Sunday, October 28, 2012

Saudi authorities disperse anti-Assad protest in Mecca

Saudi authorities disperse anti-Assad protest in Mecca


Saudi authorities disperse anti-Assad protest in Mecca

Posted: 27 Oct 2012 06:08 PM PDT

Syrian Muslim pilgrim shouts slogans against Syria's President Bashar al-Assad during the annual Haj pilgrimage in Mina, near the holy city of MeccaMECCA (Reuters) - Saudi authorities quickly dispersed a protest by hundreds of Syrian pilgrims calling for the fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and denouncing what they said was international failure to stop bloodshed in Syria, a Reuters witness said. Protesters held up rebel flags and marched toward the Jamarat Bridge in Mina, east of the Saudi Arabian city of Mecca, where more than 3 million Muslim pilgrims congregated for the annual haj. ...


Israel kills Hamas gunman, Gaza salvo hits Israeli city

Posted: 27 Oct 2012 11:30 PM PDT

GAZA (Reuters) - Israel killed a Hamas gunman it accused of preparing to fire a rocket from the Gaza Strip on Sunday and a separate Palestinian salvo struck a southern Israeli city, causing no damage. The incidents followed a three-day lull since an upsurge in violence last week in which Israel killed at least four Gaza militants as dozens of rockets were fired at Israeli towns, damaging some homes and wounding several agricultural workers. ...

7.7 magnitude quake hits Canada's British Columbia

Posted: 27 Oct 2012 11:38 PM PDT

(Reuters) - A powerful earthquake with a magnitude of 7.7 hit Canada's Pacific coastal province of British Columbia late Saturday, setting off a small tsunami, but there were no immediate reports of injuries or damage, officials said. The U.S. Geological Survey said an earthquake with a 7.7 magnitude had hit the province, centered 123 miles south-southwest of Prince Rupert at a depth of 6.2 miles. Earthquakes Canada said the quake in the Haida Gwaii region has been followed by numerous aftershocks as large as 4.6 and said a small tsunami has been recorded by a deep ocean pressure sensor. ...

Berlusconi threatens to bring down Monti government

Posted: 27 Oct 2012 01:54 PM PDT

Italy's former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi gestures as he speaks during a news conference at Villa Gernetto in GernoROME (Reuters) - Former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said on Saturday his centre-right bloc may withdraw its support from the government of Mario Monti, a move that could throw Italy into political chaos ahead of next April's national elections. "We have to recognize the fact that the initiative of this government is a continuation of a spiral of recession for our economy," Berlusconi told a news conference in northern Italy a day after he was convicted and sentenced to four years for tax fraud related to his Mediaset media empire. ...


Lawyers for China premier's family deny "hidden riches" claim

Posted: 27 Oct 2012 07:41 PM PDT

China's Premier Wen Jiabao waves during the European Union-China summit at the Egmont Palace in BrusselsBEIJING (Reuters) - Lawyers representing the family of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao have rejected claims made by the New York Times on Friday that they have accumulated at least $2.7 billion in "hidden riches", Hong Kong media reported on Sunday. The New York Times, citing corporate and regulatory records, reported on Friday that Wen's mother, siblings and children had amassed the majority of their wealth since Wen was named Vice Premier in 1998. ...


Satellite images suggest Sudan arms factory was bombed: group

Posted: 27 Oct 2012 04:59 PM PDT

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Analysis of satellite imagery of a Sudanese munitions factory that Khartoum accused Israel of bombing earlier this week suggests the site may have been hit with aerial bombardment as Sudan claims, a monitoring group said on Saturday. The Satellite Sentinel Project, whose founders include Hollywood actor George Clooney and the Enough Project, said it conducted a comparative analysis of DigitalGlobe imagery of the arms factory in Khartoum, where a huge explosion on Tuesday killed two people and caused a large fire. ...

Seven Tibetans burn themselves in anti-Beijing protests: group

Posted: 27 Oct 2012 09:10 PM PDT

BEIJING (Reuters) - A total of seven Tibetans have set fire to themselves in the past week in protest against what they claim is heavy-handed Chinese rule in the Himalayan region, a human rights group said in a statement issued late on Saturday. Cousins Tsepo, 20, and Tenzin, 25, set themselves aflame outside a government building in Driru County, north of regional capital Lhasa on Thursday, London-based group Free Tibet said. Tsepo died on the way to hospital and Tenzin was taken away by officials, Free Tibet said. His whereabouts are unknown. ...

Guinea Bissau arrests suspected counter-coup bid leader

Posted: 27 Oct 2012 04:27 PM PDT

BISSAU (Reuters) - The suspected leader of a failed October 21 counter-coup attempt in Guinea-Bissau was arrested on Saturday, witnesses and a security official said. Captain Pansao Ntchama, a bodyguard to the then head of the army under ousted Prime Minister Carlos Gomes Junior, and four other suspects were detained at a farm on an island near the West African country's capital Bissau. "Ntchama and his men have been incarcerated in a cell at the headquarters of the armed forces," an army officer told Reuters, requesting not to be named. ...

Ukrainian President Yanukovich's party set to win poll

Posted: 27 Oct 2012 03:14 PM PDT

Ukrainian President Yanukovich attends a ceremony to mark the opening of a church on a military base in KievKIEV (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich's pro-business ruling party seems likely to win parliamentary elections on Sunday, but will face a re-energized opposition which has vowed to fight growing authoritarianism and corruption. The former Soviet republic of 46 million is more isolated internationally than it has been for years. The imprisonment of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, Yanukovich's main rival, has put it at odds with the United States and European Union, while Russia turns a deaf ear to Kiev's calls for cheaper gas. ...


