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| Daytona Speedway crash injures driver, 28 fans Saturday, Feb 23, 2013 09:06 PM PST  (Reuters) - A fiery pile-up at the Daytona speedway on Saturday injured at least 28 fans and a driver after the 10-car crash sent car debris, including a tire, flying into the crowd in the final lap of the Nationwide NASCAR race. Race officials said 14 fans were sent to nearby hospitals and another 14 were treated at the Florida track, which will host the prestigious Daytona 500 race on Sunday. "Stuff was flying everywhere," spectator Terry Huckaby, whose brother was sent to the hospital with a leg injury, told the ESPN sports network. "Tires were flying by and smoke and everything else. ... Full Story | Top |
| Italians head to polls in crucial vote for euro zone Saturday, Feb 23, 2013 11:40 PM PST  ROME (Reuters) - Italians began voting on Sunday in one of the most closely watched elections in years, with markets nervous about whether it will produce a strong government to pull Italy out of recession and help resolve the euro zone debt crisis. A huge final rally by anti-establishment-comedian-turned-politician Beppe Grillo on Friday before a campaigning ban kicked in has highlighted public anger at traditional parties and added to uncertainty about the election outcome. Voters started casting their ballots at 0700 GMT. ... Full Story | Top |
| Bomber killed near Afghan capital's diplomatic zone: police Saturday, Feb 23, 2013 11:19 PM PST  KABUL (Reuters) - Afghan security forces shot dead at least one would-be suicide bomber on Sunday in a high-security area of Kabul, home to government departments and diplomatic missions, police said. Violence across the country has increased over the last 12 months, sparking concern about how the 350,000-strong Afghan security forces will manage once most foreign troops withdraw by the end of 2014. The shooting happened near a construction site that was stormed by Taliban gunmen in April last year. ... Full Story | Top |
| Half-inch crack blamed for F-35 fighter jet grounding: sources Saturday, Feb 23, 2013 07:12 PM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The engine blade crack that prompted the U.S. military to ground all 51 F-35 fighter jets was over half an inch long, according to three sources familiar with the matter, but it remained unclear if the crack was caused by a manufacturing anomaly or some larger design issue. Engineers at Pratt & Whitney, a unit of United Technologies Corp, will conduct a detailed examination of the turbine blade as soon as it arrives at the company's Middletown, Connecticut, site, said spokesman Matthew Bates. ... Full Story | Top |
| New England storm could pack less punch than feared Saturday, Feb 23, 2013 09:30 PM PST  BOSTON (Reuters) - A weather system threatening New England with a third straight weekend of winter storms appeared to be weakening on Saturday night, promising less snowfall than expected. Another storm was rolling out of the Rocky Mountains in the Western United States and could create blizzard conditions in Colorado over the weekend, according to a National Weather Service advisory. Forecasters were also predicting blizzard conditions from Oklahoma through Missouri early next week when another snowstorm hits an area of the Northern United States from the Plains to the Great Lakes. ... Full Story | Top |
| Insight: Spiral of Karachi killings widens Pakistan's sectarian divide Saturday, Feb 23, 2013 05:01 PM PST  KARACHI (Reuters) - When Aurangzeb Farooqi survived an attempt on his life that left six of his bodyguards dead and a six-inch bullet wound in his thigh, the Pakistani cleric lost little time in turning the narrow escape to his advantage. Recovering in hospital after the ambush on his convoy in Karachi, Pakistan's commercial capital, the radical Sunni Muslim ideologue was composed enough to exhort his followers to close ranks against the city's Shi'ites. ... Full Story | Top |
| Kerry makes first foreign trip as top U.S. diplomat Saturday, Feb 23, 2013 10:06 PM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - John Kerry views his first trip as U.S. secretary of state as a listening tour, but the leaders he meets will want to hear whether he has any new ideas on Syria, Iran and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Kerry leaves on Sunday for London, the first stop on a nine-nation, 11-day trip that will also take him to Berlin, Paris, Rome, Ankara, Cairo, Riyadh, Abu Dhabi and Doha before he returns home on March 6. It is an introductory trip for a man who needs little introduction abroad after spending 28 years in the U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Former envoy