| Aleppo rebels say they stand firm in "regime's grave" Posted: 30 Jul 2012 03:26 PM PDT  ALEPPO, Syria (Reuters) - The Syrian military has stepped up its campaign to drive rebels out of Aleppo, where fighters said they were holding firm, vowing to turn the country's largest city into the "grave of the regime". Opposition activists denied a government declaration that its forces had recaptured the Salaheddine district, in southwest Aleppo, straddling the most obvious route for Syrian troop reinforcements coming from the south. ...
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| Yemen confirms Italian is detained by tribesmen Posted: 30 Jul 2012 03:14 PM PDT  SANAA (Reuters) - An Italian embassy security officer who was kidnapped in Yemen on Sunday was seized by tribesmen and is being detained in the oil-producing province of Maarib, Yemen's Interior Ministry said on Tuesday. The abductors are demanding compensation for the arrest of one of their relatives and the return of land they say they own in the capital Sanaa, a tribal source told Reuters. The incident highlights continuing instability in Yemen five months after former leader Ali Abdullah Saleh was formally replaced by his deputy under a plan designed to forestall a slide into lawlessness. ...
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| Pakistan to push for intelligence sharing at U.S. talks Posted: 30 Jul 2012 03:03 PM PDT  DUBAI (Reuters) - Pakistan's spy chief will call for an end to U.S. military drone strikes in its tribal areas bordering Afghanistan and push for a sharing of technology and intelligence during a visit to Washington this week, the country's interior minister said on Monday. But indications are that Islamabad's demands for a halt to drone attacks may receive a less-than-sympathetic hearing from top Obama administration officials. ...
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| Russia to get stronger nuclear navy, Putin says Posted: 30 Jul 2012 01:57 PM PDT  SEVERODVINSK, Russia (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin oversaw the start of construction of one of Russia's newest generation submarines on Monday and vowed to boost nuclear naval forces to safeguard the country's position as a leading sea power. Warning that its navy would protect top energy producer Russia's interests in the oil-rich Arctic, Putin led the ceremony to begin building the submarine Prince Vladimir, named after the ruler who founded a precursor state to modern Russia. ...
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| Assange's mother says U.S. bent on extraditing WikiLeaks founder Posted: 30 Jul 2012 03:03 PM PDT  QUITO (Reuters) - Julian Assange's mother said she handed evidence to Ecuador's government on Monday indicating Washington is bent on extraditing her son to the United States, where she fears the WikiLeaks founder could face execution. Assange has been holed up in Ecuador's embassy in London for nearly six weeks as he awaits a decision on his asylum request by the leftist government of Rafael Correa. The Australian anti-secrecy campaigner, who antagonized Washington in 2010 when his WikiLeaks website published secret U.S. ...
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| Survivors of crash that killed Cuba's Paya say it was accident Posted: 30 Jul 2012 04:36 PM PDT  HAVANA (Reuters) - Two European politicians who survived a car crash that killed prominent Cuban dissident Oswaldo Paya said on Monday that no other vehicle was involved and denied suggestions they had been deliberately forced off the road. Their versions appeared to support the Cuban government's description of the accident, contradicting suggestions by Paya's family and some fellow dissidents that another vehicle may have hit the car from behind to cause the crash. They have called for an international investigation. ...
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| Mali Islamists stone couple to death for adultery Posted: 30 Jul 2012 03:30 PM PDT BAMAKO (Reuters) - An al Qaeda-linked Islamic militant group in control of northern Mali stoned to death a married couple accused of engaging in extramarital affairs, the group's spokesman said. The couple were publicly executed in the remote town of Aguelhok, near the vast West African nation's northern border with Algeria, on Sunday, a spokesman for the Ansar Dine group told Reuters. "These two people were married and had extra-conjugal relations. Our men on the ground in Aguelhok applied sharia (Islamic law)," said Sanda Ould Bounama, reached by telephone on Monday. ... |
| Russia signs tougher adoption deal with U.S. Posted: 30 Jul 2012 01:23 PM PDT  MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin has ratified a new agreement with the United States that tightens up rules for U.S. citizens adopting Russian children, his office said on Monday, after a spate of abuse cases that have outraged public opinion in Russia. More than 60,000 Russian children have been adopted by foreigners, mostly Americans, since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, a touchy subject with the Russian authorities who favor domestic adoption. ...
