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Briton charged in Kenya for planning bomb attack
Thu,12 Jan 2012 10:44 PM PST
Reuters -  MOMBASA, Kenya (Reuters) - Four people, including a Briton, were charged on Thursday with possessing bomb-making materials which they were accused of planning to use in an attack in Kenya in late December, a charge sheet from a court in the coastal city of Mombasa showed. The four - Briton Jermain John Grant and Kenyans Fouad Abubakar Manswab, Warda Breik Islam and Frank Ngala - appeared before Mombasa Law Courts chief Magistrate Lillian Mutende. ...
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Pakistan party lobbies allies for support; tension high
Thu,12 Jan 2012 10:38 PM PST
Reuters -  ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - President Asif Ali Zardari's ruling party, facing intense pressure from Pakistan's powerful generals, lobbied its coalition partners Friday for support as tension raised fear over the stability of the country. A disputed memo allegedly from Zardari's government seeking U.S. help in reining in the generals soured relations between the civilian leadership and the military to their lowest point since a coup in 1999. Political sources said the government was planning to table a confidence motion in parliament in support of the civilian leaders. ...
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Tea Party may get rebuffed in tax cut showdown
Thu,12 Jan 2012 10:03 PM PST
Reuters -  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - House Speaker John Boehner, hoping to spare fellow Republicans a second embarrassing defeat over payroll tax cuts, is prepared to navigate around rebellious Tea Party-aligned lawmakers to get a deal, according to congressional aides. Republicans in the House of Representatives got a public drubbing from critics within and outside the party in December for initially refusing to approve a Senate plan to extend the tax break for 160 million Americans through February. ...
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BofA mulling retreat if financial problems worsen: report
Thu,12 Jan 2012 10:00 PM PST
Reuters - (Reuters) - Bank of America Corp , the second-largest U.S. bank by assets, has informed U.S. regulators that it is willing to draw back from some parts of the country if its financial problems worsen, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the situation. Last year, BofA executives had put potential retreat on a list of emergency scenarios submitted to the Federal Reserve, the Journal said, citing sources. ... Full Story | Top |
Egypt Muslim Brotherhood would consider IMF aid
Thu,12 Jan 2012 09:59 PM PST
Reuters -  CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood would consider supporting a deal to obtain emergency aid from the IMF, providing there are no conditions attached and alternatives are explored first, a senior official in the Brotherhood said. With the risk of a currency crisis simmering in the economic upheaval that has followed President Hosni Mubarak's overthrow last February, the military-backed government is about to start talks with the IMF on an emergency loan package. "There is no objection to borrowing. But it must be without conditions. ...
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Myanmar starts freeing more political prisoners
Thu,12 Jan 2012 09:57 PM PST
Reuters -  YANGON (Reuters) - Political prisoners began to walk free from jails around Myanmar on Friday in an amnesty that officials said could cover a total 651 inmates, as one of the world's most reclusive states opens up after half a century of authoritarian rule. The United States and Europe have said freeing political prisoners is crucial to even considering lifting the economic sanctions that have isolated the former British colony, also known as Burma, and pushed it closer to China. ...
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Carter says Egypt army unlikely to give up all powers
Thu,12 Jan 2012 09:34 PM PST
Reuters -  CAIRO (Reuters) - Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter said on Thursday, after meeting Egypt's military rulers and political parties, the army was unlikely to surrender all of its powers by mid-2012, highlighting the potential for further power struggles. The military council, in power since an uprising ousted President Hosni Mubarak in February, has faced mounting public anger over what is widely viewed as stalling and mismanagement of the transition period. Dozens of protesters demanding an end to army rule have been killed in bouts of violence in the past 11 months. ...
