Wednesday, September 5, 2012

China, U.S. divided over Syria, sea row, but vow goodwill

China, U.S. divided over Syria, sea row, but vow goodwill

China, U.S. divided over Syria, sea row, but vow goodwill

Posted: 05 Sep 2012 12:17 AM PDT

U.S. Secretary of State Clinton shakes hands with Chinese FM Yang during a joint news conference in BeijingBEIJING (Reuters) - China and the United States were divided on Wednesday over how to end the bloodshed in Syria and defuse tension in the South China Sea and other global troublespots, but stressed hope for steady ties as they navigate political transitions at home. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi vowed goodwill after talks which had been preceded by criticism from Beijing of Clinton's calls for a multilateral solution to the territorial disputes in the South and East China Seas. ...

French judges investigating Arafat's death seek exhumation

Posted: 04 Sep 2012 05:03 PM PDT

Palestinian woman walks past a mural depicting late leader Arafat in GazaPARIS (Reuters) - Three French judges are preparing to travel to Ramallah to seek the exhumation Yasser Arafat's body as part of an investigation into whether he was murdered by poison, a judicial source told Reuters on Wednesday. The investigating magistrates will need approval from both Israel and the Palestinian Authority, but Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has already expressed his government's willingness to exhume the body from a limestone sepulchre in Ramallah. ...

Japan to buy disputed East China Sea islands: media

Posted: 04 Sep 2012 05:46 PM PDT

A fishing boat sails around a group of disputed islands known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China in the East China SeaTOKYO (Reuters) - Japan has agreed to buy disputed East China Sea islets, claimed by both Tokyo and Beijing, from their private Japanese owners, Japanese media said on Wednesday, a move likely to fuel tensions between Asia's two largest economies. The uninhabited islands, known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China, have long been a source of friction. Japan and China have competing territorial claims to the islets and surrounding fishing areas and potentially rich gas deposits. The Japanese government will buy the islets for 2.05 billion yen ($26. ...

Rebels hit army headquarters in Damascus

Posted: 04 Sep 2012 10:54 PM PDT

Damaged buildings are seen in the old city of HomsAMMAN (Reuters) - Syrian rebels said they planted bombs inside the Syrian army's General Staff headquarters in central Damascus on Sunday as President Bashar al-Assad's forces bulldozed buildings to the ground in parts of the capital that have backed the uprising. Syrian state television said four people were wounded in what it called a terrorist attack on the General Staff compound in the highly guarded Abu Rummaneh district, where another bomb attack killed four of Assad's top lieutenants two months ago. ...

Insight: Banner of Lenin flies over would-be Russian farm boom

Posted: 04 Sep 2012 11:07 PM PDT

An employee inspects wheat in a field of the "Svetlolobovskoye" farm outside the village of SvetlolobovoSTAROSHCHERBINOVSKAYA, Russia (Reuters) - This year's wheat, piled in steel sheds on the Banner of Lenin collective farm, shimmers greyish-gold in the dusty air, a vision of plenty worthy of a Soviet propaganda poster. In Soviet times, the 15,000 hectare farm, in Russia's Black Sea breadbasket region of Krasnodar, would deliver its wheat to the local elevator for shipping inland to make bread. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 the farm has turned itself into a 1 billion rouble ($30.93 million) per year business producing wheat, fruit, sausages and sugar. ...

Japan stresses cost of ending nuclear power as decision looms

Posted: 05 Sep 2012 12:46 AM PDT

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's government, buffeted by conflicting pressure from anti-nuclear voters and pro-nuclear business interests, is stressing the negative impact of a speedy exit from atomic energy as it nears a decision on a new energy mix. Japan is rethinking its whole energy policy after an earthquake and tsunami damaged the Fukushima nuclear power plant in March last year, triggering the world's worst nuclear crisis in 25 years. ...

