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| Al Qaeda's Zawahri calls for kidnap of Westerners Friday, Oct 26, 2012 11:49 PM PDT  DUBAI (Reuters) - Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri has called on Muslims to kidnap Westerners, join Syria's rebellion and ensure Egypt implements sharia, SITE Monitoring reported, citing a two-part film posted on Islamist websites. "We are seeking, by the help of Allah, to capture others and to incite Muslims to capture the citizens of the countries that are fighting Muslims in order to release our captives," he said, praising the kidnapping of Warren Weinstein, a 71-year-old American aid worker in Pakistan last year. ... Full Story | Top |
| Muslim Rohingyas under "vicious" attack in Myanmar: rights group Friday, Oct 26, 2012 11:13 PM PDT  SITTWE, Myanmar (Reuters) - A human rights group expressed concern for the safety of thousands of Muslims on Saturday after revealing satellite images of a once-thriving coastal community reduced to ashes during a week of violence in western Myanmar. The images released by the New York-based Human Rights Watch show "near total destruction" of a predominantly Rohingya Muslim part of Kyaukpyu, one of several areas in Rakhine state where battles between Rohingyas and ethnic Rakhine Buddhists threaten to derail the former Burma's fragile democratic transition. ... Full Story | Top |
| Over a thousand protest over chemical plant in east China Friday, Oct 26, 2012 09:18 PM PDT NINGBO, China (Reuters) - More than a thousand people gathered in the eastern Chinese port city of Ningbo on Saturday to protest against plans to expand a petrochemical plant, highlighting a major challenge for the leadership as it readies for its once-in-a-decade power transition. On Friday, protesters overturned a police car and attacked the police. ... Full Story | Top |
| Hurricane Sandy slogs toward U.S., 41 killed in Caribbean Friday, Oct 26, 2012 04:54 PM PDT  MIAMI (Reuters) - Hurricane Sandy, a late-season Atlantic cyclone that threatens to be one of the worst storms to hit the Northeast in decades, slogged slowly northward on Friday after killing at least 41 people in the Caribbean. Forecasters said wind damage, widespread and extended power outages and coastal and inland flooding were anticipated across a broad swath of the densely populated U.S. East Coast when Sandy comes ashore early next week. "We're expecting a large, large storm. ... Full Story | Top |
| Indicted Imam to receive new prosthetics in U.S. jail Friday, Oct 26, 2012 04:37 PM PDT  NEW YORK (Reuters) - A radical Islamist cleric facing U.S. terrorism charges will be outfitted with new prosthetics after authorities refused to allow him to wear metal hooks in place of his missing hands when he is outside of his jail cell, his lawyer said on Friday. The Egyptian-born preacher, Abu Hamza al-Masri, who is missing both hands and his right eye, appeared in Manhattan federal court for the third time since his October 6 extradition to the United States from Britain as prosecutors and lawyers discussed procedure with the judge. ... Full Story | Top |
| Shot Pakistani girl recovering fast in UK: father Friday, Oct 26, 2012 03:08 PM PDT  BIRMINGHAM, England (Reuters) - The father of a Pakistani girl shot in the head by the Taliban for advocating girls' education said on Friday she would "rise again" to pursue her dreams after hospital treatment. Malala Yousufzai, 15, was flown from Pakistan to Britain for specialist treatment after the October 9 attack, which drew widespread international condemnation. The father Ziauddin Yousufzai and other family members arrived in Britain on Thursday to help her recovery. "They wanted to kill her. But she fell temporarily. She will rise again. ... Full Story | Top |
| Small fire breaks out near Khartoum arms factory Friday, Oct 26, 2012 01:17 PM PDT KHARTOUM (Reuters) - A small fire broke out on Friday near Sudan's biggest arms factory in the capital Khartoum, a witness and state media said, two days after Sudan accused Israel of bombing the site. Sudan, which analysts say is used as an arms-smuggling route to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip via neighboring Egypt, said on Wednesday an Israeli air strike had caused a huge explosion and fire at the plant. Israel has declined to comment. ... Full Story | Top |
| Merkel's conservatives reach three-year high in key opinion poll Friday, Oct 26, 2012 01:05 PM PDT  BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives climbed to their highest level in more than three years in a leading opinion poll published on Friday, but the results pointed to no outright winner emerging from next September's election. The closely watched Politbarometer for ZDF TV indicated neither Merkel's center-right coalition nor a center-left alliance would be able to win a majority. The ZDF poll also showed a 48 to 44 percent majority of Germans now believe Greece should remain in the euro zone, up two points from the previous poll. ... Full Story | Top |
