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Filed at 12:02 a.m. ET MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - At least 25 suspected drug gang members were killed in an army raid in rural northeastern Mexico on Thursday, the army said in a press release. Soldiers were sent to the location after an airborne patrol sighted armed men outside a building. Fighting began when the men opened fire on the troops. Three people who presumably had been kidnapped by the gang were freed following the fighting. Two soldiers were wounded. Troops seized 23 vehicles, including two painted in army colours, two dozen guns and hundreds of rounds of ammunition. The clash was originally reported to have taken place in the state of Nuevo Leon, where business hub Monterrey is located, but actually took place across the border in neighbouring Tamaulipas. Tamaulipas state has become one of Mexico's bloodiest drug flashpoints since the start of the year as rival hitmen from the Gulf cartel and its former armed wing, the Zetas, fight over smuggli...

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00:40:05 –

95 Snakes Found in Burst Bag at Malaysia Airport

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65.22%

3.78

Filed at 12:20 a.m. ET KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) -- A Malaysian man pleaded guilty to wildlife smuggling after his bag bursting with 95 live boa constrictors broke open on a luggage conveyer belt at Kuala Lumpur International Airport, an official said Friday. Keng Liang ''Anson'' Wong, 52, who was previously convicted of wildlife trafficking in the United States, was charged Wednesday in a district court with exporting the endangered boas without a permit, said Shamsuddin Osman, an official with Malaysia's wildlife department. The offense that carries a penalty of up to seven years in prison and a fine, Shamsuddin said. Wong was arrested Aug. 26 after airport authorities found the boa constrictors, together with a few other snakes and a turtle, when his bag broke open on a luggage conveyor belt. Wong was transiting from Malaysia's northern Penang state to Indonesia's capital Jakarta. The court will reconvene Monday pending Wong's appointment of a lawyer, Shamsuddin sa...

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00:40:07 –

Hurricane Earl Rakes U.S. East Coast With Wind, Rain

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30.67%

3.79

Filed at 12:13 a.m. ET MANTEO, North Carolina (Reuters) - Hurricane Earl raked North Carolina's barrier islands with gusting winds, pounding surf and rain on Thursday as it took a swipe at the U.S. East Coast on an offshore path towards New England and Canada. After weakening from a Category 4 peak to a downscaled but still dangerous Category 2 storm, Earl was running northeast parallel to the U.S. eastern seaboard, a track that appeared to spare the coast so far from the worst of its violent weather. At 11 p.m. EDT (4:00 a.m. British time), Earl was packing top sustained winds of 105 miles per hour (165 kph) and its centre was passing east of North Carolina's Outer Banks islands that jut into the Atlantic, the U.S. National Hurricane Centre said. It positioned Earl's core at about 115 miles (185 km) south southeast of Cape Hatteras, and about 570 miles (915 km) south southwest of Nantucket, Massachusetts. "Tropical storm-force winds are occurring along the...

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00:50:02 –

Volcano spews in Indonesia, sends villagers fleeing

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01:00:05 –

Thousands of Trucks Stuck in China Traffic Jam

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2.2

Filed at 12:39 a.m. ET BEIJING (AP) -- Thousands of coal trucks were backed up for miles on a northern China highway Friday, the latest in a series of monster jams that have plagued the overloaded road since construction began on a parallel route earlier this summer. Trucks loaded high with coal from Inner Mongolia inched along bumper-to-bumper on the Beijing-Tibet highway as police redirected traffic and reminded drivers to stay alert, an official with Jining traffic police in Inner Monglia said Friday. Like many Chinese bureaucrats, he refused to give his name. State television broadcaster CCTV reported that about 10,000 trucks were stuck in the jam for at least 75 miles (120 kilometers) on Thursday, turning a stretch of road connecting the coal-rich city of Ordos to Jining in Inner Mongolia into a virtual parking lot. The traffic jams are part of continuing congestion along the Beijing-Tibet highway that began escalating in mid-August -- fueled by road construction on ...

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01:00:08 –

Villagers Flee as Indonesia Volcano Erupts Again

NY Times

31.75%

Filed at 12:36 a.m. ET SURBAKTI (Reuters) - An Indonesian volcano that lay dormant for 400 years erupted yet on Friday, shooting a mushroomed-shape plume of smoke 3 km (2 miles) into the air and prompting the second evacuation of terrified residents. Friday's eruption, the third this week, was three times stronger than the initial one recorded last Sunday. A second eruption followed on Monday. "A thundering sound was heard and we felt tremors five minutes before the eruption," said a Reuters photographer at the site of the volcano. Around 30,000 people had been evacuated from mainly farming villages, with many crowding into refugee camps in nearby towns. Some had begun to return to their villages, but were again whisked out of their homes overnight. A Reuters TV producer said thick smoke and ash hung in the air despite light rain. Most of the villages close to the volcano were empty, apart from a handful of men and boys guarding homes. Several farmers wer...

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01:00:10 –

BOJ to Stand Pat Next Week, Eyes Easing Next Month

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33.06%

3.4

Filed at 12:49 a.m. ET TOKYO (Reuters) - The Bank of Japan is expected to hold off on easing monetary policy next week but is gearing up for further action in October as the strong yen threatens to derail its forecast of a moderate economic recovery, sources said. Having just loosened policy at an emergency meeting on Monday, the central bank is likely to stand pat at next week's rate review unless the yen shoots up at a pace of 1 to 2 percent in a single day after Friday's U.S. payrolls data for August. If such sharp yen gains trigger yen-selling intervention by the finance ministry the BOJ is ready to leave it unsterilized, effectively easing policy by holding off from draining the extra yen that flows out to the market, sources familiar with the central bank's thinking said. Otherwise, the BOJ is in no mood to ease policy further in September and is lining up its options for next month, when it is seen revising down its long-term economic and price forecas...

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01:10:02 –

NASA experts to present options on trapped Chilean miners' situation

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01:10:03 –

Miami airport concourses evacuated after suspicious item found

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01:20:14 –

Japan Approves Economic Sanctions Against Iran

NY Times

2.33

Filed at 1:03 a.m. ET TOKYO (AP) -- Japan approved fresh economic sanctions against Iran on Friday after the United Nations asked Tokyo to tighten restrictions against Tehran over its controversial nuclear enrichment program, an official said. The measures approved by the Cabinet of Prime Minister Naoto Kan include an asset freeze on 88 entities, 15 banks and 24 individuals, trade ministry official Hideaki Fujisawa said. Japan had previously frozen assets on 75 entities and 41 individuals. The individuals are also banned from entering Japan, Fujisawa said. The United Nations approved a fourth round of sanctions against Iran in early June over accusations that Tehran is seeking to develop atomic weapons. Iran denies its nuclear program is militaristic in nature and says it has a right to conduct uranium enrichment for peaceful purposes. Along with the U.N., the United States and European Union recently imposed separate penalties against Iran. Japan's latest sanctions c...

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01:30:07 –

'Hostile' juror threatens sham marriage 'soap opera' trial

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01:50:04 –

Texas lawmaker says she made a mistake in scholarship scandal

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02:00:06 –

US, SKorea to Hold Further Naval Drills

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78.33%

5.47

Filed at 1:44 a.m. ET SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- South Korea and the United States will hold joint anti-submarine exercises in another show of force against North Korea, officials said Friday, as Pyongyang renewed threats against the drills. The exercises will be the second in a series of joint maneuvers the allies planned to conduct in response to the deadly sinking of a South Korean warship in March that they blame on the North. The two sides staged large-scale joint naval drills in July followed by South Korea's own naval drills last month. The drills, set to run from Sunday through Thursday off the Korean peninsula's west coast, will involve about 17,000 U.S. and South Korean troops, seven ships and two submarines as well as aircraft, according to South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff and the U.S. military in Seoul. The exercises are ''designed to send a clear message of deterrence to North Korea, while improving overall alliance anti-submarine warfare capabilities,'' t...

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02:00:12 –

Mexico: Soldiers Kill 25 in Gunbattle Near Border

NY Times

100%

6.06

Filed at 1:27 a.m. ET MONTERREY, Mexico (AP) -- Soldiers killed 25 suspected cartel members Thursday in a raid and gunbattle in a Mexican state near the U.S. border that has seen a surge in drug gang violence, the military said. A reconnaissance flight over Ciudad Mier in Tamaulipas state spotted several gunmen in front of a property, according to a statement from Mexico's Defense Department. When troops on the ground moved in, gunmen opened fire, starting a gunbattle that killed 25 suspected cartel members, according to the military. The statement said two soldiers were injured but none were killed. Earlier, a military spokesman had said the shootout happened when troops on patrol in neighboring Nuevo Leon state came under fire from a ranch allegedly controlled by the Zetas drug gang. The spokesman, who was not authorized to be quoted by name, said the troops returned fire at a ranch, known as ''The Stump.'' A defense department statement later said the shootout took p...

