TEHRAN — A senior Iranian MP warned Western powers on Monday against "propaganda" over Iran's new uranium enrichment facility which he said could lead to a breakdown in much-anticipated nuclear talks.
"My guess is there are many different views inside Iran and the outside world should avoid strengthening the hand of the most intransigent," he said. ...
5:36: Behrooz Bayat warns that a military strike against the Islamic Republic would have incalculable consequences. “I don't believe such an installation ...
Six world powers are to hold talks with Iran on 1 October that are expected to cover global nuclear disarmament. Mr Ahmadinejad is also facing ongoing ...
In his address before the UN General Assembly, President Barack Obama said Iran could play a significant role in shaping the future of the world and its ...
World leaders will also rub shoulders in Pittsburgh at the G20 meeting at the end of the week. Russia has strongly opposed the kind of punishing economic ...
Iran MP warns nuclear talks may fail By Hiedeh Farmani (AFP) –
TEHRAN — A senior Iranian MP warned Western powers on Monday against "propaganda" over Iran's new uranium enrichment facility which he said could lead to a breakdown in much-anticipated nuclear talks.
"If this propaganda is effective, the talks will fail and these countries will be back to square one," Alaeddin Borujerdi, the head of parliament's national security and foreign policy commission, told Mehr news agency.
He also said Iran "will not accept any new conditions in the nuclear issue" ahead of talks due to be held between Iran and six global powers in Geneva on Thursday.
Earlier on Monday Iran reiterated that its newly disclosed second uranium enrichment plant does not violate international law and said that concerns raised by the West were baseless.
"It does not violate any international law. Western countries are making unrealistic comments," foreign ministry spokesman Hassan Ghashghavi told reporters.
On Friday, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) announced that Tehran had told it the Islamic republic was building a second uranium enrichment plant in addition to its existing facility at Natanz.
The revelation unleashed a global outcry against Tehran which is already at loggerheads with world powers over its controversial atomic programme.
"The allegations... the media hype is baseless," Ghashghavi said, referring to the outrage expressed by Western leaders including US President Barack Obama.
He said Iran was "prepared to clarify all aspects of the new nuclear plant."
The new enrichment facility is being constructed south of Tehran on the road to the holy city of Qom.
On Sunday, Iran's nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi vowed that Tehran will stick to enriching uranium up to the five percent level -- much lower than bomb-grade requirement, suggesting Tehran's atomic drive had peaceful aims.
Uranium enrichment lies at the centre of fears over Iran's controversial atomic work since the process to make nuclear fuel can also be used to make the fissile core of an atom bomb in much higher purifications of over 90 percent.
But US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in an interview with CBS network, said "we don't believe that they can present convincing evidence that it's only for peaceful purposes, but we are going to put them to the test on October 1."
Global powers suspect Tehran's nuclear drive is aimed at making nuclear weapons. Tehran denies the charge.
New doubts over Adolf Hitler
suicide after tests
reveal skull is a woman's By Mirror.co.uk28/09/2009
A skull believed to be Adolf Hitler’s may be that of a woman, casting new doubts on how the Nazi dictator died. USarchaeologist Nick Bellantoni found fragments from the skull said to be Hitler's were too thin to be from a male, and suspected it was the remains of a much younger woman. "The bone seemed very thin - male bone tends to be more robust. It corresponds to a woman between the ages of 20 and 40," Dr Bellantoni said. DNAtests on the fragments confirmed the remains could not have belonged to the Nazi leader. Original accounts of Hitler’s death claim he committed suicide after shooting himself in the head in a bunker after taking a cyanide tablet onApril 30, 194
Adolf Hitler may not have shot himself dead and perhaps did not even die in his bunker, it emerged yesterday.
A skull fragment believed for decades to be the Nazi leader’s has turned out to be that of a woman under 40 after DNA analysis.
Scientists and historians had long thought it to be conclusive proof that Hitler shot himself in the head after taking a cyanide pill on 30 April 1945 rather than face the ignominy of capture.
Revealed: The skull with a bullet hole, kept in a Russian archive, is a woman's
The piece of skull - complete with bullet hole - had been taken from outside the Fuhrer’s bunker by the Russian Army and preserved by Soviet intelligence.
Now the story of Hitler’s death will have to rewritten as a mystery - and conspiracy theorists are likely to latch on to the possibility that he may not have died in the bunker at all.
