Friday, September 28, 2012

France's Hollande stakes credibility on 2013 budget

France's Hollande stakes credibility on 2013 budget

France's Hollande stakes credibility on 2013 budget

Posted: 27 Sep 2012 11:39 PM PDT

France's President Hollande speaks during a news conference after his speech at the 67th UN General Assembly in New YorkPARIS (Reuters) - President Francois Hollande puts his fiscal credibility on the line on Friday when he delivers France's toughest budget in 30 years in the face of a stagnant economy, record unemployment and plunging poll ratings. The Socialist leader's first annual budget, to be presented to the cabinet mid-morning, must make 30 billion euros ($39 billion) in savings to keep deficit-cutting pledges made as part of efforts in the euro zone to ease its sovereign debt crisis. ...

Netanyahu draws "red line" on Iran's nuclear program

Posted: 27 Sep 2012 08:31 PM PDT

Prime Minister of Israel Netanyahu draws red line on graphic of bomb as he addresses 67th United Nations General Assembly in New YorkUNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu drew a "red line" for Iran's nuclear program on Thursday despite a U.S. refusal to set an ultimatum, saying Tehran will be on the brink of developing a nuclear weapon in less than a year. By citing a time frame in an address to the U.N. General Assembly, Netanyahu - who has clashed with President Barack Obama over the urgency of military action against Iran - appeared to suggest no Israeli attack was imminent before the November 6 U.S. presidential election. ...

British, Chinese among 19 dead in Nepal plane crash

Posted: 28 Sep 2012 12:36 AM PDT

Rescue team members douse a plane after it crashed in KathmanduKATHMANDU (Reuters) - A small plane struck a bird and crashed shortly after takeoff from the Nepali capital of Kathmandu on Friday, killing 19 people, including seven British and five Chinese passengers, officials said. The crash of the propeller-driven Dornier aircraft was the sixth fatal air accident in less than two years in Nepal, where more than a dozen small private carriers often brave bad weather to fly to mountain areas served by no proper road network. Tourism officials said the latest accident could deter foreign tourists from embarking on treks in Nepal. ...

Kenya says Somali rebel city falls; fighting near beach

Posted: 27 Sep 2012 11:21 PM PDT

NAIROBI/MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Kenyan and Somali government troops captured Somalia's southern port of Kismayu, the al Shabaab militant group's last major bastion, the Kenyan military said on Friday, but residents said there was fighting just outside the city. "(A report that) Kismayu fell today to KDF (Kenyan Defense Forces) and TFG (Somali government troops) forces is indeed very true," military spokesman Cyrus Oguna told Kenya's Citizen television. ...

German SPD's ex-finance minister Steinbrueck to challenge Merkel: paper

Posted: 28 Sep 2012 12:29 AM PDT

Steinbrueck of the opposition Social Democratic Party speaks during a news conference outlining his vision for regulating the banking sector in BerlinBERLIN (Reuters) - Germany's main opposition Social Democrats (SPD) will nominate former finance minister Peer Steinbrueck as their candidate to challenge Chancellor Angela Merkel in next year's national election, Bild newspaper reported on Friday. Bild, citing SPD sources, said the party's chairman Sigmar Gabriel would make the announcement on Monday. The paper said on its website that former foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier had pulled out of the contest. (Reporting by Berlin bureau)

U.S. call for "cool heads" in China-Japan island dispute goes unheeded

Posted: 28 Sep 2012 12:54 AM PDT

U.S. Secretary of State Clinton speaks during Security Council meeting in New YorkNEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged China and Japan on Thursday to let "cool heads" prevail in a festering dispute over a cluster of East China Sea islands, but hours later Chinese and Japanese diplomats traded barbs at the United Nations. Clinton met Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi on the sidelines of this week's U.N. General Assembly meeting in New York and said it was important to ratchet down the quarrel over the islands that has soured ties between Asia's two largest economies, a senior State Department official said. ...

Indonesia's Aceh revokes palm permit after legal challenge

Posted: 27 Sep 2012 11:18 PM PDT

A excavator clears a ditch on a road owned by a disputed palm oil plantation firm near Sebangau KualaJAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia's Aceh province has revoked a controversial permit issued to a palm oil firm accused of breaching a ban on forest clearing, a spokesman said on Friday, in a rare climbdown following a legal challenge by environmental groups. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has set a goal of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by saving Indonesia's dwindling tropical rainforests, the world's third-largest, a pledge that won the promise of $1 billion from Norway should he succeed. ...

Two-hour power blackout halts Azeri capital

Posted: 28 Sep 2012 12:31 AM PDT

BAKU (Reuters) - Lightning caused a fire at a power station in Azerbaijan on Friday, blacking out the capital Baku and other parts of the ex-Soviet republic and halting oil refineries, officials said. Outages left Baku without power for two hours and delayed the opening of the Caspian Sea coast city's subway system, prompting commuters to pack buses in a chaotic rush hour. Production at offshore oil wells was not affected because they have their own power sources but refineries stopped operations for two hours, a spokesman for state oil company SOCAR said. ...

U.S. temporarily reduces staff in Libyan embassy

Posted: 27 Sep 2012 03:24 PM PDT

An exterior view of the U.S. consulate, which was attacked and set on fire by gunmen yesterday, in BenghaziNEW YORK (Reuters) - The United States is temporarily withdrawing more staff from its embassy in Libya's capital for security reasons, but hopes to send them back early next week, the State Department said on Thursday. "This is a temporary further drawdown of staff for security reasons. We will review our posture again early next week with the goal of restoring staff as soon as conditions allow," a State Department official said in New York, where Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is attending the U.N. General Assembly. U.S. ...

