Two Italian marines accused of killing two Indian fishermen are on their way back to Delhi for trial, Indian officials say, as diplomatic tensions ease. India had allowed them to travel to Italy to vote in last month's election. When they failed to return, India's Supreme Court ruled Italy's ambassador was barred from leaving the country. The Italian government said it had received assurances about the...
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JERUSALEM -- President Barack Obama, appealing to disparate audiences to solve one of the world's thorniest problems, moved closer Thursday to the Israeli government's position on resuming long-stalled peace talks with the Palestinians, even as he implored young Israelis to get ahead of their own leaders in the push for peace. Addressing an enthusiastic crowd of more than 2,000 people, Mr. Obama offered a fervent, unsparing case for why a peace agreement was both morally just and in Israel's self-interest. Younger Israelis, Mr. Obama said, should empathize with their Palestinian neighbors living under occupation -- or, as he put it, "look at the world through their eyes."...
Kevin Rudd has ruled out any return to the Australian Labor Party leadership, as ructions continue after Thursday's abortive ballot. In a statement, Mr Rudd said there were "no circumstances" under which he would seek the party's top job. His comments came a day after he chose not to contest a vote aimed at ending debate over who should lead the party into September's election. Since then a number of his supporters have been sacked or stepped down. Simon Crean,...
Updated: March 21, 2013 8:26PM BEIRUT — A suicide bomb ripped through a mosque in the heart of the Syrian capital Thursday, killing a top Sunni Muslim preacher and outspoken supporter of President Bashar Assad in one of the most stunning assassinations of Syria’s 2-year-old civil war. At least 41 others were killed and more than 84 wounded. The slaying of Sheikh Mohammad Said Ramadan al-Buti removes one of the few remaining pillars of support for Assad among the majority Sunni sect that has risen up against him. It also marks a new low in the Syrian civil war: While suicide bombings blamed on Islamic extremists fighting with the rebels have become common, Thursday’s attack was the first time...
Former French president could face jail and fine for 'taking advantage' of Liliane Bettencourt, France's richest woman Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy has repeatedly denied taking campaign funds from Liliane Bettencourt. Photograph: Abdullah Doma/AFP/Getty Images Ex-French president Nicolas Sarkozy has been placed under formal investigation for "abuse of weakness" in a 2007 party funding case involving elderly L'Oréal heiress Liliane Bettencourt, the public...
CANTERBURY, England — Justin Welby, the 57-year old former oil executive who quit the world of high finance in 1992 to become a priest, was enthroned Thursday (March 21) as the 105th archbishop of Canterbury and spiritual leader of the world’s 77 million Anglicans. With Prince Charles and Camilla the Duchess of Cornwall looking on, Welby struck his pastoral staff three times on the door of the ancient Canterbury Cathedral, seeking admission to assume his throne in a ceremony that mixed age-old pageantry with contemporary praise and worship songs. “Who are you and why do you request entry?” a young woman from the congregation asked, greeting Welby at the door. “I...
Kim Jong-un oversees mock drone strike as North Korea threatens military bases in Japan and on Guam Link to video: North Korea threatens US airbases in Japan North Korea has said it will attack US military bases on Japan and the Pacific island of Guam if provoked, a day after its leader, Kim Jong-un, oversaw a mock drone strike on South Korea. The North also held an air raid drill on Thursday after accusing the United States of preparing a military strike using bombers that have overflown the Korean peninsula as part of drills between South Korean and US forces. North Korea has...
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has welcomed the jailed Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan's overture for peace, saying his country's military would stop operations against the rebels if they stop fighting. Mr. Erdogan made the announcement...
On the second day of his Middle-East tour, the US President met Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Mr Obama headed to the West Bank with the message that the creation of a...
DIYARBAKIR, Turkey -- The jailed Kurdish rebel leader called Thursday for an immediate cease-fire and for thousands of his fighters to withdraw from Turkish territory, a major step toward ending one of the world's bloodiest insurgencies. Hundreds of thousands were gathered to hear the message in Diyarbakir, the largest city in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast, where Abdullah Ocalan's rebel group has been waging a 30-year battle against the Turkish government for autonomy and greater rights. Though there was a cautious response from the Turkish government, the announcement at a Kurdish spring festival was met with joy from the crowd. People sang and danced, waved rebel flags and banners with...