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Body found in Ivory Coast is not missing reporter
Thu,12 Jan 2012 09:27 PM PST
Reuters - PARIS (Reuters) - A body unearthed in Ivory Coast by investigators last week is not that of Franco-Canadian journalist Guy-Andre Kieffer, who went missing in the country's economic capital Abidjan in 2004, his brother's lawyer said on Thursday. Samples of the body had been sent to France for identification, but DNA tests did not reveal a match, lawyer Alexis Gublin told Reuters. "The body is not that of Guy-Andre Kieffer," he said. ... Full Story | Top |
Chinese dissident goes into exile in U.S., says was tortured
Thu,12 Jan 2012 09:26 PM PST
Reuters - BEIJING (Reuters) - One of China's most prominent Christian dissidents, Yu Jie, has gone into exile to the United States after he said he was tortured in a crackdown on dissent, he told Reuters on Friday. Yu said he would give a detailed account of abuse and beating he suffered in detention, probably when he testifies before a U.S. Congressional panel planned for next week. He said his treatment deteriorated sharply after his fellow dissident, Liu Xiaobo, won the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize. ... Full Story | Top |
Somali pirates arrested trying to board Spanish navy ship
Thu,12 Jan 2012 09:25 PM PST
Reuters - MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Somali pirates tried to board a Spanish navy ship off the Horn of Africa nation but it repulsed the attack and arrested six pirates, the European Union Naval Force for Somalia said on Thursday. Somali pirates are an increasing hazard to shipping in the region, posing a challenge to international navies patrolling the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean. The EU Navfor said that the Patino, EU Navfor's flagship, had just finished escorting a U.N. World Food Programme ship to Somalia when it was approached by a skiff carrying the pirates. ... Full Story | Top |
Congo bishops rail against election "treachery"
Thu,12 Jan 2012 09:25 PM PST
Reuters -  DAKAR (Reuters) - Democratic Republic of Congo's Catholic Church on Thursday accused the government of "treachery, lies and terror" and urged the electoral commission to fix errors from a controversial November presidential poll or resign. The move by the Church, an influential player in the overwhelmingly Christian country, is likely to heap pressure on President Joseph Kabila following his re-election in a vote that was rejected by the opposition and condemned by international observers for widespread irregularities. ...
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Nigeria subsidy talks 'fruitful', strikes continue
Thu,12 Jan 2012 09:23 PM PST
Reuters -  ABUJA (Reuters) - One of Nigeria's main trade unions said talks with President Goodluck Jonathan over the government's removal of publicly popular fuel subsidies were 'fruitful' and ongoing, but strikes would continue until an agreement was reached. Nigeria scrapped subsidies on petrol imports on January 1, more than doubling the pump price to around 150 nairaa litre, sparking bitter protests across the country. Tens of thousands of Nigerians had been demonstrating in cities up and down Africa's most populous nation for four straight days as neither side was ready to concede an inch. ...
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Feisty Gingrich makes plea for evangelical vote
Thu,12 Jan 2012 08:18 PM PST
Reuters -  COLUMBIA, South Carolina (Reuters) - These are desperate times for Newt Gingrich. But this is the audience he's been waiting for: South Carolina's evangelical Christians, who he hopes will rescue his flagging bid for the Republican presidential nomination. His message to them is direct and urgent: Christians are under attack, and Republicans shouldn't trust Mitt Romney to always oppose abortion. ...
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U.S. slaps sanctions on China state oil trader over Iran
Thu,12 Jan 2012 08:15 PM PST
Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Thursday imposed sanctions on China's state-run Zhuhai Zhenrong Corp, which it said was Iran's largest supplier of refined petroleum products, as it sought to impress on Beijing and Tehran its resolve to increase economic pressure over Iran's nuclear program. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also imposed sanctions on Singapore's Kuo Oil Pte Ltd and FAL Oil Company Ltd, an independent energy trader based in the United Arab Emirates, the State Department said in a notice. ... Full Story | Top |
Analysis: Is Marine desecration video a new Abu Ghraib?
