Southern Iraqi city eyes break from Baghdad (AP)

Southern Iraqi city eyes break from Baghdad (AP)


Southern Iraqi city eyes break from Baghdad (AP)

Posted: 22 Dec 2010 11:01 PM PST

AP - Over a recent dinner, two friends — both local businessmen — dished over a simmering topic in Iraq's oil-rich port city: whether to boost Basra's future by partially breaking away from the federal government in Baghdad.


UN probes Manning's jail treatment

Posted: 22 Dec 2010 11:06 PM PST

Special rapporteur on torture investigates complaint that US army officer suspected of feeding WikiLeaks is mistreated.


Australians 'guilty of terror plot'

Posted: 22 Dec 2010 10:43 PM PST

Three men were convicted of planning a foiled suicide attack on army base near Sydney, while two were found not guilty.


Greek MPs approve tough budget

Posted: 22 Dec 2010 06:09 PM PST

Greece's parliament has approved a tough austerity budget that cuts public spending and raises taxes.


Huge sea monster emerges from rock

Posted: 22 Dec 2010 04:13 PM PST

Fossil preparator Scott Moore Fay explains how to remove a colossal sea monster fossil from its rocky casing.


Kremlin hails Senate's approval of nuclear treaty (AP)

Posted: 22 Dec 2010 10:33 PM PST

AP - President Dmitry Medvedev has welcomed the U.S. Senate's decision to ratify a landmark U.S.-Russian nuclear arms control treaty and voiced hope that Russian legislators will follow suit.


Russia unveils new supercar

Posted: 22 Dec 2010 04:42 PM PST

A Russian company is challenging the unfashionable perceptions of the country's motoring industry with its new sports car.


Greek MPs approve tough budget

Posted: 22 Dec 2010 06:09 PM PST

Greece's parliament has approved a tough austerity budget that cuts public spending and raises taxes.


China's president to make U.S. visit

Posted: 22 Dec 2010 05:40 PM PST

Chinese President Hu Jintao will make a state visit to the White House on January 19, including a state dinner that night, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs announced Wednesday.


South Korea begins major military drills

Posted: 22 Dec 2010 10:15 PM PST

The South Korean army says it has started its military exercises, held just 15 miles from Seoul's longtime adversary North Korea, which it has called its largest land and air winter drills.


Rovi To Buy Sonic Solutions For $720 Million

Posted: 22 Dec 2010 09:46 PM PST

In a deal which will combine two players in the television technology infrastructure business, Rovi


Greek lawmakers pass tough budget

Posted: 22 Dec 2010 09:56 PM PST

The 2011 budget is passed in Greek parliament despite 'no' vote by the opposition and continued strikes and protests.


Thai rangers killed in rebel ambush (Reuters)

Posted: 22 Dec 2010 09:40 PM PST

Reuters - Suspected separatist insurgents shot dead two paramilitary rangers in Thailand's restive deep south on Thursday, police said, the latest violence in the troubled region bordering Malaysia.


After the Strike, Spain's Air-Traffic Controllers Face a Backlash (Time.com)

Posted: 22 Dec 2010 09:40 PM PST

Time.com - As the Spanish government forces striking air-traffic controllers back to work, the controllers face public rage, demands of compensation and possible jail time. But is the state's stance just a way of diverting attention from the nation's sorry economy?


Pro-Kremlin group luring youth with spy luster (Reuters)

Posted: 22 Dec 2010 09:44 PM PST

Anna Chapman, a former Russian spy now working as an advisor to the president of Moscow-based FundService Bank, delivers a speech during a congress of pro-Kremlin Molodaya Gvardiya (Young Guard) movement in Moscow, December 22, 2010. REUTERS/Alexander NatruskinReuters - Russian celebrity spy Anna Chapman turned political activist on Wednesday to rally youth support for Vladimir Putin's United Russia party as it prepares for parliamentary elections next year.



Pakistan Sees An Alternative Endgame in Afghanistan (Time.com)

Posted: 22 Dec 2010 09:40 PM PST

Time.com - Criticized for failing to implement the U.S. strategy, Pakistan's generals offer counter proposals on ending the war


UN warns of civil war in Ivory Coast

Posted: 22 Dec 2010 07:31 PM PST

The UN is warning of civil war in Ivory Coast as Laurent Gbagbo refuses to accept defeat in presidential elections.


UN warns of civil war in Ivory Coast

Posted: 22 Dec 2010 07:31 PM PST

The UN is warning of civil war in Ivory Coast as Laurent Gbagbo refuses to accept defeat in presidential elections.


Thai rangers killed in rebel ambush

Posted: 22 Dec 2010 09:40 PM PST

YALA, Thailand (Reuters) - Suspected separatist insurgents shot dead two paramilitary rangers in Thailand's restive deep south on Thursday, police said, the latest violence in the troubled region bordering Malaysia.


'Suicide bomber kills policeman' in Afghanistan (AFP)

Posted: 22 Dec 2010 09:15 PM PST

Afghan policemen carry a wounded soldier during a gunbattle in Kunduz on December 19. A suicide bomber killed a policeman and injured five civilians at a checkpoint in Kunduz, northern Afghanistan on Thursday, a local official told AFP.(AFP/File/Gul Rahim)AFP - A suicide bomber killed a policeman and injured five civilians at a checkpoint in Kunduz, northern Afghanistan on Thursday, a local official told AFP.