Archive for the ‘Americas’ Category

The US president is set to propose a three-year partial freeze on domestic spending in his 2011 budget, administration officials say. The freeze, to be announced in Barack Obama's State of the Union speech on Wednesday, would exclude defence, veteran affairs, homeland security and spending on international affairs, the officials said. "We are in the midst of fighting a war and have security needs. We're going to fund those ... Full story

US authorities have charged three men with plotting an attack on a Danish newspaper and helping to plan the November 2008 attacks in Mumbai, India, in which 160 people died. Ilyas Kashmiri was indicted in Chicago on Thursday for his role in plotting a revenge attack against the Jyllands-Posten newspaper. The Danish newspaper published cartoons of Prophet Muhammad in 2005, setting ... Full story

Aid agencies are struggling to reach the up to three million of people affected by an earthquake that has devastated Haiti, levelling buildings and burying thousands of people in the rubble. At least 300,000 people were estimated to be homeless in Port-au-Prince on Friday, more than 48 hours after one in 10 homes in the capital collapsed, the United Nations said. Many more ... Full story

Peru's supreme court has ratified the 25-year jail sentence handed to Alberto Fujimori, the country's former president, over a number of killings and kidnappings during his time in power. The court published its decision to uphold the jail term in a ruling posted on the internet on Sunday. Seventy-one-year-old Fujimori's defence lawyer had asked the court to revoke his client's sentence, claiming ... Full story

The United States and Britain have closed their embassies in Sanaa, Yemen's capital, citing security concerns after threats from an al-Qaeda group. The US embassy posted a message on its website on Sunday saying it was closed "in response to ongoing threats by al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula to attack American interests in Yemen". A British foreign office spokeswoman said later that it too had ... Full story

The US government has announced that visitors from several countries will be subject to new airport security screening procedures. Beginning Monday, all passengers flying from or via at least 14 countries, including Nigeria and Yemen, will be patted down and have all carry-on luggage searched before boarding flights bound for the US. The move is part of the security crackdown following ... Full story