Oct 28

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Sep 30

Michael Bloomberg wants 3rd term as NYC mayor
(AP)

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg participates in a panel discussion on population growth and urbanization at the Clinton Global Initiative annual meeting Thursday, Sept 25, 2008 in New York.  (AP Photo/Jason DeCrow)AP - Mayor Michael Bloomberg has decided to try to reverse the term-limits law he had long supported so he can seek a third term next year and help the city emerge from financial turmoil, a person close to the mayor told The Associated Press on Tuesday.


State rail projects get boost as driving declines
(AP)

AP - The federal government is chipping in nearly $30 million for 15 passenger rail projects across the country as Americans continue to drive less and take the train more, U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters said Tuesday.

Money meltdown creates identity crises for venues
(AP)

Shown is the Wachovia Spectrum in Philadelphia, Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2008. The meltdown on Wall Street is extending into the worlds of sports and entertainment. Teams, venues and arenas have received millions of dollars from banks in return for splashing their names across their buildings; buildings which now face an uncertain future.(AP Photo/Matt Rourke)AP - First the bursting of the dot-com bubble in the 1990s, then the accounting scandals earlier this decade, forced ballparks and arenas around the country to change their names. Enron Field became Minute Maid Park, and names like PSINet Stadium and CMGI Field vanished.


Feds propose 48 new endangered species in Hawaii
(AP)

AP - The federal government is proposing to add 47 species of plants and animals and one insect to the endangered species list all found only on the island of Kauai.

Reports warn of problems at ground zero hub in NYC
(AP)

In this Thursday, April 24, 2003 file photo, workers are onsite at the PATH rail lines at ground zero in New York. The construction of the World Trade Center rail station is hundreds of millions of dollars over budget and five years behind schedule  delays that are slowing the building of the Sept. 11 memorial and most other projects on the 16-acre site.  (AP Photo/Nicole Bengiveno, Pool)AP - The glittering, steel and glass domed rail hub had seemed for years to be the only thing that was going right at ground zero.


East L.A seeks to become a city of its own
(AP)

Pedestrians cross Whittier Blvd. in unincorporated East Los Angeles Saturday, July 19, 2008. A group of residents has launched a campaign to make the area a municipality governed by its own elected officials and ordinances, instead of by the county of Los Angeles.  (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)AP - East L.A. birthplace of the lowrider, Los Lobos and Oscar de la Hoya is to Mexican-Americans what Harlem is to the black community. Now it wants to become its own city. Commonly mistaken for a part of Los Angeles, East L.A. is actually an unincorporated section of Los Angeles County, with more than 130,000 people 96 percent of them Latino packed into 7.4 square miles.


Sep 30

US official: 3 pirates may be dead in shootout
(AP)

Pirates holding Ukrainian-operated ship Faina off the coast of Somalia,  receive supplies while under observation by the guided-missile cruiser USS Vella Gulf (not shown) on Monday, Sept. 29. 2008.  U.S. warships and helicopters on Monday surrounded the hijacked cargo ship which is  loaded with Sudan-bound tanks and other arms, to keep the weapons from falling 'into the wrong hands,' an American Navy spokesman said. The pirates who seized the ship  Thursday are demanding a $20 million ransom.(AP Photo/U.S. Navy, Petty Officer 2nd Class Jason Zalasky)AP - Disagreements between Somali pirates holding a ship laden with tanks and heavy weapons escalated into a shootout and three pirates are believed dead, a U.S. defense official said Tuesday. The pirates denied the report.


Pakistan’s intelligence agency gets new chief
(AP)

Pakistanis flee the Bajaur tribal district after fierce clashes between soldiers and suspected militants in August 2008. Pakistan has appointed Lieutenant General Ahmed Shujaa Pasha as the head of its powerful Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency. The US has in the past accused the spy agency of secretly backing Taliban rebels on the Afghan border.(AFP/File/Tariq Mahmood)AP - Pakistan named a new head of its main intelligence service, a change sure to be scrutinized by American officials who have questioned the powerful spy agency’s loyalties in the war on terror.


