| High-stakes U.S.-Russian talks open, Syria to join chemical arms ban Posted: 12 Sep 2013 04:32 PM PDT  By Warren Strobel and Louis Charbonneau GENEVA/UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United States and Russia began high-stakes talks on Thursday on Moscow's plan for Syria to surrender its chemical weapons as Damascus formally applied to join a global poison gas ban, but Secretary of State John Kerry underscored that U.S. military force may still be necessary if diplomacy fails. "This is not a game," Kerry said in an appearance with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov after opening talks in Geneva aimed at fleshing out Russia's plan to secure and dispose of Syria's stockpiles of chemical arms. ...
|
| Cairo accuses Gaza's Hamas of training Egyptian militants Posted: 12 Sep 2013 03:53 PM PDT  By Michael Georgy CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian state television accused Palestinian Hamas on Thursday of training Egyptian Islamists in how to carry out bombings, putting more pressure on the Muslim Brotherhood, ally of Hamas. In neighboring Gaza, the ruling Hamas Islamists strongly denied the allegations. Egypt has faced turmoil since the army forced the Brotherhood's Mohamed Mursi from the presidency in July. A week ago, the interior minister survived an assassination attempt in Cairo, amid fears the country could face an Islamist insurgency. ...
|
| Syria now full member of chemical arms pact: Syria's U.N. envoy Posted: 12 Sep 2013 01:01 PM PDT  UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Syria became a full member of the global anti-chemical weapons treaty on Thursday, the country's U.N. envoy said, a move that the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had promised as part of a deal to avoid U.S. air strikes. "Legally speaking Syria has become, starting today, a full member of the (chemical weapons) convention," Syrian U.N. Ambassador Bashar Ja'afari told reporters in New York after submitting relevant documents to the United Nations. ...
|
| Brazil's Rousseff targets internet companies after NSA spying Posted: 12 Sep 2013 04:44 PM PDT  By Brian Winter SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Angered by reports that the U.S. government spied on her and other Brazilians, President Dilma Rousseff is pushing new legislation that would seek to force Google, Facebook and other internet companies to store locally gathered data inside Brazil. The requirement would be difficult to execute, technology experts say, given high costs and the global nature of the Internet. Still, Rousseff's initiative is one of the most tangible signs of a backlash following revelations that the U.S. ...
|
| Rape trial puts focus on India's death penalty paradox Posted: 12 Sep 2013 02:03 PM PDT  By Ross Colvin and Anurag Kotoky NEW DELHI (Reuters) - An Indian judge will announce on Friday whether four men should hang for fatally raping a young woman on a bus last December, in one of the biggest tests in years of India's paradoxical attitude towards the death penalty. Indian judges hand down on average 130 death sentences every year, but India has executed just three people in the past 17 years. Despite its apparent reluctance to carry out the sentences, last year India voted against a U.N. draft resolution calling for a global moratorium on executions. ...
|
| Exclusive: U.S. total of Syrian gas deaths could include bomb casualties - sources Posted: 12 Sep 2013 04:40 PM PDT  By Mark Hosenball WASHINGTON (Reuters) - One of the most precise and dramatic details cited by the Obama administration as proof that Syrian forces used chemical weapons in an August 21 attack was the death toll, which an official U.S. government assessment put at 1,429 people, including 426 children. The number, first released by the White House on August 30, was underscored by Secretary of State John Kerry in a fiery indictment of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, describing videos of what he said were victims of the attack, which Syria denies. ...
|
| Kerry talks tough in Syria encounter with Russia Posted: 12 Sep 2013 04:37 PM PDT  GENEVA (AP) — Striking a tough tone, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry opened swiftly convened talks with Russia on Syria's chemical weapons Thursday by bluntly rejecting a Syrian pledge to begin a "standard process" by turning over information rather than weapons — and nothing immediately.
|
| NASA's Voyager first spacecraft to exit solar system Posted: 12 Sep 2013 04:19 PM PDT  Never before has a human-built spacecraft traveled so far. NASA's Voyager 1 probe has left the solar system and is wandering the galaxy, US scientists said Thursday.
|
| Assad: Syria to offer data on chemical weapons Posted: 12 Sep 2013 04:12 PM PDT  BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian President Bashar Assad publicly agreed Thursday to a Russian plan to secure and destroy his chemical weapons, but said the proposal would work only if the U.S. halts threats of military action.
|
| Snowden leaks sparked welcome debate: US spy chief Posted: 12 Sep 2013 04:01 PM PDT  Leaks from former US intelligence contractor Edward Snowden triggered a much needed debate about surveillance in America, even if they jeopardized national security, the country's spy chief admitted Thursday.
