Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Syrian armored column closes in on Aleppo

Syrian armored column closes in on Aleppo

Syrian armored column closes in on Aleppo

Posted: 25 Jul 2012 01:11 AM PDT

Resident looks inside car of two brothers whom protesters say were killed by Syria's President Assad's forces on the outskirts of AttaripAMMAN/BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syria sent thousands of troops towards Aleppo on Wednesday, where attack helicopters have been pounding rebel fighters, stepping up its assault on the country's largest city to combat a growing revolt against President Bashar al-Assad. Syria's 16-month-old uprising has been transformed from an insurgency in remote provinces into a battle for control of the two main cities, Aleppo and the capital, Damascus, where fighting exploded last week. Assad's forces have launched massive counter assaults in both cities. ...

Al-Qaeda says carried out Iraq attacks

Posted: 25 Jul 2012 01:06 AM PDT

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Al Qaeda's affiliate in Iraq has claimed responsibility for a spate of attacks across the country targeting mostly Shi'ite Muslim targets this week that killed and wounded hundreds of people. The Islamic State of Iraq (ISI) said in a statement posted on radical Islamist websites on Tuesday that it was behind the recent attacks, which it called its "Destroying the Walls" campaign. At least 116 people were killed and around 300 wounded in bomb and gun attacks on Monday, by far the bloodiest day of violence since U.S. troops withdrew in December. ...

UK, France agree on more military cooperation

Posted: 24 Jul 2012 06:08 PM PDT

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain and France signed two agreements on Tuesday for further cooperation on the use of military drones, the British Ministry of Defence said. British Defence Minister Philip Hammond and his French counterpart, Jean-Yves Le Drian, pledged closer military ties and called the countries cooperation as "natural as it is necessary." "We will continue to draw on each other's strengths and respective investments to get the best possible support for our Armed Forces," Hammond said in a statement. ...

Khamenei tells Iran politicians to show more unity

Posted: 25 Jul 2012 12:59 AM PDT

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei departs after casting his ballot in the parliamentary election in TehranDUBAI (Reuters) - Iran's supreme leader urged his country's politicians to show more unity as he warned the West that sanctions imposed over Tehran's disputed nuclear program would only make the government more determined to pursue it, Iranian media reported. The sanctions imposed against Iran since the beginning of this year have taken an enormous toll on its economy, which suffers from a weaker currency, rampant inflation and high unemployment. ...

Venezuela withdrawing from regional human rights court

Posted: 24 Jul 2012 07:14 PM PDT

Venezuelan President Chavez talks during a ceremony to mark the birthday of independence hero Bolivar in CaracasCARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Tuesday the South American nation is withdrawing from a regional human rights court that Latin America's leftist leaders have increasingly criticized as a pawn of Washington. Allies of Venezuela including Bolivia, Ecuador and Nicaragua have accused the Inter-American Court of Human Rights of improperly weighing in on disputes still being heard in domestic courts and working to undermine leftist governments. ...

In power, Egypt's Brotherhood seeks balance on Islamic law

Posted: 25 Jul 2012 12:02 AM PDT

Egypt's president Mohamed Mursi attends a meeting with Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal at the presidential palace in CairoCAIRO (Reuters) - In decades of furtive meetings in tea houses, mosques and universities, members of Egypt's underground Muslim Brotherhood spoke ardently of a country governed by Islamic law. Now that their debates take place in parliament and the presidential palace, they must decide how far to go in bringing it about. Elections held since the fall of Hosni Mubarak have turned the once-banned Brotherhood and its allies into the dominant political force in the Arab world's most populous country. ...

No damage, tsunami after 6.6 quake hits off Indonesia's Sumatra

Posted: 24 Jul 2012 06:27 PM PDT

JAKARTA (Reuters) - A strong earthquake with a magnitude of 6.6 struck off northern Sumatra in Indonesia on Wednesday, the U.S. Geological Survey said, but authorities said there was little chance of a tsunami. The quake was felt by residents on the island of Simeulue off Sumatra's northwest coast but there were no immediate reports of damage or injuries. "The quake has no tsunami potential," said Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, a spokesman for the National Disaster Mitigation Agency. "Some people ran away from their houses. We don't have any house damage. ...

