Monday, May 28, 2012

U.N. Security Council condemns Syria over massacre

U.N. Security Council condemns Syria over massacre

U.N. Security Council condemns Syria over massacre

Posted: 27 May 2012 09:53 PM PDT

People gather at a mass burial for the victims purportedly killed during an artillery barrage from Syrian forces in HoulaAMMAN/UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council on Sunday unanimously condemned the killing of at least 108 people, including many children, in the Syrian town of Houla, a sign of mounting outrage at the massacre that the government and rebels blamed on each other. Images of bloodied and lifeless young bodies, laid carefully side by side after the onslaught on Friday, triggered shock around the world and underlined the failure of a six-week-old U.N. ceasefire plan to stop the violence. ...

Strong quake strikes northern Argentina: USGS

Posted: 27 May 2012 11:02 PM PDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck northern Argentina early on Monday, the U.S. Geological Survey said. The quake occurred at 2:07 a.m. local time (1.07 a.m. EDT) and was centered 72 miles east-southeast of Santiago del Estero, the USGS said. Police in the town said there were no immediate reports of injuries or damage from the quake, which was upgraded from an initial 6.3. (Reporting by Hugh Bronstein; Editing by John Stonestreet)

Egypt to announce presidential poll result on Monday

Posted: 28 May 2012 12:21 AM PDT

Deputy head of the Muslim Brotherhood El-Erian talks during a news conference in CairoCAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's election committee will announce on Monday first round results of the presidential poll, an official said, after unofficial counts showed it would go to a run-off between the Muslim Brotherhood's candidate and the last prime minister of Hosni Mubarak. Four candidates have complained about the voting, including Hamdeen Sabahy, the leftist candidate shown in third place. If no candidate wins more than 50 percent of the vote, a run-off is held between the top two. ...

Greek pro-bailout conservatives regain lead: polls

Posted: 27 May 2012 11:56 PM PDT

Conservative New Democracy party leader Antonis Samaras arrives at the presidential palace in AthensATHENS (Reuters) - Greece's conservatives have regained an opinion poll lead that would allow the formation of a pro-bailout government committed to keeping the country in the euro zone, a batch of new surveys showed on Saturday. Greece was forced to call repeat elections for June 17 after a May 6 vote left parliament divided evenly between groups of parties that support and oppose the austerity conditions attached to a 130 billion euro bailout agreed with the European Union and International Monetary Fund in March. ...

African Union troops secure Somali aid corridor

Posted: 28 May 2012 12:43 AM PDT

Somali government soldiers patrol the streets in Lafole village, near Afgoye district in MogadishuMOGADISHU (Reuters) - African Union and Somali government troops secured an aid corridor between Mogadishu and a former rebel stronghold close to the capital, the AU said, wresting control of a strip of land believed to hold around 400,000 people displaced by conflict. The African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) and Somali forces seized the town of Afgoye from the al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab insurgents on Friday. ...

Another ousted China party chief challenges case against him

Posted: 27 May 2012 09:58 PM PDT

AN OFFICE WORKER SHOWS BOOKS ABOUT CHEN XITONG IN BEIJING.BEIJING (Reuters) - The former Communist Party chief of Beijing who was at the heart of one of China's biggest political scandals before this year's upheaval over Bo Xilai has challenged charges that brought him prison and disgrace in a book likely to stir controversy. Chen Xitong was dismissed as Communist Party secretary of Beijing in 1995 and later jailed on corruption charges, which many observers at the time saw as resulting from a power struggle pitting him against then President Jiang Zemin. ...

Allies quit government as Nepal crisis deepens

Posted: 27 May 2012 11:57 PM PDT

Nepalese PM Baburam Bhattarai addresses the nation from his official residence to declare fresh elections for November 22, 2012 for the Himalayan republic after political parties failed to finalize the new constitution, in KathmanduKATHMANDU (Reuters) - Three parties quit Nepal's Maoist-led government on Monday as the Himalayan republic slipped deeper into crisis after the prime minister called elections following the failure to agree on a new constitution aimed at ending years of instability. Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai has called for Nov 22 elections to resolve the constitutional impasse, sparking a backlash from politicians and Nepalis who have seen the country lurch from one crisis to the next after a civil war ended in 2006. ...

Britain's Blair faces grilling over ties to Murdoch

Posted: 27 May 2012 07:35 PM PDT

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair speaks during an interview with Reuters in LondonLONDON (Reuters) - Tony Blair's decision to openly court Rupert Murdoch to win power and ensure favorable coverage during his decade-long tenure as British prime minister will come under scrutiny when he faces a media inquiry on Monday. The inquiry, ordered by Prime Minister David Cameron after Murdoch's now defunct News of the World tabloid admitted hacking phones, has tarnished Britain's elite by laying bare the collusion between politicians, the police and the media. ...

Vatican faces widening of leaks scandal

Posted: 27 May 2012 11:25 AM PDT

File photo of Pope's butler, Paolo Gabriele with Pope Benedict XVI at St. Peter's Square in VaticanVATICAN CITY (Reuters) - The Vatican faces a widening scandal that in one short week has seen Pope Benedict's butler arrested, the president of its bank unceremoniously dismissed and the publication of a new book alleging conspiracies among cardinals. It was a poisonous Pentecost Sunday for the pope, who likely had the tumultuous events of the past week on his mind as he celebrated a mass in St Peter's Basilica on the day regarded as the birthday of the Church. ...

