| Official: No sign French suspect had al-Qaida ties Posted:  Investigators have found no signs the suspected gunman behind a deadly string of attacks in southern France was under orders from al-Qaida or any militant group, a top French official said Friday — disputing Mohamed Merah's claim of terrorist ties before he died in a shootout with commandos.
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| Syrian first lady's shopping sprees hit by sanctions Posted:  Asma al-Assad is set to join her husband on the long list of Syrian officials and institutions on the European Union's sanctions list.
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| Obama taps Dartmouth president to lead World Bank Posted:  President Barack Obama on Friday nominated Dartmouth College president Jim Yong Kim to succeed Robert Zoellick as the head of the World Bank, picking a Korean-born former HIV/AIDS official with the World Health Organization to lead the anti-poverty institution. "The World Bank is more than just a bank. It's one of the most powerful tools [...]
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| EU slaps sanctions on Assad's family; mortars hit Homs Posted:  BEIRUT (Reuters) - The European Union slapped sanctions on President Bashar al-Assad's powerful mother and wife on Friday, targeting his inner circle in an effort to force Syria to end its repression of a year-long uprising. The EU's latest round of sanctions hit 10 other prominent personalities, including Assad's sister and sister-in-law, banning them from visiting the 27-nation bloc, freezing their assets and stopping them from shopping with European firms. "With this new listing we are striking at the heart of the Assad clan, sending out a loud and clear message to Mr. ...
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| U.S. soldier charged with 17 murders in Afghan killings Posted:  KABUL (Reuters) - A U.S. Army sergeant was formally charged with 17 counts of murder on Friday for killing eight adults and nine children in a pre-dawn shooting rampage in southern Afghanistan that further eroded U.S.-Afghan relations already frayed by a decade of war. Staff Sergeant Robert Bales, a decorated 38-year-old veteran of four combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, also was charged with six counts each of assault and attempted murder for attacking two other adults and four children in the March 11 shooting spree, a U.S. armed forces statement said. ...
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| Soldiers loot in Mali after coup, AU says president safe Posted:  BAMAKO, March 23 (Reuters) - Soldiers looted petrol stations and hijacked cars in Mali's capital Bamako on Friday, 48 hours after a military coup, as the African Union said it had assurances that President Amadou Toumani Toure was safe. The AU also suspended Mali's membership after the coup, which has left the West African nation in limbo and jangled nerves in a region already suffering aftershocks from last year's Libyan war. ...
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| Pope says communism has failed in Cuba, urges change Posted:  LEON, MEXICO (Reuters) - Pope Benedict said on Friday that communism had failed in Cuba and offered the Church's help in creating a new economic model, drawing a reserved response from the Cuban government ahead of his visit to the island next week. Speaking on the plane taking him from Rome for a six-day trip to Mexico and Cuba, the Roman Catholic leader told reporters: "Today it is evident that Marxist ideology in the way it was conceived no longer corresponds to reality. ...
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| Europe bishops slam Saudi fatwa against Gulf churches Posted:  PARIS (Reuters) - Christian bishops in Germany, Austria and Russia have sharply criticized Saudi Arabia's top religious official after reports that he issued a fatwa saying all churches on the Arabian Peninsula should be destroyed. In separate statements on Friday, the Roman Catholic bishops in Germany and Austria slammed the ruling by Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdulaziz Al al-Shaikh as an unacceptable denial of human rights to millions of foreign workers in the Gulf region. ...
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| France to resume election race after gunman's death Posted:  TOULOUSE, France (Reuters) - France's presidential election race resumes on Friday, irrevocably altered by the killing of an al Qaeda-inspired gunman whose murders have shifted the political debate in favor of incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy. Mohamed Merah's cold-blooded shootings of seven people, including three Jewish schoolchildren, forced politicians to suspend normal campaigning while a giant manhunt closed in on the 23-year-old unemployed panel-beater. That hunt ended in a cacophony of gunfire shortly before midday on Thursday, after a 30-hour siege in the southern city of Toulouse. ...
