North Korean leader Kim Jong-IL headed home from Russia on an armored train Thursday, crossing into northeastern China a day after offering to freeze Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons and missile programs if six-nation negotiations are resumed. Russia’s Interfax news agency says Mr. Kim’s train was seen at a station on the Russia-China frontier (at Zabaikalsk), a […]
N. Korean Leader Returns Home from Russian Summit
Sri Lanka’s President Announces Plans to End Emergency Laws
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa says he plans to end the country’s strict wartime emergency laws, which have been in place for nearly 30 years. Speaking to Parliament Thursday, Mr. Rajapaksa said he believed there was no longer a need to have the laws since the country’s civil war against Tamil Tiger separatists ended in […]
Libyan Rebels Ratchet Up Search for Gadhafi
Libyan opposition fighters are advancing toward Moammar Gadhafi’s hometown, Sirte, and pouring into Tripoli to help battle the remnants of his forces in the capital. Pro-Gadhafi forces have been massing for a showdown in Sirte, which is about 400 kilometers east of Tripoli. Mr. Gadhafi’s whereabouts are unknown, but U.S. officials believe he is still […]
Turkish Soldiers Injured by Roadside Bomb
Turkish authorities say a roadside bomb exploded in southeastern Turkey Thursday, wounding several soldiers traveling in a minibus. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack in Hakkari province, near the border with Iraq. Kurdish rebels fighting for autonomy in the region have killed some 40 Turkish soldiers since July. Turkish troops retaliated with six […]
Libya’s Rebel Envoy Appeals for Frozen Assets
The emerging governing authority in Libya is appealing for financial help from world powers, warning there will be grave destabilization in Libya if it cannot pay people’s salaries and provide services in the post-Gadhafi era. Mahmoud Jibril of Libya’s Transitional National Council spoke as he received Italy’s pledge to unfreeze about $500 million held in […]
US Braces for Hurricane Irene
Authorities along the densely populated east coast of the United States have begun evacuating visitors at popular beach resort areas in preparation for Hurricane Irene. Forecasters issued a hurricane watch for much of the North Carolina coast Thursday, as the powerful storm pounded The Bahamas with winds as high as 185 kilometers per hour. There […]
UN Burma Envoy Meets Ex-Prisoners, Opposition Leaders
United Nations special envoy Tomas Quintana met Thursday in Burma with leaders of ethnic opposition parties and former political prisoners, as he wrapped up a four-day tour of the country that included a private meeting with pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Quintana said he met with leaders of several opposition parties, including the National […]
Pakistani Police Deny Reports Kidnapped American Freed
Pakistani officials are denying reports that an American kidnapped from the eastern city of Lahore earlier this month has been rescued. Lahore police chief, Ahmed Raza Tahir, told reporters earlier on Thursday that development expert Warren Weinstein had been freed in Punjab province’s city of Khushab. But Tahir later said that Weinstein had not been […]
Congo Sentences UN Driver for Smuggling Minerals
A court in the Democratic Republic of Congo has sentenced a United Nations driver to three years in prison for attempting to illegally export minerals. Court officials say the driver, Julien Mukala, also was fined $25,000 in the court verdict, issued late Wednesday. Mukala was accused of trying to smuggle 1,200 kilograms of the tin […]
European Stocks Lower in Midday Trading
European stock prices are mixed in midday trading Thursday. London’s Financial Times index is trading a fraction of 1 percent. The CAC 40 in Paris is nearly 1 percent higher, and trading on the DAX index in Frankfurt is up nearly three-quarters of one percent. In New York, the S&P futures contract is up more […]