Syrian rebels kill 28 soldiers, several executed

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• Syrian rebels kill 28 soldiers, several executed
• British millionaire pleads guilty in Iran missile scheme
• Second stealth jet puts China on path to top regional power: expert
• Insight: Putin's Russia: more fragile than it looks
• Blind Chinese activist's brother says lawsuit rejected
• CIA officials in Libya made key decisions during Benghazi attacks
• Pigeons set China Congress security plans aflutter
• Japan to import rare earths from Kazakhstan: media
• Abbas hints has no "right of return" to home in Israel
• China struggles for solution to growing NIMBY movement
• Flowers, ritual, horse race mark Day of the Dead
• Iraqi tourist sector hurt by Iran's currency pain
• Families await bodies after Pakistan factory fire
• Algeria wins Berber help to root out al-Qaida
• Gang rules 6 years after start of Mexico drug war
• China compensates man wrongly jailed for 11 years
• Iran president backs down in political clashes
• Israel confirms killing Arafat deputy in 1988
• Syrians wary of US push to overhaul opposition
• Syria rebels kill 78 soldiers, attack checkpoints
• Mob burns girls' school in Pakistani city over alleged blasphemy
• Report: $800 million is snuck out of Iraq each week
• Day of the Dead: Mexicans mourn loved ones
• NATO members need to step up, says UK defense minister
• Support for jihadists in Syria swells as US backing of rebels falls short
• All politics is local, even the US election as seen by Kenyans
• For some Syrian rebels, keeping classrooms open is key to fighting Assad
• Bad boys: Brazil slaps misbehaving soccer players with service, not just suspensions
• China crackdown underscores nervousness ahead of key Communist party meeting
• US backs new Syrian opposition council in bid to unite rebels

Syrian rebels kill 28 soldiers, several executed Posted: 01 Nov 2012 10:22 AM PDT BEIRUT (Reuters) - Anti-government rebels killed 28 soldiers on Thursday in attacks on three army checkpoints around Saraqeb, a town on Syria's main north-south highway, a monitoring group said. Some of the dead were shot after they had surrendered, according to video footage. Rebels berated them, calling them "Assad's Dogs", before firing round after round into their bodies as they lay on the ground. The highway linking the capital Damascus to the contested city of Aleppo, Syria's commercial center, has been the scene of heavy fighting since rebels cut the road last month. ...

British millionaire pleads guilty in Iran missile scheme Posted: 01 Nov 2012 02:04 PM PDT SAN ANTONIO (Reuters) - British millionaire Christopher Tappin pleaded guilty in federal court in Texas on Thursday to charges of attempting to sell missile parts to Iran, prosecutors said. Tappin, 66, from Orpington, Kent, who had previously pleaded not guilty, reversed that stance in federal court in El Paso as part of a plea agreement with prosecutors that calls for a sentence of 33 months in prison and a fine of more than $11,000, according to U.S. Attorney Robert Pitman. ...

Second stealth jet puts China on path to top regional power: expert Posted: 02 Nov 2012 12:23 AM PDT BEIJING (Reuters) - China's second stealth fighter jet that was unveiled this week is part of a program to transform China into the top regional military power, an expert on Asian security said on Friday. The fighter, the J-31, made its maiden flight on Wednesday in the northeast province of Liaoning at a facility of the Shenyang Aircraft Corp which built it, according to Chinese media. ...

Insight: Putin's Russia: more fragile than it looks Posted: 01 Nov 2012 11:02 PM PDT MOSCOW (Reuters) - When Vladimir Putin celebrated his 60th birthday this month, a group of patriotic mountaineers unfurled a portrait of the Russian leader on a 4,150-metre mountain peak. Hailing him as a guarantor of happiness and stability, the climbers' leader explained: "We have stuck Putin's portrait on a rock wall we see as unbreakable and eternal as Putin". But as Putin nears the end of his 13th year ruling this vast country, Russians feel increasingly unhappy and worries over long-term political and economic stability are growing. ...

