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| Outlook for immigration deal brightens Saturday, Mar 30, 2013 07:02 PM PDT  By Steve Holland WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Prospects for a law to create a pathway to citizenship for 11 million illegal immigrants brightened on Saturday after major business and labor groups reached an agreement on a guest-worker program, a source familiar with the deal said. The agreement was reached on Friday night in a conference call between the head of the Chamber of Commerce, Tom Donohue, and the president of the AFL-CIO labor organization, Richard Trumka, with New York Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer acting as the mediator, according to the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity. ... Full Story | Top |
| China's urbanization drive leaves migrant workers out in the cold Saturday, Mar 30, 2013 06:26 PM PDT  By Lucy Hornby and Jane Lee BEIJING/SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Twenty minutes' drive from Shanghai's glitzy financial district, dozens of migrant workers are preparing to abandon homes in old shipping containers, as one of the more unusual solutions to China's housing shortage faces the wrecking ball. Cheap but crowded neighborhoods are being cleared across China as part of a stepped-up "urbanization" campaign by China's new leaders. The country aims to spend an estimated $6 trillion on infrastructure, including housing, as a projected 400 million people become urban residents over the next decade. ... Full Story | Top |
| Obama plays golf, attends college basketball playoff game Saturday, Mar 30, 2013 04:10 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama had the kind of Saturday that many men dream of having, playing golf and attending a college basketball playoff game. Midday found him at Joint Base Andrews, the Air Force base on the outskirts of Washington where Air Force One is kept. He teed off at one of the base courses with friends Marty Nesbitt, Marvin Nicholson and Michael Brush. ... Full Story | Top |
| Navy identifies SEAL killed in Arizona training accident Saturday, Mar 30, 2013 03:09 PM PDT PHOENIX (Reuters) - The U.S. military on Saturday identified the elite Navy SEAL who died in a parachute training accident in southern Arizona that also injured another SEAL. Navy officials said Special Warfare Operator Chief Brett Shadle, 31, of Elizabethville, Pennsylvania, was killed in the free-fall training accident near Pinal Airpark, northeast of Tucson, on Thursday. Shadle was assigned to an East Coast-based Naval Special Warfare unit, the Navy said in a statement. The second SEAL, who has not been identified, remains hospitalized in stable condition. ... Full Story | Top |
| French PM says pension reform to keep retirement age of 62: paper Saturday, Mar 30, 2013 03:06 PM PDT  PARIS (Reuters) - A plan to reform France's state pension system will leave in place the official retirement age of 62, French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault told a French newspaper. "We won't touch the official retirement age," Ayrault said in an interview with Journal de Dimanche. "The main theme of our decisions is fairness." France is under pressure to fix a short-term pension deficit which Ayrault said would swell to 20 billion euros ($25.68 billion) by 2020 if unaddressed. ... Full Story | Top |
| EU, IMF resisting Greek bank NBG's takeover of Eurobank: sources Saturday, Mar 30, 2013 02:49 PM PDT  By George Georgiopoulos ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece's international lenders have asked Athens to halt National Bank's takeover of rival Eurobank, worried that the resulting lender would be too big for the state to deal with, two bankers close to the talks told Reuters on Saturday. The lenders' concerns come as an unexpected twist in the takeover deal, which was launched in October and completed with a share swap. The two banks have already begun integrating operations after getting approval by authorities. National Bank, Greece's biggest lender, took over 84. ... Full Story | Top |
| Sudanese rebel group releases 31 kidnapped Darfuris Saturday, Mar 30, 2013 02:34 PM PDT CAIRO (Reuters) - Sudanese rebels have released 31 Darfuris who they had kidnapped a week ago on their way to a conference for people displaced by the region's decade-long war, the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Saturday. Conflict has raged in Darfur since 2003 when mainly non-Arab rebels took up arms against the Arab-led government, accusing it of politically and economically marginalizing the region. ... Full Story | Top |
| Business, labor groups reach immigration deal Saturday, Mar 30, 2013 02:29 PM PDT  By Steve Holland WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Prospects for a broad U.S. immigration overhaul brightened on Saturday after major U.S. business and labor groups reached an agreement on a guest-worker program, a source familiar with the deal said. The agreement was reached on Friday night in a conference call between the head of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Tom Donohue, and the president of the AFL-CIO labor organization, Richard Trumka, with New York Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer acting as the mediator, according to the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity. ... Full Story | Top |
