From Yahoo News Top Stories |
1 Obama asserts gov't control over the auto industry
By DAVID ESPO, AP Special Correspondent
4 mins ago
WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama asserted unprecedented government control over the auto industry Monday, bluntly rejecting turnaround plans by General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC, demanding fresh concessions for long-term federal aid and raising the possibility of quick bankruptcy for either ailing auto giant.
Obama took the extraordinary step of announcing the government will back new car warranties issued by both GM and Chrysler, an attempt to reassure consumers their U.S.-made purchases will be protected even if the companies don't survive.
"I am absolutely committed to working with Congress and the auto companies to meet one goal: The United States of America will lead the world in building the next generation of clean cars," Obama said in his first extended remarks on the industry since taking office nearly 10 weeks ago. And yet, he added, "our auto industry is not moving in the right direction fast enough to succeed." |
2 GM CEO Wagoner forced out as part of gov't plan
By TOM KRISHER and DAN STRUMPF, AP Auto Writers
1 hr 20 mins ago
DETROIT – Time and time again, General Motors Corp.'s board of directors reaffirmed its support for Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner, even as the company piled up billions of dollars in losses and begged for government loans to stay alive.
But Wagoner is now a high-profile casualty of government intervention, forced out as part of the Obama administration's sweeping last-ditch effort to save the century-old auto giant.
Wagoner, 56, who spent 32 years with GM working all over the world, stepped down effective immediately, the company said in a statement early Monday. He was replaced as CEO by Fritz Henderson, the company's vice chairman and chief operating officer. |
3 12 die in bloody siege at Pakistan police academy
By BABAR DOGAR and NAHAL TOOSI, Associated Press Writers
28 mins ago
LAHORE, Pakistan – Black-clad Pakistani commandos overpowered a group of militants who had seized a police academy, took cadets hostage and killed at least six of them Monday in a dramatic challenge to the civilian government that faces U.S. pressure to defeat Islamic extremists.
The security forces stormed the compound on the outskirts of Lahore to end the eight-hour siege by the grenade-throwing gunmen, with three militants blowing themselves up and authorities arresting four, officials said. At least three other unidentified bodies were recovered.
Pakistan's top civilian security official said militant groups were "destabilizing the country," suggesting the plot may have originated with Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud. |
4 Suicide bomber in police uniform kills 9 Afghans
By NOOR KHAN, Associated Press Writer
1 hr 41 mins ago
DUND, Afghanistan – A suicide bomber wearing a police uniform blew himself up inside a police headquarters in southern Afghanistan on Monday, killing nine people and wounding eight, an official said.
Five officers and four civilians died in the attack in Dund district, about 10 miles (15 kilometers) south of Kandahar city, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.
The attack comes as the United States prepares to send 21,000 additional troops to Afghanistan to bolster the 38,000 American forces already in the country. President Barack Obama last week announced a new strategy for the Afghanistan-Pakistan region with a goal to "disrupt, dismantle and defeat" al-Qaida. |
5 Experts: Bias didn't skew NH polls against Clinton
By ALAN FRAM, Associated Press Writer
29 mins ago
WASHINGTON – Polling that ended too early and other technical shortcomings — rather than undetected racial bias — are the likeliest reasons so many surveys incorrectly suggested Barack Obama would defeat Hillary Rodham Clinton in the 2008 New Hampshire presidential primary, a report concluded Monday.
Clinton defeated Obama 39 percent to 36 percent in the Jan. 8, 2008, contest, even though many pre-primary polls showed Obama with solid leads. Clinton's victory gave her a badly needed burst of momentum just five days after Obama won a surprising victory in the Iowa caucuses, the year's first presidential contest.
Six months later, Obama captured the Democratic nomination and later the presidency. |
6 Once-a-day heart combo pill shows promise in study
By MARILYNN MARCHIONE, AP Medical Writer
35 mins ago
ORLANDO, Fla. – It's been a dream for a decade: a single daily pill combining aspirin, cholesterol medicine and blood pressure drugs — everything people need to prevent heart attacks and strokes in a cheap, generic form. Skeptics said five medicines rolled into a single pill would mean five times more side effects. Some people would get drugs they don't need, while others would get too little. One-size-fits-all would turn out to fit very few, they warned. Now the first big test of the "polypill" has proved them wrong.
