Amnesty urges justice for human rights activist Estemirova year after her death

One year after the brutal murder of human rights activist Natalya Estemirova, Amnesty International urged Russia to show political will in investigating her death.

Estemirova, a leading researcher for the Memorial human rights group in Chechnya, was abducted outside her home in Grozny, Chechnya's capital, on July 15, 2009, and found shot dead in the neighboring republic of Ingushetia later the same day. In February 2010 investigators said they had identified the suspect, but no arrests were made so far.

Death of Texas mayor ruled suicide, daughter's death homicide

(CNN) -- Police in a Dallas, Texas, suburb indicated Wednesday that the town's mayor likely killed her daughter before turning the weapon on herself.

The Dallas County Medical Examiner's Officer ruled Wednesday that the mayor's death was a suicide and her daughter's a homicide.

Coppell Mayor Jayne Peters, 55, and her daughter Mary Corinne Peters, 19, were found dead Tuesday evening by officers who had been sent to check on the family's welfare. The officers had gone to the home at the request of the city manager's office after the mayor did not show up for a scheduled council meeting.

Top Mexican anti-drug official resigns

(CNN) -- Mexican President Felipe Calderon has announced the resignation of Interior Secretary Fernando Gomez Mont, who oversaw security efforts against drug cartels in Mexico.

Gomez Mont will be succeeded by attorney Jose Francisco Blake Mora.

"Currently, the country is facing challenges, but I am certain that us citizens, political actors and government have the potential, the duty and the will to surpass them," Gomez Mont said.

Holbrooke: McChrystal dismissal 'necessary'

Washington (CNN) -- President Barack Obama's dismissal of the top commander in Afghanistan was "extremely unfortunate" but "necessary," according to Richard Holbrooke, the U.S. special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Holbrooke told members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday that Gen. Stanley McChrystal is a "very distinguished and fine officer".

He noted some of the barbs in the Rolling Stone magazine article that led to McChrystal's downfall were aimed at him, but Holbrooke said the story "made no difference to me" personally and didn't change his positive opinion of McChrystal.

Mobile training team aims to bring resilience to Soldiers

WASHINGTON (Army News Service, July 13, 2010) -- The Army's Comprehensive Soldier Fitness program kicked off another iteration of its Master Resilience Training course, July 12, at Fort Meade, Md. -- this time using a mobile training team.

"This is the first effort ever at doing a mobile training team concept for CSF," said Brig. Gen. Rhonda Cornum, the director of the Army's Comprehensive Soldier Fitness program.

The Master Resilience Training course is part of the Army's Comprehensive Soldier Fitness program and was developed from the University of Pennsylvania's "Penn Resilience Program". The 10-day course is designed to equip Soldiers with the skills needed to better weather traumatic events -- be they money problems, relationship problems, or the horrors of combat -- and to teach other Soldiers in their units to do the same.

The Army teaches the MRT course to Soldiers now in Philadelphia, on the University of Pennsylvania campus there. The course is also taught to drill sergeants at "Victory University" at Fort Jackson, S.C.

Now, in an effort to make it easier for commanders to get their Soldiers trained up on MRT, and to reduce the cost overall to provide that training, the CSF program has developed a nine-person mobile training team that will bring the course to the Soldiers.

Restored Da Vinci painting reveals hidden detail

LONDON - A restoration project for Leonardo da Vinci's "Virgin of the Rocks" has revealed new details and suggest the Renaissance artist may have painted all the picture himself, instead of with his assistants as previously thought, a British gallery said Wednesday.

The 18-month conservation project involved removing much of some badly degraded varnish that was applied to the painting in the late 1940s, enabling experts to take a much closer look at the picture's brush strokes and styles, the National Gallery said.

The cleaning revealed the painting's full tonal range, especially in the darker areas, and resulted in a clearer sense of how the artist intended for space to recede through the rocky landscape, the gallery said.

It also affirmed that Leonardo likely painted the entire picture himself and intended for it to be unfinished.

