News For Wednesday Aug 20, 2008 News For Wednesday Aug 20, 2008

World World

Bombs target Shiite pilgrims in Iraq, kills 18 - Added 5 days ago

A woman suicide bomber struck Shiite pilgrims south of Baghdad on Thursday, killing at least 18 people and wounding scores of others after the government announced new measures to protect worshippers ahead of a major...

Wiesenthal Center calls for action by Venezuela - Added 6 days ago

A leading anti-Semitism watchdog group said Thursday that a meeting between Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Jewish leaders is a positive step but that the government must take concrete action to improve relations. ...

'Where was God?' ask refugees from Georgia war - Added 6 days ago

Sarmat Kapisov ran all night through the forest with his family, fleeing the fighting in South Ossetia and headed for the Georgia-Russia border. On his back, the 17-year-old carried his brother, who has cerebral palsy. ...

Mexico probes missing rebels; linked to bombings - Added 6 days ago

The Mexican government said Thursday that two missing members of a small rebel group were the victims of a "forced disappearance" and not a kidnapping, indicating the government may have been involved. The leftist...

Iran, Turkey fail to reach deal on new pipeline - Added 6 days ago

Iran and Turkey signed several cooperation agreements Thursday but failed to complete a deal for building a new natural gas pipeline _ a project the United States has opposed. Washington argues an energy deal by NATO...

Lawyers to US witness against Olmert: Stay home - Added 6 days ago

Lawyers for an American businessman have recommended he refuse to testify again before an Israeli court in a corruption case against Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, according to a letter released Thursday. Morris Talansky...

Syria, Lebanon to negotiate demarcation of border - Added 6 days ago

Syria agreed Thursday to begin negotiations with Lebanon on demarcating their border, making its second concession in two days to longtime demands from the Lebanese as they seek to normalize relations with their...

Truce between Russia, Georgia flawed, some say - Added 6 days ago

A truce between warring Russia and Georgia appeared at first to be a breakthrough, but some fear it may have given the Russians a loophole to continue their action in the former Soviet republic. Since the hastily...

Libya, US settle all terror-related lawsuits - Added 6 days ago

Libya and the United States settled all outstanding lawsuits by American victims of terrorism on Thursday, clearing the way for the full restoration of diplomatic relations. There were 26 pending lawsuits filed by...

Iraq's Talabani had heart surgery in US - Added 6 days ago

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani was discharged Thursday from the Mayo Clinic after undergoing successful surgery on a heart valve, his office announced. The statement by the presidential press office said Talabani...

Gunmen kill 8 at Mexican border city rehab center - Added 6 days ago

Officials say gunmen killed eight people at a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center in this border city. Police say five others were wounded in the Wednesday night attack. Police spokesman Cesar Ramirez says the...

In Georgia, refugees overwhelm relief efforts - Added 6 days ago

Tired, hungry and penniless, her dark and bloodshot eyes betraying stressful days and sleepless nights, Manana Karelidze banged her head over and over against a concrete ledge. She was one of the first to arrive at the...

Fear and frustration for refugees in 2 countries - Added 6 days ago

The war between Georgia and Russia has produced a humanitarian crisis that has uprooted more than 100,000 people _ legions of the tired and hungry, forced from their homes by bombs and tanks. An estimated 56,000 of...

Political talks in Bolivia end without progress - Added 6 days ago

Talks between Bolivia's president and opposition governors ended without progress Thursday, stalled by the governors' demand that the central government refund energy profits from their regions as a gesture of good...

Pentagon official removed from 2nd Gitmo trial - Added 6 days ago

A military judge on Thursday barred a Pentagon official from taking part in a second war crimes trial at Guantanamo Bay, providing more ammunition for detainee lawyers who allege that political interference taints the...

Analysts: China crackdown fueling attacks - Added 6 days ago

A police crackdown meant to quell militants in China's rugged frontier of Xinjiang has failed to prevent a surge of attacks, and analysts say Beijing's tactics may actually be encouraging more violence among the...

Russian tanks deter Georgian entry to Gori - Added 6 days ago

In the morning, columns of Georgian police and military vehicles prepared to reoccupy the strategic town of Gori after the expected departure of Russian forces. By the afternoon, Russian tanks had moved in to guard the...

