India’s Cabinet Committee on Security on Monday approved the creation of a long-awaited electronic anti-terror database. The committee, chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, agreed “in principle” to create the National Intelligence Grid that will merge separate databases into one massive shared resource of information, including travel records, tax returns, credit card purchases, and immigration […]
Montenegro Police Nab Pink Panthers Suspect
Montenegrin police have arrested an alleged member of the Pink Panthers gang of international jewel thieves. Police identified the suspect Monday as Igor Jocic, a Serbian citizen. They arrested him as he tried to cross the border into Montenegro. The international police force, Interpol, says the Pink Panthers have robbed stores of more than $360 […]
Lady Gaga’s New Album Banned in Lebanon
Lebanon has impounded shipments of pop singer Lady Gaga’s new album Born This Way on grounds that it is offensive to Christianity. Officials cite what they call the album’s “bad taste” as a reason for the ban. Lady Gaga is known for her provocative lyrics, and she draws on religious and sexual themes in her […]
Burkinabe Soldiers Face Prosecution After Mutiny
At least 57 Burkinabe soldiers have been arrested for their alleged involvement in a mutiny last week at a military camp outside Burkina Faso’s commercial capital. Military authorities say seven people were killed and 33 injured on Friday when government troops violently squashed the mutiny. Disgruntled soldiers demanding higher wages had looted the area near […]
Libyan Rebels Retake Western Mountain Town
Libyan rebels say they have seized the western mountain town of Yafran from forces loyal to leader Moammar Gadhafi after NATO airstrikes last week destroyed key government military targets, enabling opposition forces to advance. Ethnic Berber fighters, who have joined the anti-government rebellion, retook Yafran, about 100 kilometers southwest of Tripoli, on Monday. Pro-Gadhafi forces […]
Calls Increase for Yemen’s President to Resign
Calls are increasing for Yemen’s president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, to accept a peace deal put forward by the Gulf Cooperation Council that would end his 33 years in power. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told reporters in Washington Monday that an “immediate transition is in the best interest of the Yemeni people.” Clinton noted […]
US Stocks Close Lower
U.S. stock market were lower at closing Monday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped half of one percent to 12,090. The S&P 500 fell one percent to 1,286. The Nasdaq Composite Index also lost one percent to close at 2,703. European stock markets were mixed at the close of trading. London’s Financial Times 100 index […]
EU Exhumes 9 Bodies in Kosovo
European Union forensic experts in Kosovo have exhumed nine bodies believed to be victims of the Kosovo war in the late 1990s. The EU mission in Kosovo said Monday the experts dug up the remains from a Muslim cemetery north of Mitrovica in northern Kosovo, and the team is still looking for the bodies of […]
US Official to Discuss Plight of Rohingya Refugees in Bangladesh
The U.S. State Department says Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration Eric P. Schwartz will travel to Dhaka Tuesday to discuss the plight of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh and elsewhere in the region. During his visit, Schwartz is scheduled to meet with government officials and international and non-governmental organizations […]
Crude Oil Prices Fall
Here are the prices of some key commodities traded in New York on Monday: Crude oil prices fell $1.21 to $99.01 per barrel. Coffee prices dropped more than 10 cents to $2.61 per pound. Cocoa futures fell $15 to $2,863 per ton. Copper prices rose nearly one cent to $4.14 per pound. In Chicago trading, […]