| Ovation for Pope Benedict at final public mass Posted: 13 Feb 2013 11:18 AM PST  VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - A capacity crowd in St Peter's Basilica gave Pope Benedict a thunderous standing ovation on Wednesday at an emotional last public Mass before he resigns at the end of the month. "Thank you. Now, let's return to prayer," the 85-year-old pontiff said, bringing an end to several minutes of applause that clearly moved him. In an unusual gesture, bishops took off their mitres in a sign of respect and a few of them wept. One of the priests at the altar, which according to tradition rests above the tomb of St Peter, took out a handkerchief to dry his tears. ...
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| Syrian troops bombard rebel posts around capital Posted: 13 Feb 2013 12:19 PM PST  AMMAN (Reuters) - President Bashar al-Assad's forces bombarded the southeast of Damascus with air strikes and artillery on Wednesday to try and dislodge rebel fighters who have gained a foothold in the Syrian capital, opposition activists said. A Middle East diplomat following the military situation described battles in and around Damascus as a "major engagement", with fighting going back and forth between the two sides. "The opposition is hitting Damascus from a multiple of directions and the regime is trying to stop it," he said. ...
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| Iran suggests progress, but no deal, in U.N. atom talks Posted: 13 Feb 2013 12:16 PM PST  DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran indicated that some progress was made in talks with the U.N. nuclear watchdog on Wednesday, but that the two sides again failed to finalize an elusive framework deal over the Islamic state's disputed atomic activity. Iran's ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Ali Asghar Soltanieh, said a new meeting would be held, without giving a date. There was no immediate comment from the IAEA about the one-day meeting in Tehran. The IAEA had hoped to bridge persistent differences with Iran preventing the U.N. ...
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| Britain says intelligence sharing crucial despite abuse risks Posted: 13 Feb 2013 04:14 PM PST  LONDON (Reuters) - Britain is justified in sharing intelligence with countries suspected of human rights abuses to protect itself, Foreign Secretary William Hague will say on Thursday, despite concerns over the torture of suspects and costly court cases. Since the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, Britain has been wrestling with how to uphold its opposition to all forms of torture whilst ensuring it could gather information about planned attacks by militants, some of which might have been obtained through ill-treatment of suspects. ...
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| Chavez undergoing "delicate" cancer treatment: Venezuela's vice president Posted: 13 Feb 2013 04:03 PM PST  CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is undergoing "complex" alternative treatments more than two months after having cancer surgery in Cuba, his vice president said on Wednesday. The 58-year-old socialist leader has not been seen in public since he went to Havana for the operation on December 11, his fourth surgery for cancer in 18 months. Vice President Nicolas Maduro did not give details of the alternative treatments the president was receiving. ...
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| Frustrated Turkey still wants EU entry, but maybe not euro Posted: 13 Feb 2013 11:14 AM PST  LONDON (Reuters) - Turkey is committed to joining the European Union despite mounting frustration over decades of talks on the issue, but has little appetite for adopting the euro currency, a senior Turkish official said on Wednesday. In a speech in London, Turkey's chief negotiator on EU accession said it was time the EU made up its mind on whether Turkey can join the 27-member bloc, and said it should be allowed in even if some countries object. ...
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| Israel publishes some details in Australian spy mystery Posted: 13 Feb 2013 12:27 PM PST  JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel broke its official silence on Wednesday over the reported suicide in jail of an Australian immigrant recruited to its spy service Mossad, giving limited details on a closely guarded case. After appeals by local media chafing at Israeli censorship of a story broken by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), a district court near Tel Aviv allowed publication of six paragraphs of sanctioned text - a de-facto preliminary account by the state. ...
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| Horsemeat scandal set to spur tougher EU food tests Posted: 13 Feb 2013 02:20 PM PST  BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Commission has proposed increased DNA testing of meat products to assess the scale of a scandal involving horsemeat sold as beef that has shocked the public and raised concern over the continent's food supply chains. "The tests will be on DNA in meat products in all member states," European Union Health Commissioner Tonio Borg told reporters after a ministerial meeting in Brussels to discuss the affair. ...
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| Plane crash landing in Ukraine kills at least five: officials Posted: 13 Feb 2013 12:49 PM PST  KIEV (Reuters) - At least five people were killed when a plane carrying supporters to a European soccer match in eastern Ukraine overshot the runway and broke up when it attempted an emergency landing late on Wednesday, officials said. The twin-engined Antonov turboprop was bringing 45 passengers and crew on a charter flight from the Black Sea coastal city of Odessa to Donetsk - most of them fans looking forward to attending a Champions League clash between the Ukrainian home team Shakhtar and Germany's Borussia Dortmund. ...
