Thursday, December 27, 2012

Mental illness, poverty haunted Afghan policewoman who killed American

Mental illness, poverty haunted Afghan policewoman who killed American

Mental illness, poverty haunted Afghan policewoman who killed American

Posted: 26 Dec 2012 07:35 AM PST

Fatima, 13, holds a picture of her mother Narges Rezaeimomenabad, suspected of killing a U.S. contractor at a police headquarters, at her home in KabulKABUL (Reuters) - The Afghan policewoman suspected of killing a U.S. contractor at police headquarters in Kabul suffered from mental illness and was driven to suicidal despair by poverty, her children told Reuters on Wednesday. The woman was identified by authorities as Narges Rezaeimomenabad, a 40-year-old grandmother and mother of three who moved here from Iran 10 years ago and married an Afghan man. ...

Pakistan Taliban spokesman outlines conditions for ceasefire

Posted: 27 Dec 2012 01:24 AM PST

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - The Pakistani Taliban have outlined conditions for a ceasefire, including the adoption of Islamic law and a break with the United States, a spokesman said Thursday, an offer a senior government official described as "preposterous". The Taliban, in a letter sent to the Pakistan daily The News, also demanded that Pakistan stop its involvement in the war pitting Afghan insurgents against the Kabul government and refocus on a war of "revenge" against India. ...

China seizes TVs, satellite equipment in Tibetan area

Posted: 27 Dec 2012 12:46 AM PST

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese authorities have confiscated televisions from 300 monasteries in a heavily Tibetan part of the west of the country and dismantled satellite equipment that broadcast "anti-China" programs, prompted by Tibetan self-immolations in the region. Some 94 Tibetans, including 81 this year, have set themselves on fire in protest against Chinese rule. Five self-immolations occurred in Tibetan-dominated Huangnan prefecture in Qinghai province, the state-run Qinghai news agency said on Thursday. ...

Syria to discuss Brahimi peace proposals with Russia

Posted: 26 Dec 2012 07:49 AM PST

Syria's President Bashar al-Assad meets International peace envoy for Syria Lakhdar Brahimi in DamascusBEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad sent a senior diplomat to Moscow on Wednesday to discuss proposals to end the conflict convulsing his country made by international envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, Syrian and Lebanese sources said. Brahimi, who saw Assad on Monday and is planning to hold a series of meetings with Syrian officials and dissidents in Damascus this week, is trying to broker a peaceful transfer of power, but has disclosed little about how this might be done. ...

Egypt's contentious Islamist constitution becomes law

Posted: 26 Dec 2012 11:48 AM PST

A view shows the Shura Council during its meeting in CairoCAIRO (Reuters) - President Mohamed Mursi admitted on Wednesday that Egypt's economy faces serious problems after he enacted a new, bitterly contested constitution that is supposed to help end political unrest and allow him to focus on the financial crisis. The president said the economy also had great opportunities to grow, but earlier the Egyptian pound tumbled to its weakest level in almost eight years as ever more people rushed to buy dollars and withdraw their savings from banks. ...

Nelson Mandela "not yet fully recovered": spokesman

Posted: 26 Dec 2012 10:31 PM PST

Former South African president Nelson Mandela looks on as he celebrates his birthday at his house in QunuJOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Former South African President Nelson Mandela is doing well after being discharged from hospital, although he is still not fully recovered, a government spokesman said on Thursday. "He is not yet fully recovered, but he has sufficiently moved forward so that he can be discharged," Mac Maharaj told local broadcaster eNCA. "He is sufficiently well to be home. ...

Children, many ill, would be victims of Russia ban on U.S. adoption

Posted: 26 Dec 2012 06:06 PM PST

Orphan children play in their bedroom at an orphanage in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-DonMOSCOW (Reuters) - Family Christmas cards and smiling snapshots of children sent by their adoptive American parents fill Galina Sigayeva's office in Russia's second city St Petersburg. Many of them were crippled by illness and in desperate need of medical care before her agency helped organise their adoption into U.S. families, she recalls. Children's rights campaigners say children like these will suffer most if President Vladimir Putin approves a law barring American adoptions that has been rubber-stamped by Russian lawmakers. The act retaliates against a new U.S. ...

Cambodia court sends "scapegoats" back to jail for unionist murder

Posted: 26 Dec 2012 11:41 PM PST

Samnang is escorted by police officers at the Appeals Court in central Phnom PenhPHNOM PENH (Reuters) - A Cambodian court ordered the return to prison on Thursday of two men seen by rights groups as scapegoats for the 2005 murder of a top unionist, the latest controversial ruling in a country chided for its low judicial standards. The Appeals Court upheld a lower court's handing down of 20-year jail terms for Born Samnang and Sok Sam Oeun for killing Free Trade Union (FTU) leader Chea Vichea, despite weak evidence. Following a public outcry, the Supreme Court released the two on bail in 2008 after three years in jail to allow further investigation. ...

