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| CA-NEWS Summary Saturday, Apr 27, 2013 11:48 PM PDT Four arrested as Bangladesh building toll rises to 352 DHAKA (Reuters) - Two factory bosses and two engineers were detained in Bangladesh on Saturday, three days after the collapse of a building where low-cost garments were made for Western brands killed at least 352 people. More were being pulled alive from the rubble at the building, where police said as many as 900 people were still missing in Bangladesh's worst ever industrial accident. ... Full Story | Top |
| Japan's Abe says "restoration of sovereignty day" signals hope Saturday, Apr 27, 2013 11:48 PM PDT  By Stanley White TOKYO (Reuters) - Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called on Sunday for a renewal of a "sense of hope and determination" in marking for the first time the restoration of Japan's post-war sovereignty, part of a drive to repair what conservatives consider dented national pride. Abe, who is riding a wave of popularity after being swept back into office in a landslide election last December, wants to revise the post-war, U.S.-drafted pacifist constitution and rewrite Japan's wartime history with a less apologetic tone. ... Full Story | Top |
| Israeli air strike hits Gaza militant base after rocket fired: military Saturday, Apr 27, 2013 10:02 PM PDT JERUSALEM (Reuters) - An Israeli aircraft hit a site belonging to Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip on Sunday in response to a rocket that militants fired from the territory into southern Israel, the Israeli military said. The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine said the air strike hit a training base belonging to the group in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip but nobody was hurt. No militant group had initially taken responsibility for launching the rocket. It landed in an open field and did not cause damage or injuries, an Israeli military spokeswoman said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Venezuela's Capriles raised false hopes on vote audit: election body Saturday, Apr 27, 2013 09:32 PM PDT  By Daniel Wallis and Enrique Andres Pretel CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's electoral authority said on Saturday the opposition created false hopes about a vote audit being prepared after President Nicolas Maduro's narrow election win, adding that his rival had failed to present compelling proof of foul play. The National Electoral Council had stressed from the start that the "expanded" audit it agreed to after the April 14 vote would not change the results, which made Maduro the successor to the late socialist leader Hugo Chavez. ... Full Story | Top |
| Venezuela's Maduro pledges continued alliance with Cuba Saturday, Apr 27, 2013 09:20 PM PDT  HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuba and Venezuela signed cooperation accords on Saturday for 51 projects as Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, on his first trip to the island since his election, pledged to maintain the close alliance forged by his late predecessor, Hugo Chavez. Maduro said they would jointly spend $2 billion this year on "social development," but it was not clear if he was discussing the 51 projects, few details of which were disclosed, or other works. ... Full Story | Top |
| Icelanders oust government over austerity program Saturday, Apr 27, 2013 09:05 PM PDT  By Balazs Koranyi and Robert Robertson REYKJAVIK (Reuters) - Fatigued by years of austerity and swayed by promises of debt relief, Icelandic voters dumped the Social Democrats from power on Saturday, returning a center-right government that ruled over its stunning financial collapse just five years ago. Once a European financial hub, this windswept north Atlantic island of glaciers, geysers and volcanoes has been limping along for years, still crippled from a crash that brought it to its knees in just a matter of days. ... Full Story | Top |
| Algerian president in France for medical tests after minor stroke Saturday, Apr 27, 2013 08:56 PM PDT  By Lamine Chikhi ALGIERS (Reuters) - Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has been transferred to France for further medical tests after suffering a minor stroke on Saturday, Algeria's official news agency said. The APS agency said late on Saturday that Bouteflika, 76, was in Paris at the recommendation of his doctors. He was hospitalized after a minor stroke, according to an earlier state press agency report that quoted the prime minister as saying his condition was "not serious. ... Full Story | Top |