|
| By giving guns to rebels, US tries to squeeze Syrian regime Posted: 12 Sep 2013 03:47 PM PDT  Three months since President Barack Obama promised military support to opposition forces, the Washington Post reported that the first deliveries of guns and ammunition began arriving two weeks ago, after an alleged chemical weapons attack that Western governments blame on the Syrian regime.
|
| American Islamist killed in Somalia: witnesses Posted: 12 Sep 2013 03:45 PM PDT  A US Islamist fighting in Somalia was killed Thursday in a shootout with Al-Qaeda linked Shebab militants, former comrades he had fallen out with, witnesses said.
|
| Syria seeks to join global chemical arms ban Posted: 12 Sep 2013 03:29 PM PDT  Syria on Thursday sought membership of the global convention banning chemical weapons, in a move that could help head off a western military strike.
|
| Guinness: World's smallest dog is in Puerto Rico Posted: 12 Sep 2013 03:25 PM PDT  SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Puerto Rico can now boast it is home to the world's smallest dog — at least when it comes to height.
|
| 'Prove it,' US tells Assad on chemical arms vow Posted: 12 Sep 2013 03:20 PM PDT  President Bashar al-Assad confirmed for the first time Thursday that Syria plans to give up its chemical weapons, as the United States urged him and his Russian allies to quickly make good on his promise.
|
| Taking Lead in Syria Talks, Russia Works to Preserve Assad Regime Posted: 12 Sep 2013 03:15 PM PDT On Thursday, Sept. 12, when Russian and American diplomats came to the negotiating table in Geneva, the Russian side came in with the upper hand. The previous night, they had sent Washington a proposal for dismantling Syria's stockpiles of chemical weapons. According to the Russian diplomat Alexei Pushkov, who discussed the outlines of the proposal with TIME, it includes several complicated phases and gives Syria a leading role in the destruction of its own chemical arsenal. The American side, meanwhile, has one trump card in these negotiations — the threat of a military strike against Syria. ... |
| Israel skeptical of new Iran president Posted: 12 Sep 2013 03:06 PM PDT VIENNA (AP) — Israel on Thursday expressed skepticism of Western hopes that the election of a new Iranian president could reduce tensions over the country's nuclear program, asserting that Tehran remains committed to building nuclear arms. |
| US hits back at Putin's dismissal of US 'exceptionalism' Posted: 12 Sep 2013 02:58 PM PDT  The White House hit back Thursday at Russian President Vladimir Putin's dismissal of "American exceptionalism," saying that, in contrast to Moscow, Washington is a supporter of human rights and freedom of speech.
|
| U.S. scolds North Korea on Yongbyon nuclear reactor Posted: 12 Sep 2013 02:38 PM PDT  By Paul Eckert WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States scolded North Korea on Thursday over reports indicating the reclusive nation has restarted a plutonium-producing nuclear reactor, emphasizing that such a move would violate U.N. Security Council resolutions. U.S. officials in Washington and traveling in Asia, however, stopped short of confirming reports by two U.S. think tanks that steam rising over North Korea's Yongbyon nuclear complex indicated a reactor that was moth balled in 2007 was back in operation. "Suffice to say, if it was true, it would be a violation of the relevant U.N. ...
|
| U.N. report may hint at source of Syria chemical weapons attack Posted: 12 Sep 2013 02:33 PM PDT  By Louis Charbonneau and Anthony Deutsch UNITED NATIONS/AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - U.N. chemical weapons investigators will not explicitly blame anyone in their forthcoming report on the August 21 poison gas attack in Syria, but diplomats say their factual reporting alone could suggest which side in the civil war was responsible. The United States and other Western powers blame forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for the attack. Russian President Vladimir Putin asserts there is "every reason to believe" it was carried out by rebels. France's U.N. ...
|
| China navy chief says operational aircraft carrier a few years away Posted: 12 Sep 2013 02:32 PM PDT  By David Alexander WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Chinese navy is using its first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, for training and testing and will decide on an operational carrier for the fleet after a few years of evaluation, Admiral Wu Shengli said on Thursday. The navy chief of the People's Liberation Army, on a military-to-military visit with his U.S. counterpart, told reporters at the Washington Navy Yard that Chinese sailors would carry out "very heavy" training over the next two or three years as they assess the carrier. ...
