| Exclusive: Algerian Brahimi seen replacing Annan as Syria envoy Posted: 09 Aug 2012 04:23 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Veteran Algerian diplomat Lakhdar Brahimi is expected to replace Kofi Annan as the U.N.-Arab League joint special envoy for Syria barring a last-minute change, diplomats said on Thursday. The former Algerian foreign minister, who has a long history as a diplomatic troubleshooter, will have his work cut out for him in Syria, where President Bashar al-Assad is using his security forces to try to crush a 17-month-old pro-democracy rebellion. Annan, a former U.N. ...
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| Easing U.S. ethanol mandate would help prevent food crisis: U.N. Posted: 09 Aug 2012 04:27 PM PDT  (Reuters) - Global pressure on the United States to relax its ethanol quota mounted on Thursday as the top World Bank food official said an "immediate, temporary suspension" of the mandate could help head off another world food crisis. As the surge in corn prices revives a fierce food versus fuel debate, José Graziano da Silva, the director-general of the UN's Food and Agricultural Organization, wrote in the Financial Times newspaper that competition for a U.S. corn crop that has been decimated by drought was only going to intensify. ...
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| Libyan national assembly votes Magarief president Posted: 09 Aug 2012 03:27 PM PDT  TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Libya's ruling national assembly picked Mohammed Magarief, leader of the National Front party, as its president on Thursday, in a vote carried out a day after it took power from the outgoing National Transitional Council. Magarief, a long-time opponent of ousted leader Muammar Gaddafi, will head the 200-member congress, which will name a prime minister, pass laws and steer Libya to full parliamentary elections after a new constitution is drafted next year. ...
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| Sensational China trial ends in seven hours, verdict later Posted: 09 Aug 2012 02:17 PM PDT  HEFEI, China (Reuters) - The woman at the center of China's most politically explosive trial in three decades did not contest charges of murder on Thursday in a hearing that lasted just seven hours and could determine the fate of her husband, former Politburo member Bo Xilai. A formal verdict will be delivered at a later date, a court official said, recounting details of the closed-door hearing. ...
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| U.S. still believes Iran not on verge of nuclear weapon Posted: 09 Aug 2012 02:52 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States still believes that Iran is not on the verge of having a nuclear weapon and that Tehran has not made a decision to pursue one, U.S. officials said on Thursday. Their comments came after Israeli media reports claimed U.S. President Barack Obama had received a new National Intelligence Estimate saying Iran had made significant and surprising progress toward military nuclear capability. Later, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak suggested that the new U.S. ...
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| Mexico extradites drug cartel "queen" to the United States Posted: 09 Aug 2012 03:26 PM PDT  MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico handed Sandra Avila, Mexico's highest-profile woman drug smuggler known as the "Queen of the Pacific," over to United States authorities on Thursday to face trafficking charges north of the border. Avila, who was arrested in Mexico in 2007, allegedly helped build up the Sinaloa cartel in the 1990s with the gang's leader Joaquin "Shorty" Guzman. She won her nickname for pioneering smuggling routes up Mexico's Pacific Coast into California. The Mexican federal attorney-general's office said she would face cocaine possession and distribution charges in Florida. ...
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| Assad replaces fugitive PM, Aleppo rebels pull back Posted: 09 Aug 2012 11:29 AM PDT  ALEPPO, Syria (Reuters) - President Bashar al-Assad named a new prime minister on Thursday to replace Syria's most senior government defector as his forces pushed rebels back from a strategic district in Aleppo. Assad appointed Wael al-Halki, a Sunni Muslim from the southern province of Deraa where the Syrian uprising erupted 17 months ago, to head the government after Riyad Hijab fled on Monday after spending only two months in the job. ...
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| Little sign of battle in Egypt's Sinai region Posted: 09 Aug 2012 03:35 PM PDT  SHAIKH ZUWAID, Egypt (Reuters) - Egypt poured troops into North Sinai on Thursday in an offensive meant to tackle militants in the Israeli border region, but residents were skeptical, saying they had seen no sign of anyone being killed in what they described as a "haphazard" operation. The offensive is crucial to maintaining good relations with Israel, which fears Islamist militants based in the increasingly lawless desert region could link up with hardliners in neighboring Gaza to launch attacks on the Jewish state - potentially threatening a 1979 peace treaty with Egypt. ...
