Friday, September 7, 2012

Insight: In Aleppo, jets vs. rifles, as civilians despair

Insight: In Aleppo, jets vs. rifles, as civilians despair

Insight: In Aleppo, jets vs. rifles, as civilians despair

Posted: 06 Sep 2012 05:10 AM PDT

Members of the Free Syrian Army pose for the photographer as they rest in AleppoALEPPO, Syria (Reuters) - The fighter jet banked sharply over the city and made a run at around 300 feet over the two-storey houses of Aleppo, a deep grinding sounding from its cannon as it unloaded onto home turf. A fuel tanker exploded and pumped fire and smoke upwards. Local people - for despite the conflict, Syria's biggest city is still full of life - flurried to the side of the dirty roads. Visible above the breeze-block homes, a helicopter gunship hovered. A lone teenager ran out and, in a bizarre display of audacity, fired at it with a Kalashnikov assault rifle. ...

Exclusive: China president-in-waiting signals quicker reform - sources

Posted: 07 Sep 2012 12:57 AM PDT

Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping arrives for the opening ceremony of the World Peace Forum held in BeijingBEIJING (Reuters) - China's president-in-waiting, Xi Jinping, has said the ruling Communist Party must embrace reform with fresh vigor to stave off social and economic malaise, sources said, citing accounts of comments he made at a meeting with a party reformer. Xi met the prominent reformer, Hu Deping, in the past six weeks, the sources said, in a gesture intended to show he was listening to voices calling for not only faster economic liberalization but also a relaxation of political controls. ...

U.S. cargo ship captain arrested, vessel detained in Venezuela

Posted: 07 Sep 2012 12:22 AM PDT

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan authorities have arrested the American captain of a U.S.-flagged cargo ship after finding three rifles on board, according to a crew member of the vessel and a U.S. embassy official. Local officials, the crew member said, suspect the vessel of arms trafficking and on Wednesday held crew members, under armed guard, at the rear of the ship while other officials interrogated the captain. The captain, the crew member added, was then arrested and taken from the ship. ...

U.S. to blacklist Haqqani network: New York Times

Posted: 07 Sep 2012 12:40 AM PDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States is preparing to designate the Pakistan-based Haqqani network as a terrorist group as early as Friday, the New York Times said on its website. The Haqqanis, a Pashtun tribe with strongholds in southeastern Afghanistan and across the border in Pakistan, have been blamed for an attack on the U.S. Embassy in Kabul and other high-profile assaults in Afghanistan. In June, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said the United States was reaching the limits of its patience with Pakistan because of the safe havens that groups like the Haqqanis found there. ...

Japan to boost isle defense capability despite cuts

Posted: 07 Sep 2012 12:03 AM PDT

A group of disputed islands known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China is seen from the city government of Tokyo's survey vessel in the East China SeaTOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's defense budget will post the biggest drop in more than half a century next year but Tokyo will make new investments in equipment to help defend remote islands, the defense ministry said on Friday. The focus on defense of remote islands comes as Japan's ties with neighboring China and South Korea have deteriorated sharply over competing sovereignty claims for tiny islets in the seas between them. The ministry said it requested 4.57 trillion yen ($58 billion) in budget appropriations for the year starting next April 1, down 1.7 percent from the current year. ...

Hong Kong goes to polls with many fuming over China influence

Posted: 06 Sep 2012 09:54 PM PDT

Retired teacher James Hon Lin-shan, who has been on a hunger strike for 112 hours, rests inside a tent during a demonstration against the launch of national education outside government headquarters in Hong KongHONG KONG (Reuters) - A wave of protests in Hong Kong ahead of elections is posing a major test for the city's new leader as the prospect of voter discontent threatens to shake up the political landscape in retaliation against perceived meddling by Beijing. This time round, Hong Kong's legislature will have a more democratic flavor - it has been expanded from 60 to 70 seats, with just over half of them to be directly elected in Sunday's polls. ...

