Today's Reuters World News Headlines - Yahoo! News:
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Asian giants seek better ties; China's defense minister in India
Sat,1 Sep 2012 10:27 PM PDT
Reuters -  NEW DELHI (Reuters) - A rare visit to India by China's defense minister should help avoid flare-ups along the border between the nuclear-armed Asian giants at a time when Beijing is grappling with a change of leadership and friction in the South China Sea. But General Liang Guanglie's trip -- the first by a Chinese defense minister in eight years -- also highlights growing competition between the two emerging powers as they jostle for influence and resources across Asia. ...
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Migron settlers begin leaving homes: Israeli army
Sat,1 Sep 2012 10:24 PM PDT
Reuters -  JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Jewish settlers began leaving the unauthorized outpost of Migron in the occupied West Bank on Sunday, the military said, obeying an Israeli supreme court order to vacate their homes by Tuesday. A number of families began moving out of their homes in the hilltop settlement of about 50 families in an orderly fashion, a spokeswoman said, although a few said they would remain and would not go voluntarily, an Israel Radio report added. A police spokesman said officers had started handing eviction orders to the families before dawn. ...
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Questioning Rio's boom - a contrarian in Brazil
Sat,1 Sep 2012 10:06 PM PDT
Reuters - RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - To many in this coastal metropolis, Rio de Janeiro has never had it so good. After decades of decay, crippling crime rates, and a loss of big business to rival São Paulo, Rio is on the rise. A recent boom in Brazil's economy, the discovery of massive offshore oilfields nearby, and Rio's planned hosting of the World Cup and Olympics in the next four years have restored some of the splendor to the tropical city of 6.5 million people. But one local official is tired of the exuberance. ... Full Story | Top |
Mexico's Calderon makes new push for reform of labor laws
Sat,1 Sep 2012 07:24 PM PDT
Reuters - MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexican President Felipe Calderon sent a new proposal to liberalize the country's antiquated labor laws to lawmakers on Saturday as he seeks to fast-track the legislation before leaving office at the end of November. Calderon's draft bill, submitted at the start of the new Congress by Interior Minister Alejandro Poire, is aimed at helping spur stronger growth in Latin America's second biggest economy. ... Full Story | Top |
Sudan says repulses rebel attack in border area
Sat,1 Sep 2012 03:31 PM PDT
Reuters - KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan's army repulsed a rebel attack in the oil-producing border state of South Kordofan, state news agency SUNA said on Saturday, in clashes just days before Sudan and South Sudan are set to resume talks on securing their disputed border. South Sudan split away from Sudan last year under a 2005 peace deal that ended decades of civil war, but the two have remained at odds over a range of issues and conflict has continued to plague their borderlands. ... Full Story | Top |
Angola's Dos Santos secures big election win
Sat,1 Sep 2012 02:31 PM PDT
Reuters - LUANDA (Reuters) - Angola's long-serving President Jose Eduardo dos Santos and his MPLA party scored a landslide win on Saturday in an election criticized as one-sided and not credible by opponents and civil society activists, according to provisional results. The results from Friday's voting announced by the National Elections Commission showed the governing party with 74 percent of the vote - far ahead of its nearest rivals with votes counted from over 70 percent of polling stations. ... Full Story | Top |
Spain's Rajoy says euro zone yields not sustainable: papers
Sat,1 Sep 2012 02:05 PM PDT
Reuters - PARIS/BERLIN (Reuters) - Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy called for decisive action to resolve the financial crisis in the euro zone and dispel any doubts over the future of the euro. Rajoy said in an interview with European newspapers published on Saturday night that the current situation in which some European countries financed themselves at negative rates and others paid "unsustainably high rates" had to end. "The current situation cannot be sustained over a longer period of time," he was quoted as saying in German daily Bild. ... Full Story | Top |
Isaac's remnants bring rain to drought-hit Midwest
Sat,1 Sep 2012 01:47 PM PDT
Reuters -  (Reuters) - The remnants of Hurricane Isaac brought rain to drought-stricken parts of the lower U.S. Midwest on Saturday after the storm killed at least 30 people on its trek across the Caribbean and Louisiana and Mississippi, authorities said. Rainfall totals of no more than 3 inches were expected through the lower Ohio River Valley by Saturday night after Isaac lost much of its punch while passing over Missouri. Top sustained winds had dropped to 20 miles per hour and flash flood threats were diminishing, the National Weather Service said. ...
