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| Afghanistan presidential election set for April 2014 Tuesday, Oct 30, 2012 11:08 PM PDT  KABUL (Reuters) - Afghanistan will hold its next presidential election on April 5, 2014, the Election Commission announced on Wednesday. President Hamid Karzai, who is constitutionally barred from seeking a third term, had denied speculation that security problems and the exit of foreign troops that year would delay the poll. The credibility of the vote will be vital to the security and stability of Afghanistan after the final foreign combat troops have left by the end of 2014. Karzai's re-election in 2009 was blighted by allegations of fraud. ... Full Story | Top |
| Myanmar opium output rises despite eradication effort Tuesday, Oct 30, 2012 10:36 PM PDT  (Reuters) - Opium poppy cultivation in Myanmar has risen for the sixth consecutive year despite a state eradication campaign, a United Nations report said on Wednesday, throwing doubt on government assertions the problem would be over by 2014. Unprecedented eradication efforts managed to destroy almost 24,000 hectares (59,280 acres) of poppy fields in the 2012 season, running from the autumn 2011 to early summer this year, more than triple the previous year's total. But the U.N. ... Full Story | Top |
| Yemen LNG gas pipeline blown up again Tuesday, Oct 30, 2012 10:12 PM PDT DUBAI (Reuters) - A gas pipeline feeding Yemen's only liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminal was blown up again on Tuesday night, the operating company said on Wednesday. "Yemen LNG confirms the sabotage of the 38 inch gas pipeline that links the block 18 to the Balhaf terminal on the Gulf of Aden," said the company, run by France's Total. "The explosion occurred at 2200 on October 30, 2012 at 295 km north of Balhaf Liquefaction Plant. ... Full Story | Top |
| Millions in Northeast struggle after massive storm Tuesday, Oct 30, 2012 10:11 PM PDT  NEW YORK (Reuters) - The northeastern United States battled epic flood waters and lengthy power outages on Tuesday after the massive storm Sandy pummeled the coast with a record storm surge, high winds and heavy rains that killed at least 45 people and caused billions of dollars in losses. Millions of people in New York City and other hard-hit areas will spend days or weeks recovering from a storm already seen as far more destructive that Hurricane Irene, which slammed into the same region a year ago. One disaster modeling company said Sandy may have caused up to $15 billion in insured losses. ... Full Story | Top |
| Disney to buy "Star Wars" producer for $4.05 billion Tuesday, Oct 30, 2012 08:58 PM PDT  LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Walt Disney Co agreed to buy filmmaker George Lucas's Lucasfilm Ltd and its "Star Wars" franchise for $4.05 billion in cash and stock, a blockbuster deal that includes the surprise promise of a new film in the series in 2015. The deal unites a boutique Northern California film studio that brought special effects into the digital era with a venerable Hollywood powerhouse that has shown a knack for getting the most out of big-name entertainment brands. ... Full Story | Top |
| UK government report criticizes growth strategy Tuesday, Oct 30, 2012 07:39 PM PDT  LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's growth strategy of tax cuts and deregulation will not provide a fast track to economic prosperity and needs to be reassessed, according to a government-commissioned review published on Wednesday. Lord Heseltine, the former Conservative Party deputy prime minister, warned in his six-month study on the government's economic policy that "continuing as we are is not an acceptable option. ... Full Story | Top |
| Syrian air force on offensive after failed truce Tuesday, Oct 30, 2012 04:51 PM PDT  AMMAN (Reuters) - Syrian warplanes bombed rebel targets with renewed intensity on Tuesday after the end of a widely ignored four-day truce between President Bashar al-Assad's forces and insurgents. State television said "terrorists" had assassinated an air force general, Abdullah Mahmoud al-Khalidi, in a Damascus suburb, the latest of several rebel attacks on senior officials. In July, a bomb killed four of Assad's aides, including his brother-in-law Assef Shawkat and the defense minister. ... Full Story | Top |
