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| Mugabe party claims Zimbabwe election win, MDC cries fraud Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 12:38 AM PDT  HARARE (Reuters) - President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF party on Thursday claimed a landslide victory in Zimbabwe's elections, but its rival, Prime Minster Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), said there had been "monumental fraud". Wednesday's voting had been peaceful across the southern African nation, but the early claims from the competing parties heralded an acrimonious dispute over the outcome and raised fears of a repeat of violence that marred a 2008 election. ... Full Story | Top |
| Dissident Kazakh oligarch Ablyazov held in France -sources Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 12:20 AM PDT By Kirstin Ridley and Matthias Galante LONDON/CANNES, France (Reuters) - Mukhtar Ablyazov, a Kazakh businessman accused of embezzling $6 billion from his former bank, BTA, has been arrested on the French Riviera, two sources said on Wednesday. Ablyazov was arrested in the village of Mouans-Sartoux about 8 km (5 miles) north of Cannes in southern France, a police source said. A court hearing has been scheduled for 10:30 a.m. (0430 ET) Thursday, added a second source, who could not confirm the hearing's location. ... Full Story | Top |
| Rwanda says UN ultimatum threatened Congo peace talks Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 12:18 AM PDT By Richard Lough NAIROBI (Reuters) - Rwanda said on Wednesday the decision by a U.N. intervention brigade to forcibly disarm people in a strategic zone of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo had surprised African leaders and risked jeopardising peace talks. The U.N. peacekeeping mission said on Tuesday it was setting up a security zone around Goma, which briefly fell into M23 hands last year, and would disarm, by force if needed, anyone carrying weapons after a 48-hour grace period. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. House passes Iran sanctions bill to slash oil exports Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 12:17 AM PDT  By Timothy Gardner WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The House of Representatives easily passed a bill on Wednesday to tighten sanctions on Iran, showing a strong message to Tehran over its disputed nuclear program days before President-elect Hassan Rouhani is sworn in. The vote also highlighted a growing divide between Congress and the Obama administration on Iran policy ahead of international talks on the nuclear program in coming months. Iran insists the nuclear program is purely for civilian purposes. ... Full Story | Top |
| Spain's Rajoy faces lawmakers over corruption scandal Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 12:12 AM PDT  By Andrés González MADRID (Reuters) - Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy appeared in parliament early on Thursday to testify about his alleged involvement in a corruption scandal that is undermining the authority of his ruling People's Party (PP). Luis Barcenas, a former treasurer of the party jailed on bribery and tax evasion charges, told a judge he collected millions of euros in cash donations from construction magnates and distributed them to senior PP figures including Rajoy. ... Full Story | Top |
| Tsvangirai's MDC says 'monumental fraud' in Zimbabwe vote Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 12:08 AM PDT  HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC party on Thursday said Zimbabwe's elections had been a "monumental fraud" after a source in President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF earlier claimed a resounding victory. "It's a monumental fraud. Zimbabweans have been taken for a ride by ZANU-PF and Mugabe, we do not accept it," a senior source in the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) told Reuters. The MDC will hold an emergency meeting later on Thursday. (Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe; Editing by Pascal Fletcher) Full Story | Top |
| As Egypt turns up heat, Brothers struggle for strategy Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 12:05 AM PDT  By Michael Georgy and Tom Perry CAIRO (Reuters) - Behind sandbags at the Muslim Brotherhood's protest camp in Cairo, an activist urges supporters to embrace martyrdom. It is not a call to arms, but a message that they shouldn't fear death as they demonstrate against the military's overthrow of Islamist President Mohamed Mursi. "Martyrs don't die. Martyrs go to paradise," he said through a megaphone as people held aloft symbolic coffins to commemorate more than 100 Mursi supporters already shot dead in the street. ... Full Story | Top |
| Japanese minister Aso retracts Nazi comment amid criticism Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 12:00 AM PDT  By Antoni Slodkowski TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso retracted on Thursday a comment he had made that referred to Adolf Hitler's rise to power and which was interpreted as praising the Nazi regime. The outspoken Aso, who is also finance minister and a former prime minister, said he had caused misunderstanding with the comment, which has drawn criticism from a U.S.-based Jewish-rights group and media in South Korea, where bitter memories of Japan's World War Two militarism run deep. ... Full Story | Top |
