| Syria hit by diplomatic defection Posted: 11 Jul 2012 04:56 PM PDT  BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syria's ambassador to Iraq defected on Wednesday in protest over President Bashar al-Assad's crackdown on a 16-month uprising as the U.N. Security Council remained deadlocked over the next steps in the crisis. "I declare that I have joined, from this moment, the ranks of the revolution of the Syrian people," Nawah al-Fares said in a video statement posted on Facebook. He did not elaborate or say from where he had posted the statement. Fares, who has close ties to Syrian security, was the first senior diplomat to quit the embattled government. ...
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| White House says Iran's role with Syria not productive Posted: 11 Jul 2012 01:00 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House on Wednesday said Iran's role on Syria has not been productive and the United States was interested in working with nations that would be more constructive in helping bring stability. U.N. envoy Kofi Annan has said Iran should play a role in peace talks on Syria. White House spokesman Jay Carney said while he was not ruling anything out, "we reject the idea that it is likely that Iran can play a constructive role. ...
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| Egypt president seeks talks over parliament crisis Posted: 11 Jul 2012 11:21 AM PDT  CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's Islamist president said on Wednesday he wanted talks with the judiciary and political powers to defuse a crisis over him trying reinstate parliament in defiance of generals who dissolved it last month based on a court ruling. Mohamed Mursi's statement appeared to be a call for a truce to prevent the crisis, less than two weeks into his presidency, from boiling over into open confrontation with the military council or the judges in his battle to wrest power. ...
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| Al Qaeda suicide bomber attacks Yemen police academy Posted: 11 Jul 2012 01:55 PM PDT  SANAA (Reuters) - A suicide bomber killed at least 10 people outside a police academy in the Yemeni capital Sanaa on Wednesday, dramatically exposing the government's vulnerability to al Qaeda-linked insurgents despite a U.S.-backed offensive against them. Yemeni Interior Minister Abdul Qader Qahtan told state television the death toll was 10, with 15 wounded, some of them in a serious condition. Security officials had earlier put the number of dead at 22. ...
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| Djibouti: Western bases pose manageable risk Posted: 11 Jul 2012 02:19 PM PDT LONDON (Reuters) - Host to the most important U.S. and French military bases in Africa, the tiny Red Sea state of Djibouti agrees it faces a risk of retaliation from the Islamist militants its Western guests hunt on forays into nearby countries. But it argues the menace is limited. Instead, the strategically placed country points to what it suggests is a more significant, long-term security consideration: the poverty, unemployment and regional political instability it sees as potential pathways to extremist thinking. ... |
| Mexico's president-elect calls on rivals to back reform push Posted: 11 Jul 2012 02:48 PM PDT  MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexican President-elect Enrique Pena Nieto called on rival parties to rally around his plans for economic reforms on Wednesday, naming a team of advisers to help negotiate deals in the new Congress. Pena Nieto's election win on July 1 will bring the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, which ruled Mexico for most of the 20th century, back to power after more than a decade on the sidelines. ...
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| U.S. says concerned by Russian draft NGO law Posted: 11 Jul 2012 02:24 PM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States said on Wednesday it was concerned by Russian legislation that would force rights and campaign groups funded from abroad to register as foreign agents, saying it would impose tough new limitations on pro-democracy organizations. State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell said the United States had communicated "deep concern" to Moscow after the Russian lower house of Parliament gave initial approval to the bill, which is supported by President Vladimir Putin's United Russia party. ... |
| Helicopters attack Colombian rebels as president visits south Posted: 11 Jul 2012 03:31 PM PDT  TORIBIO, Colombia (Reuters) - Colombian helicopter gunships strafed suspected rebel hideouts and guerrillas set up roadblocks as President Juan Manuel Santos visited the nation's volatile south on Wednesday amid growing criticism that security has deteriorated. Latin America's fourth-biggest economy has battled Marxist insurgents for nearly five decades, and despite a U.S.-backed crackdown that drove rebels into more remote hideouts, guerrillas have stepped up attacks in the last few years. ...
