News For Monday Oct 13, 2008 News For Monday Oct 13, 2008

World World

British banks to get $63B infusion from government - Added 4 minutes ago

The British government said Monday it would provide up to $63 billion to boost the balance sheets of three of Britain's largest banks but demanded in return the departure of some of the country's top bankers. "The...

Military: Clashes in Sri Lanka kill 30 combatants - Added 12 minutes ago

Sri Lankan soldiers attacked Tamil Tiger rebel bunkers along the northern front lines triggering gunbattles that killed 27 guerrillas and three soldiers, the military said Monday. Fighting has escalated in recent...

Israel closes West Bank for Sukkot holiday - Added 25 minutes ago

Israel has shut down entry from the West Bank during the weeklong Sukkot holiday. The order bars almost all West Bank Palestinians from entering Israel until Oct. 21, though Israel says exceptions will be made for...

Chinese dairy blames subcontractors for tainting - Added 28 minutes ago

A dairy ensnared in China's chemical-tainting scandal says it was a victim of unscrupulous behavior by the independent providers from whom it buys raw milk. Speaking on a television talk show late Sunday, the president...

Thai, Cambodian ministers fail to solve border row - Added 33 minutes ago

Cambodian and Thai foreign ministers on Monday failed to solve a border dispute that recently erupted into a brief military clash. In a statement issued after the meeting, Cambodia called for more talks to prevent...

Al-Maliki: British troops not necessary - Added 52 minutes ago

Iraq's prime minister said the 4,100 British troops in southern Iraq are no longer necessary to provide security, a newspaper reported Monday. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki told The Times of London that there may be a...

SKorea considering expanding inter-Korean projects - Added 59 minutes ago

South Korea is considering expanding cross-border projects with North Korea following major progress in an international standoff over the communist country's nuclear program, an official said Monday. On Saturday, the...

Thabo Mbeki to mediate new crisis in Zimbabwe - Added 1 hour ago

Thabo Mbeki's spokesman says the former president is flying to Zimbabwe to help resolve a deadlock in power-sharing talks to end that country's crisis. Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe announced at the weekend that he...

Official: Gunmen shoot at US consulate in Mexico - Added 2 hours ago

Assailants opened fire on the U.S. consulate in the northern Mexican city of Monterrey, a Mexican official said. Nobody was injured in Sunday's shooting. Shell casings were found outside the consulate, but there were...

15 reported killed in Pakistan fighting - Added 3 hours ago

Clashes between Taliban militants and pro-government forces killed 15 people overnight in a Pakistani region on the border with Afghanistan, an official and a tribal elder said Monday. Security forces fired mortar and...

5 more Taliban killed in Afghanistan clash - Added 3 hours ago

The U.S. coalition says its troops have killed five Taliban militants in a raid in central Afghanistan. A coalition statement Monday says troops targeted a militant involved in the movement of foreign fighters in Andar...

Philippine leader wants summit to tackle economy - Added 3 hours ago

The Philippine president is calling on Asian leaders meeting in Beijing next week to convene a special session to tackle the impact of the global economic crisis. President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said Monday she is...

Poll: Support for Japan PM falls to 46 percent - Added 3 hours ago

Tepid public support for Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso has fallen further in the weeks since he took office and voters now want help for the country's economy to take priority over domestic politics, according to a...

Conservatives ahead in Lithuania election - Added 4 hours ago

A conservative opposition party was ahead in Lithuania's parliamentary election, but strong support for populist groups set the stage for tricky coalition talks, partial results showed Monday. The vote, which came as...

Car bombings in Mosul and Baghdad kill 13 - Added 4 hours ago

Suicide car bombers struck twice Sunday in the northern city of Mosul, killing at least six people and wounding dozens of others, U.S. and Iraqi officials said. A car bomb killed seven other people in Baghdad. Two...

Gunmen kill 6 at party in northern Mexico - Added 6 hours ago

Gunmen killed six young men at a family party in the gang-plagued Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez, prosecutors said Sunday. The men, ages 20 to 25, were killed during a party in a house, said Alejandro Pariente, a...

US military deaths in Iraq war at 4,181 - Added 9 hours ago

As of Sunday, Oct. 12, 2008, at least 4,181 members of the U.S. military have died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. The figure includes eight military civilians...

