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| Protracted strike in South Africa gold mines would hurt economy: minister Tuesday, Sep 03, 2013 12:39 AM PDT  PRETORIA (Reuters) - A protracted strike in South Africa's gold industry will harm the economy and the government is ready to intervene to bring parties together, South Africa's mines minister said on Tuesday. "If indeed we are going to have a protracted industrial action, it will impact negatively on the economy," Minister Susan Shabangu told Reuters at a presidential briefing in Pretoria. "If there is a need for government to intervene, we will engage the parties," she said. (Reporting by Pascal Fletcher; Editing by David Dolan) Full Story | Top |
| China probes top official in latest anti-graft push Tuesday, Sep 03, 2013 12:16 AM PDT By Chen Aizhu and Ben Blanchard BEIJING (Reuters) - China is investigating the head of its state assets regulator, a former top energy executive, for "serious discipline violations", the government said on Sunday in what appears to be a deepening crackdown on corruption and push for reform. A brief government announcement said Jiang Jiemin was "suspected of serious discipline violations", shorthand the government generally uses to describe graft. ... Full Story | Top |
| As Obama pushes to punish Syria, lawmakers fear deep U.S. involvement Monday, Sep 02, 2013 10:35 PM PDT  By Steve Holland and Thomas Ferraro WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's efforts to persuade the U.S. Congress to back his plan to attack Syria were met with skepticism on Monday from lawmakers in his own Democratic Party who expressed concern the United States would be dragged into a new Middle East conflict. "There is a lot of skepticism," said Representative Jim Moran after taking part in a 70-minute phone briefing for Democratic lawmakers by Obama's top national security aides about the response to a chemical weapons attack that U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Syrian refugee numbers swell to 2 million: U.N. Monday, Sep 02, 2013 09:08 PM PDT  GENEVA (Reuters) - More than 2 million refugees have now fled Syria's civil war, piling pressure on neighboring host countries, the United Nations said on Tuesday. The tide of children, women and men crossing borders has risen almost ten-fold over the past 12 months, figures from the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR showed. "Syria has become the great tragedy of this century - a disgraceful humanitarian calamity with suffering and displacement unparalleled in recent history," the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, António Guterres, said in a statement. ... Full Story | Top |
| Japan to tell G20 it will proceed with sales tax hike: finance minister Monday, Sep 02, 2013 08:38 PM PDT  By Leika Kihara TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan will tell G20 nations at a summit this week that it will proceed with a planned two-stage sales tax hike, and consider compiling an extra budget for fiscal spending to ease the pain on the economy, Finance Minister Taro Aso said on Tuesday. Aso, who will accompany Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to the Group of 20 summit in Russia, also said Japan is unlikely to face criticism from other countries this time about the yen's weakness that boosts the competitive advantage of its exports. "Japan has launched fiscal and monetary stimulus to pull out of deflation. ... Full Story | Top |
| Brazil, Mexico ask U.S. to explain if NSA spied on presidents Monday, Sep 02, 2013 07:32 PM PDT  By Anthony Boadle BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazil assailed the United States on Monday after new allegations that Washington spied on President Dilma Rousseff, complaining that its sovereignty may have been violated and suggesting that it could call off Rousseff's planned state visit to the White House next month. A Brazilian news program reported on Sunday that the U.S. National Security Agency spied on emails, phone calls and text messages of Rousseff and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, a disclosure that could strain Washington's relations with Latin America's two biggest nations. ... Full Story | Top |
| Colombia's Cabinet resigns to allow Santos to make shuffle Monday, Sep 02, 2013 05:16 PM PDT  BOGOTA (Reuters) - Sixteen members of Colombia's Cabinet presented their resignations to President Juan Manuel Santos on Monday, a decision that paves the way for changes he may want to make after a protest in the farming sector turned violent last week. The Cabinet also offered its full support to Santos, according to a statement read by the president's secretary general, Aurelio Iragorri. Santos has yet to respond to the decision. ... Full Story | Top |