India's Singh says growth won't come with "business as usual"

Posted: 26 Dec 2012 11:56 PM PST

India's PM Singh attends plenary session of the ASEAN-India Commemorative Summit in New DelhiNEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's prime minister struck a downbeat note on the challenges facing the economy on Thursday, dubbing a five-year plan for average growth of 8 percent "ambitious" and warning that business-as-usual policies won't deliver higher growth. India's GDP growth has languished below 6 percent for three straight quarters, a far cry from the near-double-digit pace of expansion before the 2008 global financial downturn. Economic growth for the fiscal year ending in March is expected to be 5.7-5.9 percent, the slowest since 2002/03. ...

Sudan's Bashir says ready to meet Kiir to try to get oil flowing

Posted: 26 Dec 2012 01:01 PM PST

Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir gives a speech as he tours the White Nile Sugar Co sugar plant during its opening in Al-DiwaimKHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir said on Wednesday he was ready to meet his South Sudanese counterpart Salva Kiir to try to move forward with setting up a demilitarized border zone and restart oil flows. His comments raise the prospect that the two could set aside their differences after signing agreements in September meant to secure their disputed border and to allow the South to resume oil exports after the two came close to war in April in the worst violence since Juba seceded last year. ...

South Africa: Mandela rests at home

Posted: 27 Dec 2012 12:40 AM PST

FILE - In this June 17, 2010 file photo, former South African President, Nelson Mandela leaves the chapel after attending the funeral of his great-granddaughter Zenani Mandela in Johannesburg, South Africa. Mandela was released Wednesday, Dec. 26, 2012 from the hospital after being treated for a lung infection and having gallstones removed, a government spokesman said. (AP Photo/Siphiwe Sibeko, Pool, File)JOHANNESBURG (AP) — The doctors treating former South African leader Nelson Mandela believe he should remain in Johannesburg for now to be close to medical facilities that can provide care to the 94-year-old.

Syrian minister leaves Beirut for fear of arrest

Posted: 26 Dec 2012 12:34 PM PST

In this image made from video broadcast on Al Arabiya TV late Tuesday, Dec. 25, 2012, Syrian Maj. Gen. Abdul-Aziz Jassem al-Shallal makes remarks saying he is joining "the people's revolution." The general who heads Syria's military police has defected and joined the uprising against President Bashar Assad's regime, one of the highest walkouts by a serving security chief during the country's 21-month uprising, a pan Arab TV station has reported.(AP Photo/Al Arabiya via AP video)TV OUT NO SALESBEIRUT (AP) — Syria's wounded interior minister cut short his treatment at a Beirut hospital Wednesday and returned home for fear of being arrested by Lebanese authorities, while Syria's chief of military police defected to the opposition, becoming one of the highest-ranking officers to switch sides.

China tightening controls on Internet

Posted: 26 Dec 2012 11:32 PM PST

BEIJING (AP) — China's new communist leaders are increasing already tight controls on Internet use and electronic publishing following a spate of embarrassing online reports about official abuses.

India rape victim in Singapore, PM pledges action

Posted: 27 Dec 2012 12:45 AM PST

An ambulance is parked outside the Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore Thursday, Dec. 27, 2012. A young woman who was gang-raped and assaulted on a moving bus in the Indian capital was flown Thursday to the Singapore hospital for treatment of severe internal injuries that could last several weeks, officials said. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)NEW DELHI (AP) — Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh pledged Thursday to take action to protect the nation's women while the young victim of a gang rape on a New Delhi bus was flown to Singapore for treatment of severe internal injuries.

Egypt's Morsi: constitution dawn of new republic

Posted: 26 Dec 2012 01:25 PM PST

Essam el-Erian vice chairman of the Freedom And Justice party, speaks during a session at the Shura Council building in Cairo, Egypt, Wednesday, Dec. 26, 2012. The official approval of Egypt's disputed, Islamist-backed constitution Tuesday held out little hope of stabilizing the country after two years of turmoil and Islamist President Mohammed Morsi may now face a more immediate crisis with the economy falling deeper into distress. (AP Photo/Mohammed Asad)CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's Islamist president proclaimed the country's newly adopted constitution as the dawning of a "new republic" in a television address Wednesday, calling on the opposition to join a dialogue with him after a month of violent turmoil and focus on repairing a damaged economy.

