Thursday, June 21, 2012

Vote result delay frays Egyptian nerves

Vote result delay frays Egyptian nerves

Vote result delay frays Egyptian nerves

Posted: 20 Jun 2012 11:56 PM PDT

People sit in front of Maadi military hospital where Egypt's ousted president Hosni Mubarak was transferred from Tora prison, on the outskirts of CairoCAIRO (Reuters) - Allegations of fraud delayed the result of Egypt's presidential election on Thursday, fraying nerves as the Muslim Brotherhood, which claims victory, threatened to take to the streets in protest at moves by the ruling generals to deny them power. For a second night, thousands of protesters gathered in Cairo's Tahrir Square, cauldron of the revolution that overthrew Hosni Mubarak 16 months ago, to demand the officers who pushed him aside keep their word and hand over to civilians by July 1. ...

Pakistan president nominates party loyalist for PM

Posted: 20 Jun 2012 09:21 PM PDT

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan's president has nominated ruling party veteran and textiles minister Makhdoom Shahabuddin to replace the ousted prime minister, state media reported on Thursday, in an apparent bid for continuity ahead of elections due early next year. The Supreme Court on Tuesday declared Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani ineligible for office for refusing to re-open corruption cases against President Asif Ali Zardari, triggering a new crisis in nuclear-armed Pakistan. ...

Afghanistan expects $4 billion in aid pledges at July conference

Posted: 21 Jun 2012 12:47 AM PDT

KABUL (Reuters) - Donor nations are likely to pledge a total of $4 billion in civilian assistance for Afghanistan at an aid conference in Japan next month, President Hamid Karzai said on Thursday in a national speech aimed at curbing corruption in his country. "Such an amount, more or less, will be pledged for the Afghan economy at the Tokyo conference," Karzai said during a specially convened session of parliament, indicating the support would come after most foreign combat troops left in 2014. ...

Politics mix with violent crime in Pakistan's Karachi

Posted: 21 Jun 2012 12:44 AM PDT

KARACHI, Pakistan (Reuters) - Relaxing in his luxurious four-storey home, Uzair Baloch has high hopes of breaking into Pakistani politics despite the 63 warrants out for his arrest. "People will give me votes, God willing," said Baloch, as his muscular bodyguards eyed the surrounding slum streets. Murder, torture and extortion allegations would bar most people around the world from seeking public office. Not in Pakistan's commercial capital, Karachi, where men like Baloch thrive amid gang wars and ethnic, sectarian and political violence. ...

Exclusive: U.S. to slap "terrorist" label on Nigerian militants

Posted: 20 Jun 2012 04:17 PM PDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government is expected to formally apply a "foreign terrorist" label on Thursday to three alleged leading figures of the violent Nigerian militant group Boko Haram, officials said. The action by the State and Treasury departments follows growing pressure on the Obama Administration to take stronger action against Boko Haram. The group, which says it wants to establish an Islamic caliphate in northern Nigeria, has stepped up attacks on Christian places of worship this year. ...

China tests troubled waters with $1 billion rig for South China Sea

Posted: 20 Jun 2012 07:35 PM PDT

China National Offshore Oil Corporation's oil rig is seen in China's South Sea.HONG KONG (Reuters) - China has spent nearly $1 billion on an ultra-deepwater rig that appears intended to explore disputed areas of the South China Sea, one of Asia's most volatile hotspots and where the United States is strengthening ties with Beijing's rival claimants. For now, the locally built Haiyang Shiyou (Offshore Oil) 981 rig owned by China's state-run CNOOC oil company is drilling south of Hong Kong in an area within Beijing's ambit. ...

Celebrities, activists risk losing Assange bail money

Posted: 20 Jun 2012 02:58 PM PDT

People put up a banner during a demonstration to support Julian Assange in his asylum request to Ecuador, in QuitoWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The founder of Wikileaks knows how to keep a secret. Two days before claiming asylum at the Ecuadorean embassy in London, Julian Assange partied with some of his most famous and well-heeled supporters. He did not mention that, in order to avoid extradition to Sweden on sexual-assault charges, he was about to potentially forfeit the bail money they had posted. Among the well-known figures who stand to lose some or all of whatever they pledged for Assange's bail are London socialite Jemima Khan, British film director Ken Loach and the U.S. filmmaker Michael Moore. ...

