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Sweden wins song contest marked by Azeri dissent
Sat,26 May 2012 11:44 PM PDT
Reuters -  BAKU (Reuters) - By Margarita Antidze BAKU, May 27 (Reuters) - Sweden's Loreen won the Eurovision Song Contest in Azerbaijan on Sunday before an international TV audience of 100 million, days after angering Azeri authorities by meeting rights activists critical of the host country's human rights record. Opposition groups have used the Eurovision spotlight, intended by Azerbaijan to promote the oil-rich country as a destination for tourism and business, to demand democratic reform and the resignation of the government. Dozens of peaceful protesters have been arrested this month in Baku. ...
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India PM seeks to heal bad blood on Myanmar visit
Sat,26 May 2012 10:30 PM PDT
Reuters -  SITTWE, Myanmar (Reuters) - In northwest Myanmar, where the Kaladan River flows out into the Bay of Bengal, the two giant arms of a half-built wharf enfold the estuarine mud with steel and concrete. Their embrace is fraternal - Myanmar's giant neighbor India is funding the new port in Sittwe, the capital of Rakhine State - but also strategic. The port is part of a $214-million river and road network that will carve a trade route into India's landlocked northeast and underscore New Delhi's determination to capitalize on Myanmar's growing importance at Asia's crossroads. ...
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Nepal on alert as clock ticks towards constitution deadline
Sat,26 May 2012 10:20 PM PDT
Reuters -  KATHMANDU (Reuters) - Nepal stood on the brink of fresh political turmoil on Sunday as wrangling over the young Himalayan republic's first federal constitution ground towards a midnight deadline. A new constitution is widely seen as crucial to helping end the instability that has plagued Nepal since the end of a Maoist-led civil war in 2006 and subsequent overthrow of the monarchy, but it has been thwarted by demands for the country to be divided into states along ethnic lines. ...
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China detains official for rapes after online uproar
Sat,26 May 2012 09:24 PM PDT
Reuters - BEIJING (Reuters) - Police in central China detained a former Communist Party official on suspicion of raping underage girls, state media said on Sunday, following an online uproar about the latest case of abuse of power. Li Xingong, who was the party's deputy head in Yongcheng city in Henan province, is accused of assaulting more than ten girls during police interrogations, the official Xinhua news agency reported. City authorities have "ordered swift and severe punishment on the suspect in accordance with relevant laws", it added. ... Full Story | Top |
Jordan hikes gasoline, power prices to ease budget deficit
Sat,26 May 2012 04:09 PM PDT
Reuters - AMMAN (Reuters) - Jordan has raised the price of gasoline and electricity for major mining firms, hotels and banks, to ease its worsening budget deficit that could reach $4 billion this year, officials said on Saturday. The move, announced by the cabinet, which takes effect after midnight is the first major rise in retail gasoline prices since street protests early last year inspired by the wave of Arab unrest pushed the authorities to expand social spending and freeze fuel price hikes, including gasoline. The prices of premium petrol would increase to 1 dinar ($1.4) from 0. ... Full Story | Top |
Sweden wins Eurovision Song Contest
Sat,26 May 2012 03:54 PM PDT
Reuters -  BAKU (Reuters) - Sweden's Loreen won the Eurovision Song Contest in Azerbaijan on Sunday before an international TV audience of 100 million, days after angering Azeri authorities by meeting rights activists critical of the host country's human rights record. Opposition groups have used the Eurovision spotlight, intended by Azerbaijan to promote the country as a destination for tourism and business, to demand democracy and the resignation of the government. Dozens of peaceful protesters have been arrested this month in the Caspian coastal capital, Baku. ...
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U.N. says over 92 killed in Syria, 32 of them children
Sat,26 May 2012 03:52 PM PDT
Reuters -  BEIRUT (Reuters) - The United Nations said on Saturday that more than 92 people were killed in what activists described as an artillery barrage by government forces in the worst violence since the start of a U.N. peace plan to slow the flow of blood in Syria's uprising. The bloodied bodies of children, some with their skulls split open, were shown in footage posted to YouTube purporting to show the victims of the shelling in the central town of Houla on Friday. The sound of wailing filled the room. ...
