Al Jazeera Italy passes austerity measures | The Italian parliament has approved an austerity package worth more than $32bn, aimed at cutting the country's budget deficit and reassuring financial markets. | The lower house of parliament approv... (photo: AP / Gregorio Borgia) Economy Finance Italy Photos Wikipedia: 2010 European sovereign debt crisis The Australian Baghdad attacks leave 16 dead | SIXTEEN people, including nine security force members, were killed and 14 wounded yesterday in a string of attacks in the Iraqi capital's Sunni district of Al-Adhamiyah, the interior ministry s... (photo: AP / Hadi Mizban) Baghdad Defence Photos Terrorism Wikipedia: Civil war in Iraq Top Stories Gulf News Floods dump scores of chemical containers into China river | Beijing: Workers began cleaning up a chemical spill in northeastern China Thursday after more than 3,000 containers of chemicals were washed into a river by the wo... (photo: AP) China Disaster Floods Photos Wikipedia: People's Republic of China Gulf News South Korean prime minister offers to resign | Seoul: South Korea's prime minister offered to resign Thursday after parliament shot down his efforts to scrap a plan that would relocate several government minist... (photo: AP / Lee Jin-man) Elections Photos Politics S Korea Wikipedia: Chung Un-chan The Star Obama seeks to mend rift with U.S. black community | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama sought on Thursday to repair damage to his relationship with the black community caused by his administration's firin... (photo: AP / Pablo Martinez Monsivais) Obama Photos Politics US Wikipedia: Resignation of Shirley Sherrod The Star Trapped glacier water threatens French Alps valley | LYON, France (Reuters) - A pocket of water big enough to fill 20 Olympic pools, trapped inside a glacier on Mont Blanc, could burst at any time and endanger lives in a ... (photo: Creative Commons / 4000er) Emergency France Glacier Photos Wikipedia: Mont Blanc The Daily Telegraph Australia Flash floods kill 113 in Pakistan | AT least 113 people have died and thousands more have been made homeless as flash floods triggered by torrential rains hit north-west Pakistan and Pakistani Kashmir, of... (photo: WN / Ahmed Deeb) Disaster Floods Pakistan Photos Wikipedia: Monsoon Hong Kong Standard Galapagos Islands off danger list at gallop Unesco's World Heritage Committee said it has removed Ecuador's Galapagos Islands from its list of endangered sites, due to protective efforts in the Pacific archipelago.... (photo: European Community / Snowmanradio) Environment Galapagos Photos UNESCO Wikipedia: Galápagos Islands The New York Times Sarkozy Toughens on Illegal Roma | PARIS — President Nicolas Sarkozy has ordered the expulsion of illegal Roma and itinerant immigrants and the dismantlement of their camps in a move that has been ... (photo: AP / Michel Euler) France Human Rights Immigration Photos Wikipedia: Romani people The New York Times Heat Wave Batters Russia | RYBKHOZ, Russia — Ivan Tyurkin trudged along a pier and surveyed the breeding ponds all around him. He did not need a thermometer to know that the water was treac... (photo: AP / Sergey Ponomarev) Health Photos Russia Weather Wikipedia: Heat wave Inquirer Brace for a fare hike, DOTC tells MRT, LRT passengers | AROUND 500,000 people who take the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) every day should brace themselves for a fare increase. | 'There's no stopping a fare hike,' Transportation U... (photo: WN / Trigedia) Philippines Photos Railway Transportation Wikipedia: Manila Metro Rail Transit System Gulf News DNA tests on to identify remains of crash victims | Islamabad: Paramedics were taking blood samples Thursday from close relatives for DNA tests to identify the remains of those who died in the plane crash in Pakista... (photo: AP / Anjum Naveed) Airline Disaster Pakistan Photos wikipedia : Airblue Flight 202