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| Libya PM denies Gaddafi premier in "critical condition" Thursday, Feb 28, 2013 11:43 PM PST TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Libya's prime minister dismissed on Thursday reports that Muammar Gaddafi's former premier was in a critical condition after bring tortured in prison. Al Baghdadi al-Mahmoudi was extradited from Tunisia in June, making him the first senior Gaddafi official to be returned for trial under Libya's new leadership. He went on trial in November charged with corruption and ordering mass rape during the 2011 conflict that toppled Gaddafi and is being held in a Tripoli prison. ... Full Story | Top |
| Israel, Turkey row over Zionism deepens rift between ex-allies Thursday, Feb 28, 2013 11:40 PM PST  JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel's prime minister accused his Turkish counterpart on Thursday of making a "dark and false" statement by calling Zionism a crime against humanity - a comment likely to hit efforts to repair ties between the two former allies. The Turkish premier's statement, made at a U.N. meeting in Vienna a day earlier, was also condemned by the head of Europe's main rabbinical group who called it a "hateful attack" on Jews. ... Full Story | Top |
| Bollywood film recreates Mumbai attacks of 2008 Thursday, Feb 28, 2013 11:34 PM PST  MUMBAI (Reuters) - A dramatized Bollywood account of the Mumbai attacks of 2008, when 166 people died in a three-day rampage, opened in Indian cinemas on Friday to present an unusually emotive tale told from the perspective of a police officer. "The Attacks of 26/11" chronicles the events that began on November 26 2008, when 10 gunmen went on a killing spree throughout the coastal city, attacking two luxury hotels, a train station and a Jewish centre, among other places. ... Full Story | Top |
| Italy's centre-left rules out grand coalition: paper Thursday, Feb 28, 2013 11:24 PM PST  MILAN (Reuters) - Italy's centre-left will not form any grand coalition with Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right group after inconclusive parliamentary elections earlier this week, left-wing leader Pier Luigi Bersani said in an interview on Friday. "I want to spell it out clearly: the idea of a grand coalition does not exist and will never exist," Bersani told La Repubblica newspaper. A huge protest vote in the Feb 24-25 election produced a parliament in which no single group has a workable majority and in which the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement of Beppe Grillo has a whip hand. ... Full Story | Top |
| Donors step up ties with Somalia; praise rebuilding efforts Thursday, Feb 28, 2013 10:50 PM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Major Western donors have stepped up efforts in recent weeks to reengage with Somalia, opening the way for increased development assistance to a country trying to shake off years of conflict. A senior British official said in Washington that London will host a conference with the new Somali government of President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud on May 7. The meeting will focus on rebuilding the security forces, police, and justice system and discuss resuming relations with the World Bank. ... Full Story | Top |
| Violence erupts at Malaysian standoff, armed group says 10 dead Thursday, Feb 28, 2013 10:50 PM PST  MANILA (Reuters) - A standoff in the eastern Malaysian state of Sabah erupted in violence on Friday, with a spokesman for a group of armed Filipinos occupying a village there saying 10 members of the group had been killed when police raided their camp. But the Malaysian home minister denied that police had fired a shot and the Philippine government said it had received no reports of casualties among the group, who are followers of the Sultanate of Sulu, in the southern Philippines. ... Full Story | Top |
| Somali president grants amnesty to pirates, but not kingpins Thursday, Feb 28, 2013 10:50 PM PST MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has granted an amnesty to hundreds of young Somali pirates to reduce the threat to shipping in the seas off the Horn of Africa state, a senior regional official said. The amnesty will not apply to bosses running the gangs responsible for hijackings that have ramped up shipping costs while earning criminal syndicates tens of millions of dollars in ransoms, a second official close to Mohamud said. ... Full Story | Top |
| As Washington frets, markets take spending cuts in stride Thursday, Feb 28, 2013 10:14 PM PST  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Broad spending cuts designed to slam most U.S. government programs with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer were set to begin taking effect on Friday, yet investors have so far barely batted an eyelash. The $85 billion in across-the-board "sequestration" cuts were expected to cause airport delays, disrupt public services and result in lower pay or layoffs for millions of government workers. What they were not likely to do, at least as far as financial markets were concerned, was cause enough damage to derail a U.S. economy that has lately been gaining momentum. ... Full Story | Top |
