VIENNA (AFP) -
At least
eight people were killed and transport was severely
disrupted in Europe after violent storms swept across the
continent Saturday, emergency services said.
BULAWAYO (AFP) -
Two
political heavyweights endorsed former minister Simba
Makoni's bid for the Zimbabwean presidency Saturday --
including a serving official with the party of rival
candidate President Robert Mugabe.
GAZA CITY (AFP) -
Israeli
forces continued attacks Sunday after killing 61
Palestinians in a land and air blitz in the Hamas-held Gaza
Strip on Saturday, amid warnings that the violence had
"buried" the peace process.
ISLAMABAD : A top Pakistani Taliban commander has been formally charged with plotting the murder of former premier Benazir Bhutto and declared an absconder Saturday, police said.
MOSCOW (AFP) -
Russians
will vote Sunday in a presidential election seen by critics
as rigged to ensure victory for Vladimir Putin's Kremlin
successor Dmitry Medvedev, while enabling Putin to retain
major power.
MANILA - The leader of the communist insurgency in the Philippines on Saturday called for 100,000 Filipinos to gather in a street protest in Manila to unseat President Gloria Arroyo.
SYDNEY (AFP) -
Australia
said Saturday it hoped to close a loophole in International
Whaling Commission (IWC) rules that allows Japan to conduct
whaling as long as it is carried out for scientific research.
SAN ANTONIO (AFP) -
Hillary
Clinton and Barack Obama fought Friday over who would keep
America's children safe, waging a furious national security
row, as a moment of truth loomed in their White House battle.
MILAN (AFP) -
Emma
Marcegaglia's election as the head of the national
employers' association Confindustria is a major first in
Italy's male-dominated business world.
NAIROBI (AFP) -
Kenya's
rival camps sat down Friday to hammer out the details of a
power-sharing deal signed by President Mwai Kibaki and
opposition leader Raila Odinga to end a bloody two-month
political crisis.
LONDON (AFP) -
The dollar
slumped to a fresh record low point against the euro on
Friday and a near three-year trough versus the yen on
increasing worries about the weakness of the US economy,
traders said.
ARBIL (AFP) -
Turkish
forces have ended their week-old offensive against Kurdish
rebels in northern Iraq and begun pulling out of the region,
Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said Friday.
BEIJING: Beijing's colossal new airport terminal opened on Friday in time to cope with a deluge of visitors for this summer's Olympics, a landmark event for the Chinese capital in its frantic modernisation drive.
WELLINGTON : A Chinese-born fugitive who is accused of murdering his wife in New Zealand and abandoning his three-year-old daughter in Australia has been captured in the United States, officials said Friday.
NAIROBI (AFP) -
Kenya's
rival camps were Friday to resume crisis talks a day after
President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga
signed a power-sharing deal to end a bloody two-month
political crisis.
KUALA LUMPUR : The 12th Malaysia general election is seeing more young professionals being fielded as candidates.
PENANG: The wife of former Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister, Anwar Ibrahim, has revealed her future political plans, for the first time.
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan: Twenty-nine Taliban rebels allied with opium farmers in southern Afghanistan were killed when they tried to attack government poppy eradication missions, police said on Thursday.
BEIJING: Relatives of those killed in the crushing of the 1989 Tiananmen democracy movement urged China's parliament on Thursday to open an investigation into the crackdown as the Beijing Olympics approach.
PESHAWAR (AFP) -
A
suspected US missile strike destroyed an Al-Qaeda and
Taliban hideout in a Pakistani region, killing 13 alleged
militants including several Arabs, security officials said Thursday.
GAZA CITY (AFP) -
Israel
pounded militants in Hamas-run Gaza Strip on Thursday,
killing five, as Prime Minister Ehud Olmert vowed to make
the Islamists pay a heavy price for rocket attacks amid
spiralling violence.
ANKARA (AFP) -
Turkish
forces stepped up their offensive against Kurdish rebels in
northern Iraq, as the United States warned Wednesday that
the incursion should not last more than "a week or two."