The experimental combo pill was as effective as nearly all of its components taken alone, with no greater side effects, a major study found. Taking it could cut a person's risk of heart disease and stroke roughly in half, the study concludes.
The approach needs far more testing — as well as approval from the Food and Drug Administration, something that could take years — but it could make heart disease prevention much more common and more effective, doctors say. |
7 Ivory Coast fans blame police for deadly stampede
By BENOIT HILI, Associated Press Writer
35 mins ago
ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast – Fans who survived a deadly stadium stampede in the Ivory Coast blamed police Monday for the tragedy, saying security forces provoked the panic by tear gassing people who had nowhere to run.
World soccer body FIFA called for a prompt investigation into the stampede Sunday at Abidjan's Felix Houphouet-Boigny arena that left 19 people dead and injured more than 130. The president of Ivory Coast declared a three-day period of mourning.
Tens of thousands of fans turned out to see Chelsea striker Didier Drogba — a native of Ivory Coast — as the home team squared off against Malawi at a World Cup qualifying match. Interior Minister Desire Tagro said on state TV that fans outside the stadium began pushing and shoving before the game began, setting off the panic. But witnesses said that as fans tried to get into the stadium, police fired tear gas into the crowd, setting off the stampede. |
8 Obama's tough auto medicine may include bankruptcy
By Kevin Krolicki and John Crawley, Reuters
43 mins ago
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama ordered General Motors and Chrysler to accelerate their turnaround efforts and brace for possible bankruptcy, saying bailout funds will be limited and poor decision-making will not be excused.
Obama said neither company had gone far enough in their restructuring plans to warrant substantial further taxpayer investments, but he would give them a little more time to reach concessions with workers, investors and other stakeholders.
"We cannot, we must not, and we will not let our auto industry simply vanish," Obama said in White House remarks on Monday that were partly overshadowed by his decision to force out GM CEO Rick Wagoner. "It is a pillar of our economy that has held up the dreams of millions of our people." |
9 Frustrated Americans cheer Obama's tough auto moves
By Daniel Trotta, Reuters
2 hrs 36 mins ago
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Some frustrated U.S. taxpayers cheered President Barack Obama's tough steps to shore up the reeling auto industry on Monday but critics called his decision to fire General Motors' chief a heavy-handed power grab.
Obama forced out General Motors chief executive Rick Wagoner, pushed Chrysler LLC toward a merger with Italy's Fiat SpA, and threatened bankruptcy for both, marking an escalation in Washington's involvement in rescuing the faltering economy.
Skeptics asked whether it was an early sign of a more activist administration or an isolated example. GM shares tumbled 30 percent on the news and the Dow Jones Industrial average sank nearly 4 percent. |
10 U.S. lawmakers press Fed for minority access to bailout
By Corbett B. Daly, Reuters
1 hr 23 mins ago
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A group of African-American lawmakers summoned Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke to Capitol Hill on Monday for a closed-door meeting aimed at making sure minorities and women get their share of the billions of dollars in federal bailout funds.
"We are not going to sit back and allow billions of dollars to be dumped into this economy and watch the same old players be advantaged by it," said Representative Maxine Waters, a California Democrat and the co-chair of the Congressional Black Caucus Economic Security Taskforce.
"We are not going to sit back and watch some of the players who are responsible for the economic mess that we are in today be the recipients of these taxpayer dollars and provide services and make even more money despite the fact they have mismanaged their own businesses," said Waters, who also heads the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity. |
11 UK's Brown hopeful for G20, says more to be done
By Frank Prenesti and Rosalba O'Brien, Reuters
Mon Mar 30, 1:48 pm ET
LONDON (Reuters) – British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Monday there was a lot of work to be done to pull together a deal to save the global economy at this week's G20 summit, but it could be achieved.
The meeting of leading nations on Thursday is being billed as a watershed in efforts to tackle a global financial crisis that has felled major banks and cost millions of jobs as the world faces its biggest recession since the 1930s.
The summit's draft statement, obtained by Reuters, contains an agreement to avoid currency moves that would damage other economies and repeated existing promises to get economies back on track, but did not contain any specific details. |
12 Nearly 7 in 10 major U.S. arms programs over budget
By Jim Wolf, Reuters
2 hrs 43 mins ago
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Nearly 70 percent of the Pentagon's 96 major weapons-buying programs were over budget in 2008 for combined cost growth of $296 billion above original estimates, congressional auditors said in an annual report released on Monday.