Thu,12 Jan 2012 07:11 PM PST
Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A video appearing to show U.S. Marines urinating on the bodies of dead Taliban fighters promises to become an enduring memory of the Afghan war and is already drawing sharp reaction from across the world as it goes viral on the Internet. But experts inside and outside the U.S. military are so far unconvinced the incident will cause as much damage as Iraq's Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal did, even as it stirs anti-American sentiment and revives questions about why some American troops appear prone to committing abuses -- and then proudly documenting them. ... Full Story | Top |
Canada says marriages of foreign gays invalid
Thu,12 Jan 2012 07:06 PM PST
Reuters - OTTAWA (Reuters) - The government is abruptly arguing that the same-sex marriages of many foreigners who wed in Canada are not valid, a move that stunned the gay community and could affect thousands of couples. In 2005, Canada became one of the first nations in the world to formally legalize gay marriage. Same-sex couples have been marrying in their thousands in Canada, and lenient rules on residency requirements for those seeking a marriage license mean many of them are from abroad. Ottawa now says many, if not all, the unions involving foreign residents are invalid. ... Full Story | Top |
Expat Syrian activists turned away at border
Thu,12 Jan 2012 07:04 PM PST
Reuters - KILIS, Turkey (Reuters) - Syrian border guards turned away a protest convoy of about 150 Syrian expatriates from Europe, North America and the Arab world on Thursday who were trying to enter the country to draw attention to civilians caught up in months of unrest. The activists, brought together by a campaign on the social networking website Facebook, drove to the border through Turkey, carrying token relief supplies of blankets, medicine and food. "The Syrian government said no to medical supplies, no to doctors who would go in to treat the wounded, and they said no to food. ... Full Story | Top |
Arab League head warns of possible civil war in Syria
Thu,12 Jan 2012 07:04 PM PST
Reuters -  BEIRUT (Reuters) - Arab League head Nabil Elaraby said on Friday he feared a possible civil war in Syria that could have consequences for neighboring countries, as the credibility of the League's monitoring mission was hit by members starting to walk out. An Algerian former monitor said several monitors had left Syria or might do so soon because the mission had failed to halt President Bashar al-Assad's violent crackdown on a popular revolt against his rule. ...
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Say "conservative" not "Republican" to woo Latinos: Tea Party
Thu,12 Jan 2012 06:59 PM PST
Reuters - AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - Preaching a conservative message is a better way to connect with the growing U.S. Hispanic community than to mention the Republican Party by name, the nation's first Hispanic tea party group president said at an Austin forum on Thursday. "Whenever the word 'Republican' is used, it was almost like an automatic wall that falls," George Rodriguez, president of the San Antonio Tea Party, said at a conference organized by the conservative Texas Public Policy Foundation. "Yet when we used the word 'conservative,' people were more responsive. ... Full Story | Top |
Lawmakers press Homeland Security on Internet monitoring
Thu,12 Jan 2012 06:32 PM PST
Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Leaders of a congressional subcommittee are urging the Department of Homeland Security to extensively monitor social media sites like Twitter and Facebook to detect "current or emerging threats." The top Republican and Democrat on a House counter-terrorism subcommittee last month sent a letter to Homeland Security's intelligence chief encouraging department analysts to pore over huge streams of social media traffic. ... Full Story | Top |
Obama seeks $1.2 trillion debt limit rise
Thu,12 Jan 2012 06:10 PM PST
Reuters -  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama formally notified Congress on Thursday that he plans a $1.2 trillion increase in the U.S. debt limit, prompting Republicans to level election-year charges that deficits are out of control. Obama, in a one-sentence letter to House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner, the top Republican in Congress, said "further borrowing is required to meet existing commitments." The proposed increase would push the debt ceiling to $16.394 trillion. ...
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Court martial sought for suspected WikiLeaks leaker
Thu,12 Jan 2012 05:58 PM PST
Reuters -  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An Army intelligence analyst suspected of leaking thousands of classified U.S. government files to the anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks should be court-martialed on charges related to the incident, an investigating officer recommended on Thursday. Lieutenant Colonel Paul Almanza, after reviewing evidence from a weeklong hearing in December, told the General Court Martial Convening Authority that Bradley Manning should be prosecuted on all 22 charges presented in the hearing, including aiding the enemy and wrongfully causing intelligence to be published on the Internet. ...
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New Afghanistan assessment reflects split U.S. views
Thu,12 Jan 2012 05:51 PM PST
Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. and NATO soldiers have weakened the Taliban but not enough to force the militants to abandon their fight against foreign troops, according to a new intelligence assessment that highlights an abiding division between the U.S. military and intelligence views on the war in Afghanistan. A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the new National Intelligence Estimate on Afghanistan concluded that a stepped-up Western military campaign had done real damage to the Taliban's military prowess but "not enough so to change their strategic calculus. ... Full Story | Top |
Analysis - Is Marine desecration video a new Abu Ghraib?
Thu,12 Jan 2012 05:51 PM PST
Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A video appearing to show U.S. Marines urinating on the bodies of dead Taliban fighters promises to become an enduring memory of the Afghan war and is already drawing sharp reaction from across the world as it goes viral on the Internet. But experts inside and outside the U.S. military are so far unconvinced the incident will cause as much damage as Iraq's Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal did, even as it stirs anti-American sentiment and revives questions about why some American troops appear prone to committing abuses -- and then proudly documenting them. ... Full Story | Top |
Afghan abuse video reinforces Arab suspicion of U.S.
