| | |
| Capitol quiet as federal government shutdown nears Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 08:44 PM PDT  By David Lawder and Richard Cowan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - With a deadline to avert a federal government shutdown fast approaching, the U.S. Capitol was eerily quiet on Sunday as Republicans and Democrats waited for the other side to blink first and break the impasse over funding. The Republican-controlled House of Representatives early on Sunday passed a measure that ties government funding to a one-year delay of President Barack Obama's landmark healthcare restructuring law. Senate Democrats have vowed to quash it. ... Full Story | Top |
| Pentagon chief, at Korean DMZ, says U.S. will not cut force in Korea Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 11:51 PM PDT  By David Alexander PANMUNJOM, Korean Demilitarized Zone (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel toured the Korean DMZ on Monday, at times under the watchful eye of North Korean soldiers, and said the Pentagon had no plan to reduce its 28,500-member force in the South despite budget constraints. "This is probably the only place in the world where we have always a risk of confrontation," Hagel said after touring a single-story building with a corrugated metal roof where talks are held with North Koreans on Conference Row in the truce village of Panmunjom. ... Full Story | Top |
| Israel's Netanyahu to press Obama for no let-up on Iran pressure Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 10:14 PM PDT  By Dan Williams and Matt Spetalnick NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will warn President Barack Obama at a meeting on Monday that Iran's diplomatic "sweet talk" cannot be trusted and will urge him to pressure Tehran to prevent it being able to make a nuclear bomb. While Obama will attempt to reassure Netanyahu that he will not act prematurely to ease sanctions on Iran, growing signs of a U.S.-Iranian thaw have rattled Israel and could make for a tense encounter between the two leaders, who have not always seen eye-to-eye on the Iranian nuclear dispute. ... Full Story | Top |
| Typhoon leaves 74 missing in China as Thailand, Vietnam brace for floods Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 11:36 PM PDT  BEIJING/BANGKOK (Reuters) - Seventy-four Chinese fishermen were missing on Monday after a typhoon sunk three fishing boats in the South China Sea as Thailand and Vietnam braced for torrential rain and flooding. The ships were hit by Typhoon Wutip on Sunday as they navigated gales near the Paracel Islands, about 330 km from China's island province of Hainan, state news agency Xinhua said, citing sources with the Hainan maritime search and rescue center. Rescuers had rescued 14 survivors, the sources said. The boats were sailing from the southern province of Guangdong. ... Full Story | Top |
| Muslims in hiding in Myanmar after sectarian strife flares Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 11:02 PM PDT YANGON (Reuters) - Terrified Muslims hid in their homes in northwest Myanmar on Monday after armed police dispersed a Buddhist mob that torched houses and surrounded a mosque in the latest outbreak of sectarian tension. Clashes between majority Buddhists and Muslims have killed at least 237 people and left more than 150,000 homeless since June 2012. The violence threatens to undermine political and economic reforms launched in the two years since a quasi-civilian government replaced a military junta. ... Full Story | Top |
| Shanghai free trade zone no game-changer for Hong Kong, for now Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 10:00 PM PDT  By Saikat Chatterjee and James Pomfret HONG KONG (Reuters) - The launch of a Shanghai free trade zone heralds a new chapter in China's drive to promote the yuan currency but it is unlikely to pose a competitive threat to Hong Kong any time soon and could instead provide more opportunities in the former British colony. Underpinned by its strong rule of law and freedoms under the "one country, two systems" formula since it was handed over to China 16 years ago, Hong Kong is a long-time beneficiary of preferential economic policies. ... Full Story | Top |
| Italian political crisis threatens to split Berlusconi camp Monday, Sep 30, 2013 12:48 AM PDT  By James Mackenzie ROME (Reuters) - Silvio Berlusconi's bid to push Italy into new elections faces a test on Monday when he meets lawmakers from his center-right party who have shown growing unease over his shock decision to pull support from Prime Minister Enrico Letta's coalition. Berlusconi's decision to order the five ministers from his People of Freedom (PDL) party to resign from Letta's cabinet has plunged Italy into political chaos and left the euro zone's third-largest economy without a functioning government. ... Full Story | Top |
