- Hamas among intractable issues in Mideast talks
(AP)
AP - To relaunch Middle East peace talks on Thursday, the Israeli and Palestinian leaders and their American mediators quietly agreed to push aside the question of Hamas — the Islamic militant group that controls one of the two Palestinian territories and rejects negotiations.
- Afghan president says airstrike killed civilians
(AP)
AP - NATO said an airstrike in northern Afghanistan on Thursday killed about a dozen insurgents, but President Hamid Karzai said the victims were campaign workers seeking votes in this month's parliamentary elections.
- Book says Nazi hunter Wiesenthal worked for Mossad
(AP)
AP - A new book claims renowned Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal worked for Israel's Mossad spy agency, providing information on war criminals and Germans working in Arab countries.
- UN to release Congo 'genocide' report in October
(AP)
AP - A report detailing hundreds of gruesome attacks against civilians in Congo over a 10-year period won't be released until October, the U.N.'s top human rights official said Thursday, after Rwanda angrily protested the findings in a draft version.
- China census highlights growing rights awareness
(AP)
AP - Census takers counting China's more than 1.3 billion people already face a daunting task, and it's getting harder for the latest once-a-decade update.
- Religious Minorities Suffering Worst in Pakistan Floods
(Time.com)
Time.com - Amid the catastrophes, the country's religious minorities are under assault -- and one group has allegedly been denied official assistance
- New Russia wildfires kill 2 and consume homes
(Reuters)
Reuters - A new wave of wildfires swept through villages in southern Russia on Thursday, killing at least two people and destroying hundreds of homes, officials and news reports said.
- Group promotes Egypt's spy chief for president
(AP)
AP - Activists on Thursday hung posters across Cairo supporting Egypt's intelligence chief as a candidate in next year's presidential elections, the latest campaign to try to undermine a possible father-son succession in the Arab world's most populous nation.
- Ecuadorean survivor urges migrants to avoid Mexico
(AP)
AP - One of two known survivors of a drug gang's massacre in northern Mexico of 72 undocumented Central and South American migrants urged others in an interview broadcast Thursday not to attempt the journey to the United States.
- Sudan referendum body agrees post to end deadlock
(Reuters)
Reuters - Sudan's referendum commission agreed on a key post on Thursday, ending a deadlock which has stalled plans for the January 9 southern vote on independence from the north against which it has fought decades of civil war.
- Stalled funding hits Pakistan aid effort: UN
(AFP)
AFP - Relief efforts in flood-ravaged Pakistan are being stretched by the "unprecedented scale" of the disaster, with the flow of international aid almost at a standstill, the UN said Thursday.
- China digs for ways to stymie BHP's Potash Corp bid
(Reuters)
Reuters - China is stepping up attempts to hamper BHP Billiton's $39 billion hostile offer for Potash Corp, amid worries about future supplies of fertilizer it needs to rapidly boost food production.
- Return to power within grasp for Australia's PM
(Reuters)
Reuters - Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard came within grasp of a return to power on Thursday after one of four "kingmaker" MPs backed her Labor Party's bid to form a minority government following last month's dead-heat elections.
- For Mexican cartels, marijuana is still gold
(McClatchy Newspapers)
McClatchy Newspapers - CORRE COYOTE, Mexico — Times are good for the dope growers of the western Sierra Madre mountains. The army eradication squads that once hacked at the illicit marijuana fields have been diverted by the drug war that's raging elsewhere in Mexico.
- The trickiest issue in Israeli-Palestinian peace talks
(The Christian Science Monitor)
The Christian Science Monitor - As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas enter direct peace talks on Thursday, an intensifying battle for Jerusalem has rendered the conflictâs trickiest issue even more intractable.
- Why Israelis Don't Care About Peace with Palestinians
(Time.com)
Time.com - Israelis feel prosperous, secure -- and disengaged from the peace process with the Palestinians. Is that wise?
- Mexico Massacre Galvanises Migrant Rights Activists
(OneWorld.net)
OneWorld.net - MEXICO CITY, Sep 1 (IPS) - Activists in
Latin America have been galvanised by atrocities like the recent
massacre of 72 migrants near the U.S. border to step up their efforts on
behalf of migrant rights.