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  1. Diplomats: Nuclear agency chief to visit Tehran
    Diplomats tell The Associated Press that the head of the U.N. nuclear agency will fly to Tehran next week to seal an agreement that would allow his organization to resume a probe of suspicions that Iran may have worked on developing nuclear weapons.
  2. Growing military buildup, spying in China: Pentagon
    WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon said on Friday it believes China spent up to $180 billion on its military buildup last year, a far higher figure than acknowledged by Beijing, and it accused "Chinese actors" of being the world's biggest perpetrators of economic espionage. The Pentagon, in its annual assessment to Congress of China's military, flagged sustained investment last year in advanced missile technologies and cyber warfare capabilities and warned that Chinese spying threatened America's economic security. ...
  3. Largest protests yet in Syrian city of Aleppo

    FILE - In this Monday, June 20, 2011 file photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syrian President Bashar Assad delivers a speech in Damascus, Syria, at Damascus University. In his first interview in six months, Syrian President Bashar Assad insists his regime is fighting back against foreign mercenaries and not innocent Syrians aspiring for democracy in a year-long uprising. (AP Photo/SANA, File) EDITORIAL USE ONLYSyrian security forces fired tear gas and live ammunition to disperse thousands rallying Friday in Aleppo in what activists said was the largest protest yet in a city that has largely remained loyal to President Bashar Assad during the country's 15-month uprising.


  4. Police detain 400 "Blockupy" activists in Frankfurt

    Protesters march during an anti-austerity demonstration in FrankfurtFRANKFURT (Reuters) - German police said they detained 400 anti-capitalist protesters in Frankfurt on Friday for defying a ban on demonstrations against austerity policies implemented to tackle the intensifying euro zone debt crisis. The demonstration in the German financial capital was part of a four-day-long "Blockupy" protest, due to run until Saturday, against capitalism and swingeing austerity measures. "Hungry? Eat a banker," read one banner protesters held up outside the Messeturm skyscraper housing Goldman Sachs' offices. Reuters' Frankfurt office is also in the building. ...


  5. Banks' rising bad loans add to Spanish troubles

    Bankia bank small shareholders take part in an assembly to discuss actions to take against the bank in MadridMADRID (Reuters) - Spanish banks' bad loans rose in March to their highest in 18 years, underscoring the problems facing the government as it drafts in independent auditors in an attempt to reassure investors it can clean up the sector. The Bank of Spain said bad loans rose to 8.37 percent of banks' outstanding loans, the highest since August 1994 and up from 8.3 percent in February, which was also revised higher. The data was released before Spain names auditors on Monday to assess how bad the losses are likely to get, and how much cash banks will need to rebuild their balance sheets. ...


  6. Exclusive: Drugmakers weigh emergency supply plan for Greece

    To match Special Report TWO-EUROPES/LONDON (Reuters) - International drugmakers are working with European authorities on emergency plans to keep medicines flowing into Greece if the country crashes out of the euro. Discussions have intensified in recent days, according to industry sources, and manufacturers are looking closely at the experience of Argentina's collapse in 2002, when some firms agreed to continue to supply medicines without payment for a period of time. ...


  7. Spat with Iraq bares Turk plunge into regional power game

    A Turkish soldier secures a road overlooking the mountains during patrol in the southeastern Turkish province of SirnakANKARA (Reuters) - A bitter rift with Iraq has exposed Turkey's role in a wider Middle East power struggle, with Ankara acting to protect its stability and prosperity from an Iranian-Iraqi "Shi'ite axis" it fears in the wake of the U.S. military withdrawal from Iraq. Turkey, a Sunni Muslim but secular regional power bordering Iraq, Iran and Syria, long tried to play regional mediator as Shi'ite Muslim giant Iran and Sunni powerhouse Saudi Arabia jostled for sway in a region now undergoing political upheaval. But the fall-out wrought by Arab Spring uprisings and the U.S. ...


  8. Rockets kill 2 NATO troops, 3 Afghan civilians
    Rockets crashed into a U.S. base and a house Friday in a remote area of northeast Afghanistan along the Pakistan border, killing two NATO service members and three civilians, officials said.
  9. UK surveillance could yield window into lives

    FILE In this Friday, Sept. 23, 2011 file photo a man talks on a mobile phone as the hi-rise buildings of the banks based in the Canary Wharf business district are seen in the distance from Parliament Hill on Hampstead Heath in London. British officials have given their word: 'We won't read your emails.' But experts say that its proposed new surveillance program, unveiled last week as part of the government's annual legislative program, will gather so much data that spooks won't have to read your messages to guess what you're up to. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)British officials have given their word: "We won't read your emails."


  10. Top Israel court tightens enforcement of equal pay
    Israeli feminists on Friday welcomed a Supreme Court ruling they say will help enforce equal pay laws for men and women.
  11. U.S. firms eye Myanmar as sanctions suspended

    U.S. Secretary of State Clinton speaks to reporters next to Myanmar's Foreign Minister Wunna after their meeting at the State Department in WashingtonWASHINGTON/HONG KONG (Reuters) - The suspension of U.S. sanctions barring investment in Myanmar in response to political reforms in the poor Southeast Asian state opens the door to U.S. firms queuing to scout for business in one of the last frontier markets. U.S. firms are expected to join those from Asia and Europe that have already moved into a market of up to 60 million people in the former British colony. Analysts and experts have said there will be opportunities for foreign companies across the industrial landscape - from energy, mining and construction to agriculture, finance and ...


