World News

Members of the Los Angeles Fire Department urban search and rescue team survey damage after a suspected natural gas explosion at a welding shop collapsed part of the building and hurled two workers into the street, killing one and leaving the other in critical condition, Friday, July 30, 2010, in Los Angeles.

photo: AP / Gus Ruelas

Deadly gas explosion destroys building in Calif.
read more The Guardian

THOMAS WATKINS Associated Press Writer= LOS ANGELES (AP) — A deadly gas explosion obliterated an industrial building with such violent force Friday that a worker was hurled into the street, car windows were shattered and a survivor had his hair singed in the inferno. One man died and another was critically injured in the blast that was blamed on a...

In this Wednesday Aug. 19, 2009 photo, made available Saturday Aug. 22, Spc. Paul Pickett, 22, of Minden La., center, of the U.S. Army's Apache Company, 2nd Battalion 87th Infantry Regiment, part of the 3rd Combat Brigade 10th Mountain Division based out of Fort Drum, N.Y., covers a injured U.S. soldier as a helicopter lands to evacuate the wounded after their armored vehicle hit an improvised explosive device in the Tangi Valley of Afghanistan's Wardak Province.

photo: AP / David Goldman

Afghan leak: Wikileaks' Assange denies 'blood on hands'
read more BBC News

The founder of the website Wikileaks has rejected US claims he has blood on his hands after releasing 90,000 leaked classified documents on the Afghan war. Julian Assange told the BBC there was no evidence that any informants had died as a...

A protesting truck driver hold a Greek flag as he protests in front of Riot police outside the Greek parliament in central Athens, on Friday, July 30, 2010.

photo: AP / Petros Giannakouris

Greece turns to military to restore fuel supplies
read more The Guardian

DEREK GATOPOULOS Associated Press Writer= ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece said Friday it will use military trucks, navy vessels and commandeered fuel tankers to restore gasoline supplies cut by a strike that has hurt the country's industry and vital tourism trade at the height of vacation season. Government spokesman Giorgos Petalotis told The...

Palestinians wheel a wounded police officer at the Shifa hospital following an Israeli air strike in Gaza City, late Friday, July 30, 2010.

photo: AP / Khalil Hamra

Israeli jets strike Gaza
read more Al Jazeera

Israel has launched air attacks against targets in the Gaza Strip, injuring eight Palestinians, medical sources have said. Sami Zyara, a Palestinian journalist in the Gaza Strip, told Al Jazeera that at least two rockets launched on Friday targeted a police training centre run by Hamas. The Israeli military had no immediate comment. Earlier on...

Alfonso Cano, a Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) commander who will head the Boliviarian Movement, a new clandestine political party for the rebels, attends a practice ceremony for the political party opening outside of San Vicente del Caguan in the FARC controlled zone of Colombia on Friday, April 28, 2000.

photo: AP / Scott Dalton

Colombian Farc rebels call for talks with new president
read more BBC News

Colombia's largest left-wing rebel group, the Farc, says it is willing to talk to the new Colombian government. The Farc leader known as Alfonso Cano said the Marxist rebel group was willing to search for a political solution to the 46-year-old conflict. President-elect Juan Manuel Santos has in the past ruled out any dialogue unless the Farc...

Taliban Ambassador to Pakistan Abdul Salam Zaeef speaks during a press conference in Islamabad Sunday, Oct. 7, 2001. The Taliban representative said that Afghan authorities are willing to detain suspected terrorist Osama bin Laden and try him under Muslim law if the United States makes a formal request. T

photo: AP / Bullit Marquez

U.N. Removes Taliban Members from Sanctions List
read more The New York Times

UNITED NATIONS – The United Nations Security Council removed five members of the Taliban from its sanctions list on Friday, in a nod toward the kind of reconciliation considered crucial for Afghanistan’s future stability. Notes from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq and other areas of conflict in the post-9/11 era. Go to the Blog » The five...

Pakistani villagers collect fixtures off their wall which collapsed due to heavy flood in Nowshera, Pakistan on Friday, July 30, 2010.

photo: AP / Mohammad Sajjad

400 Killed in Flooding in Pakistan, Officials Say
read more The New York Times

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — More than 400 people have died and thousands of others were made homeless as some of the worst floods in Pakistan’s history hit this northwestern region, provincial officials said. Saood Rehman/European Pressphoto Agency An aerial view of flooded hit areas after heavy monsoon rains on the outskirts of Dera Ismail...

Italian Lower Chamber President Gianfranco Fini reads his statement during a press conference in Rome, Friday, July 30, 2010.

photo: AP / Gregorio Borgia

Italy speaker refuses to resign, deepens crisis
read more The Star

ROME (Reuters) - The influential speaker of Italy's lower house refused to step down on Friday after being censured by his own party, and said his supporters could vote against the government of former ally Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi (R) talks with Minister of Equal Opportunities Mara Carfagna during...

A charred car stands in front of a chimney, all of what is left of a house that was burned to the ground, in the village of Mokhovoe, destroyed by a forest fire near the town of Lukhovitsy some 135 km (84 miles) southeast of Moscow, Friday, July 30, 2010. The fires have spread quickly across more than 200,000 acres (90,000 hectares) in recent days after a record heat wave and severe drought that has plagued Russia for weeks.

photo: AP / Dmitry Chistoprudov

Wildfires sweeping Russia kill at least 25
read more The Star

MASLOVKA, Russia (Reuters) - Forest fires sweeping across European Russia on Friday killed at least 25 people and forced the evacuation of thousands in the hottest weather since records began 130 years ago. Men walk in front of a burning building outside the town of Vyksa, some 150 km (93 miles) southwest of the Volga city of Nizhny Novgorod, July...

Exterior view of the U.S. Embassy in Paris Friday, July 30, 2010 where two of its employees are undergoing medical tests after handling a suspicious letter.

photo: AP / Yoan Valat

Suspicious Envelope Received at U.S. Embassy in Paris
read more The New York Times

PARIS — Two employees of the United States Embassy in Paris underwent medical examinations on Friday after handling a suspicious envelope that arrived at the embassy, but officials said its contents did not appear to be harmful. “There is no indication that the envelope contained something dangerous or poisoned,” Embassy spokesman...