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Chinese developer livid at Iceland's rejection of resort
Sat,26 Nov 2011 10:44 PM PST
Reuters - BEIJING (Reuters) - A multimillionaire Chinese developer is livid at Iceland's rejection of his plan to build a sprawling resort, saying it reveals western "hypocrisy and deep prejudice." Foreigners also wrongly assume Chinese companies automatically have ties to China's military, Huang Nubo said in comments published in Chinese media on Sunday. The Iceland government on Friday rejected a bid by Huang to buy 300 sq km (186 sq miles) on the island nation because it did not meet legal requirements on foreign ownership. ... Full Story | Top |
Yangon: From stately city to crumbling symbol of isolation
Sat,26 Nov 2011 08:34 PM PST
Reuters - YANGON (Reuters) - There are no skyscrapers in Yangon. No gleaming shopping malls. Certainly no subway system. Its rutted sidewalks are laced with treacherous holes and broken slabs of concrete. Myanmar's former capital and biggest city is a crumbling monument to almost half a century of isolation and mismanagement at the hands of generals who took power in a 1962 coup and ruled with an iron first until a nominally civilian parliament opened in March this year. The city that U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will visit this week wasn't always that way. ... Full Story | Top |
Malaysia to alter planned public gathering law: report
Sat,26 Nov 2011 07:22 PM PST
Reuters - KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia will ease the provisions of a proposed law setting down rules for public assemblies, a newspaper reported on Sunday, after an outcry that the new legislation was oppressive. The government had announced plans last week to allow citizens to hold peaceful public gatherings as part of a move toward political reform. But organizers were obliged to give police 30 days' notice instead of applying for a permit as stipulated under present law. ... Full Story | Top |
New Zealand set for asset sales after crushing election win
Sat,26 Nov 2011 07:11 PM PST
Reuters - WELLINGTON (Reuters) - New Zealand's re-elected center-right government claimed a mandate on Sunday to push on with up to $5 billion worth of asset sales and welfare reforms and said it would quickly get down to forming a new administration. The National Party, led by former foreign exchange dealer John Key, scored 48 percent of the vote, increased its number of seats to 60 from 58 and gained the support of two small parties to guarantee a majority in the 121-seat parliament. ... Full Story | Top |
Manila says arrested hackers funded by Saudi group
Sat,26 Nov 2011 05:17 PM PST
Reuters - MANILA/BOSTON (Reuters) - Philippine police and the FBI have arrested four people over a hacking operation that targeted customers of U.S. telecommunications giant AT&T to funnel money to a Saudi-based militant group. Those arrested on Wednesday in Manila were paid by the same group the Federal Bureau of Investigation accuses of having funded the November 2008 attacks in Mumbai, the Philippines' Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) said. The hacking activity resulted in almost $2 million in losses incurred by AT&T, the CIDG said in a statement. ... Full Story | Top |
FARC rebels execute 4 military hostages: Colombia
Sat,26 Nov 2011 04:41 PM PST
Reuters - BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombian FARC rebels executed four members of the security forces during a botched mission to free them from a decade as hostages, the most violent act by the group since troops killed its leader Alfonso Cano this month. The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, which has a policy of killing hostages if troops approach their camps, shot three of the captives in the head and the fourth in the back, President Juan Manuel Santos said. The bodies were found in chains, he said. "These heroes of Colombia sacrificed their lives trying to bring peace to Colombia," Santos said. ... Full Story | Top |
Police ban Congo election rallies, at least 2 dead
Sat,26 Nov 2011 04:15 PM PST
Reuters - KINSHASA (Reuters) - Police in Congo blocked President Joseph Kabila's main rival at an airport in Kinshasa on Saturday to stop him staging an election rally after at least two died in violence across the central African state's capital city. Two days before presidential and parliamentary elections, rival factions hurled rocks at each other and gunfire was heard across town. A Reuters reporter saw one lifeless body on the road to the airport while a U.N. source reported another death elsewhere in town. ... Full Story | Top |
UK may have to cut extra 100,000 government jobs
Sat,26 Nov 2011 04:06 PM PST
Reuters - LONDON (Reuters) - The government is likely to have to axe an extra 100,000 public sector jobs over the next four years to meet its deficit-reduction goal, the Ernst & Young ITEM Club said on Sunday. Chancellor George Osborne will present a new set of government growth and borrowing forecasts on Tuesday which have been prepared by the independent Office for Budget Responsibility, and are forecast to show sharply lower growth. ... Full Story | Top |