The traditional story is that Hitler committed suicide with Eva Braun as the Russians bombarded Berlin.
Although some historians doubted he shot himself and suggested it was Nazi propaganda to make him a hero, the hole in the skull fragment seemed to settle the argument when it was put on display in Moscow in 2000.
But DNA analysis has now been performed on the bone by American researchers.
Where is he? The skull the Soviets found in 1946 is not Adolf Hitler's, tests show
'We know the skull corresponds to a woman between the ages of 20 and 40,' said University of Connecticut archeologist Nick Bellantoni.
'The bone seemed very thin; male bone tends to be more robust. And the sutures where the skull plates come together seemed to correspond to someone under 40.' Hitler was 56 in April 1945.
Mr Bellantoni flew to Moscow to take DNA swabs at the State Archive and was also shown the bloodstained remains of the bunker sofa on which Hitler and Braun were believed to have killed themselves.
'I had the reference photos the Soviets took of the sofa in 1945 and I was seeing the exact same stains on the fragments of wood and fabric in front of me, so I knew I was working with the real thing,' he said.
His astonishing results have been broadcast in the U.S. in a History Channel documentary titled Hitler's Escape.
Is it hers? Eva Braun died aged 33 and the skull was from a woman under 40
According to witnesses, the bodies of Hitler and Braun were wrapped in blankets and carried to the garden just outside the bunker, placed in a bomb crater, doused with petrol and set ablaze.
In May 1945 a Russian forensics team dug up what was presumed to be the dictator’s body. Part of the skull was missing, apparently the result of the suicide shot. The remaining piece of jaw matched his dental records, according to his captured dental assistants. And there was only one testicle.
A year later the missing skull fragment was found on the orders of Stalin, who remained suspicious about Hitler’s fate.
Just how and when he died is now shrouded in mystery. Mr Bellantoni said it was unlikely the bone was Braun’s, who was 33.
'There is no report of Eva Braun having shot herself or having been shot afterwards,' he said. 'Many people died near the bunker.'
The bunker: Where Hitler and Braun's bodies were said to be burned and buried
Unknown to the world, the corpse then believed to be Hitler's was interred in Magdeburg, East Germany.
There it remained long after Stalin’s death in 1953.
Finally, in 1970, the KGB dug up the corpse, cremated it and secretly scattered the ashes in a river.
Only the jawbone (which remains away from public view), the skull fragment and the bloodstained sofa segments were preserved in the deep archives of Soviet intelligence.
Mr Bellantoni studied the remains after flying to Moscow to inspect the gruesome Hitler trophies at the State Archive.
He was allowed only one hour with the Hitler trove, during which time he applied cotton swabs and took DNA samples.
The samples were then flown back to Connecticut.
At the university’s centre for applied genetics, Linda Strausbaugh closed her lab for three days to work exclusively on the Hitler project
She said: ‘We used the same routines and controls that would have been used in a crime lab.’
To her surprise, a small amount of viable DNA was extracted.
She then replicated this through a process known as molecular copying to provide enough material for analysis.
‘We were very lucky to get a reading, despite the limited amount of genetic information,’ she said.
