Recently in International News Category

A plane crashed in Pakistan after flying through a thunder storm Saturday killing all 127 passengers and crew on board.

ABC News reported that no foreigners were on board, and noted that the Pakistani government insisted no terrorism was connected to the plane crash.

The Associated Press, in a report posted to the Wall Street Journal's website, reported that this marks the second time in two years that a private Pakistani airline has faltered and gone down during a storm and sparked the ministry to demand inspections of all privately owned airlines in the country.

The AP also commented that it is still unclear what specifically was the cause of the plane's malfunctioning.

Christians gathered together Saturday in a procession leading into Jerusalem's Church of the Holy Sepulcher in anticipation of Easter Sunday.

An article from the Associated Press, posted to the Washington Post's website, reported that "The Holy Sepulcher is a complex of cave-like rooms, winding corridors, a soaring domed roof, and ornate decorations alongside broken furniture." It is a solemn place where the Christians terminated their procession with a vigil during a time of waiting for Christ's resurrection.

"'The power of this place, to be here, it has to be experienced,'" The AP reported Jim Carnie, a New Yorker, as saying.

Photographs from the AP, published on the website of the Houston Chronicle, show worshippers gathered in tight groups and alone, in tradition dress and modern attire. Clergymen read from prayer books, and a backdrop of Christian paintings hung on a wall behind them.

Aung San Suu Kyi won a seat in Burma's parliament Sunday, a victory for the opposition party and for democracy.

CBS News reported that this is her first success in a political contest for parliament, though Suu Kyi is well known both within Burmese politics and internationally for her role in promoting democracy and for her selected as recipient for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991.

Voters in Kahmu gave 82 percent of the vote to Suu Kyi, and ABC News reported its observation of a tally in Rangoon that proclaimed victory to the National League of Democracy, Suu Kyi's party, by a vote of 402-119.

Of the 664 seats in the parliament, 44 are now being contested through by-election, reported ABC News.

Malian people believed for some time that the leader of the junta that overthrew Mali's democratic government last Thursday, Amadou Sanogo, was killed in a counter-coup attempt after rumors spread on the Internet.

Serge Daniel of the AFP reported that Sanogo appeared publicly on television, reassuring people that "I am Captain Sanogo and I am in good health, all is well."

Sanogo draws much of his legitimacy as junta leader from is proficiency in the English language, something that allows him to give the junta a voice internationally.

Sanogo also has embarked on a couple of trips to the United States to receive military training and has also attended a number of military summit meetings with other countries, the AFP reported.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy drew criticism for his remarks on immigration and French economic proposals after his campaign speech in a Paris suburb last Sunday.

Steven Erlanger, writing for the New York Times, reported that Sarkozy vowed to pull the country out of the European Schengen Agreement if its rules on immigration were not revised.

The Schengen Agreement has allowed Europeans to pass freely, without visas, across the borders of 26 of the European Union member states since 1985.

Sarkozy also took a hard line on economic policies, referencing the 1933 Buy American Act with calls for a "Buy European Act." The West Australian newspaper quoted him saying, "I say no to a Europe that opens up its markets when others don't. Such behaviour does not mean accepting free trade, it means accepting being a Europe that is a sieve."

Sarkozy, France's incumbent in the upcoming elections, has taken a more conservative turn, pulling in votes from far-right National Front candidate Marine Le Pen, in an effort to keep his position in the April-May elections.