News For Thursday Jul 24, 2008 News For Thursday Jul 24, 2008

World World

Ex-Argentine army chief to serve life in prison - Added 6 weeks ago

A court sentenced one of Argentina's most feared former military leaders to life in prison on Thursday for the 1977 kidnapping, torture and killing of four leftist activists. Luciano Benjamin Menendez, 81, was...

Gunmen kill prison director in Mexico - Added 6 weeks ago

A Mexican police official says gunmen have killed a state prison director in the border city of Ciudad Juarez. City police spokesman Jaime Torres says prison chief Salvador Barreno was shot Thursday as he drove in...

Detainee on trial said boss left Guantanamo - Added 6 weeks ago

A Moroccan prisoner released from Guantanamo in 2004 was Osama bin Laden's top bodyguard, according to testimony Thursday in the war crimes trial of another alleged bodyguard. Defendant Salim Hamdan said the Moroccan,...

Panel urges anti-terrorism agency - Added 6 weeks ago

A Swiss-led, five-nation panel proposed Thursday that the United Nations assert itself as leader of a global fight against terrorism and establish a new agency or program to coordinate that effort. U.N. ambassadors...

US military deaths in Iraq war at 4,124 - Added 6 weeks ago

As of Thursday, July 24, 2008, at least 4,124 members of the U.S. military have died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. The figure includes eight military civilians...

Hijacker returned to Croatia after US jail term - Added 6 weeks ago

A man who served 32 years in a U.S. prison for hijacking a plane and planting a bomb that killed a policeman returned home to Croatia on Thursday after being paroled. Zvonko Busic, 62, was welcomed at the airport by...

Attacks kill 9 in Kashmir, including mom, 4 kids - Added 6 weeks ago

A suspected Islamic militant threw a hand grenade at a group of migrant laborers in Indian Kashmir, killing a woman and her four children Thursday in one of two attacks that claimed a total of nine lives in the disputed...

Boy kills 9-year-old at Suriname school - Added 6 weeks ago

Police say a boy stabbed and killed a 9-year-old girl in front of her classmates and teacher at an elementary school in Suriname. A statement from Waldeck Police Station says the 12-year-old boy then tried to stab...

Serbia IDs man behind Karadzic's false identity - Added 6 weeks ago

The real Dragan Dabic has emerged _ and the 66-year-old construction worker was shocked Thursday to discover his identity had apparently been stolen by one of the world's most notorious war crimes suspects. Radovan...

Ex-US official: Afghan president hurting drug war - Added 6 weeks ago

The Bush administration underscored its continued support for Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Thursday despite fresh allegations from a former U.S. anti-drug official that Karzai is playing both sides of the effort to...

Concerns in Europe despite Obama's warm welcome - Added 6 weeks ago

The warm welcome that washed over Barack Obama during his Berlin appearance Thursday made it abundantly clear that Europeans have a strong desire to heal the trans-Atlantic rift and the Democratic president candidate is...

Iran ends cooperation with UN nuclear arms probe - Added 6 weeks ago

Iran signaled Thursday that it will no longer cooperate with U.N. experts probing for signs of clandestine nuclear weapons work, confirming the investigation is at a dead end a year after it began. The announcement...

Correction: Sudan-Darfur story - Added 6 weeks ago

In a July 23 story about Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir's trip to Darfur, The Associated Press erroneously reported that it was his first visit to the western Sudanese region in more than three years. Al-Bashir has...

Obama urges Europeans, Americans to defeat terror - Added 6 weeks ago

Cheered by an enormous international crowd, Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama on Thursday summoned Europeans and Americans together to "defeat terror and dry up the well of extremism that supports it" as...

France to slash military manpower by 15 percent - Added 6 weeks ago

France's military will slash its ranks by 54,000 personnel and close dozens of air, army and other bases in an overhaul meant to slim forces at home while making it easier and faster to deploy troops abroad, the prime...

Suicide bomber kills 8 US-allied Sunnis in Iraq - Added 6 weeks ago

A female suicide bomber blew herself up near U.S.-allied Sunni Arab fighters walking in a crowded area of Baqouba, killing at least eight of the guards and wounding 24 other people Thursday evening, police said. The...

Publisher: Egypt bans book critical of Mubarak - Added 6 weeks ago

The publisher of a book critical of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's regime says the book has been banned in Egypt. Publisher Palgrave Macmillan says in a statement that government censors banned the book "Inside...