Queen Elizabeth gets bumper pay raise

Posted: 20 Jun 2012 09:08 PM PDT

Britain's Queen Elizabeth waves as she arrives to attend the second day of racing at Royal Ascot in EnglandLONDON (Reuters) - Britain's Queen Elizabeth has another reason to be cheerful in her Diamond Jubilee year - her annual pay is about to jump by 20 percent to 36 million pounds. Her property holdings, known as the Crown Estate, posted a record profit of 240.2 million pounds ($377.4 million), a net rise of 4 percent in the year through March 2012 largely due to strong tenant demand for its shops in the upmarket Regent Street and St James's districts of London. ...

Crisis plans lag even as Japan's reactors restart

Posted: 21 Jun 2012 12:20 AM PDT

In this June 16, 2012 aerial photo, four round-shaped reactors, obliquely from bottom left, the No. 4, No. 3, No. 2 and No. 1, are seen at Ohi nuclear power plant in Ohi town in Fukui Prefecture, western Japan. Two nuclear reactors have passed safety checks and gotten the Japanese government's approval on June 16 to resume generating power. But communities around the Ohi plant in western Japan feel they aren't ready. If the reactors plunged into a Fukushima-like meltdown, the only route to escape or send help would be a road closed by snow in winter or clogged by beachgoers in summer. (AP Photo/Kyodo News) JAPAN OUT, MANDATORY CREDIT, NO LICENSING IN CHINA, HONG KONG, JAPAN, SOUTH KOREA AND FRANCEIf the Ohi nuclear reactors plunged into a Fukushima-style meltdown, the only route for escaping or for sending help would be a winding, cliff-hugging road often closed by snow in winter or clogged by beachgoers in summer.

Some restrictions on dissident artist Ai ending

Posted: 21 Jun 2012 12:41 AM PDT

Dissident artist Ai Weiwei learned Thursday that the Chinese government will no longer confine him to Beijing, but he said police warned him not to try leaving the country.

US congressman riles Mexican politics

Posted: 20 Jun 2012 10:24 PM PDT

The front-runner in Mexico's July 1 presidential elections has angrily rejected comments by U.S. Rep. James Sensenbrenner that his party was soft on drug trafficking.

Indonesian court to rule on Bali bombing suspect

Posted: 20 Jun 2012 10:11 PM PDT

Indonesian militant Umar Patek enters the courtroom for his hearing at West Jakarta district court in Jakarta, Indonesia, Thursday, June 21, 2012. The court is expected to hand down verdict against Patek, a leading member of the al-Qaida-linked network Jemaah Islamiyah, who is accused of helping build the car bomb used in the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people, mostly foreign tourists. (AP Photo/Tatan Syuflana)An Indonesian court is expected to issue a verdict Thursday in the case of a terror suspect accused of helping to build the car bomb used in the 2002 Bali nightclub attacks.

Officials delay announcing Egypt election winner

Posted: 20 Jun 2012 04:14 PM PDT

Muslim brotherhood's presidential candidate Mohammed Morsi supporters burn a poster for presidential candidate Ahmed Shafiq, in Tahrir Square, the focal point of Egyptian uprising, in Cairo, Egypt, Tuesday, June 19, 2012. The Brotherhood has called for mass demonstrations in Cairo and elsewhere on Tuesday to protest the interim charter issued by the military as well as a court ruling last week that dissolved parliament, where the Brotherhood controlled nearly half the seats. Already, several thousand protesters have gathered in Cairo's Tahrir Square, birthplace of the uprising that toppled Mubarak 16 months ago. Arabic on the poster reads, "Ahmed Shafiq for Egyptian presidency." (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)Officials postponed declaring a winner in Egypt's disputed election on Wednesday, sending political tensions soaring as the country awaited its first new president in three decades.

