| Rebels hit army headquarters in Damascus Posted: 04 Sep 2012 02:39 PM PDT  AMMAN (Reuters) - Syrian rebels said they planted bombs inside the Syrian army's General Staff headquarters in central Damascus on Sunday as President Bashar al-Assad's forces bulldozed buildings to the ground in parts of the capital that have backed the uprising. Syrian state television said four people were wounded in what it called a terrorist attack on the General Staff compound in the highly guarded Abu Rummaneh district, where another bomb attack killed four of Assad's top lieutenants two months ago. ...
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| China warns U.S. not to take sides in sea disputes Posted: 04 Sep 2012 08:16 AM PDT  JAKARTA/BEIJING (Reuters) - China warned the United States not to get involved in South China Sea territorial disputes on Tuesday as U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Beijing pledging to pass on a strong message on the need to calm regional tension. U.S. officials say Clinton will stress the importance of cooperation and partnership on the visit, an important chance to compare notes during a year of political transition in both countries. ...
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| Pena Nieto unveils transition team Posted: 04 Sep 2012 05:01 PM PDT  MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexican President-elect Enrique Pena Nieto on Tuesday unveiled his transition team for the next government, throwing in a mix of mostly young, trusted aides with heavyweights closer to his party's old guard. Pena Nieto's win for the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) in July returned the presidency to the group that governed Mexico for 71 consecutive years until 2000, a rule one author memorably described as the "perfect dictatorship. ...
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| Analysis: Chastised Israel seeks way forward with U.S. over Iran Posted: 04 Sep 2012 08:56 AM PDT  JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Stunned by a rebuke from the United States' top general, Israel is preparing a climbdown strategy in its war of words over Iran's nuclear program, aware that its room for maneuver is shrinking rapidly. Anxious to prevent any flare-up in the Middle East ahead of November elections, there is also a good chance that U.S. President Barack Obama will provide Israel with enough cover to avoid a loss of face, analysts say. ...
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| Lufthansa cabin crew to extend strikes on Friday Posted: 04 Sep 2012 10:46 AM PDT  FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Lufthansa cabin crew will strike throughout Germany on Friday for a full 24 hours, upping the stakes in a row over pay and conditions that threatens to drag on for weeks and cost Germany's biggest airline tens of millions of euros. Cabin crews walked out at Frankfurt, Munich and Berlin airports on Tuesday, forcing Lufthansa to cancel hundreds more flights following strike action on Friday that left 26,000 passengers stranded. ...
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| Iraq wary over sectarian pull of Syria crisis Posted: 04 Sep 2012 02:36 PM PDT  BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Wary of its own fragile security and sectarian make-up, Iraq wants to avoid getting dragged deeper into Syria's crisis, seeking a tricky balance in the regional power struggle evolving over its neighbor, Iraq's foreign minister said. Iraq's Shi'ite leaders fear a collapse of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government could splinter Syria along sectarian lines, and eventually lead to the rise of a hardline Sunni regime hostile to Baghdad. ...
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| Quebec separatists set to take power, tackle Ottawa Posted: 04 Sep 2012 02:24 PM PDT  QUEBEC CITY, Quebec (Reuters) - Quebecers were voting on Tuesday in an election that looked set to hand victory to the separatist Parti Quebecois, which wants the resource-rich French-speaking province to break away from Canada. Polls show that the left-leaning Parti Quebecois, which has twice held unsuccessful referendums on independence, will end nine years of rule by the federalist Liberals of Premier Jean Charest. Although PQ leader Pauline Marois is promising another independence referendum when the time is right, that could be years away. ...
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| Egypt president takes steady steps in new foreign policy Posted: 04 Sep 2012 12:56 PM PDT  CAIRO (Reuters) - A newcomer to international affairs, Egypt's Islamist president, Mohamed Mursi, has so far shown skill in moving Egypt back towards the centre of regional diplomacy and setting out his own foreign policy, without upsetting the Americans or Gulf states. His trip to Iran, the first by an Egyptian leader since the 1979 Islamic revolution, could have upset ties with Washington and Gulf Arab capitals, yet seems to have reassured them because Mursi criticized Iran's ally Syria robustly when in Tehran. ...