Government to cap rail fare rise in 2012
Sat,26 Nov 2011 03:38 PM PST
Reuters - LONDON (Reuters) - The government will trim a plan to raise rail fares by as much as eight percent next year to offer some relief to commuters from rising costs at a time of economic uncertainty, a Treasury source said Saturday. Chancellor George Osborne will announce the change as part of his autumn budget statement next Tuesday when Britain's fiscal watchdog is expected to slash its economic growth forecasts. Rises in regulated fares - season tickets and peak travel fares - would be capped at 6 percent for 2012, at a cost of 300 million pounds, the source said. ... Full Story | Top |
Pakistan stops NATO supplies after deadly raid
Sat,26 Nov 2011 03:33 PM PST
Reuters - YAKKAGHUND, Pakistan (Reuters) - NATO helicopters and fighter jets attacked two military outposts in northwest Pakistan Saturday, killing as many as 28 troops and plunging U.S.-Pakistan relations deeper into crisis. Pakistan shut down NATO supply routes into Afghanistan - used for sending in nearly half of the alliance's land shipments - in retaliation for the worst such incident since Islamabad uneasily allied itself with Washington following the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States. ... Full Story | Top |
Egypt's ElBaradei turns up heat on ruling generals
Sat,26 Nov 2011 03:20 PM PST
Reuters - CAIRO (Reuters) - Presidential candidate Mohamed ElBaradei has offered to lead a government of national unity, raising the pressure on Egypt's ruling generals amid protests demanding an immediate end to army rule. Activists are calling on citizens to converge again in Cairo's Tahrir Square on Sunday, a day before the start of a parliamentary election overshadowed by political turmoil and the threat of violence. The interim government led by Essam Sharaf resigned last week as protests against army rule intensified in Cairo and other cities. The violence has left 42 people dead. ... Full Story | Top |
Police ban Congo election rallies, at least 2 dead
Sat,26 Nov 2011 02:56 PM PST
Reuters - KINSHASA (Reuters) - Police in Congo blocked President Joseph Kabila's main rival at an airport in Kinshasa on Saturday to stop him staging an election rally after at least two died in violence across the central African state's capital city. Two days before presidential and parliamentary elections, rival factions hurled rocks at each other and gunfire was heard across town. A Reuters reporter saw one lifeless body on the road to the airport while a U.N. source reported another death elsewhere in town. ... Full Story | Top |
Egypt's ElBaradei willing to head cabinet: statement
Sat,26 Nov 2011 02:31 PM PST
Reuters - CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian presidential candidate Mohamed ElBaradei is prepared to drop his bid to be head of state if he is asked to lead a transition government to steer the country to civilian rule, his campaign team said on Saturday. ElBaradei is offering himself as an alternative to Kamal Ganzouri, a veteran politician named by the country's ruling military council on Friday to head a new interim government after a week of protests and violence that has killed 42 people. The cabinet of Prime Minister Essam Sharaf resigned last week as the clashes spread. ... Full Story | Top |
Senegal's N'dour to stop singing, enter politics
Sat,26 Nov 2011 02:29 PM PST
Reuters - DAKAR (Reuters) - Senegalese world music star Youssou N'dour declared Saturday he would cancel concert dates to enter politics from January 2 next year, a month before a tense presidential election in his West African country. The singer did not explicitly say whether he would stand for president himself, as some supporters have urged. He also did not make clear whether he intended a definitive or merely temporary halt to his musical career. ... Full Story | Top |
Arab states plan to cut commercial ties with Syria
Sat,26 Nov 2011 02:22 PM PST
Reuters - CAIRO (Reuters) - Arab states plan to cut commercial ties with President Bashar al-Assad's government and freeze its assets in response to violence in Syria, where activists said 42 civilians and soldiers died on Saturday. The sanctions, which would plunge Syria deeper into economic crisis and regional isolation, were drawn up by an Arab League economic committee in Cairo on Saturday and need to be ratified by foreign ministers meeting on Sunday before coming into force. ... Full Story | Top |
Yemen presidential election set for February 21
Sat,26 Nov 2011 02:20 PM PST
Reuters - SANAA (Reuters) - Yemen's vice president called presidential elections for February 21 on Saturday under a deal aimed at ending months of protests against President Ali Abdullah Saleh that have brought the country to the edge of civil war. If the agreement goes according to plan, Saleh will become the fourth Arab ruler brought down by mass demonstrations that have reshaped the political landscape of the Middle East. ... Full Story | Top |
