| Insults to Islam ignite violence in Pakistan, 15 killed Posted: 21 Sep 2012 03:37 PM PDT  ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Muslim protests against insults to the Prophet Mohammad turned violent in Pakistan, where at least 15 people were killed on Friday, the Muslim day of prayer, but remained mostly peaceful in other Islamic countries. In France, where the publication of cartoons denigrating the Prophet stoked anger over an anti-Islam video made in California, authorities banned all protests over the issue. "There will be strictly no exceptions. Demonstrations will be banned and broken up," said Interior Minister Manuel Valls. ...
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| Libyans storm Islamist militia base in Benghazi Posted: 21 Sep 2012 04:59 PM PDT  BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) - Pro-government demonstrators stormed the headquarters of the Islamist Ansar al-Sharia militia in the Libyan city of Benghazi on Friday, aiming to evict fighters from the site, Reuters witnesses said. Ansar al-Sharia has been linked to the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi last week in which the U.S. ambassador to Libya and three other Americans died. It denies involvement. ...
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| Iraq blocks Syria-bound North Korean plane, suspects weapons cargo Posted: 21 Sep 2012 02:02 PM PDT BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq said on Friday it has denied permission to a North Korean plane bound for Syria to pass through Iraqi airspace on suspicion it could be carrying weapons, and the United States stressed the need to prevent any such arms transfers. Iraq has also denied a Western intelligence report that Iranian aircraft had flown weapons and military personnel over Iraqi airspace to help Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in his 18-month-old fight against rebels seeking to end his rule. U.S. ... |
| France bans protests over Prophet Mohammad cartoons Posted: 21 Sep 2012 10:50 AM PDT  PARIS (Reuters) - France banned protests on Friday against cartoons published by a satirical weekly denigrating Islam's Prophet Mohammad as part of a security clamp-down while prayers took place across the Muslim world. The country's Muslim population, drawn largely from ex-colonies in North and West Africa, shrugged off the controversy as imams in mosques denounced the pictures but urged their followers to remain calm. The drawings have stoked a furor over an anti-Islam film made in California that has provoked sometimes violent protests in several Muslim countries, including attacks on U.S. ...
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| Russia's Medvedev offers rare criticism for Putin Posted: 21 Sep 2012 01:10 PM PDT  MOSCOW (Reuters) - Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev offered rare criticism of President Vladimir Putin's methods of dealing with business leaders on Friday, heightening speculation of a growing rift between Russia's top two rulers. Medvedev spoke a few days after Putin issued a stinging rebuke of his former protege's government by accusing cabinet ministers of failing to act on his orders and criticizing its fiscal plans. ...
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| Myanmar says will make 'all necessary compromises' for peace Posted: 21 Sep 2012 04:08 PM PDT  UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Myanmar is willing to make "all necessary compromises" to broker peace with ethnic minority rebel groups, including amendments to the constitution on power and resource sharing, the government's top negotiator said at the United Nations on Friday. Aung Min, a minister in President Thein Sein's office, is pursuing complex political negotiations with at least 10 ethnic minority rebel groups with which the government has agreed ceasefires after decades of conflict under military rule. ...
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| Myanmar says not worried Suu Kyi upstaging president on U.S. visit Posted: 21 Sep 2012 03:20 PM PDT  UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Myanmar's government says it is not worried opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi will upstage the president during their overlapping U.S. visits because they work together for democracy, just as Nelson Mandela did with South Africa's last apartheid-era leader. Aung Min, a minister in President Thein Sein's office, said on Friday that the government was "very proud" of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Suu Kyi, who this week in Washington was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal for her fight for democracy. ...
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| Syria's neighbors seek extension of U.N. war crimes inquiry Posted: 21 Sep 2012 09:54 AM PDT  GENEVA (Reuters) - Arab countries proposed on Friday extending the mandate of U.N. investigators documenting war crimes in Syria and said that more experts were needed for the growing task. A draft resolution submitted to the United Nations Human Rights Council by a group of Arab states, backed by Western powers, calls for the investigations to carry on for the next six months. The U.N. body launched the commission in August 2011 after a majority of member states out-voted four countries that opposed it, including Russia and China. ...
