Protesters use 16,000 coconuts as symbols of violence

Antiviolence protesters stretched out 16,000 coconuts on Brazil's world-famous Copacabana beach Saturday, each one representing a victim of urban violence.

Activists from ONG Rio de Paz led a protest march Saturday morning that included residents and tourists who usually can be found on the beach on weekends.
The protesters strung up a sign on the sand that said "Shame" in Spanish, Portuguese, English and French.
They finished with a minute of silence for the victims of violence.
Rio de Paz said the coconuts represent victims of violence, homicides, dead police officers and those who have been shot in gunfights between authorities and gangs of narcotics traffickers.
The figure itself was obtained from official information from the Rio de Janeiro governmental Institute of Public Security.
It was the second protest staged this week on Rio de Janeiro's Copacabana beach by the group Rio de Paz.
On Tuesday, the group created a mock cemetery in the sand with mannequins representing 9,000 people who Rio de Paz says have been slain and secretly buried since January 2007.

170 arrested in global child porn investigation

More than 170 people around the globe, including at least 61 in the United States, have been arrested in a major operation targeting international child pornographers, officials said Friday.

Operation Joint Hammer has rescued 11 girls in the United States, ages 3 to 13, who were sexually abused by child pornography producers, U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey and representatives of the European Union said at the Justice Department.
Dozens more were located in Europe, including several young female victims in Ukraine.
Authorities found connections between producers, distributors and customers in nearly 30 countries as a single investigation grew to a global inquiry into the dark corners of brutality and child abuse.
The investigation, code-named Operation Koala in Europe, was developed when investigators determined that a pornographic video found in Australia had been produced in Belgium.
"This joint EU-U.S. coordinated effort began with the discovery in Europe of a father who was sexually abusing his young daughters and producing images of that abuse," Mukasey said.
Further investigation showed a number of online child porn rings. Some included dangerous offenders who not only traded child pornography but also sexually abused children, the officials said.
Agents are still attempting to locate child victims whose images have appeared in photos and videos, and more arrests are expected as the FBI, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Postal Inspection Service continue the investigation.
A Postal Service official said ringleaders primarily targeted prepubescent female victims to satisfy their customers but noted that other groups produce photos and videos of boys and girls of all ages -- or even infants.
"For this subset, that's what turns them on," the official said.

Officer killed, police chief injured in Oregon bank explosion

A bomb exploded at a Woodburn, Oregon, bank branch early Friday evening, killing a police officer and injuring the town's police chief and a state bomb technician, Oregon State Police said.

Woodburn Police Chief Scott Russell was listed in critical condition at Oregon Health and Science University Hospital, according to hospital spokeswoman Christine Decker.
The name of the slain police officer has not yet been released. There was no immediate word on the bomb tech's identity or condition.
The three were investigating a suspicious device at a West Coast Bank branch when the bomb went off, police said. Police had brought the device inside after it was discovered outside, bank president Bob Sznewajs told CNN.
Sznewajs said that two bank employees who were in another part of the bank when the bomb exploded suffered very minor injuries, one who may have been hit by some flying debris and another who was "bothered by the sound."
"I know that all of our employees are fine," Sznewajs said, adding that none of his employees had been allowed back into the front portion of the building, where the bomb exploded, "so we don't know what it's like in there."
"I heard a loud kaboom," Robert Currie, who was across the street, told CNN affiliate KATU. "Well, I'm a Vietnam veteran and that was no gunshot -- that was definitely a bomb. So I come running outside to see what was going on and the interior lights of the bank are all out. And the next thing, it's just swarming with police cars, two fire trucks and three or four ambulances."

Britain to help develop democracy in Afghanistan

Britain will help Afghanistan with upcoming elections and has offered to set up a task force to fight corruption, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Saturday in Afghanistan.

Brown, who arrived in southern Afghanistan to visit British troops, appeared at a news conference with Afghan President Hamid Karzai. The prime minister said Karzai had accepted Britain's offers.
Britain will give Afghanistan $10 million to help register voters for next year's election, he said, adding it's in everyone's interest for it to be "free and fair." A presidential election is scheduled for May, 2009.
"We will not allow the Taliban or terrorists to defy the democratic rule of the Afghan people and we will not allow the Taliban to use Afghanistan," Brown said.

