Congolese rape victims march against sexual violence

Bukavu, Democratic Republic Of Congo (CNN) -- Many of Congo's rape survivors took to the streets Sunday to speak out against sexual violence in a county where it has become a weapon of war.

"My heart is in pain, why are you raping me?" sang the rape victims, many of whom left hospital beds to join the march in eastern Congo.

"They have had enough, enough, enough, enough," said Nita Vielle, a Congolese women's activist, of the women marching. "Enough of the war, of the rape, of nobody paying attention to what's happening to them".

The United Nations has named the Democratic Republic of Congo the "rape capital of the world," with 15,000 women raped in eastern Congo last year. The attacks occurred in parts of the country where armed rebel groups moved into areas considered to be pro-government but lacking in army or police protection, according to the U.N.

Margot Wallstrom, the U.N. secretary-general's special representative on sexual violence in conflict, said recently that one distraught Congolese woman had told her that "a dead rat is worth more than the body of a woman".

"It was an expression of how human rights violations against women are still the lowest on a fool's hierarchy of war time horrors," she said.

Sunday's march was organized by the World March of Women in association with local women's groups. Organizers hoped the march would combat the stigma attached to rape victims and draw international attention to the problem of rape as a war tactic.

"It's just great to have so many women out on the streets," said Celia Alldridge, a representative from World March of Women. "We believe that women should not be made prisoners in their own homes".

CNN

Lottery deja vu: Same six numbers come up twice in Israeli game

(CNN) -- The odds may have been in the trillions-to-one range, but lightning has indeed struck twice for some lucky lottery players in Israel.

The national biweekly lottery draw Saturday led to the astronomically improbable result of the same six double-digit balls being pulled in less than a month.

The Miphal HaPayis state game picked 36, 33, 32, 26, 14, 13 and the "strong number" 2 as the winning combination.

But a quick look at the results caused panic and amazement: the same first six numbers had been picked in exact reverse order and won the lottery on September 21. The only difference was the "strong number," which determines the first prize jackpot.

Anyone who played those six numbers on both dates won big -- twice.

Lottery officials at first pulled Saturday's result, fearing there was a mechanical error or some sort of tampering with the results.

That's understandable as the statistical probability of that six-number combination is normally one-in-2.65 million. But a gaming and mathematics expert interviewed by Israeli website Ynetnews set the chances that the same numbers would hit twice somewhere around four trillion to one.

"Usually, this is the type of numbers they use to describe the probability of life on Mars," Zvi Gilula, a professor of statistics at the Hebrew University said.

But after investigating the drawing and finding no problems, lottery officials certified Saturday's results, leading to three first-prize winners earning over $1 million dollars each.

CNN

Report: Somali pirates hijack South Korean vessel

(CNN) -- A South Korean fishing boat was hijacked by Somali pirates off the coast of Africa, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported Sunday, citing the nation's foreign ministry.

The 241-ton trawler "Keummi 305," with a crew of 43, was hijacked October 9 while fishing in Kenyan waters, about 16 kilometers (10 miles) off the coast of Lamu, Kenya, near the Indian Ocean, Yonhap said. The crew is comprised of 39 Kenyans, two South Koreans and two Chinese, according to the news agency.

Citing a South Korean citizen living in Mombasa, Kenya, Yonhap reported the boat was taken to Harardhere, a pirate base north of the Somalian capital of Mogadishu.

"Given past instances, it would put the hostages in even more danger if the government tried to negotiate directly with the pirates," a ministry official told Yonhap. "We're trying to find out more about the incident using all possible channels".

One of the South Koreans aboard the boat is a 54-year-old captain who is the president of Keummi Fishers, a company based in Busan, South Korea, Yonhap said. Officials at the Keummi boat dealership told the news agency the company had closed its Busan office in 2007 because of financial difficulties, and the captain, with the surname Kim, had been steering the ship himself for two years as a cost-cutting measure.

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Murray crushes Federer in Shanghai final

(CNN) -- Andy Murray crushed Roger Federer in straight sets in a one-sided final to claim victory in the Shanghai Masters on Sunday.

The Briton, who also defeated the former world number one in the Toronto Masters final in August, took just under 90 minutes to secure a 6-3 6-2 victory.

World number four Murray has now beaten Federer eight times in their 13 meetings, although has crucially lost both times they have met in the final of a grand slam (U.S. Open in 2008 and this year's Australian Open final).

And there was never any doubt that Murray would continue his fine record against Federer, with the Swiss making a remarkable 30 unforced errors while failing to convert six break points.

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Kosovo's ruling coalition unravels, likely triggering elections

Pristina, Kosovo (CNN) -- Kosovo's ruling coalition unraveled Saturday after a key party announced it is withdrawing from Prime Minister Hashim Thaci's government, likely triggering early elections.

The Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) announced that it will break with Thaci's Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK), ending the coalition that has governed the country since 2008.

