| Twin bombings in Damascus kill at least 27, almost 100 hurt Posted:  Twin blasts hit the heart of Damascus on Saturday, killing at least 27 people in an attack on security installations that state television blamed on "terrorists" seeking to oust President Bashar al-Assad. Syrian television reported that cars packed with explosives had targeted an intelligence centre and a police headquarters at 7.30 am (01.30 am EDT), blowing the front off one building and sending debris and shattered glass flying through the streets. ...
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| Iraq militia frees U.S. hostage after 9 months Posted:  BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A militia loyal to Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr freed an American former soldier on Saturday after holding him captive in Baghdad for nine months. The American, identified as Randy Michaels, was shown on television in a U.S. military uniform with no insignia, flanked by two members of parliament from Sadr's movement, including the parliament's first deputy speaker. He was handed over to the United Nations mission in Baghdad, which transferred him to the U.S. embassy. Washington confirmed he was a U.S. citizen but released no further details. ...
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| Soldier suspected in Afghanistan massacre to huddle with lawyers Posted:  TACOMA, Washington (Reuters) - The lawyer representing the U.S. soldier implicated in the massacre of 16 villagers in Afghanistan said on Saturday he and other members of the defense team would spend several days with him in the week ahead. U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Robert Bales is in solitary confinement at a military detention center at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, where he arrived late on Friday. ...
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| China exerts rare public pressure on North Korea over missile plan Posted:  SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China put rare public pressure on ally North Korea over the reclusive state's plan to launch a long-range rocket which is raising tension in the region and could scupper a recent aid deal with the United States. The announcement of the launch immediately threw into doubt recent hopes that the new young head of the family dynasty ruling North Korea was ready open up more to the international community. Experts said the planned launch is clearly a ballistic missile test, banned by U.N. ...
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| Former Nazi guard Demjanjuk dies in Germany aged 91 Posted:  BERLIN (Reuters) - John Demjanjuk, a retired U.S. engine mechanic convicted for his role in killing 28,000 Jews as a guard at a Nazi death camp during World War Two, died on Saturday aged 91 in a care home in Germany, police said. Once top of the Nazi-hunting Simon Wiesenthal Center's list of most wanted Nazi criminals, Ukrainian-born Demjanjuk denied the charges against him, saying he was drafted into the Soviet army in 1941 and then taken prisoner by the Germans. A Munich court convicted Demjanjuk in May 2011 of helping to kill the Jews at the Sobibor death camp in Nazi-occupied Poland. ...
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| U.S. fighter in Somalia says threatened by fellow militants Posted: NAIROBI (Reuters) - An influential American fighter for Somalia's al Shabaab rebels, who has in the past urged Western-based Muslims to join the group, has dismayed radical Islamists by saying his life is under threat from fellow guerrillas due to internal disputes. Experts on Somalia said the video by Omar Hammami suggested splits over ideology and strategy were weakening al Shabaab, which joined al Qaeda in February and is fighting to topple Somalia's weak interim government. ... |
| Egypt Coptic Christian Pope Shenouda dies Posted:  CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian Coptic Christian Pope Shenouda III, the patriarch of most of Egypt's estimated 12 million Christians, died on Saturday from old age, his political adviser told Reuters. Bells tolled in Cairo's Abbasiya district, site of Egypt's main Coptic cathedral, as the news spread. Shenouda, 88, became the 117th Pope of Alexandria in November 1971, and was popular among Egypt's Christians and Muslims alike during his four decades in power. ...
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| Anti-Communist pastor set to become German president Posted:  BERLIN (Reuters) - Joachim Gauck is poised to become Germany's third president in just two years on Sunday after winning support from the country's main political parties, but the feisty theologian may prove an awkward partner for Chancellor Angela Merkel. Merkel reluctantly accepted Gauck for the mainly ceremonial post after her coalition ally joined opposition parties last month in backing him to replace Christian Wulff, who resigned in a scandal over financial favors. ...
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| Libya says Gaddafi spy chief arrested in Mauritania Posted:  Mauritanian authorities arrested Muammar Gaddafi's chief of intelligence and right-hand man Abdullah al-Senussi as he entered the country on a false passport, Mauritania's state news agency said on Saturday. Senussi, who for decades before the late dictator's fall inspired fear and hatred in ordinary Libyans, is sought by the Hague-based International Criminal Court on charges of crimes against humanity. If confirmed, his arrest will put an end to months of uncertainty over his whereabouts. ...
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| Venezuela's Chavez sings and dances after surgery Posted:  CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez sang, danced with his daughter and vowed on Saturday to win a presidential election this year, a day after returning from what he said was a successful operation to remove a second tumor. "The beating we're going to give the Venezuelan right will be memorable ... not just in the history of Venezuela but in almost all the world," he told thousands of red-clad, ecstatic supporters gathered outside the presidential palace. The 57-year-old socialist leader flew home on Friday after cancer surgery in Cuba, his third operation in less than a year. ...
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| Twin suicide blasts kill dozens in Syrian capital Posted:  Two suicide bombers detonated cars packed with explosives in near-simultaneous attacks on heavily guarded intelligence and security buildings in the Syrian capital Damascus Saturday, killing at least 27 people.
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| US man captured by militia in Iraq released to UN Posted:  Wearing a U.S. Army uniform and flanked by Iraqi lawmakers, an American citizen announced Saturday that he was being released from more than nine months of imprisonment by a Shiite militia that for years targeted U.S. troops.
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| John Demjanjuk, convicted death camp guard, dies Posted:  John Demjanjuk, a retired U.S. autoworker who was convicted of being a guard at the Nazis' Sobibor death camp despite steadfastly maintaining over three decades of legal battles that he had been mistaken for someone else, died Saturday, his son told The Associated Press. He was 91.
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| Pope of Egypt's Coptic Christian Church dies Posted:  Pope Shenouda III, the patriarch of the Coptic Orthodox Church who led Egypt's Christian minority for 40 years during a time of increasing tensions with Muslims, died Saturday. He was 88.
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| Report: US sent detainees to banned Afghan prisons Posted: A report released Saturday by two rights groups says the U.S. sent some detainees to Afghan prisons where torture was found despite an announced moratorium on such moves. |
| Mauritania arrests top Libyan sought by ICC Posted:  Mauritania on Saturday arrested Moammar Ghadafi's former intelligence chief, accused of attacking civilians during the uprising in Libya last year and the 1989 bombing of a French airliner. The International Criminal Court, France and Libya all said they want to prosecute Abdullah al-Senoussi.
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| Thai billionaire who created Red Bull dies Posted:  Chaleo Yoovidhya, the self-made Thai billionaire who introduced the world to "energy drinks" and co-founded the globally popular Red Bull brand, has died. He was in his 80s.
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| Chavez makes energetic homecoming after surgery Posted:  President Hugo Chavez led an energetic homecoming celebration on Saturday, rallying thousands of supporters from a balcony of the presidential palace after three weeks in Cuba for cancer surgery.
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| 500,000 pack Dublin for St Patrick's Day parade Posted:  An estimated 500,000 people crowded Saturday into central Dublin for the St. Patrick's Day parade, a focal point for Irish celebrations worldwide and the start of the tourist season in debt-battered Ireland.
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| Shooting spree hastens decline to win over Afghans Posted:  The massacre of 16 Afghan civilians was a dagger to the U.S.-led coalition's hearts and minds campaign, which was already in decline after 10 years of war.
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