Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Ecuador's leader says open to talks with Britain on Assange

Ecuador's leader says open to talks with Britain on Assange

Ecuador's leader says open to talks with Britain on Assange

Posted: 21 Aug 2012 08:32 PM PDT

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange speaks to the media outside the Ecuador embassy in west LondonQUITO (Reuters) - Ecuador is ready to negotiate over the fate of Julian Assange if Britain withdraws a threat to raid its embassy in London where the WikiLeaks founder has sought refuge, President Rafael Correa said on Tuesday. Ecuador was incensed by a veiled British threat to enter the embassy to arrest the 41-year-old former computer hacker, who is trying to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning over allegations of rape and sexual assault. Correa has offered Assange asylum and told Britain to let him leave the embassy and fly to the South American country. ...

Insight: Ethnic, economic interests entangle Rwanda in Congo

Posted: 22 Aug 2012 01:03 AM PDT

KIWANJA, Democratic Republic of Congo (Reuters) - Four years after dozens of his neighbors in the remote eastern Congolese village of Kiwanja were butchered by rebels, Olivier has a sense of a recurring nightmare. Insurgents once again stalk the village's abandoned streets and fearful residents crowd for safety at the shut gates of the nearby U.N. peacekeepers' base as gunfire shatters the silence and government troops retreat in chaos. As with a previous 2004-2009 rebellion, Congo's leaders, U.N. ...

Death toll from Lebanon fighting climbs to 10

Posted: 22 Aug 2012 01:11 AM PDT

Sunni Muslim gunmen fire their weapons at the Sunni Muslim dominant neighbourhood of Bab al-Tebbaneh in Tripoli, northern LebanonTRIPOLI, Lebanon (Reuters) - The death toll from fighting between Sunni Muslims and Alawites in Tripoli climbed to at least 10 overnight, medical sources said on Wednesday, in clashes that the city's residents described as some of the heaviest since Lebanon's civil war. More than 100 people have been wounded in the fighting which erupted this week along a sectarian fault line between the Sunni district of Bab al-Tabbaneh and the Alawite area of Jebel Mohsen. ...

Japan PM meets activists as he ponders nuclear power

Posted: 22 Aug 2012 01:10 AM PDT

Japan's Pm Noda reacts during a news conference at his official residence in TokyoTOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda met representatives of a growing anti-nuclear energy movement on Wednesday amid signs his government, pressured by public safety fears, might be leaning towards a target to eliminate atomic power within two decades. Energy policy has become a major headache for Noda and his Democratic Party of Japan, its ratings battered ahead of a general election many expect within months. ...

Analysis: As Dutch zeal for Europe wanes, election brings risks

Posted: 22 Aug 2012 01:00 AM PDT

MAASTRICHT, The Netherlands (Reuters) - For the 12.5 million Dutch who go to the polls on September 12, the national election really boils down to one issue: Europe. The election is taking place at a time of rapid decline in support for the EU in a country once known as one of the most euro-enthusiastic. Many Dutch now wonder whether EU membership and the single currency are worth the pain of austerity measures at home and the price of huge bailouts elsewhere in Europe. In a highly fragmented political landscape it could take months to form a government. ...

Analysis: Russia and China in WTO - a world apart

Posted: 21 Aug 2012 10:45 PM PDT

LONDON (Reuters) - Russia's 19-year wait to enter the World Trade Organisation is finally over. Unfortunately, the kind of export and investment miracle enjoyed by fellow-BRIC China after it joined the club is likely to remain well out of its reach. China too waited 15 years on the WTO's doorstep. But for Beijing, joining in 2001 set the stage for a decade that quintupled its exports and propelled its economy from sixth place globally to the world's second biggest. Russia's commodity-based economy is less well placed to enjoy that kind of spurt. ...

Greek PM hosts Eurogroup chief, begins lobbying effort

Posted: 21 Aug 2012 11:48 PM PDT

Greece's PM Samaras leaves his office after a meeting with coalition party leaders in AthensATHENS (Reuters) - Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras starts a European charm offensive on Wednesday with talks to persuade euro zone chief Jean-Claude Juncker that the debt-laden nation has the will to ram through unpopular reforms and deserves more time to do it. With cash coffers running empty and renewed talk of a Greek euro zone exit without more aid, Samaras is under pressure to persuade European leaders that Greece has finally mustered the political courage to fulfill promises under its latest bailout. ...

Italy's instability deepened by "pigsty" law

Posted: 22 Aug 2012 12:39 AM PDT

ROME (Reuters) - So bad it is universally known as the "pigsty", Italy's electoral law is at the centre of political instability that is stoking fears the euro zone's third-largest economy could topple into a Greek-style debt crisis. Market jitters over whether Italy is heading for a default that would probably destroy the euro have been aggravated by uncertainty over what will happen when respected technocrat Prime Minister Mario Monti steps down for elections next spring. ...

Americans tune out Afghan war as fighting rages on

Posted: 21 Aug 2012 10:24 PM PDT

FILE - In this Saturday, Sept. 10, 2011 file photo, President Barack Obama looks out over graves in Section 60 at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va., where he paid his respects to those who have made the ultimate sacrifice in the past decade. It was once President Barack Obama's "war of necessity." Now, it's America's forgotten war. The Afghan conflict generates barely a whisper on the U.S. presidential campaign trail. It's not a hot topic at the office water cooler or in the halls of Congress _ even though 88,000 American troops are still fighting here and dying at a rate of one a day.(AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)It was once President Barack Obama's "war of necessity." Now, it's America's forgotten war.