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Syrian rebels hit back at Assad's air power
Sat,1 Sep 2012 01:03 PM PDT
Reuters -  BEIRUT (Reuters) - Rebels seized an air defense facility and attacked a military airport in eastern Syria on Saturday, a monitoring group said, hitting back at an air force which President Bashar al-Assad is increasingly relying on to crush his opponents. The attacks in eastern oil-producing Deir al-Zor province follow rebel strikes against military airports in the Aleppo and Idlib areas, close to the border with Turkey. ...
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Cardinal says Catholic Church '200 years out of date'
Sat,1 Sep 2012 12:03 PM PDT
Reuters - ROME (Reuters) - The former archbishop of Milan and papal candidate Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini said the Catholic Church was "200 years out of date" in his final interview before his death, published on Saturday. Martini, once favoured by Vatican progressives to succeed Pope John Paul II and a prominent voice in the church until his death at the age of 85 on Friday, gave a scathing portrayal of a pompous and bureaucratic church failing to move with the times. ... Full Story | Top |
In final interview, Cardinal says Church "200 years out of date"
Sat,1 Sep 2012 12:01 PM PDT
Reuters - ROME (Reuters) - The former archbishop of Milan and papal candidate Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini said the Catholic Church was "200 years out of date" in his final interview before his death, published on Saturday. Martini, once favored by Vatican progressives to succeed Pope John Paul II and a prominent voice in the church until his death at the age of 85 on Friday, gave a scathing portrayal of a pompous and bureaucratic church failing to move with the times. ... Full Story | Top |
U.S. must show tougher stance against Iran: Netanyahu confidant
Sat,1 Sep 2012 10:56 AM PDT
Reuters - JERUSALEM (Reuters) - A confidant of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday that U.S. President Barack Obama had yet to present a credible military threat that could deter Iran from seeking nuclear weapons. The latest criticism was voiced by Tzachi Hanegbi, an influential former legislator who quit the opposition Kadima party in July to join up with Likud and Netanyahu, with whom he has always maintained a close relationship. "I don't see that there is a credible threat for American action, the rhetoric of the U.S. president is too vague, very amorphous ... ... Full Story | Top |
Mexico lowers alert level for simmering volcano
Sat,1 Sep 2012 10:49 AM PDT
Reuters - MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico has lowered the alert level for the Popocatepetl volcano near Mexico City four months after the simmering giant raised the alarm when it began spewing red-hot fragments of rock. The National Center for Disaster Prevention said on Saturday it had cut the warning level to yellow phase two from yellow phase three after emergency services concluded there was now no imminent danger for people outside the 7.5-mile (12-km) radius of an exclusion zone around Popocatepetl's crater. The center last raised the alert level on April 16. ... Full Story | Top |
EU worried over Hungary, Romania institutions: paper
Sat,1 Sep 2012 10:07 AM PDT
Reuters - PARIS (Reuters) - A top European Union official praised court rulings in Hungary and Romania which rejected widely criticized attempts to entrench their ruling parties in power, but said she remained worried about both countries' institutions. Viviane Reding, the European Commission's vice president in charge of justice, told Le Monde newspaper that Hungary was one of the most worrying cases and cited the government's bid to lower the retirement age for judges - thrown out in July as unconstitutional. ... Full Story | Top |
Iran would take action if U.S. attacked Syria: official
Sat,1 Sep 2012 10:01 AM PDT
Reuters - DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran would take action if the United States were to carry out an act of "stupidity" and attack Syria, an Iranian military official was quoted as saying on Saturday, but the comments later disappeared from the state-linked agency website. Iran has steadfastly supported Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in his bid to suppress an uprising which both Tehran and Damascus see as a proxy war by Israel and Western states to extend their influence in the Middle East. ... Full Story | Top |
Iran, North Korea agree to cooperate in science, technology
Sat,1 Sep 2012 08:31 AM PDT
Reuters - DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran and North Korea have signed an agreement to cooperate in science and technology, Iranian media reported on Saturday, and Iran's supreme leader declared that the two countries had "common enemies." The two countries will cooperate in research, student exchanges and joint laboratories, and in the fields of information technology, engineering, biotechnology, renewable energy, the environment, sustainable development of agriculture and food technology, the Iranian Labour News Agency (ILNA) reported. ... Full Story | Top |
Iran to hold major air defense drill: commander
Sat,1 Sep 2012 08:05 AM PDT
Reuters -  DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran will hold a large-scale military drill involving all its air defense systems next month, an Iranian commander was quoted as saying on Saturday, one of a number of military simulations it has carried out this year. The air defense drill will include fighter jets and simulate emergency situations, said Farzad Esmaili, commander of the Iranian army's air defense force, according to Iran's English-language Press TV. ...
