Japan seeks exemption on U.S. sanctions on Iran: Nikkei

Japan seeks exemption on U.S. sanctions on Iran: Nikkei
Clinton presses Algeria on Mali intervention plan
Shallow 6.3 quake off west Canada coast: USGS
Kuwait arrests opposition leader over emir comments
North Korea leader's wife reported back in public after long silence
Some South Africa Amplats strikers defy return deadline
Dithering Cyprus may have problems meeting December payroll: paper
Germany's Schaeuble tells skeptical UK "EU needs you"
Russian punk band "risk lives" in Soviet-style prisons
Swiss bank UBS announces massive layoffs of 10,000
Syrian regime launches nationwide airstrikes
Ukraine's ruling party leads in vote called biased
US seeks Algeria's support in possible Mali move
Egyptians in hajj divided over Islam in politics
Bahrain bans all protest gatherings amid violence
Poll: Australians split over PM's sexism judgment
Pearson, Bertelsmann confirm publishing tie-up
Musicians: Iran's national orchestra disbanded
Cuba's 2nd city without power, water after Sandy
'Pragmatic' Rutte to lead new Dutch coalition government
Is the detritus of the Iraq war harming the babies of Fallujah?
Chile drops mandatory vote – and a few incumbent mayors
The real reason China-Japan are locked in a territory dispute
Ukraine elections confirm divisions over Russia, Europe
Venezuela prioritizes 'happiness' in its national budget
Home to Tintin and Smurfs, Belgium looks to reinvigorate comic industry
Airstrikes, car bombs in Syria leave brief cease-fire in tatters
Is Europe really on the brink?

Posted: 29 Oct 2012 07:47 PM PDT

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan is seeking an exemption from proposed new U.S. sanctions against Iran that could effectively freeze Tehran's use of payments for oil, the Nikkei business daily reported on Tuesday, citing sources. Japanese Finance Minister Koriki Jojima asked U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner at an October 11 meeting in Tokyo for Washington to exempt Japanese banks, the report said, citing unidentified sources familiar with the matter. Geithner said the matter was being considered, the report said. Japanese government officials were not immediately available for comment. ...

Clinton presses Algeria on Mali intervention plan

Posted: 29 Oct 2012 03:40 PM PDT

ALGIERS (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pressed regional power Algeria on Monday to support an Africa-led military intervention in northern Mali, a senior U.S. official said. Clinton's one-day visit comes amid mounting international pressure on Algeria over the crisis in Mali, where a March military coup was followed by a revolt that has seen Tuareg rebels and Islamist militants, some linked to al Qaeda, seize control of the northern two-thirds of the country. The senior U.S. ...

Shallow 6.3 quake off west Canada coast: USGS

Posted: 29 Oct 2012 08:07 PM PDT

SYDNEY (Reuters) - A shallow quake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.3 was recorded off British Columbia on Canada's west coast, the U.S. Geological Survey said on Tuesday. The quake, at a depth of about 10 km (6 miles), was centered about 260 km (160 miles) southwest of Prince Rupert, British Columbia, the USGS said. (Reporting by Paul Tait; Editing by John Mair)

Kuwait arrests opposition leader over emir comments

Posted: 30 Oct 2012 12:30 AM PDT

KUWAIT (Reuters) - Kuwaiti authorities arrested an opposition leader late on Monday after he made comments viewed as critical of the Gulf Arab state's ruler, a political activist said. Musallam al-Barrak, a former lawmaker and a prominent figure in the nationalist Popular Action Bloc, was arrested on Monday night following a news conference at his house where he called on the government to abide by the constitution. ...

North Korea leader's wife reported back in public after long silence

Posted: 29 Oct 2012 08:27 PM PDT

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korean state media reported public appearances by the wife of leader Kim Jong-un for the first time in two months on Tuesday amid mounting speculation that she had been chastised for inappropriate conduct or that she may be pregnant. Ri Sol-ju's once frequent appearances with her husband in public reported in state media had marked the starkest break by the North's leadership from the dour image of Kim's father, Kim Jong-il, who was rarely seen in public with any of his wives. Ri attended football match and a musical concert with Kim Jong-un on Monday. ...

