Golden Apple: The 'Manhattanhenge' effect bathes 34th Street in mesmerising sunlight

Tourists and New Yorkers alike risk the traffic in a bid to get a shot of the phenomenon from the middle of the street. UK tourist Terrence Reid went so far as to say it was 'one of the beautiful things I have ever seen'

Tourists and New Yorkers alike risk the traffic in a bid to get a shot of the phenomenon from the middle of the street. UK tourist Terrence Reid went so far as to say it was 'one of the beautiful things I have ever seen'

Business as usual: under normal lighting conditions, its the Empire State Building that gets all the glory

With the iconic Empire State Building in view the phenomenon known as Manhattanhenge illuminated New York's 34th Street with spectacular results.

Similar to the prehistoric solstice sunsets at Stonehenge on Salisbury plains, Wiltshire, Manhattanhenge occurs twice a year.

For 15 minutes, the sun sets down the enormous grid system of the Big Apple's financial heart mesmerising passers by.
Bathing the famous 34th Street with glowing light, the sun downs itself in a bright orange globe into the Hudson River.

'It was beautiful, I wasn't aware that this happened in New York,' said Terrence Reid, 42, a tourist from the UK over for the weekend.

'It caught me unaware as I was crossing up Manhattan and it was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen.'The term Manhattanhenge was created in 2002 by Neil deGrasse Tyson, an astrophysicist at the American Museum of Natural History.

Man kills 3 judges, himself in China court

Police officers work outside a courthouse where a man shot dead three judges and killed himself in Yongzhou, in south China's Hunan province, Tuesday, June 1, 2010. The man firing a small automatic weapon burst into the court office in central China on Tuesday, fatally shooting three judges and wounding three other people before killing himself, an official said.


People stand outside a court where a man shot dead three judges and killed himself in Yongzhou, in south China's Hunan province, Tuesday, June 1, 2010. A man firing a small automatic weapon burst into the court office in central China on Tuesday, fatally shooting three judges and wounding three other people before killing himself, an official said.


A man firing a small automatic weapon burst into a court office in central China on Tuesday, fatally shooting three judges and wounding three other people before killing himself, an official said.

Israel releases footage of weapons haul 'found' on Gaza peace ship as activists give harrowing accounts of 'lake of blood' raid

Weapons cache: The Israeli military released video of weapons they claim were found on board the Mavi Marmara

 
Ammunition: The footage also shows bottles full of stones alongside a catapult (left) and a pile of metal bars

This shot shows an improvised explosive, also allegedly found on the flotilla

# United Nations condemns attack which left up to 19 dead
# One Briton injured with 40 believed to be on Gaza flotilla
# Eye witness accounts of raid on six activist ships emerges
# Four Turkish nationals confirmed among dead
# More protest ships on way to Gaza as tensions rise
# Israel: This was not a successful operation

The Israeli military today released footage of weapons it says were found during deadly commando raids on a flotilla of ships bound for Gaza.

Improvised explosives, knives, machetes, catapults and gas masks were among the cache allegedly retrieved from the six-strong fleet which was stormed on Monday.

The images were released by the Israel Defence Forces, who claim the weapons were used against navy personnel when they boarded the ship.
British families today faced an agonising wait for news after it emerged 40 UK activists had been detained during Israel's bloody commando raid.

France revamps business ties with Africa-France vows to help Africa fight piracy, terrorism

Sarkozy made clear that France was back in force on the trade and business front



Sarkozy noted that east African countries did not have the naval forces needed to root out piracy off the Somali coast


Resource-rich Africa needs a stronger voice: Sarkozy

France on Tuesday moved to shore up its businesses in Africa that have fallen far behind China's massive investment drive on the continent, at a summit hosted by President Nicolas Sarkozy.

The two-day gathering in the Riviera city of Nice saw France shift its focus away from its traditional west African allies and engage with the continent as a whole, reaching out to economic powerhouses South Africa and Nigeria.