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02:00:17 –

Gates Visits US Forces in Southern Afghanistan

NY Times

5.29

Filed at 1:37 a.m. ET KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AP) -- U.S. Defense Secretary Gates is in southern Afghanistan getting a firsthand look at operations in an area of the country where the Taliban has the most influence. Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said Friday that Gates wanted to get a close-up look at Kandahar where U.S. and NATO forces are ramping up security in an effort to rout insurgents from their strongholds and bolster governance. On Thursday, Gates met with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Gen. David Petraeus, the top commander of U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan. Petraeus says that as joint forces push into Taliban-controlled territory, the insurgents are fighting back and waging a fear and intimidation campaign to keep local Afghans from siding with international forces and the Afghan government....

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02:00:24 –

Suicide Bomber Kills At Least One In Tajikistan

NY Times

Filed at 1:44 a.m. ET DUSHANBE (Reuters) - A suicide bomber blew himself up at a police station in northern Tajikistan on Friday, killing at least one person and wounding 20, a police source said. "There were people in the building and it's now burning," the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Reuters. He said the death toll was likely to rise but that it was not immediately clear if the dead included the suicide bomber. The attack occurred in Khujand, about 340 km (211 miles) north of the capital Dushanbe and near the border with Uzbekistan. Governments in the former Soviet republics of Central Asia are clamping down on what they see as growing radicalism in the predominantly Muslim, though secular, region after a rise in clashes between security forces and armed groups Tajikistan, which has a porous 1,340-km (832 miles) border with Afghanistan, has jailed 115 people this year on charges of belonging to banned groups, mostly Islamic. Las...

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02:00:30 –

Taliban Claim Responsibility For Pakistan Attacks

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75.14%

Filed at 1:43 a.m. ET DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistan's Taliban on Friday took responsibility for triple bombings at a Shi'ite Muslim procession in the city of Lahore that killed 33 people. Wednesday's blasts in the eastern city was the first major militant attack in Pakistan since floods waters tore through the country over the past month. "It's revenge for the killings of innocent Sunnis," a spokesman for Qari Hussain Mehsud, mentor of the Taliban's suicide bombers, told Reuters by telephone from an undisclosed location. "We also have videos of the fidayeen (bombers) and we may release them," the spokesman Shakirullah Mehsud told Reuters. Thousands of people have been killed in sectarian violence by militants from majority Sunni and minority Shi'ite sects of Islam in Pakistan for over two decades. Hussain is a senior leader of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), or Taliban Movement of Pakistan led by Hakimullah Mehsud, who was charged by U...

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02:10:07 –

Wife of trapped miner hopes for his rescue as she awaits baby's birth

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02:40:12 –

Japan Imposes Additional Sanctions on Iran

NY Times

38.73%

2.55

Filed at 2:21 a.m. ET TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan slapped additional sanctions on Iran over its disputed nuclear programme on Friday, following the United States and European Union in pressuring Tehran despite Tokyo's reliance on oil imports from the country. The sanctions that go beyond requirements in a prior U.N. Security Council resolution include restrictions on doing business with 15 Iranian banks that could contribute to nuclear activities and a halt to new energy-related investments in Iran. But resource-poor Japan did not impose any restrictions on oil from the country, which accounts for 10 percent of its crude imports, making it the fourth-biggest supplier after Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Qatar. "We took those steps as they are necessary to push for nuclear non-proliferation and prevent its nuclear development," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku told a news conference. "We have traditionally close relations with Iran and from that ...

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02:50:03 –

Toshiba recalls about 41,000 computers over risk of burns

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03:00:05 –

Egypt TV Show Stirs Debate Over Muslim Brotherhood

NY Times

30.81%

4.62

Filed at 2:49 a.m. ET CAIRO (AP) -- The bearded young cleric yells at a young woman for lifting her traditional veil from her face while speaking to him on the street, and rants against Egyptians who adopt Western lifestyles and values. His followers beat up an opponent. That is the image of the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood depicted in a TV miniseries airing in Egypt that casts a harsh light on the country's largest opposition movement just three months before a crucial parliamentary election that is expected to pit it against President Hosni Mubarak's ruling party. Supporters accuse the government of using the show as a propaganda tool to demonize the fundamentalist group by portraying it as a collection of fanatics battling secular-minded and Western-oriented Egyptians and trying to turn Egypt into an Islamic society. Political scientist Ashraf el-Sherif, however, said the program has had the opposite effect. ''What the series has done is turning a dinosaur into ...

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03:00:15 –

Pakistan Taliban Take Responsibility For Bombings

NY Times

71.09%

6.27

Filed at 2:39 a.m. ET DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistan's Taliban on Friday took responsibility for triple bombings at a Shi'ite Muslim procession this week, challenging the civilian government further as it struggles with a flood crisis. Wednesday's blasts in the eastern city of Lahore in which 33 people were killed was the first major militant attack since floods waters tore through the country over the past month. "It's revenge for the killings of innocent Sunnis," a spokesman for Qari Hussain Mehsud, mentor of the Taliban's suicide bombers, told Reuters by telephone from an undisclosed location. Attention has focused on the Pakistani Taliban again after U.S. prosecutors charged its leader, Hakimullah Mehsud, in the plot that killed seven CIA employees at an American base in Afghanistan last December Mehsud, believed to be hiding in the tribal areas of Pakistan, was charged with conspiracy to kill Americans overseas and conspiracy to use a...

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03:00:19 –

'Crocodile Dundee' to Return to US Amid Tax Fray

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42.33%

4.88

Filed at 2:47 a.m. ET SYDNEY (AP) -- Actor Paul Hogan, star of the ''Crocodile Dundee'' movie trilogy, has been cleared to return home to the United States after he was barred last month from leaving Australia because of a disputed tax bill, his lawyer said Friday. The 70-year-old Australian-born actor, who currently lives in Los Angeles, arrived in Sydney on Aug. 20 to attend his mother's funeral and was served with an Australian Taxation Office order barring him from leaving Australia until he settles a multimillion dollar tax bill, lawyer Andrew Robinson said last week. On Friday, Robinson said after a ''cordial and cooperative'' meeting between Hogan's lawyers and tax officials, an agreement was reached that will allow Hogan to return to the U.S. ''While the Commissioner and Mr. Hogan remain in dispute on more general taxation issues, Mr. Hogan continues to protest his innocence and denies any wrongdoing,'' Robinson said in a statement. The tax office refuses to com...

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03:10:02 –

Fidel Castro to speak to university students

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03:10:04 –

Powerful, enormous Earl bearing down on East Coast

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03:20:07 –

4 Killed in Russian Forest Fires

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5.5

Filed at 3:15 a.m. ET MOSCOW (AP) -- Russia's emergencies ministry says forest fires in the country's south have killed four people. Forest fires plagued much of Russia during this summer's unusual wave of withering heat and drought and cloaked Moscow in a pall of smoke in August have largely died down amid strong rains, but the southern Volgograd and Saratov regions continue to suffer. A ministry statement on Friday said new fires in the regions flared up over the past day in more than 25 populated areas. It said four people were killed and 18 injured. Some of the fires were sparked by high winds that caused power lines to cross, creating short circuits, the statement said. Most of the fires had been put out by Friday morning, the ministry said....

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03:30:03 –

Protesters hold anti-Israel rallies in Iran

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03:40:11 –

Bomb Kills 1 Police Officer, Wounds 3 in Pakistan

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6.14

Filed at 3:17 a.m. ET PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) -- Police say a roadside bomb has killed a police officer and wounded three others in northwest Pakistan. Police official Shafiullah Khan said the bomb was detonated by remote control Friday as officers patrolled in Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, where floods have affected millions of people in recent weeks. No one immediately claimed responsibility, but militants often carry out such attacks to avenge government operations against them in the country's tribal regions bordering Afghanistan....

