‘Most-wanted’ ETA suspects seized at ski resort

Spanish police shortened their list of most-wanted fugitives Wednesday with the capture of two suspected members of the Basque-region separatist group ETA, officials told CNN. Spanish and French police detained Aitzol Etxaburu and Andoni Sarasola in the Alpine ski resort of Le Corbier Villarembert in southeast France, the Spanish Interior Ministry said.

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Angola next stop on Hillary Clinton’s Africa tour

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton headed to Luanda, Angola, on Sunday on the third leg of a journey that is taking her to seven African nations in 11 days. In a statement released to the Basque newspaper Gara, ETA said the attacks were in retaliation to a government initiative to aggressively go after the group.

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Lufthansa: Vacation sun or money back

Sunshine-seeking travelers whose vacations are spoilt by wet weather will be able to claim compensation under a new scheme introduced by Germany airline Lufthansa in a bid to head off the gray clouds settling over the aviation industry. Under the “sunshine insurance” scheme, passengers who book flights to any of 36 destinations on offer will be entitled to €20 ($28.8) per day up to a maximum of €200 ($288) for every day of rain. To take advantage of the offer, passengers must book before August 18 to travel in either September or October

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Armstrong 10th in opening stage of Tour

Lance Armstrong returned to the Tour de France for first time in four years by finishing 10th in the opening time trial in Monaco which was won by Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland. Cancellara, renowned for his awesome performances against the clock, clocked 19 minutes 32.14 seconds for the 15.5 kilometer course in the Mediterranean principality

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Iraqi Kurds begin exporting oil

In an elaborately choreographed ceremony broadcast live on television, the leaders of Iraqi Kurdistan began pumping oil from Kurdish-controlled oil fields in northern Iraq through a pipeline to neighboring Turkey. It is the first time Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region has officially exported oil out of the country

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Dutch navy captures pirates after failed attack

Dutch naval forces captured seven pirates and freed 20 captive fishermen after tracking the pirates to their "mother ship" in the western Gulf of Aden on Saturday, a NATO maritime spokesman said. It happened after pirates launched an unsuccessful attack on a petroleum tanker called the MT Handytankers Magic, Cmdr

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Researchers may have found Cleopatra’s final resting place

An archeological team is set to break new ground in its excavation of an Egyptian temple where doomed lovers Cleopatra and Mark Antony may be buried. A ground-penetrating, radar survey of the temple of Taposiris Magna and its surrounding area, west of Alexandria, was completed in March, following three years of digging, according to a statement from Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities.

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As piracy surges, U.S. warns of dangers off Somali coast

A sudden surge of pirate attacks off the coast of eastern Somalia in recent days has prompted the U.S. military to put out a new alert to mariners, warning of increased danger in the region. The attacks, which took place south of the area patrolled by U.S.

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Desperation, smuggling the backdrop to migrant tragedy

Desperation, sophisticated smuggling operations and the emergence of a small Italian island as a migrant destination provide the sad backdrop to Monday’s tragedy on the Mediterranean Sea — the capsizing of boats carrying African migrants from Libya to Italy. Jean-Philippe Chauzy, spokesman for the International Organization for Migration, said Tuesday that Libya for years has been a destination for migrants from the rest of Africa.

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