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| Tropical Storm Ernesto skirts Mexican Gulf coast, kills three Posted: 09 Aug 2012 02:34 PM PDT  MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Tropical Storm Ernesto crossed the coast of the Gulf of Mexico on Thursday, sending wind gusts and showers across the state of Veracruz, home to some of Mexico's busiest ports and oil installations. The storm, with maximum sustained winds of 50 mph, made landfall in the early afternoon close to the port city of Coatzacoalcos. Ernesto was heading west over southern Mexico at a speed of about 10 mph, the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said in its 5 p.m. EDT advisory. ...
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| French court hands Hollande victory with EU ruling Posted: 09 Aug 2012 01:37 PM PDT  PARIS (Reuters) - France's Constitutional Council ruled on Thursday that the EU's budget responsibility pact did not require a change to the constitution, easing its path to ratification and removing a headache for Socialist President Francois Hollande. The ruling allows Hollande's government, which had insisted it would not write a budgetary rule into the constitution, to press ahead with implementing the pact in September using a "super-law" which it can pass with its parliamentary majority. ...
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| Heavy rain as Ernesto makes landfall in Mexico Posted: 09 Aug 2012 02:55 PM PDT  Tropical Storm Ernesto made landfall Thursday afternoon near the port city of Coatzacoalcos and moved inland while drenching Mexico's southern Gulf, an area prone to flooding.
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| Bolt 1st with 2 golds in 200; leads Jamaican sweep Posted: 09 Aug 2012 03:30 PM PDT  When the stakes are the biggest, the spotlight most bright, Usain Bolt is as good as gold.
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| LIGHTNING BOLTS Posted: 09 Aug 2012 02:20 PM PDT It's the move of the night. |
| EYES ON LONDON: Bolt's cool finish, US soccer gold Posted: 09 Aug 2012 02:09 PM PDT  Around the 2012 Olympics and its host city with journalists from The Associated Press bringing the flavor and details of the games to you:
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| Iran tries to calm Syria crisis as violence rages Posted: 09 Aug 2012 01:18 PM PDT  As Syrian forces struggled to drive rebels from the country's largest city, the regime's key ally Iran tried Thursday to start an alternative political process to address the crisis.
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| Gunmen attack police station in Egypt's Sinai Posted: 09 Aug 2012 08:31 AM PDT  Gunmen sprayed a police station in Egypt's Sinai with bullets Thursday, setting off a brief firefight with policemen before speeding away in their truck, the latest in a series of attacks against security forces in the increasingly volatile peninsula, security officials said.
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| Security firm: New computer virus prowling Mideast Posted: 09 Aug 2012 01:03 PM PDT A new computer virus tied to some of the most sophisticated cyberweapons thus-far discovered has been found circulating in the Middle East, a Moscow-based computer security company said Thursday. If a link were confirmed, the find would expand the electronic arsenal reportedly deployed by the U.S. and Israel against their rivals in the region. |
| Syria captive rift: Iran defiant, Hezbollah silent Posted: 09 Aug 2012 12:37 PM PDT  It took just minutes for Lebanon's powerful Hezbollah chief to appear on TV to silence protests after Syrian rebels grabbed 11 Lebanese Shiites in May. Tehran's leadership also went into rapid-reaction mode when gunmen seized 48 Iranians last week, but with a very different objective: to make the abduction an international affair.
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| China official's wife doesn't deny killing Briton Posted: 09 Aug 2012 11:32 AM PDT  Testimony in China's most closely watched murder case in decades wrapped up within hours on Thursday as the wife of disgraced politician Bo Xilai stood accused of luring a British businessman to a hotel, getting him drunk and pouring poison into his mouth.
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| As Mexico's drug war gets gritty, so do nicknames Posted: 09 Aug 2012 11:06 AM PDT  When "The Worm Eater" and his sidekick "The Rat" were captured, they were allegedly carrying five grenades and about $1 million in cash. "Garbage" was caught extorting money from Mexico City bus drivers, police say. "The Pig" was known for his brutal style of killing rivals. "The Bum" allegedly burned and buried his victims in clandestine pits.
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| Heavy rain as Ernesto heads inland into Mexico Posted: 09 Aug 2012 12:58 PM PDT  Tropical Storm Ernesto drenched Mexico's southern Gulf coast Thursday and was expected to head inland, as authorities in the flood-prone region prepared shelters, army troops and rescue personnel.
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