Sunday, October 7, 2012

Chavez's socialist rule at risk as Venezuelans vote

Chavez's socialist rule at risk as Venezuelans vote

Chavez's socialist rule at risk as Venezuelans vote

Posted: 06 Oct 2012 10:24 PM PDT

A man walks past a campaign sign of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in Caracas(Note: Election law forbids publication of polls in Venezuela for a week before voting) CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelans vote on Sunday with President Hugo Chavez facing the biggest electoral challenge yet to his socialist rule from a young rival tapping into discontent over crime and cronyism. Henrique Capriles, a centrist state governor, edged toward the still popular Chavez in final polls thanks to a vigorous campaign that united the opposition and made him its best chance of ending Chavez's 14-year rule. ...

Man behind anti-Islam film due in L.A. court next week

Posted: 06 Oct 2012 08:33 PM PDT

Nakoula Basseley Nakoula is escorted out of his home by Los Angeles County Sheriff's officers in Cerritos, CaliforniaLOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A California man behind an anti-Islam film that stoked violent protests in the Muslim world is due to appear in a federal court in Los Angeles next week for a preliminary hearing on whether he violated the terms of his probation over a 2010 bank fraud conviction, court papers show. Mark Basseley Youssef, 55, who before went by the name Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, is scheduled to go before U.S. District Judge Christina Snyder on Wednesday, the documents filed on Friday in U.S. District Court show. ...

Philippines, Muslim rebels agree landmark peace deal

Posted: 06 Oct 2012 11:40 PM PDT

Philippine President Aquino shakes hands with Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process, Secretary Quintos-Deles after his speech on national television at the Malacanang palace in ManilaMANILA (Reuters) - The Philippine government and Muslim rebels have agreed a peace deal to end a 40-year conflict that has killed more than 120,000 people, President Benigno Aquino said on Sunday, paving the way for a political and economic revival of the country's troubled south. The agreement sets in train a roadmap to create a new Bangsamoro autonomous region in Muslim-dominated areas of the south of the mainly Roman Catholic country before the end of Aquino's term in 2016. Bangsamoro refers to Muslim and non-Islamic minority people in the southern Philippines. ...

U.S., South Korea agree on longer range ballistic missiles

Posted: 07 Oct 2012 12:57 AM PDT

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea has reached a landmark agreement with the United States to extend the range of Seoul's ballistic missiles by more than twice the current limit to counter the threat from North Korea, the government said on Sunday. The move to significantly boost the South's missile capabilities along with development of advanced aerial reconnaissance vehicles is likely to rattle the communist North, which has remained at odds since the 1950-53 Korean War left the peninsula divided. ...

U.S. court fight starts for radical cleric sent from Britain

Posted: 06 Oct 2012 05:28 PM PDT

Islamist cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri is seen in this courtroom sketch during a court appearance in Manhattan Federal Court in New YorkNEW YORK (Reuters) - One-eyed radical Islamist cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri made his first appearance in federal court in New York on Saturday after Britain extradited him to the United States to face trial and a potential life sentence on terrorism charges. The Egyptian-born Hamza, 54, entered U.S. District Court in Manhattan after being refused the prosthetics - including his signature metal hook - that he wears because of his missing forearms. ...

Israeli air force shoots down drone aircraft

Posted: 06 Oct 2012 12:09 PM PDT

A still image taken from IDF video footage shows what they say is a small unidentified aircraft shot down in a mid-air interception after it crossed into southern IsraelJERUSALEM (Reuters) - The Israeli air force shot down a drone after it crossed into southern Israel on Saturday, the military said, but it remained unclear where the aircraft had come from. The drone was first spotted above the Mediterranean in the area of the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip to the west of Israel, said military spokeswoman Avital Leibovich. It was kept under surveillance and followed by Israeli air force jets before it was shot down above a forest in an unpopulated area near the border with the occupied West Bank. Leibovich said it was shot down at about 10 a.m. ...

South Korea "Baby box" pastor says new law brings more babies

Posted: 06 Oct 2012 11:51 PM PDT

South Korean pastor Lee Jong-rak holds an abandoned baby boy as he prays at Joosarang church in SeoulSEOUL (Reuters) - A South Korean pastor who runs a "baby box" where mothers can leave unwanted infants has seen a sharp increase in the number of newborns being left there because, the pastor says, of a new law aimed at protecting the rights of children. South Korea is trying to shed a reputation of being a source of babies for adoption by people abroad. It is encouraging domestic adoption and tightening up the process of a child's transfer from birth mother to adoptive parents. ...

