| Pentagon report paints mixed picture of war in Afghanistan Posted:  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. military presented a mixed picture of the war in Afghanistan on Tuesday, saying President Barack Obama's surge of 33,000 extra troops had weakened the Taliban but that a resilient insurgency, persistent corruption, and selective cooperation from Pakistan posed a major threat to U.S. efforts. In a twice-annual report to Congress, the Defense Department said overall insurgent attacks declined in 2011 for the first time in five years, even though violence increased in areas surrounding the Taliban's southern stronghold of Kandahar, a region where U.S. ...
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| UK lawmakers: Rupert Murdoch unfit to run company Posted:  LONDON (Reuters) - Rupert Murdoch is not fit to run a major international company, British lawmakers said on Tuesday, finding him ultimately responsible for the illegal phone hacking that has corroded his global media empire and damaged the political establishment. The lawmakers said the 81-year-old News Corp chief lacked credibility, his son James appeared incompetent and the company was guilty of "willful blindness" towards its staff at the News of the World tabloid. ...
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| Libya says to wind up Gaddafi son investigation soon Posted:  AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Libya said on Tuesday it would complete its investigation into Muammar Gaddafi's son, Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, within weeks for crimes including murder and torture, and asked the International Criminal Court once again to hold off ordering his surrender. Libya's government and the war crimes court - which indicted Saif al-Islam in June for crimes against humanity stemming from the crackdown on last year's revolt - have argued for months over where he should be tried. ...
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| Magnitude 6.3 quake hits off southwest Mexico Posted: MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - A magnitude 6.3 earthquake struck off the coast of southwest Mexico near the Guatemalan border on Tuesday, the U.S. Geological Service said. The quake hit 51 miles west-southwest of Suchiate, Chiapas, at a depth of 27.3 miles, the USGS said. The quake's magnitude was originally listed as 6.0. An official with the Chiapas public safety office said there were no reports of injuries or damage after the tremor. Earlier on Tuesday, a 5.5 magnitude quake that struck 130 miles from Mexico City shook the capital, but officials had no reports of damage in the city. ... |
| Western authorities fear militants will carry implanted bombs Posted: WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. and allied officials said they are increasingly concerned that doctors working with al Qaeda's Yemen-based affiliate will implant bombs inside living militants in order to try to circumvent airport security measures and bring down aircraft. Earlier this year, a missile fired by a CIA-operated drone killed a Yemeni doctor who had devised medical procedures which could be used to surgically plant explosive devices in humans, several U.S. officials told Reuters. ... |
| Mexico presidential front-runner with steady lead-poll Posted:  MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexican presidential front-runner Enrique Pena Nieto, of the opposition Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), saw his big lead over the ruling party candidate recede slightly ahead of the July 1 election, a survey showed on Tuesday. The latest opinion poll by pollster Consulta Mitofsky showed Pena Nieto with 38 percent support, down 2.1 percentage points from the Mitofsky survey published on April 24. That still gave him a big lead over Josefina Vazquez Mota from the ruling National Action Party (PAN). Her support of 22 percent was up just 0. ...
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| Europeans protest austerity at May Day rallies Posted:  ATHENS (Reuters) - Hundreds of thousands of workers across southern Europe protested against spending cuts at May Day rallies on Tuesday, before weekend elections in Greece and France where voters are expected to punish leaders for austerity. Unions in Spain, Portugal, Italy, France and Greece used the traditional marches to express anger over a savings drive across the euro zone, aimed at shoring up public finances but criticized for forcing countries deeper into recession. ...
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| China, Russia resist West's push to threaten Sudan, South Sudan Posted:  UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - China and Russia are resisting a Western push for the U.N. Security Council to threaten Sudan and South Sudan with sanctions if the two countries fail to comply with demands to halt their escalating conflict, U.N. envoys said on Tuesday. The U.N. negotiations on Sudan and South Sudan, former civil war foes that split when the south seceded last year, follow weeks of border fighting that have raised fears Khartoum and Juba could launch an all-out war, after failing to resolve a string of disputes over oil revenues and border demarcation. ...
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| Syria violence kills 23, U.N. criticizes both sides Posted:  BEIRUT (Reuters) - Violence hit two Syrian provinces on Tuesday with a rights group reporting 10 civilians dead in an army mortar attack and 12 soldiers killed in a firefight with rebel gunmen as U.N. monitors sought to shore up a flimsy ceasefire. The United Nations accused both sides of breaching the truce and said it had credible reports that at least 34 children had been killed since the accord took effect on April 12. ...
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| Mali junta overruns loyalist base in blow to counter-coup Posted:  BAMAKO (Reuters) - Soldiers from Mali's ruling junta overran the main presidential guard barracks in the capital Bamako on Tuesday, striking a heavy blow to the loyalist unit that has been fighting since Monday to reverse a March coup. Dozens of residents near the Djicoroni camp, scene of heavy shooting since late Monday, broke into applause when junta soldiers entered the deserted compound and fired their weapons into the air in celebration. "The camp has fallen, it is empty and the red berets have left," a junta officer told Reuters, asking not to be named. ...
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| Obama flies to Afghanistan, signs pact with Karzai Posted:  In a swift and secretive trip to the war zone, President Barack Obama signed an agreement Tuesday night vowing long-term ties with Afghanistan after America's combat forces come home. "There's a light on the horizon," he told U.S. troops on the one-year anniversary of Osama bin Laden's death.
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| Army mortar shells kill 10 in Syrian village Posted:  Syrian forces fired mortar shells into a farming village Tuesday, killing 10 people, among them two young children, and sending panicked residents running for cover, activists said.
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| After 50 years, Cubans hope to travel freely Posted:  After controlling the comings and goings of its people for five decades, communist Cuba appears on the verge of a momentous decision to lift many travel restrictions. One senior official says a "radical and profound" change is weeks away.
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| Workers express anger, gloom, elation on May Day Posted:  On the front lines of the world's May Day protests this year, along with the traditional chants, banners and marches, a gamut of emotions flowed through the crowds: Anger. Fear. Elation. Despair.
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| Blind lawyer strikes a popular chord in China Posted:  The blind activist at the center of a diplomatic tussle between the U.S. and China did not set out to be a dissident. Chen Guangcheng taught himself law to defend the constitutional rights he saw trampled so often.
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| UK lawmakers: Rupert Murdoch unfit to lead company Posted:  A committee of British lawmakers called Rupert Murdoch unfit to run his global media empire — a finding that reflects just how deeply the phone hacking scandal born of his defunct News of the World has shaken the relationship between the press and politics.
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| France fetes Joan of Arc's 600th birthday Posted: The normally tranquil city of Orleans is buzzing with festivities over the next two weeks to mark the 600th birthday of one of France's best cultural exports: Joan of Arc. |
| Chen's escape shames officials, but breaks no law Posted:  Dissident lawyer Chen Guangcheng was being held under house arrest illegally, activists say, and his only offense in escaping may have been to embarrass local officials bent on punishing him for exposing forced abortions.
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| Junta takes camp in Mali capital, claims control Posted:  After fierce fighting in Mali's capital Tuesday, troops loyal to the junta overran the main camp of the soldiers who tried to oust them in a countercoup.
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| Sarkozy fighting for his future, likely to lose Posted:  President Nicolas Sarkozy is the underdog, and he knows it. Not a single poll has predicted he will win re-election on Sunday, and leading figures in his government are already lining up new jobs.
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