News For Wednesday Aug 20, 2008 News For Wednesday Aug 20, 2008

World World

149 dead in plane crash at Madrid airport - Added 1 minute ago

A Spanish airliner bound for the Canary Islands at the height of the vacation season crashed, burned and broke into pieces Wednesday while trying to take off from Madrid, killing 149 people on board, officials said. ...

US, Poland OK missile defense base, riling Moscow - Added 3 minutes ago

The United States and Poland signed a deal Wednesday to place a U.S. missile defense base just 115 miles from Russia _ a move followed swiftly by a new warning from Moscow of a possible military response. For many...

Beijing bishop urges pope to visit China - Added 12 minutes ago

The Beijing bishop appointed by China's state-controlled Catholic Church said in an interview Wednesday that he hopes Pope Benedict XVI will visit his country and that relations with the Vatican are improving. "We...

Zambia mourns president; funeral set for Monday - Added 30 minutes ago

Zambians wept on the streets of the capital, Parliament suspended its session and even a doctors' strike was called off as the southern African nation mourned its president Wednesday. The Zambian flag flew at half...

Saakashvili doubts Russians will withdraw - Added 45 minutes ago

Georgia's president has told The Associated Press he does not believe Russia will fulfill its promise to withdraw from most of the country in the coming days. Mikhail Saakashvili says Russia's army is thinning its...

At UN, Russia circulates Georgia resolution - Added 1 hour ago

Russia is countering a French push for immediate withdrawal of Russian troops from Georgia by circulating a competing U.N. Security Council resolution. The Russian draft put forth Wednesday restates the terms of a...

Sudan's president: Darfur genocide 'nonexistent' - Added 1 hour ago

Sudan's indicted president denied Wednesday that his regime is orchestrating genocide in the troubled western region of Darfur _ and offered hope for an end to the violence and the dawn of reconciliation by promising...

Retired UK lawmaker Leo Abse dies at 91 - Added 1 hour ago

Leo Abse, a colorful Welsh politician who took a leading role in liberalizing laws on homosexuality and divorce, has died at age 91. Abse died Tuesday in London, according to Leo Abse and Cohen, the Welsh law firm that...

Officials say US, Iraq finish draft security deal - Added 1 hour ago

Iraqi and U.S. negotiators have finished work on a draft security agreement that would see all American troops leave Iraqi cities by June 30 and the rest of the country by the end of 2011, Iraqi officials said...

Some of the deadliest plane crashes on takeoff - Added 1 hour ago

Some of the deadliest plane crashes that have occurred during takeoff: _ Aug. 20, 2008: Spanish airliner bound for the Canary Islands crashes, burns and breaks into pieces while trying to take off from Madrid's Barajas...

Close ally of Colombia's president freed from jail - Added 1 hour ago

A former senator close to President Alvaro Uribe was freed from prison on Wednesday, four months after his arrest on charges of colluding with far-right death squads. Mario Uribe was released after Colombia's No. 2...

Norway: Russia to cut all military ties with NATO - Added 2 hours ago

Norway's Defense Ministry says Russia has informed it that it plans to cut all military ties with NATO. Ministry spokeswoman Heidi Langvik-Hansen says the country's embassy received a telephone call from Russia's...

Lieberman advocates stronger Georgia defense - Added 2 hours ago

Sen. Joe Lieberman advocated beefing up Georgia's capability to defend itself against possible future Russian attack as he visited Wednesday in a signal of solidarity following fierce fighting in the country. Lieberman...

Missile strike reported in northwest Pakistan - Added 2 hours ago

Missiles destroyed a suspected militant hide-out near the Afghan border Wednesday where foreign insurgents were known to frequent, killing at least five people, Pakistani officials said. The reported strike _ which...

Musharraf unwinds, but could face court - Added 2 hours ago

Ousted from Pakistan's presidency, Pervez Musharraf has been unwinding with friends and admirers and on the tennis court. He's building a roomy farmhouse on the edge of the capital. But his critics may not be finished...

9 inmates die trying to escape prison in Cameroon - Added 2 hours ago

Nine inmates were electrocuted Wednesday while trying to escape from one of Cameroon's largest prisons, a staff member of the justice minister said. Their bodies were found draped around the prison's perimeter fence,...

Publisher withdraws book after Muslim protests - Added 2 hours ago

A Serbian publisher says it has withdrawn a controversial book by American writer Sherry Jones because of protests from the local Islamic community. The book "Jewel of Medina" is about Aisha, one of the Prophet...