"And so our troops are a front line against the Taliban. There is a chain of terror that comes from the Pakistani and Afghan mountains right across Europe, and could end up very easily on the streets of Britain," he said.
The Taliban and its supporters have been attempting a resurgence in the country they ruled until U.S.-led forces routed them after the September 11, 2001, al Qaeda attacks on New York and Washington. Al Qaeda had set up training camps in Afghanistan.

23 suspected pirates captured, Indian navy says

The Indian navy captured 23 piracy suspects who tried to take over a merchant vessel in the Gulf of Aden, between the Horn of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, Indian officials said.

In addition to the 12 Somali and 11 Yemeni suspects, the Indian navy seized two small boats and "a substantial cache of arms and equipment," the military said in a statement.
Among the seized items were seven AK-47 automatic rifles, three other automatic weapons and 13 loaded magazines; a rocket-propelled grenade launcher along with rockets, cartridges and grenades; up to three outboard motors and a global positioning system receiver.
Pirate attacks in the waters off Somalia have increased this year, with armed men staging increasingly bold attacks on ever-larger targets. This year, pirates have attacked nearly 100 vessels off Somalia's coast and hijacked nearly 40, the International Maritime Bureau said.

The Indian warship Mysore, which carried out Saturday's operation, is on anti-piracy patrol in the Gulf of Aden, the release said. The Mysore received a distress call Saturday morning from the MV Gibe, a merchant vessel sailing under an Ethiopian flag.
The Gibe reported that two boats were firing small arms at it. The merchant ship, which was 13 nautical miles from the Mysore, fired back with small arms onboard the vessel.

Mexico suspects ex-drug czar took huge bribes from traffickers

Mexican authorities have detained the country's former drug czar on suspicion that he may have accepted $450,000 a month in bribes from drug traffickers, Mexico's attorney general said Friday.
Noe Ramirez Mandujano was in charge from 2006 until this August of the attorney general's office that specializes in combatting organized crime.
Ramirez is accused of meeting with members of a drug cartel while he was in office and agreeing to provide information on investigations in exchange for the bribes, Attorney General Eduardo Medina Mora Icaza said at a news conference Friday.
The arrest was part of an ongoing investigation called "Operation Limpieza," or "Operation Cleanup," the attorney general said. The operation targets officials who may have passed information to drug cartels.
The arrest was announced Thursday night, four days after the house arrest of Ricardo Gutierrez Vargas, the director for International Police Affairs at Mexico's Federal Investigative Agency and the head of Mexico's Interpol office.
Authorities say more than 30 officials have been arrested since July in connection with the anti-corruption operation.

U.S. presses Iran for information on missing FBI agent

The State Department called on Iran on Friday to pony up any information it has on a former FBI agent who vanished there last year.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack urged Tehran to share "any and all information" about Robert Levinson, who disappeared from Iran's Kish Island over 19 months ago.
"The U.S. Department of State remains committed to determining Mr. Levinson's whereabouts, and returning him safely to his family that includes seven children, one grandchild and a second grandchild on the way," McCormack said in a statement.
Senior administration officials say the United States is increasing pressure on Iran to provide information on Levinson's whereabouts. Several officials have said they suspect Iranian authorities are holding Levinson in a jail inside the country.

However, they stress they have no information confirming their suspicions and have consistently voiced frustration with the lack of developments in the case.
"Some people suspect he is being held by the Iranian government, but nobody knows that for a fact, or we would be saying that," one senior State Department official said. "We all agree the Iranians are not putting forth 110 percent effort to find this man."
Levinson is a retired FBI agent from Coral Springs, Florida. After leaving the agency, his wife says, he worked as a security consultant specializing in cigarette smuggling.

South African teen gets 4 life terms for racist murders

A white teen convicted of murdering four blacks, including two children, in a racist killing spree in South Africa's North West province was sentenced Friday to four life terms in prison.

