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| Arizona city becomes state's first to allow same-sex civil unions Wednesday, Apr 03, 2013 12:29 AM PDT By Tim Gaynor BISBEE, Arizona (Reuters) - A former Arizona copper mining town reborn as an artists' community defied the threat of legal action on Tuesday and became the first city in the conservative southwestern state to allow civil unions between same-sex couples. The city council in Bisbee, a city of 5,600 residents in southeast Arizona, voted five to two to pass a measure allowing any couple to join in a civil ceremony, regardless of their sex or sexual orientation. "We're just acknowledging the people that live here. It's a big step in the right direction (and) for a tiny town ... ... Full Story | Top |
| China expresses "serious concern" over Korean peninsula Wednesday, Apr 03, 2013 12:20 AM PDT BEIJING (Reuters) - A Chinese official met ambassadors from the United States and both Koreas to express "serious concern" about the situation on the Korean peninsula, China's Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday after North Korea closed access to a joint factory zone with the South. China hopes North Korea and South Korea can resolve their differences through talks, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei told reporters at a daily news briefing. ... Full Story | Top |
| IMF, Egypt face tough talks on $4.8 bln loan Wednesday, Apr 03, 2013 12:19 AM PDT  By Tom Perry and Maggie Fick CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt predicts a speedy conclusion to talks with the International Monetary Fund on a $4.8 billion loan that will help save its economy from crisis. It may not be that easy. In talks due to start on Wednesday, Cairo must convince the IMF that it is serious about reforms aimed at boosting growth and curbing an unaffordable budget deficit. That implies tax hikes and politically risky cuts in the generous system of state subsidies for fuel and bread. ... Full Story | Top |
| Islamists accuse US of interference in Egyptian affairs Wednesday, Apr 03, 2013 12:16 AM PDT CAIRO (Reuters) - President Mohamed Mursi's Islamist allies accused the United States on Tuesday of blatant interference in Egypt's affairs after Washington said Cairo was muzzling freedom of speech. On Monday, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland criticised the questioning of the most popular Egyptian television satirist over allegations that he insulted Mursi and Islam. ... Full Story | Top |
| Malaysia's Najib fires starting gun for tense election race Wednesday, Apr 03, 2013 12:12 AM PDT  By Stuart Grudgings KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak dissolved parliament on Wednesday, paving the way for a general election expected this month that could be the most closely contested his ruling coalition has faced in its 56-year rule. Najib faces a confident opposition alliance led by former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim and is under intense pressure to restore his ruling coalition's two-thirds majority that it lost for the first time in a disastrous 2008 poll. ... Full Story | Top |
| Korea's "Bourne Identity" film highlights peninsula tensions Tuesday, Apr 02, 2013 11:51 PM PDT  By Jane Chung SEOUL (Reuters) - When North Korean spy Pyo Jong-seong's arms deal for Pyongyang goes wrong in Berlin, he knows it is time to flee with his wife from agents of the vengeful and isolated state - a country that recently said it was "in a state of war" with its neighbor. Part of the thinking behind that belligerence, which has sent tensions on the Korean peninsula sky-rocketing, is on display in "The Berlin File," known as Korea's "Bourne Identity", which is currently showing in the United States and Canada as well as drawing millions of viewers in South Korea. ... Full Story | Top |
| Egypt threatens to cancel licence of TV station hosting satirist Tuesday, Apr 02, 2013 11:20 PM PDT  CAIRO (Reuters) - The Egyptian government has threatened to cancel the licence of an independent TV channel for hosting a popular satirist who was questioned by prosecutors over accusations that he insulted President Mohamed Mursi, state media said on Tuesday. Bassem Youssef, who rose to fame with a satirical online show after the uprising that swept the previous president, Hosni Mubarak, from power in 2011, turned himself in on Sunday after the prosecutor-general issued a warrant for his arrest. ... Full Story | Top |
| UN overwhelmingly approves global arms trade treaty Tuesday, Apr 02, 2013 11:18 PM PDT  By Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The 193-nation U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved the first treaty on the global arms trade, which seeks to regulate the $70 billion business in conventional arms and keep weapons out of the hands of human rights abusers. The National Rifle Association (NRA), a powerful U.S. pro-gun lobbying group that has opposed the treaty from the start, said it was a sad day for the United States, which joined the vast majority of U.N. member states by voting for the pact. ... Full Story | Top |