The move comes a day after Kosovo's acting President and Parliament Speaker Jakup Krasniqi announced that early elections would be held February 13. Saturday's announcement will likely move those elections up further.

The announcement came from LDK leader Fatmir Sejdiu, who until recently was president of Kosovo.

The LDK will withdraw from the ruling coalition Monday, Sejdiu said in an interview with Radio and Television of Kosovo.

Krasniqi had called the February elections after coalition partners failed to agree on a new president in the wake of Sejdiu's resignation earlier this month.

Sejdiu resigned after a court ruled that he violated the law by holding two posts -- the presidency and the top spot in his party -- at the same time.

The political crisis may affect European Union-sponsored talks between Kosovo and Serbia, which does not recognize Kosovo's independence. Serbia agreed to talks with Kosovo after international pressure.

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10 killed in stampede at Indian temple

(CNN) -- At least 10 people were killed and as many others injured in a stampede that broke out during a ritual at a Durga temple in Bihar, India, the nation's official Doordarshan news agency reported Sunday via the Indian government's website.

The stampede broke out Saturday night, the news agency said, at the temple in Bihar's Banka district during the "Navrati" festival, one of the most celebrated festivals of the Hindu calendar.

More than 45,000 devotees were at the temple to offer prayers and sacrifice goats when the stampede occurred, officials told Doordarshan. A portion of the sacrificed goat's body fell on some people, creating a scare that led to the stampede, according to the report.

"Ten deaths have been confirmed so far, while four are stated to be in critical condition," District Magistrate Aadesh Chitarmare told the news agency.

CNN

Deadly clashes in Baghdad after multi-store robbery

Baghdad, Iraq (CNN) -- A series of jewelry store robberies in Baghdad on Sunday led to clashes with police and left at least seven people dead, according to police in the Iraqi capital.

Among the killed were three store owners and two police officers. Two of the 10 gunmen, who stormed three jewelry stores in western Baghdad's al-Mansour neighborhood, were also killed as they tried to flee the area.

The robbers took gold and cash, and eight remain at large. Iraqi security forces have sealed off the area as they continue to investigate.

The al-Mansour neighborhood, the site of frequent insurgent attacks, and has seen a great deal of violence since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. Authorities believe insurgents are behind some recent robberies to fund their operations.

In May, 14 people died in Baghdad's Bayaa neighborhood where a group of gunmen mounted an 11-store robbery spree.

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Nun whose order fought abuse becomes saint

(CNN) -- Australia got its first Catholic saint Sunday, a feisty 19th-century nun who was briefly excommunicated when her colleagues exposed an abusive priest.

Mary MacKillop co-founded the Sisters of St. Joseph of the Sacred Heart in 1867, and gained a reputation as the first Australian nun to leave the cities and minister to the rural poor.

Nuns in her order got evidence that a priest was engaged in "scandalous behavior," according to the Rev. Paul Gardiner, who has spent decades researching MacKillop's life.

The nuns reported it to the Rev. Julian Woods, MacKillop's first spiritual mentor who co-founded the Sisters of St. Joseph.

Woods in turn reported the abuse to church authorities, resulting in the Rev. Ambrose Patrick Keating being sent back to Ireland from Kapunda, Australia.

But Keating's friends "were really upset with Father Woods and thought they could best get at him by getting at Mary," said Claire Larkin, the chair of the Mary MacKillop Centre in Penola, Australia.

"They told a lot of lies to the bishop," who excommunicated MacKillop and the entire order in 1871, she said.

Bishop James Quinn revoked the excommunication five months later, on his deathbed, the order says in its biography of Mary MacKillop.

But she still had to spend decades fighting local Catholic leaders for control of the order she founded.

"She was a charismatic entrepreneur," the Rev. Thomas Reese, author of "Inside the Vatican," told CNN. "She was a feminist before her time. She struggled in a male-dominated institution and got things done".

Her familiarity with church politics may have played a role in the instructions she issued to her nuns when women got the vote in Australia.

"It is the duty on us all to vote ... Get advice from some leading man in whom you have confidence or from the priest, but keep your voting secret," she wrote in 1903.

The order grew to include 300 nuns in Australia and New Zealand by 1891, its website says, and now has about 1,200 members.

She died in 1909 and was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1995.

The Catholic Church credits her with miraculously helping to cure a woman named Kathleen Evans of cancer.

CNN

Scientists: Tyrannosaurus rex munched on its own kind

(CNN) -- Add cannibalism to the fearsome attributes of Tyrannosaurus rex, the big-headed dinosaur that roamed North America 66 million years ago and took no prisoners.

A study released on the scientific website PLoS ONE suggests T. rex made the tooth marks on four specimens of Tyrannosaurus rex.

"If something is dead, it's lunch," said study co-author Gregory M. Erickson of Florida State University.

Erickson and three other researchers studied the four T. rex remains and those of 13 herbivores, all found in museum collections.

Neither Erickson, nor Nicholas R. Longrich, who led the team, know for sure whether the predator killed its brethren in combat and then ate, or whether they were scavenging, a popular activity of animals then and now. The latter seems the more likely scenario.

