Latest

"In the Name of the Grandfather", the fourteenth episode of the twentieth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons will today become the first episode of the show to premiere in Europe. It will air at 7:30 PM on Sky1 in the United Kingdom and Ireland and be paired with "Sex, Pies and Idiot Scrapes". The special broadcast is part of FOX's year-long "Best. 20 Years. Ever." celebration which commemorates the 20th anniversary of the show. To promote the broadcast, executive producers Al Jean and James L. Brooks, as well as Nan

Leadership in Madagascar is unclear as Madagascan President Marc Ravalomanana announced his resignation in favor of a military committee headed by Vice Admiral Hyppolite Ramaroson, only to have that resignation rejected by the Admiral, the military and opposition political groups. Admiral Ramaroson joined other military leaders in saying they would back opposition leader, former Antananarivo mayor and former DJ Andry Rajoelina. Mr Ravalomanana attempted to hand power over to the heads of the military, given the tasks of discussing and drafting

According to conflicting reports, British actress Natasha Richardson is brain dead following a severe head injury from a skiing accident on Monday. The New York Post reported that friends of Richardson said she "was brain dead", after earlier reporting that she was "dead". They later issued a correction which said she was brain dead. Other media reports say that her brain is severely swollen. Fox News Channel also reports Richardson as brain dead. Richardson was transported by plane from Sacré-Coeur Hospital in Montreal, Canada to a care facil

Hifikepunye Pohamba, the president of the southern African country of Namibia, declared a state of emergency in in the country on Tuesday after heavy flooding killed 92 and displaced 5,032 since January. "It is with a heavy heart that I declare an emergency for the north-central and north-eastern parts of Namibia," the president said to reporters. "Crop fields are submerged in water and I send out an urgent appeal to the international community for assistance [...] as the current flood is worse than a year ago and could be one of the worst in

Mohamed Nasheed, the leader of the Maldives, has announced that the country will become carbon-neutral within a decade by completely switching to renewable energy sources. "We aim to become carbon-neutral in a decade," he said. "Climate change threatens us all. Countries need to pull together to de-carbonize the world economy. We know cutting greenhouse gas emissions is possible and the Maldives is willing to play its part," Nasheed said, adding that he hopes his plan will serve as a blueprint for other countries. "We understand more than pe

In a rare television interview, the chairman of the United States Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke, said that the country's recession will "probably" end this year if the government is able to bolster the banking system. Speaking on the CBS network "60 Minutes", Bernanke said that recent efforts by the government probably avoided a depression similar to the one that occurred in the 1930s. He also said that he didn't expect any of the US's largest banks to fail. However, he stressed that the prospects of ending the economic downturn in 2009 probab

The search for the 16 missing people has been called off about 34 hours after the Sikorsky S92 helicopter crashed in the Atlantic Ocean on Friday. The helicopter is lying on its side at a depth of 178 metres approximately off the Newfoundland shoreline, about southeast of St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador. Of the original 18 people on board, Robert Decker is in critical condition in hospital and the body of Allison Maher had been recovered. Decker is the only survivor of the crash. The remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) used to search

South Africa will be the host for the 2009 ICC Champions Trophy for cricket. The tournament, originally planned for 2008 in Pakistan, was postponed to 2009 owing to security issues. Sri Lanka was proposed as an alternative venue, but due to weather concerns in Sri Lanka during the month of October, the tournament has now been moved to South Africa. This was confirmed by an ICC Board teleconference. ICC President David Morgan said, "I think the Board has made a sensible decision that will give the event every chance of success. We now have cla

Gunfire, believed to be shots into the air by celebrating soldiers, was heard in Antananarivo today as the army of Madagascar forced armored vehicles into one of the country's many presidential palaces in an apparent military coup. Madagascan President Marc Ravalomanana, whose I Love Madagascar party controls an overwhelming majority of seats in the National Assembly, was not in the palace and is said to be taking shelter in another palace six miles (10 km) from the site. "The President of the Republic, the National Assembly and the Senate, an

200,000 litres of oil leaked into waters off the coast of Brisbane from the Pacific Adventurer when their fuel tanks were damaged in rough seas on Wednesday. The figure is about ten times higher than the original estimate of twenty thousand litres of oil. The devastating diesel oil spill has spread along of the Queensland coast. In addition, 31 containers with 620 tonnes of ammonium nitrate fertiliser flew overboard during the violent storm. Questions are being asked why the Hong Kong cargo ship was out in seas with nine meter waves caused

A Vietnamese coal transport ship sank in the South China Sea on Friday killing three people on board, reported the Xinhua News Agency. The ship sank from the Fangcheng Port in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. The Nanhaijiu 196 rescue vessel was dispatched about 8 pm local time, when authorities were notified that the ship may sink. The coal transport ship sank about 9:30pm Friday. There were winds up to 90 kilometers per hour when the ship sank during a gale. Saturday morning rescue operations were supplemented by a rescue helicopter. Ther

United States President Barack Obama announced on Saturday that the country's food safety system is a "hazard to public health". The president announced the nomination of a new agency commissioner for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), former New York City Health Commissioner Margaret Hamburg. Obama said that the FDA was able to make inspections at only 5% of the nation's 150,000 food processing premises after recent understaffing and underfunding at the agency. He added that outbreaks of food contamination have increased from 100 a year