Pickering on problems at Benghazi mission Saturday, Feb 23, 2013 10:08 PM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former American diplomat Thomas Pickering said what struck him most during a review of last year's attacks on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya, were the frequent personnel changes, second-guessing on security upgrades, and dismissive attitude toward dozens of security incidents. The temporary status of the mission also led to uncertainty about providing additional funding, including for security, he said in an interview. The United States established a diplomatic presence in the eastern Libyan city after the 2011 revolt against former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. ... Full Story | Top |
| Cyprus votes for president as clock ticks on bailout deal Saturday, Feb 23, 2013 11:21 PM PST  NICOSIA (Reuters) - Cypriots started voting in a runoff on Sunday to elect a president who must clinch a bailout deal for the island nation to avoid a financial meltdown that would revive the euro zone crisis. Conservative leader Nicos Anastasiades, who favors hammering out a quick deal with foreign lenders, is favored to win against Communist-backed rival Stavros Malas, who is more wary of the austerity terms accompanying any rescue. ... Full Story | Top |
| UK downgrade pressures reluctant Osborne to change course Saturday, Feb 23, 2013 04:07 PM PST  LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's finance minister insisted on Saturday he would not change course after the loss of the country's 'AAA' credit rating but George Osborne is facing pressure to do just that as his bet on austerity falters ahead of the 2015 election. Moody's dealt Britain its first sovereign rating downgrade on Friday, saying the $2.5 trillion economy faced years more sluggish growth and debt would continue to rise until 2016. ... Full Story | Top |
| False report led to MIT campus lockdown: police Saturday, Feb 23, 2013 10:26 AM PST  BOSTON (Reuters) - A false report of a man with a gun prompted a temporary lockdown at Massachusetts Institute of Technology on Saturday morning and a room-by-room security sweep of a campus building, police said. MIT locked down its campus during the search, issuing a "shelter in place" warning that said multiple law enforcement agencies, including Cambridge Police, had responded to a report of a person carrying a long rifle and wearing body armor. Cambridge is just outside of Boston. ... Full Story | Top |
| Italian marines held in India return home to vote Saturday, Feb 23, 2013 11:17 AM PST  ROME (Reuters) - Two Italian marines charged in India with killing two fishermen while on anti-pirate duty a year ago arrived home on Saturday to vote in parliamentary elections this weekend. "We are happy to be back home. This has been possible because India's Supreme Court ... has shown itself to be very democratic by recognizing our right to vote," Massimiliano Latorre said on arrival at Rome Fiumicino airport with his colleague, Salvatore Girone. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. Justice, Gulf states crafting BP spill settlement Saturday, Feb 23, 2013 02:05 PM PST  (Reuters) - The U.S. government and Gulf Coast states are considering offering BP Plc a deal under which it pays $16 billion to settle civil suits stemming from the deadly 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday. The deal would cover the company's potential penalties under the Clean Water Act and payments under the Natural Resources Damage Assessment, the newspaper said, citing sources familiar with the discussions. It was unclear if the deal has been formally offered to BP. The U.S. Justice Department declined to comment. ... Full Story | Top |
| Palestinians demand inquiry into death in an Israeli jail Saturday, Feb 23, 2013 10:51 AM PST  RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - Palestinian officials on Saturday demanded an international investigation into the death of a Palestinian detainee who died in an Israeli jail hours earlier. A spokeswoman for Israel's Prison Authority said that the detainee, 30-year-old Arafat Jaradat, had apparently died of cardiac arrest. An emergency service team had tried to resuscitate him but failed, she said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Third straight weekend storm heads for New England Saturday, Feb 23, 2013 10:54 AM PST BOSTON (Reuters) - New England faced a third straight weekend of storms dumping a messy mix of wet snow and freezing rain across the region, meteorologists said Saturday. Another storm in the West is rolling out of the Rocky Mountains this weekend and could create blizzard conditions in Colorado, according to a National Weather Service advisory. Much of the Midwest is already blanketed with snow. More than a foot of snow was reported in Kansas on Thursday, forcing airports to cancel hundreds of flights and leaving motorists stranded on highways. ... Full Story | Top |
