February 7, 2012
SYDNEY: Australia's projections for a bumper cotton crop remain on track despite a week-long deluge in major growing regions that forced thousands of residents from their homes and left rivers dangerously swollen.
Australia is the world's third-largest cotton and sugar exporter, fourth-largest wheat exporter and a big supplier of other agricultural and mineral commodities. Heavy rains a year ago contributed to one of Australia's biggest slumps in GDP in 20 years over the first quarter.
International
February 7, 2012
BEIRUT: A Syrian military assault on Homs killed dozens of people on the eve of a visit to Damascus by Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov aimed at pressing President Bashar al-Assad to end an 11-month uprising by implementing swift reform.
The violence Monday came as world powers scrambled for a diplomatic strategy after the defeat of a U.N. Security Council resolution backing an Arab League call for Assad to give up power and start a political transition.
International
February 7, 2012
RAMALLAH, West Bank: The leaders of rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas signed a deal in Qatar on Monday to form a unity government of independent technocrats for the West Bank and Gaza, headed by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
The move, following the failure of exploratory Israeli-Palestinian talks aimed at reviving stalled peace negotiations, was condemned by Israel, which says the Islamist Hamas cannot be part of any peace efforts.
International
February 7, 2012
TRIPOLI: Gunmen killed five Libyan refugees at their camp in a Tripoli suburb Monday, residents and hospital sources said, underscoring the volatility in the country months after Muammar Gaddafi's overthrow.
Residents of the camp, black Libyans originally from the town of Tawergha, say they are being persecuted over accusations they collaborated with Gaddafi during the country's revolution.
Many say they are also regularly mistaken for sub-Saharan African mercenaries who revolutionary fighters said fought for Gaddafi in the war.
International
February 7, 2012
WASHINGTON: An Egyptian military delegation abruptly cancelled its meetings with U.S. lawmakers to return to Cairo on Monday after warnings from both Congress and the White House that Egypt's crackdown on non-governmental groups could threaten its $1.3 billion in annual U.S. military aid.
A spokesman for the Egyptian Embassy confirmed that the delegation had cancelled its meetings this week with U.S. lawmakers, but gave no reason.
International
February 7, 2012
VIENNA: After two days of rare and intensive talks in Tehran, senior U.N. nuclear officials may have felt they were finally making headway towards getting Iran to address suspicions that it is bent on developing the ability to make atom bombs.
Then, on the evening before the third and final session of last week's meetings in the Iranian capital, the visiting U.N. nuclear watchdog delegation was handed an envelope that dealt a blow to any hopes of substantive progress.
International
February 7, 2012
HONG KONG: Mainland Chinese who have a second child in Hong Kong will be fined for breaching China's one-child policy, Chinese media quoted a family planning official as saying, as mainland Chinese women flock to the former British colony to give birth.
Hong Kong's maternity wards are booked until September, pressured by the growing number of mainland Chinese seeking to circumvent the one-child policy and gain residency rights in one of the country's wealthiest cities.
International
February 7, 2012
MALE, Maldives: Opposition-led protests in the Maldives boiled over on Tuesday with some police officers defying orders to break them up and instead joining in an assault on the military headquarters in the capital Male.
A Reuters witness on Tuesday saw soldiers launch tear gas grenades at a crowd of about 500 people, including several dozen police officers in uniform, who were trying to smash their way into the Maldives National Defense Force (MNDF) headquarters.
International
February 7, 2012
TAYASAN, Philippines: Philippine rescuers searched on Tuesday for 29 residents of a mountainside community feared dead after a landslide triggered by an earthquake engulfed their homes.
A magnitude 6.7 quake struck near Tayasan town in the central Philippine island of Negros on Monday. Fifteen people are known to have been killed while several remote towns have been cut off because of damage to roads and bridges.
International
February 7, 2012
HAVANA: Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro painted a bleak picture of the future, saying the world was in its worst situation ever as Cuban television aired on Monday part of a six-hour event last week touting his newest memoir.
The 85-year-old Castro, whose last known public appearance was at a Communist Party congress in April 2011, had to be helped to his chair, but was animated and engaged as summaries of the two-volume tome were read and questions were taken from an audience of admirers.
International
