World News

Carabinieri paramilitary police officers and firefighters are seen inside the compound of the Swiss Embassy in Rome, Thursday, Dec. 23, 2010. A package exploded Thursday at the Swiss Embassy in Rome, wounding one person, police said. The Foreign Ministry called it a "deplorable act of violence'' against the Swiss. The explosion occurred when the package was opened by an embassy staffer, who was wounded and subsequently taken to the hospital, said a spokesman at the carabinieri police in Rome. (

photo: AP / Angelo Carconi

Parcel Explodes in Swiss Embassy in Rome
read more The New York Times

A parcel exploded in the Swiss embassy in Rome on Thursday, seriously injuring at least one diplomatic employee, the police said. The Swiss embassy is located in the leafy Rome neighborhood of Parioli. The employee was taken to a local hospital for wounds that appeared serious, a police spokesman said. The explosion comes at a time of heightened...

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak visits the South Korean Army soldiers at a military base near the demilitarized zone (DMZ) that separates the two Koreas since the Korean War, in Yanggu, north of Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Dec. 23, 2010. South Korean fighter jets dropped bombs and tanks fired artillery Thursday as the military staged its largest air and ground firing drills of the year in a show of force a month after North Korea's deadly shelling of a front-line island.

photo: AP / Jo Bo-hee, Yonhap

North Korea 'ready for sacred war' with the South
read more BBC News

Are you in the region?...

An Ivory Coast policeman stands guard during a youth rally in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, Monday, Dec. 20, 2010. The top U.N. envoy in Ivory Coast on Monday condemned intimidation tactics against U.N. personnel, saying armed men were threatening staff after the U.N. ignored Laurent Gbagbo's demand for thousands of peacekeepers leave the country. The United Nations has vowed to continue its mission despite the order from Gbagbo, who is facing growing international pressure to concede defeat in last month's disputed presidential election and step aside.

photo: AP / Sunday Alamba

UN confirms 173 killed in Ivory Coast this week
read more Yahoo Daily News

ABIDJAN (AFP) – United Nations human rights officials said Thursday that at least 173 people have been killed in Ivory Coast in the past week, during the fragile West African state's post-election crisis. The report to the UN Human Rights Council came as Ivorian strongman Laurent Gbagbo came under mounting pressure from world powers to...

photo: AP / Ben Curtis

Kenyan lawmakers pass motion aimed at stopping ICC trials
read more m&c;

Nairobi - Kenyan lawmakers have passed a motion calling on the government to withdraw from the statute establishing the International Criminal Court (ICC) in a move intended to head off the trial of senior political figures. ICC Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo last Wednesday named six Kenyans he considered most responsible for the violence that...

Pro-democracy protesters play music instruments and make loud voice in front of the picture of Zhao Lianhai with the Chinese words reading "To cry for redress an injustice for Zhao Lianhai, screams pierce the sky in Hong Kong" during a demonstration in Hong Kong Saturday, Nov. 27, 2010. The Chinese father-turned-activist imprisoned for protesting a tainted milk scandal is seeking medical parole, in what might be a deal with authorities hoping to tamp public anger over his harsh sentence.

photo: AP / Kin Cheung

UN concerned about China's food safety activists
read more Breitbart

BEIJING (AP) - China has made "remarkable progress" in growing sufficient food to feed its people but its official efforts to silence people who alert the public to food safety problems are worrisome, a U.N. official said Thursday. China shifted from a food aid recipient to a international food donor in 2005, a sign of its "significant success" in...

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Jiang Yu speaks at a press briefing in Beijing Thursday, July 6, 2006. Jiang said China and North Korea still maintain friendly relations, a day after Pyongyang provocatively test-fired a series of missiles. Jiang's comments that North Korean-Chinese relations are intact follows Pyongyang's defiance of Beijing's urgings in the past week that North Korea should refrain from launching missiles.

photo: AP / Greg Baker

China Says Willing to Help Euro Zone Return to Economic Health
read more ABC News

December 23, 2010 BEIJING (Reuters) - China is willing to help countries in the euro zone return to economic health and will support the International Monetary Fund bailout package for the bloc, a...

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, stands next to her daughter Piper as they dish out hot-dogs during the governor's picnic in Wasilla, Alaska Friday, July 24, 2009. This is one of three governor's picnics Palin is attending before she resigns as governor in Fairbanks on Sunday, July 26, 2009.

photo: AP / Al Grillo

Sarah Palin: "Who Cooked the Last Supper?"
read more WorldNews.com

Article by WN.Com Correspondent Dallas Darling. It was very painful and sad to see Sarah Palin continue to submit to a male-dominated social order, and to observe her stage performance and starring role in the Republican and Tea Parties ongoing theatrical productions. This time, Palin attacked First Lady Michelle Obama by mocking her anti-obesity...

A general view of the Greek parliament during a budget debate in Athens, late Wednesday, Dec. 22, 2010. Around midnight, lawmakers will vote on the budget. The budget foresees another year of stringent austerity, seeking to save euro5 billion ($6.6 billion) through higher consumer taxes and health and defense cuts.

photo: AP / Eurokinissi, Vaios Hassialis

Greece approves austerity budget
read more CNN

Athens, Greece (CNN) -- The Greek parliament early Thursday approved an austerity budget that makes cuts required under conditions of a massive bailout from the International Monetary Fund and the European Union in May. The 2011 budget foresees the deficit...

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., left, and the committee's ranking Republican, Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., take part in a news conference, on Capitol Hill in Washington Wednesday, Dec. 22, 2010, after the Senate's ratification of the New START Treaty.

photo: AP / Alex Brandon

US Senate approves nuclear arms treaty with Russia
read more The Star

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate approved a landmark nuclear arms control treaty with Russia on Wednesday, handing President Barack Obama a major foreign policy victory in his drive to improve ties with Moscow and curb the spread of atomic weapons to other nations. U.S. Senator John Kerry (D-MA) (Right) walks to the Senate floor during debate...

Israeli soldiers drive in tanks near Israel's border with the Gaza Strip, in southern Israel, Sunday, Dec. 28, 2008. More than 270 Palestinians, most of them militants, have been killed and more than 600 people wounded since Israel's campaign to quash rocket barrages from Gaza began midday Saturday. Israeli military spokesman Avi Benayahu said some 250 attacks were carried out since the offensive began

photo: AP / Sebastian Scheiner

Israel to bolster defense along Gaza after new missile attack
read more Daily Star Lebanon

Compiled by Daily Star staff Thursday, December 23, 2010 - Powered by --> Israel will deploy tanks equipped with a new defense system along the Gaza border after Palestinian fighters for the first time used an advanced Russian-designed missile against an Israeli tank this month, Israeli defense officials said Wednesday. In the meantime, the UN...