Sunday, September 9, 2012

Wave of blasts kill 24 in Iraq, French consulate hit

Wave of blasts kill 24 in Iraq, French consulate hit

Wave of blasts kill 24 in Iraq, French consulate hit

Posted: 09 Sep 2012 12:14 AM PDT

Security personnel inspect the site of a bomb attack in Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of BaghdadBAGHDAD (Reuters) - At least 24 people were killed in 10 blasts across Iraq on Sunday, including a car bomb outside a French consular building. Sunni insurgents and al Qaeda have launched a series of major attacks this year in an attempt to stoke the kind of political and sectarian tensions that drove the country to near civil war in 2006-2007. The most serious attack happened overnight in Dujail, 50 km (30 miles) north of Baghdad, when gunmen and a suicide bomber driving a car attacked a military base, killing 11 soldiers and injuring seven, police sources said. ...

Rescuers told to keep at it after China quake kills 80

Posted: 08 Sep 2012 11:58 PM PDT

A injured survivor adjusts his bandages in front of tents in Luozehe town after two earthquakes hit YiliangGUOHUI, China (Reuters) - Rescuers in southwestern China tried on Saturday to reach remote communities rocked by earthquakes that killed at least 80 people and damaged thousands of buildings, state media reported. Shallow 5.6 magnitude quakes struck an impoverished, mountainous part of the country with poor infrastructure and communications on Friday and the death toll could rise as news trickles in from cut-off areas, the Xinhua news agency said. The quakes cut off electricity and triggered landslides that blocked roads, hampering rescue efforts. ...

Hong Kong votes after U-turn on China education plan

Posted: 08 Sep 2012 08:14 PM PDT

Passer-by walks past election campaign banners in Hong Kong(Reuters) - Hong Kong residents voted for a new legislature on Sunday, a day after the territory's Beijing-backed leader backed down on a plan to introduce a compulsory Chinese school curriculum after tens of thousands of people took to the streets. Some 3.4 million of the city's seven million people are eligible to directly elect just over half the seats in the 70-seat legislative council at a time when anger over perceived Chinese influence in the former British colony is growing. ...

Japan, China leaders meet after tension over islands

Posted: 09 Sep 2012 01:13 AM PDT

Japan's Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda attends at a news conference at his official residence in TokyoTOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and Chinese President Hu Jintao met briefly on Sunday after weeks of tension over a territorial dispute, with Japan calling for the neighbours to deepen mutually beneficial relations, Japanese media said. The two met for 15 minutes on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Vladivostok. ...

Thousands of Greeks protest against new round of austerity cuts

Posted: 08 Sep 2012 01:17 PM PDT

Protesters from the communist-affiliated trade union PAME shout slogans during a rally in the city of ThessalonikiTHESSALONIKI, Greece (Reuters) - Thousands of Greeks marched at an annual fair in Greece's second-biggest city on Saturday to protest against a new round of wage and pension cuts demanded by international lenders in exchange for aid to stave off bankruptcy. The demonstration by about 15,000 trade unionists and leftists was the first major protest against a nearly 12-billion-euro austerity package being readied by Prime Minister Antonis Samaras to appease EU and IMF inspectors who arrived in Athens on Friday to review Greece's reform progress. ...

French hostages kidnapped in Niger by al Qaeda appear in video

Posted: 08 Sep 2012 12:42 PM PDT

PARIS (Reuters) - Four French men kidnapped by al Qaeda militants in northern Niger almost two years ago appeared in a video on Saturday appealing to French President Francois Hollande and their employers to continue negotiations to secure their release. The seven-minute video, posted on a Mauritanian news website, shows the four men - Pierre Legrand, Daniel Larribe, Thierry Dole and Marc Ferret - looking healthy and kneeling in a desert setting with armed men in traditional Bedouin clothing and turbans standing over them carrying kalashnikov rifles. ...

Egypt, Israel coordinating on Sinai security sweep: army

Posted: 08 Sep 2012 09:03 AM PDT

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt and Israel are coordinating on Cairo's biggest security sweep in decades against militants in Sinai, in which 32 people have been killed, an army spokesman said on Saturday, the first clear statement on communication between the neighbors. Israel fears Islamist militants, possibly linked to al Qaeda, have gained a foothold in the Sinai border area since the overthrow last year of President Hosni Mubarak. ...

Yemen army kills four suspected Islamist militants

Posted: 08 Sep 2012 12:49 PM PDT

ADEN (Reuters) - Four suspected Islamist militants have been killed in a gunfight with Yemen's army and allied tribal fighters in the impoverished country's turbulent south, which has become al Qaeda's most formidable base, a local official said on Saturday. Up to 50 militant fighters were battling government forces and their tribal allies in mountains near the town of Jaar, which the army recaptured in June after a 15 month occupation by Ansar al-Sharia. ...

APEC vows to fend off euro woes, boost finances

Posted: 09 Sep 2012 12:17 AM PDT

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton reacts as she meets fellow leaders for the group photo on the final day of the APEC summit in Vladivostok, Russia, Sunday, Sept. 9, 2012. (AP Photo/Mikhail Metzel)Pacific Rim leaders pledged Sunday to fend off the deepening damage from the European crisis and revive flagging growth in the region by supporting open trade, reforming their economies and strengthening public finances.

Adopting Daniel: US couple tests new Guatemala law

Posted: 09 Sep 2012 12:08 AM PDT

In this Thursday, Sept. 6, 2012 photo, Judy Russell, left, plays with grandchildren Ellyson, center, and Daniel in Guatemala City. Daniel was 18 months old when Russell's daughter, Jessica Hooker and her husband Ryan began the process to adopt him in Guatemala. They just got him at age 6. His is one of hundreds of adoption cases that were put in limbo five years ago, when the Guatemalan government declared a moratorium on international adoptions because of irregularities and fraud. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)It should have been good news.