  12. Putin gives top job to tank factory worker

    Russian President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with Igor Kholmanskikh, right, a section head at the Uralvagonzavod tank factory in the Urals city of Nizhny Tagil that builds battle tanks, in Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow on Friday, May 18, 2012. President Vladimir Putin has given the senior government post to a tank factory worker who has offered to come to Moscow with fellow laborers to disperse opposition protests. (AP Photo/RIA Novosti, Yana Lapikova, Government Press Service)President Vladimir Putin on Friday gave a senior government post to a tank factory worker who had offered to come to Moscow with fellow laborers to disperse opposition protests.


  13. Poll shows Greece electing pro-bailout government

    Newly appointed caretaker PM Pikrammenos shakes hands with Greece's President Papoulias during their meeting in AthensATHENS (Reuters) - Greek voters are returning to the establishment parties that negotiated its bailout, a poll showed on Thursday, offering potential salvation for European leaders who say a snap Greek election next month will decide whether it must quit the euro. The poll, the first conducted since talks to form a government collapsed and a new election was called for June 17, showed the conservative New Democracy party in first place, several points ahead of the radical leftist SYRIZA which has pledged to tear up the bailout. ...


  14. Divided but peaceful 2 years after Thai violence

    FILE - In this May 19, 2010 file photo, an anti-government protestor piles tires on a fire at Central World shopping mall in Bangkok. Just two years ago, Thailand was at war with itself. Rifle shots and exploding grenades rang out in Bangkok as troops crushed through barricades to disperse a nine-week-old insurrection. (AP Photo/Wally Santana, File)Just two years ago, Thailand was at war with itself. Rifle shots and exploding grenades rang out in Bangkok as troops crushed through barricades to disperse a nine-week-old insurrection. A retired nurse was the last to capitulate.


  15. Iran may seek "tactical gain" with U.N. nuclear deal

    View of the reactor at the nuclear power plant in BushehrVIENNA (Reuters) - Iran and the U.N. nuclear watchdog are making headway towards a framework deal on how to tackle concerns about its atomic activity, diplomats say, a potential bargaining chip for Tehran in next week's negotiations with world powers. Iran says such an agreement is needed before it can consider a request by U.N. inspectors to visit the Parchin military site where they believe explosives tests relevant for developing nuclear weapons may have been carried out. ...


  16. G8 leaders look to head off euro zone crisis

    U.S. President Barack Obama waves as he walks out from the Oval Office of the White House in WashingtonWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Leaders of major industrial economies meet this weekend to try to tackle a full-blown crisis in Europe where fears are growing that Greece could leave the euro zone bloc, threatening the future of the common currency. President Barack Obama, the G8 host, has urged European leaders repeatedly to do more to stimulate growth, fearing contagion from the euro crisis that could hurt the U.S. economy and his chances of re-election in November. ...


  17. Syria's Assad: Nations that sow chaos will suffer

    Members of the U.N. observer mission in Syria are seen between destroyed houses in Sermeen, near the northern city of Idlib,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. ...


  18. French autistic kids mostly get psychotherapy

    This photo made available by Andy Beverly shows his son Guillaume Beverly, 15-years-old in Conflans Sainte Honorine, France in May 2012. Some French parents resort to sending their children abroad to get adequate treatment. In most developed countries, children with autism are usually sent to school where they get special education classes. But in France, they are more often sent to a psychiatrist where they get talk therapy meant for people with psychological or emotional problems. When Andy Beverly's son Guillaume was diagnosed as autistic at age 2, Guillaume began to receive treatment from psychiatrists in Paris. After years of sporadic schooling in France, Beverly sent Guillaume to a school in Belgium that focuses on techniques to help him interact with others and do simple things like putting on his coat. He is convinced that Guillaume, now 15, would be more advanced if he'd gotten better treatment as a child. (AP Photo/Andy Beverly/Family HO)In most developed countries, children with autism are usually sent to school where they get special education classes. But in France, they are more often sent to a psychiatrist where they get talk therapy meant for people with psychological or emotional problems.


  19. French leader faces likely NATO ire on Afghanistan

    French President Francois Hollande, right, chairs his first cabinet meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris, Thursday, May 17, 2012. Second right is Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, Social Affairs minister Marisol Touraine, and Minister for Productive Recovery Arnaud Montebourg, left. (AP Photo/Regis Duvignau/Pool)For President Barack Obama's relationship with France, it's out with "Sarkozy the American" and in with Francois Hollande the Socialist.


  20. Peru's famed hostage raid investigated

    FILE - In this Dec. 19, 1996 file photo, police snipers look toward the Japanese ambassador's residence compound from a nearby building in Lima, Peru. Peruvians traumatized by years of guerrilla violence cheered in 1997 when government troops raided the Japanese ambassador’s residence to rescue hostages held for 126 days by leftist rebels. But 15 years later, and despite many hearings in several different trials before Peruvian courts, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights is questioning the fate of the rebels, all 14 of whom were killed. Evidence suggests that three were summarily executed, including a teenage girl, even after surrendering. (AP Photo/Yoshiyuki Komazaki, File) JAPAN OUTPeruvians traumatized by years of guerrilla violence cheered in 1997 when government troops raided the Japanese ambassador's residence to rescue hostages held for 126 days by leftist rebels.