| Insight: Sinai air strike shows hair-trigger Israel-Egypt security ties Posted: 11 Aug 2013 11:13 AM PDT  By Dan Williams and Yasmine Saleh JERUSALEM/CAIRO (Reuters) - Just as they were preparing to launch their rocket across the border into Israel on Friday, four Islamist guerrillas in Egypt were killed by a missile. Al Qaeda blamed Israel for the attack in the Egyptian Sinai near Gaza, where there has been a decade of fighting between Palestinians and Israelis. Israel dismissed reports of its responsibility and said it respected Egypt's sovereignty. ...
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| Israel to free first group of Palestinian prisoners ahead of peace talks Posted: 11 Aug 2013 04:31 PM PDT  By Allyn Fisher-Ilan JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel on Monday published a list of 26 Palestinian prisoners set to go free within days, some after spending more than two decades behind bars, in the first stage of a deal that led to a resumption of U.S.-backed peace talks last month. The decision was made late Sunday by a panel of three cabinet ministers headed by Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon and security and legal personnel. Families of Israelis victimized by the inmates' attacks have 48 hours to appeal their planned release to the high court. ...
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| Magnitude 5.7 earthquake strikes Tibet: USGS Posted: 11 Aug 2013 02:55 PM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck early on Monday in Tibet at a depth of 31 miles, the U.S. Geological Survey said. The epicenter of the quake, which was initially reported as magnitude 6.1, was located 89 miles south-southeast of Qamdo, Xizang Province in China. A magnitude 5.7 quake is considered moderate and capable of causing considerable damage. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries. (Writing by Eric Walsh; Editing by Stacey Joyce) |
| Tuareg of northern Mali say election alone will not bring peace Posted: 11 Aug 2013 01:44 PM PDT  By Daniel Flynn KIDAL, Mali (Reuters) - In the birthplace of a Tuareg revolt that nearly tore Mali apart last year, residents said Sunday's election would not bring lasting peace unless a new president in the distant south gave them more freedom. The desert region of Kidal in Mali's desolate northeast has produced four rebellions since independence from France in 1960. Its light-skinned Tuareg people say successive black African governments in the capital Bamako have excluded them from power. ...
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| Argentine midterm primary tests Fernandez popularity Posted: 11 Aug 2013 04:27 PM PDT  By Hugh Bronstein BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Argentine President Cristina Fernandez faced a tough midterm primary election test on Sunday, with exit polls showing headwinds to any effort by her allies to pass a constitutional amendment allowing her to run for a third term in 2015. Candidates for October legislative elections are being chosen. ...
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| U.S. condemns Iraq bombing wave; new violence kills seven more Posted: 11 Aug 2013 12:57 PM PDT  By Sylvia Westall and Suadad al-Salhy BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Gun attacks and a bombing killed at least seven more people in Iraq on Sunday, police said, after a day of carnage aimed mainly at Shi'ite Muslims celebrating the end of Ramadan. The United States condemned a wave of car bombings which police and medical sources said killed nearly 80 people across Iraq on Saturday, saying those who had attacked civilians during Eid al-Fitr festivities were "enemies of Islam". ...
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| Twitter counters the "Sun King" Murdoch in heated Aussie election Posted: 11 Aug 2013 04:58 PM PDT  By Rob Taylor SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia's Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is battling not only jaded voters in a bitter election race, but the rancor of Rupert Murdoch, whose newspapers have depicted Rudd as everything from a Nazi colonel to a thief stealing the nation's savings. The Australian-born Murdoch's crusade to oust Rudd in the September 7 general election has given rise to a heated social media campaign inside a campaign, as Twitter, Facebook and other digital platforms become the weapons used by some to try to outflank Murdoch's "old media". ...
