AFP 0100 GMT News Advisory

Duty Editor: John Weaver Tel: +852 2829 6211

-- TOP STORIES --

+ Pope Francis warns Church of dangers of inaction

+ Obama reaches out to China's new president Xi

+ European Union leaders wrestle with austerity

+ Patients keep HIV at bay despite stopping drugs

Vatican-religion-pope,WRAP

VATICAN CITY

Pope Francis warns in his first mass that the troubled Catholic Church risks becoming little more than a charity with no spiritual foundations if it fails to undergo renewal.

850 words 0200 GMT by Guy Jackson. Picture. Graphic. Video

Also moved: Vatican-religion-pope-Church,ANALYSIS

Vatican-religion-pope-Italy-church,SCENE

China-politics-congress-US,3rdlead-WRAP

WASHINGTON

US President Barack Obama wastes no time in courting China's new President Xi Jinping, calling him within hours of his elevation, and then pressing him on cybercrime and North Korea.

800 words moved by Stephen Collinson

EU-summit,newseries-WRAP

BRUSSELS

European Union leaders wrestle with German demands for strict austerity and a French-Italian push for growth-friendly spending at a two-day summit coloured by fears that rampant unemployment is destroying the bloc.

700 words 0130 GMT by Roddy Thomson. Picture. Video

Also moved: EU-summit-protest,lead

Health-US-France-AIDS,lead

WASHINGTON

A small French study of 14 HIV patients who have remained healthy for years after stopping drug treatment offers fresh evidence that early medical intervention may lead to a "functional cure" for AIDS, researchers say.

700 words moved by Kerry Sheridan

-- ASIA --

Japan-bank-economy,WRAP

TOKYO

Japan's parliament approves Haruhiko Kuroda as the new central bank governor after he pledged to do "everything possible" to stamp out deflation, in a boost for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his efforts to reinvigorate the economy.

500 words 0230 GMT by Peter Brieger

Also moving: Japan-bank-Kuroda,PROFILE

China-politics-Congress-premier,lead

BEIJING

Li Keqiang is set to be named premier of China by the country's parliament, taking over day-to-day running of the government in the world's second-largest economy in a final step of a once-a-decade power handover.

550 words 0330 GMT by Carol Huang. Picture. Graphic

Also moving: China-politics-Congress-premier-Li,PROFILE

Japan-US-aviation-Boeing,WRAP

TOKYO

Senior Boeing executives are to explain for the first time how they plan to fix the battery system in the grounded Dreamliner, speaking in Japan where a third of the plane is made and where two of its biggest customers are based.

600 words 0300 GMT by Harumi Ozawa. Picture. Graphic. Video

Japan-politics-diplomacy-trade-TPP

TOKYO

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is to announce Japan's participation in a huge US-backed free trade deal, reports say, giving the pact much-needed economic weight, but likely angering his own highly protected farmers.

500 words 0300 GMT by Kyoko Hasegawa. Graphic

HongKong-health-disease-SARS-anniversary,FOCUS

HONG KONG

With its bustling streets, shops and busy restaurants there is little to suggest that ten years ago Amoy Gardens was on the front line of Hong Kong's battle with a virus that killed hundreds and caused a global health crisis.

830 words 0300 GMT by Aaron Tam. Picture. Graphic. Video

-- MIDDLE EAST --

 

Israel-politics-government,4thlead

JERUSALEM

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is to formally unveil his long-awaited coalition government that will be sworn in just days before a visit by US President Barack Obama.

750 words 0230 GMT by Steve Weizman. Graphic

Also moved: Israel-US-Iran-nuclear-politics,2ndlead

 

Syria-conflict,2ndlead-WRAP

DAMASCUS

French President Francois Hollande urges Europe's leaders to lift an arms embargo on Syria to help rebels battling for nearly two years to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad's regime.

750 words 0230 GMT. Picture. Graphic

 

Iraq-unrest,newseries-WRAP

BAGHDAD

A coordinated string of bombings and a brazen assault on a ministry near Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone kill 18 people, as a new report says the Iraq war has cost over 120,000 lives.

750 words 0230 GMT by Prashant Rao. Picture

Also moving: Iraq-unrest-10years-missing,FOCUS

-- AMERICAS --

Vatican-religion-pope-Argentina-politics,lead-FOCUS

BUENOS AIRES

Argentine cardinal Jorge Bergoglio's election as Pope Francis has revived a longstanding controversy over his role during the dark days of his homeland's "Dirty War."

800 words moved by Alexandre Peyrille. Picture

Also moved: Vatican-religion-pope-Jesuits,FOCUS

Vatican-religion-pope-Argentina-school,INTERVIEW

US-IT-Internet-telecom-SKorea-Samsung,lead

NEW YORK

Samsung is fielding a slim, feature-rich Galaxy S4 as its new champion to take on Apple in the fiercely competitive smartphone arena.

650 words 0200 GMT by Sophie Estienne

UN-economy-poverty-Mexico,lead

MEXICO CITY

The developing world's rapid growth has sharply cut extreme poverty, created a new middle class and put the economies of Brazil, China and India on a path to overtake the globe's wealthiest nations, the United Nations says.

500 words moved. Picture

Myanmar-politics-US-aid,lead

WASHINGTON

Governments and agencies must be wary of flooding Myanmar with well-intentioned but ill-targeted aid, experts warn, admonishing the global community to "first do no harm."

650 words 0230 GMT by Jo Biddle

-- EUROPE --

Britain-media-politics,WRAP

LONDON

British Prime Minister David Cameron abandons cross-party talks on press regulation as police for the first time arrest a current national newspaper editor over phone-hacking.

650 words moved by Danny Kemp. Picture

-- AFRICA --

 

Tunisia-politics-government,3rdlead

TUNIS

President Moncef Marzouki swears in a new government to pull Tunisia out of its political and economic crisis, urging patience and saying there is no "magic wand" to solve the country's problems.

650 words moved by Antoine Lambroschini. Picture. Video

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