| US wants to support fight against al Qaeda in Mali: senator Tuesday, Apr 02, 2013 11:16 PM PDT  By Tiemoko Diallo BAMAKO (Reuters) - The United States will seek ways it can help French and African forces in Mali combat al Qaeda-linked rebels, U.S. Senator John McCain said on Tuesday during a visit to the West African country. France launched a military offensive in Mali in January against Islamist militants threatening the capital. That drove the insurgents out of the towns they had seized, but they have since hit back with suicide attacks and guerrilla-style raids. ... Full Story | Top |
| Congo promises action on mass rapes in eastern town: UN Tuesday, Apr 02, 2013 11:14 PM PDT By Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The Democratic Republic of Congo has promised to bring a group of suspected mass rapists to justice after the United Nations last month threatened to halt support to two Congolese army battalions, the world body said on Tuesday. The United Nations said 126 women were raped in Minova in November after Congolese troops fled to the town as so-called M23 rebels briefly captured the nearby provincial capital of Goma. The U.N. ... Full Story | Top |
| Mandela's condition unchanged, no deterioration: presidency Tuesday, Apr 02, 2013 11:13 PM PDT  JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela's condition has not changed after a weekend improvement, the South African government said on Tuesday, and it denied media reports suggesting the former president had suffered a relapse in his pneumonia. "His condition is unchanged as reported yesterday," presidency spokesman Mac Maharaj told Reuters. The government said on Monday there was "no significant change" in the condition of the 94-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate. ... Full Story | Top |
| Bomb hits Somalia's biggest bank after militant threat Tuesday, Apr 02, 2013 11:11 PM PDT By Abdi Sheikh MOGADISHU (Reuters) - A bomb exploded outside the headquarters of Somalia's biggest bank on Tuesday, wounding at least two people hours after al Qaeda-linked militants ordered the company cease operations in areas under their control. The blast outside Dahabshiil's office in Mogadishu shattered its doors and littered the area with debris, police said. "A remote-controlled bomb planted in front of Mogadishu's Dahabshiil bank and money transfer headquarters injured two guards," police captain Nur Hassan told Reuters. ... Full Story | Top |
| Analysis: Jobless youths could drag on recovery Tuesday, Apr 02, 2013 11:03 PM PDT  By Mike Dolan LONDON (Reuters) - The global economy is recovering - although the younger you are and the longer you've been out of work, the less likely it is that you'll have noticed. A modest upturn in the major developed economies flagged last week by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development should be a considerable relief for Western countries still struggling to run down huge debts. But with persistent recession across Europe and high levels of youth unemployment and long-term joblessness, signs that growth is picking up may offer little cheer. ... Full Story | Top |
| North Korea pressures South by halting entry to industrial zone Tuesday, Apr 02, 2013 10:29 PM PDT  By Ju-min Park PAJU, South Korea (Reuters) - North Korea on Wednesday closed access to a joint factory zone that earns $2 billion a year in trade for the impoverished state but will allow hundreds of South Koreans to return home, officials said, allaying fears they could have been held hostage. Factories in the Kaesong Industrial Park were still believed to be operating, but North Korea's decision to block entry is a further sign of the growing tensions on the Korean peninsula. On Tuesday, Pyongyang said it would restart a mothballed nuclear reactor. ... Full Story | Top |
| South Korea considering options if safety threatened in Kaesong: Yonhap Tuesday, Apr 02, 2013 10:29 PM PDT SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korean Defence Minister Kim Kwan-jin said on Wednesday he is looking at all available options to ensure the safety of South Koreans who remain in the joint industrial zone inside North Korea including military actions in worst case scenario, Yonhap news agency reported. More than 800 South Koreans remain in the Kaesong project just north of the rival Koreas' armed border after Pyongyang cut off access into the zone earlier on Wednesday in an escalation of tensions amid military drills and U.N. sanctions. (Reporting by Jack Kim; Editing by Miyoung Kim) Full Story | Top |
| Insight: In Malaysia's election, a focus on rainforest graft Tuesday, Apr 02, 2013 10:12 PM PDT  By Niluksi Koswanage KOTA KINABALU, Malaysia (Reuters) - The island of Borneo may be all that stands between Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak and an unprecedented election defeat within weeks for his ruling coalition. Borneo's two Malaysian states -- Sabah and Sarawak -- have been a bastion of votes for the National Front coalition headed by Najib's party, the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO). ... Full Story | Top |
