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| Italy launches rescue operation after migrant boat sinks, three dead Thursday, Oct 03, 2013 12:48 AM PDT ROME (Reuters) - The Italian coast guard launched an operation to rescue scores African migrants on Thursday after at least three drowned when their boat sank off Sicily, officials said. A coast guard official said 60 people had been saved but more than a hundred remained in the water and the death toll was expected to rise. Those rescued came from sub-Saharan Africa, the mayor of the Sicilian island of Lampedusa said. Their boat sank off the island just four days after 13 migrants drowned when their boat foundered off eastern Sicily. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S., Japan to modernize alliance to counter 21st century threats Thursday, Oct 03, 2013 12:19 AM PDT  By Lesley Wroughton and David Alexander TOKYO (Reuters) - The United States and Japan agreed on Thursday to modernize their defense alliance for the first time in 16 years to address growing concerns about North Korea's nuclear program, global terrorism, cyber intrusions and other 21st century threats. The move to modernize the U.S.-Japanese defense alliance follows President Barack Obama's decision to strategically rebalance U.S. forces to the Asia-Pacific region following a dozen years of war in Iraq and Afghanistan. ... Full Story | Top |
| Turkey 'highly likely' to sign Chinese missile deal: official Thursday, Oct 03, 2013 12:10 AM PDT  ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey is highly likely to sign a deal to co-produce a missile defense system with a Chinese firm under U.S. sanctions after it placed the lowest bid of $3.44 billion in a tender, a senior defense ministry official said on Thursday. Murad Bayar, Undersecretary of Defense Industries at the Defense Ministry, told reporters in Ankara that Turkey could finalize the deal with China Precision Machinery Import and Export Corp (CPMIEC) within six months. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. talks with Iran must be based on concrete steps by Tehran-Kerry Wednesday, Oct 02, 2013 11:40 PM PDT  TOKYO (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Thursday that the United States hopes to engage with the new Iranian administration, but that any advances must be based on concrete steps by Tehran to give up its nuclear weapons programme. If Iran intends to be peaceful, "I believe there is a way to get there," Kerry told a news conference in Tokyo after a meeting of the two countries' defense and foreign ministers. Kerry expressed hope that engagement with President Hassan Rouhani's government can succeed but said nothing would be taken at face value. ... Full Story | Top |
| China's Xi sidesteps SE Asia pressure over South China Sea disputes Wednesday, Oct 02, 2013 11:29 PM PDT  By Kanupriya Kapoor JAKARTA (Reuters) - Chinese President Xi Jinping showed no sign of bending to Southeast Asian pressure to resolve increasingly irascible territorial disputes over the South China Sea on Thursday, simply repeating past calls for dialogue. Xi, in the first address by a foreign leader to Indonesian MPs, made no reference to regional demands, echoed in Washington, that Beijing deal with the rival claims through multilateral talks rather than with individual negotiations. The issue is certain to overshadow two regional summits next week which Xi will attend. U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| 15 dead in attack on leader of Pakistani anti-Taliban militia Wednesday, Oct 02, 2013 11:26 PM PDT By Javed Hussain Parachinar, PAKISTAN (Reuters) - At least 15 people were killed in an attack on a pro-government militia commander in Pakistan's lawless northwestern tribal area on Thursday morning, security forces said. The attack comes as Pakistan's government is mulling peace talks with the Taliban, although no conditions have yet been set, and previous deals with the Taliban have always collapsed. A car bomb rammed into the compound of Mullah Nabi Hanfi, the leader of an anti-Taliban militia he formed after breaking away from the Taliban in 2009. ... Full Story | Top |
| Insight: Turkey questions its EU future as Brussels looks to Balkans Wednesday, Oct 02, 2013 10:40 PM PDT  By Adrian Croft BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Turkey has been trying for years to join the European Union, presenting itself as a growing economic and political power and a bridge to Asian and Middle Eastern markets. But the next country to join the EU's existing 28 members is more likely to be one of six small Balkan countries, five of which still formed part of Yugoslavia when Turkey made its first membership bid. ... Full Story | Top |
| Leader of Greek far-right Golden Dawn party jailed pending trial Wednesday, Oct 02, 2013 07:59 PM PDT  By Renee Maltezou and George Georgiopoulos ATHENS (Reuters) - The leader of Greece's far-right Golden Dawn party was sent to jail pending trial on charges of belonging to a criminal group, a court official told Reuters early on Thursday, the first such action in decades against an elected party chief. Golden Dawn leader Nikolaos Mihaloliakos appeared before investigating magistrates and a prosecutor during a six-hour plea session to respond to charges of founding and participating in a criminal organization. "He will be jailed pending trial," the court official said on condition of anonymity. ... Full Story | Top |