| Mexico detains 108 in immigration sweep; most from Central America Saturday, Apr 27, 2013 04:52 PM PDT MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexican authorities said on Saturday they detained 108 undocumented immigrants along highways, at bus stations and on a cargo train route that thousands of Central Americans use every year to cross Mexico and enter the United States illegally. Ninety five Central Americans, mostly from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, were detained in the southern states of Oaxaca and Tabasco during sweeps by federal police in the last 24 hours, Mexico's migration institute said in a statement. Seven of the Central Americans were children, the institute said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Iceland centre-right opposition takes big early election lead Saturday, Apr 27, 2013 04:27 PM PDT  By Balazs Koranyi and Robert Robertson REYKJAVIK (Reuters) - Iceland's centre-right parties took a commanding early lead in elections on Saturday, staying on course to return to power with promises of tax cuts and debt relief just five years after presiding over the country's spectacular economic collapse. The Independence and Progressive Parties, which ruled the nation, often in coalition, for nearly 30 years before the 2008 collapse, had collected close to half the votes counted so far, putting them solidly ahead of the ruling Social Democrats and on track to form Iceland's next government. ... Full Story | Top |
| Pakistan "Robin Hood" aims to wrest election from the rich Saturday, Apr 27, 2013 03:45 PM PDT  By Mehreen Zahra-Malik MUZAFFARGARH, Pakistan (Reuters) - With a flick of the reins, Jamshed Dasti launched his run for Pakistan's parliament from the back of a donkey cart, cantering through the rutted streets of his home town to file his nomination papers as supporters erupted into cheers. With the opening act in his campaign unfolding exactly as planned, Dasti beamed the beatific smile of a man who might look like an underdog, but who is sure he has the momentum to humble his wealthy rivals at next month's general elections. ... Full Story | Top |
| Mississippi man linked to ricin letters charged with biological weapons use Saturday, Apr 27, 2013 03:30 PM PDT  By Robbie Ward TUPELO, Mississippi (Reuters) - A Mississippi martial arts instructor was charged on Saturday with attempting to use a biological weapon after a ricin-laced letter was sent to President Barack Obama earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Justice said. Everett Dutschke, 41, was arrested at his Tupelo home shortly after midnight by FBI agents following searches of the residence and a former business as part of the ricin letter investigation. He was later charged with "developing ... ... Full Story | Top |
| Thirteen dead, dozens hurt during Mexican prison riot Saturday, Apr 27, 2013 02:46 PM PDT  MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Thirteen people were killed and some 65 injured in a prison riot on Saturday in the central Mexican state of San Luis Potosi, local officials said. A fight broke out before daybreak among prisoners in a cell block in the La Pila prison in the state capital of San Luis Potosi, and state police re-established control by the morning, officials said. Concepcion Tovar, head of the state's prison system, told reporters that at least 100 inmates participated in the riot, which she blamed on a gang that had been harassing and robbing other inmates. ... Full Story | Top |
| Four arrested as Bangladesh building toll rises to 352 Saturday, Apr 27, 2013 02:06 PM PDT  By Serajul Quadir and Ruma Paul DHAKA (Reuters) - Two factory bosses and two engineers were detained in Bangladesh on Saturday, three days after the collapse of a building where low-cost garments were made for Western brands killed at least 352 people. More were being pulled alive from the rubble at the building, where police said as many as 900 people were still missing in Bangladesh's worst ever industrial accident. The owner of the eight-storey building that fell like a pack of cards around more than 3,000 mainly young women workers was still on the run. ... Full Story | Top |
| Algerian President Bouteflika hospitalized: report Saturday, Apr 27, 2013 01:48 PM PDT  By Lamine Chikhi ALGIERS (Reuters) - Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika was hospitalized after a minor stroke on Saturday, according to the state press agency report that quoted the prime minister as saying his condition was "not serious". The health of 76-year-old Bouteflika is a central factor in the stability of an oil-exporting country of 37 million people that is emerging from a long conflict against Islamist insurgents. The APS new agency said Bouteflika had an "ischemic transitory attack", or mini-stroke, at 12:30 p.m. (0730 EST). ... Full Story | Top |
| Sudan rebels attack city, push closer to capital Saturday, Apr 27, 2013 01:15 PM PDT By Khalid Abdelaziz and Ulf Laessing KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Rebels from Sudan's Darfur region launched a dawn attack on the city of Um Rawaba on Saturday, taking their fight closer to the capital Khartoum, witnesses said. The attack marks the biggest push by a rebel alliance that is seeking to topple President Omar Hassan al-Bashir. Fighting had hitherto been limited mainly to remote regions of Darfur and South Kordofan and Blue Nile states, which border South Sudan. ... Full Story | Top |
| Hungary's leftist opposition edges towards alliance Saturday, Apr 27, 2013 01:01 PM PDT  BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Hungary's opposition Socialists said on Saturday they had agreed with the second largest political force on the left, the party Together 2014, to field joint candidates in next year's elections. The country's leftist opposition has been divided, preventing it from capitalizing on dissatisfaction in the recession-hit central European country, whose conservative government has been accused of chipping away at European democratic standards. ... Full Story | Top |
