August 21st, 2010
09:26 PM ET
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Drug traffickers, police in 'major gun battle' in Mexico

A "major gun battle" between drug traffickers and Mexican federal police
broke out Saturday evening in Juarez, Mexico, just 30 yards from the U.S.
border at El Paso, Texas, according to a U.S. Border Patrol spokesman.

Read the complete story on CNN.com

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Filed under: Crime • Drug violence • Juarez • Mexico • World
August 21st, 2010
07:33 PM ET
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U.S., Blackwater reach settlement over export violations

Xe, the private security firm once known as Blackwater, has reached a $42 million settlement with the U.S. State Department over alleged export violations, a State Department official said.

Darby Holladay, a State Department duty officer, said the civil settlement was reached Wednesday for 288 violations between 2003 and 2009, when the company personnel were guarding U.S. staff overseas.

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Filed under: Blackwater
August 21st, 2010
07:30 PM ET
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Egyptian authorities recover stolen Van Gogh painting

Egyptian authorities have recovered a stolen painting created by Vincent Van Gogh, nabbing the suspected thieves just moments before they were to board a plane and flee the country, according to Egypt's official news agency, MENA.

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Filed under: Art • Crime • Egypt
August 21st, 2010
10:40 AM ET
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Australians cast ballots in 'cliff-hanger'

[Updated 10:40 a.m. ET] The final outcome of Australia's national elections could be in the balance for several days as results from Saturday's polling were "too close to call," said Prime Minister Julia Gillard, the Labor Party incumbent, in an address Saturday night to her supporters in Melbourne.

Opposition candidate Tony Abbott told cheering supporters Saturday night that his Liberal-National coalition "was back in business" after voting in Australia was too close to call a winner. "The Australian people have responded to the policies we took forward to the election," Abbott said.

[Updated at 7:57 a.m. ET] Polls closed Saturday in Australia's federal election, a hotly contested race that will decide the next leader of the country.

With more than 63 percent of the votes counted, the Labor Party of Prime Minister Julia Gillard was leading with 51 percent of the vote, while the Liberal-National coalition of Tony Abbott had 49 percent, according to results posted online by the Australian Electoral Commission.

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Filed under: Australia • World
August 21st, 2010
08:38 AM ET
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Is Assange the target of a U.S. smear campaign?

[Update 11:30 a.m.] Wikileaks Founder Julian Assange is "no longer wanted" and "is not suspected of rape," Chief Prosecutor Eva Finne said in a statement published by the Swedish prosecutor's website Saturday.

[Original post] Reports of criminal accusations against  WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange brought instant suspicion of a U.S. government-led smear campaign.

Assange, a citizen of Australia, has been accused in Sweden of rape and molestation, or harassment, the Swedish tabloid Expressen reported.

Read a rough Google translation of the Expressen report.

WikiLeaks recently published tens of thousands of U.S. documents related to the war in Afghanistan and has said it is preparing to publish another batch of 15,000 documents soon.

"We were warned to expect 'dirty tricks.' Now we have the first one," WikiLeaks' Twitter page said Saturday.

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Filed under: Afghanistan • Crime • Google • National security • Sweden • Twitter • WikiLeaks
August 21st, 2010
08:01 AM ET
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Sweden drops rape accusation against WikiLeaks founder

[Update 11:30 a.m.] Wikileaks Founder Julian Assange is "no longer wanted" and "is not suspected of rape," Chief Prosecutor Eva Finne said in a statement published by the Swedish prosecutor's website Saturday.

[Original post] The founder and editor of the whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, is wanted in Sweden after accusations of rape and molestation, a spokeswoman for the Swedish prosecutor's office told CNN Saturday.

Spokeswoman Karin Rosander said Assange was arrested in absentia Friday night, and faces charges in relation to two separate instances, but she didn't have more detail about when the alleged crimes occurred or who the alleged victims are.

Assange denied the allegations in a posting Saturday on the WikiLeaks Twitter page, saying, "The charges are without basis and their issue at this moment is deeply disturbing."

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Filed under: Sweden • Technology • World
August 21st, 2010
07:54 AM ET
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Afghan police killed in airstrike

Three Afghan police officers were accidentally killed in an airstrike and a bomb killed five Afghan civilians in separate incidents in northern Afghanistan, NATO's International Security Assistance Force said Saturday.

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Filed under: Afghanistan • World