Violence spreads across South Africa

The atmosphere was tense in Cape Town on Friday after xenophobic violence that has left more than 40 dead in Johannesburg spread to South Africa’s largest city. Clashes overnight resulted in one death and 15 arrests and the evacuations of 420 foreign nationals, a police official in Cape Town said. “Crowds of people went on a rampage, looting and carrying out acts of violence,” said Cape Town Police Superintendent Billy Jones.

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U.N. demands full access to Sri Lanka refugees

The United Nations is demanding full access to refugee camps that are home to an estimated quarter of a million people fleeing war in Sri Lanka, the United Nations Children’s Fund said Tuesday. “People are arriving into camps sick, malnourished and some with untended wounds of war,” UNICEF Executive Director Ann Veneman said in a written statement.

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U.S., Russian officials to discuss new nuclear treaty

Russian and U.S officials are meeting Wednesday and Thursday in Moscow to discuss a replacement pact for the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty I, which is expiring in December. “The key thing is that our two countries seem to have decided that we do want to pursue very intensive negotiations between now and December 2009 to try to achieve a new treaty to replace START when it goes out of force December 5,” said Rose Gottemoeller, the U.S. assistant secretary of state

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Vacation Blues as Tourists Stay at Home

On a typical weekend afternoon, Beijing’s Silk Street Market buzzes with the sound of tens of thousands of tourists haggling over antiques, jewelry and knock-off Gucci handbags. Rickshaw drivers normally scoop up these marketgoers, pedal them to their hotels and return with pockets full of foreign currency — a lucrative cycle drivers can repeat dozens of times a day. In recent months, though, the Silk Street Market’s once reliable bustle has thinned dramatically

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