News For Saturday Jul 19, 2008 News For Saturday Jul 19, 2008

World World

Pakistan: at least 10 die in militant clashes - Added 10 minutes ago

At least 10 Taliban have died in fierce fighting between two rival militant groups in northwestern Pakistan, a government official and Taliban spokesman said Saturday. Hundreds of supporters of the top Pakistani...

Colombian freed hostages: Trauma remains with them - Added 31 minutes ago

Former Colombian rebel captive John Freddy Diaz knows something that recently freed hostages may just be discovering: The pain of a kidnapping doesn't end with liberation. Seven years after his release, the tall,...

Iraqi village shows hope for wider stability - Added 31 minutes ago

Brick by brick and one cinderblock at a time, the residents of this Euphrates River village about 45 miles southwest of Baghdad are rebuilding homes that the U.S. military says al-Qaida destroyed while they occupied the...

Pope apologizes for clergy sexual abuse - Added 37 minutes ago

Pope Benedict XVI said he was "deeply sorry' for the sexual abuse of children by Australia's Catholic clergy, delivering a strongly-worded apology Saturday that described their acts as evil and a grave betrayal of...

More troops on Thai-Cambodian border - Added 47 minutes ago

Cambodia and Thailand continued to reinforce their troops along a disputed border area near an 11th century temple Saturday, even as they prepared for talks to avert a military confrontation. Some 300 more Cambodian...

Beijing begins massive Olympic shutdown - Added 1 hour ago

Beijing's Olympic shutdown begins Sunday, a drastic plan to lift the Chinese capital's gray shroud of pollution just three weeks ahead of the games. Half of Beijing's 3.3 million vehicles will be pulled off the roads...

Afghans free journalist who took execution pics - Added 1 hour ago

An Afghan journalist who contributes to The Associated Press was freed Friday after his pictures and video footage of two women brazenly executed by the Taliban led intelligence officials to hold him for questioning for...

Magnitude 6.6 quake hits eastern Japan - Added 1 hour ago

A strong earthquake with a preliminary 6.6 magnitude struck off of Japan's eastern coast Saturday, the country's meteorological agency said. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage. The 11:39 a.m. quake,...

Tropical storm floods southern Taiwan - Added 1 hour ago

Tropical storm Kalmaegi churned along the Chinese coast Saturday, after leaving 13 dead in heavily populated Taiwan and its president scrambling to explain the island's apparent lack of preparedness in the face of the...

Tropical storms Fausto, Bertha become hurricanes - Added 1 hour ago

Tropical Storm Fausto became a hurricane Friday far off Mexico's Pacific coast, while Bertha strengthened back into a hurricane in the open Atlantic. The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said neither storm is...

14 killed in Nepal bus accident - Added 3 hours ago

A bus veered off a mountain road and plunged into a river Saturday in central Nepal killing 14 passengers and leaving many missing. The bus plummeted into the river just after midnight in Khare Khola, about 100 miles...

Report: Mexico cop in torture case fired - Added 3 hours ago

A Mexican police chief was fired Friday following the release of two police training videos that show officers practicing torture techniques, local media reported. Carlos Tornero, police chief in the central city of...

Mexico's brightest leave time capsule - Added 5 hours ago

Mexico's president replaced a 1791 time capsule discovered atop Mexico City's cathedral with a new one containing messages from golf star Lorena Ochoa, novelist Carlos Fuentes and a boy genius. President Felipe...

US military deaths in Afghanistan region at 476 - Added 5 hours ago

As of Friday, July 18, 2008, at least 476 members of the U.S. military had died in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan as a result of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, according to the Defense Department....

US military deaths in Iraq war at 4,124 - Added 5 hours ago

As of Friday, July 18, 2008, at least 4,124 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...

Haiti's Voodoo pilgrims pray for future - Added 6 hours ago

Every year, Haitians crowd into the basin of a sacred waterfall to relax and pray for a better future. This time, they asked for relief from soaring food prices and rampant unemployment. Thousands of pilgrims bathed...

Pope apologizes for Australian clergy sex abuse - Added 6 hours ago

Pope Benedict XVI says he is deeply sorry for the pain and suffering caused to victims of clergy sex abuse. The pope addressed a Mass Saturday attended by Australia's Roman Catholic bishops and seminarians, and said he...

