03/12/2010

Early results indicate tight race for parliament in Iraq
BAGHDAD – Partial results from Sunday's parliamentary elections showed Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's coalition ahead in two southern provinces but apparently trailing the secular bloc led by former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi in two central provinces, indicating a tight race amid allegations of fraud.

Biden pushes Israel on peace, says U.S. won't allow nuclear Iran
JERUSALEM – Vice President Joe Biden assured Israel on Thursday that the United States is determined to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon and urged Arab states, equally worried about Iran's nuclear program, to take steps toward peace with Israel.

Tests show mummy is King Tut's father
CAIRO – The DNA tests that revealed how the boy-king Tutankhamun probably died solved another of ancient Egypt's enduring mysteries – the fate of controversial Pharaoh Akhenaten's mummy.

03/11/2010

Haiti earthquake killed countless future leaders
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – They kept the books, had the training and fixed the computers. They were the educated few of Haiti, an up-and-coming generation of nurses, technicians, office managers and college students.

03/12/2010

UPDATE: War report

AT A GLANCE: HAITI AID WORKERS FREED
Kidnappers have freed two female Swiss aid workers who were abducted and held for five days, officials said Thursday. It was the first reported kidnapping in Haiti since the Jan. 12 earthquake. The women, who work for Doctors Without Borders, are "in good health," said Michel Peremans, a spokesman for the aid agency. He did not say whether a ransom had been paid.

Roman school's planned condom dispensers stir controversy
ROME – The decision by a Rome high school to install condom vending machines has set off a storm in Italy. The Catholic Church said the move will encourage young people to have sex, and the mayor said it sends the wrong message.

Aftershocks rattle inauguration in Chile
SANTIAGO, Chile – The earth shook Thursday as dignitaries walked in for the swearing-in of Sebastián Piñera as Chile's president. It shook some more as they waited for him to join them.

03/11/2010

Global seed vault stashes half a million crop samples
OSLO, Norway – Two years after receiving its first deposits, a "doomsday" seed vault on an Arctic island has amassed half a million seed samples, making it the world's most diverse repository of crop seeds, the vault's operators said Thursday.

British plan aims to muzzle dangerous dogs
LONDON – A chip for Spot? In a country where guns are tightly controlled and even carrying a kitchen knife can bring prison time, some thugs use dogs to menace their victims. Now the British government is proposing that dog owners be forced to get microchips and take out insurance for their pets.

03/10/2010

Catholic child sex-abuse scandal widens in Europe as more allegations surface
ROME – Defending itself against a growing child sex-abuse scandal in Europe, one that has even come close to the brother of Pope Benedict XVI, the Vatican said Tuesday that local churches had "acted swiftly and decisively" to address the issue.

03/11/2010

War report
The U.S. House voted 356-65 Wednesday to defeat a proposal to speed up President Barack Obama's timetable for withdrawing U.S. troops from Afghanistan. The resolution would have required all U.S. forces to be out of Afghanistan no later than Dec. 31. It was introduced by Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, and had 16 co-sponsors, including Texas Rep. Ron Paul, R-Lake Jackson.

Study: Those who stay fit have longer sex lives
LONDON – The average person's sex life winds down by the age of 70, new research concludes, but people in good or excellent health can look forward to years of additional sexual activity compared with their less healthy peers.

Attack on U.S. aid group's office in Pakistan kills 6, injures 5
ISLAMABAD – Militants stormed the offices of a U.S. Christian aid group Wednesday in northwestern Pakistan, killing six workers and injuring five, police said.

U.S. rebukes Israel over expansion of settlements
RAMALLAH, West Bank – An open diplomatic dispute during the visit of Vice President Joe Biden has pointed up the U.S. failure to rein in Israeli settlement ambitions and deepened Palestinian suspicions that the United States is too weak to broker a deal.

International briefs
Mexican magnate takes world's richest title

Egypt's top Muslim cleric dies of heart attack

Catholic officials in Germany will investigate reports of physical and sexual abuse in schools, choir
BERLIN – Catholic authorities in Germany announced two major abuse investigations Wednesday, one into the renowned choir once led by the brother of Pope Benedict XVI and another more general look into what everyone, including the pope, knew about the sexual and physical abuse of students.

Chile wins praise for quake response
SANTIAGO, Chile – President Michelle Bachelet leaves office today with a chunk of her country in ruins but with her popularity largely intact.

03/10/2010

Women to hold third of seats in Indian parliament under new bill
NEW DELHI, India – Indian lawmakers on Tuesday approved a historic bill that would set aside one-third of legislative seats for women, a move aimed at overturning six decades of male-dominated decision-making.