The total estimated development cost for 10 of the largest acquisition programs, commanding about half the overall arms- purchasing dollars in the portfolio, has shot up 32 percent from initial estimates, from about $134 billion to more than $177 billion, the Government Accountability Office said.
The two largest programs -- Lockheed Martin Corp's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft and the Boeing Co-led Future Combat Systems Army modernization -- "still represent significant cost risk moving forward" and will dominate the portfolio for years, the survey said. |
13 Obama signs landmark U.S. conservation bill
Reuters
2 hrs 10 mins ago
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Barack Obama signed sweeping land and water conservation rules into law on Monday, setting aside millions of acres as protected areas and delighting environmentalists.
The measure, a package of more than 160 bills, would designate about 2 million acres -- parks, rivers, streams, desert, forest and trails -- in nine states as new wilderness and render them off limits to oil and gas drilling and other development.
The House of Representatives approved the measure on a vote of 285-140 a week after it cleared the Senate, capping years of wrangling and procedural roadblocks. |
14 Healthcare reform vital, U.S. health agency says
Reuters
Mon Mar 30, 1:18 pm ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Reform of the U.S. healthcare system is vital this year because of growing costs and worsening care, the Health and Human Services Department said in a report on Monday.
The HHS report, published at http://www.healthreform.gov, compiles findings of dozens of studies that have been used to justify calls for a complete overhaul of the healthcare system.
While the need for change is not controversial, conservatives and liberals differ on how that should be approached. President Barack Obama has said he wants legislation this year but is leaving the details up to Congress to work out. |
15 Thirty years on, Khmer Rouge torturer in dock
By Ek Madra, Reuters
Mon Mar 30, 10:05 am ET
PHNOM PENH (Reuters) – Pol Pot's chief torturer took the stand on Monday, charged with crimes against humanity in the first trial of a top Khmer Rouge cadre 30 years after the end of a regime blamed for 1.7 million deaths in Cambodia.
Duch, former chief of the notorious S-21 prison where more than 14,000 "enemies" of the ultra-Maoist revolution died, stood before a five-judge panel and calmly answered questions about his background.
"I have been notified of the charges against me," the 66-year-old former maths teacher told the joint U.N.-Cambodian tribunal as hundreds of onlookers watched from a public gallery. |
My namesake again.
16 Beshir wins strong Arab summit backing against ICC
by Ali Khalil, AFP
2 hrs 55 mins ago
DOHA (AFP) – Sudan's President Omar al-Beshir won strong support against his international arrest warrant over Darfur from an Arab summit on Monday that also warned Israel that an Arab peace offer was not open-ended.
While Sudan emerged with the most gains, a surprise tirade by Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi against Saudi King Abdullah was the main talking point of the annual summit held in Qatar's capital aimed at putting on a show of Arab unity.
Beshir had urged Arab leaders to reject his indictment on war crimes charges by the International Criminal Court (ICC) and lashed out at the UN Security Council, accusing it of applying "double standards." |
17 Old Albanian custom of 'sworn virgins' dying out
by Pierre Glachant, AFP
Mon Mar 30, 12:06 pm ET
SHKODRA, Albania (AFP) – Drane Markgjoni is one of Albania's last "sworn virgins" -- an age-old custom in which women assume the role of a man and are accepted as such by their family and society.
"My life has been a dog's life," lamented the 87-year-old, gazing away in her modest home in Shkodra, in northern Albania, where religious paintings mix with photographs of her deceased loved ones.
Yet the octogenarian insisted she had no "regrets". |
18 Peugeot board sacks boss Streiff
by Simon Boehm, AFP
Sun Mar 29, 5:47 pm ET
PARIS (AFP) – Peugeot on Sunday ousted chief executive Christian Streiff as France's biggest carmaker struggles in the international economic crisis.
"Given the extraordinary difficulties currently faced by the automotive industry, the supervisory board decided unanimously that a change in the senior leadership position was necessary," PSA Peugeot-Citroen supervisory board chairman Thierry Peugeot said in a statement.
