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| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| Factbox: How Zimbabwe election voting system works Tuesday, Jul 30, 2013 11:11 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| Obama asks Republican Senators McCain, Graham to visit Egypt Tuesday, Jul 30, 2013 04:23 PM PDT  By Patricia Zengerle WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama has asked two senior Republican senators to travel to Egypt to meet with its military leaders and the opposition, as Cairo's allies struggle with how to address the turmoil convulsing the country. Senator John McCain and Lindsey Graham, both members of the Senate Armed Services Committee, hope to travel to Egypt next week, Graham said on Tuesday. "The president reached out to us, and I said obviously I'd be glad to go," Graham told reporters outside the Senate. ... Full Story | Top |
| Al Qaeda affiliate claims responsibility for Iraq bombings Tuesday, Jul 30, 2013 03:57 PM PDT  By Raheem Salman BAGHDAD (Reuters) - An al Qaeda-affiliated group claimed responsibility for a wave of bombings across Iraq that killed 60 people on Monday and the Interior Ministry said it was facing an "open war" from insurgents bent on plunging the country into sectarian strife. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, which was formed earlier this year through a merger between al Qaeda's affiliates in Iraq and Syria, said in a statement posted online it had carefully selected its targets, which were mainly Shi'ites. ... Full Story | Top |
| Israel, Palestinians strive for peace deal within nine months Tuesday, Jul 30, 2013 03:55 PM PDT  By Arshad Mohammed and Lesley Wroughton WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Israeli and Palestinian negotiators on Tuesday gave themselves about nine months to try to reach an agreement on ending their conflict of more than six decades in U.S.-brokered peace talks. The two sides held their first peace negotiations in nearly three years in Washington on Monday and Tuesday, a diplomatic victory for Secretary of State John Kerry, but one that foreign policy analysts believe has low chances of success. ... Full Story | Top |
| Ex-Prime Minister Keita holds wide lead in Mali vote Tuesday, Jul 30, 2013 03:35 PM PDT  By David Lewis and Adama Diarra BAMAKO (Reuters) - Former Malian Prime Minister Ibrahim Boubacar Keita holds a comfortable lead and could win an outright first-round victory in the West African nation's high-stakes presidential election, the minister of territorial administration said on Tuesday. Keita's rivals immediately rejected the partial results, calling for the minister, who is in charge of the elections, to resign and an international commission to be established to tally the vote, which they said must go to a second round. ... Full Story | Top |
| Nigeria says to begin Mali troop pullout on Wednesday Tuesday, Jul 30, 2013 03:18 PM 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 |
| Manning acquitted of aiding enemy, still may face long jail term Tuesday, Jul 30, 2013 02:59 PM PDT  By Medina Roshan and Scott Malone FORT MEADE, Md./BOSTON (Reuters) - A military judge on Tuesday found U.S. soldier Bradley Manning not guilty of aiding the enemy, the most serious charge he faced for handing over documents to WikiLeaks, but he still likely faces a long jail term after being found guilty of 19 other counts. Colonel Denise Lind ruled the 25-year-old Army private first class was guilty of five espionage charges, among many others, for the largest unauthorized release of classified U.S. data in the nation's history. ... Full Story | Top |
| Afghan forces will need help after NATO mission ends: Pentagon Tuesday, Jul 30, 2013 02:12 PM PDT  By Phil Stewart WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Afghan forces will require significant support from the U.S. military and its allies after the NATO combat mission ends next year, according to a new Pentagon report implicitly warning against a "zero option" of total withdrawal. A senior U.S. defense official said on Tuesday the Pentagon had not developed a plan for total pullout from Afghanistan by the end of 2014, but that failure to reach a deal with Kabul on legal guarantees for U.S. troops could force such a scenario. U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Iran seeks key position on U.N. disarmament committee Tuesday, Jul 30, 2013 01:26 PM PDT  UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Iran is campaigning for a key position on a U.N. General Assembly committee that deals with disarmament and international security amid strong criticism from Israel and others who accuse Tehran of seeking to develop nuclear weapons. Iran is competing against Kuwait to be the rapporteur of the U.N. General Assembly's First Committee for its 68th session, which begins in October, U.N. diplomats said. The rapporteur reports on the proceedings of the 193-member committee. A spokesman for Iran's U.N. mission confirmed the country's bid on Tuesday. ... Full Story | Top |