Canadian leader gambles for majority government - Added 11 hours ago

Prime Minister Stephen Harper is gambling that an opposition pushing an unpopular carbon tax will steer Canadian voters to the right in Tuesday's election and bolster his hold on power. If the polls are any indication,...

Norbert weakens to tropical depression over Mexico - Added 11 hours ago

Norbert dissipated into a tropical depression over the northern mountains of mainland Mexico on Sunday, after ripping off roofs, flooding streets, and forcing thousands to seek shelter in Baja California. The storm's...

Euro nations to guarantee bank refinancing - Added 11 hours ago

Nations in Europe's single-currency zone agreed Sunday to temporarily guarantee bank refinancing and pledged to prevent banks failing as part of a raft of emergency measures designed to get credit flowing again. It was...

No Internet access for 9/11 defendants at Gitmo - Added 12 hours ago

A U.S. military judge has denied a request from professed Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed for Internet access inside his Guantanamo cell, ruling he does not need it to prepare for his death penalty trial. ...

Insulated from global woes, Iraqi stocks soar - Added 14 hours ago

While the rest of the world is facing a financial meltdown, the Iraq Stock Exchange is booming. The ISX index soared nearly 40 percent during September, boosted by increasing confidence in security gains. The ISX is...

Top general: NATO not losing Afghan war - Added 14 hours ago

The top NATO general in Afghanistan on Sunday rejected the idea that NATO is losing the Afghanistan war to an increasingly bloody Taliban insurgency. But U.S. Gen. David McKiernan also said he needs more military...

UK university holds artificial intelligence test - Added 15 hours ago

Computers argued, cracked jokes and parried trick questions Sunday, all part of an annual test of artificial intelligence carried out at the University of Reading. Typing away at split-screen terminals, a dozen...

NKorea announces plan to resume nuclear disabling - Added 15 hours ago

North Korea said Sunday it will resume disabling its key nuclear complex after the U.S. dropped the country from a terrorism blacklist _ a breakthrough expected to help energize stalled talks aimed at ending the...

Writers pick up pens to protest 42-day detentions - Added 15 hours ago

Dozens of renowned British writers came out against new anti-terrorism legislation Sunday, publishing a collection of satire, essays, fiction and poetry to protest a proposal allowing police to hold suspects without...

Pakistani tribesmen rise up against militants - Added 16 hours ago

!!-- pobj:PES101-1012081021 -->!!-- pobj:PES102-1012081021 -->!!-- pobj:PES103-1012081021 -->Pakistani tribesmen are raising armies to battle al-Qaida and Taliban militants close to the Afghan border _ a movement...

No al-Qaida fighters reported dead in US airstrike - Added 17 hours ago

The latest in a barrage of suspected U.S. missile strikes in Pakistan's northwest killed five people, but none was believed to be a foreign al-Qaida fighter, officials said Sunday. Two drone aircraft were seen above...

Iraq to begin first oil bid round in London - Added 18 hours ago

Iraq's oil minister will meet Monday in London with representatives of international oil companies for the first round of bidding for new contracts in the country since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, the minister's...

Iran: Merchants in main Tehran market stage strike - Added 18 hours ago

Merchants in Tehran's main market have closed their shops in protest of a new sales tax despite the government's announcement that it would suspend the measure for two months. Gold, carpet and textile merchants...

Wales rides a coal renaissance - Added 18 hours ago

!!-- pobj:LLP201-1007081328 -->!!-- pobj:LLP202-1007081436 -->!!-- pobj:LLP203-1007081428 -->!!-- pobj:LLP204-1007081448 -->!!-- pobj:LLP205-1007081326 -->!!-- pobj:LLP206-1007081348 -->Deep under a pine-covered...

China Communists seek to expand internal market - Added 18 hours ago

China's ruling Communist Party on Sunday said it would seek to expand its massive internal market to counter the global economic slowdown that has reduced international demand for Chinese goods. The party, led by...

Austrian rightist was speeding at twice limit - Added 18 hours ago

Far-right politician Joerg Haider was speeding at more than twice the posted limit before the car crash that killed him, investigators said Sunday as his grief-stricken party appointed a successor. Flowers, notes and...

