| China steps up customs checks, but North Korea trade robust Posted: 30 Apr 2013 02:47 PM PDT  By Ben Blanchard DANDONG, China (Reuters) - China has stepped up checks on shipments to and from North Korea almost two months after agreeing to new U.N. sanctions that demand greater scrutiny of trade, but the flow of goods in and out of the reclusive state appears largely unaffected. The sanctions were imposed after North Korea's third nuclear test on February 12. China has said it wants the measures enforced, but few analysts believe Beijing will take steps that hurt North Korea as it is committed to a policy of engagement. ...
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| Israel welcomes apparent Arab League softening of peace plan Posted: 30 Apr 2013 09:51 AM PDT  JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel responded favorably on Tuesday to an apparent softening by Arab states of their 2002 peace plan after a top Qatari official raised the possibility of land swaps in setting borders between the Jewish state and an independent Palestine. The original Arab League proposal offered full recognition of Israel but only if it gave up all land seized in the 1967 Middle East war and accepted a "just solution" for Palestinian refugees. Israel, which has long said it would never return to narrow pre-1967 war borders, rejected the plan at the time. ...
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| Exclusive: Sources say senior Iranian diplomat detained in March Posted: 30 Apr 2013 01:12 PM PDT  By Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - A senior Iranian diplomat linked to Iran's reformists was detained in Tehran in March, possibly as part of a crackdown on dissidents ahead of the June presidential election, sources familiar with the case told Reuters on Tuesday. Bagher Asadi, who has previously been a senior diplomat at Iran's U.N. mission in New York and was most recently a director at the secretariat of the so-called D8 group of developing nations in Istanbul, was arrested in mid-March in the Iranian capital according to the sources, who requested anonymity. ...
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| ElBaradei says Egypt needs political consensus to heal economy Posted: 30 Apr 2013 04:53 PM PDT  By Patrick Werr and Alexander Dziadosz CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's government must seek political compromise to win broad support for a crucial IMF loan and revive the country's ailing economy, senior opposition figure Mohamed ElBaradei said on Tuesday. The former U.N. nuclear watchdog chief and Nobel Peace Prize winner accused the ruling Muslim Brotherhood of excluding other political forces from decision making, hindering recovery two years after an uprising ousted President Hosni Mubarak. ...
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| Chile to be Latin America's only candidate to U.N. Council Posted: 30 Apr 2013 02:33 PM PDT  SANTIAGO (Reuters) - Chile will be Latin America's sole candidate for a seat at the United Nations' Security Council for the 2014 to 2015 period, Foreign Affairs Minister Alfredo Moreno told reporters on Tuesday. The Andean country needs to be elected by two-thirds of the General Assembly in October to win a two-year term. Chile has already been elected to the Security Council four times. The U.N.'s Security Council, which has five permanent members and 10 non-permanent members, is focused on maintaining international peace and security. ...
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| No talks on key Mexico reforms until spat resolved: opposition Posted: 30 Apr 2013 04:36 PM PDT  By Dave Graham and Ana Isabel Martinez MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - A multi-party alliance to modernize Mexico's economy will not discuss pending energy and tax reforms until an electoral spat between the opposition and the government is resolved, the head of the main leftist party said on Tuesday. Jesus Zambrano, chairman of the opposition Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD), said there could be no talks on these reforms until the government had taken clear steps to punish those responsible for a vote-buying scandal in the Gulf state of Veracruz that was exposed this month. ...
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| Hunger strike: Obama reiterates vow to close Guantanamo Posted: 30 Apr 2013 04:18 PM PDT President Barack Obama on Tuesday renewed his pledge to close the prison for terrorist suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, but the impediments that have thwarted him thus far remain. |
| Top general: 5 bad habits for the Pentagon to fix Posted: 30 Apr 2013 03:51 PM PDT Gen. Martin Dempsey, the nation's top ranking military officer, says there are at least five areas in US defense operations where bad habits have developed, which tighter Pentagon budgets will force the military to fix. |
| Ricin case against Everett Dutschke tightens Posted: 30 Apr 2013 03:51 PM PDT Ricin was found in the former martial arts studio of the man suspected of sending poison letters to President Barack Obama and other public officials, and was also discovered on a dust mask and other items he threw in the trash, federal prosecutors said in a court document made public Tuesday. |
| Lawyers who defend terror suspects have thankless task. Why do they do it? Posted: 30 Apr 2013 03:08 PM PDT Defending an accused terrorist in court isn't for everyone, but the lawyers signing on to protect the legal interests of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the remaining living suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing, are experienced defenders who know what they are getting themselves into. |
| Hezbollah warns of possible Syria intervention Posted: 30 Apr 2013 02:48 PM PDT  BEIRUT (AP) — The leader of Lebanon's Hezbollah militant group said Tuesday that Syrian rebels will not be able to defeat President Bashar Assad's regime militarily, warning that Syria's "real friends," including his Iranian-backed militant group, were ready to intervene on the government's side.