| Obama launches fund-raising blitz to help Democrats in Congress Tuesday, Apr 02, 2013 10:08 PM PDT  By Steve Holland WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama will launch a fund-raising drive for the 2014 mid-term elections on Wednesday with addresses to deep-pocketed donors in California, hoping the Democratic Party can defy the odds and gain congressional seats in the polls. The party in power in the White House usually loses seats in election years in which the presidency is not up for grabs. This means Democrats have their work cut out for them in trying to win a majority in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives and add to their majority in the Senate. ... Full Story | Top |
| Analysis: Meet North Korea's new Kim, same as the old Kims? Tuesday, Apr 02, 2013 10:03 PM PDT  By Matt Spetalnick and Mark Hosenball WASHINGTON (Reuters) - North Korea's young leader Kim Jong-un is using his forebears' time-tested "crazy-guy-in-the-neighborhood" strategy, senior U.S. officials say, but with a provocative new twist - aiming Pyongyang's threats directly at the United States. There are indeed signs of an earlier method in what might seem like Kim's rhetorical madness, which U.S. policymakers say is patterned after more than a half century of rule over the reclusive state by his father and grandfather. But with a large degree of uncertainty surrounding Kim and limited U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.N. chief urges talks in North Korea crisis Tuesday, Apr 02, 2013 09:33 PM PDT ANDORRA (Reuters) - United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Tuesday that a crisis over North Korea had gone too far and urged dialogue and negotiation to resolve the situation. "Nuclear threats are not a game. Aggressive rhetoric and military posturing only result in counter-actions, and fuel fear and instability," Ban said at a news conference in Andorra, where he was on an official visit. Earlier on Tuesday, North Korea's leader appeared to tamp down hostile rhetoric that had threatened impending war with the United States and South Korea. The U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Former governor to face comedian's sister in South Carolina election Tuesday, Apr 02, 2013 08:55 PM PDT By Harriet McLeod CHARLESTON, South Carolina (Reuters) - Former South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford, seeking political redemption after a sex scandal, won a runoff on Tuesday to become the Republican nominee for an open seat in the House of Representatives, setting up a May showdown against the sister of prominent political satirist Stephen Colbert. Sanford beat his Republican opponent, Charleston attorney and former Marine Curtis Bostic, 57 percent to 43 percent, official results showed. ... Full Story | Top |
| Malaysia's Najib to make TV address, expected to call election Tuesday, Apr 02, 2013 08:25 PM PDT  KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak is expected to dissolve parliament and call a long-anticipated general election in a televised announcement on Wednesday morning, government officials said. Najib, whose ruling coalition faces a resurgent opposition challenging its 56-year rule, will make the national address at 11.30 a.m (11:30 p.m. ET on Tuesday), an official in his department said. He is expected to use the TV address to announce the election, two government sources told Reuters. ... Full Story | Top |
| Fed hawk Lacker and dove Evans face off over inflation Tuesday, Apr 02, 2013 08:02 PM PDT  By Alister Bull RICHMOND, Virginia (Reuters) - One of the Federal Reserve's most hawkish officials confronted one of the institution's most dovish policymakers on Tuesday in a rare joint public debate over the risks posed to inflation by the U.S. central bank's bold steps to spur growth. Policy dove Charles Evans, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, and anti-inflation hawk Jeffrey Lacker, chief of the Richmond Fed, sparred pointedly and respectfully disagreed. ... Full Story | Top |
| Arizona "pregnant man" to appeal ruling rejecting divorce Tuesday, Apr 02, 2013 07:46 PM PDT By David Schwartz PHOENIX (Reuters) - A transgender man who made worldwide headlines after he married and gave birth to three children will appeal an Arizona judge's ruling denying him a divorce from his wife of 10 years, his attorneys said on Tuesday. Thomas Beatie, 39, was born a woman but began living as a man in his 20s, initiating hormone treatments, undergoing breast-removal surgery and legally changing his name, though he kept his female reproductive organs. ... Full Story | Top |
| North Korea suspends entry to Kaesong industrial zone Tuesday, Apr 02, 2013 07:33 PM PDT SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korean authorities were not allowing any South Korean workers into a joint industrial park on Wednesday, South Korea's Unification Ministry and a Reuters witness said, adding to tensions between the two countries. A South Korean official said hundreds of South Koreans currently in the Kaesong Industrial zone would be allowed to leave. North Korea had earlier delayed access to the park. The zone generates $2 billion a year in trade for the impoverished North. (Writing by Dean Yates) Full Story | Top |