Gun death overshadows narrow win by Quebec separatists

Posted: 05 Sep 2012 12:45 AM PDT

Parti Quebecois leader Pauline Marois addresses party supporters after winning a minority government in the Quebec provincial election in Montreal, QuebecMONTREAL (Reuters) - A masked gunman shot dead one person inside a Montreal theater where the leader of Quebec's separatist Parti Quebecois was celebrating a narrow election win in the Canadian province, police said on Wednesday. The shooting eclipsed news that the Parti Quebecois had pipped the ruling Liberals in Tuesday's election and would have to be content with a minority government, effectively ruling out another referendum on breaking away from Canada. ...

Mali requests military assistance to free north: France

Posted: 04 Sep 2012 06:51 PM PDT

OUAGADOUGOU (Reuters) - Mali's interim leader has made a formal request to west African regional body ECOWAS for military assistance to help free the country's north, which has been occupied since April by Islamists, France's special representative for the Sahel said on Tuesday. Jean Felix-Paganon said he was informed of the decision during a meeting with Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara, who chairs the 15-nation Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). ...

Subdued Dutch Socialist opens way for pro-EU coalition

Posted: 04 Sep 2012 10:06 PM PDT

Dutch Freedom Party leader Wilders and Socialist Party leader Roemer are seen during a political debate in HilversumAMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Subdued showings by Dutch Socialist leader Emile Roemer in televised election debates may just have tipped voters in favor of a broadly pro-European centre-right coalition government. Next week's parliamentary election had been shaping up as a close contest between caretaker Prime Minister Mark Rutte's pro-euro and fiscally conservative Liberal Party, and its polar opposite, the old-style, hard-left Socialist Party. ...

North Korea launches barbed attack on Chinese investor

Posted: 05 Sep 2012 12:32 AM PDT

SEOUL/BEIJING (Reuters) - North Korea attacked charges on Wednesday that it was a "nightmare" to do business in, complaints that threaten desperate attempts to boost investment from solitary ally China to help repair its broken economy. The extremely unusual attack underlines the reclusive state's sensitivity over an increasingly heavy dependence on China and comes as Pyongyang's new leader Kim Jong-un seeks a state visit to Beijing to plead his case for investment . ...

Gunman kills 1 at rally for new Quebec premier

Posted: 05 Sep 2012 12:32 AM PDT

Parti Quebecois leader Pauline Marois is removed from the stage by police as she as she declares victory to supporters in Montreal, Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2012 following her election win. Police were not immediately able to provide details but party organizers informed the crowd that there had been an explosive noise and they needed to clear the auditorium. Police say one man was arrested and two people were injured. (AP Photo/Graham Hughes, The Canadian Press)A masked gunman opened fire during a midnight victory rally for Quebec's new premier, killing one person and wounding another. The new premier, Pauline Marois of the separatist Parti Quebecois, was whisked off the stage by guards while giving her speech and uninjured.

Venezuela's Chavez hails Colombia-FARC peace talks

Posted: 04 Sep 2012 09:40 PM PDT

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Tuesday he is willing to help Colombia's government and leftist FARC rebels broker a peace deal and congratulated both sides on taking steps to end the Western Hemisphere's longest-running conflict.

Colombia's 'Queen of Cocaine' shot to death

Posted: 04 Sep 2012 04:58 PM PDT

This undated Florida Department of Corrections booking mug shows Griselda Blanco. Blanco, a convicted drug trafficker who was once known as the "Godmother" and the "Queen of Cocaine," has been shot to death by an unidentified gunman, police in Colombia said Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2012. (AP Photo/Florida Dept. of Corrections via The Miami Herald)Griselda Blanco, a convicted drug trafficker who was once known as the "Godmother" and the "Queen of Cocaine," has been shot to death by an unidentified gunman, police in Colombia said Tuesday.

More than 100,000 Syrians fled country in August

Posted: 04 Sep 2012 03:39 PM PDT

A Syrian girl, bottom center, who fled her home, due to fighting between the Syrian army and the rebels, waits her turn to buy bread and eggs from a store, as she and others take refuge at the Bab Al-Salameh border crossing, in hopes of entering one of the refugee camps in Turkey, near the Syrian town of Azaz, Monday, Sept. 3, 2012. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen)More than 100,000 Syrians fled their country in August, the highest monthly total since the crisis began in March 2011, the U.N. refugee agency said Tuesday.