Egypt's Mursi says falls short of goals, seeks to assuage critics

Posted: 06 Oct 2012 04:05 PM PDT

Egypt's President Mohamed Mursi speaks to the nation at Cairo stadiumCAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi said on Saturday he had fallen short of goals he promised to fulfill in his first 100 days in office, but aimed to assuage critics by highlighting his most prominent achievements. Mursi, who hails from the Muslim Brotherhood, was handed power in June by the army council that ruled Egypt for 16 months following Hosni Mubarak's ouster in a popular uprising in 2011 and after a presidential election. ...

Turkey strikes back at Syria after Erdogan warning

Posted: 06 Oct 2012 01:26 PM PDT

A mobile missile launcher is positioned at a military base on the Turkish-Syrian border at Suruc in Sanliurfa provinceISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey returned fire after Syrian mortar bombs landed in a field in southern Turkey on Saturday, the day after Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan warned Syria that Turkey would not shy away from war if provoked. It was the fourth day of Turkish retaliation for firing by Syrian forces that killed five Turkish civilians on Wednesday. The exchanges are the most serious cross-border violence in Syria's conflict, which began as a democracy uprising but has evolved into a civil war with sectarian overtones. They highlight how the crisis could destabilize the region. ...

U.S., Peru to update 60-year-old defense cooperation accord

Posted: 06 Oct 2012 05:14 PM PDT

U.S. Secretary of Defense Panetta speaks next to New Zealand's Minister of Defence Coleman during news conference in AucklandLIMA (Reuters) - The United States and Peru decided on Saturday to renegotiate a 60-year-old defense cooperation agreement between the two countries as Washington seeks to deepen security ties with Latin America after a decade focused on wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said updating the 1952 bilateral defense agreement with Peru would help the two countries work more closely on issues of mutual concern, from terrorism and drug trafficking to response to natural disasters. ...

Venezuela vote a critical test for divided nation

Posted: 06 Oct 2012 10:09 PM PDT

A defaced election campaign poster of Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez hangs in Caracas, Venezuela, Saturday, Oct. 6, 2012. Venezuelans will head to the polls Sunday to vote in their country's presidential election, deciding on whether to keep Chavez or seek change. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)President Hugo Chavez's long run in power and his attempts to transform Venezuela into a socialist state are on the line Sunday in a closely fought presidential election for this bitterly divided nation.

Philippines, Muslim rebels agree on peace pact

Posted: 06 Oct 2012 10:58 PM PDT

Philippine President Benigno Aquino III delivers a speech on national television at the Malacanang Presidential Palace in Manila, Philippines on Sunday, Oct. 7, 2012. Aquino said Sunday that his government has reached a preliminary peace agreement with the nation's largest Muslim rebel group in a major breakthrough toward ending a decades-long insurgency in the country's south. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)Philippine President Benigno Aquino III said Sunday that his government has reached a preliminary peace agreement with the nation's largest Muslim rebel group in a major breakthrough toward ending a decades-long insurgency in the country's south.

Preserving Egypt's revolutionary graffiti

Posted: 07 Oct 2012 12:23 AM PDT

In this Thursday, Oct. 4, 2012 photo, Egyptian girls walk past a mural inspired by a widely circulated photo of Egyptian police beating and stripping a veiled female protester, on a recently whitewashed wall with Arabic that reads "we will not forget you our lady," in Tahrir Square, Cairo, Egypt. Graffiti has been among the most powerful art forms and tools of Egypt's revolution and the turbulent months since, but it also has proven to be its most vulnerable and ephemeral. So a group of artists, photographers and a publisher joined hands to preserve the images. "Wall Talk" _ their newly released, 680-page book _ collects hundreds of photos of graffiti dating from the Jan. 25, 2011 eruption of the revolt against then-President Hosni Mubarak until today. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser, File)Graffiti has been among the most powerful art forms and tools of Egypt's revolution and the turbulent months since, but it also has proven to be its most vulnerable and ephemeral.

Papal pardon expected for butler after conviction

Posted: 06 Oct 2012 08:25 AM PDT

In this photo released by the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, pope's butler Paolo Gabriele, center, flanked at right by his lawyer Cristiana Arru, leaves the Vatican tribunal, after the verdict, at the Vatican, Saturday, Oct. 6, 2012. The pope's butler was convicted Saturday of stealing the pontiff's private documents and leaking them to a journalist, and was sentenced to 18 months in prison. (AP Photo/L'Osservatore Romano)A painful and damaging chapter in Pope Benedict XVI's papacy closed Saturday with the conviction of his former butler on charges he stole the pontiff's private letters and leaked them to a journalist. But questions remain as to whether anyone else was involved in the plot, and when the pope will pardon his once-trusted aide.

