Friday, November 23, 2012

Mursi draws fire with new Egypt decree

Mursi draws fire with new Egypt decree

Mursi draws fire with new Egypt decree

Posted: 22 Nov 2012 05:14 PM PST

Egypt's President Mursi smiles during meeting with South Korea's presidential envoy and former Foreign Minister Yu at the presidential palace in CairoCAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi triggered controversy on Thursday by issuing a decree likely to lead to retrials of Hosni Mubarak and his aides but which was compared to the ousted leader's autocratic ways. As well as ordering retrials for Mubarak-era officials responsible for violence during the uprising against his rule, the decree shielded from legal challenge an Islamist-dominated assembly writing Egypt's new constitution. ...

Pakistan ID cards remove ghost voters, target poor for aid

Posted: 22 Nov 2012 02:12 PM PST

To match Feature PAKISTAN-IDENTITY/ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Elderly men wait patiently, carefully combing their hennaed beards, while a guitar-playing student entertains the long queue of Pakistanis lined-up to be photographed, fingerprinted and questioned inside a crowded office in the capital Islamabad. This is the unlikely setting for possibly one of Pakistan's few success stories - a massive increase in citizens signing up for government identity cards. Such things rarely top the agenda of a deeply unpopular government, crippled by daily power cuts, a Taliban insurgency and massive corruption. ...

Gunman kill 7 in Guatemala in attempted hit on drug dealer

Posted: 22 Nov 2012 07:56 PM PST

GUATEMALA CITY (Reuters) - Gunmen dressed as police officers shot dead seven men at a Guatemalan health clinic on Thursday in a brazen attempt to kill an alleged drug trafficker, who managed to escape the firefight, the government said. Interior Minister Mauricio Lopez told reporters a gang of men entered the clinic in an upper-class neighborhood of the capital looking for frequent client and alleged Guatemalan drug trafficker Jairo Orellana. ...

Egypt president cancels state visit to Pakistan

Posted: 22 Nov 2012 07:40 PM PST

Egypt's President Mursi smiles during meeting with South Korea's presidential envoy and former Foreign Minister Yu at the presidential palace in CairoISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi cancelled a state visit to Pakistan on Friday, government officials said, a day after granting himself extended powers, a move likely to widen divisions in his country. No reason was immediately given for the cancellation of the visit or for Mursi's decision not to attend a summit of developing nations in Islamabad a day earlier. Mursi, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, on Thursday triggered controversy in Egypt by issuing a decree that shielded from legal challenge any decisions he takes until a new parliament is elected. ...

Talks to defuse Iraq army-Kurdish standoff make little headway

Posted: 22 Nov 2012 01:14 PM PST

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Talks to defuse a standoff between Iraqi troops and forces from the country's autonomous Kurdish region made little progress on Thursday with both sides further reinforcing positions on their disputed internal border. The second military build-up this year illustrates how far relations between Baghdad's central government, led by Shi'ite Muslim Arabs, and ethnic Kurds have deteriorated, testing Iraq's federal cohesion nearly a year after American troops left. ...

China sacks official after sex-tape shots appear online

Posted: 22 Nov 2012 11:03 PM PST

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China sacked on Friday a district Communist Party official after images of him having sex with his mistress were splashed across microblog websites. The case highlights the influence of China's fast-growing microblogging community, and the ruling Communist Party's growing sensitivity and responsiveness to public anger against abuse of power, official impunity and corruption. Screenshots from the sex video first appeared on Sina Corp's Weibo site on Tuesday. ...

Sarkozy dodges official inquiry in election funding scandal

Posted: 22 Nov 2012 02:08 PM PST

Former French President Sarkozy speaks on the phone as he leaves the courthouse in BordeauxBORDEAUX, France (Reuters) - French former President Nicolas Sarkozy has not been put under formal investigation by magistrates looking into whether he received illegal campaign funds from France's richest woman in 2007, but has instead been designated a witness in the inquiry. Magistrates questioned Sarkozy for 12 hours as they tried to establish if he had received illegal campaign funding from Liliane Bettencourt, heiress of the L'Oreal cosmetics empire, when he ran for president in 2007. ...

