Afghanistan . |
46 Afghanistan's James Bond: suave killer who drives a Toyota Camry
By Dion Nissenbaum, McClatchy Newspapers
Tue Nov 24, 4:59 pm ET
| KABUL, Afghanistan - The television set crackles with breaking news: Terrorists have smuggled a nuclear bomb into Kabul and are preparing to take out the Afghan capital.
There is panic and pandemonium. Facing imminent immolation, the nation's leaders turn to the only man who can save Kabul : Afghanistan's first modern day James Bond .
Hollywood may have plans to set part of the next James Bond film in Afghanistan , but Kabul already has its own 007. |
47 Taliban fighters escape Pakistani offensive, but to where?
By Saeed Shah, McClatchy Newspapers
Tue Nov 24, 6:41 pm ET
| ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Most of the Taliban fighters and all of their leaders apparently have escaped Pakistan's widely publicized six-week-old offensive in South Waziristan , forcing the army to begin pounding other parts of the country's lawless tribal area.
Since Sunday, Pakistan has been launching aerial attacks on suspected militant hideouts in Orakzai, another part of the tribal area, and on Tuesday it extended operations to Khyber, the tribal territory closest to Peshawar , the provincial capital.
Though the army has extended its reach and now controls much of the former Taliban fiefdom in South Waziristan , the threat that was supposed to be extinguished seems likely to persist. |
48 Obama vows to 'get the job done' in Afghanistan
By Jonathan S. Landay, Steven Thomma and John Walcott, McClatchy Newspapers
Tue Nov 24, 7:50 pm ET
| WASHINGTON - In a preview of his speech next week announcing his plan to send more than 30,000 additional U.S. troops to Afghanistan , President Barack Obama Tuesday vowed that he'll "finish the job" of stabilizing the country and destroying the al Qaida terror network.
" . . . it is in our strategic interest, in our national security interest to make sure that al Qaida and its extremist allies cannot operate effectively in those areas," Obama said. "We are going to dismantle and degrade their capabilities and ultimately dismantle and destroy their networks."
"After eight years - some of those years in which we did not have . . . either the resources or the strategy to get the job done - it is my intention to finish the job," Obama asserted during a White House news conference with visiting Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh . |
| From Yahoo News U.S. News |
49 Year after NY stampede, Black Friday gets makeover
By FRANK ELTMAN, Associated Press Writer
1 hr 38 mins ago
| VALLEY STREAM, N.Y. - Victoria Rogers had originally planned to make an early stop the day after Thanksgiving last year at the Walmart store in Valley Stream on Long Island. Her last-minute decision against it might have saved her life.
"We saw the mob, and we said no," she said. "Walmart's not the store."
What she saw that day was no ordinary crowd of shoppers, but a throng police say jammed through the doors upon the store's opening in a mad dash for holiday savings, trampling a guard to death. |
50 Ex-CNN host Lou Dobbs weighs Senate run in NJ
By ANGELA DELLI SANTI, Associated Press Writer
29 mins ago
| HILLSIDE, N.J. - Former CNN host Lou Dobbs is seriously considering running for U.S. Senate in New Jersey in 2012 as a stepping stone to a possible White House bid - a congressional matchup that would pit one of illegal immigration's biggest critics against a champion for immigrant rights.
Dobbs spokesman Robert Dilenschneider told The Associated Press Wednesday that Dobbs may challenge Sen. Robert Menendez, a Democrat, but is considering other offers he's received since his abrupt exit from Time Warner Inc.-owned CNN on Nov. 11 after 29 years on the news network.
"A logical step for Lou, should he choose to go into public life, is to run for the next Senate seat in New Jersey, or to accept some kind of appointed position, nationally or in New Jersey," Dilenschneider said. |
51 Drywall investigation expands into US products
By BRIAN SKOLOFF, Associated Press Writer
1 hr 58 mins ago
| WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - A federal probe of tainted Chinese drywall has broadened because a small number of homeowners are reporting that American-made drywall is causing some of the same problems: a sickening, sulfurous stench and corroded pipes and wiring.
"We are not limited in the scope of our investigation to just Chinese drywall," said Scott Wolfson, spokesman for the Consumer Products Safety Commission, which is conducting the largest investigation in its history after thousands of homeowners complained and filed lawsuits.
The vast majority of complaints still center on China-made gypsum board imported during the recent U.S. housing boom, when domestic building materials were in short supply. And the commission's investigation is focused mainly on the imported drywall, Wolfson said. |
52 Salvation Army's iconic kettles now credit ready
By KRISTEN WYATT, Associated Press Writer
2 hrs 43 mins ago
| COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - There could be less jingle in the Salvation's Army's hallmark red kettles this season. The charity is testing kettles that take debit and credit cards.
The growth of so-called "plastic kettles" comes as fewer shoppers carry cash. Bell ringers who stand outside stores during the holiday season say that more and more shoppers are shaking their heads and smiling as they pass by, apologizing for not having spare change or cash to drop in the red kettles.
Last year Salvation Army tested the credit machines in two cities, Dallas and Colorado Springs. This year the plastic kettles will be tested in more than 120 cities. |
53 "Cancer of fraud" permeates U.S. healthcare system
By Tom Brown, Reuters
Wed Nov 25, 10:43 am ET
| MIAMI (Reuters) - It's a crime so profitable that even dead people are in on the act.
A U.S. Senate committee revealed last year that public health insurer Medicare had paid as much as $92 million from 2000 to 2007 for medical services or equipment ordered or prescribed by doctors who were dead at the time.
Many had died more than five years before the date when they supposedly ordered or authorized the service. |
54 Holiday Shopping: Will Big Markdowns Return?
By JANET MORRISSEY, Time Magazine
Wed Nov 25, 9:25 am ET
| For many consumers, Black Friday, Cyber Monday and the weeks that follow will be a good time to sit on their hands. |
55 Obama Weighs the Cost of an Afghanistan Military Surge
By MARK THOMPSON / WASHINGTON, Time Magazine
Wed Nov 25, 9:25 am ET
| There was a new face at the table when President Barack Obama conducted his ninth war council on Afghanistan shortly before Thanksgiving: Peter Orszag, head of the Office of Management and Budget. And the appearance of the Administration's chief bookkeeper at what is likely to be the final meeting of a war cabinet assembled to make the key decisions on the future of the U.S. commitment in Afghanistan sends a signal of growing concern over the cost of sending some 30,000 more troops into the fight. |
56 Zhu Zhu Mania: Why Hamster Toys Are Hit Christmas Gifts
By SEAN GREGORY, Time Magazine
Wed Nov 25, 9:25 am ET
| You always figured that a rodent who drives his own car would be able to withstand the recession, right? As retailers ramp up for the all-important holiday shopping season, at least the toy stores know that have a hit on their hands. Fuzzy, electronic toy hamsters called Zhu Zhu Pets are flying off the shelves at major outlets like Walmart and Toys "R" Us. Demand for the pets is so high that Zhu Zhus, which retail for $8 at Walmart, are going for $60 on secondary-market sites like Amazon.com and eBay.com. The hamsters, which have names like Mr. Squiggles, Pipsqueak and Num Nums, scoot around and coo like real pets. Kids can add accessories like a car, a skateboard and a wheel to their own little hamster world - without the inevitable mess or traumatic death. "This is the hottest toy of the year," says Gerald Storch, chairman and CEO of Toys "R" Us. "There's absolutely no doubt about it." |
|
