CAIRO, Egypt (AP) — Tape of Osama bin Laden has al-Qaida leader calling for jihad to stop Israeli Gaza offensive
BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq’s prime minister says the handover of the heavily fortified Green Zone and the presidential palace is the most visible sign his country has regained its sovereignty.
Nouri al-Maliki spoke Thursday during a ceremony marking the takeover by Iraqi authority of Saddam Hussein’s large palace.
The takeover is part of a security deal with the United States. After the 2003 U.S.-led invasion the palace had served as the U.S. Embassy and headquarters of the U.S military in Iraq.
Al-Maliki says he will propose Jan. 1 as a national holiday to commemorate what he described as “Sovereignty Day” - the day Iraq took the lead in security from U.S. forces of its airspace and a wide swath of Baghdad’s Green Zone.
ORAN, Algeria (AP) — OPEC says it will cut 2.2 million barrels a day from output.
PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Militants torched 160 vehicles, including dozens of Humvees destined for U.S. and allied forces fighting in Afghanistan, in the boldest attack so far on the critical military supply line through Pakistan.
LONDON (AP) — Rice says Pakistan must provide full cooperation after India terror attacks.
GENEVA (AP) — Swiss voters overwhelmingly approved Sunday a move to make permanent the country’s pioneering program to give addicts government-authorized heroin.
At the same time, voters rejected a proposal to decriminalize marijuana.
Sixty-eight percent of the 2,264,968 voters casting ballots approved making the heroin program permanent. It has been credited with reducing crime and improving the health and daily lives of addicts since it began in 1994.
Some 63.2 percent of voters voted against the marijuana initiative.
On a separate issue, 52 percent of voters approved an initiative to eliminate the statute of limitations on pornographic crimes against children before the age of puberty.
Olivier Borer, 35, a musician from the northern town of Solothurn, said he welcomed the outcome in part because state action was required to help heroin addicts, but he said legalizing marijuana was a bad idea.
“I think it’s very important to help these people, but not to facilitate the using of drugs,” Borer said. “You can just see in the Netherlands how it’s going. People just go there to smoke.”
MUMBAI, India (AP) — Black-clad Indian commandos moved painstakingly, room-by-room, through two massive five star luxury hotels Thursday in a bid to free dozens of people trapped by suspected Muslim militants who attacked at least 10 targets in India’s financial capital of Mumbai, killing 104 people.
The rescue efforts, which continued throughout the day, were punctuated by frequent gunshots and explosions and orange flames billowed from the Taj Mahal hotel. Hostages and several bodies trickled out of the buildings.
More than 300 were also wounded in the highly coordinated attacks Wednesday night by bands of gunmen who invaded two five star hotels, a popular restaurant, a crowded train station, a Jewish center and at least five other sites, armed with assault rifles, hand grenades and explosives.
After dusk Thursday, the soldiers ushered several dozen captives out of the Oberoi hotel, another Mumbai landmark.
BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) — Bangkok international airport cancels all departing flights as protesters surge into terminal.
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Vatican media are praising the Beatles’ musical legacy and sounding philosophical about John Lennon’s boast that the British band was more popular than Jesus.
Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano recalls that Lennon’s comment outraged many when he made it in 1966.
But it says in its Saturday edition that the remark can be written off now as the bragging of a young man wrestling with unexpected success.
The newspaper as well as Vatican Radio last week noted the 40th anniversary of the Beatles’ “White Album.”
It said the album demonstrated how creative the Beatles were, compared with what it called the “standardized, stereotypical” songs being produced today.
DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Syria’s state-run television and witnesses say U.S. military helicopters have attacked an area along the country’s border with Iraq, causing casualties.
The report quoted unnamed Syrian officials and said the area is near the Syrian border town of Abu Kamal. It gave no other details on Sunday’s attack.
Local residents told The Associated Press by telephone that two helicopters carrying U.S. soldiers raided the village of Hwijeh, 10 miles inside Syria’s border, killing seven people and wounding five.
The U.S. military in Baghdad had no immediate comment.
