World News

As of Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2008, at least 4,148 members of the U.S. military have died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

BEIT AWWA, West Bank - A Palestinian couple locked their disabled son and daughter away for decades out of fear they would ruin the marriage prospects of a healthy child if discovered, police said Wednesday.

UNITED NATIONS - The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously Wednesday to keep a peacekeeping force in Lebanon for another year, calling for stepped-up efforts to achieve a permanent cease-fire and long-term resolution of the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war.

LONDON - A British aristocrat wants to sell a masterpiece of Renaissance painting to British public galleries if they can meet his $92 million asking price.

BRUSSELS (AFP) - Belgian pharmaceuticals group UCB plans to cut its headcount by 2,000 -- 17 percent of its worldwide staff -- as part of a restructuring, the company said Thursday.

FRANKFURT (AFP) - German conglomerate Siemens wants to attract investment from sovereign wealth funds to enlarge its long-term investor base and improve access to fast-growing markets, its chief financial officer said in comments published Thursday.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - Gustav stalled offshore Wednesday and poured more misery onto Haiti after landslides and flooding killed 23 people. Oil workers began leaving their rigs and New Orleans drew up evacuation plans as forecasters warned the storm could plow into the U.S. Gulf coast as a major hurricane.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - A federal judge on Wednesday ordered election officials to add an English translation to Spanish-only ballots for November elections.

MEXICO CITY - Mexico's Supreme Court was poised Wednesday to uphold legal abortion in the capital despite deep opposition elsewhere in the heavily Catholic country.

JOHANNESBURG (AFP) - Zimbabwe's veteran ruler Robert Mugabe will defy the opposition and form a new government despite stalled talks on power-sharing after contested polls, the junior information minister said Thursday.

TRIPOLI (Reuters) - The hijackers of a Sudanese airliner surrendered to authorities in Libya on Wednesday after releasing all the passengers and crew, Libya's aviation authority said.

KHARTOUM (AFP) - Overjoyed passengers from a hijacked Sudanese jet returned home to delighted families on Thursday, having feared they would die at the hands of gunmen who threatened to blow up the plane.

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 28, 2008 (AFP) - Malaysia's opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim was sworn in to parliament Thursday, ending a decade-long political exile and taking another step forward in his plan to topple the government.

SAHARSA, India (AFP) - Tens of thousands of people have fled to safer areas but more than a million were still trapped in floods after a river changed its course due to heavy rains, an official said Thursday.

BEIJING - The first outbreak of violence in China's western region of Xinjiang since a pair of high-profile attacks during the Olympics has left two Chinese policemen dead and seven more wounded, authorities and an activist said Thursday.

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Prime Minister Stephen Harper gave fresh signs on Wednesday of triggering a general election soon.

TORONTO/WINNIPEG, Manitoba (Reuters) - The head of Canada's biggest meat processor said on Wednesday his company was fully accountable for a nationwide outbreak of listeriosis food poisoning, which has been linked to deaths of 15 people.

TUKTOYAKTUK, Northwest Territories (Reuters) - Canada, pushing its claims of Arctic sovereignty, said on Wednesday it would toughen reporting requirements for ships entering its waters in the Far North, where some of those territorial claims are disputed by other countries.

SYDNEY (AFP) - Australian police said Wednesday they were investigating allegations that 13 former students were molested at a private Catholic boarding school for boys nearly 30 years ago.

SYDNEY (AFP) - East Timor Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao says he believes his country has turned the corner, and divisions in the military that triggered several years of civil unrest should not recur.

SYDNEY (AFP) - Mining giant Rio Tinto said Tuesday it had more than doubled first-half net profit to a record 6.91 billion US dollars (3.76 billion pounds) as it continues to fend off a hostile takeover bid by rival BHP Billiton.

BATUMI, Georgia— The United States scuttled its plan to sail humanitarian aid into Georgia's main seaport Wednesday as Russia denounced the deployment and sent a naval task force into the waters off nearby Abkhazia.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - Gustav stalled offshore Wednesday and poured more misery onto Haiti after landslides and flooding killed 23 people. Oil workers began leaving their rigs and New Orleans drew up evacuation plans as forecasters warned the storm could plow into the U.S. Gulf coast as a major hurricane.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel is the world's most powerful woman for the third straight year, topping Forbes magazine's 2008 list of the top 100 women, while India's Congress party leader Sonia Gandhi is ranked No. 21.