Survivors of China twin quakes await supplies

Posted: 09 Sep 2012 12:11 AM PDT

A woman brings the children evacuate from an earthquake hit Luozehe town in Yiliang county in southwest China's Yunnan province Saturday, Sept. 8, 2012. Authorities poured aid into a remote mountainous area of southwestern China and rescue workers with sniffer dogs searched for survivors Saturday after twin earthquakes killed at least 80 people. (AP Photo) CHINA OUTSurvivors of two earthquakes that killed at least 81 people in a rural mountainous area of southwest China were desperately waiting for more aid to arrive Sunday as jolting aftershocks kept fears high and hindered rescue efforts.

Dutch vote to test EU popularity in tough times

Posted: 09 Sep 2012 12:38 AM PDT

A poster of left-wing Socialist Party leader Emile Roemer, rear, is seen as Dutch Prime Minister and Liberal Party leader Mark Rutte, center, campaigns four days ahead of the national elections, in Dordrecht, south-western Netherlands, Saturday, Sept. 8, 2012. With the debt crisis plunging the European Union into the darkest days of its history, many commentators are wondering whether Wednesday's Dutch elections will radically transform their relationship with the EU, one of the nations that forged unity from the ashes of World War II. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)The Netherlands has long been a source of inspiration for closer European integration — and a bellwether of European discontent.

Bombing in Iraq kills 7 police recruits

Posted: 09 Sep 2012 12:35 AM PDT

A car bomb struck a group of police recruits waiting to apply for jobs in a northern Iraqi city on Sunday, killing seven and wounding 17, a senior police commander said.

Suicide bomb kills 6 near NATO gate in Afghanistan

Posted: 08 Sep 2012 12:20 PM PDT

A member of the Afghan security forces stands guard at the scene of suicide bombing in Kabul Afghanistan, Saturday, 8, 2012. Afghan authorities say a suicide bomber has blown himself up near NATO headquarters in Kabul, killing at least 6 people (AP Photo/Ahmad Jamshid)A suicide bomber struck at the heart of NATO's operation in Kabul on Saturday, killing at least six Afghan civilians in an attack that officials blamed on the Haqqani network — a militant group the U.S. has designated a terrorist organization.

US group hails release of pastor in Iran

Posted: 09 Sep 2012 12:51 AM PDT

A U.S. group monitoring religious freedoms has hailed the release of a Christian pastor after nearly three years in custody in Iran.

Storm churns northward, likely to slip by Bermuda

Posted: 08 Sep 2012 10:59 PM PDT

This NOAA satellite image taken Saturday, Sept. 8, 2012 at 10:45 AM EDT shows Tropical Storm Leslie moving Northward in the central Atlantic ocean and Hurricane Michael moving Northwest in the eastern Atlantic ocean. Leslie has maximum winds of 65 mph and is expected to bring tropical storm conditions to Bermuda by Sunday morning. Michael is currently a Category 2 Hurricane with maximum winds at 105 mph. This small yet strong storm is expected to slowly weaken over the next two days. (AP Photo/Weather Underground)Tropical Storm Leslie churned northward early Sunday on a path expected to take it to the east of Bermuda, possibly as a weak hurricane.

Sleepy Taiwan isles face dicey $2 billion makeover

Posted: 09 Sep 2012 01:04 AM PDT

In this Aug. 20, 2012 photo, from the 220-meter (670 feet) summit of Mt. Bi, visitors look down on the airport's single runway jutting out into into the sea on Beigan in the Matsu island group, off northern Taiwan. In early July some 3,000 Matsu residents voted 57 to 43 to permit casino gambling. Their votes were clearly influenced by the promises of not only a casino, but also a tourist resort, expanded airport, roadway infrastructure, a university, and perhaps most alluring of all, a monthly payment of 80,000 New Taiwan dollars ($2,666) for every resident. (AP Photo/Wally Santana)Cheng Yu-lan, an elfin-looking woman of 55, surveys the terraced courtyard outside her deserted Matsu tea shop and considers the $2 billion bonanza about to wash over the offshore Taiwanese archipelago — a bonanza that seems set to change the lives of its 7,000 people beyond all recognition.

Captive US soldier safe, says Haqqani commander

Posted: 08 Sep 2012 12:24 PM PDT

FILE - This file image provided by IntelCenter on Wednesday Dec. 8, 2010 shows a framegrab from a video released by the Taliban containing footage of a man believed to be Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, left. A U.S. soldier held by Afghan militants will not be harmed, a senior member of the Pakistan-based Haqqani network told The Associated Press on Saturday, Sept. 8, 2012. However, the United States and NATO can expect stepped up attacks as a result of the Obama administration's decision to declare the network of fighters a terrorist body, he said. He denied an earlier report that the only U.S. prisoner of war, Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl would be harmed as a result of the administration's decision.(AP Photo/IntelCenter, File) MANDATORY CREDIT: INTELCENTER; NO SALES; EDS NOTE: "INTELCENTER" AT LEFT TOP CORNER ADDED BY SOURCEA U.S. soldier held by Afghan militants will not be harmed despite the Obama administration's decision to declare his alleged captors a terrorist group, a senior member of the Pakistan-based Haqqani network told The Associated Press on Saturday. However, the United States and NATO can expect stepped up attacks, he said.
Posted by Harshad at 1:36 AM

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