Putin shifts former ministers to Kremlin

Putin shifts former ministers to Kremlin
Greeks embrace some new myths about life with the euro
Two dead in Beirut clashes after killing of anti-Assad cleric
Bulgarian capital shaken by 5.6 magnitude quake
Hollande's euro arguments "nonsense": Austria's Fekter
Facing edgy vote, Egypt army hikes diesel imports
New Zealand to ban foreign-flagged fishing boats
Ruling party candidate claims win in Dominican vote
No sign of breakthrough in U.N. nuclear chief's Tehran talks
Obama sketches four-pronged strategy for Europe, sees EU consensus
96 Yemeni soldiers killed in suicide bombing
Ex-detainee: Syrian prisons are 'slaughterhouses'
Indian passenger train rams freight train; 15 die
Study: Fake malaria drugs common in Asia, Africa
Myanmar explains power cuts to calm rare protests
Everest weekend death toll reaches 4
Legion No. 1 admits he knew of priest's kid in '05
Malaysian opposition's Anwar charged over protest
Organizers: Don't mess with the Olympic brand
World's tallest tower, the Tokyo Skytree, opens

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MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin named seven former cabinet ministers as aides on Tuesday, in a move expected to weaken Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev's new government and shift power to the Kremlin. Putin, in a decree issued a day after the government was formed, also confirmed loyal ally Sergei Ivanov as his chief of staff while Nikolai Patrushev stays on as secretary of the presidential Security Council. ...

Greeks embrace some new myths about life with the euro

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ATHENS (Reuters) - In a land of ancient myths, modern Greeks have created some of their own about their near-bankrupt country's future as an integral part of a Europe that will never kick them out. Solemn warnings from abroad that Athens cannot stay in the euro while rejecting the terms attached to the billions offered to pull Greece out of its financial hole are widely disbelieved in a land that considers itself the envy of foreigners. ...

Two dead in Beirut clashes after killing of anti-Assad cleric

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ALBIREH, Lebanon (Reuters) - Hundreds of Islamist gunmen fired in the air on Monday at the funeral of a Sunni Muslim cleric whose killing ignited street battles and brought the bloodshed from Syria's 14-month-old uprising spilling across the border into Lebanon. Sheikh Ahmed Abdul Wahid, an opponent of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, was buried in northern Lebanon a day after he was shot dead at a Lebanese army checkpoint in a part of that country where Sunni sympathy for Syria's rebels and the uprising against Assad is particularly strong. ...

Bulgarian capital shaken by 5.6 magnitude quake

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SOFIA (Reuters) - A 5.6 magnitude earthquake shook Bulgaria's capital Sofia early on Tuesday, causing residents to rush into the streets, the civil defense office said. The quake, which occurred at 3 a.m. local time, shook apartment buildings and rattled windows but caused no casualties or damage, Nikolay Nikolov, an official from the office was quoted as saying by the national radio, citing initial reports. The U.S. Geological Survey said the temblor was centered about 14 miles west of Sofia and occurred at a relatively shallow depth of 5.8 miles. USGS initially reported the magnitude as 5.8. ...

Hollande's euro arguments "nonsense": Austria's Fekter

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VIENNA (Reuters) - Austrian Finance Minister Maria Fekter dismissed as "nonsense" French President Francois Hollande's approach to resolving the euro zone debt crisis and insisted, in a newspaper interview, on financial discipline. "Growth financed by debt? Those are the recipes from the day before yesterday. The arguments that France's new president Francois Hollande is putting forward again are nonsense and got us into this whole mess in the first place," the Oberoesterreichische Nachrichten paper quoted her as saying. ...

Facing edgy vote, Egypt army hikes diesel imports

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LONDON (Reuters) - Egypt's military rulers plan to spend close to $1 billion on diesel this summer, a spike in imports as they brace for a first free presidential election triggered by last year's uprising with a wary eye on renewed civil unrest. Fuel shortages have already caused public anger this year and slowed the grain harvest. And with creditors pressing for Egypt's new leaders to risk a popular backlash by cutting back on longstanding fuel subsidies, the generals may also be anxious to ensure supplies for the army's own trucks and tanks. ...