The company said Streiff will be replaced by Philippe Varin, 56, current chief executive of the Anglo-Dutch steel group Corus, who will take over as Peugeot chief on June 1. |
19 Pakistani police a growing target, Lahore attack shows
By Issam Ahmed and Ben Arnoldy, The Christian Science Monitor
Mon Mar 30, 5:00 am ET
Lahore, Pakistan; and New Delhi – Pakistani commandos overpowered at least 10 gunmen Monday to retake control of a police academy near Lahore.
The gunmen had eight hours earlier stormed the compound disguised in blue uniforms, leaving eight people dead and about 100 wounded – and demonstrating for the second time this month the weakness of police forces in the heart of Pakistan. On March 3, terrorists launched a similarly brazen attack in Lahore against the Sri Lankan cricket team, killing seven people before slipping away.
"The security guards weren't able to resist because they had no guns or no ammunition," says eyewitness M. Ilyas, a police constable. |
20 Cambodia begins long-awaited trial of Khmer Rouge leader
By Simon Montlake, The Christian Science Monitor
Mon Mar 30, 5:00 am ET
Bangkok, Thailand – A former Khmer Rouge prison commander went on trial Monday in Cambodia's war-crimes tribunal, 30 years after the fall of a communist regime blamed for the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million people.
Prosecutors read out the charges against Kaing Guek Eav, known as "Duch." He ran the SS-21 prison in Phnom Penh, the Cambodian capital, whose population was evacuated when the Khmer Rouge seized power in 1975. Duch is charged with committing crimes against humanity, war crimes, torture, and murder during four years as prison chief.
He spoke in court Monday only to acknowledge his identity and the charge sheet, which described how SS-21 was a death camp for known dissidents as well as a torture center used to extract confessions. Of the roughly 15,000 prisoners sent there, only a handful survived. |
21 Why Arab leaders embrace Sudan's indicted president
By Liam Stack, The Christian Science Monitor
Mon Mar 30, 5:00 am ET
Cairo – On Sunday Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir strode off his airplane and onto a red carpet at the airport in Doha, greeted with a kiss by the tiny kingdom's emir as he arrived for a two-day Arab League summit dedicated to strengthening Arab unity.
Mr. Bashir has been a busy man since his indictment for seven counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on March 4. His visit to Qatar's capital is the fourth time in two weeks that he has defied the standing international warrant for his arrest, coming after visits to the neighboring countries of Eritrea, Egypt, and Libya.
Bashir is the first sitting head of state to be indicted by the ICC, but nonetheless has enjoyed an outpouring of support from Arab and African leaders. Their hostile reaction to the indictment of one of their own, say diplomats and analysts, is driven by a combination of concern for the indictment's consequences for Sudan's stability, resentment of the selective precedent it sets, and worries about national sovereignty. |
22 Colorful candidates vie to lead Russia's Olympic city
By Fred Weir, The Christian Science Monitor
Mon Mar 30, 5:00 am ET
Moscow – It's something Russia hasn't seen in quite awhile: a wide-open, unpredictable election in which a full spectrum of colorful, disputatious candidates compete by debating the issues and canvassing the voters.
Many observers fear it won't last.
But for now, the Russian public's attention is riveted on the more than 20 contenders vying for the job of mayor of Sochi, the once magnificent Soviet-era resort city on the Black Sea that was falling into oblivion (read story here) until then-President Vladimir Putin convinced the world to hold the 2014 Winter Olympics amid its nearby towering mountains and lush, subtropical beaches. |
23 Shootings, murder-suicide raise broader question: Is violence linked to recession?
By Patrik Jonsson, The Christian Science Monitor
Mon Mar 30, 5:00 am ET
Atlanta – Four Oakland, Calif., police officers shot down. An Alabama man strolling a small town with a rifle, looking for victims. Seven elderly people shot dead at a North Carolina nursing home. And on Sunday, six people, including four kids, died in an apparent murder-suicide in an upscale neighborhood in Santa Clara, Calif.
The details in all these cases are still emerging. In most, the exact motive has yet to be determined – or may never be fully understood.