| Alabama Senate passes bill tightening rules for abortion clinics Tuesday, Apr 02, 2013 07:19 PM PDT  By Verna Gates BIRMINGHAM, Ala (Reuters) - The Alabama Senate passed an abortion bill on Tuesday critics say would limit access to the procedure with stricter requirements for clinics that provide it. The Senate passed the bill on a vote of 22-10, after the House passed a similar bill in February. A committee will reconcile the two bills before the proposed legislation goes to the Alabama Governor, Dr. Robert Bentley, who is expected to sign it into law. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.N. overwhelmingly approves global arms trade treaty Tuesday, Apr 02, 2013 07:03 PM PDT  By Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The 193-nation U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved the first treaty on the global arms trade, which seeks to regulate the $70 billion business in conventional arms and keep weapons out of the hands of human rights abusers. The National Rifle Association (NRA), a powerful U.S. pro-gun lobbying group that has opposed the treaty from the start, said it was a sad day for the United States, which joined the vast majority of U.N. member states by voting for the pact. ... Full Story | Top |
| RPT-UPDATE 1-ESPN video shows Rutgers coach berating, hitting players Tuesday, Apr 02, 2013 06:48 PM PDT By David Jones NEWARK, N.J., April 2 (Reuters) - The ESPN sports network released video on Tuesday showing a Rutgers University men's basketball head coach, briefly suspended for his behavior last year, shoving players, hurling balls at their heads and berating them with homophobic slurs and profanity during practices. The video of Coach Mike Rice prompted the office of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie to release a statement condemning the coach's behavior. Rutgers, home to about 58,000 students, is a public university based in New Brunswick, New Jersey. ... Full Story | Top |
| ESPN video shows Rutgers coach berating, hitting players Tuesday, Apr 02, 2013 06:36 PM PDT  By David Jones NEWARK, New Jersey (Reuters) - The ESPN sports network released video on Tuesday showing a Rutgers University men's basketball head coach, briefly suspended for his behavior last year, shoving players, hurling balls at their heads and berating them with homophobic slurs and profanity during practices. The video of Coach Mike Rice prompted the office of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie to release a statement condemning the coach's behavior. Rutgers, home to about 58,000 students, is a public university based in New Brunswick, New Jersey. ... Full Story | Top |
| North Korea delays access to Kaesong industrial zone Tuesday, Apr 02, 2013 06:29 PM PDT By Christine Kim and Ju-min Park SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea stepped up pressure on Seoul by delaying access to a joint industrial park in a move that could trap hundreds of South Korean workers on the northern side of the world's most militarized border. It was not immediately clear if the move was aimed at closing the Kaesong Industrial zone, which generates $2 billion a year in trade for the impoverished North and $80 million in cash wages that go straight to its government. North Korean delays to accessing the zone are very rare. ... Full Story | Top |
| New strain of bird flu infects four others in China -Xinhua Tuesday, Apr 02, 2013 06:26 PM PDT BEIJING (Reuters) - China reported four new cases on Tuesday of a strain of bird flu that was previously unknown in humans but has already killed two people, raising the total of known cases to seven. The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday there was no evidence that the H7N9 strain could be transmitted between people, but that it was investigating the outbreak. The four new patients in China's eastern Jiangsu province were all in critical condition and receiving emergency treatment, the Xinhua News Agency said, citing the Jiangsu provincial health bureau. ... Full Story | Top |
| NRA-funded panel urges training armed guards at schools Tuesday, Apr 02, 2013 06:23 PM PDT  By Ian Simpson WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A task force funded by the National Rifle Association, the top U.S. gun rights group, unveiled a plan on Tuesday to train armed security personnel in every school in response to the December school massacre in Connecticut - a proposal swiftly condemned by gun control advocates. ... Full Story | Top |
| Blow to Serbia's EU bid as Kosovo talks end without result Tuesday, Apr 02, 2013 05:32 PM PDT  By Adrian Croft BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Crunch talks aimed at ending the ethnic partition of Serbia's former Kosovo province broke up without result on Wednesday, in a major setback for Serbia's hopes of starting European Union membership negotiations this year. EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who has been mediating months of talks between Serbia and Kosovo, said the gap between the two sides was "very narrow, but deep" after a marathon 12-hour session. ... Full Story | Top |