In a first, 80 French business leaders including top bosses at oil giant Total and nuclear behemoth Areva took part in summit talks along with 150 heads of African companies.

Total joined Areva, construction giant Bouygues and environment leader Veolia in launching a solar power project for southern Africa to generate badly-needed electricity with state-of-the-art French technology.

IDF video of aid activists taken down from Mavi Marmara ship after Israeli raid-Israel questions activists as world condemns raid-Israel detains Gaza flotilla passengers-Inside Story: A look into the aid flotilla attack by Israel-Outrage spills onto US streets over Israeli raid on Gaza Flotilla

Israel Holds Hundreds Seized During Raid on Flotilla

On Sunday, before an Israeli raid, activists held a news conference aboard the Mavi Marmara, part of a flotilla taking aid to Gaza.


After the Israeli raid, a speedboat escorted the ship, now with Israeli forces on board, to the port of Ashdod


A day after Israeli commandoes stormed an aid flotilla seeking to breach the blockade of Gaza, Israel held hundreds of activists seized aboard the convoy on Tuesday as news reports said activists may be planning a fresh attempt to ferry supplies to the embattled enclave.

Profile: Kim Jong-un -On the tracks of 'Kim's successor'

Kim Jong-il reportedly suffered a stroke last year


The only known image of Kim Jong-un shows him as a young boy,third son of Kim Jun-il.

Kim Jong-il's third son, Kim Jong-un, will become North Korea's next leader, according to unconfirmed South Korean media reports. The BBC News website and BBC Monitoring profile this elusive young man.

Kim Jong-un is youngest son of Kim Jong-il and his late third wife Ko Yong-hui.

Born in 1983 or early 1984, the young Kim was initially not thought to be in the frame to take up his father's mantle.

Analysts focused their attention on his half-brother Kim Jong-nam and older full brother Kim Jong-chol.

But speculation that he was in the frame to succeed his father picked up in January, after a report in South Korea's Yonhap news agency suggested that Kim Jong-il had picked him as heir.

China's dilemma on eccentric North Korea

Mr Wen (right) wants to avoid Korean instability at all costs


A war would see a flood of refugees over the North Korea-China border 

At the end of the three-way conference between President Lee Myung-bak of South Korea, Yukio Hatoyama, the Japanese prime minister, and Wen Jiabao, the Chinese premier, a great many people here must have been hoping to hear Mr Wen criticise North Korea for allegedly torpedoing the South Korean naval ship Cheonan two months ago.

At the very least they would have wanted him to accept publicly that North Korea had been responsible for it, as an international inquiry has maintained. If so, it was one of the most dangerous acts of war in the Korean peninsula in recent years.

Mr Wen refused. He sent his condolences to the families of the 46 South Korean sailors who were killed. He called for restraint. He hinted at the dire consequences of war.

SKorea steps up campaign over ship sinking-China and Japan 'back North Korea financial sanctions'

Japan,China and South Korea PMs wants to avoid Korean instability at all costs


China and Japan has both agree to punish NKorea with financial sanctions.


South Korea PM has tough job to handle NKorea aggression and the death of 46 South Korea submarine crews.


South Korea's former Prime Minister Han Myeong-sook (front R), who is the main opposition Democratic Party's candidate for Seoul mayoral position in the upcoming local election, arrives for an election campaign 

South Korea says it has persuaded China and Japan to take part in financial sanctions against North Korea.

It comes in the wake of the sinking of a South Korean naval ship by a North Korean submarine.

In a BBC interview, South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan speculated that the sinking of the Cheonan might have been the result of internal Pyongyang politics.

North Korea has angrily denied any responsibility for the attack.

The North Korean military, Mr Yu said, might have decided to do it in order to distract attention from other problems.

La. Residents Hopeful, Doubtful on Latest BP Fix-BP rushes new plan to stem Gulf oil leak-BP's "Top Kill" fails to fix Gulf oil break

Gulf oil spill 'won't be stopped until August': Officials in grim prediction as BP shares take a battering in Europe-BP $35 million to be paid as compensation .