Rival PNG prime ministers join forces to form new government

Posted: 24 Jul 2012 11:13 PM PDT

PORT MORESBY (Reuters) - Papua New Guinea's rival prime ministers have ended a political feud that left the resource-rich country with two leaders for the most of the past year, joining forces to form a government in a surprise twist to the South Pacific nation's elections. The peace deal means incumbent Prime Minister Peter O'Neill is most likely to head the new government and form a coalition after a prolonged national election in the often volatile country, with backing from rival Michael Somare. ...

Ecuador says WikiLeaks' Assange hires Spanish jurist Garzon

Posted: 24 Jul 2012 08:32 PM PDT

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange speaks at a news conference in LondonQUITO (Reuters) - WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has hired Spanish jurist Baltasar Garzon as a legal adviser as he seeks political asylum in Ecuador, the Andean country's foreign minister, Ricardo Patino, said on Tuesday. Assange has been taking refuge in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London since June 19. The Australian anti-secrecy campaigner, who enraged Washington in 2010 when his WikiLeaks website published secret U.S. diplomatic cables, is wanted for questioning in Sweden over sex crime allegations. Assange broke his bail terms and requested asylum in Ecuador. ...

Changed standards benefit Afghan force report: watchdog

Posted: 24 Jul 2012 05:07 PM PDT

Afghan National Army soldiers take their position at the site of an attack on the outskirts of KabulWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon's decision to change the standards used to grade the success of Afghan police and soldiers, who are a centerpiece of U.S. strategy for smoothly exiting the war in Afghanistan, helped it present a positive picture of those forces' abilities, a U.S. government watchdog reported on Tuesday. "These changes ... were responsible, in part, for its reported increase in April 2012 of the number of ANSF units rated at the highest level," the Government Accountability Office said in a new report on Afghan national security forces, known as ANSF. ...

Russia warns Syria against using chemical weapons

Posted: 24 Jul 2012 04:04 PM PDT

In this image made from amateur video released by the Ugarit News and accessed Monday, July 23, 2012, a Free Syrian Army soldier reacts during clashes with Syrian government troops in Aleppo, Syria. The Syrian regime acknowledged for the first time Monday that it possessed stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons and said it will only use them in case of a foreign attack and never internally against its own citizens. (AP Photo/Ugarit News via AP video) TV OUT, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS CANNOT INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE CONTENT, DATE, LOCATION OR AUTHENTICITY OF THIS MATERIALRussia chided its longtime ally Syria on Tuesday over its threat to use chemical weapons in case of a foreign attack, but Moscow gave no sign it was abandoning President Bashar Assad's regime, despite growing international condemnation over the violence in the Arab country.

Official: Israel to act if Syria arsenal breached

Posted: 25 Jul 2012 12:00 AM PDT

In this photo taken Monday, July 23, 2012, UN soldiers from Austria observe from an old army post from the 1967 war at Mt. Bental in the Golan Heights, overlooking Syria. Mount Bental is a sought-out overlook these days, shared by boisterous tourists and anxious Israelis hoping to catch a glimpse of the conflict in Syria. (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner)Israel's foreign minister says Israel will act immediately if it discovers Lebanese Hezbollah militants are raiding Syria's chemical or biological weapons stocks.

Compensation controversy over 'Adriatic Alcatraz'

Posted: 25 Jul 2012 12:29 AM PDT

It rises up from the pristine waters off Croatia's coast, a forbidding mound of rock known as the Adriatic Alcatraz.

