| Libya yet to work out U.S. cooperation in Benghazi probe Posted: 02 Oct 2012 01:34 PM PDT  TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Libya and the United States have yet to agree how a U.S. investigative team will cooperate in a probe into a deadly attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, a senior Libyan official said on Tuesday. FBI agents were sent to Libya after the September 11 attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission and another facility in which the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans died. So far they have conducted interviews in Tripoli and have yet to go to Benghazi. ...
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| Tycoon's alliance wins election in Georgia Posted: 02 Oct 2012 02:43 PM PDT  TBILISI (Reuters) - Georgia's President Mikheil Saakashvili on Tuesday conceded defeat in parliamentary elections to a coalition led by a tycoon promising to ease tensions with Moscow, four years after the staunch U.S. ally lost a war with Russia. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, who has long been openly hostile to Saakashvili, welcomed the opposition victory as opening the way for "more constructive and responsible forces" to enter the Georgian parliament. ...
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| Greece pushes for austerity deal as time runs short Posted: 02 Oct 2012 12:46 PM PDT  ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece held a new round of talks with foreign lenders to bridge differences over 2 billion euros of disputed austerity cuts on Tuesday, with time running short to clinch a deal before a meeting of euro zone ministers next week. Athens has been haggling for weeks over 12 billion euros of cutbacks that its European Union and International Monetary Fund lenders have refused to sign off on over fears that some of the proposed savings are unlikely to materialize. ...
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| Iran to enrich uranium to 60 percent if nuclear talks fail Posted: 02 Oct 2012 10:47 AM PDT  DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran would enrich uranium up to 60 percent purity if negotiations with major powers over its nuclear program fail, an Iranian lawmaker said on Tuesday, in comments that may add to Western alarm about Iranian intentions. Mansour Haqiqatpour, deputy head of parliament's Foreign Policy and National Security Committee, said 60 percent enrichment would be to yield fuel for nuclear submarines, which often require uranium refined to high levels. ...
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| Assad rejected leaders' bid for peace in Syria: former PM Posted: 02 Oct 2012 02:37 PM PDT  DUBAI (Reuters) - President Bashar al-Assad vetoed demands by senior leaders to pursue a peaceful solution to the crisis in Syria after some of his top security aides were killed in an attack in July, his former prime minister said in remarks broadcast on Tuesday. Riyad Hijab, who defected in early August, told Al Arabiya television that the death of Defence Minister Daoud Rajha and his deputy, Assad's brother-in-law Assef Shawkat, in a bomb attack on a security meeting in Damascus had persuaded him that there was no military solution to the crisis. ...
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| Unrest tarnishes drive to tap Indonesia's gold riches Posted: 02 Oct 2012 02:22 PM PDT  JAKARTA/SINGAPORE (Reuters) - When Hong Kong-listed G-Resources Ltd opened its $1 billion Indonesian gold mine in July, six months behind schedule, it had high hopes it would be hitting its annual output target of 250,000 ounces by next year. Less than three months later the company halted operations after hundreds of protesters blocked the entrances to the Martabe mine, in the north of Sumatra island, in a dispute over the installation of a water discharge pipe. It began laying off the 2,000-strong workforce at the mine, the company's sole asset, this week. ...
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| Venezuelan vote a high-stakes affair for Chavez allies Posted: 02 Oct 2012 01:48 PM PDT  HAVANA (Reuters) - Pedro Alvarez, who drives one of the thousands of ancient American cars that serve as taxis in Cuba, cannot bring himself to think about life without Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. His big, blue 1949 Buick burns gallons of gasoline every day, most of it produced from the imported Venezuelan oil that fuels Cuba and all of it costing almost $5 a gallon, a pretty penny in a country where the average monthly pay is $19. ...
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| Colombia's Santos to spend two-three days in hospital after cancer surgery Posted: 02 Oct 2012 02:10 PM PDT  BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos will spend two or three days in the hospital after surgery for non-aggressive prostate cancer, his doctor said on Tuesday, a day before the 61-year-old was scheduled for the operation. Midway through his four-year term, Santos surprised the Andean nation on Monday night when he announced doctors had discovered a cancerous growth, but the disease had been caught in time and there was minimal risk. ...