South Korea urged to restore trust in nuclear power

Posted: 22 Nov 2012 08:18 PM PST

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea needs to rebuild public trust in nuclear power by boosting transparency and improving regulation, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Friday, after safety scares have closed reactors and threaten to trigger blackouts over winter. Asia's fourth-largest economy lacks its own energy resources and depends heavily on oil and gas imports while 23 nuclear reactors usually supply a third of its power. The country plans to add 11 more by 2024. ...

2 killed, 60 wounded in Afghan suicide attack

Posted: 22 Nov 2012 10:50 PM PST

A suicide attacker detonated a car laden with explosives Friday in eastern Afghanistan, killing two civilians and wounding about 60 others, officials said.

Poll: Israelis dissatisfied with cease-fire

Posted: 23 Nov 2012 12:33 AM PST

An Israeli soldier guides a tank to a new position at a staging area near the Israel Gaza Strip Border, southern Israel, Thursday, Nov. 22, 2012. A cease-fire agreement between Israel and the Gaza Strip's Hamas rulers took effect Wednesday night, bringing an end to eight days of the fiercest fighting in years and possibly signaling a new era of relations between the bitter enemies. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)A poll shows about half of Israelis think their government should have continued its military offensive against Palestinian militants in Hamas-ruled Gaza.

Egypt's Morsi grants himself far-reaching powers

Posted: 22 Nov 2012 02:13 PM PST

In this photo released by the Egyptian Presidency, President Mohammed Morsi, right, swears in his new Prosecutor General, Talaat Abdullah, left, in Cairo, Egypt, Thursday, Nov. 22, 2012. Egypt's president on Thursday issued constitutional amendments granting himself far-reaching powers and ordering the retrial of leaders of Hosni Mubarak's regime for the killing of protesters in last year's uprising. Morsi also on Thursday fired the country's top prosecutor by decreeing with immediate effect that he could only stay in office for four years and replacing him with Talaat Abdullah. Morsi fired Abdel-Maguid Mahmoud for the first time in October, but had to rescind his decision when he found that the powers of his office do not empower him to do so. (AP Photo/Egyptian PresidencyEgypt's Islamist president unilaterally decreed greater authorities for himself Thursday and effectively neutralized a judicial system that had emerged as a key opponent by declaring that the courts are barred from challenging his decisions.

Southern Israelis disappointed by Gaza cease-fire

Posted: 22 Nov 2012 01:04 PM PST

FILE - In this Nov. 19, 2012 file photo, Israeli women take cover in a stairwell as a siren signals the warning of incoming rockets in the coastal city of Ashkelon. (AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov, File)In this southern Israeli town, which has lived for nearly 13 years under the constant threat of rocket attacks from Gaza, there is little joy over a new cease-fire between Israel and Gaza's Hamas rulers: Schools remain closed, traffic is sparse and hope is hard to find.

Beijing's S. China Sea rivals protest passport map

Posted: 22 Nov 2012 11:42 PM PST

A Chinese man holds up a Chinese passport with details on a page that shows dashes which include the South China Sea as part of the Chinese territory outside a passport office in Beijing, China, Friday, Nov. 23, 2012. The Philippines has protested China's depiction of its claims over the entire South China Sea in an image of a map printed on newly issued Chinese e-passports. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)China has enraged several neighbors with a few dashes on a map, printed in its newly revised passports, that show it staking its claim on the entire South China Sea and even Taiwan.