Freed hostages recount chaotic release in Sahara
(AP)

A foreign tourist holds flowers as he walks at a military airport near Cairo September 29, 2008. Eleven European tourists and eight Egyptians abducted in a remote border area of Egypt have been freed and half of their kidnappers killed, Egyptian officials said on Monday.<br />
 REUTERS/Amr Dalsh   (EGYPT)AP - A European tour group kidnapped in the Sahara Desert was abruptly freed after a phone call to one of the captors, and all 19 hostages piled into a single car, some clinging to the roof as they drove 200 miles to safety.


Afghanistan seeks Saudi help to talk with Taliban
(AP)

An Afghan girl waves in a street of Taloqan, west of Kunduz, September 30, 2008.   REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch (AFGHANISTAN)AP - Afghanistan’s president said Tuesday he has repeatedly asked Saudi Arabia’s king to facilitate peace talks with the Taliban.


At least 168 killed in Indian temple stampede
(AP)

Map locates Jaipur, India, where at least 40 people were killed in stampede at Hindu temple; 1c x 2 3/8 inches; 46.5 mm x 60.3 mmAP - Thousands of pilgrims panicked by false rumors of a bomb stampeded at a Hindu temple in western India on Tuesday, killing at least 168 people in the crush to escape.


FTSE 100 advances
(AFP)

A businessman walks past the London Stock Exchange. Shares in London closed higher, getting a boost from a rebound on Wall Street as investors hoped another vote on the US financial bailout package will see the plan passed.(AFP/File/Shaun Curry)AFP - Shares in London closed higher on Tuesday, getting a boost from a rebound on Wall Street as investors hoped another vote on the US financial bailout package will see the plan passed.


Iraqi police: Car bomb in Baghdad kills 3
(AP)

Iraqi Sunni Muslims arrive for prayers at Abu Hanifa mosque in central Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2008 as they mark the first day of Eid. Eid is a Muslim holiday that marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan. (AP Photo/Karim Kadim)AP - A parked car bomb targeted a restaurant in a mostly Shiite neighborhood in Baghdad on Tuesday, killing three people and injuring at least six others.


Chavez says crisis is failure of capitalism
(AP)

AP - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is calling the U.S. financial crisis a failure of free-market capitalism.

Mugabe, Tsvangirai fail to agree on cabinet posts
(AFP)

Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe (left) and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai smile after signing the power-sharing accord on September 15. Zimbabwe's opposition party said Mugabe and Tsvangirai met for talks but failed to agree on a share-out of ministries in the new unity government.(AFP/File/Alexander Joe)AFP - Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe and opposition MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai met Tuesday but failed to agree on a share-out of ministries in a power-sharing government, the opposition said.


China vows safe food action as Lipton recalls milk-tea
(Reuters)

Children wait to receive medical checks for possible kidney stones at a hospital in Suining, Sichuan province September 17, 2008. (Stringer/Reuters)Reuters - Chinese President Hu Jintao lectured a dairy executive on food safety on Tuesday in a show of government resolve in the toxic milk scandal, even as another Western food brand, Lipton, was affected.


7.3 quake strikes outer New Zealand islands
(AP)

AP - A 7.3-magnitude earthquake struck near New Zealand’s remote and largely uninhabited Kermadec Islands early Tuesday, New Zealand’s GNS Science geological agency said.

Sep 30

Prosecution rests robbery case against O.J. Simpson
(AP)

O.J. Simpson, left, and his attorney Yale Galanter appear during Simpson's trial at the Clark County Regional Justice Center Monday,Sept. 29, 2008 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Simpson is charged with a total of 12 counts including kidnapping, armed robbery and assault with a deadly weapon stemming from an alleged incident involving the theft of his sports memorabilia. (AP Photo/Ethan Miller, Pool)AP - The man who told a jury that O.J. Simpson asked him to bring guns and “look menacing” during a hotel room confrontation with two sports memorabilia dealers acknowledged Monday he didn’t tell police that last October.


Attorneys believe Rezko is talking to prosecutors
(AP)

AP - Convicted political fixer Antoin “Tony” Rezko has been quietly visiting Chicago’s federal courthouse, setting off speculation that he may be spilling secrets to prosecutors in return for a lenient sentence.

