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• North readies rockets after U.S. flies stealth bombers over South
• Mortar kills 15 at Damascus University, Syria says
• Attempt to end Italy crisis stalls, president mulls next move
• South Sudan says 150 killed in battle with rebels
• South Africa's Mandela "responding positively" to treatment
• Spy who foiled jet bomb plot to be Britain's intelligence chief
• Iran, North Korea, Syria cause trouble for U.N. arms treaty
• Beleaguered Hollande to reach out to nation on TV
• U.S. debates how severely to penalize Russia in human rights spat
• Analysis: Gay marriage rights may carry bigger U.S. tax burden for some
• SAfrica: Mandela responds positively to treatment
• South Sudan military says 163 killed in clashes
• Pope washes feet of young detainees in ritual
• US-Russian crew blasts off for space station
• US sends B-2s to South Korea for military drills
• Mortar shells strike Damascus, killing at least 10
• Iran, NKorea, Syria block arms trade treaty
• France to tax companies 75 pct on $1.3M salaries
• Afghan villagers flee their homes, blame US drones
• Pistorius allowed to leave SAfrica with conditions
• Iran's support for Syria still appears strong - but is it hedging its bets?
• Cypriot banks reopen their doors to an angry, but orderly, clientele
• Islamist militancy quietly makes inroads in post-revolution Tunisia
• In the wee hours, Putin orders impromptu Russian war games
• Too much of a good thing? Palestinians realize downsides of foreign aid boom
• Pakistan: Afghanistan 'overreacting' in pulling out of military visit
• Why is the US shifting its missile defense out of Europe?
• China takes aim at Apple. Why?

North readies rockets after U.S. flies stealth bombers over South Posted: 28 Mar 2013 04:18 PM PDT By David Chance and Phil Stewart SEOUL/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - North Korea put its rocket units on standby on Friday to attack U.S. military bases in South Korea and the Pacific, after the United States flew two nuclear-capable stealth bombers over the Korean peninsula in a rare show of force. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un signed off on the order at a midnight meeting of top generals and "judged the time has come to settle accounts with the U.S. imperialists in view of the prevailing situation", official KCNA news agency said. ...

Mortar kills 15 at Damascus University, Syria says Posted: 28 Mar 2013 01:16 PM PDT By Oliver Holmes and Hamdi Istanbullu BEIRUT/ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Fifteen Syrian students were killed when rebel mortar shells hit a Damascus University canteen on Thursday, state-run news agency SANA said, as attacks intensified in the center of the capital. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition monitoring group, said a mortar killed 13 people at the university, without saying who fired the bombs. Other activists confirmed the attack but no opposition group has denied or claimed responsibility. ...

Attempt to end Italy crisis stalls, president mulls next move Posted: 28 Mar 2013 01:57 PM PDT By James Mackenzie and Barry Moody ROME (Reuters) - Center-left leader Pier Luigi Bersani has failed in his attempt to find a way out of Italy's political deadlock and President Giorgio Napolitano will now seek another solution, the president's palace said on Thursday. Bersani reported back to Napolitano on Thursday night after being given a mandate almost a week ago to see if he could muster enough support to form a government after the inconclusive election in February. ...

South Sudan says 150 killed in battle with rebels Posted: 28 Mar 2013 04:34 PM PDT JUBA (Reuters) - More than 150 people have been killed in a battle between South Sudan's army and insurgents in the eastern Jonglei state, officials said on Thursday. The African country's army earlier this month launched an offensive against rebels led by David Yau Yau in Jonglei where the government hopes to search for oil with the help of France's Total. Since winning independence from Sudan in July 2011, South Sudan has been struggling to impose its authority across vast swathes of territory bristling with weapons after decades of civil war with Khartoum. ...

South Africa's Mandela "responding positively" to treatment Posted: 28 Mar 2013 01:52 PM PDT By Ed Stoddard JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Former South African President Nelson Mandela is "responding positively" to treatment for a recurring lung infection after being admitted to hospital overnight, the government said on Thursday. "He remains under treatment and observation in hospital," it added in a statement, without giving further details about the health of the 94-year-old anti-apartheid leader. ...

