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| Authors of "false news" may face jail under new Gambian law Friday, Jul 05, 2013 12:42 AM PDT  BANJUL (Reuters) - Gambia's parliament has made sweeping changes to the country's information law, introducing new legislation that threatens those who spread "false news" with 15 years in prison and $100,000 in fines. The government said the changes were needed to ensure stability and prevent "unpatriotic behaviour" but they are likely to deepen Gambia's reputation as one of West Africa's most repressive countries. The new punishments, which apply to anything that is published, were spelled out in the updated Information and Communications Act adopted late on Wednesday. ... Full Story | Top |
| Spain says no reason to apologize to Bolivia in Snowden saga Friday, Jul 05, 2013 12:20 AM PDT  MADRID (Reuters) - Spain said on Friday it had no reason to apologize to Bolivia over an incident earlier this week when Bolivian President Evo Morales' plane was diverted on suspicions that fugitive U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden was aboard. "Spain doesn't have to ask pardon in anyway because its airspace was never closed," said Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo in an interview on state television. (Reporting By Sonya Dowsett; Editing by Paul Day) Full Story | Top |
| Russian prosecutor seeks six years jail for protest leader Navalny Friday, Jul 05, 2013 12:09 AM PDT  KIROV, Russia (Reuters) - Russian state prosecutors demanded a six-year jail sentence on Friday for protest leader Alexei Navalny, one of President Vladimir Putin's biggest critics, on charges of theft. Prosecutor Sergei Bogdanov did not ask for the maximum 10-year prison term at Navalny's trial in the industrial city of Kirov, but a six-year sentence would keep him in jail until after the next presidential election in 2018. Navalny is accused of stealing 16 million roubles ($482,000) from a timber firm in Kirov that he was advising in 2009 while working for the liberal regional governor. ... Full Story | Top |
| Coup? What coup? Egyptians see no evil Thursday, Jul 04, 2013 11:42 PM PDT  By Alastair Macdonald CAIRO (Reuters) - Don't mention the coup. Certainly not on Tahrir Square, or pretty much anywhere in polite, liberal society in Egypt. As military jets periodically screamed over Cairo, even performing a formation salute with coloured smoke trails, many Egyptians took pains to stress that the toppling of their elected president, announced by a general, was not a "coup". "A coup? No!" said Ahmed Eid, 19, a business studies student at Cairo University, as he and his friends snapped souvenir pictures of each other, draped in the national flag, on Tahrir Square. ... Full Story | Top |
| Asylum boat in trouble as Indonesia, Australia talk refugees Thursday, Jul 04, 2013 11:36 PM PDT  SYDNEY (Reuters) - An Australian navy vessel was headed towards a suspected asylum seeker boat in distress south of Indonesia on Friday, just as the leaders of the two countries met to discuss refugees, one of the key issues in Australia's upcoming general election. The boat, around 42 nautical miles south of Java, had requested assistance and been spotted by a customs surveillance aircraft, Australian Customers and Border Protection said. One navy vessel and two merchant ships were heading to the scene, a spokesman said, adding that the boat was still making its way south. ... Full Story | Top |
| UN seeks $1 billion to feed Sahel, says Syria distracting Thursday, Jul 04, 2013 11:36 PM PDT By Daniel Flynn DAKAR (Reuters) - The United Nations appealed on Wednesday for more than $1 billion to help feed 11 million people at risk across Africa's arid Sahel belt, warning that the crisis in Syria was distracting donors from the humanitarian situation there. The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that this year's war in northern Mali, where a French-led military campaign destroyed an Islamist enclave, had worsened annual food shortages across the region. ... Full Story | Top |
| Angola May forex reserves rise to $34.4 bln - central bank Thursday, Jul 04, 2013 11:35 PM PDT LISBON (Reuters) - Angola's foreign exchange reserves rose to $34.4 billion in May from $33 billion in April, the central bank said in a statement posted on its website on Thursday. Angola, Africa's second-biggest oil producer after Nigeria, depends on crude exports for over 95 percent of its foreign exchange earnings. Full Story | Top |
| Ivory Coast agrees second port deal with Bollore-led group Thursday, Jul 04, 2013 11:34 PM PDT  By Ange Aboa ABIDJAN (Reuters) - Ivorian authorities have agreed a preliminary deal for a new container port with a consortium led by French conglomerate Bollore, the managing director of the port of Abidjan said, despite a rival lodging a complaint at a regional court. The deal, which also includes France's Bouygues and a subsidiary of Danish shipping giant Maersk, is due to be finalised by the government within weeks, Issouf Fadika told Reuters on Wednesday. ... Full Story | Top |
