| Egypt to host regional meeting over Syria crisis Posted: 10 Sep 2012 10:27 AM PDT  CAIRO (Reuters) - Officials from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Iran will meet in Cairo on Monday to discuss the Syrian crisis, but analysts said the regional powers were unlikely to agree on any tangible steps. Iran is a staunch ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who is fighting an uprising against his rule, while the three other countries have all called for him to quit power. Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shi'ite Iran have tussled for influence in recent years in sectarian conflicts across the Middle East. ...
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| Analysis: Canada may have cut ties with Iran to avoid retaliation Posted: 10 Sep 2012 01:36 PM PDT DUBAI/OTTAWA, Sept 10 - Canada's surprise decision to sever relations with Iran may well have been triggered by Ottawa's fear of retaliation for stepping up its denunciations of Tehran and a parallel move to list Iran as a state sponsor of terrorism. The break in relations, announced on Friday, has led to speculation that it was a prelude to Israeli or U.S. military action against Iran's nuclear facilities. Canada has categorically denied having any information about planned attacks. ... |
| United States transfers Bagram prison to Afghan control Posted: 10 Sep 2012 02:48 PM PDT  KABUL (Reuters) - The United States handed control of the controversial giant Bagram prison and its 3,000 suspected Taliban inmates to Afghan authorities on Monday, amid concerns by activists over rights abuses and U.S. questions about Kabul's ability to keep key detainees behind bars. Hundreds of Afghan soldiers watched as an Afghan flag was hoisted in front of the prison at the huge U.S.-run airfield north of Kabul, as part of a plan to withdraw foreign troops from combat operations in 2014. ...
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| Yemen says kills deputy regional head of al Qaeda Posted: 10 Sep 2012 01:50 PM PDT  ADEN/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Saudi national freed by U.S. authorities from detention at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, who then became second-in-command of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, was killed in Yemen, a Yemeni government website said. The Yemeni Ministry of Defense website said Said al-Shehri was killed on Monday, along with six other militants, in what it called a "qualitative operation" by Yemen's army in the remote Hadramout province in eastern Yemen. It gave no further details. There were conflicting reports on how Shehri died. ...
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| Gaddafi-era officials go on trial accused over Lockerbie case Posted: 10 Sep 2012 01:17 PM PDT  TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Two senior officials under late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi went on trial on Monday accused of wasting public money by facilitating a compensation payment of more than $2 billion to families of those killed in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing. The trial of the two men - former Foreign Minister Abdel-Ati al-Obeidi and former Secretary General of the General People's Congress Mohammed Zwai - was swiftly adjourned to give their legal team more time to prepare. Zwai was the head of the legislature under Gaddafi, who was overthrown after an uprising last year and later killed. ...
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| Turbulent Somalia gets new president in vote for change Posted: 10 Sep 2012 03:00 PM PDT  MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Members of parliament overwhelmingly elected political newcomer Hassan Sheikh Mohamud as president of Somalia on Monday, a result hailed by supporters as a vote for change in the war-ravaged country. Bursts of celebratory gunfire crackled through the streets of the capital, Mogadishu, after the first vote of its kind in decades in Somalia drew to a close. Mohamud won in a secret ballot with 190 votes, against 79 lawmakers voting for Ahmed. "I congratulate all Somalis. The people are taking a new direction. ...
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| Tunisian man dies after being tortured -lawyer Posted: 10 Sep 2012 03:32 PM PDT TUNIS (Reuters) - A Tunisian man who died on Monday in hospital in Tunis was tortured in a police station, his lawyer said, while the government confirmed he had died of a concussion. The death of Abd Raouf Kammassi was the first of its kind to be reported in the North African country since the overthrow of former President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and his dictatorial regime last year. "Abd Raouf Kammassi died today at Charles Nicole Hospital due to being hit with a sharp object on his head by security forces during his interrogation in a police satation," lawyer Abd Elhak Triki told Reuters. ... |
| Raiders kill 38 in latest land clashes in Kenya Posted: 10 Sep 2012 11:29 AM PDT  MOMBASA, Kenya (Reuters) - Hundreds of armed raiders killed at least 38 villagers and torched more than 150 houses on Monday in the latest fighting between rival tribes in a dispute over land and water in Kenya's coastal region. In an attempt to stem the bloodshed, President Mwai Kibaki introduced a dusk-to-dawn curfew in Tana River County where the attacks occurred and ordered the deployment of additional security personnel to the area. "The Government has ... directed the declaration and maintenance of a dusk-to-dawn curfew among other measures ... ...