| Exclusive: Glencore bartered with firm linked to Iran nuclear program Thursday, Feb 28, 2013 10:08 PM PST  UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Commodities giant Glencore supplied thousands of tons of alumina to an Iranian firm that has provided aluminum to Iran's nuclear program, intelligence and diplomatic sources told Reuters. The previously undisclosed barter arrangement between Glencore, the world's biggest commodities trader, and the Iranian Aluminum Company (Iralco) illustrates how difficult it is for Western powers to curb Iran's ability to trade with the rest of the world. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. stares down start of steep "automatic" budget cuts Thursday, Feb 28, 2013 10:05 PM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government hurtled on Friday toward making deep spending cuts that threaten to hinder the nation's economic recovery, after Republicans and Democrats failed to agree on an alternative deficit-reduction plan. Locked in during a bout of deficit-reduction fever in 2011, the time-released "automatic" cuts can only be halted by agreement between Republican lawmakers and the White House. That has proved elusive so far. ... Full Story | Top |
| Analysis: The big U.S. budget cuts: Will the bite match the bark? Thursday, Feb 28, 2013 10:02 PM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Delays of four hours or more at airports. Exasperating wait times for people, and goods, crossing America's borders. Reduced paychecks for thousands of civilians employed by the Pentagon. The U.S. Coast Guard, crippled in its patrols of U.S. waters. Meat shortages, thanks to cutbacks in food inspections. Teachers of low-income children and special-education students losing their jobs. These are just samples of the possible consequences of impending across-the-board U.S. government budget cuts as described by officials in President Barack Obama's administration. ... Full Story | Top |
| Japan exempts F-35 components from arms export ban Thursday, Feb 28, 2013 09:59 PM PST TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan has decided to allow defense contractors to make components for F-35 stealth fighters despite its ban on arms exports, strengthening security ties with the United States at a time when Tokyo faces a bitter territorial row with Beijing. Japan in 2011 picked the radar-evading combat aircraft, made by Lockheed Martin Corp, as its next-generation fighter, and said Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd, IHI Corp and Mitsubishi Electric Corp would take part in production and maintenance. ... Full Story | Top |
| Kenya charges top officials over Tokyo embassy scandal Thursday, Feb 28, 2013 09:53 PM PST NAIROBI (Reuters) - The Kenyan foreign ministry's most senior civil servant and two career diplomats were charged on Thursday with abuse of office in a corruption scandal involving the purchase of a Tokyo embassy building at an inflated price. The arrest of Permanent Secretary Thuita Mwangi is the latest attempt to prosecute high-profile officials over graft that has blighted east Africa's biggest economy. ... Full Story | Top |
| Pentagon says to resume F-35 flights Thursday, Feb 28, 2013 09:53 PM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon said on Thursday it would resume flights of its F-35 fighter jets following a week-long precautionary grounding imposed after a crack was found on an engine blade on a test plane in California. "F-35 flight operations have been cleared to resume," Pentagon spokeswoman Kyra Hawn said in a statement. She said flights could begin as early as Friday, depending on weather conditions. No additional cracks were found during inspections of engines on the remaining 50 planes in the Pentagon's fleet, or any spare engines, Hawn said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Al Qaeda commander Abou Zeid killed in Mali: Ennahar TV Thursday, Feb 28, 2013 09:50 PM PST ALGIERS/DAKAR (Reuters) - French forces have killed Abdelhamid Abou Zeid, one of the most feared commanders of al Qaeda's north Africa wing (AQIM), during an operation against Islamist fighters in mountainous northern Mali, Algeria's Ennahar television said on Thursday. Abou Zeid was among 40 militants killed three days ago in the foothills of the Adrar des Ifoghas mountains near the Algerian border, said Ennahar, which is well connected with Algeria's security services. French and Chadian troops have been hunting fighters there after a lightning campaign to dislodge them from northern Mali. ... Full Story | Top |
| Sudan sends more troops to volatile border state Thursday, Feb 28, 2013 09:49 PM PST  KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan is sending reinforcements to Blue Nile state to fight rebels near the border to South Sudan, state-linked media said on Thursday. Last week, the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-North) said it had launched an offensive to take Kurmuk near the border to South Sudan and Ethiopia. Sudan's army has been fighting rebels of the SPLM-North in Blue Nile and nearby South Kordofan state since around the time of South Sudan's secession in July 2011 under a 2005 deal which ended decades of civil war. ... Full Story | Top |
