| Iran hedges on nuclear talks with six powers or U.S. Posted: 03 Feb 2013 02:02 PM PST  MUNICH (Reuters) - Iran said on Sunday it was open to a U.S. offer of direct talks on its nuclear program and that six world powers had suggested a new round of nuclear negotiations this month, but without committing itself to either proposal. Diplomatic efforts to resolve a dispute over Iran's nuclear program, which Tehran says is peaceful but the West suspects is intended to give Iran the capability to build a nuclear bomb, have been all but deadlocked for years, while Iran has continued to announce advances in the program. ...
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| French planes pound Islamist camps in north Mali desert Posted: 03 Feb 2013 12:11 PM PST  PARIS/BAMAKO (Reuters) - French warplanes pounded Islamist rebel camps in the far north of Mali on Sunday, military sources said, a day after French President Francois Hollande was hailed as a savior during a visit to the West African country. Thierry Burkhard, spokesman for the French army in Paris, said the overnight raids targeted logistics bases and training camps used by the al Qaeda-linked rebels near the town of Tessalit, close to the Algerian border. "These were important air strikes," Burkhard told Reuters. ...
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| Analysis: China and Japan seek to dial down tensions, but risks remain Posted: 03 Feb 2013 01:48 PM PST  TOKYO/SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Two Japanese F-15s scramble as a Chinese plane nears the disputed islands: one in the lead, the other providing cover. They issue radio warnings to leave the area, but are ignored. Visual wing-tipping signals go unheeded. The Japanese pilots consider their last option: firing warning shots - a step Beijing could consider an act of war. That's how the risky game being played near a chain of rocky, uninhabited isles at the heart of a row between Beijing and Tokyo could quickly escalate to the danger point, a former Japanese air force pilot said. "China would be ...
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| New Secretary of State Kerry speaks to Netanyahu, Abbas about peace Posted: 03 Feb 2013 02:22 PM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Secretary of State John Kerry stressed his commitment to promoting Israeli-Palestinian peace on Sunday in telephone calls to the leaders of both sides, the State Department said. In separate conversations, Kerry, who took over as the top U.S. diplomat from Hillary Clinton on Friday, spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. ...
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| Ahmadinejad accuses Iran speaker's family of corruption Posted: 03 Feb 2013 12:32 PM PST  DUBAI (Reuters) - President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad accused the parliament speaker's family of corruption on Sunday, turning a long-standing rivalry between two of Iran's most powerful figures into a face-to-face feud, months before an election. Addressing parliament to defend one of his ministers against impeachment, Ahmadinejad went on the attack, playing astonished lawmakers a recorded conversation with the brother of the speaker that he said implicated the whole family in corruption. ...
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| Syrian opposition chief under fire for talks with Assad allies Posted: 03 Feb 2013 12:26 PM PST  MUNICH (Reuters) - Syria's opposition leader flew back to his Cairo headquarters from Germany on Sunday to explain to skeptical allies his decision to talk with President Bashar al-Assad's main backers Russia and Iran. The Russian and Iranian foreign ministers, and U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden, portrayed Syrian National Coalition leader Moaz Alkhatib's new willingness to talk with the Assad regime as a major step towards resolving the two-year-old war. ...
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| Amid domestic change, Cubans march to the polls Posted: 03 Feb 2013 02:54 PM PST  HAVANA (Reuters) - Cubans went to the polls on Sunday to elect a Communist Party-selected slate of 612 deputies to the National Assembly at a time of change in how they live and work, but not in how they vote. Veteran leader Fidel Castro, 86, made a rare appearance on Sunday to cast his ballot. He voted from home in local elections last year and in 2008 when the current assembly was elected, according to the National Information Agency. ...
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| Pakistani girl shot by Taliban has successful skull surgery Posted: 03 Feb 2013 10:59 AM PST  LONDON (Reuters) - A Pakistani schoolgirl shot in the head by the Taliban for advocating girls' education has undergone successful surgery at a British hospital to reconstruct her skull and help restore lost hearing. A team of doctors carried out a five-hour operation on Saturday on 15-year-old Malala Yousufzai, who was shot in October and brought to Britain for treatment. The procedures carried out were cranial reconstruction, aimed at mending parts of her skull with a titanium plate, and a cochlear implant designed to restore hearing on her left side, which was damaged in the attack. ...
