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| Son of Chinese army singers gets 10 years' jail for gang rape Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 12:43 AM PDT  By Sui-Lee Wee BEIJING (Reuters) - A Chinese court jailed the teenage son of two celebrity army singers for ten years on Thursday for gang-raping a woman in a case that has fanned resentment against the offspring of the political elite who are widely seen as spoilt and above the law. Li Tianyi, 17, was found guilty of sexually assaulting the woman in a hotel in February. He was one of five accused. The verdict was a strict warning to the sons and daughters of China's top-ranked Communist Party officials, who many Chinese say can dodge punishment because of family influence. ... Full Story | Top |
| Twenty-seven people killed in Sudan protests: medical source Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 12:38 AM PDT KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Twenty-seven people were killed in Wednesday's protests in the Sudanese capital Khartoum, a medical source said on Thursday. "There were 27 people killed in the protests and their bodies are at the Omdurman hospital," the source told Reuters, asking not to be named. Relatives and medics told Reuters on Wednesday that at least six people were killed in the protests against fuel subsidy cuts. It was not clear if those were included in the Omdurman hospital figure. (Reporting by Khalid Abdelaziz; Writing by Alexander Dziadosz in Beirut; Editing by Alison Williams) Full Story | Top |
| Militants kill eight in Indian Kashmir ahead of Sharif-Singh talks Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 12:32 AM PDT  By Mukesh Gupta SAMBA, India (Reuters) - Militants dressed in Indian army uniforms killed eight people in attacks on an Indian police station and army base near the Pakistan border on Thursday, triggering calls to cancel talks between the rival nations' leaders at the weekend. The group of about three militants killed six people in the attack on the police station in the disputed Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, then hijacked a truck and drove to the army camp, where they were hiding in a building, security forces said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Russia says ready to help guard Syria chemical weapons sites: agencies Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 12:30 AM PDT  MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia is ready to help guard Syria's chemical weapons sites when President Bashar al-Assad's chemical arms stockpiles and factories are destroyed, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov was quoted as saying on Thursday by news agencies. "We will be ready to help in guarding those facilities where work is being carried out," Interfax news agency reported Ryabkov as saying at an arms fair. Ryabkov was speaking as the United Nations Security Council works on agreeing to a resolution on a chemical arms deal that is acceptable to both Russia and Western countries. U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Russia threatens travel restrictions for Japanese officials to disputed islands Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 12:29 AM PDT MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian Foreign Ministry said on Thursday that it will ban visa-free travel for Japanese officials to the disputed Kurile islands if Japan continues to make statements assuming ownership of the islands. The two countries have been involved in a decades-old dispute over islands north of Hokkaido, known as Kurile in Russia and referred to as the Northern Territories in Japan. ... Full Story | Top |
| Uralkali CEO moved to house arrest in Belarus: lawyer Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 12:26 AM PDT MINSK (Reuters) - The chief executive of Russian potash producer Uralkali has been moved from jail to house arrest in Belarus, signaling that a diplomatic spat over the collapse of a sales cartel could be nearing an end. Vladislav Baumgertner was detained while visiting Belarus on August 26, about a month after Uralkali withdrew from a marketing alliance with state-owned miner Belaruskali, an important source of income for Belarus. He has been held in a KGB prison in Minsk for a month and could face up to 10 years in jail on charges of abuse of office. ... Full Story | Top |
| Sudan's Bashir cancels plan to attend UN assembly: UN official Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 12:07 AM PDT  UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir will not attend the U.N. General Assembly, a U.N. official said on Thursday, as the Sudanese leader faced protests over fuel subsidy cuts at home. Despite an outstanding warrant for his arrest from the International Criminal Court, Bashir had said on Sunday he planned to attend the U.N. General Assembly and had already booked a hotel in New York. Protests broke out in Khartoum and other Sudanese cities over higher fuel prices on Monday. ... Full Story | Top |
| Indian PM condemns Kashmir attack, says peace talks will go on Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 12:04 AM PDT  NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's prime minister branded Thursday's attack by militants on an Indian police station and army camp in disputed Kashmir as "barbaric" but - without mentioning Pakistan - said it would not derail efforts to pursue peace through dialogue. "This is one more in a series of provocations and barbaric actions by the enemies of peace," Manmohan Singh said in a statement. "Such attacks will not deter us and will not succeed in derailing our efforts to find a resolution to all problems through a process of dialogue. ... Full Story | Top |