5 terror suspects from UK appear in US courts

Posted: 06 Oct 2012 07:52 PM PDT

In this courtroom drawing, defense attorneys Sabrina Shroff and Jerrod Thompson Hicks represent accused terrorist Abu Hamza al- Masri, center, before Magistrate Judge Franklin Maas in Manhattan federal court in New York on Saturday, Oct. 6, 2012. Abu Hamza al-Masri, entered no plea to charges of conspiring with Seattle men to set up a terrorist training camp in Oregon and of helping abduct 16 hostages, two of them American tourists, in Yemen in 1998. (AP Photo/Elizabeth Williams)An extremist Egyptian-born preacher entered a U.S. courtroom Saturday for the first time to face multiple terrorism charges, complaining that his prosthetic hooks, medication and special shoes were taken away from him. The preacher was one of five terror defendants rounded up in Britain and extradited overnight to the U.S.

US to allow SKorea to have longer-range missiles

Posted: 07 Oct 2012 12:10 AM PDT

The United States has agreed to allow South Korea to possess longer-range ballistic missiles that could strike all of North Korea, South Korean officials said Sunday.

1 dead, 11 arrested in anti-terror sweep in France

Posted: 06 Oct 2012 12:26 PM PDT

French police officers, left, stand guard at the entrance of a building in Strasbourg, France, Saturday Oct. 6, 2012, as plainclothed policemen carrying clues, right, leave, after a suspect was shot dead for firing at police. French anti-terrorism forces carried out raids in cities nationwide on Saturday, at least five people were arrested in the investigation into the firebombing of a kosher grocery outside Paris last month. (AP Photo/Jean Francois Badias)Police carried out raids across France on Saturday after DNA on a grenade that exploded last month at a kosher grocery store led them to a suspected jihadist cell of young Frenchmen recently converted to Islam.

Iran's parliament drops impeachment over economy

Posted: 07 Oct 2012 12:20 AM PDT

Iran's parliament has abandoned its planned impeachment of a Cabinet minister over the free-fall of the country's currency.

Pakistani motorcade protesting drones heads to SW

Posted: 06 Oct 2012 11:12 PM PDT

Pakistan's ex-cricket star-turned-politician Imran Khan, top left, addresses supporters during a peace march in Mianwali, Pakistan, Saturday, Oct. 6, 2012. Thousands of Pakistanis joined by a group of U.S. anti-war activists headed toward Pakistan's militant-riddled tribal belt Saturday to protest U.S. drone strikes - even as a Pakistani Taliban faction warned that suicide bombers would stop the demonstration. (AP Photo/Jabbar Ahmed)Local media say thousands of Pakistanis, joined by U.S. anti-war activists, are heading toward Pakistan's militant-riddled tribal region to protest U.S. drone strikes, despite threats of suicide attacks by the Pakistani Taliban.

Israel downs drone over its airspace, suspects Hezbollah

Posted: 06 Oct 2012 01:14 PM PDT

Israel scrambled fighter jets to intercept a drone Saturday that crossed deep into Israeli airspace from the Mediterranean Sea, shooting the aircraft down over the country's southern desert, the military said.

Syria and Turkey edge closer to crisis as shelling continues

Posted: 06 Oct 2012 10:51 AM PDT

Turkey and Syria traded artillery fire for the fourth day in a row Saturday as rebels clashed with President Bashar Assad's forces near the border, heightening fears that the crisis could erupt into a regional conflict.

A Venezuelan art group tries to win youth votes for Chávez

Posted: 06 Oct 2012 09:32 AM PDT

The dueling campaigns of President Hugo Chávez and challenger Henrique Capriles Radonski have led the candidates to every corner of Venezuela; in President Chávez's case even the basketball court.

In French print media, Anglicisms are 'le buzz'

Posted: 06 Oct 2012 06:00 AM PDT

"Etes-vous un trader, une working girl successful, ou un web marketeur? Aimez-vous la Caesar salad, le fudge, et les grogs healthy?"

Chávez reelection at risk as Venezuela's oil heartland moves on

Posted: 06 Oct 2012 06:00 AM PDT

Here in the oil-rich eastern region of Venezuela, propaganda for President Hugo Chávez dominates the landscape, from spotless billboards by the airport to dusty banners over trash-strewn lots. A hillside water tank carries the name of Chávez's PSUV party.

Hamas election boycott leaves West Bank Palestinians with only one choice

Posted: 06 Oct 2012 06:00 AM PDT

Municipal elections in the West Bank are still three weeks away, but the self-styled patriarch of Nablus politics, Ghassan Shakaa, speaks as if he is already in the mayor's office.
Posted by Harshad at 1:25 AM

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