| Analysis: Success, compromise, ageing erode Europe's Greens Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 10:55 PM PDT By Paul Taylor PARIS (Reuters) - Europe's Greens have got the blues. The anti-nuclear environmentalist movement that burst into politics in the 1980s as a youthful third force has suffered a string of setbacks in Germany and France, raising questions over its future. Germany's Greens, trailblazers of political ecology, lost ground in a September 22 general election, finishing fourth on 8.4 percent behind the radical Left party, and failing to secure the coalition they wanted with the center-left Social Democrats. The party's senior leaders resigned. ... Full Story | Top |
| Kerry sees potential for quick Iran nuclear deal Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 09:22 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Secretary of State John Kerry said a deal on Iran's nuclear program could be reached relatively quickly, and it would have the potential to dramatically improve the relationship between the two countries. Kerry said intensifying diplomatic efforts to resolve the dispute over Iran's nuclear program could produce an agreement within the three- to six-month time frame that Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has called for. ... Full Story | Top |
| Amid rare unity, U.N. Security Council mulls action on Syria aid Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 04:49 PM PDT  By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - After adopting a hard-fought, Russian-backed resolution to rid Syria of chemical weapons, the U.N. Security Council is now turning its attention to the country's dire humanitarian crisis, putting to the test its fragile consensus on the conflict. The Security Council is considering a statement to try to boost aid access in Syria by urging Syrian authorities to allow cross-border deliveries from neighboring countries and asking parties to the conflict to hold humanitarian pauses in the fighting. ... Full Story | Top |
| Analysis: New trial for Boeing as Norwegian demands 787 repairs Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 07:40 PM PDT  By Tim Hepher and Alwyn Scott PARIS/NEW YORK (Reuters) - The brochure for Boeing Co's aircraft repair service makes a simple assertion: "No one knows Boeing airplanes better than Boeing." Now that claim is being put to a visible test as budget airline Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA grounded a brand new, $212 million 787 Dreamliner over the weekend. The airline demanded Boeing fix the state-of-the-art jet, saying it needs repairs after less than 30 days in service. ... Full Story | Top |
| Austrian parties set to renew grand coalition after election slap Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 03:02 PM PDT  By Michael Shields and Georgina Prodhan VIENNA (Reuters) - Austria's pro-Europe, centrist coalition partners face weeks of hard bargaining to extend their seven years in power after voters gave them only a tiny combined majority while boosting the far right and a new liberal party. Chancellor Werner Faymann's Social Democrats (SPO) offered talks with their conservative People's Party (OVP) allies to ensure that the two parties that have dominated post-war politics stay in power. ... Full Story | Top |
| Analysis: Default or not, Asia a hostage to U.S. debt Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 02:11 PM PDT  By Choonsik Yoo and Kevin Yao SEOUL/BEIJING (Reuters) - Unless the U.S. Congress settles a political showdown to raise the country's debt ceiling in coming weeks, it will be left on the edge of an unprecedented default. But America's main creditors in Asia may be the least of its worries. The creditors - China, Japan and other Asian governments - have a hoard of U.S. Treasuries in their $5 trillion cache of foreign exchange reserves, the equivalent of almost a third of U.S. gross domestic product. ... Full Story | Top |
| Gunmen kill students as they sleep in Nigerian college Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 10:49 AM PDT  By Joe Hemba DAMATURU, Nigeria (Reuters) - Suspected Islamist militants stormed a college in northeastern Nigeria and shot dead around 40 male students, some of them while they slept early on Sunday, witnesses said. The gunmen, thought to be members of rebel sect Boko Haram, attacked one hostel, took some students outside before killing them and shot others trying to flee, people at the scene told Reuters. "They started gathering students into groups outside, then they opened fire and killed one group and then moved onto the next group and killed them. ... Full Story | Top |
| Kenya raps U.S. over 'unfriendly' travel warning after attack Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 10:32 AM PDT By Matthew Mpoke Bigg and Pascal Fletcher NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya rebuked the United States on Sunday for warning its citizens over travel to the east African country after the September 21 Nairobi mall attack, calling the alert "unfriendly" and asking Washington to lift it. Interior Minister Joseph Ole Lenku delivered the diplomatic slap when he updated reporters on a government investigation into the assault carried out eight days ago by Islamist militants on the crowded upmarket Westgate centre. ... Full Story | Top |