| Mali president dissolves army reform committee Wednesday, Oct 02, 2013 05:08 PM PDT  By Tiemoko Diallo and Adama Diarra BAMAKO (Reuters) - Mali's new president, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, on Wednesday dissolved an army reform committee dominated by former members of a military junta after blasting disgruntled officers for staging an unruly protest at a military base earlier this week. Officers who participated in a military coup last year fired into the air on Monday in the southern garrison town of Kati, close to the capital, Bamako, in protest at not receiving promotions they said had been promised. ... Full Story | Top |
| Obama, congressional leaders still deadlocked on shutdown Wednesday, Oct 02, 2013 04:44 PM PDT  By Jeff Mason and Thomas Ferraro WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama met with Republican and Democratic leaders in Congress on Wednesday to try to break a deadlock that has shut down wide swaths of the federal government, but there was no breakthrough. After more than an hour of talks, House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner said Obama refused to negotiate, while House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid accused Republicans of trying to hold the president hostage over Obamacare. ... Full Story | Top |
| Brazilian police stop Indians from storming Congress Wednesday, Oct 02, 2013 04:43 PM PDT  By Anthony Boadle BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazilian police used pepper spray to stop hundreds of protesting Indians from storming Congress on Wednesday, clamping down on the second day of indigenous rights marches. Tribes across Brazil blocked highways and occupied government offices to oppose what they see as a steady undermining of their rights to ancestral lands by farmers supported by politicians in disputes that have occasionally turned violent. ... Full Story | Top |
| Guinea's ruling party takes early lead in legislative polls Wednesday, Oct 02, 2013 04:04 PM PDT  CONAKRY (Reuters) - The party of Guinean President Alpha Conde has taken an early lead, according to the first results from weekend legislative polls published by the elections commission late on Wednesday. The National Electoral Commission (CENI) initially said it would take days longer than expected to release a result but pledged earlier on Wednesday to announce tallies as they trickled in from 12,000 polling stations. ... Full Story | Top |
| BP's well control exec says he was unprepared for U.S. Gulf blowout Wednesday, Oct 02, 2013 03:46 PM PDT  By Kathy Finn NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - BP's manager in charge of controlling the Macondo blowout in 2010 was never trained to permanently plug a ruptured oil well and said in court on Wednesday the British company was not fully prepared for the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history. On day three of the second phase of a federal trial in New Orleans over the accident in the Gulf of Mexico, BP's James Dupree also said "yes" when asked if the company was "starting from scratch" when it scrambled to stop the leak. The U.S. District Court trial could lead to fines of more than $17 billion. ... Full Story | Top |
| Gambia pulls out of 'neo-colonial' Commonwealth Wednesday, Oct 02, 2013 03:38 PM PDT BANJUL (Reuters) - Gambia has withdrawn from the Commonwealth, the 54-member grouping including Britain and most of its former colonies, branding it a "neo-colonial institution," according to a statement released by the West African nation on Wednesday. "The government has withdrawn its membership of the British Commonwealth and decided that the Gambia will never be a member of any neo-colonial institution and will never be a party to any institution that represents an extension of colonialism," read a statement broadcast on state television. No further reason for the decision was given. ... Full Story | Top |
| Clashes flare at pro-Mursi march in Egyptian city, one dead Wednesday, Oct 02, 2013 03:37 PM PDT  ISMAILIA, Egypt (Reuters) - A high school student was killed when opponents and supporters of deposed Egyptian president Mohamed Mursi clashed in the city of Suez on Wednesday night, medical and security sources said. The two sides exchanged gunfire and threw petrol bombs after supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood's Mursi chanted anti-army slogans as they marched in the city, the sources said. Abdullah Mohamed Attia, 17, died from a bullet wound, the state news agency reported. The student was a supporter of Mursi, the Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice party said in a statement. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. expels three Venezuelan diplomats in tit-for-tat move Wednesday, Oct 02, 2013 02:53 PM PDT  By Andrew Cawthorne CARACAS (Reuters) - Washington has expelled Venezuela's highest-ranking diplomat in the United States and two others from its embassy in retaliation for Venezuela's booting out three American diplomats accused of fomenting sabotage, both governments said on Wednesday. The flare-up appears to derail some tentative moves to improve relations between Caracas and Washington since President Nicolas Maduro took over this year from the late socialist leader Hugo Chavez, whose 14-year rule was halted by cancer. ... Full Story | Top |
