Somalia's al Qaeda-linked rebels struck at the heart of the capital Mogadishu on Tuesday, killing scores of people with a truck bomb in the group's most deadly single attack since launching an insurgency in 2007.Mogadishu's ambulance coordinator Ali Muse said at least 70 people had been killed by the blast. Initial official estimates were lower, but were expected to rise as the dead and wounded had been taken to a number of sites in the capital.Witnesses said a truck exploded at the gate of a compound housing government ministries in the K4 (Kilometre 4) area of Mogadishu, where students and parents had gathered to await the results of scholarship exams... Read on

American student Amanda Knox flew home free on Tuesday after spending four years in an Italian jail, leaving the family of murdered British student Meredith Kercher racked with anguish that they are no closer to the truth about her killing.Knox, cleared of the murder by an appeals court on Monday night, left Rome shortly before midday for London where she and her family were boarding a connecting flight to their home in Seattle, airport officials said.The 24-year-old broke down sobbing and nearly collapsed with emotion on Monday night after an appeals court in Perugia ruled she and her former boyfriend, Italian computer student Raffaele Sollecito, were not guilty of killing Kercher and should be freed immediately... Read on

The "astounding" discovery that the expansion of the universe is speeding up won the Nobel physics prize on Tuesday for three astronomers whose observations of exploding stars transformed our view of the world, and of how it may end.Honouring two global teams of stargazers who shook cosmology to its foundations in 1998, the Nobel Committee said Americans Saul Perlmutter, Brian Schmidt and Adam Riess had shown how the universe that emerged from the Big Bang may fly apart so far, cooling as it goes, that it "will end in ice... Read on

European finance ministers are considering making banks take bigger losses on Greek debt and have postponed a vital aid payment to Athens until mid-November, setting up a moment of truth in the euro zone's sovereign debt crisis.Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos said the country had enough cash to cope until then and insisted that euro zone ministers are not preparing for a Greek default, despite the ominous delay."There is no discussion of default," Venizelos told a news conference on returning to Athens on Tuesday.European bank shares tumbled for the second day, leading a broader stock market retreat, after the 17 finance ministers, meeting in Luxembourg, called for a review of a July 21 debt swap agreement with private holders of Greek bonds... Read on

AN ITALIAN court cleared 24-year-old American Amanda Knox and her former boyfriend of murdering British student Meredith Kercher in 2007 and ordered them to be set free yesterday after nearly four years in prison for a crime they always denied committing.Seattle native Knox and Italian computer student Raffaele Sollecito, had appealed against a 2009 verdict that found them guilty of murdering 21-year-old Kercher during what prosecutors said was a drug-fuelled sexual assault four years ago.Looking pale and tense as the sentence was read out in a packed Perugia court room, Knox was led away in tears and close to collapse by police officers... Read on

 A SCIENTIST who won the Nobel prize for medicine yesterday for work on fighting cancer died of the disease himself just three days before he could be told of his award, and after using his own discoveries to extend his life.Canadian-born Ralph Steinman, 68, had been treating himself with a groundbreaking therapy based on his own research into the body's immune system but died on Friday after a four-year battle with pancreatic cancer. His colleagues at Rockefeller University in New York called it a "bittersweet" honour... Read on

A RED Cross convoy carrying aid to relieve a worsening humanitarian crisis in Libya's besieged city of Sirte had to turn back yesterday because Libyan interim government forces unleashed a barrage of gunfire.Aid agencies say they are concerned about the welfare of civilians inside Sirte, the hometown of deposed Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, who are trapped by the fighting and running out of food, water, fuel and medical supplies.The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) took some supplies into Sirte last week, and it tried again yesterday, assembling a convoy of two trucks carrying aid, and accompanied by two four-wheel drive vehicles... Read on

FRENCH President Nicolas Sarkozy's uncertain reelection prospects gained a small boost yesterday  after popular former environment minister Jean-Louis Borloo, a centrist, said he would not run for president next April.Borloo's decision, announced on Sunday, reduces the risk that the conservative vote will be splintered at Sarkozy's expense, although analysts cautioned against assuming moderate Borloo supporters would now rally behind the president.Borloo, who said he did not believe he had enough support to make a realistic run, had been scoring 7-8 per cent in opinion polls and could have eaten into support for Sarkozy in the first round of what promises to be a tough race against the main opposition Socialist Party... Read on

Troubled Cyprus-based oil industry services provider SeaBird Exploration on Monday agreed to sell its seabed data unit to Dutch infrastructure surveyor Fugro for $125 million as it struggles to repay debt.Fugro will also charter vessel capacity from SeaBird, according to two contracts worth at least $75 million in total, as part of the tentative deal.Shares in SeaBird, which is listed on the Oslo stock exchange, almost doubled on the news, giving it a market capitalisation of 76 million Norwegian crowns. Fugro shares fell 4 percent by 1429 GMT as Amsterdam's blue chip index was down 1.6 percent... 1 comment

GREECE'S admission that it will miss its deficit targets this year and next despite harsh new austerity measures sent stock markets reeling today and raised new doubts over a planned second international bailout.The gloomy news from Athens brought the spectre of a debt default closer and will weigh on talks among euro zone finance ministers in Luxembourg on the next steps to try to resolve the currency area's sovereign debt crisis.European bank shares suffered the heaviest falls on fears that private sector bondholders may be forced to absorb bigger losses than agreed in a July rescue plan for Greece, which was based on more optimistic growth forecasts... 1 comment