Thu,12 Jan 2012 05:51 PM PST
Reuters - DUBAI (Reuters) - In the Arab world, footage showing American forces urinating on dead Taliban insurgents was for many a bitter reminder of what they fear - that U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were not just about fighting Muslims, but about humiliating them. "If they had urinated on us, it would have been better than what they did to us," said Abu Mostafa, 85, who spent six months in Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison in 2005. "The U.S. assaulted me by beating and torturing me psychologically. ... Full Story | Top |
Santorum employs "Iowa Lite" strategy in S.Carolina
Thu,12 Jan 2012 05:49 PM PST
Reuters -  BLUFFTON, South Carolina (Reuters) - Looking to recapture the magic of his Iowa surge, Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum is bringing to South Carolina the shoe-leather strategy that propelled him to a near-win in the Midwest state. Call it Santorum's Iowa Lite: He is using the same retail politics and frequent town hall meetings - and love of sweater vests - as he tries to win over voters ahead of the first-in-the-South primary on January 21. He's even riding around in the same gray Dodge pickup that carried him to campaign events in the Hawkeye State. ...
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Author of U.S. online piracy bill vows not to buckle
Thu,12 Jan 2012 05:36 PM PST
Reuters -  SAN ANTONIO (Reuters) - The lawmaker behind a bill to combat online piracy vowed on Thursday to press ahead in the face of fierce criticism from Internet giants such as Google and Facebook. "It is amazing to me that the opponents apparently don't want to protect American consumers and businesses," Republican Representative Lamar Smith told Reuters in a telephone interview. "Are they somehow benefitting by directing customers to these foreign websites? Do they profit from selling advertising to these foreign websites? And if they do, they need to be stopped. And I don't mind taking that on. ...
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U.S. to withdraw two brigades from Europe, Panetta says
Thu,12 Jan 2012 05:35 PM PST
Reuters - EL PASO, Texas (Reuters) - The Pentagon will withdraw two brigade combat teams from Europe as part of an effort to slash $487 billion in spending over the next decade, but will maintain a strong presence by rotating units in and out of the region, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said on Thursday. Panetta told the Defense Department press service in an interview that the two brigade combat teams being withdrawn by the Army would be replaced by rotational units. A brigade combat team usually has about 3,000 to 5,000 personnel, depending on makeup. ... Full Story | Top |
Australia fumes over kangaroo cigarette packs
Thu,12 Jan 2012 05:13 PM PST
Reuters - SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia's government has lambasted British and American Tobacco for using the image of a kangaroo on packets of cigarettes sold in Europe, ramping up hostilities with Big Tobacco ahead of a legal battle over plain-packaging laws. Attorney-General Nicola Roxon, who as Health Minister led the drive to introduce laws forcing tobacco products to be sold in plain, olive green packs, said on Friday that the use of the Australian icon to sell cigarettes was outrageous. ... Full Story | Top |
Dean of California Republicans in Congress to retire
Thu,12 Jan 2012 05:09 PM PST
Reuters - LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Representative Jerry Lewis, dean of California's congressional delegation and the state's longest-serving Republican ever on Capitol Hill, said on Thursday he will retire at the end of this year after nearly five decades in politics. Lewis, 77, is the latest in a parade of California lawmakers headed for the exits in 2012 after an overhaul of political boundaries in the state left many incumbents who had long held safe seats in both parties facing difficult or uncertain races in newly drawn districts. ... Full Story | Top |
New Mississippi governor supports amendment on limiting clemency
Thu,12 Jan 2012 05:05 PM PST
Reuters - (Reuters) - Mississippi's new Republican governor backs tightening the rules on pardons after his predecessor, one-time presidential hopeful Haley Barbour, sparked controversy by granting clemency to more than 200 convicts in his final days in office, his spokesman said on Thursday. Governor Phil Bryant, who served as Barbour's lieutenant governor and who took office on Tuesday, would support a state constitutional amendment to tweak the governor's clemency powers, spokesman Mick Bullock said in a statement. ... Full Story | Top |
Analysis: Obama seeks lift from Detroit auto jobs
Thu,12 Jan 2012 04:52 PM PST
Reuters - (Reuters) - A year ago, the Obama administration suffered from a post-bailout hangover and kept a low profile at the annual Detroit auto show with a smaller U.S. industry just beginning to pull out of its worst-ever downturn. But this year, the energized venue was a formal launching pad for what is arguably the chief economic accomplishment of President Barack Obama as he approaches the 2012 election - the resurgence of U.S. automakers made possible by government intervention. ... Full Story | Top |
