CAIRO, EGYPT - Egypt's veterinary authorities say foot-and-mouth disease has left more than 2,000 young cattle dead. Egypt's local press on Friday quoted veterinary official Essam Abdel-Shakour as saying that 24,500 livestock have been infected with the disease over the past two weeks.
USA - Nearly two years after Reno started installing energy-producing windmills at city facilities ... some have proven to be better at generating electricity than others despite claims made by manufacturers.
ARGENTINA - Aregentia yesterday stepped up its campaign against British companies looking for oil in the Falkland Islands by threatening legal action against them. Foreign minister Héctor Timerman said their activities were “illegal” and “illegitimate”, warning the country will also look to target logistics and finance companies backing oil drillers as well as the explorers themselves.
UK - Rowan Williams announces resignation day after government gives the go-ahead for gay marriage ... so will Britain now have its first black Archbishop of Canterbury? The leader of the 77 million-strong Anglican Church will stand down at the end of the year and is tipped to be replaced by Archbishop of York Dr John Sentamu, who would be the first black holder of the prestigious office.
RUSSIA - Russian state television has aired a programme which claimed demonstrators were paid to join recent opposition protests, prompting a wave of public revulsion. The documentary film was shown on Thursday evening on the NTV channel, which is notorious for crude smears against opponents of the Kremlin.
USA - A little is all right. That’s the message Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S Bernanke has been giving out recently when asked about the evidence of inflation in the US recovery. Sometimes Bernanke doesn’t even go that far. He simply says he doesn’t see inflation. The Fed chairman recently described the prospects for price increases across the board as “subdued.”
JERUSALEM, ISRAEL - Israeli aircraft and Gaza rocket squads traded strikes across the border on Thursday as the Israeli prime minister blamed Iran for the violence from the Palestinian territory. Benjamin Netanyahu, going a step further in his warnings to Iran, hinted that Israel didn’t need Washington’s blessing to go ahead and attack Iran’s suspect nuclear program.
USA - Schools across the US are to be allowed to stop serving so-called "pink slime" beef to their pupils at mealtimes. In a statement, the US Department of Agriculture said schools buying beef from a central government scheme could now choose from a range of options.
AFGHANISTAN - Afghanistan wants to take over control of the nation's security in 2013 not 2014 and for US troops to pull out of villages, President Hamid Karzai said Thursday, just days after a US soldier massacred 16 villagers.
ISRAEL - Since its birth in 1948, Israel has launched numerous preemptive military strikes against its foes. In 1981 and 2007, it destroyed the nuclear reactors of Iraq and Syria, operations that did not lead to war. But now, Israelis are discussing the possibility of another preemptive attack - against Iran - that might result in a wider conflict.
UK - The Fitch credit ratings agency has joined Moody's and put the UK's top AAA rating on "negative outlook". Fitch Ratings warned on Wednesday that it could downgrade the UK in the next few years if the government does not contain the level of public debt.
UK - The water authority responsible for the UK's worst mass water poisoning was "gambling with as many as 20,000 lives", a coroner has said. Coroner Michael Rose made his comments at the inquest of Carole Cross. The 59-year-old lived in Camelford, Cornwall, when aluminium sulphate was added to the wrong treatment tank, polluting the drinking water in 1988.
USA - Goldman Sachs faced an unprecedented assault from one of its own on Wednesday after a banker published a withering resignation letter in the New York Times, calling the Wall Street titan a "toxic" place where managing directors referred to their own clients as "muppets."
AFGHANISTAN - US soldiers were asked to disarm during a speech by Leon Panetta, the American defence secretary, in a sign of growing concern over spates of seemingly random violence in Afghanistan.
USA - 641 federal programs throw taxpayer money at windmills and solar panels. It’s only now becoming clear how many people have become rich thanks to the global-warming scare. Politicians from both parties have been so afraid of being labeled a “denier” that they’ll vote for any piece of legislation bearing the trendy green label. The numbers are adding up fast.