NewsDaily: World Headlines

About 145 killed in Madrid airport plane crash (Reuters)

Martin Roberts — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 16:18:28 EDT

MADRID, Aug. 20, 2008 (Reuters) -- About 145 people were killed when a Spanish jet taking holidaymakers to the Canary Islands crashed on takeoff and burst into flames at Madrid airport on Wednesday, an emergency services spokesman said. ... > read full story

Zambian VP takes charge, will call fresh polls (Reuters)

Shapi Shacinda — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 15:57:57 EDT

LUSAKA, Aug. 20, 2008 (Reuters) -- Zambian Vice President Rupiah Banda, a prominent businessman, has taken over as head of government after the death of President Levy Mwanawasa and will call early elections, officials said on Wednesday. ... > read full story

Russia circulates own draft U.N. resolution (Reuters)

Patrick Worsnip — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 15:55:36 EDT

UNITED NATIONS, Aug. 20, 2008 (Reuters) -- Russia circulated its own draft U.N. resolution aimed at bringing peace to Georgia to the Security Council on Wednesday, a day after blocking a rival Western draft that demanded an immediate Russian withdrawal. ... > read full story

Iran says talks with IAEA "positive" (Reuters)

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 15:39:26 EDT

TEHRAN, Aug. 20, 2008 (Reuters) -- Iran described talks with a top U.N. inspector over its nuclear program -- which the West fears is a cover to build atomic bombs -- as "positive," the official IRNA news agency reported on Wednesday. ... > read full story

No timetable in draft deal on U.S. troops: Iraq (Reuters)

Wisam Mohammed — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 15:20:25 EDT

BAGHDAD, Aug. 20, 2008 (Reuters) -- U.S. and Iraqi negotiators completed a draft deal on Wednesday to give U.S. troops a legal basis to stay in Iraq after 2008, without setting out a timetable for their withdrawal, Iraq's top negotiator said. ... > read full story

Russian trucks trickle out of Georgia (Reuters)

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 14:46:13 EDT

VERKHNY ZARAMAG, Russia, Aug. 20, 2008 (Reuters) -- Russian military trucks trickled back into Russia from Georgia on Wednesday but no armored vehicles or artillery passed and there was no sign of the large-scale rapid pullout demanded by the West. ... > read full story

UK's Brown to raise human rights with China (Reuters)

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 13:52:29 EDT

ON BOARD FLIGHT TO BEIJING, Aug. 20, 2008 (Reuters) -- British Prime Minister Gordon Brown urged China on Wednesday to make more progress on human rights, saying the issue needed to be addressed not only during the Olympic Games. ... > read full story

"Lightning" Bolt strikes again in Beijing (Reuters)

Andrew Cawthorne — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 13:47:13 EDT

BEIJING, Aug. 20, 2008 (Reuters) -- Jamaica's Usain "Lightning" Bolt roared to gold in the 200 meters on Wednesday to become the first man since Carl Lewis in 1984 to win an Olympic sprint double. ... > read full story

Algeria bombs kill 12 as violence escalates (Reuters)

Abdelaziz Boumzar — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 13:09:41 EDT

BOUIRA, Algeria, Aug. 20, 2008 (Reuters) -- Two car bombs in Algeria killed 12 people and wounded 42 on Wednesday, the latest attacks in the bloodiest week of unrest in years and a blow to hopes the OPEC member state can soon end an Islamist insurgency. ... > read full story

Russia halts military work with NATO: Norway (Reuters)

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 11:44:18 EDT

OSLO, Aug. 20, 2008 (Reuters) -- NATO-member Norway said on Wednesday that Russia had decided to halt military cooperation with the U.S.-led alliance following sharp Western criticism of its military intervention in Georgia. ... > read full story

Mugabe to open parliament despite warning (Reuters)

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 10:34:38 EDT

HARARE, Aug. 20, 2008 (Reuters) -- Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe will officially open parliament on Tuesday despite opposition warnings that such a move would endanger crucial power-sharing talks. ... > read full story

Pakistan coalition may-split post-Musharraf: analysts (Reuters)

Robert Birsel — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 08:49:22 EDT

ISLAMABAD, Aug. 20, 2008 (Reuters) -- Deadlock between Pakistan's coalition partners over the restoration of deposed judges has raised questions about the survival of the government that forced President Pervez Musharraf's resignation. ... > read full story

Lebanese calls for Arabs to embrace Iraq (Reuters)

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 07:52:29 EDT

BAGHDAD, Aug. 20, 2008 (Reuters) -- Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora vowed on Wednesday to strengthen ties with Iraq, calling for it to be "reintegrated into the Arab world," as he became the second Arab leader to visit since Saddam Hussein's fall. ... > read full story

Sarkozy has no regrets after Afghan deaths (Reuters)

Elizabeth Pineau — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 05:57:44 EDT

KABUL, Aug. 20, 2008 (Reuters) -- President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Wednesday he did not regret sending 700 more troops to Afghanistan this year, after insurgents killed 10 French soldiers, the biggest single loss for foreign forces in Afghan combat since 2001. ... > read full story

Five Americans held as China steps up scrutiny (Reuters)

Ralph Jennings and Lindsay Beck — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 05:44:05 EDT

BEIJING, Aug. 20, 2008 (Reuters) -- Five American blogger-activists and a foreign artist have been detained in Beijing as the government intensifies a crackdown on pro-Tibetan protests in the home stretch of the Olympics, rights groups said on Wednesday. ... > read full story

Floods force thousands to flee homes in India, Nepal (Reuters)

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 04:26:58 EDT

GUWAHATI, India, Aug. 20, 2008 (Reuters) -- Floods triggered by heavy monsoon rains left some 50,000 people homeless in India's remote northeast, officials said on Wednesday, warning of more rains in one of the country's most flood-prone regions. ... > read full story

Magnitude 4.5 earthquake shakes eastern Japan (Reuters)

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 02:24:41 EDT

TOKYO, Japan, Aug. 20, 2008 (Reuters) -- A earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 4.5 jolted eastern Japan on Wednesday, the Japan Meteorological Agency said. ... > read full story

New rules make China's Bao world's tallest again (Reuters)

Michelle Nichols — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 02:13:09 EDT

NEW YORK, Aug. 20, 2008 (Reuters) -- Guinness World Records has returned the title of world's tallest man to China's Bao Xishun after Ukrainian Leonid Stadnyk refused to be measured under new guidelines. ... > read full story

Australia says WW2 war crime suspect can be extradited (Reuters)

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 23:53:29 EDT

CANBERRA, Aug. 19, 2008 (Reuters) -- An alleged World War Two war criminal living in Australia was eligible for extradition to Hungary to face justice, an Australian court ruled on Wednesday. ... > read full story

Quake hits southwest China, no reports of casualties (Reuters)

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 23:43:02 EDT

BEIJING, Aug. 19, 2008 (Reuters) -- An earthquake hit southwest China on Wednesday, knocking down houses and forcing around 1,200 people to evacuate from near the site of a devastating quake which killed at least 70,000 people in May, state media said. ... > read full story