Child dead, 104 sick after taking malaria medication in SW China

CHENGDU-- A child has died and 104 villagers are sick after taking medicines to prevent malaria in southwest China's Sichuan province Monday, said local authorities Wednesday.

Lu Dajiang, of Shashi village, Dongxing district of Neijiang city, was diagnosed with falciparum malaria on May 11, said a statement from the provincial Health Department.

A total of 143 people of nearby Mawan village, who were in close contact with Lu took two kinds of medicines, chloroquine and primaquine.

Soon after, they began complaining of exhaustion and nausea.

China issues judicial ruling banning executees' luxury consumption

BEIJING -- The Supreme People's Court of China Wednesday publicized a judicial ruling to prohibit luxury consumption by people legally in debt.

Yu Lingyu, official with the Supreme People's Court, said due to the lack of a full-fledged credit system in China, some executees could get away from their legal obligations while spending freely. The judicial ruling was made to prevent such intentional debt evasion.

Argentinian lawmakers voting on same-sex marriage

(CNN) -- Debate was under way Wednesday in Argentina's Senate on a same-sex marriage bill that already has passed the lower chamber of Congress. A vote was expected later Wednesday.

The bill would give same-sex couples equal marriage rights, including the ability to adopt children.

Addressing claims that church leaders have been lobbying lawmakers about the proposal, Sen. Miguel Angel Pichetto told the state-run Telam news agency that he had not been pressured.

"There is some pressure in some provinces where the church plays a prominent role, but such is democracy," he said.

Thousands of people protested the measure Tuesday in front of Argentina's Congress in marches convened by Catholic and evangelical churches in the country.

Experts: Vatican Radio transmitters 'pose cancer risk'

There is a "coherent and significant connection" between radiation from Vatican Radio aerials and childhood cancer, researchers have said.

The Italian experts looked at high numbers of tumours and leukaemia in children who live close to Vatican Radio transmitters.

The 60 antennas stand in villages and towns near Rome.

The Vatican said it was astonished and would present contrary views to a court in Rome.

Italian courts have been investigating for 10 years whether of an abnormally high number of deaths from cancer among families living near the aerials just north of the Italian capital can be attributed to electromagnetic radiation.

The 300-page report, ordered by the courts and carried out by Italy's most prestigious cancer research hospital, now concludes that there is a connection between radiation and the cancer incidents.

INTERPOL to Work Closely with Ethiopia

July 14, 2010 - INTERPOL Secretary General Ronald Kenneth Noble said INTERPOL will work closely with Ethiopia on crime issues, reports ENA.

While conferring with foreign affairs Seyoum Mesfin here on Wednesday the Secretary General said INTERPOL is on his first visit to Ethiopia and working with the federal police of Ethiopia.

Seyoum said INTERPOL is an international organization to work with criminal issues including terrorism when Ethiopia became members since 1950s.

Seyoum said Ethiopia will work closely with INTERPOL in preventing human trafficking and terrorism and other issues.

Paul Keating hits back: 'Hawke only survived as PM with my help'

Paul Keating writes in a letter to Bob Hawke of his displeasure with Blanche d'Alpuget's biography

IT was with much disappointment that I opened The Weekend Australian to find on page three the headline "Hawke's take on ditherer Keating and lying Richo" and to read at the first line that either you or Blanche had described me as "an ailing vacillator".

As you know, I have written no book about my years as treasurer or prime minister. I have declined repeated requests to "get it all down and set the record straight". And not only have I not written a book, as prime minister I did not respond to the book you yourself wrote after you left office; the so-called history of the Hawke government. In it, as you know, you treated me shamefully while attempting to diminish my motivations and larger schematic. Yet I did not upbraid you for it.

Balochistan tense after murder

Habib Jalib Baloch, a former Senator from Balochistan and secretary general of the Baloch National Party (Mengal), was gunned down outside his residence on the outskirts of Quetta on Wednesday morning.

Tension gripped the Balochistan capital and other areas of the province following the assassination and the provincial government decided to keep all educational institutions closed for two days as a matter of precaution.

