02/23/2010

Campers may be forced off Haiti prime minister's grounds
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – Homeless victims of Haiti's earthquake said Monday that police are halting deliveries of food and water to force them to leave their camp on the grounds of the prime minister's office.

Bloody day in Iraq renews fears of sectarian warfare
BAGHDAD – Eight members of one Shiite family were killed south of Baghdad on Monday in the worst incident of a bloody day across Iraq that left at least 23 dead. The spate of attacks – and the fact that some of the family were beheaded – raised fears that insurgents are trying to re-ignite sectarian warfare at a time when the country is preparing for critical March elections.

Ancient wall may support Bible's account of Solomon's era
JERUSALEM – An Israeli archaeologist said Monday that ancient fortifications recently excavated in Jerusalem date back 3,000 years to the time of King Solomon and support the biblical narrative about the era.

02/22/2010

Plan pins Haiti recovery on clothing industry
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – Jordanie Pinquie Rebeca leans forward and guides a piece of suit-jacket wool and its silky lining into a sewing machine, where they're bound together to be hemmed.

02/23/2010

Military accused of Turkish coup plot
ANKARA, Turkey – Once they were untouchable. Some were members of Turkey's elite military class known as "pashas," a title of respect harking back to Ottoman times. For decades, Turkey's senior officers, self-appointed guardians of the country's secular tradition, called the shots.

Haiti's new amputees struggle to get by
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – "Don't cut off my leg!" Fabienne Jean screamed repeatedly as they carried her through the gates of the General Hospital here after the earthquake. "I'm a dancer. My leg is my livelihood. Please, don't take my leg."

NATO airstrike kills 27 Afghan civilians
KABUL – An airstrike launched during the weekend by NATO forces against what international troops believed to be a group of insurgents ended up killing as many as 27 civilians, Afghan officials said Monday.

02/22/2010

Report recommends Iraq reconstruction be handled by single office
The government agency responsible for monitoring American reconstruction work in Iraq has proposed the creation of a single organization to oversee future rebuilding to avoid the fraud and waste that has marred this work in the past.

Stature update: 22-inch-tall man may be world's shortest
KATMANDU, Nepal – A man who is only 22 inches tall left his home country of Nepal on Sunday in a quest to be recognized as the world's shortest man. CAMPAIGNING FOR TITLE

02/19/2010

Texan freed from Haiti to be on 'Oprah'
Jim Allen of Amarillo, one of the released American missionaries, will appear today on a live episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show. Harpo Productions said host Oprah Winfrey will interview Allen and his wife by satellite from Amarillo. The program will air at 4 p.m. on WFAA-TV (Channel 8).

02/22/2010

World news briefs
Clerics mull fatwa to promote road safety

Floods, mudslides kill at least 42 on Portuguese island of Madeira
FUNCHAL, Madeira Islands – Rescue workers on Madeira dug through heaps of mud, boulders and debris Sunday, searching for victims buried by floods and mudslides that have killed at least 42 people on the popular Portuguese island.

Marines face staunch opposition from Taliban in Marjah offensive
MARJAH, Afghanistan – Marines and Afghan units converged Sunday on a dangerous western quarter of the Taliban stronghold of Marjah, with NATO forces facing "determined resistance" as their assault on the southern town entered its second week.

02/21/2010

Microburst blamed in ship's sinking off coast of Brazil
RIO DE JANEIRO – When wind and rough seas drove the Canadian sailing ship carrying dozens of teenage students to lean precariously to one side, the captain figured it was just another day of sailing in rough weather.

Sunni party vows to boycott Iraqi elections
BAGHDAD – A leading Sunni party announced Saturday that it will boycott Iraq's upcoming elections because its leader was barred from participating, casting into doubt the inclusiveness of the vote, which the U.S. hopes will stabilize the country enough for its troops to go home.

International briefs
Darfur rebel group signs truce with Sudan

Relatives say none of Haitian children with Baptist group were orphans
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – None of the 33 children that a U.S. Baptist group tried to take from Haiti in a do-it-yourself rescue mission were orphans, relatives now say.

Afghan leader urges coalition troops to curb civilian deaths
KABUL – President Hamid Karzai made an emotional appeal Saturday for coalition troops to strive to prevent civilian deaths as a major offensive in the south by U.S., British and Afghan troops entered its second week.