| Aid worker killed in fighting in biggest city in Darfur Thursday, Jul 04, 2013 11:31 PM PDT KHARTOUM (Reuters) - One aid worker was killed and three others wounded when a grenade hit their office during a gunfight between competing security forces on Thursday in the biggest city of Sudan's Darfur region, the United Nations and witnesses said. Clashes between the army, rebels and rival tribes have surged in the vast and mostly lawless region in recent months, but had until now been confined to rural areas. Residents said heavy gunfire could be heard for hours near the security headquarters in Nyala, the capital of South Darfur state and the second-biggest city in Sudan. ... Full Story | Top |
| South Africa's net reserves down to $44.604 bln in June Thursday, Jul 04, 2013 11:30 PM PDT  JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's net gold and foreign exchange reserves fell for the fifth straight month in June, dipping to $44.604 billion from $45.416 billion in May, data from the Reserve Bank showed on Friday. Gross reserves were down to $46.979 billion from $48.146 billion in May while the forward position, which represents the Bank's unsettled spot or swap transactions, was up at $4.157 billion from $3.883 billion in May. Full Story | Top |
| Mursi backers to protest after overthrow, arrests Thursday, Jul 04, 2013 11:29 PM PDT  By Alastair Macdonald and Alexander Dziadosz CAIRO (Reuters) - Islamist supporters of Egypt's ousted president, Mohamed Mursi, will rally on Friday to express their outrage at his overthrow by the army and to reject a planned interim government backed by their liberal opponents. Dozens of people were wounded in clashes in Mursi's home city on Thursday, raising fears of more of the violence in which several dozen have died in the past month. There were also militant attacks in the restive Sinai peninsula, next to Israel. ... Full Story | Top |
| Labour loses election head after row over unions' role Thursday, Jul 04, 2013 11:22 PM PDT  By Peter Griffiths LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's Labour Party leader suffered a setback in his fight to replace David Cameron as prime minister on Thursday when his election coordinator quit after a row over whether unions manipulated its selection of candidates. Less than two years before voters go to the polls, Tom Watson stepped down, saying in a letter to Ed Miliband that it was "better for you and the future unity of the party that I go now". ... Full Story | Top |
| China 'highly optimistic' about solar trade talks with EU Thursday, Jul 04, 2013 11:18 PM PDT  By Charlie Zhu and Samuel Shen HONG KONG/SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China expects to resolve a muli-billion dollar solar trade spat with the European Union by next month, a senior Chinese industry official said on Friday, after a newspaper reported that Beijing has made a new offer with EU to settle the dispute. The solar dispute has the potential to affect 21 billion euros ($27.1 billion) worth of imported Chinese solar panels, cells and wafers from manufacturers such as Trina Solar , Yingli Green Energy and Suntech Power Holdings . ... Full Story | Top |
| EU approves Novartis eye drug for new use Thursday, Jul 04, 2013 11:18 PM PDT  ZURICH (Reuters) - Swiss drugmaker Novartis' eye drug Lucentis has been approved as a treatment for a further condition related to worsening eyesight by the European Union, adding to three other conditions for which it is already approved. The Basel-based drugmaker said the European Commission had granted approval for Lucentis to treat patients with visual impairment due to choroidal neovascularization (CNV) secondary to pathologic myopia. Lucentis, which was first launched in 2006, is an important product for Novartis and had sales of $2.4 billion in 2012. ... Full Story | Top |
| Gulf drive against Hezbollah may hit ordinary Shi'ites Thursday, Jul 04, 2013 11:09 PM PDT  By Mahmoud Habboush DUBAI (Reuters) - Gulf Arab states are punishing Hezbollah for its role in Syria by expelling Lebanese expatriates linked to the group in a move that could victimize Shi'ite Muslims with no ties to the militants apart from their shared religious faith. Set up by Shi'ite power Iran in the 1980s to fight Israeli occupation forces in south Lebanon, the Islamist group has sent its guerrillas to fight alongside the army in Syria's civil war, leading to defeats for rebels armed by some Gulf Arab states. ... Full Story | Top |
| Hollande shuns fight with protected jobs as EU pressure builds Thursday, Jul 04, 2013 10:42 PM PDT  By Nicholas Vinocur and Leigh Thomas PARIS (Reuters) - It looks like a bread line in Soviet Russia, but the queue snaking away from Paris's Opera Garnier house on a Saturday night is full of tourists waiting for a different sort of scarce commodity: a taxi to bring them home. Frustration with Paris's taxi shortage - the city has fewer now than it did in 1920 - is just one symptom of competition-killing rules that limit access to dozens of professions and which the European Union says stunt the French economy. ... Full Story | Top |
