WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama on Friday said he would address a package of new measures next week to boost U.S. growth and hiring as he greeted the August job report as positive news.            JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Chelsea midfielder Michael Essien has stood down from international football for the foreseeable future, telling Ghana he wants to return to form at club level, coach Milovan Rajevac said.            MOSCOW (Reuters) - Wildfires swept through dozens of villages in southern Russia, killing at least eight people and reducing more than 400 homes to smouldering ruins, officials said on Friday.            MANTEO, N.C., (Reuters) - Hurricane Earl slapped North Carolina's coast with rain, winds and heavy surf on Friday and swirled up the U.S. eastern seaboard toward New England and Canada as a weakened but still potent storm.            HAVANA (Reuters) - Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro, wearing his green military cap and clothing like the comandante of old, made his first speech before the Cuban public since falling ill in 2006 on Friday, warning of the threat of nuclear war.            DUBAI (Reuters) - Concerns over Israeli access to BlackBerry data, and the use of the device by the United States to spy on the United Arab Emirates are behind the Gulf state's moves to curb the smartphone, Dubai's police chief said.            PARIS (Reuters) - Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema will miss France's Euro 2012 qualifier against Belarus because of an ankle injury, the French Football Federation said on Friday, a few hours before the game at the Stade de France.            LONDON (Reuters) - Cricket's governing body vowed on Friday to do whatever necessary to root out cheats and preserve the integrity of the game after suspending three Pakistan players over match-fixing allegations.            LAHORE, Pakistan (Reuters) - Lime green dresses for girls spill out of the sack of food, supplies and shoes -- a gift from the Islamist charity Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) to help flood victims celebrate the Muslim festival of Eid this month.            KARACHI (Reuters) - Pakistan have called up Asad Shafiq and Mohammad Irfan as replacements for the suspended Salman Butt, Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif for the one-day series in England.           

Law & Order

Somali government says 31 dead in hotel attack

Somali government says 31 dead in hotel attack

MOGADISHU August 24, 2010  The Somali Information Ministry  said  31 people have died in the militant attack  on a hotel in Mogadishu. The dead included 6 members of parliament and 5 government security personnel.

"The blood of the dead is leaking out of the hotel," said Information Minister Abdirahman Osman.

The Muna Hotel stands in one of the small nominally government-controlled areas of the capital, between the presidential palace and the Indian Ocean.

Osman said one gunman had been captured. His ministry said two others had blown themselves up.  Gunfire and shelling were continuing in the area.

Somali gunmen storm hotel, 15 MPs reported killed

Somali gunmen storm hotel, 15 MPs reported killed

MOGADISHU August 24, 2010  Somali gunmen disguised in army uniforms stormed a hotel popular with government officials on Tuesday. A lawmaker  said at least 15 parliamentarians were killed.

A hotel worker who fled the hotel said one of the attackers was a suicide bomber and had blown himself up.

Hardline al Shabaab Islamists linked to al Qaeda have waged a three-year insurgency against the  weak, Western-backed government. They control most of Mogadishu. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.

The government and more than 6,300 African Union peacekeepers have not been able  to bring order to Somalia after nearly two decades of  lawlessness.

Death toll from Iraq suicide blast put at 47

Death toll from Iraq suicide blast put at 47

BAGHDAD August 17, 2010  A deputy health minister of Iraq,  Khamis al-Saad, said 47 have died so far  and  77 wounded  from a suicide bombing at an Iraqi army recruitment centre on Tuesday. /sites/default/files/xml_images/2010-08-17T144906Z_01_NOOTR_RTRMDNP_1_India-508874-1-pic0.jpg

More deaths were  not expected,  he said.

Zawahri - Qaeda No. 2 - in web posting asks Turks to break ties with Israel

Zawahri - Qaeda No. 2 - in web posting asks Turks to break ties with Israel

DUBAI August 16, 2010 Ayman al-Zawahri, Al Qaeda's No. 2,  urged the Turkish people in an Internet message posted on Sunday to pressure their government to break ties with Israel.

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan had  spoken against  an Israeli offensive in Gaza in December 2008, and criticised an Israeli blockade of the Palestinian enclave. The genuineness of the audio recording  is not verified,

Relations between Turkey and Israeli further deteriorated after Israeli commandos killed nine Turkish pro-Palestinian activists in a sea raid as they attempted to break Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip in May.

Military deaths pass 2,000 as Afghan war review nears

Military deaths pass 2,000 as Afghan war review nears

KABUL August 16, 2010  /sites/default/files/xml_images/2010-08-16T092409Z_01_NOOTR_RTRMDNP_1_India-508601-1-pic0.jpgThe deaths of at least one more U.S.

PM orders Delhi Games graft investigation

PM orders Delhi Games graft investigation

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NEW DELHI August 14, 2010 The Indian  prime minister Manmohan Singh ordered ministries on Saturday to  look into complaints of corruption and mismanagement in the preparations for October's Commonwealth Games.

Sri Lanka Tamils tell war commission about rights abuse

Sri Lanka Tamils tell war commission about rights abuse

VAVUNIYA, Sri Lanka August 14, 2010  Sri Lank's minority Tamils told  the  government-appointed war commission on Saturday that the army abused civil rights  during the final stages of  action  against LTTE.

Rights groups say thousands of ordinary people were killed towards the end of the war. The Sri Lankan government  has denied  the charge.

Witnesses told the commission of loved ones taken away by unidentified gangs, and sometimes by the military as it pressed on against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in a 25-year war that ended last year.

Four charged over deaths of 800 Bosnian Muslims

Four charged over deaths of 800 Bosnian Muslims

SARAJEVO August 13, 2010  Bosnia's war crimes court  has charged  four former Bosnian Serb army soldiers with genocide over the killing of at least 800 Bosnian Muslims from Srebrenica in 1995.

The court found that  they took part in the killing of Bosnian men and inflicted on them severe physical and mental injuries. They wanted to destroy Bosniaks, the court statement said.

Bosnian Serb troops killed about 8,000 Muslim men and boys after capturing the U.N.-protected eastern enclave of Srebrenica. This is  Europe's most serious atrocity since World War Two.

Obama signs $600 million U.S. border security bill

Obama signs $600 million U.S. border security bill

WASHINGTON August 14, 2010 U.S President Barack Obama on Friday signed into law a $600 million bill to beef up security on the U.S. border with Mexico./sites/default/files/xml_images/2010-08-14T041319Z_01_NOOTR_RTRMDNP_1_India-508436-1-pic0.jpg The Congress had passed it this week.

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