| China factory sector perks up, elsewhere gloomy Wednesday, Jul 31, 2013 11:58 PM PDT  BEIJING (Reuters) - China offered a rare bright spot in an otherwise sluggish Asian manufacturing sector in July with a stronger than expected government purchasing managers index that eased some concerns over the health of the world's second-biggest economy. Although the China PMI surprised and gave a boost to regional share prices and commodities, it also signaled only a modest pace of growth. A rival report from HSBC was much more gloomy, showing factory activity fell to its lowest in nearly a year. ... Full Story | Top |
| Government requests for Twitter users' data on the rise Wednesday, Jul 31, 2013 11:48 PM PDT  By Gerry Shih SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Twitter is under increasing pressure from governments around the world to release user's private information, with requests rising 40 percent in the first six months of the year, the microblogging company said Wednesday in its semi-annual transparency report. The United States made three-quarters of the 1,157 data requests during the six-month period, according to the San Francisco-based company's report. (Report: https://transparency.twitter.com/) Governments usually want the emails or IP addresses tied to a Twitter account. ... Full Story | Top |
| Mugabe beats Tsvangirai in Zimbabwe election: ZANU-PF source Wednesday, Jul 31, 2013 11:45 PM PDT  JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - A senior source in Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe's party claimed a resounding victory in Wednesday's parliamentary and presidential election against Prime Minster Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). "We've taken this election. We've buried the MDC. We never had any doubt that we were going to win," the source, who could not be named, told Reuters by phone on Thursday. Releasing results early in Zimbabwe is illegal, and police have said they will arrest anybody who makes premature claims about the result. ... Full Story | Top |
| Nigeria opposition coalition cleared to run in poll Wednesday, Jul 31, 2013 11:39 PM PDT  ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigeria's electoral commission has approved the merger of three main opposition parties into a bloc that could pose the most credible threat yet to the long-ruling party of President Goodluck Jonathan. Since nearly three decades of military dictatorship ended in 1999, the People's Democratic Party (PDP) has ruled more or less unchallenged, winning every presidential poll. ... Full Story | Top |
| South Sudan's Kiir to keep oil minister, change finance portfolio Wednesday, Jul 31, 2013 11:27 PM PDT  By Andrew Green JUBA (Reuters) - South Sudan's oil minister Stephen Dhieu Dau will keep his post in the new government, while new appointments will be made to the key finance and defence portfolios, officials said on Wednesday. Last week, President Salva Kiir sacked the cabinet, Vice President Riek Machar and put his top Sudan negotiator, Pagan Amum, under investigation amid a power struggle. Dau told Reuters he had been appointed again. "We will try to continue with the same programmes that we laid in the last two years," he said, without elaborating. ... Full Story | Top |
| Suspected Islamists steal 125 kg of dynamite in north Nigeria Wednesday, Jul 31, 2013 11:21 PM PDT (Updates death toll in Kano bomb) DAMATURU, Nigeria, July 31 - Gunmen suspected to be allied to Islamist sect Boko Haram have stormed a construction site in northeast Nigeria, carting off 125 kg (275 pounds) of dynamite and hundreds of detonators, two security sources said on Wednesday. The militants struck the Bara area of Yobe state at around 2 a.m. on Monday morning, the two security sources in Yobe told Reuters, but no shots were heard. One of the sources said the men arrived on four motorcycles, beating and overpowering the site's private security guards. ... Full Story | Top |
| Midnight weddings as two U.S. states legalize gay marriage Wednesday, Jul 31, 2013 11:11 PM PDT  By Todd Melby MINNEAPOLIS (Reuters) - Surrounded by nearly 1,000 people in the marble rotunda of Minneapolis City Hall, Margaret Miles and Cathy ten Broeke were the first gay couple to tie the knot in Minnesota, one of two states where same-sex marriage became legal on Thursday. "By the power now finally invested in me," said Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak to boisterous cheers from family members and supporters of gay marriage, "I hereby declare Margaret and Cathy legally married. ... Full Story | Top |
| China factory sector struggles, big firms fare better Wednesday, Jul 31, 2013 10:23 PM PDT  By Aileen Wang and Kevin Yao BEIJING (Reuters) - China's factory activity stayed weak in July as persistent pressure on the economy extended into the third quarter, although bigger firms fared better as the government moved to bolster growth, a pair of surveys showed on Thursday. A small improvement in the official PMI offered some optimism for an economy that has slowed in nine of the past 10 quarters, but analysts cautioned against rushing to a conclusion the world's second-largest economy had arrested its decline. ... Full Story | Top |
