Today's Politics - Bloomberg News Headlines - Yahoo! News:
|
|
Air strike kills 30 in southeast Turkey: mayor
Wed,28 Dec 2011 11:45 PM PST
Reuters - DIYARBAKIR, Turkey (Reuters) - Turkish warplanes killed 30 people in an air strike in southeastern Turkey near the Iraqi border overnight, apparently mistaking smugglers for Kurdish militants, a local official told Reuters on Thursday. Turkish warplanes strike militant targets regularly in the region in their battle against Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) guerrillas, and have stepped up raids after a PKK attack in August. "We have 30 corpses, all of them are burned. The state knew that these people were smuggling in the region. This kind of incident is unacceptable. ... Full Story | Top |
Suspected kidnappers killed in China's restive west
Wed,28 Dec 2011 11:35 PM PST
Reuters - BEIJING (Reuters) - Police in China's restive far-western Xinjiang region killed seven "kidnappers in a hostage rescue," official media reported on Thursday, calling the suspects members of a "terror gang" who may have been influenced by Muslim hardliners. The kidnappers took two people hostage late on Wednesday in Pishan County in the far southern part of Xinjiang, close to the borders of India and Pakistan, said the region's official news website (www.tianshannet.com). ... Full Story | Top |
Gunpowder warehouse blast kills 17 in Myanmar: police
Wed,28 Dec 2011 10:55 PM PST
Reuters -  YANGON (Reuters) - At least 17 people died and 80 were injured after an early morning explosion at a warehouse storing gunpowder, likely for use at mine blast sites, in Myanmar's biggest city of Yangon, police and fire officials said on Thursday. The explosion caused a massive blaze and spewed smoke that was only brought under control by late morning, officials said. A police officer, who declined to be named, said 12 men and five women had been confirmed dead and further deaths were expected. ...
Full Story | Top |
Venezuela's Chavez: Did U.S. give Latin American leaders cancer?
Wed,28 Dec 2011 10:51 PM PST
Reuters -  CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez speculated on Wednesday that the United States might have developed a way to give Latin American leaders cancer, after Argentina's Cristina Fernandez joined the list of presidents diagnosed with the disease. It was a typically controversial statement by Venezuela's socialist leader, who underwent surgery in June to remove a tumor from his pelvis. But he stressed that he was not making any accusations, just thinking aloud. "It would not be strange if they had developed the technology to induce cancer and nobody knew about it until now ... ...
Full Story | Top |
U.N. lowers flag to half-staff for Kim funeral
Wed,28 Dec 2011 10:43 PM PST
Reuters - UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. offices around the world lowered their flags to half-staff to mark the funeral of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il on Wednesday in a move the world body said was routine but which prompted objections from some human rights activists. In New York, where the flag outside U.N. headquarters was lowered, spokesman Eduardo del Buey said the gesture had been requested by Pyongyang's U.N. mission but was normal for the funeral of any head of state. "It's a matter of protocol," he said. North Korea is a full member of the 193-nation organization. ... Full Story | Top |
North Korea hails nuclear, military feats of Kim Jong-il
Wed,28 Dec 2011 10:43 PM PST
Reuters -  SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea lauded the military might built up by deceased leader Kim Jong-il on Thursday, likely tying his young successor to the same policies that have set Northeast Asia on edge as the impoverished state inches closer to nuclear weapons capability. A gathering of 100,000, soldiers in uniform and bare-headed civilians, gathered in silence in wintry sunlight in the capital Pyongyang to mourn the passing of the man who had led the country for 17 years until his death on December 17. ...
Full Story | Top |
Arab observers fan out across Syria
Wed,28 Dec 2011 10:14 PM PST
Reuters -  (Reuters) - Arab monitors head to three more Syrian cities on Thursday to check if government forces are complying with a peace plan after a delegation to Homs, centre of the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, was mobbed by protesters demanding protection. The Arab League mission, the first international involvement on the ground in Syria since the revolt began last March, got off to a controversial start when its Sudanese leader said he had seen "nothing frightening" on his first trip to Homs. ...
Full Story | Top |
Angola preparing to hold fair election in 2012: President
Wed,28 Dec 2011 09:30 PM PST
Reuters -  LISBON (Reuters) - Angola is preparing the necessary legal mechanisms to hold a well organised, transparent and fair parliamentary election in late 2012, President Jose Eduardo dos Santos said on Wednesday. The election will be only the third in oil-producing Angola after it gained independence from Portugal in 1975, Dos Santos said in an end-of-year speech broadcast by state TV channel TPA, monitored by Reuters in Lisbon. Angola's political parties earlier this month reached a deal on a new electoral law, ending months of negotiations over who will organise the election. ...
