| Egypt says Syria's "oppressive regime" must go Posted: 30 Aug 2012 11:22 AM PDT  DUBAI/AMMAN (Reuters) - Egypt called on Thursday for intervention to halt bloodshed in Syria, telling a meeting of 120 nations it was their duty to stand against the "oppressive regime" of Bashar al-Assad, prompting a Syrian walkout. President Mohamed Mursi, elected two months ago after a popular uprising toppled Egypt's long-standing leader Hosni Mubarak, said Assad had lost legitimacy in his fight to crush a 17-month-old revolt in which 20,000 people have been killed. ...
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| Lufthansa cabin crew to strike from Friday in Frankfurt Posted: 30 Aug 2012 04:07 PM PDT  FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Lufthansa passengers face widespread flight disruption from Friday after cabin crew representatives said they would start a series of strikes over pay and cost-cutting measures at Germany's largest airline. The UFO union, which represents around two-thirds of Lufthansa's 19,000 cabin crew, late on Thursday called on its members to strike from 0300 GMT to 1100 GMT on Friday in Frankfurt. "UFO calls on its members within Lufthansa to participate in the strike in Frankfurt from 0500 to 1300 hours (local)," UFO said in an emailed statement. ...
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| Insight: Does China's next leader have a soft spot for Tibet? Posted: 30 Aug 2012 02:10 PM PDT  BEIJING/DHARAMSALA (Reuters) - For decades, Beijing has maintained that the Dalai Lama is a separatist, but Tibet's exiled spiritual leader once had a special relationship with the father of Xi Jinping, the man in line to become China's next president. Few people know what Xi, whose ascent to the leadership is likely to be approved at a Communist Party congress later this year, thinks of Tibet or the Dalai Lama. ...
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| Iran doubles underground nuclear capacity: U.N. agency Posted: 30 Aug 2012 01:41 PM PDT  VIENNA (Reuters) - Iran has doubled the number of uranium enrichment centrifuges it has in an underground bunker, a U.N. report said on Thursday, showing Tehran has continued to expand its nuclear program despite Western pressure and the threat of an Israeli attack. As Israeli politicians increased their talk of air strikes on Iran's nuclear sites in recent months, the Islamic Republic was rapidly increasing the enrichment capacity of its Fordow site, buried deep underground to withstand any such hit. The U.N. ...
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| Ghana's NDC backs Mahama, seeks unity ahead of vote Posted: 30 Aug 2012 11:36 AM PDT  KUMASI, Ghana (Reuters) - Ghana's ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) party nominated interim president John Dramani Mahama on Thursday as its candidate for a December presidential race, hoping a near-unanimous vote will restore unity after months of infighting. Mahama, who replaced the late president John Atta Mills as head of the cocoa, gold and oil-producing nation when he died last month, was the party's intended candidate but had to be confirmed by a vote of the party congress in the town of Kumasi. He won 99. ...
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| South Africa prosecutors charge miners with murder Posted: 30 Aug 2012 03:47 PM PDT  JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South African prosecutors on Thursday charged 270 striking miners with murder of 34 co-workers seen being shot dead in a hail of police bullets captured in videos broadcast around the world. Prosecution have filed papers invoking a measure called "common purpose" seldom used since the dying days of apartheid, arguing the miners were complicit in the killings since they were arrested at the scene with weapons. ...
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| "Free Pussy Riot" written in blood at Russian murder scene Posted: 30 Aug 2012 11:26 AM PDT  MOSCOW (Reuters) - Two women were found stabbed to death in a Russian apartment with the words "Free Pussy Riot" written on the wall in what was probably blood, investigators said on Thursday, stirring more passion over the women jailed for a protest in a church. A Russian Orthodox Church official said supporters of Pussy Riot now had "blood on their conscience", the Interfax news agency reported. ...
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| Netanyahu to speak on Iran at U.N. General Assembly Posted: 30 Aug 2012 11:11 AM PDT  JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday he would speak out about the dangers of Iran's nuclear program in an address next month to the U.N. General Assembly in New York. It was not immediately known if Netanyahu would meet U.S. President Barack Obama during his September 27-30 visit. The two leaders last met in March at the White House. ...
