CAIRO – The top authority for the world’s Sunni Muslims, the imam of Al Azhar, yesterday condemned the wave of deadly terrorist attacks in the US as against the Islamic religion. “To kill innocent men, women and children is a horrible and hideous act which no monotheistic religions approve of,” the imam, Sheikh Mohammed Sayed…
Reuters The French economy expanded in the second quarter at its weakest pace in two and a half years as the global economic slowdown chipped away at activity, the government said Tuesday. Growth in the second-largest economy in the 12-nation euro zone eased to 0.3 percent compared with the first quarter. when gross domestic product…
Reuters FRANKFURT – Talks on a takeover of Germany’s Reuters Commerzbank AG by UniCredito Italiano SpA fell apart Tuesday because of differences over valuation after shares in both banks fell sharply, the two sides said. The collapse is a blow to hopes for European cross- border banking consolidation and clouds the future of Commerzbank, Germany’s…
Reuters LONDON – A rare edition of the first printed works of William Shakespeare made a brief appearance at the Globe Theatre here ahead of a sale next month where the book is expected to fetch up to $3 million. The leather-bound, 1,000-page compilation of plays was made in 1623, seven years after Shakespeare’s death,…
Britain’s longest-serving member of Parliament, Tam Dalyell of the Labour Party, warned Prime Minister Tony Blair on Tuesday that he would unleash the most serious dissent among party members in decades if he supported a U.S. missile defense shield. (Reuters) A Swiss nurse who confessed in July to killing nine elderly women has admitted responsibility…
UNITED NATIONS, New York – The UN Security Council has voted unanimously to lift a three- year-old Yugoslavia, ending the last in a arms embargo on series of military and economic sanctions imposed on Belgrade during the past decade. The action Monday indicated the UN’s formal recognition that Yugoslavia has embraced democratic rule and has…
BERLIN – A senior figure in Germany’s Jewish community has attacked a proposal by a leading Christian Democrat to make national identity an election campaign issue. Michel Friedman, deputy leader of the Central Council of Jews in Germany and a Christian Democrat himself, told Radio Eins on Tuesday that stirring up nationalist sentiments before next…
Reuters BEIJING – A Chinese court has awarded the family of a woman who died from AIDS a record $1.2 million after she was infected with tainted blood during a transfusion, official news organizations said Tuesday. A state-run hospital in the central province of Hubei was ordered to give Chen Xiumei’s husband Shen Jieyong…
Fighting Follows Attack on Opposition Chief Reuters KABUL – The Taleban has begun a major offensive north of the capital after suicide bombers tried to kill the movement’s key military opponent, anti-Taleban sources said Tuesday. The Taleban militia, which has denied any link with the attack Sunday on the guerrilla commander Ahmed Shah Massoud, had…