The United States on Thursday released photographs of what it said was a Syrian nuclear reactor built with North Korean help, in an effort to pressure Pyongyang to fully disclose its nuclear activities. Israel destroyed the reactor in a September 6 air strike that was initially shrouded in secrecy.
Barack Obama faced renewed questions on Wednesday about his ability to deliver a Democratic victory in November after his failure to knock out Hillary Clinton in Tuesday’s Pennsylvania primary. Clinton cast it as a turning point. ”The tide is turning,” she said in an email to supporters on Wednesday morning.
A Chinese primary school teacher and a beautician have filed a suit against CNN in New York over remarks they say insulted the Chinese people and are seeking ,3-billion in compensation — per person in China, a Hong Kong newspaper reported.
A group of Chinese lawyers has sued CNN, saying remarks by commentator Jack Cafferty in which he called the Chinese ”goons” violated the dignity and reputation of the Chinese people, a Hong Kong newspaper said. The Beijing-backed Wen Wei Po said the Beijing court had yet to accept the case.
Nationalist protests against the French supermarket chain Carrefour spread across China on Sunday, with thousands demonstrating outside stores over the West’s stance on Tibet. The authorities appeared to be trying to damp down the protests, with the official media urging citizens to be ”calm” and ”rational”.
Zimbabwe’s opposition on Sunday accused the authorities of waging a ”war” that has killed 10 people and injured 500 others since disputed parliamentary and presidential elections. ”Ten people have so far been killed in Zimbabwe since March 29,” Tendai Biti, secretary general of the Movement for Democratic Change, said.
A New York judge ordered CNN reporter Richard Quest to undergo six months of counselling on Friday after Quest was arrested in Central Park for possession of a controlled substance, his lawyer said. The British reporter is known for his boisterous and quirky style, especially on CNN International.
Barack Obama is to mount the biggest advertising blitz of the presidential campaign this weekend ahead of Tuesday’s Pennsylvania primary to try to force Hillary Clinton out of the race. With pressure mounting among senior Democratic figures to bring the contest to an early close, Clinton needs a large margin of victory in Tuesday’s primary.
CNN journalist Nkepile Mabuse speaks to Kwanele Sosibo about representing Africa to the United States.
China on Thursday snubbed an apology from CNN over remarks by one of its commentators as a wave of verbal assaults on foreign media raised concerns over coverage at this summer’s Beijing Olympics. CNN’s explanation that a commentator was referring to China’s leaders — not the people — as a ”bunch of goons and thugs”.
China has lodged a formal complaint against television network CNN for what it called a vicious attack by one of its commentators, who labelled the Chinese as ”goons”. In a statement late on Wednesday, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Liu Jianchao condemned the comments by Jack Cafferty on CNN’s The Situation Room programme.
Two South African technicians arrested two weeks ago under Zimbabwe’s laws relating to the media and defeating the course of justice were acquitted and freed on Monday, a colleague said. ”We heard a few minutes ago — they were acquitted on all charges,” said Abdulhak Gardee, financial director of their employer, GlobeCast Africa.
Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who says he won Zimbabwe’s election, has met South Africa’s President Thabo Mbeki and pressed the key regional leader to use his influence to persuade President Robert Mugabe to step down, an opposition spokesperson said on Friday.
Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr threatened on Tuesday to end a truce he imposed on his militia last year, raising the prospect of worsening violence in Iraq just hours before top US officials testified on Iraq in Washington. Al-Sadr urged his Mehdi Army to ”continue your jihad and resistance” against US forces.
Iraqi Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr will consult senior religious leaders and disband his Mehdi Army militia if they instruct him to, a senior aide said on Monday. The surprise announcement was the first time Sadr has proposed dissolving the Mehdi Army, one of the principle actors in Iraq’s five-year-old conflict.
Iraq’s prime minister has raised the stakes in his showdown with followers of Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, saying in an interview broadcast on Monday they would be barred from elections unless their militia disbanded. The comments followed raids on Sunday by security forces into the cleric’s Baghdad stronghold, the slum of Sadr City.
Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai and the Zimbabwe government both denied on Tuesday that they were in talks to arrange the resignation of President Robert Mugabe. At a news conference on Tuesday evening, Tsvangirai confirmed, however, for the first time personally that his party had won the elections.
