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Acre remains tense after Jewish, Arab youths riot
A brittle calm had returned to this northern Israeli city late yesterday, following two nights of clashes pitting hundreds of Jewish and Arab youths, in which at least 18 people were injured, including nine police.
Lebanon to complain to UN about Israeli threats
Lebanon's government says it will complain to the United Nations about Israeli threats to destroy Lebanese villages if they are used to fire missiles on Israel.
Information Minister Tarek Mitri says the recent Israeli threats should be taken seriously. He says Prime Minister Fuad Saniora will write to the United Nations on the subject.
After Russian invasion of Georgia, Latvia discussing expanded military exercises with US, NATO AP
Russia keen on Iran ties
Russian Deputy FM Alexei Borodavkin said on Friday that his country is keen to strengthen bilateral ties with Iran.
He said that Russia is willing to cooperate with Iran on the international, regional, cultural, economic and political issues.
Russia Did Not Meet Obligations To Remove Troops From Georgia AP
Russian naval task force arrives in Libyan capital
A naval task force from Russia's Northern Fleet, led by the nuclear-powered missile cruiser Pyotr Veliky, arrived Saturday in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, Capt. 1st Rank Igor Dygalo said.
After training at sea and some visits to other foreign ports, the Russian warships will head for the Caribbean to hold exercises in November with Venezuela's navy.
Turkish planes hit PKK targets in N.Iraq-army
Turkish war planes and artillery have pounded bases of the Kurdish separatist group PKK in a big operation in northern Iraq, the military said on Saturday.
An army statement said Turkish planes and artillery attacked 31 PKK targets in northern Iraq's Hakurk region at about midnight Friday. The operation was a success, it said.
Plight of massive underclass drains support away from Egypt's ruling party
Public disaffection with the Egyptian government appears to have reached an all-time high. "There's no denying that popular anger toward the government is rising across the board," Nabil Abdel-Fattah, assistant director at the semi-official Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, told IPS. "The political friction has become palpable."
G7 brings in Russia for financial crisis talks
The global financial crisis has changed the format of the Group of Seven, causing the finance ministers of the major industrialized countries to bring Russia into their discussions, the Russian finance minister said.
G-7 agrees on 5 point plan to stabilise financial markets
Finance ministers and central bank governors from seven major industrial economies met Friday in Washington and agreed on a five-point plan to stabilize global financial markets that this week experienced their biggest declines in 30 years.
Berlin says `no current` plans for nationalizing banks
The German government has "currently no plans" to nationalize banks hit by the severe global credit crisis crunch, Finance Ministry spokesperson Torsten Albig said at a regular weekly press briefing in Berlin on Friday.
US government to take stakes in banks, Paulson says
The US government plans to take ownership stakes in banks in a fresh bid to restore confidence in financial markets, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said Friday. The dramatic step comes as part of the 700-billion-dollar rescue package passed by Congress last week that gave the government broad new powers to buy up soured mortgage assets from troubled banks in the United States.
Israel says banking system solid
Israel's banking system is sound and can be trusted, Finance Minister Roni Bar-On said on Friday, while appealing to investors not to panic.
China to float 23.38b yuan of three-year T-bonds
China's Ministry of Finance (MOF) on Friday announced that it will issue 23.38 billion yuan ($3.4 billion) worth of book-entry treasury bonds next week.
The three-year bonds, the 19th batch of this year, have a fixed interest rate of 2.64 percent.
GM, Chrysler in merger talks
General Motors has had talks with smaller rival Chrysler LLC about a merger that would combine the No. 1 and No. 3 American automakers at a time when both are struggling to cut costs and shore up cash, according to a source briefed on the matter.
Iran calls for oil market stability as prices slide
Iran's oil minister called for market stability on Saturday, a day after crude prices dropped more than 10 percent, and said the "current critical problem" was related to demand.
When the World's Deserts Flood
Semi-arid regions across Africa are seeing increased flooding in recent years. One expert says more study is needed into the role of global climate change in the heavy Sahel rains.
