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Bush: `Affront' to Chinese to skip Olympics start

US President George W. Bush, left, gestures during a joint press conference with Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda at the G8 summit Sunday, July 6, 2008 in the lakeside resort of Toyako on Japan's northern island of Hokkaido. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
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AP - 1 hour, 7 minutes ago

TOYAKO, Japan - President Bush said Sunday he does not feel the need to boycott the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics to state his opposition to China's human rights record. Skipping the event would be an "affront" to the Chinese people, he said.

  • In this May 28, 2008 file photo, job seekers wait on line stretching around a block to attend the Monster.com and National Career Fairs job fair in New York, Wednesday May 28 , 2008. The nation's psyche is battered and bruised, the sense of pessimism palpable. The Independence Day holiday is typically a time to honor all that we are as a nation, but the feeling is there's less to celebrate on this our 232nd birthday. Happy? It would seem not. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews, file)
    Americans' unhappy birthday: 'Too much wrong' AP - 1 hour, 12 minutes ago

    Even folks in the Optimist Club are having a tough time toeing an upbeat line these days. Eighteen members of the volunteer organization's Gilbert, Ariz., chapter have gathered, a few days before this nation's 232nd birthday, to focus on the positive: Their book drive for schoolchildren and an Independence Day project to place American flags along the streets of one neighborhood.

  • In this May 26, 2007 file photo, the star of the ABC-TV reality show 'The Bachelor', Andrew Firestone, left, and Ivana Bozilovic pose for photos at the 10th annual Tiger Jam at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. Firestone married Serbian model and actress Ivana Bozilovic Saturday July 5, 2008, the couple told Usmagazine.com in a statement. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)
    TV's 'The Bachelor' weds in California AP - 1 hour, 11 minutes ago

    LOS OLIVOS, Calif. - "The Bachelor" is a bachelor no more. Andrew Firestone, star of the ABC-TV reality show, married Serbian model and actress Ivana Bozilovic Saturday, Firestone's publicist Alisha Mahon told The Associated Press.

  • Kent Couch lifts off from his gas station in Bend, Ore., in his lawn chair rigged with more than 150 giant party balloons, Saturday, July 5, 2008. Couch, 48, is making his third cluster balloon flight and hopes to go more than 200 miles to Idaho before running out of daylight or helium. (AP Photo/Jeff Barnard)
    Ore. man completes flight of fancy - in lawn chair AP - 1 hour, 9 minutes ago

    CAMBRIDGE, Idaho - Using his trusty BB gun to help him return to Earth, a 48-year-old gas station owner flew a lawn chair rigged with helium-filled balloons more than 200 miles across the Oregon desert Saturday, landing in a field in Idaho.

  • Kyle Busch waves to fans in front of the grandstand after winning the Coke Zero 400 auto race at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla., Saturday, July 5, 2008. Some fans not happy with the victory threw beer cans on the track. (AP Photo/John Raoux)
    Busch nips Edwards to win under caution at Daytona AP - 1 hour, 8 minutes ago

    DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Kyle Busch fell a lap down at Talladega and came back to win. So when a steering problem dropped him to the back of the field at Daytona, he didn't panic. He simply settled in for the long drive back to the front. And back to Victory Lane.

  • Switzerland's Roger Federer waves to the crowd after defeating Russia's Marat Safin, in their Men's Singles semifinal on the Centre Court at Wimbledon, Friday, July 4 , 2008, to reach his sixth consecutive final. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
    Finalists Federer, Nadal know each other well AP - 1 hour, 8 minutes ago

    WIMBLEDON, England - After moving within a victory of his sixth consecutive Wimbledon title, Roger Federer found time to catch only a few games of Rafael Nadal's semifinal. Federer does have a DVD of Nadal's match, but he wasn't exactly rushing to use it for scouting purposes before they meet for the Wimbledon championship Sunday.

  • Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) addresses a news conference after meeting with his foreign policy advisory panel of former Democratic U.S. government officials at a hotel in Washington June 18, 2008. (Jim Bourg/Reuters)
    Obama "puzzled" by Iraq comment frenzy Reuters - Sat Jul 5, 6:19 PM ET

    ST. LOUIS (Reuters) - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said on Saturday his plan to end the Iraq war was unchanged and he was puzzled by the sharp reaction to his statement this week that he might "refine" his timetable for withdrawing U.S. combat troops.

