Google gets China OK for Motorola deal Herald Tribune | NEW YORK - Authorities in China have approved Google Inc.'s bid to buy phone maker Motorola Mobility, clearing the way for the $12.5 billion deal to close early next week. Enlarge | FILE - In this May 11, 2011 file photo, attendees chat at the Google IO Developers Conference in San Francisco. Auth...
Chinese in bold call for official's removal Al Jazeera | A group of Communist Party veterans has written a daring open letter calling for the removal of China's top security official, in the latest sign of disunity ahead of Beijing's leadership transition. | Security chief Zhou Yongkang, one of China's top nine rulers, is viewed as a hardliner and is li...
Nato summit: Obama to tackle Afghanistan's future – live coverage The Observer Anti-Nato protesters clash with protesters in Chicago. Photograph: Shawn Thew/EPA | 9.30am: Good morning and welcome to our live blog coverage of the Nato summit in Chicago. Tom McCarthy here in New York; in Chicago are my colleagues Adam Gabbatt and...
Lockerbie bomber al-Megrahi dies in Tripoli Al Jazeera | Eleven years after being convicted of planting a bomb on Pan Am Flight 103, which exploded over the Scottish town of Lockerbie on December 21, 1988, Abdel Basset al-Megrahi has died in the Libyan city of Tripoli, his brother has said. | M...
Arab despots and the chemical weapons taboo Al Jazeera | "Can you believe that Mubarak al Shamekh (defected)?" begins Gaddafi. | "He's crazy," El Sari replies. | "He's the chairman of the General People's Congress, a position beyond his dreams. What more could he want?" reasons Gaddafi eight days before ...
Indian star ends mystery over granddaughter’s name The Washington Times | NEW DELHI (AP) - Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan says his superstar son and daughter-in-law have named their baby girl Aaradhya. | Speculation about the baby’s name had swirled since she was born Nov. 16 to actors Abhishek Bachchan and Ai...
AP / Kusumadireza
Indonesia airline boom raises new safety questions Herald Tribune | JAKARTA, Indonesia - Dozens of fledgling airlines that have sprung up to serve Indonesia's island-hopping new middle class could jeopardize the archipelago's recently improved sa...
Full state pension for stay-at-home mothers The Daily Telegraph Stay-at-home mothers and carers will receive a full state pension for the first time under a radical overhaul of the country’s retirement system, The Daily Telegraph can disc...
Ring of fire: Rare eclipse sparks craze Pakalert Press Share | Witnessing a total solar eclipse is considered one of the planet’s most spectacular sights, but many who’ve seen both say that a ring-of-fire eclipse is just as dramatic. Hundreds of millions across the world will get a chance to see one ...
Chinese activist renews call to fight injustice Herald Tribune | NEW YORK - A blind Chinese legal activist who escaped house arrest, endured a nearly monthlong diplomatic tussle and a hurried daylong flight paused ever so briefly upon his arrival in New York City before taking up a familiar fight. Enlarge | Blin...
Blind Chinese dissident who fled arrest arrives in U.S. San Francisco Chronicle | Chen Guangcheng, the blind legal advocate who recently sought refuge in the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, arrived in the heart of Greenwich Village in New York City on Saturday, holding the kind of open-air news conference that he could have never imagi...
Sri Lanka set to release jailed ex-army chief The Guardian | COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lanka's president has ordered authorities to free the country's jailed former army chief turned presidential candidate. | A presidential spokesman says President Mahinda Rajapaksa signed papers ordering the release of Sarath Fonseka on Saturday. The papers will be sent to the Justice Ministry on Monday. | Fonseka i...
China poses no threat to India: Pallam Raju The Hindu China posed no threat to India despite border dispute but the country was equipping itself well and having a strong deterrence posture so that no adversary took it for granted, the Minister of State for Defence, Dr M.M. Pallam Raju, said today. | “I think it is not a threat. We have a very healthy economic partnership with China, which is our...
