News from WN Network

UN population report targets conflict 2010-10-20
The Guardian

Are women in war zones better off than 10 years ago? A new report unravels the link between conflict and development A woman watches people scavenge for metal in the rubble of the tax collection office in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, in September. Photograph: Ramon Espinosa/AP...

photo: UN / Eskinder Debebe

Somali gunmen release UK aid worker 2010-10-20
Yahoo Daily News

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AFP) – Somali gunmen on Wednesday freed a Briton of Zimbabwean origin working for charity group Save the Children who they seized last week in a town in the central region of the war-torn country. "I am well and free... and travelling back to Adado," Frans Barnard...

photo: AP / Mohamed Sheikh Nor

US inquiry into China rare earth shipments 2010-10-20
BBC News

US trade officials say they are looking into a New York Times report that China is blocking shipments of rare earths to the US and Europe. China mines 97% of the specialist metals crucial to green technology. The report, citing anonymous industry sources, said Chinese customs officials had broadened...

photo: Public Domain / U.S. federal government

Why some people feel tipsier than others just after a few drinks 2010-10-20
Newstrack India

Washington, Oct 20 (ANI): Scientists have discovered a gene variant that is associated with a person's response to alcohol and may help protect one against alcoholism. Researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine found a gene variant called CYP2E1 and for...

photo: AP / Luca Bruno

Wife of Clarence Thomas asks Anita Hill to consider an apology 2010-10-20
CNN

(CNN) -- The wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas said Tuesday that she reached out to Anita Hill, whose accusations of sexual harassment almost derailed Thomas' high court nomination 19 years ago. In a statement to CNN, Virginia "Ginni" Thomas said: "I did place a call to Ms. Hill at her...

photo: AP / Randy Snyder

U.N. chief Ban says confident of reelection to post+ 2010-10-20
Breitbart

SEOUL, Oct. 20 (AP) - (Kyodo)—U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon is confident about his reelection as chief of the world body, saying "assessments by the international community...

photo: UN / Eskinder Debebe

Floods kill 10 in Thailand's central provinces, threaten Bangkok 2010-10-20
m&c;

Bangkok - Floods in Thailand's central and north-eastern provinces have claimed at least 10 lives this week and now threaten the capital, government and media sources said Wednesday. Heavy monsoon...

photo: AP

377 dead in west and central African floods: UN 2010-10-20
Zeenews

Dakar: The United Nations said on Tuesday that 377 people had died in flooding in central and west Africa, with nearly 1.5 million people affected since the start of the rainy season in June. "2010 has seen the largest number of people affected and dying from flooding", the UN Office for the...

photo: AP / Salako Valentin

France: New Wave of Strikes as Sarkozy Remains Defiant 2010-10-20
Yahoo Daily News

France's escalating conflict over pension reform entered money time on Tuesday, as opponents of the measure staged the sixth wave of demonstrations in as many weeks. But even as officials of President Nicolas Sarkozy's conservative government claimed the protests were weakening, violent clashes...

photo: AP / Bob Edme

Mervyn King warns of 'sober decade' ahead 2010-10-20
BBC News

The UK is facing a "sober decade", the governor of the Bank of England, Mervyn King, has warned. Mr King was speaking to an...

photo: AP / Chris Ratcliffe, pool