| Egypt says Syria's "oppressive regime" must go Posted: 31 Aug 2012 02:13 PM 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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| Clinton seeks to boost U.S. Pacific ties as China expands Posted: 31 Aug 2012 03:21 PM PDT  RAROTONGA (Reuters) - The United States will expand security partnerships across the Pacific as it strengthens ties with island nations that sit at the intersection of vast maritime resources and key shipping routes, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Friday. Clinton arrived in the tiny Pacific outpost of the Cook Islands to participate in this year's Pacific Island Forum, part of Washington's growing effort to woo nations across the Asia-Pacific which are increasingly coming under China's shadow. ...
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| U.N. chief defends Iran visit, says pushed for change Posted: 31 Aug 2012 02:49 PM PDT  DUBAI (Reuters) - United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has defended his controversial visit to Iran, saying on Friday that he had used this week's trip to push hard for human rights and transparency from Tehran over its nuclear program. "I believe in the power of diplomacy and I believe in dialogues and I believe in engagement. This is exactly what I did during my visit to Tehran," Ban told Reuters on a stopover in Dubai before flying back to U.N. headquarters in New York. ...
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| U.S.-Israeli military exercise to be smaller than first planned Posted: 31 Aug 2012 04:00 PM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S.-Israeli ballistic missile exercise postponed until this autumn will involve fewer U.S. military personnel than initially planned, the Pentagon said on Friday, but it rejected a media report portraying the decision as a sign of U.S. mistrust. The exercise is being planned amid rising war talk in the Israeli media and reports that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak are debating a unilateral attack on Iran to knock out its nuclear installations. Washington has cautioned Israel against going it alone. ... |
| Mexico's Pena Nieto confirmed president-elect, rival defiant Posted: 31 Aug 2012 04:39 PM PDT  MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico's electoral tribunal confirmed Enrique Pena Nieto as president-elect on Friday, but his rival refused to accept defeat and held out the possibility of further protests that could hamper reform efforts. The tribunal threw out an attempt to overturn the election result by leftist leader Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who had accused Pena Nieto of laundering money and buying votes in the July election. Centrist Pena Nieto, 46, will be sworn in on December 1 and has pledged a raft of fiscal, labor and energy reforms, which Lopez Obrador is likely to resist. ...
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| Russia's Putin calls for Stalin-style "leap forward" Posted: 31 Aug 2012 01:12 PM PDT  NOVO-OGARYOVO, Russia (Reuters) - Russia needs a "leap forward" to rejuvenate its sprawling defense industry, President Vladimir Putin said on Friday, harkening back to the ambitious industrialization carried out by Soviet dictator Josef Stalin in the run-up to World War Two. "We should carry out the same powerful, all-embracing leap forward in modernization of the defense industry as the one carried out in the 1930s," Putin told his Security Council, without mentioning Stalin by name. ...
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| Abramovich beats "dishonest" Berezovsky in court Posted: 31 Aug 2012 08:11 AM PDT  LONDON (Reuters) - Chelsea Football Club owner Roman Abramovich emerged victorious on Friday from a $6 billion legal battle with his former mentor Boris Berezovsky that has laid bare the intrigue behind the post-Soviet carve-up of Russia's vast natural resources. Berezovsky, who became a Moscow powerbroker under the late President Boris Yeltsin only to fall foul of Vladimir Putin, had accused Abramovich of using the threat of Kremlin retribution to intimidate him into selling prized assets at a knockdown price. ...
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| Major quake off Philippines causes panic but minor damage Posted: 31 Aug 2012 09:55 AM PDT  MANILA (Reuters) - An earthquake of 7.6 magnitude struck off the Philippines on Friday killing one person, damaging roads and bridges and sending people fleeing to higher ground in fear of a tsunami, a politician and authorities said. The quake was centered off the east coast, 91 miles off the town of Guiuan in Samar province at a depth of about 20 miles, the U.S. Geological Survey said. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued a warning for much of the region, but cancelled it about two hours later. ...