An enquiry has also been ordered into the killing by the provincial government.

Sea levels rising in parts of Indian Ocean: study

Newly detected rising sea levels in parts of the Indian Ocean, including the coastlines of the Bay of Bengal, the Arabian Sea, Sri Lanka, Sumatra and Java, appear to be at least partly a result of human-induced increases of atmospheric greenhouse gases, says a study led by the University of Colorado at Boulder.

The study, which combined sea surface measurements going back to the 1960s and satellite observations, indicates anthropogenic climate warming likely is amplifying regional sea rise changes in parts of the Indian Ocean, threatening inhabitants of some coastal areas and islands, said CU-Boulder Associate Professor Weiqing Han, lead study author.

May aggravate flooding

The sea level rise — which may aggravate monsoon flooding in Bangladesh and India — could have far-reaching impacts on both future regional and global climate, according to a University of Colorado-Boulder press release.

Bhardwaj takes case to Manmohan

As the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party continue to squabble over the Reddy brothers and their mining activities, Karnataka Governor H.R. Bhardwaj pursued his mission here by meeting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Home Minister P. Chidambaram on Wednesday. He reportedly discussed the goings-on in the BJP-ruled State.

Removal of the Reddy brothers — Revenue Minister G. Karunakara Reddy and Tourism Minister G. Janardhan Reddy — from the State Cabinet and ordering a comprehensive probe by the Centre through one of its agencies, read the CBI, to go into the mining activities were among the subjects discussed, it is learnt.

Former Vice President Cheney recovering from heart surgery

Washington (CNN) -- Former Vice President Dick Cheney recently underwent heart surgery and is recovering in a Virginia hospital, said a statement issued by Cheney on Wednesday.

During the operation last week at the Inova Fairfax Heart and Vascular Institute, doctors implanted a small pump that "improves heart function and will enable me to resume an active life," Cheney's statement said.

"The operation went very well and I am now recuperating," the statement said.

Team shows unity during first month of Mars flight simulation

Six participants in the Mars-500 simulation of a manned mission to the Red Planet demonstrated team spirit and unity during the first month of the project, a Russian scientific institute that conducts the experiment said.

The Moscow Institute of Medical and Biological Problems started the 520-day experiment on June 3. The project is due to simulate almost all aspects of a journey to the Red Planet, with a 250-day outward trip, a 30-day stay on its surface, and a 240-day return flight.

EU urges Georgia to restart dialog with former republics

Tbilisi should restart talks with the population of its former republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, European Union's foreign policy chief said ahead of her first visit to Georgia on Thursday.

"We encourage Georgia to reengage with the populations in the conflict regions in accordance with its recently adopted Action Plan, in the interest of people affected," EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton said.

EU hopes nuclear talks with Iran to resume in autumn

In another letter to Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, European Union's foreign policy chief expressed hope that nuclear talks with Iran will resume this autumn, Germany's DPA agency said citing official sources.

Catherine Ashton earlier wrote a letter to Iran's top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili in which she called on Iran to resume negotiations with the Iran Six — the five permanent members of the UN Security Council (Russia, the United States, Britain, France, China) and Germany.

Pilots of Kaczynski crash plane ‘were under pressure to land’ - TV

The pilots of the plane that crashed in west Russia on April 10, killing Polish President Lech Kaczynski and 95 others, were under pressure to land in thick fog, a Polish TV station claims, citing new information.

The TVN24 news station said it has unofficial information about new fragments of conversation from the black boxes retrieved from the plane.

Classified documents reveal UK's role in abuse of its own citizens

Previously secret papers show true extent of involvement in abduction and torture following al-Qaida attacks of 2001

The true extent of the Labour government's involvement in the illegal abduction and torture of its own citizens after the al-Qaida attacks of September 2001 has been spelled out in stark detail with the disclosure during high court proceedings of a mass of highly classified documents.

Previously secret papers that have been disclosed include a number implicating Tony Blair's office in many of the events that are to be the subject of the judicial inquiry that David Cameron announced last week.