Full Story | Top |
Senegal opposition mayor arrested over fatal shooting
Wed,28 Dec 2011 09:27 PM PST
Reuters - DAKAR (Reuters) - A high-profile opponent of Senegal's president and ruling party, who is also a mayor of a suburb in the capital Dakar, was detained on Wednesday on suspicion of involvement in a fatal town hall shooting, his lawyer said. The arrest of Barthelemy Dias may stoke political tensions in the West African nation two months ahead of a presidential election in which incumbent President Abdoulaye Wade plans to seek reelection despite an outcry from the opposition. ... Full Story | Top |
Algeria leaders have lost touch, risk anger: review
Wed,28 Dec 2011 09:25 PM PST
Reuters - ALGIERS (Reuters) - Algeria's leaders are out of touch with their people who are growing increasingly angry about unemployment, red tape and poor housing, said a senior official carrying out a presidential review of the country's economic and social woes. "Demands for radical changes are huge. People want to see a new way of governance," Mohamed Seghir Babes told Reuters in an interview. He did not say that Algeria could face the kind of uprisings seen this year in its neighbours Tunisia and Libya and across the Arab world. ... Full Story | Top |
Ron Paul defends record on Israel
Wed,28 Dec 2011 08:31 PM PST
Reuters -  LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul defended his record on Israel Wednesday after a former aide said the congressman favored abolishing the nation. "Dr. Paul is the most pro-Israel candidate in this race," campaign spokesman Gary Howard said in an emailed statement. "He is the only leader who will stop sending tens of billions of dollars in aid and arms to her Arab enemies, cut off subsidies to companies who do business with Iran, and allow Israel to defend herself as she sees fit, without the permission and interference of the U.S. or the United Nations. ...
Full Story | Top |
Candidate Bachmann's Iowa chairman quits, endorses Paul
Wed,28 Dec 2011 07:40 PM PST
Reuters -  DES MOINES, Iowa (Reuters) - Republican candidate Michele Bachmann's Iowa campaign chairman resigned on Wednesday and endorsed rival Ron Paul, six days before Iowa voters begin the nomination process to select the 2012 Republican presidential nominee. Kent Sorenson, an Iowa state senator who had served as Bachmann's state campaign chairman for nearly a year, said he had decided to switch his support to Paul because the campaign had reached "a turning point. ...
Full Story | Top |
Could Romney score an early knockout?
Wed,28 Dec 2011 07:02 PM PST
Reuters -  NORTH LIBERTY/MASON CITY, Iowa (Reuters) - Mitt Romney's campaign did its best on Wednesday to lower expectations, but no one was really buying it. As six of the contenders for the Republican nomination for president barnstormed across Iowa, there was a clear sense that Romney could be in position to lock down the nomination far sooner than could have been expected just a few days ago. Urging Iowans to vote in the caucuses that kick off the nominating process next Tuesday, Romney and his aides were surprised at the size and enthusiasm of overflow crowds at diners and coffee shops. ...
Full Story | Top |
Mexico arrests drug dealer linked to boss Guzman
Wed,28 Dec 2011 06:29 PM PST
Reuters -  MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico captured a suspected drug trafficker with links to the country's most wanted man, Sinaloa cartel boss Joaquin "Shorty" Guzman, whose operations have recently suffered a string of blows. Mexico's federal police said on Wednesday they had captured Luis Rodriguez Olivera, known as "El Guero" (Blondie), for whom U.S. authorities have offered a reward of up to $5 million. In a statement, Mexican police said Rodriguez Olivera and his brothers were responsible for trafficking cocaine to the United States between 1996 and 2008 for Guzman's gang. ...
Full Story | Top |
Santorum who? Republican candidate gets timely poll surge
Wed,28 Dec 2011 05:13 PM PST
Reuters -  MASON CIY, Iowa (Reuters) - Rick Santorum may be getting his shot at the spotlight -- in the nick of time. Struggling for months to gain traction in the race for the Republican presidential nomination, the former Pennsylvania senator has moved into third place in Iowa, according to a new poll commissioned by CNN and Time magazine. It couldn't come at a better moment for Santorum. The social conservative, who has languished in most opinion polls, could use the momentum from a surge to sustain his campaign after January 3, when Iowans choose their nominee. ...