|
| U.N. deployment of surveillance drone in Congo delayed to December Posted: 12 Sep 2013 02:20 PM PDT By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The unprecedented deployment of an unarmed surveillance drone by U.N. peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of Congo has been delayed several months due to procurement procedures, the U.N. peacekeeping chief said on Thursday. The United Nations has procured an unarmed surveillance drone from Italian defense electronics firm Selex ES, a unit of Finmeccanica, that was due to be deployed in the volatile eastern Congo during August. ... |
| Say what? Kerry loses something in translation Posted: 12 Sep 2013 02:19 PM PDT  GENEVA (AP) — Say what?
|
| AP PHOTOS: Syrians wait out war in Lebanon Posted: 12 Sep 2013 02:12 PM PDT  BEIRUT (AP) — The days are long at the al-Faour settlement in Lebanon. Women draw on cigarettes to help pass the time, their faces haggard and sunburned. Children play outside their tents in bright, ragged clothes and worn-out shoes.
|
| US must stop 'threats' for weapons plan to work: Assad Posted: 12 Sep 2013 02:00 PM PDT  President Bashar al-Assad said Thursday Syria plans to give up its chemical weapons, and demanded in return that Washington drop threats of military action and stop arming rebels.
|
| American jihadi slain in Somalia by rivals Posted: 12 Sep 2013 02:00 PM PDT  MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — An American who became one of Somalia's most visible Islamic rebels and was on the FBI's Most Wanted Terrorist list with a $5 million bounty on his head was killed Thursday by rivals in the al-Qaida-linked extremist group al-Shabab, militants said.
|
| U.S., Russia differ on military force as Syria talks open Posted: 12 Sep 2013 01:55 PM PDT  By Warren Strobel and Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov opened high-stakes talks on Thursday on disarming Syria's chemical weapons programs, but differences emerged at the outset over U.S. military threats against Syria. Kerry, appearing with Lavrov at the start of what are expected to be two days of talks, said military force might be needed against Syria if diplomacy over President Bashar al-Assad's chemical weapons stockpile fails. U.S. ...
|
| Reports: American-born 'jihadist rapper' killed in shootout with terror group Posted: 12 Sep 2013 01:45 PM PDT One of the FBI's most wanted terrorists, Alabama-born Omar Hammami, has been killed in a shootout with Shebab militants linked to al-Qaida, according to reports by the AFP. |
| UN inspectors could point to perpetrator of attack Posted: 12 Sep 2013 01:39 PM PDT UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Diplomats said Thursday the report by U.N. chemical weapons inspectors expected next week could point to the perpetrators of an alleged chemical weapons attack even though they are only charged with determining whether deadly agents were used in Syria — not who was responsible. |
| Ghana, Nigeria among World Cup draw seeds Posted: 12 Sep 2013 01:37 PM PDT  Ivory Coast, Ghana, Algeria, Nigeria and Tunisia were seeded Thursday for the World Cup Africa zone play-offs draw.
|
| Cubans wear yellow ribbons for agents jailed in US Posted: 12 Sep 2013 01:30 PM PDT  HAVANA (AP) — Cubans tied yellow ribbons to homes, trees and lampposts across the capital Thursday, in an organized mass campaign to press for the return of several espionage agents imprisoned in the United States on the 15th anniversary of their arrest.
|
| Canada G20 policeman guilty of assaulting protestor Posted: 12 Sep 2013 01:16 PM PDT  A Canadian policeman on Thursday was found guilty of assaulting a protestor with a weapon at a G20 summit in Toronto three years ago.
|
| UN agencies appeal for more aid for Yemen Posted: 12 Sep 2013 01:09 PM PDT  The United Nations on Thursday urged the international community, especially Gulf states, to increase aid to impoverished Yemen, saying that more than 10 million people in the country go hungry.
|
| Local Mexican politician killed with machete in troubled state Posted: 12 Sep 2013 01:02 PM PDT  MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Armed men in a Mexican state that is struggling to contain gang violence hacked a local congressman to death with a machete while he was being interviewed by a journalist, authorities said on Thursday. State prosecutors in the western state of Michoacan said the politician, Osbaldo Esquivel Lucatero, was giving the interview in his car Wednesday afternoon when a group of unidentified men forced him and the other man out and attacked them. The reporter survived. ...
|
| 20 years on, Oslo Accords promise rings hollow Posted: 12 Sep 2013 12:58 PM PDT  ABU DIS, West Bank (AP) — In 1993, the words rang hopeful and historic. Israel and the PLO agreed "it is time to put an end to decades of confrontation and conflict," live in peaceful co-existence and reach a "just, lasting and comprehensive peace settlement."
|
