| Fighting continues in Syria as West, opposition to meet Posted:  ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Syrians trying to topple President Bashar al-Assad meet their Western backers on Sunday while fighting has continued despite the Syrian government saying the year-long revolt is over. The political opposition remains divided and has not yet formally accepted a peace plan brokered by United Nations-Arab League special envoy Kofi Annan. Prospects of Western-led military intervention are close to zero, although Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal renewed calls on Saturday to arm the Syrian opposition, describing it as a "duty". ...
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| Insight: Lifting the veil on Afghanistan's female addicts Posted:  KABUL (Reuters) - Anita lifted the sky-blue burqa from her face, revealing glazed eyes and cracked lips from years of smoking opium, and touched her saggy belly, still round from giving birth to her seventh child a month ago. "I can't give breast milk to my baby," said the 32-year-old Anita, who like other women interviewed for this story, declined to give her full name. "I'm scared he'll get addicted She was huddled with other women at the U.N. ...
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| Stricken luxury cruise ship to reach Malaysian port on Sunday Posted:  SANDAKAN, Malaysia (Reuters) - A stricken luxury cruise ship under Philippines and U.S. naval escort will reach a Malaysian port in Borneo island on late Sunday, Malaysian maritime officials and the ship's owner said, after spending more than a day in waters prowled by pirates. The Azamara Quest, carrying 600 passengers who are mostly westerners and 411 crew, suffered an engine-room fire on Friday that disabled the engines and left the ship temporarily stranded off the southern Philippines coast. ...
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| Yemen ministry: 7 soldiers killed in southern attack Posted: ADEN (Reuters) - Seven Yemeni soldiers were killed in an attack the Defence Ministry blamed on al Qaeda militants on Sunday, a day after clashes with Islamist fighters in which at least 20 troops were killed. In a text message, the ministry's September 26 news portal said the "treacherous terrorist attack" occurred in the southern Hadramout province. (Reporting by Mohammed Mukhashaf; Writing by Joseph Logan) |
| Clinton promises U.S. will back Gulf security Posted:  RIYADH (Reuters) - The United States will work with Gulf Arab nations to strengthen their shared defenses against threats including Iran, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Saturday. Speculation about Tehran's nuclear ambitions is a source of anxiety among Sunni-led Gulf Arab states, for whom Shi'ite Iran has long been a regional rival. "The commitment of the United States to the people and the nations of the Gulf is rock-solid and unwavering. ...
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| Myanmar votes in historic election; spotlight on Suu Kyi Posted:  YANGON (Reuters) - Pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi looked set to clinch a seat in parliament in Myanmar's third election in half a century on Sunday, a crucial test of reforms that could convince the West to end sanctions and its pariah image. The United States and European Union have hinted that some sanctions - imposed over the past two decades in response to human rights abuses - may be lifted if the election is free and fair, unleashing a wave of investment in the impoverished but resource-rich country bordering rising powers India and China. ...
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| Japan to support U.S. nominee to head World Bank Posted:  TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan will support Jim Yong Kim, the U.S. nominee for the next World Bank head, Japanese Finance Minister Jun Azumi said on Sunday after meeting the candidate who is in Tokyo on his world tour to seek support for the candidacy. Kim, a Korean-American, will be contesting against two nominees from emerging market countries - Nigerian Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and former Colombian Finance Minister Jose Antonio Ocampo - for the Washington-based institution's top job. ...
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| Former Iran negotiator says nuclear deal possible Posted:  UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - An end to a nearly decade-long nuclear standoff between Iran and major world powers will be possible if the United States and its European allies recognize Tehran's right to enrich uranium, a former Iranian negotiator said in an editorial. "Talks between Iran and the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council plus Germany (P5+1), scheduled for next month, provide the best opportunity to break the nine-year deadlock over Iran's nuclear program," Hossein Mousavian, Iran's former chief nuclear negotiator, wrote in an editorial in the Boston Globe. ...
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| In U-turn, Egypt's Brotherhood names presidential candidate Posted:  CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, in a policy U-turn, said on Saturday it would back its deputy leader for president, an endorsement that guarantees Khairat al-Shater a place among the frontrunners after the group initially said it would not field a candidate. The Brotherhood said it changed tack after reviewing other candidates in the race and after parliament, where its Freedom and Justice Party controls the biggest bloc, was unable to meet "the demands of the revolution", a reference to its mounting criticism of the ruling army's handling of the transition. ...
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| Mali army abandons northern town after rebel attack Posted:  GAO/BAMAKO (Reuters) - Mali's army abandoned its military bases around the key northern garrison town of Gao on Saturday after a fierce assault by heavily armed rebels, military and civilian sources said. It was the latest defeat for the army after a lightning 48-hour advance by northern rebels seeking to capitalize in chaos in the West African country after last week's coup. "Given the proximity of the camps to residential areas, our forces decided not to fight," a statement by junta leader Captain Amadou Sanogo read out on state television said. ...
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| Details emerge about bin Laden's other residences Posted: It's an ornate but not lavish two-story house tucked away at the end of a mud clogged street. This is where Pakistan's intelligence agency believes Osama bin Laden lived for nearly a year until he moved into the villa in which he was eventually killed. |
| Myanmar's Suu Kyi poised to win parliamentary seat Posted:  Myanmar held a landmark election Sunday that was expected to send democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi into parliament for her first public office since launching her decades-long struggle against the military-dominated government.
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| Stricken cruise ship to reach Malaysia port Sunday Posted:  Emergency services and embassy officials are preparing help for 1,000 people on a partially disabled cruise ship headed for a Malaysian port after a fire left it adrift at sea for 24 hours.
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| Christians mark Palm Sunday in Jerusalem Posted: Hundreds of Christian pilgrims are visiting the Holy Land to mark Palm Sunday, the day Jesus Christ made his triumphant return to Jerusalem. |
| Japan experts warn of future risk of giant tsunami Posted: Revised estimates of the potential impact from an earthquake off Japan's southern coast show much of the country's Pacific shore could be inundated by a tsunami more than 34 meters (112 feet) high. |
| Venezuelan leader returns to Cuba for treatment Posted:  Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez traveled to Cuba on Saturday for another round of cancer treatment, saying he will be in Havana for several days and then return home.
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| Nicaraguan businessman accused of drug trafficking Posted: Nicaraguan authorities said Saturday that the apparent target of an attack that claimed the life of Argentine folk singer Facundo Cabral last year is being charged with drug trafficking. |
| 30 years after Falklands war, visible scars remain Posted:  Thirty years after Argentina and Britain spilled blood over these remote islands in the South Atlantic, the scars of war are still being scratched raw.
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| Mali rebels attack northern town in coup aftermath Posted:  Rebels on Saturday attacked Mali's strategic northern city of Gao, a day after they took the provincial capital of Kidal, witnesses and an official said. The move deepens the crisis in the landlocked nation at the feet of the Sahara after a coup earlier this month by Malian soldiers angry at the government's handling of the rebellion.
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| Canadian man released from Lebanese jail Posted: A Canadian farmer returned home Saturday after being released from a Lebanese jail where he had been held for a year on allegations that he exported rotten potatoes to Algeria. |
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