Unrest challenges China before leadership swap

BEIJING (AFP) ― An open revolt against officialdom by Chinese villagers last week demonstrated the challenge social unrest poses to the Communist party as it prepares for a generational leadership handover.Angered by decades of government land grabs, the villagers of Wukan drove out local Communist officials and police, erecting roadblocks to stop them re-entering and electing their own leaders.The protest has become a symbol of rising public anger over a plethora of perceived injustices, from c

Dec. 18, 2011

Tunisia fetes town where revolt year began

TUNIS (AP) ― About one year ago, in a hardscrabble town in Tunisia’s arid interior, the death knell sounded for the decades-old system of dictatorships across the Arab world.With a desperate act of self-immolation, a 26-year-old Sidi Bouzid fruit-seller unwittingly unleashed a year of turmoil that toppled at least three autocrats in a region once thought to be immune to democracy.Tunisia’s new leaders together with thousands of others took part in a festival starting Saturday in the town honorin

Dec. 18, 2011

U.S. may base ships in Singapore

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― The United States, facing a rising China but a tighter budget, expects to station several combat ships in Singapore and may step up deployments to the Philippines and Thailand, a naval officer said.The United States has been increasingly vocal about defending freedom of navigation in the South China Sea, where tensions over territorial disputes between Beijing and Southeast Asian nations have been on the rise.In an academic article forecasting the shape of the U.S. Navy in 202

Dec. 18, 2011

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Dec. 18, 2011

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Dec. 18, 2011

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Dec. 18, 2011

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Dec. 18, 2011

Arab League mulls turning to U.N. over Syria

BEIRUT (AP) ― The Arab League has given Syria until Wednesday to allow observers into the country or else it will likely turn to the U.N. Security Council for action to try to end the deadly violence against regime opponents, Qatar’s prime minister said Saturday.Sheik Hamad Bin Jassem Bin Jabr Al Thani said in Qatar that Arab foreign ministers will hold a “decisive and important” meeting in Cairo on Wednesday to decide on next steps. He said there is near unanimity on taking the Arab League’s pl

Dec. 18, 2011

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Dec. 18, 2011

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Dec. 18, 2011

Doubts, fears nag Iraqis as U.S. pulls out

BAGHDAD (Reuters) ― Zahora Jasim lost two brothers to bombs and gunmen in the years of turmoil and violence that followed the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Now, as the troops leave for home, the Baghdad housewife fears her country’s troubles are not over and wonders, like many Iraqis, if their fragile democracy will slide back into sectarian strife. “The only images I have in my mind from these nine years are the deaths of my brother and his wife, of being forced from our homes, and the death of anothe

Dec. 18, 2011

Russia’s Syria shift a bid to guard image, interests

MOSCOW (Reuters) ― Russia’s offer of a new U.N. Security Council resolution on the violence in Syria is a pragmatic step by a country increasingly isolated in its support for a widely discredited leader.The shift allows Russia to look less recalcitrant without giving ground on its opposition to sanctions or foreign military interference, which it has vociferously opposed since the NATO operation in Libya.With the death toll mounting in bloodshed the world blames mostly on Syrian President Bashar

Dec. 18, 2011

U.S. may base ships in Singapore

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― The United States, facing a rising China but a tighter budget, expects to station several combat ships in Singapore and may step up deployments to the Philippines and Thailand, a naval officer said.The United States has been increasingly vocal about defending freedom of navigation in the South China Sea, where tensions over territorial disputes between Beijing and Southeast Asian nations have been on the rise.In an academic article forecasting the shape of the U.S. Navy in 202

Dec. 18, 2011

Iranian uranium to go into nuclear plant by Feb.

TEHRAN (AFP) ― Iran is to insert its first domestically produced uranium fuel into its Tehran reactor by mid-February, Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said in comments published by the IRNA state news agency on Thursday.“Within the next two months the first fuel plate which is produced with the 20 percent enriched uranium will be placed in Tehran’s research reactor,” Salehi, who previously headed Iran’s nuclear organisation, was quoted as saying.His statement was an excerpt from a longer inter

Dec. 16, 2011

Russia circulates new U.N. draft on Syria

UNITED NATIONS (AP) ― Russia surprised fellow U.N. Security Council members on Thursday with a proposed new resolution to address the rising violence in Syria.Western members of the council who have been pressing for tough measures against President Bashar Assad’s regime welcomed the move, but said it didn’t go far enough because it didn’t include an arms embargo or other sanctions.Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said the text calls for an end to the violence that the U.N. estimates has killed

Dec. 16, 2011

US research shows hands-free phones just as risky

WASHINGTON (AP) _ When someone is talking to you, your brain is listening, processing and thinking about what is being said _ even if you are in the driver's seat trying to concentrate on traffic.That is why drivers get distracted during cellphone conversations, even when using hands-free phones, re

Dec. 16, 2011

Shots fired near Chinese consulate in Los Angeles: police

LOS ANGELES, Dec 15, 2011 (AFP) - Shots were fired at or near the Chinese consulate in Los Angeles on Thursday, but no one was injured, police said, adding that an Asian suspect was being sought."It was a shooting at the building" housing the consulate general, which is between downtown LA and Holly

Dec. 16, 2011