Previous Day
Suicide bomber kills 8 within Green Zone
Iraq: US officials admitted last night that the
bombing of the Iraqi parliament shows that not even the heavily
fortified Green Zone is safe any more, despite the security
crackdown launched earlier this year in the Iraqi capital. p
Bush vows to veto stem cell research funding
United States: President George Bush has promised to veto a new bill that would expand federal funding of stem-cell research using human embryos, declaring that it crosses a moral line he finds troubling. p
American novelist Kurt Vonnegut dies at 84
United States: American novelist Kurt Vonnegut,
whose dark, satirical vision in works including
Slaughterhouse-Five and
Cat's Cradle was shaped by the horrors he witnessed during
the second World War, has died aged 84. p
Other World Stories
15-month Iraq duty for troops condemned
Iraq: Democrats have condemned a decision to extend combat tours for US soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan by three months as further evidence that President George Bush's war policy has failed. pMurder of union activists casts long shadow in Colombia
Colombia: Disclosures of a link between paramilitary death squads and Colombia's intelligence services have badly damaged President Alvaro Uribe, writes Juan Forero in Santa Marta. pGoogle Earth maps Darfur atrocities
Sudan : Millions of people use Google Earth's online satellite images every day for school projects, to gain a snapshot of life around the globe or simply to see what their house looks like from outer space. pIndia test-fires ballistic missile
India: India successfully test fired a nuclear-capable ballistic missile with a range of 3,000km yesterday as part of its long-standing goal of developing a strategic deterrent against regional rival China. pGerman minister supports US missile plan
EU : German defence minister Franz Josef Jung said yesterday he supported plans for a US missile defence shield in Europe to protect against "rogue states" and terrorist attacks. pAbducted BBC man still alive, says Abbas
Middle East: Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas has said he has evidence a BBC reporter abducted in Gaza a month ago is alive and well, the British Broadcasting Corporation's director-general said yesterday. pThai king pardons Swiss man jailed for royal insult
Thailand: Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej has pardoned a Swiss man jailed for 10 years for defacing pictures of the monarch on his birthday, prison chief Chuchart Chailert said yesterday. pAlgerians fearful of country sliding back into chaos
Algeria: Algerians angered by the worst bombings in years voiced fears yesterday that the country could return to the political bloodshed of the 1990s. pGene linked to obesity identified
Britain: Researchers have produced the first clear evidence for a gene common in the population that dictates why some people gain weight while others do not. pChinese officials anxious for promotion must prove filial piety
China: Respecting your elders, and worshipping your parents, is an essential part of the philosophy of the venerable Confucius, and has long been a principle deeply engrained in the Chinese psyche. But now filial piety can also earn you a promotion. pIndia asks women civil servants to give menstrual cycle details
India: A discomfited Indian federal government is considering withdrawing personal clauses in its new performance appraisal forms for civil servants following protests from women officers who are required to reveal their menstrual cycles. pGay Russian who fled to Poland hoping for a legal miracle
Warsaw Letter : Alexei says he had good reason to fear for his life when he fled Russia 12 years ago. But those reasons have kept him in a legal limbo in Poland ever since. pIn Short
A roundup of today's other world stories in brief: p
