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| "New Somalia" risk as warlords rule in C. African Republic Wednesday, Jul 31, 2013 12:43 AM PDT  By Paul-Marin Ngoupana OUATA-NANA, Central African Republic (Reuters) - The villagers ran away in panic when rebels brandishing machetes and AK47 assault rifles appeared from the bush, leaving the Red Cross medical workers standing alone in a dusty clearing in Central African Republic. The landlocked former French colony - one of the poorest places on earth - has been plunged into chaos since the Seleka rebels seized power from President Francois Bozize four months ago, triggering a humanitarian crisis in the heart of Africa largely ignored by the West. ... Full Story | Top |
| South Africa's Marcus says reducing unemployment is job No.1 Wednesday, Jul 31, 2013 12:32 AM PDT  JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South African Reserve Bank Governor Gill Marcus said on Wednesday reducing chronic unemployment on a sustainable basis is the single most important economic objective. Government data a day earlier showed unemployment was at 25.6 percent in the second quarter and that about 4.7 million South African job seekers were without work, the highest figure in the survey's five-year history. (Reporting by Xola Potelwa; Writing by Jon Herskovitz; Editing by David Dolan) Full Story | Top |
| Kenya inflation rises to 6.02 percent in year to July Wednesday, Jul 31, 2013 12:29 AM PDT  NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya's inflation rate rose to 6.02 percent in the year to July from 4.91 percent a month earlier, the statistics office said on Wednesday. Inflation has roughly remained within the government's preferred range of 5 to 7 percent since August last year. Full Story | Top |
| Car bomb defused outside hotel in Libyan capital Wednesday, Jul 31, 2013 12:26 AM PDT By Marie-Louise Gumuchian TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Libyan security forces defused a dozen bombs found in a car parked outside a luxury hotel in the capital Tripoli, the interior ministry said on Tuesday. The car was parked near the Radisson-Blu, a seafront hotel popular with foreign business people, on Monday evening. The bombs were discovered a week after officials said another large hotel may have been the target of a rocket that landed nearby. ... Full Story | Top |
| Union, rather than army, may be Tunisia opposition's decisive ally Wednesday, Jul 31, 2013 12:18 AM PDT By Erika Solomon and Tarek Amara TUNIS (Reuters) - More than any threat of military force, the power of Tunisia's main trade union may be what pushes the Islamist-led government to accept opposition demands for it to quit. Inspired by the army-backed removal of Egypt's Islamist president, the secular opposition in Tunisia has taken to the streets to demand a new government. Thousands of its supporters have been joined by ordinary Tunisians fed up with rising instability and economic stagnation. All this had seemed to leave the ruling Ennahda party unmoved - until Tuesday. ... Full Story | Top |
| Rwanda dismisses US charges it backs Congo rebels Wednesday, Jul 31, 2013 12:17 AM PDT  By Richard Lough and Edmund Blair NAIROBI (Reuters) - Rwanda dismissed on Tuesday U.S. charges that it was supporting M23 rebels in neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo and said leveling accusations would not help pacify the region. Rwanda's denial came as the United Nations announced that its newly deployed Intervention Brigade would begin securing a zone around the strategic eastern Congolese city of Goma, forcibly disarming people found carrying weapons there. Western donors halted some aid to Rwanda last year after U.N. ... Full Story | Top |
| Afghan civilian deaths increase; more women, child victims: U.N. Wednesday, Jul 31, 2013 12:12 AM PDT By Jessica Donati KABUL (Reuters) - Violence against civilians is on the rise in Afghanistan as international forces hand over security to Afghans, the United Nations said in a report on Wednesday, putting the mid-year toll of civilians killed at more than 1,300. The United Nations said more women and children had become victims of the 12-year-old war. The number of children killed over six months climbed 30 percent compared with the same period last year. ... Full Story | Top |
| Ex-prime minister Keita holds wide lead in Mali vote Wednesday, Jul 31, 2013 12:03 AM PDT  BAMAKO (Reuters) - Malian former Prime Minister Ibrahim Boubacar Keita holds a comfortable lead and could win an outright first round victory in a critical presidential election, the West African nation's minister of territorial administration said on Tuesday. "After one third of votes counted, one candidate, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, has a wide margin compared with the other candidates," Colonel Moussa Sinko Coulibaly told journalists in the capital Bamako. "If maintained, (it means) there will not be a need for a second round," Coulibaly told a news conference in Bamako. Full Story | Top |
