Fires rage in Australia, 25 confirmed dead
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SYDNEY (Reuters) – Bushfires raged all night across Australia’s densely populated southeast and police said on Sunday at least 25 people had been killed. Read more
Obama chides Republicans, demands speed on stimulus
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama pounded Republicans Saturday for policies that fueled the U.S. economic crisis, while welcoming a Senate deal on his stimulus bill that ideologically split lawmakers hope to finish by mid-month. Read more
US seeks to rework foreign ties
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The new US administration is determined to strike a new tone in its relations around the world, Vice-President Joe Biden has told a major security forum. Read more
IMF urges action on stimulus, bank clean-up (AFP)
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KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) – The roll-out of stimulus packages and the clean-up of banks must be accelerated, the head of the International Monetary Fund said Saturday, urging action to avert “a repeat of the Great Depression”. Read more
Raging wildfires kill at least 14 in Australia (AP)
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SYDNEY – Walls of flame roared across southeastern Australia on Saturday, razing scores of homes along with forests and farmland in the sunburned country’s worst wildfire disaster in a quarter century. At least 14 people died and the toll could rise to more than 40, police said. Read more
I wouldn’t hurt a fly, says Meredith murder suspect
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A man accused of murdering British student Meredith Kercher when she refused to take part in a violent sex game told a court yesterday: “I find it hard to kill a fly.” Read more
Are Home Therapies Helping Sick Boy?
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(Feb. 6) – A 7-year-old boy whose body was ravaged by cancer has seen a turnaround in his condition after receiving alternative therapies from his grandparents, London’s Daily Mail reported. In 2006, Connah Broom was diagnosed with neuroblastoma, a cancer of the nervous system that typically attacks children 10 years old or younger. Doctors found [...]
Britain is blanketed in snow again, there’s not enough grit, the trains grind to a halt … and the Transport Secretary says: Don’t whinge!
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Suffering motorists have been told to ‘stop whingeing’ by the Transport Secretary despite now facing treacherous ice after five days of snow chaos. Read more
‘Worst moments of my life’
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WASHINGTON: Hero pilot Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger says the moments after both engines of United States Airways Flight 1549 lost power were the worst of his life. Read more
The Story Behind the 'Stans
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Answer: In Persian, the suffix “stan” means “place of.” In Russian — remembering that Kazakhstan borders Russia, and five ‘stans used to be part of the Soviet Union — the word “stan” means “settlement.” So we have seven countries in Central Asia that share the “stan” suffix: Afghanistan Kazakhstan Kyrgyzstan Pakistan Tajikistan Turkmenistan Uzbekistan The [...]
Senators ‘Reach Deal’ On Recovery
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7:34am UK, Saturday February 07, 2009 US Senators are reported to have reached a tentative deal on Barack Obama’s $780bn economic stimulus plan – although some Democrats remain undecided. The Capitol [...]
Dixon: ‘I couldn’t get over Harvey’
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Alesha Dixon has admitted that it took two years for her to recover from the pain of her marriage split. Read more
China suffering worst drought in 50 years
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China is suffering another natural disaster — this time, the worst drought in half a century. The land is parched and the irrigation dams have dried up. Crops and livestock are dying. Since November northern and central China has had little rain. Many places have not had rainfall for more than 100 days. “The extent [...]
‘NET-CENSOR FOE
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Reuters Last updated: 2:21 amFebruary 4, 2009 Posted: 1:45 amFebruary 4, 2009 STRASBOURG, France – A European Union law to reinforce Internet freedom would be unnecessary, a top EU regulator said yesterday. Congress has drafted a Global Online Freedom Act. Some European [...]
Newsom’s ambitious campaign agenda released
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San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom is in full campaign mode this month, announcing a series of town hall meetings up and down the state for his 2010 Democratic gubernatorial exploratory committee. Read more
Nuclear Scientist A.Q. Khan Is Freed From House Arrest
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Early yesterday, the Pakistani scientist at the center of one of history’s worst nuclear scandals walked out of his Islamabad villa to declare his vindication after five years of house arrest. “The judgment, by the grace of God, is good,” a smiling Abdul Qadeer Khan told a throng of reporters and TV crews. Read more
S.E. Asia Faces Long-Term Trade Shift
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BANGKOK — Stimulus packages being put in place by many export-dependent nations in Southeast Asia may not do enough to protect those economies from the consequences of the fundamental shift in trading patterns that underlies the current financial crisis, analysts warn. Read more
Rwandan Troops Enter Congo to Find Hutu Militia Leaders
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NAIROBI, Jan. 20 — More than 1,500 Rwandan troops crossed into eastern Congo on Tuesday morning, launching a major operation with the Congolese army to hunt down Rwandan Hutu militia leaders who fled into the region after participating in the 1994 Rwandan genocide, according to U.N. and Rwandan officials. Read more
Hill Tapped as Ambassador to Iraq
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Assistant Secretary of State Christopher R. Hill, a career diplomat who since 2005 was chief negotiator in the often difficult effort to try to persuade North Korea to end its nuclear programs, will be nominated as ambassador to Iraq, administration officials said. Read more
A Protected Forest’s Fast Decline
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BOM FUTURO NATIONAL FOREST, Brazil — Antonio Elson Portela had already passed acres of charred stumps and rows of corn and coffee plants when he drove up behind a flatbed truck hauling logs out of this Amazonian forest. Read more