Murder charges filed in Wash. state shooting spree
(AP)

Judge David Svaren listens as Isaac Zamora appears in Skagit County District Court Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2008, in Mount Vernon, Wash.   (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)AP - Prosecutors filed six murder charges Monday against a 28-year-old man accused of a shooting rampage north of Seattle.


Pa. early inmate releases halted, review ordered
(AP)

An officer embraces an unidentified woman outside of Temple University Hospital in Philadelphia, Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2008. Philadelphia Police Officer Patrick McDonald, 30, who was  pursuing an armed suspect Tuesday afternoon was fatally shot, the fourth city officer to die in the line of duty in the last year. Another officer was wounded and the suspect was killed.  (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)AP - Gov. Ed Rendell on Monday halted the early release of state prison inmates, days after a recently paroled felon shot and killed a Philadelphia police officer.


Testimony ends in 25-year-old KFC murders in Texas
(AP)

AP - The night five people were abducted from a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant 25 years ago, a van sped out its parking lot, being driven by a white man and carrying three people wearing KFC uniforms, a witness testified Monday.

News groups sue Minnesota for access to polls
(AP)

AP - Several news organizations sued the state of Minnesota on Monday to block a new law restricting access to polling places, saying it would interfere with exit polls.

Court: Great Lakes wolf returns to endangered list
(AP)

AP - A federal court Monday overturned the Bush administration’s decision to remove gray wolves in the western Great Lakes region from the endangered species list.

Ex-teacher in Neb. gets 6 years in sex case
(AP)

This undated photo provided by Cass County Jail shows Kelsey Peterson, the former Lexington teacher accused of having sex with a 13-year-old male student and fleeing with him to Mexico. Sentencing for Peterson is set for Monday, Sept. 29, 2008 in U.S. District Court on Omaha. She pleaded guilty in July.  (AP Photo/Cass County Jail, ho)AP - A former teacher who fled to Mexico with a 13-year-old student so she could have sex with him was sentenced Monday to six years in federal prison. Kelsey Peterson, 26, had pleaded guilty in July to a charge of transporting a minor across state lines to have sex and avoided a similar charge that would have carried a mandatory 10-year minimum sentence.


SD court asked whether profanity is disorderly
(AP)

Attorney Richard Fite argues before the South Dakota Supreme Court Monday, Sept. 29, 2008, in Brookings, S.D. To the right is Assistant Attorney General Ann Meyer. The court must decide whether yelling the 'f' word and other profanities at a passing police officer amounts to protected speech under the U.S. Constitution.(AP Photo/Carson Walker)AP - The South Dakota Supreme Court on Monday heard arguments over whether yelling profanities at a passing police officer is protected speech under the U.S. Constitution.


Gas shortage plagues the Southeast
(AP)

A sign on a gas pump in Atlanta on Monday, September 29, 2008, informs drivers of a $40 limit on purchases. As the gasoline shortage in the Southeast enters its third week, drivers in Georgia and the Carolinas waited in lines Monday and paid at least 15 cents more for a gallon of gas than elsewhere in the country. (AP photo/Jason Bronis)AP - Motorists are rising before dawn so they can be at the filling station when the delivery truck arrives. Some are skipping work or telecommuting. Others are taking the extreme step for Atlanta of switching to public transportation.


Lawmakers discussing changes to safe-haven law
(AP)

The Creighton Medical Center, where nine siblings were abandoned by their father on Wednesday, is seen in Omaha, Neb., Thursday, Sept. 25, 2008. Eleven children ranging in age from 1 to 17 were left at hospitals Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2008, under Nebraska's unique safe haven law, which allows caregivers to abandon not only infants but also teenagers without fear of prosecution. Nine of the children came from one family. The five boys and four girls were left by their father, who was not identified, at Creighton University Medical Center's emergency room.(AP Photo/Nati Harnik)AP - Some key Nebraska lawmakers are discussing an age limit and other possible changes to the state’s new safe-haven law that has led parents to abandon children as old as 17.


Sep 29

Car bombing targets Lebanese troops, kills 5
(AP)

Forensic experts search for evidence in the bus wreckage at the site of explosion in the northern city of Tripoli, Lebanon, Monday, Sept. 29, 2008. A car bomb exploded Monday near a military bus carrying troops on their way to work in northern Lebanon, killing five people and injuring 26, Lebanese security officials said. (AP Photo/Ahmad Omar)AP - A remote control car bomb packed with ball bearings ripped through a military bus on Monday, killing four soldiers and a civilian in a city rocked by sectarian fighting, Lebanese officials said.