Greece swears in new prime minister

Posted: 20 Jun 2012 03:47 PM PDT

The head of Greece's conservative New Democracy party, Antonis Samaras, enters the President's office to take the mandate to form the new government in Athens on Wednesday June 20, 2012. Samaras was sworn in as prime minister Wednesday at the helm of a three-party coalition that will uphold the country's international bailout commitments. The move ends a protracted political crisis that had cast grave doubt over the country's future in Europe's joint currency and threatened to plunge Europe deeper into a financial crisis with global repercussions. (AP Photo/Andreas Solaro,pool)Greece moved to end its protracted political impasse Wednesday, swearing in a new prime minister to lead a largely pro-bailout coalition tasked with saving the country's place in the eurozone and easing a European financial crisis with global repercussions.

Palestinian village faces demolition by Israel

Posted: 20 Jun 2012 03:43 PM PDT

In this Friday, June 15, 2012 photo, a Palestinian girls carries a Palestinian flag in the West Bank town of Susiya. Palestinian herders in this hamlet have clung to arid acres spread over several West Bank hills for decades, even as Israel forced them to live off the grid while providing water and electricity to nearby Jewish settlements and unauthorized outposts. But the end seems near for Susiya's 200 residents: Citing zoning violations, Israel is threatening to demolish the village, including German-funded solar panels. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)Palestinians in this hamlet have clung to their arid acres for decades, living without proper electricity or water while Israel provides both to Jewish settlers on nearby hills. But the end now seems near for Susiya: Demolition orders distributed last week by the Israelis aim to destroy virtually the entire village.

Rio: pollution rife during UN enviro conference

Posted: 20 Jun 2012 11:12 AM PDT

In this photo taken on Friday, June 15, 2012, a pig eats from a trash-ridden creek that runs towards the conference center where the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, or Rio+20, takes place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The throngs streaming into Rio for the Earth summit may be dreaming of white-sand beaches and clear, blue waters, but what they are first likely to notice as they leave the airport is not the salty tang of ocean in the breeze, but the stench of raw sewage. (AP Photo/Victor R. Caivano)The throngs streaming into Rio for a sustainable development conference may be dreaming of white-sand beaches and clear, blue waters, but what they are first likely to notice as they leave the airport is not the salty tang of ocean in the breeze, but the stench of raw sewage.

Uruguay mulls government marijuana sales

Posted: 21 Jun 2012 12:10 AM PDT

FILE - In this Oct. 27, 2011 file photo, Uruguay's President Jose Mujica attends a press conference at the presidential residence in Montevideo, Uruguay. Mujica's government plans to take a step beyond legalizing marijuana. It wants to sell it. Local news media and lawmakers report that the government plans to send a bill to Congress on Wednesday that would legalize marijuana sales as a crime-fighting measure. Only the government would be allowed to sell the marijuana cigarettes, and only to adults registered as users. (AP Photo/Matilde Campodonico, File)Peaceful Uruguay is planning a novel approach to fighting its rising crime: having its government sell marijuana to take drug profits out of the hands of dealers.

ICRC to try to evacuate civilians from Syrian city

Posted: 21 Jun 2012 12:32 AM PDT

This citizen journalism image taken on Monday, June 18, 2012 and provided by the Rebels Battalion of Baba Amro, purports to show Syrian rebels holding their weapons as they prepare to fight against Syrian troops, in Homs province. Syrian rebels clashed with soldiers for hours overnight in a northwestern province and inflicted heavy casualties on government forces, activists said Wednesday. The fighting came after the head the of the country's U.N. observers said his forces had come under attack and cast doubt on the future of the mission. (AP Photo/The Rebels Battalion of Baba Amro) THE ASSOCIATED PRESS IS UNABLE TO INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE AUTHENTICITY, CONTENT, LOCATION OR DATE OF THIS HANDOUT PHOTOA spokeswoman for the International Committee of the Red Cross says aid workers teams will try to evacuate wounded and sick civilians and those who want to leave rebel-held areas in the embattled central Syrian city of Homs.
Posted by Harshad at 1:08 AM

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