"I respect the court's decision, [but] we are going to appeal," the attorney for Johan Nel, 19, told CNN in a telephone interview. "We believe there is a possibility that the court made a mistake."
Nel, who was 18 when he committed the crimes in January, also targeted 11 others and was sentenced to 68 years for 11 counts of attempted murder. He also got five years for possessing a firearm and three years for possessing ammunition, the latter two without a license, Nel's attorney Frikkie Pretorius said.
He said his client missed when he shot at four of the 11 but managed to shoot and injure the other seven.
Pretorius said Nel killed a mother and the infant she was holding, a man in his 70s, and a 10-year-old boy. Aside from the mother and child, the people were not related.
Nel pleaded guilty to the crimes to avoid a trial, the lawyer said.
In announcing the appeal, Pretorius contended the court refused to consider "compelling circumstances" that affected the crime.
Pretorius said Nel was home-schooled and never learned to socialize with other children, especially black children. His upbringing played a major role, the lawyer said.
He also said, however, that a psychologist told the court Nel was mentally competent.
Nel shot the victims on the street in the farming settlement of Skierlik, the attorney said.
The BBC quoted witnesses who said Nel shouted racist slurs during the shootings.
"They were relaxing, and all of a sudden he came around the corner and he shot them," Pretorius said.
The Congress of South African Trade Unions, which Pretorius said has a large membership in the area of the shootings, said it welcomed the life sentences and additional prison time ordered by the court.
"No lesser sentence could possibly have been given for such an appalling crime, motivated purely by racist obsessions, for which there can be absolutely no mitigating circumstances," union spokesman Patrick Craven said in a written statement.
"COSATU agrees with the judge that there is no place for racially motivated violence in a democratic South Africa," he said.
Union members demonstrated daily outside the court when the case began as a way of trying to ensure that justice was done, Craven added.
The sentence was handed down in the Mmabatho High Court in Mafikeng, and several media reports said the judge and prosecutor received death threats aimed at stopping the court from giving Nel a life sentence.

Analysts: Bush, Obama not taking lead in righting economy

President Bush has been noticeably absent from the machinations aimed at righting the nation's financial course. Analysts and key players differ over whether President-elect Barack Obama should get his economic team in place and take charge, or sit back and await his turn at the helm.
"Somebody has to speak up soon," said CNN senior political analyst David Gergen, explaining that he understands why Americans are growing anxious and yearning for direction and leadership.
"I think ... sort of the bottom feels like it is falling out for many people," said Gergen, who has advised four presidents. "They sense there's a total lack of leadership in Washington, that the White House is silent, the treasury secretary has been battered, the Federal Reserve can't speak up. These automakers come up to Capitol Hill and fail. And the president-elect is silent in Chicago."
Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin said Obama has avoided entering the congressional tussle over whether to bail out the Big Three automakers.

Another UK travel operator goes bust

Britain's aviation regulator says tour operator K&S Holidays has gone bust.

It is the second British travel firm to go under this week. On Friday, tens of thousands of travelers were stranded when the country's third-largest tour operator XL Leisure Group collapsed.
Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) press officer James Hotson says K&S ceased trading Saturday.
However, he says 150 passengers overseas with the group can continue their vacations as normal because their flights will be covered by a bond.
Hotson says some 400 people with forward bookings will have their vacations canceled and receive full refunds.
XL Leisure Group went into administration Friday saying it had been unable to secure more funding.
The CAA, which took on the task of getting XL's passengers home, estimated there were 50,000 customers abroad who had booked through an XL tour operator, including 10,000 on holiday with XL Airways and 25,000 with other tour operators who shared the XL flights.

Palin never in Iraq, campaign now says

Sarah Palin did not visit troops in Iraq, a spokesperson for the Republican vice presidential nominee confirmed Saturday, as new details emerged about the extent of the Alaska governor's foreign travel.
In July of last year, Palin left North America for the first time to visit Alaskan troops stationed in Kuwait. Palin officials originally said her itinerary included U.S. military installations or outposts in Germany and Kuwait, and that she had visited Ireland.
A Palin aide in Alaska had said Iraq was also one of the military stops on that trip.
The Boston Globe, however, reported Saturday that in response to questions about the trip, Alaska National Guard officials and campaign aides said Palin did not go past the Kuwait-Iraq border.
In addition, campaign aides also confirmed reports to CNN Saturday that Palin's time in Ireland on that trip had actually been a refueling stop.

Two die after Paris pleasure boat sinks

Police investigating the possibility that a collision led to the deaths of two people after a small boat sank in central Paris, detained the pilot and co-pilot of one of the large tourist boats that carry sightseers along the Seine river, officials said Sunday.

