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Nov 15, 2010

Shanghai fire: 40 dead as apartment block engulfed in flames

Inferno: At least eight people have been killed in a fire in the business district of Shanghai - 80 fire engines were scrambled but their water jets made little impact on the blaze, as shown here
At least 40 people have been killed by a blazing fire in a high-rise residential building in the business centre of Shanghai, on the east coast of China.
A further 90 people were also injured in the incident, which took place at 2pm local time (6am GMT) today in the Jingan district.
Building materials caught fire, and the blaze spread to scaffolding and then to the 28-storey building, home to retired teachers, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.
More people could have been hurt, but the 28-storey apartment block was being renovated.

Yahoo News

Costa Rica calls OAS border resolution 'victory'

Army soldiers raise a Nicaragua's flag by the San Juan riverside, the border zone with Costa Rica which is part of the two-century-old territorial dis
AP – Army soldiers raise a Nicaragua's flag by the San Juan riverside, the border zone with Costa Rica which
SAN JOSE, Costa Rica – Costa Rica boasted Saturday of a "diplomatic victory" in its border spat with Nicaragua after the Organization of American States approved a resolution calling for removal of soldiers and security forces from a disputed area along the San Juan River.

Cuba frees the first of 13 political prisoners

HAVANA – The first of 13 remaining Cuban dissidents jailed since 2003 was released from prison Saturday and returned to his home in the capital, a strong signal the government intends to release all of the men despite their refusal to go into exile.

Bertha Soler, a member of the Ladies in White dissident group, told The Associated Press that Arnaldo Ramos Lauzurique had "arrived at his apartment" in central Havana after his wife received a telephone call from Havana Cardinal Jaime Ortega informing her of the government's intentions.

Gunmen kill 5, wound 9 in Ciudad Juarez bar

Official: Student killed in Mexico was American
Reuters – Forensic workers stand next to the remains of a body found near a mass grave in Tuncingo, on the outskirts …
CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico – Gunmen burst into a bar called "Desesperados" in the Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez and opened fire on Sunday, killing five people and wounding nine others, authorities said. Assailants also killed the state's prisons director and his son in a second attack in the area, which has turned into a deadly battleground for warring drug cartels.

United States To Face Attacks on Quantitative Easing Policy at G20 Summit as Currency War Rages On

The United States will go on the defense at this week's Group of 20 (G20) meeting, having to explain its quantitative easing (QE2) policy to foreign leaders who have criticized the move as a currency war tactic to weaken the dollar and damage other countries' export-driven recoveries.

China, Brazil, Germany and South Africa all have spoken out against the U.S. Federal Reserve's announcement last week that it will buy $600 billion in U.S. Treasuries through June. Finance policymakers from around the globe say the move will depress the dollar and drive capital flows to emerging markets, creating asset bubbles.

Brazil's central bank president Henrique Meirelles said the extra liquidity in the U.S. economy would cause "risks for everyone," and German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble called the Fed's move "clueless."

PASOK Wins 8 out of 13 Regions

It’s the first time after twenty- four years that the councils of Athens and Thessaloniki passed under the umbrella of PASOK.

PASOK won 8 out of 13 regions. These include Attiica, Eastern Macedonia-Thrace, Sterea Hellas, Western Greece, Peloponnese, North Aegean, South Aegean, Crete, plus the southwest region of Central Macedonia, West Macedonia, Thessaly, Epirus, and the Ionian Islands.

British couple released by pirates

Paul and Rachel Chandler appear at a news conference at the presidential palace in Mogadishu on Sunday, accompanied by Somali prime minister Mohamed Abdulahi Mohamed, centre.
A British couple kidnapped off their private yacht by Somali pirates more than a year ago was set free Sunday, ending one of the most drawn-out and dramatic hostage situations since a rash of piracy began off East Africa. Paul and Rachel Chandler appear at a news conference at the presidential palace in Mogadishu on Sunday, accompanied by Somali

Somali Pirates Release Hostages Paul and Rachel Chandler

Somali pirates released a British couple from captivity on Sunday, ending a yearlong drama in which the pair was moved, separated and moved several times again as negotiations to win their release stalled over the amount of ransom to be paid. The pirates turned Paul and Rachel Chandler over to local Somali authorities near the central town of Adado on Saturday. From there, they flew to the capital Mogadishu, where they met with officials from the Transitional Federal Government before leaving for Nairobi on Sunday night. "We're fine. We are rather skinny and bony, but we're fine," Paul Chandler told the BBC on Sunday. Official photographs released by the Somali government showed them smiling and looking healthy as they met with Prime Minister Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed.

Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed

Somalias PM Abdullahi Mohamed addresses ...

Belgium floods kill 2

A man cycles through a flooded street in Geraardsbergen, Belgium, on Sunday.
A man cycles through a flooded street in Geraardsbergen, Belgium, on Sunday. (Yves Logghe/Associated Press)Belgian authorities called in the army Sunday to assist with emergency evacuations after severe flooding killed two people in the southwestern region of Beaumont, near the French border.
A 72-year-old woman drowned overnight after her husband lost control of their vehicle, Lt. Fabrice

Greece's Socialists win local elections

Prime Minister George Papandreou, second from right, congratulates newly elected greater Athens governor Yiannis Sgouros, right, and the city's mayor-elect Giorgos Kaminis, left, on Sunday.
Greece's governing Socialists emerged the winner of local government elections Sunday, despite a record low turnout and renewed pressure on the crisis-hit nation to impose a new round of drastic spending cuts.
With 99.6 per cent of the vote counted nationwide, the Socialists won mayoral races in Athens and Greece's second largest city,

N. Korea repeats warship sinking denial

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak salutes the portraits of the deceased sailors from the Cheonan during a funeral at a navy base at Pyeongtaek in April.
North Korea has sent a statement to UN members repeating a denial that it torpedoed a South Korean warship, the communist country's state media reported Monday.South Korean President Lee Myung-bak salutes the portraits of the deceased sailors from the Cheonan during a funeral at a navy base at Pyeongtaek in April. (Jung Yeon-je/Associated Press)

World - Shanghai apartment fire kills 8

More than 80 fire trucks were called to fight a fire that engulfed a highrise apartment building in China's business centre of Shanghai
Fire engulfed a highrise apartment building under renovation in China's business centre of Shanghai on Monday, killing at least eight people, injuring more than 90 and sending some residents racing down scaffolding to escape.More than 80 fire trucks were called to fight a fire that engulfed a highrise apartment building in China's business centre of Shanghai

World - Burmese flee homes as tensions increase

Fighting between the Burmese military and ethnic Karen rebels follows the release of pro-democracy leader Aung Sung Suu Kyi.
Hundreds of people living along the border between Burma and Thailand fled their homes overnight Sunday, trying to escape renewed fighting between the Burmese army and one of the country's largest ethnic rebel groups.
Fighting between the Burmese military and ethnic Karen rebels follows the release of pro-democracy leader Aung Sung Suu Kyi.

World - Mexico resort blast kills 5 Canadians

Family members of hotel employees wait for news after a gas explosion at the Grand Riviera Princess Hotel in Cancun on Sunday.  
Family members of hotel employees wait for news after a gas explosion at the Grand Riviera Princess Hotel in Cancun on Sunday.
Mexican officials are trying to determine what triggered a gas explosion at a Playa del Carmen hotel complex on the weekend that killed two Mexicans and five Canadians, including a nine-year-old boy and a newlywed.