A general view of what Russian officials claim to be a fragment of Adolf Hitler's skull, at an exhibition in Moscow, Wed April 26, 2000. Photograph: Mikhail Metzel/AP
In countless biographies ofAdolf Hitlerthe story of his final hours is recounted in the traditional version: committing suicide with Eva Braun, he took a cyanide pill and then shot himself on 30 April 1945, as the Russians bombarded Berlin. Some historians expressed doubt that the Führer had shot himself, speculating that accounts of Hitler's death had been embellished to present his suicide in a suitably heroic light. But a fragment of skull, complete with bullet hole, which was taken from the bunker by the Russians and displayed in Moscow in 2000, appeared to settle the argument. Until now. In the wake of new revelations, the histories of Hitler's death may need to be rewritten – and left open-ended. American researchers claim to have demonstrated that the skull fragment, secretly preserved for decades by Soviet intelligence, belonged to a woman under 40, whose identity is unknown. DNA analyses performed on the bone, now held by the Russian State Archive in Moscow, have been processed at the genetics lab of the University of Connecticut. The results, broadcast in the US by a History Channel documentary,Hitler's Escape, astonished scientists. According to Connecticut archaeologist and bone specialist Nick Bellantoni, it was clear from the outset that something was amiss. "The bone seemed very thin; male bone tends to be more robust," he said. "And the sutures where the skull plates come together seemed to correspond to someone under 40." In April 1945 Hitler turned 56. Bellantoni had flown to Moscow to inspect the gruesome Hitler trophies at the State Archive, which included the skull fragment as well as bloodstains from the bunker sofa on which Hitler and Braun were believed to have committed suicide. He was allowed only one hour with the Hitler trove, during which time he applied cotton swabs and took DNA samples. "I had the reference photos the Soviets took of the sofa in 1945 and I was seeing the exact same stains on the fragments of wood and fabric in front of me, so I knew I was working with the real thing." The samples were then flown back to Connecticut. At the university's centre for applied genetics, Linda Strausbaugh closed her lab for three days to work exclusively on the Hitler project. "We used the same routines and controls that would have been used in a crime lab," she said. To her surprise, a small amount of viable DNA was extracted. She then replicated this through a process known as molecular copying to provide enough material for analysis. "We were very lucky to get a reading, despite the limited amount of genetic information," she said. The result was extraordinary. According to witnesses, the bodies of Hitler and Braun had been wrapped in blankets and carried to the garden just outside the Berlin bunker, placed in a bomb crater, doused with petrol and set ablaze. But the skull fragment the Russians dug up outside the Führerbunker in 1946 could never have belonged to Hitler. The skull DNA was incontestably female. The only positive physical proof that Hitler had shot himself had suddenly been rendered worthless. The result is a mystery reopened and, for conspiracy theorists the tantalising possibility that Hitler did not die in the bunker.
For decades after the war the fate of Hitler's corpse was shrouded in secrecy. No picture or film was made public. As the Soviet Army secured control of Berlin in May 1945, Russian forensic specialists under the command of the counterintelligence unit Smersh (an acronym for "Death to Spies") dug up what was presumed to be the dictator's body outside the bunker and performed a post-mortem examination behind closed doors. A part of the skull was absent, presumably blown away by Hitler's suicide shot, but what remained of his jaw coincided with his dental records, a fact reportedly confirmed when the Russians showed his surviving dental work to the captured assistants of Hitler's dentist. The autopsy also reported that Hitler, as had been rumoured, had only one testicle.
But Stalin remained suspicious. In 1946 a second secret mission was dispatched to Berlin. In the same crater from which Hitler's body had been recovered, the new team found what it believed was the missing skull fragment with a bullet exit wound through it. The Russians also took fragments of Hitler's bloodstained sofa.
Even this failed to satisfy Stalin, who clamped a secrecy order on all matters related to Hitler's death. Unknown to the world, Hitler's corpse was interred at a Smersh centre in Magdeburg, EastGermany. There it remained long after Stalin's death in 1953. Finally, in 1970, the KGB dug up the corpse, cremated it and secretly scattered the ashes in a river. Only the jawbone, the skull fragment and the bloodstained sofa segments were preserved in the deep archives of Soviet intelligence. The bunker was destroyed in 1947 and eventually paved over. Then, in 2000, the Russian State Archive in Moscow staged an exhibition,The Agony of the Third Reich. The skull fragment was displayed, but only photographs of Hitler's jawbone were on view. The head of the archive, Sergei Mironenko, said he had no doubt the skull fragment was authentic. "It is not just some bone we found in the street, but a fragment of a skull that was found in a hole where Hitler's body had been buried," he said.
In the wake of Bellantoni and Strausbaugh's findings, Mironenko's confidence was clearly misplaced. But could the fragment of skull belong to Eva Braun, who died at 33 and was laid alongside her beloved Führer in the same crater? "We know the skull corresponds to a woman between the ages of 20 and 40," said Bellantoni, but he is sceptical about the Braun thesis. "There is no report of Eva Braun having shot herself or having been shot afterwards. It could be anyone. Many people were killed around the bunker area."
Sixty-four years later, the world is still in the dark about what really happened in Hitler's bunker on 30 April 1945.
Uki Goñi is author of The Real Odessa (Granta), about the escape of Nazi war criminals from Europe
"We know the skull corresponds to a woman between the ages of 20 and 40.."
Adolf Hitler’s 'skull bone' revealed as woman's
Did German Nazi leader really did shoot himself in his Berlin bunker?
