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| China hammers out rail restructuring: sources Sunday, Mar 03, 2013 11:15 PM PST BEIJING (Reuters) - China is likely to split its sprawling, scandal-plagued Railways Ministry into operations and commercial arms, two sources said, part of an overhaul of the bureaucracy as a new set of leaders takes charge in Beijing. In other plans, the government is also likely to set up a single regulator for food safety, although details are still being finalized. The changes will address long-standing inefficiencies. The Ministry of Railways has a reputation for insularity and corruption. ... Full Story | Top |
| Death toll on Kenya coast rises to nine: police sources Sunday, Mar 03, 2013 11:10 PM PST MOMBASA, Kenya (Reuters) - At least five people were killed in the Kenyan coastal town of Kilifi in an attack by unidentified machete-wielding men as voting began in a tense presidential election on Monday, district police said, bringing the death toll in violence on the coast to nine so far. "Our officers were manning a polling station in Chumani area, Kilifi when they were attacked by a group of youths with pangas (machetes) at around 1 a.m. (2200 GMT). ... Full Story | Top |
| Analysis: EU needs "who lost Italy" debate on austerity Sunday, Mar 03, 2013 10:56 PM PST  BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European policymakers should be asking themselves "who lost Italy" after a grassroots revolt against austerity, unemployment and the political elite caused an electoral earthquake in the euro zone's number three economy. Instead, most are insisting that their policy mix to fight the currency area's debt crisis is right, even though the latest EU forecasts have pushed any prospect of meaningful economic recovery in southern Europe back into the middle distance. ... Full Story | Top |
| Four policemen butchered as Kenyans queue in tense vote Sunday, Mar 03, 2013 10:37 PM PST  NAIROBI/MOMBASA, Kenya (Reuters) - Kenyans stood patiently in long lines on Monday to elect a new president but machete-wielding youths on the coast killed four policemen, casting a shadow over a vote seen as vital to repairing Kenya's image after tribal bloodshed five years ago. A few hours before the 6 a.m. (0300 GMT) start of voting and with long queues formed across the nation before sunrise, four police officers on patrol in the Mombasa port city area were hacked to death by attackers, a senior police officer said. ... Full Story | Top |
| At least four police killed in Kenya as vote starts Sunday, Mar 03, 2013 08:42 PM PST MOMBASA, Kenya (Reuters) - At least four Kenyan police officers, deployed to keep the peace in a tense presidential election following hundreds of deaths after a 2007 vote, were hacked to death by a gang hours before polling stations opened on Monday, a senior officer said. The attackers, who struck a patrol near the port city of Mombasa, could not immediately be identified, but Ambrose Munyasia, chief of police intelligence in the Coast area, said he suspected they were linked to a regional separatist movement. ... Full Story | Top |
| Papal vote preparations start in earnest at Vatican Sunday, Mar 03, 2013 06:25 PM PST  VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Preparations for electing Roman Catholicism's new leader begin in earnest on Monday as the College of Cardinals opens daily talks to sketch an identikit for the next pope and ponder who among them might fit it. The idea is to have the new pope elected during next week and officially installed several days later so he can preside over the Holy Week ceremonies starting with Palm Sunday on March 24 and culminating in Easter the following Sunday. ... Full Story | Top |
| Netanyahu says Iran using nuclear talks to "buy time" for bomb Sunday, Mar 03, 2013 03:55 PM PST  JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Renewed international efforts to negotiate curbs on Iran's disputed nuclear program have backfired by giving it more time to work on building a bomb, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday. His remarks on the inconclusive February 26-27 meeting between Iran and six world powers signaled impatience by Israel, which has threatened to launch preemptive war on its arch-foe, possibly in the coming months, if it deems diplomacy a dead end. Senior U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Opposition leader visits Syria amid Assad offensive Sunday, Mar 03, 2013 03:50 PM PST  AMMAN (Reuters) - Exiled opposition figure Moaz Alkhatib visited Syria on Sunday for the first time since fleeing last year, as rebels said President Bashar al-Assad's forces embarked on counter-offensives in various parts of the country. In the central city of Homs, heavy fighting broke out between loyalist forces and opposition brigades dug in preparation for an onslaught, opposition sources said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Kenyans to vote in tense head-to-head presidential race Sunday, Mar 03, 2013 03:36 PM PST  NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenyans vote on Monday in a presidential election that will test whether the east African nation can restore its reputation as one of Africa's more stable democracies after a lethal ethnic rampage erupted following the 2007 poll. Outgoing President Mwai Kibaki, the candidates and civil society groups have all appealed for a peaceful poll after the disputed vote five years ago unleashed a wave of killing by rival tribes that lasted weeks and left more than 1,200 dead. "I also make a passionate plea for all of us to vote peacefully. ... Full Story | Top |
