| Egyptians back at the polls to pick president Posted: 23 May 2012 11:25 PM PDT  CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt resumed its first free presidential election on Thursday after a first day of voting that passed off mostly calmly, apart from a stone-throwing attack on candidate Ahmed Shafiq, who was premier for a few days before Hosni Mubarak fell. The race broadly pits Islamist candidates against secular ones like Shafiq and Amr Moussa, the former Arab League chief who previously served as Mubarak's foreign minister. Turnout on Wednesday seemed lower than in an earlier parliamentary vote when Islamists swept up most seats. ...
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| Brother of blind China activist flees village Posted: 24 May 2012 12:48 AM PDT  BEIJING (Reuters) - The brother of blind activist Chen Guangcheng has fled his village in northeastern China, evading a security clampdown to seek help from lawyers for his son who has been detained in a case that has become a rallying point among rights activists. Chen Guangfu, the eldest brother of Chen Guangcheng, told Reuters that he walked out of his home in Shandong province at 3 a.m. (0700 GMT) on Tuesday, eluding the increased number of sentries near his village by avoiding roads and running through fields. He arrived in Beijing on Wednesday evening after a six-hour journey by car. ...
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| Insight: Iran's "Great Game" in Afghanistan Posted: 24 May 2012 12:56 AM PDT  KABUL (Reuters) - With most foreign combat troops set to withdraw from Afghanistan by 2014, Iran is using the media in the war-ravaged nation to gain influence, a worrying issue for Washington. Nearly a third of Afghanistan's media is backed by Iran, either financially or through providing content, Afghan officials and media groups say. "What Iran wants, what they are striving at, is a power base in Afghanistan that can counter American influence," said a senior government official, who like others for this report, spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity. ...
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| Iran nuclear talks enter second day Posted: 23 May 2012 11:16 PM PDT  BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Talks resumed on Thursday between Iran and world powers about a nuclear programme that the West suspects is aimed at nuclear bomb research. A first day of discussions showed a "fair amount of disagreement" but also areas of common ground, a senior U.S. official said on Wednesday, adding: "I believe we have the beginning of a negotiation." Talks got under way again on Thursday morning, a diplomat said. Both sides have been publicly upbeat about the scope for an outline deal following a 15-month diplomatic freeze and exploratory talks in Istanbul last month. ...
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| Suu Kyi to make first trip out of Myanmar in 24 years: party Posted: 23 May 2012 10:16 PM PDT  YANGON (Reuters) - Nobel laureate and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi will travel outside Myanmar for the first time in 24 years next week to deliver a speech at an international forum in Thailand, her party said on Thursday. Her decision to venture outside the country she had only expected to return to temporarily in 1988 comes after a year of dramatic change in Myanmar after almost a half century of military rule. Suu Kyi, 66, won a parliamentary seat in April after engaging with the reformist rulers once part of the junta that locked her up for 15 years for her fight against ...
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| Anti-African street violence surges in Israel Posted: 24 May 2012 12:45 AM PDT JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Surging street violence against African migrants, including a rampage that an Israeli broadcaster dubbed a "pogrom", drew empathy for the rioters from the interior minister on Thursday. Waving Israeli flags and chanting "Deport the Sudanese", residents of a low-income Tel Aviv neighborhood where many of the border-jumpers from Eritrea, Sudan and South Sudan live held a march late Wednesday that turned violent. Police said 20 people were arrested for assault and vandalism. ... |
| Child addicts at heart of Indonesia anti-smoking suit Posted: 24 May 2012 12:30 AM PDT  KARAWANG GIRANG, Indonesia (Reuters) - Anti-tobacco advocates in Indonesia plan to file a class action lawsuit this month using cases of child addicts in the hope of forcing tougher regulations on a society where one in three people smokes. It is a rare attempt of its kind to constrain a tobacco industry which looks to the world's fourth most populous country and its growing appetite for cigarettes to replace dwindling sales elsewhere. The suit against tobacco companies and the Indonesian government argues that feeble regulation has left children dangerously exposed to the risks of smoking. ...
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| Divided Syrian opposition to choose new leader Posted: 23 May 2012 09:19 PM PDT  AMMAN (Reuters) - The main Syrian National Council opposition group said it had accepted the resignation of its president, setting the stage for a showdown between the powerful Muslim Brotherhood and its political rivals over who will be the new leader. The internal conflicts have come to a head over the position held by Burhan Ghalioun, a secular sociologist backed by the Brotherhood, who offered to step down as leader of the 313-member council last week if a replacement could be found. ...