Blind Chinese activist's brother says lawsuit rejected Posted: 01 Nov 2012 08:45 PM PDT BEIJING (Reuters) - The eldest brother of blind Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng said on Friday a Chinese court had rejected his lawsuit filed against local police and officials for unlawfully barging into his house after his brother's escape. The rejection of Chen Guangfu's lawsuit on Thursday was an expected outcome, but it underscores the continued pressure on Chen Guangcheng's family in northeastern Shandong province, about five months after Chen Guangcheng left for the United States to study. ...

CIA officials in Libya made key decisions during Benghazi attacks Posted: 01 Nov 2012 06:19 PM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - CIA officials on the ground in Libya dispatched security forces to the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi within 25 minutes and made other key decisions about how to respond to the waves of attacks on U.S. installations on September 11, a senior American intelligence official said on Thursday. Officials in Washington monitored events through message traffic and a hovering U.S. military drone but did not interfere with or reject requests for help from officials in the line of fire, the official said. ...

Pigeons set China Congress security plans aflutter Posted: 01 Nov 2012 08:26 PM PDT BEIJING (Reuters) - Potentially sinister threats to China's ruling Communist Party sit unnoticed in cages perched on a rooftop above a small alleyway in southwestern Beijing. Not dissidents. Pigeons. A week before the party's all-important congress opens, China's stability-obsessed rulers are taking no chances and have combed through a list all possible threats, avian or otherwise. It isn't just the usual suspects like activists who have ruffled the party's feathers. ...

Japan to import rare earths from Kazakhstan: media Posted: 01 Nov 2012 07:50 PM PDT TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan is likely to start importing rare earths from Kazakhstan as early as January as part of its efforts to lower its dependence on China, the Yomiuri newspaper said on Friday, citing unidentified government sources. The supply of rare earths has been a major concern for Japan after China at one point held back shipments of the vital industrial ingredients in 2010 in the wake of a bilateral dispute. China, the world's biggest producer of rare earth metals, is also likely to turn an importer of them by as early as 2014 as it boosts consumption in domestic high-tech ...

Abbas hints has no "right of return" to home in Israel Posted: 01 Nov 2012 01:26 PM PDT JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas made a rare if symbolic concession to Israel on Thursday, saying he had no permanent claim on the town from which he was driven as a child during the 1948 war of the Jewish state's founding. Among several disputes deadlocking Middle East peace talks has been the Palestinians' demand that as many as five million of their compatriots be granted the right to return to lands in Israel that they or their kin lost. ...

China struggles for solution to growing NIMBY movement Posted: 01 Nov 2012 02:23 PM PDT SHANGHAI/BEIJING (Reuters) - It looked like another victory for the people when the Chinese city of Ningbo announced the suspension on Sunday of a petrochemical project after days of street protests by citizens concerned it would pollute their community. It may turn out to be more complicated. ...

Flowers, ritual, horse race mark Day of the Dead Posted: 02 Nov 2012 12:06 AM PDT Mexicans cleaned the bones of dead relatives and decorated their graves with flowers and candy skulls. In Haiti, voodoo practitioners circled an iron cross at a cemetery and poured moonshine to honor their ancestors. Some Guatemalans held a wild horse race to remember the dead.

Iraqi tourist sector hurt by Iran's currency pain Posted: 01 Nov 2012 11:39 PM PDT The plunge in Iran's currency is proving bad for business in neighboring Iraq.

Families await bodies after Pakistan factory fire Posted: 02 Nov 2012 12:42 AM PDT At the only morgue in Pakistan's largest city lie the blackened remains of 32 people killed in one of the worst industrial accidents in the country's history, wrapped in white plastic body bags waiting for DNA tests to determine who they are.

Algeria wins Berber help to root out al-Qaida Posted: 02 Nov 2012 12:25 AM PDT Weary from years of kidnappings, the inhabitants of Algeria's rugged Kayblie mountains are finally turning against the al-Qaida fighters in their midst and helping security forces hunt them down. And that turnaround is giving Algeria its best chance yet to drive the terror network from its last Algerian stronghold.