| Rival jailed, Ukraine president on path to victory Friday, Oct 26, 2012 12:48 PM PDT  KIEV (Reuters) - President Viktor Yanukovich looks set for victory in a national election in Ukraine this weekend, despite his jailed rival Yulia Tymoshenko calling on voters to stop an imminent "dictatorship". Yanukovich's Party of the Regions and a union of opposition forces backing Tymoshenko held final public rallies on Friday in the capital Kiev ahead of Sunday's poll for a new parliament. No opinion polls have been published since October 18, under an official information blackout. ... Full Story | Top |
| Myanmar revises down death toll in sectarian violence Friday, Oct 26, 2012 12:36 PM PDT SITTWE, Myanmar (Reuters) - Myanmar authorities on Friday revised down to 64 the number of people killed in six days of unrest in the west of the country, after security forces opened fire to break up violence between Buddhists and Muslims. A spokesman for Rakhine State, where the fighting took place, had earlier put the death toll at 112, but later scaled that back, blaming "clerical errors". ... Full Story | Top |
| Saudi cleric calls for "urgent" action to stop Syria bloodshed Friday, Oct 26, 2012 12:08 PM PDT MINA, Saudi Arabia (Reuters) - The imam of Mecca's Grand Mosque called on Arabs and Muslims on Friday to take "practical and urgent" steps to stop bloodshed in Syria that has killed some 30,000 people, and urged world states to assume their moral responsibility towards the conflict. Muslims from around the world on Friday celebrated Eid al-Adha, which marks the annual Muslim haj pilgrimage that this year attracted more than three million people from nearly 190 countries. ... Full Story | Top |
| Greek opposition rejects new cuts but won't force poll Friday, Oct 26, 2012 11:15 AM PDT  PARIS (Reuters) - Greece's opposition leader denounced international lenders' demands as dealing the "final blow" to a devastated economy but said on Friday he would not seek to bring down the government. Alexis Tsipras, head of the far-left Syriza party, said cuts to wages and welfare payments in a package the government agreed with the European Union and International Monetary Fund would pile misery on Greeks enduring a fifth year in recession. ... Full Story | Top |
| Damascus car bomb shatters Syria truce Friday, Oct 26, 2012 10:46 AM PDT BEIRUT (Reuters) - A powerful car bomb exploded in Damascus on Friday and forces loyal to Bashar al-Assad clashed with rebels across Syria as a truce intended to mark a Muslim religious holiday unraveled and activists reported at least 70 deaths. State television said the "terrorist car bomb" had killed five people and wounded 32, according to "preliminary figures". Opposition activists said the bomb had gone off near a makeshift children's playground built for the Eid al-Adha holiday in the southern Daf al-Shok district of the capital. ... Full Story | Top |
| Italy's Berlusconi sentenced to jail for tax fraud Friday, Oct 26, 2012 10:46 AM PDT  MILAN (Reuters) - Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was sentenced to four years in jail on Friday for tax fraud in connection with the purchase of broadcasting rights by his Mediaset television company. The 76-year-old billionaire media magnate, who was convicted three times during the 1990s in the first degree before being cleared by higher courts, has the right to appeal the ruling two more times before the sentence becomes definitive. That process is likely to be lengthy and he will not be jailed unless he loses the final appeal. ... Full Story | Top |
| Ex-Soviet summit postponed amid worries over Putin's health Friday, Oct 26, 2012 10:13 AM PDT  MOSCOW/MINSK (Reuters) - A summit of leaders of ex-Soviet states scheduled for the start of November has been postponed, an official said on Friday, amid talk that Russian President Vladimir Putin is suffering from back trouble. The Executive Committee of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), a loose group created as the Soviet Union broke apart in 1991, said earlier this month the summit was due to take place in Turkmenistan on November 2. "The (new) dates are being confirmed. They are being agreed with all the presidents," said CIS spokeswoman Vera Yakubovskaya. ... Full Story | Top |
| China starts formal criminal probe into politician Bo Xilai Friday, Oct 26, 2012 09:59 AM PDT  BEIJING (Reuters) - China moved quickly on Friday to announce it had formally begun a criminal probe into disgraced former senior politician Bo Xilai, hours after expelling him from the largely rubber stamp parliament and so removing his immunity from prosecution. The announcements pave the way for Bo, once a contender for top leadership in the world's second largest economy, to face trial and likely a long jail sentence on accusations of corruption and abuse of power. ... Full Story | Top |