Support vessels surround the Discoverer Enterprise Ship at the site of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill 50 miles South East of the mouth of the Mississippi River

The Deepwater Horizon oil rig burning after the explosion in the Gulf of Mexico on April 21, off the southeast tip of Louisiana

In an image made from video provided by BP PLC shows oil continues to erupt from the remains of their oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico today

Pithy opinion: A sign left by the side of the road near Grand Isle, Louisiana

A roadside sign expresses resentment towards British Petroleum (BP) and U.S. President Barack Obama over the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster, in Grand Isle

BP was preparing for more stock market turbulence last night over its latest plan to cap the oil well leak in the Gulf of Mexico.

White House officials said the new operation could cause further environmental devastation.

Drilling experts claimed the risky operation could result in 20 per cent more oil gushing into the ocean.
With the markets in London and New York opening this morning after a three-day holiday weekend, fears were growing that BP shares could slide further over its failure to stop the spill.

It has been described as the worst in U.S. history.

Qaeda says top leader Yazid dead-Possible killed by Pakistan drone attack.

Al-Qaeda number two Ayman al-Zawahiri


Top Al-Qaeda leader in Afghanistan, Mustafa Abu al-Yazid, has died, SITE reported

Al-Qaeda has announced the death of Mustafa Abu al-Yazid, regarded as its number three and Osama bin Laden's one-time top money man, in what would be a major blow to the global terror network.

US monitoring groups said the death of Yazid, who was most recently the leader of Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and its liaison with the Taliban, was announced by the group in a message to jihadist websites on Monday.

In Washington, a US official said there was "strong reason" to believe that the Egyptian militant was dead and that he was killed recently in Pakistan's tribal areas, a hotbed of Islamist militants.

"In terms of counterterrorism, this would be a big victory," the official said.

Footage show IDF Isreal storm ship-Passengers respond by metal rods,stun grenade,fire boms,metal rod,and throw soldier overboard.

Tropical storm kills 99 as it rages across Central America

Villagers watch the overflowing Choluteca River after heavy rains in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. The storm has so far claimed the lives of 83 people in Central America

The storm swept in from the Pacific on Saturday and struck near Guatamala's border with Mexico, bringing with it torrential rains and winds of up to 45mph. Vast stretches of farm land in this area of south-western Guatemala lie under water

With flood waters up to his waist, a man walks in the middle of a street in Honduras where the storm killed one man. Stretching from southern Mexico to Nicaragua, the storm-ravaged area has killed 83 people so far

Two sisters make their way through flood waters in the Guatemalan town of Amatitlan close to Lake Amatitlan. Torrential rains from Agatha - the first named storm of the Pacific hurricane season - pounded an area stretching from southern Mexico nearly to Nicaragua killing 99 people

A tropical storm raging across Central America has triggered landslides and flooding killing at least 99 people.

Torrential rains from Agatha - the first named storm of the Pacific hurricane season - pounded an area stretching from southern Mexico nearly to Nicaragua.

The worst hit country was Guatemala where 82 died with nine deaths reported in El Salvador and one in Honduras.
Agatha swept in from the Pacific on Saturday and struck near Guatamala's border with Mexico, bringing with it torrential rains and winds of up to 45mph.

Deadly clash as Israeli troops plunge in from the sky

Raid: Israeli soldiers aim a gun on the deck of the Turkish vessel

This video image released by the Turkish Aid group IHH purports to show Israeli soldiers aboard a military vessel in international waters off the Gaza coast

Dramatic images of Israel's deadly commando raid on a humanitarian aid ship were revealed last night, and showed the desperate battle on board the Mavi Marmara.

The shaky infra-red video, released by the Israeli Defence Force, showed soldiers apparently coming under sustained attack by men armed with metal poles and wearing gas masks.