News Headlines - 21 August 2013

▽Manning Sentenced to 35 Years For a Pivotal Leak of U.S. Files - NYTimes.com

A military judge sentenced Pfc. Bradley Manning on Wednesday to 35 years in prison for providing more than 700,000 government files to WikiLeaks, a gigantic leak that lifted the veil on American military and diplomatic activities around the world.

▽China's Bo Xilai goes on trial, culmination of dramatic fall | Reuters

Fallen Chinese politician Bo Xilai appeared in public for the first time in more than a year on Thursday to face trial in eastern China, the final chapter of the country's most politically charged case in more than three decades.

▽UN seeks clarity on Syria gas attack claim - Al Jazeera English

An emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council has called for a prompt investigation into an alleged chemical weapons attack outside the Syrian capital, Damascus.

▽Fed Stays the Course on Bond Buying - WSJ.com

Federal Reserve officials reaffirmed their plan to try winding down an easy-money program that has charged up global markets, but left investors on tenterhooks about when or how aggressively they would move.

▽BBC News - Japan nuclear agency upgrades Fukushima alert level

Japan's nuclear agency has upgraded the severity level of a radioactive water leak at the Fukushima plant from one to three on an international scale.