Biden criticizes Israel's OK of homes in East Jerusalem
JERUSALEM – Israel approved the construction of 1,600 homes for Jews in disputed East Jerusalem on Tuesday, a move that immediately clouded a visit by Vice President Joe Biden aimed at repairing strained ties and restarting Mideast peace talks.

03/09/2010

Turkey assesses damage after earthquake kills 51
OKCULAR, Turkey – Hundreds of people huddled in aid tents and around bonfires Monday in eastern Turkey, seeking relief from the winter cold after a strong earthquake knocked down stone and mud-brick houses in five villages, killing at least 51 people.

03/10/2010

Gates tours Afghan town where U.S. forces recently pushed out Taliban
NOW ZAD, Afghanistan – Defense Secretary Robert Gates, aiming to show progress in the expanded war against insurgents in southern Afghanistan, took a brief, heavily guarded walk Tuesday in this scruffy market town where the Taliban lobbed mortars at U.S. forces only weeks ago.

Israel, Syria reveal plans to develop nuclear energy
PARIS – Mideast rivals Israel and Syria on Tuesday each announced ambitions to develop nuclear energy, with Israel facing the prospect that its plan could bring new attention to its secretive nuclear activities.

Corpse of ex-president of Cyprus is recovered after theft
NICOSIA, Cyprus – Three months after it was stolen, the corpse of a former president of Cyprus was found buried in another grave, and three men were arrested Tuesday in what officials called a case of body snatching for ransom.

03/09/2010

Reconciliation with Taliban not likely in near future, Gates says
KABUL – Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Monday that recent military offensives against the Taliban in southern Afghanistan had gained momentum but that a reconciliation effort proposed by Afghan President Hamid Karzai was unlikely in the near term to cause senior Taliban leaders to lay down their arms.

Two sides claim to be leading Iraqi election
BAGHDAD – The Iraqi prime minister's coalition and its main secular rival both claimed to be ahead in the vote count Monday, a day after historic parliamentary elections that the top U.S. commander said would let all but 50,000 American troops come home by the end of summer.

03/08/2010

Threatened with arrest, Chilean looters surrender spoils
CONCEPCIÓN, Chile – The officers came with bullhorns to impoverished neighborhoods near the epicenter of Chile's devastating earthquake, warning looters to return what they'd stolen or face police raids.

03/09/2010

World briefs
16 more suspects sought in Dubai case

UPDATE: Pakistan events

Death toll in attack on Nigerian village nears 500
DOGO NAHAWA, Nigeria – Officials and human rights groups in Nigeria sharply increased the count of the dead after a weekend of vicious ethnic violence, saying Monday that as many as 500 people – many of them women and children – may have been killed near the central city of Jos, long a flashpoint for tensions between Christians and Muslims.

MIDEAST
JERUSALEM – Israel and the Palestinians agreed Monday to resume indirect peace negotiations mediated by the United States, said President Barack Obama's Middle East envoy, George Mitchell.

03/08/2010

Cartels use intimidation campaign to stifle news coverage in Mexico
REYNOSA, Mexico – In the days since a long-simmering dispute erupted into open warfare between the Gulf drug cartel and its former enforcers, the Zetas, censorship of news developments has reached unprecedented dimensions along much of Mexico's border with Texas. A virtual news blackout has been imposed, several sources said, enforced by threats, abductions and attacks against journalists.

Iraqis defy bombs to vote
BAGHDAD – Iraqis defied insurgents who lobbed hand grenades at voters and bombed a polling station Sunday in an attempt to intimidate those taking part in elections that will determine whether their country can overcome deep sectarian divides as U.S. forces prepare to leave.

World briefs
200 die overnight in Nigerian violence

U.S. forces mostly stay out of sight during Iraq elections
BAGHDAD – "You're hearing a lot of booms out there," Lt. Ryan P. Alexander told his soldiers, briefing them ahead of their platoon's anticipated operation as mortars and explosions rained on Baghdad early Sunday while Iraqis began voting in the parliamentary elections.

Al-Qaeda member arrested in Pakistan may be American
ISLAMABAD – A member of al-Qaeda who might be an American has been arrested by Pakistani authorities near Karachi, two Pakistani intelligence officers said Sunday.

Taliban, rival faction battle in northern Afghanistan
KABUL – Simmering divisions between rival Islamist groups erupted into open warfare in northern Afghanistan this weekend as Taliban forces battled fighters from one of their main allies, Afghan officials said Sunday.

02/01/2010

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