The smaller boat was carrying 12 people when it sank Saturday night in the heart of Paris near Notre Dame Cathedral.
Ten of those aboard were rescued immediately, but a 6-year-old child and an adult in the bottom of the boat were trapped underwater for several minutes before divers pulled them out.
The two, who French news reports said were a boy and his father, were hospitalized and then died overnight, police said.
The circumstances of the accident remained unclear.
Investigators say a collision between the two boats appeared the most likely cause of the accident, according to judicial officials. The Paris prosecutor's office opened an investigation into manslaughter and involuntary injury, the officials said.
The judicial officials were not authorized to be named because the investigation is under way.

Obama aide: McCain campaign 'sleaziest' in modern history

Sen. Barack Obama's spokesman on Saturday accused Sen. John McCain of "cynically running the sleaziest and least honorable campaign in modern presidential campaign history."

Obama, speaking to a crowd Saturday in Manchester, New Hampshire, said, "John McCain wants to have a debate about national security; let's have that debate. I warned that going into Iraq would distract us from Afghanistan. John McCain cheerleaded for it. John McCain was wrong, and I was right."
"The McCain-[Sarah] Palin ticket, they don't want to debate the Obama-Biden ticket on issues because they are running on eight more years of what we've just seen. And they know it," the Democratic presidential nominee said. "As a consequence, what they're going to spend the next seven, eight weeks doing is trying to distract you.
"They're going to talk about pigs, and they're going to talk about lipstick; they're going to talk about Paris Hilton, they're going to talk about Britney Spears. They will try to distort my record, and they will try to undermine your trust in what the Democrats intend to do."

No survivors in Russian jetliner crash

A jet carrying 88 people crashed early Sunday morning in western Russia, killing everyone on board, an airline spokesman said.
Twenty-one foreigners were on the flight, including passport-holders from Azerbaijan, Germany, France, Italy, Switzerland and Ukraine, said Lev Koshlyakov, spokesman for flight operator Aeroflot Nord.
Authorities are trying to confirm the presence of an American on board, Koshlyakov said. The person was listed as an American in the passenger list, but has a Russian last name, he said. Authorities intend to check with the U.S. embassy for a final determination.
The Boeing 737 was en route to Perm from Moscow when the pilots lost communication with air traffic control just before landing about 3:10 a.m. (2110 GMT), Koshlyakov said. He described the weather at the time as "mediocre."

North Korea prepares for 60th anniversary

North Korea is preparing to stage a military parade to mark the communist state's 60th anniversary this week, an official said Monday amid heightening tensions over its nuclear programs.

South Korean Defense Ministry spokesman Won Tae-jae told reporters that the parade was expected to occur in Pyongyang on Tuesday, but did not elaborate on its size or other details.
"We know that the North has been preparing hard for tomorrow's event despite various internal difficulties," he said.
North Korea has relied on foreign assistance to help feed its 23 million people since its state-controlled economy collapsed due to mismanagement and natural disasters in the mid-1990s. The World Food Program says its food shortage has worsened this year after devastating floods in 2007.

South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported Monday that the parade would be North Korea's largest-ever in terms of number of troops and military hardware displayed, quoting a government official it did not identify.
The official cited by Yonhap said weapons such as 240 mm multiple rocket launch systems and 105 mm howitzers have been observed at an air force base on the outskirts of Pyongyang where preparations for the parade were being made. The parade was to be held in Pyongyang's Kim Il Sung Square, named after the country's founder, the official said.

Shares soar on U.S. mortgage takeover

U.S. stocks mostly advanced Monday as investors putdown bets that a recovery in the financial and housing sectors is in the offing following the U.S. government's move to bail out mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

The Dow Jones industrials gained more than 150 points but the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index declined.
The announcement Sunday that the Treasury Department was seizing control of the companies, which own or back about half of America's mortgage debt, brushed aside investors' long-simmering worries that the pair would be felled by a spike in bad mortgage debt.
The plan touched off a global stock rally Monday.
Foreign investors holding debt of the companies were relieved as were investors simply looking for stronger growth from the U.S. economy, particularly as many economies abroad give off signs they are slowing.