| Analysis: China's next inner circle Sunday, Mar 03, 2013 02:47 PM PST  HONG KONG (Reuters)-Even as Xi Jinping gets ready to assume the presidency of China this month, jockeying has begun for 2017 when rising stars of the ruling Communist Party move into top leadership posts. China's first and second generation Communist Party leaders, such as Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping, ruled as single paramount leaders. But over the past two decades, Chinese leaders have tried to institutionalize governance with an emphasis on collective leadership - except when it comes to choosing leaders. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. offers Egypt budget aid after Mursi assurance on IMF Sunday, Mar 03, 2013 02:30 PM PST  CAIRO (Reuters) - The United States said on Sunday it would give Egypt $250 million in budget aid after Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi promised to take the painful economic reforms needed to secure an IMF loan. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry announced the funding after meeting Mursi and acknowledged Egypt's "extreme needs" as the Islamist government struggles with a slide in currency reserves to worryingly low levels and a soaring budget deficit. Cairo says it wants to reopen talks with the International Monetary Fund on a $4. ... Full Story | Top |
| French soldier killed in Mali, Belmokhtar fate unsure Sunday, Mar 03, 2013 02:04 PM PST  PARIS/GAO, Mali (Reuters) - France said on Sunday a third French soldier had been killed in fierce fighting with Islamist rebels in northern Mali but could not confirm Chad's report that its troops had killed the al Qaeda commander behind January's mass hostage-taking in Algeria. A whirlwind seven-week campaign has driven al Qaeda-linked fighters who took over northern Mali last April into mountain and desert redoubts, where they are being hunted by hundreds of French, Chadian and Malian troops. ... Full Story | Top |
| Egypt security force member killed during Port Said clashes Sunday, Mar 03, 2013 01:26 PM PST  CAIRO (Reuters) - A member of Egypt's security forces was killed and hundreds of people wounded during clashes between protesters and police in the Suez Canal city of Port Said on Sunday, security and medical sources said. Hundreds of people had been demonstrating in the city since the morning over the detention of dozens of prisoners in connection with a soccer riot that killed 70 people last year. Police used teargas to disperse a crowd that had gathered in front of a local government office. Some 360 people were injured throughout the clashes, medical sources said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Mexican president warns party over graft: No one is untouchable Sunday, Mar 03, 2013 01:24 PM PST  MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto on Sunday sounded a warning shot to his ruling party over corruption, saying no one is above the law as he tries to tackle the graft that has blighted its reputation in the past. Speaking just days after the head of Mexico's powerful teachers' union was arrested on charges of embezzling around $200 million, Pena Nieto vowed a new era of transparency at a congress attended by some 4,200 members of his Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI. ... Full Story | Top |
| Gunmen attack church in Libya's Benghazi: state media Sunday, Mar 03, 2013 12:37 PM PST TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Gunmen attacked an Egyptian Coptic church in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi, assaulting two priests, the official LANA news agency quoted the foreign ministry as saying on Sunday. The foreign ministry said it "strongly condemned Thursday's attack on the Egyptian church ... and the aggression towards Father Paul Isaac and his assistant by the irresponsible armed men," LANA quoted a foreign ministry statement as saying. ... Full Story | Top |
| Germany to prevent Bulgaria, Romania entering Schengen: magazine Sunday, Mar 03, 2013 12:05 PM PST  BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany will prevent Bulgaria and Romania from entering the passport-free Schengen zone when European ministers meet to discuss the issue on Thursday, German Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich said in a magazine interview. "If Romania and Bulgaria insist on a vote, the attempt will fail due to a German veto," Friedrich was quoted as saying in Der Spiegel on Sunday. "Even the idea of a partial approval i.e. for entry by air or seaports is off the table," he added. ... Full Story | Top |
