 U.S. troops on Tuesday abandoned checkpoints around the Shiite militia stronghold of Sadr City on orders from Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, the latest in a series of moves by the Iraqi leader to assert his authority with the U.S. administration. The U.S. military announced the deaths of two soldiers in fighting in the Baghdad area on Monday, one from small arms fire, the other from a roadside bomb. Those brought the number of troops killed in Iraq this month to 103. U.S. forces disappeared from the checkpoints within hours of the order to remove the around-the-clock barriers by 5:00 p.m. local time, setting off celebrations among civilians and armed men gathered on the edge of the sprawling slum that is under the control of the Mahdi Army militia run by anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Iraqi troops loaded coils of barbed wire and red traffic cones onto pickups, ...
http://www.usatoday.com
censor News |
Editor - 08:01:00 10-31-06
|
 North Korea talks set to resume |
Six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear programme are to due resume soon after a diplomatic breakthrough. Agreement came at an informal meeting in Beijing between North Korea, China and the US. The talks stalled a year ago after Pyongyang pulled out in protest at US financial sanctions imposed upon it. North Korea alarmed the world by testing a nuclear weapon earlier this month, prompting the UN to impose financial and arms sanctions. China's foreign ministry said on its website that envoys from China, the US and North Korea had met on Tuesday and "had a candid and in-depth exchange of views on continuing efforts to advance the process of the six-party talks". All three agreed the talks "be held soon at a time convenient to the six parties". ...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6102092.stm
full News |
Editor - 07:55:00 10-31-06
|
| Bush warns Sudan to end Darfur conflict soon |
Bush warned Sudan's government on Tuesday that it must move soon to end the deadly conflict in its wartorn Darfur region.Bush spoke to reporters after meeting with Andrew Natsios, the U.S. special envoy to Sudan. Bush said Natsios delivered a "grim report about the human condition" in Darfur after a 10-day trip to the area."The government of Sudan must understand that we're serious, when you deliver a message to them on behalf of our government, that we're earnest and serious about their necessity to step up and work with the international community," the president said.The vast, remote western province of Darfur has suffered from a 3-year-old war that has left some 200,000 people dead and 2.5 million displaced. Sudan's government is accused of unleashing brutal militiamen known as Janjaweed to quell a tribal rebellion against the government....
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-10-31-US-Sudan_x.htm?csp=34
full News |
Editor - 07:53:00 10-31-06
|
| British legislators to debate possible inquiry into Blair's handling of the Iraq war |
Prime Minister Tony Blair faced a new test of his authority Tuesday as lawmakers held their first full-fledged debate on Iraq since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion and planned a vote calling for an immediate inquiry into Britain's role in the conflict.Welsh and Scottish nationalists proposed a motion demanding a swift examination of the deteriorating security situation in Iraq, which has been riven by sectarian fighting. The head of the British army has proposed that troops should be pulled out soon.Britain's main opposition party, the Conservatives, said the debate would heap pressure on Blair, although it remained unclear how many would support the motion.Officials with the third-party Liberal Democrats said the results were likely to be close, claiming support had grown for the proposal by the Scottish National Party and the Welsh nationalists, Plaid Cymru....
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2006-10-31-blair_x.htm?csp=34
full News |
Editor - 07:52:00 10-31-06
|
| Youths Roam Streets in Mexican City Youths Roam Streets in Mexican City As Protesters Pledge to Keep Fighting |
The government said Tuesday it had not gained complete control of this embattled southern Mexican city despite sending hundreds of federal police who saw protesters erect new barricades and refuse to relinquish their hold on the capital after five months of demonstrations. Schools in the capital remained closed and most businesses surrounding Oaxaca City's tense center stayed shuttered as protesters maintained their calls for the resignation of Gov. Ulises Ruiz, whom they accuse of suppressing dissent and rigging the 2004 elections. Mexico's Congress joined those calls Monday, urging Ruiz to step down as a good-faith measure that could help to resolve the conflict that has paralyzed the capital since May. Ruiz rejected the request. Although striking teachers had promised to go back to work Monday, only about 4,000 of the state's 13,000 schools had opened as of Tuesday, none in the capital. ...
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=2618307
full News |
Editor - 07:50:00 10-31-06
|
| China To Restrict Death Penalties Legislature Says Only Nation's Highest Court Can Order Executions After Jan. 1 |
China's legislature on Tuesday barred all but the nation's highest court from approving death sentences, a move that state media called the country's biggest change to capital punishment in more than 20 years. China is believed to account for most of the world's court-ordered executions, putting to death hundreds of people a year for crimes ranging from murder to such nonviolent offenses as tax evasion. Human rights groups have been protesting what they call miscarriages of justice and the extensive, arbitrary use of capital punishment. The change, which will take effect on Jan. 1, 2007, "is believed to be the most important reform of capital punishment in China in more than two decades," the official Xinhua News Agency said. The Supreme People's Court announced last year it would start reviewing death sentences, ending a 23-year-old practice of allowing provincial courts to have final review. In June, state media said the court had begun hiring dozens of judges for the task...
http://wwwimage.cbsnews.com/images/2006/07/28/image1845336g.jpg
full News |
Editor - 07:47:00 10-31-06
|
|
| post The Good, The Bad and The Ugly |
|
|
