| Egypt's mufti urges Muslims to endure insults peacefully Posted: 20 Sep 2012 11:39 AM PDT  CAIRO (Reuters) - Muslims angered by cartoons mocking the Prophet Mohammad should follow his example of enduring insults without retaliating, Egypt's highest Islamic legal official said on Thursday. Western embassies tightened security in Sanaa, fearing the cartoons published in a French magazine on Wednesday could lead to more unrest in the Yemeni capital where crowds attacked the U.S. mission last week over an anti-Islam film made in America. ...
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| Syrian air strike kills at least 54: activists Posted: 20 Sep 2012 01:21 PM PDT  BEIRUT (Reuters) - At least 54 people were killed when a jet fighter blew up a fuel station amid heavy fighting between government and rebel forces in northern Syria on Thursday, a British-based monitoring group said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which has a network of activists across Syria reporting on government violence during the 18-month-old revolt, cited an activist in al-Raqqa province as saying more than 110 people were dead or wounded. ...
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| Japan firms say China protests affect business plans: Reuters poll Posted: 20 Sep 2012 02:03 PM PDT  TOKYO (Reuters) - About 41 percent of Japanese firms see friction with China affecting their business plans, with some considering pulling out of the country and shifting operations elsewhere, a Reuters poll showed, amid growing tensions sparked by a territorial dispute. However, only a fraction of firms said improving relations with Asia should be at the top of the agenda for the next government, to be formed after general elections that must be held by around August 2013. ...
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| U.S. turns to TV ads to spread message in protest-hit Pakistan Posted: 20 Sep 2012 02:37 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States has paid Pakistani television stations to run advertisements featuring President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, hoping to soothe public opinion in a country hit by protests against an anti-Islam movie made in California, the State Department said on Thursday. The U.S. embassy in Islamabad spent about $70,000 to run the announcement, which features clips of Obama and Clinton underscoring U.S. respect for religion and declaring the U.S. government had nothing to do with the movie, it said. ...
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| Afghanistan says Pakistani shelling risks "negative consequences" Posted: 20 Sep 2012 03:49 PM PDT UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Afghanistan's foreign minister warned the U.N. Security Council on Thursday that its ties with Pakistan were being threatened by Pakistani shelling across the two countries' mountainous border that has killed dozens of Afghan civilians. Afghanistan has for months accused Pakistan's army of firing hundreds of rockets into the two eastern provinces of Kunar and Nuristan, targeting insurgent havens but also forcing Afghan villagers to flee their homes. ... |
| Iran attacked at U.N. Security Council over Syria aid Posted: 20 Sep 2012 02:09 PM PDT  UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Western members of the U.N. Security Council blasted Iran on Thursday for providing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad with weapons to help him crush an 18-month-long uprising by rebels determined to topple his government. "Iran's arms exports to the murderous Assad regime in Syria are of particular concern," U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice told the 15-nation council during a meeting on the world body's Iran sanctions regime. She cited a May 2012 report by the U.N. ...
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| Mexico's next leader wants more trade with Brazil, not less Posted: 20 Sep 2012 03:15 PM PDT  BRASILIA (Reuters) - Latin America's two largest economies should be expanding rather than curbing trade flows, Mexico's President-elect Enrique Pena Nieto said on Thursday in veiled criticism of a Brazilian restriction on Mexican car imports. Brazil modified an auto pact with Mexico in March to slap a quota on surging imports of Mexican-made cars, a move that many saw as a return to protectionist policies of the past. Mexico agreed to cut its auto sales to Brazil to about $1.55 billion a year between 2012 and 2014. ...
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| Libya offers further apology for U.S. envoy's death Posted: 20 Sep 2012 01:45 PM PDT  TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Libya apologized on Thursday to visiting U.S. Deputy Secretary of State William Burns for an attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi in which U.S. ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans died. Burns held talks in Tripoli with Libyan leaders including new Prime Minister Mustafa Abu Shagour and Mohammed Magarief, head of the national congress. He later attended a memorial ceremony for Stevens and his colleagues. ...