Aleppo fighting reaches 5th day in Syria

Posted: 25 Jul 2012 12:24 AM PDT

This citizen journalism image provided by Shaam News Network SNN, taken on Tuesday, July 24, 2012, purports to show a helicopter gunship flying a bombing run in al-Qalmoun, Syria, (AP Photo/Shaam News Network, SNN) THE ASSOCIATED PRESS IS UNABLE TO INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE AUTHENTICITY, CONTENT, LOCATION OR DATE OF THIS CITIZEN JOURNALIST IMAGEOpposition activists say fighting raged through the night in many neighborhoods of Aleppo, bringing the conflict in Syria's largest city into its fifth day.

Phone hack charges may add to fallout for Brit PM

Posted: 24 Jul 2012 11:33 AM PDT

FILE This Wednesday, June 13, 2012 file photo shows Rebekah Brooks, former chief executive of News International, leaving Westminster Magistrates' Courts after she was granted bail on charges of attempting to cover up tabloid phone-hacking, London. British authorities on Tuesday July 24, 2012 charged an ex-aide to the British prime minister, a former protege of media mogul Rupert Murdoch and six others in the ever-widening phone hacking scandal, accusing them of key roles in a lengthy campaign of illegal espionage that victimized hundreds including top celebrities Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt. The Crown Prosecution Service's Alison Levitt told journalists that Andy Coulson and Rebekah Brooks, both former editors of Murdoch's now-shuttered News of the World tabloid, are among those being charged with conspiring to intercept the communications of more than 600 people between Oct. 3, 2000, and Aug. 9, 2006(AP Photo/Sang Tan)Britain's phone hacking scandal entered a new and expanded criminal phase Tuesday, with charges brought against two former members of Prime Minister David Cameron's inner circle over a campaign of illegal espionage that has rocked the country's establishment.

Ghana VP sworn in hours after president's death

Posted: 24 Jul 2012 09:45 PM PDT

File - In this file photo taken on Friday, Sept. 23, 2011, President of Ghana, John Evans Atta Mills, waits to address the 66th session of the United Nations General Assembly. State-run television in Ghana is announcing on Tuesday, July 24, 2012, that President John Atta Mills has died at age 68. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, file)President John Atta Mills' election victory secured Ghana's reputation as one of the most mature democracies in West Africa, a position further solidified Tuesday when the vice president took over only hours after the 68-year-old president died five months before finishing his first term.

Olympic VIP lanes baffle, anger London drivers

Posted: 25 Jul 2012 12:24 AM PDT

A taxi passes alongside one of the official Olympic Lanes on a street in central London Monday, July 23, 2012, ahead of the 2012 Summer Olympics. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)Sabir Karim, a lifelong Londoner, was alarmed to find this week that a familiar city road had suddenly turned into an impossible challenge.

Papua New Guinea's rival prime ministers unite

Posted: 25 Jul 2012 12:18 AM PDT

Peter O'Neill announced Wednesday that he will lead Papua New Guinea's next government with the support of his former bitter leadership rival Sir Michael Somare, ending a year of political chaos in the South Pacific island nation as the two vied for the top job.

EYES ON LONDON: British gymnasts feel expectations

Posted: 24 Jul 2012 05:08 PM PDT

Around the 2012 Olympics and its host city with journalists from The Associated Press bringing the flavor and details of the games to you:

Beijing sees power reshuffle amid flood scandal

Posted: 25 Jul 2012 12:48 AM PDT

In this Tuesday July 24, 2012 photo, vehicles damaged in a flood pile up off road in Yesanpo Scenic Zone, a resort near the capital Beijing, in Laishui county, in northern China's Hebei province. The People's Daily newspaper says Beijing's mayor and a vice mayor have resigned in what is likely a routine reshuffling but which comes amid public questioning of the government's handling of rainstorms that left at least 37 dead in the capital. (AP Photo) CHINA OUTBeijing's mayor and a vice mayor have resigned, state media reported Wednesday, in what is likely a routine reshuffling that comes amid public questioning of the city government's handling of rainstorms that left at least 37 dead in the capital.
Posted by Harshad at 1:38 AM

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