Gianfranco Fini launches Generation Italy in move against weakened Berlusconi
After months of shadow boxing the man seen as the most likely successor to Silvio Berlusconi moved yesterday towards an outright challenge to the Italian Prime Minister.
Nicolas Sarkozy s prospects for a second term diminish after poll rout
President Sarkozy s prospects of a second term looked shakier yesterday after voters showed their distaste for his leadership by routing his party in the first round of elections for regional councils.
Israel rejects U.S. calls to halt East Jerusalem plan
Prime Minister Netanyahu says construction will go ahead, despite a diplomatic flap.
A day after trying to ease tensions, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday rejected U.S. demands to end the construction of new housing units in disputed East Jerusalem, leaving the two allies in the middle of an increasingly uncomfortable diplomatic feud.
Late-Season Snowfall Strikes East Coast
New Yorkers were treated to a last gasp of winter Wednesday as big snowflakes fell on the metro area.
US withdraws Mexico consular families in wake of staff killings by drug cartels
Mexico s drug wars crossed the border yesterday as American officials removed their families from a string of northern consulates and the FBI joined the hunt for the killers of the first US Government employees to die in a battle between crime cartels.
UN report criticises covert troops who committed Afghan killings
Covert troops who killed two pregnant women and a teenage girl in eastern Afghanistan went on to inflict cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment on the survivors of a botched night raid, a report by the UN said.
Supreme Leader tries to ban Charshanbeh Suri in attempt to quell protests
Iran s Supreme Leader is seeking to ban the Iranian equivalent of Bonfire Night in case the opposition turns it into another protest against his regime.
Karachi ‘water mafia’ leaves Pakistanis parched and broke
Corrupt politicians allow businessmen to siphon off as much as 41% of the city’s water supply and turn around and sell it at exorbitant rates to residents, generating an estimated $43 million a year.
Name a cash cow in this sprawling city of ragged slums and glass-walled office buildings and it’s almost certain there’s an organized crime syndicate behind it.
Thai protesters spill blood for cause
Anti-government protesters poured litres of their own blood across the entrances to Government House in Bangkok today in a lurid campaign to secure new elections.
French Unions: Repeal Labor Law in 10 Days, or Else
France’s biggest trade unions set a 10-day deadline Wednesday for the government to revoke a divisive jobs law, threatening more protests and strikes that have spiraled into a national crisis.
Duke Lacrosse Coach Resigns Amid Rape Flap
University cancels remainder of season after allegations that three players raped an exotic dancer at a party.
Saddam Dodges Questions From Prosecutors
Former Iraqi dictator is cross-examined for the first time in the trial for the killings of Shiites in 1982.
2 Americans and a third victim are killed in Mexico shootings
Two cars leaving a party come under fire in Ciudad Juarez. A baby in the back seat of one car survives unscathed, but her parents are dead.
Three people connected to the U.S. Consulate in Mexico’s deadliest city, Ciudad Juarez, were shot to death by men who intercepted their cars as they returned from a child’s birthday party, officials said Sunday. Two of the dead, an American couple, were discovered slain in their vehicle, their uninjured baby crying in the back seat. President Obama on Sunday expressed outrage at the drive-by slayings. The three victims were killed in broad daylight Saturday near the city’s border with El Paso.
Combat dogs take to the skies for secret missions in Afghanistan
Two members of the Austrian special forces join Nato s Operation Cold Response, one of Europe s biggest military exercises, in Narvik, Norway.
Anger in Ramat Shlomo as settlement row grows
As she leads a group of children down the street outside her home in the Ramat Shlomo settlement in East Jerusalem, Leah Goldstein vents her fury at the United States, Israel and the Palestinians.
Sri Lanka opposition leader Sarath Fonseka to face court martial today
General Sarath Fonseka, Sri Lanka s former army chief, faces a court martial today that could lead to his being jailed for up to five years on charges that his supporters say are designed to thwart his political ambitions.
100 Homes Threatened by Weakened Dam in Northern California
About 100 homes were being evacuated Wednesday morning as a small earthen dam in Calaveras County in northern California weakened by an overnight thunderstorm threatened to break.
Drugs violence in Mexico will focus US attention closer to home
President Obama does not have to look as far as Afghanistan to find a drugs war, a failing state and violence that threatens the US s stability. He can look south to Mexico, to a conflict that is bound to displace far-flung troublespots in US preoccupations.
Three Arrested, Man Shot in ‘Baby Shower Gone Bad’
A baby shower erupted into a fight among guests in which one man was shot and several other people, including the seven-months-pregnant guest of honor, were beaten with a stick, police say.