| Tsvangirai says Mugabe losing grip, resorting to violence Thursday, Feb 28, 2013 09:44 PM PST  HEADLANDS, Zimbabwe (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's premier said on Thursday President Robert Mugabe's party was losing its grip and resorting to violence after the young son of a local party official was burnt to death by suspected supporters of the elderly president. Mugabe, 89, in power since 1980, and his longtime foe, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, were forced into a power-sharing government in 2009 and will resume their rivalry in elections expected around July. ... Full Story | Top |
| African leaders call for UN mandate for Mali mission Thursday, Feb 28, 2013 09:43 PM PST  YAMOUSSOUKRO (Reuters) - West African leaders on Thursday called for a regional military operation against al Qaeda-linked rebels in north Mali to be transformed into a U.N. peacekeeping mission as quickly as possible to secure desperately needed funding. France sent troops into its former colony last month to drive out Islamist fighters, claiming their seizure of Mali's north last year posed a threat to international security. ... Full Story | Top |
| SpaceX cleared for cargo run to space station Thursday, Feb 28, 2013 09:18 PM PST  CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. March 1 - A rocket built by Space Exploration Technologies was poised for launch on Friday to deliver a capsule filled with food, supplies and science experiments to the International Space Station. Liftoff of the Falcon 9 rocket carrying a Dragon capsule from the company's leased launch pad at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, just south of NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, was set for 10:10 a.m. EST/1510 GMT Friday. Meteorologists predicted an 80 percent chance of good weather for the launch. ... Full Story | Top |
| D.C. law firm Patton Boggs lays off lawyers, sources say Thursday, Feb 28, 2013 09:15 PM PST (Reuters) - The Washington, D.C., law firm Patton Boggs has laid off an unknown number of lawyers and administrative staff, according to two sources inside the firm with direct knowledge of the matter and two sources outside the firm. The firm, which has more than 550 attorneys in nine offices worldwide, is known best for its lobbying and public policy work in Washington and is expected to have a firm-wide meeting early on Friday to discuss its current situation, according to a Patton Boggs partner. ... Full Story | Top |
| China moves ahead with North Korea trade zone despite nuclear test Thursday, Feb 28, 2013 08:38 PM PST  HONG KONG (Reuters) - China appears to be pressing ahead with plans to invest in a North Korean free trade zone in a sign that its recent nuclear test has not soured its economic ties with its only major ally. While Beijing has not made clear whether the test would disrupt its investment plans for the Rason economic zone, an official at the zone's joint management office told Reuters that all previously announced Chinese projects for the zone remain on track, including a power line from China to ease acute electricity shortages there. ... Full Story | Top |
| WHO, Islamic leaders summit to stop polio worker attacks Thursday, Feb 28, 2013 08:12 PM PST  CANBERRA (Reuters) - Top World Health Organisation officials and Islamic leaders will meet in Egypt next week in an effort to stop attacks on polio workers, which are hampering the eradication of the virus in some countries with large Muslim populations. "Shooting health workers who are protecting kids from this crippling disease is against the Koran and everything Islam stands for," WHO's Assistant Director-General Bruce Aylward told Reuters in Canberra said on Friday. ... Full Story | Top |
| UK PM's party humbled in vote as anti-EU party surges Thursday, Feb 28, 2013 07:53 PM PST  EASTLEIGH, England (Reuters) - British Prime Minister David Cameron's ruling Conservative party was humiliated in an election in England on Friday after it was defeated by a scandal-ridden coalition partner and pushed into third place by an anti-EU party. Cameron and his party had hoped to come second or even win the parliamentary election in Eastleigh, but were pushed into third place by the UK Independence Party (UKIP), a party that advocates taking Britain out of the European Union and strongly opposes immigration. ... Full Story | Top |
| Fed's Evans: hiking rates too soon would send U.S. into tailspin Thursday, Feb 28, 2013 07:50 PM PST DES MOINES, Iowa (Reuters) - The best way to set the stage for an eventual return to higher interest rates is, paradoxically, to keep rates low for now, a top Federal Reserve official said on Thursday. If the Fed were to raise rates too soon, "what would happen is the economy would slow and we'd find ourselves in another tailspin," Chicago Federal Reserve Bank President Charles Evans told the CFA Society of Iowa. ... Full Story | Top |
