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Iranian students storm the British Embassy in Tehran
Police in Tehran have arrested 12 protesters after an attack on the British Council offices in the Iranian capital.
Hundreds of Iranian students, angry about new British sanctions, have rallied in front the British embassy.
Around a hundred of them eventually forced their way into the compound, smashing embassy windows, burning the British flag, and throwing fire bombs.
The unrest comes after Iran's Supreme Council approved a bill to downgrade the country's ties with the UK.
That came in response to the UK's decision to impose further sanctions against the country.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague is warning of "serious consequences" following the attack.
"We have made clear to the Iranian government that they must take immediate steps to ensure the safety of UK personnel to ensure that property taken from the embassy compounds is returned and to secure the compound with immediate effect. Clearly there will be other, further, and serious consequences."
For its part, Iran's foreign ministry is expressing regret for the incident, calling it unacceptable behavior by a small number of protesters.
Day 2 of elections in Egypt
The first round of voting for a new parliament in Egypt has come to an end.
However, there is still more to come, as there will be two more rounds of voting over the next six weeks before the final results can be released.
The second day of voting has continued to see a steady stream of voters heading to the polls, with the balloting being described as mostly peaceful.
After the parliamentary elections, the presidential election is expected to be held by the middle of the coming year.
British unions preparing for walk out
British unions, and the country as a whole, is getting ready for what could be the largest public sector walk-out in decades on Wednesday.
The strike is expected to involve more than 2 million British workers.
The University and College Union, which represents some 120-thousand lecturers in higher education, is one of the groups set to take part in the strike.
Under new UK austerity measures, the government wants public sector workers to retire later and receive smaller pensions.
The strike is expected to close two-thirds of schools and universities, and is also poised to cause chaos at UK border crossings and airports.
China raises poverty line by 80 pct
The central authorities here in China have decided to raise the poverty threshold to 23-hundred yuan.
That's almost double the previous standard of 11-hundred-96 yuan.
The sharp increase brings China's poverty line closer to the international standard of 1.25 dollars a day.
The new poverty line will make 128 million people eligible for government
subsidies.
Under the old threshold, there were just under 27-million people living under the poverty line.
Speaking at a national poverty alleviation meeting in Beijing, President Hu Jintao is pledging that food and clothing will be ensured for the nation's impoverished by 2020.
China's refitted aircraft carrier platform sets sail for 2nd trial
China's refitted aircraft carrier is now on its second sea trial.
The carrier set sail yesterday.
The Defense Ministry says all the necessary refitting has been completed ahead of this latest trial.
The Soviet-built aircraft carrier made its maiden sea trial in August.
There are currently 21 aircraft carriers in service around the world.
This one is China's first.
10 injured in schoolbus collision in central China
There's been another serious crash involving a school bus here in China.
This time, a bus carrying 15 children and two adults was hit by a truck yesterday in Puyang county in the northeastern part of Henan, near the provincial border with Shandong.
While no one was killed, 8 of the children were hurt, four of them seriously.
Slick roads are being blamed.
This crash comes less than two weeks after the deadly school bus crash in rural Gansu which left 21 pre-school children dead, and cast the spotlight on the safety of school buses in China.
Eurozone approves 8 billion euro loan for Greece
Sources are now suggesting that EU finance minister have now approved the latest installment of bailout money for Greece.
The 17 finance ministers of the eurozone are gathered right now in Brussels.
Greece is poised to go bankrupt by the middle of December if it doesn't get the latest 8-billion euro installment.
Cote d'Ivoire's Gbagbo leaves for ICC trial
Cote d'Ivoire's former president Laurent Gbagbo is now at the the International Criminal Court in The Hague for trial.
Gbagbo has been under arrest since April.
Gbagbo was himself arrested together with his wife after a two-week bloody war in the economic capital Abidjan at the end of the political impasse which began following the presidential run-off a year ago.
The ICC was eventually brought in to investigate allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the civil strife in the country, which left at least 3-thousand people dead.
80 of his associates are also facing charges.
American Airlines files for bankruptcy, share plunge
American Airlines and its parent company AMR have filed for bankruptcy protection.
The move is being made to cut its labor costs in the face of high fuel prices and lower travel demand.
Thomas Horton, the new chair and chief executive of AMR, says the decision to file for bankruptcy is "difficult," but comes at the "right time."
Shares of AMR have tumbled nearly 84 percent to 26 cents on the New York Stock Exchange.
美國航空公司面臨破產窘境
美國航空公司和其母公司AMR已經申請了破產保護。
此舉旨在面對高油價和較低旅游需求下削減勞動力成本。
AMR公司新任主席兼首席執行官托馬斯·霍頓表示這個申請破產的決定非常“困難”,卻是在“合適的時候”。
AMR的股票紐約證券交易所下跌了26美分，跌幅近84%。
詞語解釋：
- bankruptcy n. 破產，倒閉
- labor n. 勞動力
- executive n. 行政管理人員