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Mali Tuaregs, Islamist rebels agree to merge, create new state
Sat,26 May 2012 03:51 PM PDT
Reuters - BAMAKO (Reuters) - Mali's Tuareg rebel National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) and Ansar Dine Islamist militants have agreed to merge and create an independent Islamic state in the north of the country, a rebel spokesman said on Saturday. The deal between MNLA, which has said it wants an independent secular state in the north, and the al Qaeda-linked Salafist Ansar Dine, which had wanted to impose Sharia across Mali, may complicate international efforts to stabilize Mali after a March coup that plunged the country into chaos. ... Full Story | Top |
French back Hollande's first days in power: poll
Sat,26 May 2012 01:29 PM PDT
Reuters -  PARIS (Reuters) - Close to two thirds of French people approve of President Francois Hollande's actions in his first days in power, a poll showed on Saturday, giving him a strong foundation to face a parliamentary election and the challenges of the euro crisis. Hollande took on the top job on May 15 at a time of stagnating economic growth and high unemployment in France and heightened anxiety over Greece's ability to remain in the euro zone. ...
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Two separate attacks wound five in north east Kenya
Sat,26 May 2012 01:06 PM PDT
Reuters - ISIOLO, Kenya (Reuters) - Suspected grenade attacks at a hotel and a refugee camp in northeastern Kenya wounded at least five people on Saturday, police said, days after a similar strike in the same region. Grenade and improvised explosive device (IED) attacks in Kenya have become more frequent since it sent troops to Somalia to pursue al Shabaab insurgents it blames for a wave of kidnappings last year. Police said four builders at a primary school in the Ifo refugee camp in Garissa, and one person at a hotel in Wajir were wounded in the attacks. ... Full Story | Top |
Greek pro-bailout conservatives regain lead: polls
Sat,26 May 2012 12:27 PM PDT
Reuters -  ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece's conservatives have regained an opinion poll lead that would allow the formation of a pro-bailout government committed to keeping the country in the euro zone, a batch of new surveys showed on Saturday. Greece was forced to call repeat elections for June 17 after a May 6 vote left parliament divided evenly between groups of parties that support and oppose the austerity conditions attached to a 130 billion euro bailout agreed with the European Union and International Monetary Fund in March. ...
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Islamist and ex-PM vie for mantle of Egypt's revolt
Sat,26 May 2012 12:26 PM PDT
Reuters -  CAIRO (Reuters) - The Muslim Brotherhood and a military man close to ousted leader Hosni Mubarak courted defeated first-round candidates in Egypt's presidential election on Saturday, each trying to claim the mantle of the uprising before a run-off next month. State television said the Brotherhood's Mohamed Mursi led this week's vote with 26.4 percent, against 23 percent for ex-air force chief Ahmed Shafiq, according to preliminary results. Hamdeen Sabahy, a secular leftist came a close third with 21.5 percent, followed by independent Islamist Abdel Moneim Abol Fotouh. ...
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Islamists walk out of Algeria parliament in protest
Sat,26 May 2012 11:36 AM PDT
Reuters -  ALGIERS (Reuters) - Islamist lawmakers walked out of the inaugural session of Algeria's parliament on Saturday to protest against an election they say was rigged to hand a majority to the ruling elite's party. Algeria, supplier of about a fifth of Europe's imported gas, is the only country in north Africa left largely untouched by last year's "Arab Spring" revolts, but some analysts predict unrest if the establishment does not loosen its grip on power. ...
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Serbian tells Putin he will not trade Kosovo for EU
Sat,26 May 2012 11:27 AM PDT
Reuters - MOSCOW (Reuters) - Serbia is on a "long and uncertain" road to joining the European Union but will not give up its claim to Kosovo for the sake of membership, President-elect Tomislav Nikolic told Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday. It was Nikolic's first foreign trip since he was elected president on May 20. The election of the former leader of the ultranationalist Radical Party triggered speculation the country might abandon its pro-Western path steered since the overthrow of late Serb strongman Slobodan Milosevic in 2000. ... Full Story | Top |
Putin puts Medvedev in charge of Russia's ruling party
Sat,26 May 2012 11:27 AM PDT
Reuters -  MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin steered Dmitry Medvedev into the chairmanship of Russia's ruling party on Saturday and demanded reforms to the flagging organization he will rely on to keep his grip on the country's far-flung regions. At Putin's behest, delegates at a United Russia congress elected Medvedev chairman with a unanimous show of hands, the final step in a choreographed role reversal the longtime leader hopes will preserve his rule against growing opposition. After four years of playing No. ...
