Headlines News

By Chris Buckley HARBIN, China (Reuters) - A resident of a Chinese city that has endured four days without water because of a toxic spill is suing the chemical plant that caused it, highlighting growing demands for environmental protection and transparency in China. Ding Ning lodged a claim for damages in court against Jilin PetroChemical on Friday, his lawyer, Hu Fengbin, said in an interview. Ding is claiming damages of 15 yuan for purchases of bottled water, as well as demanding an apology ...

BALTIMORE, Maryland (AP) -- City streets are getting darker because thieves, some disguised as utility crews, are stealing 30-foot light poles, authorities said. About 130 aluminum light poles have vanished this fall from locations across the city, despite the difficulty of carting off the 250-pound objects. The culprits have even dressed up as utility crews, city officials say, and placed oran ...

By Ken Ferris LONDON (Reuters) - Newspapers paid tribute to former Manchester United great George Best on Saturday as they offered their last respects to a footballing genius. The Sun newspaper ran a front page headline saying: 'Biggest Funeral Since Di" as they claimed half a million people would line the streets of his home city of Belfast next Friday. "The outpouring of grief will be the biggest since more than a million people lined the streets of London in 1997 for (the funeral of Prince ...

HARRISBURG, Pennsylvania (AP) -- A black bear bit and clawed a hunter who had just shot it four times in what game authorities said appeared to be a first for the state. Samuel H. Beauchamp, 47, said he was approaching the downed 320-pound bear in Rothrock State Forest in central Pennsylvania on Monday, the first day of bear-hunting season, when it came after him. Beauchamp, of nearby Newville, ...

(CNN) -- A main crossing from southern Gaza into Egypt, closed in September as Israeli forces withdrew from Gaza, is to open Saturday following a U.S.-brokered deal between Israelis and Palestinians. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas took a few steps into Egypt on Friday, the first time a Palestinian crossed that international border while it was under Palestinian control. "The opening of this border is important," he said at the ceremony that marked the reopening of the Rafa cross ...

By Mohammed Assadi RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - Jailed Palestinian Marwan Barghouthi was emerging as one of the most popular candidates in a vote called to choose people to run for Fatah in Palestinian elections in January, an official said on Friday. Barghouthi, who is serving five life terms in jail for attacks against Israel, had a very strong showing in an early count of the vote in the W ...