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| Egypt floods Gaza tunnels to cut Palestinian lifeline Posted: 13 Feb 2013 04:37 AM PST  GAZA (Reuters) - Egyptian forces have flooded smuggling tunnels under the border with the Palestinian-ruled Gaza Strip in a campaign to shut them down, Egyptian and Palestinian officials said. The network of tunnels is a vital lifeline for Gaza, bringing in an estimated 30 percent of all goods that reach the enclave and circumventing a blockade imposed by Israel for more than seven years. Reuters reporters saw one tunnel being used to bring in cement and gravel suddenly fill with water on Sunday, sending workers rushing for safety. ...
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| Ukraine: 5 dead in crash-landing Posted: 13 Feb 2013 04:38 PM PST  KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — A passenger plane carrying soccer fans headed for a match skidded past the landing strip and overturned in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk on Wednesday, killing five people, officials said.
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| Tears, applause for pope at last public Mass Posted: 13 Feb 2013 03:33 PM PST  VATICAN CITY (AP) — With a humble "Grazie" as bishops doffed their mitres and applause echoed through St. Peter's Basilica, a frail Pope Benedict XVI began his long farewell by presiding over Ash Wednesday services in a tearful, final public Mass.
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| Dutch company eyed in mislabeled horsemeat scandal Posted: 13 Feb 2013 03:04 PM PST  AMSTERDAM (AP) — A Cyprus-registered company called "Draap Trading Ltd." moved to the center of Europe's horsemeat mislabeling scandal Wednesday, as it emerged that a man with the same name as the owner of Draap was convicted of fraud for passing off horsemeat as beef by a Dutch court last year.
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| Syrian rebels close in on Aleppo airport Posted: 13 Feb 2013 11:20 AM PST  BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian rebels knocked down army defenses and moved in on the country's second largest airport Wednesday, reportedly killing more than 40 soldiers and bringing them closer to what could be their biggest conquest since the beginning of the civil war.
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| Little change in Honduras prison where 362 died Posted: 13 Feb 2013 05:04 PM PST  JUTICALPA, Honduras (AP) — On the 14th day of each month, Jesus Garcia joins other relatives to hoist a cardboard coffin and carry it in a macabre procession down a road to the prison where two cousins died with 360 other inmates in the worst prison fire in at least a century.
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| Brazil papal contender: Place of birth irrelevant Posted: 13 Feb 2013 04:53 PM PST  SAO PAULO (AP) — The archbishop of one of the world's largest Roman Catholic archdiocese and a man thought to be a leading Latin American contender to succeed Pope Benedict XVI said Wednesday that neither geographic origin nor age should matter much in determining the next pontiff.
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| VP: Chavez undergoing 'tough and complex' post-op Posted: 13 Feb 2013 04:45 PM PST  CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is undergoing "tough and complex treatments" following cancer-related surgery, his vice president said on Wednesday.
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| Gitmo official: No eavesdropping on lawyers Posted: 13 Feb 2013 03:15 PM PST GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba (AP) — A senior Guantanamo official says the FBI installed hidden microphones that have sparked fears of eavesdropping among defense attorneys in the Sept. 11 case. |
| Horsemeat scandal exposes complex food chain Posted: 13 Feb 2013 12:00 PM PST  LONDON (AP) — First, there was "pink slime." Then horsemeat. Most recently? "Desinewed meat."
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| Egypt's women fighting back against sex assaults Posted: 13 Feb 2013 12:18 PM PST  CAIRO (AP) — Egyptian women are growing increasingly angry and militant as they deal with one of the unintended consequences of the Arab Spring: an epidemic of sexual assault that law enforcement has failed to contain.
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| Matt Damon's humorous video spotlights sanitation crisis Posted: 13 Feb 2013 12:56 PM PST If citing troubling statistics won't work, try humor. And social media, of course. |
| Why the Iran threat assessment may be easing – for now Posted: 13 Feb 2013 11:45 AM PST Analysts are toning down threat assessments on Iran as several developments coincide to lower the drumbeat of fears about Iran's nuclear intentions. |
| A glimpse of Mexico's new crime fighting strategy Posted: 13 Feb 2013 11:09 AM PST Mexico's government on Tuesday launched a comprehensive crime prevention plan aimed at strengthening communities hard-hit by the violence of an ongoing drug war. |
| Is China taking a harsher tone on North Korea? Posted: 13 Feb 2013 07:48 AM PST Before North Korea conducted its third nuclear test this week, China made strong efforts to dissuade Pyongyang, saying that if it went ahead with the test, "it must pay a heavy price." |
| Massive protest movement emerges against Islamists in Bangladesh Posted: 13 Feb 2013 06:42 AM PST A protest that has at times swelled into the hundreds of thousands entered its ninth day today in Bangladesh's capital, touched off by the outcome of a war crimes trial that has awoken an astonishing struggle over this country's identity and the role that religion plays in its fractious politics. |
| Will Iran allow UN nuclear inspection? Posted: 13 Feb 2013 06:05 AM PST • A daily summary of global reports on security issues. |
