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| Son of Chinese army singers gets 10 years' jail for gang rape Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 12:56 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| Peru rescues man trapped in mine after 7.0 quake, no deaths Wednesday, Sep 25, 2013 09:28 PM PDT LIMA (Reuters) - Authorities in Peru said they rescued a man trapped in a mine on Wednesday after a 7.0-magnitude earthquake shook the coast - causing landslides, damaging homes and schools and injuring at least 17 in rural provinces. The man had suffered multiple traumatic injuries and was being treated, said a preliminary report published online late on Wednesday by Peru's civil defense institute. The report mentioned no deaths resulting from the quake, which the U.S. Geological Society said was a magnitude 7.0. ... 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| Colombia's Santos says support of Venezuela, Cuba key to peace talks Wednesday, Sep 25, 2013 04:49 PM PDT  By Scott Malone CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts (Reuters) - The support of Venezuela and Cuba will play a key role in Colombia's efforts to reach a negotiated end to Latin America's last major guerilla war, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said on Wednesday. Santos, who 10 months ago launched a round of talks with the left-wing FARC rebels, said he believed talks in Havana could bring an end to a 50-year conflict that has taken the lives of more than 220,000 people, mostly civilians. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. lawmakers seek to end bulk NSA telephone records collection Wednesday, Sep 25, 2013 04:42 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 |
| France pushes for U.N. action on Central African Republic Wednesday, Sep 25, 2013 04:33 PM PDT  By John Irish UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - France's foreign minister called on Wednesday for the U.N. Security Council to adopt a resolution next month to boost U.N. operations in the Central African Republic, which he said risked becoming a new Somalia if it did not get immediate support. The landlocked, mineral-rich Central African Republic, or CAR, has slipped into chaos since northern Seleka rebels seized the capital, Bangui, and ousted President Francois Bozize in March. U.N. officials and rights groups say both sides may have committed war crimes. ... Full Story | Top |
| Peru to rescue copper miners reportedly trapped after quake Wednesday, Sep 25, 2013 04:08 PM PDT LIMA (Reuters) - Authorities in Peru rushed to rescue miners reportedly trapped in copper pits on Wednesday after an earthquake shook the coast - causing landslides, injuries and possibly deaths in rural provinces, local officials said. Officials in the southern Arequipa region said they were told that people died after collapses in make-shift copper mines, which operate largely outside of the law. A magnitude 7 quake, capable of widespread, heavy damage, struck near Peru's southern coast a few minutes before midday on Wednesday. However, they said they could not confirm the deaths. ... Full Story | Top |
| Grenade blast in Kenyan town kills man, wounds three others Wednesday, Sep 25, 2013 04:07 PM PDT ISIOLO, Kenya (Reuters) - One person was killed and three others were wounded in a grenade blast in the Kenyan town of Wajir, including a man suspected to have hurled the device at a supermarket, police said. David Kirui, the police commander for the town, which is about 500 km (310 miles) northeast of the capital of Nairobi, said it was too early to say who was behind the Wednesday evening attack. ... Full Story | Top |
| Kenya launches probe as Shabaab leader confirms mall attack Wednesday, Sep 25, 2013 03:33 PM PDT  By Richard Lough and Abdi Sheikh NAIROBI/MOGADISHU (Reuters) - U.S., British and Israeli agencies are helping Kenya investigate an attack claimed by Somali Islamist militants on a Nairobi shopping mall that killed at least 72 people and destroyed part of the complex, officials said on Wednesday. President Uhuru Kenyatta said on Tuesday that troops had defeated the al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab group after a four-day siege at the shopping center popular with prosperous Kenyans and foreigners. He declared three days of mourning. ... Full Story | Top |
| Iran's Rouhani wants nuclear deal in 3-6 months: newspaper interview Wednesday, Sep 25, 2013 03:21 PM PDT  UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said in a newspaper interview on Wednesday that he wants to reach a deal with world powers on Tehran's nuclear program in three to six months. "The only way forward is for a timeline to be inserted into the negotiations that's short," Rouhani was quoted as telling the Washington Post, through a translator, during a visit to New York where he addressed the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday. "The shorter it is, the more beneficial it is to everyone. ... Full Story | Top |
| Western envoys tout deal on core of U.N. Syria draft; Russia denies Wednesday, Sep 25, 2013 03:02 PM PDT  By John Irish and Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - After weeks of haggling, the United States, Russia, France, China and Britain have agreed on the core of a U.N. Security Council resolution to rid Syria of its chemical weapons, three Western diplomats said on Wednesday, but Russia denied such an agreement and insisted work was "still going on." The development came after the foreign ministers of the five permanent members of the council met over lunch with U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon earlier in the day, the diplomats said, speaking on condition of anonymity. ... Full Story | Top |
| Russia denies agreement on core of U.N. Syria resolution Wednesday, Sep 25, 2013 02:21 PM PDT UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Russia on Wednesday rejected suggestions by Western diplomats that there was an agreement between the five permanent U.N. Security Council members on the core of a draft resolution on eradicating Syria's chemical weapons. "This is just their wishful thinking," the spokesman for Russia's U.N. delegation said. "It is not the reality. The work on the draft resolution is still going on." (Reporting by Louis Charbonneau) Full Story | Top |
