| EU slaps sanctions on Assad's family; mortars hit Homs Posted:  BEIRUT (Reuters) - The European Union slapped sanctions on President Bashar al-Assad's powerful mother and wife on Friday, targeting his inner circle in an effort to force Syria to end its repression of a year-long uprising. The EU's latest round of sanctions hit 10 other prominent personalities, including Assad's sister and sister-in-law, banning them from visiting the 27-nation bloc, freezing their assets and stopping them from shopping with European firms. "With this new listing we are striking at the heart of the Assad clan, sending out a loud and clear message to Mr. ...
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| U.S. soldier charged with 17 murders in Afghan killings Posted:  KABUL (Reuters) - A U.S. Army sergeant was formally charged with 17 counts of murder on Friday for killing eight adults and nine children in a pre-dawn shooting rampage in southern Afghanistan that further eroded U.S.-Afghan relations already frayed by a decade of war. Staff Sergeant Robert Bales, a decorated 38-year-old veteran of four combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, also was charged with six counts each of assault and attempted murder for attacking two other adults and four children in the March 11 shooting spree, a U.S. armed forces statement said. ...
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| Mali hit by looting after coup, president "safe" Posted:  BAMAKO, March 23 (Reuters) - Soldiers looted petrol stations and hijacked cars in Mali's capital Bamako on Friday, 48 hours after a military coup, and the African Union said it had assurances that President Amadou Toumani Toure was safe. The AU suspended Mali's membership after the coup, which has left the West African nation in limbo and jangled nerves in a region suffering aftershocks from last year's Libyan war. ...
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| North Korea to hold first parliament session under new leader Posted:  SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea said on Saturday it will hold an annual parliamentary session next month during which the reclusive country's new young leader, Kim Jong-un, is expected to be appointed officially to top posts of the state. The announcement by the North's state news agency that the session will be on April 13 came as concern grew over a decision by the North to launch a rocket next month marking the centenary of founder Kim Il-sung's birth. The rocket launch, which the United States and other countries say is the same as a ballistic missile test, which is banned under U.N. ...
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| Pope's trip sparks hopes for change in Cuba Posted:  HAVANA (Reuters) - For years at Havana's historic Cristobal Colon cemetery, Communist Party members refused to enter the Roman Catholic chapel there for funeral services. They stayed outside while others honored the dead because religious believers were banned from the party and being seen in a church, particularly a Catholic one, could bring trouble even for someone in mourning. But those days are gone and the Church has taken a bigger role in Cuban society since the visit of Pope John Paul II in 1998, said 68-year-old Erick Osio, who remembers standing outside the cemetery chapel. ...
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| Europe bishops slam Saudi fatwa against Gulf churches Posted:  PARIS (Reuters) - Christian bishops in Germany, Austria and Russia have sharply criticized Saudi Arabia's top religious official after reports that he issued a fatwa saying all churches on the Arabian Peninsula should be destroyed. In separate statements on Friday, the Roman Catholic bishops in Germany and Austria slammed the ruling by Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdulaziz Al al-Shaikh as an unacceptable denial of human rights to millions of foreign workers in the Gulf region. ...
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| France to resume election race after gunman's death Posted:  TOULOUSE, France (Reuters) - France's presidential election race resumes on Friday, irrevocably altered by the killing of an al Qaeda-inspired gunman whose murders have shifted the political debate in favor of incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy. Mohamed Merah's cold-blooded shootings of seven people, including three Jewish schoolchildren, forced politicians to suspend normal campaigning while a giant manhunt closed in on the 23-year-old unemployed panel-beater. That hunt ended in a cacophony of gunfire shortly before midday on Thursday, after a 30-hour siege in the southern city of Toulouse. ...