| Britain must renegotiate flawed aircraft carrier deals: panel Monday, Sep 02, 2013 04:16 PM PDT By Peter Griffiths LONDON (Reuters) - Britain should negotiate new contracts for two aircraft carriers and fighter jets to avoid the risk of budgets spiraling further out of control at taxpayers' expense, lawmakers said on Tuesday. The project for the biggest ships ever built for the Royal Navy has fuelled broader criticism of the defense ministry's handling of expensive weapons programs at a time of spending cuts across the public sector. The program has been dogged by rising costs, delays and indecision over the choice of aircraft since it was first announced in 2007. ... Full Story | Top |
| Egypt's Brotherhood under legal threat as bomb hits central Cairo Monday, Sep 02, 2013 03:25 PM PDT  By Kevin Liffey CAIRO (Reuters) - A judicial panel set up by Egypt's military-backed government supported a legal challenge to the status of the Muslim Brotherhood on Monday, compounding a drive to crush the movement behind the elected president deposed by the army in July. While short of a formal ban on the Brotherhood, which worked underground for decades under Egypt's previous military-backed rulers, the panel's advice to a court to remove its non-governmental organization status threatens the million-member movement's future in politics. ... Full Story | Top |
| Beatings, evictions reveal ugly side of China's local debt pile Monday, Sep 02, 2013 02:41 PM PDT  By Koh Gui Qing WUXI, China (Reuters) - When Xu Haifeng's home was razed three years ago, she went to China's capital Beijing to complain about the city and county governments that ordered the demolition. Since then, she says family members have been kidnapped at least 18 times, typically having black bags thrust over their heads before being taken to a hotel-turned-illegal jail in the eastern city of Wuxi and locked for weeks in a tiny, windowless room. Xu's story is shocking even in a country that has become used to tales of arbitrary and sometimes violent land expropriations. ... Full Story | Top |
| Japan to spend 40 billion yen to treat radioactive water at Fukushima: Nikkei Monday, Sep 02, 2013 02:25 PM PDT  (Reuters) - The Japan government plans to spend at least 40 billion yen ($402.60 million) to contain the leaking of radioactive water at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, the Nikkei newspaper said, citing government sources. The government is expected to announce on Tuesday a package of measures to deal with the crisis at the Tokyo Electric Power Co plant wrecked by an earthquake in 2011. The government intends to cover all the costs for freezing the soil around the reactors to prevent groundwater from mixing with contaminated water inside the reactor, the daily said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Untested Yale man becomes Serbian finance minister, eyes IMF deal Monday, Sep 02, 2013 02:22 PM PDT By Ivana Sekularac BELGRADE (Reuters) - Serbian lawmakers endorsed 29-year-old former McKinsey consultant Lazar Krstic as finance minister on Monday, handing him the task of reining in the country's ballooning deficit and public debt. Krstic brings no political pedigree to the job but was handpicked by the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), the biggest party in Serbia's ruling coalition. The Yale graduate was endorsed as part of a cabinet reshuffle passed by 134 votes to 65 in the 250-seat parliament. ... Full Story | Top |
| Romanians protest for second day against gold mine Monday, Sep 02, 2013 02:06 PM PDT  BUCHAREST (Reuters) - Protesters gathered in Romania's capital Bucharest late on Monday for a second day of protests against the government's support for a plan to open Europe's biggest open-cast gold mine. The more than 1,000 protesters were surrounded by riot police as they sat down on the street, tapping plastic bottles on the ground, chanting "United we will save Rosia Montana. ... Full Story | Top |
| France says pension reform enough for several years Monday, Sep 02, 2013 01:59 PM PDT  By Catherine Bremer and Emmanuel Jarry PARIS (Reuters) - The minister in charge of France's pension reform says her proposals are robust enough to tide the system over for several years at least, even if economic growth falls short of expectations. Health and Social Affairs Minister Marisol Touraine, whose pension law is set to go to parliament in October, told Reuters that while the plan may appear less bold than a 2010 move under conservative Nicolas Sarkozy to raise the retirement age from 60 to 62, the Socialist reform would be a lasting one. ... Full Story | Top |
| Assad warns of retaliation as France builds case for Syria attack Monday, Sep 02, 2013 01:43 PM PDT  By John Irish and Catherine Bremer PARIS (Reuters) - President Bashar al-Assad warned Syria would retaliate if France takes part in foreign strikes on his forces, while Paris said it had intelligence proving Assad had ordered chemical attacks and was determined to punish him. "If the policies of the French state are hostile to the Syrian people, the state will be their enemy," Assad said in an interview with French newspaper Le Figaro. "There will be repercussions, negative ones obviously, on French interests. ... Full Story | Top |
