REUTERS World News, Jun 15, 2011

Cursed number "39" haunts Afghan car owners Tue,14 Jun 2011 11:53 PM PDT Reuters - KABUL (Reuters) - Afghanistan's booming car sales industry has been thrown into chaos by a growing aversion to the number "39," which almost overnight has become an unlikely synonym for pimp and a mark of shame in this deeply conservative country. Full Story1

Pakistan arrests CIA's bin Laden informants: report Tue,14 Jun 2011 09:56 PM PDT Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Pakistan's top military spy agency has arrested five CIA informants who fed information to the U.S. spy agency before the raid last month which killed Osama bin Laden, The New York Times reported on Wednesday. Full Story1

Body found at home of acting PNG Prime Minister Tue,14 Jun 2011 09:35 PM PDT Reuters - CANBERRA (Reuters) - Papua New Guinea police are investigating the murder of woman at the home of the country's acting prime minister, compounding an uncertain future for the Pacific nation under an ailing leader. Full Story1

Diets of poor hurt by rise in food prices: Oxfam Tue,14 Jun 2011 08:03 PM PDT Reuters - LONDON (Reuters) - Rising food prices, hovering near record highs after a spike in grain costs, are changing diets particularly in developing countries such as Kenya, according to a survey issued by charity Oxfam on Wednesday. Full Story1

Mexican ex-mayor arrested over arsenal walks free Tue,14 Jun 2011 07:49 PM PDT Reuters - TIJUANA, Mexico (Reuters) - Detained Mexican tycoon and former city mayor Jorge Hank Rhon walked free on Tuesday, days after the army found a weapons cache in his home, in an embarrassment for President Felipe Calderon. Full Story1

Afghanistan is most dangerous country for women Tue,14 Jun 2011 07:39 PM PDT Reuters - LONDON, June 15 (TrustLaw) - Violence, dismal healthcare and brutal poverty make Afghanistan the world's most dangerous country for women, with Congo a close second due to horrific levels of rape, a Thomson Reuters Foundation expert poll said on Wednesday. Full Story1

South Asia's growing modernity masks women's plight Tue,14 Jun 2011 07:39 PM PDT Reuters - NEW DELHI, June 15 (TrustLaw) - South Asia may boast a number of women leaders and be home to cultures that revere motherhood and worship female deities, but many women live with the threat of appalling violence and without many basic rights. Full Story1

Factbox: The world's most dangerous countries for women Tue,14 Jun 2011 07:39 PM PDT Reuters - LONDON, June 15 (TrustLaw) - Afghanistan, Congo and Pakistan are the world's most dangerous countries for women due to a barrage of threats ranging from violence and rape to dismal healthcare and "honor killings," a Thomson Reuters Foundation expert poll showed Wednesday. Full Story1

Somalia worst place to be a woman: minister Tue,14 Jun 2011 07:39 PM PDT Reuters - LONDON, June 15 (TrustLaw) - A Thomson Reuters Foundation poll may have found that Afghanistan is the most dangerous place to be a woman, but Somalia's women's minister is astonished any country could be worse than her own. Full Story1

NATO strikes Tripoli, Libyan rebels make gains Tue,14 Jun 2011 07:12 PM PDT Reuters - TRIPOLI/KIKLA, Libya (Reuters) - NATO warplanes attacked Tripoli on Tuesday night after Libyan rebels pushed back forces loyal to leader Muammar Gaddafi on three fronts, bringing them closer to the capital. Full Story1

Greek assembly faces protest cordon over austerity Tue,14 Jun 2011 05:03 PM PDT Reuters - ATHENS (Reuters) - Greek demonstrators prepared to cordon off parliament and unions to strike on Wednesday in protest at the Socialist government's efforts to approve a fresh round of austerity for the debt-stricken euro zone state. Full Story1

Tanks deploy in east, Syrians flee assault on north Tue,14 Jun 2011 05:00 PM PDT Reuters - AMMAN (Reuters) - Thousands of Syrians fled the historic town of Maarat al-Numaan to escape tank forces thrusting into the country's north in a widening military campaign to crush protests against President Bashar al-Assad. Full Story1

Chile volcano ash may disrupt air travel for months Tue,14 Jun 2011 04:49 PM PDT Reuters - SANTIAGO (Reuters) - A towering ash cloud spewing from a volcano in south-central Chile could disrupt air traffic for some time as the eruption shows no signs of stabilizing in the near term, experts said on Tuesday. Full Story1