Eased Myanmar sanctions no gold rush for US firms

Posted: 22 Nov 2012 05:51 PM PST

FILE - In this Nov. 19, 2012 file photo, U.S. President Barack Obama waves to the media as he embraces Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi after they spoke to the media at her residence in Yangon, Myanmar, Monday. The United States is unwinding two decades of sanctions against Myanmar, as the country's reformist leadership oversees rapid-fire economic and political change. Obama's visit this week, the first by a serving U.S. president, is a sign of how far relations have come. But Washington continues to take a calibrated approach to easing sanctions, keen to retain leverage should Myanmar's reform momentum stall. (AP Photo/Khin Maung Win, Pool, File)Signs of a boom abound in Myanmar. Flights to Yangon are full, hotel rooms booked solid. Foreign bars are packed with well-fed Westerners in khakis and jeans, 21st century prospectors drawn to this golden frontier.

AP PHOTOS: Simple surgery heals blind Indonesians

Posted: 22 Nov 2012 06:02 PM PST

In this Tuesday, Nov. 13, 2012 photo, 20-year-old patient Ayu Pratiwi who has been blind since she was 10 lies on a bed as she waits for her cataract surgery at Putri Hijau military hospital in Medan, North Sumatra, Indonesia. Indonesians flocked to the hospital for free cataract surgery performed by a team led by Nepalese master surgeon Dr. Sanduk Ruit who is renowned for his high-volume assembly-line approach. During the eight-day eye camps held in two towns in North Sumatra, more than 1,400 cataracts were removed. (AP Photo/Binsar Bakkara)They came from the remotest parts of Indonesia, taking crowded overnight ferries and riding for hours in cars or buses — all in the hope that a simple, and free, surgical procedure would restore their eyesight.

Syrian troops bomb southern parts of capital

Posted: 23 Nov 2012 12:26 AM PST

This citizen journalist image made from video provided by Shaam News Network which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, shows Syrian rebels celebrating the takeover of Mayadeen military base near Deir el-Zour, Thursday, Nov. 22, 2012. Syrian rebels strengthened their hold in an oil-rich strategic province bordering Iraq, capturing a key military base that was considered the last bastion for regime forces in the area. (AP Photo/Shaam News Network via AP video)Activists say Syrian troops have shelled southern neighborhoods of the capital as they try to advance in rebel-held areas.

Budget clash leaves EU summit close to failure

Posted: 23 Nov 2012 01:00 AM PST

British Prime Minister David Cameron, center, departs after an EU summit in Brussels on Friday, Nov. 23, 2012. The leaders of Britain and France staked out starkly different visions of Europe's future as talks in Brussels on how much the European Union should be allowed to spend, set the stage for a long, divisive and possibly inconclusive summit. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)The prospect of failure hangs over a European Union leaders' summit that is intended to lay out the 27-country bloc's long-term spending plans.

Blogger's death in Iran window onto cyber patrols

Posted: 22 Nov 2012 12:27 PM PST

In his last blog entry, activist Sattar Beheshti wrote that Iranian authorities had given him an ultimatum: Either stop posting his "big mouth" attacks against the ruling system or tell his mother that she will soon be in mourning.

Gaza truce holds as region steps back from brink

Posted: 22 Nov 2012 06:13 AM PST

Hamas leaders in Gaza declared victory over Israel on Thursday, and thousands of flag-waving supporters rallied in celebration as the battered territory entered its first day of calm under an Egyptian-brokered truce that ended the worst cross-border fighting in four years.

Decades after king's toppling, Iraq revisits its royal history

Posted: 22 Nov 2012 07:31 AM PST

More than half a century after Iraq's monarchy was toppled in a violent coup, Iraqis are coming to grips with a controversial part of their history that some consider the country's golden age.

The man who remade Mexico City

Posted: 22 Nov 2012 05:58 AM PST

Jose Guadalupe Gonzalez walks among giant paper-mache renderings of fantastical dragons and serpents, called alebrijes, with his wife and two teenage daughters in the middle of Mexico City's Zocalo to celebrate Day of the Dead. Later, the family considered catching a play for free, also in the main plaza, or strolling along the nearby, new pedestrian streets of downtown Mexico.
Posted by Harshad at 1:28 AM

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