Magnitude 7.7 quake strikes off Canadian coast

Posted: 28 Oct 2012 12:53 AM PDT

A magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck off the west coast of Canada and authorities issued a tsunami warning, but there were no reports of major damage. Residents in parts of British Columbia were evacuated but the province appeared to escape the biggest quake in Canada since 1949 largely unscathed.

Spain: French police arrest top Basque ETA leader

Posted: 27 Oct 2012 09:55 PM PDT

Spain's Interior Ministry says an alleged leader of the Basque separatist group ETA has been arrested in eastern France.

Bombings, clashes leave Syria truce in tatters

Posted: 27 Oct 2012 01:53 PM PDT

In this Thursday, Oct. 25, 2012 photo, smoke rises from the Karmal Jabl neighborhood, during clashes between rebel fighters and the Syrian army in Aleppo, Syria. (AP Photo/Narciso Contreras)A Syrian warplane flattened a three-story building, suspected rebels detonated a deadly car bomb and both sides traded gunfire in several hotspots across the country Saturday, activists said, leaving a U.N.-backed holiday truce in tatters on its second day.


Deadly Israeli strike, fire from Gaza mar truce

Posted: 27 Oct 2012 11:38 PM PDT

A deadly Israeli airstrike into the Gaza Strip and rocket and mortar fire from the Palestinian territory on Sunday marred a fragile truce that took hold late last week.

Outspoken China officers a challenge to the party

Posted: 27 Oct 2012 11:52 PM PDT

China's government has demanded talks with Japan in their latest dust-up over a set of tiny islands, but a high-ranking Chinese military officer has suggested drastically more belligerent responses.

UN says 22,000 displaced in Myanmar unrest

Posted: 28 Oct 2012 12:18 AM PDT

An armed police officer guards as Muslim refugees stand behind him at a refugee camp in Sittwe, capital of Rakhine State, western Myanmar, Saturday, Oct. 27, 2012. Western Myanmar appeared calm Saturday after almost a week of deadly ethnic strife, a government spokesman said as human rights groups called for action to end the violence that one said it has documented with satellite imagery. Rakhine state spokesman Win Myaing there were no immediate reports of fresh clashes between the Buddhist Rakhine and the Muslim Rohingya communities. (AP Photo/Khin Maung Win)Victims of Myanmar's latest explosion of Muslim-Buddhist violence fled Sunday to already packed displacement camps along the country's western coast as a top U.N. official said the unrest has forced more than 22,000 people from their homes.


Libyan witnesses recount organized Benghazi attack

Posted: 27 Oct 2012 03:10 PM PDT

FILE - In this Thursday, Sept. 13, 2012 file photo, a Libyan man investigates the inside of the U.S. Consulate after an attack that killed four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens, on the night of Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2012, in Benghazi, Libya. Witness accounts gathered by The Associated Press give a from-the-ground perspective for the sharply partisan debate in the U.S. over the deadly incident. They corroborate the conclusion largely reached by American officials that it was a planned militant assault. But they also suggest the militants may have used a film controversy as a cover for the attack. (AP Photo/Mohammad Hannon, File)It began around nightfall on Sept. 11 with around 150 bearded gunmen, some wearing the Afghan-style tunics favored by Islamic militants, sealing off the streets leading to the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi. They set up roadblocks with pick-up trucks mounted with heavy machine guns, according to witnesses.


New Pakistan outreach could aid Afghan peace deal

Posted: 27 Oct 2012 08:53 PM PDT

FILE - In this Aug. 5, 2012 file photo, Pakistani Taliban patrol in their stronghold of Shawal in the Pakistani tribal region of South Waziristan. Pakistan has stepped up outreach to some of its biggest enemies in Afghanistan, a significant policy shift that could prove crucial to U.S.-backed efforts to strike a peace deal in the war-torn country.The target of the diplomatic push has mainly been non-Pashtun political leaders who have been at odds with Pakistan for years because of the country's historical support for the Afghan Taliban, a Pashtun movement. (AP Photo/ Ishtiaq Mahsud, File)Pakistan has increased efforts to reach out to some of its biggest enemies in Afghanistan, a significant policy shift that could prove crucial to U.S.-backed efforts to strike a peace deal in the neighboring country.


Sandy gone, Caribbean mourns 58 dead, cleans up

Posted: 27 Oct 2012 12:51 PM PDT

A resident of Leogane, Haiti makes her way to her home as the water level continues to rise Friday, Oct. 26, 2012. Residents of Leogane have had five consecutive days of rain in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, which caused serious flooding and claimed at least 26 lives in the impoverished country. (AP Photo/The Miami Herald, Carl Juste) MAGS OUTThe Caribbean death toll from Hurricane Sandy rose again sharply on Saturday, even as the storm swirled away toward the U.S. East Coast. Officials said the hurricane system has cost at least 58 lives in addition to destroying or badly damaging thousands of homes.


Tensions mount as police grab protesters in China

Posted: 27 Oct 2012 11:14 PM PDT

Protesters march past Chinese police men in Zhejiang province's Ningbo city, protesting the proposed expansion of a petrochemical factory Sunday, Oct. 28, 2012. Thousands of people in the eastern Chinese city clashed with police Saturday while protesting the proposed expansion of the factory that they say would spew pollution and damage public health, townspeople said. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)Dozens of riot police officers marched toward crowds of people protesting over a chemical factory in an eastern Chinese city and bundled some demonstrators into government offices Sunday, raising tensions a day after clashes between thousands of residents and police.


In world first, biggest refugee camp gets university

Posted: 27 Oct 2012 09:00 AM PDT

Refugees in the world's largest refugee camp will soon be able to go for higher education at the world's first university being set up near a camp for its inhabitants.

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