Gulf states vow to seek end to Yemeni crisis Tue,14 Jun 2011 03:50 PM PDT Reuters - JEDDAH (Reuters) - Yemen's Gulf neighbors renewed an offer Wednesday to mediate in Yemen's bloody political crisis, but offered no formula to break a deadlock over the fate of wounded President Ali Abdullah Saleh. Full Story1

Libyan rebels make fresh gains, NATO drops leaflets Tue,14 Jun 2011 03:48 PM PDT Reuters - KIKLA/MISRATA, Libya (Reuters) - Libyan rebels made fresh gains on the western front on Tuesday, pushing back forces loyal to leader Muammar Gaddafi in a string of clashes that brought them closer to the capital Tripoli. Full Story1

South Sudan rebel militia raid kills 29, army says Tue,14 Jun 2011 02:29 PM PDT Reuters - JUBA, Sudan (Reuters) - A rebel militia killed 29 people including police and civilians in a south Sudan cattle raid, the southern army said Tuesday, adding to the region's woes ahead of independence in July. Full Story1

Syrians flee military move on restive northern town Tue,14 Jun 2011 02:14 PM PDT Reuters - AMMAN (Reuters) - Thousands of Syrians fled the historic town of Maarat al-Numaan on Tuesday to escape tank forces thrusting into the country's north in a widening military campaign to crush protests against President Bashar al-Assad. Full Story1

China floods, landslides force 55,000 to flee: report Tue,14 Jun 2011 01:05 PM PDT Reuters - LONDON (Reuters) - Torrential rain in southern China triggered floods and landslides, killing an unknown number of people and forcing more than 55,000 to leave their homes, Xinhua news agency, monitored by the BBC, reported Tuesday. Full Story1

Fatah, Hamas see new Palestinian government next week Tue,14 Jun 2011 12:54 PM PDT Reuters - CAIRO (Reuters) - Palestinian officials said on Tuesday they would be ready to unveil a new unity government at a meeting between Palestinian President and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal in Cairo next week. Full Story1

Lawmaker wants accused Iraqis sent to Guantanamo Tue,14 Jun 2011 11:51 AM PDT Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senate Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday called on the Obama administration to send two Iraqis who are accused of trying to help al Qaeda to the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Full Story1

Yemeni blogger seeks Swedish asylum after threats Tue,14 Jun 2011 11:18 AM PDT Reuters - STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - A Yemeni blogger said on Tuesday she has applied for political asylum in Sweden after receiving death threats for her criticism of President Ali Abdullah Saleh and fears growing violence in her homeland. Full Story1

Opponents of Greek austerity plan set strike Tue,14 Jun 2011 10:54 AM PDT Reuters - ATHENS (Reuters) - Protesters said they would surround the Greek parliament on Wednesday to prevent debate, putting new pressure on the government to drop its austerity plan, and two ruling party lawmakers said they would vote against the measures. Full Story1

Gunmen, suicide bombers storm Iraq council building Tue,14 Jun 2011 10:18 AM PDT Reuters - BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Gunmen and suicide bombers stormed a provincial council in central Iraq on Tuesday after exploding a car bomb outside, killing at least 8 people before Iraqi forces retook the building with help from U.S. troops. Full Story1

Kurds raise profile, gain seats in Turkish assembly Tue,14 Jun 2011 09:51 AM PDT Reuters - ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Sunday's election has given Leyla Zana a fresh chance to voice her political vision for Turkey's Kurds in parliament, 20 years after causing uproar when she spoke Kurdish at her first oath-swearing ceremony there. Full Story1

Former top Iraq financier denounces bank power grab Tue,14 Jun 2011 08:25 AM PDT Reuters - BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Last month, top Iraqi banker Hussein Al-Uzri was telling foreign investors in London about why they should put their money in the "new Iraq." Full Story1

Eritrean volcano still erupting, some flights cancelled Tue,14 Jun 2011 08:21 AM PDT Reuters - ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - A volcano in Eritrea erupted for a third day on Tuesday but with reduced intensity, its ash cloud spreading out over Sudan and toward Saudi Arabia and forcing the cancellation of some regional flights. Full Story1

In India's grain bowl, farms face threat from job program Tue,14 Jun 2011 07:58 AM PDT Reuters - CHANDIGARH, India (Reuters) - Sitting at the edge of fields in the heart of India's grain bowl, Gurdayal Singh Malik shakes his head in resignation about the lack of workers needed for his 60-acre farm, blaming the government's flagship welfare program for the shortage. Full Story1