Among the most damning documents are a series of interrogation reports from MI5 officers that betray their disregard for the suffering of a British resident whom they were questioning at a US airbase in Afghanistan. The documents also show that the officers were content to see the mistreatment continue.

One of the most startling documents is chapter 32 of MI6's general procedural manual, entitled "Detainees and Detention Operations", which advises officers that among the "particular sensitivities" they need to consider before becoming directly involved in an operation to detain a terrorism suspect is the question of whether "detention, rather than killing, is the objective of the operation".

Libyan aid ship to dock in Egypt, not Gaza

Cairo, Egypt (CNN) -- The Libyan-backed ship carrying humanitarian goods for Gaza is headed to Egypt, a move that averts a showdown between Israel and the people on the vessel and generates more aid for the people in the beleaguered Palestinian land.

The Gadhafi Foundation, a charity headed by the son of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, told CNN in a statement Wednesday that it ordered the aid ship to dock at Al Arish in northeastern Egypt near Gaza. It said the ship was in Egyptian waters and will be at the port in two or three hours.

Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman Husam Zaki confirmed that Egypt has approved a request from the vessel to dock there. Israeli officials -- who said the military had been making plans to stop the ship from going to Gaza -- had been saying since Tuesday the ship would go to Egypt and not Gaza.

4 killed, 16 wounded in Baghdad violence

Baghdad, Iraq (CNN) -- At least four people were killed and 16 wounded in a string of attacks since Tuesday night in the Iraqi capital, the Interior Ministry said Wednesday.

Bombs attached to vehicles -- dubbed "sticky bombs" -- killed a judge in western Baghdad's Yarmouk district and wounded a Sons of Iraq leader in southwestern Baghdad, a Ministry of Environment employee in western Baghdad and two civilians in southern Baghdad's Dora district.

At least two civilians died when a roadside bomb detonated in western Baghdad's Adel neighborhood. Four others were wounded.

Tuesday's Connector: Zahi Hawass

Famed archaeologist and Egyptologist, Zahi Hawass is the real life Indian Jones.

Ranked as one of "Time Magazine's" 100 most influential people, Dr. Hawass has uncovered some of civilization's most important and influential historical relics.

In 2006, Hawass and a group of archaeologists uncovered the sealed tomb of Hatshepsut in the Valley of the Kings.

Archaeologists and historians alike described the finding as "one of the most important events in the Valley of the Kings for almost a hundred years".

Vatican set to publish new rules on abuse

The Catholic Church on Thursday is expected to release its new rules to try to prevent clergy from abusing children, a source close to the Vatican told CNN.

The rules will be aimed more at firming up existing practices, said the source, who asked not to be named because the source was talking about the regulations before they are made public.

The Vatican will add the possession of child pornography to the list of most serious crimes, declare the abuse of any mentally retarded person to be as bad as the abuse of children, and double the statute of limitations on the Vatican's prosecution of suspected abuse.

The Vatican also plans to make it a major crime against the church to ordain a woman as a priest, the source said.

Some critics of the Catholic Church have said that having women in the hierarchy could have helped prevent clerical child abuse. It is not clear if the hardening of the Vatican's longstanding line against women priests is related to the accusation.

Unemployment falls but part-time working hits record high

Number claiming benefit drops but more complain they can't get full-time work. Long-term unemployment sees further rise

The number of part-time workers in the United Kingdom has hit a record high as more people are forced to take shorter hours or not work at all.

Official data released today showed the number of people claiming unemployment benefits fell last month, but more people complained they could not get full-time work and there was a further rise in long-term unemployment and among 16-to-17-year-olds.

At 7.82 million, the part-time employment level was the highest since records began in 1992, and represented more than a quarter of the workforce.

But in a fillip for the coalition government, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures also showed a fall in the claimant count of 20,800 last month, better than the 20,000 predicted. At the same time, the unemployment rate on the wider ILO (International Labour Organisation) measure slipped back to 7.8% for the three months to May to 2.47 million, below forecasts for it to stick at 7.9%.

