News briefs
BY Wire Reports
Tuesday, February 05, 2013
2/05/13 at 2:59 AM
London: Archbishop of Canterbury formally takes office
The new archbishop of Canterbury on Monday formally took up his post as the leader of the world's 80-million-strong Anglican Communion.
The Most Rev. Justin Welby swore allegiance to the queen as he accepted the position amid prayers for him, his wife, Caroline, and their five children.
Welby
The election of the 57-year-old Welby, a former oil executive, comes at a difficult time for the Anglican Communion, whose global membership includes the U.S. Episcopal Church. The communion has been riven by bitter disagreements over female bishops and church teachings on gay relationships. Welby reiterated Monday that he backed the Church of England's opposition to government proposals to introduce gay marriage.
Welby succeeds Rowan Williams, who retired in December after a decade in office.
Buenos Aires, Argentina: Argentina freezes prices to fight inflation spiral
Argentina is trying to break an inflationary spiral by freezing prices for the next two months on all products in the nation's largest supermarkets.
Commerce Secretary Guillermo Moreno reached the deal on prices with a trade group representing 70 percent of the Argentine supermarket sector.
Polls show Argentines worry most about inflation, which private economists estimate could reach 30 percent this year.
Baghdad: Suicide blast kills 22 in town north of Baghdad
A suicide bomber struck a group of anti-al-Qaida fighters north of Baghdad on Monday, killing at least 22 people and wounding 44 in an attempt to shake confidence in Iraqi security forces, officials said.
The blast was the latest attack against security forces and civilians. More than 200 Iraqis have been killed since the beginning of the year.
The attacker mingled with men gathering to collect their salaries outside an anti-al-Qaida militia office in Taji, 12 miles north of the Iraqi capital.
Tehran, Iran: Ahmadinejad wants to be Iran's first astronaut
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Monday that he's ready to take the risk of being the first Iranian astronaut sent into space as part of Iran's goal of a manned space flight.
The official IRNA news agency quoted him as speaking to space scientists in Tehran.
Space tourist Anousheh Ansari was the first Iranian to make a journey into space aboard a Soyuz TMA-9 capsule from Baikonur, Kazakhastan, in September 2006. The 40-year-old telecommunications entrepreneur paid a reported $20 million for a space station visit. Her journey became an inspiration to women in male-dominated Iran.
Iran reported it sent a monkey into space Jan. 28, calling the launch a successful step toward Tehran's plan to send an astronaut into space within the next five to six years.
In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said a lot of questions remained "about whether the monkey that they reportedly sent up into space and reportedly came down was actually the same monkey, whether he survived."
Rio de Janeiro: 27 inmates crawl through sewer to escape prison
Authorities say 27 inmates escaped from a Brazilian penitentiary by crawling through the sewage system.
An official at Rio de Janeiro state's Bangu prison complex said 31 prisoners attempted the break on Sunday, but within hours four were recaptured still inside the sewage system.
London: Karzai: Helmand was safer before U.K. troops
Security in Afghanistan's southern Helmand province was better before the arrival of British troops, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Monday.
Karzai said in an interview with The Guardian and ITV News that it's possible Western forces are being drawn down in Afghanistan because international leaders realized "they were fighting in the wrong place" and that he expects fighting to diminish once NATO forces withdraw.
Karzai is in London for meetings with British Prime Minister David Cameron and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari.
Associated Images:
Curious tourists and locals watch from below as French daredevil Alain Robert scales the Habana Libre hotel in Havana on Monday without using ropes or a safety net. Robert was able to reach the top of the 27-story building in 30 minutes. Robert has scaled much taller buildings in his career. He says his main concern is that the hotel, once the Cuban city's Hilton, is in disrepair like other Havana landmarks. RAMON ESPINOSA / AP
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