Obama aide urges Yemen's parties to work together
Sat,26 Nov 2011 02:20 PM PST
Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's top counter-terrorism aide urged Yemen's ruling party Saturday to cooperate with the opposition after the vice president called presidential elections for February 21. The White House said John Brennan telephoned Vice President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi to "commend" him for announcing the date of the election, struck under a deal to end violent protests against the rule of President Ali Abdullah Saleh. ... Full Story | Top |
Factbox: Ties between Pakistan and U.S. in crisis
Sat,26 Nov 2011 02:16 PM PST
Reuters - (Reuters) - U.S.-Pakistan relations plunged into crisis on Saturday when NATO helicopters and fighter jets killed as many as 28 Pakistani troops in attacks on two military outposts in northwest Pakistan. Pakistan retaliated by shutting NATO supply routes into Afghanistan that are vital to the 10-year war against the Taliban and asked the United States to vacate within 15 days an air base used by U.S. forces for drone strikes, which have been at the center of a dispute between Islamabad and Washington. ... Full Story | Top |
Tripoli protesters block jet from taking off
Sat,26 Nov 2011 02:04 PM PST
Reuters - TRIPOLI (Reuters) - About 100 Libyans surrounded a Tunisian passenger aircraft at one of the capital's airports Saturday, delaying its takeoff in a protest at the government. Witnesses told Reuters that about a dozen cars drove out on to the tarmac at Tripoli's Mitiga airport and blocked a Tunisair Airbus 300-20 jet, with passengers on board, from moving. ... Full Story | Top |
FARC rebels execute 4 military hostages: Colombia
Sat,26 Nov 2011 01:31 PM PST
Reuters - BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombian FARC rebels executed four members of the armed forces during a botched mission to free them from a decade as hostages, the most violent act by the group since troops killed its leader Alfonso Cano this month. The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, which has a policy of killing hostages if troops approach their camps, shot three of the captives in the head and the fourth in the back, President Juan Manuel Santos said. The bodies were found in chains, he said. "These heroes of Colombia sacrificed their lives trying to bring peace to Colombia," Santos said. ... Full Story | Top |
Arabs plan to freeze Syria economic ties: document
Sat,26 Nov 2011 01:19 PM PST
Reuters - CAIRO (Reuters) - Arab states plan to cut commercial ties with Syria's government and freeze its assets as they step up pressure to end months of political violence in the country, a draft document to be discussed by Arab ministers on Sunday showed. The sanctions would also include a travel ban on senior Syrian officials and a halt to commercial flights to the country, according to the Arab League document seen by Reuters on Saturday. ... Full Story | Top |
Texas Democrat Gonzalez won't run again for House
Sat,26 Nov 2011 01:06 PM PST
Reuters - SAN ANTONIO (Reuters) - Charles Gonzalez, a Texas Democrat and the head of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, said on Saturday he will not seek an eighth term in the House of Representatives, blaming congressional gridlock for his decision. Gonzalez, 66, did not announce any specific plans once his term ends in 2012. His district was held for 37 years by his now-deceased father Henry Gonzalez, a civil rights icon still referred to in San Antonio simply as 'Henry B.' "Congress is a worse place than when I was elected in 1998," Gonzalez said at a news conference on Saturday. ... Full Story | Top |
Arabs plan to freeze Syria economic ties: document
Sat,26 Nov 2011 12:23 PM PST
Reuters - CAIRO (Reuters) - Arab states plan to cut commercial ties with Syria's government and freeze its assets as they step up pressure to end months of political violence in the country, a draft document to be discussed by Arab ministers on Sunday showed. The sanctions would also include a travel ban on senior Syrian officials and a halt to commercial flights to the country, according to the Arab League document seen by Reuters on Saturday. Dealings with Syria's central bank would be halted, it said, but basic commodities needed by the Syrian people would be exempted from the list of sanctions. ... Full Story | Top |
Factbox: NATO supply routes into Afghanistan
Sat,26 Nov 2011 12:00 PM PST
Reuters - KABUL (Reuters) - NATO helicopters attacked a military checkpoint in northwest Pakistan on Saturday, killing up to 28 troops and prompting Pakistan to shut the vital supply route for NATO troops fighting in Afghanistan, Pakistani officials said. NATO supply trucks and fuel tankers bound for Afghanistan were halted at Jamrud town in the Khyber tribal region near the city of Peshawar hours after the raid, officials said. ... Full Story | Top |
Greece may miss 2012 selloff target due to EU crisis
Sat,26 Nov 2011 11:58 AM PST