Eleven killed in fresh violence over land in Kenya

Posted: 07 Sep 2012 12:53 AM PDT

MOMBASA, Kenya (Reuters) - Armed raiders set fire to houses and killed at least 11 villagers in Kenya's Coastal region, a local elder and the Red Cross said on Friday, in an apparent revenge attack that is part of a long-running dispute over grazing land and water. The assailants targeted a village in the Tana Delta inhabited by Pokomo farmers late on Thursday, less than three weeks after 100 Pokomo tribesmen armed with spears and machetes attacked an Orma settlement and killed more than 50 people. "The attack happened last night. ...

U.S. congressman confirms high-level U.S.-Israel spat over Iran

Posted: 06 Sep 2012 07:25 PM PDT

Israel's Prime Minister Netanyahu attends the weekly cabinet meeting in JerusalemWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blew up at the U.S. ambassador last month because he was "at wits' end" over what he sees as the Obama administration's lack of clarity on Iran's nuclear program, a U.S. congressman who was at the meeting said. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, a Republican, made his first public comments about the late August meeting in Israel in an interview with Michigan's WJR radio on Tuesday. ...

Merkel braves Bavaria beer tent to pitch euro message

Posted: 06 Sep 2012 10:59 PM PDT

German Chancellor Angela Merkel gestures during a joint news conference with Spain's Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy at Moncloa Palace in MadridABENSBERG, Germany (Reuters) - With three hours of drinking behind them when Angela Merkel entered the sweltering beer tent, the 3,000 Bavarians crammed around long wooden tables gave the German chancellor a warm and rowdy welcome. After taking the politician's obligatory swig, Merkel launched into her address, extolling traditional values close to Bavarian hearts and praising the predominantly Catholic state's exemplary "laptop and lederhosen" economy. ...

Japan risks angering both sides with energy mix plan

Posted: 06 Sep 2012 11:42 PM PDT

TOKYO (Reuters) - Efforts by Japan's government to craft an energy mix that will respond to growing anti-nuclear sentiment among voters after the Fukushima crisis without alienating powerful pro-atomic energy interests look in danger of satisfying neither side. The government is expected to announce as early as Monday an energy portfolio plan to replace a 2010 program that had called for boosting nuclear power's share of electricity supply to more than half from nearly 30 percent before the crisis. ...

French direct aid a dubious break for Syria rebels

Posted: 07 Sep 2012 12:37 AM PDT

Syrian child, Taybah Al-Hajji, 1, whose family fled their home in Aleppo 15 days ago due to Syrian government shelling, sits next to her one month old brother Abdulghani, sleeping in a child safety seat covered with a mosquito net, as they take refuge with their family at the Bab Al-Salameh border crossing, in hopes of entering one of the refugee camps in Turkey, near the Syrian town of Azaz, Thursday, Sept. 6, 2012. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen)France's decision to send direct aid to Syria's opposition represents a break for the rebels after months of Western hesitation over fears that costly equipment intended for Syria's opposition could get lost or fall into the wrong hands. But even the French action, rebels and activists say, amounts to so little that it's all but useless.

Italy, NATO search for migrants in Mediterranean

Posted: 06 Sep 2012 11:58 PM PDT

Italian and NATO rescue crews searched the waters off a small Mediterranean island Friday for passengers of a migrant boat that apparently ran into trouble as it neared Italy. Italian media reported that dozens of people may be missing.

Girl hid under bodies after French Alps slayings

Posted: 06 Sep 2012 04:06 PM PDT

Investigators stand at the camp site where the slain British family were vacationing in Saint Jorioz, near Annecy, Thursday, Sept. 6, 2012. A 4-year-old British girl huddled for eight hours beneath the legs of her slain mother in the back of a car filled with corpses on a remote Alpine road, while French investigators stood nearby, unaware the girl was there. (AP Photo/Lionel Cironneau)For at least eight hours, the 4-year-old girl lay motionless, frightened and alone, hiding under her dead mother's skirt on the floor of a BMW after a killing spree in the French Alps. As the hours ticked by, police peered through the car's windows at the lifeless bodies of her parents and grandmother.