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| Saudi says detained Shi'ite cleric mentally imbalanced Posted: 30 Jul 2012 11:35 AM PDT  RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's interior minister said on Monday that a prominent anti-government cleric arrested earlier this month was mentally unstable, undermining a figure who has a growing following among disaffected Shi'ite Muslim youths. Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr was shot in the leg during the arrest which sparked deadly protests among members of the minority Shi'ite community who say they are routinely discriminated against in the Sunni-dominated kingdom. Three people were killed in the demonstrations in what the Interior Ministry described as exchanges of fire. ...
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| Egypt court move suspends constitution row Posted: 30 Jul 2012 02:03 PM PDT  CAIRO (Reuters) - The struggle over Egypt's new constitution was temporarily suspended on Monday when a court deferred until late September the next step in a legal row that had threatened the dissolution of the body writing it. The adjournment of a battle that has overshadowed one of the main components of Egypt's transition to democracy after the Arab Spring uprising that ousted Hosni Mubarak could give the current constitutional assembly time to complete its work. ...
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| Syrian envoy to London defects amid Aleppo fight Posted: 30 Jul 2012 10:25 AM PDT  Syria's top diplomat in London said he could no longer represent the regime and defected Monday, as civilians fled the commercial hub of Aleppo in droves amid 10 days of fierce battles between rebels and government forces.
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| Romney comments at fundraiser outrage Palestinians Posted: 30 Jul 2012 09:28 AM PDT  Mitt Romney told Jewish donors Monday that their culture is part of what has allowed them to be more economically successful than the Palestinians, outraging Palestinian leaders who suggested his comments were racist and out of touch with the realities of the Middle East. His campaign later said his remarks were mischaracterized.
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| America's uneasy Gulf allies adding to arsenals Posted: 30 Jul 2012 11:16 AM PDT  While Iran's military loudly trumpets every new project or purported advance in hopes of rattling the U.S. and its Gulf Arab allies, the U.S. is quietly answering with an array of proposed arms sales across the region as part of a wider effort to counter Tehran.
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| Indian power failure puts 370M in dark for hours Posted: 30 Jul 2012 10:00 AM PDT  A power grid failure blacked out northern India for hours Monday, halting trains, forcing hospitals and airports onto backup power and providing a dark, sweltering reminder of the nation's inability to meet its energy needs as it strives to be an economic power.
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| More heavy rain hits NKorea, flooding buildings Posted: 30 Jul 2012 08:24 AM PDT  More heavy rain pounded North Korea on Monday, submerging buildings, cutting off power, flooding rice paddies and forcing people and their livestock to climb onto rooftops for safety.
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| All eyes on ECB's Draghi to fight crisis Posted: 30 Jul 2012 08:33 AM PDT  European Central Bank president Mario Draghi has already taken Europe's monetary authority into uncharted territory.
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| Iran sentences 4 to death in $2.6B fraud case Posted: 30 Jul 2012 10:23 AM PDT An Iranian court has sentenced four people to death and given two more life sentences on charges linked to a $2.6 billion bank fraud described as the biggest financial scam in the country's history, an official said Monday. |
| Survivors: No 2nd car in deadly Cuba car crash Posted: 30 Jul 2012 10:46 AM PDT  Two Europeans who were traveling with prominent Cuban dissident Oswaldo Paya when he died in a car accident said Monday that no second vehicle was involved, denying speculation that the crash might not have been accidental.
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| EYES ON LONDON: Kobe, fencing drama, cockney ATM Posted: 30 Jul 2012 12:21 PM PDT  Around the 2012 Olympics and its host city with journalists from The Associated Press bringing the flavor and details of the games to you:
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| OLYMPIC TRADE BOOST? Posted: 30 Jul 2012 12:14 PM PDT There's no gold medal for technology, but if there, Jonny Ive would be a world champion. |
