| Anti-cuts protests erupt on streets of Athens and Madrid Posted: 26 Sep 2012 02:32 PM PDT  ATHENS/MADRID (Reuters) - Demonstrators have clashed with police on the streets of Athens and Madrid in an upsurge of popular anger at new austerity measures being imposed on two of the euro zone's most vulnerable economies. In some of the most violent confrontations on Wednesday, Greek police fired tear gas at hooded rioters hurling petrol bombs as thousands joined the country's biggest protest in more than a year. ...
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| Lack of access in Syria hinders humanitarian aid: EU Posted: 26 Sep 2012 03:49 PM PDT  UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Escalating violence in Syria and limited access to civilians in need hinder the distribution of humanitarian aid in the country, the European Union's crisis chief said on Wednesday. An 18-month uprising against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's rule has killed approximately 27,000 people, according to Syrian activists. The revolt has escalated into an armed insurgency with sectarian overtones that could drag in regional powers. The European Union estimates 2.5 million Syrians need humanitarian assistance, compared to 1 million in March. They include 1. ...
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| Insight: In U.S. soldier's death, a window into Afghan insider killings Posted: 26 Sep 2012 04:04 PM PDT  WASHINGTON/KABUL (Reuters) - In the weeks before his death, 21-year-old Mabry Anders had grown increasingly worried that he might not come home from Afghanistan. The Army specialist was battling insomnia and would send brief, worried messages back to his family. "He talked to me in the day, which would be in the middle of his night," his father, Dan Anders, said. "He didn't sleep. He was just worried." There were good reasons for concern. ...
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| U.S.-led "war on drugs" questioned at U.N. Posted: 26 Sep 2012 03:02 PM PDT  UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The presidents of Mexico, Colombia and Guatemala all called for a vigorous global debate of anti-narcotics laws at the United Nations on Wednesday, raising new questions about the wisdom of the four-decade-old, U.S.-led "war on drugs." Although none of the leaders explicitly called for narcotics to be legalized, they suggested at the U.N. General Assembly that they would welcome wholesale changes to policies that have shown scant evidence of limiting drug flows while contributing to massive violence throughout Latin America. ...
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| Libya's congress gives new PM ultimatum to name government Posted: 26 Sep 2012 04:23 PM PDT  TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Libya's ruling congress on Wednesday said it threatened to dismiss the new prime minister if he fails to name his new Cabinet by October 8. A spokesman for the congress told reporters the ultimatum was given after Prime Minister-elect Mustafa Abushagur asked to extend the period in which he can form a government by 10 days. Abushagur, elected by the congress on September 12, was due to present his government list to the national assembly for approval by September 28. ...
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| Ahmadinejad denounces "uncivilized Zionists," urges new order Posted: 26 Sep 2012 01:43 PM PDT  UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Iran's president said on Wednesday his country was under constant threat of military action from "uncivilized Zionists" and called for a new world order not dominated by Western powers in the service of "the devil." In his eighth address to the U.N. General Assembly's annual gathering of world leaders, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad painted a gloomy picture of a world driven by greed rather than moral values. ...
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| Clinton tells Myanmar president U.S. to ease import ban Posted: 26 Sep 2012 04:08 PM PDT  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told Myanmar President Thein Sein on Wednesday that the United States would take steps to ease the U.S. ban on imports from the country, a major boon to the Southeast Asian nation as it emerges from years of political and economic isolation. "In recognition of the continued progress toward reform and in response to requests from both the government and the opposition, the United States is taking the next step in normalizing our commercial relationship," Clinton told Thein Sein in a meeting on the sidelines of the U.N. ...
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| Noda vows no compromise as Japan, China dig in on islands row Posted: 26 Sep 2012 03:24 PM PDT  NEW YORK/BEIJING (Reuters) - Japan will not compromise on the islands at the heart of a dispute with China as Tokyo already has sovereignty over them, Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda said on Wednesday after China's foreign minister angrily declared the islets were "sacred territory." "As for the Senkakus, they are an inherent part of our territory in light of history and also under international law," Noda said of the rocky islets China claims as the Diaoyu Islands in a bitter spat between Asia's two biggest economies. "There are no territorial issues as such. ...