Sources: Images alter course of Afghan airstrike probe

Cell phone images are providing evidence that a large number of civilians may have been mistakenly killed by U.S. troops operating in Afghanistan last month, two NATO officials said Sunday.

The Afghan government, a United Nations review and other reports from the region state that as many as 90 civilians were killed in an August 22 airstrike, but the Pentagon has adamantly disputed the death toll.
Another U.S. military official, who has seen the cell phone imagery but asked not to be named because he is not authorized to speak to the media, said Monday there were about 30 bodies, some covered and some in blankets.
There were "several children who appear to be pulled from the rubble," he said.
The grainy cell phone video, viewed by CNN, shows rows of blankets and quilts inside a building. In the video, someone lifts the blankets to show the heads of those slain. People who appear to be mourners sit by their loved ones and wail.

U.S. cancels nuclear deal with Russia

In a pointed but mostly symbolic expression of displeasure with Moscow, President Bush on Monday canceled a once-celebrated civilian nuclear cooperation deal with Russia.

Bush had sent the agreement to Congress for approval in May, after a much-heralded signing by the two nations that capped two years of tough negotiations. On Monday, he officially pulled it back, a move announced by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
"We make this decision with regret," said Rice, in a statement read by spokesman Sean McCormack. "Unfortunately, given the current environment, the time is not right for this agreement."
The action -- combined with a recently announced $1 billion foreign aid package for tiny, West-leaning Georgia and the time Vice President Dick Cheney spent last week railing against Russia throughout its backyard -- forms the U.S. administration's punishment of Moscow for its invasion of Georgia. The nuclear deal was highly unlikely to win approval on Capitol Hill this year anyway, but Bush decided to actively withdraw it to make a loud statement.
Moscow, though, might not be much inclined to hear it.
Newly flush with riches from sales of its vast energy resources, Russia appears to feel it no longer has as much need for the potentially billions in revenue the deal would have provided. The agreement would have let Moscow establish a lucrative business as the center for the import and storage of spent nuclear fuel from American-supplied reactors around the world.

EU leaders to discuss Georgia crisis

European Union leaders will assess the impact of their fraying relations with Moscow at a summit chaired by French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Monday. But they face limited options to punish Russia for invading Georgia and recognizing the independence of its Abkhazia and South Ossetia provinces.

Taking a cue from the NATO alliance, the 27 European leaders are expected to strongly support Georgia's territorial integrity, to signal that normal relations with Moscow are impossible with Russian troops violating a cease-fire agreement, and to offer more humanitarian, economic and moral support for Georgia, the embattled pro-Western Caucasus state.
EU officials said the bloc's leaders will likely opt for diplomatic pressure to isolate Russia as an unreliable partner and neighbor.
"Russia's commitment to a relationship of understanding and cooperation with the rest of Europe is in doubt," Sarkozy wrote in a pre-summit letter to the EU leaders. "It's up to Russia today to make a fundamental choice" and to engage neighbors and partners in settling disputes peacefully, he wrote.
A copy of the letter was obtained by The Associated Press.

Dalai Lama due to leave hospital

The Dalai Lama will leave hospital on Monday after undergoing tests for abdominal discomfort, his spokesman said.

"He is feeling well. He will be discharged tomorrow," spokesman Tenzin Takla said Sunday.
He declined comment on the outcome of the medical tests.
The Dalai Lama, 73, flew to Mumbai, India's financial capital, on Thursday and was admitted to Lilavati Hospital with what his advisers said was exhaustion.
He canceled planned trips to Mexico and the Dominican Republic.
He recently returned to India from an 11-day visit to France.
The Dalai Lama spends several months a year traveling the globe to highlight the struggle of Tibetans for greater freedom in China and to teach Buddhism.

Gustav prompts major changes to RNC agenda

The Republican National Convention will cut back most of its activities Monday because of Hurricane Gustav, Sen. John McCain said Sunday.

"This is a time when we have to do away with our party politics and we have to act as Americans. We have to join the 300 million other Americans on behalf of our fellow citizens. It's a time for action. So, we're going to suspend most of our activities tomorrow except for those absolutely necessary," said McCain, speaking from St. Louis, Missouri.
Campaign manager Rick Davis said Republicans would meet in an abbreviated fashion, conducting only what was necessary to constitute a convention, such as calling the convention to order, receiving a report from the credentials committee and adopting the party platform.