New Zealand to ban foreign-flagged fishing boats

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WELLINGTON (Reuters) - New Zealand is to ban the use of foreign-flagged fishing boats in its waters to improve working conditions for crews and monitoring of catches, the government said on Tuesday. New Zealand has the fifth-largest exclusive economic zone in the world, extending from 12 to 200 nautical miles offshore, and the fishing industry relies heavily on foreign vessels. The zone produced NZ$1.5 billion ($1.1 billion) in exports last year. ...

Ruling party candidate claims win in Dominican vote

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SANTO DOMINGO (Reuters) - Ruling party candidate Danilo Medina claimed victory on Monday in the Dominican Republic's hotly disputed presidential election, avenging his defeat 12 years ago by opposition candidate Hipolito Mejia. With the official count in Sunday's voting 99 percent complete, Medina and the ruling Dominican Liberation Party (PLD) held a 4 percentage point lead over Mejia, the candidate for the Dominican Revolutionary Party (PRD), according to official results. ...

No sign of breakthrough in U.N. nuclear chief's Tehran talks

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VIENNA/DUBAI (Reuters) - The U.N. nuclear watchdog chief held talks in Tehran on Monday ahead of a meeting between major powers and Iranian officials this week, but there was no immediate sign of a breakthrough in the tense confrontation over Iran's nuclear programme. Yukiya Amano paid a rare visit to Tehran after voicing hope of its agreement to cooperate with an investigation by his International Atomic Energy Agency into what Western states suspect are Iran's efforts to develop atomic bomb capability. ...

Obama sketches four-pronged strategy for Europe, sees EU consensus

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CHICAGO (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama urged Europe on Monday to strengthen its defenses against financial market turmoil and recapitalize its banks as part of a four-pronged strategy for tackling the euro zone crisis. European leaders have shown an increased resolve to address these issues, and there is a "consensus across the board" from France, Germany and other European countries, Obama said in remarks that suggest Europe is considering broadening its approach to resolving the euro zone's sovereign debt crisis. ...

96 Yemeni soldiers killed in suicide bombing

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A Yemeni soldier detonated a bomb hidden in his military uniform during a rehearsal for a military parade, killing 96 fellow soldiers and wounding at least 200 on Monday in one of the deadliest attacks in the capital in years.

Ex-detainee: Syrian prisons are 'slaughterhouses'

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A prominent Palestinian writer who was jailed in Syria for nearly three weeks described the facilities as "human slaughterhouses," saying security agents beat detainees with batons, crammed them into stinking cells and tied them to beds at night.

Indian passenger train rams freight train; 15 die

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A passenger train rammed into a freight train before dawn Tuesday in southern India, killing at least 15 people in the collision and fire, officials said.

Study: Fake malaria drugs common in Asia, Africa

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More than a third of the malaria-fighting drugs tested over the past decade in Southeast Asia and sub-Saharan Africa were either fake or bad quality, seriously undermining efforts to combat the disease, a study said Tuesday.

Myanmar explains power cuts to calm rare protests

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Myanmar's government made an uncharacteristic plea for understanding Tuesday after chronic power cuts set off rare protests in the Southeast Asian country that is easing toward democracy after decades of military rule.

Everest weekend death toll reaches 4

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Climbers have reported seeing another body on Mount Everest, raising the death toll to four for one of the worst days ever on the world's highest mountain.

Legion No. 1 admits he knew of priest's kid in '05

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The head of the embattled Legion of Christ religious order admitted Tuesday to covering up news that his most prominent priest had fathered a child and announced a review of all past allegations of sexual abuse against Legion priests amid a growing scandal at the order.

Malaysian opposition's Anwar charged over protest

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Prosecutors charged Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim and two of his allies Tuesday with breaking various laws during a massive street rally to demand electoral fairness.