Syria dissidents launch national council

BEIRUT (AP) ― Syrian dissidents on Sunday formally established a broad-based national council designed to overthrow President Bashar Assad’s regime, which they accused of pushing the country to the brink of civil war. Syrians took to the streets in celebration, singing and dancing.In a restive north

Oct. 3, 2011

Egypt’s ruler denies army told to shoot protesters

CAIRO (AP) ― Egypt’s military ruler on Sunday defended his testimony last month in the trial of ousted President Hosni Mubarak, denying that the army was ever ordered to shoot protesters during the uprising earlier this year.Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi testified in Mubarak’s trial on Sept. 24 unde

Oct. 3, 2011

Anger flares at Kenya kidnapping response

 

Oct. 3, 2011

Al-Qaida deaths hurt attack plans: Panetta

ON BOARD A MILITARY AIRCRAFT (AP) ― Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Monday that the deaths of several top al-Qaida leaders in Pakistan and Yemen in recent months will make it much more difficult for the terror group and its affiliates to plan and launch large-scale attacks abroad, including agai

Oct. 3, 2011

Nigeria shies on Palestinian U.N. bid

LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) ― Nigeria is refusing to say how it will vote when the United Nations Security Council decides on the Palestinians’ request for U.N. membership, as increasing diplomatic pressure mounts on the oil-rich West African nation.Nigeria appears to be a crucial vote as Palestinians try t

Oct. 3, 2011

Scientists say Arctic has record ozone loss

PARIS (AFP) ― An ozone hole five times the size of California opened over the Arctic this spring, matching ozone loss over Antarctica for the first time on record, scientists said Sunday.Formed by a deep chill over the North Pole, the unprecedented hole at one point shifted over eastern Europe, Russ

Oct. 3, 2011

Tunisian election campaign kicks off

TUNIS (AP) ― The campaign for the first elections born of the revolts that swept the Middle East began in Tunisia on Saturday, featuring 81 political parties in a country where more than 90 percent of the vote used to be awarded to just one.Tunisians are electing a constitutional assembly after over

Oct. 2, 2011

West Germany wanted to buy reunification

BERLIN (AFP) -- West Germany was prepared to pay the Soviet Union billions of marks in the 1960s to buy reunification, according to the weekly Der Spiegel, which went on sale Saturday.The then-chancellor Christian-Democrat Ludwig Erhard (1963-1966) hoped to obtain Germany’s reunification in return f

Oct. 2, 2011

U.S. warns of revenge attacks from al-Qaida

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― The United States issued a worldwide travel alert Saturday warning its nationals of the “potential for retaliation” after two key al-Qaida figures were killed in an air raid in Yemen.The State Department notice came one day after the killing of U.S.-born Islamic cleric Anwar al-Aw

Oct. 2, 2011

Denmark levies world's first fat tax

COPENHAGEN, Oct 1, 2011 (AFP) -- Denmark Saturday became the first country in the world to impose a fat tax after a week in which consumers hoarded butter, pizza, meat and milk to avoid the immediate effects."We have had to stock up with tonnes of butter and margarine in order to be able to supply o

Oct. 2, 2011

With al-Awlaki dead, al-Qaida lacks Western voice

ISLAMABAD (AP) -- The killings of U.S.-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki and another American al-Qaida propagandist in a U.S. airstrike Friday wipe out the decisive factor that made the terrorist group's Yemen branch the most dangerous threat to the United States: its reach into the West.Issuing English-l

Oct. 1, 2011

Pakistani P.M. deflects U.S. pressure over militants

ISLAMABAD (AP) -- U.S. pressure on Pakistan to attack Afghan militants on its soil will not succeed, the Pakistani prime minister told a gathering Thursday of political and military leaders trying to formulate a response to fresh American allegations that the army’s spy agency is supporting the insu

Sept. 30, 2011

Fidel Castro mocks Obama for Cuba comments

HAVANA (AP) -- Fidel Castro mocked President Barack Obama on Thursday for saying he’s open to changing U.S. policy toward Cuba if there is change on the island first, calling the U.S. leader “stupid.”Writing in one of his semiregular essays published across state-run media, Castro reacted with sarca

Sept. 30, 2011