As a small group of pro-Tibet demonstrators briefly disrupted the ceremonial lighting of the Olympic torch in Athens this week, they were underlining a central truth concerning the world’s greatest sporting festival: it tends to hold up a mirror to the face of its hosts and the result is not always flattering.
Zimbabwe state media predicted on Friday a crushing victory for President Robert Mugabe in weekend elections as his two main challengers made fresh allegations that the result may be rigged. Citing an eve of poll survey by university researchers, the Herald said Mugabe was set to win 57% of the votes.
The opening day of Heathrow airport’s new Terminal Five descended into chaos on Thursday, with flights cancelled, baggage delayed and long queues, while protesters rallied against further expansion. British Airways, the only airline using Terminal Five, was forced to cancel 34 flights and apologise for "teething problems".
Al-Jazeera English, the global news channel launched as a sibling to the Arab-language service, has suffered its most high-profile defections yet amid growing unease among staff about its future. Steve Clark, a former senior executive at ITN and Sky News and a driving force behind the launch of al-Jazeera English, resigned at the end of last week.
Democratic White House hopeful Barack Obama on Wednesday admitted to being ”shaken” by a controversy over racial politics ignited by his pastor’s incendiary sermons. Obama, who gave a landmark speech about race in America on Tuesday, admitted in an interview with CNN that the matter had affected him personally.
China flooded the streets of Lhasa with riot police on Saturday as the international community urged an end to the bloodshed in Tibet that has already claimed at least 10 — possibly dozens more — lives. Thousands of protesters smashed government offices in Xiahe after marching through the streets chanting support for the Dalai Lama.
A violent tornado blasting winds up to 200km/h wreaked havoc through downtown Atlanta, Georgia, toppling trees on to homes, blowing windows out of high-rises and injuring 30 people, city officials said Saturday. A second tornado in north-west Georgia killed two people and injured others on Saturday, officials said.
A tornado hit downtown Atlanta on Friday night, causing several injuries and damaging buildings, including the roof of the Georgia Dome where thousands were watching a college basketball game, police and witnesses said. Nine people were taken to hospitals, one in serious condition, as a result of the heavy storm, police said.
Democrat Barack Obama easily beat rival Hillary Clinton in Mississippi on Tuesday, giving him new momentum in their heated presidential fight as they head to the next showdown in Pennsylvania in six weeks. Obama, who would be the first black United States president, rode a wave of heavy black support to victory and extended his lead over Clinton.
Israeli war planes on Tuesday carried out raids on the north of the Gaza Strip, killing two Palestinians and wounding two others, a Palestinian medical source said. Israel had vowed on Monday to keep hitting Gaza, even as troops pulled out of the Hamas-run territory after clashes that killed more than 120 Palestinians and dealt a blow to peace talks.
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/ 22 February 2008
Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton talked each other to a stalemate on Thursday night in what the Clinton campaign had hoped would offer a decisive breakthrough for her ailing campaign. On issues ranging from the economy to the war to immigration the two demonstrated the closeness of their positions rather than any grand differences of policy.
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/ 20 February 2008
United States Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, staggered by 10 voting losses in a row, ridiculed surging rival Barack Obama on Wednesday as all talk and little substance as she tried to slow his momentum. The former first lady is in the fight of her political life after losing the Democratic votes in Wisconsin and Hawaii on Tuesday to Obama.
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/ 19 February 2008
Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton traded charges on Monday over Obama’s uncredited use of a friend’s lines in a speech, one day before the presidential contenders meet in a critical showdown in Wisconsin. Pointing toward Tuesday’s primary, the two camps battled over a recent Obama speech using words from Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick.
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/ 11 February 2008
United States Defence Secretary Robert Gates said in Baghdad on Monday he was in favour of a short pause in troop drawdowns from Iraq after about 30 000 soldiers have been sent home by July. Gates said the security situation in Baghdad remained ”fragile”, a comment echoed on the streets of the capital, which was rocked by two car bombings.
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/ 10 February 2008
Rebel soldiers shot East Timor President and Nobel laureate Jose Ramos-Horta in the stomach at his home in Dili on Monday, while Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao escaped injury in another attack, officials said. Ramos-Horta was in a stable condition following the assassination attempt.