Miners snap up graduates as industry booms Tue,14 Jun 2011 07:56 AM PDT Reuters - LONDON (Reuters) - New mining graduates are in high demand as the industry booms, and they can expect to walk straight into well paid jobs across the globe, an academic at Britain's only mining school said on Monday. Full Story1

Special report: Australia's big dig for foreign workers Tue,14 Jun 2011 07:56 AM PDT Reuters - KARRATHA, Australia (Reuters) - Lucille Lievaux, a 25-year-old French geologist, commutes to work on a plane, a 1,300-km journey from Australia's Indian Ocean city of Perth to the mining town of Karratha, a smudge of suburbia on the continent's barren northwest coast. Full Story1

Australia's boom lures new wave of European immigrants Tue,14 Jun 2011 07:47 AM PDT Reuters - DUBLIN/SYDNEY (Reuters) - About 100 men in their 20s and 30s, filled a conference room at a Dublin hotel last week to hear a migration agent describe the personal fortunes waiting to be made a world away in the booming mining towns of the Australian outback. Full Story1

Refugees flee Myanmar clashes near Chinese border Tue,14 Jun 2011 07:40 AM PDT Reuters - BEIJING (Reuters) - Myanmar's military has clashed for several days with a militia controlled by the country's ethnic Kachin minority in a remote but strategic region where China is building hydropower plants, various sources said on Tuesday. Full Story1

Indian foreign secretary due in Pakistan to discuss Kashmir Tue,14 Jun 2011 05:37 AM PDT Reuters - ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - India's Foreign Secretary is due to visit Pakistan this month to discuss Kashmir, a Pakistani official said on Tuesday, the first formal talks between the two rivals on their core dispute since the Mumbai attacks in 2008 froze their peace process. Full Story1

Family and Taliban scare off actresses in Afghan film Tue,14 Jun 2011 05:22 AM PDT Reuters - KABUL (Reuters) - A young bride silently sobs on the floor watching her mentally disturbed husband gorge on chicken, rub his greasy hands through his hair and scream at her for more, just another chapter in the couple's violent life together. Full Story1

Rebels take control of Libyan town Tue,14 Jun 2011 04:27 AM PDT Reuters - KIKLA, Libya (Reuters) - Forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi have pulled out of the town of Kikla, about 150 km (90 miles) southwest of Tripoli, and rebels are now in control, a Reuters photographer there said on Tuesday. Full Story1

Tokyo Electric bailout plan approved by cabinet Tue,14 Jun 2011 03:48 AM PDT Reuters - TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's cabinet approved a draft law to help Tokyo Electric Power pay billions of dollars in compensation to its radiation refugees, kicking off lawmaker wrangling that may take weeks to decide the fate of Asia's largest utility. Full Story1

Iran accuses West of meddling in Syria Tue,14 Jun 2011 03:29 AM PDT Reuters - TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran accused Israel's allies on Tuesday of interfering in Syria after Western countries said Tehran may be helping crush dissent there. Full Story1

Egypt's Sufis see Islamist threat after Mubarak Tue,14 Jun 2011 01:07 AM PDT Reuters - CAIRO/ALEXANDRIA (Reuters) - Down the narrow alleyways of Cairo's Sayidda Zeinab neighborhood, 100 men sway their heads and clap in rhythm as they invoke God's name. Full Story1

Australia's boom lures new wave of European immigrants Mon,13 Jun 2011 08:57 PM PDT Reuters - DUBLIN/SYDNEY (Reuters) - About 100 men in their 20s and 30s, filled a conference room at a Dublin hotel last week to hear a migration agent describe the personal fortunes waiting to be made a world away in the booming mining towns of the Australian outback. Full Story1

IMF boots Fischer from race for top job Mon,13 Jun 2011 08:02 PM PDT Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund's board on Monday blocked Bank of Israel governor Stanley Fischer from the race for the top IMF job, further boosting the chances of French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde. Full Story1

Ash cloud from Chile volcano wreaks airline havoc Mon,13 Jun 2011 06:53 PM PDT Reuters - BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - A cloud of ash spewing from a Chilean volcano caused chaos for air travelers in South America again on Monday and grounded flights as far away as New Zealand and Australia, stranding thousands of passengers. Full Story1

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