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Afghan peace bid stumbles on Kabul-Taliban protocol row

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 05:39:47 -0400

By Amena Bakr DOHA (Reuters) - A fresh effort to end Afghanistan's 12-year-old war looked in disarray on Thursday after a diplomatic spat about the Taliban's new Qatar office delayed preliminary discussions between the United States and the Islamist insurgents. Talks between U.S. officials and representatives of the Taliban had been set for Thursday in Qatar but Afghan government anger at the fanfare surrounding the opening of a Taliban office in the Gulf state threw preparations into confusion. ...

Insight: Pakistan influence on Taliban commanders helped Afghan breakthrough

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 07:01:12 -0400

By Frank Jack Daniel and Mehreen Zahra-Malik ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan's powerful military has played a central role in convincing Afghanistan's Taliban rebels to hold talks with the United States, U.S. and Pakistani officials said, a shift from widely held views in Washington that it was obstructing peace in the region. U.S. and Taliban officials were due to meet in Doha, the capital of Qatar, in the next few days, raising hopes for negotiated peace after 12 years of war between American-led forces and the Islamist insurgents. ...

Lebanese president urges Hezbollah to pull out of Syria

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 06:14:41 -0400

BEIRUT (Reuters) - President Michel Suleiman has called on the Lebanese Shi'ite Muslim Hezbollah movement to pull its guerrillas out of Syria, saying any further involvement in its neighbor's civil war would fuel instability in Lebanon. Hezbollah militants spearheaded the recapture of the strategic border town of Qusair two weeks ago by forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, which now appear to be preparing for an offensive in the northern city of Aleppo. ...

ICC says Kenyan president's trial to start on Nov 12

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 06:11:21 -0400

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - The war crimes trial of Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta will begin on November 12, judges at the International Criminal Court (ICC) ruled on Thursday, accepting his lawyers' request for more time to prepare his defense. Deputy President William Ruto and Kenyatta were elected on a joint ticket in March. Both are accused of orchestrating violence after the previous election, five years ago, in which 1,200 people died. Kenyatta and Ruto deny the charges. (Reporting by Gilbert Kreijger; Editing by Jon Boyle)

Somali Islamists threaten more carnage after attack on U.N. base

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 06:39:28 -0400

By Abdi Sheikh MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Somalia's Islamist al Shabaab rebel group threatened to keep attacking "disbelievers" without respite, a day after launching a deadly assault against the United Nations in the capital Mogadishu. Security was tight on Thursday as Somali army pick-up trucks mounted with heavy machine guns blocked the main road linking the city center with the fortified airport and nearby U.N. base that was targeted. A water canon truck blasted away bloodstains on the street. ...

Insight: Chinese whispers: Who wants to bet on the 'Nicaragua Canal'?

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 04:59:02 -0400

By Ivan Castro and Lomi Kriel MANAGUA/PANAMA CITY (Reuters) - For centuries since the colonization of the New World, entrepreneurs have dreamed of building a canal spanning Nicaragua to make it easier to tap Asia's riches. Sixteenth century Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortes yearned to cleave the isthmus, and ever since, French, American and Dutch financiers have all made abortive, Quixotic attempts to bisect the Central American country's volcano-studded terrain. Now it's the turn of the Chinese. And skepticism is as strong as ever. ...

Norway opens Arctic border area to oil drilling

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 07:04:08 -0400

STOCKHOLM (AP) — Norway's Parliament has opened up a new area on the fringe of the Arctic Ocean to offshore oil drilling despite protests from opponents who fear catastrophic oil spills in the remote and icy region.

Egypt court orders Mubarak PM Nazif freed

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 06:55:06 -0400

CAIRO (Reuters) - An Egyptian court ordered the release of former prime minister Ahmed Nazif on Thursday, because of a limit on pretrial detention in a corruption case for which he had been held since the revolution that toppled Hosni Mubarak. The court accepted an appeal lodged by Nazif, who was prime minister from 2004 until Mubarak replaced him during the uprising in January 2011. He still faces trial for corruption. It was not clear when Nazif, the highest profile Mubarak-era official to be freed in recent months, would leave prison. (Writing by Tom Perry; Editing by Alastair Macdonald)

AP EXCLUSIVE: Taliban offer to free US soldier

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 06:54:50 -0400

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) — The Afghan Taliban are ready to free a U.S. soldier held captive since 2009 in exchange for five of their senior operatives imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay as a conciliatory gesture, a senior spokesman for the group said Thursday.

