News For Friday Jul 4, 2008 News For Friday Jul 4, 2008

World World

Canada to rehear US Army deserter's asylum bid - Added 7 weeks ago

A court ordered Canada's refugee board Friday to take another look at a U.S. Army deserter's failed bid for asylum in a ruling that could affect scores of other American soldiers who have refused to fight in Iraq. ...

Lawmaker killed in southern Afghanistan - Added 7 weeks ago

An Afghan official says gunmen in southern Afghanistan have assassinated a lawmaker. Kandahar provincial council member Bismullih Afghanmul says gunmen killed parliament member Habibullah Jan after he visited an Afghan...

Lima bust nets pre-Hispanic textiles - Added 7 weeks ago

Shoppers at a tourist market in Peru's capital could have netted greater bargains than they thought _ rare, pre-Hispanic textiles costing little more than a Machu Picchu magnet. Police and archaeologists raiding the...

US soldiers in Iraq mark Fourth of July - Added 7 weeks ago

It's Staff Sgt. Edgar Covarrubias' second Fourth of July in Iraq. No family barbecue, no fireworks, but Covarrubias says he'll call his mom, wife and kids to share the day anyway. Across Iraq, America's Independence...

US military deaths in Afghanistan region at 468 - Added 7 weeks ago

As of Friday, July 4, 2008, at least 468 members of the U.S. military had died in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan as a result of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, according to the Defense Department....

US military deaths in Iraq war at 4,113 - Added 7 weeks ago

As of Friday, July 4, 2008, at least 4,113 members of the U.S. military have died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. The figure includes eight military civilians...

UK court: Pringles are potato-light, tax-free - Added 7 weeks ago

Britain's High Court has ruled that Pringles are not a potato snack, and thus are not subject to value-added tax. Friday's ruling by Justice Nicholas Warren is expected to save millions for the manufacturer, Procter...

UN chief to G8: climate change, food crisis linked - Added 7 weeks ago

The global food crisis will only worsen because of climate change, the U.N. climate chief said Friday, urging leaders of the world's richest countries meeting in Japan next week to set goals to reduce carbon emissions...

Prado says 'Colossus' is not the work of Goya - Added 7 weeks ago

For years Spain's famed Prado museum had its suspicions about one of its most prized Goyas. Now the museum says it is certain the painting is not by the 18th-century master. The Prado's announcement last week about the...

Gunmen assassinate Shiite official in Iraq - Added 7 weeks ago

Gunmen on a motorcycle assassinated an official of Iraq's biggest Shiite party Friday in the southern city of Basra, police said. Sheik Salim al-Dirraji was gunned down in the Hayania district, which had been a...

Trial of former Suriname dictator begins - Added 7 weeks ago

The long-awaited trial of a former South American dictator accused of a 1982 massacre began Friday with testimony from a member of the firing squad. Onno Flohr, considered one of the prosecutor's main witnesses,...

8 dead, 5 missing in canoe dam accident - Added 7 weeks ago

Divers pulled six bodies out of the Sava River and fought strong currents Friday to search for five other people still missing after two canoes were crushed running over a dam in southeastern Slovenia. Three people...

SocGen fined over trading scandal - Added 7 weeks ago

France's central bank announced Friday that it has fined Societe Generale $6.3 million for "serious shortcomings" in its internal controls that led to nearly $7.8 billion in trading losses announced earlier this year. ...

Betancourt arrives in France with tears of joy - Added 7 weeks ago

Arriving to a hero's welcome in France, Ingrid Betancourt said Friday that she cried a lot during her six years as a prisoner in the Colombian jungle. Today, she said, "I cry with joy." French President Nicolas Sarkozy...

Autopsy: Drowning cause of Chinese girl's death - Added 7 weeks ago

A third autopsy on a teenage girl whose death sparked a riot last weekend in southwest China confirmed she died of drowning, while two more top local officials have been fired, state media reported Friday. Xinhua News...

Burglary link to murder of 2 French students - Added 7 weeks ago

The brutal murder of two French students in South London may be linked to the theft of two PlayStation game consoles, police said Friday. Detective Chief Inspector Mick Duthie said two Sony game consoles are missing...

Belarus bomb explosion wounds more than 50 - Added 7 weeks ago

A homemade bomb tore through a crowd that included the country's authoritarian president early Friday, wounding more than 50 people at an all-night holiday concert, health officials said. The blast was unusual in the...

