| Son of ex-Mexican opposition party chief shot dead Posted: 04 Oct 2012 03:13 PM PDT  MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - The son of the embattled former leader of the Mexican political party set to take power in December was found shot to death in a town south of the U.S. border notorious for drug cartel violence, authorities said on Thursday. Jose Eduardo Moreira, 28, the son of the former chairman of Mexico's Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, and ex-Coahuila state governor Humberto Moreira, was found shot to death near Ciudad Acuna, across the Rio Grande river from Texas, late on Wednesday, the state's public safety director said. ...
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| U.S. investigators visit Libya compound where ambassador was killed Posted: 04 Oct 2012 03:52 PM PDT  BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) - A team of U.S. investigators travelled for the first time to the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi on Thursday to analyze the crime scene where the U.S. ambassador was killed in an attack last month, Libyan and U.S. sources said. FBI agents were sent to Libya after the September 11 assault on the U.S. diplomatic mission and on another facility in which Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans were killed. ...
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| South African mine unrest spreads, Toyota hit by strike Posted: 04 Oct 2012 12:58 PM PDT  CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp said it had been forced to shut its South African car factory for four days because of an illegal pay strike, the first sign of wildcat mine stoppages spreading into other parts of Africa's biggest economy. Trade union leaders at the Japanese car giant's Durban plant said workers would return on Friday after winning a 5.4 percent pay rise inspired in part by a hefty increase won last month by strikers at Lonmin's Marikana platinum mine. ...
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| Exclusive: EU poised to agree ban on Iranian gas imports Posted: 04 Oct 2012 09:29 AM PDT  BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union is poised to ban imports of Iranian gas as part of a set of new measures to ratchet up pressure on the Islamic Republic over its nuclear programme, diplomats said on Thursday. Diplomats from EU member states have started preparing a package of sanctions against Iran with a goal of formally adopting them at a meeting of foreign ministers on October 15 in Luxembourg. ...
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| World Bank chief Kim signals changes to come Posted: 04 Oct 2012 03:15 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The head of the World Bank said on Thursday he is preparing broad reforms at the development lender to make it more effective in ending global poverty and will discuss the changes with member countries at meetings in Tokyo next week. The annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank from October 11-14 in Japan will be the first opportunity for Jim Yong Kim to put his mark on the institution since becoming president in July. "We're not ready to ask for specific changes yet ... ...
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| State Department "appalled" by ambush in western Darfur Posted: 04 Oct 2012 04:47 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The State Department said on Thursday it was "appalled" by an attack that killed four Nigerian peacekeepers and wounded eight others earlier this week in Sudan's western Darfur region. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said the United States condemns the ambush on UNAMID personnel that occurred on October 2, and called for an investigation into the attack and for those responsible for the violence to be held accountable. ...
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| United Nations says little time to deal with Mali extremists Posted: 04 Oct 2012 03:59 PM PDT  UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. political affairs chief Jeffrey Feltman told a closed Security Council meeting on Thursday that Mali urgently needed international help to reclaim the north of the country from Islamist militants and that "time is not on our side," U.N envoys said. Mali descended into chaos in March when soldiers toppled the president, leaving a power vacuum that enabled Tuareg rebels to seize two-thirds of the country. But Islamist extremists, some al Qaeda allies, hijacked the revolt in the north. ...
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| Blast outside Nigerian bar kills one, wounds 11: witness Posted: 04 Oct 2012 04:11 PM PDT MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (Reuters) - A bomb at an outdoor bar in a remote part of eastern Nigeria killed at least one person and wounded 11 on Thursday, a witness said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast in the town of Jalingo, Taraba state, an area which has been occasionally targeted by Islamist sect Boko Haram. The sect is waging a low level insurgency against President Goodluck Jonathan's government and wants to impose sharia law on the northern part of Nigeria, a country whose 160 million people are spilt roughly evenly between Muslims and Christians. ... |
| Libya PM-elect withdraws government list after discontent Posted: 04 Oct 2012 02:28 PM PDT  TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Libya's prime minister-elect said on Thursday he had withdrawn his proposed government list, just a day after presenting it to the national congress for approval, after protesters stormed the assembly and politicians voiced discontent over his nominations. Speaking on Libyan television, Mustafa Abushagur said he was ready to change some of his nominations in his proposed line-up which excluded the biggest party in congress, the liberal National Forces Alliance (NFA). ...
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| Turkey steps up Syria strikes, says will defend borders Posted: 04 Oct 2012 11:51 AM PDT  AKCAKALE, Turkey (Reuters) - Turkey stepped up retaliatory artillery strikes on a Syrian border town on Thursday, killing several Syrian soldiers, while its parliament approved further military action in the event of another spillover of the Syrian conflict. Seeking to unwind the most serious cross-border escalation in its 18-month-old crackdown on dissent, Damascus apologized through the United Nations for shelling which killed five civilians in southeast Turkey on Wednesday and said it would not happen again, Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister Besir Atalay said. ...
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| UN strongly condemns Syrian shelling of Turkey Posted: 04 Oct 2012 03:57 PM PDT The U.N. Security Council overcame deep divisions to unanimously approve a statement Thursday condemning Syria's shelling of a Turkish town that killed five women and children "in the strongest terms." |
| Turkey authorizes military operations in Syria Posted: 04 Oct 2012 01:12 PM PDT  Turkey's Parliament authorized military operations against Syria on Thursday and its military fired on targets there for a second day after deadly shelling from Syria killed five civilians in a Turkish border town.
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| Scottish man dies, taking town's dialect with him Posted: 04 Oct 2012 07:41 AM PDT  In a remote fishing town on the tip of Scotland's Black Isle, the last native speaker of the Cromarty dialect has passed away, taking with him a little fragment of the English linguistic mosaic.
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| Abortion rights yacht sails around Moroccan port Posted: 04 Oct 2012 12:12 PM PDT  Moroccan police Thursday escorted from its waters a small yacht carrying women's rights activists claiming to be able to perform abortions on board, after anti-abortion protesters jeered them on land.
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| Egypt's hardline Islamist party unravels Posted: 04 Oct 2012 01:29 PM PDT  Internal feuds are threatening to unravel the political party of Egypt's ultraconservative Islamist Salafis, as pragmatists try to shake off the control of hardline clerics who reject any compromise in their stark, puritanical version of Islam.
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| Top designer labels abandon Argentina Posted: 04 Oct 2012 08:49 AM PDT  Adios, Armani. Hasta la vista, Louis Vuitton.
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| US rattles Puerto Rico with bomb site cleanup plan Posted: 04 Oct 2012 02:14 PM PDT  The U.S. government has a new fight in Vieques, the Puerto Rican island that was used as a Navy bombing range for decades.
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| Hungary slot-machine ban bucks regional trend Posted: 04 Oct 2012 06:33 AM PDT  The government says it's trying to cure poor Hungarians of a gambling addiction. The gambling industry says that authorities are trying to seize control of a lucrative pastime.
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| Venezuela vote puts 'Chavismo' to critical test Posted: 04 Oct 2012 04:07 PM PDT  For 14 years, Hugo Chavez has charmed them, inspired them and made them believe he is nothing short of their savior.
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| Egypt frees 2 Coptic boys held for Quran defiling Posted: 04 Oct 2012 02:25 PM PDT Egyptian authorities on Thursday released of two Coptic Christian boys taken into in juvenile detention for allegedly urinating on the Quran, but they will remain under investigation, a security official said. |