Syria rebels say launch "decisive battle" in Aleppo

Posted: 27 Sep 2012 01:30 PM PDT

A member of the Free Syrian Army carries his wounded comrade during clashes in AleppoBEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian rebels said they had launched a major attack in Aleppo on Thursday at the start of a "decisive battle" to push President Bashar al-Assad's forces out of the country's biggest city. Heavy fighting was reported in around 14 districts by opposition activists and several rebel brigades, though the scale of the fighting could not be confirmed independently. A video posted on YouTube by rebels showed Abdulqadir al-Saleh, the head of the biggest rebel force in Aleppo, the Tawheed Brigade, carrying a walkie talkie and announcing the start of the assault. ...

Egypt tourism takes a hit from prophet protests

Posted: 28 Sep 2012 12:49 AM PDT

In this Thursday, Sept. 27, 2012 photo, in this photo taken on Wednesday, Sept, 26, 2012, An Egyptian man rides a motorbike passes a historical mosques in Khan Al-Khalili area in Cairo, Egypt. The Egyptian demonstrations against an online film that was produced by a U.S. citizen originally from Egypt and denigrates the Prophet Muhammad were part of a wider explosion of anger in Muslim countries. They happened near the U.S. Embassy, far from the pyramids of Giza on Cairo's outskirts, and a lot further from gated Red Sea resorts, cocoons for the beach-bound vacationer. Yet the online or TV images _ flames, barricades, whooping demonstrators _ are a killjoy for anyone planning a getaway, even though the protests have largely subsided. Tour guides in Egypt say tourist bookings are mostly holding, but they worry about a dropoff early next year, since people tend to plan several months ahead.(AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)One of the world's largest cruise ships, its foreign passengers primed for onshore spending, was supposed to dock in Egypt this month. The port call, however, was scrapped because of security concerns surrounding Mideast protests against a film made in the U.S. that denounces Islam's holiest figure.

Kenya attacks last stronghold of Somali militants

Posted: 28 Sep 2012 12:45 AM PDT

FILE - In this Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2011 file photo, two Kenyan army soldiers shield themselves from the downdraft of a Kenyan air force helicopter as it flies away from their base near the seaside town of Bur Garbo, Somalia. Kenya's military said Friday, Sept. 28, 2012 that its troops attacked Kismayo, the last remaining port city held by al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab insurgents in Somalia, during an overnight attack involving a beach landing. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis, File)Kenyan military forces made a pre-dawn beach landing on the last port city held by al-Qaida-linked militants in Somalia in an attack that could see the insurgents lose their last stronghold of value.

Libyan leader says at least 10 militias disbanded

Posted: 27 Sep 2012 06:26 PM PDT

Libya's leader says his government has disbanded about 10 militia groups and will continue to take action against Muslim extremists.

SKorea: Japan must educate people on colonial past

Posted: 27 Sep 2012 06:16 PM PDT

In this photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi, left, meets with his South Korean counterpart Kim Sung-hwan at United Nations Headquarters Monday, Sept. 24, 2012, on the sidelines of the 67th session of the General Assembly. (AP Photo/Xinhua, Fang Zhe) NO SALESSouth Korea's foreign minister said Thursday that Japan's wartime past will overshadow relations between the two staunch U.S. allies until Japan educates its people about crimes committed during colonial rule.

World powers urge Syria opposition to unite

Posted: 27 Sep 2012 10:14 PM PDT

Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi addresses the 67th session of the United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters Thursday, Sept. 27, 2012. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)Western nations and allies in the Middle East meet Friday to urge Syria's fractured opposition to unite, seeking a new path for ending the country's conflict amid deadlock between major powers on the U.N. Security Council.

Plane going to Everest region crashes, killing 19

Posted: 27 Sep 2012 10:59 PM PDT

Nepalese police search through the debris at the crash site of a Sita Air airplane near Katmandu, Nepal, early Friday, Sept. 28, 2012. The plane carrying trekkers into the Everest region crashed just after takeoff Friday morning in Nepal's capital, killing all 19 people on board, authorities said. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha)A plane carrying trekkers to the Everest region crashed and burned just after takeoff Friday morning in Nepal's capital, killing the 19 Nepali, British and Chinese people on board, authorities said.

Rwanda and Congo at odds over M23 rebels in Congo

Posted: 27 Sep 2012 10:29 PM PDT

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon joined hands with the leaders of Rwanda and Congo at a high-level meeting aimed at ending the crisis in eastern Congo but the attempt at unity was short-lived. The two presidents remained deeply at odds over responsibility for the escalating violence.

Slovenia PM: No bailout needed

Posted: 27 Sep 2012 10:09 PM PDT

Slovenia's prime minister insisted that the Alpine nation does not need a bailout from the European Union, despite a crippling banking crisis that has unnerved investors and caused political gridlock.

Rowling launches novel to fanfare, mixed reviews

Posted: 27 Sep 2012 07:10 PM PDT

An employee adjusts copies of "The Casual Vacancy" by author J.K. Rowling at a book store in London, Thursday, Sept. 27, 2012. British bookshops are opening their doors early as Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling launches her long anticipated first book for adults. Publishers have tried to keep details of the book under wraps ahead of its launch Thursday, but "The Casual Vacancy" has gotten early buzz about references to sex and drugs that might be a tad mature for the youngest "Potter" fans. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)After months of hype and anticipation, J.K. Rowling's first novel for adults has appeared, swept into the arms of hopeful booksellers and an army of grown-up Harry Potter fans eager to find out what his creator has done next.

China party ready to make decisions on new leaders

Posted: 28 Sep 2012 12:42 AM PDT

China's tumultuous, bizarre year in politics appears headed for a home stretch, with leading members of the ruling Communist Party convening to finalize a list of new leaders and decide the fate of a disgraced colleague.
Posted by Harshad at 1:21 AM

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