World News

BEIRUT (AP) - A Syrian human rights activist has raised Friday's death toll among protesters to 63, most of them killed after troops opened fire on crowds in the central city of Hama.

Activists had initially said Friday that at least 48 people had been killed across Syria.

Mustafa Osso also said Saturday that the Internet has been mostly restored, a day after authorities shut it down.

SAN FRANCISCO (Xinhua) -- Microsoft on Wednesday gave a preview of its next-generation operating system code-named "Windows 8."

The software giant introduced the successor to Windows 7 at the ninth edition of The Wall Street Journal's Digital: All Things Digital in Rancho Palos Verdes, California, some 48 km south of Los Angeles.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Google Inc. is blaming computer hackers in China for a high-tech ruse that broke into the personal Gmail accounts of several hundred people, including senior U.S. government officials, military personnel and political activists.

The breach announced Wednesday marks the second time in 17 months that Google has publicly identified China as the home base for a scheme aimed at hijacking information stored on Google's vast network of computers.

TOKYO (June 2 2011) (Xinhua) – A no-confidence motion against Japan' s embattled Prime Minister Naoto Kan was rejected by the lower house Thursday, allowing some time for Kan's cabinet to proceed with handling the Fukushima nuclear crisis and post-quake work.

A total of 293 cabinet members voted against the motion, compared with 152 who voted for it.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - NATO said it has captured a senior al-Qaida facilitator and former Osama bin Laden associate in northern Afghanistan.

In a statement Thursday, NATO said the facilitator was based in Pakistan and is a former associate of bin Laden, who was killed in a U.S. raid in Pakistan on May 2. NATO says the man may have been with the al-Qaida leader in 2001.

NATO did not release the detainee's name and or other details except to say he was captured Wednesday during an operation in Nahri Shahi, in northern Balkh province.

MANILA, Philippines - Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario has ordered the Philippine embassy in Damascus, Syria to start offering voluntary repatriation to Filipino workers in Daraa, Latakia and Homs in the Syrian capital.

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama said as part of a comprehensive immigration reform, families should be reunited more quickly instead of keeping them apart, a proposal which resonated strongly with Filipino immigrants whose waiting time to petition loved ones to join them in the US is among the longest.

MANILA, Philippines – Osama bin Laden was killed in a mansion outside Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, following a joint operation of the United States military and Pakistani forces few hours ago.

LONDON(AP) – With a smile that lit up TV screens around the world, Kate Middleton married Prince William in a union that promised to revitalize the British monarchy. A million people roared their approval as the royal couple then paraded through London in an open carriage.

BRUSSELS, Aug. 14 -- The European Union (EU) on Thursday stepped up sanctions against Myanmar by adding members of the judiciary responsible for the verdict of Aung San Suu Kyi to the existing list of officials subject to a travel ban and to an assets freeze.