Friday, August 3, 2012

Frustrated Annan quits as Syria peace envoy

Frustrated Annan quits as Syria peace envoy

Frustrated Annan quits as Syria peace envoy

Posted: 02 Aug 2012 06:59 PM PDT

U.N.-Arab League mediator Annan addresses a news conference at the United Nations in GenevaUNITED NATIONS/ALEPPO, Syria (Reuters) - Former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan is quitting as international peace envoy for Syria, frustrated by "finger-pointing" at the United Nations while the armed rebellion against President Bashar al-Assad becomes increasingly bloody. As battles raged on Thursday in Syria's second city, Aleppo, between rebel fighters and government forces using war planes and artillery, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced in New York that Annan had said he would go at the end of the month. ...

North Korea's Kim tells China, economy a priority

Posted: 02 Aug 2012 11:32 PM PDT

North Korean leader Kim and his wife Ri attend opening ceremony of Rungna People's Pleasure Ground in PyongyangBEIJING/SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea's new young leader has told chief backer China that his priority is to develop the decaying economy and improve living standards in one of the world's poorest states, the latest sign that he may be planning economic reforms. Kim Jong-un, who took over the family dictatorship last December, has presented a sharply contrasting image to his austere father. He was shown most recently in public at a Pyongyang theme park with his young wife on his arm and riding a roller coaster in the company of a man reported to be a British diplomat. ...

Buenos Aires province devises its own Falklands ship ban

Posted: 02 Aug 2012 03:48 PM PDT

To match BRITAIN-ARGENTINA/FALKLANDSBUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Lawmakers in Buenos Aires province passed a bill on Thursday to prohibit ships involved in business activities off the disputed Falkland Islands from mooring at its ports, part of Argentina's drive to discourage oil exploration in the area. Argentina had already banned ships flying the Falklands flag from stopping at the country's ports. The regional Mercosur trade group backed the move. President Cristina Fernandez has launched a wide-ranging diplomatic offensive to assert Argentina's claims to the British-ruled islands 30 years after the Falklands war. ...

Yemen tribesmen release Italian officer: official

Posted: 02 Aug 2012 02:52 PM PDT

Police troopers guard outside the Italian embassy in SanaaSANAA (Reuters) - An Italian embassy security officer kidnapped by Yemeni tribesmen has been released unharmed, a government official said on Thursday, the same day the country's information minister survived an assassination attempt. The incidents highlight continuing instability in Yemen five months after former leader Ali Abdullah Saleh was formally replaced by his deputy under a plan designed to forestall a slide into lawlessness. ...

Papua New Guinea's O'Neill endorsed as prime minister

Posted: 02 Aug 2012 11:11 PM PDT

PORT MORESBY (Reuters) - Papua New Guinea's parliament endorsed incumbent Peter O'Neill as prime minister after long-running national elections on Friday, ending a prolonged period of political uncertainty in the Pacific island country. O'Neill won with support from an overwhelming 94 of the nation's 111 members of parliament after last week joining forces with political rival Michael Somare, ending a feud that left the country with two prime ministers for much of 2011. ...

Iran, EU agree to talk again on nuclear dispute

Posted: 02 Aug 2012 01:51 PM PDT

General view of Bushehr nuclear power plant, 1,200 km south of TehranBRUSSELS (Reuters) - Chief negotiators for the EU and Iran agreed on Thursday to hold more talks about Tehran's nuclear work, but the European Union gave no sign progress was imminent in the decade-long dispute. Six world powers, represented by EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, have sought to persuade Iran to scale back its nuclear program through intensifying economic sanctions and diplomacy. They have failed to reach a breakthrough in three rounds of talks since April. ...

Progress and tradition collide in Poland's green oases

Posted: 02 Aug 2012 09:01 PM PDT

WARSAW (Reuters) - Krystyna Pakulska walks down a dirt track lined with silver birch trees and stops for a moment to breathe in the air. "Look at the beauty around you, the flowers and the trees," says the 59-year old, a retired employee of Polish state television. "Why destroy this beautiful land?" This is an allotment garden, one of dozens carved out of the Polish capital by the country's previous rulers so that workers could relax in their spare time by tending flowers and shrubs on their personal plots. ...

