JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Clashes broke out between Israeli security forces and Palestinian protesters in the occupied West Bank and at a holy site in Jerusalem on Friday as tensions rose just weeks before a visit by U.S. President Barack Obama. Trouble broke out after the funeral in the West Bank of a Palestinian who died of wounds on Thursday after being shot by Israeli soldiers during a confrontation two weeks ago. An Israeli police officer falls, engulfed in flames after Palestinian protesters threw firebombs during clashes after Friday prayers at a compound known to Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif and to Jews as...
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KABUL (Reuters) - A NATO contractor was killed on Friday by individuals dressed as members of the Afghan security forces in eastern Afghanistan, the coalition's...
Official figures released this morning show that Britain’s construction industry is under pressure. The good news is that it managed growth of just 0.9 per cent in the final three months of 2012, breaking a year-long run of decline. But January’s figures revealed a 6.3 per cent slide in output, putting the industry in danger of a plunge back into the red. As Steve McGuckin, boss of the management consultancy Turner & Townsend, said today: “Sadly the momentum of the last quarter of 2012 has not been maintained, and the construction sector risks being recast as the fall guy of the British economy. The government’s hopes of the private sector pumping desperately needed money into...
TOKYO (AP) -- Japan's economy did better than first thought in the last quarter of 2012, eking out a slight expansion instead of shrinking in a boost for Prime Minister's Shinzo Abe's policies to end two decades of deflationary stagnation. The government Friday upgraded its annualized growth figure for the fourth quarter to 0.2 percent, suggesting the world's No. 3 economy is emerging from recession. The change raises growth for full-year 2012 to 2 percent from the originally recorded 1.9 percent....
CARACAS (Reuters) - At least two dozen heads of state were due to attend Hugo Chavez's funeral on Friday during an outpouring of grief for the charismatic but divisive Venezuelan leader who changed the face of politics in South America. Chavez died on Tuesday at age 58 after a two-year battle with cancer, devastating millions of mostly poor supporters who loved him for putting the country's vast oil wealth at their service, but giving hope to opponents who denounced him as a dictator. Huge crowds of "Chavistas," many carrying his picture or wearing T-shirts bearing the image of his eyes, have swamped the plazas around a military academy where his coffin was carried after being paraded...
Non-aggression pact with South Korea cancelled, adding to threat of nuclear attack on US and 'crushing strikes' on enemies A North Korean rally held after the threat to launch a nuclear strike against the US. Photograph: KCNA/AFP/Getty North Korea has said it is cancelling a hotline and non-aggression pact with the South after the United Nations security council unanimously backed a toughened sanctions regime over the country's third nuclear test. Pyongyang issued a series of warnings in the run-up to Thursday's vote, and in the hours before the council met it raised the threat of a pre-emptive nuclear strike on the United States. Experts point...
WILLIAM WALLIS and KATRINA MANSON in Nairobi Kenya’s national electoral commission pressed ahead with tallying results despite calls for a halt to the count and accusations of rigging by supporters of one of the presidential frontrunners. The campaign behind Raila Odinga, the prime minister, said it had evidence some results were being doctored and called on the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to halt results being announced. Some observers drew...
Just before leaving for Venezuela to attend the funeral of Hugo Chávez, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad penned a laudatory tribute for the late president. "[Chavez] is alive, as long as nations are alive and struggle for consolidating independence, justice and kindness. I have no doubt that he will come back, and along with Christ the Saviour, the heir to all saintly and perfect...
UNITED NATIONS -- The U.N. Security Council has voted unanimously for tough new sanctions to punish North Korea for its latest nuclear test, a move that sparked a furious Pyongyang to threaten a nuclear strike against the United States. The vote Thursday by the U.N.'s most powerful body on a resolution drafted by North Korea's closest ally, China, and the United States sends a powerful message to North Korea that the international community condemns its ballistic missile and nuclear tests – and its repeated violation of Security Council resolutions. The new sanctions are aimed at making it more difficult for North Korea to finance and obtain material for its weapons programs. THIS IS A...
Nairobi - The running mate of one of the two front-runners in Kenya's presidential vote said on Thursday the ballot count lacked integrity and should stop, comments that could inflame what has so far been a largely peaceful election. The remarks by Kalonzo Musyoka, running alongside presidential hopeful...
