Latest Breaking International News
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Cut in nuclear stockpiles proposed by Obama in talks with Russia
BERLIN - US President Barack Obama on Wednesday said he would seek talks with Russia to reduce the number of strategic nuclear weapons both hold by up to a third. Speaking in front of Berlin's iconic Brandenburg Gate during a visit to the German capital, Obama said he was confident the US could maintain its security while reducing its nuclear capacity by a third. He also called for ...
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Karzai says peace talks with Taliban should be Afghan led
KABUL - An angry Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Wednesday his government would not join US peace talks with the Taliban "until the peace process is totally under Afghan control." He also suspended talks with the US to discuss the nature of US military presence after international troops withdraw in 2014. A spokesman for President Hamid Karzai said the decision was taken over ...
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Obama a war criminal says Irish politician
Many people have rallied in support of controversial Independent TD Clare Daly after her extraordinary attack on the visiting U.S. president Barack Obama and his family. Daly didn't miss any punches on Wednesday morning in the Dail when she hit out at Obama, describing him as the "hypocrite of the century," and "a war criminal." She pointed out while he was in Northern Ireland talking the ...
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North Korean leader Kim used luxury yacht to tour coast, says report
SEOUL, South Korea - North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has used a luxury boat to tour the country's east coast amid indications that the 90-feet-long yacht may have been smuggled into the country in defiance of UN sanctions that bans importing of luxury items to the impoverished country. A website that tracks events in the reclusive state said the yacht, a Princess 95MY made by British-based ...
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Somalia UN office attacked and 15 killed by Islamist militants
MOGADISHU, Somalia - At least 15 people, including some United Nations workers, were killed Wednesday when a UN compound in the Somali capital came under a bomb and gun attack by Islamist militants of an Al Qaeda-linked group, a minister said. Interior Minister Abdikarim Hussein Guled in a hurriedly called press conference said that the eight slain UN workers included four foreigners working ...
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NSA director defends e-snooping claiming it helped foil 50 terror attacks foiled
WASHINGTON - The controversial US snooping of foreign emails and telephone calls has prevented more than 50 potential terrorist attacks in at least 20 countries, the director of the National Security Agency (NSA) has said in defending the surveillance programme. The targets include the New York Stock Exchange and other important installations across the world, General Keith Alexander said ...
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Internationally recognised Irish peacekeeper for UN gets major Mideast post
18 June 2013 150 United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced the appointment today of Major General Michel Finn, of Ireland, as head of Mission and Chief of Staff of the Jerusalem-based UN Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO), the first such operation the world body set up almost 60 years ago. "Major General Finn succeeds Major General Juha Kilpia of Finland, who will ...
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Russell Crowe to direct his first feature film
Actor Russell Crowe is set to director his first feature film. The project is set in the aftermath of World War I. The 49-year-old's directorial project is titled "The Water Diviner". It is set in 1919, reports contactmusic.com. The movie tells the story of an Australian man who travels to Turkey looking for his two sons who went missing during the Battle of Gallipoli. Crowe, who recently ...
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US condemns attack on UN office in Somalia
White House Wednesday strongly condemned the "despicable" attack on the UN office in Somalia. "Today's attack highlights the repugnant terrorist tactics al- Shabaab continues to use to stand in the way of efforts to ease the suffering of the Somali people," reported Xinhua citing White House National Security Council Spokesperson Caitlin Hayden in a statement. he statement came after suicide ...
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UAEs efforts to preserve environment exemplary says daily
Environment related authorities in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have not been resting on their laurels since receiving an acknowledgment from the World Wildlife Fund in 2010, a UAE daily has reported. The UAE authorities in charge of tacking environmental issues were recognised as number one in the world in terms of having the biggest ecological footprint. "Proactivity has been their ...
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Ceasefire accord significant step towards stability in Mali says UNs Sahel envoy
19 June 2013 150 The United Nations Special Envoy for the Sahel today welcomed the signing of the ceasefire accord between the Government of Mali and Tuareg rebels, and called on the parties to remain committed to peace for the sake of the country and the region. Northern Mali was occupied by radical Islamists when fighting broke out in January 2012 between Government forces and Tuareg ...
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UN officials voice outrage at deadly attack on world bodys compound in Somali capital
19 June 2013 150 Top United Nations officials have voiced their outrage at today's deadly attack on the world body's compound in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, while reiterating that it will not deter the Organization from helping the country as it proceeds on the path to stability and development. According to the UN Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM), a pickup truck rigged with ...
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Failure to address discrimination could undermine reforms in Myanmar - UN official
19 June 2013 150 The United Nations human rights chief today urged Myanmar's Government to tackle continuing discrimination against ethnic minorities, warning that failure to act could undermine the reform process in the country. "Myanmar today can act as a source of inspiration by showing how governments can be transformed by a renewed commitment to human rights," said the High ...