T. rex, known for "puncture and pull" feeding, left discernible marks in the bones of its prey. And, researchers said, no other carnivore living at that time could have left such bite marks in skeletons. They also determined the pattern and nature of the gouges left from bite marks indicated the attacker was likely feeding on a carcass.

Erickson said the finding adds another piece to the mysterious life of T. rex and said he hopes it will spur more research on the habits and behaviors of the beast.

"Piece by piece we can put it together," said Longrich, a Yale University paleontologist whose current research includes an ancestor of the three-horned Triceratops.

CNN

Report: Venezuelan president to meet Iranian counterpart in Tehran

(CNN) -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is set to arrive in Iran on Monday to discuss the expansion of relations between the two countries, according to Iran's semiofficial Fars News Agency.

Chavez will stay for two days in Tehran, and will be accompanied by a Venezuelan delegation, Fars said.

He will meet with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and other officials.

Chavez and Ahmadinejad are also expected to discuss regional and international issues, Fars said.

CNN

Gates: Leaked documents don't reveal key intel, but risks remain

Washington (CNN) -- The online leak of thousands of secret military documents from the war in Afghanistan by the website WikiLeaks did not disclose any sensitive intelligence sources or methods, the Department of Defense concluded. However, there is still concern Afghans named in the published documents could be retaliated against by the Taliban.

The assessment, revealed in a letter from Secretary of Defense Robert Gates to the Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Sen. Carl Levin (D-Michigan), comes after a thorough Pentagon review of the more than 70,000 documents posted to the controversial whistle-blower site in July.

The letter, provided to CNN, was written August 16 by Gates in response to a query by the senator regarding the leak of classified information.

Gates said the review found most of the information relates to "tactical military operations".

CNN

Report: Death toll rises to 26 from China coal mine

(CNN) -- Rescue officials say five more bodies have been found after a coal mine gas leak in central China's Henan province, raising bringing the death toll to 26 as of Sunday morning, China's state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

Rescuers were battling to reach the 11 miners still trapped underground, but chances for them to survive were very slim, said Du Bo, deputy chief of the rescue headquarters, the news agency said.

"Based upon past experience, the remaining 11 miners could be buried in coal dust, so the survival chances are frail," Du was quoted as saying.

More than 2,500 metric tons of coal dust smothered the pit after the gas leak, which hampered the rescue, Du said, according to Xinhua.

CNN

Philippines on alert as Typhoon Megi nears landfall

(CNN) -- Emergency crews were on standby Sunday as the Philippines braced for a typhoon that could trigger flooding and landslides.

Typhoon Megi, also known as Typhoon Juan, is expected to make landfall by Monday at or near super-typhoon strength, with winds possibly in excess of 200 kph (124 mph), according to Mario Montejo, secretary of the Philippines' science and technology.

On Sunday, Megi carried sustained winds of about 259 kph and gusts of up to 315 kph as it headed toward the Philippines, CNN meteorologist Ivan Cabrera said.

"That is a catastrophic kind of wind," Cabrera said.

Montejo said the government is alarmed by the speed and strength of the typhoon. He warned of potentially devastating effects the storm may wreak on the northern island of Luzon.

Residents in low-lying and coastal areas are advised to head for safer locations, and authorities are discussing the possibility of forced evacuations.

CNN

Chilean miners waited for death

Copiapo, Chile (CNN) -- Richard Villaroel holds up a red plastic bottle cap no bigger around than two of his fingers. Three-quarters full of canned tuna or salmon -- that's how little he ate every day in the Chilean mine that caved.

And the mine water he drank tasted like machine oil.

In the dark inferno of Earth's belly, he and 32 other miners resigned themselves to die but battled for life.

"We were waiting for death because our own bodies were eating themselves. I was afraid I would never meet my son," Villaroel says.

Now, at a field hospital in the middle of the Atacama Desert, where all 33 rescued miners were brought for care, Villaroel manages to slip a half smile. In his dark, protective goggles and a crisp white T-shirt, he is finally amid joy, unburdened of 69 days of wretched uncertainty.

Husbands in hospital beds kiss their wives. Fathers clasp their children. They relay their 69-day ordeal with the pragmatism of men who have proved their mettle to the entire world.

Villaroel, 27, had been employed two years as a mechanic at the San Jose gold and copper mine in northern Chile. But he never told his mother he was working a half mile under the Earth's surface.

That early August day, everything began shaking. Everything collapsed.

CNN

Israeli forces target militants

(CNN) -- Israeli forces on Sunday targeted a "terrorist squad" that was preparing to fire rockets from northern Gaza, a military spokeswoman said.

The Israeli Defence Forces spokeswoman could not specify how many people were killed or injured.

Palestinian medical and security sources told CNN that one person was killed and four wounded.

The Israeli airstrike targeted militants from the "Islamic Jihad Movement," the sources said.

The casualties were members of the group, according to the sources.

CNN