Clinton takes message of reconciliation to South Sudan

Posted: 02 Aug 2012 12:00 PM PDT

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaks at the University of Dakar in DakarKAMPALA (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will press South Sudan to resolve disputes with its former rulers in the north, on her first visit to the world's newest country on Friday. On an 11-nation African tour, Clinton will be the most senior U.S. since independence last year, warning that bitter divisions over territory and oil threaten to wreck the economies of two nations. "We're encouraging both sides, South Sudan and Sudan, to meet and negotiate the differences between them as expeditiously as possible," a senior U.S. ...

Brazil Supreme Court trial could tarnish Lula's legacy

Posted: 02 Aug 2012 02:41 PM PDT

A general view shows a session of the "mensalao" trial at the Supreme Court in BrasiliaRIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - Seven years after a corruption scandal rattled the government of former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Brazil's Supreme Court on Thursday began a landmark trial that could mar the wildly popular leader's legacy. Brazilians still don't know the extent of the infamous "mensalão" scandal, an alleged scheme to pay legislators a monthly retainer in exchange for their support in Congress. ...

Iranian hostages may be freed Friday: Libyan Red Crescent

Posted: 02 Aug 2012 07:42 PM PDT

BENGHAZI, LIBYA (Reuters) - Seven Iranian relief workers may be freed later on Friday by an armed group that took them hostage on Tuesday in the heart of the Libyan city Benghazi, a Libyan Red Crescent Association official said. "We are waiting for their release which can happen any moment now," Abdelhamid el-Madani, who heads the Libyan relief organization's local branch in Benghazi, told Reuters by telephone. He declined to elaborate. The seven Iranian men arrived in Benghazi on Monday as official guests of the Libyan Red Crescent to help with relief work in the city. ...

UN General Assembly to denounce Syrian crackdown

Posted: 02 Aug 2012 10:13 PM PDT

FILE - This June 3, 2012 file photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syrian President Bashar Assad delivers a speech at the parliament in Damascus, Syria. Arab countries on Wednesday, Aug. 1, 2012 pushed ahead with a symbolic U.N. General Assembly resolution that tells Assad to resign and turn over power to a transitional government. It also demands that the Syrian army stop its shelling and helicopter attacks and withdraw to its barracks. A vote is set for Friday morning. (AP Photo/SANA, File)With the U.N. Security Council deadlocked over the Syrian crisis, the General Assembly prepared Friday to denounce Syria for unleashing tanks, artillery, helicopters and warplanes on the people of Aleppo and Damascus, and demand that the Assad regime keep its chemical and biological weapons warehoused and under strict control.

European bank willing to buy bonds to save euro

Posted: 02 Aug 2012 03:21 PM PDT

President of European Central Bank Mario Draghi addresses the media during a news conference in Frankfurt, Germany, Thursday, Aug. 2, 2012, following a meeting of the ECB governing council concerning the further strategies in the European financial crisis. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)The European Central Bank is preparing to unleash its financial might and buy government bonds to help drive down borrowing costs in debt-ridden countries like Spain and Italy, caught in the grip of what president Mario Draghi called a "worsening crisis."

Syrian rebels accused of executions, other abuses

Posted: 02 Aug 2012 01:06 PM PDT

This image made from amateur video released by Tabshoor1 and accessed Tuesday, July 31, 2012, purports to show Free Syrian Army soldiers moments before executing Assad loyalists in Aleppo, Syria. A gruesome video apparently showing rebels gunning down Assad loyalists in Aleppo this week has fueled concerns that opposition fighters in Syria are capable of brutality that matches that of the regime they are fighting to topple. (AP Photo/Tabshoor1 via AP video) THE ASSOCIATED PRESS IS UNABLE TO INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE AUTHENTICITY, CONTENT, LOCATION OR DATE OF THIS HANDOUT PHOTOThe unsteady, hand-held video shows several bloodied prisoners, one in boxer shorts, being led into a noisy outdoor crowd and placed against a wall. The prisoners crouch and seem to avert their eyes as men carrying assault rifles shout slogans and take aim. The gunfire lasts for more than 30 seconds.