By TED THORNHILL - Monday, September 28, 2009
An archaeologist given access to Adolf Hitler's skull has declared that the bone is actually from a young woman.The amazing discovery casts doubt on whether the Nazi tyrant really did shoot himself in his Berlin bunker in April 1945. For decades history books have written that the 56-year-old dictator committed suicide with Eva Braun. Experts say that he took a cyanide pill and shot himself in the head as Russian troops overran the German capital. Soon after the end of the war the Russians took a fragment of skull with a bullet hole in it from the bunker and declared that it belonged to Hitler's corpse. Unknown to the wider world, they secretly transported the body to Magdeburg in East Germany. In 1970 the KGB cremated the corpse and threw the ashes in a river. But they kept the jawbone and a skull fragment along with bits from a blood-stained sofa found in the Fuhrer's Berlin bunker.US archaeologist Nick Bellatoni was given access to these remains for one hour in Moscow's state archive.He performed a DNA test and dramatically concluded that the fragments actually belong to a young woman. It means that the story of what happened to Hitler will have to be re-written.'The bone seemed very thin. Male bone tends to be more robust,' he said. 'And the sutures where the skull plates come together seemed to correspond to someone under 40.'However, he ruled out the possibility that the skull fragment belonged to Eva Braun.'We know the skull corresponds to a woman between the ages of 20 and 40,' said Bellantoni. 'There is no report of Eva Braun having shot herself or having been shot afterwards. It could be anyone. Many people were killed around the bunker area.
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A skull long believed to be that of Adolf Hitler actually belonged to a woman, according to an American scientist who has taken DNA samples from it.The skull was taken by Soviet forces in 1945 when they found charred remains outside the Nazi dictator's bunker in Berlin.
The Russians said at the time that the findings backed claims that Hitler had shot himself on April 30, 1945, and then been cremated along with his wife, Eva Braun.Now, however, archaeologist and bone specialist Nick Bellantoni says the skull really belonged to a woman aged under 40 and not Hitler - who was 56 when he died.
Neither does Mr Bellantoni believe the skull belongs to Braun, Hitler's long-time girlfriend and last-minute wife, who is thought to have killed herself by taking cyanide and would therefore not have had a bullet wound - as this skull has. The Russians say they have never claimed the skull itself was the chief reason for their belief the skull was Hitler's. Instead, they point to dental records as confirmation that Hitler killed himself. Some historians have believed for years that the Nazi dictator did not die in Berlin. "There is no forensic evidence whatsoever that Hitler died in the bunker," historian and journalist Gerrard Williams told Sky News Online."The Nazi high command had been making plans since 1943 to get out ofGermanyand to set up a Fourth Reich mainly in South America so they had no need to die in situ in Germany. "There was a very effective route out of Germany to South America and the Nazis had help from various factions, in particular a Croatian cardinal from the Vatican called Alois Hudel. "As for the dental records, they were destroyed on the orders on Martin Borman in 1944. So there were no records on top Nazi leaders with which to compare the charred findings." One reason why there was such a belief at the end of World War II that the skull was Hitler's, Mr Williams suggests, is that everyone needed Hitler to be dead."Everyone wanted to close the chapter very quickly because, of course, the Cold War was just starting up. It was convenient, that's all."
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Scientists said the bone fragment was too thin to be from an adult male
'Hitler skull' revealed as female
A bone fragment believed to be part of Adolf Hitler's skull has been revealed as being that of an unidentified woman, US scientists have said.
The section of bone - marked with a bullet hole - was used to support the theory that Hitler shot himself.
Russian scientists said the skull piece was found alongside Hitler's jawbone and had put it on display in Moscow. But US scientists said DNA tests revealed it actually belonged to a woman aged between 20 and 40. An archaeologist from the University of Connecticut travelled to Moscow, where the fragment has been on show in the city's federal archive since 2000, to take a sample.
Cyanide pill
Nick Bellantoni said he had suspected even before the bone was tested that the fragment did not come from an adult male. "The bone was very small and thin, and normally male bones are much more robust in our species," he said. "I thought it probably came from a woman or a younger man." DNA tests confirmed that the bone fragment came from a female. Doubts about exactly how Hitler died have persisted for decades. Russian officials said that the bodies of Hitler and Eva Braun - who reportedly committed suicide in a Berlin bunker in 1945 - were removed from a shell crater shortly after they died. The piece of skull forms part of a collection that also includes a section of a bloodstained sofa where Hitler is believed to have shot himself after swallowing a cyanide pill. But one of the archaeologists who worked on identifying the skull fragment said that the test does not reveal how Hitler died - just that the bone section did not belong to him.