On a broader level, however, such incidents may be happening more often because an increasing number of Americans feel desperate pressure from job losses and other economic hardship, criminologists say. |
24 US soldier gets 35 years in deaths of 4 Iraqis
By GEORGE FREY, Associated Press Writer
Mon Mar 30, 1:54 pm ET
VILSECK, Germany – A U.S. soldier convicted of murder in the execution-style slayings of four blindfolded Iraqis apologized for shooting one of them in the back of the head, but said he acted out of concern for his fellow troops.
"Nothing is harder than losing a soldier," Sgt. 1st Class Joseph Mayo said in closing arguments after he was found guilty of murder. "Or calling a mother or a wife and telling them that you tried, but wondering if you did enough. I apologize to the military for what I've done. I apologize to the soldiers; I never wanted them to have to go through this."
Mayo told the court — just lawyers and a judge, with no jury — that he shot one of the Iraqis with a 9mm pistol. A judge-only decision is possible in military courts. |
25 Lawyer: Ex-US officials must face torture charges
By PAUL HAVEN, Associated Press Writer
Mon Mar 30, 11:45 am ET
MADRID – Six former Bush administration officials accused in a Spanish complaint of sanctioning the torture of terror suspects should come to Spain to face justice, a human rights lawyer urged Monday.
If they are innocent they shouldn't be afraid, lawyer Gonzalo Boye, one of the rights lawyers behind the complaint, told The Associated Press in an interview.
The case against the American officials — including former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and former Undersecretary of Defense Douglas Feith — was brought by human rights lawyers before Spain's investigative judge Baltasar Garzon, who has sent it on to prosecutors to see if the charges merit a full investigation. |
26 Tibet will reopen to foreign tourists on April 5
By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN, Associated Press Writer
Mon Mar 30, 8:52 am ET
BEIJING – China said Monday it plans to reopen Tibet to foreign tourists next week in a sign of Beijing's growing confidence after several sensitive anniversaries passed without any apparent major disturbances.
Tibetan areas that were sealed-off to foreign visitors last year following anti-government protests and a massive security clampdown will reopen on April 5, said a spokesman for the Tibetan regional government's tourism administration.
"We've limited numbers for safety reasons and from April 5 we will start to receive foreign tourists as usual. Right now everything is safe in Tibet, there's no problem," said the spokesman, who gave only his surname, Liao. |
27 Tibetan exiles condemn hacking of computers (AP)
Associated Press
Posted on Mon Mar 30, 2009 12:35PM EDT
DHARMSALA, India - Tibet's government-in-exile denounced a cyber spy network Monday for hacking into the organization's computers, while a scholar said the sophisticated operation may have helped identify those inside Tibet who speak to exile groups.
The exiled Tibetans were commenting on reports by a Canadian research group that the network, based mainly in China, hacked into classified documents from government and private organizations in 103 countries, including the computers of the Dalai Lama and Tibetan exiles.
"We are told that much of these viruses originate in China. We do not know if the Chinese government has any part in such activities," said Thupten Samphel, the official spokesman of the Tibetan government-in-exile. |
28 Meeting to launch new commitment to Afghanistan
By MIKE CORDER and ARTHUR MAX, Associated Press Writers
46 mins ago
THE HAGUE, Netherlands – A 72-nation conference on Afghanistan will launch a broader international commitment to the security of the region, including neighboring Pakistan, special U.S. envoy Richard Holbrooke said Monday.
The hastily convened conference opening Tuesday in this Dutch city brings together all the countries bordering Afghanistan, including Iran, and all nations contributing troops to the NATO-led international force fighting Taliban insurgents.
It will be opened by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Afghan President Hamid Karzai. |
29 IRA dissidents burn cars, block Belfast roads
By SHAWN POGATCHNIK, Associated Press Writer
Mon Mar 30, 4:11 pm ET
DUBLIN – Suspected IRA dissidents and their supporters hijacked cars Monday in working-class Catholic areas of Northern Ireland in a coordinated effort to block roads and threaten police stations, police said.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland said it was receiving a wave of reports of vehicles being hijacked by masked gunmen in several parts of Belfast and in the Kilwilkie district of Lurgan, a power base for Irish Republican Army dissidents southwest of Belfast.
