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Russia faces fuel crisis after railway wagon ban
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia, the world's largest oil producer, faces domestic fuel shortages after authorities restricted the transport of crude oil by rail, forcing several refiners to cut production, industry and market sources said. Analysts estimate that output of a quarter or more of refined oil products could be lost, threatening a repeat of last year's fuel shortages following Russian leader Vladimir Putin's order to oil companies to curb pump prices. However, it is unlikely to dent crude exports, as Russia uses pipelines as its main method of transporting oil abroad. ...
05/17/2012 - 08:49 AM
Syria's Assad: Nations that sow chaos will suffer
 AMMAN (Reuters) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said on Wednesday that countries trying to "sow chaos" in Syria could be infected with it themselves, an apparent warning to Arab Gulf nations that back the insurgency aimed at forcing him from power. Assad's remarks, to a Russian TV channel, came after U.N. staff monitoring an increasingly shaky ceasefire were caught up in an attack that killed at least 21 people, and had to spend a night with rebel forces. ...
05/17/2012 - 08:05 AM
Plans to strike Iran "ready," says U.S. Israel envoy
 JERUSALEM (Reuters) - U.S. plans for a possible military strike on Iran are ready and the option is "fully available", the U.S. ambassador to Israel said, days before Tehran resumes talks with world powers which suspect it of seeking to develop nuclear arms. Like Israel, the United States has said it considers military force a last resort to prevent Iran using its uranium enrichment to make a bomb. Iran insists its nuclear program is for purely civilian purposes. ...
05/17/2012 - 06:51 AM
Limbless Frenchman swims from PNG to Indonesia
 A Frenchman who lost his limbs in an accident braved strong winds and currents to swim from Papua New Guinea to Indonesia Thursday, in the first stretch of a mission to swim between five continents.
05/17/2012 - 05:37 AM
Syrian leader says terrorists are behind unrest
 In his first interview since December, Syrian President Bashar Assad has insisted his regime is fighting back against foreign mercenaries who want to overthrow him, not innocent Syrians aspiring for democracy in a yearlong uprising.
05/17/2012 - 01:48 AM
Russia delivers three astronauts to ISS
 A Soyuz capsule carrying two Russians and an American on Thursday successfully docked with the International Space Station (ISS), two days after their launch from Earth, officials said.
05/17/2012 - 01:40 AM
Syria's Assad 'doomed,' says Israel's Barak
 Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is "doomed," Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Wednesday, urging the international community to increase pressure on his embattled regime.
05/16/2012 - 11:58 PM
Iran nuclear output seen steady before Baghdad talks
 VIENNA (Reuters) - Iran is installing more centrifuges in an underground plant but does not yet appear to be using them to expand higher-grade uranium enrichment that could take it closer to producing atom bomb material, Western diplomats say. They say Iran's production of uranium refined to a fissile concentration of 20 percent, which it started two years ago, seems to have remained steady in recent months after a major escalation of the work in late 2011 and early this year. ...
05/16/2012 - 10:59 PM
Exclusive: Iran flouts U.N. sanctions, sends arms to Syria: panel
 UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Syria remains the top destination for Iranian arms shipments in violation of a U.N. Security Council ban on weapons exports by the Islamic Republic, according to a confidential report on Iran sanctions-busting seen by Reuters on Wednesday. Iran, like Russia, is one of Syria's few allies as it presses ahead with a 14-month old assault on opposition forces determined to oust Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. News of the panel's report came as Tehran and the U.N. ...
05/16/2012 - 09:55 PM
Limbless Frenchman begins epic world swim
 A limbless Frenchman planning to make four challenging swims around the world finally got his epic journey under way Thursday after sorting out paperwork problems in Papua New Guinea.
05/16/2012 - 07:18 PM
Exclusive: Iran flouts U.N. sanctions, sends arms to Syria: panel
 UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Syria remains the top destination for Iranian arms shipments in violation of a U.N. Security Council ban on weapons exports by the Islamic Republic, according to a confidential report on Iran sanctions-busting seen by Reuters on Wednesday. Iran, like Russia, is one of Syria's few allies as it presses ahead with a 14-month old assault on opposition forces determined to oust Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. News of the panel's report came as Tehran and the U.N. ...
05/16/2012 - 06:42 PM
Police move against new protest in Moscow
 Russian police arrested about 20 protesters on Wednesday night at a central Moscow square where demonstrators had moved after police uprooted them from a camp, the latest move in a broadening crackdown on the forces opposing President Vladimir Putin.
05/16/2012 - 06:00 PM
Police disperse, detain anti-Putin protesters
 MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian riot police detained at least 35 demonstrators on Wednesday, breaking up one Occupy-style sit-in at a Moscow park and threatening to disperse another in a crackdown on a protest movement against newly inaugurated President Vladimir Putin. Police raided the site of the week-old sit-in at a central Moscow park, citing a court order to end the protest. They ordered the 50 or so demonstrators to pick up their belongings, detained at least 15 and pushed the others into a nearby underground train station. ...
