| World News  | Russia Shows No Signs Of Troop Pullout
CBS News
A convoy of badly needed food aid for beleaguered Georgians rumbled through a Russian checkpoint Wednesday, waved through by soldiers who themselves showed no signs of fulfilling their president's promise of a pullback within two days. A top Russian general, meanwhile, said Russia plans to construct a series of checkpoints manned by hundreds of soldiers in the so-called "security zone" around Georgia's de-facto border with the breakaway territory...
photo: AP / Dmitry Lovetsky
|  | Iraq and China are close to renewing an oil service pact
Houston Chronicle
BAGHDAD - Iraq is on the verge of reviving an 11-year-old contract with China worth $1.2 billion, its largest oil deal since the invasion in 2003, an Oil Ministry official said Tuesday. The deal sets new terms for an agreement reached between China and Iraq under Saddam Hussein in 1997. Unlike that agreement, which included production-sharing rights, the new one is a service contract, under which China would be paid for its...
photo: AP / Nabil al-Jurani
|  | West moving to isolate Russia
The Press Democrat
A parallel U.N. debate ended in a standoff as Western powers pressed the Security Council to demand immediate withdrawal of Russian troops from Georgia. Russia, which holds a veto on the council, condemned the initiative, which did not come to a vote. Both diplomatic moves to isolate Russia came as Russian troops continued to conduct potentially provocative military operations throughout Georgia and showed little sign of abiding by an agreement...
photo: AP / David Karp
|  | Kenya ex-graft chief heading home
BBC News
Kenya's former anti-corruption chief, John Githongo, is due to return to his homeland for a brief visit after three years of self-imposed exile. Mr Githongo fled to the UK saying he feared for his life, after forcing senior members of the government to resign during a graft investigation. The scam...
photo: AP / Khalil Senosi
|  | 25 wounded as Hindus protest in Indian Kashmir
Houston Chronicle
JAMMU, India - Police using tear gas and batons clashed with Hindu protesters defying a fresh curfew in Indian Kashmir on Wednesday, injuring at least 25 people, medics and witnesses said. Authorities reimposed a curfew in Jammu, the region's only predominantly Hindu city, and several nearby towns after several incidents of violence were reported overnight. The clashes, which come after several days of relative calm,...
photo: WN / Imran Nissar
|  | Mao's successor Hua Guofeng passes away -
Yahoo Daily News
1 hour, 24 minutes ago BEIJING (AFP) - Hua Guofeng, who succeeded Mao Zedong as chairman of China's ruling Communist Party, has died at the age of 87 in Beijing, state media reported on Wednesday. Hua died of an illness in China's capital at 12:50 Wednesday afternoon, the official Xinhua news agency said, without saying what the illness was....
photo: AP / Greg Baker, FILE
|  | Sarkozy vows to keep French troops in Afghanistan
The Guardian
President visits Kabul and talks to soldiers who lost colleagues in gun battle Nicolas Sarkozy made a brief visit to Afghanistan today following the French army's worst loss of life by enemy attack in a quarter of a century. The French president spoke to troops from units who lost 10 colleagues in the mountain battle about 30 miles east of Kabul on Monday. Sarkozy said he had no regrets about sending more troops to the region earlier this year,...
photo: AP / Olivier LABAN-MATTEI, POOL
|  | Threat of ethnic tension in Iraq’s Kirkuk
Middle East Online
BAGHDAD - Ethnic tension and violence could erupt if decisions on the future of the ethnically-mixed city of Kirkuk are imposed without agreement among its residents, an analyst said on 17 August. “I do believe that the best solution for Kirkuk is that it be run as a separate region - after resolving all pending issues between its segments, conducting a census and then letting its population determine its fate through a referendum, instead of one...
photo: WN / Kamaran Najm
| Business News  | Oil pares gains after jump in crude inventories
The Examiner
NEW YORK (Map, News) - The price of oil pared its gains Wednesday after the government reported a massive increase in crude supplies, but lingering concerns about Tropical Storm Fay kept prices higher for the day. The Energy Information Administration, an arm of the U.S. Energy Department, said the nation's crude inventories rose by a hefty 9.4 million barrels in the week ended Aug. 15. That figure was much higher than the average analyst...
photo: WN / Renzelle Mae Abasolo
|  | BAA: history of Britain's airports
The Times
BAA's ownership of London's airports can be traced back to the mid-1960s when a collection of former aerodromes, which had been at their busiest during the Second World War, were placed under the control of the government-run British Airports Authority. The authority's sole purpose was to operate Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted, as well as Glasgow's Prestwick at a time when air travel was taking off and the Ministry of Defence could no longer...
photo: Creative Commons / Captainm
|  | Death of drug-test babies raises questions on ethics
The Australian
MUMBAI: The death of 49 babies used to test experimental drugs at one of India's top hospitals has raised concerns that ethical standards are being compromised as the country becomes the world's leading destination for clinical trials on human beings. The deaths occurred over a period of 30 months at the Delhi-based All India Institute of Medical Sciences, an elite medical college and public hospital renowned for providing low-cost treatment to...
