| Exclusive: Afghan officials visit Guantanamo in peace bid Posted:  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An Afghan government delegation visited the Guantanamo Bay military prison this week to secure approval from five Taliban detainees who may soon be moved to Qatar, a sign that the Obama administration is inching closer to establishing peace talks to end the war in Afghanistan. The delegation, which visited the top-security detention center in Cuba on Monday, included Ibrahim Spinzada, a senior foreign policy aide to Afghan President Hamid Karzai, sources familiar with the subject said. ...
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| Annan to meet Assad, seeking end to Syria violence Posted:  BEIRUT (Reuters) - U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan meets President Bashar al-Assad on Saturday to press for a political solution to Syria's year-long uprising and bloody crackdown in which thousands of people have been killed. Annan's talks in Damascus come a day after activists said Assad's forces killed at least 68 people as they sought to extend control over the rebellious city of Homs and crush armed opposition in the northern province of Idlib. Arab foreign ministers were also due to hold talks in Cairo with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Russia and China vetoed a U.N. ...
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| Thousands rally in Libya against autonomy for east Posted:  TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Thousands of people protested in Libya's two biggest cities on Friday in a show of opposition to moves from some in the oil-producing east to declare autonomy from central rule. A group of civic leaders in the eastern city of Benghazi this week said they would run their own affairs, defying the government in Tripoli which is already struggling to assert its authority after Muammar Gaddafi was ousted last year. ...
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| U.S. aid agency prepares switch to Afghan security Posted:  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The main U.S. foreign aid agency is preparing to switch from private security contractors in Afghanistan to Afghan government-provided security this month under a new policy mandated by Afghan President Hamid Karzai, raising concern in Washington that this could put U.S. civilians at greater risk. U.S. Agency for International Development Administrator Rajiv Shah says the agency may be able to negotiate waivers from the policy for some major infrastructure projects so that they could continue to have access to private security. But U.S. ...
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| Afghanistan and U.S. sign prison transfer deal Posted:  KABUL (Reuters) - The United States and Afghanistan signed an agreement on Friday on the transfer of a major U.S.-run detention centre to Afghan authorities, improving the prospects of a deal allowing long-term American involvement in the country. The Strategic Partnership Agreement, which Washington and Kabul have been discussing for over a year, will be the framework for U.S. involvement in Afghanistan beyond 2014, when the last foreign combat troops are due to leave Afghanistan. Afghan Defense Minister Gen. ...
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| Slovak left poised to win election, sink reformists Posted:  BRATISLAVA (Reuters) - Leftist former prime minister Robert Fico is poised to sweep to victory in Slovakia's election on Saturday on a pledge to tax the rich and better protect the working class as the country grapples with high unemployment and economic turmoil. Polls show the 47-year-old lawyer could win 40 percent of the vote, potentially knocking his reformist rival Mikulas Dzurinda's centre-right SDKU out of power and possibly out of parliament. ...
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| Italy condemns botched British raid in Nigeria Posted:  ROME (Reuters) - A diplomatic row broke out between London and Rome on Friday over Britain's failure to inform the Italian government before launching a botched hostage rescue mission in Nigeria. The raid resulted in the deaths of a Briton and an Italian held hostage by what Nigerian authorities said was a militant Islamist group. Chris McManus and Italian Franco Lamolinara had been kidnapped last May while working for a construction company in northwest Nigeria. ...
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| Israel kills 10 Palestinian militants in Gaza strikes Posted:  GAZA (Reuters) - Israeli air strikes killed 10 militants in the Gaza Strip on Friday and Palestinian gunmen fired more than two dozen rockets at the Jewish state, officials said, in the worst violent flareup along the restive frontier in months. The violence escalated after Israel blew up a car in Gaza City, killing two militant leaders, shortly after two rockets were fired at Israel from the coastal Hamas-ruled territory, officials said. The rockets caused no damage or injury. ...
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| Mass pro-democracy protest rocks Bahrain Posted:  MANAMA (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of Bahrainis demonstrated on Friday to demand democratic reforms, stepping up pressure on the U.S.-allied government with the biggest protest yet in a year of unrest. They began marching along a highway near Manama in response to a call from leading Shi'ite cleric Sheikh Isa Qassim, who urged people to renew their calls for greater democracy. A live blog showed images of the protesters carrying banners denouncing "dictatorship" and demanding the release of detainees. ...
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| Cocoa smugglers on motorbikes evade Ivorian guards Posted:  OSSEIKRO, Ghana (Reuters) - In the dusty town of Osseikro just inside Ghana's border with Ivory Coast, the only billboard for miles welcomes visitors with the order: "Stop Smuggling Cocoa". But the garish sign, put up by Ghana's cocoa sector body during this year's harvest, has done little to deter smuggling through a town which is a hotspot for the illicit trade. "All of our cocoa is going to Ghana this year because of the prices," said Eric Comoe, head of a cocoa-growers cooperative in the Ivorian town of Abengourou, 30 km (20 miles) over the border. ...
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| NKorea vows to keep its nuke promises: senator Posted:  A prominent U.S. senator met Friday with North Korea's nuclear envoy who promised to live up to commitments made in an agreement last week with the United States.
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| Syrian opposition rejects talks with regime Posted:  A high-profile international mission to end the Syrian crisis stumbled Friday before it began as the opposition rejected calls by U.N. envoy Kofi Annan for dialogue with President Bashar Assad as pointless and out of touch after a year of violence.
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| Greece secures biggest debt deal in history Posted:  Greece's private creditors agreed Friday to take cents on the euro in the biggest debt writedown in history, paving the way for an enormous second bailout for the country to keep Europe's economy from being dragged further into chaos.
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| Afghanistan, US sign deal on prison handover Posted:  The U.S. military and the Afghan government sealed an agreement Friday on the gradual transfer of control of the main U.S. prison in the country, a last-minute breakthrough that brings the first progress in months in contentious negotiations over a long-term partnership.
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| In US election year, Palestinians sidelined Posted:  President Barack Obama has told the Palestinians to sit tight during a U.S. election year, while holding out the promise of a serious push for Palestinian statehood if he wins a second term, the Palestinian foreign minister said Friday.
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| Israeli airstrike kills militant commander in Gaza Posted:  An Israeli airstrike in Gaza on Friday killed the commander of the militant group behind the abduction of Gilad Schalit, an Israeli soldier who was held captive for more than five years and freed in a prisoner swap for more than 1,000 Palestinians.
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| 2 hostages in Nigeria lived final days in squalor Posted:  The two hostages from Italy and Britain found dead during a botched rescue operation spent their final days living in bare squalor under the watchful eye of their alleged al-Qaida-linked captors, drinking water drawn from an underground tank and possibly enduring bouts of malaria and other illnesses.
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| Anti-Kony video campaign draws criticism in Uganda Posted:  The wildly successful viral video campaign to raise global awareness of a brutal Central Africa rebel leader is attracting criticism from Ugandans, some who said Friday that the 30-minute video misrepresents the complicated history of Africa's longest-running conflict.
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| Pakistan appoints new spy chief Posted:  Pakistan appointed a new head of intelligence on Friday, injecting some uncertainty in America's dealings with an agency crucial to its hopes of negotiating a peace deal with the Afghan Taliban and keeping pressure on al-Qaida.
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| Vatican seeks to explain US money laundering tag Posted: The Vatican on Friday sought to explain its presence for the first time on a U.S. list of countries that are a potential hub for money laundering, saying it was only natural to be included given its recent efforts to conform to international standards. |
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