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| Iran plays down prospects for quick IAEA nuclear deal Friday, Sep 27, 2013 12:23 AM PDT  VIENNA (Reuters) - Iran's envoy to the U.N. nuclear watchdog played down prospects for a quick breathrough in talks on Friday with the agency on Tehran's disputed atomic program. Reza Najafi, Iran's ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency, was asked by reporters whether he expected an agreement in talks due to start later on Friday with the IAEA. "This is the first meeting so nobody I guess should expect that in just (a) one-day meeting we can solve (our) problems," he said. (Reporting by Fredrik Dahl; Editing by Alison Williams) Full Story | Top |
| China's corruption drive extends to provinces Friday, Sep 27, 2013 12:20 AM PDT  BEIJING (Reuters) - China's anti-corruption watchdog said it had uncovered abuses at several provincial governments and state-owned enterprises, in the latest sign of an expanding crackdown on graft. Since taking office in March, Chinese President Xi Jinping has called corruption a threat to the ruling Communist Party's survival and vowed to go after powerful "tigers" as well as lowly "flies". Authorities have already announced the investigation or arrest of a handful of senior officials. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.N. scientific panel blames mankind ever more clearly for warming Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 11:47 PM PDT STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Top climate scientists blamed mankind more clearly than ever as the main cause of global warming in a report on Friday meant to guide governments in dealing with rising temperatures, delegates said. "It's been accepted," Jonathan Lynn, spokesman for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, told reporters. Delegates said the report raised the probability that most global warming was manmade to 95 percent, from 90 percent in its previous report in 2007. The report also says that a recent slowdown in warming is unlikely to last. ... Full Story | Top |
| South Africa's AMCU union says Amplats strike begins Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 11:35 PM PDT JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - A strike over job cuts at Anglo American Platinum operations in South Africa has started, a senior Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) official said on Friday. Amplats, the world's top platinum producer and a unit of global mining group Anglo American, said last month it would cut 4,800 jobs - laying off 3,300 workers and paying off the rest. The company had initially said it would cut 14,000 jobs but backed away from that target after a fierce backlash from the government and unions. ... Full Story | Top |
| Tokyo Electric: will add $10 billion for Fukushima cleanup to turnaround plan Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 11:29 PM PDT  TOKYO (Reuters) - Tokyo Electric Power Co, the operator of the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant, said on Friday it will revise its business turnaround plan to allocate an additional 1 trillion yen ($10.1 billion) for the Fukushima facility's cleanup. Tokyo Electric, also known as Tepco, is working to contain radioactive water at the Fukushima plant, which suffered meltdowns and hydrogen explosions after it was hit by a massive earthquake and tsunami in March 2011. ... Full Story | Top |
| Building collapses in India's Mumbai, dozens feared trapped, one dead Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 11:27 PM PDT  MUMBAI (Reuters) - A four-storey apartment block collapsed on Friday in the Indian financial center of Mumbai, killing one person with dozens feared trapped in the latest accident to underscore shoddy building standards in Asia's third-largest economy. Rescue workers pulled about 20 people from the ruins of the building, which was believed to have been about 35 years old and housed families of a corporation. Scores of people were feared to be trapped, said a spokesman for the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai. ... Full Story | Top |
| Australia PM seeks to lower tension over asylum seekers ahead of Indonesia visit Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 11:13 PM PDT  By Rob Taylor CANBERRA (Reuters) - Australia's new conservative government sought on Friday to ease tension with neighboring Indonesia over a ramping up of border security meant to deter asylum seekers, with Prime Minister Tony Abbott calling concerns about his plan a "passing irritant". Abbott, who arrives in Jakarta on Monday on his first overseas visit since winning the September 7 election, played down comments by Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa that clouded Canberra's portrayal of talks on Australia's tough new policy to turn asylum boats back at sea as "cordial". ... Full Story | Top |
| Portugal's 'discredited' parties a boon for local independents Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 10:52 PM PDT  By Axel Bugge SINTRA, Portugal (Reuters) - Disillusion with Portugal's main parties, both battered by association with the country's deep economic crisis and international bailout, is translating into a surge in independent candidates for Sunday's local elections. While government austerity measures - a condition of the bailout - have sparked periodic protests and strikes, the protests haven't turned violent, as in Greece, nor have voters turned to extremist political parties to vent their anger. Their outlet, instead, appears to be the unaligned. ... Full Story | Top |
