The United States and South Africa have reportedly reached a deal to allow the release of $1.5 billion in frozen Libyan assets, to be used by the country’s opposition-run council for urgent humanitarian aid. Those assets had been blocked under U.N. sanctions against the government of Moammar Gadhafi. But U.S. officials said Thursday the money […]
Bomb Blast Kills 11 in NW Pakistan
Posted August 25th, 2011 at 8:45 pm (UTC-5)
A bomb planted in a child’s bicycle exploded at a crowded market in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province late Thursday, killing 11 people and wounding at least 14 others. Local officials said the bomb went off as people were shopping for the upcoming Muslim festival of Eid in the town of Risalpur. They said the blast […]
India’s PM Urges Anti-Corruption Activist to End Fast
Posted August 25th, 2011 at 2:35 pm (UTC-5)
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is appealing to a prominent anti-corruption activist to end his 10-day hunger strike, while urging lawmakers to consider all options to make India corruption-free. Mr. Singh told parliament Thursday he wants his government to debate all reform proposals, including the one championed by activist Anna Hazare. The prime minister praised […]
Sri Lanka’s President Announces Plans to End Emergency Laws
Posted August 25th, 2011 at 2:05 pm (UTC-5)
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 […]
Apple Computer Chief Steve Jobs Resigns
Posted August 25th, 2011 at 12:40 pm (UTC-5)
The co-founder and chief executive officer of computer firm Apple Incorporated, Steve Jobs, has resigned due to health problems. He helped build Apple into the world’s most valuable technology company after the firm nearly collapsed in the 1990s. Jobs is known as a perfectionist, obsessively focused on making products that are easy to use and […]
Libya’s Rebel Envoy Warns of Disorder Without Funds
Posted August 25th, 2011 at 10:50 am (UTC-5)
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 Stocks Decline
Posted August 25th, 2011 at 10:35 am (UTC-5)
U.S. stock market indexes fell in Thursday’s early trading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average retreated a half-percent, the S&P 500 fell four-tenths of a percent and the NASDAQ slid six-tenths of a percent. European stock markets were sharply lower in afternoon trading. London’s Financial Times 100 index lost 1.2 percent, the CAC 40 in Paris […]
Syrian Activists: Anti-Regime Cartoonist Attacked, Beaten
Posted August 25th, 2011 at 10:25 am (UTC-5)
Human rights activists say Syrian security forces have beaten a prominent anti-regime cartoonist, leaving him severely injured. The activists say passers-by found Ali Ferzat Thursday on a street in Damascus, after he had been kidnapped and severely beaten, then dumped on the side of a road. A relative of Ferzat told Western media the attackers […]
African Leaders Hold Delayed Fundraiser for Famine
Posted August 25th, 2011 at 9:50 am (UTC-5)
The African Union is holding a donor conference to raise funds for the millions needing food aid in the drought and famine-stricken Horn of Africa. Leaders from Somalia, Djibouti and Ethiopia were among the first heads of state to arrive for the conference in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa. Former Ghanaian president Jerry Rawlings, who is […]
Libyan Rebels Ratchet Up Search for Gadhafi
Posted August 25th, 2011 at 9:35 am (UTC-5)
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 […]