| Analysis: No good military options for U.S. in Syria Saturday, Apr 27, 2013 12:49 PM PDT  By Phil Stewart and Peter Apps WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Despite President Barack Obama's pledge that Syria's use of chemical weapons is a "game changer" for the United States, he is unlikely to turn to military options quickly and would want allies joining him in any intervention. Possible military choices range from limited one-off missile strikes from ships - one of the less complicated scenarios - to bolder operations like carving out no-fly safe zones. One of the most politically unpalatable possibilities envisions sending tens of thousands of U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Italy's Letta sets moderate course with new government Saturday, Apr 27, 2013 12:25 PM PDT By Gavin Jones ROME (Reuters) - There is much about Italy's new center-left prime minister Enrico Letta, who named his cabinet on Saturday, that is likely to please financial markets and Rome's international partners. He is young, moderate and pro-European, and despite his low public profile he has been a member of the European political elite for many years. Letta speaks fluent English and has a sound grasp of economics. ... Full Story | Top |
| Stalemate over, Italy's Letta names new government Saturday, Apr 27, 2013 11:47 AM PDT  By James Mackenzie and Gavin Jones ROME (Reuters) - Italian center-left politician Enrico Letta named a coalition government on Saturday, making one of Silvio Berlusconi's closest allies deputy prime minister and ending two months of damaging political stalemate. Letta has said his priorities would be the economy, unemployment and restoring faith in Italy's discredited political institutions as well as trying to turn Europe away from austerity to focus more on growth and investment. ... Full Story | Top |
| Four die in NATO plane crash in Afghanistan Saturday, Apr 27, 2013 11:21 AM PDT KABUL (Reuters) - Four members of NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) were killed on Saturday when their plane crashed in southern Afghanistan, the coalition said in a statement. ISAF said there was no insurgent activity in the area when the plane went down over the volatile province of Zabul. The province's police chief Rogh Lewanai told Reuters that bad weather caused the plane to crash, in the district of Shahjoi. Zabul, wedged between Kandahar and Ghazni, has seen much violence over recent weeks, including a suicide bomb attack in early April which killed a young U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Egypt president invites judges to discuss judicial reform crisis Saturday, Apr 27, 2013 11:03 AM PDT  CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi has invited senior figures from the judiciary to discuss a crisis triggered by proposed reforms that would push out thousands of judges, state media said on Saturday. Islamist lawmakers have put forward a bill that would force out more than 3,000 judges by lowering the retirement age, causing a revolt among the judiciary and widening political divisions in the country more than two years after a popular uprising ousted President Hosni Mubarak. ... Full Story | Top |
| Comoros protests against anti-government plot, mercenary involvement Saturday, Apr 27, 2013 10:47 AM PDT  MORONI (Reuters) - Politicians and civil society groups on the coup-prone Indian Ocean archipelago of Comoros on Saturday protested against an attempt to destabilize the government and warned that people linked to an infamous mercenary were at the heart of the plot. Comoros authorities said there was a conspiracy to undermine the country's rulers and last week arrested around 10 people for alleged involvement in the attempt to destabilize the government. ... Full Story | Top |
| Former Madagascar president Ratsiraka to contest July election Saturday, Apr 27, 2013 10:13 AM PDT  By Alain Iloniaina ANTANANARIVO (Reuters) - Madagascar's former president Didier Ratsiraka will contest national elections in July in a bid to become the Indian Ocean island state's leader for the third time, his supporters said on Saturday. Madagascar has been in crisis since Andry Rajoelina, now president, led an uprising that ousted former President Marc Ravalomanana from office in 2009, triggering turmoil that scared off investors and devastated the vital tourism sector. ... Full Story | Top |
| Hague judges issue sharp rebuke to Kenyatta prosecutors Saturday, Apr 27, 2013 09:59 AM PDT  By Thomas Escritt AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Judges hearing the case against Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta at the International Criminal Court have sharply rebuked prosecutors for failing to disclose evidence that could be used in his defense, but stopped short of restarting the trial. While the reprimand will have no impact on the trial itself, it is a fresh blow to prosecutors who accuse Kenya's newly-elected president of orchestrating bloody post-election clashes five years ago in which 1,200 people died. ... Full Story | Top |