Adolf Hitler's suicide in a bunker has been called into question
Adolf Hitler suicide story questioned after tests reveal skull is a woman's
Adolf Hitler's suicide in his Berlin bunker has been called into question after American researchers claimed that a bullet-punctured skull fragment long believed to belong to the Nazi dictator is, in fact, that of an unknown woman.
By Andrew Osborn in MoscowPublished: 7:00AM BST 28 Sep 200
The four-inch skull fragment has a hole where a bullet reportedly passed through Hitler’s left temple when he shot himself and is kept in Russia’s federal archives along with what are said to be his jawbones. Together, they are all that is left of Hitler’s body, the charred remains of which Soviet forces first recovered in 1945. For years, the Russians have held up the artefacts as proof that Soviet troops found Hitler’s body in the ruins of Berlin and that he died on April 30 when he shot himself just after taking cyanide.
But a History Channel documentary programme broadcast in the US called Hitler’s Escape claims the skull fragment belongs to a woman under 40 and not Hitler, who was 56 when he died. It quotes Nick Bellantoni, an archaeologist and bone specialist who took DNA samples from the skull in Moscow and had them tested at the University of Connecticut. He and his colleagues are sceptical that the skull fragment could belong to Eva Braun, Hitler’s long-time companion, since she is thought to have committed suicide by cyanide rather than with a gun. The findings are likely to revive conspiracy theories suggesting that Hitler did not die in 1945 but survived and fled to South America or elsewhere. Proponents of that theory believe Soviet troops found only his body double. However, the Russians have never held up the skull as exhibit one, always insisting that the jawbones — said to be in perfect condition - are confirmation. Soviet forces tracked down an assistant to Hitler’s dentist in 1945 who confirmed their authenticity. The contested skull fragment was found later, in 1946, when the Russians began an investigation after rumours that Hitler was still alive. It was found in the same hole outside Hitler’s bunker where his body was first found.
A University of Connecticut scientist says DNA taken from a skull thought to be Adolf Hitler's shows the bone fragment came from a woman. But professor Linda Strausbaugh says some of the blood taken from the couch where Hitler reportedly shot himself did come from a man. The section of a cranium is part of a collection of Hitler artefacts preserved by Soviet intelligence in the months after Hitler and Eva Braun reportedly committed suicide in a Berlin bunker in 1945. Strausbaugh and Connecticut archaeologist Nick Bellantoni were asked to examine the samples for a History Channel documentary. Strausbaugh says two other researchers were able to extract DNA to make the findings. She says nothing they found challenges the conclusion that Hitler died in the bunker.
Adolf Hitler may not have shot himself dead and perhaps did not even die in his bunker, it emerged yesterday.
A skull fragment believed for decades to be the Nazi leader’s has turned out to be that of a woman under 40 after DNA analysis.
Scientists and historians had long thought it to be conclusive proof that Hitler shot himself in the head after taking a cyanide pill on 30 April 1945 rather than face the ignominy of capture.
Revealed: The skull with a bullet hole, kept in a Russian archive, is a woman's
The piece of skull - complete with bullet hole - had been taken from outside the Fuhrer’s bunker by the Russian Army and preserved by Soviet intelligence.
Now the story of Hitler’s death will have to rewritten as a mystery - and conspiracy theorists are likely to latch on to the possibility that he may not have died in the bunker at all.
The traditional story is that Hitler committed suicide with Eva Braun as the Russians bombarded Berlin.
Although some historians doubted he shot himself and suggested it was Nazi propaganda to make him a hero, the hole in the skull fragment seemed to settle the argument when it was put on display in Moscow in 2000.
But DNA analysis has now been performed on the bone by American researchers.
The skull the Soviets found in 1946 is not Adolf Hitler's, tests show
'We know the skull corresponds to a woman between the ages of 20 and 40,' said University of Connecticut archeologist Nick Bellantoni.
'The bone seemed very thin; male bone tends to be more robust. And the sutures where the skull plates come together seemed to correspond to someone under 40.' Hitler was 56 in April 1945.
Mr Bellantoni flew to Moscow to take DNA swabs at the State Archive and was also shown the bloodstained remains of the bunker sofa on which Hitler and Braun were believed to have killed themselves.