| Fed likely needs to keep up bond buys through 2013: Evans Thursday, Feb 28, 2013 07:50 PM PST DES MOINES, Iowa (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve will likely need to keep buying bonds to boost employment through the end of the year, and longer if the drag from fiscal consolidation is bigger than expected, a top Fed official said on Thursday. "I don't think we are anywhere near the end of the program," Chicago Federal Reserve Bank President Charles Evans told reporters after speaking to the CFA Society of Iowa here. "It's premature to talk about tapering" the asset-purchase program. ... Full Story | Top |
| Fed's Evans sees economy achieving "escape velocity" by 2014 Thursday, Feb 28, 2013 07:50 PM PST  DES MOINES, Iowa (Reuters) - The U.S. economy should emerge from the doldrums next year if the Federal Reserve sticks to its super-easy monetary policies, a top Fed official said on Thursday, even as he warned that cutting back too early would be a "big mistake." The Fed is buying $45 billion in Treasuries and $40 billion in mortgage bonds per month, its third round of "quantitative easing," and has said it will continue the purchases until it sees substantial improvement in the labor market outlook. ... Full Story | Top |
| Super-majority tax law struck down in Washington state Thursday, Feb 28, 2013 06:48 PM PST SEATTLE (Reuters) - Washington state's Supreme Court made it easier for lawmakers to raise taxes on Thursday, striking down as unconstitutional a voter-approved law that required a two-thirds majority of the state legislature to approve such increases. In a 6-3 vote, the court ruled against an initiative launched by conservative political activist Tim Eyman and twice approved by voters, most recently in November, to require a super-majority to raise taxes. ... Full Story | Top |
| Australian lawmakers confident in F-35's future Thursday, Feb 28, 2013 05:57 PM PST  CANBERRA (Reuters) - Australia's conservative opposition, which is expected to win elections in September, said on Thursday it supported Lockheed Martin's troubled F-35 to be the country's next frontline warplane, despite problems and huge cost blowouts. A day after the Pentagon's F-35 program chief lashed Lockheed and engine maker Pratt & Whitney for trying to "squeeze every nickel" out of the U.S. government, Australian lawmakers expressed confidence in the futuristic jet. ... Full Story | Top |
| Los Angeles asks Supreme Court to overturn ban on Skid Row seizures Thursday, Feb 28, 2013 05:55 PM PST  LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Los Angeles asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday to allow police and city workers to seize or destroy property that homeless people leave unattended on sidewalks, saying Skid Row homeless encampments presented a public-health risk. The greater Los Angeles area has one of the nation's largest populations of homeless people, and the city's legal fight is seen as having implications for how other municipalities deal with transients. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. agency says average cost of immigrant detention $119 per day Thursday, Feb 28, 2013 04:44 PM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A government agency caught in a political firestorm for releasing hundreds of illegal immigrants from detention because of budget concerns said on Thursday the cost of holding someone was more than six times that of alternative supervision methods. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, has been sharply criticized by some Republicans in Congress for releasing "several hundred" illegal immigrants ahead of mandatory "sequestration" cuts across the government that become effective on Friday. ... Full Story | Top |
| Poll shows 61 percent of Californians back gay marriage Thursday, Feb 28, 2013 04:40 PM PST  SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - California voters favor same-sex marriage by a nearly 2-to-1 margin, a poll showed on Thursday, a month before the Supreme Court is set to hear arguments over a gay marriage ban approved by the state's residents in 2008. The Field Poll found 61 percent of surveyed voters in California believe gay and lesbian couples should be allowed to wed, the highest level of support the organization has ever found on that question in the state. ... Full Story | Top |
| Obama urges high court to allow gay marriage in California Thursday, Feb 28, 2013 04:15 PM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In President Barack Obama's latest act in support of gay rights, his administration on Thursday urged the U.S. Supreme Court to allow same-sex marriages to resume in California. The administration filed a friend-of-the-court brief in a case set to be argued on March 26 on whether California's 2008 measure, known as Proposition 8, is unlawful under the U.S. Constitution. In the brief, Solicitor General Donald Verrilli argued that states cannot give all the benefits of marriage to gays and lesbians without calling it marriage. ... Full Story | Top |