Reuters - ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece may miss its target for privatization revenues next year because of the worsening economic climate in Europe, the head of the agency responsible for selling state assets said in an interview to be published on Sunday. Greece's repeated failure to meet budget targets including for privatization revenues has angered international lenders, raising questions about whether they will continue indefinitely to keep the country afloat with bailout loans. ... Full Story | Top |
Morocco Islamists poised to win parliamentary vote
Sat,26 Nov 2011 11:52 AM PST
Reuters - RABAT (Reuters) - Morocco's moderate Islamist PJD party is on course to win a parliamentary election, partial results showed on Saturday, in what would be the second victory for Islamists in the region in the wake of the "Arab Spring" uprisings. Incomplete results from Friday's vote indicate that PJD will lead a coalition government in partnership with the secularist party of the outgoing prime minister and two other groups. Tunisia, birthplace of the Arab Spring, sent ripples through the Middle East last month when a moderate Islamist movement won the country's first democratic election. ... Full Story | Top |
Obama promotes shops on "Small Business Saturday"
Sat,26 Nov 2011 10:54 AM PST
Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama, eager to spur growth and hiring, took his daughters on an early Christmas shopping trip on Saturday in Washington as the U.S. retail sector got its vital holiday season underway. Promoting "Small Business Saturday", the second annual event to help Main Street merchants in a tough U.S. economy, Obama visited a local bookstore with Malia, 13, and Sasha, 10, in the diverse, upscale Du Pont Circle area of downtown Washington. ... Full Story | Top |
Yemeni vice president fixes February 21 election date
Sat,26 Nov 2011 10:24 AM PST
Reuters - SANAA (Reuters) - Yemen's vice president called a presidential election for February 21, the Saba state news agency said on Saturday, under a deal aimed at ending months of violent protests against the rule of President Ali Abdullah Saleh. Saleh signed the deal on Wednesday under which he transferred his powers to Vice President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi after 33 years in office and 10 months of protests that have brought the country to the edge of civil war. Hadi issued a decree on Saturday setting the election date. "Registered voters and everyone who has reached the legal age ... ... Full Story | Top |
Analysis: Islamists strong ahead of Egypt poll
Sat,26 Nov 2011 10:23 AM PST
Reuters - CAIRO (Reuters) - The Muslim Brotherhood goes into Egypt's first free election in living memory with a strong hand enhanced by recent unrest. Well-organized, the Islamists will be able to get out their vote, even if fears of violence hit the overall turnout. By far the best-drilled group in the country, the Islamists were in a good position even before the latest unrest triggered by protests against the military rulers who assumed power after Hosni Mubarak was overthrown in February. ... Full Story | Top |
Libya's tribes meet to make peace, end skirmishes
Sat,26 Nov 2011 09:29 AM PST
Reuters - ZAWIYAH, Libya (Reuters) - Libyan tribal leaders met on Saturday in the hope of easing tensions between clans in a country where the new central government is still weak, weapons abound and rival militias sometimes lock horns. The National Transitional Council (NTC) convened the conference in Zawiyah, the site of a major skirmish between a militia from the coastal city and fighters from the Wershifanna tribe over a strategic military base this month. The NTC hopes a tradition of mediation between tribal chiefs can nip such clashes in the bud. "This is a tribal society. ... Full Story | Top |
Romanian mayor ends hunger strike over cuts
Sat,26 Nov 2011 09:21 AM PST
Reuters - BUCHAREST (Reuters) - Romanian mayor Florin Cazacu Saturday ended a six-day hunger strike over cuts in heating subsidies after the government handed his town extra funds for fuel oil. He said thousands of residents in Brad have shivered at home after the government scrapped a centralized heating subsidy which, Cazacu said, left the central Romanian town with a 3 million lei ($912,500) shortfall. Winter temperatures around Brad fall as low as minus 30 degrees Celsius (-22 Fahrenheit). The government said Friday it would give Brad 1 million lei, which Cazacu said was a beginning but not enough. ... Full Story | Top |
Media bias helped Gambia's Jammeh win election: AU
Sat,26 Nov 2011 08:49 AM PST
Reuters - BANJUL (Reuters) - Gambian President Yahya Jammeh benefited from a strong media bias and greater financial resources than his rivals to secure a new five-year term in elections, the African Union said on Saturday. Former military coup leader Jammeh scored a landslide 72 percent victory to extend his 17 year-rule over the tiny West African country, criticized for alleged human rights abuses and press-muzzling. ... Full Story | Top |