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| Swiss experts ready to help Arafat probe, but time running out Posted: 30 Aug 2012 09:48 AM PDT  GENEVA (Reuters) - A Swiss institute has agreed to a request from the Palestinian Authority to exhume Yasser Arafat's body and determine whether he was poisoned, but time is running out for a credible scientific examination of his remains, it said on Thursday. The Palestinian leader died in a Paris military hospital in November 2004, a month after being flown, seriously ill, from his battered headquarters in Ramallah. Eight years is considered a limit to detect any traces of the deadly radioactive substance, the Institute of Radiation Physics in Lausanne said. ...
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| Cuba reports mixed results of labor reform Posted: 30 Aug 2012 03:53 PM PDT HAVANA (Reuters) - Communist-run Cuba's five-year plan to cut more than a million state jobs, create a strong "non-state sector" and improve wages has made only limited progress, according to a government report released this week. Authorities announced the shift of state workers to private and leased small businesses and farming in late 2009 as the core of a broader reform of the state-dominated economy that employed 90 percent of the workforce. ... |
| Turkey appeals to UN council for Syria safe zone Posted: 30 Aug 2012 04:47 PM PDT  Turkey appealed to a reluctant UN Security Council Thursday for a safe haven for thousands of Syrians facing a "humanitarian disaster" as Britain and France said they would rule out no options — including a no-fly zone — to aid residents fleeing an escalating civil war.
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| Egypt leader in Iran: World must back Syria rebels Posted: 30 Aug 2012 12:20 PM PDT  In a sweeping message that Iran is on the wrong side of Syria's civil war, Egypt's new president urged the world Thursday to support the rebels seeking to topple Bashar Assad and suggested that Tehran could risk a deepening confrontation with regional powers over the fate of the regime in Damascus.
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| Russia claims killer demands Pussy Riot freed Posted: 30 Aug 2012 11:33 AM PDT  The bodies of an elderly woman and her daughter were found in Russia beneath a scrawled message demanding freedom for the jailed members of the Pussy Riot band, officials said Thursday.
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| Syrian activists say rebels shot down warplane Posted: 30 Aug 2012 02:03 PM PDT  Syrian activists said rebels shot down a government warplane over the northern province of Idlib on Thursday, the second time in a week that opposition fighters claimed to have brought down an aircraft in the escalating civil war.
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| Miners charged in deaths of 34 killed by police Posted: 30 Aug 2012 02:15 PM PDT  About 270 miners were charged Thursday with the murders of 34 striking colleagues who were shot by South African police officers, authorities said, a development that could further infuriate South Africans already shocked and angered by the police action.
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| Zimbabwe's capital 'world's 4th worst to live in' Posted: 30 Aug 2012 07:53 AM PDT An independent research group says Zimbabwe's capital is the world's fourth-worst city to live in, based on daily hardships and political risk. Cities in war zones are excluded from the "livability" index. |
| Swiss acupuncturist charged in 16 HIV infections Posted: 30 Aug 2012 08:46 AM PDT A self-styled healer has been indicted by a Swiss court on charges that he intentionally infected 16 people with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, in cases going back more than a decade, authorities said Thursday. |
| UN nuke agency: Iran 'significantly' hampers probe Posted: 30 Aug 2012 01:54 PM PDT  Iran has effectively shut down a probe of a site suspected of being used for work on nuclear weapons development while doubling the number of machines it could use to make the core of nuclear warheads at an underground bunker safe from airborne attack, the U.N. nuclear agency said in a report Thursday.
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| 2,600 students at risk of deportation from UK Posted: 30 Aug 2012 10:11 AM PDT Around 2,600 foreign students could be deported from Britain after their university was stripped of its ability to sponsor visas for pupils beyond the European Union, the government announced Thursday. The move provoked dismay from students and accusations that the move by the Conservative-led government, which is bent on reducing immigration, could damage Britain's global reputation. |
| Pakistani officials confirm death of key militant Posted: 30 Aug 2012 10:46 AM PDT  Pakistani intelligence officials confirmed Thursday that a U.S. drone strike last week near the Afghan border killed the son of the founder of the powerful Haqqani militant network, a major blow to one of the most feared groups fighting American troops in Afghanistan.
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