Some vehicles were being set on fire in roads to disrupt traffic at rush hour, while others were abandoned near four Belfast police stations and on Northern Ireland's major motorway near Lurgan. |
30 US seeks to reassure Sunni allies
By HAMZA HENDAWI, Associated Press Writer
Mon Mar 30, 3:06 pm ET
BAGHDAD – The U.S. military sought to reassure its Sunni allies Monday that it would support them despite fears that the Shiite-led government plans a purge of their ranks after a weekend crackdown in Baghdad.
A major rift between the Shiite government and the Sunni groups could fuel sectarian tensions and threaten security as the Americans begin withdrawing their forces this year.
Iraqi authorities have denied plans to disband Sunni paramilitary groups, known as Awakening Councils or Sons of Iraq, which broke with al-Qaida in Iraq and joined forces with the Americans to help combat the insurgents. |
31 Report: cosmonaut grumbles about space bureaucracy
By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV, Associated Press Writer
Mon Mar 30, 12:42 pm ET
MOSCOW – Squabbles on Earth over how cosmonauts and astronauts divide up the space station's food, water, toilets and other facilities are hurting the crew's morale and complicating work in space, a veteran Russian cosmonaut said, according to an interview published Monday.
Gennady Padalka told the Novaya Gazeta newspaper as saying space officials from Russia, the United States and other countries require cosmonauts and astronauts to eat their own food and follow stringent rules on access to other facilities, like toilets.
"What is going on has an adverse effect on our work," Padalka, 50, was quoted as saying in an interview conducted before he and his crew mates blasted off to the station last Thursday. They arrived safely at the outpost Saturday. |
32 Libya's Gadhafi storms out of Arab summit in Qatar
By SALAH NASRAWI, Associated Press Writer
Mon Mar 30, 11:41 am ET
DOHA, Qatar – Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi stormed out of an Arab summit on Monday after denouncing the Saudi king and declaring himself "the dean of Arab rulers."
Gadhafi disrupted the opening Arab League summit in Qatar by taking a microphone and criticizing Saudi's King Abdullah, calling him a "British product and American ally."
When the Qatari emir tried to quiet him, the Libyan leader and current Africa Union chairman insisted he be allowed to speak. |
33 Hard-to-cure TB poses new global health threat
By GILLIAN WONG, Associated Press Writer
Mon Mar 30, 1:36 am ET
BEIJING – The Beijing Chest Hospital was packed with people on a recent weekday morning. In the waiting area, Wang Chong, a migrant worker who has been fighting tuberculosis for several months, was facing a dilemma: Does he continue treatment that has already cost him more than $5,000 or stop before his savings are wiped out?
It's not only his health at stake. If Wang stops treatment prematurely, his tuberculosis is likely to morph into one of the new, hardier strains that resist the drugs he has been using and that pose a growing threat to global public health. Countries as diverse as China, Russia and South Africa are vulnerable, and the new strains have also appeared in the United States.
"TB is now taking on a deadly new form — one that will spread further," said Cornelia Hennig, the World Health Organization's TB program coordinator for China. "We can choose: Either we act now with rational and proven approaches, or we pay later with a worsening epidemic." |
34 No early exit from Afghanistan: NATO chief
By David Brunnstrom, Reuters
Mon Mar 30, 12:35 pm ET
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – International forces should not expect to withdraw from Afghanistan in the near future, NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said Monday, adding that a new U.S. strategy for the country was realistic.
Eight years after the U.S.-led invasion to drive out the former Taliban rulers, the United States, NATO and other allies have failed to quell a growing insurgency in the poor Muslim country.
"In my opinion, it is necessary to stay in Afghanistan for the foreseeable future," de Hoop Scheffer told reporters in Brussels, saying he had so far seen "positive reactions" to a new strategy unveiled by President Barack Obama last week. |
35 Southern African summit suspends Madagascar
By Gordon Bell and Serena Chaudhry, Reuters
1 hr 55 mins ago
MBABANE (Reuters) – Southern African leaders suspended Madagascar from the SADC regional grouping on Monday and called on its new army-backed president to step down.
The Southern African Development Community said in a communique after a summit in Swaziland that leaders of the group would not recognize Andry Rajoelina, who took power in a move that was condemned as a coup by the international community.