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysian security forces gunned down 31 Filipino intruders in Borneo on Thursday, the highest number of casualties in a single day since nearly 200 members of a Philippine...
The ballot count in Kenya's presidential elections has been rigged, says Kalonzo Musyoka, the running mate of Prime Minister Raila Odinga. "We have evidence the results we have...
Curfew continued for the second day without relaxation in parts of Jammu, Srinagar and some other places in the Kashmir Valley Thursday. "Curfew will remain in place in Khanyar, Rainawari, Nowhatta, M.R. Gunj, Safa Kadal, Zadibal, Maisuma and Kralkhud police station areas in Srinagar city today...
It is a testament to Yukiya Amano’s success as head of the UN atomic agency that unlike his appointment in 2009, securing a second term was a formality. Succeeding Nobel prize winner Mohamed ElBaradei, the Japanese career diplomat had big shoes to fill and in 2009 his election divided member states of the International Atomic Energy Agency. He was chosen then only after six rounds of voting when he scraped together the backing of 23 of the 35 IAEA board members. Many countries, particularly from the developing world, backed a rival South African candidate. On Wednesday it could not have been more...
CARACAS, Venezuela — In the weeks leading up to his mentor’s death, Vice President Nicolás Maduro’s imitations of President Hugo Chávez became ever more apparent. Multimedia Hugo Chávez, 1954-2013 Hugo Chávez, 1954-2013 Close Video See More Videos » Slide Show In the Streets of Venezuela, Bidding Farewell to Chávez Multimedia Feature: 10 Memorable Hugo Chávez Moments Video: Report From Venezuela Photographs: Hugo Chávez’s Rise to Power Related Chávez Altered How Venezuela Views Itself, for Good or Ill (March 7, 2013) In South Bronx, Memories of Chávez and the Aid He Gave (March 7, 2013) Connect With Us on Twitter Follow @nytimesworld for international...
TUCSON – “Fight, fight, fight” were the first words by Gabrielle Giffords during a news conference on Wednesday from the same supermarket parking lot where a gunman opened fire on Jan. 8, 2011, wounding her and 12 others and taking six lives. Ms. Giffords, a former congresswoman for Arizona, was embracing the role of constituent to her senators, Republicans John McCain and Jeff Flake, asking them to support legislation requiring background checks for every gun purchase. “Be bold. Be courageous,” she urged them from behind a lectern. Onlookers cheered. Her husband, the former astronaut Mark E. Kelly, kept a supportive hand on her shoulder as she spoke. When she was done, he planted a kiss on...
Flanked by almost 20 men with rifles, Omar Abu al-Chechen kneels on a carpet and delivers a rousing speech urging fellow Muslims to support the 'jihad' against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Dressed almost entirely in black, the militant from Russia's Chechnya region declares an Islamist state is within reach. Fellow fighters from the brigade of foreign militants he leads translate his Russian words into Arabic. His recently distributed video highlights the role militants from the volatile North Caucasus region now play in Syria's civil war, fighting a government that has been backed by Russia and staunchly protected by President Vladimir Putin. It also puts in focus the...
As expected, The European Union has levied a hefty fine against . EU regulators issued a $732 million fine against the technology giant for failing to comply with a deal to offer browser choice to Windows users. This is the first time that the European Commission has fined a company for non- with a decision. In 2009, the EC made these commitments legally binding on Microsoft until 2014. Because Microsoft did not roll out a browser-choice screen as promised with its...
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United Nations says about 20 peacekeepers in the force charged with monitoring the cease-fire between Israel and Syrian troops on the Golan Heights have been detained by approximately 30 armed fighters. U.N. deputy spokesman Eduardo del Buey says the U.N. observers were on a regular supply mission Wednesday when they were...
Germany remains opposed to Romania and Bulgaria joining the European open-border Schengen area. Critics say it is an attempt to stop Roma from those countries from making their way to the West. Germany will reject an attempt by Bulgaria and Romania to join the so-called Schengen zone if they insist on participating in the border-free travel regime at Thursday's meeting of European justice and interior ministers in Brussels. "Germany will veto it and they will fail," German Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich said in an interview with German news magazine Der Spiegel earlier this week. The decision needs the unanimous approval of all the ministers. "Our citizens will only accept an...
