Category: blog

The explosions in Syria’s capital claimed the lives of civilians and soldiers, according to Syrian state television.

Russian President Dmitri A. Medvedev used his final state-of-the-nation address to outline extensive political reforms that, if implemented, would begin to deconstruct the heavily centralized government built by his mentor, Vladimir V. Putin.

U.S. stock-index futures rose, indicating the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (SPX) will advance for a third day, as investors awaited reports on consumer confidence and initial jobless claims for signals of economic recovery.

A wave of bomb attacks strikes in the Iraqi capital, killing at least 63 people and injuring at least 185. The bombings are the worst in months – and follow the withdrawal of US troops.

Seif al-Islam el-Qaddafi, the son and presumed heir of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, is alive and well and being held by a rebel militia outside the Libyan capital.

Hackers in China broke into the the U.S. Chamber of Commerce computer system and had access to everything stored there. The attack was cut off in May 2010.

North Korea will shift to collective rule from a strongman dictatorship after last week’s death of Kim Jong-il, although his untested young son will be at the head of the ruling coterie.

Fierce winds and snow that caused fatal accidents, shuttered highways in five states and may have caused a deadly plane crash, crawled deeper into the Great Plains early Tuesday, with forecasters warning that pre-holiday travel would be difficult if not i

Syria will execute anyone who participates in terrorist acts or distributes weapons, state television announced Tuesday, in the latest escalation against an uprising which the United Nations estimates has claimed about 5,000 lives since March.

Kim Jong-il’s son and heir and senior officials pay their respects as the late North Korean leader lies in state ahead of his funeral next week.

Stock index futures pointed to a higher open on Wall Street on Monday, with futures for the S&P 500 up 0.43 percent, Dow Jones futures up 0.26 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures up 0.38 percent.

At least one person has died in fresh clashes between protesters and troops in the Egyptian capital Cairo, bringing the death toll since Friday to 11.

Seoul put South Korean forces on high alert and Pyongyang urged an increase in its “military capability” as the death of North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Il spurred fresh security concerns in the tense region.

Engineers have brought the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant to a “cold shutdown condition”, nine months after the earthquake and tsunami, Japan has confirmed.

Hollywood actor Christian Bale was blocked by security guards from visiting Chen Guangcheng, a Chinese human rights activist living under house arrest.

Retreating from their harsh partisan sniping, and perhaps fearing public rebuke, Congressional leaders have agreed on a large-scale spending measure to keep the government running for the next nine months.

In one of the worst-ever hooch tragedies in West Bengal, 111 people, mostly labourers, rickshaw-pullers and hawkers, died and over 50 were still battling for life in three hospitals after consuming spurious liquor at Mograhat in South 24 Parganas district

After nearly nine years, 4,500 American dead, 32,000 wounded and more than $800 billion, U.S. officials formally shut down the war in Iraq.

A French court has given former President Jacques Chirac a two-year suspended prison sentence for diverting public funds and abusing public trust.

UK unemployment rose by 128,000 in the three months to October to 2.64 million, the highest level since 1994, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

Prospects for a year-end congressional compromise on key tax and spending legislation grew more complicated, as the Republican House passed a controversial version of a payroll tax cut extension despite a veto threat from the White House.

Police in Belgium have found a woman’s body in a shed belonging to the gunman who went on a rampage in the center of Liege on Tuesday.

Syria’s ambassador to the United Nations rejected the world body’s estimate that 5,000 people have died in an uprising against the government, calling the allegation “incredible.”

Two U.S. Army helicopters crashed during training exercises at a Washington state military base, killing four aviators on board, the base said in a statement.

Iran’s defense minister, Ahmad Vahidi, shrugged off a U.S. request for the return of an American spy drone captured by Iranian armed forces and instead demands an apology from Washington.

Fifteen al-Qaeda militants have broken out of a prison in the southern Yemeni city of Aden, officials have said. The militants escaped through a six metre tunnel dug from the yard at the city’s central prison.

Panama’s ex-leader Manuel Noriega has been extradited back to his home country from France and taken straight to prison.

A shaky Monday opening in Asia and Europe as skeptical investors assessed a new European fiscal pact aimed at fixing the continent’s debt crisis and preventing a breakup of the euro currency bloc.

Republicans and Democrats determined to look tough on Iran and avoid any election-year challenges to their pro-Israel bona fides are rebuffing Obama administration pleas to ease proposed penalties on Iran’s central bank.

Most EU members have agreed to a tax and budget pact to tackle the eurozone debt crisis, but a German and French attempt to get all 27 EU states to back changes to the union’s treaties was dropped after objections from the UK.

The death toll at the Amri Hospital has risen to 73. 70 patients and three hospital staffers were among those killed at the multistoreyed private hospital which turned into a towering inferno in the early hours of the morning.

Chinese police have busted two child-trafficking rings after a six-month nationwide investigation, rescuing 178 children and arresting 608 suspects, the country’s Ministry of Public Security announced.

The Somali capital, Mogadishu, has been hit by some of the fiercest fighting in the city in months, in what is seen as a major setback for the government.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin accuses the United States of stirring up protests against his 12-year rule and says foreign countries are spending hundreds of millions of dollars to influence Russian elections.

The Muslim Brotherhood says it has won 34 seats in Egypt’s most recent elections, out of 56 seats that were up for grabs.

The Australian was convicted of blasphemy while doing the hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia, and is facing 500 lashes and one year in prison.

President Asif Ali Zardari is undergoing treatment for a minor heart attack in a Dubai hospital, according to a hospital source.

European stocks dropped following Standard & Poor ‘s threat to downgrade 15 Euro zone countries.

In another step toward finding Earth-like planets that may hold life, NASA said that the Kepler space telescope has confirmed its first-ever planet in a habitable zone outside our solar system.

At least 58 people are dead after explosions hit the Afghan cities of Kabul and Mazar-e Sharif on the Shiite holy day of Ashura, officials say.