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03:40:15 –

Crowds Attack Home of Iranian Opposition Leader

NY Times

5.5

Filed at 3:17 a.m. ET TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- A website supporting Iran's reform movement says assailants have attacked the home of an opposition leader and wounded one of his bodyguards. The report says Mahdi Karroubi's guards had to fire in the air after the crowd broke down the door of the home on Thursday night after days of gatherings outside. The Sahamnews website says the attackers were members of the plainclothes pro-government militia that has led the crackdown on Iran's opposition since the disputed June 2009 presidential election. The website reports that the attackers beat one of Karroubi's guards unconscious and he had to be hospitalized. Karroubi was one of the pro-reform candidates who ran against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad....

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03:40:19 –

Indonesian Volcano Spews New Burst of Ash

NY Times

65.86%

4.16

Filed at 3:09 a.m. ET TANAH KARO, Indonesia (AP) -- An Indonesian volcano that was quiet for four centuries shot a new, powerful burst of hot ash more than 10,000 feet (three kilometers) in the air Friday, sending frightened residents fleeing to safety for the second time this week. The tremor from the eruption -- the strongest so far -- could be felt five miles (eight kilometers) away. ''This was a big one!'' said 37-year-old Anto Sembiring, who abandoned his coffee shop not far from the crater's mouth to join hundreds of others near Mount Sinabung's base. ''We all ran as fast as we could ... Everyone was panicking.'' The eruption of Mount Sinabung on Sunday and Monday -- which caught many scientists off guard -- forced 30,000 people living along its fertile slopes in North Sumatra province to evacuate to cramped emergency shelters in nearby towns. Many started returning to their mountainside homes as activity started to wane, saying they wanted to tend to their vegeta...

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03:50:02 –

Discovery Channel attacker convicted of smuggling immigrant in 2003

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04:10:02 –

Fiona points eye toward Bermuda; Gaston weakens to tropical depression

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04:20:12 –

Suicide Blast at Tajik Police Office Injures 25

NY Times

Filed at 3:45 a.m. ET DUSHANBE, Tajikistan (AP) -- News reports say a suicide car bomb blast has torn through police offices in Tajikistan's second-largest city, injuring 25 people. The Interior Ministry confirmed to The Associated Press that an explosion hit the offices of the police organized-crime division in Khujand on Friday morning. It did not give further details. Russia's state news agency RIA Novosti cited Interior Ministry chief of staff Takhir Normatov as saying that 25 people were injured. He said the bomber, who was killed, drove his car into the office compound's gates when another vehicle was leaving. Impoverished Tajikistan is plagued by crime. The country bordering northern Afghanistan is one of the main conduits for smuggling Afghan opium and heroin....

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04:20:18 –

U.N. Atom Chief Invited Israel to Mull Joining NPT

NY Times

4.5

Filed at 4:01 a.m. ET VIENNA (Reuters) - The head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog has invited Israel to consider joining a global anti-nuclear arms pact and to place all its atomic facilities under his agency's inspections, an IAEA report said on Friday. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report said Director General Yukiya Amano met with Israeli leaders during a visit to Israel last month to discuss an Arab-led push for the Jewish state to accede to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. By staying outside the NPT, Israel has maintained secrecy over a programme widely believed to have yielded the region's only atomic arsenal -- perceived as an irritant and threat among its neighbours. The issue is expected to be debated again at IAEA board and general assembly meetings later this month in Vienna. Amano's report was prepared for those meetings. Western countries, which see Iran as the region's main nuclear proliferation threat, have warned that sing...

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04:30:04 –

200-year-old beer cache follows champagne from Baltic Sea shipwreck

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05:00:03 –

Mozambique Says 7 Killed In Riots, Calm Restored

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67.42%

4.95

Filed at 4:37 a.m. ET MAPUTO (Reuters) - Mozambique's capital Maputo got back to work on Friday after two days of rioting, triggered by a sharp hike in bread prices, which the government said left seven dead, 288 injured and millions of dollars of damage. Buses resumed normal service and people returned to their jobs, walking along streets strewn with debris, burnt tyres, broken electricity poles and garbage from looted shops. Seven people, including two children, were killed when police opened fire on protesters in the deadliest riots to hit the southern African country of 23 million since 2008. "This was the worst rioting I have ever seen in my life, people can really turn very violent and lives are at risk, instead of a peaceful demonstration," Maputo resident Felizmina Fabia said. Mozambique's Trade and Industry Minister Antonio Fernandes estimated damages at around 122 million meticais (2.1 million pounds) in the southern African country where 70 perc...

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05:10:02 –

Fires ravage central Russia, killing at least 4

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05:10:03 –

Former hostage Betancourt book to be published this month

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05:20:26 –

Muslim Cleric Calls For Beheading Of Dutch Politician

NY Times

69.77%

4.07

Filed at 5:03 a.m. ET AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - A well-known Australian Muslim cleric has called for the beheading of Dutch anti-Islamic politician Geert Wilders, a newspaper said on Friday. Wilders' Freedom Party scored the biggest gains in June 9 polls and is currently negotiating to form a new minority government with the Liberals and Christian Democrats. Polls show Wilders would win a new election if one were called now. Wilders demanded to know why he had learnt about the threat from the newspaper and not from Dutch authorities who are guarding him after a film and remarks he made angered Muslims around the world. De Telegraaf, the Netherlands' largest newspaper, led its front page on Friday with a story on the speech by Feiz Muhammad. The Sydney-born Muhammad has gained notoriety for, among other things, calling on young children to be radicalized and blaming rape victims for their own attacks. The paper posted an English-language audio clip in which h...

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05:40:09 –

Ex-UK Deputy Leader Wants Answers on Tabloid Scam

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2.5

Filed at 5:14 a.m. ET LONDON (AP) -- Britain's former deputy prime minister is demanding that police reveal whether he was targeted in a phone-tapping scam carried out by a tabloid. A News of The World journalist has already been jailed over an eavesdropping campaign targeting royalty, celebrities and other public figures. But the tabloid has always presented the practice as limited and claimed that its then-editor Andrew Coulson had no knowledge of what was happening. That claim was challenged by a New York Times Magazine report suggesting that the eavesdropping effort was more wide ranging than previously acknowledged. On Friday, former Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott told the BBC that police needed to come clean on whether he or others were hacked....

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05:40:21 –

Police: Attack on Pakistan Minority Mosque Kills 1

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100%

6.73

Filed at 5:33 a.m. ET PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) -- A suicide attack on a mosque belonging to a minority sect killed at least one person and wounded several others in northwest Pakistan on Friday, police said. Pakistan has been hit by dozens of attacks on religious minorities in recent years, including a triple suicide attack Wednesday night that killed 35 people at a Shiite ceremony in the eastern city of Lahore. Most of the attacks have been claimed by the hardline Sunni Pakistani Taliban, which is seeking to destabilize a Western-backed government already shaken by flooding that has caused massive displacement, suffering and economic damage. In May, two teams of seven militants armed with hand grenades, suicide vests and assault rifles attacked two Ahmadi mosques in Lahore, killing 97 and wounding dozens. Police official Ahsanullah Khan said the bomber in Friday's attack appeared to have detonated himself after he was prevented from entering the mosque in the town of Ma...

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05:40:25 –

6 US Personnel Quarantined Over Mail Scare

NY Times

3.29

Filed at 5:27 a.m. ET ANKARA, Turkey (AP) -- The U.S. Embassy in Turkey says six U.S. army post office personnel have been quarantined after handling a package containing a powdery substance at Istanbul's main airport. U.S. Embassy Spokeswoman Deborah Guido says Friday the six were quarantined pending laboratory results to determine whether the powder is a dangerous substance, such as anthrax. The results are expected Saturday. Guido said a health team has decontaminated the area and the six are being administered antibiotics as a precaution at a hospital in Istanbul. The personnel deliver U.S. diplomatic mail in Turkey....

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05:40:39 –

After 17 Years, Fugitive Tycoon Shows in UK Court

NY Times

0.5

Filed at 5:24 a.m. ET LONDON (AP) -- A businessman who fled Britain 17 years ago has arrived at London's Central Criminal Court to face 66 counts of theft. Asil Nadir waved to photographers Friday as he arrived for his first court appearance. Nadir returned voluntarily from Northern Cyprus last week, proclaiming his innocence and saying he wanted to bring the legal case to an end. Northern Cyprus has no extradition treaty with Britain. The charges against the 69-year-old Turkish Cypriot stem from the collapse of his Polly Peck business empire. Nadir is free on bail, after making a security deposit of 250,000 pounds ($385,000)....

