Rockets hit Homs opposition as Arab ministers meet

Sporadic rocket and gunfire broke a respite in Syrian government attacks on opposition-held districts of Homs city on Sunday as Arab League officials in Cairo discussed ways to halt the crackdown and shift President Bashar al-Assad from power. The activist Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said four people were been killed in Baba Amro on Sunday morning and at least 34 rockets had rained down on the neighborhood. Earlier, traumatized residents had straggled from their homes after Syrian forces eased a week-long bombardment that has killed hundreds and caused a humanitarian crisis. A few families were allowed to leave mostly Sunni Muslim...

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Pop Vocal Legend Whitney Houston Found Dead

Too many of us—myself included—are guilty of making insensitive jokes about the demise of Whitney Houston, her frail frame, loss of one of pop's purest voices, and battle with drugs. On Saturday, Houston's publicist confirmed to the Associated Press that the award-winning "I Will Always Love You" singer died. She was 48. The timing of her death, the eve of the Grammys, the biggest music event of the year, makes the horrible news even more tragic. According to CNN, Houston was pronounced dead at 3:55 p.m. PT at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. The Beverly Hilton is the venue for the music industry's most prestigious pre-Grammy party hosted by veteran...

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Roman Abramovich's Chelsea spending surpasses 1 billion euros despite club announcement of record turnover

Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich’s total spending since taking over the west London club in 2003 has surpassed 1 billion euros. Just hours before the transfer window closed the club announced a record turnover of 267 million euros for the year ending June 2011. However, the Blues have still announced a loss of 81.4m euros, meaning Abramovich himself has lost 758m euros since buying the club from Ken Bates. When the decision of the Russian billionaire to covert 410m euros of loans into equity is taken into account, it means Abramovich has spent around 1,165 billion euros With the signings of Juan Mata, Raul Meireles, Romelu Lukaku, Thibaut Courtois,...

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Pavlyuchenko poised to join Lokomotiv Moscow

Striker urged Spurs to sell him in this transfer window * Third Russian to return home from England in last six months (Adds quotes) MOSCOW, Feb 1 (Reuters) - Russia striker Roman Pavlyuchenko is poised to join Lokomotiv Moscow from Tottenham Hotspur, the Russian Premier League club said on Wednesday. “Pavlyuchenko will arrive in Moscow on Thursday to have a medical,” Lokomotiv said on their website (www.fclm.ru). “He had already agreed the terms of his personal contract which should be signed after completing the medical.” The transfer window in Russia is open until Feb. 25. The little-used Pavlyuchenko has struggled to adapt to English...

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Mozambican trio get 25 years in S.Africa for rhino poaching

Three young Mozambican poachers will spend 25 years behind bars after they were found with two fresh rhino horns in South Africa's Kruger Park, the national parks agency said Wednesday. A regional court sentenced the trio almost two years after they were arrested, said South African National Parks spokesman Reynold Thakhuli. "We welcome the decision which is the harshest sentence in the country" for rhino poaching, Thakhuli told AFP. The Phalaborwa Regional Court in northern province Limpopo convicted Aselmo Baloyi, Jawaki Nkuna and Ismael Baloyi of poaching and the possession of illegal firearms. They had an AK47 and a shotgun among others. "They...

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Gun fight erupts near Kadhafi beach house in Tripoli

A gunbattle erupted Wednesday near the beach house of slain Libyan dictator Moamer Kadhafi's son, Saadi, in central Tripoli, AFP correspondents reported. Thick smoke billowed from near the house as rival militias, using heavy machineguns, clashed in the mostly business district not far from luxurious hotels like Corinthia Bab al-Africa and the yet-to-open J W Mariott. The cause was unclear, but some witnesses said the militias were fighting for control of the house. Saadi fled Libya across its southern frontier to Niger in August during the fall of Tripoli that ended his authoritarian father's 42-year regi...

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Morocco wants consensus resolution on Syria

Morocco, the only Arab country currently sitting on the UN Security Council, vowed Wednesday to push for a consensus resolution on the deadly crisis in Syria. "We are committed with all our partners to achieving a consensus on this resolution," Foreign Minister Youssef Amrani was quoted as saying by the official MAP news agency. Western powers and the Arab League are demanding immediate Security Council action to stop the bloodshed in Syria, where President Bashar al-Assad's repression of pro-democracy protests has killed some 6,000 people since March. "What is important today is to stop the violence and support the Arab plan which will allow...

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South African lesbian's killers get 18 years

A South African judge sentenced four men convicted of murdering a Cape Town lesbian to 18 years in prison Wednesday, six years after her killing cast a spotlight on homophobic crimes. The four men were convicted in October of stoning, kicking and stabbing to death Zoliswa Nkonyana just metres (yards) from her home in 2006. The 19-year-old had lived openly as a lesbian. Prosecutors welcomed the sentence and said it sent a message that hate crimes would not be tolerated in South Africa, where violence against gays is common despite a liberal constitution, the only in Africa to allow same-sex marriage. "We are happy that the court agreed with...

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Students clash with police in Senegal

College students set fire to a bus and threatened to march on Senegal's presidential palace on Wednesday, a day after one of their classmates was killed during a demonstration against the 85-year-old president. Police Superintendent Harona Sy, who is the head of security for the capital, said that his officers had pushed the demonstrators back with tear gas, forcing them off of the main avenue outside the capital's largest university. Reached by telephone, he said he had asked his officers to show restraint because the students were mourning the death of one of their own. "I understand them," Sy said. The clashes mark the third day of back-to-back...

