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| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| Mursi backers to protest after overthrow, arrests Thursday, Jul 04, 2013 07:34 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| Aid worker killed in fighting in biggest city in Darfur Thursday, Jul 04, 2013 03:12 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 |
| 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 |
| Coup? What coup? Egyptians see no evil Thursday, Jul 04, 2013 02:57 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 colored 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 'Mandela vs. Mandela' family feud sinks to soap opera Thursday, Jul 04, 2013 12:29 PM PDT  By Yvonne Bell MTHATHA, South Africa (Reuters) - A feud between factions of Nelson Mandela's family descended into soap opera farce on Thursday when his grandson and heir, Mandla, accused relatives of adultery and milking the fame of the revered anti-apartheid leader. In a news conference broadcast live on TV that stunned South Africans, Mandla Mandela confirmed rumors that his young son, Zanethemba, was in fact the child of an illicit liaison between his brother Mbuso and Mandla's now ex-wife Anais Grimaud. ... Full Story | Top |
| Russia urges North Korea to help enable new international talks Thursday, Jul 04, 2013 12:10 PM PDT  MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia urged North Korea on Thursday to help pave the way for a resumption of international talks and told Pyongyang that ending the standoff over its nuclear program would bring economic benefits. North Korean First Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-Gwan met separately in Moscow with two Russian deputy foreign ministers, Vladimir Titov and Igor Morgulov, the Russian Foreign Ministry said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Portugal PM says found formula for government stability Thursday, Jul 04, 2013 12:01 PM PDT  By Shrikesh Laxmidas and Axel Bugge LISBON (Reuters) - Portugal's prime minister has found a way to maintain government stability with the junior partner in the ruling coalition, but the full details still need to be agreed to end a political crisis that has threatened Lisbon's adjustment under a bailout. Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho said a formula had been found after meeting with the leader of the rightist CDS-PP party three times in the past 24 hours to heal the most damaging political rift since the country received a bailout in 2011. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.N. seeks $1 billion to feed Sahel, says Syria distracting Thursday, Jul 04, 2013 11:59 AM 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 |
| Tunisian rulers bemoan Egypt's "coup against legitimacy" Thursday, Jul 04, 2013 11:46 AM PDT  By Tarek Amara TUNIS (Reuters) - The Islamist-led government of Tunisia, birthplace of the Arab Spring popular uprisings, on Thursday criticized the Egyptian army's removal of elected president Mohamed Mursi as "a coup against legitimacy" and urged Cairo to guarantee his safety. Mursi rose to power after autocratic president Hosni Mubarak was toppled in a 2011 uprising inspired by the popular revolution against dictatorship in Tunisia a few weeks before. Moderate Islamists were subsequently elected to govern Tunisia. ... Full Story | Top |
| Russia increasingly impatient over Snowden's airport stay Thursday, Jul 04, 2013 11:27 AM PDT  By Timothy Heritage and Steve Gutterman MOSCOW (Reuters) - Edward Snowden should find another country to seek refuge in, a Russian official said on Thursday, signaling Moscow's growing impatience over the former U.S. spy agency contractor's stay at a Moscow airport. Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Russia had received no request for political asylum from Snowden and he had to solve his problems himself after 11 days in the transit area of Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport. ... Full Story | Top |
| Russia's Putin urges moderate changes in NGO 'foreign agent' law Thursday, Jul 04, 2013 11:09 AM PDT  By Alexei Anishchuk NOVO-OGARYOVO, Russia (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that a law branding some non-governmental organizations "foreign agents" should be changed to prevent harassment of groups that are not involved in politics. His remarks signaled a moderate concession to critics of the law, which has raised concerns among Western governments and been condemned by critics of the Kremlin as part of a campaign to silence independent voices. ... Full Story | Top |
| Britain's Labour loses election head after row over unions' role Thursday, Jul 04, 2013 11:07 AM 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 |
| Canada politicians announce departure ahead of Cabinet shuffle Thursday, Jul 04, 2013 10:31 AM PDT  By David Ljunggren OTTAWA (Reuters) - Four members of Canada's scandal-tinged Conservative government are stepping down ahead of a reshuffle expected next week that is designed to bring younger faces into an aging Cabinet. Marjory LeBreton, 73, leader of the government in the upper Senate chamber, said on Thursday she would quit but gave no reasons. Opposition figures had accused her of trying to play down an expenses scandal that has roiled the Conservatives. ... Full Story | Top |
| Top Zimbabwe court refuses to delay July 31 election Thursday, Jul 04, 2013 10:30 AM PDT By Cris Chinaka HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's Constitutional Court rejected a series of government appeals on Thursday to delay a July 31 general election in order to allow more time for reform of the security forces and state media. Zimbabwe adopted a new constitution this year in a trouble-free referendum backed by both long-serving President Robert Mugabe and his main rival, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai. ... Full Story | Top |
| Germany's Merkel hopes for U.S. answers on spying Thursday, Jul 04, 2013 10:27 AM PDT  By Roberta Rampton and Gernot Heller BERLIN/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel said after a phone call with Barack Obama on Wednesday night that she believed the U.S. president took Germany's concern over reported U.S. spying very seriously, and she hoped coming talks would bring answers. Obama sought to allay the anger in Germany and other European allies in his call with Merkel, during which the chancellor said she made clear to him spying was not what she expected from countries considered friends. ... Full Story | Top |
| Poland's ruling party loses ground to main opposition: poll Thursday, Jul 04, 2013 10:24 AM PDT  WARSAW (Reuters) - Poland's ruling Civic Platform (PO) fell nine percentage points behind the rightist Law and Justice (PiS) in a poll published in Thursday, reflecting its growing unpopularity in the midst of a painful economic slowdown. The party of Prime Minister Donald Tusk was supported by 26 percent of Poles surveyed by Millward Brown for broadcaster TV, down six points from the previous reading, while PiS's backing rose four points to 35 percent. The lead by the opposition party, led by Jaroslaw Kaczynski, is its largest since September 2011. ... Full Story | Top |
| Italy's Letta presses on after coalition tensions Thursday, Jul 04, 2013 10:17 AM PDT  By Antonella Cinelli ROME (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta said on Thursday he was confident that his fractious left-right coalition was on the right path after a meeting aimed at easing tensions over its halting progress on economic reforms. "There's a good relaunch of the government and of the government program. I'm optimistic and we are on the right path," Letta said after a clear-the-air meeting called when the centrist Civic Choice movement threatened to withdraw support if economic reforms were not stepped up. ... Full Story | Top |
| Mexican reforms hostage to opposition in local elections Thursday, Jul 04, 2013 10:15 AM PDT  By Dave Graham MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - A year after winning the Mexican presidency, Enrique Pena Nieto needs a solid performance by the opposition in state elections on Sunday to keep alive a fragile alliance he built to steer reforms through Congress. Falling short of a majority when he won, Pena Nieto crafted an informal coalition with the opposition to help realize his economic vision, two key parts of which - opening up state oil giant Pemex to private capital and boosting the tax take - he is planning to send to Congress by September. ... Full Story | Top |
| Authors of 'false news' may face jail under new Gambian law Thursday, Jul 04, 2013 10:09 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 behavior" 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 |
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