Full Story | Top |
Anti-whaling protest ship in Southern Ocean distress
Wed,28 Dec 2011 04:53 PM PST
Reuters - SYDNEY (Reuters) - Anti-whaling organization Sea Shepherd said one of its boats chasing the Japanese whaling fleet in the Southern Ocean had issued a distress call after its hull was cracked by a rogue wave. Sea Shepherd flagship the Steve Irwin was fighting heavy seas to help rescue the damaged Brigitte Bardot chase boat and is expected to take 17 hours to reach it, Sea Shepherd founder Captain Paul Watson said Thursday. "This is disappointing, but these are hostile seas and we have always been prepared for situations like this," said Watson via satellite telephone from the Steve Irwin. ... Full Story | Top |
Analysis: Manning's legal strategy could lead to plea deal
Wed,28 Dec 2011 04:23 PM PST
Reuters -  NEW YORK (Reuters) - While it may appear that the government's document-leaking case against U.S. Army intelligence analyst Bradley Manning is strong, the defense could have some surprising leverage with prosecutors and force plea negotiations. Prosecutors may in particular find it difficult to prove the 24-year-old Manning intended to provide the information to enemies of the United States such as al Qaeda, and that the information was helpful to them, legal experts said. ...
Full Story | Top |
Stuxnet weapon has at least 4 cousins: researchers
Wed,28 Dec 2011 03:46 PM PST
Reuters - (Reuters) - The Stuxnet virus that last year damaged Iran's nuclear program was likely one of at least five cyber weapons developed on a single platform whose roots trace back to 2007, according to new research from Russian computer security firm Kaspersky Lab. Security experts widely believe that the United States and Israel were behind Stuxnet, though the two nations have officially declined to comment on the matter. A Pentagon spokesman on Wednesday declined comment on Kaspersky's research, which did not address who was behind Stuxnet. ... Full Story | Top |
Iowa's moderate Republicans: an edge for Romney?
Wed,28 Dec 2011 03:45 PM PST
Reuters -  DES MOINES, Iowa (Reuters) - Iowa's moderate Republicans are a small and dispirited bunch, but they could provide a vital boost for Mitt Romney in the state's tight kickoff presidential contest. While the Republican White House contenders battle for the state's big but badly split bloc of religious conservatives, Iowa's moderates are a forgotten minority who have coalesced around the candidate they consider their only choice: Romney. But it is uncertain whether they will turn out for him at the caucus votes on January 3, when the state kicks off the Republican nominating fight. ...
Full Story | Top |
Gingrich cites fraud in Virginia ballot failure
Wed,28 Dec 2011 03:36 PM PST
Reuters -  MASON CITY, Iowa (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich said on Wednesday his failure to meet the requirements to take part in Virginia's presidential nominating contest resulted from fraud by a worker hired by his campaign. Gingrich, who lives in Virginia, scrambled to submit the petitions necessary to get on the ballot on time, but the state party said on Saturday a review process showed he did not have the required 10,000 verifiable signatures. ...
Full Story | Top |
New York unions sue over retiree health-care change
Wed,28 Dec 2011 03:35 PM PST
Reuters -  ALBANY, New York (Reuters) - Seven New York state unions filed federal lawsuits on Wednesday seeking to prevent Governor Andrew Cuomo from increasing the amount that retired workers pay for health care. The increases enacted this year were unconstitutional because the state has no authority to unilaterally raise retirees' health-care costs, the unions said. Each union filed a lawsuit in federal court in Albany, they said. ...
Full Story | Top |
Poll: Republican Romney tops Iowa, Santorum surges
Wed,28 Dec 2011 03:27 PM PST
Reuters -  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican presidential frontrunner Mitt Romney has clinched a lead in the Iowa caucuses vote next week and Rick Santorum is surging, according to a new poll commissioned by CNN and Time magazine. Romney, the former Massachusetts governor whose unsuccessful presidential run in 2008 took a heavy hit when he lost Iowa, was at 25 percent of the vote, 3 points ahead of Texas congressman Ron Paul. ...