New turmoil hits Egypt's tourism

Posted: 26 Dec 2012 07:09 PM PST

FILE - In this Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2012 file photo, Tourists ride in horse carriages past one of the Great Pyramids in Giza, Egypt. The past month saw a drop in tourists to Egypt, scared off by scenes of protests and clashes over the constitution, in new pain to a crucial industry gutted the past two years by turmoil. Tourism workers worry things won't get any better even now that the charter has been passed: Egypt's power struggles threaten to erupt into more unrest at any time, and some fear Islamists will eventually try to rein in alcohol and beach tourism. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek, File)CAIRO (AP) — At Egypt's Pyramids, the desperation of vendors to sell can be a little frightening for some tourists.

France: Protecting interests, not regime in CAR

Posted: 27 Dec 2012 01:16 AM PST

BANGUI, Central African Republic (AP) — The French president says France is in Central African Republic to protect French interests and not "to protect a regime."

Russian parliament endorses anti-US adoption bill

Posted: 26 Dec 2012 08:08 PM PST

A protester argues with police officers outside the Federation Council on Wednesday, Dec. 26, 2012. Several protesters were detained Wednesday morning outside the upper chamber of Russia's parliament as it prepared to vote on a controversial measure banning Americans from adopting Russian children. The poster held by the protester reads: MOSCOW (AP) — Defying a storm of domestic and international criticism, Russia moved toward finalizing a ban on Americans adopting Russian children, as Parliament's upper house voted unanimously in favor of a measure that President Vladimir Putin has indicated he will sign into law.

Fireworks warehouse in Nigeria explodes, killing 1

Posted: 26 Dec 2012 09:52 AM PST

Residents look as a fire burns out a residential homes and a warehouse on Lagos Island in Lagos, Nigeria, Wednesday, Dec. 26, 2012. An explosion ripped through a warehouse Wednesday where witnesses say fireworks were stored in Nigeria's largest city, sparking a fire. It wasn't immediately clear if anyone was injured in the blast that firefighters and locals struggled to contain. (Ap Photos/Sunday Alamba)LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — A massive explosion ripped through a warehouse full of fireworks in Nigeria's largest city on Wednesday, sparking a fire that threatened surrounding city blocks and sending a plume of thick smoke high into the sky. At least one person died and 15 others were wounded, emergency officials said.

Iraq: New protests break out in Sunni stronghold

Posted: 26 Dec 2012 10:44 AM PST

Iraq's Finance Minister Rafia al-Issawi is carried by his supporters during a demonstration in Ramadi, 70 miles (115 kilometers) west of Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, Dec. 26, 2012. Thousands of Iraqi demonstrators massed in a Sunni-dominated province west of Baghdad Wednesday, determined to keep up the pressure on a Shiite-led government that many accuse of trying to marginalize them. (AP Photo/ Hadi Mizban)RAMADI, Iraq (AP) — Large, noisy demonstrations against Iraq's government flared for the third time in less than a week Wednesday in Iraq's western Anbar province, raising the prospect of a fresh bout of unrest in a onetime al-Qaida stronghold on Syria's doorstep.

Italians, backed by the Catholic Church, aim to stop Sunday shopping

Posted: 26 Dec 2012 11:27 AM PST

Italians are fighting a government lift of regulations on business operation hours, insisting that the move will eventually hurt the small shops and values that have long been the foundation of the Italian business community.

Russia's adoption ban exposes political rift

Posted: 26 Dec 2012 09:44 AM PST

Russia's upper house of parliament today unanimously approved a ban on US citizens adopting Russian children, a highly charged move that appears to have prompted an unusual public split among government officials.

Tunisia seeks gold in former dictator's assets

Posted: 26 Dec 2012 08:27 AM PST

On a crisp December morning in Tunis, a finance ministry official named Mohamed Hamaied was demonstrating the horsepower of maroon V-12 BMW on the runway of a national guard airfield. Beside him sat an agent for a potential buyer.

Syrian moderates fear being edged out of uprising

Posted: 26 Dec 2012 06:22 AM PST

Abdul Rahman, a quiet, even-tempered man, leads a collection of moderate Free Syrian Army battalions in Aleppo. He says groups like his are becoming harder to find as the 21-month uprising drags on and more groups lean either secular or Islamist extremist.

A year after being literally wiped out, a Russian hockey team flourishes

Posted: 26 Dec 2012 05:00 AM PST

Wooden hockey sticks smack into rubber pucks as the metal blades of skates slice through the ice. The sounds echo through an empty arena in the Czech capital Prague in late November as a visiting hockey team prepares for another game in the Kontinental Hockey League.
Posted by Harshad at 1:44 AM

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