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| Indian Maoists kidnap lawmaker during Italian hostage talks Posted: BHUBANESWAR, India (Reuters) - Maoist rebels kidnapped an Indian politician on Saturday, police said, a move that could upset talks over the release of two Italian hostages held by left-wing fighters in the same eastern state of Orissa. A large group of armed men stopped Orissa state lawmaker Jhina Hikaka, 37, as he was being driven through a hilly area 500 km from the state capital Bhubaneswar early on Saturday. "They took him hostage but left the driver and the bodyguard," police officer Suryamani Pradhan told Reuters. "We are awaiting further details. ... |
| Egyptians learn fast in campaign for historic vote Posted:  CAIRO (Reuters) - In the final moments of Hosni Mubarak's presidency, Mohamed Elshahawy made a call to the man he thought should replace him. "We need to talk about the future," he told Abdel Moneim Abol Fotouh, then a senior Muslim Brotherhood leader. One year on, Elshahawy has taken time out of his job as a successful business manager to work seven days a week heading Abol Fotouh's campaign. He is one of a generation of Egyptians who have thrown themselves into the first real competition for the nation's presidency, scheduled to take place in May. ...
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| Gangs in crime-plagued El Salvador call a truce Posted: SAN SALVADOR (Reuters) - Rival gangs operating in El Salvador have called a truce as the Central American country confronts a plague of violent crime, according to a statement issued on Friday by the gangs and endorsed by local Roman Catholic church leaders. The document, signed by representatives of the country's two most powerful gangs, Mara Salvatrucha and gang Mara 18, was delivered to various media and has been endorsed by the Salvadoran Catholic Church, local church leaders said. Local media reports based on interviews with gang leaders say the truce began this week. ... |
| Syria's first lady faces sanctions, contempt Posted:  As Syria's bloodshed deepens, the British-born first lady has become an object of contempt for many, a Marie Antoinette figure who shopped online for crystal-encrusted Christian Louboutin stilettos while her country burned.
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| Pope's arrival in Mexico sparks surprising emotion Posted:  There was little excitement in Leon in the hours before the pope arrived.
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| After Pope criticizes Marxism, Cuba diplomatic Posted:  Cuba will listen with respect to Pope Benedict XVI during his visit next week even if he differs with island leaders, the country's foreign minister said Friday after the pontiff described Marxism as out of step with the times.
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| Official: No sign French suspect had al-Qaida ties Posted:  Investigators have found no signs the suspected gunman behind a deadly string of attacks in southern France was under orders from al-Qaida or any militant group, a top French official said Friday — disputing Mohamed Merah's claim of terrorist ties before he died in a shootout with commandos.
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| APNewsBreak: Europe faces jihadist threat Posted:  With France's deadly attacks, Islamic terror has apparently struck once more in the heart of Europe — and authorities say there's a dangerous twist: the emergence of homegrown extremists operating independent of any known networks, making them hard to track and stop.
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| Army sergeant charged in Afghan massacre Posted:  Charges filed Friday against Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales reflect the horror of the crime: 17 counts of premeditated murder, more than half of them children, during a shooting rampage in southern Afghanistan. But while Afghans are calling for swift and severe punishment, it will likely be months, even years, before the public ever sees Bales in a courtroom.
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| Mali state TV goes off air; fear of countercoup Posted:  Television screens throughout this landlocked country momentarily went black Friday, as residents near the building housing the state broadcaster saw troops erecting barricades, fearing a possible countercoup a day after a military takeover.
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| Ex-UN chief Annan to visit China for Syria talks Posted:  China says former U.N. chief Kofi Annan will visit next week to discuss efforts to mediate an end to the crisis in Syria.
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| US man tells of 'humiliating' arrest in Dominica Posted:  A Southern Californian said Friday that he and his partner were taunted, humiliated and subjected to inhumane treatment when they were arrested and jailed after being escorted off a gay cruise in the Caribbean this week.
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| Tens of thousands in Syria call for fall of regime Posted:  Tens of thousands of Syrians braved tear gas and gunfire to protest across the country Friday, vowing to storm the capital Damascus to oust President Bashar Assad as the European Union ramped up pressure on the regime by imposing sanctions on his wife and other close relatives.
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