John F Kennedy was remembered as a transcendent leader of a rising nation at a ceremony in Dallas last night, the 50th anniversary of his assassination.

Fifty years after President John F Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas on November 22, 1963, thousands will mark the day with a solemn ceremony in Dealey Plaza, through which the president’s motorcade passed when shots rang out.

Caroline Kennedy, the daughter of JFK, began her role on November 18 as US Ambassador to Japan. Kennedy starts her high profile job just days before the 50th anniversary of the assassination of her father.

JFK had pledged to come back the following spring — half a century later his family brought a touch of Camelot home again.

A 7.4-magnitude earthquake rocked Guatemala, killing at least 48 people in two states.

He arrived in East Africa in 1976 with scant interest in athletics, but 36 years later, this Corkman, a Christian Brother teacher, is considered the foremost athletics coach in Kenya, and one of the most regarded in the world.

Joseph Kennedy III is to follow in the family tradition and contest the race for a Massachusetts congressional seat in the 4th District.

An international child pornography ring that spanned three continents and required members to post explicit images on a secure internet message board has been dismantled with the arrests of more than a dozen people, authorities said today.

PRESIDENT John F Kennedy’s sister, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, who carried on the family’s public service tradition by founding the Special Olympics and championing the rights of mentally disabled people, died early yesterday surrounded by relatives at a Hyannis hospital. She was 88.

US presidential contenders Barack Obama and John McCain differed on abortion today, with Mr McCain saying a baby’s human rights begin “at conception,” while Mr Obama restated his support for legal abortion.

After days of hammering at Republican rival John McCain, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama struck a conciliatory note and urged unity in service of a greater good in a speech to college graduates.

Rocker and activist Bono has been given a US honorary award for his humanitarian work in Africa.

MOVING house is reputed to be the second most stressful thing in life — after divorce — so Nancy Claxton deserves to be frazzled after upping sticks 32 times in the last 20 years.

RUSSIA’S security chief said yesterday that his agency has uncovered US, British, Kuwaiti and Saudi spy activity that was being conducted by non-governmental organisations.

Russia’s security chief said today that his agency has uncovered US, British, Kuwaiti and Saudi spy activity that was being conducted under the cover of non-governmental organisations.

The United States has urged its citizens to stay away from Nepal following the bombing of a US information centre and fears that Americans could be attacked by Maoist rebels.

President George Bush today pledged to press on with the war against terrorism.

If you were a young man in the Peace Corps assigned to Afghanistan under the Taliban, what would you miss most? Razor blades? Hardly. Music? Maybe for some. The answer is pretty obvious. Movies. Could you do without seeing a single film for 24 months? I doubt it. You’d probably come back in a straitjacket, screaming in agony.

The Nobel Peace Prize committee today chose this year’s winner of the award it hopes will send the right message to a world still in shock from last year’s terrorist attacks and at odds over US plans to attack Iraq.

The US recalled Peace Corps workers from Zimbabwe today after the government refused to issue work permits for its most recent volunteers.

George W Bush is to nominate Elaine Chao to become Secretary of Labour after Linda Chavez withdrew her nomination for the post.