Some South Africa Amplats strikers defy return deadline

Posted: 29 Oct 2012 11:59 PM PDT

RUSTENBURG, South Africa (Reuters) - Some striking workers at Anglo American Platinum's (Amplats) Rustenburg mines in South Africa refused to return to work on Tuesday despite an offer by the company to reinstate 12,000 men sacked for taking part in a six-week wildcat walkout. Months of labour unrest in the mines have hit platinum and gold output, threatened growth in Africa's biggest economy and drawn criticism of President Jacob Zuma for his handling of the most damaging strikes since the end of apartheid in 1994. ...

Dithering Cyprus may have problems meeting December payroll: paper

Posted: 30 Oct 2012 12:25 AM PDT

NICOSIA (Reuters) - Cyprus may have difficulty paying public sector salaries in December unless a bailout deal is clinched and cleared by mid-November, a newspaper reported on Tuesday. Citing confidential minutes of a meeting in parliament, the Politis daily quoted Finance Minister Vassos Shiarly telling politicians he was worried Cyprus would be "butchered" if international lenders treated it in isolation from other euro zone states in need of financing. Meeting December's payroll commitments was contingent on the goodwill of bankers, he was quoted as saying. ...

Germany's Schaeuble tells skeptical UK "EU needs you"

Posted: 29 Oct 2012 01:36 PM PDT

OXFORD (Reuters) - German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble urged Britain on Monday to remain strongly engaged in the European Union, responding to a tide of Euroskepticism that Berlin fears could sweep London towards the exit. Schaeuble's plea, delivered during a visit to Oxford University, came days after British Foreign Secretary William Hague mapped out a very different vision of a much looser EU in which Britain would opt out of many policies. Chancellor Angela Merkel said she would visit Britain, an "important partner", for talks with Prime Minister David Cameron next week. ...

Russian punk band "risk lives" in Soviet-style prisons

Posted: 29 Oct 2012 11:57 AM PDT

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Two women from punk band Pussy Riot sentenced to jail for an anti-Putin protest in a Moscow cathedral face harsh, Soviet-style prison camps where their lives may be in danger due to a lack of medicine and no hot water amid sub-zero winter temperatures, according to a recently released band member. Pussy Riot's protest has attracted global attention because of the two-year jail sentences meted out to its members for what prosecutors called "hooliganism motivated by religious hatred". ...

Swiss bank UBS announces massive layoffs of 10,000

Posted: 30 Oct 2012 12:37 AM PDT

Swiss banking giant UBS AG announced massive layoffs Tuesday along with huge losses in its third-quarter results, saying it aims to trim as many as 10,000 employees, or some 15 percent of its staff, to drastically shrink its ailing investment bank.

Syrian regime launches nationwide airstrikes

Posted: 29 Oct 2012 12:58 PM PDT

Syrian fighter jets pounded rebel areas across the country on Monday with scores of airstrikes that anti-regime activists called the most widespread bombing in a single day since Syria's troubles started 19 months ago.

Ukraine's ruling party leads in vote called biased

Posted: 29 Oct 2012 04:22 PM PDT

The Ukrainian president's party will retain its strong grip on power, according to returns Monday from a parliamentary election that was criticized by Western observers as unfair and biased against the opposition.

US seeks Algeria's support in possible Mali move

Posted: 29 Oct 2012 12:53 PM PDT

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton sought Algeria's assistance on Monday for any future military intervention in Mali, pressing the North African nation to provide intelligence — if not boots on the ground — to help rout the al-Qaida-linked militants across its southern border.

Egyptians in hajj divided over Islam in politics

Posted: 30 Oct 2012 12:53 AM PDT

Now that she has finished the hajj and is returning home to Egypt, Magda Bagnied says her family will no doubt try to convince her to put on the headscarf to demonstrate her religiosity after a pilgrimage meant to cleanse her of sin and bring her closer to God.

