| Annan and Assad agree political approach for Syria Posted: 09 Jul 2012 02:59 PM PDT  DAMASCUS (Reuters) - U.N. peace envoy Kofi Annan said he and President Bashar al-Assad agreed on Monday on an approach to Syria's conflict that he would now take to the opposition, and flew on to Iran for talks with the main regional ally of Damascus. The former U.N. secretary general is trying to rescue his six-point peace plan, which was worked out with the Syrian government and rebels in April but faltered because the ceasefire it was supposed to begin with never took hold. ...
|
| Egypt parliament set to meet, defying army Posted: 09 Jul 2012 12:09 PM PDT  CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's parliamentary speaker said the chamber would reconvene on Tuesday after the new, Islamist president defied the generals by quashing their decision to dissolve the assembly last month. Responding a day after Mohamed Mursi's decree, the army on Monday defended its action to dissolve parliament and, in an apparent swipe at the president, said it was confident "all state institutions" would respect the constitution and the law. ...
|
| Wartime PM Jibril takes early lead in Libya vote Posted: 09 Jul 2012 04:00 PM PDT  TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Wartime rebel prime minister Mahmoud Jibril took an early lead in Libya's national assembly election, according to partial tallies released on Monday that pointed to a weaker than expected showing for Islamist parties. If confirmed that trend would set Libya apart from other Arab Spring countries such as Egypt and Tunisia where groups with overtly religious agendas have done well - although Jibril insists his multi-party alliance is neither secular nor liberal and includes sharia Islamic law among its core values. ...
|
| Venezuela's Chavez says "totally free" of cancer, again Posted: 09 Jul 2012 03:38 PM PDT  CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez declared himself fully recovered from cancer on Monday, three months before an election in which he is seeking another six-year term. "Free, free, totally free," he told reporters when asked if he was free of the disease that struck a year ago. The 57-year-old socialist leader was first diagnosed with cancer in the pelvic region in mid-2011. He wrongly declared himself cured at the end of that year before having a recurrence of the disease in February. ...
|
| One year on, U.S. sees Sudans in "mutual suicide" struggle Posted: 09 Jul 2012 03:48 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Sudan and South Sudan are playing a dangerous economic version of Russian roulette that threatens the success of both countries, the top U.S. official for the region said on the first anniversary of South Sudan's independence. Princeton Lyman, U.S. special envoy for Sudan and South Sudan, said frayed relations between Juba and Khartoum will slow desperately needed growth unless they can negotiate settlements to the border and oil issues that remain unresolved one year after the South seceded. "Each side thinks the other is more vulnerable," Lyman said. ...
|
| Thousands of Pakistanis protest opening of NATO supply route Posted: 09 Jul 2012 12:57 PM PDT  ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Thousands of supporters of hardline religious groups gathered in the Pakistani capital on Monday to protest their government's decision to re-open supply lines for U.S.-led NATO troops in Afghanistan. The protest was the largest so far against the reopening of the routes. Shops closed early in Islamabad and police set up barricades and cordoned off roads. Pakistan suspended NATO supply routes to Afghanistan last November after a cross-border NATO air attack killed 24 Pakistani soldiers. They were re-opened last week after U.S. ...
|
| Gunmen ambush police in western Mexico, 11 killed Posted: 09 Jul 2012 03:56 PM PDT MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Gunmen ambushed a police convoy in Mexico's western state of Sinaloa on Monday, sparking a shoot-out in which seven officers and four assailants were killed, officials said. The convoy of two police vehicles was attacked as it drove from the coastal city of Los Mochis into the town of El Fuerte, said an officer in the El Fuerte police department. Seven officers and four attackers were killed, he said. Officials did not know the motive of the attack, which bore the hallmarks of assaults carried out by drug cartels. ... |
| Russia blames local officials over fatal floods Posted: 09 Jul 2012 01:59 PM PDT  KRYMSK, Russia (Reuters) - The Russian government accused local authorities on Monday of mishandling floods that killed 171 people near the Black Sea, hoping to deflect public anger over the high death toll and devastation from President Vladimir Putin. The head of the Krymsk district, which bore the brunt of the damage at the weekend when a wall of water flooded homes and streets, lost his job hours after Russia's emergencies minister blamed officials on the ground for being slow to issue warnings. ...
