Thursday, October 25, 2012

Fighting erupts near Damascus ahead of truce deadline

Fighting erupts near Damascus ahead of truce deadline

Fighting erupts near Damascus ahead of truce deadline

Posted: 25 Oct 2012 12:37 AM PDT

Smoke is seen as pro-government forces shell the outskirts of AtarebAMMAN (Reuters) - President Bashar al-Assad's forces fired heavy tank and rocket barrages at a Damascus suburb on Thursday, killing five people, opposition activists said, a day before a UN-brokered ceasefire is due to come into force. The fighting in Harasta, just northeast of Damascus, erupted after rebels overran two army roadblocks on the edge of the large town, which is on the main highway linking the capital to the country's north, they said. "Harasta is being pummeled by tanks and rocket launchers deployed in the highway. ...

Egypt brokers informal Israel/Gaza truce: Israeli official

Posted: 24 Oct 2012 11:28 PM PDT

Trails of smoke are seen after the launch of rockets from the northern Gaza strip towards IsraelJERUSALEM (Reuters) - Palestinian militants held fire overnight on Thursday and Israel refrained from air strikes as an informal truce brokered by Egypt appeared to take hold following two days of violence along the Israel-Gaza border. Palestinians had launched dozens of rockets into Israel over the preceding two days and Israel conducted a number of air raids on the coastal enclave, raising fears of a prolonged, bloody confrontation between the two sides. An Israeli military spokeswoman said the last known rocket was fired from Gaza on Wednesday at 8.00 p.m. (2 p.m. EDT). ...

Insight: Hungary's far-right party gains as it targets Roma

Posted: 24 Oct 2012 11:33 PM PDT

Supporters of the Hungarian far right Jobbik party march during a demonstration at the Avas apartment projects in MiskolcDEVECSER, Hungary (Reuters) - Decades of animosity between Hungarians and ethnic Roma in this small town in western Hungary had attracted little attention until the far-right Jobbik party saw an opportunity to score a few political points. A protest rally organized by the party, a little after a brawl between a Roma family and some local people, turned into a running street battle that has left the town thoroughly shaken but which Jobbik was able to exploit for its own ends. ...

Clinton: Facebook post about Benghazi attack not hard "evidence"

Posted: 24 Oct 2012 09:54 AM PDT

The U.S. Consulate in Benghazi is seen in flames during a protestWASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Wednesday a Facebook post in which an Islamic militant group claimed credit for a recent attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya did not constitute hard evidence of who was responsible. "Posting something on Facebook is not in and of itself evidence. I think it just underscores how fluid the reporting was at the time and continued for some time to be," Clinton said during an appearance with the Brazilian foreign minister at the State Department. ...

North Korea new leader still a mystery after nearly a year: Pentagon

Posted: 24 Oct 2012 04:17 PM PDT

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un visits the Thrice Three-Revolution Red Flag Kamnamu Company under the Korean People's Army Unit 4302WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Whether North Korea's new leader will follow the dangerous path of his father is unclear, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said on Wednesday, despite worrying behavior by the reclusive state during his first year in power. "The bottom line is we still don't know whether or not he will simply follow in the steps of his father or whether he represents a different kind of leadership for the future," Panetta said, flanked by South Korea's defense chief at a Pentagon news conference. ...

Disabled South Koreans protest "inhumane" benefits system

Posted: 25 Oct 2012 12:54 AM PDT

SEOUL (Reuters) - Wheelchair-bound Choi Jong-hun spends most Fridays in a makeshift tent encampment in one of Seoul's busy subway stations, eating instant noodles as commuters dodge and weave around him and a handful of fellow demonstrators. He's part of a protest that has lasted more than 60 days and aims to change South Korea's benefits system, which campaigners say humiliates disabled people by "grading" them according to their disability. ...

After decades behind bamboo curtain, Laos to join WTO

Posted: 24 Oct 2012 08:58 PM PDT

A banknote is left among flowers and candles on a sand stupa during "Pi Mai Lao," or Lao New Year celebrations in VientianeBANGKOK (Reuters) - Isolated for decades, impoverished and landlocked, Laos is not an obvious choice for investors. But the Communist country of 6.4 million people hopes to change that with its expected entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO) on Friday, capping years of steady reforms aimed at building a modern economy and tapping a Southeast Asian boom as global manufacturers hunt for lower-cost alternatives to China. "Laos now seems to be genuinely competitive, unlike before," said Hal Hill, a professor at Australian National University who specialises in Southeast Asian economies. ...

