Latest

United States President-elect Barack Obama says that it is no longer essential to remove Osama bin Laden from the battle field. "My preference obviously would be to capture or kill him," said Mr Obama yesterday. "But if we have so tightened the noose that he's in a cave somewhere and can't even communicate with his operatives, then we will meet our goal of protecting America." Citing a CBS interview, The Australian says that the stance "also appear[s] to contradict Mr Obama's statements during the election campaign." The newspaper noted that

On Wednesday, Canadian energy company EnCana announced that it would pay a C$500,000 cash reward for information leading to an arrest and prosecution in four bombings of its natural gas pipelines. The explosions have occurred over the past three months in northeastern British Columbia. While the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) has been investigating the situation since the first explosion in October, there are still no suspects. Some residents in the area are vocally opposed to EnCana's gas exploration, and have not been cooperative, acc

A spokesman says that the Gaza headquarters of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) has been hit by shells containing white phosphorus. Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General, expressed "strong protest and outrage" to the Israeli Government over the attack. "The number of casualties has reached an unbearable point," said Ban. Ehud Olmert responded by saying that there were Palestinian fighters in the compound, launching mortars at Israeli troops. "We do not want such inci

A US Airways Airbus A320, Flight 1549, has made an emergency landing in the Hudson River after a failed attempt to take off near Manhattan. There were 148 passengers and five crew on the flight to Charlotte from LaGuardia Airport. The plane took off at 3:26 PM EST (UTC-5) and went down minutes later. All aboard survived the landing. The United States Coast Guard has reported that they have sent units to the scene of the incident, and that a nearby ferry was giving life jackets to survivors. According to witnesses, the plane landed in the river

Services were slowly restored after an unscheduled strike by SNCF drivers closed one of Paris's six main railway stations. Gare Saint-Lazare was closed from 10 am local time on Tuesday morning. Members of the Sud Rail labour union later voted to return to work, and the station re-opened at 7 pm the same day. Gare Saint-Lazare is Europe's third busiest station, and its lines serve Paris suburbs, as well as inter-city routes to Normandy in northern France.

On Tuesday, Hillary Clinton began her confirmation hearings for her position as the new United States Secretary of State when Barack Obama ascends to the US Presidency. During the hearing by the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, she was questioned about her husband, former President Bill Clinton's, charitable foundation, which has come under fire for accepting donations in the tens of millions of dollars from a number of foreign governments, foundations and individuals. "It is not unique, however, for spouses of government officials to w

Today the RCMP announced the identity of a snowmobiler killed in an avalanche on Sunday, bringing British Columbia's (BC's) avalanche death toll for the past three weeks up to 13. The victim, identified as Harold Keith Waldner, 45, of Rycroft, Alberta, had been part of a group of 14 snowmobilers exploring a remote area near Chetwynd in northern BC. Waldner and his party were about 25km (16mi) from their parked vehicles when the avalanche hit, burying five people in snow that was as much as three metres (9.8ft) deep. While all five were dug out

Heavy fighting continued overnight in the Gaza Strip as Israeli warplanes and helicopters bombed targets and Israeli Defense Forces fought with Hamas militants in Palestine. Several areas of black and white smoke could be seen as it covered the sky. Yesterday, Ehud Olmert the Israeli Prime Minister said that Hamas will face an "iron fist" if they do not agree to Israel's terms of a cease fire and stop fighting. "Anything else will be met with the Israeli people's iron fist. We will continue to strike with full strength, with full force until

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has charged Israel with using white phosphorous bombs in urban areas. These incendiary weapons are suspected in the case of 10 victims with serious burns. The rights group is calling on Israel not to use these devices in crowded areas of Gaza. Marc Garlasco, a senior military analyst for the group, said, "What we're saying is the use of white phosphorous in densely populated areas like a refugee camp is showing that the Israelis are not taking all feasible precautions. It's just an unnecessary risk to the civilian pop

Israel's Central Election Committee voted yesterday to disqualify two Arab political parties from running in the country's general elections scheduled for February 10th. The committee voted 26–3 to disqualify the Arab political party Balad, and 21–3 with eight abstentions to disqualify an alliance of parties United Arab List and Ta'al. The UAL-Ta'al is sometimes also called Ra'am Ta'al. A "stormy" debate was initiated by petitions from rival parties that accuse UAL-Ta'al and Balad of undermining Israel and supporting violence against it. Arab

A federal court in New York, New York ruled Monday that American financier Bernard Madoff can remain free on a US$10 million bond. Madoff faces charges of securities fraud in case that may reveal losses as large as US$50 billion. He was originally arrested on December 11, 2008. Federal prosecutors had argued that Madoff had violated terms of his bail by mailing valuables to relatives from his Manhattan apartment, where he is under house arrest. Judge Ronald L. Ellis ruled that, "The government fails to provide sufficient evidence that any pot

Byrraju Ramalinga Raju, founder and chairman of Satyam Computer Services, and his brother, B. Rama Raju, the company's managing director, were arrested late Friday by Andhra Pradesh police. The brothers were placed under judicial custody in a Hyderabad, India jail and will remain there until January 23. Facing charges of criminal breach of trust (Section 406 of IPC), criminal conspiracy (Section 120-B), cheating (Section 420), falsification of records and forgery (Section 468), and fraudulent cancellation of securities (Section 477-a), they fac