Spy who foiled jet bomb plot to be Britain's intelligence chief Posted: 28 Mar 2013 03:25 PM PDT By Peter Griffiths LONDON (Reuters) - A British counterspy who helped to thwart an al Qaeda plot to blow up planes with explosives hidden in soft drink bottles and led the response to the 2005 London transport bombings will be the new head of Britain's domestic intelligence agency, the U.K. government said on Thursday. Andrew Parker has three decades' experience at the Security Service, known as MI5, countering Islamist militants, violent Irish republicans and organized criminals. He has been deputy chief since 2007, and once served as a British security liaison in the United States. ...

Iran, North Korea, Syria cause trouble for U.N. arms treaty Posted: 28 Mar 2013 03:46 PM PDT By Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Iran, Syria and North Korea on Friday objected to the adoption of the first international treaty to regulate the $70 billion global conventional arms trade, complaining that it fails to ban weapons sales to rebel groups. Peter Woolcott of Australia, the president of the U.N. Conference on the Arms Trade Treaty, adjourned the final session of the 10-day meeting to hold last-minute consultations with the dissenting delegates in an attempt to persuade them to join the consensus needed to approve the draft treaty. U.N. ...

Beleaguered Hollande to reach out to nation on TV Posted: 28 Mar 2013 11:41 AM PDT By Catherine Bremer PARIS (Reuters) - With his approval ratings and most of his economic pledges in tatters, French President Francois Hollande will try to convince a disillusioned nation on television on Thursday to keep faith in him to restore the economy to health. Hollande will be grilled in a 45-minute interview on France 2 television, his first such appearance in several months, in a studio whose backdrop and lighting have been prepared by his media team to create a somber mood. ...

U.S. debates how severely to penalize Russia in human rights spat Posted: 28 Mar 2013 03:00 PM PDT By Susan Cornwell WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In a controversy underscoring continued stresses in U.S.-Russia relations, Obama administration officials are debating how many Russian officials to ban from the United States under a new law meant to penalize Moscow for alleged human rights abuses. The debate's outcome, expected in about two weeks, is likely to illustrate how President Barack Obama will handle what critics say is a crackdown on dissent in Russia and set the tone for Washington-Moscow relations in the president's second term. ...

Analysis: Gay marriage rights may carry bigger U.S. tax burden for some Posted: 28 Mar 2013 03:48 PM PDT By Kim Dixon and Patrick Temple-West WASHINGTON (Reuters) - If the U.S. Supreme Court strikes down a federal law defining marriage as between a man and woman, the newfound rights for gay married couples may bear something not so welcome - a bigger tax burden. That's because with equality, gay couples will face the same tax woes of many heterosexual couples with similar incomes, including the tax hit known in America as the marriage penalty. ...

SAfrica: Mandela responds positively to treatment Posted: 28 Mar 2013 11:22 AM PDT JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Nelson Mandela was back in the hospital for the third time in four months Thursday, and the 94-year-old former South African president was reported to be responding well to treatment for a chronic lung infection.

South Sudan military says 163 killed in clashes Posted: 28 Mar 2013 01:57 PM PDT JUBA, South Sudan (AP) — A battle between South Sudan soldiers and rebels allegedly backed by neighboring Sudan killed 163 people, most of them rebels, government officials said Thursday.

Pope washes feet of young detainees in ritual Posted: 28 Mar 2013 03:20 PM PDT ROME (AP) — Pope Francis washed and kissed the feet of a dozen inmates, including two young women, at a juvenile detention center in a surprising departure from church rules that restrict the Holy Thursday ritual to men.

US-Russian crew blasts off for space station Posted: 28 Mar 2013 02:13 PM PDT BAIKONUR, Kazakhstan (AP) — A Russian spacecraft carrying a three-man crew blasted off Friday from a launch pad in the steppes of Kazakhstan, for the first time taking a shorter path to the International Space Station.