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| North Korea rubberstamp assembly to hold rare second session: KCNA Posted: 04 Sep 2012 04:59 PM PDT SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea has called a rare second session of parliament five months after holding the first meeting under its new leader, Kim Jong-un, after the impoverished state had been sending signals in recent weeks of plans to repair its broken economy. Delegates to the rubberstamp assembly meet annually to adopt formally the state budget, and to approve important appointments and legal amendments, but is also used to make formal announcements of decisions by the state leadership. ... |
| Last brother from Mexico's Arellano Felix cartel pleads not guilty Posted: 04 Sep 2012 02:27 PM PDT  SAN DIEGO (Reuters) - Accused Mexican drug kingpin Eduardo Arellano Felix, whose Tijuana-based cartel was dramatized in the Oscar-winning film "Traffic," pleaded not guilty to federal drug charges on Tuesday in his first court appearance since extradition to the United States. Arellano Felix, 55, the fourth brother from the reputed crime family to be taken into U.S. custody, arrived in California on Friday to face charges of racketeering, money laundering and conspiracy to distribute and import marijuana and cocaine. During a brief hearing in U.S. ...
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| Colombia's 'Queen of Cocaine' shot to death Posted: 04 Sep 2012 04:58 PM PDT  Griselda Blanco, a convicted drug trafficker who was once known as the "Godmother" and the "Queen of Cocaine," has been shot to death by an unidentified gunman, police in Colombia said Tuesday.
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| More than 100,000 Syrians fled country in August Posted: 04 Sep 2012 03:39 PM PDT  More than 100,000 Syrians fled their country in August, the highest monthly total since the crisis began in March 2011, the U.N. refugee agency said Tuesday.
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| Colombia-rebel peace talks announced Posted: 04 Sep 2012 04:05 PM PDT  Colombia and its main leftist rebel group said Tuesday they have signed an accord to launch peace talks next month aimed at ending a stubborn, half-century-old conflict that has claimed tens of thousands of lives.
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| Suicide bomber kills 25 in east Afghanistan Posted: 04 Sep 2012 06:53 AM PDT A suicide bomber killed at least 25 civilians and wounded another 30 at a funeral for a village elder in a remote part of eastern Afghanistan, Afghan officials said. |
| Israel tries to ease differences with US over Iran Posted: 04 Sep 2012 02:52 PM PDT  Israeli officials said Tuesday they are in close discussions with the United States over how to deal with the Iranian nuclear program, seeking to ease tensions that have emerged between the two allies over a possible Israeli military strike against Iran.
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| Clinton seeks Chinese accord on South China Sea Posted: 04 Sep 2012 12:17 PM PDT  U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is in Beijing to press Chinese authorities to agree to peacefully resolve disputes with their smaller neighbors over competing territorial claims in the South China Sea. But as she began her meetings here, China questioned the stated neutrality of the United States.
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| Quebec separatist party may return to power Posted: 04 Sep 2012 01:49 PM PDT  People in Quebec weighed returning a separatist party to power as they voted Tuesday in the French-speaking province, which could edge toward another referendum to break away from Canada if the Parti Quebecois ends nearly a decade of Liberal rule as expected.
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| Argentines feeling trapped by currency controls Posted: 04 Sep 2012 10:38 AM PDT  Argentines are increasingly feeling trapped inside their country as the government restricts access to the foreign cash they need to travel.
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| Mexico: Attack on US embassy car was an accident Posted: 04 Sep 2012 04:57 PM PDT High-ranking Mexican security officials are portraying the shooting of two CIA agents by Mexican federal police as a well-intentioned mishap rather than a deliberate attack. |
| Stoner voters targeted in Dutch election campaign Posted: 04 Sep 2012 09:04 AM PDT  With slogans like "Don't let your vote go up in smoke!", owners of the free-wheeling cafes where bags of hashish are sold alongside cups of coffee are mounting a get-out-the-stoner-vote campaign ahead of next week's Dutch election.
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