| Japan Defence chief: Need to bolster surveillance over Pacific Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 10:42 PM PDT  TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera said on Friday that Japan needs to expand its surveillance activities to cover the Pacific Ocean, as well as the Sea of Japan and the East China Sea, to better protect to its maritime interests. Tokyo is locked in a bitter territorial dispute with Beijing over tiny a group of East China Sea islets, called the Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China. "So far, we have been conducting routine surveillance activities in such areas as the Sea of Japan and the East China Sea. ... Full Story | Top |
| Russian court order activists held over Arctic oil protest Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 09:46 PM PDT  By Steve Gutterman MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Russian court ordered 20 Greenpeace activists from around the world to be held in custody for two months pending further investigation over a protest against offshore oil drilling in the Arctic, drawing condemnation and a vow to appeal. In proceedings that Greenpeace said evoked Soviet-era scare tactics, activists from a ship used in the protest at an oil rig were led to court in the port of Murmansk in handcuffs and held in cages for a series of hearings that ended early on Friday. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S., Iran voice optimism and caution after rare encounter Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 09:32 PM PDT  By Arshad Mohammed and Matt Spetalnick UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Iran and the United States held their highest-level substantive talks in a generation on Thursday, saying the tone was positive but sounding cautious about resolving the long-running standoff over Iran's nuclear program. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif met after Zarif held wider talks with the United States and other major powers to address Western suspicions that Iran may be trying to develop atomic weapons. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S., Russia agree on Syria U.N. chemical arms measure Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 09:04 PM PDT  By John Irish and Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Ending weeks of diplomatic deadlock, the United States and Russia agreed on Thursday on a U.N. Security Council draft resolution that would demand Syria give up its chemical arms, but does not threaten military force if it fails to comply. Samantha Power, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said a deal was struck with Russia "legally obligating" Syria to give up its chemical stockpile and the measure went to the full Security Council in a closed-door meeting on Thursday night. U.N. ... Full Story | Top |
| Kerry's 'Shall we talk?' prompts rare private meeting between Iran and U.S. Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 08:53 PM PDT  By Lesley Wroughton UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - First there was a handshake, then an invitation to talk and finally a 30-minute tete-a-tete that made for the highest-level official meeting between the United States and Iran in more than three decades. The opportunity for a rare meeting between U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Javad Zarif, came after talks concluded between Zarif and foreign ministers from the six major powers on resolving Tehran's disputed nuclear program. At the start of the talks, Kerry and Zarif shook hands, a senior U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| China's 'mini-Hong Kong' eyes Internet access, shrugs off Shanghai threat Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 08:34 PM PDT  By James Pomfret and Yimou Lee SHENZHEN/HONGKONG (Reuters) - A planned economic zone in southern China will allow full internet freedom, similar to what will be allowed in a proposed free trade zone in Shanghai, a senior official behind the project said on Thursday. China tightly controls the internet through a so-called Great Firewall, routinely deleting online postings and blocking access to websites it deems politically sensitive or inappropriate such as Facebook and Twitter. ... Full Story | Top |
| Palestinian leader urges world powers to rein in Israeli settlements Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 07:43 PM PDT  By Matt Spetalnick UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Thursday that "time is running out" for Middle East peace efforts and urged world powers to rein in Israeli settlement construction that he warned could undermine U.S.-sponsored negotiations. In an address to an annual gathering of world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly, Abbas committed to negotiating with Israel in good faith but he also painted what he called a "dispiriting and bleak" picture for peace prospects. ... Full Story | Top |
| Iran proposes fully implementing nuclear pact within a year: U.S Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 07:33 PM PDT  By Arshad Mohammed UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Iran proposed carrying out an agreement to address concerns about its nuclear program within a year at talks with major powers on Thursday, a senior U.S. State Department official said. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif met with his counterparts from Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States at the United Nations to discuss the nuclear issue and then stepped into a side room for one-one-one talks with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. ... Full Story | Top |