Commando raid frees tour group seized in Egypt
(AP)

AP - Egyptian and Sudanese troops rescued an abducted 19-member European tour group in an assault on the kidnappers in the remote Sahara borderland, officials said. The tourists and their Egyptian guides returned safely to Cairo on Monday.

US circles hijacked ship with Sudan-bound weapons
(AP)

In this picture released by U.S. Navy, Sunday,  Sept. 28, 2008, Somali pirates in small boats are seen alongside the hijacked 'Faina'.   The captain of a hijacked Ukrainian ship off the coast of Somalia says one crew member has died and he can see a U.S. ship about a mile from his freighter.  Viktor Nikolsky told The Associated Press that a Russian sailor died Sunday because of hypertension.  He was speaking from the deck of the Faina via a satellite phone. One of the pirates who seized the ship handed a satellite phone to Nikolsky so he could speak to the AP. Nikolsky says other crew members are fine and he can see three ships about a mile away, including one carrying an American flag.  The Faina is laden with Russian tanks destined for Kenya. Somali pirates hijacked it Thursday.  (AP Photo/U.S. Navy/ho)AP - U.S. warships and helicopters on Monday surrounded a hijacked cargo ship loaded with Sudan-bound tanks and other arms to keep the weapons from falling “into the wrong hands,” an American Navy spokesman said.


UN: Thousands flee violent Pakistani border area
(AP)

In this photo released by Inter Services Public Relations, Pakistan's army chief Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, left, shakes hand with a tribal elder during his visit to troubled tribal region Bajur, Pakistan on Sunday, Sept. 28, 2008. Kayani expressed his satisfaction that local tribesmen have risen against miscreants and are fully supporting the troops, army said in a statement. (AP Photo/Inter Services Public Relations, HO)AP - A spike in violence along Pakistan’s border has driven tens of thousands of people to seek refuge in eastern Afghanistan, the U.N. reported Monday and new military data showed suicide attacks throughout the country killed nearly 1,200 people in the last 15 months.


Sep 29

Lawmakers, White House agree on $700B bailout
(AP)

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and House Financial Services Committee chairman Barney Frank hold a press conference on Capitol Hill on September 26. US lawmakers hailed a breakthrough in talks on 700-billion dollar bailout to avert the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, and worked to finalize a deal.(AFP/Getty Images/File/Brendan Smialowski)AP - Congressional leaders and the White House agreed Sunday to a $700 billion rescue of the ailing financial industry after lawmakers insisted on sharing spending controls with the Bush administration. The biggest U.S. bailout in history won the tentative support of both presidential candidates and goes to the House for a vote Monday.


Sold to US taxpayers for $700B: banks’ bad assets
(AP)

Senate Republican lead negotiator Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., pauses during a news conference on the financial crisis Sunday, Sept. 28, 2008 on Capitol Hill in Washington.  (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)AP - Sold to American taxpayers for up to $700 billion: an unprecedented plan to buy distressed banks’ least desirable mortgage assets.


Obama, McCain give measured support for bailout
(AP)

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama D-Ill., addresses a rally in Detroit, Sunday, Sept. 28, 2008. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)AP - Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain on Sunday gingerly embraced a newly negotiated congressional deal for a $700 billion bailout of the hobbled financial industry.


Kyle spreads rain, wind in Maine on way to Canada
(AP)

Lobstermen Clay Rumery and Charles Rossi, onbaord boat, secure their boats in an estuary, Sunday, Sept. 28, 2008, in Milbridge, Maine. Lobstermen in eastern Maine were taking precautionary measures to protect their vessels before Hurricane Kyle makes landfall.  (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)AP - Fishermen moved boats to shelter from a rare burst of tropical weather along Maine’s rugged eastern coast Sunday as a weakening Hurricane Kyle spun past on its way to Canada, delivering a glancing blow equivalent to a classic nor’easter that made locals yawn.