| First commercial flight between Egypt and Iran for 34 years Saturday, Mar 30, 2013 01:41 PM PDT CAIRO (Reuters) - The first commercial flight between Egypt and Iran in 34 years took off on Saturday, the latest step towards normalizing ties broken following the 1979 Iranian Islamic revolution. Egypt and Iran agreed to resume direct flights in October 2010 before President Hosni Mubarak was ousted from power, but no flights were made. ... Full Story | Top |
| Kenyatta won Kenya's presidency fairly: Supreme Court Saturday, Mar 30, 2013 12:43 PM PDT  By James Macharia and Edmund Blair NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya's Supreme Court upheld Uhuru Kenyatta's presidential election victory on Saturday and his defeated rival accepted the ruling, helping douse tensions after tribal violence blighted the election five years ago. The decision cleared the way for Kenya's richest man to take the top job in east Africa's biggest economy, but left Western powers with the headache of dealing with a leader charged with crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court. ... Full Story | Top |
| Maduro calls Venezuela opposition "heirs of Hitler" Saturday, Mar 30, 2013 11:50 AM PDT  CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's acting President Nicolas Maduro on Saturday called the country's opposition "heirs of Hitler," accusing them of persecuting Cuban doctors working in the South American country the way Jews were persecuted in Nazi Germany. His barbs added to weeks of insults in the run-up to the April 14 presidential elections triggered by the death of socialist leader Hugo Chavez this month. Polls show Maduro with a double-digit lead over opposition rival Henrique Capriles. ... Full Story | Top |
| Central African Republic leader, facing isolation, says no reprisals Saturday, Mar 30, 2013 11:43 AM PDT  By Ange Aboa BANGUI (Reuters) - Central African Republic's new leader Michel Djotodia, facing international isolation after seizing power, said on Saturday he would not take reprisals against rivals and called on those who fled abroad to return. The United States said on Saturday it did not recognize Djotodia, who toppled President Francois Bozize on March 24 after leading thousands of his Seleka rebels into the mineral-rich nation's capital Bangui, triggering days of looting. ... Full Story | Top |
| Egypt's prosecutor general orders arrest of well-known satirist Saturday, Mar 30, 2013 11:39 AM PDT CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's prosecutor-general on Saturday ordered the arrest of the country's best-known satirist, Bassam Youssef, for making fun of Islamist President Mohamed Mursi and his Muslim Brotherhood. Youssef hosts a weekly program, El-Bernameg (The Show), broadcast at prime time on Fridays on a private satellite channel. He is noted for his imitations of the president's speech and gestures. "Prosecutor-general Talaat Ibrahim ordered the arrest of Bassem Youssef on the accusation of insulting President Mursi," state radio reported. ... Full Story | Top |
| Italy president pledges to stay to deal with crisis Saturday, Mar 30, 2013 11:36 AM PDT  By Giselda Vagnoni ROME (Reuters) - Italian President Giorgio Napolitano on Saturday ruled out standing down early to make way for new parliamentary elections, after the failure of attempts to form a government this week, saying he would keep trying to find a way out of the deadlock. Napolitano, whose term ends on May 15, spoke after news reports suggested he might resign to get around constitutional provisions which prevent a president dissolving parliament and calling elections during his final months in office. ... Full Story | Top |
| Former ETA head, blamed for airport bomb, dies in hospital Saturday, Mar 30, 2013 11:18 AM PDT MADRID (Reuters) - The former head of Basque separatist group ETA believed to have ordered the Madrid airport bombing that ended a truce in 2006 has died while serving a prison term in France, an ETA prisoner support group said on Saturday. Xabier Lopez Pena, known by various aliases, including 'Thierry' and jailed in France since 2008, had a heart attack and later a stroke and died in the Paris hospital of Pitie-Salpetriere, Spanish media reported earlier on Saturday, citing sources close to the family and support groups. ... Full Story | Top |
| Two killed in attack on Libyan military camp Saturday, Mar 30, 2013 10:30 AM PDT TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Two Libyan military officers were killed and three soldiers injured when unknown assailants forced their way into a military camp in the desert south, an army spokesman said on Saturday. The early morning attack happened at the Tamahind base, which was previously a storage place for army equipment under ousted dictator Muammar Gaddafi and is near the desert town of Sabha, some 800 km (500 miles) south of the capital Tripoli. Sabha residents contacted by phone said the attackers came in eight cars before fleeing. "They came in by cars, shooting. ... Full Story | Top |
