violence flares in ivory coast

At least nine unarmed protesters in Ivory Coast's largest city were shot and killed by security forces Thursday, eyewitnesses told Amnesty International.

The violence erupted as troops loyal to the incumbent president and supporters of his challenger confronted each other on the tense and chaotic streets of Abidjan.

"Amnesty International is appalled by this completely unjustified and disproportionate use of force and calls on the Ivorian security forces to stop these killings immediately," said Salvatore Sagues, the West Africa researcher for Amnesty, a human rights group.

"Those who opened fire on these people, as well as those who gave the order, will have to account for their acts," he said.

The demonstrators -- part of mass street protests called by the presidential challenger, Alassane Ouattara -- had been marching from various locations in Abidjan "in an attempt to seize the state-run RTI" broadcasting offices when security forces fired on them, Amnesty said.

Witnesses told CNN that exchanges of fire also raged outside a hotel that is serving as the headquarters of Ouattara, a former economist and prime minister who ran for president against incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo in a November 28 runoff.

The West African nation has been in a political stalemate over the disputed election, in which both men claim victory.

egyptians married sexlife

Within seconds of answering the phone to discuss his latest film, documentary director Amr Bayoumi is talking about female orgasms.

While it might seem unusual for an Egyptian man to be talking so frankly about intimate matters, Bayoumi is something of an expert in the field.

His film "Sex Talk," which features compatriots revealing details of their physical relationships, is his second exploration of a subject still largely considered taboo in Egypt.

But, insists Bayoumi, the most unusual aspect of his conversation is his willingness to talk and make movies not just about sex -- but about what he calls "normal" sex.

"In 2005 I was thinking of making a small film interviewing women speaking about their moment of pleasure -- orgasms," he said.

"In the process of researching this I tried to find books or academic studies ... and discovered there isn't anything focusing on normal sexual relationships in Egypt.

"You find material on prostitution or child abuse, but nothing about normal sexual behavior."

ufo shotdown

The Israeli Air Force shot down an unidentified flying object over the Dimona nuclear plant in the Negev Desert Thursday, the Israel Defense Forces said.

The object appeared in a designated no-fly zone, the air force was scrambled and the object was shot down, the IDF said.

The object could have been a party balloon, the IDF said, but forces have not yet found the debris to determine what it was.

There have been unconfirmed media reports that it was a motor-driven object. The air force reacted according to procedure when the object was spotted, the IDF said.

The Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz reported that last October "IDF warplanes intercepted an Israeli ultralight aircraft that accidentally flew into the area and forced it to land at an airstrip in southern Israel."

It also reported that "an Israeli surface-to-air missile downed a crippled Israeli fighter-bomber that strayed into the restricted zone" during the Six Day War in 1967. The craft's pilot was killed.

French.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy wrapped up his four-day visit to India on Tuesday, securing defense, energy and aviation deals worth billions of dollars.

Headlines heralded a significant breakthrough -- a framework agreement signed by India and France that will allow French energy group Areva SA to build two nuclear reactors in India's western state of Maharashtra and to supply fuel for 25 years.

The deal, worth $9.3 billion, is set to boost strategic ties between the two countries and help feed India's growing demand for energy.

But it may be too early to celebrate, said Brahma Chellaney, a professor of strategic studies at the Center of Policy Research in New Delhi

While an agreement has been reached, the precise terms of the commercial contract are still "very much in the air," Chellaney warned.

"France is selling India nuclear reactors which are completely untried for design and safety, so there might be criticism in India in days to come about the choice of reactors," he said.

PKK

Six suspected members of a Kurdish militant group were seized Tuesday in southern France, government authorities said.

The arrests -- made in the Marseilles region at the request of a Parisian anti-terrorism judge -- include one person who is "an important member at the European level" of the group -- the Kurdistan Workers' Party, also known as the PKK.

Officers from the Central Directorate of Internal Intelligence and Marseilles police arrested the six as part of an investigation into PKK financing.

They were put in custody in Marseilles and can be kept there for four days. Some are also suspected of throwing Molotov cocktails, said a source close to the investigation.

The PKK is a separatist Kurdish group that has been fighting security forces in southeastern Turkey for years.

14 year old drug cartel hitman

The U.S. State Department backed away Tuesday from earlier statements that a 14-year-old boy accused of being a drug cartel hit man in Mexico is a U.S. citizen.

Department spokeswoman Gini Staab said Monday the department had "confirmed the boy's U.S. citizenship," but took it back on Tuesday. Staab could not say why the department had pulled back the confirmation.

The boy had at least one consular visit Tuesday, another State Department official said.

The teen -- reportedly carrying a birth certificate issued in San Diego, California -- and two of his sisters were detained Thursday at an airport in central Mexico after an anonymous tip alerted authorities he was heading to Tijuana, Mexico, local media reported.

Ron Santo, who played third base for the Chicago Cubs for 15 years and later joined their broadcast team, died of complications of bladder cancer Thursday night, the Chicago Tribune reported. He was 70.

Santo suffered from juvenile diabetes, which he kept secret even from his teammates. He was loved in Chicago as a great player on a bad team in the 1960s and '70s. He played his final season for the crosstown White Sox in 1974. The Cubs retired the nine-time All-Star's No. 10 after he retired.

unemployment rate rises

 The government's monthly labor report threw a curve ball Friday morning as November's job growth came in far lower than expected and the unemployment rate rose to 9.8%.

U.S. employers added 39,000 jobs to their payrolls in November, the Labor Department reported. That marks a major slowdown from October, when the economy added an upwardly revised 172,000 jobs.