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War drives number of forcibly displaced worldwide to 18-year high says UN report
19 June 2013 150 A United Nations report released today says that more people are refugees or internally displaced than at any time since 1994, with the crisis in Syria having emerged as a major new factor in global displacement. The annual Global Trends report, released by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), shows that as of the end of 2012, more than 45.2 million people were in ...
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UN officials urge Governments to ensure natural resources fuel development not conflict
19 June 2013 150 Governments bear the primary responsibility to ensure that natural resources do not fuel conflict by ensuring that land and mineral wealth are managed wisely, transparently and yield benefits for the people, senior United Nations officials stressed today in the Security Council. "In too many countries, a wealth of resources - such as timber, oil, coal, diamonds and precious ...
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Four killed 21 injured Iraq attacks
At least four people were killed and 21 wounded in separate incidents of shooting and bomb attacks in Iraq Wednesday, the police said. Three people were killed and 15 injured in a roadside bomb explosion at a popular football field at a village near Maqdadiyah city, some 100 km from Baghdad, reported Xinhua citing a local police source. In another incident, an Iraqi army colonel was shot dead ...
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UK Soldier Deaths Court Ruling Will Harm Combat Missions
LONDON The British government warned on Wednesday that future combat operations could become more difficult after a court ruled that families of three soldiers killed in Iraq could sue the military for failing to protect troops on active duty. Britain's Supreme Court upheld the claim of relatives that the Human Rights Act applied to troops serving in battle abroad, and rejected the ...
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Former Hungarian PM Gyula Horn Dies at 80
BUDAPEST Former Hungarian Socialist Prime Minister has died at age 80 after a long illness, the government said in a statement on Wednesday, expressing its condolences to the family. Horn was Hungary's prime minister between 1994 and 1998. He was foreign minister in Hungary's last Communist government, and played a key role in political processes in the late 1980s that led to ...
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Analysts Assess Impact of Military Attack on Iran
The United States and the European Union believe Iran is seeking to develop nuclear weapons, but Tehran says its program is for peaceful, civilian purposes. The international community has been trying for years to persuade Iran to end its uranium-enrichment program, but to no avail. Low-enriched uranium can be used for civilian nuclear-power plants, but highly enriched uranium is an ...
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Brazil Protests Proceed as Smaller Cities Join
SAO PAULO/FORTALEZA Protesters blocked roads in Sao Paulo and marched toward a stadium hosting a major international soccer game in Brazil's northeast on Wednesday in a growing wave of nationwide demonstrations against poor public services, inflation and other woes in Latin America's biggest country. After more than a week, the biggest series of protests to sweep Brazil in more than two ...
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With Russian Help Europe Prepares to Search for Life on Mars
PARIS The European Space Agency signed final contracts with Thales Alenia Space Italy for work on a pair of missions to assess if the planet Mars has or ever had life, officials said at the Paris Airshow this week. Until last year, the ExoMars program was a joint project between ESA and the U.S. space agency NASA. But NASA dropped out, citing budget problems. The Russian space ...
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Mandela International Day launched
The UN and the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory (NMCM) Wednesday launched the Mandela International Day, even as the anti-apartheid icon spent his 12th day in hospital for a recurring lung problem. Wednesday's event marked the official launch of programmes to celebrate Mandela's 95th birthday July 18, Xinhua reported. July 18 was endorsed in 2009 by the UN General Assembly as Nelson Mandela ...
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Hamas holds talks to stop being listed as terror group
The Islamic Hamas movement has been holding meetings with foreign officials in a bid to get its name erased from the list of international terrorist organisations, a Hamas official said Wednesday. The US, several European countries and Israel have classified the Hamas movement, which has ruled the Gaza Strip since June 2007, as a terrorist organisation. A series of meetings with European ...
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NRI lawyer wins Iran bank case in British Supreme Court
Mumbai-born Parsi lawyer Sarosh Zaiwala Wednesday notched a remarkable success in a bank case in the British Supreme Court, with major ramifications on the international banking system, an official said. By the court verdict, the British government's sanctions on Iran's largest private bank, Bank Mellat, were lifted after the its security service's "Secret Court" failed to produce significant ...
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UN headquarters in Somalia attacked
An attacker Wednesday blew himself up at the entrance to the UN headquarters in the Somali capital of Mogadishu, CNN reported. Others wearing suicide vests entered the UN compound and a gunfight ensued, said police officer Hussein Ahmed. The compound had now been secured and was in the hands of African Union troops, according to the official Twitter account of the African Union Mission to ...
Montreal Digest
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Montreal Metro still trying to replace ageing fleet
The Montreal Metro is ageing, or its trains are at least, with some of them over 60 years old this year, it’s high time for massive investment in an overhaul of the fleet, but the bidding process has been controversial and highly competitive, leading to delays, which it is hoped will provide a lower cost.
Montreal’s metro system is operated by the Société de Transport de Montréal (STM) and was first opened back in 1966, since then it has grown into one of the largest subways in the country and is the busiest in Canada with over 290 million trips taken on the system last year. The 759 trains that operate on the network are ageing and tired, having each carried an estimated 7900 people and plans are afoot to replace them. Read more
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