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Rebels say hold half of Aleppo despite air strikes
Sat,1 Sep 2012 07:40 AM PDT
Reuters - BEIRUT (Reuters) - A local rebel commander in Aleppo said rebels still control more than half of Syria's biggest city after a month of fighting and aerial bombardment, and that the military stalemate was playing into the hands of President Bashar al-Assad's opponents. Assad sent reinforcements to the northern commercial hub in July to seize control back from rebel fighters who had swept into Aleppo from their rural strongholds, and authorities said the army's mission could be accomplished within days. ... Full Story | Top |
Austrian foreign minister takes hard line on Greek aid: paper
Sat,1 Sep 2012 07:23 AM PDT
Reuters - VIENNA (Reuters) - Austrian Foreign Minister Michael Spindelegger opposes giving hard-pressed Greece more leeway to meet terms of an international bailout, he told a newspaper. "I favour (the stance) that the Greeks now have to respect adamantly the conditions negotiated with the EU, that the Troika reviews this, and that Greece gets more money only if it really sticks to the agreed path of reform, without extensions," he told the Oesterreich daily. ... Full Story | Top |
Romania to hold parliamentary election on December 9
Sat,1 Sep 2012 07:23 AM PDT
Reuters - BUCHAREST (Reuters) - Romania will hold a regular parliamentary election on December 9, the government said on Saturday, an event that should draw a line under months of political conflict and a failed attempt by the government to remove the president. The push by Prime Minister Victor Ponta's leftist alliance to dismiss his rival, right-wing President Traian Basescu, slowed policy-making, battered the leu currency and raised questions about the fate of an IMF-led 5 billion euro aid deal. ... Full Story | Top |
Iraq's monthly death toll halves in August
Sat,1 Sep 2012 06:18 AM PDT
Reuters - BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Militants killed 164 Iraqis in August, half the number killed in July, as security forces wrestled with a stubborn insurgency, figures from government ministries showed. According to the data, 90 civilians, 39 soldiers and 35 policemen were killed last month and 260 Iraqis were injured. In July, 325 Iraqis were killed in waves of attacks across the country, making it the bloodiest month in two years. The deadliest day last month was August 16 when a series of bombs, blasts and shootings aimed at security forces and civilians killed more than 70 people. ... Full Story | Top |
Wildfire under control near Spain's Marbella
Sat,1 Sep 2012 06:10 AM PDT
Reuters - MADRID (Reuters) - Firefighters tamed a wildfire on Saturday that had threatened villages north of the upmarket beach resort of Marbella in Spain's southern Costa del Sol, allowing about 4,000 people who had been evacuated to return to their homes and hotels. Emergency officials said one man was killed by the fire but his age and nationality could not be confirmed. He had originally been identified as a British citizen. ... Full Story | Top |
Kyrgyz acting PM resigns as new coalition takes shape
Sat,1 Sep 2012 05:45 AM PDT
Reuters - BISHKEK (Reuters) - Kyrgyzstan's acting prime minister resigned on Saturday after his party appeared to be frozen out of a new coalition to run the volatile former Soviet republic. Omurbek Babanov, a prominent businessman who had served as prime minister since December, will move into opposition ahead of the formation a new coalition government that is likely to comprise three of the five parties in parliament. "He asked to resign because the formation of a new coalition has practically been decided," said Babanov's spokesman, Sultan Kanazarov. ... Full Story | Top |
French pessimism nears all-time high: poll
Sat,1 Sep 2012 05:06 AM PDT
Reuters - PARIS (Reuters) - The French are bleaker about their country's future than at any time since 2005, a new poll showed on Saturday, with 68 percent saying they are "rather" or "very" pessimistic, the highest level ever in the initial months of a new presidency. The poll's findings jibed with a survey released last weekend which found that Socialist President Francois Hollande's approval rating had slipped to 54 percent, continuing a steady decline since he took office in May. ... Full Story | Top |
Indonesia anti-terror squad kills two suspected militants
Sat,1 Sep 2012 02:51 AM PDT
