World News

First responders prepare the wounded for transport in waiting ambulances near Fort Hood's Soldier Readiness Processing Center Nov. 5.

photo: US Army / Jeramie Sivley

Obama praises army base heroism
read more BBC News

US President Barack Obama has praised the heroism of soldiers and civilians in their response to the deadly attack at a US army base in Texas. In his weekly address, he says that although the shootings showed the "worst of human nature" they had also brought out "the best of America". Maj Nidal Malik Hasan, a US-born Muslim,...

Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling, is seen during a visit to the factory of Pelamis Wave Power, a producer and supplier of commercial wave power generation equipment in Leith, Edinburgh, Scotland. Friday Nov. 6, 2009.

photo: AP / Chris Clark, Pool

The G20 wants to stop climate change - but who on earth will pay for it?
read more The Independent

As if they hadn't got quite enough on their plates already, the finance ministers of the G20, meeting in St Andrews, have also set themselves the task of saving the planet. Strange, but true. Even the clever people at HM Treasury may be feeling the strain. The Chancellor, Alistair Darling, was honest enough yesterday to admit that "heavy lifting"...

Opposition leader Andry Rajoelina sings the national anthem in one of the capital's presidential palaces in Antananarivo, Madagascar, Tuesday March 17, 2009. Madagascar's president handed over power Tuesday, but not to the rival who plunged this Indian Ocean island nation into weeks of turmoil with his bid for power. In a radio address Tuesday, President Marc Ravalomanana said he was ceding power to the military.

photo: AP / Jerome Delay

Madagascar rivals reach agreement
read more BBC News

Madagascar's rival political leaders have agreed to form a power-sharing government after months of wrangling. Current leader Andry Rajoelina said the four...

French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde, left, arrives with Domonique Strauss-Khan of the IMF and Governor of the Bank of England, Mervin King, right, for the evening dinner at an hotel, in St Andrews, Scotland as part of the G20 Finance Ministers and Bank Governors Meeting, Friday Nov. 6, 2009.

photo: AP / Geoff Caddick

G20 ministers to firm up global recovery, climate deal
read more Inquirer

ST ANDREWS Hosts Britain told the G20 it had "no reason to give up" on a new climate change deal Friday, as finance ministers met for talks on bolstering the world economy and green finance. Ministers from the world's 20 biggest and top emerging economies are holding the third in a series of ministerial meetings this year that have helped launch...

Chad Bennett uses the computer to look for a job at the Work Force Plus employment center, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2008, in Tallahassee, Fla. New claims for jobless benefits rose more than expected last week, exceeding even gloomy expectations for an economy stuck in a recession that seems to be deepe

photo: AP / Phil Coale

Obama eyes new steps as US unemployment rises
read more Inquirer

WASHINGTON - US unemployment jumped to double digits in October for the first time since 1983, reaching 10.2 percent, prompting renewed talk of additional stimulus for an economy struggling to emerge from recession. Friday's Labor Department report, seen as one of the best indicators of economic momentum, showed job losses narrowed last month to...

Soldiers hold a candle light vigil at Fort Hood, Texas, Friday, Nov. 6, 2009. Authorities said Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan shot and killed 13 people at Fort Hood, Texas on Thursday.

photo: AP / LM Otero

US mourns deaths at Texas army base
read more Al Jazeera

The US president has ordered flags at federal buildings to be flown at half mast in tribute to those killed in a gun attack at the Fort Hood military base. Barack Obama made the order on Friday, a day after 12 military staff and one civilian were shot dead at the base in Texas. "This is a modest tribute to those who lost their lives even as many...

Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown delivers a speech to the Royal College of Defence Studies, setting out Britain's position in the on-going war in Afghanistan, Friday Nov. 6, 2009.

photo: AP / Oli Scarff/Pool

Karzai could lose West's support, Brown warns
read more Yahoo Daily News

LONDON (AFP) – The West could withdraw support for Afghan President Hamid Karzai if he fails to live up to its expectations during his second term, Prime Minister Gordon Brown warned on Friday. While defending Britain's Afghanistan mission against waning public support, Brown admitted Karzai's government had become a "by-word for...

This still made from video shows a police officer and soldier blocking the road at the main gate of the Army base at Fort Hood, Texas on Thursday Nov. 5, 2009.

photo: AP / Richard Matthews

Army post shooting rampage leaves 13 dead, 30 hurt
read more The Boston Globe

FORT HOOD, Texas-Military officials were starting Friday to piece together what may have pushed an Army psychiatrist trained to help soldiers in distress to turn on his comrades in a shooting rampage that killed 13 people and wounded 30 in Texas. The suspected shooter, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, was on a ventilator and unconscious in a hospital after...

Villagers in Moyamba, Sierra Leone, walk by a United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL).

photo: UN / Eric Kanalstein

Did Sierra Leone get war crimes justice?
read more BBC News

As Sierra Leonean war crimes convicts begin their sentences this week in Rwanda, the BBC's Umaru Fofana considers the achievement of the Special Court for Sierra Leone, which has now finished its work in Freetown. Kadiatu, who had one of her legs chopped off in January 1999 by rebels, sat in her wheelchair at her makeshift shelter in Grafton...

photo: WN / Ahmed Deeb

Israel rejects UN endorsement of report alleging war crimes happened during Gaza fighting
read more Star Tribune

JERUSALEM - Israel said on Friday that a U.N. General Assembly decision to endorse a report accusing the Jewish state of war crimes lacked the support of the world's "moral majority." In a vote Thursday, the General Assembly overwhelmingly approved an Arab-drafted resolution calling on Israel and the Palestinians to conduct...