| Nigeria says to begin Mali troop pullout on Wednesday Wednesday, Jul 31, 2013 12:02 AM PDT  ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigeria will begin withdrawing some of its 1,200 troops in Mali on Wednesday and redeploy them in security operations at home, the military said on Tuesday. Nigeria has been planning the withdrawal mainly due to the need for more soldiers to fight its own homegrown Islamist insurgency. "The troops are mainly those not accommodated in the structures of the newly formed United Nations ... mission in Mail," Brigadier-General Chris Olukolade said in a statement. "They are to join the ongoing internal security operations. ... Full Story | Top |
| Zawahri vows al Qaeda to free Guantanamo inmates Wednesday, Jul 31, 2013 12:01 AM PDT DUBAI (Reuters) - Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri slammed U.S. treatment of hunger striking inmates at Guantanamo Bay and said the group would spare no effort to free them, according to an audio recording posted on the Internet on Wednesday. Zawahri also said Shi'ite Hezbollah's intervention in the conflict in Syria was an attempt to promote Iranian hegemony over the country. ... Full Story | Top |
| FACTBOX: How Zimbabwe election voting system works Tuesday, Jul 30, 2013 11:56 PM PDT  HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe is holding presidential and parliamentary elections on Wednesday in which Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai will try for the third time to unseat veteran President Robert Mugabe, who is seeking to extend his 33-year grip on power. Below are five facts about the voting: * Zimbabwe has 6.4 million registered voters who are expected to cast their ballots at 9,735 polling stations dotted around the southern African country. * Voters directly elect a president, 210 members of parliament and more than 9,000 councillors. ... Full Story | Top |
| South Africa's Eskom launches $1 bln bond, four times subscribed Tuesday, Jul 30, 2013 11:52 PM PDT  JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South African power utility Eskom launched a $1 billion, 10-year bond at a yield of 6.875 percent on Tuesday, Chief Executive Brian Dames told Reuters. The bond was four times subscribed, with the order book coming in around $4.3 billion. "It's an expression of international investor confidence in Eskom and South Africa," Dames said. Eskom, which provides 95 percent of the power to Africa's biggest economy, needs 300 billion rand for capacity expansion, 83 percent of which had been secured, the company said at a results presentation this month. ... Full Story | Top |
| Cambodian opposition raises the stakes by claiming election win Tuesday, Jul 30, 2013 11:38 PM PDT  By Prak Chan Thul PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - Cambodia's main opposition party said on Wednesday it had won the weekend's general election, stepping up its battle with the party of authoritarian Prime Minister Hun Sen that has also claimed victory and rejected allegations of electoral fraud. Yim Sovann, a lawmaker and spokesman for the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), said the CNRP had won 63 seats in the 123-member parliament, with Hun Sen's Cambodian People's Party (CPP) getting 60. The claim was based on its own data. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. economy likely lost step in second; expected to regain pace Tuesday, Jul 30, 2013 11:28 PM PDT  By Lucia Mutikani WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. economic growth likely slowed sharply in the second quarter, but it is poised to regain momentum as the burden brought on by belt-tightening in Washington eases. Gross domestic product probably grew at a 1.0 percent annual rate, a step back from the first-quarter's 1.8 percent pace, according to a Reuters survey of economists. Some said growth could be even weaker, with forecasts ranging as low as 0.4 percent. ... Full Story | Top |
| EADS changes name to Airbus, raises jet order goal Tuesday, Jul 30, 2013 11:03 PM PDT  PARIS (Reuters) - Europe's EADS on Wednesday confirmed plans to reorganize in three divisions and change its name to Airbus, adopting the look and feel of its arch-rival Boeing in a bid to become more competitive. EADS will be called Airbus Group, after its core planemaking subsidiary, and will combine its defense and space activities in one division together with Airbus Military transporters, currently twinned with passenger jets. Eurocopter, the world's largest commercial helicopter maker, will be renamed Airbus Helicopters. ... Full Story | Top |
| Timeline: Zimbabwe's tempestuous democracy Tuesday, Jul 30, 2013 11:02 PM PDT HARARE (Reuters) - Following are some key events in the recent history of Zimbabwe, which is voting on Wednesday in an electoral showdown between veteran leader Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai, his political nemesis of the last 15 years. 1980 - ZANU-PF wins independence elections, leading to Mugabe's installation as prime minister on April 18. Veteran nationalist rival Joshua Nkomo takes home affairs portfolio. 1983 - Mugabe deploys North Korean-trained 5th Brigade in Western province of Matabeleland to crush rebellion by guerrillas loyal to Nkomo. ... Full Story | Top |