| Luxembourg's Juncker reshuffles government Saturday, Apr 27, 2013 09:53 AM PDT  BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker on Saturday reshuffled his government following the resignation of his justice minister earlier this month. Juncker will take responsibility for religion in addition to his duties as prime minister, two sources in his Christian Social Party (CSV) told Reuters. Finance Minister Luc Frieden stays in office, but also gets responsibility for communications. Francois Biltgen resigned to stand for office as a judge in the Court of Justice of the European Union, the bloc's highest court, which is based in Luxembourg. ... Full Story | Top |
| North Korea says detained American tourist to face trial Saturday, Apr 27, 2013 09:50 AM PDT  By Jane Chung SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea said on Saturday that a Korean-American tourist, jailed by the reclusive state since late last year, will face trial for "committing crimes" against the North. The move comes amid a diplomatic standoff between North Korea and the United States, and as Pyongyang has threatened to attack U.S. military bases in the Pacific and the South. A number of U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Ten dead, dozens hurt during Mexican prison riot Saturday, Apr 27, 2013 09:31 AM PDT MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Ten people were killed and dozens wounded in a prison riot early Saturday in the central state of San Luis Potosi, local officials said. State police said they had re-established control in an cell block of La Pila prison in the state capital of San Luis Potosi after a fight broke out between prisoners, according to a posting on the security ministry's official social media page. Authorities were investigating the cause of the riot and it was unclear if inmates belonged to rival drug gangs, whose battles have sparked violence across Mexico. ... Full Story | Top |
| President says Libya harbors Chadian mercenaries Saturday, Apr 27, 2013 09:25 AM PDT  N'DJAMENA (Reuters) - Chad's President Idriss Deby on Saturday that Chadian mercenaries had set up a training camp in neighboring Libya from where they could seek to destabilize his country, an accusation Libyan authorities denied. Deby said during a radio interview that the mercenaries were free to roam around the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi, hundreds of kilometers (miles) north of the Chadian border. "I do not want the new Libya to serve as the source of any plot to destabilize Chad," Deby said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Militants kill five Iraqi soldiers, Sunni protesters form "army" Saturday, Apr 27, 2013 09:21 AM PDT  By Kamal Naama RAMADI, Iraq (Reuters) - Militants shot dead five Iraqi soldiers in the Sunni Muslim stronghold province of Anbar on Saturday and protesters said they were forming an "army" after four days of unrest that raised fears of a return to widespread sectarian civil conflict. More than 170 people have been killed since Tuesday when security forces stormed a Sunni protest camp in the town of Hawija, triggering clashes that spread to other Sunni areas in western and northern areas. ... Full Story | Top |
| Nigerian senator says 228 killed in gunfight with Islamists Saturday, Apr 27, 2013 08:40 AM PDT  MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (Reuters) - A gunbattle between security forces and Islamist insurgents in Nigeria a week ago killed 228 people, a local senator said on Saturday, putting the death toll six times higher than the government's estimate. A large number of civilian deaths will fuel accusations that the military acted heavy-handedly and failed to protect bystanders and might also increase pressure on the government to seek a negotiated settlement with the radical group Boko Haram. ... Full Story | Top |
| French Socialists soften tone on Merkel Saturday, Apr 27, 2013 08:17 AM PDT By Sybille de La Hamaide PARIS (Reuters) - France's ruling Socialist party will remove strongly worded criticism of German Chancellor Angela Merkel from a draft text on Europe that revealed the level of hostility Berlin's focus on austerity, its coordinator for Europe said on Sunday. Cooperation between France and Germany has long provided the main motor for decision-making in the European Union. But a debt crisis has strained those ties in the past year as ideologically opposed leaders have disagreed on points of economic policy. ... Full Story | Top |
| German SPD leader woos Greens for anti-Merkel alliance Saturday, Apr 27, 2013 07:54 AM PDT  By Erik Kirschbaum BERLIN (Reuters) - The leader of Germany's Social Democrats (SPD) took the stage at a Greens party congress on Saturday with an unashamed pitch for them to throw in their lot with the SPD to defeat Chancellor Angela Merkel in September. It was the first time an SPD leader had addressed a Greens congress. Sigmar Gabriel, whose party would need a coalition with the rising pro-environment party to have any chance of leading the next government, delivered a passionate plea to the Greens to stop flirting with Merkel's conservatives. ... Full Story | Top |
