| Assad gets Iran backing as forces squeeze Aleppo rebels Posted: 07 Aug 2012 04:07 PM PDT  ALEPPO, Syria (Reuters) - Iran has offered support to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad as his forces tried to choke off rebels in the northern city of Aleppo. Seeking to restore his authority after suffering the gravest setbacks so far in the 17-month-old uprising, culminating in the defection of his prime minister on Monday, Assad was shown on television on Tuesday meeting a senior official from his key regional ally. ...
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| U.S. rules denting Congo rebels' mineral profits: study Posted: 07 Aug 2012 04:01 PM PDT  UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - A U.S. law and an electronics industry code governing the use of conflict minerals have slashed profits among armed groups in the Democratic Republic of Congo by 65 percent in the past two years, a report by a nonprofit rights group found on Tuesday. But the Enough Project - an arm of the Center for American Progress that combats genocide and crimes against humanity - also warned that months of unrest in Congo's volatile east is hampering progress made in curbing the conflict minerals trade. ...
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| As China prepares for Gu's trial, rule of law also in the dock Posted: 07 Aug 2012 02:02 PM PDT  BEIJING (Reuters) - China holds its most sensational trial this week since convicting the Gang of Four over 30 years ago, putting Gu Kailai, the wife of deposed leader Bo Xilai, in the dock for murder. It took two months for the widow of Chairman Mao Zedong and three other ultra-leftist leaders to be found guilty of excesses in the 1966-76 Cultural Revolution after a show trial. Gu, a career lawyer who has championed China's swift, unblinking justice system, is likely to be dealt with even sooner. ...
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| "Shocking" pressure on top Romania court: Council of Europe Posted: 07 Aug 2012 02:16 PM PDT  BUCHAREST (Reuters) - Romania's Constitutional Court is under "shocking" political pressure ahead of its ruling on the validity of a referendum to impeach the president and has appealed to the Council of Europe for protection, a council official said on Tuesday. Prime Minister Victor Ponta's leftist Social Liberal Union (USL) is trying to oust suspended President Traian Basescu. Ponta accuses Basescu of abusing his position to block government legislation, but the European Union regards some of the government's tactics as undermining democracy. ...
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| Egypt moves to seal Gaza tunnels after border attack Posted: 07 Aug 2012 04:08 PM PDT  RAFAH, Egypt (Reuters) - Egypt began to seal off smuggling tunnels into the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, a security source said, two days after gunmen shot dead 16 Egyptian border guards in an attack blamed partly on Palestinian militants. Crowds of angry mourners wept at the military funeral of the slain guards in Cairo after the deadliest assault along Egypt's tense Sinai Peninsula border with Israel and Gaza in decades. ...
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| Monsoon rains swamp Philippine capital, markets shut Posted: 07 Aug 2012 11:08 AM PDT  MANILA (Reuters) - Deadly torrential rains submerged much of the Philippine capital and surrounding areas on Tuesday, forcing nearly 270,000 people to flee their homes with more flooding expected in the north of the country as a tropical storm passes through the region, officials said. Steady rains for the past 10 days, killing more than 50 people, are set to continue until Wednesday, the Philippines weather bureau said, fuelled by tropical storm "Haikui" in the Philippine Sea northeast of Taiwan. ...
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| U.S. asks Bangladesh not to shut down humanitarian groups Posted: 07 Aug 2012 04:06 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Tuesday called on Bangladesh to allow non-governmental organizations to continue providing aid to members of a minority group who have fled to Bangladesh to get away from violence in Myanmar's Rakhine state. "The United States is deeply concerned by the Government of Bangladesh's stated intent to shut down non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that have been providing critical humanitarian aid to Rohingya residing in Bangladesh," U.S. State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell said in a statement. ...