| Snowden's father says willing to fly to Moscow on FBI request Tuesday, Jul 30, 2013 10:55 PM PDT  MOSCOW (Reuters) - The father of former U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden said on Wednesday he was willing to agree to a request by the FBI to fly to Moscow to see his son, but first needed to know what the security services wanted. Lonnie Snowden told state-owned Russian 24 television the FBI had suggested a "few weeks ago" that he should travel to Moscow to talk to his son, who faces espionage charges in the United States for exposing secret U.S. surveillance programs. ... Full Story | Top |
| Zimbabweans face third Mugabe-Tsvangirai showdown Tuesday, Jul 30, 2013 10:32 PM PDT  By Cris Chinaka HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabweans voted on Wednesday in a fiercely contested election pitting President Robert Mugabe against Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, who has vowed to push Africa's oldest leader into retirement after 33 years in power. With no reliable opinion polls, it is hard to say whether the 61-year-old Tsvangirai will succeed in his third attempt to unseat the 89-year-old Mugabe, who has run the southern African nation since independence from Britain in 1980. ... Full Story | Top |
| Analysis: Manning damage has fallen well short of worst U.S. fears Tuesday, Jul 30, 2013 10:12 PM PDT  By Warren Strobel WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Accused of the nation's biggest-ever security leak, U.S. soldier Bradley Manning was vilified by the government for causing irreparable damage to American national interests. In retrospect, the harm he caused seems to have been overplayed. A U.S. military judge cleared Manning on Tuesday of the most serious charge against him - aiding the enemy - in a verdict that indicated the soldier's secrecy violations, while criminal, were not as dire as prosecutors had alleged. Manning's revelations to WikiLeaks, including hundreds of thousands of U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Obama seeks to rally Democrats behind tough budget message Tuesday, Jul 30, 2013 10:08 PM PDT  By Caren Bohan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama will seek to rally Democrats behind an aggressive approach to the fall budget showdowns with Republicans, as he makes a rare visit to Capitol Hill on Wednesday. If his speeches over the past week are any indication, Obama will urge Democrats to take a hard line against Republican attempts to make further cuts in the federal budget, arguing that they've cut enough already and that it's time to shift the focus to spending that will benefit America's middle class. ... Full Story | Top |
| Michigan attorney general sees no conflict in defending Detroit retirees Tuesday, Jul 30, 2013 10:06 PM PDT  By Nick Carey DETROIT (Reuters) - Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette says he sees no conflict in representing the state's governor, who approved Detroit's bankruptcy filing, while at the same time representing Detroit's retirees, who assert that the filing is illegal. In both cases, Schuette said, he is defending Michigan's constitution. He also pointed out that his office is often called upon to appear on conflicting sides of the same case. "You can't pick and choose which parts of the constitution to enforce," Schuette, a Republican, told Reuters in a telephone interview on Tuesday. ... Full Story | Top |
| San Diego sues its own mayor in sex harassment case Tuesday, Jul 30, 2013 09:22 PM PDT  By Marty Graham SAN DIEGO (Reuters) - The city of San Diego sued its embattled mayor on Tuesday, seeking to recover from him any damages it might face in a lawsuit filed by his former press secretary, one of eight women to publicly accuse him of unwanted sexual advances. The legal action against Mayor Bob Filner, approved by a unanimous vote of the city council earlier in the day, marked the latest blow against the 70-year-old Democrat as he faces mounting pressure to step down. ... Full Story | Top |
| Soccer-KFA defends Red Devils, says provoked by rising sun flag Tuesday, Jul 30, 2013 09:08 PM PDT July 31 (Reuters) - The Korean Football Association (KFA) has defended the country's 'Red Devils' supporters group for unfurling a politically-charged banner at Sunday's East Asian Cup game against Japan and said Japanese fans had incited trouble by raising the 'rising sun' flag. Korean fans unfurled a massive banner at Jamsil Stadium that read: 'A nation that forgets its history has no future' in an apparent reference to what many South Koreans see as Japan's unwillingness to acknowledge its wartime and colonial excesses. ... Full Story | Top |
| Fed to keep buying bonds, but may point to plans to taper Tuesday, Jul 30, 2013 09:04 PM PDT  By Alister Bull WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve likely will decide at the end of a policy meeting on Wednesday to continue buying bonds at an $85 billion monthly pace, but it could alter an accompanying statement to spell out the possibility of scaling back purchases later this year. Even if it does, the Fed is unlikely to clarify whether that process will begin in September, as financial markets expect, or later. Fed officials would prefer to see more evidence that the recovery in the job market is first fully entrenched. The 19 members of the U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Ride-sharing companies may lose 'bandit cab' stigma in California Tuesday, Jul 30, 2013 08:58 PM PDT  By Alex Dobuzinskis LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Commercial ride-sharing services offered by moonlighting motorists but frowned on by licensed taxi drivers and some cities as "bandit" cab operations would gain new legitimacy in California under a plan proposed on Tuesday by state regulators. The draft rules to govern companies that already operate under such names as Lyft, SideCar and Uber, allowing passengers to electronically hail rides through smartphone applications, were unveiled by the state Public Utilities Commission (PUC) as taxi drivers continued to lobby against them. ... Full Story | Top |