Scientist says Pakistan knew of Korea nuke deal - Added 7 weeks ago

Pakistan's army under President Pervez Musharraf supervised a shipment of uranium centrifuges to North Korea in 2000, the disgraced architect of Pakistan's atomic weapons program said Friday. The claim is the most...

Colombians mull Betancourt presidency - Added 7 weeks ago

Could Ingrid Betancourt become Colombia's next president? It was one of the first questions she was asked after being freed in a daring helicopter rescue from six years in rebel captivity. Betancourt was running for...

Serb fled because he doesn't to face US charges - Added 7 weeks ago

A college basketball player from Serbia accused of severely beating a schoolmate in the United States fled the country because he does not trust the U.S. justice system, his lawyer said Friday. Miladin Kovacevic, who...

Court sentences Myanmar protesters to jail - Added 7 weeks ago

Four members of Myanmar's main pro-democracy party who campaigned against a constitution proposed by the military government have been jailed for one year. Nyan Win, a spokesman for the National League for Democracy,...

Italy moves to help combat decay at Pompeii site - Added 7 weeks ago

Italy's government moved Friday to help combat damage to the buried ancient city of Pompeii, which has been damaged by decay and inadequate management, officials said. The government granted Pompeii emergency status, a...

9 convicted in Austria fraud case - Added 7 weeks ago

Nine people, including a prominent executive who fled to France in an attempt to elude justice, were convicted Friday of criminal charges in a major Austrian bank fraud case linked to the 2005 collapse of New York-based...

Correction: Colombia Hostages story - Added 7 weeks ago

In a July 2 story about the rescue of kidnapped presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt and other hostages from Colombian rebels, The Associated Press erroneously translated Betancourt as saying she still aspires "to...

Jerusalem attacker once had Jewish girlfriend - Added 7 weeks ago

The Palestinian who went on a deadly rampage on a Jerusalem street this week had spent years in a romantic relationship with a Jewish Israeli woman, relatives said, a rarity in a city where such ties between Arabs and...

West condemns Mugabe, ignores other Africa despots - Added 7 weeks ago

Nigeria. Rwanda. Uganda. Ethiopia. Gabon. Robert Mugabe's regime in Zimbabwe has plenty of competitors for the title of "least democratic in Africa." But while he has been singled out for condemnation by the West,...

G-8 summit gives chance to gauge Medvedev's power - Added 7 weeks ago

Dmitry Medvedev's grand debut on the world stage at the Group of Eight summit Monday promises insights into the riddle all Kremlinologists are trying to crack: Is he calling any of the shots as Russia's president _ or...

G-8 meets as economy storm clouds thicken - Added 7 weeks ago

Between surging oil prices, food inflation and a credit crunch that's depressed global growth, leaders from the Group of Eight economic powers face the gravest combination of economic woes in at least a decade when they...

Veteran BBC correspondent Wheeler dies at 85 - Added 7 weeks ago

Sir Charles Wheeler, who reported from Washington, Berlin and other capitals during a long and distinguished broadcasting career, died Friday. He was 85. Wheeler died at his London home of lung cancer, the British...

US Embassy returns to historic Berlin address - Added 7 weeks ago

The U.S. Embassy in Germany returned to the site it occupied before World War II, marking the occasion Friday with a ribbon cutting by former President Bush and Ambassador William Timken. The former president and...

Merkel takes tough stance on Zimbabwe sanctions - Added 7 weeks ago

German Chancellor Angela Merkel took a tough stance against Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, condemning his re-election last week as illegitimate and vowing in an interview with The Associated Press that the European...

Pope to meet Sarkozy during France trip in Sept. - Added 7 weeks ago

Pope Benedict XVI will meet French President Nicolas Sarkozy and representatives of the country's Jewish community during a stop in Paris on his September pilgrimage to the Roman Catholic shrine of Lourdes, the Vatican...

Israel closes Gaza crossings in response to rocket - Added 7 weeks ago

Israel crossings with the Gaza Strip were closed Friday in retaliation for Palestinian rocket fire that has violated a rocky truce as Gaza's Islamic Hamas rulers responded by suspending talks on freeing a long-held...

