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Militants in north-west Pakistan blew up a fuel tanker carrying supplies to NATO forces in Afghanistan on Monday. More than ten armed men shot at the tanker and fired a rocket at the vehicle outside Peshawar city, and the driver and a passenger were injured in the attack, although no loss of life is reported. Head of the north-western city's administration, Sahibzada Anees, said "About ten armed people fired at a tanker carrying petrol for NATO forces and later lobbed a rocket at the vehicle, which set alight some 78,000 litres (17,000 gallons

A French court Tuesday launched the trial of five men and a US airline over the Concorde disaster. 113 people were killed when the supersonic jet struck a hotel near Paris in 2000. The prosecution case agrees with the facts set out in the final accident report, which, by international law, was written from an entirely different investigation and thus cannot be introduced in court. It alleges that improper maintenance of an American airliner and failure to detect design flaws with the Concorde were responsible for the Air France jet's crash, to

__NOTOC__ Clare Short, the United Kingdom's then-Secretary of State for International Development, appeared before the Iraq Inquiry yesterday, and told the panel that the Cabinet was "misled" about the Iraq War's legality prior to the 2003 invasion. The three-hour session was held in the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre in London's City of Westminster. Short, an outspoken critic of the war, retired from the cabinet to become an independent MP two months before the invasion. She claimed to have been "conned" into staying on despite her dou

A court in Poland has issued a European Union arrest warrant for 34-year-old Anders Högström, the alleged mastermind involved in the theft of the infamous Arbeit Macht Frei sign from Auschwitz. The sign, later recovered cut into three pieces, was stolen from the entrance of the death camp in December last year. Five Poles have been arrested for the theft of the sign, that translates to "work sets you free". The wrought-iron sign weighs 40kg and is five metres long, and was unscrewed and ripped from above the gate of the infamous site in the hea

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has said that, in the last month, 258 civilians were killed and a further 80,000 displaced by the ongoing violence in Somalia, between the government and rebel groups. "According to local sources, intense clashes between government forces and militia groups fighting for control of the conflict- torn central regions have left at least 258 civilians dead and another 253 wounded, which makes January the deadliest month since last August," the UN agency said in a statement. "We estimate tha

The chief of the UN climate change panel, Dr. Rajendra Pachauri, admitted on Wednesday that a mistake in a 2007 report had raised questions about the body's credibility, in an interview with The Guardian. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC) landmark Fourth Assessment Report in 2007 said the probability of glaciers in the Himalayas "disappearing by the year 2035 and perhaps sooner is very high." There is no evidence the claim was published in a peer-reviewed journal, thus calling into question its credibility. He refused t

Christmas day bomber cooperating The Nigerian man accused of trying to blow up a Detroit-bound jetliner on Christmas day with hidden explosives is cooperating with investigators and providing fresh intelligence after the U.S. enlisted the help of his family, an administration official said. His family persuaded him to cooperate. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab has been providing information to Federal Bureau of Investigation agents questioning him, the official told reporters on the condition of anonymity. The offici

According to reports, at least eight people, including three United States military personnel and four schoolgirls, were killed earlier today by a roadside bomb near a girls' school in north-western Pakistan. Another 62 were injured. The incident occurred in a village in the Lower Dir district, near Swat Valley. The Los Angeles Times reports that the US troops were travelling to the area in a convoy to attend the opening ceremony of the school for girls when the explosion occurred. In a statement, the US embassy in Pakistan commented that "th

Actor Justin Mentell, known for his role in US television drama Boston Legal, has died as the result of a road traffic accident aged 27. Iowa County Sheriff's Department, who confirmed the death, stated that Mentell was driving without wearing a seatbelt when he crashed his 4 X 4 vehicle into two trees placed on an embankment. He was killed in the collision at 0300 local time. One of the roles that Justin Mentell played was Garrett Wells in Boston Legal in 2005 and in 2006. William Shatner, who also appeared in the programme, paid tribute to

The Indiana Department of Homeland Security was revealed on Saturday to have violated the copyright of a number of contributors to online encyclopedia Wikipedia in a document on racial profiling by quoting Wikipedia articles without any attribution. The PDF file, which was created as a guide for students in grades 9–12 "[t]o research positions related to the topic of racial profiling post September 11, 2001 with a primary focus on citizens of Middle Eastern descent, and to give an informative speech", quotes from seven Wikipedia articles witho

The United States has begun improving the missile defense system for their Persian Gulf alliances. Military officials stated that the Obama administration is increasing the capability of land and sea missile defense in hopes of further security in the face of Iran's perceived increasing nuclear missile threat. General David Petraeus of U.S. Central Command made a statement saying eight new missile batteries have been placed in four separate countries in the Persian Gulf, now speculated to be Bahrain, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, and Qatar alo

The United States government will resume evacuation flights for injured Haitians following doctors advising that many were likely to die if they did not receive immediate medical care. Airlifts stopped Wednesday due to logistical issues. Tommy Vietor, a White House spokesman, said on Sunday that airlifts should resume within the next twelve hours. Vietor said Haitians with spinal injuries and burns were flown to the U.S., most for treatment in Florida. The state's governor, Charlie Crist, advised the Obama administration last week that Florida