| UK consumer confidence least bleak since early 2010 - GfK Tuesday, Jul 30, 2013 08:58 PM PDT  LONDON (Reuters) - British consumer confidence has jumped in July to its highest in more than three years, a survey showed, in an early sign that the economic recovery is gaining steam in the third quarter. Market research company GfK said that its monthly consumer confidence index rose to -16 from -21 in June. It was the highest reading since April 2010 and easily beat forecasts in a Reuters poll for -20. The GfK survey, one of the first economic indicators on the July-September period, chimes with upbeat industry data on retail sales and factory orders over the past month. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. to declassify documents on spy programs, surveillance court Tuesday, Jul 30, 2013 08:30 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. spy agencies plan to release newly declassified documents as early as this week about the National Security Agency surveillance programs revealed by former contractor Edward Snowden, and also material related to a secret intelligence court, a U.S. intelligence official said on Tuesday. The declassified documents were intended to provide the public more information about the programs as part of a commitment by Director of National Intelligence James Clapper for greater transparency, the official told Reuters on condition of anonymity. ... Full Story | Top |
| Panama uncovers fighter jet engines from seized North Korea ship Tuesday, Jul 30, 2013 07:45 PM PDT  COLON, Panama (Reuters) - Panamanian investigators unloading the cargo of a seized North Korean ship carrying arms from Cuba under sacks of brown sugar on Tuesday found 12 engines for MiG-21 fighter jets and five military vehicles that officials said resembled missile control centers. Investigators earlier this month had found two MiG-21 fighter jets and two missile radar systems on board the Chong Chon Gang, which was bound for North Korea when it was stopped by officials. ... Full Story | Top |
| Top Democrat Reid criticizes Republican-White House budget talks Tuesday, Jul 30, 2013 07:41 PM PDT  By David Lawder WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid said on Tuesday he was "disappointed" with budget talks between Republican senators and the White House, saying President Barack Obama has offered concessions while Republicans refuse to budge. The discussions have been the only significant channel for communications between the White House and congressional Republicans on the budget in recent weeks as the government faces a possible shutdown if a deal can't be reached by September 30. ... Full Story | Top |
| Amnesty International weighs in on California prisons hunger strike Tuesday, Jul 30, 2013 06:56 PM PDT  By Ronnie Cohen SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Amnesty International weighed in on a 22-day-old hunger strike in California prisons on Tuesday, calling solitary confinement conditions faced by protesting inmates an "affront to human rights" and urging an impartial probe into the death of a prisoner. Billy Sell, 32, serving a life term for attempted murder, was found hanged in his cell July 22 in the "security housing unit" - for prisoners held in solitary confinement - at the Corcoran State Prison in central California. ... Full Story | Top |
| Ex-workers sue Apple, seek overtime for daily bag searches Tuesday, Jul 30, 2013 06:52 PM PDT  SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Two former Apple Inc employees have accused the iPhone maker in a lawsuit of subjecting hourly store workers to daily searches while they were off-the-clock, arguing they should be compensated. The "screenings" or bag searches, designed to discourage theft, are conducted every time sales reps leave the store, including for meal breaks, the plaintiffs alleged in a lawsuit filed July 25 in a San Francisco federal court. They are seeking unpaid wages, overtime compensation and other penalties related to what they say is a customary practice across Apple's U.S. showrooms. ... Full Story | Top |
| Egypt allows EU envoy to see deposed president Tuesday, Jul 30, 2013 06:26 PM PDT  By Maggie Fick and Matt Robinson CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt allowed Europe's top diplomat to meet deposed Islamist President Mohamed Mursi on Monday, flying her after dark to Mursi's secret detention facility but ruling out any role for him in ending the turmoil convulsing the country. Catherine Ashton, the European Union's foreign policy chief, became the first outsider to see Mursi since he was deposed by the army on July 3, taken into detention and placed under investigation on charges including murder. ... Full Story | Top |