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| Libya's Jibril extends vote lead with Benghazi rout Posted: 11 Jul 2012 12:32 PM PDT  TRIPOLI (Reuters) - The National Forces Alliance of Libyan wartime premier Mahmoud Jibril extended its lead over Islamists in landmark free elections with a landslide victory in the eastern city of Benghazi, new partial vote tallies showed on Wednesday. The North African country's first national vote in six decades has been hailed as a success by observers despite election-day bloodshed that claimed at least two lives. ...
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| U.S. to demand disclosures as it eases Myanmar sanctions Posted: 11 Jul 2012 02:43 PM PDT  VIENTIANE (Reuters) - The United States on Wednesday eased sanctions to allow its companies to invest in and provide financial services to Myanmar but will require them to make detailed disclosures about their dealings, the White House said. The unusual reporting requirement aims to promote greater transparency in the country - among the world's most corrupt according to watchdog Transparency International - as it emerges from nearly half century of military rule. In a development first reported by Reuters early on Wednesday, President Barack Obama directed the U.S. ...
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| UN envoy says Syria president discusses transition Posted: 11 Jul 2012 05:01 PM PDT  Syrian President Bashar Assad has discussed the possibility of forming a transitional government for his country as proposed by an international conference in Geneva last month, envoy Kofi Annan said Wednesday.
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| Opposition: Syria's Iraq ambassador has defected Posted: 11 Jul 2012 04:33 PM PDT  The Syrian ambassador to Iraq has defected, denouncing President Bashar Assad in a TV statement Wednesday, becoming the most senior diplomat to abandon the regime during a bloody 16-month uprising.
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| Star dancer born into war grows up to inspire Posted: 11 Jul 2012 03:16 PM PDT  Michaela DePrince was little more than a toddler when she saw her first ballerina — an image in a magazine page blown against the gate of the orphanage where she ended up during Sierra Leone's civil war. It showed an American ballet dancer posed on tip toe.
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| Suicide attack on Yemen police cadets kills 10 Posted: 11 Jul 2012 09:57 AM PDT  A suspected al-Qaida suicide bomber detonated his explosives among a crowd of Yemeni police cadets as they were leaving their academy Wednesday, killing at least 10 of them, according to security officials.
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| UK: 3,500 more troops assigned to Olympics Posted: 11 Jul 2012 01:15 PM PDT  Britain put an extra 3,500 military personnel on standby Wednesday to protect venues at the London Olympics, after a private contractor said it may not be able to provide enough security guards on time.
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| Mexico paper won't cover violence after attack Posted: 11 Jul 2012 04:08 PM PDT The El Manana newspaper in the northern Mexico border city of Nuevo Laredo announced that it will stop covering violent criminal disputes after suffering a second grenade attack against its offices in two months. |
| Vast wealth didn't shield the Rausings from drugs Posted: 11 Jul 2012 01:26 PM PDT  When Eva Rausing approached the heavily guarded U.S. Embassy in London's Grosvenor Square four years ago to deal with a routine passport matter, she had to pass through British security, then face an airport-style metal detector so she and her handbag could be scanned for weapons and contraband.
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| Bureaucracy slows NATO supply run through Pakistan Posted: 11 Jul 2012 11:58 AM PDT  Bureaucratic delays have held up shipments to troops in Afghanistan through Pakistan, officials said Wednesday, a week after Islamabad reopened U.S. and NATO supply lines.
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| It's rats vs. penguins on contested Chilean island Posted: 11 Jul 2012 02:49 PM PDT  A 3-week-old Humboldt Penguin gazes plaintively from the opening of its nest, waiting for its parents to return with food. They may be out hunting for fish. But if they take much longer, they might not have a chick to provide for.
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| Sorrow in Srebrenica: Bosnians bury 520 victims Posted: 11 Jul 2012 02:44 PM PDT  The pain that seared Srebrenica 17 years ago burned fresh Wednesday as tens of thousands of Bosnian Muslims came to bury their dead in the town whose name is now synonymous with genocide.
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