World News

News from around the planet

'No Mr Bond, I expect you to die'

Arts & entertainment: Charlie Higson, the author of the bestselling Young Bond series, chooses his favourite Bond villains
Read more [Guardian America]

It's Hand of God v Iron Mike - sporting documentaries are talk of film festival

Bosnian Serb director to celebrate footballer as 'teacher, family man and critic of US'
Read more [Guardian Unlimited World]

Part of Guinness's Dublin brewery to close

Diageo to close half its famous brewery as part of a £520m modernisation plan that will cost hundreds of jobs
Read more [Guardian Unlimited World]

Leader: Hizbullah's web

Leader: Gun battles between Hizbullah and militias of the US-backed government break 17-month stalemate
Read more [Guardian Unlimited World]

How pools of blood trials could save lives

Ben Goldacre: In the United States last week the papers went crazy: artificial blood products cause a 30% increase in deaths
Read more [Guardian Unlimited World]

Teenagers to take embarrassing ailments to Second Life doctors

Virtual portal launched by Spanish authorities for young people to discuss sex and drug health issues
Read more [Guardian Unlimited World]

Cyclone Nargis: Is this climate change?

There is still debate about whether global warming is making episodes like Cyclone Nargis worse
Read more [Guardian Unlimited World]

After the fall - a journey to understand daughter's death

Among the mountains, family makes visit they prayed would never happen
Read more [Guardian Unlimited World]

The country of the future finally arrives

With an export boom and oil finds, the sleeping giant of South America is awakening
Read more [Guardian Unlimited World]

FAQ: Disaster diplomacy

Why is the Burmese regime not allowing aid workers in? And other questions
Read more [Guardian Unlimited World]

'There's at least 50,000 dead round here. But many of the bodies have disappeared'

Journey through south of Burma reveals a desperate population growing ever more angry towards the junta
Read more [Guardian Unlimited World]

In Thailand, aid agencies losing race against time

Scores of specialists are kicking their heels as they wait for visas to enter Burma
Read more [Guardian Unlimited World]

Malloch-Brown's vision for Africa: 'having an aid policy is not enough'

Ex-UN man turned minister on the continent's future - and being policed by the media
Read more [Guardian Unlimited World]

Slowly but surely, the secretive superdelegates opt for Obama

While Hillary Clinton fights on, the tide appears to be inexorably turning in favour of the frontrunner
Read more [Guardian Unlimited World]

UN: Burma junta is seizing international storm aid

1.9m at risk of disease and hunger as officials talk of frustration caused by 'astonishing' delays
Read more [Guardian Unlimited World]

Back in the USSR: Big guns roll through Red Square once more

For the first time since the cold war the Kremlin shows off its heavy weaponry
Read more [Guardian Unlimited World]

Attack from Gaza kills 1, Israeli retaliation kills 5 (AP)

AP - Gaza attackers sent mortar shells crashing into a border community late Friday, killing an Israeli in his garden and wounding three others, officials said. Israel retaliated with missile strikes that left five Hamas militants dead.

Mediator Mbeki meets Mugabe on Zimbabwe crisis (Reuters)

Reuters - South African leader Thabo Mbeki and President Robert Mugabe held talks on Friday on Zimbabwe's election crisis ahead of a possible run-off that has raised fears violence could escalate.

Dalai Lama says understands anger over Everest torch (Reuters)

Reuters - The Dalai Lama says he understands why Tibetan exiles were angry that the Olympic torch reached the top of Mount Everest but had advised them against protesting.

Turkish military says it killed 20 PKK fighters (Reuters)

Reuters - Turkish military sources said at least 20 Kurdish separatists and two Turkish soldiers were killed after Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) guerrillas attacked a military base in southeast Turkey on Friday.
Read more [Yahoo World News]

Clandestine workers step forward in French protests

Strikes by illegal immigrants working in restaurants have mushroomed into a broader protest, spreading fast outside the capital.
Read more [International Herald Tribune]

A Serbian heroine steps into politics

Vesna Vulovic, the famed, sole survivor of a 1972 plane bombing, is using her celebrity to campaign against an ultra-right party that is leading in the polls.
Read more [International Herald Tribune]

Moscow echoes with nostalgia as military parades through Red Square

Goose-stepping footfalls, echoing in front of shop windows bearing products from Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior, captured the contrasts institutionalized during eight years of rule by former President Vladimir Putin.
Read more [International Herald Tribune]

High prices for staple foods dip, but volatile markets persist

The prices of rice, wheat, soybeans and several other foods have come down recently, a development that could ease some of the panic in global food markets.
Read more [International Herald Tribune]

Citigroup announces plans to sell $400 billion in assets

The ailing bank plans to shed assets including real estate, leveraged loans, complex debt tied to subprime mortgages, and structured investment vehicles.
Read more [International Herald Tribune]

Hints of a rift at OPEC about production

An oil official signaled for the first time in months that the oil cartel might increase its output if prices keep rising.
Read more [International Herald Tribune]

Kostunica warns of treason on eve of Serbian vote

A campaign rally for Vojislav Kostunica, the nationalist prime minister, underlined the stark choice Serbs face in elections that could draw Serbia closer to the European Union or drag it back into the isolation of the past.
Read more [International Herald Tribune]

Platypus looks strange on the inside, too

The platypus genome is an amalgam of genes reflecting significant branching in evolution, scientists reported.
Read more [International Herald Tribune]

Conservative revival

It used to be that American conservatives shaped British political thinking. Now the influence is going the other way.
Read more [International Herald Tribune]

Souren Melikian: In a changed world, million-dollar works continue to soar

The new reality of wealth was partly concealed this week by the huge numbers posted at Christie's on Tuesday evening, $277.27 million, and at Sotheby's on Wednesday evening, $235.33 million.
Read more [International Herald Tribune]

In south Myanmar village, all is 'gone with the wind'

In the northern reaches of the Irrawaddy Delta, families are rebuilding their homes and the dead have been buried. But farther south, villagers struggle to repair their shattered lives.
Read more [International Herald Tribune]

Europe reluctant to set up a security doctrine

The European Union is not ready for a serious discussion about why the bloc needs a security doctrine because it would mean dealing with the issue of power.
Read more [International Herald Tribune]

Guinness brewery in Dublin to remain open

Diageo has decided to keep the historic Guinness brewery at St. James's Gate in Dublin open, but the company will shift a large part of its output to a new plant in the suburbs.
Read more [International Herald Tribune]

New Pakistani government frees Baluchi leader

A Baluchi nationalist leader who was one of the most prominent political leaders jailed by President Pervez Musharraf was freed Friday.
Read more [International Herald Tribune]