Model irks officials for nude pose on Peru's flag - Added 6 weeks ago

A Peruvian model and showgirl is facing a criminal investigation for posing naked sitting atop the country's red-and-white flag. Lacey Zamudio appears in a magazine photo completely nude _ save for a cowboy hat _ atop...

FBI agents testify at Guantanamo war crimes trial - Added 6 weeks ago

A captured driver for Osama bin Laden did not fully cooperate with efforts to find the terrorist leader, FBI agents said Thursday, countering defense claims that he provided valuable assistance. Salim Hamdan initially...

Mother watches husband, kids die on Italy climb - Added 6 weeks ago

A Dutch woman watched her husband and three children fall to their deaths Thursday while climbing near Mont Blanc, Europe's highest peak, Italian rescuers said. The 56-year-old man, who was roped to his son and two...

Scientists recover complete dinosaur skeleton - Added 6 weeks ago

Japanese and Mongolian scientists have successfully recovered the complete skeleton of a 70-million-year-old young dinosaur, a nature museum announced Thursday. The scientists uncovered a Tarbosaurus _ related to the...

Ukraine president blames former ally for poisoning - Added 6 weeks ago

President Viktor Yushchenko on Thursday accused the godfather of one of his children and member of his own political party of involvement in his near-fatal poisoning, a stunning twist to one of post-Soviet Ukraine's...

China clamps down on business visas - Added 6 weeks ago

Business travel appears to be the latest victim of China's ever-tightening security crackdown before the Beijing Olympics. Government officials confirmed Thursday that visas for business people will be tougher to get...

Female suicide bomber kills 8 in Iraq - Added 6 weeks ago

Iraqi police say at least eight people have been killed in a suicide bombing at a checkpoint manned by U.S.-allied Sunni guards northeast of Baghdad. A police officer says the woman bomber blew herself up about 8:30...

NATO leader urges Pakistan border cooperation - Added 6 weeks ago

NATO's secretary general said Thursday that Pakistan must be involved in international attempts to end cross-border attacks into Afghanistan, calling for a regional approach to combatting Taliban violence. With the...

China marshals Olympic spirit to rebuild - Added 6 weeks ago

The streets here are alive with the sounds _ rumbling backhoes, roaring jackhammers, clanging pickaxes _ of a town being brought back from the dead. The 7.9-magnitude earthquake that tore apart Sichuan province in May...

Libya halts oil shipments to Switzerland - Added 6 weeks ago

Libya has halted all of its oil deliveries to Switzerland and barred Swiss ships from its ports to protest the arrest of Moammar Gadhafi's son in Geneva, a state-run shipping company said Thursday. Libya's General...

Executions rising in Iran, Saudi Arabia - Added 6 weeks ago

Executions jumped by a third in Iran and quadrupled in Saudi Arabia last year, causing the total number of executions around the world to rise yet again in 2007, a human rights group reported Thursday. It said China...

Sri Lanka says it seizes rebel territory - Added 6 weeks ago

Sri Lankan forces battled rebel gunmen deep inside the nation's northern jungles Thursday, killing 25 guerrilla fighters and seizing new territory, the military said. Other battles killed 25 rebels and four soldiers,...

Russia denies reported Cuba base plans - Added 6 weeks ago

The Russian Defense Ministry has denied a newspaper report that Russia was considering basing nuclear-capable bombers in Cuba, Russian news agencies reported Thursday. The newspaper Izvestia this week cited an...

Israel to build new settlement in West Bank - Added 6 weeks ago

A key committee has approved construction of the first new Jewish settlement in the West Bank in a decade, an Israeli official said Thursday. The news infuriated Palestinians, who said the decision could cripple peace...

Israelis, Palestinians: Mixed feelings about Obama - Added 6 weeks ago

Both Israelis and Palestinians came away from Barack Obama's visit to the Holy Land with the feeling he would do more for Mideast peace than President Bush has. But neither side seemed fully convinced that Obama would...

Cyclone-battered fisheries worsen Myanmar's pain - Added 6 weeks ago

No matter how much she loved the river and sea that once provided her family's daily food, Tin Tin Latt now just wants to stay away from the water that widowed her, killed two of her children and destroyed the family's...