| Church not helping Peru on pedophilia inquiry into bishop: prosecutor Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 06:19 PM PDT By Mitra Taj LIMA (Reuters) - The Catholic Church has yet to help authorities in Peru who are investigating whether a defrocked bishop sexually abused children before Pope Francis forced him from his post in a poor Andean region, a prosecutor said on Thursday. On September 20, the attorney general's office opened an investigation into Gabino Miranda, until recently the auxiliary bishop of Ayacucho in southern Peru, after a prominent bishop said the Church had kicked Miranda out of the clergy because of suspected pedophilia. ... Full Story | Top |
| Greek far-right party threatens to pull lawmakers from parliament Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 05:59 PM PDT  By Harry Papachristou ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece's far-right Golden Party has threatened to pull out of parliament, a move that would trigger a wave of by-elections that could destabilize the country, its leader said late on Thursday. The threat came after a self-proclaimed Golden Dawn supporter killed an anti-fascist rapper in Athens last week, prompting a court investigation into whether the country's third most popular party is a criminal organization. The seemingly politically motivated stabbing sparked outrage and violent protests in the crisis-struck country. ... Full Story | Top |
| Panama Canal Authority fines detained North Korea ship smuggling Cuban arms Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 05:47 PM PDT  PANAMA CITY (Reuters) - Panama's Canal Authority slapped a fine on Thursday of up to $1 million on the owners of a North Korean ship seized in July for smuggling Cuban weapons under 10,000 tons of sugar. The fine was for failing to accurately disclose the cargo and putting the canal and canal workers at risk, said Jorge Quijano, head of the semi-autonomous Panama Canal Authority. The amount is "a proposed sanction of up to $1 million, and I say 'up to' because there is a process in which clarifications can be made and they can defend their point of view," Quijano said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Draft U.N. resolution on Syria chemical weapons Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 05:46 PM PDT UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United States and Russia reached an agreement on Thursday on a draft U.N. Security Council resolution aimed at ridding Syria of its chemical weapons arsenal. Following is the text of this draft resolution. The Security Council, PP1. Recalling the Statements of its President of 3 August 2011, 21 March 2012, 5 April 2012, and its resolutions 1540 (2004), 2042 (2012) and 2043 (2012), PP2. Reaffirming its strong commitment to the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of the Syrian Arab Republic, PP3. ... Full Story | Top |
| Russian U.N. envoy hopes for Friday vote on Syria resolution Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 05:09 PM PDT UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Russia's U.N. envoy said he hoped the U.N. Security Council would be able to vote on a resolution demanding the eradication of Syria's chemical weapons arsenal on Friday evening. "We hope tomorrow night at ...(around) 8:00 p.m (0000 GMT on Saturday)," Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told reporters on Thursday. "I know that some ministers are extending their stay in New York in order to participate in that vote." (Reporting by Michelle Nichols; writing by Louis Charbonneau) Full Story | Top |
| U.S., Iran voice optimism, caution after rare encounter at U.N. Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 04:55 PM PDT By Arshad Mohammed and Matt Spetalnick UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Iran and the United States held their highest-level substantive talks in a generation on Thursday, saying the tone was positive but sounding cautious about resolving the long-running standoff over Iran's nuclear program. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif met after the Iranian held wider talks with the United States and other major powers to address Western suspicions Iran may be trying to develop atomic weapons. ... Full Story | Top |
| Chile to move ex-Pinochet agents to no-frills jail Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 04:42 PM PDT SANTIAGO (Reuters) - Chilean President Sebastian Pinera on Thursday ordered shut a prison where 10 former agents of dictator Augusto Pinochet are serving sentences for human rights violations, a move that came amid public anger over their relative comfortable conditions. The inmates, including Manuel Contreras, former chief of Pinochet's notorious DINA secret police, will be moved from the Penitenciario Cordillera in Santiago to a jail where other former military officers and collaborators of the dictatorship are being held. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S., Iran upbeat after talks but sound cautionary notes Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 04:32 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. and Iranian officials emerged upbeat on Thursday from a meeting on Iran's nuclear program but both sides also sounded a cautionary note, with the United States saying there was more work to do and Iran insisting on quick sanctions relief. "Needless to say, one meeting and a change in tone, which was welcome, doesn't answer those questions yet and there is a lot of work to be done," U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry told reporters after holding bilateral talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif. ... Full Story | Top |