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06:00:09 –

Gates Says US Making Progress in Afghan War

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06:00:15 –

Mozambique Calm After 2 Days of Deadly Food Riots

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06:00:18 –

Suicide Car Bomber Wounds 25 Police In Tajikistan

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06:00:22 –

Athens Shops Pull Down Shutters on Recovery Hopes

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06:10:04 –

U.S., Mexico volunteers team up to help strays in Tijuana

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06:10:05 –

Bomber in Pakistan targets minority group; 1 dead

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06:20:10 –

Gates Says Pakistan Havens Still Threaten Afghanistan

NY Times

81.85%

5.13

Filed at 5:52 a.m. ET KANDAHAR CITY, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Militants operating out of safe havens in Pakistan remain a major threat to Afghanistan but cooperation between NATO-led forces and the Pakistani military is increasing, U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates said on Friday. Devastating floods over the past month have delayed Pakistan's military from going after militants in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and North Waziristan on Pakistan's porous northwestern border. Afghanistan regularly blames Pakistan for allowing Islamist groups to flourish there, President Hamid Karzai describing them as a great threat to Afghan security. Gates travelled to Kandahar, the birthplace of the Taliban in Afghanistan's south, to visit U.S. troops. He said he and Karzai agreed on the need for stepped up cooperation between the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and the Pakistani military to "get rid of" insurgent sanctuaries. "Coop...

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06:20:13 –

Gates Sees Progress in Tour of Afghan War Zone

NY Times

63.27%

5.28

Filed at 5:55 a.m. ET COMBAT OUTPOST SENJERAY, Afghanistan (AP) -- U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Friday he saw and heard evidence that the U.S. counterinsurgency strategy is taking hold in critical Kandahar province. Gates toured U.S. bases and met with troops in the thick of the fighting in Kandahar city and the Taliban haven of Zhari district, west of the city. ''I come away from my visits down here today encouraged,'' Gates told reporters traveling with him. He said that signs of progress were incremental but growing. Still, he added, ''Everybody knows this is far from a done deal.'' With the last of the 30,000 U.S. reinforcements arriving in Afghanistan, Gates wanted a firsthand look at operations in the dangerous south where Afghan and international troops are ramping up security. He traveled to Kandahar province, a region where U.S., Afghan and NATO forces are trying to rout insurgents from their strongholds and bolster the government. The Taliban are...

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06:20:22 –

Dolphins Herded in Japanese Cove but None Killed

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06:20:32 –

Iran Says to Strike Israel Nuclear Site if Attacked

NY Times

5.33

Filed at 6:05 a.m. ET TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's top military official said on Friday Iran would retaliate by striking Israel's nuclear facility if its nuclear activities were hit by Israel, said the country's armed forces chief of staff Hassan Firouzabadi. "Our developed weapons can hit any part of the Zionist regime (Israel) ... We hope not to be forced to attack their nuclear facility," Firouzabadi told the semi-official Mehr news agency. (Reporting by Hossein Jaseb; Writing by Parisa Hafezi; Editing by Louise Ireland)...

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06:20:37 –

Judges: Karadzic Trial Could Take Extra 2 Years

NY Times

4.5

Filed at 6:02 a.m. ET THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) -- Judges are warning that Radovan Karadzic's genocide trial could take up to two years longer than expected if prosecutors and the former Bosnian Serb leader do not speed up the case. Yugoslav war crimes tribunal judges said at the start of the trial they expected to deliver verdicts at the end of 2012. However Presiding judge O-Gon Kwon said Friday that Karadzic is taking so long questioning witnesses that verdicts could be as late as April 2014. Karadzic is accused of masterminding Serb atrocities throughout the Bosnian war....

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06:40:07 –

UK Political Life Starts Early for Leader's Baby

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06:40:18 –

Court Gives Verdicts in Portugal Child Abuse Trial

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06:40:31 –

Pink Panthers Jewel Heist Suspect Charged in Japan

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06:50:04 –

Verdict expected in Portugal sex abuse trial

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06:50:05 –

Rock-star art quiz: Match the musician to the drawing

CNN

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07:00:09 –

Dubai Police Chief Calls BlackBerry a Spy Tool

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07:00:12 –

Iran's Ahmadinejad Calls on Palestinians to Fight On

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07:00:14 –

Attack in Tajikistan Highlights Fears of Militancy

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07:00:19 –

Police: Attack on Pakistani Muslim Shiites Kills 5

NY Times

82.05%

6.94

Filed at 6:32 a.m. ET QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) -- Police say a blast at a Shiite procession has killed at least 5 people in southwestern Pakistan in the third deadly attack this week on the country's religious minorities. Police official Jamil Khan says at least 20 people were wounded when the explosion ripped through the rally calling for solidarity with Palestinians. The procession was held in the city of Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan Province. A suicide attack on a mosque belonging to the minority Ahmadi sect killed at least one person and wounded several others in northwestern Pakistan earlier Friday. A triple suicide attack Wednesday night killed 35 people at a Shiite ceremony in the eastern city of Lahore. THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below. PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) -- A suicide attack on a mosque belonging to a minority sect killed at least one person and wounded several others in northwest Pakist...

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07:00:23 –

Kenya Allows Int'l Criminal Court to Open Office

NY Times

Filed at 6:36 a.m. ET NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) -- Kenya is allowing the International Criminal Court to open an office in the country. The court's prosecutor is investigating top Kenyan leaders and business people for their roles in political violence that killed more than 1,000 people in 2007-08. Kenya granted the ICC immunity from legal challenges and tax exemptions in a letter signed Friday by the foreign minister. The move comes only a week after Kenya hosted Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who faces charges of genocide and crimes against humanity at the ICC. Kenya did not arrest al-Bashir, arguing such a move would destabilize Sudan. His visit raised doubts about Kenya's willingness to hand over suspects expected to soon be charged by the ICC....

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07:00:25 –

Indonesia's Smoking Toddler Kicks the Habit

NY Times

1.83

Filed at 6:38 a.m. ET JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) -- Indonesia's smoking toddler has kicked the habit. Footage of 2-year-old Aldi Rizal -- who smoked up to two packs a day -- puffing away circulated the Internet in May and sparked an international outcry. His parents said he'd throw tantrums every time they tried to stop him from lighting up. Psychologist Seto Mulyadi, who took the child into his own home as part of rehabilitation efforts, said Friday the boy has stopped asking for cigarettes. He said Aldi picked up the habit because virtually every man in his fishing village in South Sumatra province smokes. When removed from that environment, and offered a wide range of activities, including playing and drawing, he no longer had the urge, the psychologist said. Aldi's father gave him his first cigarette when he was just 18-months-old, relatives have said....

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07:00:26 –

Explosions Hit South Lebanon Village, Cause Fire

NY Times

5.25

Filed at 6:44 a.m. ET BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) -- Lebanese security officials say several explosions have caused a large fire in a southern village. One of the officials says blasts might have been triggered by an explosion at a weapons depot belonging to the Hezbollah militant group in the village of Shehabiyeh. The two security officials said they did not know if there were any casualties. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they are barred by military regulations from speaking to journalists. Shehabiyeh village is south of the Litani River, an area patrolled by U.N. troops and Lebanese soldiers that is supposed to be free of weapons....

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07:00:28 –

Attack on Pakistani Muslim Shiites Kills 5

NY Times

82.05%

6.94

07:00:33 –

Floods Likely to Delay Pakistan Anti - Taliban Moves

NY Times

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07:20:34 –

Blast Rips Through Rally In Pakistan, 9 Dead

NY Times

81.49%

5.75

Filed at 7:09 a.m. ET QUETTA, Pakistan (Reuters) - A blast ripped through a rally in the Pakistani city of Quetta on Friday, killing at least nine people, the second major attack this week, piling pressure on the civilian government struggling with a flood crisis. The attack on the rally called to express solidarity with the Palestinian people came as the United States said that Pakistan's devastating floods are likely to delay army offensives against Taliban insurgents. "Unfortunately the flooding in Pakistan is probably going to delay any operations by the Pakistani army in North Waziristan for some period of time," U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates said in Afghanistan where he is visiting U.S. troops. Twelve people were wounded in the blast in Quetta. Earlier the al Qaeda-linked Taliban took responsibility for triple bombings at a Shi'ite Muslim procession in the city of Lahore this week, challenging the civilian government further. Aside from its s...