| Ex-NBA star Rodman says North Korea's Kim wants Obama to call Sunday, Mar 03, 2013 11:47 AM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Dennis Rodman, the former NBA star known more for his body piercings and tattoos than international diplomacy skills, said on Sunday he returned from North Korea with a message from its leader Kim Jong-un for President Barack Obama - "call me." Rodman appeared on ABC's "This Week" program a few days after an unlikely meeting with Kim in the North Korea capital Pyongyang, where Rodman was working on a documentary about basketball. ... Full Story | Top |
| Libya stops gas exports to Italy after militia fight Sunday, Mar 03, 2013 11:45 AM PST  TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Libya has stopped gas exports to Italy from its Mellitah complex after fighting on Saturday between militias, Libya's National Oil Corporation (NOC) and Italy's Eni said on Sunday. Libya's defense ministry sent security personnel to secure the complex, about 100 km (60 miles) west of the capital Tripoli, to ensure exports could resume soon, said Abdufattah Shagan, chairman of Mellitah, an NOC-Eni joint venture. Mellitah supplies Italy with gas through the Greenstream pipeline, which at full capacity pumps at least 8 billion cubic meters. ... Full Story | Top |
| Euroskeptic tycoon passes first Austrian vote tests Sunday, Mar 03, 2013 11:29 AM PST  VIENNA (Reuters) - A billionaire car parts tycoon who wants Austria to abandon the euro passed his first electoral tests on Sunday when his party - formed only last year - got a tenth of the vote to win seats in two state assemblies. Frank Stronach, 80, who burst into Austrian politics with a call to bring back the schilling currency, could turn national elections due by September into a de facto referendum on the country's role in Europe. ... Full Story | Top |
| Bomb at Shi'ite mosque kills 45 in Pakistan Sunday, Mar 03, 2013 11:13 AM PST KARACHI (Reuters) - A suspected suicide bomber attacked Shi'ite Muslims as they were leaving a mosque in Pakistan's commercial capital on Sunday, killing at least 45 people, in another signal Sunni militants are escalating sectarian attacks. "It's like doomsday to me. I was watching television when I heard an explosion and my flat was badly shaken," said Mariam Bibi. "I saw people burning to death and crying with pain. I saw children lying in pools of their own blood and women running around shouting for their children and loved ones. ... Full Story | Top |
| Militant says Belmokhtar alive: monitoring service Sunday, Mar 03, 2013 11:09 AM PST  DUBAI (Reuters) - Algerian al Qaeda commander Mokhtar Belmokhtar, reported killed by Chadian troops, is alive, a monitoring service that tracks online militant forums reported a contributor as saying on Sunday. An unidentified participant in militant website discussions said in a message posted on several forums that Belmoktar was "alive and well and leading the battles himself", the U.S.-based SITE service reported. The message said Belmokhtar, the presumed mastermind behind a hostage-taking at an Algerian gas plant in January, would soon issue a message confirming the news, SITE reported. ... Full Story | Top |
| Germany's SPD tries to win voters with pledge to tame markets Sunday, Mar 03, 2013 10:57 AM PST  BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany's Social Democrats are vowing to "tame" financial market radicalism, split up banks and raise taxes on high earners in a left-leaning campaign program the party hopes will help it defeat popular Chancellor Angela Merkel in a September election. According to a draft of the program seen by Reuters on Sunday, the SPD said no financial market participants, financial products or markets should be left unregulated in the future. "The era of market radicalism is over. ... Full Story | Top |
| British cardinal apologizes over sexual conduct: statement Sunday, Mar 03, 2013 10:53 AM PST  LONDON (Reuters) - A Roman Catholic cardinal who resigned as head of the church in Scotland apologized on Sunday for sexual conduct which he said had "fallen below the standards expected of me". Cardinal Keith O'Brien was Britain's most senior Catholic cleric until he resigned as archbishop on February 25 and said he would not take part in the conclave to elect a new pope. The announcement followed newspaper allegations of inappropriate behavior with priests. ... Full Story | Top |
| Luxury villas, designer labels: jailed Mexico union boss' U.S. oasis Sunday, Mar 03, 2013 10:52 AM PST  CORONADO, California (Reuters) - Boasting two properties in an exclusive enclave just outside San Diego and an enviable designer wardrobe, the jailed boss of Mexico's teachers' union was just another multi-millionaire to her neighbors. As Elba Esther Gordillo, once widely regarded as the most powerful woman in Mexico, languishes in a Mexico City jail on charges she embezzled around $200 million in union funds, her six bedroom, three-floor luxury villa on the Coronado Cays stands empty. Gordillo, 68, has previously denied allegations of corruption. Her lawyer could not be reached for comment. ... Full Story | Top |