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| Cashing in on health scares, China online food sales boom Posted: 11 Aug 2013 04:44 PM PDT  By Dominique Patton BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese consumers are responding to a powerful new marketing tactic that plays to a widespread fear of food contamination - the promise of safe groceries sold online. Pledging produce direct from the farm, vendors have found food is becoming one of the fastest-growing segments of Internet retailing as they cash in on scares from cadmium-tainted rice to recycled cooking oil. ...
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| Former PM favorite for president in run-off vote to heal Mali Posted: 11 Aug 2013 03:48 PM PDT  By Daniel Flynn and Tiemoko Diallo BAMAKO (Reuters) - Poll workers in Mali began counting votes in Sunday's high stakes presidential runoff, with former Prime Minister Ibrahim Boubacar Keita tipped to claim the difficult job of stabilizing the West African nation after more than a year of turmoil. The winner of the vote will be able to draw on more than $4 billion in foreign aid promised to rebuild the country after a French-led military intervention in January routed al Qaeda-linked rebels occupying the desert north. ...
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| California abductor, teen aroused suspicions in Idaho wilderness Posted: 11 Aug 2013 03:37 PM PDT  By Laura Zuckerman SALMON, Idaho (Reuters) - Horseback riders who triggered a search that led to the rescue of a California teen said Sunday they became suspicious because she and her suspected abductor had new gear and appeared ill-equipped for the Idaho wilderness. The two were not especially friendly and appeared out of place in Idaho's rugged backcountry, like "a square peg going into a round hole," said Mark John, a retired Gem County, Idaho, sheriff who was riding with his wife and another couple when they encountered the pair last week. ...
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| Lightning starts fire at Venezuela refinery: president Posted: 11 Aug 2013 02:53 PM PDT By Deisy Buitrago CARACAS (Reuters) - Lightning set fire to a storage tank at Venezuela's Puerto La Cruz oil refinery on Sunday, the president said, and residents were moved out of the immediate area while local media showed images of thick black smoke rising from the facility. Thunderstorms this weekend have drenched much of the South American OPEC nation, which has suffered repeated accidents at its oil refineries in recent years. Lightning bolts ignited two storage tanks at a different refinery just last year. ... |
| Freed Mexican drug lord's accomplices could soon walk free Posted: 11 Aug 2013 02:52 PM PDT  By Gabriel Stargardter MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Outraged by the release of an infamous Mexican drug boss jailed for ordering the brutal 1985 murder of a U.S. drug enforcement agent, the United States may soon face the galling prospect of watching his accomplices walk free. A Mexican court on Friday cut short Rafael Caro Quintero's 40-year sentence for orchestrating the killing of Drug Enforcement Administration agent Enrique "Kiki" Camarena, ending his 28-year stay behind bars after ruling he should have been tried at a state level rather than on federal charges. ...
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| Benin gets new government after surprise shake-up Posted: 11 Aug 2013 02:51 PM PDT COTONOU, Benin (AP) — The president of the tiny West African nation of Benin has named a new Cabinet, three days after he dissolved his entire government in a surprise move. |
| Egypt expected to act against pro-Mursi protesters Monday Posted: 11 Aug 2013 02:03 PM PDT  By Yasmine Saleh CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian police are expected to start taking action early on Monday against supporters of ousted President Mohamed Mursi who are gathered in crowded protest camps in Cairo, security and government sources said, a move which could trigger more bloodshed. The sites are the main flashpoints in the confrontation between the army, which toppled Mursi last month, and supporters who demand his reinstatement. ...
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| Egypt police say they will besiege sit-in sites Posted: 11 Aug 2013 01:47 PM PDT  CAIRO (AP) — Supporters of ousted President Mohammed Morsi fortified their two Cairo sit-in sites as Egyptian security officials said their forces will move against the entrenched protest camps within 24 hours — perhaps as early as daybreak Monday.
