· Bush effigy burned at Iraq protest

A protester uses his shoe to strike an effigy of President Bush, as thousands of followers of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr converge on Firdous Square in central Baghdad, Iraq, for a protest agaisnt a proposed U.S.-Iraqi security pact, on Friday.Followers of a Shiite cleric on Friday stomped on and burned an effigy of President Bush in Baghdad as they protested a proposed U.S.-Iraqi security pact on Friday.


· Report predicts U.S. decline, Russia rise

Nov. 20: Tom Fingar, the top U.S. intelligence analyst, briefs reporters on the findings of the intelligence community's report with projections about what the world may look like over the next 17 years. (NBC News Web Extra)Global warming could be a boon to Russia while the U.S. could further decline in importance during the next two decades, says a U.S. intelligence report with predictions for the world in 2025.


· China IDs 19,000 of quake dead

During a memorial service in May, a mother holds a picture of her son who was killed in an earthquake at a primary school in Mianzhu, in China's southwest Sichuan province. A little over a quarter of the 70,000 people who died in a massive earthquake that struck Sichuan in May have been identified, a Chinese official said Friday.


· Sexism award goes to 'ugly ducklings' mayor
An Australian outback mayor's plea for lovelorn female "ugly ducklings" to move to a remote mining town to reverse a shortage of eligible women has won him the country's yearly award for outrageous sexism.
· Bush to promote action plan to deal with crisis

President George W. Bush, right, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, center, and National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley walk across the White House South Lawn on their way to the Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Lima, Peru.Struggling to get ahead of a global financial crisis, the president hopes to win more converts at a summit in Peru for a plan aimed at showing governments have the will and means to halt the turmoil.


· Blast kills 8 mourners at Pakistani funeral

A bomb attack killed at least 8 people and wounded dozens at the funeral for a Shiite Muslim on Friday in the northwest Pakistani town of Dera Ismail Khan.A blast killed at least six mourners Friday at the funeral of a Shiite cleric in northwest Pakistan who was gunned down hours earlier, police said.


· Ex-child soldiers launch aid group

Ishmael Beah from Sierra Leone, author of the book 'A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a boy soldier' is seen at Brunel University in London, on Jan. 30, 2008. He and two other former child soldiers have launched a U.N.-backed advocacy group to help kids escape from war.Three former child soldiers from Africa announced the launch of a new U.N.-backed advocacy group Thursday to help other kids escape and heal from war.


· Myanmar sends comedian, monk to prison
Courts in military-ruled Myanmar on Friday handed long prison sentences to a prominent monk and a popular comedian active in the country's pro-democracy movement.
· Leftist Sandinistas win Nicaragua vote

A supporter of the ruling Sandinista National Liberation Front party, FSLN, fires homemade mortars into the air while waiting for a final report of the mayoral elections during a demonstration in front of the Supreme Electoral Council, in Managua, on Thursday.Nicaragua's ruling Sandinista party won the large majority of municipal races, including the capital Managua, in local elections that have sparked violent clashes and allegations of fraud.


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