15 dead in Chinese fireworks blast

An explosion at a fireworks plant killed 15 people and wounded six others in northern China, state media reported Sunday.
The deadly explosion occurred Saturday at a plant in Sijiazi Township in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, the Xinhua news agency said.
On Sunday, rescue workers found two bodies buried in the rubble, bringing the total to 15, Xinhua said.
The blast may have been set off after workers at the plant did not follow regulations while weighing and mixing ingredients to make fireworks, Xinhua reported.

Jennifer Aniston to appear on '30 Rock'

Jennifer Aniston will make a return visit to NBC, the TV network where she became a breakout star on "Friends."
She is currently filming a guest appearance on the network's comedy, "30 Rock," Aniston publicist Stephen Huvane confirms.
There were no immediate details on Aniston's role or the episode's air date. The series, which begins its third season in October, stars Tiny Fey and Alec Baldwin. Aniston's fellow "Friends" co-star, David Schwimmer, had a "30 Rock" guest shot last season.
Since "Friends" ended four years ago, Aniston has concentrated on films.

Iraq signs $3B oil deal with China

Iraq has signed its first major oil deal with a foreign company since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime, a spokesman for the Iraqi Oil Ministry said Saturday.

It was the first time in more than 35 years that Iraq has allowed foreign oil companies to do business inside its borders.
The contract with the China National Petroleum Corporation could be worth up to $3 billion. It would allow the CNPC to develop an oil field in southern Iraq's Wasit province for about 20 years, said Oil Ministry spokesman Assim Jihad.
Iraq's Cabinet must still approve the contract, but Jihad said that would happen soon, and work could start within a few months.
The Chinese company will provide technical advisers, oil workers and equipment to develop the al-Ahdab oil field, providing fuel for the al-Zubaidiya power plant in Wasit, southeast of Baghdad, bordering Iran, Jihad said.

Once development begins, the field is expected to start producing a preliminary amount of 25,000 barrels of oil a day and an estimated constant daily amount of 125,000 barrels after three years, he said.
Iraq currently produces about 2.5 million barrels a day, 2 million of which are exported daily, Jihad said. That is close to its status before the U.S.-led war that toppled Saddam in 2003, but below its levels prior to the Persian Gulf War in 1991.

UK economy 'at 60-year low,' minister warns

The UK is facing the worst economic conditions for 60 years and the current crisis will be "more profound and long-lasting" than expected, British finance minister Alistair Darling warned Saturday.

Darling's comments are the Government's grimmest assessment yet of the situation, and come after a Bank of England policymaker warned that unemployment could hit two million by Christmas, the UK's Press Association reported.
Darling said that the economic conditions faced by the UK and the rest of the world "are arguably the worst they've been in 60 years," adding: "I think it's going to be more profound and long-lasting than people thought."
Speaking to The Guardian newspaper, Darling admitted that UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown's ruling Labour Party would face a tough job persuading voters that they deserved another term in office.

Thai PM resists pressure to quit

Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej vowed Saturday not to resign despite growing pressure for him to step down as anti-government protesters occupied his headquarters for a fifth day and disrupted rail and air service in some of the country's most popular tourist destinations.

Samak's refusal to bow to protesters came ahead of an evening meeting with King Bhumibol Adulyadej at his seaside palace in Hua Hin, south of Bangkok. Bhumibol is a constitutional monarch with no formal political role but has repeatedly brought calm in times of turbulence during his six decades on the throne.
"I, the prime minister, have come to office in the appropriate way and I won't resign," Samak said during a televised ceremony for the royal family. In an apparent effort to end speculation that the king would seek his resignation, Samak said he had requested the meeting to brief the monarch on the political situation.
"I will not back down. I will rule this country and will lead it through all of the problems," said Samak, noting that his party soundly won December elections restoring democracy after a 2006 military coup. He also defended himself against critics who say he should not have let protesters overrun the government's seat of power.

McCain taps Alaska Gov. Palin as vice president pick

Sen. John McCain announced Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his vice presidential candidate Friday, calling her "the running mate who can best help me shake up Washington."

"She's exactly who this country needs to help me fight the same old Washington politics of me first and country second," the presumptive Republican nominee said at a Dayton, Ohio, rally of about 15,000 supporters, who welcomed the surprise pick of the relatively unknown politician with cheers and flags.