No cease-fire, drugs nag at Colombia peace talks

Posted: 05 Sep 2012 12:38 AM PDT

In this photo released by Colombia's Presidential Office, shows President Juan Manuel Santos, center, announcing the signing of a preliminary agreement to launch peace talks with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, during a nationally televised speech from the presidential palace in Bogota, Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2011. Santos said the talks would begin in early October in Oslo, Norway, and would continue in Havana, Cuba. Sitting at right are cabinet ministers and at left chiefs of the armed forces. (AP Photo/Javier Casella, Colombia's Presidential Office)The image is seared in Colombian minds: The country's president sits on a big stage looking glum, hands folded in his lap, next to an empty chair.

Clinton's China visit produces no breakthrough

Posted: 04 Sep 2012 11:53 PM PDT

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, left, speaks with Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi during a joint press conference at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2012. (AP Photo/Jim Watson, Pool)Talks between U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Chinese leaders Wednesday failed to narrow gaps on how to end the crisis in Syria and how to resolve Beijing's territorial disputes with its smaller neighbors in the South China Sea.

Suicide bomber kills 25 in east Afghanistan

Posted: 04 Sep 2012 06:53 AM PDT

A suicide bomber killed at least 25 civilians and wounded another 30 at a funeral for a village elder in a remote part of eastern Afghanistan, Afghan officials said.

Israel tries to ease differences with US over Iran

Posted: 04 Sep 2012 02:52 PM PDT

FILE - In this Wednesday, Aug. 22, 2012 photo, an Israeli woman talks on the phone after collecting gas masks for her family in a shopping mall in Jerusalem. Israel has taken steps to ease tensions with the United States over Iran's nuclear program in recent days, officials confirmed Tuesday, working closely with the Americans on formulating a common position in efforts to ward off a possible Israeli attack on Iran. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue,File)Israeli officials said Tuesday they are in close discussions with the United States over how to deal with the Iranian nuclear program, seeking to ease tensions that have emerged between the two allies over a possible Israeli military strike against Iran.

Rev. Moon oversaw large, often bickering brood

Posted: 04 Sep 2012 09:03 PM PDT

A photo of Rev. Sun Myung Moon rests inside a Unification Church in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2012. Moon, the self-proclaimed messiah who founded the church, died Monday, Sept. 3, 2012, at a church-owned hospital near his home in Gapyeong County, northeast of Seoul, church officials said. He was 92. (AP Photo/Hye Soo Nah)The late Rev. Sun Myung Moon, the Unification Church founder who died this week at 92, had 14 children with his second wife, Hak Ja Han Moon, according to his autobiography. He also had one child with his first wife, officials say, and at least one illegitimate child, according to one of his daughters.

Media: Japan gov't agrees to buy disputed islands

Posted: 04 Sep 2012 08:30 PM PDT

FILE - In this Sept. 2, 2012 file photo, the survey ship Koyo Maru, left, chartered by Tokyo city officials, sails around Minamikojima, foreground, Kitakojima, middle right, and Uotsuri, background, the tiny islands in the East China Sea, called Senkaku in Japanese and Diaoyu in Chinese. Media reports say the Japanese government has agreed to buy several privately owned islands in the East China Sea that are controlled by Japan but also claimed by China. The government has agreed to buy three of the five main islands from the Kurihara family for 2.05 billion yen ($26 million), Kyodo News agency and the Yomiuri and Asahi newspapers reported Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2012. (AP Photo/Kyodo News, File) JAPAN OUT, MANDATORY CREDIT, NO LICENSING IN CHINA, HONG KONG, JAPAN, SOUTH KOREA AND FRANCEThe Japanese government has agreed to buy several privately owned islands in the East China Sea that are controlled by Japan but also claimed by China, media reports said Wednesday.
Posted by Harshad at 1:14 AM

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)