xNews® World News: Thursday, August 16, 2012

VIDEO: Assange mother 'shocked' by UK

VIDEO: Assange mother 'shocked' by UK
China's Hu gives show of support for North Korea
Five Tips to Make Your Hobby Tax Deductible
Japan to deport Chinese in island row
Gu Kailai set to hear fate in China murder trial
At least 30 died in South Africa mine crackdown: police
Deadly fire at bar on Thailand resort island
China's Hu gives show of support for North Korea
Four dead in pub fire on Thai holiday island of Phuket
Blizzard Gives Legendary Loot That Special Something In Patch 1.0.4
Expansion of the English Premier League
Isn't It High Time We Legalize Marijuana?
China to issue verdict in Gu murder case on Monday: court
Japan to send back Chinese sea activists to avoid row
Black Hawk crash kills 7 Americans, 4 Afghans
Townsfolks sickened after Peru toxic spill
Four dead in pub fire on Thai holiday island of Phuket
Wildfires continue to rage across western US
Japan to send back Chinese sea activists to avoid row
China to issue verdict in Gu murder case on Monday: court

Posted: 16 Aug 2012 10:43 PM PDT

Julian Assange's mother, Christine, says the UK has been ''exposed as nothing but a puppet state of the US'', as Ecuador grants asylum to the Wikileaks founder.

China's Hu gives show of support for North Korea

Posted: 16 Aug 2012 09:55 PM PDT

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's President Hu Jintao on Friday met the powerful uncle of North Korea's young leader Kim Jong-un, in a clear show of support for the impoverished ally as it takes tentative steps to rebuild its shattered economy. The uncle, Jang song-thaek, is seen as a driving force for reforms which the isolated and destitute North is believed to be trying and for which it desperately needs Chinese backing. ...

Five Tips to Make Your Hobby Tax Deductible

Posted: 16 Aug 2012 03:32 PM PDT

The whippets chase the lure at Cheltenham racecourse in Cheltenham, England. (Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife) Will the IRS pay for your hobby? The short answer is no. The more nuanced answer is sometimes, provided that you make it enough of a real business. If you want to avoid any [...]

Japan to deport Chinese in island row

Posted: 16 Aug 2012 10:42 PM PDT

Japan will deport 14 detained Chinese nationals who were arrested over a disputed island chain in the East China Sea in a resolution aimed at ending a diplomatic incident between the two nations.

Gu Kailai set to hear fate in China murder trial

Posted: 16 Aug 2012 10:43 PM PDT

Chinese authorities will announce the verdict Monday morning in the murder trial of Gu Kailai, wife of disgraced Communist Party leader Bo Xilai, a friend of her family told CNN.

At least 30 died in South Africa mine crackdown: police

Posted: 16 Aug 2012 10:36 PM PDT

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South African police minister Nathi Mthethwa confirmed on Friday that more than 30 people were killed in a security crackdown on striking miners at Lonmin's Marikana platinum mine the previous day.

Deadly fire at bar on Thailand resort island

Posted: 16 Aug 2012 10:35 PM PDT

At least four deaths caused by blaze, blamed on lighting which struck nearby transformer in Phuket's Patong beach area.

China's Hu gives show of support for North Korea

Posted: 16 Aug 2012 09:55 PM PDT

Four dead in pub fire on Thai holiday island of Phuket

Posted: 16 Aug 2012 09:12 PM PDT

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Four people died and at least 11 were injured in a fire early on Friday in a bar on the island of Phuket, police said, adding to recent incidents that have tarnished the reputation of one of Thailand's premier tourist destinations. The dead included two women and one man but police said the bodies were too badly burnt to identify. Four French nationals were among the injured, one of them seriously ill in hospital. The Tiger Pub on Patong beach, which also houses a discotheque, was reported to be close to collapse after the fire, which broke out shortly before 4 a.m. ...

Blizzard Gives Legendary Loot That Special Something In Patch 1.0.4

Posted: 16 Aug 2012 05:37 PM PDT

Video For all the problems gamers have had with Diablo III, Blizzard has done a good job about listening to fans, at least from what I've seen so far. I doubt it's easy to take wave after wave and mob after mob of upset fans, especially if your legendary weapons aren't [...]

Expansion of the English Premier League

Posted: 16 Aug 2012 05:33 PM PDT

One of the pleasures of the new football season is getting hold the latest edition of the Sky Sports Football Yearbook and looking up stats from last season. Economic poetry. One of the most interesting stats to me is the strength of the Football League Championship as measured by attendance. Some [...]

Isn't It High Time We Legalize Marijuana?

Posted: 16 Aug 2012 04:32 PM PDT

Drug prohibition has been a disaster for decades. With a Presidential election on the horizon, legalization should be on the table.

China to issue verdict in Gu murder case on Monday: court

Posted: 16 Aug 2012 09:36 PM PDT

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - A Chinese court is due to deliver its verdict, and likely sentence, on Monday in a case against Gu Kailai over the murder of British businessman Neil Heywood, in the latest chapter in a scandal that toppled her once-powerful politician husband, Bo Xilai. She has admitted the killing. If, as expected, she is found guilty, it should push a key piece of an ugly political scandal into the background for the ruling Communist Party ahead of a transition of top leaders expected later this year. ...

Japan to send back Chinese sea activists to avoid row

Posted: 16 Aug 2012 09:33 PM PDT

TOKYO/BEIJING (Reuters) - Japan will send back 14 Chinese activists on Friday who were detained after some of them landed on an island claimed by both Tokyo and Beijing, the government said, a move that could ease tension between Asia's two largest economies. The activists were detained on Wednesday after using a boat to land on the rocky, uninhabited isles known as the Senkaku in Japan and the Diaoyu in China. Since then Beijing has issued a succession of demands for their immediate release. ...

Black Hawk crash kills 7 Americans, 4 Afghans

Posted: 16 Aug 2012 12:40 PM PDT

A U.S. military helicopter crashed during a firefight with insurgents in a remote area of southern Afghanistan on Thursday, killing seven Americans and four Afghans in one of the deadliest air disasters of a war now into its second decade. The Taliban claimed they gunned down the Black Hawk.

Townsfolks sickened after Peru toxic spill

Posted: 16 Aug 2012 10:03 AM PDT

It began with a loud pop like a tire bursting. A toxic cocktail of copper concentrate laced with a periodic-table's mix of volatile compounds then shot skyward.