Jack’s Weblog

The U.N. says U.S. President Barack Obama's attendance at December's climate change summit in Denmark is "critical to a good outcome."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is requesting his Security Cabinet approve a temporary freeze on settlement construction in the West Bank in an effort to restart peace talks with the Palestinians, his office announced Wednesday.

Indian authorities charge seven suspects in connection with last year's deadly siege in the city of Mumbai, a defense attorney for one of the men tells CNN.

Islamist militants in Somalia have warned a United Nations agency to buy food from Somali farmers or stop sending aid to the impoverished African country.

Police find the bodies of six more victims of an apparently politically motivated massacre in the Philippines, taking the death toll to 57. A day of mourning has been declared.

Filmmaker Roman Polanski has been granted bail, a Swiss federal police spokesman told CNN Wednesday.

The Hajj, an obligatory pilgrimage for Muslims, began this year on Wednesday with two twists: thinner crowds and heavy rain.

British Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth announced a public inquiry Wednesday into allegations that Iraqis were killed and abused after a firefight more than five years ago in the southern part of the country.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is "optimistic" that other countries will contribute more troops to the mission in Afghanistan, he told the head of NATO in a letter this week.

A 13-year-old teenager with Asperger's syndrome spent 11 days in October wandering New York's vast subway system, police said.

Ireland's largest tour operator Budget Travel is being wound up after a provisional liquidator was appointed at the High Court.

The Irish Red Cross has appealed for donations to aid victims of the current flooding crisis.

Employers’ body IBEC says it will withdraw from the terms of the national pay agreement, unless a new deal is reached with ICTU by mid-December.

Anglo Irish Bank has issued proceedings against its former Chief Executive David Drumm over loans he has from the bank.

Three apartment blocks in Dublin had to be evacuated this morning after the roof was blown off one building in high winds.

A 46-year-old man has been jailed for ten years for the manslaughter of Galway man Frank Fahy last year.

The Christian Brothers have said it intends to donate €34m as reparation for past abuses.

Talks between the Government and public sector unions on cutting the public sector pay bill have resumed at Government Buildings.

Car dealer EP Moooney has gone into provisional liquidation with the loss of 93 jobs.

The Chairman of Bank of Ireland has said €2.1bn has been drawn down by small and medium sized businesses in the first nine months of the year.

AMPATUAN, Philippines (Reuters) - Philippine security forces found 11 more bodies Wednesday at the site of an election-related massacre in the south of the country, taking the toll to 57 dead, officials said.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel announced on Wednesday it was limiting settlement construction for 10 months to try to revive peace negotiations with the Palestinians, but they said the step fell short of their terms for talks.

LONDON (Reuters) - Iran has detained scores of students in an apparent bid to prevent new opposition protests during annual Student Day events next month, a Western-based human rights group said.

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - A Pakistani court indicted seven Pakistani suspects on terror charges on Wednesday in connection with last year's attack on the Indian city of Mumbai, a defense lawyer said.

GAZA (Reuters) - Israel has rejected a demand for the release of two Hamas commanders as part of any exchange for a captured Israeli soldier, a source close to negotiations said Wednesday, signaling talks had hit a snag.

BANGUI (Reuters) - Dozens of people were killed in a remote corner of Central African Republic when Ugandan rebels attacked villagers but were then ambushed by Ugandan soldiers, a witness and local media said.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. and U.N. officials have proposed solutions to Iraq's Sunni Arab vice president to stop him vetoing for a second time a law needed for an election to take place next year, an official said on Wednesday.

MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Two freelance journalists kidnapped in Somalia in August 2008 were freed Wednesday and are in a hotel in the capital Mogadishu, a Somali member of parliament and hotel sources said.

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Hundreds of thousands of people are still living in makeshift homes 18 months after Cyclone Nargis tore into Myanmar's Irrawaddy delta, killing at least 140,000, the United Nations said Wednesday.

PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - The Khmer Rouge's chief torturer and jailer expressed "excruciating remorse" on Wednesday for more than 14,000 people killed under his watch at a notorious prison during Cambodia's ultra-Maoist revolution of the 1970s.