| Rwanda dismisses U.S. charges it backs Congo rebels Tuesday, Jul 30, 2013 12:57 PM PDT  By Richard Lough and Edmund Blair NAIROBI (Reuters) - Rwanda dismissed on Tuesday U.S. charges that it was supporting M23 rebels in neighboring 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 |
| Kuwait's ruler pardons people convicted of insulting him Tuesday, Jul 30, 2013 12:39 PM PDT  KUWAIT (Reuters) - Kuwait's ruler said on Tuesday he was pardoning all the people convicted of insulting him, after a year-long crackdown on politically sensitive comments about Gulf Arab state's leadership. Dozens of Kuwaitis have been charged with insulting Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah, especially online, and those convicted for a variety of offences against the ruler have been sentenced to up to 11 years in jail. People charged have included political activists of both sexes, as well as prominent opposition politicians. Some have already been acquitted by the court of appeal. ... Full Story | Top |
| Italy's top court hears crucial Berlusconi appeal Tuesday, Jul 30, 2013 11:59 AM PDT  By Roberto Landucci and Barry Moody ROME (Reuters) - Italy's supreme court on Tuesday began hearing Silvio Berlusconi's last appeal against a jail sentence and ban from public office in a case which could endanger the country's shaky coalition government if the conviction is confirmed. On the first day of the hearing, public prosecutor Antonello Mura rejected most of Berlusconi's arguments that a lower appeal court verdict convicting him of tax fraud was flawed, but requested a reduction of his ban from public office to three years from five on technical legal grounds. ... Full Story | Top |
| Spanish train driver was on the phone at time of crash Tuesday, Jul 30, 2013 11:44 AM PDT  MADRID (Reuters) - The driver of the train that derailed in northwestern Spain last week, killing 79 people, was talking on the phone with state train operator Renfe at the time of the accident, a court said on Tuesday after analyzing the train's data recording devices. The initial reading of the so-called black boxes said driver Francisco Garzon received a call from Renfe minutes before the accident to discuss the path to Ferrol, the final destination for the high-speed train that departed from Madrid on Wednesday with 218 passengers aboard. ... Full Story | Top |
| Gazan in Israeli custody was abducted in Egypt, Palestinians say Tuesday, Jul 30, 2013 11:36 AM PDT  By Nidal al-Mughrabi GAZA (Reuters) - The Palestinian Authority in the West Bank released a report on Tuesday quoting a Palestinian held by Israel as saying he had been snatched while visiting Egypt's Sinai region last month. The report by the Palestinian Ministry of Prisoners could embarrass Israel and the Egyptian government, which is struggling to impose order in the lawless Sinai desert. ... Full Story | Top |
| North African instability a concern for NATO: military chief Tuesday, Jul 30, 2013 11:32 AM PDT  MONS, Belgium (Reuters) - Instability in north Africa is a concern for NATO which is keeping a close eye on events in Egypt and its neighbors, NATO's top military commander said on Tuesday. Egypt, a large recipient of U.S. military aid, has been torn by violence and political upheaval since the army ousted Islamist President Mohamed Mursi this month. Tunisia's moderate Islamist government is resisting opposition calls to quit and violence is on the increase in Libya. U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| NATO commander hopes for post-2014 Afghan plan by late this year Tuesday, Jul 30, 2013 11:27 AM PDT  By Adrian Croft MONS, Belgium (Reuters) - NATO hopes to deliver a detailed operations plan for its smaller post-2014 mission in Afghanistan, including numbers of soldiers involved, by late this year, NATO's new top military commander said on Tuesday. NATO plans to keep a slimmed-down training and advisory mission in Afghanistan after 2014, when most foreign combat troops will have left after handing over responsibilities for fighting Taliban insurgents to Afghan security forces. The United States and other NATO allies have been slow to provide detailed numbers of troops for the post-2014 ... Full Story | Top |