| Steady U.S. job gains to keep Fed's focus on tapering Thursday, Jul 04, 2013 10:38 PM PDT  By Lucia Mutikani WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. job growth probably slowed in June, but not enough to shift the Federal Reserve away from expectations that it will start scaling back its massive monetary stimulus later this year. Employers are expected to have added 165,000 new jobs to their payrolls last month, according to a Reuters survey of economists, slightly below the 175,000 positions created in May. The unemployment rate is expected to fall a tenth of a percentage point to 7.5 percent. The Labor Department will release its closely watched employment report on Friday at 8:30 a.m. ... Full Story | Top |
| Delay in Obamacare requirement puts onus on the honor system Thursday, Jul 04, 2013 10:34 PM PDT  By Sharon Begley NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Obama administration's move to delay a key element of healthcare reform has another, unintended, consequence: A crucial part of that reform will depend on consumers observing the honor system, with millions of dollars at stake. The U.S. government said on Tuesday it would postpone by a year the provision that employers with 50 or more workers provide them with health insurance; the delay is intended to let companies work out how they report their compliance to tax authorities. ... Full Story | Top |
| UK teams with defense and telecom companies on cyber security Thursday, Jul 04, 2013 10:30 PM PDT By Brenda Goh LONDON (Reuters) - Nine of the world's biggest weapon makers and telecoms providers are teaming up with Britain to bolster the country's cyber security, aiming to tackle the increasing threat of hacking and other such attacks. Britain made cyber security one of its top national defence priorities in 2010, citing the growing menace of digital attacks from criminals and state-sponsored overseas groups. ... Full Story | Top |
| Soccer-Worawi cancels news conference amid election row Thursday, Jul 04, 2013 09:53 PM PDT By Amy Sawitta Lefevre BANGKOK, July 5 (Reuters) - Under-fire FIFA executive committee member Worawi Makudi cancelled a news conference on Friday that he had scheduled to discuss the Thai Football Association presidential elections impasse. "There is no press conference today, the president (Worawi) is busy. So we've decided to move the press conference to next week but I can't say for sure what day," Ongart Kosinka, secretary-general of the Football Association of Thailand (FAT), told Reuters on Friday. ... Full Story | Top |
| South American leftist leaders rally for Bolivia in Snowden saga Thursday, Jul 04, 2013 09:45 PM PDT  By David Mercado COCHABAMBA, Bolivia (Reuters) - South America's most outspoken leftist leaders demanded an explanation and public apology from four European countries on Thursday after Bolivian President Evo Morales' plane was diverted this week on suspicions that fugitive U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden was aboard. At a summit in Cochabamba, Bolivia - where Morales began his political career as a leader of coca leaf farmers - five regional leaders joined him in denouncing his "virtual kidnapping" and the U.S. pressure they believe spurred it behind the scenes. ... Full Story | Top |
| British police launch inquiry into missing Madeleine McCann Thursday, Jul 04, 2013 08:33 PM PDT  By Michael Holden LONDON (Reuters) - British police said on Thursday they had begun their own investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, who vanished in Portugal six years ago at age three, saying they had new leads and had identified 38 potential suspects. McCann went missing from her room at the Praia da Luz holiday resort in the Algarve on May 2007 while her parents were dining with friends at a nearby restaurant, leading to a global search that gripped the world's media. ... Full Story | Top |
| Mexican generals accused of ties with drug cartel set free Thursday, Jul 04, 2013 08:09 PM PDT MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - A Mexican federal judge on Thursday ordered the release of three generals and two other officers accused of collaborating with a drug cartel after investigators determined there was insufficient evidence against them. The generals, Roberto Dawe, Ricardo Escorcia and Ruben Perez, were accused of working with the Beltran Leyva cartel, a violent gang that has smuggled tons of cocaine, heroine, crystal meth and marijuana across the U.S. border. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. enjoys July 4 parades, picnics under watchful eyes of police Thursday, Jul 04, 2013 07:19 PM PDT  By Barbara Goldberg NEW YORK (Reuters) - Americans gathered on Thursday for parades, fireworks and hot dog-eating contests at Independence Day celebrations, held under unprecedented security following the Boston Marathon bombings. A fireworks display lit up the National Mall in Washington as a packed crowd of onlookers listened to booming cannons accompany Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture." President Barack Obama led Washington's celebrations, which included a concert on the National Mall, by hosting members of the U.S. military and their families on the South Lawn of the White House. ... Full Story | Top |