LONDON (AFP) -
The dollar
plunged Wednesday to another record euro low thanks to a
stream of negative US data, while the tumbling greenback
helped crude oil and gold prices hit historic highs,
analysts said.
CLEVELAND (AFP) -
Democrat
Hillary Clinton threw some sharp jabs at White House rival
Barack Obama in their final debate before crucial primaries,
but Obama parried the blows to score some hits of his own.
BANGKOK: Thais are anticipating a media circus ahead of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra's expected return to Bangkok on Thursday.
NAIROBI (AFP) -
Kofi Annan
suspended Tuesday talks with representatives of Kenya's
government and the opposition, citing a lack of progress in
seeking an end to a political crisis over a disputed election.
LONGYEARBYEN (AFP) -
A vault
carved into the Arctic permafrost and filled with samples of
the world's most important seeds was inaugurated Tuesday,
providing a Noah's Ark of food crops in the event of a
global catastrophe.
PYONGYANG: The powerful melodies of Dvorak and Gershwin filled a Pyongyang concert hall on Tuesday as the New York Philharmonic played an historic concert aimed at improving US ties with communist North Korea.
ANURADHAPURA, Sri Lanka: Buddhism's holiest tree in Sri Lanka's ancient capital, tightly guarded by monks and security forces after Tamil rebels attacked it 23 years ago, is under threat again -- this time from monkeys.
PYONGYANG: The New York Philharmonic readied Tuesday for a musical charm offensive in North Korea a night after the communist hosts launched a pre-emptive cultural strike with a welcome concert of their own.
HANOI: A 23-year-old woman from northern Vietnam has died of bird flu, the health ministry said Tuesday, the country's fourth such death since the start of the year.
BELGRADE (AFP) -
Russia's
likely next president, Dmitry Medvedev, vowed Monday to
stick by Belgrade in its fight against Kosovo's
Western-backed declaration of independence from Serbia one
week ago.
BEIT HANUN (AFP) -
Palestinians were forming a human chain the length of the
Gaza Strip on Monday in protest at a crushing Israeli
blockade, with Israeli forces on alert for any rush on the border.
HOLLYWOOD (AFP) -
Violent
thriller "No Country for Old Men" won the best
picture Oscar at the 80th Academy Awards late Sunday as
European stars scored a clean sweep in the acting honors in
an historic Hollywood night.
ISLAMABAD : A suicide blast killed the Pakistani military's top medical officer and three others on Monday, as key US "war on terror" ally President Pervez Musharraf rejected fresh pressure to step down.
MANILA : Thousands of anti-government protesters took to the streets Monday to demand the resignation of Philippine President Gloria Arroyo, on the 22nd anniversary of the downfall of former president Ferdinand Marcos.
JAKARTA - A 7.2-magnitude quake struck off the west coast of Indonesia's Sumatra island Monday, briefly triggering a tsunami alert, seismologists said, but there were no reports of damage.
HAVANA (AFP) -
Cuba's
parliament Sunday elected Raul Castro the new president
after nearly 50 years of rule by his brother Fidel, in a
historic milestone which seems set to keep the Caribbean
island on the communist path.
KUALA LUMPUR : What many thought would be a straight fight between opposition icon and former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim's daughter Nurul Izzah and women's minister Sharizah Abdul Jalil has unexpectedly turned into one of the most exciting three-cornered fights to watch in Malaysia's upcoming general election.
ISLAMABAD : The party of Pakistan's slain former premier Benazir Bhutto said Sunday it may woo President Pervez Musharraf's allies to join a coalition government that could drive the former general from power.
As Malaysians prepare to choose their next government, the minority Indian community has emerged as the group to watch.
HAVANA (AFP) -
Cuba will
choose Fidel Castro's successor Sunday ending his near half
century in power, as his brother Raul appears likely to take
over and steer the country down a new but still communist path.