Sunday, September 23, 2012

Libyan Islamist militia swept out of bases

Libyan Islamist militia swept out of bases

Libyan Islamist militia swept out of bases

Posted: 22 Sep 2012 05:36 PM PDT

A car burns after it was set on fire by demonstrators who attacked the base of the Rafalla al-Sihati brigade, part of the Libyan army, in Benghazi cityBENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) - The two main Islamist militias in Derna, a city in eastern Libya known as an Islamist stronghold, withdrew from their five bases on Saturday and announced they were disbanding, residents said, a day after a militia was driven out of Benghazi. The Abu Slim and Ansar al-Sharia militias' announcements were apparently motivated by events in Benghazi, where Ansar al-Sharia, a group linked with last week's deadly attack on the U.S. consulate, withdrew from all its bases in the city late on Friday amid mass demonstrations in support of the government. ...

Pakistani bounty placed on anti-Islam filmmaker

Posted: 23 Sep 2012 01:16 AM PDT

A girl attends an anti-U.S. demonstration with religious students in the compound of the Red Mosque in IslamabadPESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - A Pakistani minister offered $100,000 on Saturday to anyone who kills the maker of an online video which insults Islam, as sporadic protests rumbled on across parts of the Muslim world. "I announce today that this blasphemer, this sinner who has spoken nonsense about the holy Prophet, anyone who murders him, I will reward him with $100,000," Railways Minister Ghulam Ahmad Bilour told a news conference, to applause. "I invite the Taliban brothers and the al Qaeda brothers to join me in this blessed mission. ...

Egypt's Mursi says Iran is vital to ending Syria's crisis

Posted: 22 Sep 2012 05:56 PM PDT

Egypt's President Mohamed Mursi answers reporters' questions after meeting European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso in BrusselsCAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's Islamist President said on Saturday that having a strong relationship with Iran is important for Egypt at this time to be able to work out a way to end the bloodshed in Syria. Speaking in a televised interview, his first to state TV since his election last June, President Mohamed Mursi described Iran as "a main player in the region that could have an active and supportive role in solving the Syrian problem. ...

Daughter of former Iranian president Rafsanjani taken to prison

Posted: 23 Sep 2012 01:12 AM PDT

Faezeh Rafsanjani attends a protest at the Ghoba mosque in northern TehranDUBAI (Reuters) - The daughter of influential former Iranian president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani was taken to prison late on Saturday to serve a six-month sentence for "spreading anti-state propaganda," Iranian media reported. Faezeh Rafsanjani, a former member of parliament, was convicted in January and sentenced to jail. The conviction is believed to be over an interview she gave to an opposition news site in which she criticised human rights violations and economic policy in Iran. ...

"Ghetto Chavez" and the battle for Venezuela's youth vote

Posted: 22 Sep 2012 10:31 PM PDT

People hang a poster depicting Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez as a rap singer during a boxing tournament at a slum in Los TequesCARACAS (Reuters) - In Venezuela's biggest slum, a graffiti artist stencils a painting of President Hugo Chavez dunking a basketball. Another has him rapping to hip-hop music, and another doing a wheelie on a motorcycle. "Chavez el mio" ("My Chavez") reads a slogan on one of the series of striking campaign images ahead of the October 7 election. It is a new look for the 58-year-old president, who is seeking another six-year term in a tight race despite undergoing cancer surgery three times since June 2011. ...

Egypt jihadi groups say behind deadly Israeli border attack

Posted: 23 Sep 2012 01:45 AM PDT

ISMAILIA, Egypt (Reuters) - An Islamist militant group based in Egypt's Sinai has claimed reponsibility for a cross-border attack that killed an Israeli soldier in the restive peninsula where jihadi groups have gained a foothold. Three gunmen were also killed in Friday's attack, which the group Ansar Bayt al-Maqdes said was in response to an anti-Islam film that has sparked worldwide protests and violence. A second Israeli soldier was wounded in the attack. ...

Free Syrian Army rebel leaders move from Turkey to Syria

Posted: 23 Sep 2012 01:14 AM PDT

A member of the Free Syrian Army uses a pair of binoculars and a mirror to peek at a government checkpoint, in AleppoBEIRUT (Reuters) - The rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) has moved its leadership for the first time from Turkey to parts of Syria that are now controlled by rebels, the group's commander-in-chief said on Saturday. The FSA has been based in Turkey for more than a year as fighters have struggled to battle forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad. Although rebels now control large swathes of Syria, they face air and artillery attack from Assad's forces. ...

Ex-CIA man Edwin Wilson, jailed for selling arms to Libya, dies

Posted: 22 Sep 2012 07:55 PM PDT

(Reuters) - Former CIA operative Edwin P. Wilson, who was found guilty in 1983 of selling arms to Libya but released from prison in 2004 after a judge threw out the conviction, has died at age 84, a funeral home director said on Saturday. When Wilson was sent to prison, his was the biggest arms-dealing case in U.S. history. Wilson died on September 10 of complications from heart valve replacement surgery, said Craig Emmick, director at Columbia Funeral Home and Crematory in Seattle. ...

