Wednesday, May 30, 2012

West expels envoys over massacre of Syrian children

West expels envoys over massacre of Syrian children

West expels envoys over massacre of Syrian children

Posted: 29 May 2012 11:40 PM PDT

Syrian children hold up signs during a night demonstration at Sarmada on the outskirts of IdlibBEIRUT (Reuters) - Western powers expelled Syria's envoys on Tuesday in outrage at a massacre of 108 people, almost half of them children, and peace envoy Kofi Annan urged President Bashar al-Assad to halt the bloodshed as "a tipping point" had been reached. The killings in the town of Houla drew a chorus of condemnation from around the world, with the United Nations saying entire families were killed in their homes on Friday, some by army tanks and others probably by pro-Assad militia. "Bashar al-Assad is the murderer of his people," French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told Le Monde. ...

Myanmar's Suu Kyi gets hero's welcome in Thailand

Posted: 30 May 2012 12:44 AM PDT

Myanmar's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi greets migrant workers from Myanmar, as she visits them in Samut Sakhon provinceMAHACHAI, Thailand (Reuters) - Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi received a rapturous reception in Thailand on Wednesday from crowds of cheering compatriots who flocked to celebrate her first trip outside Myanmar in nearly a quarter of a century. More than 1,000 Myanmar migrants lined the streets waving flags and holding aloft pictures of Suu Kyi as she arrived to give a speech from the balcony of a dilapidated building in an industrial zone on the fringes of the Thai capital, Bangkok. ...

For Pakistani truckers, NATO route row is all about the money

Posted: 29 May 2012 11:02 PM PDT

KARACHI (Reuters) - Pakistani truck drivers who deliver supplies to Western forces in Afghanistan seethe whenever they recall a cross-border NATO air attack that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers last year. Despite their anger, financial survival outweighs nationalist sentiment and the shame of helping what many see as the enemy. The drivers hope that talks between the United States and Pakistan on reopening the routes, which were closed six months ago in protest over the raid, will soon produce a breakthrough. ...

Japan PM, Ozawa still apart on tax, opposition deal beckons

Posted: 29 May 2012 11:22 PM PDT

Japan's Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda gestures in front of a Japanese national flag as he speaks at a joint news conference of the fifth trilateral summit among China, South Korea and Japan at the Great Hall of the People in BeijingTOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda edged closer on Wednesday to a possible deal with the opposition to push through his plan to double the sales tax, after party heavyweight Ichiro Ozawa refused to support his signature initiative. Former finance minister Noda has pledged to bring the plan to vote in the current session of parliament that ends on June 21, and requires masterful maneuvering to get it passed. The tax hike is seen as an essential part of efforts needed to curb Japan's snowballing public debt. ...

Developing rule of law "critical" for China, says blind activist

Posted: 29 May 2012 11:09 PM PDT

Chen Guangcheng, the blind Chinese dissident and legal advocate who recently sought asylum in the United States, sits for an interview in New York(Reuters) - The biggest challenge for China's next leaders is confronting a lawless police state nurtured by the Communist Party's own drive to put top-down control ahead of human rights, blind activist Chen Guangcheng has written. Chen laid down his challenge to China's next central leaders, who will be unveiled at a party congress later this year, in an opinion column for the New York Times that appeared online Tuesday night east coast time. "The fundamental question the Chinese government must face is lawlessness," wrote Chen. "China does not lack laws, but the rule of law. ...

Myanmar banking's new "wow" factor - ATMs

Posted: 29 May 2012 09:24 PM PDT

To match Insight MYANMAR-BANKS/YANGON (Reuters) - As Myanmar opens up after five decades of military rule, a country run on cash is finding a new alternative: plastic. Private banks in Myanmar have begun rolling out automated teller machines in recent weeks, revolutionary in a country where people often haul sacks and suitcases of cash to banks. And more ambitious plans are in the works. "It's fantastic, so convenient," Naing Lin Oo, a 26-year-old computer engineer, said after withdrawing about 120,000 kyat ($143) one recent afternoon. ...

Greece's pro-bailout conservatives leading in poll

Posted: 29 May 2012 11:04 PM PDT

Conservative New Democracy party leader Samaras greets supporters during a pre-election rally in AthensATHENS (Reuters) - Greece's pro-bailout conservatives are leading ahead of a national parliamentary election next month that may determine whether the country remains in the euro zone, an opinion poll showed on Wednesday. Greece was forced to call the June 17 vote after an election on May 6 left parliament divided between parties that support and oppose austerity measures tied to a 130-billion-euro bailout agreed with the European Union and International Monetary Fund in March. Neither the pro-bailout nor anti-bailout parties succeeded in forming a government despite tortuous efforts to do so. ...

U.N. group urges release of American in Nicaraguan prison

Posted: 29 May 2012 10:44 PM PDT

(Reuters) - A United Nations group has called for the immediate release of a U.S. citizen serving a 22-year prison sentence in Nicaragua for drug trafficking and money laundering, concluding that he was wrongly convicted, his supporters announced on Wednesday. Jason Puracal, 34, was detained by Nicaraguan authorities in November 2010 and found guilty by a trial judge nine months later along with 10 co-defendants, all of them Nicaraguan nationals. ...