| Recent Chinese data reinforce IMF's 2013 GDP forecast: official Wednesday, Sep 25, 2013 11:44 PM PDT  TOKYO (Reuters) - China's recent economic data reinforce the International Monetary Fund's forecast that the world's second-largest economy will avoid a second-half slowdown and grow 7.75 percent this year, a fund official said on Thursday. Markus Rodlauer, deputy director of the IMF's Asia Pacific Department and the fund's mission chief for China, said the IMF expected China's economy to sustain its pace of growth despite a difficult international environment. "This is borne out by a number of high frequency indicators out of China. ... Full Story | Top |
| Militants in Kashmir raid crossed from Pakistan: state chief Wednesday, Sep 25, 2013 11:35 PM PDT SRINAGAR, India (Reuters) - A group of militants who attacked a police station and army camp in India's Himalayan state of Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday had crossed the border from Pakistan the previous day, the state's chief minister said. Omar Abdullah told reporters the raid, in which at least eight people have been killed, appeared designed to upset plans for a meeting in New York this week between Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. ... Full Story | Top |
| Sudan's Bashir cancels plan to attend U.N. assembly: U.N. official Wednesday, Sep 25, 2013 11:23 PM PDT  UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir will not attend the U.N. General Assembly, a U.N. official said on Thursday, as the Sudanese leader faced protests over fuel subsidy cuts at home. Despite an outstanding warrant for his arrest from the International Criminal Court, Bashir had said on Sunday he planned to attend the U.N. General Assembly and had already booked a hotel in New York. Protests broke out in Khartoum and other Sudanese cities over higher fuel prices on Monday. ... Full Story | Top |
| Merkel looks left to rescue Germany's energy revolution Wednesday, Sep 25, 2013 11:15 PM PDT  By Madeline Chambers and Vera Eckert BERLIN/FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Angela Merkel's best hope of saving her bold energy revolution may lie in a coalition with the center-left Social Democrats (SPD), who could agree to modest cuts to costly incentives for green power which are, paradoxically, driving up energy prices. The German chancellor's experiment to wean Europe's biggest economy off nuclear and fossil fuels and push it into renewables is at risk because generous subsidies have proved so popular with investors in green power that the country is straining under the cost. ... Full Story | Top |
| Shabaab finances face squeeze after Kenya attack Wednesday, Sep 25, 2013 11:06 PM PDT By William Maclean DUBAI (Reuters) - Al Shabaab emerged as a regional threat funded by millions of dollars from activities ranging from extortion to taxing charcoal exports, but its attack on a Kenyan shopping mall is expected to provoke a counter-terrorism response aimed at crippling the Somali Islamist group's finances. The money is important to al Shabaab, a group whose aims include the wider imposition of Islamic law but whose ability to attract fighters in one of the poorest countries of the world is based largely on its ability to pay them. A report by U.N. ... Full Story | Top |
| Korean court overturns Hanwha chairman's three-year prison term Wednesday, Sep 25, 2013 09:14 PM PDT  SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea's supreme court has overturned a three-year prison sentence against Hanwha Group Chairman Kim Seung-youn for breach of trust and other charges, sending the case back to a lower court. Shares in Hanwha Corp rose 1.5 percent after the decision on Thursday to a 19-month high, versus a flat benchmark index . The business tycoon had been convicted of using Hanwha affiliates to "unfairly support" ailing companies he owned under assumed names, causing losses to South Korea's 10th largest conglomerate. ... Full Story | Top |
| Small bomb goes off outside Greek tax office in wealthy Athens suburb Wednesday, Sep 25, 2013 08:53 PM PDT ATHENS (Reuters) - A small makeshift bomb exploded outside a Greek tax office in a wealthy Athens suburb on Thursday, damaging the entrance of the building and smashing windows but causing no injuries, police officials said. Police had cordoned off the area in the upscale suburb of Kifissia, where many business executives and politicians live, after an unidentified person called a Greek newspaper and a news website around 0200 GMT warning a bomb would go off in 30 minutes. No one has claimed responsibility for the explosion, which police officials said was small. ... Full Story | Top |
| Debt-wracked nations could learn from Norway, prime minister says Wednesday, Sep 25, 2013 08:43 PM PDT  By Richard Valdmanis BOSTON (Reuters) - Debt-laden European nations, the United States, and resource-rich developing countries could all learn from Norway's tight-fisted spending habits and oil wealth management, the Scandinavian nation's outgoing prime minister said on Wednesday. Jens Stoltenberg said Norway had become one of the wealthiest countries in the world mainly by refusing to spend its huge state oil revenues, instead placing them in a sovereign wealth fund and using only the annual returns. ... Full Story | Top |
