AP - The floodlit cream shells of the famed Opera House dimmed Saturday as Sydney became the world’s first major city to plunge itself into darkness for the second worldwide Earth Hour, a global campaign to highlight the threat of climate change.
Reuters - President Barack Obama will announce the next steps to help General Motors Corp and Chrysler LLC on Monday, the White House said, amid signs of progress for GM in talks aimed at slashing its debt and cutting costs in response to slack demand.
AP - Afghanistan’s president said Saturday that the new U.S. strategy for the worsening conflict in his country is “better than we were expecting” and provides the right solutions for the problems afflicting the region.
AP - Dozens of suspected militants fired rockets early Saturday at a transport terminal in northwest Pakistan that is used to ship supplies to NATO troops based in Afghanistan, police said.
Pop star Madonna has been urged by Save the Children to reconsider her apparent plans to adopt another Malawian child. Malawian officials have indicated she will arrive in the African country at the weekend in an attempt to adopt a 14-month-old orphan called Mercy James. The UK-based charity said ideally orphans should be cared for by their extended family or community and taking them abroad was "not a solution". Madonna took then 13-month-old David Banda to the UK from Malawi in 2006. The Reuters news agency reported that it was told Mercy James has "no father and mother, they both died", and an assessment had been completed on Thursday. Madonna is…
By JENNIFER MARTINEZ LONDON — Police have readied a heavy-duty — and high-tech — security plan aimed at controlling protests expected to flood the streets over the weekend and through Thursday’s conclusion of the summit of Group of 20 nations. The G-20 meeting, which starts Wednesday night, comes as the public outcry over the global economic crisis and environmental concerns has heated up. At the same time, anger against banks, and even individual executives, has risen, evidenced by vandalism this week at the…
The Chinese government applauded itself yesterday for overturning Tibet’s feudal hierarchy 50 years ago and bringing in economic development with a celebration of a newly created anniversary that has added to tensions in Tibetan areas. Senior Communist Party leaders, the Panchen Lama they installed and former Tibetan serfs gathered in the Great Hall of the People on the eve of “Serfs Liberation Day” — which marks Beijing’s crushing of a 1959 Tibetan uprising and the Dalai Lama’s flight into exile. The change in government “achieved a historic leap in Tibet’s social system,” said the Panchen…