| Islamist gunmen stage multiple attacks in Sinai Thursday, Jul 04, 2013 06:41 PM PDT CAIRO (Reuters) - Islamist gunmen staged multiple attacks on security forces in Egypt's troubled Sinai Peninsula early on Friday, two days after the army overthrew elected Islamist President Mohamed Mursi, security sources and state television reported. The security sources said a soldier was killed and two were wounded when a police station in Rafah on the border with the Gaza Strip came under rocket fire. The police post is close to the local headquarters of military intelligence. ... Full Story | Top |
| Vatican bank told of "clear failings" at meeting: source Thursday, Jul 04, 2013 05:15 PM PDT By Philip Pullella VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - A preliminary inquiry by the Vatican bank after the arrest of a Vatican prelate on suspicion of trying to smuggle huge sums of money into Italy from Switzerland found "clear failings" at the institution, a source close to the bank said on Thursday. The board of the bank, formally known as the Institute for Works of Religion (IOR), held a meeting on Thursday that also addressed the shock resignation of its two top managers on Monday. The meeting had not been made public. ... Full Story | Top |
| Sudan's Turabi denounces Mursi's ousting Thursday, Jul 04, 2013 04:33 PM PDT  By Khalid Abdelaziz KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan's Islamist opposition leader, Hassan al-Turabi, a prominent Sunni scholar, denounced on Thursday the overthrow of Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi as a "coup against legitimacy", while the Khartoum government gave a cautious response. Sudan's Islamist government had welcomed last year's election of Mursi, who was ousted along with his Muslim Brotherhood by the army after millions of Egyptians demanded he go. ... Full Story | Top |
| UK teams with defence and telecom companies on cyber security Thursday, Jul 04, 2013 04:01 PM PDT By Brenda Goh LONDON (Reuters) - Nine of the world's biggest weapon makers and telecoms providers are teaming up with Britain to bolster the country's cyber security, aiming to tackle the increasing threat of hacking and other such attacks. Britain made cyber security one of its top national defence priorities in 2010, citing the growing menace of digital attacks from criminals and state-sponsored overseas groups. ... Full Story | Top |
| South American leftist leaders rally to Bolivia's side in Snowden saga Thursday, Jul 04, 2013 03:57 PM PDT  By David Mercado COCHABAMBA, Bolivia (Reuters) - South America's most outspoken leftist leaders gathered on Thursday to rally behind Bolivian President Evo Morales, whose plane was diverted in Europe this week on suspicions that fugitive U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden was aboard. The summit in Cochabamba, Bolivia - where Morales began his political career as a leader of coca leaf farmers - is aimed at expressing outrage over his "virtual kidnapping" and the U.S. pressure they believe spurred it. ... Full Story | Top |
| Egypt army says right to protest protected, urges restraint Thursday, Jul 04, 2013 03:52 PM PDT CAIRO (Reuters) - The Egyptian armed forces said on Thursday they would not take arbitrary measures against any political group and would guarantee the right to protest, as long as demonstrations did not threaten national security. The statement was posted on Facebook after the arrests of leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood following the army's removal of Islamist President Mohamed Mursi and ahead of protest rallies that the Brotherhood was planning to hold on Friday. ... Full Story | Top |
| Analysis: Cautious toward Middle East, Obama gets second chance in Egypt Thursday, Jul 04, 2013 03:44 PM PDT  By Steve Holland and Tabassum Zakaria WASHINGTON (Reuters) - When President Barack Obama sat down with his top national security aides this week to determine how to react to a military takeover in Egypt, he had a tough choice to make. He could denounce what had taken place as a coup launched against a legitimately elected president in Cairo and suspend U.S. military aid. Or he could embrace the move as a reaction to popular discontent with the Muslim Brotherhood-controlled government. That he chose a middle ground, urging a swift return to civilian government and ordering a U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Catholic nun's Brazilian killer gets early release from prison Thursday, Jul 04, 2013 03:39 PM PDT By Lucas Iberico-Lozada SAO PAULO (Reuters) - The man convicted of killing American nun and Amazon activist Dorothy Stang in 2005, has been released from a Brazilian prison after serving less than a third of his sentence, adding controversy to the long-running struggle over land rights in the rainforest. The penitentiary system of Pará, the northern state where Stang was murdered, confirmed that confessed killer Rayfran das Neves Sales was released on Tuesday, though they were unable to specify if he was released on parole or into house arrest. He had been sentenced to 27 years in prison. ... Full Story | Top |