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07:30:06 –

Skate champions set for dream wedding on ice

CNN

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07:40:11 –

Suspected Arms Dealer's Extradition to US Delayed

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07:40:15 –

Miliband Brothers Fighting for Top Labour Post

NY Times

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07:40:33 –

Israeli, Palestinian Leaders Face Critics of Talks

NY Times

52.92%

4.58

Filed at 7:19 a.m. ET JERUSALEM (AP) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu returned Friday from the resumption of Mideast negotiations in Washington to confront internal opposition to his peace moves, just as his Palestinian counterpart faced harsh criticism for agreeing to the talks at all. Analysts on both sides questioned the ability and desire of their leaders to negotiate a peace accord. And the militant Islamic Hamas group, from its stronghold in Gaza, rejected the talks as illegitimate. Netanyahu arrived back home at midday Friday. He did not speak to reporters on his plane or at the airport. In Washington, Netanyahu talked of creating a Palestinian state, a phrase he uttered for the first time just last year after strident opposition to the concept for two decades, and called for ''mutual and painful concessions from both sides.'' Most Israeli analysts admitted to not knowing what was really on Netanyahu's mind. Writing from Washington, veteran Yediot Ahr...

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07:40:41 –

Blast Rips Through Rally In Pakistan

NY Times

81.91%

5.75

Filed at 7:07 a.m. ET QUETTA, Pakistan (Reuters) - A blast ripped through a rally in the Pakistani city of Quetta on Friday, killing at least nine people, the second major attack this week, piling pressure on the civilian government struggling with a flood crisis. The attack on the rally called to express solidarity with the Palestinian people came as the United States said that Pakistan's devastating floods are likely to delay army offensives against Taliban insurgents. "Unfortunately the flooding in Pakistan is probably going to delay any operations by the Pakistani army in North Waziristan for some period of time," U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said in Afghanistan where he is visiting U.S. troops. Twelve people were wounded in the blast in Quetta. Earlier the al Qaeda-linked Taliban took responsibility for triple bombings at a Shi'ite Muslim procession in the city of Lahore this week, challenging the civilian government further. Aside from its s...

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07:50:03 –

How to train workers for real jobs

CNN

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07:50:06 –

Donald Kaberuka: 'Africa can now be proud of AFDB'

CNN

48.43%

3.4

Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania (CNN) -- The African Development Bank (AFDB) has put its troubled past behind it and is now stronger than ever, according to president Donald Kaberuka. In the mid-1990s, the leading African institution was beset by allegations of fraud and corruption and was facing insolvency. But a long period of financial restructuring and a change of focus in its operations has now turned AFDB into "a world-class institution," Kaberuka told CNN. He stressed the bank is now poised to give its member countries further financial support and social resources. "We are a bank for which Africa can be proud of and evidence is there on the ground in everything we do," Kaberuka said. Marketplace Africa met the Rwandan economist in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, to discuss about the institution's challenges and progress. CNN: In the mide-1990s, the African Development Bank was considered a bit of a basket case as a lending group and was slammed by international groups. How...

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07:50:08 –

Hawking's 'God did not create Universe' claim rejected

CNN

25.1%

2.33

London, England (CNN) -- Religious leaders in Britain on Friday hit back at claims by leading physicist Stephen Hawking that God had no role in the creation of the Universe. In his new book "The Grand Design," Britain's most famous scientist says that given the existence of gravity, "the universe can and will create itself from nothing," according to an excerpt published in The Times of London. "Spontaneous creation is the reason why there is something rather than nothing, why the universe exists, why we exist," he wrote. "It is not necessary to invoke God to light the blue touch paper [fuse] and set the universe going." But the head of the Church of England, the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Rowan Williams, told the Times that "physics on its own will not settle the question of why there is something rather than nothing." He added: "Belief in God is not about plugging a gap in explaining how one thing relates to another within the ...

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08:00:23 –

Attack on Pakistani Muslim Shiites Kill 10

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08:00:32 –

Blast Rips Through Rally In Pakistan, 22 Dead

NY Times

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08:10:07 –

Retiree helps the hungry in The Hamptons

CNN

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08:10:19 –

Singer's mission: Help restore the souls of former sex slaves

CNN

42.07%

3.15

Atlanta, Georgia (CNN) -- Natalie Grant apologizes for crying, but she can't help it. She is describing meeting a woman from India who is a counselor in a village where some women have been saved from human traffickers. The counselor knew all too well what these women went through. When she was 12 her parents took her to Mumbai for her birthday. Her brother traveled with them. When they got off the train, the woman told Grant, she was separated from her family. She began to cry endlessly. A man came up and said he would help. He didn't. He had purchased her from her parents, whom she said thought that she would be getting a job and sending money back to their village. Instead she was thrown in the trunk of a car, and that night she began her horrific journey into sex slavery. Years later, after being rescued and going through a "restoration" program, she met Grant, a popular Christian music singer who grew up near Seattle, Washington, never giving thought to sex trafficking....

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08:10:20 –

Cyber self-defense can help U.S. security

CNN

67.42%

3.42

(CNN) -- Recently, we completed an intensive, bipartisan six-month study on cybersecurity and presented it to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. Although the nature of our study requires that most of it be classified, one of our key findings is entirely unclassified, and we hope it will change the way the country acts in cyberspace. Simply put, computer users must practice active cyber self-defense. This means that if users would allow automatic, and generally free, software updates and maintained up-to-date antivirus software, most cyberthreats could be defeated. If computer users observed these basic "rules of the road" on the information superhighway, all Americans would be safer from cyberattacks. America's national and economic security depends on the resilience of our nation's information networks. Every sector of the U.S. economy and component of the U.S. government is, in some way, dependent on networked information technologies. This ever-growing de...

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08:20:18 –

U.N. Refugee Agency Blasts Europe For Deporting Iraqis

NY Times

79%

4.89

Filed at 7:59 a.m. ET GENEVA (Reuters) - The U.N. refugee agency called on European governments on Friday to halt deportations of Iraqis, denouncing what it said was at least the third coordinated round of forced returns since April. A chartered flight with up to 61 Iraqis who had been living in Britain, Denmark, Norway and Sweden landed at Baghdad airport on Wednesday, coinciding with the end of the U.S. combat operations in Iraq, it said. The UNHCR said it had unconfirmed reports that three of the 61 returnees were Iranian. "We strongly urge European governments to provide Iraqis with protection until the situation in their areas of origin in Iraq allows for safe and voluntary returns," said Adrian Edwards, spokesman of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. The UNHCR has issued guidelines to all governments strongly recommending that Iraqis should not be sent home to five central provinces, including Baghdad, as those areas remain dangerous. "Car expl...

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08:20:34 –

Blasts Rip Through Possible Hezbollah Weapons Site

NY Times

5.33

Filed at 8:06 a.m. ET BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) -- Explosions ripped through a building Friday in southern Lebanon that might have been used to store weapons by the militant group Hezbollah, security officials said. It was not clear whether there were any casualties from the blasts, which set off a large fire, the officials said. Rescue crews responded to the scene. The three-story building is in the Hezbollah-dominated village of Shehabiyeh, part of a volatile border zone south of the Litani River in which Hezbollah has been banned from having weapons under a U.N. resolution that ended the 2006 war between the militant group and Israel. The area is patrolled by U.N. troops and Lebanese soldiers and has been largely peaceful since the war, but there have been a number of mysterious explosions in the past year at buildings suspected of housing Hezbollah arms caches. It was not clear what caused Friday's blasts, but one of the officials said it might have been triggered by an ...

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08:20:39 –

Attack on Pakistani Muslim Shiites Kill 23

NY Times

71.52%

6.64

Filed at 7:41 a.m. ET QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) -- Police say suicide bombings targeting religious minorities have killed at least 23 people in Pakistan. The attacks Friday are driving up the toll of sectarian assaults in a country already battered by massive flooding. Quetta police chief Ghulam Shabir Sheikh says officers counted 22 bodies at hospitals after a blast at a Shiite procession calling for solidarity with Palestinians. Police say dozens are wounded and some are in critical condition. Earlier Friday, a suicide attack on a mosque belonging to the minority Ahmadi sect killed at least one person and wounded several others in the northwest Pakistani town of Mardan. ------ Khan reported from Peshawar. Associated Press Writer Vincent Thian contributed to this report from Gharo. THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below. QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) -- Explosions killed at least 10 members of Pakistan's minority ...

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08:30:03 –

Peace talks a test of Israel's Netanyahu

CNN

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08:30:04 –

Fertility treatments: Would you get selective reduction?