'I had the reference photos the Soviets took of the sofa in 1945 and I was seeing the exact same stains on the fragments of wood and fabric in front of me, so I knew I was working with the real thing,' he said.
His astonishing results have been broadcast in the U.S. in a History Channel documentary titled Hitler's Escape.
According to witnesses, the bodies of Hitler and Braun were wrapped in blankets and carried to the garden just outside the bunker, placed in a bomb crater, doused with petrol and set ablaze.
In May 1945 a Russian forensics team dug up what was presumed to be the dictator’s body. Part of the skull was missing, apparently the result of the suicide shot. The remaining piece of jaw matched his dental records, according to his captured dental assistants. And there was only one testicle.
A year later the missing skull fragment was found on the orders of Stalin, who remained suspicious about Hitler’s fate.
Just how and when he died is now shrouded in mystery. Mr Bellantoni said it was unlikely the bone was Braun’s, who was 33.
'There is no report of Eva Braun having shot herself or having been shot afterwards,' he said. 'Many people died near the bunker.'
The bunker: Where Hitler and Braun's bodies were said to be burned and buried
Unknown to the world, the corpse then believed to be Hitler's was interred in Magdeburg, East Germany.
There it remained long after Stalin’s death in 1953.
Finally, in 1970, the KGB dug up the corpse, cremated it and secretly scattered the ashes in a river.
Only the jawbone (which remains away from public view), the skull fragment and the bloodstained sofa segments were preserved in the deep archives of Soviet intelligence.
Mr Bellantoni studied the remains after flying to Moscow to inspect the gruesome Hitler trophies at the State Archive.
He was allowed only one hour with the Hitler trove, during which time he applied cotton swabs and took DNA samples.
The samples were then flown back to Connecticut.
At the university’s centre for applied genetics, Linda Strausbaugh closed her lab for three days to work exclusively on the Hitler project
She said: ‘We used the same routines and controls that would have been used in a crime lab.’
To her surprise, a small amount of viable DNA was extracted.
She then replicated this through a process known as molecular copying to provide enough material for analysis.
‘We were very lucky to get a reading, despite the limited amount of genetic information,’ she said.
Scientists: Skull piece that Russian officials say came from Hitler's body actually from woman
HARTFORD, Conn. - A piece of skull with a bullet hole through it that Russian officials claimed belonged to Adolf Hitler actually came from a woman, scientists at the University of Connecticut concluded.
The cranium fragment is part of a collection of Hitler artifacts preserved by Soviet intelligence in the months after Hitler and Eva Braun reportedly committed suicide in a Berlin bunker in April 1945.
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It may be one of sub-Saharan Africa's largest oil producers, but two out of three people in Gabon live below the poverty line. In the capital, Libreville, those at the bottom of the heap try to eke out a livelihood at the Mindoube rubbish dump. None of the major candidates in the country's recent presidential elections ventured there during their campaign -- and its residents aren't expecting much from the new government. Duration: 02:11.
In parts of Havana, the Yoruba traditions of former Nigerian and Congolese slaves are still practiced. Followers worship the Orishas, deities of nature. Centuries ago, slaves venerated these spirits secretly, in the place of Catholic saints. This year, during island celebrations for the Virgin Mary, faithful Yoruba make offerings on the water¿s edge to Yemaya, goddess of the sea.
Abdullah Abdullah, the closest challenger to Hamid Karzai in Afghanistan's presidential race, denounced the release of partial election results showing his rival sailing ahead with a clear lead. In an interview with AFPTV, Abdullah said the commission was delivering flawed figures which included "fraudulent votes".
Barack Obama Tuesday held up his personal journey from wayward youth to the presidency to challenge US children to excel, in a back-to-school speech which sparked conservative fury.
Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Tuesday she "deeply regrets" any innocent victims in Afghanistan, after an air strike last week ordered by a German commander left scores dead. Duration: 01:11
Rio de Janeiro is competing for the title of "Favourite gay destination in the world". Rio is competing against other cities like London, Barcelona, Montreal or Sydney. Duration: 01:28
Eyewitness accounts of how a suicide bomber attacked a NATO convoy outside Kabul's military airport on Tuesday, killing three civilians and wounding four foreign soldiers in a fiery vehicle blast claimed by the resurgent Taliban. Duration: 01:04
In Turkey, not only traditional media are censored, but also the Internet, where more than 2600 sites are banned. Although netizens have found ways to get access to their favourite sites like Youtube, the nature of censorship still affects people's life in a profound way. Duration: 01:49
The west African nation of Guinea-Bissau is not exactly a tourist mecca, but its Bijagos archipelago is an exception. It attracts fishing buffs who travel far afield in search of aquatic adventure. Duration: 01:36
A suicide bomber exploded a car outside Kabul's military airport on Tuesday, killing two Afghan civilians and wounding 10 people including four foreign soldiers. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the incident, the second suicide attack targeting the airbase in less than a month. Duration: 00:52
Sudanese journalist Lubna Ahmed al-Hussein was sent to jail on Monday after refusing to pay a 200-dollar fine imposed because she wore trousers, according to one of her lawyers. Under Sudanese law, she could have been sentenced to a maximum of 40 lashes for "indecency" under Islamic principles after being arrested with 12 other women wearing trousers in a Khartoum restaurant in July. Hussein has vowed to appeal against any conviction. Duration: 00:34
The shadow of fraud is lengthening over Afghanistan's election, following the announcement that hundreds of thousands of votes were rejected, and chilling popular sentiment in the West for its vast operations in the war-ravaged country. With Afghans increasingly disillusioned with Western military activity in their country, the stakes are higher than ever. Duration: 01:59
An investigation is under way after a NATO air strike on fuel tankers hijacked by the Taliban killed scores in northern Afghanistan. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Sunday she would "deeply regret" if any civilian lives were lost in the air strike in Kunduz on September 4, which was ordered by a German military commander.
Early mornings are an integral part of the the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. The task of getting people up before the crack of dawn falls to the musaharatis, who make their way through the streets with their drums and traditional songs. In the Palestinian territory of Gaza, the job offers its own challenges and rewards.
The Ecuadoran judge handling a billion-dollar pollution lawsuit against US oil giant Chevron said Friday he would recuse himself from the case following allegations that he was involved in a bribery scheme. The decision, Judge Juan Nunez told local radio, was made "to ensure transparency, independence of the judiciary and in the prosecution of this case." In hidden-camera videos posted on its website this week, Chevron said it had revealed "a three-million-dollar bribery scheme implicating the judge presidi
McDonald's, the global face of fast food and bete noire of health nuts everywhere, is celebrating 30 years of Happy Meals in France. Contrary to all expectations, its burgers-and-fries combo has been a hit with French diners, because the corporation has been savvy in fashioning a customised offer for Gallic tastes.
Thousands of graduates across Afghanistan are facing up to the bleak prospect of unemployment. Even doctors and dentists are struggling to find work in their fields, and many will have to leave their chosen profession to support their families.
Forget Hawaii, Hossegor and Bali: The latest destination for surfing is Canada, under the shadow of Montreal's grey skies. More than 500 kilometers from the ocean, surfing addicts flock to ride waves on the St. Lawrence River.
Unrest broke out in several districts of the Gabonese capital Libreville on Thursday as Ali Bongo, son of the country's late leader Omar Bongo Ondimba, was declared winner of a bitterly disputed presidential election with around 42 percent of the vote. Images and soundbites. Duration: 00:41.
China on Thursday granted approval to its first home-grown swine flu vaccine, which producer Sinovac says is effective after only one dose, as the country braces for a feared winter outbreak. Duration: 02:02.
It's an annual tradition -- the dramatic mini-series made specially for Ramadan. During the holiday month, several of the television programmes are being shown on Arab satellite television, and this year most have a similar backdrop to their dramas -- the Israeli-Arab conflict. Duration: 01:56.
An animals rights group has released an undercover video showing the euthanasia practices of one of the biggest egg hatcheries in the world--in a factory in Iowa. Males, useless for the production of eggs, are ground up alive.
French Budget Minister Eric Woerth reiterated at a meeting of the employers' federation Medef on Wednesday that there would be no "amnesty" for tax evaders. His declarations come hot on the heels of the revelation that Paris holds a list of 3,000 names of taxpayers with a total of about three billion euros squirrelled away in three Swiss banks.
Top envoys for Afghanistan called for a "fair" election process after a meeting in Paris on Wednesday. The daylong conference aimed to chart a way forward after claims of massive fraud cast a pall over the presidential election. US special representative Richard Holbrooke and counterparts from 26 countries and organisations met on the same day as a fresh Taliban attack which killed Afghanistan's deputy chief of intelligence, and two days after a high-level report presented a gloomy assessment of US and NATO
Niger is home to the last remaining giraffes in the whole of western Africa. Locals are now partners in the protection of the endangered animals, seeing them as an asset to be protected rather than game to be hunted.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon has urged world leaders to act to halt global warming, as he saw first-hand its effects in the Arctic ahead of a key climate change summit in December. Ban's statement came one day after visiting thinning ice at the polar ice rim and speaking with scientists on Tuesday.