| World Fuel doubts Quebec rail-crash payment order is legal Tuesday, Jul 30, 2013 06:09 PM PDT  (Reuters) - U.S. fuel logistics company World Fuel Services Corp said on Tuesday it has "serious objections" to being ordered by the Quebec government to help pay for the cleanup of the devastating railway crash in Lac-Megantic, Quebec, on July 6. The provincial government of Quebec signed a legal order on Monday obliging the U.S. operator of the train, Montreal, Maine and Atlantic (MMA) Railway, and World Fuel Services, whose subsidiary sold the light crude oil carried by the train's tanker cars, to foot the bill. ... Full Story | Top |
| Florida pain doctors convicted of money laundering Tuesday, Jul 30, 2013 06:04 PM PDT By Zachary Fagenson MIAMI (Reuters) - A jury acquitted two South Florida doctors of causing the deaths of patients who overdosed on pain medication, but convicted them of money laundering for their role in a conspiracy involving a chain of pain clinics. The two doctors, Cynthia Cadet, 43, a retired U.S. Air Force major, and Joseph Castronuovo, 74, faced life in prison and fines up to $2 million each for their role at the clinics. Seven of Cadet's patients and two of Castronuovo's patients died of drug overdoses. ... Full Story | Top |
| Clinton-Biden breakfast has Washington scrambling for clues Tuesday, Jul 30, 2013 05:42 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's breakfast with Vice President Joe Biden on Tuesday was so far under the radar that it was not known whether they discussed the elephant in the room: Whether they will run against each other for president in 2016. Unlike Clinton's lunch meeting with President Barack Obama on Monday, there were no details on what appeared to have been a largely social meeting over breakfast at Biden's residence. The only fact that emerged was the menu. ... Full Story | Top |
| House Republicans: IRS documents show bias against conservatives Tuesday, Jul 30, 2013 05:31 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - House of Representatives Republicans on Tuesday said an analysis of treatment of tax-exempt groups by the Internal Revenue Service showed conservative groups faced harsher scrutiny, a claim Democrats challenged. Republicans on the House Ways and Means committee said their analysis of internal IRS documents shows that groups whose name includes the phrases "conservative," "Tea Party" or "Patriot" received much more scrutiny than groups containing the word "progressive. ... Full Story | Top |
| WikiLeaks' Assange condemns Manning verdict, Obama Tuesday, Jul 30, 2013 05:17 PM PDT  By Andrew Osborn LONDON (Reuters) - WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange accused President Barack Obama of "national security extremism" on Tuesday after an American military judge convicted Bradley Manning over the biggest leak of classified documents in U.S. history. Praising Manning as "the most important journalistic source that the world has ever seen", Assange said the U.S. soldier, who prosecutors said had supplied WikiLeaks with hundreds of thousands of classified U.S. documents, did not receive a fair trial and called for the verdict to be overturned. ... Full Story | Top |
| Florida, Georgia say insurance rates to spike under Obamacare Tuesday, Jul 30, 2013 05:16 PM PDT By Caroline Humer (Reuters) - Florida and Georgia, two states where politicians oppose U.S. President Barack Obama's healthcare law, said on Tuesday that insurance rates for individuals would rise sharply in 2014 under the reform. The remarks are part of an increasingly polarized debate over whether "Obamacare" will prove affordable for millions of uninsured Americans when new health plans become available on state-based exchanges as of October 1. ... Full Story | Top |
| WikiLeak's Assange condemns Manning verdict, Obama Tuesday, Jul 30, 2013 04:46 PM PDT By Andrew Osborn LONDON (Reuters) - WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange accused President Barack Obama of "national security extremism" on Tuesday after an American military judge convicted Bradley Manning over the biggest leak of classified documents in U.S. history. Praising Manning as "the most important journalistic source that the world has ever seen", Assange said the U.S. soldier, who prosecutors said had supplied WikiLeaks with hundreds of thousands of classified U.S. documents, did not receive a fair trial and called for the verdict to be overturned. ... Full Story | Top |
| Weiner vows in video to stay in New York City mayoral race Tuesday, Jul 30, 2013 04:30 PM PDT  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Anthony Weiner, under fire after admitting that he sent lewd pictures to women online long after resigning from Congress over similar behavior, will not exit the New York City mayoral race because quitting "isn't the way we roll in New York City." In a video message posted on his campaign website on Tuesday evening, Weiner said his campaign is not about him but about helping New Yorkers. As his poll numbers tank and calls for him to drop out of the race increase, Weiner said, "You know, sometimes people say to me, 'This campaign is pretty rough. You may want to quit. ... Full Story | Top |
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