| Kenya widens mall attack probe, alert for UK 'White Widow' Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 04:29 PM PDT By James Macharia and Matthew Mpoke Bigg NAIROBI (Reuters) - Interpol issued a wanted persons alert at Kenya's request on Thursday for a British woman who has been cited by British police as a possible suspect in the attack on a Nairobi shopping mall that killed at least 72 people. The alert was issued as Kenyan police broadened the investigation into the weekend raid claimed by the al Qaeda-aligned Somali al Shabaab group, the worst such assault since the U.S. Embassy was bombed in the capital by al Qaeda in 1998. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. concern grows about al Qaeda ties to Kenya mall attack Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 04:28 PM PDT By Mark Hosenball and Phil Stewart WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Islamist militant attack on a Kenyan shopping mall increasingly appears to have been carried out by a dominant faction of al Shabaab, which has ideological and personal ties to al Qaeda, U.S. officials said on Thursday. Based on initial reporting from the scene, which is still preliminary and uncertain, U.S. officials believe al Shabaab likely spent a great deal of time planning and staging the siege in Nairobi that killed at least 72 people. ... Full Story | Top |
| Maldives court orders security forces to enforce run-off election postponement Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 03:17 PM PDT  By J.J Robinson MALE (Reuters) - The Maldives Supreme Court on Friday ordered security forces to take action against anyone who violates the constitution, after the archipelago's election chief said it will hold a presidential run-off on September 28 as scheduled despite a court ruling to postpone it. In a special court session after midnight, six out of seven Supreme Court judges ruled that the court's earlier order of September 23 to postpone the run-off should be upheld. In its order, the court told security forces to "stop any individual from disobeying" the postponement. ... Full Story | Top |
| Six major powers, Iran agree to meet in Geneva next month Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 03:09 PM PDT  UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Six major powers and Iran on Thursday agreed to meet in Geneva next month for further talks on resolving the standoff with Tehran on its nuclear program, the European Union's foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said on Thursday. "We had a discussion about how we would go forward with an ambitious timeframe to see whether we can make progress quickly," Ashton told reporters after a meeting between major powers and Iran. She described the meeting as substantial and energetic. The meeting took place on the sidelines of the U.N. ... Full Story | Top |
| China state sector a honey pot for corrupt officials Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 03:05 PM PDT  By Charlie Zhu HONG KONG (Reuters) - In March last year, after getting government approval to go ahead with a $900 million refinery expansion in China's southeastern Fujian province, state-run oil giant Sinopec Corp warned the team handling the project against taking bribes. "Project engineering and construction has been a main area for corruption at Sinopec," the Fujian unit of Asia's largest refiner said in a blunt memo, according to a Sinopec source who read it to Reuters. "All members, especially those in key posts, must treasure their positions, stay guarded and resist temptation. ... Full Story | Top |
| Friends of Syria say determined to boost support to opposition Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 03:04 PM PDT UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The Friends of Syria group declared on Thursday that it is determined to boost aid to all parts of the opposition Syrian National Coalition, which has been struggling with increasing infighting in recent weeks. "In order to allow a political transition, and to empower a credible alternative to both the Syrian regime and extremist groups, we are determined to increase and deepen our support to the coalition in all its components," the Friends of Syria said in a statement. The core of the Friends of Syria is mainly Western and Gulf Arab countries and Turkey. ... Full Story | Top |
| Kenya says 'white widow' Interpol alert not linked to mall attack Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 02:59 PM PDT  NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya asked international police agency Interpol to issue a wanted persons alert for Samantha Lewthwaite, a British citizen dubbed the "white widow" who has been cited by British police as a possible suspect in the Kenyan mall attack. Ndegwa Muhoro, director of Kenya's Criminal Investigation Department, said the so-called red alert for Lewthwaite is not related to the attack by Somalia's Islamist al Shabaab militants on the Westgate mall in Nairobi that killed at least 72 people. "The 'red alert' has nothing to do with Westgate. ... Full Story | Top |
