| Lebanon to bury slain intelligence official Posted: 20 Oct 2012 03:45 PM PDT  BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanon's political opposition has called for a mass turnout at Sunday's funeral for slain intelligence officer Wissam al-Hassan, turning the ceremony into a political rally against Syrian authorities and Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati. Hassan, who uncovered an alleged Syrian bomb plot inside Lebanon two months ago, was killed in a huge car bomb blast that also killed seven other people and wounded 80 in Beirut's Ashrafiyeh district on Friday. ...
|
| Syria envoy Brahimi meets Assad in Damascus: TV Posted: 21 Oct 2012 12:33 AM PDT  DAMASCUS (Reuters) - International mediator Lakhdar Brahimi, who is pressing for a temporary ceasefire in Syria's civil war, met President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus on Sunday, state television said. It gave no details of the talks. Brahimi has called for a ceasefire during the Islamic Eid al-Adha holiday at the end of this week to stem the bloodshed in a 19-month-old conflict which activists say has killed at least 30,000 people. Brahimi, the joint U.N. ...
|
| Confusion in Libya over fate of former Gaddafi spokesman Posted: 20 Oct 2012 04:41 PM PDT  TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Libyan militias captured Muammar Gaddafi's chief spokesman on Saturday, the government said, but an audio clip posted on Facebook purporting to be the voice of Moussa Ibrahim denied his capture. There was no independent verification of the authenticity or timing of the Facebook post, dated October 20, a year to the day after the dictator's death. A statement from the prime minister's office said Ibrahim, who was the mouthpiece of the Gaddafi regime during last year's war, was caught in the town of Tarhouna, 70 km (40 miles) south of Tripoli. ...
|
| Argentine leader orders evacuation of ship seized in Ghana Posted: 20 Oct 2012 08:26 PM PDT  LIMA (Reuters) - Argentina's president on Saturday ordered 326 sailors to evacuate a Navy frigate that was seized in Ghana to help bondholders try to recoup debts from the South American country's 2002 default. The Libertad, a training frigate, was detained in the Ghanaian port of Tema on October 2 under a court order obtained by NML Capital Ltd, an affiliate of investment firm Elliott Management. The firm says Argentina owes it over $300 million on defaulted sovereign bonds and it will only release the ship if the country pays it at least $20 million. ...
|
| ECB's Knot backs German call for EU budget commissioner Posted: 20 Oct 2012 05:05 PM PDT  BERLIN (Reuters) - European Central Bank policymaker Klaas Knot has thrown his support behind German finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble's call for a euro zone commissioner with power over European Union nations' budgets. The EU needs not only stricter budget discipline but also stronger debt controls, Knot, who heads the Dutch Central Bank, told German newspaper Welt am Sonntag in an interview published on Sunday. "I welcome the idea ... if we can manage to keep a better eye on these aims it would represent huge progress. It is worth thinking about Wolfgang Schaeuble's idea carefully. ...
|
| As Iraq, Afghan wars end, private security firms adapt Posted: 20 Oct 2012 10:24 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - On a rooftop terrace blocks from the White House, a collection of former soldiers and intelligence officers, executives and contractors drink to the international private security industry. The past decade - particularly the U.S.-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan - provided rich pickings for firms providing private armed guards, drivers and other services that would once have been performed by uniformed soldiers. But as the conflicts that helped create the modern industry wind down, firms are having to adapt to survive. ...
|
| West Bank vote held to help plug Palestinian democracy gap Posted: 20 Oct 2012 01:03 PM PDT  RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - Palestinians voted in elections in the Israeli-occupied West Bank for the first time in six years on Saturday, but their scant choice of candidates put them out of step with democratic revolutions elsewhere in the Arab world. The results of the local ballots were expected to reaffirm the Western-backed, mainly secular Fatah party, which runs a de facto government in the slivers of land not policed by Israel, in the face of a boycott by its Islamist arch-rival, Hamas. ...
|
| Monti expects to see Italy recovery signs within months Posted: 20 Oct 2012 01:14 PM PDT  CERNOBBIO, Italy (Reuters) - Prime Minister Mario Monti said on Saturday he expected it would be only a few more months before signs of recovery start to emerge in the recession-hit Italian economy. Addressing an agriculture conference in northern Italy, Monti spoke of "a few months, just a few months I hope that we have left before we start seeing clear signs of recovery." Italy has been in a recession since the middle of last year, weighed down by austerity measures passed by Monti's government to cut the country's massive debt, including tax hikes, spending cuts and a pension overhaul. ...
|
| U.S. says willing to meet with Iran on nukes but no talks set Posted: 20 Oct 2012 06:24 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The New York Times reported on Saturday that the United States and Iran have agreed in principle to hold one-on-one negotiations on Iran's nuclear program but the White House quickly denied that any talks had been set. The Times, quoting unnamed Obama administration officials, said earlier on Saturday the two sides had agreed to bilateral negotiations after secret exchanges between U.S. and Iranian officials. The newspaper later said the agreement was "in principle. ...