Sudan blames Israeli air strike hit for munitions plant blasts

Posted: 24 Oct 2012 02:02 PM PDT

Onlookers gather to looks at a huge fire that engulf the Yarmouk ammunition factory in KhartoumKHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan said on Wednesday that an Israeli air strike had caused the huge explosion and fire at an arms factory in Khartoum that killed two people, but Israel's defense minister declined to comment. Sudan, which analysts say is used as an arms-smuggling route to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip via neighboring Egypt, has blamed Israel for such strikes in the past, but Israel has either refused to comment or said it neither admitted or denied involvement. ...

African Union reinstates Mali ahead of military action

Posted: 24 Oct 2012 03:47 PM PDT

AU Chief Nkosazana talks to Lamamra, the AU Commissioner for Peace and Security before the peace and security council meeting on the situation of Sudan, South Sudan and Mali at African Union headquarters in Addis AbabaADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - The African Union (AU) lifted Mali's suspension from the bloc on Wednesday, saying an African plan to intervene militarily to help the country claw back territory from Islamist militants would be ready within weeks. The pan-African body also laid out a political road map which foresees elections in the beleaguered West African country by April even as it is still grappling with the fallout from a coup in March this year. ...

Syria government indicates accepts holiday truce: Russia

Posted: 24 Oct 2012 11:36 PM PDT

Residents inspect the damaged Bilal mosque in IdlibUNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has indicated to Russia that it will accept U.N.-Arab League peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi's proposal for a Muslim holiday ceasefire in Syria, Moscow's U.N. envoy said on Wednesday. "We have had indications that they (Syria's government) are accepting the proposal of Mr. Brahimi," Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told reporters after a closed-door meeting of the 15-nation Security Council during which Brahimi briefed council members via video link from Egypt. ...

Iraqi Shiites brace for violence amid Syria fears

Posted: 24 Oct 2012 11:58 PM PDT

FILE - This April 22, 2009, file photo shows Iraqi women at the al-Sayda Zeinab shrine in southern Damascus, Syria. Iraqi Shiites increasingly fear the Muslim sect and its holy sites could be targeted in Syria, and Iranian-linked militants loyal to the faction are girding for a new eruption of retaliatory sectarian fighting, according to Iraqi Shiite leaders and government officials. (AP Photo/Ola Rifai, File)Iraqi Shiites increasingly fear the Muslim sect and its holy sites could be targeted in neighboring Syria as the civil war there takes on increasingly sectarian overtones, and Iranian-backed militants are girding for violence in both countries, according to Shiite leaders and government officials.

Jerusalem's secular Israeli minority showing life

Posted: 25 Oct 2012 12:23 AM PDT

In this Oct. 12, 2012, photo an Ultra-orthodox Jewish man blows a trumpet to announce the starting of the Sabbath, Judaism's biblically-mandated day of rest, at the Mahane Yehuda market in Jerusalem. Though most Israelis are secular, Israel's founding fathers gave Judaism a formal place in the country's affairs and Ultra-Orthodox rabbis strictly govern Jewish practices such as weddings, divorces, and burials. The Ultra-Orthodox are also perennial kingmakers in Israeli coalition politics, though they make up only ten percent of the country's population. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)Hundreds of people packed a Jerusalem community center recently for what many in Jerusalem consider a subversive act: They attended a lecture on Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath.

Lull in fighting between Israel, Gaza militants

Posted: 24 Oct 2012 11:47 PM PDT

Smoke trails of rocket fired by Palestinian militants from Gaza Strip towards Israel, Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2012. Gaza militants pummeled southern Israel with dozens of rockets and mortars on Wednesday, and Israeli airstrikes killed two Palestinians in a sharp escalation of violence following a landmark visit to the coastal territory by the leader of Qatar. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)A flare-up in fighting between Israel and militants from Gaza's ruling Hamas movement has subsided.

