Balanced News Blog

Fly a kite in Pakistan and you could get up to six months in jail. Pakistan’s Supreme Court has voted to extend a ban it imposed in October. As the issue was debated Saturday, kite-makers and enthusiasts rioted outside. Police used batons and tear gas.

British playwright Harold Pinter was hailed as “uniquely strong and inspiring” as he was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature.

Egypt put its installations along the Suez Canal on high alert over the weekend after receiving warnings of a possible terrorist attack by al-Qaida on ships in the strategic waterway.

Richard Pryor, the caustic yet perceptive actor-comedian who lived dangerously close to the edge both on stage and off, died Saturday. He was 65.

Potential computer users in the developing world will not want a basic $100 hand-cranked laptop due to be rolled out to millions, chip-maker Intel Corp. chairman Craig Barrett said on Friday.

Transit police handcuffed and cited a man who sold a $1.75 US subway token to another rider who was having trouble with a token vending machine. He vows to fight the citation in court.

Addressing a rally at the Palestinian Yarmouk refugee camp near Damascus, the top Hamas leader declared “I say to our brothers that we will not enter a new truce and our people are preparing for a new round of conflict.”

Iran‘s top nuclear official said Saturday that his country will enrich uranium and produce nuclear fuel despite the U.S.-led international campaign to persuade it to abandon such ambitions.