Brit Slay Case Killer Gets 2 Life Terms
A British man convicted of murdering his wife and infant daughter will be sentenced to life in prison. Neil Entwistle was found guilty of two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of his wife and their baby.
N. Korea Destroys Nuke Cooling Tower
North Korea has destroyed the most visible symbol of its nuclear weapons program, blasting apart the cooling tower at an atomic reactor in a sign of its commitment to stop making plutonium for atomic bombs.
RIGHTS-KENYA: Doubly Displaced
NAIROBI, Jun 28 (IPS) – The Kenyan government says Operation Rudi Nyumbani — Return Home in Kiswahili — is almost complete; most of the camps for internally displaced people are closed and the remaining IDPs will be resettled within a week or two. But the hastily implemented programme is being called into question by Kenya's civil society and human rights activists.
Robert Mugabe sails through summit unchallenged
A defiant Robert Mugabe has sailed unchallenged through the first test of his presidency by his peers.
30,000 Troops Headed For Iraq In 2009
Pentagon officials are preparing to order roughly 30,000 troops to Iraq in order to maintain 15 combat brigades through 2009.
Zimbabwe: ‘They put burning sticks in my mother’s mouth. They beat my father on the back and on the feet and with animal hide’
Read Ben Freeth’s account of the pre-election violence in Zimbabwe
Iraq opens oilfields to international deals
Iraq opened its main oilfields to exploitation by international companies yesterday in a first step towards reintegrating its massive reserves into a market hitting staggering prices.
Gas Prices: You Think You Got It Bad?
Even Saudi Arabia’s promise to pump more oil onto the market hasn’t dropped the price of a barrel of crude, which hovered Wednesday morning at around $137 a barrel – very close to the record high hit earlier this month.
U.S. Mulls New Diplomatic Presence In Iran
The Bush administration is considering setting up a diplomatic outpost in Iran in what would mark a dramatic official U.S. return to the country nearly 30 years after the American embassy was overrun and the two nations severed relations.
UN Shuns Mugabe’s “Campaign Of Violence”
Outraged at the turmoil in Zimbabwe, the U.N. Security Council declared that a fair presidential vote is impossible because of the “campaign of violence” waged by President Robert Mugabe’s government.
MIGRATION-GERMANY: Some Uneasy Over New Citizenship Test
BERLIN, Jun 30 (IPS) – What are the colours of the German flag and how are they displayed? Who composed the Ninth Symphony and the “Ode to Joy”? What is the population of this country?
Pakistan Launches Strike Against Taliban
Pakistani forces bombarded suspected militant hideouts with mortar shells Saturday as the government launched a major offensive against Taliban fighters threatening the main city in the country’s volatile northwest, officials said.
Traditional Chinese medicine could be a remedy for failure at Olympics
Wang Cheng has the perfect remedy for athletes struggling to recover from injury during the Beijing Olympics. “Deer’s penis,” she said, proferring a desiccated sample across the counter of the Tongrentang traditional Chinese medicine store in central Beijing.
$3 A Gallon In China? The Government Pays
China has so far been immune to the punishing price of gas. China isn’t defying the laws of economics; the government is subsidizing gas prices keeping them artificially low, Barry Petersen reports.
Nuke Agency To End Hushed-Up Syria Mission
U.N. nuclear investigators will wrap up a four-day visit to Syria, but thus far, there has been no indication that they’ve even managed to scratch the surface of the mystery surrounding a remote Syrian building bombed by Israel in September.
CARIBBEAN: Regional Unity Losing Steam, Critics Say
ST JOHN’S, Antigua, Jun 30 (IPS) – Caribbean Community (Caricom) leaders are gearing up for their annual summit in Antigua early next month amid worrying signs that after 35 years, the regional integration movement has not progressed beyond a “community of sovereign states”.