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| Bangladeshis turn rescuers after building collapse Posted: 30 Apr 2013 04:51 PM PDT  SAVAR, Bangladesh (AP) — The heat in the rubble was sweltering. It closed in on his body like the darkness around him, making it hard to breathe. Working by the faint glow of a flashlight, he slithered through the broken concrete and spotted a beautiful young woman, her crushed arm pinned beneath a pillar. She was dying, and the only way to get her out was to amputate.
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| Arab League sweetens Israel-Palestinian peace plan Posted: 30 Apr 2013 11:17 AM PDT  JERUSALEM (AP) — The Arab League's decision to sweeten its decade-old proposal offering comprehensive peace with Israel has placed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a bind and swiftly exposed fissures in his new government.
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| Russia had elder Boston suspect under surveillance Posted: 30 Apr 2013 01:37 PM PDT  MAKHACHKALA, Russia (AP) — Russian agents placed the elder Boston bombing suspect under surveillance during a six-month visit to southern Russia last year, then scrambled to find him when he suddenly disappeared after police killed a Canadian jihadist, a security official told The Associated Press.
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| Europe court: Tymoshenko jailing was rights abuse Posted: 30 Apr 2013 07:18 AM PDT  KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine's jailing of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko was a politically motivated violation of her rights, Europe's human rights court ruled on Tuesday, dealing a harsh blow to President Viktor Yanukovych who has insisted that the case against his top opponent was not political.
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| Pakistan court bans Musharraf from office for life Posted: 30 Apr 2013 11:18 AM PDT  PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — A Pakistani court on Tuesday banned former military ruler Pervez Musharraf from running for public office for the rest of his life, the latest blow since he returned from exile last month to make a political comeback.
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| EU considers trade action after Bangladesh factory collapse Posted: 30 Apr 2013 04:56 PM PDT  (Reuters) - The European Union voiced strong concern over labor conditions in Bangladesh after a building collapse there killed hundreds of factory workers, and said it was considering action to encourage improvements, including the use of its trade preference system. The European Union is Bangladesh's largest trade partner and clothes made inside the building - an illegally built structure that toppled last week, killing at least 390 people - were produced for retailers in Europe and Canada. ...
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| Man who studied in U.S., four others freed in Uzbekistan: State Department Posted: 30 Apr 2013 04:12 PM PDT By Susan Cornwell WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Uzbekistan has released five high-profile prisoners jailed for political or religious reasons, including an accused member of an Islamist group who studied in the United States, the U.S. State Department said in its annual human rights report. The five - also including two human rights activists and two members of the Jehovah's Witnesses, were freed last year, the State Department said in its 2012 survey of human rights around the world. ... |
| Cyprus bailout scrapes through island's parliament Posted: 30 Apr 2013 03:59 PM PDT  By Michele Kambas NICOSIA (Reuters) - Cyprus's parliament approved an EU bailout on Tuesday which will force it to wind down its second-largest bank and impose heavy losses on uninsured depositors at another, conditions that have intensified calls from islanders to exit the euro. With a razor-thin majority of just two votes, lawmakers approved terms accompanying 10 billion euros ($13.18 billion)in aid from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). ...
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| Obama won't rush to act against Syria over chemical arms Posted: 30 Apr 2013 03:58 PM PDT  By Steve Holland and Warren Strobel WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama signaled on Tuesday he is no rush to respond quickly to Syria's apparent use of chemical weapons, taking a cautious approach to the country's civil war, mirroring the views of the American public, most lawmakers and some U.S. allies. Obama, who last year declared that the use or deployment of chemical weapons by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad would cross a "red line," told a White House news conference there was evidence those weapons were used, but there was still much that U.S. ...
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| ElBaradei: Egypt leader will need opposition help Posted: 30 Apr 2013 03:38 PM PDT  CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's leading opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei said Tuesday he believes the Islamist president will eventually be forced to reach out to the opposition because his group is losing support and isn't able to tackle the country's myriad problems alone.
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| Obama renews vow to close Guantanamo detention camp Posted: 30 Apr 2013 03:34 PM PDT  By Matt Spetalnick WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Saying it was damaging to U.S. interests to keep holding prisoners in legal limbo at Guantanamo, President Barack Obama renewed an old vow on Tuesday to close the camp, where about 100 inmates are on hunger strike to protest against their years in detention without trial. Human rights groups welcomed Obama's recommitment to shutting the prison, but some activists called for action, not just words. Criticism of the camp, set up at the U.S. ...