| Canadian embassy in Washington cleared briefly for suspicious letter Friday, Oct 26, 2012 09:41 AM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Canadian embassy in Washington was evacuated briefly on Friday because of a suspicious letter, forcing out employees for more than an hour, officials said. U.S. Secret Service and local emergency responders investigated the incident but found nothing dangerous. "It was found to be non-hazardous," Secret Service spokesman Max Milien said of the letter. Embassy spokesman Chris Plunkett said the embassy's 325 employees were evacuated at around 9:30 a.m. EDT (1330 GMT) after a suspicious letter was found in the mail room. ... Full Story | Top |
| Britain says opposed to strike on Iran "at this moment" Friday, Oct 26, 2012 09:06 AM PDT  LONDON (Reuters) - Britain said on Friday it was opposed to a military strike on Iran "at this moment" over its disputed nuclear program, arguing sanctions were having an effect and diplomacy should be given time. The comments followed a report by Britain's Guardian newspaper which said Britain had rebuffed U.S. plans to use its bases to support the build-up of troops in the Gulf, due to legal advice warning that a pre-emptive strike would be illegal. The legal advice says Iran currently does not represent a "clear and present threat", according to the Guardian, which cited unnamed sources. ... Full Story | Top |
| China warns of strong steps in Japan island spat Friday, Oct 26, 2012 09:03 AM PDT BEIJING (Reuters) - China reserves the right to take strong countermeasures if Japan "creates incidents" in the waters around a group of disputed uninhabited islands in the East China Sea, a Chinese vice foreign minister said on Friday. "We are watching very closely what action Japan might take regarding the Diaoyu islands and their adjacent waters," Zhang Zhijun said at an unusual late night news briefing. "The action that Japan might take will shape China's countermeasures. ... Full Story | Top |
| Five killed, 32 wounded in Damascus car bomb: state TV Friday, Oct 26, 2012 08:17 AM PDT BEIRUT (Reuters) - Five people were killed and 32 were wounded when a car bomb exploded in southern Damascus on Friday, according to preliminary figures, state television said. Full Story | Top |
| Ivory Coast ex-leader Gbagbo to stay in detention: ICC judges Friday, Oct 26, 2012 08:05 AM PDT THE HAGUE (Reuters) - Appeal judges at the International Criminal Court on Friday turned down former Ivory Coast leader Laurent Gbagbo's request to be allowed to leave the Netherlands pending a decision on whether he will face trial, saying he might try to abscond. ICC prosecutors say Gbagbo committed crimes against humanity during a four-month civil war in Ivory Coast in 2010, in which about 3,000 people died and a million were displaced. ... Full Story | Top |
| Car bomb explodes in residential district of Damascus Friday, Oct 26, 2012 08:00 AM PDT AMMAN (Reuters) - A large car bomb exploded on Friday near a children's playground in southern Damascus and initial reports indicated a large number of casualties, opposition activists in the capital said. The bomb went off near a makeshift playground built to celebrate the Muslim Eid holiday in the Daf al-Shok area, a Sunni neighborhood. Several buildings were damaged, they said. A mosque is also situated near where the bomb went off. ... Full Story | Top |
| Brazil hit by new blackout, infrastructure in spotlight Friday, Oct 26, 2012 07:33 AM PDT BRASILIA (Reuters) - A massive blackout left as many as 53 million Brazilians in the dark late Thursday and early Friday, the latest in a string of energy shortages that have raised questions about whether Brazil's infrastructure is keeping pace with economic growth. Officials said a fire in a substation in the Amazon knocked out the whole electricity grid of northeastern Brazil in the region's worst blackout since 2001. The outage lasted up to four hours in some places. ... Full Story | Top |
| Russian anti-Putin opposition leader charged with plotting riots Friday, Oct 26, 2012 07:33 AM PDT MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian investigators on Friday charged an outspoken opponent of President Vladimir Putin with plotting riots - allegedly after conspiring with a Georgian politician - in a case rights activists say is designed to suppress dissent. The federal Investigative Committee formally charged Sergei Udaltsov after questioning him about allegations based on hidden-camera footage broadcast by a pro-Kremlin channel that said it showed him conspiring with a Georgian politician. ... Full Story | Top |
| Belarussian opposition leader granted UK asylum: wife Friday, Oct 26, 2012 07:33 AM PDT  MINSK (Reuters) - Belarussian opposition leader Andrei Sannikov, released from prison this year and warned by authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko not to "blabber" if he wants to remain free, has been granted asylum in Great Britain, his wife said on Friday. Sannikov, 58, ran against Lukashenko in the 2010 presidential poll which Western observers said was fraudulent. The vote handed Lukashenko, a former Soviet collective farm manager, a fourth term in office. Sannikov was sentenced to five years in prison last year for taking part in a protest against Lukashenko's re-election. ... Full Story | Top |