|
| Hong Kong makes its biggest seizure of illegal ivory Posted: 20 Oct 2012 11:55 PM PDT  HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hong Kong seized HK$26.7 million ($3.5 million) of ivory tusks and ornaments smuggled from Africa, authorities said, the territory's largest ever seizure of illicit ivory that is still widely sought despite an international ban. Customs officers in Hong Kong and neighboring Guangdong confiscated the ivory, weighing a total of 3.8 metric tons, in raids at a container port last week, the Hong Kong government said. "It is the biggest ever in Hong Kong in the number of tusks seized in a single seizure," a government spokesman said. ...
|
| White House prepared to meet one-on-one with Iran Posted: 20 Oct 2012 11:29 PM PDT  The White House says it is prepared to talk one-on-one with Iran to find a diplomatic settlement to the impasse over Tehran's reported pursuit of nuclear weapons, but there's no agreement now to meet.
|
| Pope to name 7 new saints, seeks to revive faith Posted: 20 Oct 2012 10:17 PM PDT  Pope Benedict XVI is adding seven more saints onto the roster of Catholic role models as he tries to rekindle the faith in places where it's lagging. Two of them are Americans: Kateri Tekakwitha, the first Native American saint from the U.S. and Mother Marianne Cope, a 19th century Franciscan nun who cared for lepers in Hawaii.
|
| China's new leaders face tough economic choices Posted: 20 Oct 2012 10:59 PM PDT China's economic model that delivered three decades of double-digit growth is running out of steam and the country's next leaders face tough choices to keep incomes rising. But they don't seem to have ambitious solutions. Even if they do, they will need to tackle entrenched interests with backing high in the Communist Party. |
| Syria has long, tumultuous history in Lebanon Posted: 20 Oct 2012 01:10 PM PDT  Syria has a long and tumultuous history of meddling into Lebanese affairs. For much of the past 30 years, the seven-times-smaller Lebanon has lived under Syrian military and political domination. Damascus has often stirred tensions within Lebanon's explosive sectarian mix of Christians and Muslims to advance its regional interests, including during the country's 15-year civil war that ended in 1990. Syria's powerful allies in Lebanon include the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah. Important milestones affecting the Syria-Lebanon relationship:
|
| Beirut boosts security ahead of general's funeral Posted: 21 Oct 2012 12:15 AM PDT  Lebanese security forces are setting up road blocks and cordoning off Beirut's central Martyrs' Square ahead of a public funeral for a top intelligence official who was assassinated in a massive car bombing.
|
| Soyuz craft readied for space station mission Posted: 21 Oct 2012 12:42 AM PDT A Russian-made Soyuz rocket was erected into place Sunday, ahead of the start of a mission to take a three-man crew to the International Space Station. |
| Nigeria military: Sect member at senator's home Posted: 20 Oct 2012 02:04 PM PDT  Nigeria's military arrested a member of the radical Islamist sect Boko Haram at the home of a prominent senator, as ongoing violence blamed on the sect in a nearby city has killed at least 23 people in recent days, officials said.
|
| Libyan turmoil persists year after Gadhafi death Posted: 20 Oct 2012 07:12 PM PDT  On the anniversary of the capture and killing of Moammar Gadhafi, Libya is still grappling with the legacy of his four decades of rule as the interim government and the dictator's former spokesman engaged in a war of words amid the ongoing chaos.
|
| Cuba's elections: Grassroots democracy or sham? Posted: 20 Oct 2012 02:53 PM PDT  There are no flashy television ads or campaign signs spiked into front yards. And candidates definitely don't tour the island shaking hands and kissing babies.
|
| Amid drug war, Mexico fights wave of common crime Posted: 20 Oct 2012 06:09 PM PDT  On a cool September evening, about a half hour after the sun set on the rose-colored Baroque cathedral of this colonial city in western Mexico, three men burst into a Coca-Cola distribution center on the edge of town.
|
| In town seen as pro-Qaddafi, settling of scores shifts into standoff with government Posted: 20 Oct 2012 12:20 PM PDT A year to the day after Muammar Qaddafi was killed, a town long tarred as sympathetic to him is under attack by government-aligned militias in what many Libyans describe as settling unfinished business. Libya's government wants the town of Bani Walid, southeast of Tripoli, to hand over suspects accused of kidnapping a militiaman from the city of Misurata credited with having helped run Qaddafi down last year. In recent days a tense standoff has turned violent. For many in Bani Walid, the affair confirms their longstanding complaints of persecution in post-Qaddafi Libya. ... |
| Breaking through the political echo chamber in Venezuela Posted: 20 Oct 2012 11:48 AM PDT • David Smilde is the moderator of WOLA's blog: Venezuelan Politics and Human Rights. The views expressed are the author's own. |
| Anxious Turks suspect US plot is behind Syria's implosion Posted: 20 Oct 2012 07:50 AM PDT In an empty coffee house in Antakya, local tradesman Ahmet Sari's face crumples in anger as he speaks about Syria. |
| Burma just opened up after 50 years. But where are all the tourists? Posted: 20 Oct 2012 06:00 AM PDT It has got the beaches and temples and culture to easily rival those of popular tourist destinations Thailand and Malaysia. |
No comments:
Post a Comment