| Russian authorities can't beat back democracy: Gorbachev Saturday, Mar 30, 2013 10:27 AM PDT  MOSCOW (Reuters) - The last Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev said on Saturday Russia will face unrest unless society is made more democratic despite President Vladimir Putin's success in cracking down on dissent. Gorbachev, whose perestroika (restructuring) and glasnost (openness) reforms in the 1980s failed to avert the collapse of the Soviet Union, has sympathized with protests, mainly by the rising urban middle class, against alleged ballot fraud and political corruption. "The authorities have managed to beat down the wave of protest for a while, but the problems have not disappeared. ... Full Story | Top |
| Palestinians, Israeli Arabs mark "Land Day" with muted protests Saturday, Mar 30, 2013 10:19 AM PDT  JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Palestinians protested in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip on Saturday and a few were lightly hurt in clashes with Israeli soldiers on the 37th anniversary of a landmark event for Israel's Arab minority. The Palestinians and Israeli Arabs each commemorated the killing of six Arab citizens of the Jewish state by Israeli security forces during protests in 1976 over government land confiscations in northern Israel, an event known as "Land Day". ... Full Story | Top |
| Ex-chancellor Schroeder praises political rival Merkel Saturday, Mar 30, 2013 10:06 AM PDT  BERLIN (Reuters) - In a gesture all too rare in election years, former chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has lavished praise on his successor and political adversary Angela Merkel for "leading with restraint" in Europe. In an interview with Der Spiegel magazine, Schroeder complimented Merkel on the way she had not ducked away from leading Europe through the euro zone crisis now, though he said her initial hesitation several years ago made the single currency's rescue efforts more expensive than they had to be. ... Full Story | Top |
| Jordan's king swears in new reformist government Saturday, Mar 30, 2013 09:56 AM PDT  By Suleiman Al-Khalidi AMMAN (Reuters) - Jordan's King Abdullah swore in a reformist government on Saturday tasked with pushing through austerity measures required under a loan agreement with the International Monetary Fund. The cabinet lineup was confirmed after nearly three weeks of unprecedented consultations led by Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour, who himself was reappointed on March 9 after the king canvassed members of parliament [ID:nL6N0C11TC]. ... Full Story | Top |
| Angola police detain 18 at rights rally: activists Saturday, Mar 30, 2013 09:35 AM PDT (Reuters) - Angolan police arrested 18 activists staging a rare anti-government rally in the capital Luanda on Saturday, demonstration organizers said. The protest was the first against President Jose Eduardo dos Santos - in power for 33 years - since an election last August where his MPLA party 72 percent of the vote to secure a new five-year term. "The protest, which fulfilled all legal requirements, was the target of the usual repression by the regime, using the Angolan police," the youth protest movement Central Angola 7311 said on its Twitter feed. ... Full Story | Top |
| NATO strike kills at least one child in Afghanistan Saturday, Mar 30, 2013 09:07 AM PDT  By Mustafa Andalib GHAZNI, Afghanistan (Reuters) - A NATO helicopter killed at least one child and nine suspected Taliban fighters in Afghanistan's east on Saturday, officials and local residents said. Last month Afghan President Hamid Karzai forbade Afghan forces from calling for NATO air support and forbade international forces from using air strikes "in Afghan homes or villages" after Afghan forces called in a strike that killed 10 civilians. ... Full Story | Top |
| North Korea says enters "state of war" against South Saturday, Mar 30, 2013 09:07 AM PDT  By Jack Kim SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea said on Saturday it was entering a "state of war" with South Korea, but Seoul and its ally the United States played down the statement as tough talk. Pyongyang also threatened to close a border industrial zone, the last remaining example of inter-Korean cooperation which gives the impoverished North access to $2 billion in trade a year. The United States said it took Pyongyang's threats seriously but cautioned that the North had a history of bellicose rhetoric. Russia, another a permanent U.N. Security Council member, urged all sides to show restraint. ... Full Story | Top |
| Kenya's Odinga accepts vote ruling, wishes Kenyatta well Saturday, Mar 30, 2013 08:53 AM PDT NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya's defeated presidential contender Raila Odinga on Saturday accepted the ruling of the Supreme Court which dismissed his challenge to the presidential election result, and wished his rival Uhuru Kenyatta well. "The court has now spoken," Odinga told a news conference. "I wish the president-elect, honourable Uhuru Kenyatta, and his team well." (Reporting by James Macharia; Editing by Edmund Blair) Full Story | Top |