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| Catholic church excommunicates Brazil priest for liberal views Posted: 30 Apr 2013 03:05 PM PDT  By Paulo Prada RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - The Catholic Church has excommunicated a Brazilian priest after he defended homosexuality, open marriage and other practices counter to Church teaching in online videos. In a statement released late on Monday, the priest's diocese said Father Roberto Francisco Daniel, known to local parishioners as Padre Beto, had "in the name of 'freedom of expression' betrayed the promise of fealty to the Church." The priest "injured the Church with grave statements counter to the dogma of Catholic faith and morality. ...
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| Willem-Alexander becomes new Dutch king Posted: 30 Apr 2013 03:01 PM PDT AMSTERDAM (AP) — Millions of Dutch people dressed in orange flocked to celebrations around the Netherlands Tuesday in honor of a once-in-a-generation milestone for the country's ruling House of Orange-Nassau: after a 33-year reign, Queen Beatrix abdicated in favor of her eldest son, Willem-Alexander. |
| Mysterious Hebrew stone displayed in Jerusalem Posted: 30 Apr 2013 02:42 PM PDT  JERUSALEM (AP) — An ancient limestone tablet covered with a mysterious Hebrew text that features the archangel Gabriel is at the center of a new exhibit in Jerusalem, even as scholars continue to argue about what it means.
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| Storming ministries, Libya's militias put pressure Posted: 30 Apr 2013 02:05 PM PDT  TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — Gunmen swooped in on trucks mounted with anti-aircraft guns and surrounded Libya's Justice Ministry on Tuesday, cutting off roads and forcing employees out of the building in the latest instance of powerful militiamen showing their muscle to press their demands on how Libya should be run more than a year after Moammar Gadhafi's ouster.
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| Letta Embarks on Tour of Europe After Winning Confidence Vote Posted: 30 Apr 2013 01:58 PM PDT Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta's coalition government won a final vote of confidence from the nation's Senate on Tuesday, according to News Wires/Reuters reports. Letta immediately left on a tour of European capitals to discuss his plans for Italy's immediate future with leaders from the rest of the eurozone. |
| Egyptian activist detained on charges of insulting president Posted: 30 Apr 2013 01:57 PM PDT  By Maggie Fick CAIRO (Reuters) - A prominent Egyptian campaigner was detained on Tuesday over accusations of insulting President Mohamed Mursi, state media reported, a case activists said highlighted a crackdown on dissent by the Islamist government. A court in the town of Tanta ruled Ahmed Douma should be held for four days, pending investigation into charges of "deliberately spreading false news and rumors" during two recent television appearances, a court official told Reuters. ...
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| Hezbollah says opposition won't topple Assad with force Posted: 30 Apr 2013 01:53 PM PDT BEIRUT (Reuters) - Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said on Tuesday that Syrian rebels fighting the forces of President Bashar al-Assad would not be able to topple him using force. Nasrallah, a staunch ally of Assad, said in a televised speech from an undisclosed location that Syria's allies in the region and the world would not allow it to fall "into the hands of Americans, Israel and (Sunni) extremists". "The battle is long ... We tell you (Syrian rebels) that you will not be able to bring this regime down through military means," he said. ... |
| France: jihadist convert arrested in Mali Posted: 30 Apr 2013 01:34 PM PDT  PARIS (AP) — French troops in Mali have arrested a French citizen who converted to Islam, took on the jihadist cause and threatened his native country in a video last fall, the military spokesman said Tuesday.
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| Mexico seeks new security, economic agenda with US Posted: 30 Apr 2013 01:27 PM PDT  MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico's is ending the widespread access it gave to U.S. security agencies in the name of fighting drug trafficking and organized crime, but President Barack Obama said Tuesday he won't judge the change until he meets this week with the country's new leader.
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| Orange celebrations as King Willem-Alexander takes Dutch throne Posted: 30 Apr 2013 12:56 PM PDT  By Gilbert Kreijger and Thomas Escritt AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Willem-Alexander became the first king of the Netherlands since 1890 on Tuesday, ascending a throne largely stripped of political power but still invested with enormous symbolic significance for the Dutch people. At his investiture in Amsterdam's 600-year-old Nieuwe Kerk, or New Church, the 46-year-old monarch swore an oath to uphold the Dutch constitution and stressed the need for unity at a time of economic crisis. "I take office in a period when many in the kingdom feel vulnerable or uncertain. ...
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