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| Israel to free first group of Palestinian prisoners for peace talks Posted: 11 Aug 2013 01:38 PM PDT  JERUSALEM (Reuters) - An Israeli cabinet panel decided on Sunday to free 26 Palestinian prisoners over the next few days under a deal that led to a resumption of U.S.-brokered peace talks last month after a three-year hiatus, an official statement said. The prisoners would be the first of four groups totaling 104 that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's cabinet last month agreed to release in a step aimed at renewing negotiations. The decision comes three days before a scheduled second round of Israeli-Palestinian talks being held in Israel and the West Bank. (Writing by Allyn Fisher-Ilan)
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| Norway leader goes undercover as taxi driver Posted: 11 Aug 2013 01:32 PM PDT  STOCKHOLM (AP) — Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg dressed up as a taxi driver and took passengers around Oslo in an unusual election campaign stunt.
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| Israel approves nearly 1,200 more settlement homes Posted: 11 Aug 2013 01:30 PM PDT  JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel approved building nearly 1,200 more settlement homes Sunday and agreed to release 26 long-held Palestinian security prisoners — highlighting an apparent settlements-for-prisoners trade-off that got both sides back to peace talks after a five-year freeze.
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| US says it's working to see drug lord jailed again Posted: 11 Aug 2013 01:17 PM PDT  MEXICO CITY (AP) — The Obama administration said Sunday that it's working with Mexico to bring new charges against a drug lord who persuaded a court to overturn his 40-year sentence in the kidnap, torture and murder of a U.S. anti-drug agent.
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| Buddhist mob attacks Sri Lankan mosque, 12 injured Posted: 11 Aug 2013 12:58 PM PDT  By Ranga Sirilal and Shihar Aneez COLOMBO (Reuters) - A Buddhist mob attacked a mosque in Sri Lanka's capital and at least 12 people were injured, the latest in a series of attacks on the minority Muslim community by members of the Buddhist majority. A mob of Buddhists, who are mainly ethnic Sinhalese in Sri Lanka, threw stones at a three-storey mosque and nearby houses in a central Colombo neighborhood during evening prayers on Saturday, residents told Reuters. ...
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| Gunmen shoot Lebanese mayor as Syria war ignites local rivalries Posted: 11 Aug 2013 12:55 PM PDT BEIRUT (Reuters) - Gunmen shot the mayor of a town in Lebanon and killed two of his companions only hours after he oversaw a hostage swap with a rival clan in an area increasingly riven by sectarian divisions, security sources said on Sunday. The attack near the border with Syria highlights how the civil war there has worsened enmity between Lebanese Shi'ite and Sunni Muslim militias that support opposing sides of the two-year-old conflict. ... |
| In Jamaica, transgender teen killed by mob Posted: 11 Aug 2013 12:47 PM PDT  MONTEGO BAY, Jamaica (AP) — Dwayne Jones was relentlessly teased in high school for being effeminate until he dropped out. His father not only kicked him out of the house at the age of 14 but also helped jeering neighbors push the youngster from the rough Jamaican slum where he grew up.
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| Syrian rebels on the offensive in eastern city Posted: 11 Aug 2013 12:36 PM PDT  BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian rebels launched an offensive Sunday in an eastern city near the border with Iraq in an attempt to extend their advances in the north and west of the country, activists said.
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| Norway PM turns secret cabbie in election drive Posted: 11 Aug 2013 12:29 PM PDT  OSLO (Reuters) - Norway's prime minister worked secretly as a taxi driver in central Oslo for a day in June, leaving his passengers wondering whether their elected leader had quit the day job. Wearing a taxi driver's uniform and sunglasses, Jens Stoltenberg drove passengers around the streets of the Norwegian capital for several hours, confirming his identity only after his passengers realized who he was. The stunt, dreamed up by an ad agency as part of Stoltenberg's campaign for re-election, was filmed on hidden cameras. ...
