| French police launch assault on besieged gunman Posted:  TOULOUSE, France (Reuters) - French police launched an assault late on Wednesday on an apartment where a gunman suspected of killing seven people in the name of al Qaeda was holed up, officials said. Three loud blasts were heard at the site in the southwest city of Toulouse just before midnight, which blew open the door of the apartment where the gunman had been holed up since 3 a.m. (10.00 p.m. EDT), a police source said. "I confirm that the assault has started," a police source told Reuters. ...
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| Dozens homeless in western Mexico after huge quake Posted:  PASO CUAULOTE (Reuters) - Dozens of families cleared rubble from their destroyed homes in southwestern Mexico on Wednesday following a major 7.4-magnitude earthquake that caused landslides, knocked down school walls and cracked a church tower. At least 100 houses collapsed and 1,000 were damaged near the epicenter of Tuesday's quake in the municipality of Ometepec in Guerrero state, said Jorge Catalan, an official from the Ministry of Social Development. ...
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| Iraqi al Qaeda claims bombs targeting summit security Posted:  BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Al Qaeda's affiliate in Iraq claimed responsibility for dozens of bombings that killed at least 52 people across the country on Tuesday in attacks aimed at undermining tighter security measures ahead of week's Arab League summit in Baghdad. Iraq is due to host the meeting for the first time in over 20 years and the government is anxious to show it can maintain security following the withdrawal of U.S. forces in December. ...
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| U.N. unites on Syria, violence spills into Lebanon Posted:  AMMAN (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council, including Russia and China, threw its weight on Wednesday behind efforts by Kofi Annan to end the bloody conflict in Syria, providing a rare moment of global unity in the face of the year-long crisis. In a statement approved by all its 15 members, the council threatened Syria with unspecified "further steps" if it failed to comply with Annan's peace plan, which calls for a ceasefire and demands swift access for aid agencies. ...
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| Noriega in Panama hospital, lawyer says has brain tumor Posted:  PANAMA CITY (Reuters) - Former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega, serving a 20-year jail sentence in Panama, was hospitalized on Wednesday for what authorities say was a routine check-up though his attorney says he has been diagnosed with a brain tumor. "He will undergo several routine exams," Angel Calderon, head of Panama's jail system told Reuters, adding that Noriega suffered a bout of flu last week. But the former strongman's lawyer said Noriega's health has deteriorated due to poor treatment in jail for flu and fever, and a brain tumor recently detected by his doctors. ...
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| Mali soldiers attack palace in mutiny Posted: BAMAKO (Reuters) - Mutinous soldiers attacked Mali's presidential palace on Wednesday in an apparent coup attempt in the West African country, defense ministry and diplomatic sources said. Heavy weapons fire rang out in the capital Bamako and the mutineers, angry at the government's handling of a rebellion in the Sahara desert north, forced the state broadcaster off air after seizing parts of the capital Bamako. "We now know it is a coup d'etat that they are attempting," a defense ministry official said, asking not to be named. A diplomat confirmed the clashes at the presidential palace. ... |
| Stubborn drought expected to tax Mexico for years Posted:  CHIHUAHUA, Mexico (Reuters) - A severe drought in Mexico that has cost farmers more than a billion dollars in crop losses alone and set back the national cattle herd for years, is just a foretaste of the drier future facing Latin America's second largest economy. As water tankers race across northern Mexico to reach far-flung towns, and crops wither in the fields, the government has allotted 34 billion pesos ($2.65 billion) in emergency aid to confront the worst drought ever recorded in the country. ...
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| U.S. suspends war remains search over North Korea missile plan Posted:  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States has suspended plans to send a team to North Korea to search for U.S. war remains because of Pyongyang's decision to launch a rocket next month marking the centenary of founder Kim Il-sung's birth, the Pentagon said on Wednesday. United Nations resolutions bar North Korea from conducting ballistic missile tests, and the United States said Pyongyang's plan to send a satellite into space aboard a rocket would violate its agreement last month to stop long-range missile launches. ...
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| U.S. on track for Afghan deal by NATO summit: Clinton Posted:  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States said on Wednesday it appears to be on track to sign a strategic partnership agreement with Afghanistan charting their future relations during or before a late May NATO summit. U.S. and Afghan officials have been trying to negotiate an accord for a long-term U.S. presence in Afghanistan beyond a 2014 deadline for most NATO combat forces to withdraw, allowing advisers and possibly some special forces to stay on. The two countries earlier signed a deal on the transfer of a major U.S. ...
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| Colombia troops kill 33 rebels as part of new strategy Posted:  BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombian troops killed 33 FARC rebels on Wednesday in an oil-producing region close to the border with Venezuela, the government said, in one of the harshest blows against the drug-funded group in more than a year. Ground troops supported by air strikes attacked fighters from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia who were resting in the plains region of the northern Arauca province, Defense Minister Juan Carlos Pinzon said. The FARC killed 11 soldiers close by just days earlier. ...
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| French riot police pressure gunman to surrender Posted:  Riot police set off explosions outside an apartment building early Thursday in an effort to force the surrender of a gunman who boasted of bringing France "to its knees" with an al-Qaida-linked terror spree that killed seven people.
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| French suspect showed no sign of militant leanings Posted:  Just a few weeks ago, Mohamed Merah partied at a nightclub, and an acquaintance noticed nothing out of the ordinary about the former car body shop worker who another friend said liked to talk about "cars, bikes, girls and sports."
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| Mexico judges rule that Frenchwoman not be freed Posted:  A Supreme Court panel voted Wednesday not to free a Frenchwoman who says she was unjustly sentenced to 60 years in prison for kidnapping in a case that has put Mexico's troubled justice system on trial and become a cause celebre in France.
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| 2 US men arrested on gay cruise in Caribbean Posted: Two California men on a gay cruise of the Caribbean were arrested Wednesday in Dominica, where sex between two men is illegal. |
| Soldiers mutiny at military base in Mali Posted: Soldiers on Wednesday stormed the state TV and radio station in Mali, as fears of a possible coup gripped the country in the wake of a military mutiny which spread from a garrison in the capital to one thousands of miles away. |
| UN chief: Syria unrest could have global impact Posted:  The "extremely dangerous" conflict in Syria could have global repercussions, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Wednesday, as fresh violence erupted and an al-Qaida-inspired group claimed responsibility for two suicide bombings in Damascus.
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| Egypt lawmakers, government disagree on IMF loan Posted: An International Monetary Fund team was due to leave Cairo Wednesday without securing an agreement over a $3.2 billion loan to help boost the nation's battered economy. |
| Yemen: 3 Filipino sailors kidnapped Posted: A Yemeni Interior Ministry official says tribesmen have kidnapped three Filipino sailors to press for release of a prisoner. |
| Egypt's Brotherhood mulling run for president Posted: The Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's most powerful political group, said Wednesday it is considering running its own candidate in upcoming presidential elections, dropping its previous decision to avoid direct participation in the race. |
| Kidnapped British woman freed in Somalia Posted:  A British tourist freed Wednesday by Somali pirates after six months in captivity said she did not know for weeks that her husband was killed in the raid on a luxury beach resort on the Kenyan coast.
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