  • President George W. Bush speaks at a joint news conference with the Prime Minister of Japan Yasuo Fukuda at the G8 Summit at The Windsor Hotel Toya Resort and Spa in Toyako, Japan July 6, 2008. (Jim Young/Reuters)
    Bush says backs strong dollar policy Reuters - 1 hour, 45 minutes ago

    TOYAKO, Japan (Reuters) - President George W. Bush said on Sunday the American economy was not growing as quickly as he would like and that his administration supported a strong dollar policy.

  • Afghan President Hamid Karzai interacts with the media members after a news conference in Kabul June 15, 2008. Karzai has ordered an investigation into a U.S.-led coalition airstrike that local officials say killed 15 civilians, but the U.S. military says killed only armed Taliban militants. (Ahmad Masood/Reuters)
    Afghan president orders probe into civilian deaths Reuters - Sun Jul 6, 2:38 AM ET

    KABUL (Reuters) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai has ordered an investigation into a U.S.-led coalition airstrike that local officials say killed 15 civilians, but the U.S. military says killed only armed Taliban militants.

  • Palestinians wait for their relatives to cross from Egypt to the Gaza Strip at the Rafah border crossing July 3, 2008. Israel was reopening some border crossings with Gaza on Sunday, an official said, after it closed them on Thursday following the launch of a rocket into the Jewish state by Palestinian militants. (Ibraheem Abu Mustafa - GAZA/Reuters)
    Israel to reopen Gaza border crossings Reuters - Sun Jul 6, 1:43 AM ET

    JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel was reopening some border crossings with Gaza on Sunday, an official said, after it closed them on Thursday following the launch of a rocket into the Jewish state by Palestinian militants.

  • UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahayan (left) meets Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki in June 2008. The UAE has named its envoy to India as its ambassador to Iraq. The appointment came a month after Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahayan became the first senior official from a Gulf state to visit Iraq since the 2003 US-led invasion.(AFP/Iraqi PM/File/Ho)
    Baghdad car bomb kills six, wounds 14: police Reuters - 2 hours, 47 minutes ago

    BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A car bomb killed six civilians and wounded 14 other people in the Shaab district of northern Baghdad on Sunday, police said.

  • President George W. Bush (L) holds a joint news conference with the Prime Minister of Japan Yasuo Fukuda at the G8 Summit at The Windsor Hotel Toya Resort and Spa in Toyako, Japan July 6, 2008. (Jim Young/Reuters)
    Bush says backs Japan on North Korea abduction issue Reuters - 35 minutes ago

    TOYAKO, Japan (Reuters) - President George W. Bush pledged on Sunday that Japan's concerns about North Korean abductions of its citizens would not be ignored as Washington moved to ease sanctions against the communist country.

  • President George W. Bush speaks at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, July 3, 2008, about the rescue of hostages in Colombia. (Joshua Roberts/Reuters)
    U.S. and Japan to discuss next steps in six-party talks Reuters - Sat Jul 5, 4:31 PM ET

    ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE (Reuters) - President George W. Bush and Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda will discuss the next steps in the six-party talks over North Korea's nuclear status when they meet on the sidelines of the G8 summit in Japan, a White House official said on Saturday.

  • Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe (R) talks to Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) Director General Happyton Bonyongwe (L) and Army Commander General Constantine Chiwenga (C) on his arrival at Harare International airport, July 4, 2008. (Philimon Bulawayo/Reuters)
    Film shows Zimbabwe vote rigged: report Reuters - Sat Jul 5, 3:44 PM ET

    LONDON (Reuters) - A film secretly taken by a Zimbabwe prison guard and smuggled out of the country shows the extent of the rigging that took place for the June 27 presidential run-off vote, the Guardian said on Saturday.

  • Anti-G8 activists from British charity organization Oxfam, dressed in masks of G8 leaders, pretend to perform "karaoke" during a demonstration in Sapporo on July 5. Leaders of the world's richest countries began arriving in northern Japan on Sunday for a summit aimed at tackling red-hot food and oil prices that could derail global economic growth.(AFP/Kazuhiro Nogi)
    Rich nations poised to tackle soaring oil, food prices AFP - Sun Jul 6, 4:08 AM ET

    TOYAKO, Japan (AFP) - Leaders of the world's richest countries began arriving in northern Japan on Sunday for a summit aimed at tackling red-hot oil and food prices that could derail global economic growth.