| Mali Tuareg separatists suspend participation in peace process Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 02:37 PM PDT OUAGADOUGOU (Reuters) - Tuareg separatists pulled out of a peace agreement with the Mali government on Thursday, accusing Bamako of not respecting its commitments to a truce reached in June. The ceasefire in the West African nation allowed Mali's government and military to return to the separatists' northern stronghold of Kidal and enabled national elections to take place in July and August. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. prosecutors accuse ex-Mexican governor of laundering millions Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 02:14 PM PDT By Jared Taylor McALLEN, Texas (Reuters) - U.S. prosecutors have accused a former Mexican state governor of laundering stolen millions via the United States, in an unwelcome reminder for the Mexican government of corruption allegations dogging the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party. The PRI's long rule of Mexico in the 20th century was increasingly marred by allegations of mismanagement and corruption, which helped bring down the party in a 2000 election after 71 years in office. ... Full Story | Top |
| Kerry, Iranian foreign minister sit side-by-side at nuclear talks Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 01:48 PM PDT  UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif joined nuclear talks with six world powers on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday, taking a seat next to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. Thursday's meeting was the first between a top U.S. diplomat and an Iranian foreign minister since a brief encounter in May 2007, and came amid a charm offensive by new Iranian President Hassan Rouhani that has raised hopes for easing more than three decades of estrangement between Washington and Tehran. ... Full Story | Top |
| 'Shame, shame, shame' Mugabe tells U.S. and Britain Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 01:40 PM PDT  By Lesley Wroughton UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe on Thursday berated the United States and former colonial power Britain and its allies for trying to control his nation and its resources, telling them to remove their "illegal and filthy sanctions." "Shame, shame, shame to the United States of America. Shame, shame, shame to Britain and its allies," Mugabe, 89, said in a speech to the United Nations General Assembly. "Zimbabwe is for Zimbabweans, so are its resources. Please remove your illegal and filthy sanctions from my peaceful country. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S., China want quick, binding U.N. resolution on Syria, U.S. says Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 01:39 PM PDT  By Arshad Mohammed and John Irish UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United States and China strongly agree on the need for the U.N. Security Council to quickly adopt a binding resolution on eradicating Syria's chemical weapons arsenal, a senior U.S. official said on Thursday in remarks that appeared aimed at putting pressure on Russia to accept the measure. Russia appeared unswayed. When asked if diplomats were close to a deal on a Syria resolution, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters at the United Nations, "Russia's very close, the U.S. is not. ... Full Story | Top |
| Russia's Putin makes plans for prison amnesty Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 01:21 PM PDT  By Steve Gutterman MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin is considering a prison amnesty later this year, a gesture that could enable him to counter critics who say the courts have been used to silence his political foes. In an order posted on the Kremlin website on September 24 but publicized on Thursday, Putin told his human rights council to make suggestions for an amnesty marking the 20th anniversary of Russia's adoption of its post-Soviet constitution, in December. ... Full Story | Top |
| Italian PM Letta to meet president as political crisis mounts Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 01:12 PM PDT  By Francesca Trianni and Roberto Landucci NEW YORK/ROME (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta returns from a visit to New York on Friday to face the threat of a government collapse following renewed threats from Silvio Berlusconi's center-right party to pull out of his fragile coalition. Letta will immediately meet President Giorgio Napolitano to discuss the crisis, which has loomed ever closer since Berlusconi was convicted of tax fraud last month and sentenced to four years in prison, commuted to a year under house arrest or in community service. ... Full Story | Top |
| Tunisian opposition rallies against ruling Islamists Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 01:05 PM PDT  SFAX, Tunisia (Reuters) - Thousands protested in cities across Tunisia on Thursday to call on the ruling Islamist Ennahda party to step down immediately to make way for new elections to end a stalemate with its secular opponents. The North African nation that started the 2011 "Arab Spring" revolts has been caught in political deadlock since July after the assassination of an opposition leader. Waving national flags and chanting "Leave Now", protesters took to the streets of six cities to demand the resignation a government critics fear wants impose a hardline Islamist agenda. ... Full Story | Top |
| At least 29 killed in central Sudan's worst unrest for years Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 01:00 PM PDT By Khalid Abdelaziz and Ulf Laessing KHARTOUM (Reuters) - At least 29 people have been killed in protests in Khartoum over fuel subsidy cuts, police said on Thursday, and more clashes broke out in Khartoum in the worst unrest seen in Sudan's central regions for years. President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, who came to power in a 1989 coup, has been spared the sort of Arab Spring uprising that unseated autocratic rulers in states from Tunisia to Yemen since 2011, but anger has risen over rising inflation and corruption. ... Full Story | Top |
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