Syria denies Houla killings, UN condemns attack

Posted: 27 May 2012 04:58 PM PDT

This citizen journalism image provided by Shaam News Network taken Saturday, May 26, 2012, purports to show shrouded dead bodies following a Syrian government assault on Houla, Syria. The Syrian government denied Sunday its troops were behind an attack on a string of villages that left more than 90 people dead, blaming the killings on "hundreds of heavily-armed gunmen" who also attacked soldiers in the area. Friday's assault on Houla, an area northwest of the central city of Homs, was one of the bloodiest single events in Syria's 15-month-old uprising. The U.N. says 32 children under 10 were among the dead. (AP Photo) THE ASSOCIATED PRESS IS UNABLE TO INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE AUTHENTICITY, CONTENT, LOCATION OR DATE OF THIS CITIZEN JOURNALISM IMAGESyria on Sunday strongly denied allegations that its forces killed scores of people — including women and children — in one of the deadliest days of the country's uprising, but the U.N. Security Council after an emergency session condemned government forces for shelling residential areas.

2 Tibetans set selves on fire outside Lhasa temple

Posted: 28 May 2012 12:51 AM PDT

Two men engulfed themselves in towering flames outside a temple that is a popular tourist site in Lhasa, marking the first time a recent wave of self-immolations to protest Chinese rule has reached the tightly guarded Tibetan capital.

Father of slain Tiananmen protester kills himself

Posted: 27 May 2012 10:19 PM PDT

The father of a man killed in the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown has hanged himself in protest after two decades of failed attempts to seek government redress, a support group said Monday.

Egypt candidates file appeals, charge vote fraud

Posted: 27 May 2012 12:30 PM PDT

COMBO - This combination of two photos shows Egyptian presidential candidates, from left, Ahmed Shafiq, and Mohammed Morsi. Shafiq and Morsi were the top vote-getters after a two-day election on Wednesday and Thursday which none of the 13 candidates could win outright. Now, both must appeal to the roughly 50 percent of voters who cast ballots for someone else. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra; Nasser Nasser)Three top candidates in Egypt's presidential race filed appeals to the election commission ahead of the deadline Sunday, alleging violations in the first round vote that they say could change the outcome.

NATO disputes report of casualties in airstrike

Posted: 27 May 2012 11:31 AM PDT

More than 1,500 Afghans block the highway between Kabul and Kandahar in Seed Abad, Wardak province, Afghanistan, Saturday, May 26, 2012. The protesters demanded a stop to military night operations. (AP Photo/Rahmatullah Nikzad)The U.S.-led coalition on Sunday disputed reports that eight civilians, including children, were killed in a NATO airstrike in a remote part of eastern Afghanistan.

Watching dissidents is a booming business in China

Posted: 27 May 2012 08:04 AM PDT

FILE - In this Sept. 9, 2010 file photo, unidentified men block a journalist's vehicle from entering Dongshigu Village where blind activist Chen Guangcheng was locked down, in eastern China's Shandong province. While China has long been a police state, controls on these non-offenders mark a new expansion of police resources at a time the authoritarian leadership is consumed with keeping its hold over a fast-changing society. (AP Photo/Andy Wong, File)Every workday at 7:20 a.m., colleagues pick up Yao Lifa from his second-floor apartment and drive him to the elementary school where he taught for years.

Millions in global aid for Iraq sits unspent

Posted: 27 May 2012 10:24 PM PDT

In this photo taken on Wednesday, April 25, 2012, a student passes by an abandoned school foundation, unfinished since 2006, in central Basra, 340 miles (550 kilometers) southeast of Baghdad, Iraq. Millions of dollars in international aid to build and repair Iraq's dilapidated schools have for years gone unspent. Now, Iraq's government risks losing the funding as the World Bank weighs whether some of it would be better used in some of the poorest nations around the globe. (AP Photo/Nabil al-Jurani)Outside the crumbling elementary school, goats feed on trash strewn across the front yard. Inside, the ceiling is rotting, toilets don't work and students scrunch hip-to-hip behind narrow desks.

Quebec students, government to resume negotiations

Posted: 27 May 2012 07:28 PM PDT

Quebec students and the provincial government return to the bargaining table on Monday in a high-stakes attempt to put an end to a months-long dispute over tuition hikes that has led to clashes with police and mass arrests.

US slammed from both sides of Bahrain's divide

Posted: 27 May 2012 10:13 AM PDT

In this photo taken May 18, 2012, Bahraini anti-government protesters participating in mass march along a northern highway outside Manama, Bahrain, carry a sign reading in Arabic, "Death to America, the enemy of the nations and the creator of wars. Death to America." During one of the nightly clashes with Bahrain's security forces, a new chant broke out among opposition protesters: "The U.S. is the big devil." A few days later, pro-government marchers also waved their fists against Washington. Both sides in the Bahrain meltdown are finding a shared target in the United States. (AP Photo/Hasan Jamali)During one of the nightly clashes with Bahrain's security forces, a new chant broke out among opposition protesters: "The U.S. is the great Satan." A few days later, pro-government marchers also waved their fists against Washington.

Haneke's 'Amour' wins top prize at Cannes

Posted: 27 May 2012 02:04 PM PDT

Director Michael Haneke arrives for the awards ceremony at the 65th international film festival, in Cannes, southern France, Sunday, May 27, 2012. (AP Photo/Joel Ryan)The Cannes Film Festival rewarded one of its favorite directors Sunday, as Michael Haneke won the top prize for a second time with his stark film about love and death, "Amour."
Posted by Harshad at 1:24 AM

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