| South Korea seeks stealth jet edge while North's MiGs age Wednesday, Sep 25, 2013 08:10 PM PDT  By Joyce Lee and Ju-min Park SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea's decision to reject a bid by Boeing to supply 60 warplanes and to re-issue a tender was made in the interests of stealth technology but may not be justified given North Korea's weak air capabilities, experts said. Lockheed Martin's F-35A, previously considered too expensive, has shot to the front of the race for a multi-billion dollar deal after the Defence Ministry singled out a fifth-generation fighter as the preferred option. Boeing's F-15 Silent Eagle, the only bid within budget, had been poised to win the 8.3 trillion won ($7. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. union efforts at VW plant may face hurdle after eight workers say misled Wednesday, Sep 25, 2013 08:01 PM PDT  By Bernie Woodall DETROIT (Reuters) - Eight employees at Volkswagen AG's Tennessee plant have said they were misled into endorsing the United Auto Workers, handing some ammunition to opponents of the union's efforts to organize for the first time at a foreign-owned U.S. factory. The UAW has countered that the complaints, which were filed with the National Labor Relations Board, are a "frivolous and baseless" attempt to delay negotiations between the union and Volkswagen. The complaints challenge the validity of cards signed by the workers. ... Full Story | Top |
| Ex-President George H.W. Bush serves as witness at same-sex wedding Wednesday, Sep 25, 2013 07:45 PM PDT  By Brendan O'Brien (Reuters) - Former President George H.W. Bush and his wife, Barbara, were the official witnesses of a same-sex marriage between two women in Maine over the weekend, a spokesman said on Wednesday. The former first couple witnessed the private ceremony on Saturday in Kennebunk between Bonnie Clement and Helen Thorgalsen, according to Jim McGrath, a Bush spokesman. Clement posted a photograph on her Facebook page of President Bush signing a piece of paper as the couple, close friends of the Bushes, watched and held champagne glasses. The couple owns H.B. ... Full Story | Top |
| Congress turns attention to debt limit battle Wednesday, Sep 25, 2013 07:43 PM PDT  By Rachelle Younglai and Richard Cowan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Congress, struggling to avert a government shutdown next week, was warned by the Obama administration on Wednesday that the Treasury was quickly running out of funds to pay government bills and could soon face a damaging debt default. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew pleaded with Congress to raise the $16.7 trillion debt limit and said the government would not be able to borrow funds past October 17. ... Full Story | Top |
| IRS struggles to track its 'Obamacare' spending: watchdog Wednesday, Sep 25, 2013 07:40 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Internal Revenue Service needs to do a better job tracking its spending related to President Barack Obama's new healthcare law, an IRS watchdog said on Wednesday. With Congress debating whether to take funding away from the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration said in an audit that the IRS failed to account for some of the agency's spending to implement the law. Federal agencies must report their spending so there is an accurate measure of the full cost of government programs. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. audit finds lack of oversight in ATF probes of cigarette smuggling Wednesday, Sep 25, 2013 07:25 PM PDT By Lisa Maria Garza (Reuters) - Federal agents conducted dozens of income-generating tobacco sting operations without approval during the last seven years and misplaced more than 2 million cartons of cigarettes, according to a report released by the U.S. Department of Justice on Wednesday. Inspector General Michael Horowitz criticized the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) in the report for "a serious lack of oversight", citing 35 "churning" investigations that were not reviewed by the agency's Undercover Review Committee for prior approval. ... Full Story | Top |
| Venezuela's Maduro mulls legal move against Airbus over fault in presidential jet Wednesday, Sep 25, 2013 07:21 PM PDT  By Brian Ellsworth CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Wednesday said he was preparing legal action against Airbus due to a "serious fault" in his presidential jet following maintenance. Maduro said he had been concerned about flying in the plane after it returned from five months of work by Airbus, and ordered his own technicians to carry out an inspection. "After 10 or 12 days, a serious fault appeared in one of the wings of the plane. After five months at Airbus in France - my God!" Maduro said during a lived televised broadcast. ... Full Story | Top |
| Ex-Washington state campaign director charged with embezzling to feed gambling habit Wednesday, Sep 25, 2013 07:21 PM PDT By Jonathan Kaminsky OLYMPIA, Washington (Reuters) - The former head of a Democratic Party fundraising committee in Washington state has been charged with embezzling up to $300,000 in campaign contributions to feed a gambling habit, prosecutors said on Wednesday. Michael King, 32, concealed the theft from the Senate Democratic Campaign Committee in part by reporting it as a series of phony reimbursements for political polling, according to charges filed by the King County prosecutor's office. ... Full Story | Top |
