World News

A demonstrator shouts slogans at a protest against fuel hikes in La Paz, Bolivia, Thursday Dec. 30. 2010. People are protesting a 73 percent jump in gasoline prices and 83 percent rise in the price of diesel that were announced by the government on Sunday.

photo: AP / Juan Karita

Bolivia withdraws fuel price increase after street protests
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Eds: epa photos available = La Paz (dpa) - Bolivian President Ivo Morales late Friday repealed a hike in fuel prices that had sparked street protests similar to those five years ago that brought down the government of his predecessor Carlos Mesa. At the time, Morales was leader of the opposition in the South American country. On Thursday, just...

Estonians celebrate joining the euro zone during a concert the center of in Tallinn, early Saturday, Jan. 1, 2011. The Baltic state of Estonia early Saturday became the 17th European Union member to adopt the joint European currency, the euro. It is the first former Soviet republic to join the single currency club.

photo: AP / Timur Nisametdinov, NIPA

Estonia joins eurozone despite turmoil
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Estonia joins euro area (CNN) -- Estonia became the newest member of the eurozone Saturday, adopting the euro for its official currency as the clock rang in 2011. The country's Prime Minister Andrus Ansip hailed the currency changeover as economic good sense despite the turmoil...

Tens of thousands of Muslim pilgrims moving around the Kaaba, the black cube seen at center, inside the Grand Mosque, during the annual Hajj in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, Thursday, Nov. 18, 2010.

photo: AP / Hassan Ammar

A Pilgrimage Just Might Save America from Imminent Disaster
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"You may be shocked...But on this pilgrimage, what I have seen, and experienced, has forced me to re-arrange much of my thought-patterns previously held, and to toss aside some of my previous conclusions." -Malcolm X, "Malcolm X to His Followers" Before discussing the controversy surrounding Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf and his interfaith dialogue and...

Revellers during the New Year's Eve celebrations in Hong Kong's Times Square Saturday, Jan. 1, 2011.

photo: AP / Vincent Yu

NYC welcomes 2011 with traditional ball-drop, revelers
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Times Square counts down to 2011 New York (CNN) -- An estimated 1 million people marked the passing of one year and the beginning of another in New York's Times Square with the descent of an iconic ball. With the help of Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Medal of Honor recipient Staff Sgt. Salvatore A. Giunta, the dazzling crystal ball began its 70-foot...

Supporters of Pakistani religious party Jamat-i-Islami wave their party flags with Arabic inscription" There is no God but Allah, Mohammad is the Messenger of Allah," during a rally to protest against attempts to modify blasphemy laws, in Peshawar, Pakistan, Friday, Dec. 31, 2010.

photo: AP / Mohammad Sajjad

Pakistanis rally over blasphemy law
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Strikes and rallies have been staged across Pakistan against proposed changes to Pakistan's blasphemy laws. Protests were staged in Islamabad, Lahore, Peshawar, Quetta and Karachi against a move to amend a law which permits death sentences for those found to have committed blasphemy. The law received attention in November when Asia Bibi, a...

An Egyptian Christian grieves outside the Coptic Christian Saints Church in the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria, Egypt, Saturday, Jan. 1, 2011. A car exploded in front of the church early Saturday as worshippers emerged from a New Year's Mass, killing at least 21 people according to officials, and sparking clashes between Christians and Muslims, a sign of the sectarian anger that has been arising with greater frequency in Egypt.

photo: AP / Tarek Fawzy

Deadly blast outside Egypt church
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At least five people have been killed in an attack on a Christian church in Alexandria in northern Egypt. Witnesses said there were also a number of wounded and ambulances had started to arrive at the scene of the explosion. The attack, apparently caused by a car bomb, took place as the faithful left the church in the Sidi Bechr district...

Sri Lankans hold national flags as they celebrate the victory of military over Tamil Tiger rebels in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Monday, May 18, 2009. Sri Lanka declared Monday it had crushed the final resistance of the Tamil Tigers, killing rebel chief Velupillai Prabhakaran and ending his three-decade quest for an independent homeland for minority Tamils.

photo: AP / Eranga Jayawardena

Sri Lanka erases colonial name, Ceylon
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By Charles Haviland BBC News, Sri Lanka Continue reading the main story Related stories Country profile: Sri Lanka Sri Lanka's government has decided to change the names of all state institutions still bearing the nation's former British colonial name, Ceylon. The government wants the country's modern name to be used instead. The...

A woman who lost a relative in a bomb explosion, center, mourns at the Asokoro General Hospital, Abuja, Nigeria, Friday, Dec. 31, 2010. A bomb blast tore through a beer garden at a Nigerian army barracks where revelers had gathered to celebrate New Year's Eve, witnesses said. State-run television reported Friday night that 30 people died, though police immediately disputed that.

photo: AP / Felix Onigbinde

Blast kills 11 at market in Nigerian capital
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ABUJA (Reuters) - At least 11 people were killed in an explosion at a popular market in Nigeria's capital Abuja late on Friday, witnesses and security sources said. The blast occurred at Mammy market,...

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon addresses a summit on the Millennium Development Goals at United Nations headquarters on Monday, Sept. 20, 2010.

photo: AP / Henny Ray Abrams

Nepal's peace process at crossroads: UN chief
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Kathmandu: Nepal's peace process is at crossroads, the head of the United Nations has warned, just two weeks before the planned closure of a UN peace mission in the troubled country. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said the lack of progress in the peace process that began when Nepal's bloody civil war ended more than four years ago was a "growing...

File - A woman sleeps on the steps of a hospital adjacent to a cholera treatment centre (CTC) in L’Estere, Haiti, 11 November, 2010.

photo: UN / Logan Abassi

Haiti's cholera deaths increase
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The cholera death toll in Haiti is rising daily, with official figures indicating that 3,333 people have died since the outbreak of the epidemic in mid-October. Official sources state that, as a result of cholera, the numbers have averaged out to around 50 new reported deaths a day. The epidemic, the first in Haiti for more than...