Source: New York Times -- Read Full Story

The post-election turbulence continued to spread in Kenya on Monday as a curfew was imposed in Kisumu, the nation’s third-largest city; ethnic fighting intensified; and more than 100 people were killed. A knot of rage seems to be moving across the country, from the slums of Nairobi, the capital, to the cities along the Indian Ocean to usually tranquil towns on the savanna. Many people are furious that Kenya’s president, Mwai Kibaki, was declared the winner on Sunday of the country’s most fiercely fought election, despite widespread evidence of ballot-rigging.

Source: Voice of America -- Read Full Story

Iraqi police say a suicide bomber drove a truck into a checkpoint Monday in a town north of Baghdad, killing at least nine people. Police say the victims were members of a neighborhood patrol (known as Awakening Councils,) set up to oppose al-Qaida militants. Two other people were reported missing and believed to be dead. The attack comes just days after the release of a new Internet message purportedly by al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden. He warned Iraqis not to take up arms against his movement or to support the unity government.

Source: Reuters -- Read Full Story

Three hostages held for years in Colombian by Marxist guerrillas will not be handed to a Venezuelan chopper team until at least Monday but officials said they were in constant contact with the rebels. The powerful Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, promised two weeks ago to free two former Colombian politicians and the young son born to one of them in captivity but have not yet revealed their whereabouts.

Source: Washington Post -- Read Full Story

Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden accused Washington of plotting to take control of Iraq's oil and urged Iraqis to reject efforts to rebuild a U.S.-backed national unity government there. The militant leader also vowed in an audio recording posted on the Internet on Saturday to expand its jihad to liberate all Palestinian land and said his group will never recognize Israel.

Source: Voice of America -- Read Full Story

Impatience with the delays in announcing a winner in Kenya's presidential vote boiled over into violence between supporters of opposition candidate Raila Odinga and incumbent President Mwai Kibaki in the Mathare slum in Nairobi. Two days after the polls, the latest results gave Odinga a slight edge over President Kibaki. Just 21 of Kenya's 210 constituencies remain to be counted, including parts of Nairobi and strongholds of Mr. Kibaki. For that reason, the electoral commission has not declared a winner. People angry with the delays have looted shops, burned tires in the streets and smashed car windows.

Source: Reuters.uk -- Read Full Story

Indonesian rescuers intensified efforts on Friday to search for people still believed to be buried under thick mud after landslides on Java island that left nearly 100 people dead or missing. Thousands of people have been made homeless across Java this week after houses were submerged by floods or buried by landslides triggered by days of heavy rains that have hampered rescue operations. Rescuers managed to bring in a small excavator after using only hoes, spades and sometimes even their bare hands to dig out the mud and pull out buried victims in Tawangmangu, an area in Central Java province worst hit by the landslides.

Source: Christian Science Monitor -- Read Full Story

A senior United Nations official and the acting head of the European Union's mission in Afghanistan were expelled from the country Thursday after the government accused them of holding talks with the Taliban and giving the group cash. UN officials have denied the allegations. Analysts say the incident reflects divisions over growing efforts to neutralize the Taliban by negotiating with their tribal alliances.

Source: Winston-Salem Journal -- Read Full Story

Hindu extremists burned more than 10 churches and the home of a Christian leader yesterday, defying a curfew imposed to quell three days of religious violence in eastern India. Christians retaliated by setting fire to several homes belonging to Hindus. Local police have been unsuccessful in stopping the attacks, and the federal government said it was sending in a paramilitary force.

Source: Catholic World News -- Read Full Story

Rival groups of Orthodox clerics clashed inside the basilica of the Nativity in Bethlehem on December 27, forcing Palestinian police to restore order. Priests of the Greek Orthodox and Armenian Apostolic churches came to blows during a dispute over the boundaries of their respective jurisdictions within the basilica, located on the site of Christ's birth. The confrontation arose as the two groups were cleaning the church in preparation for the Orthodox observance of the Nativity in January.

Source: Reuters -- Read Full Story

A Sri Lankan minister held hostage by state television employees needed stitches to head injuries on Thursday after they pelted him with stones and sprayed him with paint and urine, officials and witnesses said. Non-cabinet labour minister Mervyn Silva entered the Colombo premises of state-owned Rupavahini earlier on Thursday complaining that his speech at a ceremony the previous day to reopen a bridge destroyed by the 2004 tsunami was not aired.