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PKK says it carried out Turkey suicide car bomb
Sat,26 May 2012 11:17 AM PDT
Reuters - ISTANBUL (Reuters) - The militant Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) claimed responsibility on Saturday for a suicide car bomb attack in central Turkey that killed one policeman, and media reports said the bombers had entered Turkey from Syria. Four suspects have been detained in connection with the attack, Interior Minister Idris Naim Sahin told reporters. Two militants set off a bomb inside their car near a police station at Pinarbasi in Turkey's central Kayseri province on Friday, killing themselves and one policeman and wounding 18 others. ... Full Story | Top |
Egypt's Brotherhood would keep Israel treaty: Carter
Sat,26 May 2012 10:44 AM PDT
Reuters - CAIRO (Reuters) - The Muslim Brotherhood may seek to modify, but will not destroy, Egypt's 33-year-old peace treaty with Israel, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter said on Saturday. Carter, 87, was speaking after initial vote tallies put the Brotherhood's candidate ahead in the first round of Egypt's presidential election, which his Carter Center helped monitor. The U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
Ethiopia detains, quizzes U.S. journalist: VOA
Sat,26 May 2012 10:37 AM PDT
Reuters - ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Ethiopian authorities briefly detained a journalist for Voice of America (VOA) and his translator as he covered a dispute between Muslims and the government in the capital Addis Ababa, the U.S. broadcaster said on Saturday. Peter Heinlein and translator Simegineh Yekoye were arrested after leaving a meeting about the dispute at a mosque on Friday afternoon and released without charge the following morning, VOA said. "We were interrogated by a police officer who told us that we had engaged in illegal reporting. ... Full Story | Top |
Final polls show Irish set to pass referendum
Sat,26 May 2012 10:36 AM PDT
Reuters - DUBLIN (Reuters) - Final opinion polls show that Irish voters are likely to give the green light to the European Union's new fiscal treaty, with the 'Yes' campaign leading comfortably ahead of the referendum on Thursday. Ireland will hold what is likely to be the only popular vote on the so-called "fiscal compact", a German-inspired pact for stricter budget discipline. The 'Yes' campaign, supported by the three largest political parties who have warned a rejection would undermine the country's position in the euro zone, has been ahead in the polls since the vote was called three months ago. ... Full Story | Top |
Four EU leaders set June 22 crisis talks
Sat,26 May 2012 10:11 AM PDT
Reuters - PARIS/MADRID (Reuters) - The leaders of France, Germany, Spain and Italy will meet on June 22 to discuss the euro zone crisis, said a spokeswoman for the Spanish prime minister's office. "They've just confirmed the date," she said. Earlier, Le Figaro newspaper had reported the summit would take place in Rome, citing Italian sources. Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti had suggested a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Francois Hollande and Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, but there was difficulty setting a date. ... Full Story | Top |
No need to wait for November to know election outcome
Sat,26 May 2012 09:33 AM PDT
Reuters - NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - Many folks may fret themselves into a frenzy over the November U.S. elections and whether the world will come to an end on December 21, but for about 1,500 people gathered in New Orleans for the United Astrologers Conference, all will be revealed this week. "Some of the world's top astrologers are here to answer questions about the election, the global economy and perhaps even the Super Bowl," said Madalyn Hillis-Dineen, a 30-year practitioner of astrology and a coordinator of the conference that occurs every four years. ... Full Story | Top |
Brother of blind Chinese activist returns home: lawyer
Sat,26 May 2012 09:27 AM PDT
Reuters -  The brother of blind Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng who was reported to have gone missing has returned to his village in northeastern China, a lawyer said on Saturday. The short disappearance of Chen Guangfu had sparked concerns he was the latest target of government reprisals against the family of the activist, who escaped from his village in late April after 19 months of detention at home. Shandong-based lawyer Liu Weiguo told Reuters Chen Guangfu had returned to Dongshigu village. ...
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Muslims buried in Bosnia town, Serb veterans march
Sat,26 May 2012 09:26 AM PDT
Reuters - VISEGRAD, Bosnia (Reuters) - The bodies of 66 Bosnian Muslims, murdered and dumped in the Drina river 20 years ago, were buried in Visegrad in eastern Bosnia on Saturday, hours after a march through the town by Serb veterans of the 1992-95 war. Nestled in the river valley, Visegrad is indicative of Bosnia's unhealed wounds. Muslims made up two-thirds of the town's 21,000 population before the war, but were driven out by Bosnian Serb forces. Just a few hundred have returned to live. ... Full Story | Top |
Paolo Gabriele: from papal butler to accused traitor
Sat,26 May 2012 09:04 AM PDT
Reuters - VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Paolo Gabriele was always a reserved, almost shy man, as his position required. He had access to the most private rooms in the Vatican's Apostolic Palace - Pope Benedict's apartment. But what could have prompted the pope's butler, who was formally charged by Vatican magistrates on Saturday with illegal possession of secret documents, to betray the man who trusted him? Was it money? Probably not. ... Full Story | Top |
Islamist and ex-PM vie for mantle of Egypt's revolt
Sat,26 May 2012 08:54 AM PDT
Reuters -  CAIRO (Reuters) - The Muslim Brotherhood and a military man close to ousted leader Hosni Mubarak courted defeated first-round candidates in Egypt's presidential election on Saturday, each trying to claim the mantle of the uprising before a run-off next month. State television said the Brotherhood's Mohamed Mursi led this week's vote with 26.4 percent, against 23 percent for ex-air force chief Ahmed Shafiq, according to preliminary results. Hamdeen Sabahy, a secular leftist came a close third with 21.5 percent, followed by independent Islamist Abdel Moneim Abol Fotouh. ...