Big expansion planned for overcrowded Bangkok airport

Posted: 29 May 2012 11:28 PM PDT

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Airports of Thailand Pcl (AOT) is to spend about $1.9 billion over the next five years to expand capacity at Bangkok's overcrowded Suvarnabhumi airport by a third, its president said on Wednesday. AOT, which runs the country's six main airports, aims to boost capacity at Suvarnabhumi by 15 million to serve up to 60 million passengers in 2017, Anirut Thanomkulbutra told reporters. ...

Mexican police patrol PepsiCo warehouses after arson fires

Posted: 29 May 2012 08:25 PM PDT

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexican police are beefing up patrols around warehouses belonging to PepsiCo's local snack food company Sabritas following a series of arson fires that damaged five of the firm's installations, an official said on Tuesday. Federal and state police are patrolling three of the warehouses damaged in attacks this past weekend in the western state of Michoacan, Julio Hernandez, a spokesman for the state government, said in a telephone interview. Installations in three other cities that were not targeted are also under police surveillance, he said. ...

Activists: New shelling in central Syria

Posted: 30 May 2012 12:31 AM PDT

In this photo provided by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syrian President Bashar Assad, right, meets with Kofi Annan, the U.N.-Arab League Joint Special Envoy for Syria, in Damascus, Syria. The meeting Tuesday followed a massacre in Houla, Syria, last week in which more than 100 people were killed, some of them women, children and entire families gunned down in their own homes. Following the meeting, Annan told reporters "We are at a tipping point." (AP Photo/SANA)Activists say Syrian troops are shelling restive suburbs of Damascus and rebel-held areas in the central city of Homs.

On Thailand trip, Suu Kyi visits Myanmar migrants

Posted: 29 May 2012 10:56 PM PDT

Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi waves while leaving a community center in Samut Sakhon Province, Thailand on Wednesday, May 30, 2012. Kicking off her first trip abroad in nearly a quarter-century, Suu Kyi offered encouragement Wednesday to impoverished Myanmar migrants whose flight to neighboring Thailand is emblematic of the devastation wrought on her homeland by decades of misrule.(AP photo/Sakchai Lalit)Kicking off her first trip abroad in nearly a quarter-century, Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi offered encouragement Wednesday to impoverished migrants whose flight to neighboring Thailand is emblematic of the devastation wrought on her homeland by decades of misrule.

Iraq opens 4th energy bidding round since 2003 war

Posted: 30 May 2012 12:30 AM PDT

Iraq opened on Wednesday its fourth postwar bidding round for oil and natural gas exploration, with 39 foreign energy companies registered to compete for exploration rights in a dozen areas of the country.

Judges to pass sentence on Charles Taylor

Posted: 29 May 2012 11:49 PM PDT

Judges are passing sentence on former Liberian President Charles Taylor for supporting rebels in Sierra Leone who murdered and mutilated thousands during their country's brutal civil war.

Remote hamlet ready for French reporter's release

Posted: 29 May 2012 11:46 PM PDT

This video frame grab made from Venezuela's Telesur via APTN, shows French journalist Romeo Langlois, a few hours after he was captured on April 28, 2012 by rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, FARC. Langlois had been accompanying Colombian troops on a cocaine-lab destruction mission when they were attacked by FARC rebels. Colombian rebels released the video of Langlois Monday, May 28, 2012, and they say they plan to release him Wednesday. (AP Photo/Telesur via APTN)Residents of this remote hamlet that lacks running water and electricity, and lives off cattle ranching and coca-growing were preparing a barbeque for Wednesday's planned handover of a French journalist by Colombia's main leftist rebel group.

Nepal's opposition vows protests to topple PM

Posted: 29 May 2012 11:21 PM PDT

Nepal's opposition parties said they will team up to topple the government, as they accused the prime minister Wednesday of having no moral or legal grounds to stay in power ahead of new elections.

Britain's Supreme Court to rule on WikiLeaks chief

Posted: 29 May 2012 04:36 PM PDT

Britain's Supreme Court is expected to rule Wednesday on whether to approve the extradition of WikiLeaks chief Julian Assange to Sweden, a potential turning point in the Internet activist's controversial career.

Afghanistan: Bomb kills NATO service member

Posted: 29 May 2012 10:42 PM PDT

A homemade bomb killed a member of the U.S.-led NATO coalition in southern Afghanistan on Wednesday, hours after the Taliban attacked a hilltop police post in the north, killing eight Afghan policemen, officials said.

Australia AG proposes broader slavery definition

Posted: 29 May 2012 11:53 PM PDT

Australia's attorney general on Wednesday introduced legislation that would broaden the legal definition of slavery to include organ trafficking and forced marriage.

Rio's housing prices spell trouble in paradise

Posted: 29 May 2012 11:35 PM PDT

In this May 23, 2012 photo, people exercising are reflected on the entrance of a beachfront apartment in the Leblon neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Brazil's burgeoning middle class is moving up in the world, into fancier high-rises. The discovery of vast oil deposits off the coast has flooded the city with renters carrying fistfuls of petrodollars. And property owners already are hiking rents in anticipation of Rio's upcoming mega-events, the 2014 soccer World Cup and 2016 Olympics. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)Moving to Rio, I had visions of paradise, of a sprawling apartment with panoramic views over a palm-lined beach.
Posted by Harshad at 1:18 AM

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)