US sends B-2s to South Korea for military drills Posted: 28 Mar 2013 10:35 AM PDT SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — In a show of force following weeks of North Korean bluster, the U.S. on Thursday took the unprecedented step of announcing that two of its nuclear-capable B-2 bombers joined joint military drills with South Korea, dropping dummy munitions on an island range.

Mortar shells strike Damascus, killing at least 10 Posted: 28 Mar 2013 12:54 PM PDT BEIRUT (AP) — Mortar shells crashed into an outdoor cafe at Damascus University on Thursday, killing at least 10 students in the deadliest of a rising number of mortar attacks in the heart of the Syrian capital.

Iran, NKorea, Syria block arms trade treaty Posted: 28 Mar 2013 04:21 PM PDT UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Iran, North Korea and Syria blocked adoption Thursday of a U.N. treaty that would regulate the multibillion-dollar international arms trade which required agreement by all 193 U.N. member states.

France to tax companies 75 pct on $1.3M salaries Posted: 28 Mar 2013 03:16 PM PDT PARIS (AP) — French President Francois Hollande may have finally found a way to tax the really rich: by making their companies pay.

Afghan villagers flee their homes, blame US drones Posted: 27 Mar 2013 11:19 PM PDT KHALIS FAMILY VILLAGE, Afghanistan (AP) — Barely able to walk even with a cane, Ghulam Rasool says he padlocked his front door, handed over the keys and his three cows to a neighbor and fled his mountain home in the middle of the night to escape relentless airstrikes from U.S. drones targeting militants in this remote corner of Afghanistan.

Pistorius allowed to leave SAfrica with conditions Posted: 28 Mar 2013 11:48 AM PDT PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) — Oscar Pistorius could compete at this year's world championships after a South African judge eased his bail restrictions and ruled Thursday that the athlete, who faces a murder trial for the shooting death of his girlfriend, can travel overseas to run.

Iran's support for Syria still appears strong - but is it hedging its bets? Posted: 28 Mar 2013 11:19 AM PDT When the Arab League handed Syria's long-vacant seat to the Syrian opposition on March 26 and endorsed military aid for anti-regime rebels, the first and loudest complaints came from Iran.

Cypriot banks reopen their doors to an angry, but orderly, clientele Posted: 28 Mar 2013 10:21 AM PDT Cypriots expressed fury and frustration – but confounded predictions of chaos and even violence – as they formed orderly queues on Thursday to enter the country's banks, which reopened after being closed for nearly two weeks by a financial crisis that has shaken the foundations of the European Union and its common currency.

Islamist militancy quietly makes inroads in post-revolution Tunisia Posted: 28 Mar 2013 09:43 AM PDT One night last December, national guardsmen burst into the hospital emergency room in this mountain town leading a young man, handcuffed and shot through the right buttock.

In the wee hours, Putin orders impromptu Russian war games Posted: 28 Mar 2013 08:57 AM PDT President Vladimir Putin has surprised Russian military leaders by issuing a snap order to initiate immediate Black Sea war games – which experts say is a sign that the country's armed forces are becoming capable of defending the country on, literally, a moment's notice.

Too much of a good thing? Palestinians realize downsides of foreign aid boom Posted: 28 Mar 2013 08:04 AM PDT Luay Abdel Rafah was unconcerned with President Obama's visit to nearby Bethlehem last Friday, or by the announcement that the United States would unblock $500 million in US funds for the Palestinian government. He was busy tending to the last organic radish, onion, and lettuce crops of the season in a rooftop permaculture garden above the congested Dheisheh Refugee Camp.

Pakistan: Afghanistan 'overreacting' in pulling out of military visit Posted: 28 Mar 2013 07:01 AM PDT • A daily summary of global reports on security issues.

Why is the US shifting its missile defense out of Europe? Posted: 28 Mar 2013 06:38 AM PDT Shooting down incoming missiles is notoriously difficult, despite rosy claims of success. But the potential for it both soothes populations and riles governments. Here's an update.

China takes aim at Apple. Why? Posted: 28 Mar 2013 06:20 AM PDT The state-owned Chinese media have gone into full William Tell mode this week, taking aim at Apple in a string of angry and critical articles accusing the US giant of multiple sins.

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