US ambassador appeals for patience in Iraq
(AP)

U.S. Ambassador to Iraq, Ryan Crocker answers a question during an interview with the Associated Press in Baghdad, Sunday, Sept. 28, 2008.  Ambassador Crocker criticized Iran for trying to block a new security agreement between the United States and Iraq. In an interview with The Associated Press on Sunday, Crocker said a steady stream of public statements from clerical and political figures in Tehran make it clear that Iran is interfering in the bilateral negotiations between Iraq and the United States. The talks must conclude by the end of 2008. The ambassador says Iran wants to keep Iraq 'off-balance' to be able to control events in its Arab neighbor to its satisfaction.  (AP Photo/Dusan Vranic)AP - U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker on Sunday accused Iran of trying to interfere with a new security pact between Iraq and the United States, and said Americans need to view Iraq with “a sense of strategic patience” because the stakes in the region are so high.


Taliban assassins kill ranking Afghan policewoman
(AP)

Pakistani soldiers with suspected militants in the troubled Bajaur agency bordering Afghanistan on September 26, 2008. Pakistani troops killed at least 16 Taliban militants after coming under attack in a tribal region near the Afghan border, a security official said Sunday.(AFP/POOL/File/Aamir Qureshi)AP - Two Taliban assassins on a motorbike shot and killed a senior policewoman as she left for work in Afghanistan’s largest southern city Sunday and gravely wounded her son.


Scarlett Johansson, Ryan Reynolds marry in Canada
(AP)

In this Oct. 15, 2007 file photo, actress Scarlett Johansson arrives at Elle magazine's 14th Annual Women in Hollywood tribute in Los Angeles. Johansson and actor Ryan Reynolds married this weekend, according to publicist Meredith O'Sullivan.  (AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian, file)AP - Scarlett Johansson and Ryan Reynolds did a little rushing into it after all. The couple married this weekend, according to publicist Meredith O’Sullivan. She did not provide details.


Mets help Brewers earn 1st playoff spot since 1982
(AP)

Milwaukee Brewers' Tony Gwynn, Angel Salome and CC Sabathia, from right, celebrate after the Brewers beat the Chicago Cubs 3-1 in a baseball game Sunday, Sept. 28, 2008, in Milwaukee. The Brewers clinched the National League wild card after the New York Mets lost to the Florida Marlins. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)AP - CC Sabathia and Ryan Braun put the Milwaukee Brewers in the playoffs for the first time since 1982 with big help from the New York Mets. Making his third consecutive start on three days’ rest, Sabathia pitched a four-hitter and Braun hit a tiebreaking homer in the eighth inning to lead the Brewers over the Chicago Cubs 3-1 Sunday.


Big stop lifts Bears over Eagles
(AP)

Chicago Bears' Danieal Manning, right, sacks Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb for a 9-yard loss during the first quarter of an NFL football game, Sunday, Sept. 28, 2008, in Chicago. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green)AP - No meltdowns for the Chicago Bears this time. Instead, they came up with a big stand.


$20M Somali ransom demand for ship; 1 crewman dies
(AP)

In this picture released by U.S. Navy, Sunday,  Sept. 28, 2008, Somali pirates in small boats are seen alongside the hijacked 'Faina'.   The captain of a hijacked Ukrainian ship off the coast of Somalia says one crew member has died and he can see a U.S. ship about a mile from his freighter.  Viktor Nikolsky told The Associated Press that a Russian sailor died Sunday because of hypertension.  He was speaking from the deck of the Faina via a satellite phone. One of the pirates who seized the ship handed a satellite phone to Nikolsky so he could speak to the AP. Nikolsky says other crew members are fine and he can see three ships about a mile away, including one carrying an American flag.  The Faina is laden with Russian tanks destined for Kenya. Somali pirates hijacked it Thursday.  (AP Photo/U.S. Navy/ho)AP - As a heavily armed U.S. destroyer patrolled nearby and planes flew overhead Sunday, a Somali pirate spokesman told The Associated Press his group was demanding a $20 million ransom to release a cargo ship loaded with Russian tanks.