ICC to probe abuse allegations against ex-staffer

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 06:50:45 -0400

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The International Criminal Court has ordered an independent inquiry into allegations that a former staff member in Congo sexually assaulted four people in the court's victims and witness protection program.

Dubai sets sights on Quran-themed park

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 06:48:34 -0400

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Dubai has added a new item to its top ambitions such as building the world's largest Ferris wheel and bidding for an Angry Birds theme park — a site honoring the Quran.

Gandolfini died of cardiac arrest, hospital says

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 06:47:32 -0400

ROME (AP) — Hospital officials in Rome say U.S. actor James Gandolfini died after suffering cardiac arrest.

AP Exclusive: Facebook broke Indonesia terror case

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 06:40:49 -0400

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Sefa Riano didn't try to hide his plans or his beliefs. A Facebook page that police traced to him is plastered with photos of bearded men in camouflage uniforms holding rifles and banners hailing "The Spirit of Jihad."

Sweden jails Rwandan for life for role in 1994 genocide

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 06:33:12 -0400

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - A Swedish court on Thursday sentenced a man of Rwandan origin to life imprisonment for his role in the 1994 genocide in the African county, the first such case in the Nordic state. Stanislas Mbanenande, 54, an ethnic Hutu from Rwanda who is now a Swedish citizen, was convicted of taking part in several massacres in Kibuye in western Rwanda, the court said in a statement. He had denied the charges. He was also convicted of playing a leading role at a lower level and participating in murder and kidnapping. ...

China astronauts float water blob in kids' lecture

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 06:23:49 -0400

BEIJING (AP) — Astronauts struck floating martial arts poses, twirled gyroscopes and manipulated wobbling globes of water during a lecture Thursday from China's orbiting space station that's part of efforts to popularize the space program among young people.

Kyrgyzstan votes to end US lease of airbase

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 06:21:46 -0400

BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan (AP) — Kyrgyzstan has voted to end the United States' lease on an airbase key to supplying military operations in nearby Afghanistan.

Obama challenges Russia to agree to deeper nuclear weapon cuts

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 06:00:49 -0400

By Roberta Rampton and Stephen Brown BERLIN (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama used a speech in Berlin on Wednesday to call on Russia to revive the push for a world without nuclear weapons, offering to cut deployed nuclear arsenals by a third, but Moscow immediately poured scorn on his proposal. Speaking in Berlin where U.S. Presidents John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan gave rousing Cold-War speeches, Obama urged Russia to help build on the "New START" treaty that requires Moscow and Washington to cut stockpiles of deployed nuclear weapons to 1,550 each by 2018. ...

Jewish educator who survived Soviet Gulag dies

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 05:43:37 -0400

JERUSALEM (AP) — Rabbi Moshe Greenberg, a religious educator who survived a brutal Gulag in Siberia and secretly taught Judaism under an oppressive Soviet regime, has died in Israel. He was 84.

Markets roiled by Bernanke's exit strategy

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 05:42:55 -0400

LONDON (AP) — Markets were roiled Thursday by a suggestion from U.S. Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke that the central bank may be done with its monetary stimulus next year. While stocks and commodities took a pounding on the news, the dollar surged.

Tropical Storm Barry bears down on Mexico's coast

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 05:40:46 -0400

VERACRUZ, Mexico (AP) — Tropical Storm Barry bore down on Mexico's Gulf Coast early Thursday as civil defense workers readied emergency shelters and forecasters warned of the possibility of deadly flash floods and mudslides.

Saudi to expel Hezbollah supporters over Syria war

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 05:38:52 -0400

BEIRUT (AP) — The Saudi envoy to Lebanon says the kingdom will deport Lebanese citizens who support the militant Hezbollah group because of its role in the Syrian civil war.

Iraqis vote in 2 Sunni-dominated provinces

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 05:35:15 -0400

FALLUJAH, Iraq (AP) — Iraqis in two Sunni-dominated provinces voted Thursday in provincial elections marked by tight security measures that left streets in former insurgent strongholds largely deserted.

ABN Amro chief says Dutch bank ready to privatize

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 05:33:04 -0400

AMSTERDAM (AP) — The chief executive of ABN Amro says the Dutch bank is ready to be privatized.