AP Interview: Japan nuke plant water worries rise

Posted: 25 Oct 2012 12:07 AM PDT

FILE - This Saturday May 7, 2011 file image from video footage released by Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) shows spent fuel storage pool of the Unit 4 reactor building at the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant in Okuma town, Fukushima Prefecture, northeastern Japan. Japan's crippled nuclear power plant is struggling to find space to store tens of thousands of tons of highly contaminated water used to cool its broken reactors. Up to 200,000 tons of radioactive water - enough to fill more than 50 Olympic-sized swimming pools - are being stored in hundreds of gigantic tanks built around the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant. The amount is expected to more than triple within three years, mainly because ground water is leaking into damaged reactor buildings. (AP Photo/Tokyo Electric Power Co., File) EDITORIAL USE ONLYJapan's crippled nuclear power plant is struggling to find space to store tens of thousands of tons of highly contaminated water used to cool the broken reactors, the manager of the water treatment team said.

Hurricane Sandy makes landfall in Cuba

Posted: 25 Oct 2012 12:11 AM PDT

Waves, brought by Hurricane Sandy, crash on a house in the Caribbean Terrace neighborhood in eastern Kingston, Jamaica, Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2012. Hurricane Sandy pounded Jamaica with heavy rain as it headed for landfall near the country's most populous city on a track that would carry it across the Caribbean island to Cuba, and a possible threat to Florida. (AP Photo/Collin Reid)Hurricane Sandy made landfall Thursday just west of Santiago de Cuba in southern Cuba, where residents boarded over windows and cleared drainage gutters ahead of the strengthening storm that had roared across Jamaica and left two dead in the Caribbean.

Argentine ship's crew arrives home from Africa

Posted: 24 Oct 2012 10:36 PM PDT

Port workers walk past the three-masted ARA Libertad, a symbol of Argentina's navy, as it lies docked at the port in Tema, outside Accra, Ghana, Tuesday, Oct. 23, 2012. Argentina has hired an Air France charter to fly nearly 300 navy cadets home from Ghana after failing to persuade the government there to reverse the seizure of its tall ship. Argentina said Monday that 281 crew members from Argentina and a half-dozen other countries will fly to Buenos Aires on Wednesday, leaving the captain with a skeleton crew to maintain the ship at port in Ghana.(AP Photo/Gabriela Barnuevo)Hundreds of sailors who had to leave the Argentine navy's signature sailing ship moored in Africa, seized by a court in a debt dispute, arrived in Buenos Aires early Thursday, frustrated and disheartened.

Report: Swedish princess engaged to US boyfriend

Posted: 24 Oct 2012 09:55 PM PDT

A Swedish newspaper says Princess Madeleine and her American boyfriend Chris O'Neill have been engaged.

Syrian rebels warily accept foreign fighters' help

Posted: 24 Oct 2012 06:39 PM PDT

FILE - In this Saturday, March 17, 2012 file photo, Syrian security officers gather in front the damaged building of the aviation intelligence department, which was attacked by one of two explosions in Damascus, Syria. A new al-Qaida-style group claimed Wednesday, March 21, 2012 that it carried out the double suicide bombing that killed dozens. Foreign Islamic militants fighting Syria's regime pose a dilemma for the country's rebels, and nothing typifies the problem more than Jabhat al-Nusra, a shadowy group of veterans of jihad in Iraq, Libya and elsewhere. Some rebels worry the group is too radical, using al-Qaida-style tactics of suicide bombings. (AP Photo/Bassem Tellawi, File)The presence of foreign Islamic militants battling Syria's regime is raising concerns over the possible injection of al-Qaida's influence into the country's civil war.

UN Security Council endorses Syria holiday truce

Posted: 24 Oct 2012 02:35 PM PDT

In this Tuesday, Oct. 23, 2012 photo, Syrian residents carry a man severely injured from an artillery shell that landed near a bakery, to a hospital for treatment in Aleppo, Syria. Several were killed and a dozen were injured after the artillery shell that landed near a bakery in Aleppo on Tuesday, Oct. 23, 2012. (AP Photo/Narciso Contreras).The U.N. Security Council gave unanimous backing Wednesday to a four-day truce proposed by the international mediator for Syria to mark a major Muslim holiday after he warned that the failure of yet another cease-fire plan would only worsen the fighting.