US sends aid for Georgian wounded and refugees - Added 6 days ago

Some of the first tangible American support for Georgia was visible Thursday in a storeroom at a grim Tbilisi hospital: a dozen crates of medical equipment marked with Stars-and-Stripes stickers and the words "USA:...

After war in Georgia, what does Russia want? - Added 6 days ago

After a brief victorious war, the Kremlin must decide what to do with its triumph. The Kremlin has already reasserted its historic military dominance in the region, punished Georgia for its surprise attack on South...

Zimbabwe opposition leaders stopped at airport - Added 6 days ago

Officials briefly confiscated the passports of Zimbabwe's top opposition leader and two aides as they tried to fly to South Africa Thursday to attend a regional summit. The seizure kept the three from flying Thursday,...

UK blunders over Birmingham, again! - Added 6 days ago

Britain's second-largest city, Birmingham, has a new skyline _ only it belongs to its Alabama namesake. Birmingham City Council in northern England distributed 720,000 leaflets that praised residents for exceeding...

Antigua police arrest 2 in honeymooner killings - Added 6 days ago

Two women have been arrested in the slaying of a honeymooning British couple at an Antiguan resort, police said Thursday. The suspects, whose names and ages were not released, appeared before a judge and were charged...

Paraguay landless launch new farm invasions - Added 6 days ago

A Paraguayan farmers group says landless protesters have invaded a northern hacienda, setting up tents and destroying crops to press their demands for terrain. Soy growers association president Claudia Ruser said...

6 US sailors charged with detainee abuse in Iraq - Added 6 days ago

The U.S. Navy says six sailors have been charged with abusing detainees at U.S. detention center in Iraq and they will face court-martials. A statement issued Thursday says two detainees suffered minor abrasions in the...

Afghan blast kills 3 in US-led coalition - Added 6 days ago

An explosion targeting international troops on a foot patrol in southern Afghanistan killed three members of the U.S.-led coalition Thursday, the coalition said. The coalition did not release any details about the...

Syria, Lebanon to negotiate border demarcation - Added 6 days ago

Syria agreed Thursday to a longtime Lebanese demand to negotiate the demarcation of their border a day after the countries said they would establish full diplomatic relations for the first time. The agreements are a...

Relief stepped up for victims in Georgia - Added 6 days ago

Efforts to help victims of fighting in Georgia increased Thursday with new commitments from Europe and the United States to boost supplies already being distributed by international organizations and others. Tens of...

Thousands demand independence in Indian Kashmir - Added 6 days ago

Thousands of Muslims poured into the streets of Kashmir on Thursday, demanding independence from India hours after archival Pakistan called on the United Nations to stop what it characterized as gross human rights...

Serbian foreign minister heads to New York - Added 6 days ago

Serbia's Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic headed to New York on Thursday to seek U.N. support for his country's plan to question Kosovo's independence at the International Court of Justice. Jeremic will submit a resolution...

Tibetans in Nepal protest against China, Olympics - Added 6 days ago

Nepalese police clashed with Tibetan protesters and detained more than 500 of them Thursday while breaking up a demonstration in front of the Chinese diplomatic mission in Katmandu. More than 1,000 Tibetan exiles had...

Cambodia and Thailand to begin troop redeployment - Added 6 days ago

Cambodia and Thailand have agreed to a gradual redeployment of troops near an ancient border temple ahead of talks next week on territorial disputes, a Cambodian army general said Thursday. The redeployment, slated to...

Taiwan's Chen: I broke the law - Added 6 days ago

Taiwan's former president admitted Thursday that he broke the law by not truthfully declaring campaign donations he received, and said that his wife sent an unspecified amount of money abroad. Chen Shui-bian's...

Iran kills 3 Kurdish separatists in clash - Added 6 days ago

Iranian state radio says three Kurdish separatists and one Iranian soldier were killed in a shootout in the northwest of the country. The report says the shootout happened Wednesday night in a mountainous region near...