Full Story | Top |
Closing Strait of Hormuz not so easy for Iran: analysts
Wed,28 Dec 2011 03:23 PM PST
Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Iran's navy chief boasts that closing the Strait of Hormuz to oil traffic would be "easier than drinking a glass of water." Hardly, U.S. analysts say. Iran's navy does not have the size for a sustained physical blockade of the Strait, but does have mine-laying and missile capability to wreak some havoc, analysts said. "It wouldn't be a cakewalk" for Iran, said Caitlin Talmadge, a George Washington University professor who has written about the Strait of Hormuz. "If Tehran really wanted to cause trouble, it could." But the Bahrain-based U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
Arab observers fan out across Syria
Wed,28 Dec 2011 03:17 PM PST
Reuters - (Reuters) - Arab monitors head to three more Syrian cities on Thursday to check if government forces are complying with a peace plan after a delegation to Homs, center of the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, was mobbed by a protesters demanding protection. The Arab League mission, the first international involvement on the ground in Syria since the revolt began last March, got off to a controversial start when its Sudanese leader said he had seen "nothing frightening" on his first trip to Homs. ...
Full Story | Top |
Argentina adopts wide definition of terrorism
Wed,28 Dec 2011 02:36 PM PST
Reuters - BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Argentina enacted a law on Wednesday providing a wide definition of terrorism that critics fear will allow the state to jail people for up to 15 years for activities as diverse as marching in protests or pulling money out of banks. The law, approved by Congress last week, seeks to punish anyone who "terrorizes" the population, leaving the definition of the term open. ... Full Story | Top |
Deutsche Boerse, NYSE extend merger deadline to sway Europe
Wed,28 Dec 2011 02:32 PM PST
Reuters - LONDON (Reuters) - Deutsche Boerse and NYSE Euronext have extended the deadline for completion of their planned merger to March 31 next year as they seek to convince European regulators to back the $9 billion deal. The exchanges, which agreed the merger on February 14, told the Securities and Exchange Commission last week they were exercising their right to extend the initial termination deadline of December31 2011. ... Full Story | Top |
Three killed in gun attack in Nigeria's Plateau state
Wed,28 Dec 2011 02:31 PM PST
Reuters - JOS, Nigeria (Reuters) - Armed Fulani herdsmen shot dead three members of a family in an attack in Nigeria's ethnically and religiously mixed Plateau state on Wednesday, witnesses and officials said. Plateau is a tinderbox of ethnic and religious rivalries over land and power between local people and migrants from other areas. These often take the form of sectarian strife between the state's Christian and Muslim communities. Women wept and wailed in anguish over the bodies of a husband and wife in their thirties and their baby child, all of which were riddled with bullet holes. ... Full Story | Top |
Seven hurt as bomb hits madrassa in Nigeria
Wed,28 Dec 2011 02:31 PM PST
Reuters - PORT HARCOURT/JOS (Reuters) - Assailants threw a homemade bomb into a madrassa in southern Nigeria's Delta state, police said, wounding seven people and escalating tensions between Muslims and Christians after a spate of church bombings across the nation. Six of the wounded were children younger than nine learning the Koran at the Islamic seminary, or madrassa. In a separate incident, armed Fulani herdsmen shot dead three members of a family in the ethnically and religiously mixed Plateau state on Wednesday, witnesses and officials said. ... Full Story | Top |
More trouble for Gingrich as Iowa campaign quickens
Wed,28 Dec 2011 02:31 PM PST
Reuters -  DES MOINES, Iowa (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich's campaign struggled to fend off more bad news on Tuesday after he was quoted supporting main rival Mitt Romney's healthcare reform in Massachusetts. Gingrich, a former speaker of the House of Representatives, has seen his poll numbers drop in the early-voting state of Iowa under a blitz of negative ads accusing him of being an unreliable Washington insider. He tried to regain some of his lost momentum in a pugnacious interview with CNN in which he used some of his strongest language yet to attack his main opponents. ...
Full Story | Top |
New U.S. tactic for suspected Swiss bank tax cheats
Wed,28 Dec 2011 02:30 PM PST
Reuters - (Reuters) - U.S. authorities hunting in Swiss banks for suspected tax cheats have a new weapon in their arsenal: an arcane but aggressive legal maneuver more commonly used against drug smugglers, money launderers and Imelda Marcos, widow of the Philippine dictator. Backed by court judges, federal prosecutors are issuing subpoenas -- official papers which compel the recipients to provide potentially damning evidence -- to United States taxpayers suspected of holding hidden accounts at Swiss and other offshore banks, according to criminal defense lawyers whose clients have received the papers. ... Full Story | Top |
Stock losses hit public pensions: U.S. Census
Wed,28 Dec 2011 01:44 PM PST
Reuters - (Reuters) - The value of investments held by U.S. public pensions fell in the third quarter for the first time in a year, battered by stock losses and a plunge in international securities, the U.S. Census said on Wednesday. Total investments held by pension systems administered by state and local governments fell 8.5 percent from the second quarter, although investments did inch up 1.1 percent from the same period a year earlier. The total holdings reached $2.5 trillion in what was the eighth consecutive quarter of year-on-year growth. ... Full Story | Top |
Turkey warns France of more action over genocide bill
Wed,28 Dec 2011 01:40 PM PST
Reuters -  ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey Wednesday warned France it would take further action against Paris should the French senate pass a bill making it a crime to deny the 1915 mass killings of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey constituted genocide. Ankara reacted furiously when the lower house of the French parliament last week approved the bill, recalling its ambassador from Paris, banning French military aircraft and warships from landing and docking in Turkey and freezing political and economic meetings. ...