Reuters - JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia's anti-terrorist squad killed two suspected militants in an overnight raid in the city of Solo on Java island, part of an ongoing campaign against militants prompted by the Bali bombings, whose ten-year anniversary falls next month. A member of the elite Detachment 88 police squad died in the shootout and another suspected militant was arrested in a separate location east of Solo, national police spokesman Boy Rafli Amar said on Saturday. ... Full Story | Top |
Twin suicide bomb attack kills 12 in east Afghanistan
Sat,1 Sep 2012 12:43 AM PDT
Reuters - KABUL (Reuters) - A twin suicide bomb attack targeted a NATO base in eastern Afghanistan on Saturday, killing eight civilians and four Afghan policemen, local officials said. A spokesman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said no one from the alliance was killed in the attack, which happened in Wardak province's Sayed Abad district. "The truck bomb was huge, killing 12 and wounding 50 more," said provincial governor spokesman Sahidullah Shahid. ... Full Story | Top |
Ban Ki-moon defends Iran visit, says pushed for change
Fri,31 Aug 2012 08:54 PM PDT
Reuters -  DUBAI (Reuters) - United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has defended his controversial visit to Iran, saying on Friday that he had used this week's trip to push hard for human rights and transparency from Tehran over its nuclear programme. "I believe in the power of diplomacy and I believe in dialogues and I believe in engagement. This is exactly what I did during my visit to Tehran," Ban told Reuters on a stopover in Dubai before flying back to U.N. headquarters in New York. ...
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Chinese activist Chen to visit China's rival Taiwan
Fri,31 Aug 2012 08:43 PM PDT
Reuters -  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Blind Chinese legal activist Chen Guangcheng, whose escape from house arrest sparked a diplomatic crisis between Beijing and Washington, accepted an invitation on Friday to visit Taiwan, underscoring his drive to ensure his influence as a human rights campaigner will continue abroad. Taiwan legislator Lin Chia-lung from the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) visited Chen at New York University, where he is studying law, to invite him to visit Taiwan and to address the island's parliament. ...
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Clinton says U.S. can work with China in Pacific
Fri,31 Aug 2012 08:40 PM PDT
Reuters -  RAROTONGA (Reuters) - The United States will buttress security partnerships across the Pacific as it strengthens ties with island nations, but also hopes to work more closely with China as Beijing expands its own influence in the region, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Friday. Clinton arrived in the tiny Pacific outpost of the Cook Islands for this year's Pacific Islands Forum, part of Washington's effort to woo nations across the Asia-Pacific which are increasingly coming under China's shadow. ...
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Thousands return home after Philippines quake, tsunami warning lifted
Fri,31 Aug 2012 08:19 PM PDT
Reuters -  GUIUAN, Philippines (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of people on a central Philippine island returned home on Saturday after a tsunami alert was lifted following a 7.6 magnitude undersea quake, as local authorities began work to repair damages to public infrastructure. The earthquake 91 miles off the town of Guiuan on Samar island on Friday killed one person and caused only minor damage, but prompted the U.S. Pacific Tsunami Warning Center to issued a tsunami warning. ...
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Maldives police disperse protesters after clash
Fri,31 Aug 2012 07:29 PM PDT
Reuters - MALE (Reuters) - Maldives security forces wielding batons late on Friday charged thousands of protesters led by former leader Mohamed Nasheed heading along a road leading to the presidential palace, badly injuring one. More than 3,000 protesters, mostly youths, marched towards the palace along with Nasheed, demanding the government hold an early election and calling on President Mohamed Waheed to resign. ... Full Story | Top |
Venezuela restarts two refinery units after blast
Fri,31 Aug 2012 06:32 PM PDT
Reuters -  CARACAS (Reuters) - Workers have restarted two key production units at Venezuela's biggest refinery after an explosion a week ago that killed nearly 50 people, sparked a huge fire and halted operations at the facility, state oil company PDVSA said on Friday. Firefighters battled for days to put out burning storage tanks. None of the production units were affected, but were temporarily taken off line at the 645,000 barrel per day Amuay refinery, which is part of the second-biggest refinery complex in the world. ...
