World Headlines

Headlines from around the world: 4/15/13

Margaret Thatcher, also know as the “Iron Lady” died Monday at 87 following a stroke. She was known for the conservative resurgence she led in her home country and her partnership with Ronald Reagan. Thatcher, a former British prime minister, led Britain from 1979 until 1990. She was the first and only woman to be prime minister and the longest-serving prime minister since before the world wars. President Barack Obama said that Thatcher was an exemplar of British strength and resolve and a role model for young women.

Headlines from around the world: 4/8/13

North Korean authorities have told diplomatic missions that their safety can not be guaranteed. They declared that conflict was inevitable due to United States and South Korean military exercises. But staff at embassies in North Korea appear to be remaining in place despite the appeal by authorities in Pyongyang for diplomats to consider leaving. Tensions in North Korea are increasing due to U.N. sanctions following a nuclear weapons test in February. China’s news agency quoted the North’s Foreign Ministry as saying the issue was no longer whether, but when a war would break out. The South Korean capital, Seoul, appeared to be calm. Traffic moved normally through the city center busy with shoppers.

News from Around the Galaxy

North Korean president Kim Jong-un and United States president Barack Obama met for a man-date at the Melting Pot fondue restaurant in Littleton, Colorado, to discuss nuclear armament and peace in the Middle East. Oddly enough, Kim is not concerned with bombing the United States. In the meeting, he expressed interest in assisting the United States in dealing with the various threats from the Middle East.

Headlines from around the world: 3/25/13

A Congolese warlord, Bosco Ntaganda, also known as “the Terminator,” turned himself in at the US embassy in Kigali. He is being tried at the International Criminal Court and is accused of murder, rape, recruiting child soldiers, ethnic persecution, sexual slavery, and other atrocities. Ntaganda had a 15-year career that spanned a series of rebellions in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo. He was most recently a commander in the M23 rebel movement. His removal from the conflict creates an opportunity to secure a peace agreement to end the year-old rebellion in the region.

Headlines from around the world: 3/18/13

Illegal trafficking of great apes organized by criminal gangs prompted international action Wednesday that was hailed as a major step towards saving great apes from extinction. 177 member countries including the United States at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species came to the decision to set up a global reporting system in a bid to establish how many of the animals are being taken from the wild to perform in theme parks or to be shown off by wealthy collectors. The move follows a report, “Stolen Apes,” that came out earlier this month that estimated nearly 3,000 great apes were stolen alive every year.

Headlines from around the world: 3/4/13

Nasa has given the SpaceX rocket the go-ahead to rendezvous with the International Space Station. The maneuvers for the rendezvous involve setting up SpaceX’s unmanned Dragon cargo ship to be grappled with the space station’s robotic arm. The Dragon was launched Friday from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, but minutes after reaching orbit SpaceX’s operators in California found out that only one of the craft’s four thruster pods was working. After several hours the glitch was resolved and all four thruster pods were functional, but it delayed the rendezvous until Sunday.

Headlines from around the world: 2/25/13

Mothers went topless in Spain to raise money and save a school bus. The ten mothers from Montserrat, Spain, showed some skin in a calendar sold to raise money to restore a reduction in bus service for 600 elementary students. So far the calendar has raised enough money to pay for the monthly service charge for the bus. The mothers hope to sell all 3,000 copies for this year and start anew next year.

Headlines from around the world: 2/11/13

United Nations refugee agency officials are confirming that over 5000 people are leaving Syria every day now, which is a massive increase over the numbers from December. Some 260,000 already reside in Lebanon. The total number of people who have fled Syria has now topped 780,000, with many more to come as a result of the fighting in and around Damascus.

Headlines from around the world: 2/4/13

University endowment investment has taken a small hit over the last few months due to the poor performance of international equities, a new study shows. The annual rate of return for these investments dropped 0.3 percent, which is significant when compared with a rate of return of 0.8 percent at most large universities. Medium-sized schools took the biggest hit, suffering negative returns.

Headlines from around the world: 1/28/13

Ten police officers were killed in a suicide bombing in northern Afghanistan on Saturday when a man driving a motorbike detonated a bomb at a busy roundabout in Kunduz. Four civilians and five other policemen were also wounded. The attack came a day after another suicide bomber killed five civilians and wounded 15 others when he attacked a NATO convoy in Kapisa, Afghanistan.