Group seeks re-vote on birth control clot risk
Thu,12 Jan 2012 04:51 PM PST
Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A watchdog group on Thursday urged the Food and Drug Administration to hold a new vote about blood clot risks from popular birth control pills, after advisers to the agency were shown to have ties to the pillmakers. The FDA asked outside experts in December to discuss the safety of birth control that contains the compound drospirenone, including Bayer's Yaz and Yasmin. The panel decided by a four-vote margin that the benefit of pregnancy prevention from these pills outweighed their risk of dangerous blood clots. ... Full Story | Top |
Texas Senate race exposes Republican tensions
Thu,12 Jan 2012 04:16 PM PST
Reuters - ROUND ROCK, Texas (Reuters) - The fierce battle between the conservative Tea Party movement and establishment Republicans for control of the party is on full display in the race for a Senate seat in Texas this year and the outcome could have national consequences. David Dewhurst, the Texas lieutenant governor since 2003, represents the establishment wing of the party in the first open Senate race in Texas in a decade. He is being challenged by Ted Cruz, a former state solicitor general who is being backed by Tea Party groups around the country. ... Full Story | Top |
MPs want limited competition role for watchdog
Thu,12 Jan 2012 04:12 PM PST
Reuters -  LONDON (Reuters) - The new financial services watchdog should have a clear role to promote consumer choice but no power to intervene under competition law, MPs said in a report on Friday. The new Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) will be launched next year to monitor how investment firms and products comply with conduct of business rules. The government proposed a draft law last June to implement the reform which scraps the Financial Services Authority and divides its tasks between the new FCA and a new Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) at the Bank of England. ...
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U.S. review on Keystone pipeline permitting out soon
Thu,12 Jan 2012 04:11 PM PST
Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. "special review" of the State Department's handling of permitting for the Canada-to-Texas Keystone XL oil pipeline is nearly complete and will likely be released in coming weeks, a federal government source said on Thursday. The timing could mean the results of the review by the State Department's internal watchdog are made public before President Barack Obama is slated to decide whether to allow a permit for the $7 billion project, or rule it not in the national interest. ... Full Story | Top |
Navy wants more cost-cutting from Huntington Ingalls
Thu,12 Jan 2012 04:10 PM PST
Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Navy on Thursday said it is working closely with Huntington Ingalls Industries Inc to continue to drive down costs on the CVN 78 aircraft carrier and LPD amphibious ships the company has under construction. Navy acquisition chief Sean Stackley said the company was over the government's target price for a number of LPD ships under construction, and had hit the cost ceiling established in a fixed price contract for LPD-22, the second ship delivered at the Ingalls shipyard in Pascagoula, Mississippi. ... Full Story | Top |
U.S. has "ideas" on Iran scientist killer: Panetta
Thu,12 Jan 2012 04:10 PM PST
Reuters - EL PASO, Texas (Reuters) - The United States has ideas about who may have assassinated an Iranian nuclear scientist this week but doesn't know for sure and was not involved in any way, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told U.S. soldiers on Thursday. "I can tell you one thing: The United States was not involved in that kind of effort. That's not what the United States does," Panetta told a town hall meeting of soldiers at Fort Bliss. ... Full Story | Top |
Haiti marks two years after catastrophic quake
Thu,12 Jan 2012 04:08 PM PST
Reuters -  PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) - Haitians marked the second anniversary on Thursday of a devastating earthquake that ravaged their impoverished Caribbean country as their president held out new promises to rebuild the shattered land. Many women donned white dresses as they observed a national day of mourning by attending church services across the deeply religious country. They also held solemn ceremonies at mass grave sites to remember the dead from one of the world's worst-ever natural disaster. The 7. ...
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In South Carolina, Romney defends record at equity firm Bain
Thu,12 Jan 2012 03:59 PM PST
Reuters -  GREER, South Carolina (Reuters) - Republican front-runner Mitt Romney defended his leadership on Thursday of a private equity firm at the center of a raging campaign battle in South Carolina over whether while its chief executive he was a job killer. Romney is facing attack ads from rival Newt Gingrich in South Carolina over his tenure at Bain Capital, a private equity outfit that bought and restructured companies, sometimes resulting in the loss of jobs. ...
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