Fractured town shows challenges ahead for Libya
Sat,26 Nov 2011 08:47 AM PST
Reuters - BANI WALID, Libya (Reuters) - Every revolution has its losers. Libya's new rulers, who swept to power three months ago in a revolt against Muammar Gaddafi's 42-year rule, have promised the country a brighter future. In the biggest cities, celebratory gunfire and the war-cry "God is great" can still be heard daily. In Bani Walid, long a stronghold for Gaddafi loyalists and one of their last bastions to fall during this year's civil war, the mood is entirely different. ... Full Story | Top |
F-35 makes headway amid criticism, U.S. budget crunch
Sat,26 Nov 2011 08:30 AM PST
Reuters - ABOARD THE USS WASP (Reuters) - The 16-ton fighter jet slowed to a stop off the warship's port beam, where it hovered like a floating rock as thousands of pounds of thrust from its engine and lift fan stirred up a cloud of mist from the Atlantic Ocean 100 feet below. After a brief hesitation, the sleek, new gray airplane - a Marine Corps version of the radar-evading F-35 Joint Strike Fighter - slipped quickly sideways over the amphibious assault ship and then dropped to the flight deck with a gentle bump. ... Full Story | Top |
Suspected al Shabaab rebels raid Kenya police post
Sat,26 Nov 2011 08:09 AM PST
Reuters - GARISSA, Kenya (Reuters) - Suspected Somali al Shabaab rebel fighters raided a police post near Mandera in northern Kenya on Saturday, seizing weapons and burning a mobile phone transmission mast, security officials said. The group of fighters attacked Arabiya, a trading center 60 kilometers (37 miles) from Mandera, and engaged police in a firefight before overpowering them and taking all the guns and bullets from the local police post. "Arabiya was attacked. We believe it's al Shabaab. ... Full Story | Top |
Police ban Congo rallies as poll violence flares
Sat,26 Nov 2011 08:08 AM PST
Reuters - KINSHASA (Reuters) - Police in Kinshasa banned all campaign rallies on Saturday after rival supporters hurled rocks at each other and at least one person was reported dead as tensions rose two days before presidential and parliamentary elections. Riot police in the Congolese capital used tear gas to disperse a political gathering in the city center and one person was injured as presidential guard members fired shots to clear opposition supporters from the airport, Reuters reporters said. Asked to confirm the ban, Kinshasa police chief Jean de Dieu Oleko told Reuters: "Yes, all of them. ... Full Story | Top |
Medvedev suggests prosecution for Russia space failure
Sat,26 Nov 2011 07:19 AM PST
Reuters - MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev raised the prospect of criminal prosecution for space mishaps on Saturday following a series of failed launches that have embarrassed Russia. Earlier this month, a probe designed to bring back soil samples from the Mars moon Phobos got stuck in Earth's orbit, leaving Russia's first interplanetary mission in years with almost no chance of success. The probe failure came less than three months after a cargo ship carrying food and fuel to the International Space Station burned up in the atmosphere shortly after launch. ... Full Story | Top |
France's ruling party denies role in DSK downfall
Sat,26 Nov 2011 07:13 AM PST
Reuters - PARIS (Reuters) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy's ruling UMP party dismissed allegations on Saturday of a political plot to bring down disgraced former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn, following an investigative report by a U.S. journalist. The article by Edward Jay Epstein, published in the New York Review of Books, raised the question of whether a Blackberry phone belonging to Strauss-Kahn was being tapped by his political opponents at the time of his arrest in May on charges of sexually assaulting a hotel maid. ... Full Story | Top |
Libyan women demand support for war rape victims
Sat,26 Nov 2011 07:08 AM PST
Reuters - TRIPOLI (Reuters) - About 100 Libyan women took to Tripoli's streets on Saturday in a silent march to demand more support from the country's new government for victims of rape during the eight-month war that ousted Muammar Gaddafi. Their mouths covered with duct tape, women both young and old marched for an hour to Prime Minister Abdurrahim El-Keib's office and later met him to discuss their demands. ... Full Story | Top |
NATO says "likely" it caused Pakistan casualties
Sat,26 Nov 2011 05:58 AM PST
Reuters - KABUL (Reuters) - A spokesman for NATO-led troops in Afghanistan confirmed that NATO aircraft had been called in to support troops during an incident near the border with Pakistan, and its forces were "highly likely" responsible for deaths of Pakistani soldiers. "Close air support was called in, in the development of the tactical situation, and it is what highly likely caused the Pakistan casualties," said Brigadier General Carsten Jacobson, spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). ... Full Story | Top |
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