Hong Kong firm to buy 60 single-aisle Airbus jets

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 05:28:36 -0400

LE BOURGET, France (AP) — A Hong Kong aircraft leasing company has agreed to buy 60 Airbus single-aisle jets, which have been selling well at this week at the Paris Air Show.

U.S. cites Russia, China among worst in human trafficking: report

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 05:21:19 -0400

By Susan Heavey WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An annual U.S. State Department report on Wednesday cited Russia and China among the world's worst offenders in fighting forced labor and sex trafficking, which could lead to U.S. sanctions, prompting angry rebuttals from Moscow and Beijing. The report said Russia had failed to provide systematic safeguards for victims of trafficking. China, it said, had done too little to outlaw all forms of trafficking and punish perpetrators. The U.S. ...

China sex tape official: I'm a lecher but no crook

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 05:19:46 -0400

BEIJING (AP) — Call me a lecher but don't call me a crook, an ex-city official at the heart of a sex tape scandal has said in his unusually spirited courtroom defense against corruption charges.

Regulators order lenders to raise more capital

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 05:19:08 -0400

LONDON (AP) — British regulators are ordering some of the country's biggest banks to bolster their balance sheets by 27. 1 billion pounds ($42.1 billion) to prevent a repeat of the 2008 banking crisis.

German insurance claims for flood damage may be nearly $8 billion: AIR

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 05:06:52 -0400

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Insurance claims for flood damage in Germany may be as much as 6 billion euros ($8 billion), catastrophe modeling firm AIR Worldwide said on Thursday, after the worst flooding in a decade. Heavy rainfall in late May and early June drenched Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic in particular, causing widespread flooding, and also affected Switzerland, Hungary, Slovakia and Poland, forcing thousands of people to leave their homes. "Floodwaters hit Germany hardest," Yorn Tatge, managing director of Air Worldwide in Germany, said in a statement. ...

Tropical Storm Barry headsforms off Mexican coast

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 04:56:47 -0400

VERACRUZ, Mexico (AP) — The U.S. National Hurricane Center says Tropical Storm Barry is bearing down on Mexico's Gulf Coast, poised to make landfall within hours.

Singapore haze at worst yet, Malaysia schools shut

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 04:41:18 -0400

SINGAPORE (AP) — Singapore urged people to remain indoors amid unprecedented levels of air pollution Thursday as a smoky haze wrought by forest fires in neighboring Indonesia worsened dramatically. Nearby Malaysia closed 200 schools and banned open burning in some areas.

Italy film fest dedicates homage to Gandolfini

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 04:33:44 -0400

ROME (AP) — Organizers of the Taormina, Sicily, Film Festival are scrambling to put together a tribute to U.S. actor James Gandolfini, who had been expected to attend the festival's closing ceremony this weekend.

Syria's warring sides trade wheat for flour

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 03:50:57 -0400

By Oliver Holmes and Alexander Dziadosz IDLIB PROVINCE, Syria (Reuters) - Away from the battlefield, some Syrian rebels are doing business with the same government they are trying to topple. Both sides want to keep providing basics like bread, fuel and water in the areas they control. When shifting front lines split up supply chains, they started to trade. In the northwestern Idlib province, rebels control most of the wheat fields but have no way to grind the grain into flour. The government has the flour mill, but can't get enough wheat to supply it. The two worked out a deal. ...

Medical care lags behind Afghan military growth

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 03:42:54 -0400

FORWARD OPERATING BASE SHINWAR, Afghanistan (AP) — The young Afghan soldier lay in great pain on a cot at an army base, his uniform pants cut up to his thigh so medics could clean the wound in his right knee where he was shot fighting insurgents.

Senators closing in on border security compromise

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 03:23:33 -0400

WASHINGTON (AP) — White House-backed immigration legislation is gaining momentum in the Senate, where key lawmakers say they are closing in on a bipartisan compromise to spend tens of billions of dollars stiffening the bill's border security requirements without delaying legalization for millions living in the country unlawfully.

India floods strand thousands; more than 100 dead

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 03:21:56 -0400

LUCKNOW, India (AP) — Days after floods killed more than 100 people — possibly many more — rescuers used helicopters and climbed through mountain paths to reach nearly 4,000 people trapped by landslides in a narrow valley near a Hindu shrine in the northern Himalayas, officials said Thursday.