BEIJING (AFP) -- A man has died in China's business capital of Shanghai of a new strain of bird flu, state media said Thursday, bringing the total number of deaths from the H7N9 virus to four.The 48-year-old poultry worker, from the eastern province of Jiangsu, was the eleventh person known to have been infected with H7N9 since the first human cases were reported earlier this year, according to China's CCTV.He was the third person to die in the commercial hub, while a 38-year-old chef died in th

NABLUS (AFP) ― Israeli troops shot dead two Palestinian teenagers in a clash in the West Bank, medics said Thursday, hiking tensions ahead of the burial of a Palestinian prisoner who died in jail.The clashes late on Wednesday in the northern town of Tulkarem came after two days of violent protests and a general strike following the death of Maisara Abu Hamdiyeh, a prisoner serving life in Israeli jail who was suffering from cancer.The army said troops opened fire at “rioters who hurled petrol bo

HARTFORD, Connecticut (AP) ― The U.S. state where 20 young children were shot dead at school in December passed a law that puts in place some of the country’s strictest gun control laws, while President Barack Obama urged lawmakers at the national level to take similar action. Following hours of respectful and at times somber debate, the House and the Senate in Connecticut voted in favor of the 139-page bill crafted by leaders from both major parties in the Democratic-controlled General Assembly

In another blow to Spain's royal family, a court named Princess Cristina, the king's daughter, as a suspect Wednesday in a corruption case involving her husband.The Palma de Mallorca court announced that the 47-year-old princess will be called in for questioning on April 27. She has not been charged with any offense and faces no restrictions on her freedom. Her husband, Inaki Urdangarin, a lead suspect in the investigation, has also not been charged with any crime.The court summons is a first fo

Israeli forces shot and killed a teenage Palestinian protester during a clash in the West Bank late Wednesday, raising tensions already heightened by the death of a Palestinian prisoner and renewed fighting between Israel and Gaza militants.The late night killing capped a day of rioting throughout the West Bank in protest at the prisoner's death from cancer and raised the likelihood of further unrest in the Palestinian territories Thursday.Mohammed Ayyad, a spokesman for the Palestinian Red Cres

GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories (AFP) ― Israeli aircraft carried out apparent warning strikes in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, hitting empty fields after a militant rocket earlier struck waste ground in southern Israel.Palestinian security sources said the strikes, the first since the end of a deadly eight-day confrontation between Israel and Hamas militants in November, hit in two spots close to Gaza City and another site further north toward the frontier with Israel. No one was injured.The I

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) ―Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak dissolved parliament Wednesday in preparation for a general election seen as the toughest challenge yet for the ruling coalition after 56 years in power.“This morning I met the king and asked for his consent to dissolve the parliament,” he said. “This dissolution will pave the way for the 13th general election.”The election commission will meet shortly to decide on a date for the poll, which is likely to take place within the next few week

BAMAKO (AFP) ― The EU began a top-to-toe overhaul of Mali’s ragtag army on Tuesday to help its soldiers take the place of foreign troops defending the west African nation against an Islamist insurgency.The first of four battalions arrived in Koulikoro, 60 kilometers from the capital Bamako, to train under battle-hardened European instructors as part of a wider effort to bring the army up to scratch as quickly as possible.“The 570 men of the Malian army have just arrived at the training site in K

WASHINGTON (AP) ― President Barack Obama on Tuesday proposed an effort to map the brain’s activity in unprecedented detail, as a step toward finding better ways to treat such conditions as Alzheimer’s, autism, stroke and traumatic brain injuries. He asked Congress to spend $100 million next year to start a project that will explore details of the brain, which contains 100 billion cells and trillions of connections. That is a relatively small investment for the federal government ― less than a fi

BRUSSELS (AP) ― Marathon EU-mediated talks between the leaders of Serbia and Kosovo have broken up without a deal, the participants said early Wednesday. The talks, which took place in Brussels, were an attempt to resolve one of the most difficult issues dividing the two sides ― the status of Serb-dominated northern Kosovo, an EU official said. The talks broke up early Wednesday. Kosovo, a former Serbian province, declared independence in 2008. While many countries have recognized it as an indep