Gunman shoots founder of sign business, 3 others, then shoots himself at Minn. office

 A man burst into a sign-making business in Minneapolis, fatally shooting the owner and three others in the office before turning the gun on himself, family and officials said Friday.Police have not revealed the name or apparent motive of the shooter who injured at least four others in the Thursday afternoon attack, and say a search of the suspect’s home turned up nothing.Reuven Rahamim, 61, was shot to death in “a senseless act of violence” at Accent Signage Systems Inc. in Bryn Mawr, a...

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Chavez's Oil-fed Fund Obscures Venezuela Money Trail

The site of what may someday be Venezuela's first newsprint factory today consists of little more than a warehouse, several acres of cleared tropical savannah, and two billboards bearing pictures of President Hugo Chavez.More than five years after Chavez first hailed state-owned Pulpa y Papel CA as a vanguard "socialist business," there is little else to show here in rural southeastern Venezuela for the more than half a billion dollars that state investment fund Fonden set aside for the project.As...

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Rajoy Inches Toward Aid As Protests, Regions Seethe

Violent protests in Madrid and growing talk of secession in wealthy Catalonia are piling pressure on Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy as he moves closer to asking Europe for rescue money.Rajoy has been resisting calls from influential domestic bankers and the leaders of France and Italy to move quickly to request assistance, but a series of events this week will drive him closer.With protesters stepping up anti-austerity demonstrations, Rajoy presents more painful economic reforms and a tough...

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Google Says Maps Not Waiting In Wings For iPhone 5

Google Inc has made no move to provide Google Maps for the iPhone 5 after Apple Inc dropped the application in favor of a home-grown but controversial alternative, Google's Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt said.Apple launched its own mapping service earlier this month when it began providing the highly anticipated update to its mobile software platform iOS 6 and started selling the iPhone 5.But users have complained that Apple's new map service, based on Dutch navigation equipment and digital...

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China Carrier A Show Of Force As Japan Tension Festers

China sent its first aircraft carrier into formal service on Tuesday amid a tense maritime dispute with Japan in a show of force that could worry its neighbors.China's Ministry of Defense said the newly named Liaoning aircraft carrier would "raise the overall operational strength of the Chinese navy" and help Beijing to "effectively protect national sovereignty, security and development interests".In fact, the aircraft carrier, refitted from a ship bought from Ukraine, will have a limited role,...

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Clinton Reassures Egypt's Mursi On U.S. Assistance

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton reassured Egypt's new Islamist president on Monday that the United States would forge ahead with plans to expand economic assistance despite anti-American protests that cast new shadows over U.S. engagement with the region. Clinton met Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi in New York, where both are attending this week's U.N. General Assembly meeting, and reinforced the Obama administration's continued commitment to provide both military and economic aid for Cairo,...

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Syria Helicopter Clips Jet Tail

A Syrian passenger jet with 200 people aboard has landed safely after a military helicopter clipped its tail in mid-air, reports say.The helicopter crashed near the capital of Damascus, though it was not clear if there were any casualties in that crash or what had led the two aircraft to touch in mid-air.No one on board the passenger jet was hurt, state TV said.The close call came at a time when Syria is embroiled in a civil war between the supporters of President Bashar Assad and those trying...

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51 Dead In Afghan Bus, Oil Tanker Crash

A passenger bus collided with a fuel tanker in Afghanistan on Friday, killing 51 people and injuring several others, with women and children among the victims, officials said.The incident happened in Ab Band district of Ghazni province, on the highway from Kabul to Kandahar, the capital of the south and Afghanistan's second largest city, on what is one of the most dangerous roads in the country.One official said the fuel tanker belonged to an Afghan trader and Ghazni is part of the supply route...

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Assault On U.S. Consulate In Benghazi Leaves 4 Dead, Including U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens

U.S. Ambassador to Libya J. Christopher Stevens was among four Americans killed in an attack by Muslim protesters on the U.S. consulate compound in Benghazi the previous evening, the U.S. government confirmed Wednesday."I strongly condemn the outrageous attack on our diplomatic facility in Benghazi, which took the lives of four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens," President Obama said in a written statement released Wednesday morning. The U.S. government had confirmed one American...

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7 Poisoned In Czech Republic By Bootleg Liquor

At least four more people have died in the Czech Republic after drinking bootleg alcohol tainted with toxic methanol, bringing the death toll to seven in the worst such poisoning in three decades, officials said on Tuesday.Police spokeswoman Miluse Zajicova said a 45-year-old man died in a hospital in the eastern town of Prerov, and a 21-year-old woman was found dead in nearby Osek nad Becvou.Petra Pekarova, spokeswoman for Prague's General University Hospital, said Tuesday that a 38-year-old man had died there of methanol poisoning, while the...

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Pakistan Factory Fires Kills More Than 310

More than 310 Pakistanis have perished in horrific fires that destroyed two factories in Pakistan, an unprecedented industrial tragedy that has prompted calls for an overhaul of poor safety standards.At least 289 people died at a garment factory in Karachi, Pakistan's biggest city, just hours after 21 died at a shoe factory in Lahore, close to the Indian border.In scenes of horror, relatives watched as loved ones jumped from windows of the four-storey Karachi building where hundreds were working in a bid to escape the blaze, which began late on...

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Iraq's Sunni Vice President Sentenced To Death

Iraq's fugitive Sunni vice president was sentenced to death Sunday after a Baghdad court found him guilty of masterminding the killings of a lawyer and a government security official.Tariq al-Hashemi, who has denied the allegations, fled the country after Iraq's Shiite-led government leveled the terror charges against him in December. The politically charged case sparked a crisis in Iraq's government and has fueled Sunni Muslim and Kurdish resentment against Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a...

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New York City Hammered By Two Tornados

Damaging storms that spawned tornadoes in New York City, darkened tens of thousands of homes in the Washington, D.C., area and flooded New England streets turned a normal day of rest into a day of cleaning up for many East Coast residents on Sunday.No serious injuries were reported when a twister hit a beachfront neighbourhood Saturday on the edge of New York City and a second, stronger tornado followed moments later about 16 km away. Residents got advance notice but still the storm took people...

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Clashes Across Syria Kill 28

Syrian troops have bombarded a string of districts in the northern city of Aleppo and launched attacks across the country as 28 people were killed nationwide in clashes and shelling, a watchdog says.Shelling in Aleppo destroyed houses in the Midan district, a regime bastion that rebels have been trying to seize from their stronghold in Bustan al-Basha since Saturday, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights."The bombardment of Bustan al-Basha has stopped but could start up again any time," a resident told AFP, after a day of fierce clashes.A...

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Wave Of Attacks Kills 56 In Iraq

A Series of more than 20 attacks across Iraq have killed 56 people and wounded more than 250 others, security and medical officials say, with targets including security forces and markets. The latest violence brings the number of people killed in attacks so far this month to 86, according to an AFP tally based on security and medical sources. In the deadliest attack on Sunday, two car bombs exploded in a market near the shrine of Imam Ali al-Sharqi in southern Iraq, a security official said. Dr...

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Girl Hid Under Bodies After Alps Shootings

A four-year-old British girl spent eight hours cowering among the bodies of three adults, thought to be her mother, father and grandmother, who were shot dead in a car in the French Alps. The child, apparently on a family camping holiday from Britain, was found by police unhurt shortly before midnight on Wednesday huddled on the floor behind the front seats of the car, hidden under the legs and skirt of one of the dead women. A second girl of about eight, thought to be her sister, had been...

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