Sudan, South Sudan leaders meet to discuss border security, oil deal

Posted: 23 Sep 2012 01:43 AM PDT

President Bashir attends an annual Ramadan break fast event in KhartoumADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Leaders from Sudan and South Sudan will meet on Sunday for the first time in a year to try to agree on border security so that South Sudan can start exporting oil again, a lifeline for both economies. Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir and South Sudan's Salva Kiir will wrap up two weeks of negotiations in Ethiopia where the African Union (AU) has been mediating to try to end fighting along the 1,800-kilometre (1,200-mile) border. The two countries must reach a comprehensive peace deal this weekend or risk incurring U.N. Security Council sanctions. ...

Top China official visits Afghanistan, signs security deal

Posted: 23 Sep 2012 12:11 AM PDT

KABUL (Reuters) - China has signed security and economic agreements with Afghanistan during a rare trip to Kabul by a top Chinese official, in deals seen aimed at bolstering Beijing's influence ahead of a NATO withdrawal of most combat forces by 2014. Zhou Yongkang, China's domestic security chief and a member of the ruling Communist Party's central Politburo, made an unannounced visit to the Afghan capital late on Saturday, holding talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai at his garden palace. ...

AP Exclusive: Neglect ruins Marcos' prized shoes

Posted: 23 Sep 2012 01:01 AM PDT

Termites, storms and neglect have damaged part of former Philippine first lady Imelda Marcos' legendary stash of shoes and other vanity possessions, left behind after she and her dictator husband were driven into U.S. exile by a 1986 popular revolt.

Syrian rebels move command from Turkey to Syria

Posted: 22 Sep 2012 08:32 AM PDT

In this Friday, Sept. 21, 2012 photo, a Syrian man looks at his mobile phone in the Bustan al-Qasr neighborhood of Aleppo, Syria. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Friday that nearly 30,000 Syrians have been killed during the 18-month uprising against the Assad regime. (AP Photo/ Manu Brabo)The leaders of the rebel Free Syrian Army said Saturday they moved their command center from Turkey to Syria with the aim of uniting rebels and speeding up the fall of President Bashar Assad's regime.

Indie Lebanese band voices hopes of Arab youth

Posted: 22 Sep 2012 11:40 PM PDT

Hundreds of young Arabs joyfully screamed out obscenities, encouraged by the handsome, gay Lebanese lead singer at the concert in Jordan's capital. Police looked on worriedly. People outside asked what was going on.

Anti-militia protests show frailty of Libyan state

Posted: 22 Sep 2012 02:14 PM PDT

Libyans climb up electricity towers to watch the march against Ansar al-Shariah Brigades and other Islamic militias, 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)Residents of Libya's second-largest city warned on Saturday of a "revolution" to get rid of armed militias and Islamic extremists after protests spurred in part by the killing of the U.S. ambassador left four dead in an unprecedented eruption of public frustration.

Israelis fear PM is meddling in US politics

Posted: 22 Sep 2012 12:18 PM PDT

FILE - In this July 29, 2012 file photo, Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney meets with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem. It is a taboo for Israeli leaders to give even the slightest hint of favoritism in politics in the United States, Israel's closest ally. So some Israelis are squirming over a perception that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is siding with Republican Mitt Romney in the U.S. presidential race, in the belief he would take a harder line on archenemy Iran. That, some fear, is putting Israel's alliance with Washington at risk if Barack Obama wins. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)It is a taboo for Israeli leaders to give even the slightest hint of favoritism in politics in the United States, Israel's closest ally. So some Israelis are squirming over a perception that their prime minister is siding with Republican Mitt Romney in the U.S. presidential race, in the belief he will take a harder line on archenemy Iran if elected.

Israel FM says no changes to Egypt peace deal

Posted: 23 Sep 2012 12:19 AM PDT

Israel's foreign minister says his country will not agree to reevaluate its peace deal with Egypt amid growing insecurity along the states' shared border.

Belarus holds elections boycotted by opposition

Posted: 22 Sep 2012 11:16 PM PDT

Election commission official carries ballot box at a polling station on the day before elections in Minsk, Belarus, Saturday, Sept. 22, 2012. Belarus will hold a parliamentary elections on Sunday, but most power will remain in the hands of authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)Belarus is holding parliamentary elections Sunday without the main opposition parties, which boycotted the vote to protest the detention of political prisoners and opportunities for election fraud.

Iran detains centrist ex-president's daughter

Posted: 22 Sep 2012 10:30 PM PDT

Iran's official news agency says authorities have detained the daughter of influential ex-president and political centrist Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.

China likely to show leniency to ex-police chief

Posted: 23 Sep 2012 12:57 AM PDT

FILE - In this Oct. 21, 2008 file photo, then Chonqing city police chief Wang Lijun speaks during a press conference in Chongqing, southwestern China. Wang, the ex-police chief at the center of China's seamy political scandal asked U.S. diplomats for asylum after he covered up a murder for the wife of the Communist Party boss but then grew estranged and feared for his life, the Chinese government said Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2012. (AP Photo, File) CHINA OUTThe sentencing of a former police chief who exposed a murder by a Chinese politician's wife is the latest sign that after months of divisive infighting, China's leadership is tying off a seamy political scandal to move ahead with a generational handover of power.

Facebook party turns to rioting in Netherlands

Posted: 22 Sep 2012 05:05 AM PDT

Thousands of revelers descended on a small Dutch town sparking a riot after a party invitation posted on Facebook went viral, authorities said Saturday.
Posted by Harshad at 2:11 AM

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