In Latin America, incumbents increasingly dominate

Posted: 24 Oct 2012 04:08 PM PDT

FILE - In this Nov. 30, 2007 file photo, Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez arrives to a rally in support of changes to the nation's constitution in Caracas, Venezuela. After four election wins, Chavez is on track to completing at least 20 years in power. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd, File)After four election wins, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is on track to completing at least 20 years in power, and supporters such as street bookseller Cristina Tovar say they're glad to have him in charge.

Confounding expectations, global hunger is down (+video)

Posted: 24 Oct 2012 01:05 PM PDT

After famine in Somalia, extreme hunger in Sudan, and increased concern about global food security in recent years, it might have seemed inevitable that world hunger would rise. In 2009, world food experts told us it would.

Will Italy's L'Aquila quake verdict have a chill on science?

Posted: 24 Oct 2012 10:04 AM PDT

Finding a group of Italian scientists guilty of multiple manslaughter charges for failing to give adequate warnings of a massive earthquake in 2009 will paralyze the country's scientific community, critics of the controversial case say.

Momentum builds for Gaza to secede, Israel and West Bank to become one

Posted: 24 Oct 2012 09:43 AM PDT

After decades of the "two states for two people" blueprint more or less dominating proposals for Israeli-Palestinian peace, a new paradigm is gaining momentum. Under this model, Israel absorbs the West Bank and its 2.5 million Palestinians, while Hamas-run Gaza becomes a separate entity aligned with the Middle East's rising Islamist powers.

Will the Tour de France be able to overcome Lance's legacy?

Posted: 24 Oct 2012 09:24 AM PDT

At a ceremony here Wednesday full of high-octane hoopla to unveil next year's route, the Tour de France turned its back on the man who once dominated the event longer than any other, and looked resolutely to the future.

South African police unit prosecuted for fighting violence with thuggery

Posted: 24 Oct 2012 08:46 AM PDT

An elite South African police unit that has previously won praise for its high arrest and conviction rates of dangerous criminals is facing prosecution over accusations it was operating a death squad that executed suspects with impunity.

Russian report criticizes US on human rights, US responds 'bring it on'

Posted: 24 Oct 2012 08:39 AM PDT

Russian officials claim they are tired of being criticized by the United States government for Russia's alleged human rights abuses, democratic deficiencies, and systemic inadequacies, in many cases from a standpoint that's less than objective, often ignorant of cultural relativities and sometimes downright hypocritical.

Brahimi's plan for Syria cease-fire takes two steps forward, one step back

Posted: 24 Oct 2012 06:10 AM PDT

• A daily summary of global reports on security issues.

Why Lebanon isn't headed for civil war

Posted: 24 Oct 2012 05:56 AM PDT

Five days after a devastating bomb attack killed a top Lebanese security chief sparking minor clashes and road blockages by his supporters, a semblance of calm has returned to a country that has little interest in starting a new civil war.

Can a gang truce in El Salvador open the door to lasting peace?

Posted: 24 Oct 2012 05:00 AM PDT

The streets of this city's toughest barrios are quieter than they have been in years – a disquieting tranquility, residents say, because it has come from a truce no one believed possible between two of the country's most violent rival gangs. It is a pact no one can be sure will last, yet hopes are growing.

Covered in tattoos, can El Salvador's gangs reintegrate into society?

Posted: 24 Oct 2012 05:00 AM PDT

What happens when your past life of crime is literally written across your face? For gang members in El Salvador, their characteristic excess of tattoos often betrays their affiliation: 18th Street or Mara Salvatrucha-13 (MS-13).

MS-13 labeled transnational criminal organization. Who are the 'Maras?'

Posted: 24 Oct 2012 05:00 AM PDT

When Salvadorans immigrated to California in large numbers beginning in the late 1970s, fleeing civil war in their homeland, many landed in Los Angeles and collided with the city's gang culture. Facing prejudice and exclusion, and following the example of the city's Mexican criminal gangs, Salvadorans and other Central Americans began to form their own street gangs, known as maras.
Posted by Harshad at 1:24 AM

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