Report: Iran releases former senior official (AP)

Report: Iran releases former senior official (AP)


Report: Iran releases former senior official (AP)

Posted: 10 Mar 2010 10:53 PM PST

A woman holds a picture of slain Iranian protester Neda Agha-Soltan at a protest in the German city of Frankfurt to highglight anger at the results of Iranian elections in late June 2009. The killing of Agha-Soltan came to symbolise the public uprising against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's victory in elections the country's opposition says were rigged.(AFP/DDP/File/Thomas Lohnes)AP - An Iranian pro-reform Web site says authorities have released a former senior official detained for suspected involvement in the country's postelection turmoil.



Taliban talks likely on Karzai agenda in Pakistan (AP)

Posted: 10 Mar 2010 10:36 PM PST

Billboards depicting visiting Afghan President Hamid Karzai, center, Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, left, and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, right, are seen in Islamabad, Pakistan, Wednesday, March 10, 2010. Karzai arrived in Pakistan Wednesday to discuss bilateral issues, centering on security, with Pakistani officials. (AP Photo/B.K. Bangash)AP - Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Thursday he wants Pakistan to hand over a captured Taliban commander, and insisted Afghanistan is dedicated to pursuing peace talks with the militants despite lukewarm enthusiasm from the U.S.



ANALYSIS - Political ads: new weapon in U.S. climate change war?

Posted: 10 Mar 2010 10:45 PM PST

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Big business is now free to blitz the airwaves to attack politicians who support action against climate change, which could smother messages from environmentalists.


Australia on top of the world for expat kids-survey

Posted: 10 Mar 2010 10:45 PM PST

CANBERRA (Reuters Life!) - With its beaches, outdoor lifestyle and friendly schools, Australia has been voted the world's best country to bring up children by expatriates parents working there, an HSBC bank survey shows.


24-hour vigil for miracle Aussie elephant 'Mr. Shuffles' (AFP)

Posted: 10 Mar 2010 10:23 PM PST

This photo received from Taronga Zoo on March 11 shows a newborn male Asian elephant calf in the zoo's elephant barn. The calf born on March 10 has continued to make progress, with the zoo's senior veterinarian saying the calf is slowly getting stronger and is now walking around independently and has suckled from his mother, AFP - Australian zoo keepers were keeping a round-the-clock vigil for "Mr. Shuffles", the miracle elephant calf who survived a marathon nine-day labour despite being declared dead.



Greece braced for strike by unions

Posted: 10 Mar 2010 10:07 PM PST

Protest over state's austerity plans to affect schools and hospitals and also ground flights.


US condemns Myanmar poll 'mockery'

Posted: 10 Mar 2010 09:45 PM PST

Criticism grows of Myanmar election laws barring Aung San Suu Kyi from standing.


Earthquake-rattled Chile to swear in new president

Posted: 10 Mar 2010 10:16 PM PST

SANTIAGO (Reuters) - Conservative billionaire Sebastian Pinera takes office as Chile's new president on Thursday, tasked with rebuilding the country after one of the worst earthquakes ever recorded killed hundreds of people less than two weeks ago.


China's Wen Jiabao to visit Indonesia in April

Posted: 10 Mar 2010 10:16 PM PST

JAKARTA (Reuters) - China's Premier Wen Jiabao will make his first trip to Indonesia in April, just weeks after a visit by U.S. President Barack Obama, a foreign ministry official said on Thursday.


South Sudan humanitarian problems worsening - report

Posted: 10 Mar 2010 10:16 PM PST

JUBA, Sudan (Reuters) - Semi-autonomous south Sudan, wracked by inter-tribal fighting and hunger, will face a worsening humanitarian situation this year, a Norwegian aid agency report said on Thursday.


Earthquake-rattled Chile to swear in new president

Posted: 10 Mar 2010 10:01 PM PST

SANTIAGO (Reuters) - Conservative billionaire Sebastian Pinera takes office as Chile's new president on Thursday, tasked with rebuilding the country after one of the worst earthquakes ever recorded killed hundreds of people less than two weeks ago.


Israel under pressure as prospects of talks fade

Posted: 10 Mar 2010 06:32 PM PST

CAIRO -Prospects for indirect Israeli-Palestinian talks lay in tatters after the Arab League came out against them unless Israel reversed its plans to build more settler homes in the occupied territories.

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'Britain's Fritzl' raped daughters for over 25yrs

Posted: 10 Mar 2010 08:45 AM PST

LONDON -Two British women who were raped and abused by their father for over 25 years, becoming pregnant 18 times, have won an apology from local authorities for failing to prevent the serial incest.

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Taiwan justice minister under fire over 'no execution' vow (AFP)

Posted: 10 Mar 2010 09:54 PM PST

Wang Ching-feng (right), Taiwan's Justice Minister, is seen here with then prosecutor general Chen Tsung-ming, in Taipei, in 2009. Wang on Thursday faced mounting calls from politicians and activists to resign after she vowed not to allow any death sentences during her term.(AFP/File/Patrick Lin)AFP - Taiwan's justice minister Thursday faced mounting calls from politicians and activists to resign after she vowed not to allow any death sentences during her term.



Lebanon resumes defense talks on Hezbollah's military wing (The Christian Science Monitor)

Posted: 10 Mar 2010 03:44 PM PST

The Christian Science Monitor - Lebanon’s top politicians have resumed a series of round-table discussions to devise a national defense strategy, at the heart of which is finding a compromise over the militant Shiite Hezbollah’s powerful military wing.


Google expects China outcome 'soon'

Posted: 10 Mar 2010 09:09 PM PST

Google chief says firm in "active negotiations", but China denies any contact.


Deforestation conference to turn plans to action (AP)

Posted: 10 Mar 2010 09:05 PM PST

AP - French President Nicolas Sarkozy will open a daylong conference Thursday of some 40 nations to start turning plans into action to save the world's forests and help rein in the noxious gases blamed for climate change.


Press group: 8 reporters kidnapped in Mexican city (AP)

Posted: 10 Mar 2010 09:20 PM PST

AP - Eight journalists have been kidnapped in a Mexican border city in a two-week span in a wave of abductions unprecedented in the Western Hemisphere, the Inter-American Press Association said Wednesday.


Australia goes from 'best job' to 'best taxi ride' (AFP)

Posted: 10 Mar 2010 09:28 PM PST

Australian tourism authorities are seeking five foreign couples to take part in what is touted as the world's longest, and most extraordinary, taxi ride. In a nine-week journey over some 11,000 kilometres of road, five couples would travel the state in the back of a taxi.(AFP/File/Greg Wood)AFP - Australian tourism authorities are seeking five foreign couples to take part in what is touted as the world's longest, and most extraordinary, taxi ride.



Phantom's Revenge

Posted: 10 Mar 2010 09:01 PM PST

Andrew Lloyd Webber is back.