| World outrage at Syria "massacre", but no action Posted: 13 Jul 2012 03:46 PM PDT  AMMAN/BEIRUT (Reuters) - The United States has branded Syria's leaders murderers after an attack on a village by President Bashar al-Assad's troops left dozens dead, but there was no break in the deadlock among world powers over how to bring about an end to the bloodshed. United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also condemned what his monitors on the ground had seen as an "indiscriminate" bombardment that included rocket-firing helicopters of the town of Tremseh in rebellious Hama province, and he questioned Assad's commitment to a U.N.-sponsored peace plan for Syria. But at U.N. ...
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| Spanish workers block roads, rail in cuts protest Posted: 13 Jul 2012 10:26 AM PDT  MADRID (Reuters) - Spanish workers blocked streets and railways in Madrid on Friday in protests against new austerity measures they said hurt ordinary people more than the bankers and politicians they blame for the economic crisis. As the Spanish government approved the deepest cuts in 30 years, including a second round of wage cuts and reduced benefits for civil servants, Spain's main unions called on public workers to strike in September. The date of the strike will be announced at a later stage, the unions said in a statement. ...
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| Uzbek man gets nearly 16 years in prison for plot to kill Obama Posted: 13 Jul 2012 01:29 PM PDT BIRMINGHAM, Alabama (Reuters) - A federal judge sentenced an Uzbek man living illegally in the United States to nearly 16 years in prison on Friday on terrorism and weapons charges stemming from his plot to kill President Barack Obama. Ulugbek Kodirov, who arrived in the United States in 2009 to attend medical school but never enrolled, had plotted to shoot Obama while the president campaigned for re-election this year, according to federal authorities in Alabama. ... |
| Costa Concordia victims remembered, six months on Posted: 13 Jul 2012 01:43 PM PDT  GIGLIO, Italy (Reuters) - Residents of this Tuscan island and relatives of victims of the Costa Concordia disaster prayed and ships' horns sounded on Friday to mark the six months since the cruise liner ran aground, killing 32 people. Church bells pealed in the port section of the island at 9:42 p.m. (1942 GMT), the time the 114,500-tonne vessel hit rocks on January 13 after its captain Francesco Schettino brought it too close to shore. One of those who came to the island for the remembrance service was Elio Vincenzi, who lost his wife Maria Grazia. ...
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| Chavez says Venezuela is no threat to anyone Posted: 13 Jul 2012 12:54 PM PDT  CARACAS (Reuters) - President Hugo Chavez denied on Friday that Venezuela was a threat to anyone, after U.S. presidential hopeful Mitt Romney criticized Barack Obama for playing down the risk posed by the socialist leader. Obama told a Spanish-language television station in an interview screened this week that Chavez's actions over recent years had not had a serious national security impact on the United States. Romney said Obama's comments were "stunning and shocking" and showed a pattern of weakness in the Democratic president's foreign policy. ...
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| Despite Turmoil, Murdoch family looks relaxed at Sun Valley Posted: 13 Jul 2012 02:49 PM PDT  Sun Valley, Idaho (Reuters) - "Good morning, good morning," was all Rupert Murdoch had to say to reporters on his way into the Friday morning sessions at Allen & Co's annual media and technology conference in Sun Valley, Idaho. The News Corp Chairman can be forgiven for his press shyness. After all, this is the second straight year he has attended the event while his $53 billion company is in turmoil. Only two weeks ago Murdoch announced he planned to divide News Corp in two, separating its fast-growing entertainment assets from its slower-growing and scandal-scarred publishing operation. ...
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| Georgia death row inmate seeks reprieve due to mental disability Posted: 13 Jul 2012 03:23 PM PDT ATLANTA (Reuters) - Attorneys for a Georgia man facing execution next week argued to the state's pardons board on Friday that executing the two-time murderer would be unjust because of his limited mental capacity. Warren Lee Hill, 52, is scheduled to die by lethal injection on July 18. In a series of unsuccessful appeals, his lawyers have said his execution should be halted because he suffered from what they termed mental retardation. The Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles held a closed hearing in the case on Friday but did not issue a ruling. ... |
| Analysis: Mexican political minnows hold big cards in new Congress Posted: 13 Jul 2012 10:22 AM PDT  MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Throughout Mexico's election campaign, the party that held the country in an iron grip for most of the 20th century was tipped to recapture the presidency by storm and take control of Congress. In the end, the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, fell short of a legislative majority and it may now have to lean heavily on two fringe parties to pass reforms. ...