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| U.S. officials sought more security before Libya attack: lawmakers Posted: 02 Oct 2012 04:35 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. officials in Washington denied repeated requests from Americans in Libya for more security at the U.S. mission in Benghazi before last month's attack that killed four Americans there, two Republican lawmakers said on Tuesday. U.S. Representatives Darrell Issa and Jason Chaffetz wrote a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton demanding details of the requests for more security - which they said were made amid numerous attacks on Westerners in Libya in recent months. ...
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| Somali militants hit Kismayu as African troops move in Posted: 02 Oct 2012 01:34 PM PDT  MOGADISHU (Reuters) - African Union troops and tanks occupied al Shabaab's former stronghold of Kismayu on Tuesday, but the Somali Islamist militants gave notice of their intention to fight back, saying they detonated a bomb in the port city. The blast points to the al Qaeda-linked rebels' ability to hit back with covert strikes and continues a pattern of attacks in other urban strongholds from where they have retreated under military pressure, including the capital. ...
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| AP Exclusive: US car was targeted in Mexico ambush Posted: 02 Oct 2012 04:46 PM PDT  A senior U.S. official says there is strong circumstantial evidence that Mexican federal police who fired on a U.S. Embassy vehicle, wounding two CIA officers, were working for organized crime in a targeted assassination attempt.
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| Smoked salmon blamed for salmonella outbreak Posted: 02 Oct 2012 03:14 PM PDT  Smoked salmon tainted with salmonella has sickened hundreds of people in the Netherlands, authorities said, sparking major recalls there and in the U.S.
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| Islamist-secular struggle over Egypt constitution Posted: 02 Oct 2012 01:13 PM PDT  Islamists are seeking to enshrine in Egypt's long-awaited new constitution a number of articles that secularists and liberals fear would bring theocratic rule and severely set back civil liberties, including provisions that could empower clerics to review laws and would stipulate that women's rights cannot violate Shariah law or "family duties."
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| Official: Hezbollah fighters killed in Syria Posted: 02 Oct 2012 10:48 AM PDT  A Hezbollah commander and several fighters have been killed inside Syria, a Lebanese security official said Tuesday, a development that could stoke already soaring tensions over the Lebanese militant group's role in the civil war next door.
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| Israeli premier to visit Europe, discuss Iran Posted: 02 Oct 2012 01:41 PM PDT An Israeli official says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will visit Europe in a few months to persuade leaders to step up sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program. |
| Somalia: Kenyan army says it now controls Kismayo Posted: 02 Oct 2012 12:26 PM PDT  Allied African troops have taken full control of Kismayo in Somalia, the last stronghold of Islamist rebels who have been fighting against the country's internationally backed government, a Kenyan military official said Tuesday.
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| Free coffins: political swag for Honduran poor Posted: 02 Oct 2012 01:38 PM PDT  In some countries political campaigns give out bumper stickers and yard signs. In others, they offer free lunches and supermarket debit cards. In Honduras, one of Latin America's poorest countries and also its most dangerous, candidates dole out another type of political swag: coffins for the destitute.
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| TV show claims UK TV host Savile abused children Posted: 02 Oct 2012 10:46 AM PDT  For decades, Jimmy Savile was a fixture on British television — an eccentric, aggressively jocular host of children's shows and a tireless charity fundraiser. When he died last year at 84 — by then knighted as Sir Jimmy — he drew tributes from Prince Charles and thousands of fans.
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| Georgian president concedes but democracy rules Posted: 02 Oct 2012 11:21 AM PDT  Defying expectations, President Mikhail Saakashvili conceded Tuesday that his party had lost Georgia's parliamentary election and his opponent had the right to become prime minister, setting the stage for political turmoil in the final year of his presidency.
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| Pope's butler pleads innocent to theft charge Posted: 02 Oct 2012 11:54 AM PDT  Pope Benedict XVI's onetime butler declared Tuesday he was innocent of a charge of aggravated theft of the pope's private correspondence, but acknowledged he photocopied the papers and said he feels guilty that he betrayed the trust of the pontiff he loves like a father.
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