| Four face manslaughter charges for Brazil nightclub fire Tuesday, Apr 02, 2013 05:17 PM PDT  SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Prosecutors charged four people with manslaughter on Tuesday for their roles in the January 27 nightclub fire that killed 241 people in southern Brazil, saying they overlooked grave safety irregularities. The Kiss club's two owners, as well as two members of a band who lit a flare that ignited a soundproofing ceiling foam, will stand trial for manslaughter while four others face lesser charges, including for false testimony. "They ignored what could have happened to these people for financial reasons," prosecutor Joel Dutra said of the accused. ... Full Story | Top |
| Iran's nuclear program entails huge costs, few benefits: report Tuesday, Apr 02, 2013 05:11 PM PDT  By Yeganeh Torbati DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran will pursue its nuclear quest although it has reaped few gains from a totem of national pride that has cost it well over $100 billion in lost oil revenue and foreign investment alone, two think-tanks said on Wednesday. A report by the Washington-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and the Federation of American Scientists said Iran's atomic work could not simply be ended or "bombed away" and that diplomacy was the only way to keep it peaceful. ... Full Story | Top |
| Texas prosecutor steps into job after predecessor gunned down Tuesday, Apr 02, 2013 05:06 PM PDT  By Chris Francescani KAUFMAN, Texas (Reuters) - Brandi Fernandez slipped into the Kaufman County Courthouse in her first full day as interim district attorney on Tuesday, taking over a job that authorities believe got her predecessor and one of her colleagues killed. Praised as a smart, tough litigator and a fierce advocate for child victims of crime, Fernandez declined to address reporters and remained under close protection inside the courthouse throughout the day. A police cruiser was parked outside her single-family home surrounded by trees on Monday and Tuesday. ... Full Story | Top |
| Indiana House passes bill aimed at limiting use of abortion pill Tuesday, Apr 02, 2013 05:05 PM PDT By Susan Guyett INDIANAPOLIS (Reuters) - The Indiana House on Tuesday approved a bill requiring clinics that administer the so-called abortion pill to also have full surgical facilities, a move that would force Planned Parenthood to halt all abortion services at a central Indiana clinic. Supporters say the bill protects women's health, but the president of Planned Parenthood of Indiana called the facility mandates for early-term abortions "regulation without reason. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. government issues corrective order for Exxon spill Tuesday, Apr 02, 2013 04:59 PM PDT  By Suzi Parker and Kristen Hays LITTLE ROCK/HOUSTON (Reuters) - U.S. pipeline regulators on Tuesday ordered Exxon Mobil Corp to take necessary corrective action for its ruptured pipeline that spilled thousands of barrels of crude oil into a small Arkansas housing development last week. The U.S. Transportation Department's Pipeline and Hazardous Safety Administration's corrective order said Exxon estimated that 3,500 to 5,000 barrels of crude spewed from the breach. Exxon had so far only said publicly that it had recovered 12,000 barrels of oil and water. ... Full Story | Top |
| Israel launches air strikes on Gaza; first since truce Tuesday, Apr 02, 2013 04:59 PM PDT By Nidal al-Mughrabi GAZA (Reuters) - Israel launched air strikes on the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, the first such attacks since an eight-day war in November, Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist movement that controls the territory, and Israel's military said. "Occupation planes bombarded an open area in northern Gaza, there were no wounded," a statement from the Hamas Interior Ministry said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Egypt threatens to cancel license of TV station hosting satirist Tuesday, Apr 02, 2013 04:44 PM PDT CAIRO (Reuters) - The Egyptian government has threatened to cancel the license of an independent TV channel for hosting a popular satirist who was questioned by prosecutors over accusations that he insulted President Mohamed Mursi, state media said on Tuesday. Bassem Youssef, who rose to fame with a satirical online show after the uprising that swept the previous president, Hosni Mubarak, from power in 2011, turned himself in on Sunday after the prosecutor-general issued a warrant for his arrest. ... Full Story | Top |
| Islamists accuse U.S. of interference in Egyptian affairs Tuesday, Apr 02, 2013 04:44 PM PDT  CAIRO (Reuters) - President Mohamed Mursi's Islamist allies accused the United States on Tuesday of blatant interference in Egypt's affairs after Washington said Cairo was muzzling freedom of speech. On Monday, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland criticized the questioning of the most popular Egyptian television satirist over allegations that he insulted Mursi and Islam. ... Full Story | Top |
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