| Budget cuts push Spain jobless to 25 percent Friday, Oct 26, 2012 07:20 AM PDT  MADRID (Reuters) - Spain's unemployment rate hit a record high in the third quarter, with one in four out of work and more expected to lose their jobs in 2013 as the next phase of government cutbacks kicks in. At exactly 25 percent, Friday's official number was the highest since the Franco dictatorship ended in the mid-1970s, and gives fresh impetus to calls by labor unions for a general strike next month. ... Full Story | Top |
| Hungarian government says IMF talks have not broken down Friday, Oct 26, 2012 06:25 AM PDT BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Hungary scrambled to allay fears on Friday that aid negotiations were breaking down after a website said international lenders would not restart talks unless the government changes its economic approach. The minister in charge of the aid talks, Mihaly Varga, told Reuters that negotiations with the International Monetary Fund had been ongoing in some form since the summer. "In July we managed to begin the talks. Since then, we have been in continuous and sustained contact," Varga said in a rare telephone interview. ... Full Story | Top |
| Ukraine security service looking into Russian activist's case Friday, Oct 26, 2012 06:17 AM PDT KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine's SBU state security service said on Friday it was looking into claims that a Russian opposition activist was abducted in Kiev a week ago before being taken to a Moscow detention center. Activist Leonid Razvozzhayev disappeared last Friday after consulting with a partner organization of the United Nations' refugee agency. Rights workers who met Razvozzhayev say he has described being abducted, bound with tape and taken to a basement on his way to Moscow, where he was forced by masked men to confess to plotting unrest. ... Full Story | Top |
| Nigeria president says floods won't cause hunger Friday, Oct 26, 2012 06:02 AM PDT  ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan sought to allay fears on Friday that the nation's worst floods in at least five decades would trigger a food crisis because of damage to crops. Jonathan, who this month toured some parts of Africa's most populous nation that have been submerged by floods he has described as a 'national disaster', spoke to journalists and other visitors to the presidential villa. "People should not be afraid that there will be hunger in the land ... We have enough grains in our reserves," he said, when asked about the impact of the floods on food ... Full Story | Top |
| Ivory Coast illegally arrested, tortured more than 200: Amnesty Friday, Oct 26, 2012 05:43 AM PDT  ABIDJAN (Reuters) - Police and soldiers in Ivory Coast have illegally detained and tortured more than 200 people including supporters of former President Laurent Gbagbo, following a series of armed attacks that began in August, Amnesty International said on Friday. U.N. investigators said earlier this month that exiled members of Gbagbo's former government and military living in neighboring Ghana were behind the raids, which have targeted police and army installations as well as key infrastructure. ... Full Story | Top |
| Japan quake-hit nuclear plant "may still be leaking radiation" into sea Friday, Oct 26, 2012 05:35 AM PDT TOKYO (Reuters) - The operator of Japan's quake-struck Fukushima nuclear power plant said on Friday it could not rule out the possibility that it may still be leaking radiation into the sea. A massive earthquake and tsunami in March 2011 triggered fuelrod meltdowns at the plant, causing radiation leakage, contamination of food and water and mass evacuations, although the government declared in December that the disaster was under control. The comment by Tokyo Electric Power Co follows a U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Nowhere left to run for Syrians under siege Friday, Oct 26, 2012 05:20 AM PDT ATAREB, Syria (Reuters) - For two months, Dana and her 12 children fled from village to village trying to escape bombardment by Syrian forces. Finally, she gave up and took them back home. "Everywhere we went, the bombs found us. If we're going to die, I want it to be in our own house," she says, rocking two young daughters in her lap. After months of relentless shelling across Syria's northern provinces, many Syrians like Dana have given up trying to flee and instead have tried to live a life under the bombs. ... Full Story | Top |
