 At least 11 Sri Lankan soldiers were killed in heavy fighting in the island's northeast Monday, official sources said, as Tiger rebels claimed that 20 civilians died in army artillery strikes.Military and medical sources said another 79 soldiers were wounded in heavy artillery exchanges in the district of Trincomalee, where troops were trying to push back Tiger artillery guns.The rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam said 20 civilians were killed and another 26 wounded in air and artillery attacks."Twenty civilians have died so far and 26 have been injured," the LTTE said in a statement. It did not say if the Tigers suffered casualties in the latest fighting.The military casualties were taken to three hospitals in Trincomalee district as well as neighboring Polonnaruwa district, doctors said, adding that most of the victims had shrapnel wounds....
http://www.usatoday.com
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Editor - 08:37:00 08-28-06
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 US ends Somali banking blacklist |
Somali banking company al-Barakat says all its international representatives have been taken off a US terror list. Al-Barakat, known for cheap overseas money transfers, was a mainstay of the Somali economy until a 2001 clampdown. But al-Barakat will still not be able to operate, as about $9m of funds are still being blocked by the US. The owner of al-Barakat, Ahmed Nur Ali Jimaale, told the BBC that his representative in Sweden had been the last to be taken off the list. This has been confirmed by the Swedish foreign ministry, which said it made representations to Washington. Mr Ahmed Nur appealed to the US to release the blocked funds, saying the action was hurting some of Somalia's poorest people, and had cost the company about $30m. When it was operational, al-Barakat operated in 40 countries and transferred up to $140m a ...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/5292750.stm
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Editor - 08:36:00 08-28-06
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| AP Poll: a Year After Katrina, Most Americans Say Nation Isn't Ready for Another Disaster |
Their confidence shaken by Katrina, most Americans don't believe the nation is ready for another major disaster, a new AP-Ipsos poll finds. Poor people are more likely to fear becoming victims of the next disaster. The survey, conducted one year after the devastating hurricane and with much of New Orleans still in shambles, found diminishing faith in the government's ability to deal with emergencies. It also gave President Bush poor marks for his handling of the storm's aftermath. The region could get an eerily timed test of preparedness with forecasters concerned that a storm system named Ernesto could be at hurricane strength as it crosses over Cuba and heads across the Florida Keys this week. Fifty-seven percent in the poll said they felt at least somewhat strongly the country was ill-prepared up from 44 percent in the days after the storm slammed ashore on Aug. 29, 2005. Just one in three Americans polled believe Bush did a good job with Katrina, down from 46 percent a year ago...
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2365427
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Editor - 08:33:00 08-28-06
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| Austria kidnap girl mourns captor |
An Austrian teenager recovering after spending eight years in an underground cell is grieving for her captor. Natascha Kampusch, 18, said Wolfgang Priklopil was "part of my life, that's why in a certain way I'm mourning him". He killed himself by jumping in front of a train after her escape last week. It is still unclear why he abducted her as she was on her way to school. "Give me time until I can tell my story myself," Ms Kampusch said in her first statement read by her psychiatrist. She said she understood the media "curiosity" about her life with the kidnapper, but insisted that she would not answer intimate questions. "Maybe I'll tell a therapist one day or someone else when I feel the need to. Or maybe never. The intimacy only belongs to me." Ms Kampusch said she and Priklopil had eaten meals and watched television together, and had jointly done the housework. ...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5292102.stm
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Editor - 08:31:00 08-28-06
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| Welcome to your new holiday home. Please beware of the danger of bombs. Corsican separatists' violent protest at rising house prices |
In the cul-de-sac of pastel villas on a hillside overlooking a clear blue bay, one house spoiled the postcard view. Its front wall was spray-painted with "FLNC", the tag of separatists from the Corsican National Liberation Front, who had bombed it hours before. The newly built holiday home in the hamlet of Penisolu in Coggia, 25 miles north of the island's capital, Ajaccio, still had a cement-mixer outside. It had been almost ready for its owner from the French mainland to move in. The bombers had waited until it was nearly complete in order to send a message to the doctors, lawyers and other middle-class buyers who flock to Corsica to build second homes - that the armed struggle was not over and property speculators were the new enemy. The attack was one of a number timed to go off simultaneously at summer houses across the island in the latest campaign. Other targets included a German press magnate's nearly finished villa south of Ajaccio bay. ...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1859573,00.html
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Editor - 23:25:00 08-27-06
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| Bush 'palace' shielded from Iraqi storm |
THE plans are a state secret, so just where the Starbucks and Krispy Kreme stores will be is a mystery. But as the concrete hulks of a huge 21-building complex rise from the ashes of Saddam's Baghdad, Washington is sending a clear message to Iraqis: "We're here to stay."It's being built in the Middle East, but George W's palace, as the locals have dubbed the new US embassy, is designed as a suburb of Washington.An army of more than 3500 diplomatic and support staff will have their own sports centre, beauty parlour and swimming pool. Each of the six residential blocks will contain more than 600 apartments.The prime 25-hectare site was a steal — it was a gift from the Iraqi Government. And if the five-metre-thick perimeter walls don't keep the locals at bay, then the built-in surface-to-air missile station should....
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2006/08/25/1156012740594.html
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Editor - 23:17:00 08-27-06
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