CNN

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08:30:06 –

7 killed, nearly 300 wounded in Mozambique violence

CNN

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08:40:19 –

Suicide Blast Kills Tajik Policeman, Wounds 25

NY Times

6.89

Filed at 8:22 a.m. ET DUSHANBE, Tajikistan (AP) -- A suicide car bomb blast tore through police offices in Tajikistan's second-largest city Friday, killing one policeman and injuring 25 people, local officials said. Tajikistan's Deputy Interior Minister Sharif Nazarov told The Associated Press that a car filled with explosives hit the offices of the police organized-crime division in Khujand at 8 a.m. Friday. Ministry chief staff Takhir Normatov said one policeman was killed. The shattered ruins of the car had the remains of at least two people inside it, he said. The car drove into the compound's gates as another vehicle was leaving, officials said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the bombing. But local news reports said suspicion was falling on the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, a group with al-Qaida ties that seeks to establish an Islamic state in ex-Soviet Central Asia. Tajikistan in impoverished and plagued by crime. The country borders northe...

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08:40:31 –

Suicide Blast Rips Through Pakistan City, 22 Dead

NY Times

81.04%

5.92

Filed at 8:16 a.m. ET QUETTA, Pakistan (Reuters) - A suicide bomber struck a rally in the Pakistani city of Quetta on Friday, killing at least 22 people in the second major attack this week, piling pressure on a government struggling with a flood crisis. The attack on the Shi'ite rally expressing solidarity with the Palestinian people came as the United States said the devastating floods are likely to delay army offensives against Taliban insurgents. "Unfortunately the flooding in Pakistan is probably going to delay any operations by the Pakistani army in North Waziristan for some period of time," U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said in Afghanistan where he is visiting U.S. troops. More than 100 people were wounded in the blast in Quetta. Earlier, the al Qaeda-linked Taliban took responsibility for triple bombings at a Shi'ite Muslim procession in the city of Lahore this week, challenging the civilian government further. Aside from its struggles agai...

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08:40:41 –

Chinese Drivers Struggle With Another Jam Between Beijing and Inner Mongolia

NY Times

Yet another gargantuan traffic jam has gripped the freeway that links Inner Mongolia’s coal fields to metropolitan Beijing, possibly exceeding a blockage that drew global attention last month, Chinese news sources report. More than 100 regional police officers manned the road, called the Jingzang Highway, in an effort to break the 75-mile, 10,000-vehicle gridlock, the state broadcaster CCTV reported Thursday. Beijing News, a daily newspaper, reported Friday that 14,000 vehicles were trying to squeeze through the Lianhuatan toll gate in Inner Mongolia every day, compared with 6,000 at the same time in 2009. Officials attribute the jam to a sharp increase in Mongolian coal production, which not only has clogged with road with thousands of heavy coal trucks, but also has led to traffic-clogging highway repairs. Li Bibo contributed research....

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08:50:07 –

'My own dad tried to kill me:' Faith, friends help in survival

CNN

4.71

(CNN) -- Chris Keith was 12 years old when he learned his family didn't die in a car wreck. His father suffocated his mother and then shot Chris' 8-year-old brother, Mikey, in the back of the head while he slept, his grandparents explained. The elderly couple had taken the boy to a counselor. As they told him the real story of what happened, they pulled out newspaper clippings from October 1985. Chris had begun to wonder about the scars on his own head, and he had pieced together other clues from the past. Yet he'd never known the full truth. His grandparents then told him the hardest news of all. Before his father killed himself, he put the .38-caliber handgun to Chris' head and pulled the trigger....

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08:50:08 –

Will motion controls reinvent gaming?

CNN

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08:50:09 –

7 found guilty in Portugese sex abuse case

CNN

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09:00:24 –

Sweden, Finland Urge EU to Open Peace Institute

NY Times

Filed at 8:48 a.m. ET STOCKHOLM (AP) -- Sweden and Finland are urging the European Union to create an independent peace institute to broaden the scope of the bloc's peacekeeping efforts around the world. Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt and his Finnish counterpart Alexander Stubb say an independent think tank could have better opportunities to help solve conflicts than traditional diplomacy. Their proposed institute would be modeled on the U.S. Institute of Peace, which is funded by the U.S. Congress but run by an independent board. The ministers sent a letter with the suggestion to EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton on Friday. They said they hoped to get support from other EU member countries for the initiative....

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09:00:30 –

Suicide Blast Rips Through Pakistan City, 43 Dead

NY Times

80.39%

5.88

Filed at 8:48 a.m. ET QUETTA, Pakistan (Reuters) - A suicide bomber struck a rally in the Pakistani city of Quetta on Friday, killing up to 43 people in the second major attack this week, piling pressure on a government struggling with a flood crisis. The attack on the Shi'ite rally expressing solidarity with the Palestinian people came as the United States said the devastating floods are likely to delay army offensives against Taliban insurgents. "Unfortunately the flooding in Pakistan is probably going to delay any operations by the Pakistani army in North Waziristan for some period of time," U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said in Afghanistan where he is visiting U.S. troops. More than 100 people were wounded in the Quetta attack, which like triple bombings at a Shi'ite procession in the city of Lahore this week, bore the hallmarks of the Taliban who often attack religious minorities to destabilize the government. "There are 24 dead in the Combined ...

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09:10:05 –

Users amused, annoyed by Facebook Places

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09:10:06 –

Iranian mob attacks opposition leader's apartment

CNN

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09:20:12 –

U.N. Atom Chief Invited Israel to Mull Anti - Nuclear Arms Pact

NY Times

55.87%

4.13

Filed at 8:56 a.m. ET VIENNA (Reuters) - The head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog invited Israel last month to consider joining a global anti-nuclear arms pact but the Jewish state has dismissed the idea as a politically-motivated drive by Arab states. A report from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Friday said Director General Yukiya Amano met with Israeli leaders during a visit to the country in August to discuss an Arab-led push for it to accede to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and put all its atomic sites under U.N. inspection. In a letter attached to the report, Israel rejected the Arab drive as an attempt to divert attention from the Middle East's "real proliferation challenges" of Iran and Syria. Arab states won narrow backing last year for a non-binding IAEA assembly resolution urging Israel to sign the NPT, which would require it to forswear atomic arms. They are expected to propose a similar text for the annual meeting late...

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09:20:25 –

7 Defendants Convicted in Portugal Sex Abuse Trial

NY Times

54.33%

3.88

Filed at 9:02 a.m. ET LISBON, Portugal (AP) -- A prosecution lawyer says a Portuguese court has found six men and one woman guilty of crimes relating to child sex abuse in a major trial that lasted nearly six years. Chief prosecutor Miguel Matias told the AP all seven defendants were found guilty of crimes including sexually abusing minors and adolescents, raping children and running a pedophile ring at a state-run children's home in Lisbon during the 1990s. He said the court was due to hand down sentences later Friday. The trial, believed to be Portugal's longest, included testimony from more than 800 witnesses and experts, including 32 alleged victims. The abuse centered on Casa Pia, a 230-year-old institution caring for roughly 4,500 needy children. THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below. LISBON, Portugal (AP) -- A judge started reading a Portuguese court's verdicts Friday on more than 800 alleged crim...

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09:20:44 –

Afghan Poll Fears Grow After Another Candidate Hurt

NY Times

78.43%

5.38

Filed at 8:55 a.m. ET KABUL (Reuters) - Concerns over security and transparency in Afghanistan's parliamentary election grew on Friday after another candidate was attacked and a German observer sought to temper expectations of the poll. The September 18 vote is seen as a litmus test for stability, as well as a test of the credibility of Afghan President Hamid Karzai after a fraud-marred presidential poll last year. Violence across Afghanistan is at its worst since the Taliban were ousted by U.S.-backed Afghan forces in late 2001, raising fears that poor security will lead to low voter turn-outs, especially in the ethnic Pashtun belt in the south and east, where the Taliban-led insurgency is strongest. In the latest attack, a candidate was wounded in a grenade attack in Ghazni city, southwest of Kabul, on Thursday, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said. The candidate, Moulana Abdul Rahman, and an Afghan civilian were wounded when ...

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09:40:19 –

Explosion at Shiite Protest Kills at Least 40 in Pakistan

NY Times

74.5%

6.69

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — A blast ripped through a Shiite protest march in the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta on Friday, killing at least 40 people, police and rescue officials said. At least 80 others were wounded. The death toll is expected to rise as several of the wounded are in critical condition. It was not immediately clear whether the bomb was detonated by a suicide bomber or a remote-controlled device, and there were no immediate claims of responsibility. The attack was aimed at a procession of Shiite Muslims who were part of nationwide marches to mark “Al Quds Day,” an annual protest to express solidarity with Palestinians and to condemn Israel. It came just two days after three suicide bombers struck a Shiite procession in the eastern city of Lahore, killing 31 people and setting off violent demonstrations by infuriated survivors. On Friday, the demonstrators were passing through a commercial neighborhood of Quetta when the blast occurre...