| Ukraine says too early to consider pardoning Tymoshenko Saturday, Apr 27, 2013 07:15 AM PDT  MOSCOW (Reuters) - Ukraine's presidential pardon commission said on Saturday it was too soon to consider pardoning Yulia Tymoshenko, the president's main political rival whose continuing detention is a major obstacle to improved ties with the West. The commission said that as some criminal charges against Tymoshenko were still being investigated and the courts had not yet ruled, the "issue of her pardon is premature. ... Full Story | Top |
| Palestinians' Abbas says to start talks on unity government Saturday, Apr 27, 2013 06:53 AM PDT  By Ali Sawafta RAMALLAH (Reuters) - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Saturday he would begin talks with rival factions including Islamist Hamas to form a unity government, a crucial step towards healing years of damaging internal divisions. But, underscoring the chasm between Abbas's Fatah movement and Hamas, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said Abbas had not consulted his group about his move and the Islamists had only heard about it in media reports. ... Full Story | Top |
| Fresh Slovenian protests amid bailout fears Saturday, Apr 27, 2013 06:37 AM PDT  By Marja Novak LJUBLJANA (Reuters) - Around 2,500 anti-corruption protesters gathered in the center of the Slovenian capital Ljubljana on Saturday, the first such demonstrations since the center-left government of Prime Minister Alenka Bratusek took power on March 20. Similar protests helped bring down the previous conservative government of Janez Jansa, which lost a majority in parliament in January over a corruption scandal, although those involved crowds of up to 20,000 people. ... Full Story | Top |
| Yemen military intelligence official assassinated Saturday, Apr 27, 2013 06:35 AM PDT ADEN (Reuters) - Two suspected Islamist militants shot dead a provincial military intelligence chief in Yemen on Saturday, a security official said, the latest in a series of assassinations in the impoverished state's lawless south and east. The gunmen opened fire from a motorbike, killing Colonel Ahmed Abdulrazzaq, intelligence head in Yemen's Hadramawt Province, outside his home in Mukalla on the Arabian Sea. Stability in Yemen is seen as important beyond the country's own borders because of its location next to top oil exporter Saudi Arabia and international shipping routes. ... Full Story | Top |
| Erdogan hails Kurd rebel pullout as end of "dark era" for Turkey Saturday, Apr 27, 2013 06:20 AM PDT  By Ayla Jean Yackley ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday hailed the planned withdrawal of Kurdish rebel fighters from Turkey as the end of a "dark era" but warned against potential sabotage of a historic peace process. The Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which seeks autonomy for Turkey's Kurdish southeast, on Thursday ordered its fighters in Turkey to begin withdrawing to its main base in the mountains of northern Iraq under a carefully choreographed peace plan. ... Full Story | Top |
| Iceland's center-right set to return, five years after crash Saturday, Apr 27, 2013 06:04 AM PDT  By Balazs Koranyi REYKJAVIK (Reuters) - Icelanders fed up with years of belt-tightening looked set on Saturday to oust the ruling Social Democrats, wooed with pledges of tax cuts and debt relief from the center-right, which presided over a spectacular financial collapse five years ago. Leaden skies and driving sleet were a fair reflection of the mood of voters who have seen promises of a quick recovery fade, while mortgage debts rise, prices soar and crippling capital controls keep investment at a record low. ... Full Story | Top |
| Bomb damages police station in Libya's Benghazi, no injuries Saturday, Apr 27, 2013 05:30 AM PDT  BENGHAZI (Reuters) - A bomb exploded outside a police station in the restive eastern Libyan city of Benghazi on Saturday causing extensive damage to the building but no injuries. A spate of bombings and assassinations in Benghazi, cradle of the 2011 uprising that ousted dictator Muammar Gaddafi, has been attributed to Islamic militants. "Around six o'clock this morning, an explosive device placed under one of the windows of the building exploded, causing severe damage," said station commander Colonel Matar Mohammer. He said he had no information on who carried out the attack. ... Full Story | Top |
| Analysis: Bangladesh still works for retailers, despite disasters Saturday, Apr 27, 2013 05:22 AM PDT  By Nivedita Bhattacharjee and Jessica Wohl (Reuters) - The factory collapse in Bangladesh that killed over 300 people this week is a stark reminder of the risks in the global retail industry's search for cheap production. But there have been few signs that safety issues and other questionable labor conditions are sending shockwaves through the major Western retailers, their shareholders or the people who buy the clothes in the United States, Europe and elsewhere. ... Full Story | Top |
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