Islamic radicalism hits ancient city of Mombasa

Posted: 06 Sep 2012 10:05 PM PDT

FILE - Kenyan Paramilitary soldiers patrol after clearing the area of Muslim youths who were shouting slogans of 'Allah Akbar', God is Great, after the Friday prayers outside the Musa Mosque in the Majengo suburb of Mombasa Kenya, in this Aug. 31, 2012 file photo. On Monday, gunmen shot to death Sheik Aboud Rogo Mohammed, who authorities allege was member of the al-Qaida affiliated Somali militant group, al-Shabab. Riots in the aftermath of the killing left at least four people dead, wounded several others and caused damage to some properties, including three churches. The Inter-Faith Council of Clerics Trust asked Muslim clerics to use Friday prayers to preach peace and to ask the faithful not to protest afterward. (AP Photo/ Sayyid Azim, File)Hardline Muslim clerics. Young people who feel marginalized. Suspicions that police are responsible for the killings and forced disappearances of extremists.

Pakistan evicts Save the Children foreign staff

Posted: 06 Sep 2012 08:41 PM PDT

The Pakistani government has ordered foreign staff members of Save the Children to leave the country, a spokesman for the international aid group said.

Syria's rebels struggle to tame Assad's air power

Posted: 06 Sep 2012 12:05 PM PDT

In this Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2012, photo, Syrian rebel fighter, Abu Muslim, 30, a former librarian, poses for a picture at a house where he and others wait their turn to go and fight against government forces in Aleppo, in Marea on the outskirts of Aleppo city, Syria. Syria's rebels have turned to a new tactic of attacking bases, trying to stop the jets and attack helicopters that have wreaked devastation on their fighters and civilians in the battleground city of Aleppo and the nearby countryside. Abu Muslim became a specialist in rocket-propelled grenades during his military service a decade ago. He said in the tight confines of urban warfare, taking out the regime's older tanks, wasn't a problem.(AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen)Lt. Col. Maan al-Mansour's mission is to capture the Syrian air base where he once served.

ECB unveils aggressive bond plan to save euro

Posted: 06 Sep 2012 01:50 PM PDT

El presidente del Banco Central Europeo, Mario Draghi, ofrece una rueda de prensa el jueves 6 de septiembre de 2012 en la ciudad alemana de Francfort, donde anunció un nuevo programa de compra de bonos entre las 17 naciones de la eurozona para favorecer un disminución en el costo de sus deudas. (Foto AP/Michael Probst)The European Central Bank unveiled its most ambitious plan yet to ease Europe's financial crisis with a plan to buy unlimited amounts of government bonds to help lower borrowing costs for countries struggling to manage their debts.

Syrian troops take town on refugee flight route

Posted: 06 Sep 2012 11:16 AM PDT

Newly-arrived Syrian refugee families receive food from the Jordanian military after they crossed the border from Tal Shehab city in Syria, through the Al Yarmouk River valley, into Thnebeh town, in Ramtha , Jordan, Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2012. 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. That exodus sharply increased the number of Syrians now living in neighboring countries, bringing the total number of refugees to 234,368 in the past 17 months, the agency said. (AP Photo / Mohammad Hannon)After hours of heavy shelling, Syrian troops recaptured a border town Thursday in what activists said was a government attempt to stem the flood of people fleeing their country's civil war.

Japan utility: No money to develop renewables

Posted: 06 Sep 2012 08:19 PM PDT

Tokyo Electric Power Co., President Naomi Hirose listens during an interview with The Associated Press in Tokyo, Thursday, Sept. 6, 2012. The head of Japan's utility that owns the tsunami-hit Fukushima nuclear power plant said his company has no money to develop alternative energy even as the government moves to reduce nuclear energy following the crisis. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)The head of the Japanese utility that owns the tsunami-hit Fukushima nuclear power plant says last year's meltdowns sapped away money it might have used to switch to alternative energy, making it all the more important for the company to stick with nuclear.

Colombia: No to FARC proposal for peace talk truce

Posted: 06 Sep 2012 11:05 PM PDT

Mauricio Jaramillo, a spokesman and top leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, second from left, talks with FARC member Andres Paris during a press conference in Havana, Cuba, Thursday, Sept. 6, 2012. Colombia's main leftist rebel group announced two of its negotiators on Thursday for October peace talks in Norway, and said it hopes a high-ranking guerrilla imprisoned in the United States also can take part. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)Their peace talks don't begin until next month, and the Colombian government and the country's main leftist rebel movement already have run into differences.
Posted by Harshad at 1:28 AM

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