Saturday, September 22, 2012

Libyan Islamist militia swept out of Benghazi bases

Libyan Islamist militia swept out of Benghazi bases

Libyan Islamist militia swept out of Benghazi bases

Posted: 22 Sep 2012 01:09 AM PDT

Army members talk as they check an armed militia base they stormed with pro-government demonstrators in BenghaziBENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) - A Libyan Islamist militia was swept out of the eastern city of Benghazi in a popular protest against the armed groups that ran into the early hours of Saturday morning, Reuters witnesses said. At least one person was killed and 20 wounded, a hospital source said, as militias tried to fight the demonstrators from a heavily fortified base. Gunfire could be heard in the area before the fighters were forced out. ...

Iraq blocks Syria-bound North Korean plane, suspects weapons cargo

Posted: 21 Sep 2012 02:02 PM PDT

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq said on Friday it has denied permission to a North Korean plane bound for Syria to pass through Iraqi airspace on suspicion it could be carrying weapons, and the United States stressed the need to prevent any such arms transfers. Iraq has also denied a Western intelligence report that Iranian aircraft had flown weapons and military personnel over Iraqi airspace to help Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in his 18-month-old fight against rebels seeking to end his rule. U.S. ...

Philippines close to landmark peace deal in rebel south

Posted: 22 Sep 2012 12:58 AM PDT

MANILA/KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - The Philippine government and Muslim rebels are closing in on a peace deal after nearly 15 years of violence-interrupted talks, a potential landmark success for President Benigno Aquino that could pave the way for more investment in the country's impoverished but resource-rich south. Negotiators from both sides told Reuters that the major obstacles to a framework deal being signed this year appear to have been surmounted after a period of intense diplomacy. ...

France bans protests over Prophet Mohammad cartoons

Posted: 21 Sep 2012 10:50 AM PDT

French police cars are parked in front of satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo offices in ParisPARIS (Reuters) - France banned protests on Friday against cartoons published by a satirical weekly denigrating Islam's Prophet Mohammad as part of a security clamp-down while prayers took place across the Muslim world. The country's Muslim population, drawn largely from ex-colonies in North and West Africa, shrugged off the controversy as imams in mosques denounced the pictures but urged their followers to remain calm. The drawings have stoked a furor over an anti-Islam film made in California that has provoked sometimes violent protests in several Muslim countries, including attacks on U.S. ...

Myanmar says not worried Suu Kyi upstaging president on U.S. visit

Posted: 21 Sep 2012 03:20 PM PDT

Suu Kyi, chairperson of Myanmar's National League for Democracy, speaks at joint media conference at the United Nations in New YorkUNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Myanmar's government says it is not worried opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi will upstage the president during their overlapping U.S. visits because they work together for democracy, just as Nelson Mandela did with South Africa's last apartheid-era leader. Aung Min, a minister in President Thein Sein's office, said on Friday that the government was "very proud" of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Suu Kyi, who this week in Washington was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal for her fight for democracy. ...

Syria's neighbors seek extension of U.N. war crimes inquiry

Posted: 21 Sep 2012 09:54 AM PDT

Damaged buildings are seen at Saladin neighbourhood after clashes between Free Syrian Army fighters and forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad in Aleppo cityGENEVA (Reuters) - Arab countries proposed on Friday extending the mandate of U.N. investigators documenting war crimes in Syria and said that more experts were needed for the growing task. A draft resolution submitted to the United Nations Human Rights Council by a group of Arab states, backed by Western powers, calls for the investigations to carry on for the next six months. The U.N. body launched the commission in August 2011 after a majority of member states out-voted four countries that opposed it, including Russia and China. ...

Exclusive: Ukraine trade demand shocks global partners

Posted: 21 Sep 2012 10:51 AM PDT

A Ukrainian border guard waits vehicles at a checkpoint in Shegyni, at the Ukrainian-Polish borderGENEVA (Reuters) - Ukraine has told its trading partners it wants to raise maximum tariffs on hundreds of imported goods, a move that could unleash protectionist forces and may even pose a threat to the $18 trillion global trade system. In a document marked "secret" sent to members of the World Trade Organisation last week and seen by Reuters, Ukraine says it intends to raise the limit on the tariffs it can legally impose on more than 350 goods. Based on figures in the proposal, Kiev's plan would hit overall imports worth more than $4.6 billion in 2011. ...