| Cyprus details heavy losses for major bank customers Saturday, Mar 30, 2013 08:45 AM PDT  By Karolina Tagaris NICOSIA (Reuters) - Major depositors in Cyprus's biggest bank will lose around 60 percent of savings over 100,000 euros, its central bank confirmed on Saturday, sharpening the terms of a bailout that has shaken European banks but saved the island from bankruptcy. Initial signs that big depositors in Bank of Cyprus would take a hit of 30 to 40 percent - the first time the euro zone has made bank customers contribute to a bailout - had already unnerved investors in European lenders this week. ... Full Story | Top |
| Kenyatta follows father to win Kenya's top job Saturday, Mar 30, 2013 08:35 AM PDT By James Macharia NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya's president-elect Uhuru Kenyatta, the wealthy son of the country's independence hero, brushed off international charges of crimes against humanity to present himself as a statesman with the economic skills to help ordinary citizens. Backed by voters from Kenya's biggest tribe, the Kikuyu, in a nation where ethnic loyalties trump ideology at the ballot box, the 51-year-old listed as Kenya's richest man had his win confirmed by the Supreme Court on Saturday after a legal challenge. ... Full Story | Top |
| Kenya police fire teargas at youths after vote ruling Saturday, Mar 30, 2013 08:26 AM PDT  KISUMU, Kenya (Reuters) - Kenyan police fired teargas on Saturday at hundreds of stone-throwing youths in the western city of Kisumu, a stronghold of defeated presidential candidate Raila Odinga, after a court threw out his challenge to the victory of rival Uhuru Kenyatta. "No Raila, no peace," some of the youths chanted, echoing slogans used after a 2007 election when Odinga disputed the victory of now outgoing President Mwai Kibaki. Ethnic violence after that vote killed more than 1,200 people. ... Full Story | Top |
| Egypt's prosecutor general to appeal his sacking Saturday, Mar 30, 2013 08:19 AM PDT CAIRO (Reuters) - The man chosen as Egypt's chief prosecutor by President Mohamed Mursi will appeal a court ruling demanding he stand down, a fellow prosecutor said on Saturday. Mursi appointed Talaat Ibrahim prosecutor general last November, to the dismay of the Islamist president's opponents who said he had exceeded his powers. The decision to hire Ibrahim came in a constitutional decree issued in November that made all Mursi's acts immune from legal challenge. ... Full Story | Top |
| S.Africa's Mandela "comfortable", treated for pneumonia Saturday, Mar 30, 2013 07:37 AM PDT  By Ed Stoddard JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela is comfortable and able to breathe without problems as he continues to respond to treatment in hospital for a recurrence of pneumonia, President Jacob Zuma's office said on Saturday. After the revered 94-year-old statesman and former South African president spent a third night in hospital, the presidency said doctors had drained excess fluid from his lungs to tackle the infection. "This has resulted in him now being able to breathe without difficulty. ... Full Story | Top |
| Kenya court rules Kenyatta validly elected president Saturday, Mar 30, 2013 07:36 AM PDT  NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya's chief justice said on Saturday the six-member Supreme Court had unanimously decided Uhuru Kenyatta was validly elected president, after the result was challenged by defeated candidate Raila Odinga. "It is the decision of the court that the third and fourth respondents were validly elected," Chief Justice Willy Mutunga said in court, referring to Kenyatta and his running mate and deputy president William Ruto. ... Full Story | Top |
| Belgium agrees savings, asset sales to meet EU budget demands Saturday, Mar 30, 2013 07:20 AM PDT  By Philip Blenkinsop BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Belgium agreed to make 1.4 billion euros ($1.8 billion) of savings and to sell 1 billion euros of state-owned assets on Saturday, as it strives to meet EU budget targets and avoid being drawn into the euro zone's debt crisis. With debt approaching 100 percent of national output (GDP), Belgium has some of the weakest public finances in the euro zone's northern "core", partially due to an almost two-year political stalemate that was only resolved in late 2011. ... Full Story | Top |
| Nelson Mandela "comfortable", treated for pneumonia Saturday, Mar 30, 2013 07:12 AM PDT  By Ed Stoddard JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela is comfortable and able to breathe without problems as he continues to respond to treatment in hospital for a recurrence of pneumonia, President Jacob Zuma's office said on Saturday. After the revered 94-year-old statesman and former South African president spent a third night in hospital, the presidency said doctors had drained excess fluid from his lungs to tackle the infection. "This has resulted in him now being able to breathe without difficulty. ... Full Story | Top |
