Fighters Bulldoze Sufi Mosque In Libyan City

Attackers bulldozed a mosque containing Sufi Muslim graves in the centre of Tripoli in broad daylight on Saturday, in what appeared to be Libya's most blatant sectarian attack since the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi.Government officials condemned the demolition of the large Sha'ab mosque and blamed an armed group who, they said, considered its graves and shrines to Sufi figures un-Islamic.It was the second razing of a Sufi site in two days. Ultra-conservative Islamists wrecked Sufi shrines with...

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Assad's Forces Accused Of Massacre Near Damascus

Syrian opposition activists accused President Bashar al-Assad's army of massacring hundreds of people in a town close to the capital that government forces recaptured from rebels.About 320 bodies, including women and children, were found in houses and basements in the town of Daraya, southwest of Damascus, according to activists who said on Sunday most had been killed "execution-style" by troops.Activists uploaded several videos to the Internet showing rows of bloodied bodies wrapped in sheets....

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Obama Leads Tributes To Armstrong, First Man On Moon

US President Barack Obama has led tributes to astronaut Neil Armstrong, the first man on the Moon, who died on Saturday at the age of 82.Mr Obama said on his Twitter feed: "Neil Armstrong was a hero not just of his time, but of all time."Hundreds of millions watched Armstrong land on the Moon on 20 July 1969 and describe it as: "One small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind."The line became one of the most famous quotes of the 20th Century.Armstrong's family confirmed his death in a statement...

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Gambia Executes Nine

Amnesty International says it has received "credible reports" that Gambia executed nine death row prisoners on Thursday."More persons are under threat of imminent executions in the coming days," Amnesty International said.President Yahya Jammeh had vowed to kill all 47 death row inmates by next month, in a national speech to mark the Muslim festival of Eid.The last official execution in Gambia took place in 1985.The African Union called on Mr Jammeh to renounce his plans after he made the announcement...

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Tropical Storm Isaac Makes Landfall In Haiti

Gale-force winds and driving rain are lashing the coast of Haiti after Tropical Storm Isaac made landfall.The US National Hurricane Centre says the heavy rainfall is a "major threat" and may cause floods and mudslides.Aid groups warn that some 400,000 Haitians still living in makeshift camps after the deadly earthquake of 2010 are extremely vulnerable.Storm warnings are also in place for neighbouring Dominican Republic, as well as Cuba and parts of Florida.The United States National Hurricane Centre (NHC) predicts that the storm will move near...

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Apple Awarded $1bn In Damages From Samsung In US Court

A US court has ordered Samsung to pay Apple $1.05bn (£665m) in damages for infringing intellectual property.The jury decided several Samsung devices had infringed iPhone-maker Apple's software and design patents, but rejected counter-claims by Samsung.Apple will now seek import bans on several of its rival's products. Samsung has said it will appeal.Correspondents say the ruling is one of the most significant in a global battle over patents and intellectual property.In recent weeks, a court in...

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Fatal Blast At Venezuela Refinery

A gas explosion at Venezuela's biggest oil refinery has killed at least 19 people, starting a fire and causing extensive damage, officials say. At least 53 people were also injured in the blast at the Amuay plant in Falcon State in the north-west of the country, officials announced. State Governor Stella Lugo said nearby houses had been damaged by the blast. The fire is said to be under control. The refinery, one of the biggest in the world, produces 645,000 barrels a day. Ms Lugo said there...

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Mexican Police Shoot American Embassy Staff In Botched Chase

Two U.S. Embassy employees were shot at and wounded by Mexican police on Friday after they were caught up in a police chase on the outskirts of the capital, Mexico's Navy said.Police fired on a vehicle in which the embassy employees were traveling, which carried diplomatic plates, after the driver veered out of the way when he saw the officers' weapons."At that moment those in the ... (police) vehicle opened fire on the diplomatic vehicle," the Navy said in a statement. "Moments later, three...

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IAEA Gets No Deal With Iran On Bomb Research Suspicions

The U.N. nuclear watchdog and Iran failed on Friday to strike a deal aimed at allaying concerns about suspected nuclear weapons research by Tehran, a setback in efforts to resolve the stand-off diplomatically before any Israeli or U.S. military action.A flurry of bellicose rhetoric from some Israeli politicians this month has fanned speculation that Israel might hit Iran's nuclear sites before the U.S. presidential election in November. Tensions rose another notch on the eve of Friday's talks...