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Mexico's Pena Nieto confirmed president-elect, rival defiant
Fri,31 Aug 2012 06:12 PM PDT
Reuters -  MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico's electoral tribunal confirmed Enrique Pena Nieto as president-elect on Friday, but his rival refused to accept defeat and held out the possibility of further protests that could hamper reform efforts. The tribunal threw out an attempt to overturn the election result by leftist leader Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who had accused Pena Nieto of laundering money and buying votes in the July election. Centrist Pena Nieto, 46, will be sworn in on December 1 and has pledged a raft of fiscal, labor and energy reforms, which Lopez Obrador is likely to resist. ...
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Brazil presses Venezuela on alleged Amazon massacre
Fri,31 Aug 2012 06:09 PM PDT
Reuters - Caracas (Reuters) - Brazil said on Friday it is pressing Venezuela to determine whether Brazilian gold miners crossed the border and massacred a village of about 80 indigenous people from a helicopter. The alleged assault, which a tribal group says could have killed more than 70 people in early July, came to light earlier this week when the group asked Venezuela's government to investigate. Because of the remoteness of the region and the scattered nature of the native settlements, fellow tribe members were able to alert the government only on Monday. ... Full Story | Top |
Congo asks U.N. to sanction Rwanda officials for rebel support
Fri,31 Aug 2012 04:10 PM PDT
Reuters -  UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The Democratic Republic of Congo said on Friday it has asked the U.N. Security Council to place sanctions on Rwanda's defense minister and two top military officials for backing an army mutiny in the country's east. M23 rebels, who have links to Bosco Ntaganda, a warlord wanted by the International Criminal Court on war crimes charges, have been fighting government soldiers in North Kivu province since April, displacing some 470,000 civilians. ...
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U.S.-Israeli military exercise to be smaller than first planned
Fri,31 Aug 2012 04:00 PM PDT
Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S.-Israeli ballistic missile exercise postponed until this autumn will involve fewer U.S. military personnel than initially planned, the Pentagon said on Friday, but it rejected a media report portraying the decision as a sign of U.S. mistrust. The exercise is being planned amid rising war talk in the Israeli media and reports that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak are debating a unilateral attack on Iran to knock out its nuclear installations. Washington has cautioned Israel against going it alone. ... Full Story | Top |
Turkey to keep pushing for UN-backed Syria safe zones
Fri,31 Aug 2012 03:46 PM PDT
Reuters - ISTANBUL/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Turkey will continue to seek international backing for a foreign-protected safe zone inside Syria after a U.N. Security Council meeting this week failed to deliver much beyond a French plan to channel more aid to rebel-held areas. French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said France and Turkey had identified "liberated zones" in the north and south that had escaped President Bashar al-Assad's control and which, if given funding and properly administered, could serve as a refuge for civilians caught in the chaos. ... Full Story | Top |
Mexico extradites last Arellano Felix brother on drug charges
Fri,31 Aug 2012 03:25 PM PDT
Reuters -  MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - The Mexican government on Friday extradited alleged drug kingpin Eduardo Arellano Felix to the United States, the third brother from the Tijuana-based family to be taken into U.S. custody. Arellano Felix, 55, was taken to San Diego, where he faces charges of racketeering, money laundering and narcotics trafficking. He had been arrested in Mexico in 2008, following a gun battle with Mexican special forces. ...
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Clinton seeks to boost U.S. Pacific ties as China expands
Fri,31 Aug 2012 03:21 PM PDT
Reuters - RAROTONGA (Reuters) - The United States will expand security partnerships across the Pacific as it strengthens ties with island nations that sit at the intersection of vast maritime resources and key shipping routes, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Friday. Clinton arrived in the tiny Pacific outpost of the Cook Islands to participate in this year's Pacific Island Forum, part of Washington's growing effort to woo nations across the Asia-Pacific which are increasingly coming under China's shadow. ...
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U.N. says Haiti struggling to cope with cholera as aid withdrawn
Fri,31 Aug 2012 03:15 PM PDT
Reuters -  UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon warned on Friday that Haiti was struggling to cope with a cholera epidemic that has killed thousands and deteriorating conditions in tent camps as aid groups withdraw from the impoverished country due to a lack of funding. In a report to the U.N. Security Council, Ban said there had been an increase in the number of cholera cases since the rainy season began in early March and the World Health Organization had projected there could be up to 112,000 cases during 2012. ...
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