| Pakistan's top police bomb disposal unit starved of money and men Wednesday, Oct 02, 2013 02:29 PM PDT  By Katharine Houreld PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - A technician from Pakistan's top bomb disposal unit packed some aging detonator cord confiscated from the Taliban into a plastic water bottle and reached for a roll of sticky tape. With his low-cost, improvised - and extremely dangerous - device he demonstrated how he destroys militant bombs, but also revealed desperate shortages of money and equipment for bomb disposal experts. Twelve years into the war on militancy, Pakistan's police are chronically under-funded. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.N. Security Council urges easier access for Syria aid Wednesday, Oct 02, 2013 02:09 PM PDT By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Building on a fragile unity, the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday urged Syria's government to allow cross-border aid deliveries and called on combatants in the country's war to agree humanitarian pauses in fighting and aid convoy routes. Millions of people in Syria are in desperate need of help as a result of a 2-1/2-year civil war that has killed more than 100,000 people, but aid has slowed to a trickle because of violence and excessive red tape. ... Full Story | Top |
| World powers on 'right track' on Syria chemical arms: Putin Wednesday, Oct 02, 2013 02:06 PM PDT  MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday global powers were "on the right track" with a plan to eliminate Syria's chemical weapons and could avert military intervention in the conflict if they worked together. Agreement on the plan to eliminate Syria's chemical weapons was reached after U.S. President Barack Obama asked Congress to approve air strikes to punish Syria's government over an August 21 gas attack the United States says killed more than 1,400 people. "There is every reason to believe we are on the right track," Putin told an investment conference. ... Full Story | Top |
| Russian Embassy in Libya comes under fire, attack repelled Wednesday, Oct 02, 2013 02:01 PM PDT  By Ghaith Shennib and Thomas Grove TRIPOLI/MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's embassy in the Libyan capital of Tripoli came under fire on Wednesday and a group of people tried to force their way into the compound, the Russian Foreign Ministry said. Diplomatic sources in Libya said security guards fired shots to disperse a group of about 60 people that had approached the embassy. An attempt to enter the building was repelled and according to the Foreign Ministry no diplomats were wounded. ... Full Story | Top |
| Italian president warns parties against renewed turbulence Wednesday, Oct 02, 2013 02:00 PM PDT ROME (Reuters) - President Giorgio Napolitano warned the parties in Italy's governing coalition on Wednesday against renewed political turbulence after Prime Minister Enrico Letta won a confidence vote in parliament. Former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, facing revolt in his own centre-right party, earlier backtracked from threats to bring down the government. "The government has stood the test, beaten the challenge," Napolitano said in a statement. He said Letta and his cabinet could not allow a renewal of daily political turmoil. (Reporting by Catherine Hornby; Editing by Mark Heinrich) Full Story | Top |
| Berlusconi U-turn secures Italian government survival Wednesday, Oct 02, 2013 02:00 PM PDT  By Paolo Biondi ROME (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta won a confidence vote in parliament on Wednesday after Silvio Berlusconi, facing revolt in his own center-right party, backtracked on threats to bring down the government. As dozens of center-right senators prepared to defy their media magnate leader and salvage the left-right coalition led by Letta, Berlusconi staged an abrupt U-turn and said he too would back the center-left prime minister, just days after he sparked the crisis by pulling his ministers out of Letta's cabinet. ... Full Story | Top |
| Sudan unrest a warning to government to seek dialogue: Britain Wednesday, Oct 02, 2013 01:53 PM PDT  KHARTOUM (Reuters) - A week of deadly unrest in Sudan should serve as a warning to the government to solve conflicts through national dialogue, a senior British official said on Wednesday, in the strongest foreign criticism of Khartoum's crackdown on protests. Protests and riots erupted in Khartoum and other Sudanese cities last week against the lifting of fuel subsidies, triggering a clampdown by security forces. Sudanese human rights activists and some diplomats say that up to 150 people died after security forces opened fire on crowds. ... Full Story | Top |