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Anders Behring Breivik: Norway Court Finds Him Sane

A Norwegian court has found that mass killer Anders Behring Breivik is sane and sentenced him to 21 years in jail.Breivik admitted killing 77 people and wounding more than 240 others when he bombed central Oslo and then opened fire at an island youth camp last year.He insisted he was sane and refused to plead guilty, seeking to justify his attacks by saying they were necessary to stop the "Islamisation" of Norway.Prosecutors had called for him to be considered insane.The five judges were unanimous...

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Hot-air Balloon Crashes In Slovenia, Four Killed

A hot-air balloon carrying tourists, including children, plunged to the ground in flames on Thursday just outside the Slovenian capital Ljubljana, killing four people and injuring 28, the police said.The balloon was ablaze when firemen arrived at the scene of the crash, firefighters' chief Tomaz Kucic told the official STA news agency."We were landing but I think the speed was too high. We hit the ground, bounced off once, and hit it again. We held on but five of us fell out," a survivor, Tomaz...

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Former UK Fugitive Handed Ten Years For Theft On Grand Scale

Businessman Asil Nadir was jailed for 10 years on Thursday for stealing millions from his British business empire to fund a luxury lifestyle, ending a 22-year fight to convict a man once seen as a darling of the UK corporate world.The 71-year-old Turkish Cypriot was convicted of stealing 29 million pounds ($45.83 million) from Polly Peck, an ailing textiles company which he transformed into one of the most successful British firms of the 1980s.The company collapsed in 1990 when British officials...

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Red Cross Fears Sierra Leone Cholera Crisis, Appeals For Funds

Sierra Leone's worst recorded outbreak of cholera risks sparking a wider health crisis unless its causes can be tackled more aggressively, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) said on Thursday.The IFRC, which launched an emergency appeal for $1.14 million earlier this month, said the number of cholera cases was continuing to rise and that the number of fatal cases now topped 200.The water-born bacteria is a regular blight in West Africa where toilet facilities...

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Keanu Reeves Going Digital With Side By Side

Keanu Reeves' latest film, "Side By Side," has no car chases, explosions or slow-motion bullets like those in "The Matrix". But for fans of cinema, it has something even more valuable--an inside look at digital technology's impact on traditional film.The 98-minute documentary is co-produced by Reeves, who also acts as interviewer, and directed by Chris Kenneally and it features a who's who of Hollywood heavyweights discussing their views on making movies through film or digital means. Filmmakers...

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LL Cool J Fought And Detained Burglar At His House, Police Say

Grammy-winning rapper and TV actor LL Cool J fought a burglar in the kitchen of his Los Angeles house early on Wednesday and held him there until officers arrived to take the man into custody, police said.The 58-year-old prowler, whom LL Cool J caught in his house shortly before 1 a.m., appears to have been homeless, said Los Angeles police spokesman Richard French. "There was a brief physical confrontation between the two," he said.Afterward, LL Cool J called police and the prowler, whose name...

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Thousands Being Moved From China's Three Gorges Dam, Again

China relocated 1.3 million people during the 17 years it took to complete the Three Gorges dam. Even after finishing the $59 billion project last month, the threat of landslides along the dam's banks will force tens of thousands to move again.It's a reminder of the social and environmental challenges that have dogged the world's largest hydroelectric project. While there has been little protest among residents who will be relocated a second time, the environmental fallout over other big investments...

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South African Farmhand Jailed For Life For Terre'blanche Murder

A South African court sentenced a black farmhand to life in prison on Wednesday for the axe murder of Eugene Terre'blanche, a white supremacist prominent during the dying years of apartheid.Chris Mahlangu killed Terre'blanche over a pay dispute in April 2011 at the white farmer's home in Ventersdorp, about 125 km (80 miles) west of Johannesburg. Judge John Horn said the attack was not racially motivated.Many South Africans see Terre'blanche as a relic from a bygone era and his murder did little...

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Syrian Army Batters Parts Of Damascus, 47 Killed

The Syrian army shelled southern Damascus on Wednesday and helicopters fired rockets and machineguns during an assault meant to shore up President Bashar al-Assad's grip on the capital 17 months into an uprising, opposition activists said.The army has this week used tanks and helicopter gunships in an offensive around Damascus that coincided with the departure of U.N. military observers, their mission to stop the bloodshed and nudge Syria towards a peaceful transition a failure.The United Nations...

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Six Bodies Found Hanging In Mexico

Three of the men were found hanged from a highway bridge in Tecpan de Galeana Tuesday, 75 miles northwest of the Pacific resort town of Acapulco, deputy prosecutor for Guerrero state Fernando Monreal Leyva said.Another three men were found a day earlier hanged in the nearby town of Rodesia, "with their hands tied and signs of torture," Mr Leyva told AFP.This method of murder - hanging victims from highway bridges for motorists to see - has been one of the fear tactics used by Mexico's feuding...