| South Africa says Mandela still 'critical but stable' Thursday, Jul 04, 2013 03:12 PM PDT  JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's ailing anti-apartheid hero and former President Nelson Mandela remained in a "critical but stable" condition after nearly four weeks in hospital, the government said on Thursday. Mandela is receiving treatment for a recurring lung infection, his fourth hospitalization in six months. The latest health update from the government followed a visit to the hospital by current President Jacob Zuma. ... Full Story | Top |
| World Bank chief says hopes to continue Egypt programs Thursday, Jul 04, 2013 03:11 PM PDT  SANTIAGO (Reuters) - The World Bank hopes to continue its programs in Egypt following the military ousting of the country's first democratically elected leader, bank president Jim Yong Kim told reporters on Thursday during a visit to Chile. The bank, which Kim said has a $4.7 billion loan program for Egypt, is still trying to understand the situation in the country, he added. "Our hope is that we'll be able to continue with our programs to provide essential services and essential support," said Kim, flanked by Chile's president and finance minister. ... Full Story | Top |
| Peru police fire tear gas on protesting students, civil servants Thursday, Jul 04, 2013 02:37 PM PDT LIMA (Reuters) - Peruvian police fired tear gas at hundreds of students and civil servants in Lima on Thursday as they marched towards Congress to protest reforms that would impose tougher standards on universities and bureaucrats. Protesters lashed out at President Ollanta Humala for proposing the laws, which he says would improve the quality of sluggish government services and a lagging higher-education system. Critics say they would force thousands from their jobs and compromise the autonomy of Peru's universities. ... Full Story | Top |
| Boston celebrates July 4 amid tight security Thursday, Jul 04, 2013 02:36 PM PDT  By Daniel Lovering and Svea Herbst-Bayliss BOSTON (Reuters) - Less than three months after bombs ripped through the heart of Boston, residents and visitors face heavy security as they celebrate Independence Day at an open-air concert and fireworks display on the banks of the Charles River. Like the Boston Marathon, where two pressure-cooker bombs killed three and injured more than 260 on April 15, the Boston Pops' July Fourth concert on the Esplanade is one of the city's most cherished events and routinely draws half a million people. ... Full Story | Top |
| Obama aides press for swift return to civilian rule in Egypt Thursday, Jul 04, 2013 02:18 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's national security aides are pressing Egyptian officials to move quickly to a democratic government after a military takeover ousted President Mohamed Mursi, the White House said on Thursday. Obama met with top advisers in the White House Situation Room to discuss the crisis in Egypt, a day after the tumultuous ouster of Egypt's first democratically elected president that the United States has carefully avoided calling a coup. ... Full Story | Top |
| Brotherhood leader arrested, Egypt's Islamists call protests Thursday, Jul 04, 2013 02:02 PM PDT  By Asma Alsharif and Shadia Nasralla CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian security forces arrested the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood on Thursday, security sources said, in a crackdown against the Islamist movement after the army ousted the country's first democratically elected president. The dramatic exit of President Mohamed Mursi was greeted with delight by millions of jubilant people on the streets of Cairo and other cities overnight, but there was simmering resentment among Egyptians who opposed military intervention. ... Full Story | Top |
| African Union likely to suspend Egypt after army deposes president Thursday, Jul 04, 2013 01:56 PM PDT  By Aaron Maasho ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - The African Union is likely to suspend Egypt after what it called the "unconstitutional" removal of President Mohamed Mursi by the army, AU officials said on Thursday. The AU's Peace and Security Council (PSC) will discuss the Egyptian situation on Friday and, according to an AU source, is likely to implement the usual response to any interruption of constitutional rule by a member state, and suspend it. The AU issued a statement saying said the organization's head, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, "observes that the removal of ... ... Full Story | Top |
| Egypt foreign minister to Kerry: no "military coup" Thursday, Jul 04, 2013 12:59 PM PDT  By Shadia Nasralla CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr said he assured U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in a telephone call on Thursday that the overthrow of President Mohamed Mursi had not been a military coup. The definition of what happened in Egypt on Wednesday is important because a military overthrow of an elected leader would generally trigger economic sanctions and could entail cutting of vital U.S. aid to Egypt. ... Full Story | Top |
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