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09:40:33 –

Attack on Pakistani Muslim Shiites Kill 43

NY Times

64.79%

6.1

Filed at 9:10 a.m. ET QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) -- Police say the death toll from a suicide bombing at a Shiite protest in southwest Pakistan has nearly doubled to at least 43. The attack Friday has sharply escalated the toll from a recent string of sectarian assaults in a country already battered by massive flooding. Quetta police chief Ghulam Shabir Sheikh says officers confirmed 43 deaths after a blast at a Shiite procession calling for solidarity with Palestinians. He said 78 people are wounded and several are in critical condition. Earlier Friday, a suicide attack on a mosque belonging to the minority Ahmadi sect killed at least one person and wounded several others in the northwest Pakistani town of Mardan. ------ Khan reported from Peshawar. Associated Press Writer Vincent Thian contributed to this report from Gharo. THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below. QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) -- Suicide bombings ta...

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09:40:42 –

Police Disperse Rioters In New Mozambique Protests

NY Times

100%

6.14

Filed at 9:11 a.m. ET MAPUTO (Reuters) - Mozambique police fired rubber bullets and teargas at demonstrators on Friday as rioting flared in the capital following two days of protests over high bread prices that saw seven people killed and hundreds injured. After initial calm in the capital Maputo, police said protestors began looting in the city's outskirts and officers used rubber bullets to disperse the crowds. "Rioting has resumed on the outskirts of Maputo in Benfica and Hulene. They are trying to carry on looting. Police are firing rubber bullets and teargas to disperse them," police spokesman Arnaldo Chefo said. There were no immediate reports of injuries. The deaths in the disturbances which broke out on Wednesday included two children who were killed when police opened fire on protesters who blocked streets, set tyres alight and looted stores in the deadliest riots to hit the southern African country of 23 million since 2008. Mozambique's Trade a...

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09:40:48 –

S.Africa Gov't And Strikers Brace For New Wage Talks

NY Times

40.52%

3.45

Filed at 9:18 a.m. ET JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Striking South African state workers held small-scale protests on Friday as union and government negotiators prepared for bargaining next week aimed at ending the three-week walkout by about 1.3 million. The unions rejected a government offer of 7.5 percent pay raises, nearly double inflation, and 800 rand a month for housing, with workers demanding a better offer. The parties have a bargaining session planned for Monday where they will try to find a way to end the strike that has been the biggest in terms of lost man days in three years. The strike has hit hardest the legions of poor who depend on state services to live and has quashed the euphoria the country felt after hosting the June-to-July soccer World Cup. "It can go either way on Monday. But whatever the outcome it will be a united position from COSATU and the independent unions," said a union spokesman who did not want to be named. The unions, who ...

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09:50:05 –

Prince Edward Island's natural charm

CNN

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10:10:04 –

Gallery: On- and off-screen Hollywood romances

CNN

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10:10:06 –

Kat Von D: I'm in love with Jesse James

CNN

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10:20:11 –

African Peacekeepers Open 9 More Bases in Somalia

NY Times

Filed at 9:57 a.m. ET NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) -- African Union peacekeepers say they have established nine new bases in Somalia's capital over the last several months. The announcement Friday follows days of bloody clashes in Mogadishu that have claimed dozens of lives. The deputy head of the AU commission on Somalia says the peacekeepers have established nine new bases over the past five months. Wafula Wamunyinyi says the bases have helped secure a key road linking government buildings with Mogadishu's port and airport. The area has been the scene of fierce fighting in recent days and Wamunyinyi estimated around 300 insurgents have been killed. Fighters with al-Shabab, a militia that has links with al-Qaida, are trying to overthrow the weak Somali government....

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10:20:21 –

Iranian Opposition Leader's Home Attacked

NY Times

54.63%

Filed at 9:59 a.m. ET TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- Pro-government militiamen attacked the home of an Iranian opposition leader with homemade bombs and beat one of his bodyguards unconscious, an opposition website reported, in an apparent attempt to keep him from attending a key rally on Friday. Mahdi Karroubi's guards had to fire gunshots in the air to clear crowds that broke down the door of his home on Thursday night after days of gatherings outside, said the Sahamnews website, which supports Iran's pro-reform movement. The report said the attackers were members of the plainclothes Basij militia, which led the crackdown on protests that swept the country in response to allegations of fraud in President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's June 2009 re-election. Karroubi was one of the pro-reform candidates who ran against Ahmadinejad. The brazen assault on Karroubi's doorstep suggests the Basij and other government security forces have increasingly turned their attention to pinpoint intimidat...

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10:20:32 –

Iran Could Strike Israeli Nuclear Site if Attacked

NY Times

4.29

Filed at 10:03 a.m. ET TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- Iran's military chief of staff says Tehran could strike Israel's nuclear facility if the Jewish state were to attack Iran's nuclear sites. The semiofficial Mehr news agency quoted Gen. Hasan Firouzabadi as saying Iran hopes there won't ''be a need to target the nuclear facility of the Zionist regime,'' but if there is Israel would receive ''dreadful retribution.'' Israel's main nuclear reactor is located near Dimona in the Negev desert. Firouzabadi was speaking Friday on Quds Day, an annual state-backed anti-Israel rally in Iran. Iranian officials often use the occasion to make threatening remarks against Israel. Israel has not ruled out a military strike against Iran's nuclear sites. Tehran says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes. Israel and the West fear Iran aims to develop nuclear weapons....

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10:30:15 –

West Nile virus kills 15 in Greece, health officials say

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10:50:12 –

Gallery: Earl brings wind, waves, rain to Eastern Seaboard

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10:50:15 –

Comment: Obama ends a war he didn't want

CNN

5.8

(CNN) -- U.S. President Barack Obama announced a milestone in the American war in Iraq this week, in the awkward position of a commander taking stock of a conflict he opposed after a strategy he opposed, with a result he could hardly have wished for either. "The American combat mission has ended," he said in a nationally televised address from the Oval Office. "The Iraqi people now have lead responsibility for the security of their country." George W. Bush invaded Iraq seven-and-a-half years ago, in his now famously failed bid to find weapons of mass destruction. Obama, then a little-known lawmaker in the mid-western state of Illinois, called it a "dumb war." When the fight seemed deadlocked in 2007, Bush raised the total number of U.S. troops to 166,000, in a surge that Obama campaigned against as well....

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11:00:42 –

Zebra-Painted Horses Walk Moscow Intersections

NY Times

57.14%

3.53

Filed at 10:27 a.m. ET MOSCOW (AP) -- A peculiar sight greeted drivers in Moscow on Friday: zebras walking back and forth across some of the city's busiest intersections. It was part of a police campaign to call attention to the importance of crosswalks, known as zebra crossings, which are routinely ignored in the Russian capital, contributing to the horrific number of pedestrians who are mowed down by cars. The drivers who slowed down, and there were some, might have noticed that the zebras were actually light gray horses painted with black stripes. On their backs they carried yellow signs reading: ''Careful, children are on their way to school.'' Drivers are aggressive and impatient in fast-paced Moscow, where it's not unusual to see cars zipping down sidewalks or blowing through red lights. Crosswalks often exist only in theory, with drivers explaining that it is too risky to stop because the car behind them is unlikely to extend the courtesy. In the first six months...

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11:01:12 –

Car Bomber Kills 2, Wounds 25 Police In Tajikistan

NY Times

97.22%

6.48

Filed at 10:39 a.m. ET DUSHANBE (Reuters) - Suicide car bombers struck a police station in Tajikistan on Friday, officials said, killing two officers and wounding 25 in an attack authorities blamed on a militant group linked to al Qaeda. Tajikistan's first known suicide bombing in five years would deal a blow to the government of the ex-Soviet republic, where poverty pushes youth towards radical Islam and political rivalries still fester a decade after a civil war. A sedan exploded after entering the courtyard of a regional police anti-organized crime unit headquarters in Khujand, Tajikistan's second largest city, Interior Ministry chief of staff Tokhir Normatov said. The bodies of two police officers and the remains of two attackers were found in the debris from the blast, which badly damaged the building, Normatov told reporters in the capital, Dushanbe. The Interior Ministry said the attack was likely carried out by the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, wh...

