Spain beset by bank crisis, recession, bond pressure

MADRID (Reuters) - Spain's borrowing costs shot up at a bond auction on Thursday, after economic data confirmed the country is back in recession and reports of an outflow of deposits from nationalized Bankia hammered its share price. The Spanish Treasury had to pay around 5 percent to attract buyers of three- and four-year bonds. The longer-dated paper sold with a yield of 5.106 percent, way above the 3.374 percent the last time it was auctioned. "This ... ...

Defiant Greek leftist refuses to back austerity

ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece's surging leftist leader predicted on Thursday his party would sweep next month's election and refused to stop demanding an end to "barbaric" austerity policies he said were bankrupting the nation. Increasingly worried about Greece's future in the euro zone, foreign lenders and mainstream parties have stepped up warnings that the country risks being cut off from aid if it fails to stick to spending cuts included in its latest bailout package. SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras, the 37-year-old rising star of Greek politics, promised he would listen to neither group. ...

France's left-wing leadership starts with a pay cut

PARIS (Reuters) - France's new left-wing government started work on Thursday with pledges to combat excessive austerity but better manage public finances, marking the debut with a 30 percent cut in pay for President Francois Hollande and all ministers. The sizeable wage reduction was endorsed at a first meeting of the 34-minister team, a day after Germany's government awarded rises to its ministers and Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose pay will overtake Hollande's. ...

Violence engulfs another Venezuelan prison

CARACAS (Reuters) - Shots rang out and smoke rose over a Caracas jail on Thursday in the latest outbreak of violence in one of Venezuela's notoriously violent and overcrowded jails. Authorities are trying to close the chaotic La Planta facility, built in 1964 to house 350 inmates, which now houses nearly 2,500, many armed with heavy weapons. Prisoners have, however, been resisting closure for weeks, leading to a virtual siege with security forces ringing the jail. Wailing relatives are also camped outside. "The police haven't told us anything. ...

U.S. eyes funding boost for Israel's "Iron Dome" shield

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon will seek to provide Israel with an additional $70 million in the coming months for its short-range rocket shield, known as the "Iron Dome," U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said after a meeting with his Israeli counterpart on Thursday. So far, the United States has provided $205 million to support the Iron Dome, manufactured by Israel's state-owned Raphael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd. The system uses small radar-guided missiles to blow up in midair Katyusha-style rockets with ranges of 5 km (3 miles) to 70 km (45 miles), as well as mortar bombs. ...

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. ...

Iran attack decision nears, Israeli elite locks down

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - A private door opens from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office in central Jerusalem directly into a long, modestly furnished, half-paneled room decorated with modern paintings by Israeli artists and a copy of Israel's 1948 declaration of independence. It contains little more than a long wooden table, brown leather chairs and a single old-fashioned white projector screen. ...

Analysis: Saudi Gulf union plan stumbles as wary leaders seek detail
DUBAI (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's thrust for a Gulf Union, driven by fear of Arab Spring contagion and spreading Iranian influence, has stumbled on misgivings among smaller neighbors about a loss of sovereignty and increasing domination by Riyadh. Gulf diplomats, officials and analysts expressed surprise that Saudi Arabia had opened itself up to such a public setback. The union proposal, initially designed to contain Shi'ite Muslim dissent in Bahrain and counter the growing sway of Shi'ite Iran, surprised Gulf Arab leaders when King Abdullah first unveiled it at a summit in December. ...
(2012-05-17T15:46:01Z)

Bhutan counts the cost of trying to buy happiness

THIMPHU, Bhutan (Reuters) - They say you can't buy happiness - and it's something Bhutan is finding out the hard way. The tiny, mostly-Buddhist Himalayan kingdom won a world voice for adopting a happiness index to measure its economy. But its prime minister says it promptly forgot its own lesson, and let a sudden rush of prosperity go to its head. "Wealth creates increased desire," Prime Minister Jigmi Thinley told Reuters in an interview in the capital Thimphu, surrounded by tree covered mountains dotted with prayer flags. "There are families with four or five cars. ...

Bombs target Nigerian primary schools
ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigerian authorities found improvised bombs in two primary schools in the northern city of Kano on Thursday, hours after the schools were attacked using explosives and gunfire by suspected militants from Islamist sect Boko Haram. Boko Haram is waging an insurgency against Nigeria's government to try to impose stricter sharia (Islamic law) across Nigeria. It mostly targets authority figures and security forces, but has also struck civilians such as Christian worshippers. It has become the top security threat in Africa's leading energy producer. ...
(2012-05-17T16:38:08Z)

US envoy to Israel: US ready to strike Iran

The U.S. has plans in place to attack Iran if necessary to prevent it from developing nuclear weapons, Washington's envoy to Israel said, days ahead of a crucial round of nuclear talks with Tehran.

Egypt: Owner of belly dancing TV station arrested
An Egyptian security official says vice police have arrested the owner of a TV station that broadcasts belly dancing 24 hours a day for allegedly operating without a license, inciting licentiousness and facilitating prostitution.
(2012-05-17T17:44:06Z)

S.Africa's ANC fumes over art ridiculing president
South Africa's governing party said Thursday it will demand the removal of a painting from an exhibition by one of the nation's best-known artists that ridicules the party and the president with graphic and provocative imagery.
(2012-05-17T16:59:56Z)

Syrian opposition faces more fractures, infighting

The head of Syria's main opposition council offered to resign Thursday after some members threatened to pull out of the umbrella group amid rampant infighting, striking a blow to efforts to present a united front against President Bashar Assad.

Flood of refugees hits camp near Sudan border

An unexploded bomb sticks out of the earth. Foxholes have been dug by aid workers fearing more airstrikes from Sudan. Streams of hungry refugees are pouring in.

Ahmadinejad wants to attend London Olympics
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Thursday that he is eager to attend the Olympic Games in London to support Iranian athletes but that Britain doesn't want to host him.
(2012-05-17T15:37:34Z)

Judge delays Mladic trial due to evidence errors

An apparent clerical error prompted judges to postpone the long-awaited war crimes trial of former Bosnian Serb military leader Ratko Mladic on Thursday, possibly for months.

Yemeni army pushing into al-Qaida stronghold

Government troops battling al-Qaida fighters in southern Yemen have made inroads into the militants' strongholds, but the offensive on a strategic city has slowed because of concerns the extremists could launch a surprise counterattack, military officials said Thursday.

Egypt: Court acquits police in protesters' deaths

An Egyptian court on Thursday found 14 policemen not guilty in the killing of protesters during last year's popular uprising, the latest verdict in what activists claim to be a pattern of acquittals for police blamed for the deaths of hundreds of people during the revolt.

Civil servants win VIP view of beach volleyball

Tanned and toned athletes in eye-popping outfits will compete for Olympic medals outside the British prime minister's famous Downing Street home, but it's government workers, not the U.K. leader, who will get the VIP view.

(Source: Yahoo.com)