Suspect in Mekong massacre pleads guilty in Chinese court

Posted: 21 Sep 2012 10:59 PM PDT

BEIJING (Reuters) - A Burmese drug runner and five members of his gang have pleaded guilty in a Chinese court to murdering 13 Chinese sailors on the Mekong River, state media said, in a case that has marked China's growing law enforcement role beyond its borders. Naw Kham was extradited to China by Laos officials in May, the chief suspect in the killings of Chinese boat crews last year in the "Golden Triangle" region known for drug smuggling where the borders of Laos, Myanmar and Thailand meet. ...

Portugal government gives up on levy, to mull alternatives

Posted: 21 Sep 2012 07:15 PM PDT

Portugal's PM Coelho speaks as he is flanked by Finance Minister Gaspar and Foreign Affairs Minister Portas during a debate in parliament in LisbonLISBON (Reuters) - In an about-face, Portugal's government has agreed to negotiate alternative solutions to a social security tax hike that sparked the worst backlash to austerity since last year's EU/IMF bailout, an official statement said on Saturday. After an eight-hour meeting of the presidential state council that was besieged by protesters and ended long after midnight on Saturday, the council said the negotiations would now proceed between the government, unions and employers. ...

Libyans storm militia in backlash of attack on US

Posted: 21 Sep 2012 07:13 PM PDT

Libyan civilians watch fires in Ansar al-Shariah Brigades compound, after hundreds of Libyans, Libyan Military, and Police raided the Brigades base, in Benghazi, Libya, Friday, Sept. 21, 2012. The recent attack that killed the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans has sparked a backlash among frustrated Libyans against the heavily armed gunmen, including Islamic extremists, who run rampant in their cities. More than 10,000 people poured into a main boulevard of Benghazi, demanding that militias disband as the public tries to do what Libya's weak central government has been unable to. (AP photo/Mohammad Hannon)Hundreds of protesters angry over last week's killing of the U.S. ambassador to Libya stormed the compound of the Islamic extremist militia suspected in the attack, evicting militiamen and setting fire to their building Friday.

Drones capture mountain scenery in Pakistan

Posted: 21 Sep 2012 11:58 PM PDT

In this July 2012 photo taken from a camera mounted to a remote-controlled helicopter and provided by Remo Massima, Peter Ortner, Corey Rich and David Lama stand atop the Trango Summit in northern Pakistan's Karakoram mountain range. Drones have long been the domain of the U.S. military, which uses them extensively in Pakistan's tribal areas near the Afghanistan border to spy on and target threats to the United States. Recently, however, civilians have increasingly turned to drones to shoot ground-breaking footage or angles of adventure sports. (AP Photo/Remo Massima)The use of drones in Pakistan normally brings to mind images of U.S. spy planes attacking tribal areas. But drones now are being used to capture a different kind of picture in the country — showing some of the world's highest mountains being scaled by world-class climbers through some of Earth's thinnest air.

Argentines enjoy nearly the most paid holidays

Posted: 21 Sep 2012 11:41 PM PDT

Tourists play on a mountain in San Carlos de Bariloche, Argentina, Friday, Sept. 21, 2012. Thousands of Argentines began enjoying Friday to make the most of the long weekend, which lawmakers approved just three weeks ago. Monday's Sept. 24th holiday makes for a total of 19 national paid holidays this year. Only Colombia comes close in Latin America, with 18. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)Oh, how lovely it is this weekend to be Argentine — able to take a mini-vacation to the mountains or the sea, or simply relax at home for three days, blissfully enjoying yet another new government benefit: More paid national holidays this year than nearly every other country in the world.

Pakistan hit by deadly riots over anti-Muslim film

Posted: 21 Sep 2012 01:45 PM PDT

A Pakistani protester tosses a tear gas canister back at police behind containers blocking the road to the diplomatic enclave in Islamabad, Pakistan, Friday, Sept. 21, 2012. Pakistani police opened fire on rioters who were torching a cinema during a protest against an anti-Islam film Friday, and security forces clashed with demonstrators in several other cities in Pakistan on a holiday declared by the government so people could rally against the video. Thousands of people protested in several other countries, some of them burning American flags and effigies of President Barack Obama. (AP Photo/B.K. Bangash)Pakistan's "Day of Love for the Prophet" turned into a deadly day of gunfire, tear gas and arson.