| Senegalese human rights campaigner appointed as justice minister Monday, Sep 02, 2013 01:29 PM PDT DAKAR (Reuters) - Senegal's new Prime Minister Aminata Toure named a cabinet on Monday, putting a veteran human rights campaigner in the key post of justice minister, suggesting high-profile graft and rights cases were likely to remain a priority. Toure, who was herself justice minister in the previous cabinet, named Sidiki Kaba, the former head of the International Federation of Human Rights, to her old ministerial position. ... Full Story | Top |
| India's parliament passes cheap food law for 800 million people Monday, Sep 02, 2013 01:23 PM PDT  NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's upper house of parliament on Monday approved a $20 billion scheme to distribute subsidized wheat and rice to 800 million people, backing an anti-malnutrition drive that investors fear will mean missing the fiscal deficit target. The Food Security Bill is seen as a vote winner by the ruling Congress party as it prepares for elections due by May next year. But investors reacted negatively to the plan when the lower house approved it last week, on worries the government will struggle to contain the cost of subsidies. The scheme has now been passed by both houses. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.N. envoy says military success an opportunity for Congo talks Monday, Sep 02, 2013 01:10 PM PDT  By Pete Jones GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo (Reuters) - The U.N. special envoy for Africa's Great Lakes region said on Monday recent military successes by Congo's army against eastern rebels should be used to relaunch peace talks. Democratic Republic of Congo's army drove M23 rebels from positions overlooking the eastern city of Goma on Friday, scoring its biggest victory since the uprising began 18 months ago. ... Full Story | Top |
| USS Nimitz carrier group sails into Red Sea in 'prudent' move Monday, Sep 02, 2013 12:30 PM PDT  By Andrea Shalal-Esa WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The USS Nimitz aircraft carrier and four other ships in its strike group moved into the Red Sea early on Monday, U.S. defense officials said, describing the move as "prudent planning" in case the ships are needed for military action against Syria. The officials said the Nimitz entered the Red Sea around 6 a.m. EDT (1000 GMT), but the strike group had not received any orders to move into the Mediterranean, where five U.S. destroyers and an amphibious ship, the USS San Antonio, remain poised for possible cruise missile strikes against Syria. ... Full Story | Top |
| UK's 'reckless' Cameron pays political price for Syria vote loss Monday, Sep 02, 2013 12:28 PM PDT  By Andrew Osborn LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister David Cameron's failure to win parliamentary backing for military action against Syria has hurt him politically, polls showed on Monday, with most Britons thinking him "reckless" and support for his party falling. A Comres/ITV poll showed that 59 percent of those asked thought he had been reckless to organize last Thursday's vote on military action without knowing whether he had lawmakers' backing. ... Full Story | Top |
| Afghan police deaths double as foreign troops withdraw Monday, Sep 02, 2013 12:06 PM PDT  KABUL (Reuters) - Police deaths in Afghanistan have doubled this year after withdrawing NATO forces handed security of the war-ravaged country to poorly equipped local troops with less frontline experience fighting Taliban insurgents. Almost twelve years after coalition forces invaded Afghanistan, swathes of territory are firmly under Taliban control and Afghan troops are still heavily reliant on foreign air support, particularly in remote areas. Their lighter vehicles make them particularly vulnerable to roadside bombs. ... Full Story | Top |
| France says can't act alone on Syria, wants to create coalition Monday, Sep 02, 2013 11:12 AM PDT  PARIS (Reuters) - France aims to build a coalition of countries to back military action against the Syrian government in response to a chemical weapons attack in Damascus, Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said on Monday. "This act cannot be left without a response," Ayrault said after presenting an intelligence report on Syria to lawmakers. "It's not for France to act alone. The president is continuing his work of persuasion to bring together a coalition without delay. ... Full Story | Top |
| Afghan Taliban target U.S. army base as attacks mount Monday, Sep 02, 2013 11:06 AM PDT  KABUL (Reuters) - Taliban fighters attacked part of a U.S. military outpost in the eastern Afghan province of Nangarhar on Monday, officials said, less than a week after targeting a Polish base in a nearby province. Attacks on Afghan security forces and civilians have also mounted this week killing dozens and adding to fears the drawdown of foreign troops, most of whom are due to leave the country by the end of next year, is allowing insurgents to regain lost territory. ... Full Story | Top |