05/16/2012 - 05:30 PM
Half as many women die during pregnancy, childbirth as in 1990
Maternal mortality across the globe has been cut nearly in half over the past two decades – that’s the good news.
05/16/2012 - 05:17 PM
Syria's Assad: Nations that sow chaos will suffer
 AMMAN (Reuters) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said on Wednesday that countries trying to "sow chaos" in Syria could be infected with it themselves, an apparent warning to Arab Gulf nations that back the insurgency aimed at forcing him from power. Assad's remarks, to a Russian TV channel, came after U.N. staff monitoring an increasingly shaky ceasefire were caught up in an attack that killed at least 21 people, and had to spend a night with rebel forces. ...
05/16/2012 - 04:59 PM
Kadhafi son refusing to accept defense lawyer: envoy
 Moamer Kadhafi's son is refusing to name a defense lawyer, a top Libyan diplomat said Wednesday amid growing questions over the conditions in which Seif al-Islam is being held.
05/16/2012 - 03:29 PM
Syria's Assad: Nations that sow chaos will suffer
AMMAN (Reuters) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said on Wednesday that countries trying to "sow chaos" in Syria could be infected with it themselves, an apparent warning to Arab Gulf nations that back the insurgency aimed at forcing him from power. Assad's remarks, to a Russian TV channel, came after U.N. staff monitoring an increasingly shaky ceasefire were caught up in an attack that killed at least 21 people, and had to spend a night with rebel forces. ...
05/16/2012 - 03:16 PM
U.N. atomic talks with Iran may show progress: diplomats
 VIENNA (Reuters) - The U.N. nuclear watchdog and Iran may be narrowing their differences on how to tackle concerns over Tehran's atomic ambitions, diplomatic sources said on Wednesday, suggesting a previously unexpected agreement was now not ruled out. They spoke a day after the U.N. agency said there was a "good exchange of views" with Iran in a May 14-15 meeting which tested the Islamic state's readiness to address questions about suspected nuclear weapons-relevant research. ...
05/16/2012 - 03:01 PM
Russia's protest movement shows staying power, despite today's dispersal
Moscow police moved in today to shut down the little "democracy preserve" set up 10 days ago in a downtown park near Chistye Prudi metro, but Tweeting and Facebooking opposition activists quickly transferred their encampment to another part of the city, signaling that they will carry on.
05/16/2012 - 01:11 PM
Israeli intelligence head 'visited US for Iran talks'
 Israeli military intelligence chief Aviv Kochavi made a "secret visit" to Washington earlier this month to discuss the upcoming talks between world powers and Iran, a newspaper reported on Wednesday.
05/16/2012 - 12:40 PM
Syrians back regime, Assad tells Russia TV
 Syrians showed in elections this month that they support the government's policy of reform and a majority back the regime, President Bashar al-Assad said in an interview broadcast Wednesday.
05/16/2012 - 12:27 PM
Police uproot protest camp in Moscow
Russian police dispersed a protest camp in central Moscow that had become a rallying point for President Vladimir Putin's foes, briefly detaining about 20 activists in a show of force that comes as part of a broadening crackdown on the opposition.
05/16/2012 - 10:49 AM
'Black box' found of Russia jet in Indonesia crash
 Investigators on Wednesday were analyzing the cockpit voice recorder from a Russian passenger jet that slammed into the side of an Indonesian volcano. They hope the final words of the two pilots will help explain what caused last week's crash, which killed all 45 people on board.
05/16/2012 - 09:34 AM
UN team in Syria evacuated from tense town
 A team of international observers was evacuated from a tense town in northern Syria on Wednesday, one day after a roadside bomb hit their convoy and left them stranded overnight with rebel forces, a U.N. spokesman said.
05/16/2012 - 09:25 AM
Assad says Syrians support his reform efforts
 Syrian President Bashar Assad has told a Russian state news channel that his country supports his reform agenda.
05/16/2012 - 08:49 AM
Ukraine dismisses EU plea over jailed Tymoshenko
 KIEV (Reuters) - Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov on Wednesday brushed aside Western concerns about his government's treatment of opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko as misguided and unwarranted, indicating that Kiev was unlikely to change its mind. The EU has condemned the sentencing of former prime minister Tymoshenko - the top opponent of President Viktor Yanukovich - to seven years in prison last October as politically motivated. ...
05/16/2012 - 08:37 AM
The Fatal Flight of the Superjet 100: Why Did It Slam Into a Mountain?
On May 9, the veteran Russian pilot Alexander Yablontsev was flying an exhibition flight over the mountains of Indonesia when he radioed in to flight control with an odd request. There was bad weather ahead, and he asked permission to drop more than a kilometer in altitude to avoid it. Normally, a plane is supposed to climb to avoid thick clouds, not descend, especially when flying over the craggy peaks and cliffs of the Indonesian archipelago. But, apparently trusting Yablontsev's judgment, the controller gave him permission to descend. ...
