Latest

Between nine and nineteen Free Gaza Movement activists died today in international waters when Israeli Defense Force commandos boarded vessels attempting to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza. Benjamin Netanyahu gave the death toll to be at least 10. Israeli television says that 19 people were killed and 36 were wounded in the confrontation. The six vessels, called the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, were carrying 10,000 tonnes of humanitarian aid destined for the Gaza Strip, including water purifiers, prefabricated homes and medical equipment. Pass

A 6.4 moment magnitude earthquake has hit near the Andaman Islands, Bay of the Bengal, India, on Tuesday at 1:21:48 AM local time (Monday 19:51:48 UTC), USGS has reported. The earthquake had a depth of 127.7 kilometers (79.4 miles). The epicenter was located 120 kilometers southeast of Port Blair, Andaman Islands; 350 kilometers north of Mohean, Nicobar Islands; 795 kilometers southwest of Bangkok, Thailand and 2580 kilometers southeast of New Delhi, India. No casualties or damage have been reported. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawa

The top kill procedure implemented by BP on the leaking Deepwater Horizon oil well on Wednesday has failed. According to David Suttles, BP's chief operating officer, "We have been unable to overcome the flow." Suttles stated that after studying three days of results, BP determined that the procedure was a failure. On Wednesday, BP began pumping mud into the leaking well, a procedure known as top kill. BP chief executive Tony Howard said it would take at least 24 hours to determine if the procedure was successful. The procedure has worked bef

The Canadian Government is watching the "slowing growth" of the BP oil spill. Canada is running their dash-8 on a twice a day mission to the gulf, monitoring for signs that the BP Oil slick may expand up the Eastern seaboard into Canadian waters, and to provide assistance to US efforts to contain the spill. This started in May, and is expected to continue until the spill has been fully contained, or no longer needed. Canada has also provided technical experts, research and development teams, and general staffing to assist in spill containment

Two sculptures have been confiscated and thirteen pro-democracy activists arrested in Hong Kong, in what critics have described as "politically motivated" censorship. The sculptures, a new replica of the "Goddess of Democracy" and a carving called the "Tiananmen Massacre Relief", had been placed in the piazza of Hong Kong's Times Square shopping mall in remembrance of the 21st anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Incident. Although the Causeway Bay piazza is designated as a public space, its day-to-day operations are run by the shopping mall's

Bangladesh temporarily blocked the social networking site Facebook on Saturday, after a man was arrested for uploading content onto it deemed offensive. Other users had reportedly posted other kinds of potentially offensive content, including anti-religious and pornographic materials. Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) arrested Mahbub Alam Rodin, aged 30, in charges of uploading cartoons of some political leaders on the website. Rodin's activity on Facebook was classified as "offensive", said Commander Mohammad Sohail, director of RAB's Legal and Me

On Friday, the 189 Parties to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) agreed to a final resolution calling for steps toward the banning of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in the Middle East. The resolution directs United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon to organize a conference of all the Middle East states. The resolution singles out Israel, calling on "all states in the Middle East that have not yet done so to accede to the treaty as non-nuclear weapon states so as to achieve its universality at an early date." In an official state

In ice hockey, Tomáš Kopecký scored the game-winning goal for the Chicago Blackhawks 8:25 into the third period to lift the Blackhawks over the Philadelphia Flyers in Game 1 of the 2010 Stanley Cup Finals Saturday night in Chicago, United States. The game started exciting, with five goals each in the first two periods, but Kopecký's game-winner was the sole third-period goal. Ville Leino opened the scoring for the Flyers at the 6:38 mark of the first period with Chicago's Troy Brouwer answered back just 68 seconds later. After teammate Patrick

A bus accident in southern India has left at least thirty people dead — including about ten children — and thirty more injured, according to reports. The incident occurred before dawn in the town of Chitradurga in the Karnataka state. The vehicle, en route to Bangalore, about 200 kilometres from the scene of the accident, drove into a police barricade and flipped over, causing the fuel tank to explode and burn the passengers. The Press Trust of India news service reports that the driver was among the dead. Senior police officer Labhu Ram als

Actor, director, and artist Dennis Hopper has died today at the age of 74. He was known to suffer from prostate cancer since October 2009. He was born Dennis Lee Hopper on May 17, 1936 in Dodge City, Kansas. As a young man, Hopper became interested in acting and eventually became a student of the Actors Studio. He made his first television appearance in 1955, and appeared in two films featuring James Dean, Rebel Without a Cause (1955) and Giant (1956). Over the next ten years, Hopper appeared frequently on television in guest roles, and by

The Pacaya Volcano erupted on Friday. It is located 50 kilometers south of the capital of Guatemala, Guatemala City. Throughout the evening and night, volcanic ash fell in the municipalities of Amatitlán, Villa Nueva, and Guatemala City. President Álvaro Colom's government has decreed a State of Public Calamity in the Escuintla, Sacatepéquez and Guatemala departments, for 15 days or more, so the authorities can do their job correctly. The emergency response is being coordinated by the National Coordination for Disaster Reduction (CONRED). Th

The US Supreme Court has denied Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich's request to delay his corruption trial after receiving a statement from the federal government in opposition.  The trial is set to begin on June 3, and many of the charges Blagojevich faces are based on a federal honest-services fraud law. He challenged the constitutionality of this law and argued that the trial should be delayed until the high court decides the issue. The request had already been denied by judges in the lower courts.  The Obama administration argued that ther