Kenya's elephants send text messages to rangers
Kenya is the first country to try elephant texting as a way to protect both a growing human population and the wild animals that now have less room to roam. Elephants are ranked as ``near threatened' in the Red List, an index of vulnerable species published by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
US controls bird flu vaccines over bioweapon fears AP
"Millions more Ethiopians going hungry"
According to new information released by Oxfam International, aid efforts for Ethiopia are stalling while the number of Ethiopians needing emergency assistance has leapt by 40 percent from 4.6 million to 6.4 million people since June. Cereal rations to those needing assistance had been "reduced by a third because not enough food is reaching the country," it said.
WHO seeks global priority on mental health issues
"There is no health without mental health," Shigeru Omi, WHO regional director of the Western Pacific, said in a statement. "We need to integrate mental health in primary health care.”
"We need to reinforce partnerships, accelerate efforts, scale up interventions, increase investments towards providing services to those who do not have any - and the political will to see all this through," he added.
Ban on commercial use of GPS in Egypt has consumers frustrated
Technology lovers and modern car owners in Egypt consider themselves unlucky because of a government ban on the usage of Global Positioning System (GPS) technology.
Today, only three countries in the world still ban the commercial use of GPS: Egypt, Syria and North Korea.
First tap-proof communication network using quantum physics tested
Using quantum physics, researchers said they communicated for the first time via a completely tap-proof telephone network in Vienna on Wednesday. Scientists involved in the SECOQC project, funded by the European Union, found a way to create an encryption key based on the polarisation of photons, subatomic particles that carry light.
Court permits same-sex marriage
The 4-3 decision makes Connecticut the third state - after California and Massachusetts - to allow same-sex marriages and also casts doubt on the long-term viability of gay civil unions as a compromise measure, which has happened in seven other states and the District of Columbia. The Connecticut legislature passed a civil-unions bill in 2005 that granted all the rights and responsibilities of marriage, but the court ruled that wasn't enough.
A brittle calm had returned to this northern Israeli city late yesterday, following two nights of clashes pitting hundreds of Jewish and Arab youths, in which at least 18 people were injured, including nine police.
Lebanon to complain to UN about Israeli threats
Lebanon's government says it will complain to the United Nations about Israeli threats to destroy Lebanese villages if they are used to fire missiles on Israel.
Information Minister Tarek Mitri says the recent Israeli threats should be taken seriously. He says Prime Minister Fuad Saniora will write to the United Nations on the subject.
After Russian invasion of Georgia, Latvia discussing expanded military exercises with US, NATO AP
Russia keen on Iran ties
Russian Deputy FM Alexei Borodavkin said on Friday that his country is keen to strengthen bilateral ties with Iran.
He said that Russia is willing to cooperate with Iran on the international, regional, cultural, economic and political issues.
Russia Did Not Meet Obligations To Remove Troops From Georgia AP
Russian naval task force arrives in Libyan capital
A naval task force from Russia's Northern Fleet, led by the nuclear-powered missile cruiser Pyotr Veliky, arrived Saturday in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, Capt. 1st Rank Igor Dygalo said.
After training at sea and some visits to other foreign ports, the Russian warships will head for the Caribbean to hold exercises in November with Venezuela's navy.
Turkish planes hit PKK targets in N.Iraq-army
Turkish war planes and artillery have pounded bases of the Kurdish separatist group PKK in a big operation in northern Iraq, the military said on Saturday.
An army statement said Turkish planes and artillery attacked 31 PKK targets in northern Iraq's Hakurk region at about midnight Friday. The operation was a success, it said.
Plight of massive underclass drains support away from Egypt's ruling party
Public disaffection with the Egyptian government appears to have reached an all-time high. "There's no denying that popular anger toward the government is rising across the board," Nabil Abdel-Fattah, assistant director at the semi-official Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, told IPS. "The political friction has become palpable."