| East Coast crippled by massive storm, death toll climbs Tuesday, Oct 30, 2012 04:29 PM PDT  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Millions of people were left reeling in the aftermath of the whipping winds and heavy rains of the massive storm Sandy on Tuesday as New York City and many parts of the eastern United States struggled with epic flooding and extensive power outages. The storm killed at least 40 people, including at least 18 in New York City, and insurance companies started to tally billions of dollars in losses. Sandy, which crashed ashore with hurricane-force winds on Monday near the New Jersey gambling resort of Atlantic City, was the biggest storm to hit the country in generations. ... Full Story | Top |
| EU will lose Turkey if it hasn't joined by 2023: Erdogan Tuesday, Oct 30, 2012 03:36 PM PDT  BERLIN (Reuters) - The European Union will lose Turkey if it doesn't grant it membership by 2023, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday. It was the first time Erdogan has given an indication of how long Ankara might continue down the path towards EU entry, and his comments came at a time of growing alienation between Turkey and a political entity it feels has cold-shouldered it. ... Full Story | Top |
| Israeli TV star makes grab for Netanyahu voters Tuesday, Oct 30, 2012 03:31 PM PDT JERUSALEM (Reuters) - A TV personality-turned-politician whose centrist party could be a key player in Israel's parliament after elections made a bid for right-wing voters on Tuesday with a call for Palestinians to accept some Israeli West Bank settlements. Yair Lapid, head of the Yesh Atid (There is a Future) party gave his first speech on Israel's relations with the Palestinians at a settlement in the occupied West Bank, a move commentators said was calculated to appeal to voters from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing Likud party. ... Full Story | Top |
| One dead in Tunisia clashes between police, militants Tuesday, Oct 30, 2012 03:02 PM PDT TUNIS (Reuters) - One person was killed when police opened fire during clashes with hardline Salafi Muslims in the Tunisian capital Tunis on Tuesday,‮‮ ‬‬a security source said‮‮‮‬, in the latest sign of religious tensions in the home of the "Arab Spring". "One Salafi was killed after security forces fired when Salafists attacked a police station," a security source said. Tunisia, whose authoritarian president, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, was overthrown in a popular uprising last year, now has an elected Islamist-led government. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. and EU push for progress in troubled Balkans Tuesday, Oct 30, 2012 02:47 PM PDT  SARAJEVO (Reuters) - Europe and the United States teamed up on Tuesday to press Bosnia, Serbia and Kosovo to overcome the legacy of Yugoslavia's bloody collapse as a condition of closer integration with the West. "If you do not make progress you will be left behind," U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned at the start of a trip to the region with EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton. NATO member Croatia will follow Slovenia in joining the 27-nation EU next year, but accession is a very distant prospect for the other five countries carved from federal Yugoslavia in the 1990s. ... Full Story | Top |
| Greek government gets key backing to pass reforms Tuesday, Oct 30, 2012 02:42 PM PDT  ATHENS (Reuters) - An overwhelming majority of Greek Socialist lawmakers have agreed to vote in favor of contested austerity reforms, party officials told Reuters on Tuesday, sharply increasing the odds of securing parliamentary approval for the measures. Near-bankrupt Greece needs to push through spending cuts and tax measures worth 13.5 billion euros as well as a raft of reforms to appease EU and IMF lenders and secure bailout money needed to avoid running out of cash next month. ... Full Story | Top |
| New Italy law tackles rampant corruption Tuesday, Oct 30, 2012 01:26 PM PDT ROME (Reuters) - Italy passed an anti-corruption law on Tuesday, the latest move by the government of Prime Minister Mario Monti to shed the country's image tarnished by former leader Silvio Berlusconi. Monti, who took office last November to replace the scandal-plagued Berlusconi, made approval of the law a confidence motion in his administration in order to speed its passage through both houses of parliament. The new law increases prison sentences for public officials convicted of demanding bribes, abuse of office or influence peddling. ... Full Story | Top |