"She's got the grit, integrity, good sense and fierce devotion to the common good that is exactly what we need in Washington today," McCain said.
Palin, 44, described herself as a fighter against corruption and a bipartisan reformer in her first appearance as a candidate for vice president, an office she said she never expected to seek.
"I was just your average hockey mom in Alaska" before getting involved in politics, she said. "When I found corruption there, I fought it hard and brought the offenders to account."
Palin told the crowd, "To have been chosen brings a great challenge. I know that it will demand the best that I have to give, and I promise nothing less."

Quake rattles southwestern China

A 6.1 magnitude earthquake struck China's southwestern Sichuan province Saturday, state media said.
The earthquake hit 31 miles (50 kilometers) southeast of Panzhihua city in the southwestern corner of Sichuan at 4:30 p.m., the official Xinhua News Agency said.
A duty officer at the State Seismology Bureau said the quake occurred in a mountainous area and there were no reports of casualties or aftershocks. He did not want to give his name, as is common with officials in China.
The bureau is still gathering information, he said.
On May 12, a 7.9 magnitude earthquake in northern Sichuan killed nearly 70,000 people and left 5 million homeless. The region has been hit by scores of aftershocks, keeping people there on edge.

Israel to release Palestinian prisoners as Rice visits

Israel on Monday will release nearly 200 Palestinian prisoners, including two convicted murders, according to the government.

The prisoner release -- which will coincide with a visit by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice -- is a "confidence-building measure" and an effort to "energize the peace process" with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, according to Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev.
The Israeli Cabinet approved the release a week ago, after outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Abbas agreed on a list of names.

Bolt helps Jamaica smash world relay record

Sprint king Usain Bolt won his third gold medal of the Games as he helped Jamaica win the men's 4x100 meter relay gold medal, shattering the world record in the process.

Bolt, already the Olympic champion and new world record holder in both the 100 and 200 meters, ran the third leg as Jamaica powered home in a time of 37.10 seconds, nearly a full second ahead of Trinidad and Tobago, for whom Richard Thompson was adding to his individual 100m silver medal.
The Japanese team finished strongly to claim a surprise bronze.

Madrid plane burst into flames after runway skid

A Spanair MD-82 airliner was not on fire as it took off from Madrid's airport but lifted off slightly into the air, fell back to the ground and only caught fire after skidding off the side of the runway, a source familiar with the investigation told CNN Friday.

A total of 153 people were killed.
Initially there were indications an engine might have caught fire as the plane was taking off, but the source said airport video shows the plane lifting off, veering sharply right, and then dragging or skidding down the right side of the runway. There was a cloud of dust, the source said, followed by a fireball.

Coalition troops kill 30 militants in Afghan fight

U.S.-led coalition and Afghan troops killed 30 Taliban militants, including a commander, in a battle in western Afghanistan early Friday, according to a coalition spokesman.
Meanwhile, in eastern Afghanistan, a soldier in the U.S.-led coalition was killed in a roadside bombing, the U.S. military said in a statement that offered no further details.
The battle in western Afghanistan began when the troops, on their way to detain a Taliban commander, were ambushed by insurgents along a road in the Shindad district of Herat province, the military spokesman said.
In addition to the 30 militants killed, five were taken prisoner, the spokesman said.
A cache of weapons and roadside bomb-making materials were seized, he said.

Bombings rock Pakistan ahead of elections

The Taliban claimed responsibility Thursday for dual suicide bombings at a Pakistani military arms factory that police said killed 66 people and wounded more than 70 others.

The spokesman for Pakistan's Taliban, Maulvi Omar, said his group, Tehrik-e-Taliban, was responsible for Thursday's attacks.
Two suicide bombers blew themselves up near the gates of the military arms factory in Wah, near Rawalpindi, where Pakistan's military is based. The attack took place during a shift change at one of several factories that employ several thousand people.
It was the second deadly suicide attack in the country since President Pervez Musharraf resigned Monday.

China accused over iTunes outage

Customers in China of Apple's iTunes online music store were unable to download songs this week, and an activist group said Beijing was trying to block access to a new Tibet-themed album.

