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Egyptian Communication and Information Technology Minister Tarek Kamel announced on Sunday that the country had filed an application for the ".misr" (".Egypt") top-level domain (مصر‎ in Arabic) and that registrations for second-level domains would begin as of midnight (2200 UTC) at an Internet conference sponsored by the United Nations. According to Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) chief executive Rod Beckstrom, six countries have applied for top-level domains in three languages since the Internet coordinator opened u

A Zambian journalist accused of distributing pornography because she sent officials photographs of a woman forced to give birth in a carpark outside a hospital was found not guilty yesterday in Lusaka. The accused, Chansa Kabwela, faced a prison sentence of five years; she contested that she had only mailed the photos to highlight the effects of a strike at hospitals throughout the country. The baby shown in the photos had died because of lack of medical attention. President Rupiah Banda had said that the photographs were pornographic, but mag

The Israeli Interior Ministry has announced today that 900 new housing units are slated to be built by Israeli officials at the Gilo settlement located in East Jerusalem. A press release by the Interior Ministry read, "The planning and construction committee has authorised the construction of 900 housing units in the Gilo neighbourhood in Jerusalem." Annexed after the 1967 war, East Jerusalem is what Palestinians still hope to make the capital of their future state. However, the current Israeli government has made claim to Jerusalem as t

Following a new report into the loss of a Nimrod jet belonging to the UK's Royal Air Force over Afghanistan the family of one of the victims is seeking a criminal prosecution. Sergeant Ben Knight, aged 25, was among the fourteen killed when Nimrod XV230 crashed in 2006. Knight's parents have applied via their lawyers Smithfield Partners to the Crown Prosecution Service to consider evidence contained in a report by Charles Haddon-Cave QC, who is due to appear before the House of Commons next month. The Loss Of RAF Nimrod XV230, A Failure Of Lea

The governing body of world football, FIFA, has threatened Iraq with expulsion after the Iraqi Olympic Committee (IOC) took control of the country's governing body of football and disbanded it. FIFA has given the country 72 hours to restore the Iraq Football Association (IFA); if this is not done, the case is to be referred to FIFA’s emergency committee. The IFA and the IOC have disputed over who controls the game in the country for several years. The IOC has blamed the IFA for the FIFA ban on the country not being allowed to host internationa

Insurgents in eastern Afghanistan fired rockets into a marketplace on Monday, killing ten civilians in an area where French armed forces were meeting with tribal elders. French and Afghan officials said the attack, which was in the town of Tagab in the Kapisa province, wounded at least 28 people. Two rockets hit the market as the commander of French troops in eastern Afghanistan, General Marcel Druart, was meeting tribal chiefs nearby. "The Taliban fired the rockets from Badrab, where they have a base. They are strong there," said deputy poli

As many as 50 people have been killed after a wooden ferry capsized in the Irrawaddy delta region of Myanmar on Sunday night, according to officials. The Nay Win Tun ran into an oil barge in the Irrawaddy delta, causing it to sink. The ferry, travelling from the town of Pathein to Thetkelthaung, is said to have had about 200 passengers on board at the time of the accident. The barge didn't sink, authorities said. "The boat sank after colliding with an oil barge. We have recovered 34 bodies and there are at least another 16 people missing who

The European Environment Agency (EEA) released a report which shows that the European Union is on track to meet their Kyoto Protocol commitments to limit and reduce emissions responsible for the greenhouse effect on our earth. The five member states France, Germany, Greece, Sweden and the United Kingdom have already reached the target. All other member states, except Austria, which has to strengthen its efforts, expect to reach the target, too. EEA Executive Director Professor Jacqueline McGlade said: "It is encouraging that Europe's climate-

The White House has announced that it is considering sending Guantanamo Bay detainees to a state prison in northwestern Illinois. Governor Pat Quinn and President Barack Obama discussed a federal purchase of the Thomson Correctional Center in Thomson during Quinn's visit to Washington on November 4. The purchase would bring a desperately needed $200 million to the state government. Senator Dick Durbin said in a statement last Saturday that the purchase would also bring fewer than 100 Guantanamo detainees to the prison and create 3,000 new jo

A British soldier has been shot dead in the Helmand Province of Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defence has announced. The soldier, who came from 7th Battalion The Rifles, was killed by "small arms fire" while he was on foot patrol near the town of Sangin on Sunday morning. With the revelation of this information, the total number of military personnel that has now been killed in Afghanistan since the year 2001 has now increased to 233. The family of the soldier have now been told. Lieutenant Colonel David Wakefield, who is the spokesperson for T

Heavy snowstorms in northern China have killed at least 32 people today, according to officials. More than 15,000 buildings had collapsed due to large amounts of snow and 300,000 hectares of winter crops were destroyed, according to the Chinese Ministry of Civil Affairs. The ministry estimated that 9.6 million people were affected in some way by the snows, and a further 166,000 people were evacuated from their homes. Most of the deaths were caused by traffic accidents, the ministry said. Heavy snowfall started on Monday in central and norther

English actor Edward Woodward has died today, aged 79. The actor was unwell for several months, suffering from a number of illnesses including pneumonia. He died in hospital in Cornwall, England. Born in Croydon, London, Woodward was perhaps best known for his role as Sergeant Howie in the 1973 cult British horror film The Wicker Man. The director of that film, Robin Hardy, described him as "one of the greatest actors of his generation" and "an extremely nice human being". His appearance in the Australian film Breaker Morant was also highly ac