Rousseff opens Brasilia World Cup stadium

Latin America News.Net - Sunday 19th May, 2013

Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff officially opened Brasilia's Mane Garrincha World Cup stadium. Despite controversy surrounding delays and cost overruns, Rousseff said the 71,000-seat venue was now the source of pride among Brazilians, reports Xinhua. "A year ago they said that we wouldn't build our stadiums, that they wouldn't be ready. But now we are seeing that the stadiums have been ...

Sectarian Violence Kills 11 in Iraq

Latin America News.Net - Saturday 18th May, 2013

It was a violent day in Iraq Saturday with at least 11 people killed and 10 policemen kidnapped as hatred simmers between the ruling Shi'ite majority and the Sunni minority. Gunmen broke into the home of an anti-terrorism policeman in the Baghdad suburb of Rasheed, killing him, his wife, and two children. Another security officer was killed elsewhere in Rasheed. Police say gunmen killed ...

Pope Church Must Help Poorest Not Dissect Theology

Latin America News.Net - Saturday 18th May, 2013

VATICAN CITY Pope Francis shared personal moments with 200,000 people on Saturday, telling them he sometimes nods off while praying at the end of a long day and that it "breaks my heartrdquo; that the death of a homeless person is not news. Francis, who has made straight talk and simplicity a hallmark of his papacy, made his unscripted comments in answers to questions by four people at ...

Top Pakistani Politician Gunned Down in Karachi

Latin America News.Net - Saturday 18th May, 2013

A top Pakistani politician has been shot and killed in Karachi. Police say Zahra Shahid Hussain was shot twice in the head Saturday during an attempted street robbery outside her home. She died on the way to the hospital. A spokesman for Hussain's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, or PTI, calls her killing an act of terrorism. Hussain was a senior vice president of PTI, which ...

Caribbean Scientist Warns of Climate Change Disaster

Common Dreams - Sunday 19th May, 2013

The Caribbean does not have the luxury of time for decisive action on climate change and global warming. In fact, it is on the brink of calamity, according to a prominent ...

US Official White House Was Unaware of IRS Misdeeds

VOA - Sunday 19th May, 2013

President Barack Obama and White House Senior Advisor Dan Pfeiffer, right, react to a reporter's question as they leave the Treasury Department in Washington, Jan. 16, ...

Ollanta Humalas approval rating in Peru slips to six-month low

Buenos Aires Herald - Sunday 19th May, 2013

President Ollanta Humala's approval rating fell 5 points to a six-month low of 46 percent, reflecting the unpopularity of his proposal to buy an oil refinery owned by Spain's Repsol and his support for Venezuela's new government, an Ipsos poll showed. The nationwide poll was published by the newspaper El Comercio. Humala abandoned his idea of buying the Repsol oil refinery after ...

US robots Israeli drones to help make 2014 World Cup in Brazil one of safest sporting events ever

RT - Sunday 19th May, 2013

World Cup 2014 Brazil has added 30 US military robots to the Israeli drones and 'Robocop-style' glasses with face recognition cameras to its arsenal after the country allocated $900 million to make 2014 World Cup "one of the most protected sports events in history." The 30 PackBot 510 units, which usually cost between $100,000 and $200,000 apiece, will arrive in Brazil as ...

Jordy Smith surfs to ASP win in Brazil

Middle East Times - Sunday 19th May, 2013

surfing tournament Sunday. Smith navigated the 2-to-4 foot swells at Barra Da Tijuca to win the third stop on the Association of Surfing Professionals World Championship Tour by a score of 17.80-16.34. Smith scored high by catching air on one productive wave and performing a so-called stailfish air-reverse on another. It was the third career ASP victory for the 25-year-old Smith and his first ...

Costa Rica Might Be ChangingPolicy on GMO Foods

Check Biotech - Sunday 19th May, 2013

Although transgenic soybeans, cotton and some corn has been grown in Costa Rica since 1991, groups that oppose genetically modified crops are increasing pressure on the government to slow the permit process for future GM crops, reports Ag ...

Afghanistan India to Discuss Military Aid

VOA - Sunday 19th May, 2013

A spokesman for the Afghan president says Mr. Karzai will ask for assistance for the strengthening of the country's military and security institutions. Afghanistan and India signed a strategic partnership in 2011 which included India's training of Afghan forces as they prepare to takeover security from foreign troops in 2014. Pakistan has also offered a strategic partnership ...