photo: WN / Sweet Radoc
|  | Travellers face long wait for change
BBC News
The words are cautious and carefully chosen. But this is a damning report. The Competition Commission finds that BAA has shown a "lack of responsiveness" to its airline customers. And its "lack of initiative" in planning new airport capacity has harmed passengers. BAA is not alone in attracting criticism. The regulatory system operated by the Civil Aviation Authority is also attacked. And the commission concludes that government decisions have...
photo: Public Domain / Work by Matthias Sebulke (User:Mattes)
|  | Investor Support Of Climate Action Grows
CBS News
Support for climate-change proposals may be growing among investors in big U.S. companies. Shareholder resolutions related to climate change more than doubled over the past five years, according to statistics gathered by a coalition of public interest groups, environmental organizations and pension funds. Moreover, the coalition, Boston-based Ceres, says support for those measures averaged more than 23 percent in 2008, a new high. While that's...
photo: public domain photo /
| Entertainment News  | 'Barcelona' is a refreshing Woody Allen film
Buffalo News
Woody Allen is probably one of the most famous writer/ directors in Hollywood. He is a rare entity in the film business who has a film released every year. What's more, he writes and directs all of his films. The down side is that some aren't that great. After a string of films in the not-so-great category, Allen moved from his trademark setting of New York City to London with 2005's "Match Point," which earned him an...
photo: Creative Commons / Ilya Mauter
|  | Actor makes work look like play
The Columbus Dispatch
Javier Bardem remembers the time from his childhood when he realized he was a performer. "I was playing make-believe like any other kid," the 39-year-old actor recalled in a phone conversation from his home in Madrid, Spain. "And there was a moment when something clicked inside that made me aware of myself, that allowed me to watch myself playing from the outside. Up to then play had been unconscious. "The difference between an actor and anyone...
photo: creative commons photo /
|  | Carey leads cancer charity song
BBC News
Fifteen of the most popular female singers in the US, including Mariah Carey, Beyonce and Leona Lewis, have joined forces to record a charity song. Profits from Just Stand Up, which also...
photo: Creative Commons / crossfirecw
|  | Singer knocked out - cold
News24
Brooklyn, Michigan - Country singer Pat Green may think twice the next time before asking for a cold beer. The last time he did, he was knocked out cold when a fan threw one from the crowd that hit him right between the eyes. Green performed on Saturday night at the Michigan International Speedway after Nascar's Carfax 250 race. He's best known for the 2003 hit Wave on Wave. The Jackson Citizen Patriot reports that late in his show, he asked:...
photo: Creative Commons / Dwightmccann
|  | Strange crew for Trump
Chicago Sun-Times
One thing's for sure: Donald Trump loves mixing it up -- especially with the contestants he taps for his ''Celebrity Apprentice'' TV show on NBC. That again seems to be the case with the upcoming season. A BZ spy tells me the next group includes Joan Rivers, ex-Bulls badboy Dennis Rodman and former ''Baywatch'' babe/Playboy mainstay Brande Roderick. » For the first round earlier this year, The Donald snared people including actor Stephen...
photo: AP Photo/Rick Maiman
| Health News  | Fruit juice 'could affect drugs'
BBC News
Drinking fruit juices may not be as healthy an option as thought - they could reduce the effectiveness of some medicines, it is being claimed. Research presented at a US conference suggested a chemical in grapefruit juice could stop anti-allergy drugs being absorbed properly. A University of Western Ontario team said oranges, and possibly apples, had similar ingredients. Grapefruit juice is already known to interfere with blood pressure drugs....
photo: / Renzelle Mae Abasolo
|  | Now to clean up Musharraf's mess
The Australian
THE resignation of former Pakistani dictator Pervez Musharraf is an event of global importance. It is not the least provincial to assess its direct consequences for Australia. Pakistan is central to Australia in three ways. What happens in Pakistan greatly influences what happens in Afghanistan, and vice versa. We have nearly 1100 troops in Afghanistan. Second, Pakistan has become the global centre of jihadi terrorism, almost certainly the haven...
photo: WN / Kamaran Najm
|  | Pakistan coalition facing collapse
The Australian
PAKISTAN'S Government was on the brink of collapse last night as former prime minister Nawaz Sharif stormed out of a crucial leaders' meeting and headed for home after threatening to pull his party from the ruling coalition if the country's judges - sacked by deposed president Pervez Musharraf - were not reinstated within 72 hours. Mr Sharif, known as the "Lion of Lahore" and shown in polls to be Pakistan's most popular political leader,...
photo: AP / K.M.Chaudary
|  | Human blood grown from stem cells
The Australian
VIALS of human blood have been grown from embryonic stem cells for the first time during research that promises to provide an almost limitless supply, suitable for transfusion into any patient. The achievement by scientists in the US could lead to trials of the blood within two years, and ultimately to an alternative to donations that would transform medicine. If such blood were made from stem cells of the O negative...
