Iraq president refuses to sign execution order for Tariq Aziz

Iraq president refuses to sign execution order for Tariq Aziz
Jalal Talabani, the Iraqi president, has said he will not sign an execution order for Tariq Aziz, the former deputy of dictator Saddam Hussein sentenced to death last month over the persecution of Islamic parties.
Iraq's high tribunal passed a death sentence on Aziz, once the international face of Saddam's government, in late October.

Qantas plane turned back after bird strike

A Qantas jet was forced to return to Johannesburg after a bird strike damaged one of its engines, the latest in a series of incidents at the Australian airline since an engine failure on an Airbus A380 nearly two weeks ago.

Nazi spaceship film sparks UFO debate

By Allan Hall in Berlin 1:05PM GMT 17 Nov 2010

The Finnish sci-fi comedy 'Iron Sky' centres on real-life SS officer Hans Kammler who was said to have made a significant breakthrough in antigravity experiments towards the end of WW2.

Germany raises security alert after attack warnings

BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany said on Wednesday it had strong evidence Islamist militants were planning attacks in the next two weeks and ordered security at potential targets such as train stations and airports to be tightened.

Yahoo News

• TSA boss: New pat-downs are more invasive (AP)
• Consumer prices rise moderately but inflation tame (AP)
• Murkowski Alaska-bound as vote counting winds down (AP)
• Pelosi expected to remain House Democrats' leader (AP)
• European officials to lift lid on Irish banks (AP)
• Feds: Russian arms suspect not beyond law's reach (AP)

» More News

China's Hairy Crab Prices Indicate Strong Economic Growth

By Keith Fitz-Gerald, Chief Investment Strategist, Money Morning

BEIJING, People's Republic of China – While other investors are busy rounding up all sorts of economic data, tea leaves and fortune cookies in an attempt to figure out China's economic situation next year, I'm heading out the door once again to take a look at hairy crab prices.

Chile: The One Emerging Market That Investors Can't Afford to Ignore in 2011

By Martin Hutchinson, Contributing Editor, Money Morning

When I review each of the world's emerging markets in order to decide which ones to buy in 2011, I start with two questions:

• Is the market cheap?
• And has it under-performed over the past year?

If the answer is "yes" for both those questions, that market is much more likely to get my vote.
But with every rule, there are also exceptions. As we will see.

Yahoo News

• Europe seeks concrete response to Irish crisis (AP)
• Pelosi expected to remain House Democrats' leader (AP)
• Russian arms trafficking suspect arrives in NY (AP)
• Senate Democrats swim against anti-earmark tide (AP)
• Experts: BP ignored warning signs on doomed well (AP)
• Haiti president appeals for calm in cholera riots (AP)

» More News

Britain Pledges to Support Ireland in Debt Crisis - NYTimes.com

BRUSSELS — The British government signaled Wednesday that it could offer direct financial assistance to Ireland even though Britain is outside the euro zone, as the European Union struggled to contain a resurgent debt crisis.

India needs to do more in social security space