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Ethiopians Mourn Strongman Ruler Meles

Thousands of Ethiopians descended on the centre of the capital Addis Ababa on Tuesday to mourn Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, their firm-handed ruler of more than two decades, whose body was flown home after his death in a Brussels hospital at 57.Supporters mourned him as the saviour of a long-suffering nation and Washington praised its ally, but opponents hailed the death of an autocrat one group described as a "genocidal tyrant". Traffic was congested from the airport to his residence, where...

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Romanian Court: Reinstate President, Referendum Invalid

Romania's Constitutional Court on Tuesday struck down a referendum to impeach President Traian Basescu, foiling a drive by the leftist government to oust its chief political opponent months before a parliamentary election.The government said it would accept the decision, but the acting president said Basescu was now an "illegitimate" leader. Several hundred people gathered in two main Bucharest squares in the afternoon, one crowd supporting the president and the other protesting against him....

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Ukraine prosecutor Urges Court To Uphold Tymoshenko’s Guilt

Ukrainian state prosecutors urged a high court on Tuesday to reject the appeal of jailed ex-prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko against her conviction for abuse of office, a case Western leaders have condemned as politically motivated.Judges later withdrew to consider their decision which opposition figures and defence lawyers, anxious for a quick ruling, expected to be announced only in mid-September. Tymoshenko is serving a seven-year prison sentence.Prosecutors argued that Tymoshenko's guilt had...

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Capriles: Abusive Chavez Set For Venezuela Vote Shock

President Hugo Chavez's abuse of state resources for his re-election campaign and lack of personal contact with Venezuelans will cost him dearly at the Oct. 7 vote, his opposition rival says. In an interview on his campaign bus, Henrique Capriles contrasted Chavez's reliance on TV appearances with his own tireless crisscrossing of the country and said the president's use of public funds made it a David versus Goliath election clash. The 40-year-old state governor, picked by Venezuela's opposition...

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China’s Gu Kailai Receives Suspended Death Sentence

China sentenced the wife of fallen Politburo member Bo Xilai to death on Monday but suspended her execution, setting the stage for a possible final purge of Bo himself in a scandal that has shaken Beijing ahead of a leadership transition.The sentence means Gu Kailai is likely to face life in jail for murdering British businessman Neil Heywood last year. It also brings a curtain down on China's most sensational trial in three decades, yet opens a new and more politically dangerous act for the...

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Obama warns Assad US Could Act If He Deploys Chemical Arms

U.S. forces could move against Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, President Barack Obama warned, notably if he deploys his chemical weapons against rebels trying to overthrow him.In some of his strongest language yet on Syria, on a day when U.N. observers pulled out after a fruitless bid for peace and Assad's forces mounted new attacks, the U.S. leader said Assad faced "enormous consequences" if he crossed a "red line" of even moving unconventional weapons in a threatening manner.Seeking re-election...

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Hollywood Release: Robot & Frank [Watch Trailer]

An aging thief with a fading memory finds his love for larceny reinvigorated after receiving a companion robot from his concerned son in this tender sci-fi comedy drama starring Academy Award nominee Frank Langella. Frank (Langella) is a former criminal living out his twilight years in quiet solitude. Though frequent trips to the local library keep Frank physically active and mentally stimulated, there's little question that his memory isn't what it used to be, and lately his grown children...

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Hollywood Release: ParaNorman [Watch Trailer]

ParaNorman is a 3D stop-motion animated adventure horror film produced by Laika, distributed by Focus Features and was released on August 17, 2012. The voice cast includes Casey Affleck, Tempestt Bledsoe, Jeff Garlin, John Goodman, Bernard Hill, Anna Kendrick, Leslie Mann, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Elaine Stritch and Tucker Albrizzi. It is the first stop-motion movie to use a 3D color printer to create character faces.The small New England town of Blithe Hollow comes under siege...

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Hollywood Release: Chicken With Plums [Watch Trailer]

Chicken with Plums (French: Poulet aux prunes) is a 2011 French drama film directed by Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud. It is based on the graphic novel of the same name. The film premiered in competition at the 68th Venice International Film Festival on 3 September 2011. It was released in France on 26 October through Le Pacte.As a young man violinist Nasser Ali Khan (Mathieu Amalric) met Irâne (Golshifteh Farahani) and felt she was the one and only[clarification needed] for him. Unfortunately...

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