| Exclusive: Any attempt by Greek far-right to force elections could backfire - deputy PM Wednesday, Sep 25, 2013 07:11 PM PDT  By Dina Kyriakidou and Daniel Bases NEW YORK (Reuters) - Greece's far-right Golden Dawn party would damage itself if it tries to force elections by walking out of parliament in a pique over a government crackdown, the country's deputy prime minister said on Wednesday. Evangelos Venizelos, who is also foreign minister in a coalition government, was responding to Greek media reports that Golden Dawn, which denies a neo-Nazi label, was considering pulling its 18 deputies from the 300-seat parliament, hoping to force political change. ... Full Story | Top |
| North Carolina school board lifts 'Invisible Man' book ban Wednesday, Sep 25, 2013 07:00 PM PDT By Colleen Jenkins WINSTON-SALEM, North Carolina (Reuters) - A North Carolina school board lifted on Wednesday its ban of Ralph Ellison's classic novel "Invisible Man" from school libraries after being ridiculed by residents and undercut by a giveaway of the book at a local bookstore. The widely publicized ban by the Randolph County Board of Education in central North Carolina came after a high school junior's mother complained that the sexual content in the book chosen for a summer reading program was "not so innocent" and "too much for teenagers. ... Full Story | Top |
| FBI releases video of 'delusional' Navy Yard shooter Wednesday, Sep 25, 2013 06:59 PM PDT  By Ian Simpson and Phil Stewart WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The FBI released surveillance video and photos of Navy Yard shooter Aaron Alexis on Wednesday and said he believed electromagnetic waves had been controlling him for months before the rampage that killed 12 people. There are no signs that Alexis, 34, was targeting anybody in the September 16 shooting at the Navy Yard in southeast Washington, said Valerie Parlave, the FBI assistant director in charge of the Washington field office. ... Full Story | Top |
| Computer snags delay parts of Obamacare in some U.S. states Wednesday, Sep 25, 2013 06:33 PM PDT By Sharon Begley NEW YORK (Reuters) - The District of Columbia's online health insurance exchange - one of 51 set up under President Barack Obama's healthcare reform law - will be unable to perform two key functions when it opens on October 1, exchange officials announced on Wednesday. The District joins Colorado and Oregon on the list of "Obamacare" exchanges hobbled by problems with information technology (IT), contributing to expectations that Obama's signature domestic achievement will get off to a slow start when the exchanges go live next Tuesday. ... Full Story | Top |
| Europe aid chief urges U.N. resolution on Syria relief access Wednesday, Sep 25, 2013 06:29 PM PDT  By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Europe's aid chief on Wednesday urged the U.N. Security Council to adopt a resolution to boost humanitarian access in Syria, an issue that has simmered for months in the shadow of plans for peace talks and a deal on destroying Syrian chemical weapons. While 2 million Syrians have fled the civil war, there are more than 4 million people displaced inside the country and in urgent need of help, but violence and bureaucratic red-tape has slowed aid to a trickle, the United Nations has said. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. border agency to amend use-of-force practices after killings Wednesday, Sep 25, 2013 06:21 PM PDT By Tim Gaynor PHOENIX (Reuters) - The U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency, under fire for being too quick to use lethal force, will train officers to defuse threats following the deaths of at least 19 people since 2010 in incidents on the northern and southern borders. The changes announced on Wednesday came in response to a letter signed by 16 members of Congress in May 2012, calling for a review of use-of-force incidents and policy, prompted by the death of a Mexican man struck with a baton and shocked by officers as he resisted deportation in San Diego, California, three years ago. ... Full Story | Top |
| South America studies how to curb U.S. 'spying': Ecuador Wednesday, Sep 25, 2013 06:05 PM PDT  By Walker Simon NEW YORK (Reuters) - South American nations are jointly exploring the creation of a communications system to curtail U.S. spying in the region, Ecuadorean Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino said on Wednesday. He said the idea was to set up a common platform to "minimize risks of being spied on" and added the project was an outgrowth of the disclosures by former U.S. National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden on U.S. spying worldwide. The new project is under consideration by the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), which groups the 12 governments of the continent. ... Full Story | Top |
| Escaped California prison inmate recaptured after 36 years on the run Wednesday, Sep 25, 2013 05:59 PM PDT By Steve Gorman LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A California prison inmate who escaped 36 years ago while serving time for armed robbery has been recaptured in Arkansas, becoming California's longest-sought fugitive inmate to be caught, a prisons spokeswoman said on Wednesday. Michael Morrow, 70, was taken into custody without incident on Monday by FBI agents and sheriff's deputies at his residence in Jessieville, Arkansas, where he had been living under an assumed name, said Terry Thornton of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. ... Full Story | Top |