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| Venezuela's Chavez back on street, claims "miracle" recovery Posted: 13 Jul 2012 08:13 AM PDT  BARCELONA, Venezuela (Reuters) - Hailing his rebound from cancer as a "miracle" and firing up his supporters with spiritual rhetoric, Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez has hit the road to campaign for re-election in October. The socialist leader began a series of campaign rallies under a rainstorm in the eastern city of Barcelona, seeking to show his health is fine and to capitalize on the emotional connection with Venezuela's poor that has underpinned his rule. "I'm in the street again, thank God, after everything that's happened in the last year. ...
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| Tunisian revolution hero's mother arrested: brother Posted: 13 Jul 2012 03:10 PM PDT  TUNIS (Reuters) - The mother of the Tunisian peddler whose suicide sparked the Arab Spring has been arrested after getting into a scuffle with a court official, a family member said on Friday. Salem Bouazizi, brother of Mohammed Bouazizi whose death made him a symbol for the frustrations of many, said their mother had been held for allegedly attacking the official in Sidi Bouzid, the central town where Tunisia's revolution began. ...
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| UN blames regime forces for Syria massacre Posted: 13 Jul 2012 01:41 PM PDT  The U.N. singled out government forces Friday for blame in the latest massacre in Syria, a frenzy of killing that raises new questions about whether diplomacy has any chance to end the crisis more than 16 months into the bloodiest revolt of the Arab Spring.
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| Clinton talks with reformist Myanmar president Posted: 13 Jul 2012 10:28 AM PDT  Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton declared Myanmar open to American investment Friday, introducing the reformist president to leaders of some of the U.S.'s biggest corporations and still prodding him to do more to expand democracy in his long-reclusive country.
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| Survivors: Avalanche hit with no warning, no sound Posted: 13 Jul 2012 10:49 AM PDT  Climbers who survived the massive avalanche in the French Alps that killed nine of their colleagues said Friday they were tossed around by a wave of snow that hit without a sound.
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| Jordan's Islamists say they will boycott elections Posted: 13 Jul 2012 07:45 AM PDT  Jordan's powerful Muslim Brotherhood said Friday it will boycott upcoming parliamentary elections in protest over recent changes to the kingdom's election laws, which it says fall short of opposition demands.
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| French president's 'Mr. Normal' image hit by tweet Posted: 13 Jul 2012 01:00 PM PDT  A feud involving the French president's live-in girlfriend, his former partner and his eldest son may have tarnished the new leader's carefully cultivated image as "Mr. Normal" — credited with helping him win the spring election among a populace weary of his flashy predecessor, Nicolas Sarkozy.
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| Private jet crash kills 3 Americans in France Posted: 13 Jul 2012 11:57 AM PDT  A French official says a private plane has caught fire and crashed on landing at Le Castellet airport in southern France, killing the three Americans on board.
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| Ratko Mladic's trial halted because of his health Posted: 13 Jul 2012 07:33 AM PDT  Ratko Mladic's genocide trial was halted Friday for a second day running because the former Bosnian Serb military commander was undergoing medical tests and under observation after being rushed to a hospital a day earlier.
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| Is Italy's Berlusconi plotting a comeback? Posted: 13 Jul 2012 11:03 AM PDT  When Silvio Berlusconi resigned after dominating Italy's political scene for two decades, he left a country in financial shambles and a personal legacy tarnished by sex and corruption scandals.
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| Sect attack claim complicates Nigeria crisis Posted: 13 Jul 2012 03:54 PM PDT Christians and Muslims have clashed for years in central Nigeria, a conflict that took an unexpected turn when Islamist insurgents based in the northeast claimed responsibility for deadly weekend raids on Christian villages. |
| UK police: Heir held on suspicion of murder Posted: 13 Jul 2012 06:33 AM PDT  The husband of Eva Rausing, one of Britain's richest women, has been arrested on suspicion of murder in the death of his wife, even though no cause of death has been established, police said Friday.
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