Opium production in Afghanistan has fallen for a second year running with poppy cultivation down 22 percent and prices among the lowest in a decade, a UN report said Wednesday. But authorities warn opium addiction amongst the country¿s poorest is spiralling out of control, as unemployment and illness drive hundreds of thousands to drug abuse. Counsellors say they are particularly fearful for women, who are becoming opium addicts in record numbers. Duration: 02:31.
Faced with the slowdown in international trade, dozens of Turkish cargo vessels have been stranded in port for months, their foreign crew at times left without pay or a return ticket home. Duration: 02:19.
The death of three Palestinian brothers last week in a collapsed smuggling tunnel along the Gaza Strip's border with Egypt is a harsh reminder of the lengths many in the Hamas-controlled territory will go to to make ends meet. Duration: 01:55.
Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi marked the 40th anniversary of the bloodless coup that brought him to power with celebrations attended by African, Arab and Latin American leaders but largely ignored by the West. Kadhafi's party kicked off around midnight on Monday with a two-hour spectacle that paid homage to the leader himself and featured music, illuminations and dance. Duration: 01:32.
Hurricane Jimena sent tourists fleeing Tuesday as it bore down on Mexico's Baja California, while fishing communities on the sparsely populated peninsula toughed it out.
Tens of thousands of Kurds rallied Tuesday urging Turkey to grant them greater rights and reach a peace deal with Kurdish rebels who extended their truce till the end of the Muslim holy fasting month. Organisers said about 100,000 people turned up in Diyarbakir, the largest city in the Kurdish-dominated southeast, at the rally called by the main Kurdish political party, the Democratic Society Party (DTP).
There?s a new kind of drag race in town, and it?s a green one. Contestants driving electric cars compete to see whose vehicle can accelerate the fastest, no gasoline allowed.
The Stars and Rain school is unique in China -- the country's first school for autistic children. Since it opened in 1993, it has helped thousands of children. While working with its special needs students, it has a larger goal -- to encourage acceptance in China of a condition still largely misunderstood. Duration: 01:44.
Refugees who fled Myanmar into China after deadly clashes between junta forces and ethnic rebels have begun trickling back across the border, but some say they fear going home to more unrest.
African leaders gathered in Libya on Monday for a special summit to discuss the continent's trouble spots, on the eve of celebrations to mark 40 years of Moamer Kadhafi's rule.
Ali Bongo, the son of the longtime leader of Gabon, has claimed victory in presidential polls held at the weekend, but so, too, have two of his main rivals. As the son of Omar Bongo Ondimba -- who ruled the former French colony for 41 years before his death in June -- former defence minister Ali Bongo Ondimba was seen as the favourite to take power.
Across France companies have been forced by dire bottom lines to lay off staff, but employees at one factory are baring all to protect their jobs -- posing nude in a calendar to draw attention to their plight.
The opposition Democratic Party of Japan led by Yukio Hatoyama celebrated a landslide victory in elections on Sunday which ousted the ruling conservatives after more than half a century of nearly unbroken rule.
The man widely tipped to be Japan's next prime minister, Yukio Hatoyama, is the scion of one of the country's most influential and wealthy political dynasties. Despite his roots in the moneyed power elite, Hatoyama has pledged to fight for the common man, often speaking of his vision of "a fraternal society." Raw images
Tears flowed Saturday at the grand Catholic funeral for Edward Kennedy, eulogized by President Barack Obama as "the lion of the Senate" and by his son as a tender-hearted hero.
It's one of the most extreme of extreme sports, but 2000 athletes are participating in this weekend's punishing North Face Ultra-Trail championship. Now in its sixth year, the race winds up and around Mont Blanc. After a gruelling trek, the Spaniard, Kilian Jornet won the championship on Saturday.
It's one of the most extreme of extreme sports, but 2000 athletes were at the start-line Friday to participate in the punishing North Face Ultra-Trail championship. Now in its sixth year, the race winds up and around Mont Blanc and lasts for days. Duration: 00:42.
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