Daily News Channel
Gunmen attacked a convoy Sunday in Somalia and took several hostages, including two foreign aid workers from the group Doctors Without Borders. Local staff said a three-car convoy was traveling from Rabbure to Hudur in southwestern Somalia, escorted by local bodyguards, when gunmen seized the group. The district commissioner of Rabbure said the only people released were elders accompanying the staff, with the local and international staff kept as hostages.
Well into Thursday morning, Speers and about 10 colleagues from Maersk Line Ltd. huddled in a hurriedly made situation room in the company’s Norfolk headquarters. The group was monitoring naval efforts to rescue the captain of their cargo carrier, the Maersk Alabama, who was taken hostage by pirates who hijacked the ship early Wednesday
British banking giant RBS has revealed it expects to make more job cuts and that former chief executive Fred Goodwin is considering taking a voluntary cut in his pension. New chairman Philip Hampton Friday made a strong apology for the bank’s mistakes, which lead to a UK record loss of £24.1 billion ($34.6 billion) for 2008.
John Terry kept England’s charge to the 2010 World Cup finals firmly on track when he snatched a dramatic 2-1 qualifying victory over Group Six rivals Ukraine at Wembley on Wednesday. England have now won their first five qualifiers under new coach Fabio Capello, but it looked as though their run could end when Andriy Shevchenko struck a shock equaliser for Ukraine after 74 minutes. It was skipper Terry came to the rescue, sidefooting home from a couple of yards five minutes from time following a trademark David Beckham free kick.
Australia were frustrated in their bid to become the first side to reach next year’s World Cup finals in South Africa after beating Uzbekistan 2-0 to regain control of Asian Group A. Had Bahrain and Qatar drawn their match in Manama later on Wednesday, the Socceroos would have been celebrating qualification. Instead they must wait at least until their next match against Qatar after striker Fouzi Aaish hit the only goal of the game for Bahrain from a free kick after 52 minutes.
Automaker Peugeot fired its chief executive on Sunday, replacing Christian Streiff with Philippe Varin, currently the CEO at Corus, an Anglo-Dutch steelmaker. “Given the extraordinary difficulties currently faced by the automotive industry, the Supervisory Board decided unanimously that a change in the senior leadership position was necessary,” said Thierry Peugeot, chairman of the PSA Peugeot Citroen supervisory board. “I am confident that under the leadership of Philippe Varin, the Group will be able, with all the teams, to unlock its potential.” Varin will officially take over Peugeot’s top post on June 1, but will begin “familiarizing himself” with operations starting next month
The threat from terrorists using chemical, biological and even nuclear weapons is growing, Britain said Tuesday, warning advances in technology will enable extremists to conduct more lethal attacks in the future. The predictions came as Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s government’s laid out its anti-terrorism policies and strategy in a document containing previously-classified information
President Obama reached out to citizens of the world Tuesday, saying in an op-ed piece that ran in 31 newspapers around the globe that there is an urgent need for worldwide economic cooperation. Obama’s move comes ahead of next week’s Group of 20 meeting in London, England, in which leaders of the world’s richest nations will discuss the global economic downturn. “My message is clear,” Obama wrote
Science is not shy about ambiguity, never more so than when it comes to medical advice. So here’s the latest recommendation on prostate-cancer screening: Men should continue to have both a manual prostate exam and a blood test for prostate-specific antigen every year — bearing in mind that neither test may affect your odds of surviving prostate cancer. Those seemingly contradictory conclusions are part of the results of the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal and Ovarian Cancer Screening trial , a sweeping, 17-year project conducted by the National Cancer Institute
Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel are getting their group back together this spring for a reunion tour of Asia and Australia, according to a source close to the group. Reunion plans apparently began after Simon and Garfunkel played three songs together during Simon’s two-night gig at New York’s Beacon Theatre in February. Tour rehearsals begin in New York in May and the tour will launch in New Zealand around the first week of June, according to the source