| Egypt parliament election start moved to April 22 Saturday, Feb 23, 2013 10:08 AM PST  CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's parliamentary elections, previously scheduled to begin on April 27, have been brought forward to start on April 22, the presidential spokesman said on his Facebook page on Saturday. Members of Egypt's Coptic Christian minority had criticized the planned timing of the elections because some voting would take place during their Easter holiday. (Reporting by Alexander Dziadosz; editing by David Stamp) Full Story | Top |
| Fans, driver injured in crash at Daytona Speedway Saturday, Feb 23, 2013 03:35 PM PST  (Reuters) - At least 12 fans and one driver were injured after a wreck at the Daytona Speedway on Saturday when car debris flew into the crowd near the end of the Nationwide NASCAR race. A hospital official at Halifax Health Medical Center in Daytona Beach, Florida, told the Daytona News Journal that 11 spectators were being treated in the emergency room, with two of them critically injured. Four of the fans were on trauma alert and five were being treated as non-trauma cases, the newspaper reported. ... Full Story | Top |
| Yemen security chief escapes gunmen as three die in south Saturday, Feb 23, 2013 09:55 AM PST  ADEN (Reuters) - A Yemeni security chief survived an assassination attempt on Saturday in the south of the country, where three people were killed in clashes between his forces and separatists. The Defence Ministry said Abdulwahab al-Wali, head of the central security forces, escaped the attack by unknown gunmen in the town of Mukalla, but two of his bodyguards were wounded. Southern Yemen, which was an independent state until 1990, is troubled by both separatist unrest and an insurgency led by Islamist militants linked to al Qaeda, a source of concern to Gulf states and the West. ... Full Story | Top |
| UK downgrade pressures reluctant Osborne to change course Saturday, Feb 23, 2013 11:04 AM PST  LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's finance minister insisted on Saturday he would not change course after the loss of the country's 'AAA' credit rating but George Osborne is facing pressure to do just that as his bet on austerity falters ahead of the 2015 election. Moody's dealt Britain its first sovereign rating downgrade on Friday, saying the $2.5 trillion economy faced years more sluggish growth and debt would continue to rise until 2016. ... Full Story | Top |
| Einhorn scores legal victory versus Apple in cash scuffle Saturday, Feb 23, 2013 06:11 AM PST  NEW YORK (Reuters) - A U.S. judge handed outspoken hedge fund manager David Einhorn a victory in his battle with Apple Inc on Friday, blocking the iPhone maker from moving forward with a shareholder vote on a controversial proposal to limit the company's ability to issue preferred stock. U.S. District Judge Richard Sullivan in Manhattan granted a motion by Einhorn's Greenlight Capital for a preliminary injunction stopping a vote on that proposal, scheduled for the company's February 27 stockholders' meeting. ... Full Story | Top |
| Egyptian opposition politician demands election boycott Saturday, Feb 23, 2013 06:30 AM PST  CAIRO (Reuters) - An opposition leader called on Saturday for Egyptians to boycott elections due to start in April, saying the process under Islamist President Mohamed Mursi would be "an act of deception". Islamists, who have won every election since the 2011 overthrow of autocrat Hosni Mubarak, dismissed any suggestion that the parliamentary polls would lack credibility and predicted a strong turnout. While divisions between the Islamists and opposition remain deep, Mursi appeared ready to soothe anger among the Christian minority over the election schedule. ... Full Story | Top |
| Iran announces uranium finds, days before nuclear talks Saturday, Feb 23, 2013 06:47 AM PST  DUBAI (Reuters) - Days before resuming talks over its disputed atomic program, Iran said on Saturday it had found significant new deposits of raw uranium and identified sites for 16 more nuclear power stations. State news agency IRNA quoted a report by the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran (AEOI) which said the reserves were discovered in northern and southern coastal areas and had trebled the amount outlined in previous estimates. There was no independent confirmation. ... Full Story | Top |
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