Heroism and banditry mingled on Chile's shattered streets Sunday as rescuers braved aftershocks digging for survivors and the government sent soldiers and ordered a nighttime curfew to quell looting. The death toll climbed to 708 in one of the biggest earthquakes in centuries.
Former President Bill Clinton, who had quadruple bypass surgery more than five years ago, was hospitalized Thursday to have a clogged heart artery opened after suffering discomfort in his chest. Two stents resembling tiny mesh scaffolds were placed inside the artery as part of a medical procedure that is common for people with severe heart disease.
Frantic Haitians awaiting a global rescue effort clawed through the ruins of their capital seeking survivors from an earthquake that left streets strewn with corpses and a death toll that may top 100,000. Injured and shocked survivors steeled themselves Thursday for a second night on streets and sidewalks littered with the dead from Haiti's worst earthquake in more than a century.
Bodies littered Haiti's capital yesterday after an earthquake that may have killed thousands of people as it collapsed shantytowns, luxury hotels and even the presidential palace. With victims pinned under debris and powerful aftershocks rattling the country, looting broke out soon after the 7.0 magnitude quake, which spared no part of the capital Port-au-Prince, which was close to the epicentre.
The financially troubled Gulf emirate of Dubai on Monday opened the world's tallest building, a glistening concrete, glass and steel pinnacle rising 828 metres (2,717 feet) out of the desert sands. Blazing fireworks rippled up and down the massive structure after it was officially opened by Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashed al-Maktoum.
North Korea has banned the use of foreign currency, another sign its hard-line communist government is intent on reasserting control over the country's nascent market economy.
A senior Congress leader and governor of a southern Indian state resigned after an alleged sex scandal in another blow to the ruling Congress party which is facing protests over statehood demands there.
The all-party Joint Action Committee of Telangana announced plans to call for an indefinite shutdown in the region to mount pressure on the Indian central government on separate statehood while all the state ministers from the region Friday resigned en masse, reports Indo-Asian News Service. The JAC plans to give an ultimatum to the government to make a statement by Monday specifying the time-frame for carving out Telangana state.
Rafael Antonio Caldera, a two-time president who helped establish democracy in Venezuela and issued the pardon that allowed Hugo Chavez to rise to power, died Thursday in Caracas, his son said. He was 93.
Pakistan's ruling party united behind President Asif Ali Zardari Saturday and vowed to fight any corruption charges brought against its leaders in a bid to exit a damaging political crisis. Trying to ride out what could be the worst challenge to Zardari's troubled 15 months in power, the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) made it clear it would not seek any resignations after a court scrapped an amnesty on graft charges.
