| China court to give verdict in Gu Kailai murder trial Posted: 19 Aug 2012 03:07 PM PDT  HEFEI, China (Reuters) - A Chinese court will deliver its verdict on Monday against Gu Kailai, the wife of disgraced politician Bo Xilai, on charges of killing a British businessman last year in a scandal that has shaken the Communist Party's transition to a new leadership. When a court in the eastern city of Hefei announces its verdict at a hearing starting at 9 a.m. (9.00 p.m. EDT), Gu could receive the death penalty, along with a family aide, Zhang Xiaojun, who was also tried for the murder. ...
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| Syria's Assad makes rare appearance for Eid prayers Posted: 19 Aug 2012 04:16 PM PDT  BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad made his first appearance in public since a July bomb attack, attending prayers at a Damascus mosque to mark the start of the Muslim holiday of Eid, state TV showed. The first day of Eid on Sunday also gave Assad's opponents a chance to rally and activists reported protests around Syria, including in the capital, on a holiday that marked the end of the Islamic holy fasting month of Ramadan. Fighting raged on around Syria, killing more than 100 people, an activist group reported. ...
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| Sudan plane crash kills 32 including minister Posted: 19 Aug 2012 12:20 PM PDT  KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Thirty two people including a Sudanese government minister and other officials were killed when a plane taking them to an Islamic festival crashed in the south of the country on Sunday, state media said. The plane went down in mountains around Talodi, a town in the border state of South Kordofan, while taking a delegation there to celebrate the Eid al-Fitr festival marking the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, state news agency SUNA said. The report blamed the crash on "bad weather conditions" but did not give further details. ...
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| Landings, protests stoke Japan-China islands dispute Posted: 19 Aug 2012 09:40 AM PDT  EAST CHINA SEA (Reuters) - Anti-Japanese protests rocked Chinese cities on Sunday after nationalists from Japan landed on an East China Sea island at the heart of a territorial dispute between the two nations, the largest flare-up of Chinese public anger over Japan in years. In several Chinese cities, thousands took to the streets, including in Shenzhen where small groups overturned Japanese cars and shouted slogans denouncing Japan's claim over the islands, in footage carried by Hong Kong's Cable Television. ...
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| German politicians say no leeway for Greece on reforms Posted: 19 Aug 2012 04:15 PM PDT  BERLIN (Reuters) - Senior German politicians stepped up the pressure on Greece to stick to its reforms before the Greek prime minister visits Berlin this week and made clear that there was no appetite in the German parliament for a third aid package. Greek leader Antonis Samaras, facing mounting social and political discontent at home, is expected to ask for a two-year extension to the deadline international lenders have set when he meets the leaders of Germany and France this week. ...
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| Magnitude 6.2 earthquake hits Papua New Guinea: USGS Posted: 19 Aug 2012 04:12 PM PDT SYDNEY (Reuters) - A magnitude 6.2 earthquake struck in north-eastern Papua New Guinea on Monday morning, the U.S. Geological Survey said. The strong quake was centered 115 km north-northeast of Mount Hagen, at a depth of 77 kilometers, the USGS said. Papua New Guinea is on the geologically active Pacific Ring of Fire. (Reporting By Jane Wardell; Editing by John Mair) |
| Another Afghan insider shooting as U.S. talks to Karzai Posted: 19 Aug 2012 03:05 PM PDT KABUL (Reuters) - Another NATO soldier was killed on Sunday by an Afghan police officer, raising the coalition death toll from so-called "green on blue" shootings to nine in 11 days as the United States urged Kabul to step up screening of recruits. The growing insider threat has eroded trust between NATO and its Afghan allies, causing a headache for Western powers who are planning to pull out most of their troops by the end of 2014. U.S. ... |
| Libya arrests Gaddafi loyalists over Sunday bombings Posted: 19 Aug 2012 03:34 PM PDT  TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Libya said it had arrested 32 supporters of the country's former leader Muammar Gaddafi in connection with bombings that killed two people in the capital Tripoli earlier on Sunday. An official from Libya's Supreme Security Committee, which has been supervising security matters since Gaddafi's overthrow and death last year, said the 32 had been part of an organized network. Connections between the group and the attacks, near security and interior ministry facilities, "have been established", the official told Reuters. ...