Drug lord's extradition to US approved - Added 2 hours ago

Brazil's Justice Ministry said Wednesday it has approved the extradition of Colombian drug lord Juan Carlos Ramirez Abadia to the United States to face racketeering charges. The announcement comes six months after the...

2 Chinese protesters ordered to year in labor camp - Added 3 hours ago

Two elderly Chinese women who applied during the Olympic Games to protest the loss of their homes have been ordered to spend a year in a labor camp, a relative said Wednesday, as more foreign activists were detained. ...

Russians dig in as pullback drags on in Georgia - Added 3 hours ago

Russian forces on Wednesday built a sentry post just 30 miles from the Georgian capital, appearing to dig in to positions deep inside Georgia despite pledges to pull back to areas mandated by a cease-fire signed by both...

Far from Beijing, Chinese transfixed by Olympics - Added 3 hours ago

Perched on a stool beside a roadside fruit stand piled high with melons and pears in farming country north of Shanghai, Meng Zhoucui conceded she's not a big sports fan. But like many Chinese who normally wouldn't pay...

Campaigning UK journalist dies of cancer at age 27 - Added 3 hours ago

Adrian Sudbury, a young British journalist who blogged about his fight with cancer and campaigned for more bone marrow donations, died in his sleep Wednesday, his family said. He was 27. "Baldy's Blog" was Sudbury's...

Sarkozy visits Kabul after French soldiers killed - Added 3 hours ago

French President Nicolas Sarkozy vowed Wednesday that French troops would stick it out in Afghanistan despite an exceptionally deadly attack and frustration at home about the war. "We have to be here," he said while...

Philippines peace in tatters after rebel attack - Added 3 hours ago

Police special forces with orders to kill headed into the hinterlands of the southern Philippines on Wednesday, seeking Muslim rebels responsible for shooting and hacking 37 people to death in a brutal rampage that has...

Russian government help slow to come, refugees say - Added 4 hours ago

Since she clutched her two children by the hands and fled the war in Georgia, Frosia Besayeva has found shelter, food and comfort in the house of a Russian family. But she said the Russian government was slow to help. ...

Sri Lankan troops break through rebel defenses - Added 4 hours ago

The Sri Lankan military says it has broken through the Tamil Tigers' defenses in recent weeks, ending a prolonged stalemate and stirring predictions of an imminent rebel defeat after 25 years of civil war. Troops...

Mexico starts campaign to save endangered porpoise - Added 5 hours ago

Mexico is investing 163 million pesos (US$16 million) to save a highly endangered type of porpoise from fishing nets in the upper Gulf of California. Scientists say they believe the population of the vaquita marina _...

BAA may have to sell 3 of its 7 UK airports - Added 6 hours ago

Britain's competition watchdog said it may force airports operator BAA to sell three of its seven airports around the country _ including two in London _ following fierce criticism of the company for poor customer...

Hua Guofeng, who briefly ruled China, dies - Added 7 hours ago

Hua Guofeng, who briefly ruled China as communist founder Mao Zedong's successor but was pushed aside as a prelude to reforms that launched an economic boom, died Wednesday at the age of 87, state-run media reported. ...

Zardari backed for Pakistan president - Added 7 hours ago

A major opposition party on Wednesday backed Benazir Bhutto's widower to become Pakistan's president, as the power struggle following the resignation of Pervez Musharraf intensified. Asif Ali Zardari leads the largest...

Canada extradites alleged Mafia boss to Italy - Added 7 hours ago

One of Italy's most-wanted criminals was extradited from Canada on Wednesday and locked in an Italian high-security prison, the Justice Ministry said. Giuseppe Coluccio fled Italy in 2005 and was convicted in absentia...

UN chief expected to visit Myanmar in December - Added 7 hours ago

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is planning to visit Myanmar at the end of this year to hold talks on the country's political problems, the main opposition party said Wednesday. National League for Democracy party...

Mourning gorilla holds on to body of her baby - Added 7 hours ago

A gorilla at a zoo in the German city of Muenster is refusing to let go of her dead baby's body several days after it died of unknown causes. Allwetter Zoo spokeswoman Ilona Zuehlke says the 3-month-old male baby died...