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Israeli settler shoots Palestinian in West Bank
Sat,26 May 2012 08:27 AM PDT
Reuters - NABLUS, West Bank (Reuters) - An Israeli settler shot and wounded a Palestinian man on Saturday in a clash that began when a group of settlers set fire to fields belonging to a Palestinian village in the occupied West Bank, officials said. Residents said about 25 settlers, some of them carrying guns, set fire to wheat fields in the village of Orif, which is near the northern West Bank city of Nablus. Some villagers came out to extinguish the fire and clashed with the settlers, said Nablus official Kassan Daglas. ... Full Story | Top |
Swiss working on emergency euro plan: minister
Sat,26 May 2012 08:20 AM PDT
Reuters - ZURICH (Reuters) - The Swiss government has set up a working group to consider how to support the economy in the case of an escalation of the euro zone crisis, Economy Minister Johann Schneider-Amman was quoted as saying on Saturday. He told Swiss radio the working group was drawing up plans on how the government could intervene to support financial and labor markets if the economy was hit in a worst-case scenario. ... Full Story | Top |
Over 90 killed in Syria massacre, activists say
Sat,26 May 2012 08:13 AM PDT
Reuters -  BEIRUT (Reuters) - A Syrian artillery barrage killed more than 90 people, including dozens of children, in the worst violence since the start of a U.N. peace plan to staunch the flow of blood from Syria's uprising, activists said on Saturday. The bloodied bodies of children, some with their skulls split open, were shown in footage posted to YouTube purporting to show the victims of the shelling in the central town of Houla on Friday. The sound of wailing filled the room. ...
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Egypt candidate to seek election suspension: lawyer
Sat,26 May 2012 08:12 AM PDT
Reuters -  CAIRO (Reuters) - Leftist candidate Hamdeen Sabahy will file an appeal for Egypt's presidential election to be suspended because of alleged voting irregularities and a pending case over former Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq's right to stand, Sabahy's lawyer said on Saturday. "We will present an appeal on behalf of candidate Hamdeen Sabahy ... to the presidential electoral committee, citing a series of irregularities ... that have affected the outcome of the first round," lawyer Essam El-Islamboly told Reuters. ...
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Egypt candidate to seek election suspension-lawyer
Sat,26 May 2012 08:11 AM PDT
Reuters - CAIRO (Reuters) - Leftist candidate Hamdeen Sabahy will file an appeal for Egypt's presidential election to be suspended because of alleged voting irregularities and a pending case over former Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq's right to stand, Sabahy's lawyer said on Saturday. "We will present an appeal on behalf of candidate Hamdeen Sabahy ... to the presidential electoral committee, citing a series of irregularities ... that have affected the outcome of the first round," lawyer Essam El-Islamboly told Reuters. ... Full Story | Top |
Government plans migrant curbs if euro folds - paper
Sat,26 May 2012 07:12 AM PDT
Reuters -  LONDON (Reuters) - Britain is drawing up emergency immigration controls to combat any surge in economic migrants from Greece and other European Union countries if the euro collapses, its interior minister said in remarks published on Saturday. Theresa May did not say what steps Britain could apply. Every national in the single market has the right to work in a fellow member state, although temporary restrictions can apply to new member countries. "As in every part of government, it is right that we do some contingency planning on this," she told the Daily Telegraph newspaper. ...
