World
Egyptian troops closed the last breach in Egypt's frontier with the Gaza Strip on Sunday, witnesses and Hamas security officials said, ending a chaotic, 11-day stream of Palestinians out of long-blockaded Gaza. The troops were allowing Gazans and Egyptians who remained on the wrong side of the border to cross back to their homes, but barred new cross-border movement. Above, a Palestinian boy peers over the border as Egyptian soldiers close off an entrance from the Gaza Strip.
Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga on Sunday called for the African Union to send peacekeepers to help stem violence sparked by the country's disputed presidential election. On Friday, former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan brokered a deal between President Mwai Kibaki and Odinga laying out a plan to end the violence, which he said could take two weeks, before moving onto the tougher political issues.
The Taliban insurgency is not spreading and 70 percent of the violence last year occurred in only 10 percent of the country, NATO said Sunday in contrast with other recent more pessimistic reports. Most of NATO's European members are refusing to send soldiers to Afghanistan's dangerous south, opening a rift within the alliance.
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Sunday that he wouldn't pull his faction from the government over its handling of the 2006 war against Hizbullah guerrillas, an announcement that removed any immediate threat to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's administration. Last week an independent commission criticized Olmert's government for missteps in fighting the guerrillas but largely spared Olmert.
In an autobiography being published after her assassination, Pakistan opposition leader Benazir Bhutto says she was warned that four suicide bomber squads would try to kill her, one led by Osama bin Laden's 16-year-old son, according to The Sunday Times of London.
Cuba, with help from the World Wildlife Fund and financial support from the Canadian International Development Agency, announced it will stop harvesting endangered hawksbill marine turtles. Cuba annually harvests 500 of the turtles, which play a role in sustaining coral reefs but are also endangered by pollution, loss of habitats, and other factors. The joint effort will focus on finding economic alternatives for Cuban fisheries.
Former Khmer Rouge leader Nuon Chea is expected to make his first appearance before Cambodia's UN-backed genocide tribunal on Monday in Phnom Penh. He is one of five former leaders of the murderous communist movement facing trial later this year in the deaths of 1.7 million people.
South Korean prosecutors charged 92 former and current soccer players with avoiding compulsory military service by allegedly injuring themselves deliberately, the Yonhap news agency said Sunday. All physically fit men age 18 to 30 are required to serve at least two years in the military.
A number of London's most famous landmarks will be lighted up dramatically Feb. 7-14 in the second year of "Switched On London," a festival designed to feature energy-efficient design and technology. Above, workers rig lights to Tower Bridge. According to the View London website, the cost for electricity at last year's festival was less than many Londoners' bills.
A state-owned energy company in Abu Dhabi said it plans to spend $4 billion to build the world's largest carbon-capture-and storage project, The Globe and Mail in Toronto reports. Oil companies around the world are expected to follow the development closely to see if a network to capture millions of tons of carbon dioxide annually from eight industrial plants can be economically viable. The plan calls for injecting the greenhouse gas underground.