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| EU urges Greece to stay in euro, plans for possible exit Posted: 23 May 2012 10:41 PM PDT  BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union leaders, advised by senior officials to prepare contingency plans in case Greece decides to quit the single currency, urged the country to stay the course on austerity and complete the reforms demanded under its bailout program. After nearly six hours of talks held during an informal dinner, leaders said they were committed to Greece remaining in the euro zone, but it had to stick to its side of the bargain too, a commitment that will mean a heavy cost for Greeks. ...
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| Analysis: South Africa's new security laws: who will they protect? Posted: 24 May 2012 12:08 AM PDT  JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Concerns are growing in South Africa that new laws on intelligence, security and graft-busting may end up protecting the political elite more than the nation. President Jacob Zuma's ANC government has proposed three measures - two revisions to apartheid-era intelligence bills and a third on oversight of the police's anti-graft unit, the Hawks - that have prompted concern data may be suppressed. ...
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| Rwandan orphans find hope in village Posted: 23 May 2012 11:16 PM PDT  From a teenager who was a month old when her parents were killed in Rwanda's genocide to a young man inspired to become a doctor, hundreds of orphans have found hope for the future in a special village outside the Rwandan capital.
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| Pakistan convicts doctor who helped find bin Laden Posted: 23 May 2012 09:56 PM PDT  A doctor who helped the CIA hunt down Osama bin Laden has been convicted of conspiring against the state and sentenced to 33 years in prison, adding new strains to an already deeply troubled relationship between the U.S. and Pakistan.
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| EU leaders support growth, give few concrete plans Posted: 23 May 2012 09:38 PM PDT  European Union leaders concluded their latest summit early Thursday with few concrete steps to fix the continent's festering financial crisis even as the potential for a messy Greek exit from the euro appears to be rising. Some leaders stressed the importance of planning for just such an event but offered no measures that might help Greece avoid it.
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| Eager Egyptians hold landmark presidential vote Posted: 23 May 2012 10:44 PM PDT  After a lifetime of being told who will rule them, Egyptians have dived enthusiastically into the uncertainty of the Arab world's first competitive presidential race, wrestling with a polarizing choice between secularists rooted in Hosni Mubarak's old autocracy and Islamists hoping to infuse the state with religion.
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| Iran nuclear talks snag over dueling demands Posted: 23 May 2012 05:29 PM PDT  Talks between Iran and six world powers snagged Wednesday over dueling proposals concerning Tehran's nuclear program, a tug-of-war that pits international concerns about the Islamic Republic's potential to build atomic weapons against enforcing crippling sanctions on its people.
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| Faces in the crowd in Egypt's election Posted: 23 May 2012 11:14 AM PDT  Egyptian voters of many ages, occupations and beliefs stood in line for hours Wednesday to cast their ballots for a new president. The winner would replace Hosni Mubarak, deposed in a popular uprising last year. He was voted in several times, but those elections were generally regarded as blatantly rigged, and turnout was low.
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| Scotland Yard deploys mobile fingerprint devices Posted: 23 May 2012 02:55 PM PDT Scotland Yard says it's equipping its police officers with handheld fingerprint devices, something the force says will help identify suspects in a matter of seconds. |
| Officials: Injured Mali president heads to France Posted: 23 May 2012 11:03 AM PDT Mali's interim president, who was beaten by a mob of demonstrators who broke into his office this week, has left the country to seek medical treatment in France, an adviser and two French government officials said Wednesday. |
| Report: Iran holds military maneuvers Posted: 23 May 2012 10:21 AM PDT Iran's official news agency says Iran's military has wound up a one-day exercise in the center of the country. |
| New Zealand says 'zero' budget will bring surplus Posted: 23 May 2012 08:07 PM PDT New Zealand's center-right government unveiled a relatively austere budget Thursday, saying it will tackle rising debt and return the country's books to the black in two years. |
| Iran is offered new plans to ease nuclear concerns Posted: 23 May 2012 09:20 AM PDT Iran traded proposals with six world powers, including the United States, Wednesday in a new round of talks aimed at persuading Tehran to curb its nuclear program and ease concerns it wants to make atomic weapons. But divisions over sanctions complicated the discussions. |
| Iran seeks concessions in Baghdad nuclear talks Posted: 23 May 2012 04:11 AM PDT  Iran and six world powers resumed talks Wednesday over Tehran's nuclear program, with the Iranians pushing for specific timetables and goals but Westerns leaders signaling they want more disclosures before offering rewards.
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