World News - Las Vegas Sun

Associated Press: World News

35 minutes ago

(AP) Two more Japanese navy destroyers left Monday to join an international mission to curb piracy off the coast of Somalia, and for the first time will be authorized to escort both foreign and Japanese vessels.Harusame and Amagiri will replace two other destroyers that Japan deployed to the mission in the ...

Malaysia Sikhs lose fight against man's conversion

35 minutes ago

(AP) A Sikh family lost a court battle Monday in Muslim-majority Malaysia for the right to cremate one of their relatives after officials said the man had converted to Islam years before his death.The case threatens to revive complaints among non-Muslims that their religious rights are being sidelined _ a grievance ...

Europe and Russia

UN chief urges more development aid

35 minutes ago

(AP) U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has urged governments to increase development aid for the poorest countries and improve health services.Ban says nations have moved too slow to meet their goals of eradicating poverty and hunger.He told a U.N. meeting Monday that annual aid flow to Africa remains at least $20 billion ...

Asia

Facts about China's Xinjiang region

53 minutes ago

(AP) Facts about the history, geography, politics and economy of the Xinjiang region of China.___GEOGRAPHY: One of the world's remotest regions, the nearly Alaska-sized area is bounded by deserts and farther from the sea than any other part of the world. It is China's Central Asian frontier, bordering Pakistan, Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, ...

Middle East

US military deaths in Iraq war at 4,322

1 hour, 14 minutes ago

(AP) As of Sunday, July 5, 2009, at least 4,322 members of the U.S. military had died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.The figure includes nine military civilians killed in action. At least 3,456 military personnel died as a result of ...

Asia

Chronology of North Korea's missile program

1 hour, 14 minutes ago

(AP) Developments in North Korea's missile program:_ Aug. 31, 1998: North Korea fires suspected missile over Japan and into the Pacific Ocean, calling it a satellite._ Sept. 13, 1999: North Korea pledges to freeze long-range missile tests._ March 10, 2003: North Korea fires a land-to-ship missile off east coast into waters ...

A look at North Korea's missile arsenal

1 hour, 14 minutes ago

(AP) A look at North Korea's missile arsenal:TAEPODONG: This group of rockets is the pinnacle of North Korea's missile technology. Pyongyang claims they are space launch vehicles (SLVs) to launch satellites as part of a peaceful space program. Satellite and missile technologies are interchangeable._ ADVANCED TAEPODONG-2: Under development. Potential range: about ...

China says 140 killed in riots in west

1 hour, 14 minutes ago

(AP) Tensions between ethnic Muslims and China's Han majority in the far western Xinjiang region erupted in riots that killed 140 people and injured 828, an official said Monday, marking the deadliest unrest to hit the volatile area in decades.A peaceful protest Sunday of about 1,000 to 3,000 people in the ...

Latin America

Honduras slides toward greater instability

1 hour, 35 minutes ago

(AP) Already volatile Honduras slid toward greater instability after soldiers blocked an airport runway to keep ousted President Manuel Zelaya from returning, and protests that had remained largely peaceful yielded their first death.Police and soldiers blanketed the streets of the capital overnight Monday _ enforcing a sunset-to-sunrise curfew with batons and ...

Canada

Gen. Petraeus says Taliban is a resilient enemy

2 hours, 14 minutes ago

(AP) The head of U.S. Central Command warned Friday that the thousands of American troops surging into Afghanistan's turbulent Helmand province to battle the Taliban are in for a tough fight.Gen. David Petraeus, best known for coordinating the troop surge in Iraq that is credited with reducing that country's violence, cautioned ...

Africa

Nigerian militants claim attack on Shell facility

2 hours, 14 minutes ago

(AP) Nigeria's main militant group says it has attacked a Royal Dutch Shell oil facility in southern Nigeria.In an e-mail statement to journalists, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta also said Sunday it plans phased attacks until its goal is achieved.The militants say they are fighting to force ...

Asia

Report: NKorean launches maybe included new Scud

2 hours, 14 minutes ago

(AP) A barrage of ballistic missiles that North Korea test-fired over the weekend may have included a new type of Scud missile with an extended range and improved accuracy that poses a threat to Japan, a South Korean newspaper reported Monday.Pyongyang launched seven missiles into waters off its east coast Saturday ...

Europe and Russia

Oxfam to G-8: Climate change will spread hunger

2 hours, 14 minutes ago

(AP) Chronic hunger may be "the defining human tragedy of this century," as climate change causes growing seasons to shift, crops to fail, and storms and droughts to ravage fields, an advocacy group said.Oxfam International released a report Monday as leaders of the Group of Eight wealthiest nations prepare to meet ...

Latin America

Old ruling party gains in Mexico midterm election

2 hours, 14 minutes ago

(AP) Reviled as a creaky remnant of Mexico's authoritarian past, the old Institutional Revolutionary Party made a big comeback in midterm congressional elections in defiance of those who had written off what is still the country's biggest and most representative party.The PRI, as it is known, presents itself as a changed ...

Asia

Suicide attack outside NATO base in Kandahar

2 hours, 14 minutes ago

(AP) A suicide car bomber struck early Monday outside the main NATO base in southern Afghanistan, killing two civilians and wounding 14 other people, as U.S. Marines pressed a major anti-Taliban offensive in a neighboring province.The bomber blew himself up near the gates of Kandahar Airfield, said Gen. Sher Mohammad Zazai, ...