Full Story | Top |
California city abusing public assets, funds-state
Wed,28 Dec 2011 01:15 PM PST
Reuters - (Reuters) - Montebello, California, a city of about 60,000 in the eastern part of Los Angeles County, is mis-using public assets and funds, the state said on Wednesday. Local governments in California have come under close scrutiny over the past year, since the town of Bell was discovered to have overpaid its city officials. ... Full Story | Top |
Russia scolds United States for human rights abuse
Wed,28 Dec 2011 12:33 PM PST
Reuters -  MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia sought to undermine the authority of the United States as a global judge of human rights on Wednesday with Moscow's first report to detail allegations of torture, phone tapping and abuse by the U.S. government. Criticizing the United States for double standards, Russia said President Barack Obama had failed to shut the military prison at Guantanamo Bay and accused the White House of sheltering officials and CIA operatives from prosecution. ...
Full Story | Top |
Venezuela's Chavez: did U.S. give Latin American leaders cancer?
Wed,28 Dec 2011 12:09 PM PST
Reuters -  CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez speculated on Wednesday that the United States might have developed a way to give Latin American leaders cancer, after Argentina's Cristina Fernandez joined the list of presidents diagnosed with the disease. It was a typically controversial statement by Venezuela's socialist leader, who underwent surgery in June to remove a tumor from his pelvis. But he stressed that he was not making any accusations, just thinking aloud. "It would not be strange if they had developed the technology to induce cancer and nobody knew about it until now ... ...
Full Story | Top |
U.N. lowers flag to half-staff for Kim funeral
Wed,28 Dec 2011 11:46 AM PST
Reuters - UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. offices around the world lowered their flags to half-staff to mark the funeral of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il on Wednesday in a move the world body said was routine but which prompted objections from some human rights activists. In New York, where the flag outside U.N. headquarters was lowered, spokesman Eduardo del Buey said the gesture had been requested by Pyongyang's U.N. mission but was normal for the funeral of any head of state. "It's a matter of protocol," he said. North Korea is a full member of the 193-nation organization. ... Full Story | Top |
Cameron favours minimum alcohol price - report
Wed,28 Dec 2011 11:06 AM PST
Reuters -  LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister David Cameron has ordered officials to draw up plans to set a minimum price for alcohol to discourage excessive drinking, a newspaper reported on Wednesday, although the government said no decision has been taken. The Daily Telegraph said the officials have been told to develop a scheme to prevent the sale of alcohol in shops in England at below 40 to 50 pence per unit. That could lead to sharp price rises, particularly for cider and some spirits. ...
Full Story | Top |
Support slips but most still in favor of Keystone pipeline: poll
Wed,28 Dec 2011 10:45 AM PST
Reuters - (Reuters) - A majority of voters still support the controversial Canada-to-Texas oil sands pipeline as the Obama administration again weighs whether to approve or scrap the project, according to a poll released on Wednesday. Rasmussen Reports, a public opinion research company, found that 53 percent of likely U.S. voters at least somewhat favored moving ahead with TransCanada's Keystone XL pipeline, down from 60 percent approval in mid-November, according to the survey. ... Full Story | Top |
Johnson seeks Libertarian nomination for president
Wed,28 Dec 2011 10:34 AM PST
Reuters -  SANTA FE, NM (Reuters) - Former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson said on Wednesday he is dropping out of the Republican presidential race and is seeking the Libertarian Party nomination for president. "We are getting fed up with the two-party system," Johnson said at a news conference at the state capitol in Santa Fe, where he was joined by some 50 supporters and by Libertarian Party chairman Mark Hinkle. Democrats, Johnson said, have backed off on social issues such as gay rights and Republicans "are no longer stewards of the pocketbook. ...
Full Story | Top |
| |
|
No comments:
Post a Comment