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| Alcoa Italy workers clash with police over jobs Posted: 10 Sep 2012 12:22 PM PDT  ROME (Reuters) - Hundreds of workers from aluminum-maker Alcoa's Sardinian smelter clashed with police on Monday to protest against the factory's closure as the Italian government sought to avert the loss of more jobs. Swiss industrial group Klesch offered a possible lifeline by expressing interest in the plant, but Alcoa in an email later said it had "not received any expressions of interest that are viable or different to those previously considered". ...
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| U.S., Israel still at odds over Iran 'red line' Posted: 10 Sep 2012 03:31 PM PDT  JERUSALEM/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel and the United States were in talks on setting a "clear red line" for Iran's nuclear program, but the two allies remained at odds on Monday over whether to spell out a clear threshold for military action against Tehran. The Israeli leader, who has been pressing President Barack Obama for a tougher line against Iran, again signaled that a sharper U.S. ultimatum for Tehran could deter it from developing nuclear weapons and mitigate the need for a military response. ...
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| Al-Qaida's No. 2 in Yemen killed in airstrike Posted: 10 Sep 2012 02:21 PM PDT  An airstrike killed al-Qaida's No. 2 leader in Yemen along with six others traveling with him in one car on Monday, U.S. and Yemeni officials said, a major breakthrough for U.S.-backed efforts to cripple the group in the impoverished Arab nation.
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| US, Afghans locked in dispute over detainees Posted: 10 Sep 2012 10:15 AM PDT  President Hamid Karzai welcomed Monday's handover of the main American-run prison to Afghan forces as a victory for Afghan sovereignty, though he and U.S. officials remain locked in a dispute over the fate of hundreds of Taliban and terror suspects behind bars.
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| Syrian countryside gives vital support to rebels Posted: 10 Sep 2012 11:24 AM PDT  When the uprising against President Bashar Assad started, Fatima Zahra gave up her life as a dressmaker in a small town in northern Syria and began cooking and delivering meals for the rebels.
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| Somalia elects a new president Posted: 10 Sep 2012 01:54 PM PDT  Somalia's Parliament elected a new president of the country's fledgling government Monday, a move that members of the international community say is a key step toward the east African nation's transition from a war-torn failed state to a nation with an effective government.
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| French tycoon's threat shakes Socialist tax plan Posted: 10 Sep 2012 10:22 AM PDT  Bernard Arnault — the richest man in Europe — has ignited an uproar in France over taxes, citizenship, patriotism and what policies the government needs to promote growth.
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| 9th prisoner dies at Guantanamo; cause under study Posted: 10 Sep 2012 02:53 PM PDT Another prisoner has died at the U.S. Navy base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the U.S. military said Monday, two days after the man was apparently found unconscious in his cell at the isolated, high-security prison. |
| Mystery absence of China leader fuels rumor frenzy Posted: 10 Sep 2012 07:33 AM PDT  Where is president-in-waiting Xi Jinping?
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| Palestinian protests turn violent in West Bank Posted: 10 Sep 2012 12:16 PM PDT  Palestinian demonstrators fed up with high prices and unpaid salaries shuttered shops, halted traffic with burning tires and clashed with riot police in demonstrations across the West Bank on Monday— the largest show of popular discontent with the Palestinian Authority in its 18-year existence.
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| AP Exclusive: Memos show US hushed up Soviet crime Posted: 10 Sep 2012 02:32 PM PDT  The American POWs sent secret coded messages to Washington with news of a Soviet atrocity: In 1943 they saw rows of corpses in an advanced state of decay in the Katyn forest, on the western edge of Russia, proof that the killers could not have been the Nazis who had only recently occupied the area.
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| Iraqi VP rejects 'unjust' verdict in terror trial Posted: 10 Sep 2012 12:24 PM PDT  From self-exile in Turkey, Iraq's fugitive vice president scoffed Monday at a Baghdad court that sentenced him to the gallows for masterminding death squads against rivals, describing it as a puppet of the prime minister and saying he will not return to appeal the verdict.
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