Zimbabwe opposition leader threatens to quit gov't - Added 18 hours ago

Zimbabwe's opposition leader threatened Sunday to pull out of a national unity government if President Robert Mugabe refuses to cede control of key ministries. Morgan Tsvangirai slammed an official government list...

Pope creates 4 new saints, including Indian woman - Added 18 hours ago

Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday gave the Roman Catholic church four new saints, including an Indian woman whose canonization is seen as a morale boost to Christians in India who have suffered Hindu violence. Thousands of...

Somali region raids 1 of many hijacked ships - Added 19 hours ago

Somali forces raided one of the many ships hijacked off the country's coast Sunday as a deadline loomed in a standoff aboard another, arms-laden vessel, officials said. Troops in northern Somalia's semiautonomous...

Dirndls, oom-pah, sausages? Oktoberfest in Iraq - Added 19 hours ago

Dirndl-clad waitresses deliver frothy beers, the brass band has the oom-pah music in full drive and there are sausages on the grill. Welcome to Iraq? It may still be a far cry from the Oktoberfest party in Munich,...

France annuls extradition for ex-leftist terrorist - Added 19 hours ago

France has decided not to extradite a former member of the Italian left-wing Red Brigades terrorist group to Italy because she is in poor health, the president's office announced Sunday. It stressed that the measure...

Billboard truce: Beirut scraps irksome posters - Added 19 hours ago

In polarized Lebanon, flaunting a political leader's poster can be enough to spark a gunfight. So shopkeepers on Beirut's al-Maamoun Street are breathing a little easier now that "poster disarmament" has been declared. ...

Palestinian leaders call for reconciliation - Added 21 hours ago

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Sunday the rift between his mainstream Palestinian faction and archrival Hamas must end. The Hamas leader, meanwhile, said the time is right for reconciliation. Fatah and Hamas...

Russian leader Medvedev watches missile tests - Added 21 hours ago

President Dmitry Medvedev watched a missile soar from Russia's rain-soaked northern forests toward a target thousands of miles away on Sunday, capping a weekend of launches reminding audiences at home and abroad about...

Sri Lanka fighting kills 30 rebels, 2 soldiers - Added 1 day ago

Separate battles between government forces and Tamil separatists across Sri Lanka's volatile northern region killed 30 rebels and two soldiers, the military said Sunday. The new fighting came as soldiers closed in on...

More than 100 Taliban killed in Afghan clashes - Added 1 day ago

Taliban militants launched a surprise attack on a key southern Afghan town, sparking a battle that killed some 60 insurgents, an Afghan official said Sunday. A second clash in the same region killed another 40...

MISSING TITLE - Added 1 day ago

Afghan official says more than 100 Taliban killed in 2 battles in southern Afghanistan. ...

Kashmir shuts down in protest as Indian PM visits - Added 1 day ago

Shops, businesses and schools were shut in the Indian portion of Kashmir on Saturday to protest a visit by the Indian prime minister who inaugurated the first train line in the disputed Himalayan region. The visit by...

Official: 3,000 Christians flee Iraq's Mosul - Added 1 day ago

Hundreds of terrified Christian families have fled Mosul to escape extremist attacks that have increased despite months of U.S. and Iraqi military operations to secure the northern Iraqi city, political and religious...

Vienna director sick, but opera good - Added 1 day ago

Damnation was the dominant theme Saturday in a new Vienna State Opera production of Charles Gounod's Faust. But redemption triumphed in the form of wonderful singing and a powerful orchestral performance. On stage of...

US military deaths in Iraq war at 4,181 - Added 1 day ago

As of Saturday, Oct. 11, 2008, at least 4,181 members of the U.S. military have died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. The figure includes eight military civilians...

2 Arab homes torched in Acre: police - Added 1 day ago

Two Arab-owned apartments were set ablaze in the Israeli town of Acre amid clashes between Jews and Arabs, police said Saturday. Rioting in Acre _ one of only a few mixed Arab-Jewish towns in Israel _ first erupted on...

Kenya's elephants send text messages to rangers - Added 1 day ago

The text message from the elephant flashed across Richard Lesowapir's screen: Kimani was heading for neighboring farms. The huge bull elephant had a long history of raiding villagers' crops during the harvest,...