| French intelligence: Syria's Assad behind chemical attack Monday, Sep 02, 2013 10:53 AM PDT  PARIS (Reuters) - Forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad carried out a "massive and coordinated" chemical attack in Damascus on August 21, according a French intelligence report shown to lawmakers on Monday, a government source said. The nine-page document - drawn up by France's military and foreign intelligence services - listed five points that suggested Assad's fighters were behind the assault, the source told Reuters. ... Full Story | Top |
| Pro-Syria hackers put anti-attack message on U.S. Marines site Monday, Sep 02, 2013 10:49 AM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Computer hackers aligned with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad struck an Internet recruiting site for the U.S. Marine Corps on Monday, urging troops to "refuse your orders" if the United States attacks Syria. The attack appeared to be the work of the Syrian Electronic Army, which also recently targeted the New York Times' website and Twitter. The hackers posted a message and images on the website www.marines.com, signing it "delivered by SEA," a reference to the Syrian Electronic Army. ... Full Story | Top |
| Italy denies plans for Friends of Syria meeting in Rome Monday, Sep 02, 2013 09:40 AM PDT ROME (Reuters) - The Italian foreign ministry denied reports on Monday that the Friends of Syria group of nations would meet in Rome this weekend. Earlier a diplomatic source told Reuters that a meeting of the group was due to take place on September 8. There were similar reports in Italian media. (Reporting By Catherine Hornby) Full Story | Top |
| Shippers brace for more Suez turmoil after vessel attack Monday, Sep 02, 2013 08:51 AM PDT By Jonathan Saul LONDON (Reuters) - An attack by assailants on a container ship in the Suez canal has heightened risks for merchant shipping using the vital waterway, with further threats considered likely as political turmoil continues in Egypt. On Sunday an army source said three people had been arrested after opening fire with machine guns on a Chinese-owned container ship passing through the canal, a big source of revenue for Egypt, playing down what the Suez Canal Authority's chief had described earlier as a terrorist attack. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.N. team visits Iranian dissident camp in Iraq after killings Monday, Sep 02, 2013 07:44 AM PDT BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A U.N. team visited an Iranian dissident camp in Iraq on Monday following violence that killed dozens of people a day earlier in disputed circumstances. The bloodshed, condemned by the United Nations, Britain and the United States, took place hours after a mortar bomb attack on the camp which the dissident Mujahadin-e-Khalq (MEK) group blamed on the Iraqi army. An adviser to Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki dismissed the accusations as baseless. ... Full Story | Top |
| Friends of Syria to meet on Sept 8 in Rome: source Monday, Sep 02, 2013 07:43 AM PDT ROME (Reuters) - The core group of nations making up the Friends of Syria will meet on September 8 in Rome, a diplomatic source said on Monday. The meeting will most probably be attended by foreign ministers from the 11 countries making up the core group, the source said. Those countries include France, the United States, Britain, Egypt and Saudi Arabia. (Reporting By Catherine Hornby; editing by James Mackenzie) Full Story | Top |
| French ministers rebuff opposition call for Syria vote Monday, Sep 02, 2013 07:26 AM PDT By Catherine Bremer and John Irish PARIS (Reuters) - Senior members of France's ruling party rebuffed opposition calls for a parliamentary vote on whether to take military action against Syria, saying on Monday lawmakers should respect the president's constitutional right to decide on attacks. President Francois Hollande's demands for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to be punished for an alleged chemical strike have left him out on a limb since Britain's parliament voted against taking part in any action and U.S. President Barack Obama said he would seek Congress approval before any assault. ... Full Story | Top |
| NATO chief convinced Syrian government behind chemical attack Monday, Sep 02, 2013 06:24 AM PDT  BRUSSELS (Reuters) - NATO's secretary-general said on Monday he had seen evidence convincing him Syrian authorities were behind a deadly chemical weapons attack and said it would send a "dangerous signal to dictators" if the world did not respond firmly. However, Anders Fogh Rasmussen said it was up to individual NATO countries to decide how they would respond to the attack and he did not envisage any NATO role beyond existing plans to defend NATO member Turkey, which borders Syria. ... Full Story | Top |