Gang rules 6 years after start of Mexico drug war Posted: 01 Nov 2012 09:17 PM PDT Forest-camouflaged pickups roared to life as the Mexican soldiers pulled on their black masks and hoisted their Heckler & Koch G3 assault rifles.

China compensates man wrongly jailed for 11 years Posted: 01 Nov 2012 09:20 PM PDT A Chinese man who served 11 years of a life sentence for a wrongful conviction of check fraud was awarded a record state compensation of 825,000 yuan ($131,000) this week.

Iran president backs down in political clashes Posted: 02 Nov 2012 12:39 AM PDT Iran's embattled president has backed down from a public dispute with his country's judiciary.

Israel confirms killing Arafat deputy in 1988 Posted: 01 Nov 2012 01:44 PM PDT Israel acknowledged Thursday it killed Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's deputy in a 1988 raid in Tunisia, lifting a nearly 25-year veil of secrecy and allowing a rare glimpse into the shadowy world of its secret operations.

Syrians wary of US push to overhaul opposition Posted: 01 Nov 2012 02:14 PM PDT Members of Syria's opposition-in-exile bristled Thursday at the Obama administration's suggestion that Washington will handpick more representative leaders at a crucial conference in Qatar next week.

Syria rebels kill 78 soldiers, attack checkpoints Posted: 01 Nov 2012 01:52 PM PDT Syrian rebels killed 78 soldiers on Thursday, about half of them in attacks on military checkpoints in the north just hours after a wave of bombings hit the Damascus area, activists said.

Mob burns girls' school in Pakistani city over alleged blasphemy Posted: 01 Nov 2012 01:27 PM PDT A mob attacked a girls' school in the city of Lahore, Pakistan, Wednesday, demanding that teachers hand over the principal and a teacher, after rumors emerged that the teacher had insulted the prophet Muhammad.

Report: $800 million is snuck out of Iraq each week Posted: 01 Nov 2012 11:09 AM PDT Shortly before Iraqi central bank governor Sinan al-Shabibi was fired on Oct. 16, his soon-to-be replacement charged, in essence, that Iraq's economy is among the most corrupt on the planet.

Day of the Dead: Mexicans mourn loved ones Posted: 01 Nov 2012 10:48 AM PDT As soon as darkness fell, festive crowds streamed into the candle-lit cemeteries of this southern Mexican city and nearby towns by the thousands.

NATO members need to step up, says UK defense minister Posted: 01 Nov 2012 10:11 AM PDT Britain's secretary of defense warned Thursday that NATO needs to "do things differently" after last year's intervention in Libya laid bare how imbalanced support for the alliance is among its member nations – due in large part to Europe's financial crisis.

Support for jihadists in Syria swells as US backing of rebels falls short Posted: 01 Nov 2012 09:57 AM PDT When asked about the role of Islamic jihadists in Syria's long-burning civil war, an Aleppo hospital doctor recalled what prompted one Syrian to join their ranks.

All politics is local, even the US election as seen by Kenyans Posted: 01 Nov 2012 09:00 AM PDT Kenyans are closely watching the US presidential election, with two groups in particular rooting for each of the candidates.

For some Syrian rebels, keeping classrooms open is key to fighting Assad Posted: 01 Nov 2012 07:16 AM PDT In a cave-like room lit by a single fluorescent light bulb, more than a dozen third-grade students sit in rows of small desks, their tiny backpacks beside them as they face a blackboard hung on rough stone walls.

Bad boys: Brazil slaps misbehaving soccer players with service, not just suspensions Posted: 01 Nov 2012 07:02 AM PDT Fines and suspensions for athletes behaving badly? Well, yes. But in Brazil, they get community service too.

China crackdown underscores nervousness ahead of key Communist party meeting Posted: 01 Nov 2012 06:30 AM PDT The Chinese authorities are tightly muzzling critics as they prepare for the ruling Communist Party's national congress and issuing a slew of security edicts, ranging from a ban on the sale of knives in the capital to admonitions about subversive ping pong balls.

US backs new Syrian opposition council in bid to unite rebels Posted: 01 Nov 2012 05:36 AM PDT • A daily summary of global reports on security issues.

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