| Libyan military forces on way to Mellitah gas plant, official says Sunday, Mar 03, 2013 10:37 AM PST TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Libya's defense ministry has sent security personnel to secure the Mellitah gas facility after it was shut down because of militia clashes, Mellitah Chairman Abdulfatah Shagan said on Sunday. Mellitah gas exports to Italy, which were halted due to the fighting on Saturday, were expected to resume 48 hours after the compound in northwestern Libya was secured, he said. "We received a phone call that the defense ministry has sent vehicles which are on their way. ... Full Story | Top |
| Yemeni president in rare meeting with southern separatists Sunday, Mar 03, 2013 10:26 AM PST  ADEN (Reuters) - Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi met southern separatists for the first time in Aden on Sunday ahead of a conference aimed at drafting a new constitution before elections in 2014, the state news agency said. Hadi, elected in 2012 after a year of turmoil that drove the U.S.-allied country to the brink of civil war, promised the separatists a fair solution to their grievances ahead of the so-called conference of national dialogue which aims to put the country on the course to full democratic elections next year. ... Full Story | Top |
| Britain's Queen Elizabeth in hospital with stomach bug Sunday, Mar 03, 2013 10:15 AM PST  LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's Queen Elizabeth went into hospital in London on Sunday with symptoms of gastroenteritis, a Buckingham Palace spokesman said. The 86-year-old monarch first developed symptoms of the stomach bug on Friday and the decision to take her to hospital was a precautionary measure. She was in good spirits and her condition was not deteriorating, the palace spokesman said. All the queen's engagements for the coming week, including a trip to Italy scheduled for March 6-7, have been cancelled or postponed. ... Full Story | Top |
| Nigerian Islamist leader rejects peace talks in video Sunday, Mar 03, 2013 09:47 AM PST MAIDUGURI (Reuters) - The leader of Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram rejected peace talks with the government in a video on Sunday, distancing himself from a purported commander who declared a ceasefire on behalf of the sect in January. The video was circulated to reporters in the northeastern city of Maiduguri, from where Boko Haram is waging a bloody insurgency against the state that has killed at least 3,000 people across northern Nigeria since 2009. ... Full Story | Top |
| Political uncertainty deepens in Bulgaria as thousands protest Sunday, Mar 03, 2013 09:06 AM PST  SOFIA (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of Bulgarians angry over poverty and corruption protested in more than a dozen cities on Sunday, as a lack of clear support for any political party mired the country in limbo days after the government was toppled. Prime Minister Boiko Borisov quit along with his center-right government on Wednesday after two weeks of sometimes violent protests. He remains in office until an interim government is appointed, most likely next week, which will take Bulgaria to elections due on May 12. ... Full Story | Top |
| Chavez critics protest at secrecy over Venezuelan leader Sunday, Mar 03, 2013 09:04 AM PST  CARACAS (Reuters) - Hundreds of pro-opposition students and other critics of Hugo Chavez's government marched in Caracas on Sunday to demand proof that the cancer-stricken Venezuelan leader is still alive and governing. The crowd, including various leaders at the more militant end of the Democratic Unity opposition coalition, sang protest songs and waved banners as they rallied in a central neighborhood on a sweltering morning. "Give us the truth!" and "Stop lying!" read banners. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. to give Egypt budget aid after assurance on IMF: Kerry Sunday, Mar 03, 2013 08:39 AM PST  CAIRO (Reuters) - The United States will release $190 million in budget aid to Egypt following an assurance from President Mohamed Mursi that he plans to "complete the IMF process", U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Sunday. Cairo says it wants to reopen talks with the IMF on a $4.8 billion loan which was agreed in principle last November but suspended at Cairo's request following street unrest. ... Full Story | Top |
| Palestinian finance minister quits in budget dispute Sunday, Mar 03, 2013 08:30 AM PST RAMALLAH (Reuters) - Palestinian Finance Minister Nabil Qassis announced his resignation on Sunday, saying the government had failed to address a gaping budget deficit. "No decision has been taken to lower the deficit substantially, and on the contrary it is growing ahead of ratifying the (2013) budget," Qassis said in comments to al-Ayyam newspaper explaining his reasons for quitting. Prime Minister Salam Fayyad told cabinet members he had accepted Qassis's resignation. Qassis, who was appointed only last year and has called for austerity measures, said the estimated $3. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. to give Egypt $190 million in budget help: Kerry Sunday, Mar 03, 2013 08:22 AM PST  CAIRO (Reuters) - The United States will give Egypt $190 million to support the government's budget, Secretary of State John Kerry said on Sunday. Washington was providing the aid in light of President Mohamed Mursi's "assurance that he plans to complete the IMF process", Kerry said in a statement after meeting Mursi in Cairo. Egypt says it wants to reopen talks with the IMF on a $4.8 billion loan which was agreed in principle last November but suspended at Cairo's request following street unrest. (Reporting by Arshad Mohammed, Writing by David Stamp, Editing by Sylvia Westall) Full Story | Top |