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| Sudan, South Sudan to resume oil exports, no wider deal Posted: 26 Sep 2012 04:31 PM PDT  ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - The leaders of Sudan and South Sudan reached a border security deal on Wednesday that will restart badly needed oil exports, but failed to solve the other main conflicts left over when Africa's largest country split last year. The deal, reached after more than three weeks of negotiations, will throw both economies a lifeline. It should for now prevent any resumption of the kind of fighting that broke out along the border in April - the worst violence since South Sudan seceded in July 2011 under an agreement that ended decades of civil war. ...
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| Insight: How Sonia Gandhi was persuaded to back India reforms Posted: 26 Sep 2012 02:02 PM PDT  NEW DELHI (Reuters) - It had been a brutal August for India's Congress party: economic growth was wilting, the monsoon rains were failing and the opposition had it cornered on yet another corruption scandal. In stepped Sonia Gandhi to revive the morale of the ruling party's lawmakers, exhorting them at a meeting to "stand up and fight, fight with a sense of purpose and fight aggressively". It was a stunningly assertive speech from the normally temperate matriarch of a dynasty that has ruled India for most of its post-independence era. ...
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| Egypt's Morsi assumes major role in Mideast Posted: 26 Sep 2012 03:45 PM PDT  Egypt's new President Mohammed Morsi assigned himself the heavyweight's role in the Middle East on Wednesday, declaring in his first speech to the United Nations that the civil war raging in Syria is the "tragedy of the age" and must be brought to an end.
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| Rebels strike Syrian power center with car bombs Posted: 26 Sep 2012 01:05 PM PDT  Syrian rebels struck deep in the fortress-like inner sanctum of President Bashar Assad's rule Wednesday in Damascus, detonating two car bombs that engulfed the army headquarters in flames.
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| Cuban sugar looks to rebound after bitter decline Posted: 26 Sep 2012 11:51 AM PDT  Cuba's signature industry is showing signs of life two years after the worst harvest in more than a century.
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| Greek riots, Spanish marches shatter market calm Posted: 26 Sep 2012 12:35 PM PDT  Europe's fragile financial calm was shattered Wednesday as investors worried that violent anti-austerity protests in Greece and Spain's debt troubles showed that the continent still cannot contain its financial crisis.
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| UK court issues injunction in radical cleric case Posted: 26 Sep 2012 02:26 PM PDT  A British court issued an interim injunction Wednesday blocking the extradition of a radical cleric to the United States on terror charges, granting a court hearing for an appeal.
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| Google's Brazil chief detained in YouTube case Posted: 26 Sep 2012 03:40 PM PDT  Google Inc.'s head of operations in Brazil was detained by the country's federal police Wednesday after the company failed to heed a judge's order to take down YouTube videos that the court ruled violate Brazilian electoral law.
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| Prominent Kremlin critic faces criminal charges Posted: 26 Sep 2012 10:07 AM PDT  A Russian tycoon who has financed a newspaper critical of the Kremlin and supported the opposition has been charged with hooliganism and assault for punching a businessman during a television talk show. He dismissed the criminal case as politically motivated.
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| US eases Myanmar import ban Posted: 26 Sep 2012 03:38 PM PDT Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says the U.S. is easing its import ban on Myanmar that had been a key plank of remaining American economic sanctions. |
| NATO: 2 service members killed in Afghanistan Posted: 26 Sep 2012 05:00 AM PDT A suicide attack on a NATO patrol in eastern Afghanistan killed two service members in the U.S.-led coalition on Wednesday, NATO and Afghan officials said. |
| Morsi: Won't rest until Syrian war ends Posted: 26 Sep 2012 11:33 AM PDT Egypt's new President Mohammed Morsi, making his debut on the global stage at the United Nations, said Wednesday that he will not rest until the civil war in Syria is brought to an end. |
