| Swiss institute finds polonium in Arafat's effects Posted: 03 Jul 2012 03:38 PM PDT  ZURICH (Reuters) - Traces of the poisonous element polonium have been found in the belongings of late Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, a Swiss institute said on Wednesday, and a television report said his widow had demanded his body be exhumed for further tests. Arafat died at a hospital in France in 2004, after a sudden illness which baffled doctors. Many Palestinians have long suspected he was poisoned. ...
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| U.S., Pakistan reach deal to reopen Afghan supply routes Posted: 03 Jul 2012 02:41 PM PDT  WASHINGTON/ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan and the United States reached a deal on Tuesday to reopen land routes that NATO uses to supply troops in Afghanistan, ending a seven-month crisis that damaged ties between the two countries and complicated the U.S.-led Afghan war effort. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in a telephone call with Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar, apologized for a November NATO air strike that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers last November and prompted an infuriated Islamabad to slam the supply routes closed. ...
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| Mexican leftist asks for presidential recount Posted: 03 Jul 2012 04:44 PM PDT  MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - The runner-up in Mexico's presidential election said on Tuesday he would ask election authorities to recount the votes from Sunday's contest, alleging it was riddled with fraud. Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who finished about 6.5 percentage points behind President-elect Enrique Pena Nieto of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), said the election had been corrupted by PRI vote-buying and other abuses. ...
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| Tribunal finds U.N. chief Ban failed whistleblower Posted: 03 Jul 2012 03:19 PM PDT  UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon and the world body's Ethics Office failed to properly review an internal inquiry into a whistleblower's claims that he suffered retaliation for alleging corruption in the U.N. mission in Kosovo, a U.N. Dispute Tribunal has ruled. The ruling "sends a message to the Ethics Office that the judges in the new U.N. internal justice system are monitoring it and that they will not tolerate failures to properly apply the U.N. whistleblower-protection policy," said the Government Accountability Project, a nonprofit whistleblower watchdog. ...
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| Peru police, protesters clash over Newmont mine Posted: 03 Jul 2012 03:29 PM PDT LIMA (Reuters) - Two people were killed and 21 were injured on Tuesday as Peruvian police clashed with protesters opposed to a $5 billion gold mine planned by Newmont Mining, a health official in the northern region of Cajamarca said. The official, Reynaldo Nunez Campos, said most of the victims were being treated in the city of Cajamarca and the town of Celendin where the clashes occurred, near where the massive mine would be built. "There are two dead in Celendin," he said on RPP radio. ... |
| Explosion outside shopping mall in Nigerian capital Posted: 03 Jul 2012 03:59 PM PDT ABUJA (Reuters) - An explosion rocked a shopping mall in an upmarket district of the Nigerian capital Abuja on Tuesday, the emergency services said, but there were no immediate reports of casualties. "The officers of Search and Rescue and other response agencies are now at the scene and have cordoned off the area along Park and Shop and Banex Plaza," National Emergency Management Agency spokesman Yushua Shuaib said in a statement. ... |
| Iran says it test-fires missiles in war of nerves Posted: 03 Jul 2012 03:10 PM PDT  DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran said on Tuesday it had successfully tested medium-range missiles capable of hitting Israel as a response to threats of attack, the latest move in a war of nerves with the West. Israel says it could attack Iran if diplomacy fails to secure a halt to its disputed nuclear energy program. The United States also has military force as a possible option but has repeatedly encouraged the Israelis to be patient while new economic sanctions are implemented against Iran. ...
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| Police raid Sarkozy's home in funding probe Posted: 03 Jul 2012 12:26 PM PDT  PARIS (Reuters) - Police raided the home and offices of former French president Nicolas Sarkozy on Tuesday as part of a judicial inquiry into financial relations between his political camp and the richest woman in France, L'Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt. It was Sarkozy's first legal tangle since he was unseated in a May 6 election after five years in office, during which he enjoyed presidential immunity from legal pursuit. That cover expired in mid-June. ...
