World News
Vietnam zoo owner jailed for selling dead tigers
Posted 1 year 1 month ago by Bea Karnes
Source: The Associated Press
HANOI, Vietnam (AP) A court in southern Vietnam has sentenced a zoo owner to three years in prison for selling the carcasses of five endangered tigers.
Presiding Judge Hoang Huy Toan said Monday that Huynh Van Hai was convicted during a two-day trial earlier this month of selling the dead tigers he had raised at his farm near Ho Chi Minh City.
He said 14 other defendants were sentenced to up to 30 months in jail on the same charges.
The judge said Hai told the cour… Click to Read More
China checks food, water for radiation in 14 areas
Posted 1 year 1 month ago by Bea Karnes
Source: The Associated Press
BEIJING (AP) Chinese health authorities say they are monitoring food and drinking water for radiation contamination in 14 provinces and cities in northeastern and coastal areas, after low levels of radioactive material were detected in the northeast.
China has been on high alert for contamination since a nuclear power plant in neighboring Japan started leaking radiation after being damaged in a massive earthquake and tsunami on March 11.
Chinese authorities say low levels … Click to Read More
Dozens missing as China cracks down on activists
Posted 1 year 2 months ago by Bea Karnes
Source: The Associated Press
BEIJING (AP) The last time the prominent Chinese lawyer Jiang Tianyong was seen or heard from, he was visiting his brother in a Beijing suburb when police grabbed him and threw him into a waiting van, pushing aside his elderly mother who had clung on to the vehicle.
Jiang is among dozens of well-known lawyers and activists across China who have vanished, been interrogated or criminally detained for subversion in recent weeks, a crackdown that human rights groups say is on a scale … Click to Read More
Latest in Japan's quake, tsunami, nuclear crisis
Posted 1 year 2 months ago by Bea Karnes
Source: The Associated Press
Workers trying to cool Japan's radiation-leaking nuclear plant were pulled back Monday after smoke rose from one of its tsunami-damaged reactor units. The cause of the smoke at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant was unclear.
Early in the day, the Health Ministry advised one village about 20 miles from the plant not to drink tap water due to elevated levels of iodine. Still, the government said the radiation levels were too small to pose an immediate health risk.
The toll of Japan's … Click to Read More
Iraq weighs if US troops should stay after 8 years
Posted 1 year 2 months ago by Bea Karnes
Source: The Associated Press
BAGHDAD (AP) The American invasion of Iraq was supposed to take only a few months: a quick blitz to depose dictator Saddam Hussein, find and dismantle weapons of mass destruction and go home.
Eight years later, thousands of U.S. troops remain in Iraq and their mission may not be accomplished until far into the future.
Despite a security agreement requiring a full U.S. military withdrawal by the year's end, hundreds if not thousands of American soldiers will continue to… Click to Read More
Japanese fend for themselves as aid trickles in
Posted 1 year 2 months ago by Bea Karnes
Source: The Associated Press
SHIZUGAWA, Japan (AP) An American helicopter crewman shouted above the din of the rotor: "What do these people need? Do they need food? Do they need medicine?"
The answer one week after a tsunami devastated Japan's northeast coast is: They need everything.
Aid has started trickling in, but much of it appears ad hoc and many survivors remain isolated and cold and are fending for themselves.
Two American military helicopters touched down on a hilltop above this flatt… Click to Read More
Libyan forces attack last rebel-held western city
Posted 1 year 2 months ago by Bea Karnes
Source: The Associated Press
BENGHAZI, Libya (AP) Moammar Gadhafi's forces are bombarding the last rebel-held western city as the international community discusses how to enforce a no-fly zone and protect the Libyan people.
A doctor says at least six people were killed Friday when tanks moved into Misrata and opened fire. He says a hospital and a mosque were shelled.
The doctor, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he feared reprisals, says the tanks then pulled back to the outskirts of the cit… Click to Read More
CIA contractor release eases Pakistan-US tensions
Posted 1 year 2 months ago by Bea Karnes
Source: The Associated Press
ISLAMABAD (AP) A "blood money" deal to free a CIA contractor who killed two Pakistani men removes a major thorn in relations between the United States and Pakistan, but bruising from the incident and disagreements over Afghanistan mean the alliance will likely remain stormy.
The already weak Pakistani government has also seen its standing among the country's 180 million people further diminished, though it remains to be seen whether right wing and Islamist parties are able to orga… Click to Read More
14 elderly die after evacuating Japanese hospital
Posted 1 year 2 months ago by Bea Karnes
Source: The Associated Press
TOKYO (AP) First came the tsunami, which killed many elderly people unable to flee their homes. Then came the radiation, which forced a hospital to evacuate some 100 older patients. Fourteen did not survive.
The earthquake-spawned tsunami and the nuclear crisis it created has taken a particularly heavy toll on the elderly in this rapidly aging nation. Many have already died and now those who lived are struggling to survive in cold emergency centers or hospitals without electricity… Click to Read More
Quake strikes near Vanuatu, but no tsunami threat
Posted 1 year 2 months ago by Bea Karnes
Source: The Associated Press
SYDNEY (AP) A 6.5-magnitude earthquake has struck in the Pacific Ocean near Vanuatu but officials say there is no danger of a destructive tsunami.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake hit Thursday afternoon about 50 miles (77 kilometers) northwest of the Vanuatu capital of Port Vila. It was 17 miles (26 kilometers) under the sea floor.
The Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said historical data showed no threat of a destructive widespread tsunami.
Van… Click to Read More