G7 brings in Russia for financial crisis talks
The global financial crisis has changed the format of the Group of Seven, causing the finance ministers of the major industrialized countries to bring Russia into their discussions, the Russian finance minister said.
G-7 agrees on 5 point plan to stabilise financial markets
Finance ministers and central bank governors from seven major industrial economies met Friday in Washington and agreed on a five-point plan to stabilize global financial markets that this week experienced their biggest declines in 30 years.
Berlin says `no current` plans for nationalizing banks
The German government has "currently no plans" to nationalize banks hit by the severe global credit crisis crunch, Finance Ministry spokesperson Torsten Albig said at a regular weekly press briefing in Berlin on Friday.
US government to take stakes in banks, Paulson says
The US government plans to take ownership stakes in banks in a fresh bid to restore confidence in financial markets, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said Friday. The dramatic step comes as part of the 700-billion-dollar rescue package passed by Congress last week that gave the government broad new powers to buy up soured mortgage assets from troubled banks in the United States.
Israel says banking system solid
Israel's banking system is sound and can be trusted, Finance Minister Roni Bar-On said on Friday, while appealing to investors not to panic.
China to float 23.38b yuan of three-year T-bonds
China's Ministry of Finance (MOF) on Friday announced that it will issue 23.38 billion yuan ($3.4 billion) worth of book-entry treasury bonds next week.
The three-year bonds, the 19th batch of this year, have a fixed interest rate of 2.64 percent.
GM, Chrysler in merger talks
General Motors has had talks with smaller rival Chrysler LLC about a merger that would combine the No. 1 and No. 3 American automakers at a time when both are struggling to cut costs and shore up cash, according to a source briefed on the matter.
Iran calls for oil market stability as prices slide
Iran's oil minister called for market stability on Saturday, a day after crude prices dropped more than 10 percent, and said the "current critical problem" was related to demand.
When the World's Deserts Flood
Semi-arid regions across Africa are seeing increased flooding in recent years. One expert says more study is needed into the role of global climate change in the heavy Sahel rains.
Kenya's elephants send text messages to rangers
Kenya is the first country to try elephant texting as a way to protect both a growing human population and the wild animals that now have less room to roam. Elephants are ranked as ``near threatened' in the Red List, an index of vulnerable species published by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
US controls bird flu vaccines over bioweapon fears AP
"Millions more Ethiopians going hungry"
According to new information released by Oxfam International, aid efforts for Ethiopia are stalling while the number of Ethiopians needing emergency assistance has leapt by 40 percent from 4.6 million to 6.4 million people since June. Cereal rations to those needing assistance had been "reduced by a third because not enough food is reaching the country," it said.
WHO seeks global priority on mental health issues
"There is no health without mental health," Shigeru Omi, WHO regional director of the Western Pacific, said in a statement. "We need to integrate mental health in primary health care.”
"We need to reinforce partnerships, accelerate efforts, scale up interventions, increase investments towards providing services to those who do not have any - and the political will to see all this through," he added.
Ban on commercial use of GPS in Egypt has consumers frustrated
Technology lovers and modern car owners in Egypt consider themselves unlucky because of a government ban on the usage of Global Positioning System (GPS) technology.
Today, only three countries in the world still ban the commercial use of GPS: Egypt, Syria and North Korea.
First tap-proof communication network using quantum physics tested
Using quantum physics, researchers said they communicated for the first time via a completely tap-proof telephone network in Vienna on Wednesday. Scientists involved in the SECOQC project, funded by the European Union, found a way to create an encryption key based on the polarisation of photons, subatomic particles that carry light.
Court permits same-sex marriage
The 4-3 decision makes Connecticut the third state - after California and Massachusetts - to allow same-sex marriages and also casts doubt on the long-term viability of gay civil unions as a compromise measure, which has happened in seven other states and the District of Columbia. The Connecticut legislature passed a civil-unions bill in 2005 that granted all the rights and responsibilities of marriage, but the court ruled that wasn't enough.