| Al Shabaab leader confirms group attacked Kenyan mall, warns of more strikes Wednesday, Sep 25, 2013 02:17 PM PDT MOGADISHU (Reuters) - The leader of the Somali Islamist militant group al Shabaab has for the first time confirmed claims by members of his group that it was behind the attack on a Nairobi shopping mall that killed at least 72 people and destroyed part of the complex. In an audio posted on the al Shabaab-linked website www.somalimemo.net on Wednesday night, Ahmed Godane, also known as Mukhtar Abu al-Zubayr, said the attack on the mall was in retaliation for Kenya's incursion in October 2011 into southern Somalia to crush the insurgents. ... Full Story | Top |
| Police fire tear gas as anti-fascist protests in Greece turn violent Wednesday, Sep 25, 2013 02:08 PM PDT  By Yannis Behrakis and Karolina Tagaris ATHENS (Reuters) - Greek police fired tear gas at anti-fascist protesters who hurled petrol bombs and stones near the Athens headquarters of Golden Dawn on Wednesday following the killing of an anti-racism rapper by a supporter of the far-right party. Thousands of Greeks marched towards the party's offices earlier on Wednesday in the biggest show of public anger at Pavlos Fissas' stabbing. Rampaging protesters set garbage cans on fire and smashed bank windows. ... Full Story | Top |
| Al Qaeda, Kurdish militia clash on Syrian border with Turkey Wednesday, Sep 25, 2013 02:07 PM PDT By Khaled Yacoub Oweis AMMAN (Reuters) - Seven al Qaeda-affiliated rebels were killed in a battle with a Syrian Kurdish militia on Wednesday, as violence between Syria's Arabs and Kurds increased, opposition activists said. The fighting in Atma, a town on the Turkish border which is a main escape route for refugees fleeing the civil war, shows how the region has become a battleground for a myriad of armed groups in a scramble to grab territory, opposition sources said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Six killed in Sudan clashes after fuel subsidies cut Wednesday, Sep 25, 2013 02:07 PM PDT  By Khalid Abdelaziz and Ulf Laessing KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Six Sudanese protesters were killed on Wednesday in clashes with security forces on a third day of unrest over a cut in fuel subsidies, medics and relatives said. Protesters torched cars and petrol stations and threw rocks at police, who fired tear gas to try to disperse the biggest display of public anger against President Omar Hassan al-Bashir's government in more than a year. Internet access was cut off across Sudan after activists began sharing images of the protests on social media. ... Full Story | Top |
| South Korea ahead of North in air power but seeks stealth as deterrent Wednesday, Sep 25, 2013 02:05 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 better technology but may not be justified given North Korea's weak air capabilities, experts said on Wednesday. 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. ... Full Story | Top |
| Iran wants 'jump-start' in nuclear talks with big powers Wednesday, Sep 25, 2013 02:00 PM PDT  By Louis Charbonneau and Yeganeh Torbati UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Iran's foreign minister expressed hope on Wednesday that a meeting with top diplomats from the United States and five other powers this week will jump-start negotiations to resolve the decade-long dispute over the Iranian nuclear program. Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif is set to meet with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry as well as diplomats from Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany on Thursday in New York in a rare encounter between American and Iranian officials. ... Full Story | Top |
| Kerry signs U.N. Arms Trade Treaty, says won't harm U.S. rights Wednesday, Sep 25, 2013 01:35 PM PDT  By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United States signed a U.N. Arms Trade Treaty regulating the $70 billion global trade in conventional arms on Wednesday and the Obama administration sought to allay the fears of the powerful U.S. gun lobby which says the pact will violate the constitutional rights of Americans. The treaty, which relates only to cross-border trade and aims to keep weapons out of the hands of human rights abusers and criminals, still requires ratification by the U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Sri Lanka drifting towards authoritarian rule: U.N. rights chief Wednesday, Sep 25, 2013 01:15 PM PDT  By Robert Evans GENEVA (Reuters) - Four years after it crushed a long separatist rebellion, Sri Lanka may be sliding towards an authoritarian system as President Mahinda Rajapaksa gathers power around him, the U.N. human rights chief said on Wednesday. The report by Navi Pillay, said the largely Buddhist South Asian state was also seeing a surge of violence against religious minorities - Christians, Muslims and Hindus - while the Colombo government stood by. ... Full Story | Top |
| Deposed Honduran leader's wife narrowly ahead in presidential race: poll Wednesday, Sep 25, 2013 12:25 PM PDT  By Gustavo Palencia TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) - Leftist Honduran presidential candidate Xiomara Castro, the wife of deposed former President Manuel Zelaya, appears to have a slight lead in the race to become the next head of the Central American country, according to a poll released on Wednesday. Castro, the Liberty and Refoundation Party candidate who established her reputation while fighting for her husband's right to rule after his 2009 military-led ouster, would receive 29 percent of the vote compared to 27 percent for National Party candidate Juan Hernandez, according to the CID Gallup poll. ... Full Story | Top |
| Merkel allies talk tax rises in coalition overtures Wednesday, Sep 25, 2013 11:57 AM PDT  By Stephen Brown BERLIN (Reuters) - Conservative allies of Germany's Angela Merkel said on Wednesday they might agree to raise taxes to help lure the defeated center-left Social Democrats into a grand coalition that would keep the chancellor in power. Their overtures came in media interviews ahead of a meeting of SPD leaders in Berlin on Friday, where the opposition will try to chart its new course after losing a third parliamentary election to Merkel and her Christian Democrats (CDU) on Sunday. ... Full Story | Top |
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