NATO general says Pakistan chaos emboldens Taliban - Added 8 hours ago

Drawing strength from the chaos in neighboring Pakistan, Afghan insurgents are using their growing control of the border area to plot increasingly brazen attacks against international forces, the NATO commander in...

25 wounded as Hindus protest in Indian Kashmir - Added 9 hours ago

Police using tear gas and batons clashed with Hindu protesters defying a fresh curfew in Indian Kashmir on Wednesday, injuring at least 25 people, medics and witnesses said. Authorities reimposed a curfew in Jammu, the...

Sudan's president: Darfur genocide 'nonexistent' - Added 9 hours ago

Sudan's indicted president denied Wednesday that his regime is orchestrating genocide in the troubled western region of Darfur _ and offered hope for an end to the violence and the dawn of reconciliation by promising...

Turkey confirms suicide bombing wounds 13 - Added 9 hours ago

Turkey's interior minister on Wednesday confirmed that 13 policemen were wounded in a suicide bombing this week. The minister, Besir Atalay, said that a man who was being pursued by police detonated the explosives at a...

US offers aid to Pakistanis displaced by clashes - Added 10 hours ago

The U.S. on Wednesday offered to help Pakistanis displaced by an army operation against Islamist militants in a northwest tribal region bordering Afghanistan. Pakistani officials have said more than 200,000 have fled...

NKorea vows to boost 'war deterrent' - Added 10 hours ago

North Korea stepped up criticism of ongoing U.S.-South Korea military exercises, warning Wednesday that it would boost its "war deterrent" _ a euphemism for its nuclear programs. North Korea "will increase its war...

Twin car bombings hit Algerian hotel, barracks - Added 10 hours ago

Twin car bombings rocked a hotel and military headquarters in the Algerian town of Bouira on Wednesday, killing 11 people a day after a suicide bombing in a neighboring region killed 43, official media and witnesses...

Several missing after flooding in eastern Nepal - Added 10 hours ago

A river swollen by monsoon rains spilled from its banks and flooded villages in eastern Nepal on Wednesday. Initial reports said several people were missing after being swept away in the water. Army helicopters were...

Red Cross says staff heading to S. Ossetia capital - Added 11 hours ago

The Red Cross says that it is sending workers to the South Ossetian capital of Tskhinvali for the first time since the brief Russian-Georgian war broke out in the breakaway province earlier this month. The move follows...

Russia says 64 soldiers dead in fight with Georgia - Added 11 hours ago

A top Russian general says 64 of the country's soldiers were killed and 323 wounded in this month's fighting with Georgia. The figure given Wednesday by Col. Gen. Anatoly Nogovistsyn, deputy head of the general staff,...

Indian airport workers strike, flights delayed - Added 11 hours ago

International and domestic flights were disrupted across India on Wednesday as thousands of airport employees went on strike to protest plans to privatize airports, officials said. The airport in Calcutta, the largest...

Court: Accused Nazi eligible for extradition - Added 11 hours ago

An 86-year-old man accused of killing a Jewish teenager in Hungary during World War II can be extradited to Hungary to face charges, an Australian judge found Wednesday. Lawyers for former Hungarian soldier Charles...

Landslides caused by typhoon kill 4 in Philippines - Added 12 hours ago

Landslides killed three young brothers and an elderly woman in the northern Philippines as a powerful typhoon battered the region Wednesday, prompting authorities to cancel classes and raise storm alerts. Typhoon Nuri...

Pirates seize Malaysian tanker off Somalia's coast - Added 12 hours ago

Armed pirates seized a Malaysian palm oil tanker with 39 crew off the coast of Somalia _ the fourth hijacking in a month, a global maritime watchdog said Wednesday. Noel Choong, head of the International Maritime...

Iraqi troops detain son of prominent Sunni leader - Added 12 hours ago

The U.S. military says Iraqi troops have detained the son of a prominent Sunni leader during a raid in Baghdad. The arrest of Adnan al-Dulaimi's son Muthanna comes eight months after the detention of another son...

Israel shuts Gaza crossings after rocket attack - Added 12 hours ago

Israel has closed its cargo crossings with the Gaza Strip following a Palestinian rocket attack on southern Israel that violated a truce. The rocket exploded in open field late Tuesday and caused no injuries or damage....

Glitter held at Thai airport after prison release - Added 13 hours ago

British glam rocker Gary Glitter, who served nearly three years in a Vietnamese prison for molesting children, refused to board airplanes out of Thailand on Wednesday after being denied entry into the country, a senior...