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| Egyptians learn fast in campaign for historic vote Posted:  CAIRO (Reuters) - In the final moments of Hosni Mubarak's presidency, Mohamed Elshahawy made a call to the man he thought should replace him. "We need to talk about the future," he told Abdel Moneim Abol Fotouh, then a senior Muslim Brotherhood leader. One year on, Elshahawy has taken time out of his job as a successful business manager to work seven days a week heading Abol Fotouh's campaign. He is one of a generation of Egyptians who have thrown themselves into the first real competition for the nation's presidency, scheduled to take place in May. ...
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| Russia's Medvedev warns West over missile shield Posted:  MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Dmitry Medvedev said on Friday time was running out for the West to come up with new proposals to secure Russia's agreement to a missile defense shield in Europe. Ahead of talks with U.S. President Barack Obama next week, Medvedev gave a downbeat assessment of global security and international relations at the end of his four-year presidency, saying the "Euro-Atlantic" security community he had hoped to create remained a "myth". ...
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| Italy won't rush disputed labor reform Posted:  ROME (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti opted on Friday not to rush a heavily contested labor reform through parliament after running into strong resistance from unions and a key ally supporting his government. After more than five hours of discussion in cabinet, the government said it would send a regular draft bill to parliament rather than an immediately applicable emergency decree. ...
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| Bahraini protesters battle police outside Manama Posted:  MANAMA (Reuters) - Bahraini protesters battled with riot police near Manama on Friday after the funeral of a woman whose family said she died after tear gas entered her home twice in the past week. A U.N. rights body this week expressed concern over the use of excessive force and tear gas by Bahraini security forces. Police moved in with water cannon and armored vehicles to break up hundreds of protesters as they approached a checkpoint near 'Pearl Roundabout', hub of pro-democracy protests last year led by majority Shi'ite Muslims complaining of marginalization. ...
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| Army sergeant charged in Afghan massacre Posted:  Charges filed Friday against Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales reflect the horror of the crime: 17 counts of premeditated murder, more than half of them children, during a shooting rampage in southern Afghanistan. But while Afghans are calling for swift and severe punishment, it will likely be months, even years, before the public ever sees Bales in a courtroom.
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| Mali state TV goes off air; fear of countercoup Posted:  Television screens throughout this landlocked country momentarily went black Friday, as residents near the building housing the state broadcaster saw troops erecting barricades, fearing a possible countercoup a day after a military takeover.
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| Official: No sign French suspect had al-Qaida ties Posted: Investigators have found no signs the suspected gunman behind a deadly string of attacks in southern France was under orders from al-Qaida or any militant group, a top French official said Friday — disputing Mohamed Merah's claim of terrorist ties before he died in a shootout with commandos. |
| Syria's first lady faces sanctions, contempt Posted:  As Syria's bloodshed deepens, the British-born first lady has become an object of contempt for many, a Marie Antoinette figure who shopped online for crystal-encrusted Christian Louboutin stilettos while her country burned.
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| APNewsBreak: Europe faces jihadist threat Posted:  With France's deadly attacks, Islamic terror has apparently struck once more in the heart of Europe — and authorities say there's a dangerous twist: the emergence of homegrown extremists operating independent of any known networks, making them hard to track and stop.
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| Pope arrives in Mexico, denouncing violence Posted:  Pope Benedict XVI began a pilgrimage to the New World on Friday, calling on Mexicans to conquer an "idolatry of money" that feeds drug violence and urging Cuba to leave behind a Marxism that "no longer responds to reality."
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| US man tells of 'humiliating' arrest in Dominica Posted:  A Southern Californian said Friday that he and his partner were taunted, humiliated and subjected to inhumane treatment when they were arrested and jailed after being escorted off a gay cruise in the Caribbean this week.
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| Tens of thousands in Syria call for fall of regime Posted:  Tens of thousands of Syrians braved tear gas and gunfire to protest across the country Friday, vowing to storm the capital Damascus to oust President Bashar Assad as the European Union ramped up pressure on the regime by imposing sanctions on his wife and other close relatives.
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| African Union force to step up hunt for Kony Posted:  The African Union says it will send 5,000 soldiers to join the hunt for notorious rebel leader Joseph Kony, a new mission that comes amid a wildly popular Internet campaign targeting the leader of the Lord's Resistance Army.
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| EU expands range of its anti-piracy strikes Posted: The EU will expand its seagoing anti-piracy mission to include for the first time the Somali coast itself and waterways inside the country, the bloc said Friday. |