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| UK lawmakers tell G4S to waive $92 million fee for Olympic failure Posted: 20 Sep 2012 04:06 PM PDT  LONDON (Reuters) - G4S's bill for its embarrassing London Olympic staffing failure could rise after British lawmakers demanded the embattled security firm waive its management fee and compensate Games staff neglected in its chaotic recruitment drive. The world's biggest security firm has been under fire since admitting just two weeks before the Games began that it could not provide a promised 10,400 venue guards, embarrassing the government - a key customer - and forcing British troops to cancel holidays and fill the shortfall. ...
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| Venezuela sees refinery fire out on Friday Posted: 20 Sep 2012 04:53 PM PDT  CARACAS (Reuters) - A fire caused by lightning at Venezuela's 146,000 barrel-per-day El Palito refinery should be extinguished on Friday and operations remained unaffected, President Hugo Chavez said. In the latest accident on the OPEC member's troubled oil installation network, an electrical storm late on Wednesday set fire to two naphtha storage tanks at the El Palito facility in central Venezuela. ...
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| Islam vs tolerance debated in Prophet film's wake Posted: 20 Sep 2012 03:07 PM PDT  Behind the anger over a film mocking the Prophet Muhammad, public protest is giving way to measured debate over free speech in the new Muslim world.
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| Syrian activists: airstrikes kill at least 30 Posted: 20 Sep 2012 12:12 PM PDT  Regime airstrikes hit a gas station in northern Syria Thursday, setting off a fiery explosion that killed at least 30 people and wounded dozens, opposition activists said. Amateur video showed thick black smoke engulfing the scene.
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| Libya's Benghazi keeps its air of rebelliousness Posted: 20 Sep 2012 12:12 PM PDT  In front of Benghazi's stock market, pedestrians pick their way around lakes of sewage in the street, carefully stepping on bricks set in the fetid water. The grandest hotel in Libya's second largest city is a gloomy, state-owned bulk, with broken windows and dim corridors.
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| UK soldier unexpectedly gives birth in Afghanistan Posted: 20 Sep 2012 12:01 PM PDT  Hours after a British soldier in Afghanistan told medics she was suffering from stomach pains, the Royal Artillery gunner unexpectedly gave birth to a boy — the first child ever born to a member of Britain's armed forces in combat.
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| Rebels unite in fight for Syria's largest city Posted: 20 Sep 2012 11:31 AM PDT  Rebels have taken a major stride in uniting their ranks in the battle for Syria's largest city, giving them hope they could tip the balance after three months of bloody, stalemated combat in Aleppo, one of the biggest prizes of the civil war.
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| Anti-jihad 'savage' ads going up in NYC subway Posted: 20 Sep 2012 04:25 PM PDT  A provocative ad that equates some Muslim radicals with savages is set to go up next week in the New York City subway system, just as violent protests in the Middle East are subsiding over an anti-Islamic film ridiculing the Prophet Muhammad.
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| Jamaica introduces Garveyism in classrooms Posted: 20 Sep 2012 11:24 AM PDT  Struggling with a chronically stagnant economy and one of the highest crime rates in the world, Jamaica is turning for help to a black nationalist leader who died more than 70 years ago.
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| UK judge says Litvinenko inquest to open in 2013 Posted: 20 Sep 2012 02:17 PM PDT  A long-awaited inquest into the poisoning death of former Russian agent Alexander Litvinenko should consider whether Russian authorities were involved, the senior British judge who will oversee it said Thursday. But the U.K. government will not let lawyers for the victim's family and the suspects see a report on alleged links between Litvinenko and British intelligence.
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| Nigeria's largest airline halts domestic flights Posted: 20 Sep 2012 02:13 PM PDT  Nigeria's largest airline Arik Air Ltd. halted all its domestic flights indefinitely Thursday as its leaders alleged government corruption made it impossible for the carrier to fly, after officials raided and disrupted its flights without explanation.
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| Poles help people of Belarus, recalling own past Posted: 20 Sep 2012 05:01 AM PDT  Volha Starastsina saw no choice but to flush her work down the police station toilet.
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