LONDON (AFP) ― Media baron Rupert Murdoch Monday fought to keep his bid for satellite broadcaster British Sky Broadcasting alive after reports that his top executives were aware of the widespread phone-hacking which felled News of the World.Murdoch flew into London to take personal charge of the scandal that caused the demise of the 168-year-old British tabloid as calls mounted for the government

Washington holds back $800 million citing discontent with its partner’s support in war against terrorismWASHINGTON (AP) ― The Obama administration’s decision to suspend $800 million in aid to the Pakistan’s military signals a tougher U.S. line with a critical but sometimes unreliable partner in the fight against terrorism.President Barack Obama’s chief of staff, William Daley, said in a broadcast

TRIPOLI (AP) ― NATO warplanes on Saturday struck a missile launching position that Libyan ruler Moammar Gadhafi’s forces used to target the civilians in western Libya, the alliance said in a statement.Government troops used the missile site outside the rebel-held port city of Misrata to fire indiscriminately on civilians in the area, NATO said.Since the uprising against Gadhafi’s 42-year rule brok

TBILISI (AP) ― The personal photographer to the Georgian president was shown on television Saturday confessing to supplying a colleague with secret information that was then sent to a Russian secret service.Irakli Gedenidze confessed to giving another photographer, Zurab Kurtsikidze of the European Pressphoto Agency, details of the president’s itinerary, motorcade route and offices for unspecified

Rupert Murdoch depicted by a demonstrator (left) and Rebekah Brooks, chief executive of News International, which publishes the News of the World tabloid. (AP-Yonhap News)More potential victims uncovered, including terror, murder victimsLONDON (AP) ― Britain’s phone hacking scandal intensified Wednesday as the scope of tabloid intrusion into private voice mails became clearer: murder victims, terr

VIENNA (AP) ― The U.N. Security Council plans to meet next week to discuss what to do about Syria’s refusal to cooperate with an investigation of its alleged secret nuclear activities, diplomats told the Associated Press on Monday.The move comes just weeks after the International Atomic Energy Agency referred it the council. The closed session could result in anything from debate to sanctions of t

China’s non-manufacturing industries expanded at the slowest pace in four months in June, adding to concerns that efforts to tame inflation are curbing growth in the world’s second-biggest economy.A purchasing managers’ index dropped to 57 from 61.9 in May, the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing said on its website yesterday. A reading above 50 indicates an expansion. China’s economic gr

MADRID (AP) ― The U.S. and Spain said Saturday they won’t let Moammar Gadhafi’s threats of retaliatory attacks in Europe deter their mission to protect Libyan civilians and force him to leave power after four decades of often unpredictable and sometimes violent rule.“Instead of issuing threats, he should be putting the well-being and interests of his own people first,” U.S. Secretary of State Hill

Washington vows to carry out more drone strikes and special operations than battlesWASHINGTON (AP) ― The United States will push ahead with more targeted drone strikes and special operations raids and fewer costly land battles like Iraq and Afghanistan in the continuing war against al-Qaida, according to a new national counterterrorism strategy unveiled Wednesday.The doctrine, two years in the mak

NATO helicopters end 5-hour siege against armed suicide bombersKABUL (AFP) ― Taliban suicide bombers and gunmen attacked a top Kabul hotel, sparking a five-hour battle with Afghan commandos backed by a NATO helicopter in an assault that left at least 10 people dead Wednesday.Red tracer bullets arced through the night sky around the hilltop Inter-Continental Hotel, whose faded grandeur frequently p

 

President Obama says withdrawal marks beginning of ‘efforts to wind down the war’WASHINGTON (AP) ― Beginning to wind down a long and devastating war, President Barack Obama announced Wednesday night he was pulling home 33,000 troops from Afghanistan by next summer, withdrawing the “surge” of forces he had sent to rescue a flailing effort. “The tide of war is receding,” Said Obama to a country eage

U.S. president to announce blueprint on withdrawal of troops, handover of powerWASHINGTON (AP) ― President Barack Obama will announce the critical next steps in America’s decade-long war in Afghanistan on Wednesday, outlining both a plan to start bringing thousands of U.S. troops home next month and a broader withdrawal blueprint aimed at giving Afghans control of their own security in 2014.But ev

BERLIN (AP) ― Contagion from the Greek debt crisis could spread to at least five other European countries ― including Belgium or even Italy ― if it is not cautiously managed, the head of the eurozone group warned Saturday.Jean-Claude Juncker told the German daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung that demanding that private creditors contribute to the next Greek bailout package could be considered a “default”

BERLIN (AFP) ― German Chancellor Angela Merkel Saturday urged “substantial” aid from private creditors to resolve Greek debt woes, as the Eurogroup warned the crisis could spread like a firestorm through EU economies.“We must be sure to try to have a substantial contribution” from private creditors like banks and insurance companies for debt-laden Greece,” Merkel told a meeting of her Christian De