Bahrain bans all protest gatherings amid violence

Posted: 30 Oct 2012 12:43 AM PDT

Bahrain says it is banning all protest gatherings amid escalating clashes in the strategic Gulf kingdom that hosts the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet.

Poll: Australians split over PM's sexism judgment

Posted: 29 Oct 2012 11:29 PM PDT

Australians appear to be split over Prime Minister Julia Gillard's judgment that her main political rival is sexist.

Pearson, Bertelsmann confirm publishing tie-up

Posted: 29 Oct 2012 11:44 AM PDT

Two of the world's biggest publishing houses are to link up in a deal that will bring the writings of classics like George Orwell's "1984" and this year's literary phenomenon "Fifty Shades of Grey" under one umbrella.

Musicians: Iran's national orchestra disbanded

Posted: 29 Oct 2012 01:05 PM PDT

The Iranian national symphony orchestra has been disbanded for lack of funds, musicians said Monday, another sign of the effects of Western economic sanctions..

Cuba's 2nd city without power, water after Sandy

Posted: 29 Oct 2012 01:45 PM PDT

Residents of Cuba's second-largest city of Santiago remained without power or running water Monday, four days after Hurricane Sandy made landfall as the island's deadliest storm in seven years, ripping rooftops from homes and toppling power lines.

'Pragmatic' Rutte to lead new Dutch coalition government

Posted: 29 Oct 2012 12:00 PM PDT

The next time Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte has a summit with other European leaders in Brussels, he will be in a shrinking camp of political survivors.

Is the detritus of the Iraq war harming the babies of Fallujah?

Posted: 29 Oct 2012 10:34 AM PDT

Anecdotal tales of inexplicable sickness and deformities have abounded in Iraq for years. In their broad brushstrokes, they seem plausible. The first Gulf War had littered much of Iraq with depleted uranium from the armor-piercing bullets the US used to destroy Saddam Hussein's retreating columns in1991. (The Monitor's Scott Peterson traveled around Baghdad with a Geiger counter in 2003 and found plenty of "hot spots" more than a decade later).

Chile drops mandatory vote – and a few incumbent mayors

Posted: 29 Oct 2012 10:13 AM PDT

Chileans replaced pro-government mayors in many of its most important municipalities yesterday, in the country's first election without mandatory voting. It marked a reverse for the administration of President Sebastian Piñera, who three years ago became the first elected conservative president in Chile in decades.

The real reason China-Japan are locked in a territory dispute

Posted: 29 Oct 2012 10:11 AM PDT

As China and Japan spar over control of a group of tiny islets in the sea between them, the deeper issue is really the question of which of Asia's two biggest economies will gain control first of the valuable oil and natural gas located there.

Ukraine elections confirm divisions over Russia, Europe

Posted: 29 Oct 2012 09:05 AM PDT

The party of Ukraine's incumbent President Viktor Yanukovych looks on track to win a majority in the 450-seat State Rada, or parliament, after a hard-fought election campaign that seems to have done little more than confirm the hard, enduring political divisions between the country's Ukrainian-speaking Europe-leaning west, moderate center, and the Russian-speaking and Moscow-oriented east.

Venezuela prioritizes 'happiness' in its national budget

Posted: 29 Oct 2012 08:55 AM PDT

Happiness is serious business in Venezuela.

Home to Tintin and Smurfs, Belgium looks to reinvigorate comic industry

Posted: 29 Oct 2012 08:02 AM PDT

It may now be dominated by American superheros and Japanese manga, but the comic book industry was once associated with no country more than Belgium. Through much of the last century, this small, Western European nation played an outsized role in shaping comics through iconic characters like Tintin and the Smurfs.

Airstrikes, car bombs in Syria leave brief cease-fire in tatters

Posted: 29 Oct 2012 07:15 AM PDT

• A daily summary of global reports on security issues.

Is Europe really on the brink?

Posted: 29 Oct 2012 06:32 AM PDT

In the 2012 London Olympic Games, who won the most medals? Yes, the United States garnered 104, and China captured 88. Nicely done!