Sudan's president vows to work for Darfur peace - Added 6 weeks ago

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, charged with genocide and war crimes in Darfur, vowed Thursday to work for peace in the war-wracked desert region and the return of hundreds of thousands of people forced by attacks to...

Egypt shuts down office of Iranian TV station - Added 6 weeks ago

Egyptian authorities have shut down the Cairo office of an Iranian TV network, a security official said Thursday, as the two nations spar over a film that justifies the killing of former Egyptian President Anwar Sadat...

Famed British wartime code center under threat - Added 6 weeks ago

Cramped into makeshift wooden huts on the grounds of a swank Victorian mansion, Britain's sharpest mathematical minds waged a secret war against Nazi Germany _ cracking Adolf Hitler's supposedly unbreakable codes. ...

Air Canada to partner with Continental Airlines - Added 6 weeks ago

Air Canada plans to partner with Continental Airlines, the fourth-largest U.S. carrier, to provide enhanced service to the American market. Canada's largest airline announced Thursday that the agreement in principle,...

Max Mosley wins British privacy lawsuit - Added 6 weeks ago

After the sting of scandal, Max Mosley can feel the balm of victory. A British judge ruled Thursday that a tabloid newspaper breached the motorsport chief's privacy with a story claiming that a sadomasochistic orgy he...

Palestinians allege settlers attacked village - Added 6 weeks ago

More than 20 Jewish settlers attacked a Palestinian village in the West Bank on Thursday, smashing cars and windows and cutting electricity wires, Palestinian police said. Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld,...

Report: Taliban using sophisticated media network - Added 6 weeks ago

The Taliban have created a sophisticated media network to undermine support for the Afghan government, sending threats by text message and spreading the militia's views through songs available as ring tones, according...

Visa program expanded for Iraqis who worked for US - Added 6 weeks ago

The U.S. Embassy on Thursday launched an expanded immigration program that provides 5,000 more visas each year for Iraqis who have put themselves at risk by working for the U.S. government. The new guidelines represent...

Helicopter rescues 2 Italian climbers in Pakistan - Added 6 weeks ago

A high-altitude rescue helicopter safely plucked two stranded Italian climbers from one of the world's highest mountains on Thursday, officials said. Mountaineers Walter Nones and Simon Kehrer were in good condition...

Thailand, Cambodia to meet over disputed land - Added 6 weeks ago

Cambodia has agreed to meet Monday with Thailand to discuss a stretch of disputed land near a historic temple, rather than take the matter to the U.N. officials from both countries said Thursday. Thai Prime Minister...

Call for IAEA to verify N. Korea nuclear programs - Added 6 weeks ago

The U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency should play a leading role in verifying North Korea's declaration of its nuclear programs, according to a draft of a statement to be issued Thursday by Asia-Pacific nations....

27 hurt in explosion aboard Philippine bus - Added 6 weeks ago

A homemade bomb ripped through a commuter bus in the southern Philippines on Thursday, wounding 27 people, police said. The military initially reported three people were killed, but police and army officials later...

Australian leader wants Aborigines recognized - Added 6 weeks ago

Australia's prime minister, who has won applause for apologizing to Aborigines for past wrongs, has revived plans for a constitutional revision to recognize the country's indigenous people. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd...

Aftershocks kill 1, injure 10 in China - Added 6 weeks ago

Three aftershocks jolted parts of China on Thursday, the official Xinhua News Agency said, killing one person and injuring more than 10. A 6 magnitude earthquake hit parts of Shaanxi and Sichuan province on Thursday...

Judge: Girl's name, Talula Does The Hula, won't do - Added 6 weeks ago

A family court judge in New Zealand has had enough with parents giving their children bizarre names here, and did something about it. Just ask Talula Does The Hula From Hawaii. He had her renamed. Judge Rob Murfitt...

Mexico grounds 2 airlines on back bills - Added 6 weeks ago

Mexico's transportation secretary says it has grounded two airlines for lacking proof they paid for fly rights in the country's air space. The Communications and Transportation Department announced Wednesday the...

Kosovo editor fined for naming witness - Added 6 weeks ago

The Yugoslav war crimes tribunal convicted and fined an award-winning journalist euro7,000 (US$11,000) Thursday for publishing the name of a witness who testified anonymously in the trial of Kosovo's former prime...