Pakistani Taliban factions and their allies have set up a council of elders in hopes of coordinating efforts against NATO troops in Afghanistan, a spokesman said Monday.

More:
Taliban, allies form leadership council

Three village advocates who had been detained by the police during a confrontation in the village of Wukan in south China have been freed, a spokesman said on Tuesday.

The rest is here:
Three Advocates for Chinese Village Are Released

LONDON — Britain’s Prince Philip will spend a fourth night in hospital Monday, as he recovers from treatment for a blocked coronary artery. Queen Elizabeth II’s 90-year-old husband is making “good progress,” but will remain under observation at Papworth, a specialist heart hospital in Cambridge, a Buckingham Palace spokesman said Monday. Read full article > >

Read the original post:
Britain’s Prince Philip to spend 4th night in hospital after heart procedure

A Buildings Department spokesman said the electrical work had “become the focus” of an investigation into Suzanne Hart’s death.

Read this article:
Elevator That Killed Y&R Executive Was Undergoing Maintenance, City Says

BEIJING — China’s foreign ministry spokesman said Monday that Beijing “firmly opposes” the Obama administration’s plans to upgrade Taiwan’s aging fleet of F-16 fighter jets, but the measured tone suggested Chinese leaders may want to avoid sparking a full-scale confrontation with Washington over the issue. Read full article > >

Continued here:
China gives muted response to U.S.-Taiwan arms deal

A spokesman said that the church’s position was that parents, not schools, should educate children about sex.

View original post here:
New York Archdiocese Criticizes Sex-Ed Mandate

Shirley Sherrod, the Agriculture Department official ousted last year after media reports misconstrued her statements about white farmers as racially insensitive, is in talks with the agency about a consulting contract working on civil rights issues. Sherrod, a former Georgia-based official with the USDA’s Rural Development office, described news reports this weekend that she would be renewing her relationship nearly a year after she was wrongly fired as “premature,” and a spokesman said she was surprised at the news reports. Read full article > >

Read more from the original source:
Sherrod, USDA discussing consulting contract for work on civil rights issues

The Syrian government’s violent crackdown on protesters on Thursday has drawn an international rebuke. A White House spokesman said, “We strongly condemn the Syrian government’s attempts to repress and intimidate demonstrators,” while U.N.

Get ready for an emotional launch: Rep. Gabrielle Giffords plans to attend her husband Mark Kelly’s space shuttle takeoff on April 19, Giffords’ spokesman said Thursday. The launch, at Cape Canaveral, will be just three months after Giffords was shot…

Read this article:
Giffords to Attend Shuttle Launch

Members of the Libyan opposition have denied reports that they were negotiating a deal for Muammar Gaddafi to leave the country. Members of the new Libyan National Transitional Council have said there are no such talks, while a spokesman said the…

Read more:
Libyan Rebels Deny Deal with Gaddafi

Delta Air Lines has canceled about 500 Christmas Day flights, a spokesman said, as it and other U.S. airlines prepare for a storm that threatens the East Coast.

Read more here:
Hundreds of Christmas flights canceled

A top drug lord has been gunned down in Mexico after two days of shootouts between armed forces and members of a criminal organization, a national security spokesman said Friday.

Continue reading here:
Mexican forces kill top drug lord

A Moscow-bound plane said to be on fire turned back to New York’s JFK airport on Sunday night, prompting more than 100 firefighters to be dispatched. A Fire Department spokesman said that it’s unclear whether the wing or engine was on fire. The plane,…

Read this article:
Moscow-Bound Plane Catches Fire

The Air Force lost partial communications with 50 nuclear missiles for almost an hour last weekend, an Air Force spokesman said Tuesday.

More here:
Some communication with nukes lost

Ten of France’s 12 oil refineries were stopping production Friday, an oil industry spokesman said, as the country went through a fourth straight day of strikes over pension reforms.

View post:
Strikes send French to line up for gas