Recently in International Category

An attempt at a terrorist attack in central Stockholm left one man killed and two other people injured when two explosions hit a shopping center on Saturday evening.

CNN reports that Police are investigating whether the two explosions in Stockholm and an e-mail threat sent shortly are related.

TT reported that the e-mails had sound files with a person speaking Swedish and Arabic.

Police said that a car parked near Drottninggatan exploded shortly before 5 p.m. Stockholm time and wreckages of the vehicle included gas canisters reported The New York Times.

An unidentified man was found dead at the scene of the second blast.

FIFA's president, Sepp Blatter announced that Russia and Qatar are to host the 2018 and 2022 World Cups on Thursday.

Qatar's bid beat out the United States by promising technology to cool the stadiums in the country's brutal heat reported The New York Times.

The USA Today reported that Qatar plans to spend $4 billion on the air-conditioned stadiums that sealed their bid.

Spain and Portugal and the Netherlands and Belgium lost their joint bids for 2018. As for 2022, Australia, Japan and South Korea lost the bid as well.

"Thank you for believing in change, thank you for believing in expanding the game, thank you for giving Qatar a chance," said Sheikh Mohammad bin Hamad Al-Thani, Qatar's bid chairman. "We will not let you down. You will be proud of us, you will be proud of the Middle East and I promise you this."

Health officials confirmed Wednesday the first known case of cholera in the United States, of which officials believe is linked to the Haiti epidemic after a Florida woman contracted the disease while visiting family in Haiti.

Vibri cholerae, the bacterium that contaminates by spreading through water or food has caused cholera to inevitably spread throughout Haiti, and is expected to affect a least 250,000 people reported The New York Times.

USA Today reported that the outbreak has already killed 900 people over the past six months, and is expected to continue.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) epidemiologist Robert Quick, says cause of the outbreak will never be known, but global travel and trade make it easier for bacteria to spread.

SEOUL, South Korea--- Hopes of wrapping up a free trade accord during a meeting on Thursday with President Obama and President Lee Myung-bak of South Korea was put on hold.

Mr. Obama visiting Seoul for the Group of 20 conference said, "We need to make sure that over the next several weeks, we are crossing all the t's, dotting all the i's, being able to make the case to both the Korean people and the United States population that this is good for both countries."

A poll done by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press fond that 35 percent of adults said that free-trade agreements had been good for the United States, whereas 44 percent had a negative view on the issue reported The New York Times.

With the controversy on free-trade agreements and the U.S. Federal Reserve planning to buy $600 billion in Treasure bonds on the open market to drive down interest rates in order to boost the economy, reported USA Today, questions arise as to whether this will hurt the Obama in his election to come.

HONG KONG- Qantas Airways CEO Alan Joyce suspended six flights on its six Airbus A380 Jetliners due to an explosion of an engine on one of the superjumbo planes on Thursday.

The New York Times reported that pieces of debris scattered over an Indonesian island, which forced the plane to return to Singapore for an emergency landing. There were no reported injuries.

USA Today reported that in a news conference in Sydney on Thursday Joyce said, "we will suspend those A380 services until we are completely confident that Qantas safety requirements have been met."

Flight 32 experienced an "uncontained" engine failure after takeoff that caused "substantial" damage to the plane according to a report by the Aviation Safety Network.

MENTAWAI ISLANDS, Indonesia --- Rough weather and difficult terrain have made it a struggle for Indonesian rescue workers to reach victims on Thursday as the death toll continues to rise.

The twin catastrophe took place Monday after a 7.7 underwater quake sent a 10-foot-tall tsunami crashing onto land reported The New York Times.

Officials have raised the toll to 343 confirmed dead while 338 remain missing and 16,000 have been displaced.

The USA Today reported that the President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was to meet Thursday with survivors of the catastrophe.

A multimillion-dollar warning system was installed after a monster 2004 quake, but officials say it broke down one month ago because of its improper maintenance.
The area has most residents evacuated, but it is unclear whether there will be another major blast to come.

MEXICO- A brave woman in Mexico became the police chief of her city this week because she says she is tired of everyone being afraid.

Marisol Valles Garcia, 20, decided to become the police chief of Praxedis G. Guerrero, one of the most violent municipalities in the Chihuahua .

"Yes, there is fear," Valles Garcia said Wednesday in an interview with CNN.

Garcia plans on hiring more women in order to talk with families and to promote civic values to each neighborhood.

USA Today said that the question lies whether a young, inexperienced chief can handle a problem that encompasses drug cartel, untrained local police that deal with criminal gangs in Mexico.

Yet Valles Garcia argues, ""Our work will be pure prevention. We are not going to be doing anything else other than prevention."

SAN JOSÉ MINE, Chile -- The rescue operation of 33 Chilean miners trapped below is underway government officials said Tuesday.

Officials also said that the operation could begin as early as 6 p.m. local time, which is early than previously estimated.

"We're going to toast him with champagne, and feed him a bit of roasted chicken." said the aunt of one of the miners.

"We hope to finish today, Tuesday," said Laurence Golborne, the country's mining minister, "We are really working as fast as possible to get these miners out."

The New York Times reported that a drill broke through to the miners, making way for a shaft which miners will be raised one by one on Saturday. The miners will go up 2,041 feet up to the surface, which will take about an hour round trip said Rene Aguilar, deputy rescue coordinator.

Each miner has been promised at least six months of psychological support, not only for the incident, but to deal with the sudden fame these miners will receive said USA Today.

Paris- Under suspicion of being affiliated with Islamic militant networks, Police in southern France arrested 12 people on Tuesday.

Two entirely different counterterrorism cases under investigation fell on the same day only by coincidence, a police official said.

In southeastern Marseille, authorities detained nine Islamic militants and turned up at least one automatic rifle and pump gun reported the USA Today.

"We have detained people who are close to the Islamist movement," said a Marseille police official.

The New York Times reported that in the other case, three men were arrested on suspicion of having ties to a Frenchman arrested in Naples who was accused of having links to an Afghan recruiting ring.

Later, an official said the three do not appear to be "of major interest."

The Dalai Lama announced his plan to donate $50,000 to the Center for Investigating Healthy Minds at Madison, this Sunday.

Dr. Richard Davidson, the Center's Director, is studying whether meditation can promote compassion and kindness, reported The New York Times.

"It's about changing habits of the heart," said Dr. Davidson, of which his research showed that meditation could change brain-wave patterns.

But what inspired him to pursue such an experiment?

USA Today reported that last May, Davidson visited his holiness and he challenged Davidson to "use sophisticated tools" to "investigate things like kindness and compassion."

There has not been a decision on how to use the grant, but Davidson assures that it will be used "in the most beneficial way possible."