Former Madagascar President Marc Ravalomanana, who quit under pressure from the military, briefed SADC leaders on the political crisis in his country. |
36 Slums may triple as economic woes hobble U.N. efforts
By Alison Bevege, Reuters
Mon Mar 30, 1:35 pm ET
NAIROBI (Reuters) – The global economic crisis is jeopardizing efforts to help the world's growing number of slum dwellers, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Monday.
The U.N. housing agency UN-Habitat, which is hosting a major meeting this week in the Kenyan capital, says the number of slum dwellers in the world could triple to 3 billion by 2050 if left unchecked.
Delegates from dozens of nations, NGOs and grassroots groups are gathered in Nairobi to discuss how to allocate resources to the problem over the next two years in the face of the worst financial downturn since the Great Depression. |
37 Fighting kills at least 14 in Somalia
By Abdi Guled and Abdi Sheikh, Reuters
Mon Mar 30, 12:18 pm ET
MOGADISHU (Reuters) – Fighting between Somali police and Islamist gunmen killed eight people in Mogadishu on Monday, witnesses said, raising the stakes as a new president tries to bring stability to the failed Horn of Africa state.
Clashes between hardline Islamists from the al Shabaab group and a rival militia also killed six people in the central Bay region, but officials from all factions declined to comment.
Residents said the latest battles in the capital broke out on the road linking the strategic K4 junction with the hilltop presidential palace, Villa Somalia. |
38 Kurd voters stress on identity frustrates Turkish PM
By Alexandra Hudson, Reuters
Mon Mar 30, 10:57 am ET
DIYARBAKIR, Turkey (Reuters) – Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's ruling AK Party failed to conquer the Kurdish bastion of Diyarbakir in Sunday's local polls because they misjudged decades-old grievances by minority Kurds.
Jubilant Kurds took to the streets of Diyarbakir, the biggest city of the Kurdish southeast, to celebrate the victory of the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) over the AK Party, which campaigned on a message of improving services in the impoverished region rather than stressing Kurdish identity.
The southeast has been torn by separatist violence since the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) took up arms against the state 25 years ago. Some 40,000 people have been killed in the conflict and ending it is seen as key to boosting Turkey's security. |
39 Five arrested in UK ahead of G20 London protests
Reuters
Mon Mar 30, 12:20 pm ET
LONDON (Reuters) – Five people suspected of planning to join protests against the G20 summit in London on Thursday have been arrested after weapons were found during a raid on a house in southwest England, police said Monday.
The five, three men aged 16, 19 and 25 and two women aged 20, were arrested in the city of Plymouth between Friday and Sunday and are being held under counter-terrorism powers.
Police said their inquiries indicated there was "no religious agenda" to the investigation. Four of the suspects are British and one is thought to be an international student. |
40 NKorea to indict US journalists: state media
AFP
Mon Mar 30, 3:53 pm ET
SEOUL (AFP) – North Korea is preparing to indict two detained US journalists after it accused them of illegally entering the communist country, state media said early Tuesday.
"The illegal entry of US reporters into the DPRK and their suspected hostile acts have been confirmed by evidence and their statements," the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.
The report said "a competent organ of the DPRK (North Korea)" had investigated the pair. |
41 Iraq army pulls out from Baghdad flashpoint
by Sammy Ketz, AFP
Mon Mar 30, 12:33 pm ET
BAGHDAD (AFP) – The Iraqi army on Monday pulled back most of its troops from central Baghdad after deadly weekend violence triggered by the arrest of an anti-Qaeda militia leader on suspicion of murder and extortion.
"The situation is stable and we have begun to withdraw our troops from the neighbourhood" of Fadel, said Baghdad military command spokesman Major General Qasim Atta.
US-backed Iraqi forces clashed with anti-Al-Qaeda militants in Fadel on Saturday and Sunday, and ordered militiamen to hand over weapons after fighting erupted following the arrest of Adel Mashhadani. |
42 Deal in Basque Country to oust nationalists
AFP
2 hrs 9 mins ago
MADRID (AFP) – The conservative party in Spain's Basque Country announced Monday a deal with the Socialists to end their nationalist rivals' 30-year grip on power in the region.
After lengthy negotiations following inconclusive March 1 regional elections, the Popular Party has agreed to back Basque Socialist leader Patxi Lopez as the head of a new government, said the secretary general of the PP in region, Inaki Oyarzabal.
