Six are reported dead in today's attack outside the U.S. consulate in Istanbul. Armed men had opened fire at the guardpost. Three were attackers while the other three were policemen. The investigation is at work to identify the attackers.

Distressing news from South East Asia keep coming as the Philippines tries to recover from the disaster that the recent typhoon "Frank" brought about on the islands.

The death count for the capsized ferry, the MV Princess of the Stars, has risen to 70 as divers rescued three more bodies from the wreckage. Only 48 survivors have yet been rescued.

Even after the cold winter, the ice in the Arctic Sea is melting at a faster rate than the previous year. In the beginning of 2008, ice covered a larger area in comparison to the same time last year. However, this summer has broken records for sea ice loss.

What some scientists have been reasoning is that large components of the ice are very thin, making them melt easily. A future possibility that is worrisome is that the Arctic, in five to ten years, may very well become ice-free in the summers.

According to BBC news online, Chinese South Africans are to be reclassified as black people, as ruled by the High Court in South Africa.

The order was made to allow ethnic Chinese the benefit from government policies that are aimed at the end of white domination in the private sector of South Africa. An estimate reports that there are 200,000 ethnic Chinese presently living in South Africa.

There have been military operations taking place with the goal of pushing out Taliban rebles from various villages in the south of Afghanistan. During the operation, two Afghan soliders and 23 militants were reported to have been killed.

Supported by Canadian forces, the Afghan troops targeted villages in the Arghandab district of the Kandahar province.

48 Police officers who had been held hostage for a day were freed in southern Peru by demonstrators. The protesters located in the Moquegua, a state close to Peru's border with Chile, had taken hostages on Monday in the midst of their demonstrations for a greater share of revenue from mining. For close to a week, the protesters have blocked sections of the Pan American Highway.

There hasn't been a major earthquake in Greece since 1999, it left around 100 people dead. In the European Union, Greece is one of the most quake-prone countries.

This Sunday though, a strong quake hit Greece at 3:30 p.m., measured at 6.1 in magnitude.

PETA is offering a monetary reward to whoever can create chicken meat that cannot be distinguished from the real thing, can be sold commercially, but is lab-grown.

PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) will reward the first scientist who can achieve such a thing, before the summer of 2012, $1 million.

On Thrusday, in honor of Prisoner's Day as well as the more than 11,000 Palestinians who are jailed in Israeli jails, Palestinians demonstrated accross the occupied West Bank.

In the heart of Nablus, there were around 2,000 people gathered for the demonstration. They were waiving Palestinian flags or holding large, framed portraits of their loved ones.

On Thursday in southwestern Afghanistan, a suicide attack in front of a mosque killed 16 people, as well as left more than 30 other injured. As men were prepraing in the central mosque, the attack took place. It was in the capital of Nimroz province called Zaranj. People say that there may have been more than one bomber, possibly a double attack.