Assad's forces overrun two Damascus districts

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• Assad's forces overrun two Damascus districts
• Analysis: Euro exit talk risks self-fulfilling prophecy
• Death toll in Iraq bomb attacks rises to 39: sources
• Yemen defuses bomb at Aden intelligence building
• Ukraine postpones Tymoshenko tax case hearings
• Thousands flee violence in India's Assam, 17 killed
• Iran military downplays threat to close Hormuz Strait
• Famed Cuban dissident Oswaldo Paya dead in car crash
• Greece should pay wages in drachmas: German MP
• Heaviest rains in 60 years kill 37 in Beijing
• Spain under more acute market pressure
• Wiggins 1st British cyclist to win Tour de France
• Arab League offers Assad 'safe exit'
• Gov't probe of Japan nuke crisis criticizes TEPCO
• 82 killed in Iraq's deadliest day this year
• Experts: Solid evidence in Hungary war crimes case
• Israel shoring up coalition with Kadima defectors
• 51 dead in Iraq bombings

Assad's forces overrun two Damascus districts Posted: 22 Jul 2012 06:01 PM PDT BAB AL-SALAM, Syria (Reuters) - Syrian troops have driven rebel fighters out of two districts of Damascus a week after the insurgents launched a major assault on the capital. Government troops retook control of the Damascus neighborhood of Mezzeh on Sunday and executed at least 20 unarmed men who they suspected of aiding rebels, opposition activists in the district said. ...

Analysis: Euro exit talk risks self-fulfilling prophecy Posted: 22 Jul 2012 11:06 PM PDT PARIS (Reuters) - To understand the impact of a potential Greek exit from the euro zone, imagine an operating theatre inside a betting shop. As surgeons prepare to amputate a gangrened foot to prevent infection spreading to healthier parts of the body, gamblers on the sidelines lay bets on which limb will be next for the chop. Talk of a possible Greek exit has already sapped investors' confidence in the 17-nation single currency area and contributed to higher borrowing costs for Spain and Italy. ...

Death toll in Iraq bomb attacks rises to 39: sources Posted: 23 Jul 2012 12:33 AM PDT BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The death toll in a string of bomb attacks in Iraq on Monday rose to 39, with at least 118 wounded, police and hospital sources said. The explosions included a car bomb and a suicide attack, in and around the Iraqi capital Baghdad, as well as four car bombs in the northern oil city of Kirkuk. (Reporting by Baghdad newsroom; writing by Rania El Gamal in Dubai, editing by Diana Abdallah)

Yemen defuses bomb at Aden intelligence building Posted: 22 Jul 2012 11:09 PM PDT ADEN (Reuters) - Yemeni security forces have defused a bomb planted at the entrance of an intelligence services building in the southern port city of Aden, the defense ministry said. The bomb was to have been detonated by remote control, the ministry's website quoted a security official as saying late on Sunday. Yemeni troops regained control last month of several towns in the southern province of Abyan which Islamist militants had seized last year during political upheaval that toppled President Ali Abdullah Saleh. ...

Ukraine postpones Tymoshenko tax case hearings Posted: 23 Jul 2012 01:20 AM PDT KHARKIV, Ukraine (Reuters) - A Ukrainian court on Monday put off until July 31 the hearings in a tax evasion case against former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko because she was unable to attend the trial for health reasons. Tymoshenko, sentenced to seven years in prison last October on a separate charge of abuse of office, is being treated for back trouble in a state-run hospital. "The court has found it impossible to hear the case in Tymoshenko's absence," Judge Kostyantyn Sadovsky told the court in the city of Kharkiv. ...

Thousands flee violence in India's Assam, 17 killed Posted: 23 Jul 2012 12:18 AM PDT GUWAHATI, India (Reuters) - At least 17 people, including a six-month-old child, were killed and many wounded in fighting between indigenous tribes and Muslim settlers at the weekend in India's northeastern Assam state, police said on Monday. Authorities imposed a night-time curfew to prevent more violence and federal troops moved into remote areas to deal with threats of more violence. ...