| Italy prosecutor asks top court to reduce Berlusconi ban Tuesday, Jul 30, 2013 11:21 AM PDT  ROME (Reuters) - An Italian public prosecutor on Tuesday asked the country's top court to reduce former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's ban from public office for tax fraud to 3 years from 5, but to confirm a one year prison term. The supreme court is hearing Berlusconi's last appeal in a case which could threaten the survival of Italy's shaky coalition government if his conviction is confirmed. Berlusconi was sentenced to four years in jail by the lower court but this has been reduced to one year under a 2006 amnesty. ... Full Story | Top |
| Serbian PM moves to oust finance minister, risking election Tuesday, Jul 30, 2013 11:18 AM PDT  By Maja Zuvela BELGRADE (Reuters) - Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dacic moved to oust his finance minister on Tuesday, rattling the year-old coalition and risking a snap election that would almost certainly delay talks on joining the European Union. Dacic told a news conference he had proposed to his coalition partners that the government move on "without (Mladjan) Dinkic and his URS (United Regions of Serbia) party." The biggest party in the coalition, the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), said it would respond to the proposal on Wednesday. ... Full Story | Top |
| Union, rather than army, may be Tunisia opposition's decisive ally Tuesday, Jul 30, 2013 11:09 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 |
| Portugal PM wins confidence vote, vows to meet bailout goals Tuesday, Jul 30, 2013 11:00 AM PDT  By Andrei Khalip and Daniel Alvarenga LISBON (Reuters) - Portugal's prime minister ruled out any backtracking on its bailout terms on Tuesday as his revamped government easily won a confidence vote intended to show it has repaired an internal rift over austerity. Speaking to parliament before the symbolic vote, Pedro Passos Coelho also said the economy was giving signs of nearing a turnaround after a long, deep recession, showing the country was taking the right path out of its debt crisis. ... Full Story | Top |
| 'Boxing' Mugabe lays down the gloves on Zimbabwe election eve Tuesday, Jul 30, 2013 10:57 AM PDT  By Cris Chinaka HARARE (Reuters) - Setting aside weeks of campaign trail acrimony, Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe buried the hatchet with political rival Morgan Tsvangirai on Tuesday, the eve of a hotly contested election that remains too close to call. Flanked by his defense minister and two stuffed lions in the colonial grandeur of State House in Harare, the 89-year-old leader likened the run-up to the July 31 vote to a boxing bout that ends in a handshake, not bloodshed. "I've got my fair share of criticisms and also dealt back rights and lefts and upper cuts. ... Full Story | Top |
| Security headaches dampen investor enthusiasm in Libya Tuesday, Jul 30, 2013 10:36 AM PDT  By Marie-Louise Gumuchian TRIPOLI (Reuters) - The men, some of them armed, arrived at the gates of the Al Hani General Construction Company compound on the outskirts of the Libyan capital and forced their way into the site. The 30 former employees charged towards the company's offices, where they demanded wages and other payments they said were due from the North African country's 2011 war, when many firms stopped work. They threatened two senior employees with a pistol. They kidnapped one of them before freeing him several hours later. ... Full Story | Top |
| Turkish troops use teargas to stop smugglers entering from Syria Tuesday, Jul 30, 2013 10:25 AM PDT By Humeyra Pamuk ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish soldiers shot into the air and fired teargas this week to prevent hundreds of people described by the military as smugglers from trying to cross into Turkey from Syria. In two separate incidents on Monday and Tuesday, groups of up to 2,000 people have approached the border with the "attempt to engage in smuggling", the army said in a statement. ... Full Story | Top |