| China opens new trade zone in Shanghai, reform plans unveiled Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 08:55 AM PDT  By Gabriel Wildau and Pete Sweeney SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China opened a new free trade zone in Shanghai on Sunday in what has been hailed as potentially the boldest reform in decades, and gave fresh details on plans to liberalize regulations governing finance, investment and trade in the area. Officials gave no details on when specific initiatives will be implemented but the government has said most will be introduced in the next three years. ... Full Story | Top |
| Capitol quiet as federal government shutdown nears Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 04:28 PM PDT By David Lawder and Richard Cowan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - With a deadline to avert a federal government shutdown fast approaching, the U.S. Capitol was eerily quiet on Sunday as Republicans and Democrats waited for the other side to blink first and break the impasse over funding. The Republican-controlled House of Representatives early on Sunday passed a measure that ties government funding to a one-year delay of President Barack Obama's landmark healthcare restructuring law. Senate Democrats have vowed to quash it. ... Full Story | Top |
| Kerry sees potential for quick Iran nuclear deal Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 04:02 PM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Secretary of State John Kerry said a deal on Iran's nuclear weapons program could be reached relatively quickly, and it would have the potential to dramatically improve the relationship between the two countries. Kerry said intensifying diplomatic efforts to resolve the dispute over Iran's nuclear program could produce an agreement within the three- to six-month time frame that Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has called for. ... Full Story | Top |
| Analysis: New trial for Boeing as Norwegian demands 787 repairs Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 03:08 PM PDT  By Tim Hepher and Alwyn Scott PARIS/NEW YORK (Reuters) - The brochure for Boeing Co's aircraft repair service makes a simple assertion: "No one knows Boeing airplanes better than Boeing." Now that claim is being put to a visible test as budget airline Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA grounded a brand new, $212 million 787 Dreamliner over the weekend. The airline demanded Boeing fix the state-of-the-art jet, saying it needs repairs after less than 30 days in service. ... Full Story | Top |
| Italian president hopes to solve political crisis without new vote Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 04:28 PM PDT  By Alessandra Galloni and James Mackenzie ROME (Reuters) - Italy's president began talks on Sunday to pull the country out of a new political crisis, attempting to undercut a move by former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to bring down the government and force new elections seven months after the last vote. For the third time since 2011, Italian President Giorgio Napolitano is trying to steer the country out of political chaos that has proven a major threat, not only to the euro zone's third-largest economy, but to the region's efforts to halt its four-year debt crisis. ... Full Story | Top |
| Suicide bomber kills 40 at Iraq mosque Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 10:49 AM PDT By Ali al-Rubaie HILLA, Iraq (Reuters) - At least 40 people were killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up at a Shi-ite Muslim funeral in a southern Iraqi town on Sunday. The blast brought down the ceiling of the mosque in Mussayab, 60km (40 miles) south of the capital Baghdad. Police said some bodies were still trapped beneath the debris. At least 50 people were wounded. Those inside had been mourning the death of a man killed a day earlier by militants. "Until now, we are trying to retrieve bodies from under the debris. Most of the bodies were torn to pieces. ... Full Story | Top |
| Market bombing kill 33 in Pakistan's Peshawar: police Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 04:08 PM PDT By Hamid Ullah Khan PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - Twin blasts in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar killed 33 people and wounded 70 on Sunday, a week after bombings at a church there killed scores, police and hospital authorities said. Islamist violence has been on the rise in Pakistan in recent months, undermining Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's efforts to tame the insurgency by launching peace talks with the Taliban. The blasts outside a police station hit an area known as Quiswakhani, or the storytellers' bazaar, crowded with shoppers. ... Full Story | Top |
