TURKEY - KURDS: The Turkish military says 15 of its soldiers have been killed in clashes with Kurdish rebels in southeastern Turkey.
At least 23 members of the rebel Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) were also killed in the fighting near the Iraqi border.
The Turkish military says it was responding to a rebel attack on a military outpost.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he will return early
from an official visit in Turkmenistan because of the attack.
Turkey has carried out several air strikes and a brief ground offensive
against PKK targets in northern Iraq this year.
WORLD ECONOMY: U.S. President George Bush has signed into law a historic 700
billion-dollar plan designed to rescue the troubled financial industry.
The law allows the government to buy failing investments from troubled
financial companies in an effort to restore lender and investor
confidence, and to restart economic growth.
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson says he will get right to work hiring
experts needed to manage the program. It is likely to take at least a
month before Wall Street firms receive any of the money.
US - INDIA NUCLEAR: U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is in India for a two-day
visit to discuss the civilian nuclear deal the U.S. Congress recently
approved.
Rice will meet India's foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee today before discussing the U.S.-India nuclear agreement with
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Rice said Friday that administrative details must be resolved before
she can sign the deal that ends a 34-year ban on civilian nuclear trade
with India.
India's communist parties plan to protest the deal today. They say
their government has surrendered India's sovereignty to U.S.
imperialism.
IRAQ: The U.S.-led coalition in Iraq says it has killed the leader of one of al-Qaida in Iraq's Baghdad networks, a man who was wanted for several deadly bombings. A U.S. military statement said Mahir Ahmad Mahmud Hudu' al-Zubaydi and an unidentified female were killed Friday in a raid on a building in Baghdad. Soldiers targeted the building based on intelligence reports, and that they opened fire in self-defense, in response to small arms fire from inside the building. The suspect was believed to be behind multiple car bombings in Baghdad, including two attacks Thursday that killed at least eight people.
OJ SIMPSON TRIAL: A jury in the western U.S. state of Nevada has found former (American) football star O.J. Simpson guilty on all charges against him in a robbery and kidnapping trial. Simpson and a co-defendant were convicted Friday on various charges, including kidnapping and armed robbery, for storming the hotel room of two souvenir-dealers and demanding they return items related to Simpson's football career. Simpson, who is 61 years old, could spend the rest of his life in prison.
PAKISTAN: Pakistani intelligence officials say a suspected U.S. missile strike
has killed about 20 people, including foreigners, along the Afghan
border.
The officials say an unmanned aircraft launched Friday's attack on the
home of an Afghan in North Waziristan (in the village of Mohammed
Khel). Intelligence officials say in a separate attack in North
Waziristan
Friday, suspected U.S. fighter jets killed two women and a child.
Pakistan's army spokesman denied the
incident took place in Pakistan, saying international troops were
carrying out an operation in Afghanistan.
NOKOR NUCLEAR: U.S. nuclear envoy Christopher Hill held talks with his Chinese
counterpart in Beijing today, after a trip to North Korea
failed to persuade Pyongyang to stop restoring its atomic facilities.
A U.S. Embassy spokesman said Hill briefed top nuclear negotiator Wu
Dawei on the outcome of his discussions with North Korean officials
this week.
U.S. State Department spokesman Robert Wood said Friday that Hill was
not able to convince Pyongyang to halt steps to reverse disablement of
its nuclear facility at Yongbyon.
US - TAIWAN - ARMS: The U.S. government has announced new advanced arms sales to Taiwan worth about six-point-five billion dollars.
The Defense Department on Friday gave details of the proposed sales to
U.S. lawmakers, who have 30 days to block the separate arms deals.
The Pentagon's Defense Security and Cooperation Agency said the sales
are aimed at improving Taiwan's security and maintaining the military
balance in the region.
The proposed sales include 330 Patriot missiles worth up to
three-point-one billion dollars, and 30 Apache attack helicopters
valued at two-point-five billion dollars.
CAMBODIA - THAILAND CLASH: Cambodia's Foreign Ministry has formally protested Thailand's action in
a border skirmish that wounded at least one Cambodian and two Thai
soldiers.
A letter sent today to the Thai ambassador in
Phnom Penh blames Thai soldiers for the incident, and says such
provocation could lead to full-scale armed hostility.
The clash broke out Friday near the centuries-old Preah Vihear temple,
which is at the center of recent skirmishes. Officials from both sides
say the exchange lasted a few minutes. It is not clear who fired first.
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