  • Pakistani protesters belonging to the Hizb ut-tahrir take part in a rally in Peshawar on July 4 against the 'killing of Muslims for the sake of the US'. The protest was organised to mark the first anniversary of a raid on Islamabad Red Mosque.(AFP/Tariq Mahmood)
    Pakistani Islamists converge on capital for Red Mosque demo AFP - Sun Jul 6, 2:18 AM ET

    ISLAMABAD (AFP) - Thousands of Islamist hardliners converged amid tight security in the Pakistani capital on Sunday to commemorate the first anniversary of the deadly siege and storming of the Red Mosque, officials said.

  • South Ossetian troops guard the border between North and South Ossetia (Russia and Georgia respectively) in Nizhny Ruk. A town in Georgia's rebel region of South Ossetia came under fire from the Georgian side of the border overnight, the Russian Vesti-24 channel reported early Sunday quoting a South Ossetian spokesman.(AFP/File/Kazbek Basayev)
    South Ossetia comes again under Georgian fire: separatists AFP - Sun Jul 6, 2:39 AM ET

    MOSCOW (AFP) - A town in Georgia's rebel region of South Ossetia came under fire from the Georgian side of the border overnight, the Russian Vesti-24 channel reported early Sunday quoting a South Ossetian spokesman.

  • Initial results of medical tests on Ingrid Betancourt -- following her six years as a hostage in the Colombian jungle -- were "reassuring", according to her sister.(AFP iactiv)
    Betancourt returning to Colombia 'in a few days' to write play AFP - Sun Jul 6, 3:25 AM ET

    PARIS (AFP) - Former hostage Ingrid Betancourt said in an interview Sunday she would return to Colombia "in a few days" to write a play about her experience after being held in the jungle for six years.

  • People (below-R) walk past a large poster of Pope Benedict XVI displayed at night outside St. Mary's Cathedral in Sydney on July 3 during the lead-up to World Youth Day. Benedict XVI has chosen a retreat centre on Sydney's north-western outskirts for his three-day holiday in Australia, the Sunday Telegraph reported Sunday.(AFP/Greg Wood)
    Pope to holiday at semi-rural Australian retreat: report AFP - Sun Jul 6, 2:26 AM ET

    SYDNEY (AFP) - Pope Benedict XVI has chosen a retreat centre on Sydney's north-western outskirts for his three-day holiday in Australia, the Sunday Telegraph reported Sunday.

  • A motorist holding a fuel pump at a petrol station. OPEC president Chakib Khelil warned that oil prices will continue to rise because of the falling dollar.(AFP/File/Behrouz Mehri)
    OPEC president warns no end to oil price rises AFP - 1 hour, 17 minutes ago

    ALGIERS (AFP) - OPEC president Chakib Khelil warned Sunday that oil prices will continue to rise because of the falling dollar, in an interview in the Algeria-News.

  • Dollar bills at the Department of the Treasury Bureau of Engraving and Printing in Washington. President George W. Bush has said the United States believes in a strong dollar and that the US economy's fundamental strength would ultimately support the flagging currency.(AFP/Getty Images/File/Joe Raedle)
    US believes in strong dollar: Bush AFP - 2 minutes ago

    TOYAKO, Japan (AFP) - President George W. Bush on Sunday reaffirmed the United States' "strong dollar" policy, saying the US economy's fundamental strength would ultimately support the flagging currency.

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  • A New York City cab driver fills his taxi up with gas at a Hess station in New York July 2, 2008. (Shannon Stapleton/Reuters)
    World must brace for oil beyond $150 Reuters - Fri Jul 4, 11:18 AM ET

    LONDON (Reuters) - Oil's meteoric rise since the start of the year to nearly $150 has distressed consumers and policy makers the world over, but the stark reality is prices are likely to rise higher still.

  • A Bulgarian wine selector tastes red wine on January 22, 2004, in this file picture. (Stoyan Nenov/Reuters)
    Fountain of youth? Red wine gives up secrets Reuters - Thu Jul 3, 12:52 PM ET

    WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A compound in red wine may ward off a variety of medical conditions related to aging, providing heart benefits, stronger bones and preventing eye cataracts, researchers said on Thursday.

  • A Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrilla watches hostages being moved towards a helicopter during a rescue operation in Colombia July 2, 2008 in this frame grab taken on July 4, 2008. (Handout/Reuters)
    Colombia foils bomb plot after rescue Reuters - Sat Jul 5, 12:52 PM ET

    BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombia found explosives set to be used in bombs across the capital in reprisal for this week's rescue of leftist rebels' highest-profile hostages, including Ingrid Betancourt, military officials said on Saturday.