photo: Public Domain
|  | IRAQ: Health Ministry cracks down on illegal medicines
IRINnews
web Photo: IRIN BAGHDAD, 20 August 2008 (IRIN) - Iraq's Health Ministry is leading a crackdown on expired and illegally imported medicines which have flooded the Iraqi market since the US-led invasion in 2003, a senior health official said on 19 August. "The Ministry is leading a huge project to monitor the mechanism of importing medicines to Iraq, after we found that about 70 percent of the drugs in Iraqi markets have either been imported...
photo: WN / Janice Sabnal
|  | Kevin Rudd's Medicare levy changes face Senate surgery
The Australian
KEVIN Rudd's plan to ease tax penalties for people who fail to take out private health insurance faces surgery in the Senate, where a compromise to slash the relief for those earning more than $75,000 a year is on the table. Acting Prime Minister Julia Gillard yesterday accused the Coalition of having "lost the economic plot", after it reaffirmed a commitment to block up to $3.7 billion in tax measures in the Senate, including the Medicare...
photo: AP / Mark Graham
|  | Poverty still grips Pacific
The Australian
AUSTRALIA'S Pacific neighbours are "seriously off track" in achieving their poverty reduction goals by 2015 and trail sub-Saharan African in their regional economic performance. A new AusAID report measuring the Pacific's social and economic progress was released in Niue yesterday, where Kevin Rudd signed deals with Samoa and Papua New Guinea during the Pacific Islands Forum. The Prime Minister's promise of fresh support came as AusAID revealed...
photo: AP / David Longstreath
|  | At global AIDS meeting, a sobering assessment
International Herald Tribune
: Two years have passed since the 16th International AIDS Conference in Toronto, and the contrast between that meeting and the 17th, which ended here this month, was humbling. In Toronto, the mood was almost giddy, with celebrities like Bill Gates and Bill Clinton drawing huge crowds as they championed the development of HIV vaccines and microbicides. Though the meeting this month had its circuslike elements, the mood was much more sober. No...
photo: World AIDS Campaign/Stuart Nimmo
|  | Langford to zone against cell towers
Canada Dot Com
Langford is changing its zoning to make it illegal for transmission towers to be erected in residential neighbourhoods. In the face of residents' complaints about a 29-metre cell tower proposed for 709 Latoria Road, the municipality is changing its zoning bylaw allowing towers to be constructed only in commercial areas. It has also has formed a consultation committee of staff and residents to quickly draft a municipal policy on tower siting....
photo: WN / Janice Sabnal
| Politics News  | Sen. Joe Lieberman to speak at GOP convention
Wtop
By ANDREW MIGA Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, the Democratic Party's vice presidential candidate in 2000 and now an independent who is one of John McCain's strongest supporters, will speak at the Republican National Convention, an official said. Lieberman will deliver a speech when...
photo: AP -Kevin Wolf
|  | Will young Paul, Huckabee backers stay with GOP?
The Press Democrat
Once former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and Texas Rep. Ron Paul were both out of the race, their many young supporters were faced with a choice: Should they switch to the party's pick, find another candidate, cast a write-in vote or sit the election out? Huckabee and Paul appealed to young voters for qualities not associated with presumed nominee John McCain - Huckabee for his conservative Christianity and Paul for his anti-war libertarianism....
photo: AP Photo / Danny Johnston
|  | Boris clarifies 'piffle' remark
BBC News
London mayor Boris Johnson has issued a clarification after saying the idea of a "broken society," a phrase often used by David Cameron, was "piffle". In an article for Tuesday's Daily Telegraph on Britain's Olympic success, Mr Johnson criticised politicians who spoke of a "broken" society. But in a statement issued on Wednesday, the Conservative mayor stressed he had not been referring to his party leader. He said Mr Cameron was "right" to...
photo: AP / Matt Dunham
|  | US falters on NATO's failure
Asia Times
By Kaveh L Afrasiabi United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is supposedly a specialist on Russia, yet one would not know that by looking at her triumphal statement that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) will defeat Russian aims in Georgia. Rice proclaimed boldly that Russia "is becoming more and more the outlaw in this conflict", referring to the Russian offensive into Georgia following Georgia's attack on the rebel region...
photo: NATO
|  | Singapore hangs out jobs-vacant sign
Asia Times
By Megawati Wijaya SINGAPORE - The government of this island state, seeking to keep the economy globally competitive, is driving a shift in the country's population make-up. This carries with it the political risk that locals will object to the influx of white-collar foreign workers who in droves are taking up the island state's highest-paying corporate jobs. Now one out of every five residents in Singapore is a foreigner; six out of every 10 new...
photo: (AP Photo/The Straits Times)
|  | Zingers aren't good foreign policy
Buffalo News
WASHINGTON - It was February 2006 in Munich, and John McCain's eyes were flashing with the mischievous spark that comes when he's about to fire a verbal rocket. "I've got a zinger coming," he told me, referring to a speech on Russia he would give a few hours later at the annual Munich Conference on Security Policy. And McCain did indeed deliver a zinger. He blasted Vladimir Putin for "the pursuit of autocracy at home and abroad" - and then urged...
photo: U.S. Navy
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