Fetus in Indian abortion debate stillborn - Added 6 days ago

An Indian woman who sparked a nationwide debate by demanding a late-term abortion after her fetus was diagnosed with a heart defect has delivered the baby stillborn, her husband said Thursday. The delivery came eight...

US diplomat arrives in China for NKorea talks - Added 6 days ago

The State Department's top Korea expert arrived Thursday in Beijing in a bid to advance efforts to verify North Korea's nuclear program declarations. Sung Kim said he would talk with the Chinese about issues related to...

Convicted Bali bombers challenge execution method - Added 6 days ago

Lawyers for three Islamic militants on death row for the 2002 Bali bombings asked Indonesia's Constitutional Court on Thursday to reconsider the method of their executions, saying firing squads were inhumane. The...

Bomb in Philippines hurts would-be attacker - Added 6 days ago

A homemade bomb hurt a would-be attacker in the Philippines on Thursday while another device was defused at a southern bus terminal in what the military suggested was retaliation from Muslim rebels for a recent...

Russia: Forget Georgian territorial integrity - Added 6 days ago

Russia's foreign minister says the question of Georgia's territorial integrity is a dead issue, a sign that Moscow could absorb two separatist regions in the wake of recent fighting. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov made...

Military: Sri Lanka fighting kills 16 - Added 6 days ago

A wave of battles across the front lines in Sri Lanka's 25-year-old civil war killed 14 ethnic Tamil rebels and two government soldiers, the military said Thursday. Government jets hit a series of Tamil Tiger targets...

Vietnam to deport glam rocker Glitter to Britain - Added 6 days ago

Former glam rocker and convicted child molester Gary Glitter will be deported back to Britain on Tuesday after being released from prison in Vietnam, his lawyer said. Glitter, whose real name is Paul Francis Gadd, was...

Indonesian mayor: flags must be flown - Added 6 days ago

An Indonesian mayor has ordered security officers in parts of the capital to go door-to-door on Independence Day to make sure people are flying the national flag. Budiman Simarmata, acting mayor of South Jakarta, on...

11 killed in India as bus plunges into river - Added 6 days ago

At least nine schoolchildren and two adults are dead after a speeding school bus plunged into a river in southern India. Police say they rescued 14 children and were searching for seven others believed to be missing...

Australian priest charged with sexual assault - Added 6 days ago

Australian police say they have arrested a Catholic priest and charged him with 30 counts of sexual assault related to abuse allegations dating back three decades. The 65-year-old clergyman was arrested Thursday. He is...

InBev 2Q profit climbs 8.6 percent on tax savings - Added 6 days ago

Brewer InBev SA's second-quarter profit climbed 8.6 percent despite flat sales and higher costs as it paid less tax. The Leuven, Belgium-based company will become the world's largest brewer when it completes its US$52...

Pakistani PM says defeating terror key to survival - Added 6 days ago

Hours after a suicide attack killed eight people, Pakistan's prime minister said in an Independence Day speech Thursday that the country must defeat extremism to survive. As investigators sifted through the bloodied...

China quake rebuilding to cost $147 billion - Added 6 days ago

China's government estimates it will cost $147 billion to rebuild from the massive earthquake that struck the central part of the country in May, according to state media. The National Development and Reform...

Wal-Mart to make $1 billion expansion in Brazil - Added 6 days ago

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. announced on Wednesday that it will invest the equivalent of at least $1 billion in Brazil to expand its operations in Latin America's biggest country. The announcement was made in a statement...

Georgia says Russians pulling out of Gori - Added 6 days ago

Georgia's Interior Ministry says Russian troops have begun pulling out of the city of Gori, where their presence raised fears that Russia would challenge a cease-fire agreement. Ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili said...

Nepalese police search for 53 escaped inmates - Added 6 days ago

Police combed villages and forests near a southern Nepalese town Thursday for 53 inmates who escaped from a jail. The prisoners broke out Wednesday night after overpowering guards at the jail in Siraha, about 250 miles...

Officials: Missiles kill 9 in Pakistan - Added 6 days ago

A missile strike in a Pakistani tribal region killed at least nine suspected insurgents including foreigners, officials said Wednesday, raising suspicion that the U.S. was again targeting militants in Pakistan. A...