In Internet forums, iTunes users complained they had been unable to download music since Monday. That was a day after the Art of Peace Foundation announced the release of "Songs for Tibet," with music by Sting, Alanis Morissette, Garbage and others, and a 15-minute talk by the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan leader.
Michael Wohl, executive director of the New York City-based group, said he believed the album was the reason for the iTunes interruption, though he had no proof.

Age of Chinese gymnasts investigated

The International Olympic Committee has asked gymnastics officials to look into whether China's women's gymnastics team used underaged competitors, an IOC spokeswoman said Friday.

The committee asked the International Gymnastics Federation to clarify the situation, said spokeswoman Giselle Davis. She said she wouldn't call it a formal investigation.
The Chinese women's gymnastics team won a gold medal in a team competition at the Summer Olympics Games. Five members won medals in individual competitions.

Obama notifies candidates on shortlist

Sen. Barack Obama called some people on his shortlist for the vice presidential slot Thursday night to tell them he had not selected them as a running mate, a highly placed Democratic Party source said.

The source did not say which people got the call.
Obama has told some other potential running mates over the last few weeks that he would not be choosing them.
Obama is expected to appear at a rally Saturday with his vice presidential choice in Springfield, Illinois.

NASA warns about debris from destroyed rocket

NASA says it destroyed an unmanned suborbital rocket shortly after a failed launch early this morning from an island off the Virginia coast.
There were no injuries or property damage, according to a NASA statement, but the agency warned that debris from the explosion could be hazardous.
NASA believes most of the wreckage fell into the Atlantic Ocean off Wallops Island.
The rocket, made by Alliant Tech Systems of Salt Lake City, was carrying two experiments

Mel C to become last Spice mom

Singer Melanie Chisholm says she is expecting a baby which will make her the last of the former Spice Girls to become a mother.
The 34-year-old Mel C announced the news Friday on her Web site.
The father is Thomas Starr, her partner for six years.
Among the other Spice Girls, Victoria Beckham has three sons, Melanie "Mel B" Brown has two daughters, Geri Halliwell has one daughter and Emma Bunton has a son.

Karadzic to enter war crimes plea next week

A plea in the case of Radovan Karadzic, the former Bosnian Serb leader accused of war crimes, will be entered next week, the tribunal at The Hague said on Friday.

Karadzic did not enter a plea during his initial appearance on July 31 but will have to on August 29. And if he doesn't enter a plea, the pre-trial judge will do so, the court said.
Karadzic is being tried by the U.N.'s International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.
He is charged with 11 counts including genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes stemming from the 1992-95 war in Bosnia-Herzegovina, when he was president of a breakaway Serb republic.

Russian troops 'putting on peacekeeper hats'

Russian troops have begun a modest withdrawal from Georgia, but are "just changing hats" to make themselves look like peacekeepers, Georgia's Interior Ministry said Friday.

Russia says its remaining forces are peacekeepers who will have pulled back into buffer zones outside two breakaway Georgian provinces, South Ossetia and Abkhazia, by late Friday.
Russia also accused Georgia of violating a cease-fire, partly by conducting operations into South Ossetia earlier this week. Georgia denied the accusation.

Glitter fears for safety after UK return

Former rock star and convicted child molester Gary Glitter fears for his safety after returning to the UK, his lawyer says.

British police met Glitter at London's Heathrow airport Friday after he was denied entry to Thailand and Hong Kong, an airport official confirmed.
Glitter, born Paul Gadd, served nearly three years in a Vietnam prison on a child molestation conviction and was deported Tuesday from Ho Chi Minh City.
Glitter, 64, initially tried to enter Thailand instead of continuing on to the UK but when he was barred he flew to Hong Kong, where he was also denied entry.

Al Qaeda branch claims Algeria bombings that killed 60

The North African branch of al Qaeda claimed responsibility Friday for devastating bombings in Algeria that killed up to 60 people this week, in a statement carried by an Arab TV news station.

The group described the attacks on a police academy, a military barracks and a Canadian engineering firm as retaliation against security forces for their crackdown on militants, described as "Mujahedeen," or holy warriors.
The attacks "follow the perfidious operation, where a number of young Mujahedeen have been killed," said a man identified as Salah Abu Mohammed, an al Qaeda spokesman, in a tape delivered to the Al-Jazeera news channel.