| More remains found at site of cruise ship wreck in Italy Wednesday, Oct 02, 2013 01:46 PM PDT  ROME (Reuters) - Divers have recovered what could be more human remains from the sea where the Costa Concordia cruise liner sank last year off the Italian island of Giglio, the head of Italy's civil protection agency said on Wednesday. The agency said last week it had found remains that could belong to the last two missing victims from the disaster on January 13, 2012, when the ship capsized after striking rocks, killing 32 people. "Other remains have also been found and are currently undergoing DNA tests," the agency's chief Franco Gabrielli told reporters on Wednesday. ... Full Story | Top |
| Mali frees Tuareg rebel prisoners in bid to revive peace process Wednesday, Oct 02, 2013 12:46 PM PDT BAMAKO (Reuters) - Mali's government freed 23 rebel prisoners on Wednesday under terms of a June ceasefire deal in an effort to revive a stalled peace process after Tuareg separatists pulled out last week. Violence has flared in northern Mali since the MNLA rebel group abandoned the ceasefire on Thursday. A grenade attack that wounded two soldiers in the Tuareg stronghold of Kidal on Friday was followed by two days of clashes which began on Sunday. Justice Minister Ali Bathily said the government hoped the release of the rebel prisoners would help calm the situation. ... Full Story | Top |
| Italian PM Letta wins lower house confidence vote Wednesday, Oct 02, 2013 12:30 PM PDT ROME (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta won a confidence vote in the lower house as expected following his earlier victory in the Senate on Wednesday after center-right leader Silvio Berlusconi backtracked on his threat to bring down the government. The Chamber of Deputies, where Letta has a commanding majority, voted 435 to 162 in favor of the government, after the Senate earlier backed the prime minister in a similar vote. (Reporting By Catherine Hornby) Full Story | Top |
| Situation at Russian embassy in Tripoli calming after attack: diplomatic sources Wednesday, Oct 02, 2013 12:18 PM PDT TUNIS (Reuters) - The situation at Russia's embassy in the Libyan capital of Tripoli is calming down, and "coming under control" after an attack on Wednesday during which assailants tried to enter the compound, diplomatic sources said. (Reporting by Patrick Markey) Full Story | Top |
| Indonesia anti-graft agency arrests top judge for alleged bribery Wednesday, Oct 02, 2013 11:36 AM PDT JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia's main anti-graft agency arrested the chief justice of the constitutional court for alleged bribery on Wednesday, an agency official said, the latest high-profile corruption case to hit Southeast Asia's largest economy. Akil Mochtar, who was elected as chief justice for a five-year term in August, was arrested by the Corruption Eradication Commission after investigators confiscated some 2-3 billion rupiah ($260,200) from his residence, according to agency spokesman Johan Budi. Budi told Reuters the money was believed to be linked to a regional election. ... Full Story | Top |
| Greece's Golden Dawn lawmakers freed before trial Wednesday, Oct 02, 2013 10:45 AM PDT  By Renee Maltezou and Yorgos Karahalis ATHENS (Reuters) - Three senior lawmakers from Greece's far-right Golden Dawn were freed on Wednesday pending trial on criminal charges, an unexpected setback to the government's efforts to clamp down on a party it has labeled a neo-Nazi criminal gang. The decision to free the men after an 18-hour court session raises questions about the solidity of the state's case against Golden Dawn after one of its sympathizers stabbed to death an anti-fascism rapper. ... Full Story | Top |
| Belarus leader says Obama surprises him, 'blacks were slaves' Wednesday, Oct 02, 2013 10:39 AM PDT  MOSCOW (Reuters) - Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko, a frequent critic of the United States, said recent comments by President Barack Obama about American 'exceptionalism' had surprised him, given the country's history of slavery. Obama termed the United States exceptional last month in a speech made when Washington was mulling military strikes on Syria for a chemical attack it blames on President Bashar al-Assad. The concept of American "exceptionalism" supposes a particular U.S. commitment to democratic values and an obligation to promote those values globally. ... Full Story | Top |
| Uganda president dares exiled general to try to remove him by force Wednesday, Oct 02, 2013 10:38 AM PDT  By Elias Biryabarema KAMPALA (Reuters) - Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni dared a dissident general in exile on Wednesday to try to overthrow him and said anyone seeking to use violence to seize power would be eliminated. Museveni has come under increasing criticism for his reluctance to cede power after 27 years as president and over his alleged failure to tackle corruption in Uganda, Africa's leading coffee exporter. He denies such allegations. Many Ugandans say Museveni wants to hand power to his son Muhoozi Kainerugaba when the president retires. ... Full Story | Top |
| Lithuania frees Irish man sentenced over gun-running to Real IRA Wednesday, Oct 02, 2013 10:16 AM PDT  VILNIUS (Reuters) - An Irish citizen sentenced to 12 years in prison in Lithuania for trying to arm a Northern Irish Republican militant group was freed on Tuesday by a court of appeal. Michael Campbell, 41, was arrested in the Baltic state in January 2008 after a sting operation involving Lithuanian, Irish and British secret services. Lithuania's Court of Appeal overturned the sentence on Wednesday, deciding British security services had illegally encouraged Campbell to go to Lithuania to attempt to buy arms and explosives. ... Full Story | Top |