Iraq crackdown focuses on arms smuggling from Iran - Added 7 hours ago

With al-Qaida falling away, U.S. forces in Iraq are turning their attention to another front: the Iranian border. They aim to crack down on weapon smuggling from Iran by tightening the frontier with Iraq's neighbor to...

Military prepares for war crimes trial at Gitmo - Added 8 hours ago

A jury of military officers is traveling to Guantanamo Bay this weekend as part of final preparations for the first U.S. war crimes trial since World War II. The panel members have been hand-picked by the Pentagon to...

Brazilian police say 8 die in raid at Shantytown - Added 9 hours ago

Brazilian police say at least eight alleged drug traffickers were killed during a raid in a Rio de Janeiro shantytown. A Rio de Janeiro state police spokeswoman says officers were met by gunfire when they arrived at...

Nelson Mandela responds to reporters' questions - Added 9 hours ago

Highlights from Nelson Mandela's interview Friday with reporters at his 90th birthday celebration: ___ Q: What is the message you would like to share with the children of the world, the children of the continent and...

South African reported to be new UN rights chief - Added 9 hours ago

The United Nations chief told rights advocates Friday that his choice to be the next U.N. human rights commissioner is a South African judge who was the first black woman to serve on her country's High Court, the...

2 French aid workers kidnapped in Afghanistan - Added 9 hours ago

Two French humanitarian workers were kidnapped at gunpoint Friday in Afghanistan and spirited out of the house they were sleeping in, the aid group Action Against Hunger and the French Foreign Ministry said. The two...

Russian minister seeks 'road map' over Abkhazia - Added 9 hours ago

Russia's foreign minister on Friday called for an internationally developed "road map" to resolve the hot tensions over separatist Abkhazia, but raised serious objections to a plan devised by major countries. Sergey...

Dutch court voids language test for some migrants - Added 10 hours ago

A Dutch court punched a hole in toughened immigration restrictions, ruling an illiterate Moroccan woman cannot be required to pass a Dutch language test to join her husband in the Netherlands. The order dismayed...

Mandela beams at grandchildren's 'Happy Birthday' - Added 10 hours ago

Nelson Mandela sat beaming in a yellow armchair, his legs propped up on a large stool and covered with a pale yellow blanket. Ten grandchildren crowded around to serenade him with "Happy Birthday" and then smothered him...

Mexico to honor Sen. Kennedy on immigrant rights - Added 10 hours ago

The Mexican government is honoring U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy for his defense of immigrant rights. Mexico announced Friday it will award Kennedy the Aguila Azteca, the highest honor the government can bestow on foreign...

Arab League to discuss charges facing Sudan's prez - Added 11 hours ago

Arab foreign ministers are expected to discuss a proposal Saturday calling on Sudan's president to hand over two Darfur war crimes suspects to an international tribunal in an effort to fend off the longtime leader's own...

Cambodia: Near shootout in dispute on Thai border - Added 11 hours ago

A Cambodian general said Friday that his troops and Thai soldiers engaged in a tense armed confrontation when Cambodian monks sought to celebrate Buddhist lent near a temple in a disputed border area. The two sides,...

Saudis praised for calling interfaith conference - Added 11 hours ago

Saudi Arabia won praise Friday for taking a leading role in an interfaith conference, with participants saying it was another sign the conservative Muslim kingdom is opening up. Rabbi David Rosen, the only Israeli who...

Spanish court agrees to review Nazi guard lawsuit - Added 12 hours ago

Spain's National Court agreed Friday to review evidence in a lawsuit filed against four alleged former Nazi concentration camp guards. A decision by the court to file charges in the case could lead to the four men's...

Rome begins Gypsy census without fingerprints - Added 12 hours ago

City officials and Italian Red Cross workers began a census of Rome's Gypsy population but said Friday that they will not participate in a national push to fingerprint all Gypsies unless they encounter someone suspected...

2 French aid workers kidnapped in Afghanistan - Added 12 hours ago

French aid group Action Against Hunger says two of its workers have been kidnapped in Afghanistan and are believed to still be alive. The Paris-based group said Friday the two were taken at gunpoint early Friday...

