A grenade or mortar shell struck the Spanish Embassy during fighting between factions in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Thursday, a Spanish Foreign Ministry spokesman told CNN.The blast caused no injuries but prompted the evacuation of Spanish diplomats in U.N. armored vehicles, the spokesman said.Spanish-speaking troops from Uruguay, part of the 17,000-strong U.N. force in the country, moved in quickly after the shell hit the embassy amid ongoing disturbances that included gunfire, the spokesman said.The diplomats were taken to a secure U.N. building in Kinshasa, the nation's capital.The Spanish Embassy is near the residence of former rebel leader Jean-Pierre Bemba, who lost a presidential election last October to Joseph Kabila.... http://www.cnn.com censor News |
Editor - 20:54:00 03-22-07 |
Houdini may be exhumed to answer mystery |
For all of his death-defying stunts, Harry Houdini could not escape the Grim Reaper. The unparalleled performer, age 52, died on Halloween 1926, taking with him many of his trade secrets. Rumors he was murdered, however, soon took on a life of their own.Eighty-one years later, Houdini's great-nephew wants to exhume the escape artist's body to determine if he was poisoned by enemies for his efforts to debunk their claims of contact with the dead.A team of top-level forensic investigators would conduct new tests once Houdini's body was disinterred, a relative told The Associated Press."It needs to be looked at," said George Hardeen, whose grandfather was Houdini's brother, Theodore. "His death shocked the entire nation, if not the world. Now, maybe it's time to take a second look."... http://www.cnn.com/2007/LAW/03/22/houdini.murder.ap/index.html?eref=rss_us
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Editor - 20:50:00 03-22-07 |
TV networks plan rival to YouTube |
Two US television networks are to combine their TV shows into a single online portal, to counter the threat of video-sharing sites such as YouTube. NBC Universal and Fox will put top shows such as 24, House and Heroes as well as hit movies on the site, which will carry advertising. The initiative is designed to give the firms greater control over how their content is accessed on the internet. Viacom has launched a $1bn copyright infringement lawsuit against YouTube. Viacom, which owns MTV and Nickelodeon, says YouTube uses its shows illegally. Viacom alleges that about 160,000 unauthorised clips of its programmes have been loaded onto YouTube's site and viewed more than 1.5 billion times. ... http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6480949.stm
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Editor - 20:41:00 03-22-07 |
Mexico to keep corn prices down: Calderon |
Mexico will control domestic corn prices further to make sure rising global costs do not push inflation up and hurt consumers, President Felipe Calderon said on Thursday.Speaking at the Reuters Latin American Investment Summit, Calderon said he would likely strike a new deal with corn flour producers to cap prices. An earlier agreement runs out on April 30. "Whatever happens, there will be policies and decisions by the government aimed at controlling and mitigating the dramatic change of international prices," Calderon said. Soaring U.S demand for ethanol has sent corn prices to their highest in a decade, pushing up prices of Mexico's national food staple, the tortilla, and fueling inflation. "We are following the price of tortillas very closely," Calderon said. "Despite this turbulence, we will keep inflation under control." ... http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=2974522
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Editor - 20:33:00 03-22-07 |
Archbishop urges Zimbabwe protest |
A prominent Roman Catholic archbishop in Zimbabwe has called for mass street protests to force President Robert Mugabe from power. The Archbishop of Bulawayo, Pius Ncube, told a news conference in Harare that he was willing to stand in front of "blazing guns" if necessary. Scores of opposition activists have been arrested since police broke up a banned rally on 11 March in Harare. There is increasing discontent over the country's deepening economic crisis. Archbishop Ncube said that if Zimbabweans took to the streets in their thousands to demand that President Mugabe step down, the security forces would be powerless to stop them. "I am ready to stand in front," he said. "We must be ready to stand, even in front of blazing guns." The archbishop blamed years of economic and political turmoil in Zimbabwe on a land redistribution programme launched in 2000 that has turned white-owned commercial farms over to blacks.... http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6482723.stm
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Editor - 17:04:00 03-22-07 |
Israel's Peres says wouldn't have entered Lebanon war |
Deputy Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres, in testimony to a Lebanon war inquiry released on Thursday, said he would not have entered last year's war if the decision had rested with him. The government-appointed Winograd commission is examining how Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, his cabinet and the military brass handled the inconclusive war that Israel fought against Lebanon's Hezbollah guerrillas last year.The release of the commission's interim findings could determine Olmert's political future. Many Israelis see the war as a failure and say Olmert's objectives were never met."If it were up to me, I would not have entered into this war. If it was also up to me, I would not have made a list of objectives for the war... We were attacked and we needed to repel the attack. That is it," Peres said in testimony last year to the commission.... http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070322/ts_nm/israel_olmert_dc
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Editor - 13:59:00 03-22-07 |
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