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11:10:22 –

Facebook testing a 'stalker button'

CNN

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11:10:24 –

Obama promises new jobs initiatives, slams GOP

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11:30:19 –

iTunes Ping: The missing thing

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11:30:23 –

Recipe for water in space: Just add starlight

CNN

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11:40:23 –

1st Australian Female PM Leads Party to Low Point

NY Times

53.81%

4.39

Filed at 11:19 a.m. ET CANBERRA, Australia (AP) -- Whether or not she emerges as winner following recent elections, Australia's first woman prime minister will have led the nation's oldest political party to one of the lowest points in its 119-year history. Julia Gillard, a sharp-witted and plain-speaking former lawyer, had been widely expected to take her center-left Labor Party to victory with a loss of some seats at Aug. 21 elections. History was on her side since no Australian government had been denied a second three-year term since 1931. But she failed to convince sufficient voters that her government deserved a second chance. She now needs to persuade at least two of three independent lawmakers next week to support Labor in a minority government commanding 76 or 77 seats in the 150-seat House of Representatives. Opposition leader Tony Abbott, whose Liberal Party represents the conservative spectrum in Australian politics, needs the support of all three independents...

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11:50:53 –

Drone kills 2 militants in North Waziristan, intel officials say

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12:00:38 –

Government: Mozambique Lost $3M Because of Riots

NY Times

54.9%

5.71

Filed at 11:35 a.m. ET MAPUTO, Mozambique (AP) -- Mozambique's economy has lost more than $3 million because of deadly riots over the rising prices of food and other goods, the government said Friday, as state media reported new protests in two other towns. Those losses include damaged property and lost production, state radio reported citing a government report. Computers, chairs and other equipment were looted from bank branches during riots, and loads of corn and cement were taken from railway cars. Mozambicans have seen the price of a loaf of bread rise 25 percent in the past year -- and fuel and water costs also have gone up. The increases have had a dramatic effect in the southeastern African nation where more than half the population lives in poverty. Among those who have been hardest hit by the violence are the thousands of hawkers who make their living on the streets of the capital, said Antonio Fernando, the minister of trade and industry. Mozambique can only so...

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12:01:07 –

Hezbollah Won't Cooperate With Hariri Tribunal

NY Times

4.25

Filed at 11:34 a.m. ET BEIRUT (AP) -- Hezbollah's leader says he will not respond to a U.N.-appointed prosecutor's demand for the Islamic militant group to hand over all information relevant to the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Sheik Hassan Nasrallah says he does not recognize the legitimacy of the U.N. tribunal investigating the 2005 killing and would cooperate with the Lebanese judiciary instead. Hezbollah has handed over a packet of purported evidence it says implicates Israel in the killing, but the prosecutor has said that was ''incomplete'' and demanded the group hand over all information relevant to his investigation. Israel dismissed the claim. Nasrallah spoke to supporters Friday at a rally south of Beirut marking ''Jerusalem Day.''...

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12:01:25 –

South African Suspects Face Delays During Strike

NY Times

Filed at 11:28 a.m. ET JOHANNESBURG (AP) -- A top South African lawyer says people whose trials have been delayed because of a nationwide civil service strike could end up suing the government for damages. Paul Hoffman, director of the independent Institute for Accountability in Southern Africa, said Friday that those whose trials have been delayed could demand to be released. Court administrative staff are taking part in the nationwide strike, which is now on its third week. Among the court hearings delayed was one for the man who has been charged in connection with the car crash that killed Nelson Mandela's great-granddaughter in June. The strikers are demanding an 8.6 percent wage raise, and they have rejected the government's 7.5 percent offer....

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12:11:06 –

South Korea, U.S. to hold joint naval exercise

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12:21:31 –

Police Disperse Rioters In Mozambique Bread Protests

NY Times

64.52%

5.39

Filed at 12:06 p.m. ET MAPUTO (Reuters) - Mozambique police fired rubber bullets and teargas at demonstrators on Friday as rioting flared in the capital following two days of protests over high bread prices that saw seven people killed and hundreds wounded. A 30 percent rise in the price of bread has caused widespread anger in one of the world's poorest countries, but the government has said it is helpless in the face of soaring global wheat prices. Drought and fires in Russia, which had been the world's No. 3 wheat exporter, and a decision by the Russian government to extend a grain export ban until late 2011, have helped to boost benchmark U.S. wheat prices by more than 25 percent this year. "Riots in Mozambique may just be a start as drought is expected to worsen in east Africa and dry heat reduces harvests in the U.S. and Russia," investment bank Fairfax said in a research note. On the opposite side of Africa, in Cameroon, the government is threatening ...

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12:30:27 –

In England, blast at Hare Krishna temple

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12:40:18 –

Plane Crashes on Dubai Highway, Causes Fires: TV

NY Times

Filed at 12:17 p.m. ET DUBAI (Reuters) - A cargo plane crashed on a busy highway in Dubai on Friday, setting some cars on fire, Al Arabiya television reported. Ambulances were rushing to the area, located near a residential district, the station added. It did not report the model of aircraft or its size. Officials could not immediately be reached for comment. (Gulf newsroom)...

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12:50:02 –

Why do the CMAs keep snubbing Underwood for Entertainer of the Year?

CNN

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13:00:16 –

Guinea Candidates Commit to Peaceful Runoff Vote

NY Times

Filed at 12:23 p.m. ET OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso (AP) -- The two candidates facing off in Guinea's historic runoff election later this month say they'll respect its outcome. Both signed an agreement on Friday in Burkina Faso stating that they will ''solemnly and scrupulously conform themselves to the verdict of the polls.'' The mineral-rich West African nation recently survived the one-year rule of a brutal military junta, and the Sept. 19 vote could choose the country's first democratically elected leader ever. There have been concerns, though, that violence could erupt. The leading candidate is a member of the Peul ethnic group, and Peul community leaders have vowed to lead a revolt if election results are distorted to prevent him from winning....

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13:00:42 –

Coppola Checks Back Into Venice for ''Somewhere''

NY Times

44.44%

2.43

Filed at 12:50 p.m. ET VENICE, Italy (AP) -- Sofia Coppola gives audiences an insider's look into two worlds she knows intimately in her latest film: hotels and Hollywood. ''Somewhere,'' which made its world premiere Friday at the Venice Film Festival, is the story of a movie star, played by Stephen Dorff, who comes to see the emptiness of his existence through the eyes of his 11-year-old daughter, a role performed by Elle Fanning. Like ''Lost in Translation,'' which Coppola also premiered in Venice in 2003, ''Somewhere'' takes place nearly entirely in hotels, mostly the Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles, one of the places the director remembers staying with her famous father, Frances Ford Coppola. ''We spent a lot of time growing up living in hotels when we were on location with my Dad. I always like when you are living in hotels; it's like a world unto itself,'' Coppola said. ''Also it is an impermanent place. A lot of the characters I am interested in with are in a mome...

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13:00:46 –

Airport Official: Plane Crashes Outside Dubai

NY Times

3.5

Filed at 12:45 p.m. ET DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) -- An aircraft believed to be a cargo plane crashed Friday outside Dubai, an airport official said. There was no immediate word on casualties. Some unconfirmed reports said the plane went down on a stretch of highway, but the state news agency WAM reported the crash was in an unpopulated desert area. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity under standing rules for releasing information to reporters, said he could not provide more details. In October 2009, a Sudanese Boeing 707 cargo plane crashed in the desert outside Dubai, killing six crew members. Emirati regulators have banned the plane's Sudanese owner, Azza Transport, from operating in the country....

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13:00:55 –

Suicide Blast Rips Through Pakistan City, 54 Dead

NY Times

87.34%

6.17

Filed at 12:37 p.m. ET QUETTA, Pakistan (Reuters) - A suicide bomber struck at a rally in the Pakistani city of Quetta on Friday, killing at least 54 people in the second major attack this week, piling pressure on a government struggling with a flood crisis. The attack on the Shi'ite rally expressing solidarity with the Palestinian people came as the United States said the devastating floods are likely to delay army offensives against Taliban insurgents. "Unfortunately the flooding in Pakistan is probably going to delay any operations by the Pakistani army in North Waziristan for some period of time," U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said in Afghanistan where he is visiting U.S. troops. Senior police official Hamid Shakeel told Reuters that at least 54 people were killed and about 160 wounded. Dozens of dead and wounded lay in pools of blood after the blast that also engulfed vehicles in flames. Hours later, the al Qaeda-linked Taliban took responsibil...

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13:10:03 –

Strong quake strikes near major city in New Zealand

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13:10:04 –

Quiz: How much do you know about Sweden and Malaysia?

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13:10:05 –

Chrissie Hynde's tell-all album

CNN

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