World News

Armed police officers maintain a presence at Heathrow Airport's Terminal 1 in London Monday Jan. 4, 2010.

photo: AP

Sources: Security threat level for London raised to 'severe'
read more Joy Online

New information has emerged from an intelligence operation about the possibility of an attack being planned in or near London, with subway stations and airports of particular concern to officials, a British security source told CNN Thursday. CNN understands that the intelligence operation concerns a possible Mumbai-style attack, the source said....

A top U.S. envoy for North Korea, Stephen Bosworth speaks to the press following his talks with Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Kenichiro Sasae at the Foreign Ministry in Tokyo, Friday, Jan. 7, 2011.

photo: AP / Junji Kurokawa

US envoy says he had productive talks on Koreas
read more Herald Tribune

TOKYO - A U.S. envoy said he had productive discussions with Japanese officials Friday about the crisis on the Korean peninsula, ending a week of meetings in three countries on ending tensions between North and South Korea. Stephen Bosworth, Washington's special envoy for North Korea policy, met with Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Kenichiro Sasae...

Southern Sudanese citizens clog the streets of the southern capital Juba, Thursday, Dec. 9 2010, as they march in support of the independence referendum, to be held one month from today.

photo: AP / Maggie Flick

Thousands flock to south Sudan
read more Al Jazeera

An official with the United Nations has said that 143,000 southerners have arrived in south Sudan since the end of October 2011 for Sunday's referendum, which could result in the country's partition. David Gressly, the UN regional co-ordinator for Southern Sudan, said on Thursday that thousands more are arriving into southern states daily. "An...

Pakistani United Nations soldiers stand guard outside the entrance to the Golf Hotel, where opposition leader Alassane Ouattara was meeting with African leaders, in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, Monday, Jan. 3, 2011.

photo: AP / Emanuel Ekra

Ivory Coast expelling British and Canadian envoys
read more Zeenews

Abidjan: A top advisor to incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo says the British and Canadian ambassadors have been asked to leave the country in retaliation for expulsion of the Ivorian ambassadors in London and Ottawa. Pascal Affi N'Guessan, a confidante of Gbagbo and the President of his political party , said yesterday the two ambassadors will be...

Farmland is inundated with floodwaters south of Rockhampton, Australia, Thursday, Jan. 6, 2011.

photo: AP / Patrick Hamilton, Pool

Australia floods cause possibly years of damage
read more Indian Express

Australia's flood-stricken coal industry may face months of disruptions as reports emerge of key rail and road links being washed away, while some infrastructure may take years to repair, authorities said on Friday. There are some aspects of the rebuilding...

Pro-separation activists hold signs and chant pro-independence slogans outside the Juba airport in southern Sudan where Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir arrived on Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2011.

photo: AP / Pete Muller

Southern Sudan's time of decision
read more Star Tribune

JUBA, SUDAN - Separation or unity. A solitary hand or two clasped together. Those are the choices -- and the printed images on the ballot -- for close to 4 million registered voters in southern Sudan beginning Sunday, when a seven-day referendum on separation from Africa's biggest country begins. The vote, which is likely to lead to the world's...

photo: AP / Rob Carr

Germany closes 4,700 farms for dioxin checks
read more Khaleej Times

BERLIN ' Germany closed more than 4,700 farms and related businesses for safety checks late Thursday after tests on suspicious feed confirmed the presence of a cancer-causing dioxin. "4,709 farms and businesses are currently closed," including 4,468 in the state of Lower Saxony, northwest Germany, the agriculture ministry said in a statement late...

photo: US Navy / Tech. Sgt. Andy Dunaway.

Pentagon faces $78 billion spending cut
read more Newsday

will have to cut spending by $78 billion over the next five years, Defense Secretary said Thursday, forcing the Army and the to shrink the number of troops on active duty and eventually imposing the first freeze on military spending since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The surprise announcement from was a reminder for the military establishment,...

Coptic Pope Shenouda III, left, leads Christmas Eve Mass at the Coptic cathedral in Cairo, Egypt, Thursday, Jan. 6, 2011.

photo: AP / Ben Curtis

Egypt Christians mark mournful Christmas Eve Mass
read more The Guardian

MAGGIE MICHAEL Associated Press= CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's Christians packed churches Thursday for mournful Christmas Eve Masses, weeping and donning black in place of colorful holiday clothes, under a heavy security cordon by police out of fear of another attack like the New Year's suicide bombing of a church that killed 21 people. At church gates...

A man comes out of a Baja Fresh restaurant with his hands up Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2011 in Chandler, Ariz.

photo: AP / Matt York

Police: Lone suspect behind 2 Arizona shootings
read more CNN

Get the latest details on this story from CNN affiliate KPHO. (CNN) -- Authorities in Chandler, Arizona, said they believe the gunman who held hostages at a restaurant is the same man who fled into a mall after opening fire on members of a crime task force. The man who surrendered at the Baja Fresh restaurant is not the federal fugitive that U.S....