World News

People wait to cross a flooded road in Bannu, northwestern Pakistan on Tuesday, Aug. 3, 2010.

photo: AP / Ijaz Mohammad

Death toll from Pakistani floods up to 1,500; health issues a concern
read more CNN

Misery in Pakistan (CNN) -- The prime minister of Pakistan planned an emergency meeting Wednesday as flooding continues to wreak havoc on the country. Yousuf Raza Gilani wants an estimate of damages from the monsoon rains and flooding that has killed as many as 1,500 people and affected about 3 million people. The flooding has also washed away tens...

Bobby Bolton, BP wellsite leader, talks to reporters on the Helix Q4000, which is performing the static kill procedure, at the site of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill in Gulf of Mexico, off the coast of Louisiana, Tuesday, Aug. 3, 2010.

photo: AP / Gerald Herbert

'Static Kill' operation a success, says BP
read more The Independent

BP said today that its "static kill" operation to begin permanently shutting off the Gulf of Mexico oil well had been a success. The embattled oil giant started pumping heavy mud into the well yesterday and said it had now reached a "static condition", with pressure being controlled as hoped. The news marks the first stage in bringing to an end the...

File - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad gestures after holding a news conference at the Shanghai World Expo in Shanghai, China, Friday, June 11, 2010.

photo: AP / Andy Wong

US imposes more Iran sanctions
read more Al Jazeera

The US government has imposed sanctions on 21 Iranian government firms, increasing international pressure over the country's disputed nuclear programme. Accusing Tehran of trying to dodge sanctions by setting up opaque trading companies, the US treasury department on Tuesday also named a host of banking, mining and other companies - spread...

Left to right: Rebeca Grynspan, Deputy General Secretary and Associated Administrator of the United Nations Development Program, UNDP, Ecuador's Foreign Affairs Minister Ricardo Patino, Ecuador's Vice President Lenin Moreno and Ecuador's Heritage Coordinator Minister Fernanda Espinosa pose for pictures after signing the Yasuni-ITT Trusteeship in Quito, Ecuador, Tuesday, Aug. 3, 2010. Ecuador signed Tuesday an unprecedented document for environmental protection according to which the South American country hopes to get contributions from other countries worldwide up to 3.600 US million dollars, in exchange for not extracting oil from the Yusuní area in the Amazon.

photo: AP / Dolores Ochoa

Ecuador pledges no oil drilling in Amazon reserve
read more BBC News

Ecuador has agreed to refrain from drilling for oil in a pristine Amazon rainforest reserve in return for up to $3.6bn (Â£2.26bn) in payments from rich countries. Under a pioneering agreement signed with the United Nations, the oilfields under the Yasuni reserve will remain...

Firefighters try to extinguish a forest fire near the town of Elektrogorsk, some 88 km (54 miles) east of Moscow, Tuesday, Aug. 3, 2010.

photo: AP / Sergey Ponomarev

Forest fires 'out of control' in parts of western Russia
read more The Independent

Forest fires threatened to blaze out of control across parts of Russia yesterday and have already left 40 people dead and destroyed a fifth of the country's wheat crop. The fires, prompted by one of the hottest spells in recorded history, have destroyed about 2,000 homes. Thirteen hangars...

Flood-stricken Pakistanis shove each other as they wait outside a relief center to get food supply on the outskirts of Peshawar, Pakistan, Tuesday, Aug. 3, 2010.

photo: AP / Mohammad Sajjad

Mass evacuations as flood threatens to destroy dam
read more The Independent

Rising water levels were last night threatening one of Pakistan's largest dams, forcing the authorities to evacuate more people even as raging floods surged south into the country's heartland, destroying communities and ruining livelihoods. Officials in the country's north-west said unprecedented flooding had caused the water level at Warsak Dam...

A Mexican soldier walks near a bullet-riddled police vehicle at the scene where three police officers were killed in Ciudad Juarez, northern Mexico, Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2009. The three officers, including the director of operations of the city's Public Safety Department, were shot to death by unidentified gunmen on a street near the U.S. consula

photo: AP / Eduardo Verdugo

Mexico: 28,000 killed in drug violence since 2006
read more The Star

MEXICO CITY (AP): President Felipe Calderon said he would consider a debate on legalizing drugs Tuesday as his government announced that more than 28,000 people have been killed in drug violence since he launched a crackdown against cartels in 2006. Intelligence agency director Guillermo Valdes also said authorities have confiscated about 84,000...

Lebanese soldiers stand at a checkpoint near a damaged building after an exchange of fire between Israeli and Lebanese troops along the border between Israel and Lebanon, in the southern border village of Adaisseh, Lebanon, Tuesday, Aug. 3, 2010.

photo: AP / Hussein Malla

Beirut urges world community to move against Israeli violations
read more Daily Star Lebanon

Lebanon ready to face aggression ‘by all available means’ By Elias Sakr Daily Star staff Wednesday, August 04, 2010 - Powered by BEIRUT: Top Lebanese officials urged the international community to take action against Israeli violations of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701 after a cross-border skirmish killed three Lebanese soldiers...

A Hezbollah supporter, holds a poster of Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah with the Arabic words reading: "I always promise victory" during a rally marking the fourth anniversary of the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war, in Beirut's southern suburb, Tuesday, Aug. 3, 2010.

photo: AP / Bilal Hussein

Nasrallah accuses Israel of killing Hariri, vows to reveal proof next week
read more Daily Star Lebanon

By The Daily Star Wednesday, August 04, 2010 - Powered by BEIRUT: Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Tuesday openly accused Israel of the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and said he would unveil proof to that effect at a news conference next week. “I accuse the Israeli enemy of the assassination of [Former]...

Media surround one of the few people voicing their opinion during a meeting of the Landmarks Preservation Commission, while the panel were voting on the landmark status of a 152-year-old building on Park Place, in New York, Tuesday, Aug. 3, 2010

photo: AP / Seth Wenig

New York mosque near September 11 site wins approval
read more The Jordan Times

- A New York city agency on Tuesday cleared the way for construction of a Muslim cultural centre near the site of the September 11 attacks. In a case that triggered national debate, the City Landmarks Commission voted unanimously to deny landmark status for an old building currently on the site of the planned centre. Opponents of the Muslim Centre,...