Sep 28

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Sep 27

Senate leader: Significant progress on bailout
(AP)

Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson, left, and Kevin Fromer, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, arrive at the Capitol for a meeting in Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office regarding legislation on the financial crisis Saturday, Sept. 27, 2008, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Lauren Victoria Burke)AP - Nervously eyeing the markets’ next trading session, congressional Democrats and Republican senators pushed for an agreement Saturday on a multibillion-dollar bailout for the financial sector. House Republicans, however, said they would not be stampeded into accepting an unwise rescue.


Paul Newman, Hollywood’s anti-hero, dies at 83
(AP)

File photo shows Actor Paul Newman is on 'The Tonight Show,' in Burbank, California April 8, 2005. (Jim Ruymen REUTERS/Reuters)AP - Paul Newman never much cared for what he once called the “rubbish” of Hollywood, choosing to live in a quiet community on the opposite corner of the U.S. map, staying with his wife of many years and long after he became bored with acting pursuing his dual passions of philanthropy and race cars.


Senate sends $612 billion defense bill to Bush
(AP)

AP - Troops would get a pay raise in a defense bill that Congress sent President Bush on Saturday. Even before passage, lawmakers had backed away from an election-season showdown with the administration over Iraq.

Part of Maine coast under tropical storm warning
(AP)

This image provided by NOAA shows Tropical Storm Kyle taken at 12:15 p.m. EDT Saturday, Sept. 27, 2008. At 11:00 p.m. EDT, Kyle was centered about 280 miles west of Bermuda. A hurricane watch has been issued for part of Maine's coast and forecasters say the center of Tropical Storm Kyle is expected to pass near eastern New England. Kyle is the 11th named storm this season in the Atlantic. (AP Photo/NOAA)AP - A rare tropical storm warning and hurricane watch were posted for parts of the Maine coast on Saturday as Hurricane Kyle roared north toward the region with a threat of conditions similar to one of New England’s nor’easter storms.


Sep 27

Baby cereal latest problem in China milk scandal
(AP)

Philippine Health Secretary Francisco Duque shows Chinese-made dairy products at a grocery in Manila, Philippines on Thursday Sept. 25, 2008. The government has temporarily banned the importation and selling of Chinese milk products as a precaution after the discovery of Melamine-contaminated milk that has sickened more than 53,000 people, mostly infants, in China. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)AP - The list of products caught in China’s tainted milk scandal grew Friday to include baby cereal in Hong Kong and snack foods in Japan, while Taiwan reported three children and a mother with kidney stones in the island’s first cases possibly linked to the crisis.


Popular Chinese candy linked to tainted milk
(AP)

White Rabbit candy is seen for sale in a supermarket in Fuyang in central China's Anhui province, Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2008. They were Premier Zhou Enlai's favorite late-night snack. He loved the White Rabbit milk candies so much he gave a bag to President Richard Nixon during his historic 1972 visit to China. But the iconic brand, beloved by generations of Chinese, took a hit after it was linked to the tainted dairy scandal. (AP Photo)AP - They were Premier Zhou Enlai’s favorite late-night snack. He loved White Rabbit candy so much he gave a bag to President Nixon during his historic visit to China. But the iconic brand, beloved by generations of Chinese, took a hit after it was linked to the tainted milk scandal.


Russia warship heads to Africa after pirate attack
(AP)

In this Oct. 1998 file photo, Hungarian T-72 armored tanks maneuver during a military drill in Veszprem, Hungary. Russia's navy dispatched a warship to Somalia's coast, officials said Friday Sept. 26, 2008, a day after pirates seized a Ukrainian vessel carrying Russian and Ukranian crew and loaded with 33 T-72 tanks and ammunition bound for Kenya.(AP Photo/MTI,Tibor Illyes, File)AP - A Russian warship on Friday rushed to intercept a Ukrainian vessel carrying 33 battle tanks and a hoard of ammunition that was seized by pirates off the Horn of Africa a bold hijacking that again heightened fears about surging piracy and high-seas terrorism.


Iran denounces Western support for Israel
(AP)

Iranian protestors attend an anti-Israel rally to commemorate the day of 'Al-Quds', the Arabic name for Jerusalem, in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Sept. 26, 2008. Alongside Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia, Jerusalem is sacred for Muslims since they believe Islam's Prophet Muhammad began his journey to heaven from there. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)AP - A former Iranian president warned the West on Friday that its support for Israel would backfire, as hundreds of thousands of people staged rallies in support of Muslim claims to the holy city of Jerusalem.