Senior US envoy joins Iran nuclear talks - Added 12 hours ago

A senior U.S. envoy will sit eye-to-eye for the first time Saturday with a top Iranian nuclear negotiator, a sharp reversal in U.S. policy that aims to entice Tehran into ending activities that could be used to make...

Some examples of inflation's impact on Europeans - Added 12 hours ago

Some examples of Europeans' pain from rising energy and food costs: _ French truckers, farmers and fishermen are staging protests over high fuel prices. _ One of Spain's biggest real estate developers files for...

Economies slow as inflation catches up with Europe - Added 12 hours ago

It took a few months. But the economic woes touched off by soaring oil prices and the subprime mortgage crisis in the United States are finally engulfing Europe. While each country has written its own recipe for what...

Experts offer advice on quake rebuilding - Added 12 hours ago

Two months after an earthquake ravaged much of Sichuan province, workers are diligently salvaging bricks to restore a 6th century Taoist temple damaged in the disaster. As China begins to look beyond emergency response...

Argentina's president drops export tax hike - Added 13 hours ago

President Cristina Fernandez canceled a widely protested farm export tax hike on Friday following months of protest and a stunning rejection by the Senate. Cabinet Minister Alberto Fernandez told reporters at a news...

Argentina's president drops export tax hike - Added 13 hours ago

President Cristina Fernandez canceled a widely protested farm export tax hike on Friday following months of protest and a stunning rejection by the Senate. Cabinet Minister Alberto Fernandez told reporters at a news...

Ontario joins North American environmental plan - Added 13 hours ago

The Canadian province of Ontario will join a regional carbon credit trading pact developed by U.S. governors that would give companies financial incentives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The province's premier,...

Rice to meet N. Korean foreign minister at summit - Added 13 hours ago

Top diplomats from the U.S. and North Korea will meet next week along with their counterparts from regional nuclear talks, the State Department said Friday, the highest level of contact between the countries amid recent...

Iraqi troops put on show of strength in Sadr City - Added 13 hours ago

Iraqi soldiers took up positions on rooftops and military helicopters hovered overhead Friday in a show of strength in a Baghdad district where Shiite militiamen once ruled the streets. There were no reports of...

Thai farmers look to bats as free, flying food - Added 13 hours ago

While movie fans the world over rave about the new Batman film, the only stir bats are causing in this poor farming village is in a cooking pot. They've been scarfing bats down in Baan Toom for as long as anyone can...

Sri Lanka protesters stop trains to halt evictions - Added 13 hours ago

Angry protesters halted trains and clashed with policemen in Sri Lanka's capital Friday as authorities began demolishing their homes, saying they were unauthorized constructions that encroached on government lands. ...

Iraqi opinions on Obama's planned visit - Added 14 hours ago

Some comments from around Iraq on Sen. Barack Obama's expected visit: ___ "We are worried that he might win the presidency and pull out (American) forces because chaos would prevail in Iraq and militias would return."...

Baghdad family's woes far from Obama spotlight - Added 14 hours ago

!!-- pobj:BAG101-0718080654 -->!!-- pobj:BAG102-0718080650 -->!!-- pobj:BAG103-0718080716 -->There is a Baghdad that Sen. Barack Obama probably won't see. It's places like the dirt strip that crosses under a highway...

Pope: All faiths must unite against violence - Added 15 hours ago

SYDNEY, Australia _ Pope Benedict XVI told representatives of Islam and other faiths that they must unite to combat religion's role in "sinister and indiscriminate" violence. Without mentioning terrorism directly, the...

Rebels: Turkey bombs Kurd rebel targets in Iraq - Added 15 hours ago

Kurdish rebels say Turkish warplanes have bombed abandoned guerrilla camps in northern Iraq. They say there were no casualties. The PKK rebel group says the attack happened in the Zab region at dawn on Friday. Rebel...

Hezbollah holds funeral for Lebanese guerrillas - Added 15 hours ago

The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah has held a funeral for eight guerrillas killed during its 2006 war with Israel. Their bodies were returned in a prisoners swap this week. Thousands of Hezbollah supporters attended...

12 charged in 2006 roof collapse in Poland - Added 15 hours ago

Prosecutors have charged 12 people in connection with the deadly 2006 winter roof collapse that killed 65 people at an exhibition hall in southern Poland. About 500 people were inside Katowice exhibition center hall...