New Zealand Earthquake 'Damaged 100,000 Homes'

Almost two-thirds of the 160,000 homes in and around Christchurch have been damaged by Saturday's earthquake, New Zealand's prime minister has said. John Key said many had been damaged beyond repair, and that it might take some time to discover the damage to the region's underground infrastructure.

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Mud Buries Guatemala Bus, 2nd Slide Kills Rescuers

When news came over the radio that a landslide had buried two pickup trucks and a bus along a major highway, Suagustino Pascual Tuy and others rushed to the rescue, picks and shovels in hand. Digging through the mud, they managed to extract several people alive, including Pascual Tuy's nephew.

Israeli FM Pushes For New Settlement Construction

Israel's hard-line foreign minister said Monday that his party will try to block any extension of Israel's settlement slowdown, a move that could derail the recently launched Mideast peace negotiations. Avigdor Lieberman said the Israeli government must keep its promise to voters that the 10-month slowdown, declared last November under U.S. pressure.

Graft And Threats Of Violence Cloud Hopes For Afghan Vote

Taliban threats, shuttered polling centers and warnings of widespread fraud are clouding hopes for Afghanistan's September 18 parliamentary election, a key test of an already fragile democracy, observers have warned. With the poll less than two weeks away, the U.N.-backed Electoral Complaints Commission said it has already received 1,503 complaints

Despite Formal Combat End, US Joins Baghdad Battle

Days after the U.S. officially ended combat operations and touted Iraq's ability to defend itself, American troops found themselves battling heavily armed militants assaulting an Iraqi military headquarters in the center of Baghdad on Sunday. The fighting killed 12 people and wounded dozens.

Suicide Car Bomber Kills 19 In NW Pakistan: Police

At least 19 people were killed and 45 wounded when a suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden car into a police station in northwest Pakistan on Monday, destroying the building, police said. Nine policemen and four schoolchildren were among those killed by the attack in Lakki Marwat in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, not far from tribal areas that are a stronghold of the Taliban, police said.

At 50, Opec Still Dominates

Once upon a time in Baghdad, fifty years ago and exactly on September 14, 1960, the five developing countries of Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela met and announced the formation of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec), which is rightly celebrating its golden jubilee this year.

Tropical Storm Hermine Gaining Strength In Gulf

Tropical Storm Hermine is getting a little stronger in the Gulf of Mexico as it heads toward the coasts of Texas and Mexico. A tropical storm warning was issued early Monday for the southern Texas coast. A tropical storm warning was already in effect for the coast of Mexico from Tampico to the mouth of the Rio Grande.

President Obama Calling For More Infrastructure Spending

Vowing to find new ways to stimulate the sputtering economy, President Barack Obama will call for long-term investments in the nation's roads, railways and runways that would cost at least $50 billion. The infrastructure investments are one part of a package of targeted proposals the White House is expected to announce in hopes of jump-starting the economy ahead of the November election.

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Economists: Second Economic Stimulus Needed

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Unions Try To Combat Lopsided Election Spending

The president of the biggest labor organization in America says this is "a defining Labor Day for working people." It's the turn into the home stretch of a congressional campaign that looks truly grim for labor's traditional ally — the Democratic Party. So Unions are trying to stir up their members and money, but they're not having an easy time of it.

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One Nation To Hold March For Jobs And Unity

President Obama’s Oval Office speech last night the end of combat in Iraq was also in part a message about job creation, and improving the economy. In this interview, NAACP president Benjamin Jealous analyzes the president’s speech, while discussing in what ways the US can move beyond these economic struggles.

Japanese Car Runs Exclusively on Water! | Hydrogen Power

The Japanese company Genepax has unveiled a car that runs exclusively on water. They even have a working prototype that was showed off in front of the press. They claim that using only one liter of water it can run with 80km/h. Their website, genepax.co.jp, is not ready yet with all the details of their technology (in fact, it’s only in a construction phase).

Images Of The New York City Mosque Protests

[Editorial] America’s History Of Fear

A radio interviewer asked me the other day if I thought bigotry was the only reason why someone might oppose the Islamic center in Lower Manhattan. No, I don’t. Most of the opponents aren’t bigots but well-meaning worriers — and during earlier waves of intolerance in American history, it was just the same.

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Fisk Says It Must Sell O'Keeffe Art Collection to Survive

Fisk University is on the brink. The endowment of the tiny, historic school in Nashville, which opened its doors to newly freed slaves in 1865, is depleted. Every building on the campus where poet Nikki Giovanni, historian John Hope Franklin, and educator and activist W.E.B. Du Bois were educated has been mortgaged.

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River Of Life - Congo Odyssey

The nearly 3,000-mile Congo River is the backbone of one of Africa's poorest and most conflict-ridden countries. It supplies food and livelihood for the people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the way of life along the water route in many ways mirrors Congo's checkered fortunes. Excellent article.

Senate Bill S510 Makes it illegal to Grow, Share, Trade or Sell Homegrown Food

S 510, the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2010, may be the most dangerous bill in the history of the US. It is to our food what the bailout was to our economy, only we can live without money. “If accepted [S 510] would preclude the public’s right to grow, own, trade, transport, share, feed and eat each and every food that nature makes.

Senate Refuses To Approve Black Farmers Settlement

The U.S. Senate failed Thursday to approve nearly $5 billion for a settlement between the Agriculture Department and minority farmers reached more than a decade ago, prompting finger pointing by members of both parties and outrage among many black farmers

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