| Exclusive: Greece does not need third bailout, seeks debt 'reprofiling' - deputy pm Wednesday, Sep 25, 2013 05:52 PM PDT  By Daniel Bases, Stephen Adler and Dina Kyriakidou NEW YORK (Reuters) - Greece does not require a third bailout and can cover its needs without further burdening its current backers, by improving the terms of its debt and possibly returning to the bond market next year, the country's deputy prime minister said on Wednesday. ... Full Story | Top |
| Not running for president (yet), Hillary Clinton keeps the spotlight Wednesday, Sep 25, 2013 05:36 PM PDT  By Gabriel Debenedetti NEW YORK (Reuters) - The question was being asked in hallway whispers and excited chatter in many languages this week at the Clinton Global Initiative conference. It's the question that follows Hillary Clinton everywhere - will she run for U.S. president in 2016? A version of the question came up during a panel discussion on investing in the future of women, and Clinton was deft, saying only that "someday, I hope" to see a woman president. She stopped short of discussing her own plans, even as applause erupted. ... Full Story | Top |
| Iran says it wants to resolve nuclear row within months Wednesday, Sep 25, 2013 05:29 PM PDT  By Louis Charbonneau and Yeganeh Torbati UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Iran's new government, stepping up a campaign to project a more moderate image abroad, said on Wednesday it wants to jump-start talks with world powers to resolve a decade-long dispute over its nuclear program and hoped for a deal in three to six months. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif is set to hold talks on the nuclear issue on Thursday with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry as well as diplomats from Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany, in a rare encounter between top American and Iranian officials. ... Full Story | Top |
| Western envoys tout deal on core of U.N. Syria draft, Russia denies it Wednesday, Sep 25, 2013 05:23 PM PDT  By John Irish and Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Envoys from the United States, Russia, France, China and Britain have come to an agreement on the core of a U.N. Security Council resolution to get rid of Syria's chemical weapons, three Western diplomats said on Wednesday, but Russia denied such an accord had been reached and insisted work was "still going on. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. lawmakers seek to end bulk NSA telephone records collection Wednesday, Sep 25, 2013 05:17 PM PDT  By Patricia Zengerle WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic and Republican U.S. senators introduced legislation on Wednesday to end the National Security Agency's bulk collection of Americans' communication records and set other new controls on the government's electronic eavesdropping programs. The measure introduced by Democrats Ron Wyden, Mark Udall and Richard Blumenthal, and Republican Rand Paul, is one of several efforts making their way through Congress to rein in sweeping surveillance programs. ... Full Story | Top |
| Congress moves toward extending worldwide anti-AIDS program Wednesday, Sep 25, 2013 05:10 PM PDT  By Patricia Zengerle WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senior U.S. lawmakers introduced legislation in the Senate and House of Representatives on Wednesday to extend for another decade a successful and popular program to combat AIDS worldwide launched 10 years ago by former President George W. Bush. The bills feature several provisions to increase oversight of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, known as PEPFAR, due to expire on September 30. The widely praised program is considered a catalyst for advancing HIV treatment, particularly in Africa. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. congressional panels agree on bill to regulate drug compounding Wednesday, Sep 25, 2013 05:09 PM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - House of Representatives and Senate committees have agreed on legislation that would give the Food and Drug Administration greater authority to regulate companies that compound sterile drugs and ship them across state lines. The legislation would also create a national set of standards to track pharmaceuticals through the distribution chain to help thwart the introduction of fake medication into the drug supply. ... Full Story | Top |
| Israeli-Palestinian talks to intensify, greater U.S. role Wednesday, Sep 25, 2013 05:07 PM PDT  By Arshad Mohammed UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Israel and the Palestinians have agreed to intensify their peace talks and to increase the U.S. role, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Wednesday in a rare comment on the negotiations. Speaking to donors who support the Palestinian Authority, Kerry said the two sides have met seven times since the talks resumed on July 29 although Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas have not met. ... Full Story | Top |
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