KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) – Shiva Parwar has been camping on the pavement for five days, waiting in line for cooking gas. There are 521 gas cylinders ahead of his, and not even the dealer knows when more fuel will arrive, thanks to a two-month-long border blockade that shows no sign …
Read More »Weeks of violence dampen Christmas spirit at Bethlehem hotel
BETHLEHEM, West Bank (AP) – With Christmas only weeks away and the latest Israeli-Palestinian violence showing no signs of abating, gloom has descended on the century-old Jacir Palace hotel in Bethlehem, famed for its soaring stone archways and wrought iron balconies. The traditional Christmas party has been nixed and reservations …
Read More »Climate talks shift gears
LE BOURGET, France (AP) – The latest news from the U.N. climate conference in Paris, which runs through Dec. 11. All times local: 12:10 p.m. Negotiators have adopted a draft of a global agreement to fight climate change and passed it on to environment and foreign ministers to work out …
Read More »An unspoken option if climate talks fail: Geoengineering
PARIS (AP) – It’s the option climate negotiators here are loath to talk about. What if they fail to curb global warming and the environment gets so dangerous that someone decides to do something drastic and play mad scientist? Should nations purposely pollute the planet to try to counteract man-made …
Read More »18 patients die in India hospital as floods cut off power
NEW DELHI (AP) – Severe floods that have hit the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu killed 18 hospital patients this week after rainwaters knocked out generators and switched off ventilators, officials said Saturday. State authorities were investigating complaints of negligence by officials at MIOT International hospital in the state …
Read More »The 11 countries that haven’t made pledges for climate deal
LE BOURGET, France (AP) – Some are at war, others recovering from natural disasters and some are simply ideologically opposed to the climate deal taking shape in U.N. talks outside Paris. Only 11 countries haven’t submitted pledges for the envisioned agreement, including conflict-ridden Syria, reclusive North Korea and socialist Latin …
Read More »Egypt: 16 killed, 3 hurt in firebomb attack at nightclub
CAIRO (AP) – A firebomb attack on a nightclub in Cairo early Friday killed 16 people and wounded three others, authorities said. Police were looking for two young men who carried out the attack in the Agouza district because they were previously not allowed to enter the club, state news …
Read More »Saudi Arabia hosting Syrian opposition ahead of peace talks
BEIRUT (AP) – Saudi Arabia is hosting Syrian opposition groups and many of the main rebel factions next week in an effort to come up with a unified front ahead of peace talks with Syrian government representatives scheduled to begin early next year. The meeting is the first of its …
Read More »PM says Turkey cannot be ‘brought to its knees’ by Russia
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) – Turkey’s prime minister struck a defiant tone Friday in his nation’s growing spat with Russia, declaring that his country cannot be “brought to its knees” by Russian economic sanctions imposed in response to Turkey’s downing of a Russian warplane. In a speech during a visit to …
Read More »OPEC ponders strategy, but lacks options to raise oil price
VIENNA (AP) – Faced with low prices and plentiful supply, OPEC oil ministers want to turn the market around. But their options are limited. The 12-nation Organization of the Petroleum Exporting countries began meeting Friday with prices of U.S. benchmark crude up marginally but still just above $41 a barrel, …
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