| Queen Elizabeth cancels Italy visit over health: presidency Sunday, Mar 03, 2013 08:21 AM PST  ROME (Reuters) - Queen Elizabeth has canceled a trip to Italy this week because of health reasons, the Italian presidency announced on Sunday. The Queen was to have visited Italy March 6-7 as a guest of Italian President Giorgio Napolitano. The monarch canceled a visit to the Welsh city of Swansea because of a stomach upset on March 1. The president's office said it had been informed about the cancellation by Britain's ambassador to Rome, Christopher Prentice, who told Italian officials that the Queen needed "medical checks". ... Full Story | Top |
| Poll shows Germany's FDP reaching threshold to enter parliament Sunday, Mar 03, 2013 08:09 AM PST  BERLIN (Reuters) - Support for Germany's Free Democrats (FDP), the junior partner in Chancellor Angela Merkel's center-right coalition, has reached the 5 percent threshold needed to enter parliament for the first time since October, a poll showed on Sunday. The Emnid survey showed support for the liberal, pro-business FDP - a veteran participant in German coalitions since World War Two - nudged up from 4 percent the previous week. The FDP gained a record 14. ... Full Story | Top |
| Russian police delay Pussy Riot play at Moscow theater Sunday, Mar 03, 2013 07:56 AM PST  MOSCOW (Reuters) - Moscow police interrupted a play featuring the trial of punk rockers Pussy Riot on Sunday and warned its Swiss director for violating visa rules, in what a government critic said was part of an anti-Western campaign. Federal Migration Service officers delayed the performance of "Moscow Trials" at a theatre at Moscow's Sakharov center for an hour as they issued a verbal warning to director Milo Rau, according to news agency Interfax and website Publicpost.ru . ... Full Story | Top |
| After vote loss, UK's Cameron seen wooing right wing Sunday, Mar 03, 2013 07:48 AM PST  LONDON (Reuters) - New policies floated on Sunday suggest Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron could respond to a mid-term election defeat by seeking to win back right-wing voters, despite a pledge not to lurch to the right. Cameron's Conservatives were beaten into a humiliating third place on Thursday in a vote for the vacant parliamentary seat of Eastleigh by the right-wing, anti-EU UK Independence Party (UKIP). The seat was won by Cameron's pro-EU, centre-left junior coalition partners, the Liberal Democrats. ... Full Story | Top |
| Clashes between rebels and army erupt in central Sudan Sunday, Mar 03, 2013 07:38 AM PST KHARTOUM/JUBA (Reuters) - Fighting has broken out between government forces and rebels in central Sudan, both sides said on Sunday, in a possible escalation of violence that has hitherto been concentrated closer to the African country's borders. Rebels of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) from the western region of Darfur said they had launched an attack on the army in North Kordofan state. JEM and two other Darfur rebel groups formed an alliance with a rebel group from southern Sudan, the SPLM-North, in 2011 to try to topple veteran President Omar Hassan al-Bashir. ... Full Story | Top |
| Nigerian Islamist leader denies peace talks in video Sunday, Mar 03, 2013 07:34 AM PST MAIDUGURI (Reuters) - The leader of Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram rejected peace talks with the government in a new video on Sunday, distancing himself from a purported commander who declared a ceasefire on behalf of the sect in January. The video was circulated to reporters in the northeastern city of Maiduguri, from where Boko Haram is waging a bloody insurgency against the state that has killed at least 3,000 people across northern Nigeria since 2009. ... Full Story | Top |
| Bangladesh deploys army after more violence over tribunal Sunday, Mar 03, 2013 07:30 AM PST  DHAKA (Reuters) - Bangladesh deployed troops on Sunday to a town where eight people were killed in clashes between police and Islamist party supporters protesting against the conviction of party leaders on charges stemming from the country's 1971 independence war. Bangladesh has been rocked by protests and counter-protests since January, when a tribunal set up by the government to investigate abuses during the war of independence against Pakistan handed down its first conviction, sentencing a leader of the Jamaat-e-Islami party in absentia to death. ... Full Story | Top |
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