Germany’s Merkel visits Beijing amid debt worries

BEIJING (AP) ― German Chancellor Angela Merkel arrived Thursday in China for talks aimed at reassuring anxious Chinese leaders Europe is resolving its debt crisis.Merkel was due to deliver a speech Thursday at a government think tank and meet with Chinese leaders.German officials say Merkel’s goals include reassuring Chinese leaders about the stability of the 17-nation euro area. They said she would brief them on this week’s meeting of European leaders, who agreed on a treaty to impose new spend

Feb. 2, 2012

Ferry sinks off Papua New Guinea with 350 aboard

PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea (AP) ― Rescue crews have saved 28 people from the water off Papua New Guinea’s northeast coast after a ferry sank Thursday with as many as 350 people on board, officials said.The MV Rabaul Queen went down when traveling between the coastal towns of Lae and Kimbe after it sent a distress signal early Thursday, PNG’s National Maritime Safety Authority (NMSA) said.Rescue co-ordinator Captain Nurur Rahman said four merchant ships were diverted to the scene by Australia

Feb. 2, 2012

U.N. chief urges Israel to halt settlements

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) ― Israel must halt settlement building and present detailed proposals for a border with a future Palestinian state, visiting U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon said Wednesday, as he tried to persuade the Palestinians to continue low-level meetings with Israel that the international community hopes will evolve into serious negotiations.Ban praised Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas for his leadership and publicly backed him on key issues, including the demand for a freeze of settlem

Feb. 2, 2012

Ferry sinks off Papua New Guinea with 350 aboard

Rescuers plucked more than 230 survivors from the sea off Papua New Guinea's east coast after a ferry sank Thursday with as many as 350 people on board, officials said.An airplane from Australia, three helicopters and eight ships were scouring the search area after the MV Rabaul Queen went down arou

Feb. 2, 2012

4 UK men admit London Stock Exchange bomb plot

Four British men fueled by the words of a U.S.-born Muslim cleric pleaded guilty on Wednesday to involvement in an al-Qaida inspired plot to spread terror and cause economic damage by bombing the London Stock Exchange at Christmastime.The men were among nine defendants facing trial in London over an

Feb. 1, 2012

Fighting over Pakistani mountaintop kills over 60

PARACHINAR, Pakistan (AP) ― Fighting between soldiers and Taliban militants over a strategic mountaintop in northwestern Pakistan has killed more than 60 people, a government official said Tuesday.The battle first started a week ago when government troops seized the top of Jogi mountain in the Kurram tribal area from militants, sparking clashes that killed six soldiers and 20 insurgents, said Wajid Khan, a local government administrator.The militants retaliated Tuesday by attacking the soldiers

Feb. 1, 2012

Israeli P.M. wins primary, offers settler grants

JERUSALEM (AP) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu won the leadership race of his Likud Party over his ultranationalist rival early Wednesday, hours after his government approved new incentives to entice people to move to West Bank settlements.While Netanyahu was expected to win the leadership race decisively, a relatively strong showing by his ultranationalist rival, Moshe Feiglin suggested that many Likud voters consider the prime minister too soft on peacemaking with the Palestinians

Feb. 1, 2012

Agency probing U.S. nuke reactor pumps

CHICAGO (AP) ― The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is launching a special inspection into how some equipment responded to a power failure at a nuclear reactor in the midwestern state of Illinois.NRC spokeswoman Viktoria Mitlyng says some water pumps at the Byron Generating Station switched off when the Unit 2 reactor lost power Monday, then came back on without being manually reset.She says the pumps are designed to switch off after a set amount of time if there is an undervoltage, but normal

Feb. 1, 2012

Los Angeles teacher charged with molesting 23 kids

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Authorities say the elementary school teacher told the children that it was a game. Once inside his third-grade classroom, they say, he blindfolded them, gagged them and set cockroaches crawling on their faces.And then, Mark Berndt photographed them, creating hundreds of images t

Feb. 1, 2012

Woman offers kidney to get son a job

An Italian woman said she is willing to give up a kidney in exchange for a job for her 38-year-old son. The Perugia woman, whose name was not released, told the daily La Nazione she had “nothing left to lose and nothing to be ashamed of” in offering her kidney in exchange for employment for her s

Feb. 1, 2012

China cadmium spill threatens city water supplies

SHANGHAI (AP) -- China’s environmental authorities were redoubling efforts Monday to prevent a toxic cadmium spill from further tainting water supplies of cities downstream, as seven chemical company officials were reported detained in connection with the accident.Official reports have provided little information about the exact cause of the spill, whose impact was first seen in fish kills in mid-January. The contamination initially was blamed on a mining company, but the official Xinhua News Ag

Jan. 31, 2012

Winter cold snap kills 36 in eastern Europe

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) -- A severe and snowy cold snap across central and eastern Europe has left at least 36 people dead, cut off power to towns, and snarled traffic. Officials are responding with measures ranging from opening shelters to dispensing hot tea, with particular concern for the homeless and elderly.This part of Europe is not unused to cold, but the current freeze, which spread to most of the region last week, came after a period of relatively mild weather. Many were shocked when temp

Jan. 31, 2012

Occupy D.C. defies police order, hoists ‘tent of dreams’

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Occupy D.C. protesters defied a threatened police clampdown on their tent colony Monday, pitching a massive “tent of dreams” in the park near the White House they took over four months ago.With several hundred cheering supporters looking on, but no police in sight, they hoisted a deep-blue tarpaulin over an equestrian statue of Civil War general James McPherson in the downtown Washington square that bears his name.Under the tarp, and surrounding the granite base of the statue,

Jan. 31, 2012

Americans take refuge as tension with Egypt grows

CAIRO (AP) ― Three American citizens barred from leaving Egypt have sought refuge at the American Embassy in Cairo amid growing tensions between the two allies over an Egyptian investigation into foreign-funded pro-democracy groups.The White House said Monday it was disappointed with Egypt’s handing of the issue, which U.S. officials have warned could stand in the way of more than $1 billion in badly needed U.S. aid.The growing spat between the two longtime allies reflects the uncertainty as the

Jan. 31, 2012

29 abducted in Sudan still being held: China

BEIJING (AP) ― None of the 29 Chinese workers abducted after an attack in a volatile region of Sudan have been freed, Chinese state media said Tuesday, dismissing reports that some of the workers had been released.The workers were abducted Saturday by militants in a remote region in the country’s south. Sudanese state media reported Monday that 14 of them had been freed, but the official Xinhua News Agency and China Daily newspaper said all 29 were still being held.China has close political and

Jan. 31, 2012