| India, Pakistan leaders say they want better ties but reach no concrete agreements Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 11:26 AM PDT  By Paul Eckert NEW YORK (Reuters) - Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart, Nawaz Sharif, agreed on Sunday to work to restore a cross-border ceasefire after a spate of shootings in order to improve strained ties, officials said. Singh and Sharif met on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, amid heightened tension between the nuclear-armed neighbors over the Kashmir region, sparked by series of fatal clashes on their de facto Himalayan border. ... Full Story | Top |
| Global Economy: Faith in revival put to test Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 12:17 PM PDT  LONDON (Reuters) - Yet another budget showdown in Washington and yet another government crisis in Italy herald more turbulence for a global economy growing well below trend. On top of these recurrent pitfalls, banks and households in Europe are still shedding debt, several big emerging economies are slowing and markets are struggling to decode the Federal Reserve's policy signals. No wonder that words like 'modest' and 'moderate' pepper many of the latest growth outlooks. ... Full Story | Top |
| Assad says Syria will respect U.N. chemical weapons accords: Italian TV Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 08:32 AM PDT ROME (Reuters) - Syria will respect United Nations accords on chemical weapons, President Bashar al-Assad told Italian television station RaiNews24 on Sunday. "We joined the international agreement against the acquisition and use of chemical weapons even before this resolution was passed," he said when asked if Syria would comply with Friday's U.N. resolution. The U.N. Security Council adopted a resolution on Friday that demands the eradication of Syria's chemical weapons but does not threaten automatic punitive action against Assad's government if it does not comply. ... Full Story | Top |
| At least 16 dead as Syrian school hit in air strike: activists Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 10:47 AM PDT  BEIRUT (Reuters) - At least 16 people, most of them students, were killed in an air strike that hit a secondary school in the rebel-held Syrian city of Raqqa on Sunday, activists said. Fighting continued across the country including in the outskirts of the capital, underlining the relentless nature of the civil war in the face of international efforts to destroy Syria's chemical arms and revive peace talks. Raqqa in northeastern Syria has been under the control of insurgents fighting to oust President Bashar al-Assad since March but the city has been regularly bombed by government forces. ... Full Story | Top |
| Greek far-right lawmakers to make pleas against criminal charges on Tuesday Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 10:17 AM PDT  By Renee Maltezou ATHENS (Reuters) - The leader of Greece's far-right Golden Dawn party and four more of its lawmakers will appear in court on Tuesday to enter pleas on charges of belonging to a criminal organization after being arrested following the killing of an anti-fascist rapper. They spent nine hours with prosecutors overnight and were taken at 3:30 a.m. (0030 GMT) back to police headquarters where they will be held until they appear before an investigating magistrate on Tuesday. ... Full Story | Top |
| UK's Cameron touts housing plan and rights accord exit Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 07:18 AM PDT  By Guy Faulconbridge and Andrew Osborn MANCHESTER, England (Reuters) - British Prime Minister David Cameron began setting out his stall for the 2015 election on Sunday by talking up a contested plan to boost home ownership and suggesting Britain may ditch Europe's main human rights treaty, an object of hatred for Euroskeptics. ... Full Story | Top |
| Iran is biggest test for Obama's often rocky ties with Netanyahu Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 07:34 AM PDT  By Matt Spetalnick and Dan Williams WASHINGTON/JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Six months after President Barack Obama eased a strained relationship with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a visit to Israel dubbed "Operation Desert Schmooze," the two leaders now face the biggest test of whether they can work together - and the stakes are higher than ever. A diplomatic charm offensive by new Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has suddenly opened up a gap between the White House and Netanyahu's government. ... Full Story | Top |
| EU bank bailout roulette awaits Monte dei Paschi investors Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 01:34 AM PDT  By Laura Noonan LONDON (Reuters) - Investors awaiting the finer points of Monte dei Paschi's restructuring plan could soon find themselves wishing their bank had run aground at another time and place in the euro zone financial crisis. After approving more than 5 trillion euros of state aid to its financial system over the past five years, the European Union has switched the burden of bank bailouts away from taxpayers and onto shareholders, bondholders and big depositors. ... Full Story | Top |
|
No comments:
Post a Comment