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| U.S. didn't need rough interrogation to get bin Laden: Panetta Posted: 03 Feb 2013 10:56 AM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Leon Panetta, who as CIA director oversaw the U.S. operation that killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, said the job could have been done without resorting to controversial interrogation methods that some have said constitute torture. The outgoing defense secretary, in remarks aired Sunday on the NBC program "Meet the Press," said there had been many pieces to the "puzzle" solved to find bin Laden, who was held responsible for the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and the Pentagon. ...
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| Israel suggests responsibility for Syria airstrike Posted: 03 Feb 2013 02:55 PM PST  MUNICH (AP) — Israel's defense minister strongly signaled Sunday that his country was behind an airstrike in Syria last week, telling a high profile security conference that Israeli threats to take pre-emptive action against its enemies are not empty. "We mean it," Ehud Barak declared.
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| Kerry makes calls abroad in first weekend on job Posted: 03 Feb 2013 04:39 PM PST  WASHINGTON (AP) — New Secretary of State John Kerry reached out to Israeli and Palestinian leaders in phone calls this weekend, assuring them the Obama administration will continue to pursue a Mideast peace agreement while recognizing the individual concerns on both sides.
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| Iraq stock sale sign of investor confidence Posted: 03 Feb 2013 11:34 AM PST  BAGHDAD (AP) — An Iraqi telecom company raised nearly $1.3 billion Sunday on Baghdad's small stock exchange in one of the region's biggest share offers in years — a sign of investor confidence in the fledgling private sector despite violence that still plagues the country.
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| Taliban peace talks flounder as troops draw down Posted: 03 Feb 2013 03:43 PM PST  KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The Afghan peace effort is floundering, fraught with mistrust and confusion among key players even though the hard-line Taliban militants show signs of softening and their reclusive, one-eyed leader made a surprise offer to share power in a post-war Afghanistan.
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| Stun gun used on armed man near Buckingham Palace Posted: 03 Feb 2013 09:46 AM PST  LONDON (AP) — Police used a stun gun to arrest a man armed with knives outside Buckingham Palace on Sunday, as throngs of tourists gathered to watch the Changing of the Guard ceremony there.
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| Iran positive but noncommittal about talks with US Posted: 03 Feb 2013 06:24 AM PST  MUNICH (AP) — Iran's foreign minister on Sunday welcomed the United States' willingness to hold direct talks with Tehran in the standoff over its nuclear program but didn't commit to accepting the offer — insisting that Washington must show "fair and real" intentions to resolve the issue and complaining about "threatening rhetoric."
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| Another 2 bodies found in Mexico oil company blast Posted: 03 Feb 2013 04:51 PM PST  MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico's state-owned oil company says it has found two more bodies amid the rubble of a headquarters building damaged by a still-unexplained blast. The find raises the death toll of Thursday's explosion to 35 people.
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| Argentine princess's dad has dictatorship history Posted: 03 Feb 2013 03:02 PM PST  BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Prince Willem-Alexander's ascension to the Dutch throne in April promises to be a shining moment on the world stage for his wife, Maxima, and her home country of Argentina. But there will be a glaring absence at the ceremony.
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| Girl shot by Taliban undergoes 2 operations in UK Posted: 03 Feb 2013 09:16 AM PST  LONDON (AP) — A Pakistani schoolgirl who was shot in the head by the Taliban is in stable condition after undergoing two successful operations to reconstruct her skull and restore her hearing, the British hospital treating her said Sunday.
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| Rio Carnival goes to dogs at canine street party Posted: 03 Feb 2013 03:16 PM PST  RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — The crowd at the Blocao Carnival street party Sunday was a decidedly mixed one. Roughly half the revelers were humans, the other half dogs, though the canine contingent was unquestionably the better dressed of the two.
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| To curb rape, Muslim group calls for end to co-ed schools in India Posted: 03 Feb 2013 10:36 AM PST Following the violent gang rape of a young medical student on a Delhi bus last month, some top Muslim clerics say ending co-ed schools would prevent rapes. But the suggestion has found few takers: Even among Muslims, many are opposing it fiercely. |