Afghan rockets damage US general's plane

Posted: 21 Aug 2012 03:55 PM PDT

In this image released by the U.S. Department of Defense and taken Monday, Aug. 20, 2012, Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, prepares to board a CH-47 at Kabul International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan. (AP Photo/D. Myles Cullen, Department of Defense)An insurgent rocket attack damaged the plane of the top U.S. general as it sat parked at a coalition base in Afghanistan on Tuesday, dealing another blow to the image of progress in building a stable country as foreign forces work to wind down the 10-year-old war.

Syrian official warns US against intervention

Posted: 21 Aug 2012 12:23 PM PDT

An image of Japanese journalist Mika Yamamoto is shown on a large monitor screen in Tokyo Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2012 during a TV news broadcast reporting her death in Syria. Yamamoto, a veteran war correspondent with The Japan Press, an independent TV news provider that specializes in conflict zone coverage, was killed Monday in the northwestern city of Aleppo, said Masaru Sato, a spokesman with the Foreign Ministry in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye)A Syrian government official warned the United States Tuesday that military intervention in Syria could lead to regional turmoil as regime forces bombed a northern village and stormed a rebel-held Damascus suburb, killing dozens of people, activists said.

Samaras: Greece needs 'air to breathe'

Posted: 22 Aug 2012 12:41 AM PDT

Greece's prime minister insisted ahead of a closely watched visit to Germany that Athens doesn't want more money from creditors, but made clear in an interview published Wednesday it would like more time to enact reforms and spending cuts.

Assad's regime steps up use of air power

Posted: 21 Aug 2012 02:03 PM PDT

FILE - This Tuesday, July 31, 2012 file photo image made from amateur video released by the Ugarit News purports to show black smoke rising from buildings in Aleppo, Syria. Its forces stretched thin on multiple fronts, President Bashar Assad's regime has significantly increased its use of air power against Syrian rebels in recent weeks, causing mounting civilian casualties. The shift is providing useful clues about the capability of the air force as Western powers consider the option of enforcing a no-fly zone over the northern part of the country.(AP Photo/Ugarit News via AP video, File) THE ASSOCIATED PRESS IS UNABLE TO INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE AUTHENTICITY, CONTENT, LOCATION OR DATE OF THIS HANDOUT PHOTOIts forces stretched thin on multiple fronts, President Bashar Assad's regime has significantly increased its use of air power against Syrian rebels in recent weeks, causing a spike in civilian casualties.

Sean Penn's charity to demolish Haiti's Palace

Posted: 21 Aug 2012 08:28 PM PDT

The nonprofit aid group founded by Hollywood star Sean Penn in the aftermath of Haiti's deadly 2010 earthquake will oversee demolition of the wrecked National Palace, the Haitian government said Tuesday.

Israel says Egypt violating peace treaty in Sinai

Posted: 21 Aug 2012 01:45 PM PDT

FILE - In this Aug. 9, 2012 file photo, army trucks carry Egyptian military tanks in El Arish, Egypt's northern Sinai Peninsula. Israeli officials said Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2012 they have voiced objections to what they say are improper Egyptian tank deployments in a volatile desert area near the Israeli border. Israel says the deployment, part of an Egyptian crackdown on Islamic militants in the lawless Sinai desert, violate the historic 1979 peace agreement between the two nations. (AP Photo, File)Israel objected Tuesday to a move by Egypt's new leaders to deploy tanks in a volatile border area, calling the action a violation of the landmark 1979 peace accord between the two nations.

Top Israeli official talks Iran with senior rabbi

Posted: 21 Aug 2012 10:10 AM PDT

FILE - This March 8, 2002 file photo shows Rabbi Ovadia Yosef surrounded by members of his staff during a rally of his Ultra-Orthodox Shas party in Jerusalem. An Israeli religious party official says the prime minister's national security adviser met with a prominent rabbi and tried to persuade him to favor a strike on Iran's nuclear sites. Israeli leaders have before asked the influential Yosef about hefty military decisions in the past. (AP Photo/Enric Marti, File)The Israeli prime minister's national security adviser met with an influential rabbi to persuade him to support a military strike on Iran's nuclear sites, a party official said Tuesday.

NKorea's economic zone remains under construction

Posted: 22 Aug 2012 12:52 AM PDT

In this Monday, Aug 20, 2012 photo, construction is under way along railway lines linking tracks in Rason in far northeastern North Korea with Russian rail lines. The port of Rajin and the neighboring city of Sonbong together comprise the Rason special economic zone being developed with help from foreign investment, particularly from China. Rason was host this week to the zone's second international trade fair. (AP Photo/Kim Kwang Hyon)More than a year after construction began, the road from China to North Korea's special economic zone in Rason is paved. Power substations are being built, railway lines are being linked to routes to Siberia, and piers at the harbor expanded.

Israeli archaeologist digs into Nazi death camp

Posted: 21 Aug 2012 11:41 AM PDT

Israeli archaeologist Yoram Haimi shows aluminum plate to young people from Dror school in Israel at the site of the former German Nazi death camp of Sobibor, in eastern Poland, on Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2012. Dror school is trying to find remains of the camp still hidden in the ground in order to redraw its shape. The Nazis burned the camp to the ground in to erase all trace of it as the Soviet Red Army was approaching. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)When Israeli archaeologist Yoram Haimi decided to investigate his family's unknown Holocaust history, he turned to the skill he knew best: He began to dig.
Posted by Harshad at 1:33 AM

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