| Colombia's FARC wants leftist involved in freeing U.S. captive Tuesday, Jul 30, 2013 10:23 AM PDT  By Helen Murphy and Nelson Acosta BOGOTA/HAVANA (Reuters) - Colombia's FARC rebels said on Tuesday they are waiting for the government to allow a leftist politician to be involved in coordinating the release of a former U.S. marine kidnapped last month before setting him free. President Juan Manuel Santos has refused to allow Piedad Cordoba, a former senator specifically requested by the FARC, to be involved in the release of American Kevin Scott Sutay, who was seized as he trekked across dangerous jungle in eastern Colombia. ... Full Story | Top |
| Quartet urges Israelis, Palestinians to avoid undermining talks Tuesday, Jul 30, 2013 10:05 AM PDT BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The Quartet of Middle East peace mediators urged Israelis and Palestinians on Tuesday to avoid actions that undermine new peace negotiations. Senior aides to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas held their first talks this week since 2010. "The Quartet ... ... Full Story | Top |
| Tunisia's biggest union tells Islamist-led government to quit Tuesday, Jul 30, 2013 09:59 AM PDT  By Tarek Amara TUNIS (Reuters) - Tunisia's largest labor union called on Tuesday for the dissolution of the Islamist-led government and the interior minister offered to resign as a political crisis deepened. Softening its rejection of demands for the government's departure, the Islamist Ennahda party said it was ready for a new government, but opposed any move to disband an elected body that has almost completed work on a new draft constitution. "We are open to all proposals to reach an agreement, including a salvation or unity government," Ennahda official Ameur Larayedh told Reuters. ... Full Story | Top |
| Car bomb defused outside hotel in Libyan capital Tuesday, Jul 30, 2013 09:30 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 |
| Serbian PM says told coalition that finance minister should go Tuesday, Jul 30, 2013 09:22 AM PDT  By Maja Zuvela BELGRADE (Reuters) - Serbia's Prime Minister told his coalition partners on Tuesday the finance minister should stand down, denting the country's hopes of starting EU entry talks and raising the prospect of a snap election. "I propose to the government to carry out its work without (Mladjan) Dinkic and his URS (United Regions of Serbia)," Ivica Dacic told reporters. Dinkic led an unpopular budget reform process in June in the hopes of pulling Serbia out of a double recession. ... Full Story | Top |
| Israelis, Palestinians to meet again within two weeks: Kerry Tuesday, Jul 30, 2013 09:20 AM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Israeli and Palestinian negotiators will hold their next round of peace talks within the next two weeks in Israel or the Palestinian territories, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Tuesday. Kerry, speaking with the Israeli and Palestinian negotiators at his side, said this week's round of talks between the two sides were positive and constructive and he was convinced that they could make peace. The Israeli-Palestinian talks are the first in nearly three years. (Reporting By Arshad Mohammed; Editing by Bill Trott) Full Story | Top |
| 'New Somalia' risk as warlords rule in Central African Republic Tuesday, Jul 30, 2013 09:18 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 |
| Nigeria arrests 42 Boko Haram suspects in Lagos, Ogun Tuesday, Jul 30, 2013 09:08 AM PDT  LAGOS (Reuters) - Nigerian authorities have arrested 42 suspected members of Islamist sect Boko Haram in Lagos and the neighboring southwest state of Ogun, an army spokesman said on Tuesday. During a four-year insurgency Boko Haram's attacks have been focused mostly in the Muslim north, far from the commercial capital Lagos and the southern oil fields which provide more than 2 million barrels per day to world markets. ... Full Story | Top |
| Insight: Iraq security forces outmatched as 'open war' returns Tuesday, Jul 30, 2013 08:53 AM PDT  By Suadad al-Salhy BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The prison guards were counting inmates after the evening meal at Abu Ghraib jail when suddenly the lights went out. By the time they realized what was going on, the biggest combat operation by Iraqi insurgents in five years was under way. Prisoners set clothes on fire and rioted inside the jail. Militants attacked it from outside with rocket-propelled grenades. A suicide bomber driving a car packed with explosives blasted his way through the main gate. ... Full Story | Top |
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