world

Former diplomats reject Bush's nominee for U.S. representative to United Nations

By Alyson Brodsy and Barry Schweid · Monday, March 28,2005 11:31 p.m.

WASHINGTON -- Challenging the White House, 59 former American diplomats are urging the Senate to reject John R. Bolton's nomination to be the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

State Department report criticizes Pakistan's human rights record

By Alyson Brodsy and Barry Schweid · Monday, March 28,2005 11:30 p.m.

WASHINGTON -- The State Department renewed its criticism of the human rights records of Pakistan and China on Monday in a report that followed U.S. decisions to arm Pakistan with jet fighters and to avoid a showdown with China on the way it treats its people. The report, which focused on U.S.

Major earthquake strikes off Indonesia, tsunami warning issued

By Abdullah AlShihri and Michael Casey · Monday, March 28,2005 1:50 p.m.

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia - A major earthquake struck off the west coast of Indonesia's Sumatra Island late Monday, and officials issued a tsunami warning for as far away as Sri Lanka. Residents of Banda Aceh fled their homes in panic.

Pope unable to give Easter Sunday sermon this year

By Alyson Brodsy and Nicole Winfield · Sunday, March 27,2005 11:50 p.m.

VATICAN CITY -- Millions waited to hear him but waited in vain. And some cried as they stood shoulder-to-shoulder in St. Peter's Square. For the first time in his long papacy, John Paul II fell silent throughout Holy Week, able only to make a few unintelligible sounds when he tried to speak Easter Sunday.

Al-Qaida releases assassination video

By Alyson Brodsy and Mariam Fam · Sunday, March 27,2005 11:19 p.m.

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Al-Qaida in Iraq released a video Sunday claiming to show the murder of an Interior Ministry official, while debate raged about religion's place in Iraq's much-anticipated new government as lawmakers were summoned to their second session. As frustration grows over the slow progress in forming a new government two months after historic elections, guards fired on government workers demanding their wages in Baghdad, injuring three people.

Schiavo's parents' legal options end

By Alyson Brodsy and Mike Schneider · Sunday, March 27,2005 11:14 p.m.

PINELLAS PARK, Fla. -- With their hopes of a miracle fading and other options exhausted, Terri Schiavo's parents and siblings appeared quietly resigned Sunday and asked protesters to spend Easter with their families as the severely brain-damaged woman spent a ninth day without food and water.

Matters of life and death

By Alyson Brodsy and Jill Barton · Friday, March 25,2005 1:04 a.m.

PINELLAS PARK, Fla. -- For Terri Schiavo's parents, the legal doors closed one after the other, with judges in Washington, D.C., and in Florida rebuffing their desperate efforts to keep their daughter alive.

Texas BP refinery explosion kills 15

By Alyson Brodsy and Pam Easton · Thursday, March 24,2005 11:37 p.m.

TEXAS CITY, Texas -- The lone worker unaccounted for after an explosion at a BP oil refinery was found dead in the rubble, bringing the death toll to 15 in a blast that also injured more than 100 people, officials said Thursday.

Palestine requests U.S. help in West Bank

By Alyson Brodsy and Mohammed Daraghmeh · Thursday, March 24,2005 11:07 p.m.

RAMALLAH, West Bank -- Senior Palestinian officials on Thursday asked two U.S. envoys to help block the expansion of the largest Jewish settlement in the West Bank, saying it endangers peace prospects and isolates east Jerusalem -- their intended capital.

Atlanta courthouse shooting hero receives $70,000 in reward money

By Alyson Brodsy · Thursday, March 24,2005 11:06 p.m.

ATLANTA -- The woman who led authorities to suspected courthouse gunman Brian Nichols was presented with $70,000 in reward money Thursday.

Peacekeeper sexual abuse concerns U.N.

By Alyson Brodsy and Nick Wadhams · Thursday, March 24,2005 11:05 p.m.

UNITED NATIONS -- A U.N. report on peacekeeper sex abuse released Thursday describes the U.N. military arm as deeply flawed and recommends withholding salaries of the guilty and requiring nations to pursue legal action against perpetrators.

Kyrgyz president hands over control

By Alyson Brodsy and Steve Gutterman · Thursday, March 24,2005 11:04 p.m.

BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan -- President Askar Akayev reportedly fled on Thursday after protesters stormed his headquarters, seized control of state television and rampaged through government offices, throwing computers and air conditioners out of windows.

Social Security to face bankruptcy year earlier

By Alyson Brodsy and Martin Crutsinger · Wednesday, March 23,2005 11:06 p.m.

WASHINGTON -- The trust fund for Social Security will go broke in 2041 -- a year earlier than previously estimated -- the trustees reported Wednesday. Trustees also said that Medicare, the giant health care program for the elderly and disabled, faces insolvency in 2020.

U.S., neighbors address economic issues

By Alyson Brodsy and Jennifer Loven · Wednesday, March 23,2005 11:05 p.m.

WACO, Texas -- President Bush, seeking smooth relations with U.S. neighbors despite dustups over immigration, trade and defense, announced Wednesday a pact with Canada and Mexico to broaden cooperation on security and economic issues.

Students, teachers coping with shooting

By Alyson Brodsy and Amy Forliti · Wednesday, March 23,2005 11:05 p.m.

RED LAKE, Minn. -- Teachers met Wednesday to work out ways of helping young survivors of the nation's worst school shooting in six years as outsiders streamed in to help the tight-knit community cope with the tragedy.

U.S. raid kills 85 Iraqi guerilla fighters

By Alyson Brodsy · Wednesday, March 23,2005 11:04 p.m.

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- U.S. and Iraqi forces raided a suspected guerrilla training camp and killed 85 fighters, the single biggest one-day death toll for militants in months and the latest in a series of blows to the insurgency, Iraqi officials said Wednesday.

Syria to fully pull out of Lebanon

By Alyson Brodsy · Tuesday, March 22,2005 11:43 p.m.

ALGIERS, Algeria -- U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Tuesday that Syria's president has agreed to present a firm timetable by early April for a full withdrawal of his country's troops and intelligence agents from Lebanon. Annan met President Bashar Assad on the sidelines of an Arab summit in Algiers and said Assad confirmed his commitment to U.N. Resolution 1559, which called for a Syrian withdrawal.

Israel hands over 2nd of 5 towns

By Alyson Brodsy · Tuesday, March 22,2005 11:14 p.m.

TULKAREM, West Bank -- Israel completed the handover of the West Bank town of Tulkarem to Palestinian control Tuesday, ceremonially unlocking a gate that had blocked traffic between the town and main points in the West Bank.

Schiavo's parents file appeal

By Alyson Brodsy and Jill Barton · Tuesday, March 22,2005 11:13 p.m.

TAMPA, Fla. -- Warning that Terri Schiavo was "fading quickly" and might die at any moment, her parents begged a federal appeals court Tuesday to order the severely brain-damaged woman's feeding tube reinserted.

Kyrgyzstan's president attempts to restore peace

By Alyson Brodsy · Tuesday, March 22,2005 11:13 p.m.

BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan -- Opposition supporters and police formed joint patrols to keep order in a southern city of Kyrgyzstan where protesters have seized government offices. President Askar Akayev pledged Tuesday he would not impose a state of emergency despite demonstrations about alleged election fraud.