| Egypt court advised to dissolve Brotherhood NGO Monday, Sep 02, 2013 06:11 AM PDT  CAIRO (Reuters) - An Egyptian judicial panel advised a court to dissolve the Muslim Brotherhood as a legally registered non-governmental organization on Monday, posing a legal challenge to the group as the army-backed government presses a crackdown. The case brought by Brotherhood opponents is seeking the dissolution of the NGO registered by the movement in March. The court hearing the case set its next session for November 12, judicial sources said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Croats tear down signs put up for Serb minority Monday, Sep 02, 2013 06:07 AM PDT ZAGREB (Reuters) - Several hundred Croat protesters tore down signs in Serb Cyrillic script that were put up on Monday in a Croatian city devastated during the independence war with Serb-dominated Yugoslavia, state radio said. The signs were put up in Vukovar in line with a law in the newest European Union member that makes bilingual signs mandatory in any area where more than one third of the local population belongs to an ethnic minority group. Vukovar was reduced to rubble during a three-month siege by Yugoslav and Serbian forces in late 1991. ... Full Story | Top |
| INSIGHT - As Obama blinks on Syria, Israel, Saudis make common cause Monday, Sep 02, 2013 06:03 AM PDT  By Jeffrey Heller and Angus McDowall JERUSALEM/RIYADH (Reuters) - If President Barack Obama has disappointed Syrian rebels by deferring to Congress before bombing Damascus, he has also dismayed the United States' two main allies in the Middle East. Israel and Saudi Arabia have little love for each other but both are pressing their mutual friend in the White House to hit President Bashar al-Assad hard. And both do so with one eye fixed firmly not on Syria but on their common adversary - Iran. ... Full Story | Top |
| Belarus accuses Uralkali's Kerimov of abuse of power Monday, Sep 02, 2013 05:49 AM PDT  MINSK (Reuters) - Belarus said on Monday it had formally accused the top shareholder in Russia's Uralkali of abuse of power on Monday, deepening a diplomatic and trade dispute between the ex-Soviet states after the collapse of a potash sales alliance. The Investigative Committee, the country's top crime-fighting agency, said it had asked Interpol to search for Russian tycoon Suleiman Kerimov, a billionaire with close ties to President Vladimir Putin's administration. ... Full Story | Top |
| Former Cypriot minister to be extradited to Greece in graft inquiry Monday, Sep 02, 2013 05:29 AM PDT NICOSIA (Reuters) - A court in Cyprus ordered the extradition of a former Cypriot interior minister to Greece on Monday for questioning related to corruption charges against a once-powerful Greek politician who is now in jail. Dinos Michaelides would be the first Cypriot government or former government official to be extradited to Greece. Greek authorities want to question him as part of a graft inquiry against Akis Tsohatzopoulos. ... Full Story | Top |
| Merkel's Germany Necklace' clear winner of debate on Twitter Monday, Sep 02, 2013 05:19 AM PDT  BERLIN (Reuters) - Never mind the euro crisis or the war in Syria - what seems to have generated most comment among Germans who tuned in to a live TV debate between Angela Merkel and her election rival Peer Steinbrueck is the German chancellor's necklace. The twisty necklace, made of long metal beads in the red, yellow and black colors of the German flag, now has its own Twitter account - with the handle @schlandkette - and that has attracted more than 6,300 followers since Sunday evening's duel. ... Full Story | Top |
| Soldier tells British side of story at Iraq killings inquiry Monday, Sep 02, 2013 05:10 AM PDT  By Estelle Shirbon LONDON (Reuters) - A British army officer told a public inquiry on Monday that allegations that soldiers in his company tortured and executed Iraqis after a battle in 2004 were baseless rumors spread by insurgents who wanted to discredit U.S.-led coalition forces. Adam Griffiths was the first British military witness to give oral evidence about the allegations made by dozens of Iraqis, which if confirmed by the Al-Sweady Inquiry would go down as one of the worst atrocities of the Iraq war. ... Full Story | Top |
| Turkish generals go on trial over 1997 'post-modern coup' Monday, Sep 02, 2013 04:55 AM PDT ANKARA (Reuters) - The first of more than 100 senior Turkish army officers began testifying in court on Monday over their alleged role in ousting Turkey's first Islamist-led government 16 years ago, a trial that could see them facing life imprisonment. The investigation into the overthrow of prime minister Necmettin Erbakan in 1997 extends a series of judicial cases targeting the once-supreme Turkish military, whose influence has been tamed sharply over the past decade. ... Full Story | Top |
| Mine unions, bosses in war of words before South Africa gold strike Monday, Sep 02, 2013 04:19 AM PDT  By Sherilee Lakmidas and Ed Stoddard JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South African union leaders warned on Monday, a day before a strike in the gold sector, that mine owners' handling of pay talks could provoke violence, and bosses said wage hikes would force mine closures and cost thousands of jobs. The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), which represents about two-thirds of more than 120,000 unionized gold miners in Africa's biggest economy, is set to strike from Tuesday. ... Full Story | Top |
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