EYES ON LONDON: Gabby's gold, Phelps claims 20th

Posted: 02 Aug 2012 03:00 PM PDT

ALTERNATE CROP OF OGYM222- U.S. gymnast Gabrielle Douglas acknowledges the crowd after receiving her gold medal during the artistic gymnastics women's individual all-around competition at the 2012 Summer Olympics, Thursday, Aug. 2, 2012, in London. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)Around the 2012 Olympics and its host city with journalists from The Associated Press bringing the flavor and details of the games to you:

Afghans fear what will happen when troops leave

Posted: 02 Aug 2012 12:14 PM PDT

In this Monday, July 30, 2012 photo Regwida Neayish 19, right, surfs the Internet with a friend at the Sahar Gul Internet cafe in Kabul, Afghanistan. Donor nations have pledged to keep bankrolling the Afghan security forces and send more development money, but none of this has done much to raise the hopes of many Afghans who remain in deep despair about the future of their nation after international troops leave. (AP Photo/Musadeq Sadeq)Asadullah Ramin has lost all hope in his homeland — he's so worried about what will happen when U.S. and international troops leave that he's ready to pay a smuggler to whisk his family out of Afghanistan.

New Egypt government puts Brotherhood in key posts

Posted: 02 Aug 2012 03:07 PM PDT

Cars burn after riots broke out in front of a luxury hotel in central Cairo., Egypt, Thursday, Aug. 2, 2012. A security official said one person was killed when Egyptian police opened fire on a mob trying to storm a Nile-side luxury hotel in central Cairo. The official said the crowd of around 500 people smashed the hotel's lobby and set ablaze 10 cars and dozens of motorcycles outside the building, located in a skyscraper housing a glitzy shopping mall and offices. (AP Photo)Egypt's Islamist president swore in his first new government Thursday, led by a devout Muslim and including five members of his Muslim Brotherhood in unglamorous but ideal ministries for a group whose long-term aim is to Islamize the most populous Arab nation.

US-bound Cubans pour into Panama through Colombia

Posted: 02 Aug 2012 07:05 PM PDT

In this July 3, 2012 photo, Cuban migrant Mayra Reyes, sitting fourth from right, gathers with other Cubans with whom she traveled as they rest at a shelter along with another group of migrants from Bangladesh, after being found by Panamanian border police in the Darien province in Meteti, Panama. Panamanian authorities began noticing five years ago that the Darien Gap, the only interruption in the Pan-American Highway, was being used by migrant smugglers, usually to move people from Asia and Africa. Panama's Public Safety Minister Jose Murillo says that the movement of people from Asia and Africa has tapered off but that hundreds of Cubans are now taking the arduous Darien Gap route toward the United States. (AP Photo/Arnulfo Franco)Led by smugglers armed with knives and machetes, Mayra Reyes and 14 other Cubans sloshed through swamps and rivers and suffered hordes of mosquitoes as they struggled across the notorious Darien Gap between Panama and Colombia, the only north-south stretch of the Americas to defy road-builders.

Lima, Peru, park is the cat's meow for felines

Posted: 02 Aug 2012 10:52 AM PDT

It's the cat's meow, a corner of the central park of Lima's upscale seaside Miraflores district.

Egypt asks US to release Egyptian held in Gitmo

Posted: 02 Aug 2012 01:08 PM PDT

Egypt has asked the United States to release the last Egyptian incarcerated at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo, Cuba, where he has been held since 2001.

Syrian forces unleash operations near Damascus

Posted: 02 Aug 2012 02:47 AM PDT

In this Tuesday, July 31, 2012 photo, a Free Syrian Army soldier stands at a check point in Maarat Misrin in Idlib province, Syria. Arabic on the barriers read, "no God but Allah," background, and "Free Syrian Army," foreground. (AP Photo)Syrian rebels on Thursday bombarded a military air base in Aleppo using a tank captured from government troops as activists reported that the regime has unleashed new raids against opposition fighters near the capital Damascus, killing dozens.

Chile bans marketing of toys in children's food

Posted: 01 Aug 2012 03:44 PM PDT

FILE - This Nov. 8, 2010 file photo shows a Happy Meal at a McDonald's restaurant in San Francisco, Ca. McDonald's, Burger King, Kentucky Fried Chicken and other fast-food companies are being sued in Chile for violating the country's new law against including toys with children's meals. The law took effect in July 2012 and its author, Sen. Guido Gerardi, filed suit Wednesday, Aug. 1, 2012, accusing the companies of knowingly endangering the health of children by marketing kids' meals with toys. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg, File)McDonald's, Burger King, KFC and other fast-food companies are being accused in Chile of violating the country's new law against including toys with children's meals.
Posted by Harshad at 1:07 AM

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)