The deal between the Popular Party and the Socialists, their traditional rivals at the national level, is expected to be signed on Wednesday and Lopez sworn in by late April, he told reporters in the Basque city of San Sebastian. |
43 Freed Iraqi detainee vows to keep fighting Americans
By Leila Fadel, McClatchy Newspapers
Mon Mar 30, 3:32 pm ET
GARMA, Iraq — Mohammed walked in disbelief through the rich green grass that carpets the farm behind his modest family home. For more than three years, he'd seen no green, no hanging branches in the orchards near his home in Garma, in Anbar province in western Iraq .
For more than three years, he'd worn a yellow jumpsuit in the U.S. detention center of Bucca in the hot desert outside Basra, hundreds of miles from home. He waited for his family's rare visits, and his heart lifted.
Between those visits, there was darkness. He was convinced that he'd never see this familiar place, his fiancee or his family again. |
Full Poem Here
44 Pakistani police fight off attackers at training center
By Saeed Shah, McClatchy Newspapers
1 hr 33 mins ago
LAHORE, Pakistan — Heavily armed militants stormed a police training center in the heart of Pakistan's most heavily populated and richest province Monday, adding to growing fears that the Islamic insurgency has spread to the country's heartland from its northwest frontier with Afghanistan and threatens key institutions of the nuclear-armed U.S. ally.
Pakistani police commandos celebrated by firing into the air after an eight-hour gun battle with terrorists in which at least 11 people were killed, including eight police recruits. Another 95 people were wounded, and the militants took a number of police recruits hostage before some of them retreated to the top floor of the school, where they left evidence of their fanaticism.
A severed head lay on the floor. It was blown off when the man detonated his suicide vest, but his bearded face was still largely intact. The pillar behind it was splattered in blood. Most of his body was about 2 yards away, with one arm outstretched; police later took fingerprints from it. Bits of flesh were sprayed around the room, and flies buzzed around. |
45 Toxic Assets: Why Berlin Says U.S. 'Bad Bank' Plan Is Bad
By WILLIAM BOSTON / BERLIN, Time Magazine
Mon Mar 30, 10:00 am ET
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her Finance Minister, Peer SteinbrÜck, have spent months saying they will never let irresponsible German banks off the hook by taking their toxic assets and putting them into some sort of government-backed bad bank. |
46 How to Dodge the Draft in Russia
By MARINA KAMENEV / MOSCOW, Time Magazine
Mon Mar 30, 11:35 am ET
According to his paperwork, "Dmitri" spent several weeks in a psychiatric institution in the Arkhangelsk region in northern Russia and, soon after, he was finally diagnosed with a mild mental illness. He won't say what the diagnosis actually is; the important thing for him is that the general finding is stamped across his identification papers. It prevents him from ever getting a job in the Russian government. But more importantly for Dmitri, that medical certification prevents him from being drafted into the army. |
47 Police-Academy Assault Raises Fears of More Pakistan Terrorism
By OMAR WARAICH / ISLAMABAD, Time Magazine
Mon Mar 30, 12:50 pm ET
After eight hours of fierce gun battles, Pakistani security forces are claiming victory against yet unidentified gunmen who laid siege to a police training facility on the outskirts of Lahore - the country's second largest city and cultural hub - in a siege that Pakistani media is comparing to the Mumbai massacre in India last November. At least 13 police trainees were killed, and over 90 people were injured and taken to hospitals. The death toll is expected to rise, with bodies yet to be recovered from inside the building. More than 400 trainees are believed to have been present at the time of the attack. Authorities say that they have one of the attackers in custody, while four have been killed. Two others blew themselves up to evade capture. |
48 At a Summit of Center-Left Leaders, Hailing a 'Progressive Moment'
By GIDEON LONG / VINA DEL MAR, CHILE, Time Magazine
2 hrs 57 mins ago
You'd think the center-left would see this week's G-20 summit in London to seek ways of saving the world economy as a golden moment to cement the hegemony of progressive ideas on how to manage capitalism. But when the luminaries of what was once known as the "Third Way" movement, including G-20 host and Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Vice President Joe Biden, gathered in Chile last weekend for the Summit of Progressive Leaders, the cupboard seemed remarkably bare of new ideas. |
Green Diary Rescue & Open Thread is published. Their top story tonight is Just What Is a "Green Job" Anyway?