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| Analysis: Clashes expose India's communal divide as elections loom Posted: 19 Aug 2012 02:13 PM PDT  NEW DELHI (Reuters) - The anonymous text message on Bhumidhar Das' mobile phone was chilling: "Muslims will attack and kill our people after Ramadan. Return home." Within hours, Das, a Hindu working at a car factory in the city of Pune, joined tens of thousands of fellow migrant workers returning to hometowns in the remote northeast after getting or hearing of similar messages. Nearly 80 people have been killed and 400,000 displaced in fighting between Muslims and mostly Hindu Bodo tribesmen in northeastern Assam state in recent weeks. ...
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| Web snares Vietnam as bloggers spread protests over land Posted: 19 Aug 2012 02:53 PM PDT  HANOI (Reuters) - Farmer Le Dung and his fellow villagers stockpiled rocks and petrol bombs to battle police trying to take over their land for a luxury property development near Vietnam's capital city. But their most powerful weapon turned out to be the equipment they had set up with the help of Internet activists to record and broadcast the confrontation, which was ignored by state-controlled media. Within hours of the fight on a clear April morning, video of several thousand police firing tear gas and beating farmers in the Van Giang district just east of Hanoi had gone viral. ...
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| Lonmin to SAfrica strikers: Work Monday or fired Posted: 19 Aug 2012 03:57 PM PDT  Miners must return to work Monday or face being fired from the platinum mine where rivalry between unions exploded into violence that led to the deaths of 44 people in a week, Lonmin PLC said Sunday. Thirty-four strikers were gunned down by police in one of the worst displays of state violence since apartheid ended in 1994.
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| Assange urges US to end Wikileaks 'witch hunt' Posted: 19 Aug 2012 03:18 PM PDT  Wikileaks founder Julian Assange portrayed himself Sunday as a victim of an American "witch hunt" over his secret-spilling website in a defiant address from the balcony of an embassy where he has holed up to avoid extradition to face sex assault allegations.
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| Aleppo reflects on losses during holiday lull Posted: 19 Aug 2012 11:55 AM PDT  A brief lull in fighting for a Muslim holiday Sunday allowed residents of Aleppo to take stock of their losses after three weeks of intense battles left many in Syria's largest city strapped for cash, separated from loved ones and scared of more violence ahead.
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| AP Interview: Envoy seeks unified voice on Syria Posted: 19 Aug 2012 07:50 AM PDT  The new U.N. special envoy to Syria admitted on Sunday that he faces a difficult job trying to broker peace in Syria and said his first task is overcoming divisions within the Security Council that stymied the efforts of his predecessor.
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| Sudanese helicopter crash kills 32 Posted: 19 Aug 2012 07:07 AM PDT A Sudanese helicopter carrying a government delegation crashed in a mountainous southern region on Sunday, killing all 32 people on board including a Cabinet minister, a former presidential adviser, two generals and a TV crew. |
| Madonna sued in Russia for supporting gays Posted: 19 Aug 2012 09:08 AM PDT  Some Russian activists have sued Madonna for millions of dollars, claiming they were offended by her support for gay rights during a recent concert in St. Petersburg.
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| Iraqi Sunni cleric's convoy struck by bomb Posted: 19 Aug 2012 11:58 AM PDT  A bomb struck the convoy of a senior Sunni cleric in western Baghdad on Sunday, killing four and critically wounding the anti-extremist Muslim leader, police said.
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| Man in Afghan uniform kills NATO service member Posted: 19 Aug 2012 04:41 PM PDT  A man in an Afghan police uniform shot and killed a U.S. service member on Sunday, a U.S. Defense Department official said, raising the death toll to 10 in such attacks in the space of just two weeks.
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| US drones kill 10 militants in northwest Pakistan Posted: 19 Aug 2012 01:13 PM PDT American drones fired a flurry of missiles in a Pakistani tribal area bordering Afghanistan Sunday, killing a total of 10 suspected militants, Pakistani officials said. |
| Officials: crazed gunman kills 9 Yemenis in prayer Posted: 19 Aug 2012 01:28 PM PDT  Medical and security officials say a crazed gunman opened fire Sunday on worshippers marking the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in southern Yemen, killing nine.
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