| Insight: For nuns and analysts alike, bank commodity earnings are a mystery Wednesday, Jul 31, 2013 10:04 PM PDT  By Cezary Podkul NEW YORK (Reuters) - When the Reverend Seamus Finn got an email from Goldman Sachs last week, the giant Wall Street bank was addressing an issue that was already on his mind. "We were getting ready to go back to them and talk to them about commodities anyway," said Finn, who heads up faith-consistent investing for the Missionary Oblates, a Washington DC-based Catholic group that owns Goldman shares. ... Full Story | Top |
| Victims may speak as Cleveland abductor is sentenced to life in prison Wednesday, Jul 31, 2013 09:14 PM PDT  By Kim Palmer CLEVELAND (Reuters) - Three women imprisoned for a decade in a Cleveland home may speak of their abuse in person, via video or through representatives on Thursday at a court hearing where their abductor is expected to be formally sentenced to life in prison. Ariel Castro, 53, pleaded guilty last week to 937 criminal charges including kidnapping and rape of the women, kidnapping of a 6-year-old girl he fathered in captivity with one of the women, and murder for forcing another one of the women to abort during a pregnancy. ... Full Story | Top |
| Macy, Penney to wrap up trial on Martha Stewart home goods dispute Wednesday, Jul 31, 2013 09:07 PM PDT  By Joseph Ax and Phil Wahba NEW YORK (Reuters) - A New York state judge could decide as soon as Thursday whether J.C. Penney Co Inc can sell certain Martha Stewart-branded home goods despite rival Macy's Inc's exclusive deal with the doyenne of U.S. home decor. The two department store chains are scheduled to give closing arguments Thursday morning, more than three months after testimony ended in the non-jury trial before Justice Jeffrey Oing in state Supreme Court in Manhattan. He could render his verdict from the bench following summations or issue a decision in coming days. ... Full Story | Top |
| China HSBC PMI dips to 11-month low in July Wednesday, Jul 31, 2013 08:20 PM PDT  BEIJING (Reuters) - China's factory activity shrank for a third straight month in July to its lowest level in nearly a year as new orders fell, a private survey showed on Thursday, signaling the persistent pressure on the economy has extended into the third quarter. The HSBC Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI), compiled by Markit Economics Research, fell to 47.7 in July from June's 48.2. It was the weakest reading since August 2012, and matched a preliminary figure published last week. A reading below 50 indicates a contraction of activity while one above shows expansion. ... Full Story | Top |
| Late-comer candidate sees opportunity in chaotic New York City mayoral race Wednesday, Jul 31, 2013 08:12 PM PDT  By Edith Honan NEW YORK (Reuters) - In a New York City mayoral race marked by scandal and the clear absence of a front runner, wealthy tech entrepreneur Jack Hidary sees an opening for another candidate - one with a sweeping vision for the city's future. "The message across the board is, thank God someone else is in the race," Hidary said in an interview. Hidary, who casts himself as a business-friendly candidate in the mold of New York City's current mayor Michael Bloomberg, said two weeks ago that he was entering the race. ... Full Story | Top |
| BoE readies guidance push, under wraps for now Wednesday, Jul 31, 2013 08:04 PM PDT  By William Schomberg LONDON (Reuters) - The Bank of England and its new governor Mark Carney will put the finishing touches to a fresh approach to nurturing Britain's nascent economic recovery on Thursday, when the central bank wraps up a policy meeting. But financial markets will probably have wait a few more days before getting details of the long-awaited steer on how long interest rates are likely to stay at their record low. At his Bank first policy meeting nearly a month ago, Carney surprised investors with a warning that they were pricing in a rate hike too soon. ... Full Story | Top |
| Bill to regulate pot's growth, sale advances in Uruguay chamber Wednesday, Jul 31, 2013 07:59 PM PDT  By Felipe Llambias and Malena Castaldi MONTEVIDEO (Reuters) - Uruguay's lower house of Congress voted on Wednesday to create a government body to control the cultivation and sale of marijuana and allow residents to grow it at home or as part of smoking clubs. The use of marijuana is already legal in the South American nation, but sale and cultivation is not. After hours of spirited debate, 50 lawmakers voted for the bill and 46 against it. The Senate is expected to vote on the measure backed by leftist President Jose Mujica later this year. ... Full Story | Top |