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| Mali mediator tells rebels to cut "terrorist" ties Posted: 07 Aug 2012 03:55 PM PDT  OUAGADOUGOU (Reuters) - The lead mediator in regional efforts to end unrest in Mali told rebels there that they had to cut ties to "terrorist movements" like al Qaeda before any peace talks could begin, when he traveled to the rebel-held north for the first time on Tuesday. Islamist militant groups control about two-thirds of Mali after hijacking a secular rebellion by Tuareg nationalists earlier this year. They were able to rapidly seize territory in the north in the wake of a March 22 military coup in the southern capital Bamako that toppled President Amadou Toumani Toure. ...
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| Generators whirring, India's factories shrug off blackouts Posted: 07 Aug 2012 02:07 PM PDT  BHIWADI, India (Reuters) - A siren rang out in the cable factory in northern India when there was a power blackout in half the country last week, but its computer screens didn't even blink as $180,000 worth of batteries seamlessly took over the machines winding the thick coils on the shop floor. A few moments later, in a back room of the cavernous plant in the scruffy Bhiwadi industrial park near New Delhi, mechanic Gaurav Bhatia fired up a shipping container-sized diesel generator that ensured continued electricity. ...
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| Italy's Monti apologizes to Berlusconi over debt comment Posted: 07 Aug 2012 10:28 AM PDT  ROME (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti apologized on Tuesday for suggesting the risk premium on Italian government debt would be much higher than it is if his predecessor Silvio Berlusconi were still in power. Monti had said the difference between the yield on the country's benchmark bonds and safe-haven German Bunds, measuring the premium investors demand to hold riskier assets, would be "1,200 points" if the media magnate were still in office. ...
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| Syria's Assad returns to public eye with ally Iran Posted: 07 Aug 2012 12:39 PM PDT Syrian President Bashar Assad made his first appearance on state TV in nearly three weeks Tuesday in a show of solidarity with a senior Iranian envoy even as the U.S. secretary of state urged stepped up international planning for the regime's collapse. |
| Cuba's aging population will test economic reform Posted: 07 Aug 2012 12:10 PM PDT  The scene at Havana's Victor Hugo Park is unfortunately typical, with a handful of boys kicking a soccer ball through trees while dozens of gray-haired seniors bend and stretch to the urgings of a government-employed trainer.
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| Clueless fans inject fun into Olympic contests Posted: 07 Aug 2012 08:57 AM PDT  Lucy Stewart says she likes water polo — even if it doesn't have horses.
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| Cayman premier scrapping income tax on expats Posted: 07 Aug 2012 10:59 AM PDT  The Cayman Islands is scrapping a plan to impose a direct income tax on thousands of expatriates working in the British Caribbean territory that is famed as a no-tax financial center.
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| Prosecutors ask for 3 years for anti-Putin rockers Posted: 07 Aug 2012 02:12 PM PDT  Prosecutors on Tuesday called for three-year prison sentences for feminist punk rockers who gave an impromptu performance in Moscow's main cathedral to call for an end to Vladimir Putin's rule, in a case that has caused international outrage and split Russian society.
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| Bank scandals tarnish London's reputation Posted: 07 Aug 2012 09:35 AM PDT  It's been a tense summer in the City of London as one bank after another has faced allegations of massive misbehavior.
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| More Syrians flee to Turkey as fighting spreads Posted: 07 Aug 2012 07:08 AM PDT  More than 1,300 Syrians fled to Turkey overnight to escape the civil war as rebels tried to expand their hold inside Syria's largest city despite two weeks of withering counterattacks by President Bashar Assad's troops.
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| EYES ON LONDON: Olympics trounce 'Glee,' Bolt rope Posted: 07 Aug 2012 08:14 AM 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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| China's politics reign in trial of Bo Xilai's wife Posted: 07 Aug 2012 06:46 AM PDT  The wife of a fallen Chinese leader goes on trial Thursday on charges of murdering a British businessman in a politically charged case that may have little to do with whether she really killed him.
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| EYES ON LONDON: Bolt, bling envy, hurdles carnage Posted: 07 Aug 2012 06:11 AM 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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