Ground Zero rebirth masks new tensions
September 9, 2010
NEW YORK ‘ New towers are finally rising from Ground Zero, but disputes over plans for a nearby mosque and a Florida pastor’s vow to burn the Holy Quran ensure this Saturday’s 9/11 anniversary will be unusually bitter. If rebuilding the World Trade Centre was all that mattered, Americans might be able to move on from the trauma of September 11, 2001, when Islamist terrorists used hijacked airliners as guided missiles to kill almost 3,000 people. After nine years of embarrassing delays, the lower Manhattan site no longer resembles a vast bomb crater in the middle of some of the world’s most expensive real estate. The first 36 floors of the 106-story One World Trade Centre…
Erdogan criticises opponents ahead of Turkey referendum
September 9, 2010
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has criticised the tactics of his political opponents…
Obama, GOP jostle over tax-break policies
September 8, 2010
Updated | Comment | Recommend | | | By Pablo Martinez Monsivais, AP President Obama discusses the economy at the Cuyahoga Community College in Parma, Ohio. PUBLIC OPINION From Truman to Obama, see each president’s ratings with By Richard Wolf, USA TODAY President challenged Republicans on Wednesday to join him in expanding business tax breaks, building roads and rails, and cutting taxes on the middle class — policies he ascribed to past presidents. By pushing business tax breaks once heralded by and , Obama sought to do what did as president after Republicans took control of Congress in 1995: steal their thunder. He also put pressure on Republicans to…
BP faces backlash over Gulf oil spill report
September 8, 2010
Contractors who worked for BP on the ill-fated Deepwater Horizon oil rig have criticised the company’s report…
Mullah Omar says Afghan Taliban close to victory
September 8, 2010
Taliban leader Mullah Omar says his fighters are winning the war in Afghanistan and that the Nato-led campaign has…
Sri Lanka chief Mahinda Rajapakse gets total power
September 8, 2010
SRI Lanka last night handed its President absolute power – and in the process anointed another South Asian political dynasty – with parliament…
China Moves to Ease Strain With U.S.
September 8, 2010
HONG KONG — Top Chinese officials are calling for quiet discussions instead of open friction with the United States, after a summer marked by bilateral disagreements over the value of China’s currency, American military exercises off the Korean Peninsula and American efforts to resolve territorial disputes in the South China Sea. State media showed China’s president, Hu Jintao, meeting Wednesday with Lawrence H. Summers, the director of the National Economic Council, and Thomas E. Donilon, the deputy national security adviser. American and Chinese officials have been trying to lay the groundwork for a state visit to the United States this winter by the Chinese president….
BP oil leak report: blame shared for rig disaster
September 8, 2010
A report into the BP oil rig blast which killed 11 people and cost billions in compensation and clean up costs shares blame for “sequence of failures” which led to the disaster. The oil giant’s internal report said that a “sequence of failures” involving a “number of parties” led to the explosion on the Deepwater Horizon rig which led to four million barrels of oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico and became the worst oil spill in US history. …
Police Arrest Separatist Leader In Indian Kashmir
September 8, 2010
SRINAGAR, India (AP) – Police arrested a top separatist leader Wednesday for rallying massive anti-India protests that have rocked the Indian portion of Kashmir for months, and supporters reacted by staging fresh demonstrations and hurling stones at troops. The arrest of hard-liner Syed Ali Shah Geelani, 82, at his residence in Srinagar, the region’s main city, came days after he laid out stiff conditions for peace talks with the Indian…
South Korea imposes independent sanctions on Iran
September 8, 2010
SEOUL, South Korea-South Korea said Wednesday it will ban unauthorized financial dealings with Iran and impose other penalties as part of a U.S.-led campaign to enforce sanctions against the country over its disputed nuclear enrichment program. Seoul targeted 102 entities, including the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines, and 24 individuals for the sanctions, Foreign…