| Top China official urges residency permit reform Friday, Oct 26, 2012 04:54 AM PDT  BEIJING (Reuters) - China's top security official called on Friday for the government to relax the controversial residency permit, or hukou, system to ensure the army of migrant workers can enjoy better services like health care and housing. The 230 million-strong migrant workforce drives China's economy, but a lack of access to education, health and other services tied to the country's strict household registration system forces massive saving, restraining Beijing's efforts to shift the focus of growth to consumption from investment. ... Full Story | Top |
| Popular CFO says Spanish rescue could be positive for economy Friday, Oct 26, 2012 04:53 AM PDT MADRID (Reuters) - The chief financial officer of Spanish bank Popular added his voice on Friday to a growing chorus of corporate voices urging Spain to seek an international bail-out. "The spread must be reduced however possible and asking for a credit line would achieve this in a reasonable way. The rescue could have a positive effect on the Spanish economy," Chief Executive Officer Jacobo Gonzalez-Robatto said in a press conference. (Reporting By Jesus Aguado, Editing by Sonya Dowsett) Full Story | Top |
| Netanyahu's hard-right alliance could backfire in ballot Friday, Oct 26, 2012 04:33 AM PDT  JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's tie-up with far-right coalition partner Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman could backfire by eroding their lead ahead of Israel's January 22 ballot, a poll said on Friday. The findings flew in the face of Netanyahu's prediction that, by merging with his fiery rival for nationalist votes, he would muster a "big, cohesive force" of support to win a third term as premier. ... Full Story | Top |
| Belgian prosecutors study murder of Exxon executive Friday, Oct 26, 2012 04:31 AM PDT  BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Belgian prosecutors are investigating the murder of a British oil executive who was shot and killed in unexplained circumstances in front of his wife as they walked to their car after dinner at an Italian restaurant in Brussels. Nicholas Mockford, who worked for U.S. oil giant ExxonMobil, was shot on October 14 after an evening meal, but prosecutors declined to say if they were investigating the case as a possible contract killing. A woman who lived opposite where the couple had parked their car told Reuters she had heard three shots and then called the police. ... Full Story | Top |
| Capture of Libyan town smacks of revenge, not reconciliation Friday, Oct 26, 2012 04:21 AM PDT  TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Hours after taking control of Bani Walid, a former stronghold of Muammar Gaddafi, Libyan militias from the rival city of Misrata fired ferociously at its empty public buildings. Fighters yelling "Allahu akbar (God is greatest) and "Today Bani Walid is finished" sought to make their mark with gunfire and rocket-propelled grenades on a town they say still provides a refuge to many of the overthrown Libyan leader's followers. ... Full Story | Top |
| Exclusive: Iran's coal shipping trade booms despite Western heat Friday, Oct 26, 2012 04:13 AM PDT  LONDON (Reuters) - Using shadowy middle men, multiple bank accounts and a fleet of ghost ships, Iran's coal trade is quietly booming as the Islamic Republic tries to sidestep Western sanctions and prevent its industrial economy from crashing. Tougher measures imposed by the European Union and the United States have tightened the screws on Tehran, which relies on its shipping trade for many imports including food, consumer and industrial goods. Many foreign companies, including shipping firms, have pulled out for fear of losing business in the U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Top court to hear arguments over government spying Friday, Oct 26, 2012 04:10 AM PDT (Reuters) - A debate over how freely the U.S. government can eavesdrop on international communications reaches a climax on Monday in the country's highest court. At issue is a law passed by Congress in 2008 allowing the government to monitor the overseas communications of individuals without obtaining a warrant for each target. The government has said it needs flexible surveillance power to help prevent strikes by foreign militants such as the attacks of September 11, 2001. ... Full Story | Top |
| Mortar bombs, gunfire heard along Turkey-Syria border Friday, Oct 26, 2012 04:04 AM PDT BESASLAN, Turkey (Reuters) - Heavy machinegun fire and the sound of mortar bombs could be heard on Friday along the Turkey-Syrian border near the Syrian town of Haram, a Reuters witness said, in another violation of a ceasefire intended to mark the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha. It was not clear whether the firing was from the Syrian army or from rebels fighting to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad. The firing could be heard from the Turkish border village of Besaslan in southern Hatay province. (Reporting by Mert Ozkan; Writing by Jonathon Burch; Editing by Janet Lawrence) Full Story | Top |
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