Australian PM calls party vote as challenger rises
(AP)
AP - Prime Minister Julia Gillard put her job on the line Thursday, announcing a leadership ballot in hopes of quashing a comeback by the premier she ousted in a Labor Party coup. But Kevin Rudd's supporters said that even if Gillard survives Monday's vote, the turmoil surrounding her unpopular government will continue until she is out.
Shelling kills 2 Western journalists in Syria
(AP)
AP - Syrian gunners pounded an opposition stronghold where the last dispatches from a veteran American-born war correspondent chronicled the suffering of civilians caught in the relentless shelling. An intense morning barrage killed her and a French photojournalist — two of 74 deaths reported Wednesday in Syria.
Argentine train slams into station, killing 49
(AP)
AP - The first two cars were packed as usual for the morning rush, so tightly that people stood pressed flesh to flesh, sandwiched between bicycles and the few seats, many without so much as a strap to hold onto.
Assad forces renew barrage on Syria's Homs
(Reuters)
Reuters - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces rained rockets and bombs down on opposition-held neighborhoods of the city of Homs, reducing buildings to rubble and killing more than 80 people, including two Western journalists.
Air Canada mechanics, baggage handlers reject labor
(Reuters)
Reuters - Air Canada's 8,600 mechanics, baggage handlers and cargo agents have rejected a tentative contract agreement with the country's biggest airline, a union spokesman said on Wednesday, marking another setback for the carrier during a year of rocky labor relations.
Karzai urges calm as six die in Afghan Koran protests
(Reuters)
Reuters - Afghan President Hamid Karzai appealed for calm Wednesday after officials said six people were shot dead and dozens wounded in protests over the burning of copies of the Koran, Islam's holy book, at NATO's main base in the country.
Putin praises Cold War moles for stealing U.S. nuclear secrets
(Reuters)
Reuters - Vladimir Putin praised Cold War-era scientists on Thursday for stealing U.S. nuclear secrets so that United States would not be the world's sole atomic power, in comments reflecting his vision of Russia as a counterweight to U.S. power.
NH jury chosen in Rwanda genocide case
(AP)
AP - The trial of a New Hampshire woman charged with lying about her role in the 1994 Rwanda genocide is expected to transport jurors back almost 18 years to a roadblock outside a family owned hotel in Butare where prosecutors say the defendant decided who would live and who would die.
Reuters - The U.N. nuclear watchdog ended its latest mission to Iran after talks on Tehran's suspected secret atomic weapons research failed, a setback likely to increase the risk of confrontation with the West.
A defector's tale: How a Syrian soldier turned rebel
(The Christian Science Monitor)
The Christian Science Monitor - Khaled, a young fighter with the rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA), keeps a tight grip on his cellphone these days. The serious-looking 20-something with slicked back dark hair and a thin trace of a beard is awaiting a call that will take him from the relative comfort of a safe house in north Lebanon across a border laced with land mines and patrolled by Syrian troops to the dangers and rigors of combat inside Syria.