| Bashir to make first visit to South Sudan since split Saturday, Mar 30, 2013 06:15 AM PDT  KHARTOUM/JUBA (Reuters) - Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir will visit his long-time foe South Sudan for the first time since its independence next week, an official said on Friday, cementing new deals on oil and border security between the two countries. The African neighbors agreed this month to resume cross-border oil flows and defuse tensions that have plagued them since South Sudan seceded in July 2011 following an agreement which ended decades of civil war. ... Full Story | Top |
| Saudi Arabia to allow women's sports clubs: paper Saturday, Mar 30, 2013 05:57 AM PDT  RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia is to license women's sports clubs for the first time, al-Watan daily reported, in a major step for an ultra-religious country where clerics have warned against female exercise. Last year the conservative Islamic kingdom, where women must have permission from a male relative to take many big decisions, sent women athletes to the Olympics for the first time after pressure from international rights groups. Until now, women's exercise facilities, including gyms, have had to be licensed by the Health Ministry and designated as "health centers". ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. says it takes North Korea threats seriously Saturday, Mar 30, 2013 05:41 AM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House said on Saturday that it takes North Korea's latest saber-rattling threats seriously while cautioning that Pyongyang has a long history of bellicose rhetoric. North Korea's latest bout of angry rhetoric included a vow that it is entering a "state of war" with South Korea a day after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un signed off on an order putting its missile units on standby to attack U.S. military bases in the South. "We've seen reports of a new and unconstructive statement from North Korea. ... Full Story | Top |
| Senior Russian diplomat urges restraint over North Korea Saturday, Mar 30, 2013 05:22 AM PDT  МОSCOW (Reuters) - Moscow urged restraint in the Korean peninsula on Saturday, after North Korea said it was entering a "state of war" with South Korea in a further escalation of its bellicose rhetoric against Seoul and its main ally, the United States. "We hope that all parties will exercise maximum responsibility and restraint and no one will cross the point of no return," senior Russian Foreign Ministry official Grigory Logvinov told Interfax news agency. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Friday put missile units on standby to attack U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Bashir to make first visit to South Sudan since independence Saturday, Mar 30, 2013 05:09 AM PDT  KHARTOUM/JUBA (Reuters) - Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir will visit his long-time foe South Sudan for the first time in almost two years next week, officials said on Friday, cementing new deals on oil and border security between the two countries. The African neighbors agreed this month to resume cross-border oil flows and defuse tensions that have plagued them since South Sudan seceded in July 2011 following an agreement which ended decades of civil war. ... Full Story | Top |
| Italy president's office summons media, no word on statement Saturday, Mar 30, 2013 04:28 AM PDT ROME (Reuters) - The Italian president's office said on Saturday it was opening its press room at 8.00 a.m. ET but gave no details of any statement that may come, following reports that the head of state is considering standing down to hasten early elections. A source close to the situation told Reuters on Saturday that President Giorgio Napolitano was looking at the option of resigning early to get around get around constitutional provisions which prevent a president dissolving parliament in the final months of his mandate. ... Full Story | Top |
| Ex-Anglican leader says Cameron alienating Christians Saturday, Mar 30, 2013 04:22 AM PDT  LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister David Cameron is alienating Christians by promoting gay marriage, an influential former leader of the world's 80 million Anglicans said on Saturday. In a strongly worded article, former Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey said Cameron's plan to legalise gay unions hid an "aggressive secularist" approach that threatened the link between church and state. ... Full Story | Top |
| S. Africa's Zuma to join summit on Central African Republic Saturday, Mar 30, 2013 04:20 AM PDT  JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South African President Jacob Zuma will attend a summit of central African heads of state in Chad on Wednesday which will consider responses to the rebel takeover in Central African Republic. The South African leader was invited by Chadian President Idriss Deby, chair of the 10-nation Economic Community of Central African States, to join the extraordinary ECCAS summit in N'Djamena on April 3, Zuma's spokesman Mac Maharaj said. ... Full Story | Top |
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