World Briefs

L'AQUILA, Italy – President Barack Obama said Thursday there was still time to close the gap with developing powers on climate change, after the U.N. chief criticized the G8 for not going hard enough.

On the first day of a meeting of the Group of Eight major industrialized nations in L'Aquila in Italy, the G8 failed to get China and India to accept the goal of halving emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050.

URUMQI, China – Chinese President Hu Jintao, forced to abandon a G8 summit in Italy by ethnic violence in restive Xinjiang, said that maintaining social stability in the energy-rich region was the "most urgent task," state television reported Thursday.

156 people have been killed and 1,080 wounded.

MOHAMMAD AGHA, Afghanistan – An explosion outside a school south of the Afghan capital on Thursday killed at least 25 people, including 15 students, officials said, the worst toll from a single blast in a year.

It was the latest incident in an escalation of violence across Afghanistan since U.S. Marines launched a new offensive a week ago in the Taliban bastion of Helmand.

LONDON – A British horse racing track said Thursday it asked the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra to give a recital at its finishing post, hoping to wow spectators and spur the animals to quicken their pace.

Kempton Park race course, just south of London, staged the unique event on Wednesday, as the orchestra played the "William Tell" Overture, the "Lone Ranger" theme song, during a horse race.

MOSUL, Iraq – A double suicide attack and two other bombings killed at least 42 people in Iraq on Thursday in the deadliest day since US forces pulled out of towns and cities nationwide just over a week ago.

The suicide bombers targeted the home of a police sergeant and his brother, who also worked for the security forces, in the northern town of Tal Afar, provincial police chief General Khaled Hamdani said.

TEHRAN, Iran – Hundreds of young men and women chanted "death to the dictator," confronting police wielding batons and firing tear gas in the capital Thursday as opposition activists sought to revive street protests despite authorities' vows to "smash" any new marches.

Tehran governor Morteza Tamaddon warned that any new march Thursday would meet the same fate. Protesters, though, have yet to heed the warning.