The UN Human Rights Council (UNHCR) in Geneva will vote on Thursday on a resolution to press the Sri Lankan government for a more thorough probe into allegations of human rights abuse against ethnic Tamils in the last days of its war against LTTE in 2009. The resolution,...
PARIS - Mali's sovereignty over almost all of its territory will be restored within "a few days", French President Francois Hollande promised as French troops prepare to pull out. The announcement came as Paris scrambled Wednesday to verify a claim by Al-Qaeda's north African branch that it had executed a French hostage in retaliation for France's military intervention in Mali. "In the last phase where we are, almost the entire territory will return to Mali's sovereignty in a few days," Hollande said during a dinner with representatives of the Jewish community in France. Hollande spoke shortly after his Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault told parliament that French troops would begin pulling...
Pfc. Josh Martino is seen in this undated photo provided by his brother Tony Perry. Martino, 19, a native of Dubois, Pa., was killed along with six others by an explosion during a training exercise at Hawthorne Army Depot in Nevada Monday March 18, 2013. (AP Photo/Courtesy of Tony Perry) CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. — They're called "leathernecks" or "Devil Dogs," but some of the Marines killed in a desert training accident this week were just a year or so out of high school, their boyish faces not yet weathered by life's hardships. Just 19, Pfc. Josh Martino of Dubois, Pa., had already spent nearly half his young life dreaming of becoming one of "the few, the proud." He had joined in July...
At least three Indian soldiers have been critically wounded in Indian-administered Kashmir in an attack, the second such assault in a week. Police said militants fired at a convoy of Border Security Force (BSF)...
United Nations: The UN has received Syria's request to create a group of independent investigators to probe an alleged chemical attack in the country, according to the UN secretary general's press service. "A written request has now been received from...
Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond will reveal the precise date of the independence referendum in a statement to parliament later. Draft legislation on holding the vote is due to be brought before Holyrood. The SNP previously only said it would take place in autumn 2014, sparking opposition claims of Scotland being "kept in the dark". Voters will be asked the yes/no question, "Should Scotland be an independent country?" Speaking ahead of the announcement, Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said it would be a key...
A spirit of optimism has emerged in EU-brokered talks between Serbia and Kosovo. As prospective fellow EU member states, the two have been trying to iron out differences so they can normalize relations. Serbia and Kosovo have made significant strides in resolving their differences in talks between the premiers of both countries, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said on Wednesday. "It is...
As a Haiti investigative judge demanded that two parliamentarians be held accountable in the recent assassination of a police officer, the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday called on the country’s political leaders to redouble efforts to break a 16-month political impasse preventing the staging of long-overdue elections. “If elections are not held in 2013, it will become ever more difficult for the international community to accept excuses and delays,” Ambassador Guillermo E. Rishchynski of Canada said. “These overdue elections must be held in 2013 and...
New article for PolicyMic. As I wrote in a previous PolicyMic article, the human costs of the Iraq War are truly horrifying. The millions of lives lost, the casualties, the displaced, the widows and orphans ... dying Iraq War veteran Tomas Young, in an open letter to George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, captures all of this toll perfectly. But as we pass the 10th anniversary of the U.S. invasion and subsequent occupation, two new reports documenting the the financial costs of the war and the corruption in Iraq's "reconstruction" haven't even begun to be fully realized and will continue to be a reminder of the economic consequences of war. According to the Costs of War Project by the Watson...
By ROGERIO JELMAYER SÃO PAULO—Construction of the soccer stadium scheduled to host the opening match of World Cup 2014 in Brazil may grind to a halt in a dispute over funding. Andrés Sánchez, the former president of the Corinthians soccer team to whom the stadium in São Paulo belongs, is threatening to pull the plug on the project unless the...