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| France arrests serviceman accused of mosque plot Posted: 11 Aug 2013 12:20 PM PDT PARIS (AP) — The French Interior Ministry says a military serviceman who was planning an attack on a mosque has been arrested. |
| Tunisian woman denies will head opposition's alternative cabinet Posted: 11 Aug 2013 12:10 PM PDT  By Tarek Amara TUNIS (Reuters) - A prominent female Tunisian businesswoman said on Sunday she was not interested in becoming prime minister, playing down speculation she might head an alternative cabinet that the opposition plans to announce this week. Media had reported that Wided Bouchamaoui, 52, the first woman president of Tunisia's Chambers of Commerce and Industry, might be named alternative prime minister by the secularist opposition Salvation Front which is trying to topple the Islamist-led government. "I thank all those who considered me able to take a political responsibility. ...
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| Egypt police to besiege sit-ins within 24 hours Posted: 11 Aug 2013 12:08 PM PDT  CAIRO (AP) — Egyptian security forces will besiege two sit-ins by supporters of the country's ousted president within 24 hours, police officials said Sunday, setting up a possible confrontation between the military-backed government and the thousands gathered there.
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| Malians return to polls for 2nd round of voting Posted: 11 Aug 2013 12:03 PM PDT  BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — From the ancient desert town of Timbuktu to refugee camps in neighboring countries, voters chose Sunday who should lead Mali out of the political upheaval that left the country's north in the hands of al-Qaida-linked militants for much of last year.
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| French soldier arrested for planning mosque attack Posted: 11 Aug 2013 12:00 PM PDT PARIS (Reuters) - A 23-year-old French soldier was arrested at his air force base near the city of Lyon for planning an attack on a local mosque, the French interior ministry said on Sunday. The soldier held views "close to those of the radical extreme right" and had already attacked a mosque in the Bordeaux region last year without causing much damage, the ministry said, without giving further details. Security services are grappling with an increase in far-right militant activity in France, home to Europe's largest Muslim minority. ... |
| Gunmen kill 5 Yemeni soldiers at checkpoint Posted: 11 Aug 2013 11:40 AM PDT  SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Suspected al-Qaida gunmen killed five soldiers early Sunday in a southern province of Yemen, an official said, as U.S. embassies across the Muslim and Arab world reopened after terror threat emanating from the region.
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| Anti-Assad Syrian star performs in West Bank Posted: 11 Aug 2013 11:34 AM PDT  BETHLEHEM, West Bank (AP) — A West Bank visit by Syrian singer Asala Nasri, a prominent supporter of her country's uprising, marked a rare appearance by a Syrian citizen in the Palestinian territories
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| Snowden's father gets visa, to leave for Russia 'soon' Posted: 11 Aug 2013 11:32 AM PDT  By Paul Eckert WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The father of Edward Snowden, the fugitive former U.S. spy agency contractor, has received a Russian visa and will travel there shortly to see his son, he and his lawyer said on Sunday. Attorney Bruce Fein said in a television appearance that he and Lon Snowden were skeptical about President Barack Obama's pledge to limit government surveillance programs, and they remain doubtful that young Snowden can receive a fair trial in the United States. "We have visas. ...
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| Tribal clashes kill 111 in Sudan's Darfur: tribal sources Posted: 11 Aug 2013 11:14 AM PDT KHARTOUM (Reuters) - More than 100 people have been killed since Friday in Sudan's strife-torn Darfur region in clashes between two tribes over land, tribal sources said on Sunday. Tribal sources said thousands of members of the Rezeigat tribe attacked their Maaliya rivals in a bid to seize territory. "Clashes took place on Saturday and Friday which resulted in the deaths of 41 from our side and 90 wounded," Aydam Abu Bakr, a leader of the Rezeigat tribe, said by telephone. He said 70 people on the Maaliya side were also killed. ... |
| Bombings targeting Iraq military kill 5 soldiers Posted: 11 Aug 2013 11:01 AM PDT  BAGHDAD (AP) — Two bombings targeting an army checkpoint and a convoy near the Iraqi capital killed five soldiers Sunday, officials said.
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