Dutch government coalition falls on effort to keep troops in Afghanistan
AMSTERDAM – A last-ditch effort to keep Dutch troops in Afghanistan brought down the governing coalition in the Netherlands early Saturday, raising fears that the Western military alliance fighting the war is at risk.

Marines in battle for Marjah endure perilous, low-tech grind
MARJAH, Afghanistan – They had slogged through knee-deep mud carrying 100 pounds of gear, fingers glued to the triggers of their M-4 carbines, all the while on the lookout for insurgents. Now, after a string of near-sleepless nights, trying to avoid hypothermia in freezing temperatures, the grunts of the 1st Battalion of the 6th Marine Regiment finally had a moment to relax.

02/20/2010

Taliban leader's brother killed by U.S. missiles
ISLAMABAD – CIA missiles struck the sanctuary of the most-feared Afghan Taliban faction, narrowly missing its commander and killing his brother in the latest blow to the insurgents, Pakistani intelligence officials said Friday.

Pope approves first Australian saint
VATICAN CITY – Pope Benedict XVI approved sainthood for Mother Mary MacKillop on Friday, making the woman known for her work among the needy Australia's first saint.

AT A GLANCE: NEW SAINTS
Mother Mary MacKillop (above), an Australian nun

International news briefs
Minaret collapse kills 36, injures 71 in Morocco

All 64 rescued when Canadian sailing ship sinks in Atlantic
RIO DE JANEIRO – A Canadian sailing ship filled with high school and college students sank off the coast of Brazil in strong winds, but officials said all 64 people aboard were rescued Friday after about 16 hours in life rafts tossed by rough seas.

Helping Haitian children was only goal, freed U.S. missionaries say
TOPEKA, Kan. – American missionaries who faced charges of kidnapping children in Haiti but were freed from jail described their trip to the earthquake-ravaged country as a simple humanitarian effort.

Marines seize Taliban compound in Marjah offensive
MARJAH, Afghanistan – After a fierce gunfight, U.S. Marines seized a strongly defended compound Friday that appears to have been a Taliban headquarters.

02/19/2010

U.N. nuclear agency airs suspicions on Iran
VIENNA – The U.N. nuclear agency said Thursday that there were signs Iran is developing a nuclear warhead, suggesting for the first time that Tehran had either resumed such work or never stopped it, as U.S. intelligence had concluded.

Group called Restoration of Democracy kidnaps Niger's president in coup
NIAMEY, Niger – Renegade soldiers stormed Niger's presidential palace with a hail of gunfire Thursday, kidnapped the country's strongman president and then appeared on state television to declare a successful coup.

Taliban arrests indicate greater Pakistani cooperation
KARACHI, Pakistan – The capture of senior Afghan Taliban leaders in Pakistan represents the culmination of months of pressure by the Obama administration to persuade Pakistan's security forces to side with the U.S. as its troops wage war in Afghanistan, U.S. and Pakistani officials say.

Russian Museum honors U.S. World War II vet
ST. PETERSBURG, Russia – An exhibit opened in Russia on Thursday on the life of an American veteran, Joseph Beyrle, who is believed to be one of the few soldiers to fight for both the U.S. and the Soviet Union in World War II.

World briefs
U.N. climate czar resigns, leaves void

Flight logs detail early turbulence for flights to aid Haiti
Washcloths arrived before water, and senators before surgeons. In the first chaotic days after Haiti's earthquake, some vital aid was forced to wait because the U.S. military took relief flights at the Port-au-Prince airport on a first-come, first-served basis, according to landing logs.

Freed missionaries urge release of 2 others still in Haiti jail
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – American missionaries accused of child trafficking in the aftermath of Haiti's earthquake returned home Thursday and urged the safe release of the two women left behind in a Port-au-Prince jail.

Israel behind Hamas figure's killing, Dubai official says
JERUSALEM – Dubai's police chief said Thursday that Israel's Mossad spy agency was almost certainly responsible for the assassination of Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in the Gulf city-state last month and called for an Interpol warrant against Mossad chief Meir Dagan.

U.S. forces control roads, market in Taliban stronghold in Afghanistan
MARJAH, Afghanistan – U.S.-led forces control the main roads and markets in the besieged Taliban stronghold of Marjah, a Marine general said Thursday, but fighting raged elsewhere in the southern farming town.

02/01/2010

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