French court agrees permit for Marseille mosque
Tuesday, 19 June 2012
An appeals court granted permission Tuesday for the building of a multi-million-euro mosque in the city of Marseille that has been touted as a symbol of Islam’s growing place in France. The court overturned an October ruling by Marseille’s administrative tribunal that cancelled the project’s construction permit ... Read More
U.S. Southern Baptists set to elect first black president
Tuesday, 19 June 2012
The largest U.S. Protestant denomination was expected to elect the first black president in its 167-year history on Tuesday, just weeks after the predominately white religious group reprimanded one of its officials for making racially insensitive remarks. Church leaders said choosing New Orleans pastor Fred Luter Jr. to ... Read More
Curfew in Nigeria’s Damaturu as more gunfire rocks city
Tuesday, 19 June 2012
Nigerian authorities slapped a round-the-clock curfew on Damaturu Tuesday as fresh gunfire rocked the restive northeastern city, officials and residents said. “In view of the prevailing security situation in the state capital, (the governor) has approved the immediate imposition of a 24-hour curfew within ... Read More
Pakistani court disqualifies PM
Tuesday, 19 June 2012
Pakistan’s top court disqualified Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani from office Tuesday in a stunning move likely to throw the country into fresh turmoil just months before widely expected general elections. The Supreme Court announced the move after convicting Gilani on April 26 of contempt for refusing to ask ... Read More
U.N. investigator decries U.S. use of killer drones
Tuesday, 19 June 2012
A U.N. investigator has called on the Obama administration to justify its policy of assassinating rather than capturing al-Qaeda or Taliban suspects, increasingly with the use of unmanned drone aircraft that also take civilian lives. Christof Heyns, U.N. special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, ... Read More
Alice Walker disallows new translation of novel into Hebrew
Tuesday, 19 June 2012
The Pulitzer Prize winning author for “The Color Purple,” Alice Walker, has disallowed the Hebrew translated version of the novel from being published again, according to a report on Tuesday in Globes online. Walker notified Yediot Books, an Israeli affiliate of the Yediot Ahronot Hebrew newspaper of her decision in a ... Read More
Iran, world power nuclear talks ‘intense’ but no breakthrough
Tuesday, 19 June 2012
Iran and world powers on Tuesday return from a stormy session for what could be the last day of negotiations aimed at putting a peaceful halt to the Islamic Republic’s disputed nuclear drive following “intense and tough” talks on Monday. But although negotiations between Iran and six world powers concerned about its nuclear ... Read More
Obama, Putin say Syria violence must end, no plan agreed upon
Tuesday, 19 June 2012
U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin urged on Monday an immediate end to violence in Syria. But there was little sign they had agreed a way to end the conflict which international monitors say has now cost more than 14,400 lives. In a joint statement following their first meeting since Putin ... Read More
Ethiopian court convicts U.N. security officer of ‘terrorism’
Monday, 18 June 2012
A court in Addis Ababa Monday found an Ethiopian security officer working for the U.N. and charged with having links to a banned armed group guilty of “participating in a terrorist organization.” “The defendant has not convinced us that he did not commit a crime... he’s guilty,” judge Mulugeta Kidane said. ... Read More
Blast in French-controlled Afghan town kills six
Monday, 18 June 2012
An improvised bomb killed four police and two civilians on Monday in an Afghan town where hundreds of French troops have been deployed to fight Taliban rebels as part of the NATO mission, officials said. The bombing, similar to attacks carried out by insurgents against Afghan and NATO forces, killed a local ... Read More
Nervous financial actors move from Greece to Spain
Monday, 18 June 2012
Relief that Greeks had given victory to pro-austerity conservatives was short-lived on Monday as traders fretted that Greece’s problems remained huge and that the real issue was Spain. In a quick turn-around, dealers in Europe swiftly ended a relief rally that began in Asia, taking little comfort in the ... Read More
Rescuers search for bodies after Nigeria church blasts, riots kill 45
Monday, 18 June 2012
Rescuers searched for bodies and hospitals struggled to find blood Monday after suicide attacks on three churches in Nigeria and subsequent rioting killed at least 45 and wounded more than 100. The attacks in northern Kaduna state that led to reprisal violence which saw Christian youths target Muslims with ... Read More
‘Diet or quit’ Pakistan tells pot-bellied police
Monday, 18 June 2012
A Pakistan police commander has ordered tens of thousands of pot-bellied officers to diet or quit frontline duties, officials said Monday in what one newspaper dubbed the “battle of the bulge”. Habibur Rehman, police chief in Pakistan’s most populous province Punjab, has ordered 175,000 personnel not to allow ... Read More
Iran, world powers face off in ‘last chance’ nuclear talks in Moscow
Monday, 18 June 2012
World powers began two days of talks with Iran on Monday in Moscow to try to end a decade-long stand-off over Tehran’s nuclear program and avert the threat of a new war in the Middle East. The negotiations are seen as a last chance to solve the crisis diplomatically, while analysts and diplomats say that a breakthrough ... Read More
Greek pro-bailout parties win knife-edge elections
Monday, 18 June 2012
Political parties supporting Greece’s international bailout begin forging a government on Monday after an election victory over radical leftists staved off the prospect of the debt-laden country leaving the euro and brought relief to global markets. Conservative New Democracy leader Antonis Samaras called for broad ... Read More
Socialists take absolute majority in French parliament
Monday, 18 June 2012
France’s Socialists won control of parliament Sunday, handing President Francois Hollande the convincing majority he needs to push through his tax-and-spend agenda to battle the eurozone debt crisis. The Socialists’ bloc obtained 314 seats – an absolute majority in the 577-seat National Assembly – and so will ... Read More
Hollande’s ex loses French parliament battle
Sunday, 17 June 2012
Segolene Royal crashed out of France’s parliamentary election on Sunday after a bitter battle with a left-wing rebel backed by the woman who replaced her as partner of Socialist President Francois Hollande. Royal, Hollande’s companion for 25 years and mother of his four children, announced her own defeat before official ... Read More
Sudan police attack student demo against food prices
Sunday, 17 June 2012
Sudanese riot police on Sunday attacked a student demonstration in Khartoum against high food prices, firing tear gas and beating some of the protesters with batons, an AFP correspondent reported. At around midday (0900 GMT), hundreds of students emerged from the University of Khartoum campus, located in the ... Read More
French president seeks 120 billion euro ‘growth pact:’ report
Sunday, 17 June 2012
French President Francois Hollande has proposed a 120 billion euro ($152 billion) “growth pact” ahead of key talks with eurozone leaders, newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche reported on Sunday. In a letter sent to fellow European leaders on Thursday, a copy of which the newspaper said it obtained, Hollande ... Read More
Socialists seek majority in French vote
Sunday, 17 June 2012
France began voting in a parliamentary run-off on Sunday expected to hand President Francois Hollande’s Socialist party a majority and bolster his position in legislative battles over euro zone crisis policy. A clear majority reliant neither on opposition conservatives nor eurosceptic hard leftists, as opinion polls suggest, ... Read More