| Pentagon review protects weapons for now, but uncertainty abounds Wednesday, Jul 31, 2013 06:31 PM PDT  By Andrea Shalal-Esa WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel's rollout Wednesday of a long-awaited strategic budget review left big weapons programs unscathed for now, focusing more on cuts to Pentagon overhead, compensation packages and troop levels. But the review did not resolve the budget uncertainties that have plagued U.S. weapons makers for nearly two years, and even cuts in the overall size of the military will result in fewer new equipment purchases in years to come, analysts said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Investors look to ECB for guidance as economy perks up Wednesday, Jul 31, 2013 06:16 PM PDT  By Paul Carrel FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Signs of a tentative euro zone recovery are easing pressure on the European Central Bank to take fresh policy action and on Thursday it will emphasise its message that interest rates are on hold for an extended period. Stronger economic reports in the past few days support the ECB's expectations of a recovery later this year, though the policy options are complicated by market responses to the U.S. Federal Reserve's plans to slow its economic stimulus programme. ... Full Story | Top |
| Texas jury rules ban on registering cloned horses violates law Wednesday, Jul 31, 2013 06:06 PM PDT By Lisa Maria Garza DALLAS (Reuters) - A Texas jury has ruled that a horse association violated anti-monopoly laws by banning cloned animals from its prestigious registry, a decision that could encourage cloning and open the way for the animals to participate in lucrative horse races. Two Texas breeders, rancher Jason Abraham and veterinarian Gregg Veneklasen, sued the American Quarter Horse Association last year, asserting the group was operating a monopoly by excluding clones. ... Full Story | Top |
| Texas executes man who killed truck drivers in road rage incident Wednesday, Jul 31, 2013 05:48 PM PDT By Karen Brooks AUSTIN (Reuters) - Texas on Wednesday executed a man convicted of killing two truck drivers in a fit of road rage after one of the drivers pulled a truck in front of his motorcycle on the highway. Douglas Feldman, 55, was pronounced dead by lethal injection at 6:28 p.m. (2328 GMT) at a state prison in Huntsville, Texas, according to prison officials. ... Full Story | Top |
| Pentagon warns of tough trade-offs in face of looming cuts Wednesday, Jul 31, 2013 05:47 PM PDT  By David Alexander and Andrea Shalal-Esa WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Wednesday pledged $40 billion in new Pentagon spending reductions over the next decade, but warned that additional cuts required by law posed stark choices that could bend or break the president's defense strategy. Hagel, unveiling his four-month Strategic Choices and Management Review, said the Pentagon would cut $40 billion in overhead from its agencies and headquarters units over the next decade. ... Full Story | Top |
| Mothballed NASA telescope may get new life as asteroid hunter Wednesday, Jul 31, 2013 05:45 PM PDT  By Irene Klotz (Reuters) - NASA is considering re-activating a mothballed space telescope to help find asteroids that could be on a collision course with Earth, according to a senior U.S. space agency official. Launched in December 2009, the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, telescope spent about a year taking pictures for an all-sky map. With its infrared detectors, WISE was able to peer through thick layers of dust and see even relatively dim objects such as cool brown dwarf stars in great detail. ... Full Story | Top |
| Florida man, mistaken for a robber, shot in his driveway by police Wednesday, Jul 31, 2013 05:40 PM PDT MIAMI (Reuters) - A Florida man who was shot by police in his own driveway on suspicion of being a robber says he felt like he was in front of a "firing squad" after being subjected to a volley of more than a dozen bullets. Roy Middleton, a 60-year-old retired Coca-Cola Co worker, told the Pensacola News Journal in an interview from his hospital bed that he was shot in the leg and was lucky to escape without more bullet wounds. ... Full Story | Top |
| Dying out? China's young shun family firms Wednesday, Jul 31, 2013 05:37 PM PDT  By Lavinia Mo HONG KONG (Reuters) - Dai Yintao, 21, is the only son of the millionaire owner of Chinese real estate, pharmaceutical and mining companies. He has no interest in taking over his father's business, opting instead to work on a building site in Guiyang in Guizhou province, arriving each day in a Porsche. "I work here because I don't want to take money from my father," Dai says. "Freedom means everything. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. firearms bureau director confirmed, fulfilling Obama demand Wednesday, Jul 31, 2013 05:34 PM PDT By David Ingram WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Senate on Wednesday confirmed a director for the federal agency that regulates firearms, fulfilling one of the demands President Barack Obama made after the Newtown, Connecticut, school shooting. After a delay while lawmakers awaited the return of a colleague who was flying in from North Dakota, senators voted 53-42 to install prosecutor Todd Jones as director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. ... Full Story | Top |
