By Dominic Evans BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syria's opposition and the government of President Bashar al-Assad seem to be preparing to take part in an international peace conference against a background of some of the worst fighting this year. On Tuesday, Lebanese Hezbollah fighters and Syrian soldiers, backed by air strikes and artillery, renewed an offensive aimed at driving Syrian rebels from the town of Qusair near the Lebanese border, opposition activists said. ...
Tue, 21 May 2013 14:50:24 -0400

By Marcus George DUBAI (Reuters) - Iranian authorities on Tuesday barred former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a relative moderate, from running in the June 14 election, along with a protg of the current president, leaving mainly hardliners left to contest the vote. Rafsanjani and Esfandiar Rahim Mashaie, a close aide to current President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, failed to make it onto a list of candidates approved by the Guardian Council, state news agencies and television reported. ...
Tue, 21 May 2013 15:43:09 -0400

By Steve Gutterman MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's leading polling group said on Tuesday it would fight to keep operating despite pressure to register as a "foreign agent" under what it calls a campaign by President Vladimir Putin to silence independent voices. Levada Center, Russia's only independent pollster, fears closure if it does not comply with a law obliging non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that are involved in political work and funded from abroad to assume a label many Russians see as pejorative. ...
Tue, 21 May 2013 16:01:29 -0400

By Kareem Raheem BAGHDAD, Iraq (Reuters) - A series of bomb and gun attacks across Iraq killed more than 40 people on Tuesday, a day after over 70 died in violence targeting majority Shi'ites that has stoked fears of all-out sectarian war with minority Sunnis. Nearly 300 people have been killed in the past week as sectarian tensions, fuelled by the civil war in neighboring Syria, threaten to plunge Iraq back into communal bloodletting. Ten years after the U.S. ... Tue, 21 May 2013 16:35:53 -0400

By Frank Jack Daniel and Rajesh Kumar Singh NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, smiling and effusive, was out to smooth ruffled feathers in India this week, promising to ease tensions and increase trade between Asia's fastest growing economies in his first trip overseas since taking office. "China will make your dream come true," Li told a banquet hall filled with Chinese and Indian business executives in the financial capital of Mumbai as he wound up his visit on Tuesday. ...
Tue, 21 May 2013 17:17:02 -0400

By Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA (Reuters) - The H7N9 virus appears to have been brought under control in China largely due to restrictions at bird markets, but caused some $6.5 billion in losses to the economy, U.N. experts said on Tuesday. Health authorities worldwide must be on the lookout to detect the virus, the experts said, which could still develop the ability to spread easily among humans and cause a deadly influenza pandemic. ...
Tue, 21 May 2013 17:14:09 -0400

Irans smiling but immovable top nuclear negotiator, a revolutionary and wounded war veteran with a decades-old suspicion of the United States, has become a frontrunner in Irans presidential race. Tue, 21 May 2013 15:24:05 -0400

Comedian Mort Sahl once called Los Angeles 100 suburbs in search of a city. As the nations second largest metropolis votes for a new mayor Tuesday, it is also in search of a clear winner. Tue, 21 May 2013 15:15:16 -0400

Amid the devastation of Moore, Okla., TV viewers of a CBS affiliate were able to witness a woman's prayers answered. Tue, 21 May 2013 15:11:00 -0400

The Internal Revenue Services slow-motion train wreck of a scandal just got a bit worse. Thats according to a new poll that offers fresh insight into how Americans perceive the IRS targeting scandal and points to badly bungled damage control on the part of the agency and the administration. Tue, 21 May 2013 14:21:57 -0400

CANNES, France (AP) La dolce vita came to Cannes on Tuesday, thanks to a pair of films set in Italy exploring lives of affluent ennui.
Tue, 21 May 2013 16:20:06 -0400

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) Iran's election overseers removed potential wild-card candidates from the presidential race Tuesday, blocking a top aide of outgoing President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and a former president who revived hopes of reformers.
Tue, 21 May 2013 16:13:32 -0400

The eight candidates approved Tuesday for Iran's June 14 presidential election to replace Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who cannot run again because of term limits.
Tue, 21 May 2013 15:35:00 -0400

WASHINGTON (AP) The top Senate Republican says he plans to let key sanctions legislation against Myanmar (mee-an-MAWR') lapse because of the country's progress toward democracy.
Tue, 21 May 2013 16:24:47 -0400

BEIRUT (AP) Despite recent rebel setbacks in Syria's civil war, the main opposition bloc signaled a tough line Tuesday on attending possible peace talks with President Bashar Assad's regime.
Tue, 21 May 2013 14:25:40 -0400