David Cameron condemns sympathy for Raoul Moat

Tory leader says Facebook page for 'callous murderer' is insensitive to his victims, as police make three more arrests

David Cameron today condemned public sympathy for Raoul Moat, describing the gunman as a "callous murderer".

At prime minister's questions in the Commons, an MP said Facebook should be asked to remove a page devoted to sympathy for Moat, who shot his former girlfriend before killing himself after a week-long police hunt.

Cameron said he could not understand "any wave of public sympathy for this man". Any sympathy should be directed towards his victims, he said.

Al Arabiya network airs tape of confessed Times Square bomber

(CNN) -- The man who pleaded guilty in the failed Times Square car bombing said before the incident that the strike would be a "revenge attack," according to an airing Wednesday on an Arabic-language TV network.

Al Arabiya showed what it said was a tape of Pakistani-American Faisal Shahzad, who pleaded guilty in June to the attempt.

The authenticity of the tape could not immediately be verified, and the person in the video appeared sometime before the May 1 event. CNN translated comments from the tape, which itself was a translation from English to Arabic.

Tariq Aziz, ex-Saddam regime official, now in Iraqi custody

Baghdad, Iraq (CNN) -- Tariq Aziz, formerly Saddam Hussein's top diplomat, who has been in U.S. custody in Iraq, has been transferred to the custody of the Iraqi government, an Iraqi official said Wednesday.

Aziz was handed over on Monday from Camp Cropper and is being held at Kadhimiya prison in Baghdad, Boshu Ibrahim, deputy Justice minister, told CNN.

This move comes as Camp Cropper, the last major U.S. detention facility in Iraq is being officially handed over to the Iraqi government on Thursday.

Tiger spared public rebuke by Open Championship chief executive

The man in charge of the Open Championship has refused to hand Tiger Woods another public rebuke on the eve of the famous tournament at St Andrews.

Peter Dawson, chief executive of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club, would not be drawn into condemning the scandal that has dogged Woods since a string of revelations about his private life emerged last year.

Prior to the world number one's appearance at the year's first major -- the Masters at Augusta in April -- Woods was handed a public dressing down by Augusta National chairman Billy Payne.

Moscow melts in intense heat

High temperatures have changed the usual course of people's lives in Moscow, forcing the army to dress down and the changing of the guard to be cancelled.

RUSSIAN ARMY STRIPS OFF

The Russian Army will temporarily relax its strict dress code due to the extremely hot weather, a spokesman for the Russian Army told RIA Novosti on Wednesday.

"The dress code has been eased during the hot weather: sleeves may be rolled up to the elbows of [the soldiers'] camouflage and the upper buttons may be unbuttoned," Col. Oleg Yushkov said.

Vladimir Putin tells young people of his student past

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Wednesday told members of student construction brigades involved in building Olympic facilities in the southern Russian resort of Sochi of his student past.

Student construction brigades, or stroyotryads, were popular in the Soviet Union. They were temporary construction teams consisting of higher education students who received money for working at various locations during their vacations.

The practice of stroyotryads is being revived in modern-day Russia.

Merkel seeks broader economic ties in Siberia

German Chancellor Angela Merkel arrived in the city of Yekaterinburg Wednesday for a meeting with President Dmitry Medvedev. Russian-German consultations are a frequent occurrence, but few are as important for both countries as this meeting.

On July 14 and 15, the two sides will essentially be holding a joint cabinet meeting attended by nearly 100 leaders of their largest respective industrial, banking, trade and commodities companies.

Also, this is a rare case where Merkel's political problems back home are pushing her toward greater economic cooperation with Russia in the export, import, commodity and energy sectors, as well as in investment, innovation and modernization.

Russian-German forum addresses economic modernization

Participants in the St. Petersburg Dialogue, a Russian-German forum, on Wednesday discussed Germany's possible role in the modernization of Russia's economy.

The forum's economic section went under the motto "Modernization - Privatization - Small and Medium Sized Business".