World News Headline....(30/09/08)

Shoot-out between Somali pirates on a hijacked cargo ship loaded..

The maritime group's Andrew Mwangura told the BBC three men where shot in a row over tactics.Pirates seized the Ukrainian ship last week and have demanded a $20m (£11m) ransom to release it.Mr Mwangura said the situation is very tense with the ship, the Faina, surrounded by US navy vessels.

US navy spokesman Lt Nathan Christensen said on Monday that destroyers and cruisers has been deployed within 10 miles (16kms) of the hijacked ship.

US failure hits European shares..

European share indexes have been volatile in early trading after a US financial rescue plan failed to gain Congressional backing.

With the US House of Representatives rejecting the $700bn (£380bn) rescue deal, the UK's FTSE 100 fell as much as 3% before recovering to down 0.4%.Asian stocks have already seen big declines in Tuesday trading. Wall Street's Dow Jones index saw its biggest one-day points fall in history on Monday after the deal was rejected.

Scores die in India temple crush...

Officials told the BBC that at least 150 more were injured in the incident at the Chamunda Devi temple in Jodhpur.A wall near the temple is said to have collapsed, causing panic among thousands of gathered devotees.There have been a number of deadly stampedes in India's temples recently - last month 140 people were killed in the northern state of Himachal Pradesh. Before dawn, thousands of people had made their way to the hill-top temple in a huge 15th Century fort overlooking Jodhpur.

Ecuadoran president cheers 'crushing' win...

Ecuador's leftist President Rafael Correa urged his opponents Monday to join his efforts to build a more just society, saying the overwhelming victory of his constitutional referendum gives him a broad mandate.

World News Headlines

Twin car bombing in western Baghdad kills 13...(28/09/08)

BAGHDAD - Two car bombs killed 13 people and wounded 37 doing evening shopping Sunday in mainly Shiite Muslim areas of western Baghdad, Iraqi officials said.

The blasts occurred about 5:30 p.m., shortly before the daily meal that breaks the dawn-to-dusk fast observed by Muslims during the holy month of Ramadan.

Car bombs and other attacks have frequently targeted Iraqis during Ramadan as insurgents try to chip away at recent security gains that have driven violence to its lowest levels in more than four years.

World News Headlines

Chinese Astronauts Return Safely...(28/09/08)

SHANGHAI — Three Chinese astronauts returned safely to earth in their space capsule late Sunday afternoon after spending nearly three days in low earth orbit and completing the nation’s first spacewalk, according to Chinese state television.

The re-entry capsule of the Shenzhou VII spacecraft floated down by parachute and landed on the grasslands of north China at 5:37 p.m. Beijing time. The capsule was located about ten minutes later by a search and rescue team, which helped the three astronauts climb out.

The landing was shown on national television and the three astronauts appeared relatively well. After emerging from a cramped, round capsule, they sat on what looked like lawn chairs, waved to the cameras and spoke briefly.

"It was a glorious mission, full of challenges but the result is perfect," one of the astronauts, Zhai Zhigang, said after the landing, according to the state-run news media.

China called its third manned space mission a complete success and a "major breakthrough" for the country’s space program, which hopes to establish a space station and to eventually send a man to the moon.

On Saturday afternoon, Mr. Zhai completed the nation’s first space walk, floating above an orbital module and waving a small Chinese flag.

Beijing sees the space program as a major yardstick of the country’s economic and technological development, and also a means to strengthening the country’s image at home and abroad.

China, which has spent billions of dollars building up its space program over the past decade, is only the third country, after Russia and the United States, to send humans into space with its own space ship.