World News

Fallen Canadian soldier begins journey home after solemn sendoff
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - The body of Cpl. Nick Bulger is on its way back to Canada.
      

Palin's resignation signals run in 2012 that's sure to be a rough, wild ride
WASHINGTON - Sarah Palin's stunning announcement Friday that she's stepping down as Alaska governor is sure to renew heated debate in the United States about the media's treatment of her political aspirations, her capabilities and the state of modern-day feminism. Palin's announcement that she's leaving the job in three weeks initially stoked speculation that she wanted to focus her energies on a serious bid for the White House in 2012.
      

Soldier killed when Canadian commander's convoy hits IED in Afghanistan
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - A Canadian soldier travelling through a hotbed of Taliban activity was killed Friday when his armoured vehicle struck a roadside bomb seconds after it was narrowly missed by the senior commander of coalition forces in Kandahar province. Cpl. Nick Bulger, a 30-year-old father of two and member of 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, based in Edmonton, was in the vehicle directly behind that of Canadian Brig.-Gen. Jonathan Vance when the blast occurred.
      

Honduras renounces OAS charter for trying to impose 'indignant resolutions'
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras - Honduras will no longer recognize the Organization of American States charter, claiming the diplomatic body attempted to impose "unilateral and indignant resolutions" on a new government that took power in a coup. The move means Honduras will leave the OAS and not face sanctions for the military uprising that toppled democratically elected President Manuel Zelaya on June 28. The OAS had been expected to suspend Honduras' membership.
      

UN chief voices deep disappointment after junta leader rejects bid to see Kyi
YANGON, Myanmar - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says he is "deeply disappointed" after the Myanmar junta rejected his second and final request to meet jailed opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Ban met Saturday with Senior Gen. Than Shwe for a second inconclusive round of talks. Ban told reporters he is sorry to report it is "not possible" for him to see the jailed Nobel Peace Prize winner. The UN chief earlier described his two-day trip to Myanmar as "a very tough mission" to try to win freedom for Suu Kyi.
      

SKorea says North Korea fires four missiles off eastern coast
SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea fired four missiles off its eastern coast Saturday, South Korea said, in what was likely to be seen as a message of defiance to the United States on its Independence Day holiday. The launches, which came two days after North Korea fired four short-range missiles, could further escalate tensions in the region as the U.S. tries to muster support for tough enforcement of the U.N. resolution imposed on the communist regime for its May nuclear test.
      

Extramarital shenanigans give U.S. politics a soap opera flourish
WASHINGTON - Sordid stories that seem plucked from the afternoon soap operas have been dominating the U.S. political landscape in recent days as Capitol Hill legislators took a breather during their Fourth of July recess. Front and centre for those who prefer real-life dirt to the fiction churned out by imaginative Hollywood scriptwriters has been the seamy tale of the lovesick South Carolina governor who is having trouble refraining from publicly mooning over his Argentine mistress.
      

6 people, including an infant, killed as blaze rips through London high-rise
LONDON - Six people, including a 3-week-old baby, were killed and 30 people had to be rescued when fire ripped through a high-rise apartment building in London on Friday, emergency services said. London Fire Brigade and police said the dead were three adults and three children - a 3-week old baby, a 6-year-old and a 7-year-old. The brigade said 18 fire engines and more than 100 firefighters were called to the blaze in the Camberwell area of south London at around 4:20 p.m. (1520 GMT).
      

Top Iran cleric says British Embassy staffers to be tried, accuses London of fueling protests
A powerful cleric said Friday that Iran will put British Embassy staffers on trial for fomenting postelection turmoil, a step that would likely increase Iran's isolation and alienate Western nations that have been trying to keep options open with Tehran despite its crackdown on protesters. The announcement fueled calls in Europe for tougher action against Tehran. Britain is pressing for members of the European Union to pull their ambassadors out of Tehran to protest the staffers' arrests last week.
      

Air France jet returns to Dominican airport with technical problem
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic - Air France says a flight has been forced to return to a Dominican airport because of technical problems with its air conditioning. Paris-bound Air France Flight 493 had been airborne for about 20 minutes late Thursday when the pilot noticed a technical problem and returned to the Caribbean capital.
      