Pakistan to US after clash: Stay away from border
(AP)

A Pakistani soldier guards suspected Afghan militants, during a parade for the media in the troubled Bajour agency, Pakistan, Friday, Sept. 26, 2008. Pakistan will bring stability to a restive tribal region bordering Afghanistan within two months, a top general said during an assessment of a major ongoing offensive there against al-Qaida and Taliban militants. Maj. Gen. Tariq Khan told reporters on an army-organized trip to the northwestern Bajur region that troops had killed more than 1,000 militants and wounded 2,000 others since the offensive began in early August. (AP Photo/Aamir Qureshi, Pool)AP - Pakistan sought to reassure Washington on Friday that it remained an ally in fighting terrorism, but it also warned the U.S. to stay out of Pakistani territory while hunting down militants along the volatile border with Afghanistan.


Aussies, Kiwis, Saffas party on in London
(AFP)

Australian, New Zealand and South African expats in Britain were raising a glass this weekend at the Toast festival, their big annual bash celebrating all things Antipodean.(AFP/File/Anoek de Groot)AFP - Australian, New Zealand and South African expats in Britain were raising a glass this weekend at the Toast festival, their big annual bash celebrating all things Antipodean.


US military deaths in Iraq war at 4,173
(AP)

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., wears a bracelet honoring Sgt. Ryan D. Jopek, during a presidential debate at the University of Mississippi in Oxford, Miss., Friday, Sept. 26, 2008.  Sgt. Jopek, from Waupun, Wis., was killed in 2006 in Tikrit, Iraq. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)AP - As of Friday, Sept. 26, 2008, at least 4,173 members of the U.S. military have died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.


Haitian city encased in mud needs global help
(AP)

A boy covered in mud sits on the floor of a church in Gonaives, Saturday, Sept. 20, 2008. As Haiti's President Rene Preval pleaded for long-term assistance in a speech to the U.N. General Assembly Friday,  Gonaives, Haiti's ravaged fourth-largest city, in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Hanna and Hurricane Ike, remains encased in mud. Children play in it and adults try to remove it with muddy buckets and rags.(AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)AP - The U.N. World Food Program’s director flew to a Haitian city still encased in mud Friday to draw global attention to the ongoing disaster that has enormously complicated the country’s struggle to feed itself.


Sep 26

MySpace songs launch irks independent music group
(AP)

This is an undated screen grab showing the new MySpace music page. In a bid to spruce up its popular online hangout, MySpace plans to flip the switch Thursday, Sept. 25, 2008, on a much-anticipated service that will give its roughly 120 million users free access to hundreds of thousands of songs from the world's largest recording labels.  (AP Photo/MySpace)AP - MySpace’s new music service managed to bring major record labels together, but a group that licenses song rights for thousands of independent labels feels left out and angry, partly because indie musicians were a big reason the social networking site rose to prominence in the first place.


Japan’s online social scene isn’t so social
(AP)

AP - Like a lot of 20-year-olds, Kae Takahashi has a page on U.S.-based MySpace, and there is no mistaking it for anyone else’s.

RIM 2Q earnings up 72 percent but outlook soft
(AP)

A Research in Motion Blackberry is shown in Toronto October 26, 2007. (Mark Blinch/Reuters)AP - The stock of Research in Motion Ltd. plunged in extended trading Thursday after the BlackBerry maker said the cost of launching new smart phones would eat into near-term profits.


BYOC: Company gives workers unusual laptop leeway
(AP)

Lisagaye Tomlinson, a Sr. Operations Manager for Citrix, switches data from her old PC laptop to her new Mac laptop computer, Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2008 in her Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. office.  She had purchased the new computer under Citrix's new program which allows employees to use a $2,100 stipend to buy a laptop of their choice and a three-year service plan. (AP Photo/J. Pat Carter)AP - In a nod to how finicky people have become about the gadgets they use, software company Citrix Systems Inc. is rolling out a new program for its workers: BYOC Bring Your Own Computer.


Skype to be integrated into Asterisk PBXs
(CNET)

CNET - The open-source PBX platform Asterisk is to gain Skype functionality, Asterisk’s primary developer, Digium, announced on Thursday.

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