| U.S. eyes testy China talks, Chen backer expects Chinese decision Posted:  The United States faces a tense week in China as high-level talks on trade and global hot spots like Iran and North Korea open in the shadow of a blind Chinese activist's bold escape from house arrest to seek U.S. protection in Beijing. The trip to Beijing would have been challenging for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner even without a human rights dispute over Chen Guangcheng, who a U.S.-based group says is hiding in the U.S. Embassy in Beijing. ...
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| Two bombs detonate in Idlib, north Syria: state news Posted: BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syria's state news agency said two bombs had detonated on Monday in the central districts of Idlib city, near the Turkish border, and blamed what it said were terrorists. "Terrorist bombings in Hanano Square and Carlton Street in Idlib and news of casualties," a SANA newsflash said. (Reporting by Oliver Holmes) |
| In French election sobriety is new sign of times Posted:  PARIS (Reuters) - When Nicolas Sarkozy won the French presidency in 2007, the roaring Noughties were still in full swing and his message of "work more to earn more" was in sync with the times. Five years later, sobriety, solidarity and a desire for fairness define the zeitgeist and Sarkozy's Socialist challenger Francois Hollande seems more in tune with the spirit of the age. Winning an election requires a potent mix of charisma and a project that captures the public mood. ...
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| China security chief down but not out after blind dissident's escape Posted:  BEIJING (Reuters) - Strike two against China's once invulnerable domestic security chief, Zhou Yongkang. An audacious escape by blind dissident Chen Guangcheng is the second uproar this year to hit Zhou, who has expanded China's policing apparatus into a vast, costly and - now for all the world to see - a flawed tool of Communist Party control. But even one of the biggest domestic security embarrassments in more than a decade is unlikely to knock him out before a party congress late this year that will appoint successors to him and other retiring leaders, said several experts. ...
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| Exclusive: China mulls guarantees for ships carrying Iran oil Posted:  BEIJING (Reuters) - China is considering sovereign guarantees for its ships to enable the world's second-biggest oil consumer to continue importing Iranian crude after new EU sanctions come into effect in July, the head of China's shipowners' association said. Tough new European Union sanctions aimed at stopping Iran's oil exports to Europe also ban EU insurers and reinsurers from covering tankers carrying Iranian crude anywhere in the world. ...
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| Suu Kyi's party to end boycott of Myanmar's parliament Posted:  YANGON (Reuters) - Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her party agreed on Monday to end a boycott of parliament and swear an oath to protect the constitution that it had resisted, party officials said, setting aside a dispute with the government. Officials in her National League for Democracy (NLD) party said they could attend parliament from Wednesday. ...
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| Analysis: French will resist reform till things get worse Posted:  PARIS (Reuters) - "How can you govern a country which has 246 varieties of cheese?" General Charles de Gaulle famously asked. His distant successor as president of France, who will be elected on Sunday for five years, faces the same puzzle of how to reform a perennially rebellious nation to meet the economic challenges of the 21st century. Conservative President Nicolas Sarkozy set out with great energy in 2007 to shake things up but ran out of steam after loosening the 35-hour work week and raising the minimum retirement age to 62 from 60 in the face of massive resistance. ...
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| Bahrain orders retrial for hunger striker, protest leaders Posted:  (Reuters) - A Bahraini court has ordered a retrial for 21 men convicted in a military court of leading last year's pro-democracy uprising, but said they would remain in jail until new verdicts are reached, the official news agency said on Monday. Among those facing a new trial in a civilian court is Abdulhadi al-Khawaja who has been on a hunger strike for over two months and was at risk of dying. "The court is (ordering) that the trial take place again and that testimony from prosecution and defense witnesses be heard once more as if it is a new trial," BNA said. ...
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| Top U.N. truce monitor in Syria, attack on Central Bank Posted:  BEIRUT (Reuters) - A Norwegian general charged with overseeing a shaky U.N.-brokered truce in Syria arrived in Damascus on Sunday, boosting a monitor mission that activists say has helped ease the violence in the city of Homs, hotbed of a 13-month uprising. In the capital, militants fired rocket-propelled grenades at the Central Bank building, causing slight damage, and wounded four police when they attacked their patrol, state television reported. Activists in Damascus reported explosions and gunfire. ...
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| U.N. chief meets Myanmar president, to address parliament Posted:  NAYPYITAW, Myanmar (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon met Myanmar President Thein Sein on Monday to offer international help for reform in the long-isolated state and will later become the first foreign dignitary to address its fledgling parliament. On his first visit to Myanmar since its year-old, quasi-civilian government embarked on a wave of political and economic liberalization, Ban described Thein Sein, a former top general, as a "key driver" of the reforms and said he would urge Western powers to ease sanctions further. ...
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| Rights group: US asylum likely for China dissident Posted:  U.S. and Chinese officials are ironing out a deal to secure American asylum for a blind Chinese legal activist who fled house arrest, with an agreement likely before Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrives this week, a U.S. rights campaigner said Monday.
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| Pakistan condemns US strike after drone ban Posted: Pakistan on Monday condemned a U.S. drone strike that killed three suspected Islamist militants in the northwest, the first since the country's parliament demanded that Washington end the attacks two weeks ago. |
| Australian billionaire: Titanic II to sail in 2016 Posted: An Australian billionaire said Monday he'll build a high-tech replica of the Titanic at a Chinese shipyard and its maiden voyage in late 2016 will be from England to New York, just like its namesake planned. |
| Suu Kyi, her party to attend parliament Wednesday Posted:  Aung San Suu Kyi said she and other lawmakers in her opposition party will attend Myanmar's parliament on Wednesday for the first time and will take the oath of office though they still fiercely dispute its wording.
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| Prime Minister Netanyahu's father dies at 102 Posted:  Benzion Netanyahu, historian, Zionist activist and influential father of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, died Monday in his Jerusalem home, the Israeli leader's office said. He was 102.
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| Australian mining magnate to run for Parliament Posted:  Mining magnate Clive Palmer, one of Australia's richest business people, said Monday he hoped to run for Parliament for the conservative opposition, which opinion polls suggest will win government next year.
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| Head of UN mission in Syria urges halt to violence Posted:  The head of the U.N. observer mission in Syria on Sunday called on President Bashar Assad and the country's opposition to stop fighting and allow a tenuous cease-fire to take hold.
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| 21 killed in north Nigeria church service attacks Posted: Gunmen attacked worship services at a university campus and a church in northern Nigeria, killing at least 21 people in coordinated assaults that saw panicked Christians gunned down as they tried to flee, witnesses and officials said. |
| US special forces help in hunt for warlord Kony Posted:  Deep in the jungle, this small, remote Central African village is farther from the coast than any point on the continent. It's also where three international armies have zeroed in on Joseph Kony, one of the world's most wanted warlords.
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| Support from locals seen as key to capturing Kony Posted:  Adye Sunday isn't sure about the calls to kill or capture Lord's Resistance Army leader Joseph Kony. Though the elusive warlord abducted her when she was 13 and forced her to be one of his dozens of "wives," the 25-year-old says he's also the father of her two children.
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