Recently in International News Category

By Octavio Abea

Google launched their "Street View" service in Israel Sunday while accommodating security and privacy concerns from officials after months of deliberation, Google Israel said.

Meir Brand, managing director of Google Israel, Africa and Greece, said at the official launch on Sunday that they take security very seriously, and through very productive meetings ensured that people's lives would not be at risk, The Jerusalem Post reports.

A panel of government ministers took six months to create security guidelines before reaching an agreement with Google last August, the Associated Press reports.

The service covers public areas in Israel's three biggest cities and has implemented technology that blurs peoples' faces, license plates, and sensitive areas such military zones and the prime minister's home, The Jerusalem Post reports.

Israel slowed down the "Street View" process because of the concern that it could be used by terrorists like the Islamic Jihad militant group that said they used Google Maps to aim rockets, the Associated Press reports.

By Octavio Abea

President Barack Obama said he wants a thorough investigation of the alleged misconduct by Secret Service agents in Colombia, Sunday, where he planned to visit.

In the press conference with Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, Obama said he "will be angry" if the allegations are true regarding the scandal, ABC News reports.

Eleven Secret Service agents, which have been sent home and put on administrative leave, and five military service members were involved in the incident alleging that they brought prostitutes to their hotel, Bloomberg Businessweek reports.

Since prostitution is legal in designated zones in Colombia the investigation will revolve around whether protocol was violated and if the president's safety could have been compromised, officials said, ABC News reports.

"When we travel to another country, I expect us to observe the highest standards," Obama said. "Obviously, what's been reported doesn't match up with those standards," Bloomber Businessweek reports.

By Octavio Abea

Three car bombs killed 14 people and injured 340 others Saturday in southern Thailand, which targeted shoppers and tourists in commercial zones, police said.

Col. Kritsada Kaewchandeehe, the district police chief, said the first blast happened in the commercial hub of Yala City and came from a pickup truck, while the second blast happened after witnesses gathered at the wreckage killing 11 people and injuring 110, the Associated Press reports.

The third car bomb exploded near a hotel in Hat Yai City triggering a fire and killing at least three people, National police chief Priewpan Damapong said Sunday, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Officials blame the attacks on Muslim rebels, which have flared after the killings of innocent people by the Thai army and release of a video of a soldier having sex with a teenage Muslim woman, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Most of the attacks by the Muslim rebels have targeted soldiers and other symbols of authority by using small-scale bombings and drive-by shootings, but it is only recently that the suspected rebels have targeted civilians, the Associated Press reports.

By Octavio Abea

The North Korean rocket scheduled to launch in April may be aimed towards Indonesia and Australia instead of over Japan where previous missile tests were launched, according to a U.S. official.

Bob Carr, the foreign affairs minister, received the warning from Kurt Campbell, a senior official to the Obama administration on Saturday during a visit to Sydney, The Sydney Morning Herald reports.

North Korea says the rocket is going to be used to put a satellite in space while other nations believe this is a test for a long-range missile, BBC News reports.

"We have weighed into each of these countries and asked them to make clear that such a test is provocative and this plan should be discontinued," Campbell said, The Sydney Morning Herald reports.

North Korea's state-run news agency KCNA said that the new path was chosen so that debris from the carrier rocket would not affect neighboring countries, BBC News reports.

By Octavio Abea

Pakistani authorities demolished Osama bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad where he was killed by U.S. Navy Seal commandos in May of last year.

The area around the compound was sealed off by security forces before crews with heavy machinery broke through the concrete perimeter and tore down the three-story house, Bloomberg Businessweek reports.

A Pakistani military official told CNN that this action was taken in order keep the compound from becoming shrine for bin Laden's followers and to cut ties with the terrorist.

Rashid Khan, a professor of international relations at the University of Sargodha, told Bloomberg that the military probably wanted to get rid of the building because it was a reminder of their intelligence failure.

In May 2011 Navy Seal Team Six raided the compound and killed bin Laden on the top floor finally putting an end to the al Qaeda leader, CNN reports.

By Octavio Abea

Britain and France have been cut off from Iranian oil exports Sunday in a tactical response to the European oil embargo made to put pressure on Iran, according to Iran's oil ministry.

In the mostly sybolic move, Iran is lessening the blow of the European embargo by targeting countries that supported the economic sanctions, The Washington Post reports.

Half of Iran's national budget is made up of oil sales, which account for 80 percent of exports with Asia being 70 percent of that and the European Union being 18 percent, The New York Times reports.

The European Union is also making it more difficult for Iranian banks to access currency from its foreign oil customers by excluding them from the international financial system known as SWIFT, The Washington Post reports.

This is a result of Iran's growing nuclear program, which they deny has any military intent, and their recent announcment to begin a new array of centrifuges to enrich uranium, The New York Times reports.

By Octavio Abea

An 18-year-old Tibetan nun died after setting herself on fire Saturday in protest of the Chinese rule over Tibetan regions, Free Tibet said.

According to an email from Free Tibet, Tenzin Choedon, a nun at the Mamae Nunnery in the province of Sichuan, was taken away by Chinese army troops after setting herself on fire at the convent and died Saturday night, Reuters reports.

Choedon shouted slogans of protest against the Chinese government before setting herself on fire, The Washington Post reports.

The Chinese government has branded the individuals who set themselves on fire as terrorists, Reuters reports.

The amount of monks, nuns, and ordinary Tibetans that have set themselves on fire in the past year has risen to 18, The Washington Post reports.

By Octavio Abea

A suicide bomber detonated a car bomb while in a parking lot at the police headquaters in Kandahar, Afghanistan killing seven people, officials said.

The car exploded near a bazaar on a main road used by civilians killing five police officers and a child while overturning several police vehicles, The New York Times reports.

The blast also wounded 19 people including six police officers, three children, and two women. They were taken to Mirwais Hospital, according to The New York Times.

The Washington Post reports that the governor blames Taliban insurgents even though no group has claimed responsibility.

Kandahar has been a target of a series of attacks that Taliban-led insurgents have taken credit for. Violence is growing all over the country as international troops prepare to withdraw, reports The Washington Post.

By Octavio Abea

Rough seas and strong winds near the wrecked cruise ship, Costa Concordia, suspended searches for survivors and fuel pumping operations Sunday off the coast of the Italian island Giglio.

The cruise ship, which hit a reef and capsized Jan. 13, moved an inch and a half over a six hour period suspending operations to search for survivors and pump the 500,000 gallons of fuel still on the ship, The Washington Post reports.

According to Reuters, a salvage contract for the cruise ship cannot be awarded until an environnmental disaster is averted, which means the fuel and lubricating oil must be removed.

The Washington Post reports that officials are reluctant to give out a final death toll even though they find it unlikely that anyone left has survived.

Salvaging and removing the ship could take up to a year, Civil protection Agency Chief Franco Gabrielli said. This means that the ship will be visible through the summer, which is their tourism season, Reuters reports.