LOST IN THE DARK RIDE

TBILISI, Georgia (AP) _ Spain will champion Georgia’s bid to join and build closer ties with the when Madrid takes the EU’s rotating presidency in 2010, the Spanish foreign minister said Saturday. Miguel Moratinos also pledged to increase ties with Georgia and spoke forcefully in defense of its territorial integrity. “Always, Spain has defended this principle, not like other…

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YOUNGSTOWN - Foe-turned-friend Hillary Clinton took to the campaign trail in battleground Ohio yesterday to rally the faithful and undecided behind Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama. “Barack Obama and Joe Biden are for you, and that is why I am for Barack Obama and Joe Biden,” the New York senator and former first lady told a crowd of more than 200 at Youngstown State University. It was clear Mrs. Clinton still has plenty of fans in Ohio, which she won by 8 percentage points in March’s primary. A few homeowners in Delaware dusted off the…

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BAGHDAD — Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr on Saturday called on Iraq’s parliament to reject a U.S.-Iraqi security pact as tens of thousands of his followers rallied in Baghdad against the deal. The mass public show of opposition came as U.S. and Iraqi leaders face a Dec. 31 deadline to reach agreement on the deal, which would replace an expiring U.N. mandate authorizing the U.S.-led forces in Iraq. Al-Sadr’s message was addressed to Iraqi lawmakers and read by his aide Sheik Abdul-Hadi al-Mohammadawi before a huge crowd of mostly young men waving Iraqi and green Shiite flags and chanting slogans including “no, no to the agreement” and “yes to Iraq.” “The…

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WASHINGTON - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Friday that Congress is unlikely to approve a tax rebate before President Bush leaves office, and she signaled that prospects are dim for a postelection session to pass an economic aid package. In an interview with The Associated Press, Pelosi played down the chances that Democrats -…

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WASHINGTON - An accord between Iraq and the United States would set the end of 2011 as a concrete date for troop withdrawal. According to drafts of the agreement, U.S. forces first would withdraw from Iraqi cities and villages and move to bases no later than June 30, 2009, and those troop movements could occur even sooner should “Iraqi Security Forces assume…

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JEDDAH A recently published study from the research centre at King Fahd Security College in Riyadh found that the Kingdom is home to 83,000 street children with their earnings, made through a variety of criminal activities, going to their families or gang ringleaders, reports Saudi Gazette. The study says the average age of the children is 7 years old and that they generally originate from poorly educated families, with extreme poverty cited as the most significant factor. Although a relatively recent phenomenon in the Kingdom, the presence of children living and working on the street has increased noticeably with the huge influx of illegally smuggled children from Asia and Africa, mostly…

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UNITED NATIONS — Japan handily defeated Iran for a nonpermanent two-year seat on the U.N. Security Council and Austria and Turkey edged out Iceland in secret ballot voting Friday. Iran — under U.N. sanctions for its nuclear program — received only 32 votes from the U.N. members compared with 158 for Japan for the Asian seat. Austria and Turkey beat Iceland in…

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NEW DELHI, INDIA - The country’s largest domestic carrier, Jet Airways, announced a plan to reinstate about 1,900 employees it fired earlier this week because of rising fuel prices and the global credit crunch. "I could not sleep, could not bear to see their suffering," Jet Chairman Naresh Goyal said at a news conference late Thursday night. He apologized for the "agony" the firings had caused and denied that mounting political pressure had forced the airline to reverse its decision. India’s new airlines had become a symbol of the country’s economic boom. Young people from small towns and cities were hired for glamorous jobs as flight attendants on dozens of low-cost…

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By JOSHUA FREED AP Business WriterThe Associated Press MINNEAPOLIS - Delta Air Lines Inc. said Friday it will inspect the engines on its 132 Boeing 757 jetliners after one engine failed and another on an American Airlines plane developed cracks. The National Transportation Safety Board has asked the Federal Aviation Administration to order the inspections, citing “serious concerns that warrant immediate action by the FAA.” As of Friday the FAA had not made a decision. It has said it needs to…

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David Cameron came under fire yesterday after he ended the political truce on the economy by branding Gordon Brown’s policies a “complete and utter failure”. David Cameron came under fire yesterday after he ended the political truce on the economy by branding Gordon Brown’s policies a “complete and utter failure”. In a hard-hitting speech to a City audience, Mr Cameron accused the Prime Minister of using the financial crisis to close down debate about its causes and “hide the truth” about his failures. Denying that he was “talking Britain down”, Mr Cameron warned: “I will never pull my punches in explaining how this Government has brought Britain down.” The Tory leader…

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