|
| Twenty six people killed in bus crashes in Morocco Posted: 09 Jul 2012 03:00 PM PDT RABAT (Reuters) - At least 26 people were killed and 40 others injured in two separate bus accidents in Morocco on Monday, official media reported. Ten people died and 33 others were injured, five of them critically, when a passenger bus crashed near the northern city of Nador, state news agency MAP reported. Later on Monday, 16 people died and a dozen others were injured when their bus fell into a ravine near the town of Tamanar, 530 km (330 miles) south of Rabat. MAP did not give the nationalities of the victims. ... |
| U.S. lawmaker asks Tuvalu to stop reflagging Iran oil tankers Posted: 09 Jul 2012 03:23 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A prominent U.S. lawmaker has asked the small South Pacific island nation Tuvalu to stop reflagging Iranian oil tankers and warned its government of the risks of running afoul of U.S. sanctions. The European Union banned Iranian oil imports as well as providing insurance for vessels carrying Iranian oil on July 1, and the United States has new economic sanctions that have curbed Iranian oil imports by most other major nations. ...
|
| UN envoy seeks Iranian help on Syrian crisis Posted: 09 Jul 2012 12:45 PM PDT  International envoy Kofi Annan tried to rescue his peace plan for Syria by seeking help Monday from Iran, a staunch ally and military backer of President Bashar Assad's regime.
|
| What to know about Egypt's new political drama Posted: 09 Jul 2012 04:14 PM PDT  Egypt's newly elected President Mohammed Morsi is locked in conflict with the powerful military over whether the country's legislature should reconvene despite a June 14 court ruling that dissolved it. It's the latest twist in nearly 17 months of political drama that followed the 2011 overthrow of longtime leader Hosni Mubarak.
|
| First witness testifies in Mladic trial Posted: 09 Jul 2012 10:18 AM PDT  It's been 20 years since Elvedin Pasic's father was captured by Serb fighters in the Bosnian war. But as the 34-year-old Bosnian Muslim became the first witness at the U.N. trial of Ratko Mladic on Monday, he repeatedly broke down in tears as he recalled the trauma of separation.
|
| Deadly violence rages across Afghanistan Posted: 09 Jul 2012 12:31 PM PDT  An insurgent bomb killed six American soldiers in eastern Afghanistan, part of a surge of violence that has dealt a stark reminder that war is still raging as NATO plots an exit strategy for the end of 2014.
|
| Manmade vs. natural: Oscar Pistorius stokes debate Posted: 09 Jul 2012 02:58 PM PDT  Is manmade material superior to muscle? Are those blades better than real legs?
|
| AP Exclusive: Abuses surface at Legion school Posted: 09 Jul 2012 06:57 AM PDT  Dozens of women who attended a high school run by the disgraced Legion of Christ religious order have urged the Vatican to close the program, saying the psychological abuse they endured trying to live like teenage nuns led to multiple cases of anorexia, stress-induced migraines, depression and even suicidal thoughts.
|
| UK: Cleric appeals to Europe's human rights court Posted: 09 Jul 2012 12:58 PM PDT Britain said Monday that radical Muslim preacher Abu Hamza al-Masri has lodged an appeal over his extradition to the United States with the European Court of Human Rights. |
| 3 gored on 3rd day of Pamplona bull running fiesta Posted: 09 Jul 2012 11:54 AM PDT  Two Britons and an American were gored Monday on the third day of Spain's famed running of the bulls through the cobblestoned streets of Pamplona, the most gorings for one run so far this year.
|
| Flooding exposes deep distrust of Russia's leaders Posted: 09 Jul 2012 12:00 PM PDT  The floods that washed through southern Russia and killed 171 people followed storms that dumped five months of rain in a matter of hours. Still, President Vladimir Putin has spent three days trying to persuade residents that the flooding was an act of nature and not the result of government negligence or worse.
|
| New crisis loom over Egypt over legislature's fate Posted: 09 Jul 2012 04:13 PM PDT  A new showdown loomed in Egypt on Monday as the country's highest court stood by its ruling that dissolved parliament last month, challenging the new Islamist president's plans to reconvene the lower chamber in defiance of the military.
|
