Somalis dying in world's worst famine in 20 years

Somalian refugees are checked in at a refugee settlement camp close to the Kenyan border with Somalia. (Oli Scarff, Getty Images - July 20, 2011)

Exhausted, rail-thin women are stumbling into refugee camps in Kenya and Ethiopia with dead babies and bleeding feet, having left weaker family members behind along the way.

NAIROBI  Keny Tens of thousands of Somalis are feared dead in the world's worst famine in a generation-the U.N. said Wednesday - a crisis so severe that the United-States is loosening rules meant to prevent emergency funds from falling into the hands of Al-Qaida linked militants. Exhausted - rail-thin women are stumbling into refugee-camps in Kenya and Ethiopia with dead babies and bleeding feet - having left weaker family members behind along the way.

New foreign minister

Ms Khar breaks away from the conventional image of persons entrusted to such key portfolios.

Fresh air blowing through the often stagnant realm of political life is usually a rarity. It blows in only now and then and this time seems to have done so with the appointment of Hina Rabbani Khar as Pakistan’s new foreign minister. Ms-Khar breaks away from the conventional image of persons entrusted to such key portfolios. In the first place, she is a woman; in the second she is young.

Harry Potter fans, an era is ending

 

By Carrie Rickey

Inquirer Movie Critic

Friday marks the end of an era. Some, like Warner Bros. executive Dan Fellman, compare its finality to the breakup of the Beatles.

When Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, the eighth and presumably final film based on the phenom--that has sold 450 million books and close to a billion movie tickets, opens this week in theaters from Lahore to Los Angeles, it will be twilight in the Potterverse.

7.1 Earth quake jolts northeast Japan

A strong earthquake jolted-northeastern Japan on Sunday, triggering an evacuation at the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant but there was no sign of further damage at the facility or reports of casualties along the coast.
The Japan Meteorological Agency issued, and then lifted, a tsunami alert after the 7.1 magnitude quake which hit the same area that was devastated by a massive quake and tsunami on March 11. Officials said a 10 cm wave had been recorded.

Security forces take control of Karachi troubled areas

Security forces took partial control of the-troubled areas of Orangi Town, Qasba Colony and Kati Pahari where violence claimed over 65 lives with over three hundred wounded.

The troubled--areas of Qasba Colony, Kati Pahari and surrounding areas of Orangi Town, where gunmen had taken positions and were in control for the past four days, were once again in the control of security forces. Various other localities of Orangi Town and other areas of the city remained tense with-intermittent gunfights that claimed four more lives while dozens were injured. Two bullet-riddled bodies were recovered from Pirabad police limits and shifted to morgue for identification after autopsy at Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre.

Final Shuttle Flight's Secret (Not So Secret) Souvenir Stash

Various U.S., military and country flags, as well as assorted space shuttle mission patches are among the mementos packed aboard Atlantis for the final space shuttle mission.

The final astronaut-crew to fly on a space shuttle has a secret in store for everyone watching when the astronauts pause during their mission to offer a tribute to NASA's 30-year shuttle program.

The four crewmembers have some special souvenirs packed on shuttle Atlantis, but what they are, they aren't saying.

"Our commander wants to keep a lot of that a surprise for the day that we do those things," said Atlantis' pilot-Doug Hurley in a pre-flight interview. "Obviously, there may be some mementos involved before we leave the space station for the last time

'Syria' slams-U.S-diplomat's trip to Hama

U.S. ambassador to Syria Robert Ford visited-Hama Thursday, stayed overnight, and left on Friday.

By the CNN Wire Staff

The embattled Syrian-regime is lambasting the U.S. ambassador for his trip to the restive city of Hama, where it says he met with "saboteurs," incited protests and undermined its national dialogue initiative.
The government also said Robert Ford did not ask for proper--permission to travel to the city, where thousands of people have taken to the streets for anti-government protests in recent days, including a huge turnout on Friday.
In a visit meant to show solidarity with the Syrian citizenry, Ford journeyed to the city on Thursday, stayed overnight, and left on Friday.