Iraq bars Syria-bound plane with suspected arms

Posted: 21 Sep 2012 01:16 PM PDT

In this Thursday, Sept. 20, 2012 photo, a worker moves bodies near Dar Al Shifa hospital in Aleppo, Syria. Dozens of Syrian civilians were killed on Thursday, four children among them, in artillery shelling by government forces in the northern Syrian town of Aleppo. (AP Photo/Manu Brabo)Iraq prevented a North Korean plane from entering its airspace on suspicion it was carrying weapons for Syria, prompting praise from the U.S. on Friday but also demands for a ban of Iranian aircraft with similar suspect cargo.

Border shootout kills Israeli soldier, 3 militants

Posted: 21 Sep 2012 10:21 AM PDT

An injured Israeli soldier is wheeled into Soroka hospital in the southern town of Beersheva, Israel, Friday, Sept 21, 2012, following an exchange of fire with militants along Israel's southern border with Egypt. Military spokeswoman Lt. Col. Avital Leibovich says the militants were armed with weapons and were wearing explosive belts and flak jackets. She said they opened fire on Friday on Israeli troops guarding a team of workers building a border fence between Israel and Egypt's Sinai desert. The Israeli troops returned fire, killing the militants.(AP Photo/Yehuda Lahiyani) ISRAEL OUTA shootout along the Israel-Egypt border on Friday, in which three Islamic militants and an Israeli soldier were killed, highlighted the growing threat posed by al-Qaida-inspired groups that have taken hold in the vast desert of the Sinai Peninsula.

Disfigured Spain fresco rides global fame

Posted: 21 Sep 2012 12:32 PM PDT

File - In this combination of two undated handout photos made available by the Centro de Estudios Borjanos, the 20th century Ecce Homo-style fresco of Christ , left and the 'restored' version, at right. Only a month has gone by since an 80-year-old artist won global infamy for botching a restoration of a fresco of Christ in a little-known Spanish town, but it took even less time for Internet entrepreneurs to start copying her image compared to a monkey's head to sell everything from T-shirts to cellphone covers and wine. Now a mortified Cecilia Gimenez has lawyers researching her intellectual property rights, and could demand a cut of profits to benefit charity for her amazingly popular disfiguration of the fresco from the genre known as The image appears on T-shirts and cellphone covers, coffee mugs and wine labels. And the 80-year-old pensioner who just weeks ago was mortified by the global stir she created with her botched restoration of a fresco of Christ is now looking to get a piece of the action.

US releases names of 55 Guantanamo detainees

Posted: 21 Sep 2012 03:51 PM PDT

The U.S. Justice Department on Friday made public the names of 55 Guantanamo prisoners who have been approved for transfer to the custody of other countries, releasing information sought by human rights organizations.

Mexico stays on gun probe despite US report

Posted: 21 Sep 2012 08:10 PM PDT

Mexican prosecutors say they will continue investigating the botched-gun smuggling probe known as Operation Fast and Furious even after a U.S. Justice Department internal watchdog report concluded that more than a dozen officials should be disciplined.

Returned Vietnam diary gives son glimpse of father

Posted: 21 Sep 2012 10:47 PM PDT

In this Friday, Sept. 21, 2012 photo, Vu Dinh Son, left, cries as he is given a diary and other mementos of his father by army officer Nguyen Xuan Nang in northern province of Hai Duong, Vietnam. Son was just two-year-old when his father was killed in fighting the American army in its doomed campaign in Vietnam. On Friday, Son was handed the wartime diary written by his father that had been returned by the United States, giving him a fresh glimpses of a man he never knew. The pocket-sized book was originally brought to Vietnam in June by Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, who was handed a bundle of letters written by an American soldier that had been kept in Vietnam in an exchange that symbolized closer ties between the two nations. (AP Photo/Tran Van Minh)Vu Dinh Son was 18 months old when his father left home to fight American forces in Vietnam, and just 2 when the man was killed in a foxhole encounter with U.S. Marines. But the son now has fresh glimpses into the life of the father he never knew thanks to a wartime diary, returned to him courtesy of the United States.
Posted by Harshad at 1:51 AM

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