World News

A girl accepts a certificate of the first Confucius Peace Prize for the awardee former Taiwanese vice president Lien Chan in Beijing, China, Thursday, Dec. 9, 2010.

photo: AP / Alexander F. Yuan

Chinese group awards own alternative 'peace prize'
read more Seattle Times

BEIJING - A Chinese group has awarded a peace prize to a Taiwanese official too surprised to travel to Beijing to accept the award apparently created to counter the Nobel prize honoring an imprisoned dissident. Instead, a young girl accepted the Confucius Peace Prize and money on behalf of...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the weekly Cabinet meeting at his Jerusalem office, Sunday, July 19, 2009.

photo: AP / David Silverman, Pool

Turkey and Israel continuing talks on Gaza boat deal
read more Irish Times

MARK WEISS in Jerusalem CONTACTS ARE continuing between Israel and Turkey over a compensation deal for the nine Turkish activists killed in clashes when Israeli commandos intercepted the Gaza-bound international aid flotilla in May. Israel is also likely to express "regret" and "sorrow" over the incident, even though Ankara is insisting on a formal...

In this photo released by state-run Press TV, Iranian 43-year-old Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, who had been sentenced to death by stoning for adultery, attends an interview with Press TV, in the city of Tabriz, northwestern Iran, Saturday, Dec. 4, 2010. The head of Iran's human rights council has predicted that a woman sentenced to death by stoning for adultery will likely be spared from execution. The stoning sentence against 43-year-old Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani drew an international outcry. It was then put on hold and is now being reviewed by Iran's Supreme Court.

photo: AP / Press TV

'Stoning woman' freed by Iran
read more Irish Times

SAEED KAMALI DEHGHAN and IAN BLACK JUBILANT CAMPAIGNERS have claimed victory in the case of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, the Iranian woman whose sentence of death by stoning for adultery triggered an international outcry. Images from Iran's state-run Press TV showed her meeting her son Sajjad at her house in Osku in northwest...

Britain's Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, react as their car is attacked by angry protesters in London, Thursday, Dec. 9, 2010.

photo: AP / Matt Dunham

Students attack Prince Charles' car after fee hike
read more Yahoo Daily News

LONDON – Furious student protesters attacked a car carrying Prince Charles and his wife, Camilla, vandalized buildings and battled riot police Thursday as a controversial hike in university fees triggered Britain's worst political violence in years. In a major security breach, demonstrators set upon the heir to the throne's Rolls Royce as it...

A banner with an image of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange that reads in Spanish: "We are all Julian Assange," is seen during a press conference in Mexico City, Thursday, Dec. 9, 2010.

photo: AP / Miguel Tovar

WikiLeaks backers threaten more cyber attacks
read more Yahoo Daily News

LONDON/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Cyber attacks on global companies seen as enemies of WikiLeaks drew the attention of U.S. authorities on Thursday and Dutch police arrested a 16-year-old boy suspected in attacks on credit card sites of Visa and MasterCard. Internet activists vowed to crash sites that have blocked business with WikiLeaks and...

A supporter of presidential candidate Michel Martelly runs past a bonfire during a protest in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Thursday, Dec. 9, 2010.

photo: AP / Dieu Nalio Chery

Haiti to verify vote count after violence over preliminary results
read more m&c;

Washington/Port-au-Prince - Haiti's electoral authorities on Thursday said they will verify the vote count from last month's elections after the disputed preliminary results triggered violence across the country. 'We are going to create a commission to verify the count,' Philippe Augustin, a member of the...

A British police officer stands by a phone booth, its windows smashed by protesters, following a student demonstration against the increase in University fees in central London, Thursday, Dec. 9, 2010.

photo: AP / Lefteris Pitarakis

Students protest in London as MPs debate tuition fees
read more Gulf News

London: Angry student protesters marched through central London toward Parliament on Thursday as lawmakers began debating a controversial plan to triple university tuition fees in Britain. Weeks of nationwide protests were reaching a crescendo, as thousands of students held demonstrations and sit-ins throughout the country. In central London,...

U.S. Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, left, the U.S. chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, speaks during a joint press conference with South Korean Gen. Han Min-Koo, right, chairman of South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff, at the Defense ministry in Seoul, Wednesday, Dec. 8, 2010.

photo: AP / Kim Jae-hwan, Pool

China, North Korea reach consensus over crisis
read more Khaleej Times

SEOUL/TOKYO - China and its ally North Korea reached a consensus on the Korean peninsula crisis after 'candid' talks in Pyongyang between Beijing's top diplomat and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, Chinese state media reported. State Councilor Dai Bingguo met the isolated North's ailing leader in the capital Pyongyang for talks and "the two sides...

A protester holds up a smoke flare, during a protest against the proposed rise in tuition fees, at Trafalgar Square in London, Tuesday, Nov. 30, 2010.

photo: AP / Sang Tan

Mass student protest as MPs vote on tuition fees
read more The Guardian

Around 20,000 to 30,000 people are expected to gather at a rally near the University of London student union at midday, before marching towards the Houses of Parliament Demonstrators stand on top of a police van during the protest by students in London. Photograph: Jonathan Brady/EPA...

In this photo, reviewed by a US Department of Defense official, an American flag waves in the breeze behind razor-wire and fences within the compound of Camp Delta military-run prison, at the Guantanamo Bay U.S. Naval Base, Cuba on Tuesday, June 27, 2006. The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that President George W. Bush overstepped his authority in creating military war crimes trials for Guantanamo Bay detainees, a rebuke to the administration and its aggressive anti-terror policie

photo: AP / Brennan Linsley

House Blocks U.S. Trial Of Guantanamo Detainees
read more Huffington Post

WASHINGTON — In a setback for President Barack Obama, Democrats still controlling the House have approved legislation to prevent Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and other detainees at the military prison at Guantanamo Bay from being transferred to the U.S. for trials in criminal courts. The Guantanamo ban was included in a huge catchall spending bill that...