US Marines meet little resistance as they push into south Afghanistan
NAWA, Afghanistan - U.S. Marines pushed deeper into Taliban areas of southern Afghanistan, seeking to cut insurgent supply lines and win over local elders in the biggest U.S. military operation here since the American-led invasion of 2001. On the other side of the border, U.S. missiles struck a Pakistani Taliban militant training centre and communications centre, killing 17 people and wounding nearly 30, Pakistani intelligence officials said.
      

Flight 447: Dispute between Brazil, Senegal over which nation was in control of flight
RIO DE JANEIRO - Brazil's air force released a recording Friday it said proves it handed over control of Air France Flight 447 to Senegalese authorities before it crashed - but African officials denied that. The audio clip was posted on the air force's Web site after a French official investigating the June 1 crash said air traffic controllers in Dakar, Senegal, were never officially given control of the flight by Brazilian authorities.
      

Mexico police find 5 dead, including mummified corpse, on farm in drug-plagued western state
MORELIA, Mexico - Mexican police found a mummified corpse and four other dead bodies on a farm in the drug-plagued western state of Michoacan on Friday. Four of the bodies were found in an unmarked grave, and the fifth was discovered inside a farmhouse in the small town of Coatepec de Morelos, federal prosecutors said in a statement.
      

WHO says global tally of swine flu cases nears 90,000
GENEVA - The World Health Organization says the number of officially confirmed swine flu cases worldwide has reached 89,921. The global body says 12,720 new cases have been reported since Wednesday - about half of them in the United States. WHO says Britain, Chile, Mexico and the Philippines also reported large numbers of new cases.
      

Vice-President Biden presses Iraqi leaders to make political progress
BAGHDAD - Vice-President Joe Biden pressed Iraqi leaders Friday to do more to foster national reconciliation and offered U.S. assistance in achieving that, as concerns grow that a lack of political progress is fueling violence in Iraq. He stressed that America wanted to "build up" its partnership with Iraqi leaders even as it draws down its forces, starting with Tuesday's deadline for pulling back combat troops from cities.
      

Gunmen seize Irish, Ugandan aid workers in northern Darfur
CAIRO - Gunmen abducted two female aid workers in Darfur on Friday, said the international peacekeeping mission in the western region of Sudan. It was the third kidnapping of foreign humanitarian workers since March, when an international court issued a warrant for the country's president on charges of orchestrating war crimes in Darfur.
      

Russia-US summit seen as crucial test to jumpstart ties pushed to breaking point
MOSCOW - Presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev will likely sign a stack of agreements during their Moscow summit, but their chief goal may be for the United States and Russia to stop acting like adversaries - even if they can't be friends. Over the past year, already tense ties have been strained to the breaking point over Russia's war with Georgia and U.S. plans to build a missile defence shield in Moscow's backyard.
      

Angry protesters block Paris airport to halt Yemeni flight on route that saw deadly crash
PARIS - Protesters linked arms across an entrance at Paris' main airport on Friday to keep passengers off a Yemeni flight to Comoros on a route that saw a deadly crash this week after years of complaints about dangerous conditions en route to the Indian Ocean island nation. Many in the Comoran community in France are angry that it took Tuesday's accident, which killed 152 people on Yemenia airlines' Paris-Moroni flight, to focus attention on the problems. They say that since 2004 they have been complaining about dangerous planes, unhelpful crews and stopovers in the Yemeni capital of San'a that last hours or days in stifling heat with little information and few basic services from the Yemeni airline.
      

Texas police baffled after 30 palm trees torched in 2 months; reward offered
GALVESTON, Texas - Officials in Texas are investigating the torching of 30 palm trees in the last two months. "What we've got on our hands, a serial tree arsonist, I've never seen before," said Galveston Fire Marshal Gilbert Robinson. "I've talked to colleagues of mine, and that's the first they've heard of setting palm trees on fire." Robinson said the calls reporting burning trees have recently increased in frequency.