Funeral Held for Slain Pakistani Politician

VOA - Sunday 19th May, 2013

Zahra Shahid Hussain was killed late Saturday after being approached by two unknown gunmen outside her home in Karachi. Pakistani politician and former cricket star Imran Khan, leader of Pakistan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, or PTI, blamed Saturday's slaying of Zahra Shahid Hussain on the rival Muttahida Qaumi Movement party, or MQM. The party has denied any ...

Volcano outside Mexico City still rumbling spitting ash

General Sources - Sunday 19th May, 2013

MEXICO CITY - The Popocatepetl volcano near Mexico City is still rumbling. Mexico's National Disaster Prevention Center says seismic activity shook the area early Sunday. And the 5,450-meter mountain also emitted gas, ash and glowing-hot rocks. The snow-capped volcano has been erupting periodically since 1994 and eruptions began strengthening about two weeks ...

Tunisians Fear Growing Threat of Radical Islamists

VOA - Sunday 19th May, 2013

PARIS -- Police in Tunisia fired tear gas to disperse stone-throwing Islamists in two cities after the government banned the hardline Ansar al-Shariah group from staging its annual congress Sunday. The events underscore the growing clout of Muslim extremists in the once staunchly secular North African country. The assassination of secular opposition leader Chokri Belaid in February sparked ...

Nigeria Government Encouraged with Military Offensive Progress

VOA - Sunday 19th May, 2013

An advisor to Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan says the government is encouraged by the progress of the ongoing military offensive against the Islamic militant sect, Boko Haram. "The majority of the various camps where the terrorists have converted into their hideouts have been heavily bombarded, both by air and on land. And I’m just receiving a report that about 55 ...

Mexico has faith in Asian-Pacific future

Global Times - Sunday 19th May, 2013

Mexico is in a great moment. Macroeconomic stability and a low debt rate are part of our strengths as one of the top 15 economies in the world. We are an economy with a broad social perspective fully inserted into international trade, with an exchange of goods and services that amounts more than $700 billion each year. We offer a secure and trustworthy environment for foreign investment. Our ...

Report Says Iran Hangs 2 Spies Working for Israel US

VOA - Sunday 19th May, 2013

DUBAI, UAE -- Iranian authorities executed two men on Sunday convicted of working for Israeli and U.S. spy agencies, Iran's Fars news agency reported. Mohammad Heidari, accused of passing security-related information and secrets to Israeli Mossad agents in exchange for money, and Kourosh Ahmadi, accused of gathering information for the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, were hanged at ...

Syrian TV Troops Enter Rebel Stronghold of Qusair

VOA - Sunday 19th May, 2013

Syrian state television says government troops have entered the rebel town of Qusair as part of a weeks-long offensive to recapture the strategic area connecting Damascus to the Mediterranean ...

Islamists Riot in Tunisia After Major Rally is Banned

VOA - Sunday 19th May, 2013

Radical Islamists in Tunisia have engaged in street battles with police after authorities banned thousands of them from holding an annual conference in the center of the country. The radical activists, also known as Salafists, threw stones at Tunisian police who deployed heavily in the central town of Kairouan to prevent them from gathering on Sunday. Police responded to the stone throwers by ...

Santiago advises rookie lawmakers to ‘go back to school’

Inquirer - Sunday 19th May, 2013

Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO MANILA, Philippines — Neophyte senators would do their countrymen a favor by going back to school and not making the mistake of entering the Senate with guns a-blazing (';huwag magpasiklab agad"). The unsolicited advice came from Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago who, despite her already impressive academic background, said she ...

Pope warns Church against closing in on itself

The Star - Sunday 19th May, 2013

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis warned the Catholic Church to not close in on itself at a Mass to mark Pentecost Sunday attended by more than 200,000 people, urging the faithful to be open and present in a new and changing ...

Two imprisoned in Mexico over killing Malcolm Xs grandson

CBS News - Sunday 19th May, 2013

In this undated composite image released by Mexico City's prosecutor's office (PGJDF) on Monday, May 13, 2013, Manuel Alejandro Perez de Jesus, 24, left, and David Hernandez Cruz, 24, stand for their mug shot after being arrested in Mexico ...