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| Exclusive: Ukraine trade demand shocks global partners Posted: 21 Sep 2012 10:51 AM PDT  GENEVA (Reuters) - Ukraine has told its trading partners it wants to raise maximum tariffs on hundreds of imported goods, a move that could unleash protectionist forces and may even pose a threat to the $18 trillion global trade system. In a document marked "secret" sent to members of the World Trade Organisation last week and seen by Reuters, Ukraine says it intends to raise the limit on the tariffs it can legally impose on more than 350 goods. Based on figures in the proposal, Kiev's plan would hit overall imports worth more than $4.6 billion in 2011. ...
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| Portugal PM says will listen to public anger on taxes Posted: 21 Sep 2012 11:55 AM PDT  LISBON (Reuters) - Portugal's Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho promised on Friday to listen to the nation, suggesting he could soften planned tax hikes which have sparked the worst backlash to austerity since the country received a bailout last year. But protests reignited in Lisbon as President Anibal Cavaco Silva met with his council of state. The consultative body made up of senior political figures will discuss the situation in the country after the measure to hike the social security levy for workers to 18 percent from 11 percent was announced on September 7. ...
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| Pakistan hit by deadly riots over anti-Muslim film Posted: 21 Sep 2012 01:45 PM PDT  Pakistan's "Day of Love for the Prophet" turned into a deadly day of gunfire, tear gas and arson.
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| Libyans storm militia in backlash of attack on US Posted: 21 Sep 2012 04:34 PM PDT  Hundreds of protesters stormed the compound of one of Libya's strongest armed Islamic extremist groups Friday, evicting militiamen and setting fire to their building as the attack that killed the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans sparked a public backlash against armed groups that run rampant in the country and defy the country's new, post-Moammar Gadhafi leadership.
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| Iraq bars Syria-bound plane with suspected arms Posted: 21 Sep 2012 01:16 PM PDT  Iraq prevented a North Korean plane from entering its airspace on suspicion it was carrying weapons for Syria, prompting praise from the U.S. on Friday but also demands for a ban of Iranian aircraft with similar suspect cargo.
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| Border shootout kills Israeli soldier, 3 militants Posted: 21 Sep 2012 10:21 AM PDT  A shootout along the Israel-Egypt border on Friday, in which three Islamic militants and an Israeli soldier were killed, highlighted the growing threat posed by al-Qaida-inspired groups that have taken hold in the vast desert of the Sinai Peninsula.
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| US releases names of 55 Guantanamo detainees Posted: 21 Sep 2012 03:51 PM PDT The U.S. Justice Department on Friday made public the names of 55 Guantanamo prisoners who have been approved for transfer to the custody of other countries, releasing information sought by human rights organizations. |
| Disfigured Spain fresco rides global fame Posted: 21 Sep 2012 12:32 PM PDT  The image appears on T-shirts and cellphone covers, coffee mugs and wine labels. And the 80-year-old pensioner who just weeks ago was mortified by the global stir she created with her botched restoration of a fresco of Christ is now looking to get a piece of the action.
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| Can religion save Africa's elephants and rhinos? Posted: 21 Sep 2012 09:12 AM PDT  Standing before a pile of charred elephant ivory as dusk covered the surrounding savannah, Christian, Muslim and Hindu religious leaders grasped hands and prayed. Let religion, they asked, help "God's creatures" to survive.
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| Police probe alleged poisoning of dogs in Moscow Posted: 21 Sep 2012 09:30 AM PDT  Vera Lesovets held up photographs of her dog, Yasha, a spunky 5-year-old corgi, nipping playfully at the heels of a German shepherd twice her size.
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| In Lebanon, anti-film protests underscore divide Posted: 21 Sep 2012 12:24 PM PDT  The urge to defend Islam's most unifying figure, the Prophet Muhammad, wasn't enough to bring together Lebanon's divided Sunni and Shiite Muslims. The two sects, which have been locked for years in a sometimes violent political rivalry, held separate protests Friday against an anti-Islam movie.
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| iPhone 5 launch draws Apple fans worldwide Posted: 21 Sep 2012 02:09 PM PDT  In a now familiar global ritual, Apple fans jammed shops from Sydney to Paris to pick up the tech juggernaut's latest iPhone.
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