| Bradley Manning pleads guilty to misusing classified data in WikiLeaks case Thursday, Feb 28, 2013 04:11 PM PST  FORT MEADE, Maryland (Reuters) - The U.S. Army private accused of providing secret documents to the WikiLeaks website pleaded guilty on Thursday to misusing classified material he felt "should become public," but denied the top charge of aiding the enemy. Private First Class Bradley Manning, 25, entered the pleas prior to his court martial, which is set to begin on June 3, in a case that centers on the biggest leak of government secrets in U.S. history. Military judge Colonel Denise Lind accepted the guilty pleas late in the afternoon. ... Full Story | Top |
| Hungary PM seen picking his "right hand" to head central bank Thursday, Feb 28, 2013 04:04 PM PST  BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Prime Minister Viktor Orban is expected to nominate the man he calls his "right hand" to head Hungary's central bank on Friday, a move that could prompt cheap money being pumped into the economy ahead of elections in 2014. Orban, who has often been at loggerheads with the European Union, banks and the International Monetary Fund, is widely seen as appointing Economy Minister Gyorgy Matolcsy, one of his closest allies, to replace hawkish Governor Andras Simor, whose six-year mandate is expiring. ... Full Story | Top |
| "Cannibal Cop" kidnap plots were fantasy: defense lawyers Thursday, Feb 28, 2013 03:56 PM PST  NEW YORK (Reuters) - A New York City police officer accused of plotting to kidnap, cook and eat women would not have plotted last year for three kidnappings in a single week if he had been serious, defense attorneys argued on Thursday. Lawyers for Officer Gilberto Valle, dubbed "the cannibal cop" by local media, argued that the plots were pure fantasy and that he was a member of a fantasy role-playing website where people pretend to act out violent sexual fantasies. Prosecutors have said that out of two dozen plots involving women at least three were real. ... Full Story | Top |
| Judge accepts soldier's guilty plea in WikiLeaks case Thursday, Feb 28, 2013 03:50 PM PST FORT MEADE, Maryland (Reuters) - Military judge Colonel Denise Lind on Thursday accepted the guilty plea on 10 charges from U.S. Army Private Bradley Manning in his military court-martial for providing secret documents to the WikiLeaks website. Manning. 25, pleaded guilty to a series of 10 lesser charges that he misused classified information for which he faces a maximum of 20 years in prison, although he pleaded not guilty to the top charge of aiding the enemy. (Reporting by Medina Roshan; Editing by Daniel Trotta) Full Story | Top |
| Hardline Arizona sheriff suffers broken shoulder in fall Thursday, Feb 28, 2013 03:43 PM PST  PHOENIX (Reuters) - A controversial 80-year-old Arizona lawman, who styles himself as America's toughest sheriff and is known for targeting illegal immigrants, broke his left shoulder on Thursday after taking a spill in downtown Phoenix, authorities said. Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio was being treated for the shoulder fracture at a local hospital and will not require surgery, said sheriff's spokeswoman Lisa Allen. It was not clear if he will remain overnight. "He's feeling fine," Allen said in a telephone interview from the hospital. ... Full Story | Top |
| South Dakota extends abortion wait period for weekends, holidays Thursday, Feb 28, 2013 03:41 PM PST (Reuters) - The South Dakota Senate on Thursday passed a bill affecting abortion waiting times that could potentially make them the longest in the country. The bill, passed by a 24-9 vote in the Republican-controlled Senate, would exclude weekends and holidays from the calculation of a 72-hour waiting period for an abortion. The bill was passed by the state House last week. It will go to Governor Dennis Daugaard, a Republican, next week, his spokesman, Tony Venhuizen, said. Venhuizen said he could not say if the governor would sign the bill. ... Full Story | Top |
| Clegg pressured in Eastleigh vote, UKIP surges Thursday, Feb 28, 2013 03:38 PM PST  EASTLEIGH, England (Reuters) - Residents of an English town that hardly anyone outside Britain has heard of cast their votes on Thursday in an election that could help determine the political fate of the country's deputy prime minister and, ultimately, its government. The poll to choose a member of parliament for Eastleigh may prove make-or-break for Nick Clegg's leadership of the Lib Dems, the junior member of Britain's two-party coalition. "Most by-elections are events of only fleeting interest. Some are sufficiently dramatic to linger a while in the memory. Only a few truly matter. ... Full Story | Top |
| Obama to name Edith Ramirez as FTC chief Thursday, Feb 28, 2013 03:35 PM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama is to name Edith Ramirez, once his colleague at the Harvard Law Review, as chairwoman of the Federal Trade Commission, the FTC said on Thursday. Ramirez, 44, a Democrat who worked for Obama during the 2008 presidential race, was a lawyer specializing in business litigation and intellectual property in Los Angeles. She has been a commissioner since 2010. Ramirez is to begin work as chairman on Monday, the FTC said in a statement. ... Full Story | Top |
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