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| Congo asks U.N. to sanction Rwanda officials for rebel support Posted: 31 Aug 2012 04:10 PM PDT  UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The Democratic Republic of Congo said on Friday it has asked the U.N. Security Council to place sanctions on Rwanda's defense minister and two top military officials for backing an army mutiny in the country's east. M23 rebels, who have links to Bosco Ntaganda, a warlord wanted by the International Criminal Court on war crimes charges, have been fighting government soldiers in North Kivu province since April, displacing some 470,000 civilians. ...
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| U.N. says Haiti struggling to cope with cholera as aid withdrawn Posted: 31 Aug 2012 03:15 PM PDT  UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon warned on Friday that Haiti was struggling to cope with a cholera epidemic that has killed thousands and deteriorating conditions in tent camps as aid groups withdraw from the impoverished country due to a lack of funding. In a report to the U.N. Security Council, Ban said there had been an increase in the number of cholera cases since the rainy season began in early March and the World Health Organization had projected there could be up to 112,000 cases during 2012. ...
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| Iran urges nonaligned nations role in Syria Posted: 31 Aug 2012 02:05 PM PDT  Iran's supreme leader said Friday that developing nations have a greater right than the U.S. or NATO to intervene in Syria, signaling an effort to lead a diplomatic push over efforts to resolve the crisis.
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| Syrian rebels launch major offensive in Aleppo Posted: 31 Aug 2012 01:14 PM PDT  A rebel unit of army defectors launched a major offensive against security facilities in Syria's largest city of Aleppo, and anti-regime forces targeted air bases to try to reduce the military threat from the skies, activists said Friday.
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| Clinton in South Pacific with China in focus Posted: 31 Aug 2012 03:06 PM PDT  U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Friday pledged renewed American commitment to security in the Asia-Pacific, where tensions are rising between China and its smaller neighbors over territorial disputes and many nations face threats from climate change.
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| Drama in Iran wins Egypt president a bold image Posted: 31 Aug 2012 01:04 PM PDT  Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi's international debut made its biggest splash at home. After he publicly denounced Syria's regime while being hosted by Damascus' top ally Iran, Egyptian supporters and even some critics are lauding him as a new Arab leader that speaks truth to power.
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| AP Analysis: Syria diplomacy stalls over safe zone Posted: 31 Aug 2012 11:33 AM PDT  Turkey's non-starter call for a humanitarian safe zone inside Syria offers the clearest sign yet that diplomacy to end the bloodshed in the most violent uprising of the Arab Spring is at a dead end.
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| Israelis say UN report strengthens Iran warnings Posted: 31 Aug 2012 02:39 PM PDT  Israeli officials said on Friday that a new United Nations report adds credibility to their warnings about Iran, as tensions grow between the Jewish state and its allies over how to tackle Tehran's suspect nuclear program.
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| Officials declare final winner of Mexico vote Posted: 31 Aug 2012 12:27 PM PDT  Mexico's highest electoral authority declared Friday that Enrique Pena Nieto was the legitimate winner of the country's July 1 presidential election, formally opening the transition to a new government despite continuing claims of fraud by the second-place candidate of the left.
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| Argentine tax agents to track all credit card buys Posted: 31 Aug 2012 01:35 PM PDT Argentina just made it more expensive for its people to use credit cards outside the country, and more dangerous for cardholders who aren't paying all the taxes they should. |
| American, US Airways one step closer to merger Posted: 31 Aug 2012 01:35 PM PDT  American Airlines and US Airways are one step closer to a potential merger.
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| Azerbaijan pardons, frees convicted killer Posted: 31 Aug 2012 02:36 PM PDT  Armenia broke off diplomatic ties with Hungary after an Azerbaijani military officer sentenced to life in prison here for killing an Armenian officer was sent back to his homeland on Friday and, despite assurances, immediately pardoned and freed.
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