Iran military downplays threat to close Hormuz Strait Posted: 23 Jul 2012 01:12 AM PDT DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran would not close the Strait of Hormuz as long as it is able to use the vital shipping line itself, a military commander was quoted as saying on Monday, moderating threats by politicians to block the waterway as retaliation for sanctions. "The enemies constantly state that the Islamic Republic of Iran intends to close the Strait of Hormuz but we say that common sense does not dictate that Iran would close the Strait of Hormuz as long as it makes use of it," said Alireza Tangsiri, deputy naval commander in Iran's Revolutionary Guards, state news agency IRNA reported. ...

Famed Cuban dissident Oswaldo Paya dead in car crash Posted: 22 Jul 2012 07:53 PM PDT HAVANA (Reuters) - One of Cuba's best-known dissidents, Oswaldo Paya, leader of the Christian Liberation Movement, died on Sunday in a car crash, government and opposition sources said. Paya, 60, was traveling in eastern Granma province at the time of the accident, the details of which are not known, the sources said. According to dissident blogger Yoani Sanchez, who broke the news on Twitter, Paya's death was confirmed by the bishop of Granma, Carlos Amador. Paya's family was not immediately available for comment. ...

Greece should pay wages in drachmas: German MP Posted: 23 Jul 2012 01:10 AM PDT BERLIN (Reuters) - Greece should start paying half of its pensions and state salaries in drachmas as part of a gradual exit from the euro zone, a leading German conservative was quoted on Monday as saying. Alexander Dobrindt, general secretary of the Christian Social Union (CSU), the Bavaria-based sister party of Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU), has long argued that Greece would be better off outside the euro zone. "With Greece we have reached the end of the road. There must not be any further aid. ...

Heaviest rains in 60 years kill 37 in Beijing Posted: 22 Jul 2012 06:24 PM PDT BEIJING (Reuters) - The Chinese capital's heaviest rainstorm in six decades killed at least 37 people, flooded streets and stranded 80,000 people at the main airport, state media and the government said on Sunday. The storm, which started on Saturday afternoon and continued late into the night, flooded major roads and sent torrents of water tumbling down steps into underpasses. The Beijing city government said on its official microblog at least 37 people had died, including 25 drowned, six crushed in collapsing homes, five electrocuted and one struck by lightning. ...

Spain under more acute market pressure Posted: 23 Jul 2012 12:45 AM PDT The financial pressure on Spain has ratcheted up further, with the interest rate on the country's key 10-year bond at levels that saw others needing a financial bailout.

Wiggins 1st British cyclist to win Tour de France Posted: 22 Jul 2012 10:19 PM PDT PARIS (AP) — Twenty-three years ago, Bradley Wiggins marveled as Greg LeMond blazed a trail as America's first Tour de France winner. Now, he has blazed his own.

Arab League offers Assad 'safe exit' Posted: 22 Jul 2012 11:29 PM PDT The Arab League's secretary general has offered Syrian President Bashar Assad a "safe exit" for him and his family if he steps down.

Gov't probe of Japan nuke crisis criticizes TEPCO Posted: 23 Jul 2012 12:39 AM PDT Experts investigating Japan's nuclear disaster said Monday that the operator of the crippled plant continues to drag its feet in investigations and has tried to understate the true amount of damage at the complex.

82 killed in Iraq's deadliest day this year Posted: 23 Jul 2012 01:14 AM PDT Iraqi police say gunmen have killed 13 soldiers on an army base in the country's northeast, bringing the nationwide death toll to 82 in the single bloodiest day so far this year.

Experts: Solid evidence in Hungary war crimes case Posted: 23 Jul 2012 12:34 AM PDT The evidence against a 97-year-old Hungarian man accused of abusing Jews and helping deport thousands during the Holocaust is much stronger than a similar case last year that ended in a high-profile acquittal, experts say.

Israel shoring up coalition with Kadima defectors Posted: 23 Jul 2012 12:39 AM PDT Six of the Kadima Party's 28 lawmakers have agreed to join Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's hawkish coalition, just days after the troubled centrist bloc bolted the government, a party spokesman said Monday.

51 dead in Iraq bombings Posted: 23 Jul 2012 12:34 AM PDT

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