Voters in Guinea Bissau are choosing a new president Sunday. The tiny west African nation has struggled through a dictatorship, three coups and the (2009)) assassination of a president since gaining independence from Portugal in 1974. No elected president has served a full five year term since Guinea Bissau. A challenge facing the nine candidates […]
Guinea Bissau Holds Presidential Election Sunday
Posted March 17th, 2012 at 11:30 pm (UTC-5)
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Egypt’s Coptic Spiritual Leader Dies
Posted March 17th, 2012 at 11:05 pm (UTC-5)
Egyptians are mourning the death of Coptic Pope Shenouda III, the spiritual leader of the Middle East’s largest Christian community. Shenouda died on Saturday in Cairo at age 88 after suffering from what the official MENA news agency says was liver and lung disease. Mourners gathered in the main Coptic cathedral in Cairo to pray […]
Iraqi Militia Frees US Man After 9 Months in Captivity
Posted March 17th, 2012 at 8:10 pm (UTC-5)
A militia loyal to Iraqi Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr said Saturday it had freed a former U.S. soldier after holding him hostage for more than nine months, and handed him over to the United Nations mission in Iraq. The American, identified as Randy Michael Hultz, was shown on the Iraqi television along with two Iraqi […]
Damascus Bombs Kill 27 as Syria Gears Up for UN Visit
Posted March 17th, 2012 at 5:45 pm (UTC-5)
Twin car bombings struck government targets in the Syrian capital Saturday, killing 27 people and wounding 140 others, mostly civilians. State media said the blasts occurred minutes apart near a police security building and an intelligence center in Damascus. State TV showed gruesome images of the scene, with smoke billowing from the explosion sites, twisted […]
Belarus Executes Two Men Convicted in Metro Bombing
Posted March 17th, 2012 at 5:40 pm (UTC-5)
Belarus has executed two men convicted for a fatal 2011 metro bomb attack, despite protests from European human rights groups and calls for a re-trial. Belarussian news media reported Saturday that Vladislav Kovalyov and Dmitry Konovalov, both 25, had been executed. Kovalyov and Konovalov were convicted in November of staging a bomb attack in a […]
US Suspect in Afghan Massacre Held at Military Base
Posted March 17th, 2012 at 5:25 pm (UTC-5)
An American soldier who allegedly killed 16 Afghan civilians during a shooting spree in southern Kandahar province last Sunday has arrived at a military base in Kansas. The suspect, identified as 38-year-old U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Robert Bales, was flown to Kansas from Kuwait where he was transferred in the days after the attack. He […]
Damascus Bombs Kill 27 as Syria Gears Up for UN Visit
Posted March 17th, 2012 at 2:45 pm (UTC-5)
Twin car bombings struck government targets in the Syrian capital Saturday, killing 27 people and wounding 140 others, mostly civilians. State media said the blasts occurred minutes apart near a police security building and an intelligence center in Damascus. State TV aired gruesome images of the scene, with smoke billowing from the explosion sites, twisted […]
St. Patrick’s Day Celebrated at Parades, Pubs in Ireland and Abroad
Posted March 17th, 2012 at 2:30 pm (UTC-5)
From the Irish capital of Dublin to the U.S. city of Chicago, people around the world are donning green Saturday and celebrating St. Patrick’s Day. The March 17 holiday commemorates the most recognizable of Ireland’s patron saints and the arrival of Christianity in Ireland centuries ago. Hundreds of thousands of people lined the streets of […]
Egypt’s Coptic Spiritual Leader Dies
Posted March 17th, 2012 at 1:55 pm (UTC-5)
Egypt’s Coptic Pope Shenouda III, the spiritual leader of the Middle East’s largest Christian community, has died. He was 88. Shenouda died on Saturday in Egypt after suffering from health complications. Egypt’s official MENA news agency says he had battled liver and lung ailments. Shenouda was consecrated as pope of Alexandria in 1971. He led […]
Macedonia Hosts March for Peace
Posted March 17th, 2012 at 12:40 pm (UTC-5)
Some 2,000 people marched for peace in the Macedonian capital Saturday, calling for an end to a recent spate of ethnic attacks. The demonstrators in the city of Skopje were protesting clashes between ethnic Macedonians and ethnic Albanians over the past two weeks. Tensions between the two groups have been high since they fought a […]