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No German money for Greek ''bottomless pit'': minister
Sat,26 May 2012 06:48 AM PDT
Reuters - BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany will not "pour money into a bottomless pit" and patience with Greece is growing thin ahead of a new election in the Mediterranean country, a conservative member of Chancellor Angela Merkel's cabinet was quoted on Saturday as saying. Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich told the Leipziger Volkszeitung newspaper that Germany, Europe's largest economy and the biggest contributor to rescue efforts, is glad to help Greece help itself but expects it to honor its agreements. "We're not willing to pour money into a bottomless pit," he told the newspaper. ... Full Story | Top |
Analysis: Revolutionaries see reversal in Egypt vote
Sat,26 May 2012 06:42 AM PDT
Reuters - CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's revolutionaries did not take to the streets to replace Hosni Mubarak with another military strongman or to put an Islamist ideologue in charge, but that is the choice they woke up to after a first-round vote for the presidency. The youths who put national pride before religion when they protested against Mubarak's autocratic rule last year have increasingly despaired, saying the revolution they initiated has been hijacked by generals and the Muslim Brotherhood. ... Full Story | Top |
Egypt's Shafiq vows to guard revolution's gains
Sat,26 May 2012 06:42 AM PDT
Reuters - CAIRO (Reuters) - Ahmed Shafiq, who will fight an Islamist candidate in a runoff for Egypt's presidency next month, vowed on Saturday to restore security after the revolution that unseated Hosni Mubarak. Shafiq, 70, an ex-air force commander like Mubarak, is widely viewed as a symbol of the old order, but sought to combat that image after coming second to the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohamed Mursi in this week's first round. "Your revolution was stolen," he told a news conference, addressing youth groups that spearheaded last year's popular uprising. "I pledge to return its fruits to your hands. ... Full Story | Top |
Pope's butler charged over leaks scandal
Sat,26 May 2012 06:15 AM PDT
Reuters -  VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Vatican magistrates formally charged Pope Benedict's butler with illegal possession of secret documents on Saturday and said a wider investigation would take place to see if he had any accomplices who helped him leak them. Paolo Gabriele is suspected of leaking highly sensitive documents, some alleging cronyism and corruption in Vatican contracts, in a scandal which has come to be known as "Vatileaks". A statement referred to Gabriele, 46, who was until his arrest on Wednesday night serving the pope meals and helping him dress, as "the defendant". ...
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Iran has enough uranium for 5 bombs: expert
Sat,26 May 2012 05:48 AM PDT
Reuters -  Iran has significantly stepped up its output of low-enriched uranium and total production in the last five years would be enough for at least five nuclear weapons if refined much further, a U.S. security institute said. The Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS), a think-tank which tracks Iran's nuclear program closely, based the analysis on data in the latest report by the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) which was issued on Friday. ...
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Yemen's army says recaptured rebel positions
Sat,26 May 2012 05:26 AM PDT
Reuters - ADEN (Reuters) - The Yemeni army battled al Qaeda-linked militants deep inside Zinjibar on Saturday, recapturing key positions in the rebel-held southern city and killing at least 62 Islamist fighters, a military official said. The official said four government soldiers died and four were wounded in the fighting, part of an offensive that began earlier this month to uproot Islamist militants from southern Yemen. He said many of the dead militants were Somalis. ... Full Story | Top |
Cannes' Middle East films show Arab Spring unfurl
Sat,26 May 2012 05:10 AM PDT
Reuters - CANNES, France (Reuters) - The "Arab Spring" is the focus of two movies at Cannes this year as film makers present tentative steps towards democracy on the big screen, one year after political upheaval in Libya and Egypt. While both films deal with contemporary events in the Middle East, "The Oath of Tobruk" ("Le Serment de Tobrouk") is a French-language documentary about the Libyan war with a highly subjective slant. "After the Battle" ("Baad el Mawkeaa") is a fictional account of the uprising in Cairo from Egyptian director Yousry Nasrallah. ... Full Story | Top |
Egypt's Shafiq vows to guard revolution's gains
Sat,26 May 2012 05:07 AM PDT
Reuters - CAIRO (Reuters) - Ahmed Shafiq, who will fight an Islamist candidate in a runoff for Egypt's presidency next month, vowed on Saturday to restore security after the revolution that unseated Hosni Mubarak. Shafiq, 70, an ex-air force commander like Mubarak, is widely viewed as a symbol of the old order, but sought to combat that image after coming second to the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohamed Mursi in this week's first round. "Your revolution was stolen," he told a news conference, addressing youth groups that spearheaded last year's popular uprising. "I pledge to return its fruits to your hands. ... Full Story | Top |
Iran plays down U.N. nuclear report
Sat,26 May 2012 04:57 AM PDT
Reuters - DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran has played down a United Nations report that said Iranian nuclear scientists had enriched uranium to a higher-than-expected level, state media reported on Saturday. On Friday, the International Atomic Energy Agency reported that samples taken in February showed particles with enrichment levels of up to 27 percent - putting Iran further down the road to making potentially weapons-grade uranium. ... Full Story | Top |
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