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| Ban Ki-moon pleads for arms pact, Palestinians demand seat Posted: 03 Jul 2012 01:15 PM PDT  UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon pleaded on Tuesday for a binding pact to regulate the more than $60 billion global weapons market, while delegates at a treaty drafting conference worked to defuse a dispute over Palestinian participation. "We do not have a multilateral treaty of global scope dealing with conventional arms," Ban told delegates to the conference, which runs through July 27. "This is a disgrace." "Poorly regulated international arms transfers are fueling civil conflicts, destabilizing regions, and empowering terrorists and criminal networks," he said. ...
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| Syrian army attacks rebels, Turkey scrambles F16s Posted: 03 Jul 2012 10:08 AM PDT  BEIRUT (Reuters) - The Syrian army pressed its offensive against rebels, bombarding the city of Douma near Damascus, and Turkey said it had scrambled warplanes after Syrian helicopters flew near its border. Turkey's armed forces command said the fighters took off on Monday when Syrian transport helicopters were spotted flying near the frontier, without entering Turkish air space. It was the third day in a row that Turkey had scrambled its F-16s. ...
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| Rifts split Syria's opposition at Cairo meeting Posted: 03 Jul 2012 03:38 PM PDT  Syrian opposition groups struggled to form a united leadership Tuesday at a meeting in Cairo that exposed the vast disagreements that have prevented them from effectively leading the uprising against President Bashar Assad.
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| Iraq bombs kill 40; officials eye security bribes Posted: 03 Jul 2012 12:10 PM PDT  Bombs pounded six Iraqi cities and towns Tuesday, killing at least 40 people and raising suspicion that security forces might be assisting terrorists in launching attacks on Shiite Muslims.
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| Iran reports long-range missile launch in exercise Posted: 03 Jul 2012 12:24 PM PDT  Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guards test fired several ballistic missiles on Tuesday, including a long-range variety meant to dissuade Israel and the U.S. from attacking the Islamic Republic, local media reported.
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| Accusations grow of vote-buying in Mexico election Posted: 03 Jul 2012 03:38 PM PDT  Thousands of people rushed to stores Tuesday to redeem pre-paid gift cards they said were given to them previously by the party that won Mexico's presidency, inflaming accusations that the weekend election was marred by widespread vote-buying.
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| Diamond in the rough; Banker Bob falls on sword Posted: 03 Jul 2012 08:36 AM PDT  He was a poster boy for corporate arrogance, telling Parliament last year that the time for bankers to apologize had passed.
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| ECB to trim interest rates, but no more Posted: 03 Jul 2012 11:52 AM PDT Europe's sinking economy and wobbly banks could get modest help Thursday from an interest rate cut by the European Central Bank. |
| SAfrica: Chimps who attacked US student to live Posted: 03 Jul 2012 12:33 PM PDT  Two adult chimpanzees that viciously attacked a U.S. student at a primate sanctuary in South Africa were defending their territory and will be allowed to live, the lead government investigator said Tuesday.
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| Israel's Netanyahu faces coalition crisis Posted: 03 Jul 2012 10:33 AM PDT  Israel's prime minister on Tuesday moved to contain the first major crisis in his newly expanded coalition government after his most significant partner threatened to quit in a dispute over how to overhaul the country's military draft.
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| Ex-President Sarkozy's home, offices searched Posted: 03 Jul 2012 09:25 AM PDT  French investigators searched former President Nicolas Sarkozy's home and office on Tuesday as part of a probe into suspected illegal financing of his 2007 presidential campaign by the L'Oreal cosmetics heiress, an official said.
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| 2 UK airmen missing after RAF Tornado jets crash Posted: 03 Jul 2012 03:23 PM PDT  Two British airmen were missing and two others were hospitalized after RAF Tornado jets crashed Tuesday off Scotland's coast, officials said.
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