| Five Yemenis jailed for role in 2012 al Qaeda suicide attack Wednesday, Oct 02, 2013 10:15 AM PDT SANAA (Reuters) - Yemen jailed five people for up to 10 years on Wednesday for their part in an al Qaeda suicide bombing last year that killed more than 90 soldiers rehearsing for a military parade. Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) - one of the most active franchises of the Islamist group - claimed responsibility for the bombing as part of its on-going campaign against the strategically positioned state which is a major concern for Western governments. ... Full Story | Top |
| Mexican conservatives show openness on reform tied to energy bill Wednesday, Oct 02, 2013 09:50 AM PDT By Dave Graham MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico's main opposition party has signaled it is ready to compromise over demands for electoral reform that risk impeding a government bill to liberalize the oil industry. Last month, the conservative National Action Party (PAN) proposed an electoral reform that seeks to curb the power of the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, which has dominated Mexican politics for most of the past century. ... Full Story | Top |
| Hamas hangs Palestinian man convicted of murders Wednesday, Oct 02, 2013 09:49 AM PDT By Nidal al-Mughrabi GAZA (Reuters) - The Islamist Hamas group said they had executed a Palestinian man in Gaza on Wednesday despite appeals from human rights groups not to hang him because he was under 18 when one of two murders for which he was convicted occurred. Hani Abu Eleyan, 28, was the 17th Palestinian executed by Hamas since it seized control of the Gaza Strip in 2007. At least eight others were killed as alleged spies for Israel. The Hamas-run Interior Ministry said Eleyan was convicted of two murders, one in 2000, involving the rape and killing of a minor, and another in 2009. ... Full Story | Top |
| Alfano turns on his master in bid to lead Italy's right Wednesday, Oct 02, 2013 09:49 AM PDT  By Gavin Jones ROME (Reuters) - Angelino Alfano may have changed the future of Italian politics by leading the internal party revolt that thwarted Silvio Berlusconi's attempt to bring down the country's coalition government. Few thought he had it in him. The 42-year-old former Christian Democrat from Sicily was considered so loyal to Berlusconi that his name had become almost a by-word for subservience. "Alfano Betrays" screamed the front page banner headline of Berlusconi's family newspaper Il Giornale on Wednesday. ... Full Story | Top |
| International court charges Kenyan with bribing witnesses Wednesday, Oct 02, 2013 09:15 AM PDT By Thomas Escritt and James Macharia AMSTERDAM/NAIROBI (Reuters) - The International Criminal Court said on Wednesday it had issued an arrest warrant for a Kenyan charged with trying to bribe witnesses to withdraw testimony against Deputy President William Ruto. Walter Barasa, a journalist in Ruto's political stronghold of Eldoret, northwest of Nairobi, told Reuters he denied the charges and said police had not tried to detain him. There was no immediate comment from Kenyan police. ... Full Story | Top |
| Political row threatens Slovenia government, efforts to avert bailout Wednesday, Oct 02, 2013 08:55 AM PDT  By Marja Novak LJUBLJANA (Reuters) - A dispute over the leadership of Slovenia's ruling party erupted on Wednesday, posing a threat to the euro zone state's four-party coalition government and its efforts to avert an international bailout. The mayor of Slovenia's capital Ljubljana, Zoran Jankovic, announced he would run for the leadership of the center-left Positive Slovenia (PS), the main ruling party, in a move that prompted dismay among the other coalition parties. ... Full Story | Top |
| Al Qaeda-linked group advances on Syrian rebels near Turkey Wednesday, Oct 02, 2013 08:53 AM PDT By Alexander Dziadosz and Stephen Kalin BEIRUT (Reuters) - Al Qaeda-linked fighters fought rival Syrian rebels near the border with Turkey on Wednesday, activists said, in an outbreak of violence driven by the divisions between factions battling President Bashar al-Assad. The fighting illustrates the volatile situation in Syria as a team of chemical weapons experts start the process of eliminating Syria's chemical weapons stockpile, with inspections expected to begin next week. ... Full Story | Top |
| Turkish government seeks renewed mandate to send troops to Syria Wednesday, Oct 02, 2013 08:53 AM PDT  By Jonathon Burch ANKARA (Reuters) - The Turkish parliament is likely to extend by a year a mandate authorizing the sending of troops into Syria if needed after the government said the possible use of chemical weapons by President Bashar al-Assad posed a threat to Turkey. The government motion, due to be voted on by parliament on Thursday, paints a bleak picture of the conflict in its southern neighbor and says Turkey would be the country the most affected by escalating violence there. ... Full Story | Top |
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