International

OneWorld.net - MAPUTO, Sep 3 (IPS) - September in Mozambique’s capital has begun with violent protests. Thousands have been striking over an increase in the prices of basic goods, including bread. Police responded with force - firing on crowds gathered on the streets in several suburbs and townships in and around Maputo.

AP - Protesters hurled shoes and eggs Saturday at Tony Blair who held the first public signing of his memoir amid high security in Ireland's capital. Hundreds more people lined up to have their books autographed mdash; evidence that the divisions left by Blair's decade as British leader have yet to heal.

AP - Abdul Rehman and his family live under a tree next to a pile of rubble on a newly created island where his house used to be.

AP - Chimneys and walls crumbled to the ground, roads cracked in half and residents were knocked off their feet as a powerful magnitude-7.1 earthquake rocked New Zealand's South Island early Saturday. The prime minister said it was a miracle no one was killed.

AP - A light aircraft carrying skydivers crashed in flames Saturday near a popular tourist spot in New Zealand's Southern Alps, killing nine people including four foreign tourists, police said.

AFP - Angry protestors threw objects at Britain's former prime minister Tony Blair as he arrived at the first public signing session to promote his memoirs on Saturday in the Irish capital Dublin.

AP - The death toll from a Pakistani Taliban suicide attack on a Shiite Muslim procession rose from 43 to 65 overnight as critically wounded people died in hospitals, police said Saturday.

AFP - Three Mozambican police were injured in clashes with demonstrators in Maputo over rising food prices on Friday evening, police said on Saturday.

AP - The United States' top military officer says Washington does not plan to withdraw its weapons from Iraq through Turkey.

AP - An 11-year-old boy was recovering Saturday after a sea lion mauled him at a popular Sydney zoo's aquarium show as horrified visitors looked on.

AP - Mexican police have arrested six suspects in a bar fire that killed eight in the resort city of Cancun.

Reuters - Chinese officials have ordered state companies to meet investment bankers to explore ways to block BHP Billiton's $39 billion bid for Potash Corp, a source with direct knowledge of the matter said.

AP - A UPS cargo plane with two crew members on board crashed shortly after takeoff Friday outside Dubai, officials said.

McClatchy Newspapers - JERUSALEM mdash; Jewish settlers across the West Bank have vowed to begin construction in more than 60 locations, posing a direct challenge to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as he returned home from Thursday's first round of direct peace talks in Washington.

The Christian Science Monitor - North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-il is expected to convene the first high-level conference of the ruling Workers’ Party in about 40 years amid widespread speculation that the world will finally get the answer to one great question:

AP - Fidel Castro dusted off his full military uniform for the first time since stepping down as president four years ago, a symbolic act in a communist country where little signals often carry enormous significance.

AP - Suicide bombings targeting religious minorities killed at least 44 people in Pakistan on Friday, sharply driving up the toll of sectarian assaults in a country already battered by massive flooding.

AFP - An ex-MI6 agent has been sentenced to 12 months in jail Friday after trying to sell top secret information.

Reuters - A suicide bomber struck a rally in the Pakistani city of Quetta on Friday, killing up to 43 people in the second major attack this week, piling pressure on a government struggling with a flood crisis.

AP - Iran's military chief of staff says Tehran could strike Israel's nuclear facility if the Jewish state were to attack Iran's nuclear sites.