The Nation : International News

World remembers sacrifice of WWI lost generation

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0300

PARIS (AFP) - Former foes France and Germany held a joint World War I Armistice Day ceremony for the first time as events around the globe Wednesday honoured the millions killed in the conflict.
In London, Queen Elizabeth II led tributes to the war dead, including the growing number of soldiers killed in Afghanistan. But the last British veteran of the 1914-18 conflict boycotted official events.
President Nicolas Sarkozy and Chancellor Angela Merkel rekindled the flame on

Lack of health care killed 2,266 US veterans last year

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0300

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The number of US veterans who died in 2008 because they lacked health insurance was 14 times higher than the US military death toll in Afghanistan that year, according to a new study.
The analysis produced by two Harvard medical researchers estimates that 2,266 US military veterans under the age of 65 died in 2008 because they lacked health coverage and had reduced access to medical care.
That figure is more than 14 times higher than the 155 US troop

Undernourishment an infant killer: UN

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0300

UNITED NATIONS (AFP) - About 200 million children suffer from stunted growth in developing countries due to chronic undernourishment, which also contributes to one-third of child deaths worldwide, UNICEF said Wednesday.
The study found that undernourishment, meaning the consumption or absorption of too few essential nutrients, was a contributing factor in more than a third of deaths of children under the age of five around the world. But the scourge could be avoided if the

Somali pirates hijack two more ships

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0300

MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Somali pirates seized a Greek cargo ship and a Yemeni fishing boat in the latest attacks demonstrating their ability to evade international naval forces, gunmen and officials said Wednesday.
Patrols by a multinational naval force in the strategic shipping lanes that link Europe to Asia through the busy Gulf of Aden only appear to have forced the sea gangs to extend their range and strike deeper into the Indian Ocean.
One of the pirates, Hassan, told

'No faith justifies' murders: Obama

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0300

NEW YORK - President Barack Obama paid tribute to the 13 victims of last week�s shooting attack at Fort Hood military base in Texas, saying these are �trying times for our country� and �no faith justifies� the killings.
�This is a time of war,� Obama said at a ceremony on the base. �And these Americans did not die on a foreign field of battle. They were killed here, on American soil, in the heart of this great state, in the heart of this great American community.� Obama reminded

Israel seeks to 'remove' two-state vision: Abbas

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0300

RAMALLAH, West Bank, (AFP/Reuters) - Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas on Wednesday resisted US pressure for a resumption of peace talks with Israel, repeating his demand for a complete halt to Israeli West Bank settlement building before negotiations in an address to tens of thousands of Palestinians gathered to honour late Yasser Arafat.
The fifth anniversary of the revered leader�s death finds Palestinians more divided than ever and his successor, Abbas, pondering resignation

Ahmadinejad suggests Iran role in atom fuel bank

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0300

TEHRAN (Reuters) - President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Wednesday declared Iran�s readiness for international nuclear cooperation, including on a global fuel bank, but made clear again that Tehran would not halt its own atomic activities.
In an interview with state broadcaster IRIB, Ahmadinejad did not directly mention a UN-brokered nuclear fuel deal meant to allay suspicions about Iran�s disputed nuclear ambitions.
The plan for Iran to part with stocks of potentially explosive

Israeli flights over Lebanon break resolution: UN

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0300

UNITED NATIONS (AFP) - All Israeli military flights over Lebanon break a resolution aimed at ending the 2006 hostilities between the two neighbours, a UN envoy said Tuesday.
�Every single Israeli overflight of Lebanon is a violation, your question gives me a welcome opportunity to repeat that,� the UN special envoy for Lebanon, Michael Williams, told reporters.
�To the best of my knowledge, there�s probably no other country in the world - probably, I may be wrong - which is

Nine swine flu cases in intending Hajis

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0300

RIYADH (AFP) - Nine people out of more than half a million who have arrived for performing Haj have been diagnosed with swine flu, Saudi Health Minister Dr Abdullah al-Rabeeah said on Wednesday.
�The situation from the point of health, we are very happy. Out of the 600,000 arriving so far, we have only seen nine suspected cases of A(H1N1), and only two of those are in the hospital,� Rabeeah told AFP. �The rest were treated and they were discharged,� he said.
Rabeeah said

Muslim lawyer barred from court over veil

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0300

MADRID (AFP) - A Muslim lawyer has protested to judicial authorities in Spain after being excluded from court for refusing to lift her veil, a Spanish newspaper reported Wednesday.
Zoubida Barik Edidi, a Spaniard of Moroccan origin, was attending a trial in the National Court in Madrid on October 29 when Judge Javier Gomez Bermudez asked her to leave because she refused to raise the veil, the daily El Pais said. It said she was not there to defend a client, but was wearing her

18 killed in Ghana gold mine disaster

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0300

The roof of an illegal gold mine in Ghana collapsed killing at least 18 people, including 14 women, in one of the worst mining disasters to hit the African nation, police said on Thursday. Thirty miners were believed to be inside the mine in Dompoase, about 400 kilometres (250 miles) west of Accra, said police commander Kojo Antwi Tabi. Tabi said more bodies could be recovered from the privately-run mine. Ghana is the second largest gold producer in Africa. Revenues from gold, which

Pilots killed in Vietnam military jet crash

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0300

A Vietnamese MiG-21 fighter jet crashed Thursday in the north of the country, killing the two pilots, a military source said. "The accident occurred around 14:00 after a very strong explosion," the officer from the Yen Bai provincial military command, 200 kilometres (125 miles) northwest of Hanoi, told a foreign news agency. "Two pilots were killed in the crash and there were no other victims on the ground," said the officer, speaking on condition of anonymity. Military authorities

Mike Tyson in scuffle at LA airport

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0300

Mike Tyson allegedly hit a photographer at Los Angeles International Airport and was booked and released on suspicion of battery on Wednesday, police said.
The paparazzo told police that the former heavyweight boxing champion struck him once, airport police spokesman Sgt. Jim Holcomb said. The photographer fell to the ground and was treated for a cut to his forehead at a hospital. Tyson's spokeswoman Tammy Brook said the boxer was traveling with his wife and 10-month-old child

Obama rejects Afghan war options: official

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0300

US President Barack Obama does not plan to accept any of the Afghanistan war options presented by his national security team, pushing instead for revisions to clarify how and when U.S. troops would turn over responsibility to the Afghan government, a senior administration official said Wednesday.
That stance comes in the midst of forceful reservations about a possible troop buildup from the U.S. ambassador in Afghanistan, Karl Eikenberry, according to a second top administration

US envoy resists increase in troops in Afghanistan: Washington Post

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0300

The U.S. ambassador in Kabul sent two classified cables to Washington in the past week expressing deep concerns about sending more U.S. troops to Afghanistan until President Hamid Karzai's government demonstrates that it is willing to tackle the corruption and mismanagement that has fueled the Taliban's rise, senior U.S. officials said.
Karl W. Eikenberry's memos, sent as President Obama enters the final stages of his deliberations over a new Afghanistan strategy, illustrated