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Nigerian oil workers call off strike that caused fuel panic

A Nigerian oil workers union Wednesday called off a two-day strike over a dispute with Shell that had sparked fears of petrol shortages and caused long lines at stations in Africa's largest crude producer. NUPENG -- the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers -- is the smaller of Nigeria's two oil industry unions and represents blue-collar workers, including tanker drivers. The strike launched on Tuesday had been limited to petrol deliveries and did not affect oil production. A statement distributed by state oil firm NNPC said that the union had "suspended its two-day old strike called in solidarity with its members in Shell over...

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Tuareg rebels take Mali town after army pullout

Mali's Tuareg rebels took over the northern town of Menaka Wednesday after the government forces stationed there pulled out overnight, officials and witnesses said. "The Malian army contingent that was in Menaka left the town overnight. Around 40 armed rebels entered it in the afternoon," a local official said on condition of anonymity. He said no violence was reported but added that residents were leaving the town, located near the border with Niger. "The town is emptying," one resident also told AFP by phone. A military official in the northeastern city of Gao said the pullback was a tactical move while another army source said government...

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Taliban "poised to retake Afghanistan" after NATO pullout

The U.S. military said in a secret report that the Taliban, backed by Pakistan, are set to retake control of Afghanistan after NATO-led forces withdraw, raising the prospect of a major failure of Western policy after a costly war. Lieutenant Colonel Jimmie Cummings, a spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force, confirmed the existence of the document, reported on Wednesday by Britain's Times newspaper and the BBC. But he said it was not a strategic study. "The classified document in question is a compilation of Taliban detainee opinions," he said. "It's not an analysis, nor is it meant to be considered an analysis." Nevertheless,...

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Reforms in Myanmar may spark refugee return

The pastor stood before more than 300 young Burmese refugees gathered for morning prayers in a weathered, jungle church. "There's a time for war, and a time for peace. Sixty-three years is long enough for killing," he told them. "Hope to see you all soon in our beautiful land." Simon Htoo's buoyant words would have been unlikely just a few months ago, but surprisingly rapid reforms and cease-fires under way in Myanmar are opening the prospects for the return of one of the world's largest refugee populations — some 1 million Burmese huddled in frontier camps and hideouts across five countries. The looming task for the international community...

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Syrians face crackdown with creativity, humor

Throughout 40 years of Assad family dictatorship, one thing united Syrians — the culture of self-censorship, fear and paranoia. But the uprising against President Bashar Assad has unleashed a burst of blunt irreverence and black humor that would have been unthinkable before, when any satire had to be indirect or hidden. "The type of expression has now shifted, the subtlety has gone," said Rime Allaf, associate fellow at London's Chatham House. "Today, for the first time in recent Syrian history, people are able to get out and say it openly." Opposition Syrians are pouring contempt on Assad using whatever medium they can, with a humor that...

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4 UK men admit London Stock Exchange bomb plot

Four British men fueled by the words of a U.S.-born Muslim cleric pleaded guilty Wednesday to involvement in an al-Qaida inspired plot to spread terror and cause economic damage by bombing the London Stock Exchange at Christmastime. The nine men, from several parts of the country, were brought together through radical Islamist groups and nurtured plans to attack the stock exchange and other high-profile targets. Unbeknownst to them, British authorities learned of the plot and put them under surveillance. They were arrested in raids in December 2010 and all initially denied all the charges against them. But on Wednesday, as their trial was...

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'Soul Train' host Don Cornelius dead of suicide

Don Cornelius, who with the creation of "Soul Train" helped break down racial barriers and broaden the reach of black culture with funky music, groovy dance steps and cutting edge style, died early Wednesday of an apparent suicide. He was 75. Los Angeles Police Department officers responding to a report of a shooting found Cornelius at his Mulholland Drive home at around 4 a.m. He was pronounced dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound about an hour later at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, said Los Angeles County Assistant Chief Coroner Ed Winter. A police cruiser sat parked in the entryway of Cornelius' home on a two-lane stretch of Mulholland...

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Obama to detail broader housing refinance plan

The Obama administration is trying to fix a stubborn drag on the economy by making it easier for millions of additional homeowners to refinance their mortgages at lower interest rates even if they owe more than their homes are worth, tackling a difficult issue of vital concern in states key to President Barack Obama's re-election. Obama on Wednesday was to draw attention to a proposal he outlined in his State of the Union address to give homeowners with privately held mortgages a shot at record low rates, for an annual savings of about $3,000 for the average borrower. Obama was detailing his plan during a visit to a Northern Virginia community...

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Japan Snowstorm Kills 52, Crushes Steel Bridge

Heavy snowfall has crippled much of Japan's western coast, killing more than 50 people and injuring nearly 600. The worst snowstorm in six years has dumped more than 10 feet of snow in the hardest-hit regions, causing at least one bridge to collapse and forcing school closures across the region. An avalanche today buried three people for more than an hour near a hot springs in Akita Prefecture in northwest Japan. The women were later found unconscious but survived. Western Japan has been battered by one snowstorm after another since the beginning of the year, overwhelming cash-strapped cities struggling to keep up with cleanup efforts. In...

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