| Texas executes man who killed two truck drivers in road rage incident Wednesday, Jul 31, 2013 05:26 PM PDT AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - Texas executed on Wednesday a man convicted of killing two truck drivers in a fit of road rage after one of the drivers pulled a truck in front of his motorcycle on the highway, missing him by inches. Douglas Feldman, 55, was pronounced dead by lethal injection at 6:28 p.m. (2328 GMT) at a state prison in Huntsville, Texas, according to prison officials. ... Full Story | Top |
| Vodka boycott in U.S. spreads on concerns over gay rights in Russia Wednesday, Jul 31, 2013 05:21 PM PDT  By Jonathan Kaminsky (Reuters) - Gay rights activists in New York City dumped vodka onto the street on Wednesday to protest new laws in Russia targeting homosexuals, as a growing number of gay bar owners across the United States vowed to stop pouring Russian vodka. "Boycotts are set for a reason. We're trying to influence change, and maybe change what's happening in Russia," said Chuck Hyde, general manager of Sidetrack, the largest gay bar in Chicago, which stopped carrying Stolichnaya about a week ago. ... Full Story | Top |
| CP Rail subcontracted to MMA in Quebec train crash Wednesday, Jul 31, 2013 05:06 PM PDT  By Louise Egan OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canadian Pacific Railway, hired to transport oil from North Dakota to New Brunswick, subcontracted part of the job to the small railroad involved in the deadly crash in Lac-Megantic, Quebec, the company that chose the Canadian railroad said. CP Rail, which had not until now been named in connection with the accident, subcontracted a section of the route to Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway (MMA), World Fuel Services said on Wednesday. ... Full Story | Top |
| NASA pushing to keep 'space taxi' competition going Wednesday, Jul 31, 2013 04:54 PM PDT By Irene Klotz CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - NASA is pressing ahead with a program to fly its astronauts on commercial spaceships despite budget uncertainties that threaten to undermine a heated competition for its business. Since 2010, when the U.S. space agency begin partnering with private companies interested in developing space taxis, and May 2014, when the current phase of the so-called Commercial Crew initiative ends, NASA expects to have spent about $1.5 billion on the program. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. court ends Pemex bribery case against Siemens, SK Engineering Wednesday, Jul 31, 2013 04:45 PM PDT  By Erin Geiger Smith (Reuters) - A U.S. federal judge has dismissed a $500 million lawsuit brought by state-owned Mexican oil company Pemex against Siemens AG and a South Korean company that claimed the defendants bribed Pemex officials to secure oil refinery projects in Mexico. The case raised novel questions about who is a victim in corruption cases, but U.S. District Judge Louis Stanton of Manhattan did not address that issue, instead ruling Tuesday that Pemex could not bring the lawsuit because it had not shown its claims had enough contact with the United States. ... Full Story | Top |
| Mayor says didn't get training, San Diego should pay for sex harassment defense Wednesday, Jul 31, 2013 04:36 PM PDT  SAN DIEGO (Reuters) - San Diego Mayor Bob Filner, under mounting pressure to resign over sexual harassment accusations, deserves to have the city pay for his defense because he never received workplace behavior training, his lawyer has told the city attorney. Filner's private lawyer Harvey Berger wrote in a letter to City Attorney Jan Goldsmith on Monday that San Diego was legally obligated to provide training to prevent sexual harassment to all management-level employees within six months of their joining the city. Goldsmith's office released the letter on Wednesday. ... Full Story | Top |
| Congress finally votes to cut student loan interest rates Wednesday, Jul 31, 2013 04:27 PM PDT  By Elvina Nawaguna WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. college students will likely pay a reduced interest rate of 3.86 percent on their student loans for the new school year, after lawmakers on Wednesday finally passed a compromise bill that would reverse a recent rate hike. The House of Representatives voted 392-31 in support of a bipartisan deal to lower interest rates on millions of new federal student loans. The Senate passed the bill on July 24 and President Barack Obama is expected to sign it into law. ... Full Story | Top |
| Illinois judge rules Chicago can close schools Wednesday, Jul 31, 2013 04:20 PM PDT  By Mary Wisniewski CHICAGO (Reuters) - An Illinois judge on Wednesday allowed Chicago to proceed with the closing of 50 public schools by denying a request from the teachers' union to keep 10 of them open. A lawsuit filed by the Chicago Teachers' Union argued that the school district ignored the recommendations of independent officials questioning 10 of the proposed closings. "This unfortunate ruling ... does an injustice to the parents of these students," Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis said in a statement. ... Full Story | Top |
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