05/16/2012 - 07:40 AM
Indonesian searchers find 'black box' from Russian passenger jet that slammed into volcano
JAKARTA, Indonesia - Investigators on Wednesday were analyzing the cockpit voice recorder from a Russian passenger jet that slammed into the side of an Indonesian volcano. They hope the final words of the two pilots will help explain what caused last week's crash, which killed all 45 people on board.
05/16/2012 - 07:30 AM
Austerity to strain transatlantic ties at NATO Chicago summit
LONDON/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Defense spending cuts are putting an increasing strain on relations between the United States and its European allies in NATO, sharpening transatlantic battles over issues ranging from financing Afghan security forces to missile defense. European governments have slashed defense budgets in response to the economic crisis. Coupled with U.S. plans to cut $487 billion of its own projected defense spending over the next decade and shift its focus toward Asia, this will limit NATO's capabilities and force it to scale back its ambitions. ...
05/16/2012 - 05:36 AM
Iran nuclear concession would test big power unity
 LONDON/VIENNA (Reuters) - Facing an imminent toughening of sanctions, Iran is hinting at a readiness to give some ground in its long nuclear stand-off with world powers, but any flexibility could split their ranks and lead to protracted uncertainty about how to respond. The stakes are high, for the longer the impasse goes on, the closer Iran will get to the technological threshold of capability to develop atomic bombs, raising the odds of last-ditch Israeli military strikes on its arch-foe and the risk of a new Middle East war a troubled global economy cannot afford. ...
05/16/2012 - 05:29 AM
Indonesia finds black box from crashed Russian Sukhoi
 JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia's national search and rescue agency has found a black box flight recorder from a Russian Sukhoi Superjet 100 that crashed during a demonstration flight killing all 45 people on board, an agency official said on Wednesday. The aircraft crashed on May 9 on the slopes of a dormant volcano about 40 miles south of Jakarta. Those on the flight to show off the passenger jet unveiled in 2007 as part of a drive to restore pride in Russia's aviation industry included Indonesian businessmen, Russian embassy officials and journalists. ...
05/16/2012 - 05:18 AM
Russian plane crash probe focuses on black box
 Indonesian investigators on Wednesday expressed hope that the newly found cockpit voice recorder from a Russian airliner would help answer why the plane crashed into a mountain.
05/16/2012 - 03:44 AM
NATO invites Pakistan to summit in Chicago
 NATO has invited Pakistan's president to the upcoming Chicago summit on Afghanistan, the strongest sign yet that Islamabad is ready to reopen its western border to U.S. and NATO military supplies heading to the war in the neighboring country.
05/16/2012 - 01:32 AM
Analysis: China's "small stick" approach to South China Sea
 HONG KONG (Reuters) - In a month-long standoff between China and the Philippines over a disputed shoal in the South China Sea, Beijing has so far refrained from sending warships from its increasingly powerful and modern navy to enforce its territorial claims. Instead, China has deployed patrol vessels from its expanding fleet of paramilitary ships to Scarborough Shoal, known in Chinese as Huangyan Island. Naval experts say the intent is to minimize the risk of conflict and contain any regional backlash. ...
05/15/2012 - 11:23 PM
EU navy, helicopters strike pirate supply center
European Union naval forces in attack helicopters conducted their first onshore raid on a suspected pirate lair in Somalia. A pirate said the strike destroyed a supply center and set back operations.
05/15/2012 - 08:11 PM
Iran nuclear talks: negotiators cite progress ahead of Baghdad meeting
Negotiators from Iran and UN's nuclear watchdog agency have made enough progress during two days of technical talks in Vienna that they will resume next Monday.
05/15/2012 - 06:02 PM
U.N. and Iran agree to keep talking on nuclear
 VIENNA (Reuters) - Iran and the U.N. nuclear watchdog ended two days of talks on Tuesday by agreeing to meet again next week, just two days before Tehran resumes negotiations with world powers concerned it may be seeking to develop atomic bomb capability. While both sides were upbeat about the discussions, which will continue on Monday, there was no word on whether the U.N. agency had made progress towards one of its main aims - to secure access to a suspect military site near Tehran. ...
05/15/2012 - 05:48 PM
Indonesia team finds crashed Sukhoi's black box
 A search team in Indonesia found Tuesday the black box of a Russian jet that could explain how a veteran pilot crashed the new plane into a dormant volcano last week, killing all 45 aboard.
05/15/2012 - 05:39 PM
Canada living the life of O'Reilly at ice hockey worlds
 Olympic champions Canada's impressive form at the world championships continued here on Tuesday as they rounded off their preliminary group campaign with their sixth win out of seven a 5-1 thrashing of Belarus.
05/15/2012 - 05:06 PM
Putin praised by leaders of ex-Soviet states
 MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin won praise from leaders of former Soviet republics on Tuesday and called for closer integration among the now-independent states once ruled by Moscow. He pointedly decided to snub a G8 summit in the United States this weekend and instead made the one-day conference of post-Soviet leaders the first meeting with foreign heads of state of his new presidential term. ...
05/15/2012 - 04:40 PM
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