Sri Lankan army says rebel base seized - Added 7 weeks ago

Sri Lankan troops captured a key Tamil Tiger rebel base in the island's north Friday, a day after a wave of battles in the same region killed 32 rebels and two soldiers, the military said. Soldiers took control of...

Russian investigators say 2 notaries are killed - Added 7 weeks ago

Russian investigators say two top public notaries for the Moscow region have been shot dead near the capital. A spokesman for the general-prosecutor office's investigative staff, Vladimir Markin, says the men were shot...

France hands over ancient looted pottery to Italy - Added 7 weeks ago

Italy's Culture Ministry says France has handed over 50 pieces of pottery dating back to as far as the fourth century B.C. that were looted from southern Italy. The earthenware includes Greek-styled vases, wine cups...

Former Congolese warlord Bemba appears in court - Added 7 weeks ago

Former Congolese Vice President Jean-Pierre Bemba appeared Friday for the first time at the International Criminal Court, where he faces rape and torture charges linked to a brutal conflict in Central African Republic. ...

US says airstrikes hit Afghan insurgents - Added 7 weeks ago

The U.S. military said airstrikes by its attack helicopters hit two vehicles carrying insurgents Friday in eastern Afghanistan. Afghan officials said civilians were traveling in the vehicles. 1st Lt. Nathan Perry, a...

Russian billionaire Abramovich leaves governor job - Added 7 weeks ago

Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich has resigned as governor of a remote Arctic region, a position he has held for almost eight years and long wanted to leave. His formal resignation request was denied two years ago...

State media: Iran responds to nuclear proposal - Added 7 weeks ago

Iran delivered its response Friday to an international offer of incentives for it to suspend uranium enrichment, a central part of its nuclear program, state television reported. The report did not say what the...

India airlifts 2 tigers to national reserve - Added 7 weeks ago

In an unprecedented attempt to revive the tiger population in western India, authorities airlifted a female tiger to a national reserve Friday where it will join a male tiger delivered there last week. The tigers were...

Senior British intelligence official is in coma - Added 7 weeks ago

Britain's senior intelligence official has been rushed to a London hospital after falling into a coma, officials said Friday, but foul play is not suspected in his sudden illness. Alex Allan, chairman of the Joint...

Hong Kong lawmaker barred from Sichuan quake zone - Added 7 weeks ago

An outspoken pro-democracy lawmaker in Hong Kong was barred Friday from traveling to southwest China to visit areas damaged in a massive earthquake. Leung Kwok-hung, a member of the territory's Legislative Council,...

Hundreds of Tibetan exiles protest in Nepal - Added 7 weeks ago

Hundreds of Tibetans protesting Chinese control of their homeland tried to storm the Chinese Embassy visa office in the Nepalese capital on Friday, police said. A few managed to reach the gates of the fortified complex...

5 Indian soldiers die in fighting in Kashmir - Added 7 weeks ago

Fierce fighting raged in India's portion of Kashmir Friday, killing five army soldiers and a suspected Muslim rebel near the de facto border with Pakistan. Earlier this week, 11 suspected rebels and an army officer...

EU, Russia optimistic about new energy deal - Added 7 weeks ago

The European Union and Russia said Friday they would discuss all aspects of energy cooperation _ including access to energy markets _ during negotiations on broader political and economic ties. But neither side...

Colombia hostage rescue sidelines Chavez - Added 7 weeks ago

Hugo Chavez, once a key mediator in securing hostage releases from Colombian rebels, could do little more than phone congratulations to President Alvaro Uribe after this week's bold rescue. But even freed captive...

US, Poland have differences over missile plan - Added 7 weeks ago

Poland's deputy prime minister says that differences remain in the Polish and U.S. approaches to an agreement on placing a U.S. missile defense base here. Prime Minister Donald Tusk held a 40-minute telephone...

Doctor fined for accidentally severing man's penis - Added 7 weeks ago

A court has ordered a Romanian surgeon to pay $795,000 in compensation to a patient whose penis he accidentally severed during an operation. In July 2004, Dr. Naum Ciomu made a surgical error while operating on the...

Pakistan says its serious in fighting militants - Added 7 weeks ago

A senior Pakistani official said Friday the government is serious about fighting Islamic militants, after authorities said they had rounded up 220 suspects as a military operation proceeded in a volatile tribal region. ...