| EU mission fails to bring justice in lawless Kosovo: report Tuesday, Oct 30, 2012 01:01 PM PDT BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union's biggest crisis-management mission has failed to bring crime under control in large parts of the breakaway former Serbian province of Kosovo, an EU watchdog agency said on Tuesday. A report by the Luxembourg-based European Court of Auditors said that EULEX, an EU project to improve Kosovo's rule of law, had met with only "modest success" in spite of the bloc having spent roughly 680 million euros ($882.50 million) between 2007 and 2011. "Levels of organized crime remain high. ... Full Story | Top |
| Russia's leaders criticized at Stalin commemorations Tuesday, Oct 30, 2012 12:50 PM PDT MOSCOW (Reuters) - Relatives of Josef Stalin's victims commemorated the Soviet dictator's repression on Tuesday and many condemned Russia's leaders for not taking part. Millions of people were executed or sent to prison camps under Stalin's rule but while thousands paid tribute to the dead at annual ceremonies on Monday and Tuesday, President Vladimir Putin stayed away. Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev condemned Stalin in a blog, saying: "Josef Stalin and other leaders of the Soviet state at the time deserve the harshest assessment. ... Full Story | Top |
| Sandy strikes in Canada too, far from storm's center Tuesday, Oct 30, 2012 12:41 PM PDT  (Reuters) - More than 100,000 Canadians were still without power on Tuesday after the huge storm Sandy toppled trees and power lines in Canada's most populous provinces, killed one person, and halted units at an Ontario refinery. But Canada was far from the center of the storm and the impact was tiny compared to the vast outages and widespread flooding seen in the U.S. East Coast on Monday and Tuesday. The weakened storm is expected bring rain to Eastern Canada and Quebec on Tuesday and into Wednesday. ... Full Story | Top |
| Pakistan says protects rights, West disagrees Tuesday, Oct 30, 2012 12:12 PM PDT  GENEVA (Reuters) - Pakistan, plagued by Islamists militancy, sectarian violence and frequent disasters that push its people deeper into poverty, told the United Nations on Tuesday it is a democratic and progressive state working to protect human rights. But Western countries and the normally anti-Western Belarus countered that in Pakistan religious minorities were persecuted, that dissent was often brutally suppressed by the army, and that little was done to tackle human trafficking. Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar told the U.N. ... Full Story | Top |
| Protesters storm Libya congress after prime minister presents government Tuesday, Oct 30, 2012 12:04 PM PDT TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Protesters stormed Libya's national assembly on Tuesday, forcing the cancellation of a vote on a proposed coalition government named by the country's new prime minister just hours earlier. Fewer than 100 people, made up of civilians and former rebel fighters, charged into the meeting hall of the General National Congress as it voted on Prime Minister Ali Zeidan's cabinet line-up, which was drawn from liberal and Islamist parties. In chaotic televised scenes, congress members negotiated with the protesters, unhappy with some of the nominations, to leave. ... Full Story | Top |
| Iran pulls back from nuclear bomb goal: Israeli defense minister Tuesday, Oct 30, 2012 11:42 AM PDT  LONDON (Reuters) - Iran has drawn back from its ambitions to build a nuclear weapon, Israel's defense minister was quoted as saying on Tuesday, while warning that his country may still have to decide next year whether to launch a military strike against it. Tehran denies its nuclear work has any military dimensions but governments in Europe and the United States are increasingly concerned over its intentions. Diplomacy and successive rounds of economic sanctions have so far failed to end the decade-old row, raising fears of Israeli military action against its arch-enemy. ... Full Story | Top |
| Greek Socialist deputies to back austerity, reforms: sources Tuesday, Oct 30, 2012 11:37 AM PDT  ATHENS (Reuters) - The overwhelming majority of lawmakers from Greece's Socialist PASOK party, the second-biggest partner in the country's ruling coalition, will support a raft of austerity and reform measures in a parliamentary vote, two lawmakers told Reuters on Tuesday. "We took a majority decision to back the measures," one Socialist deputy told Reuters after the end of a party meeting to decide its stance. All but about four of the party's 33 deputies backed the decision, one of the lawmakers said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Guinea opposition cries foul over new electoral body Tuesday, Oct 30, 2012 11:21 AM PDT CONAKRY (Reuters) - Guinea's opposition on Tuesday accused the government of tampering with its list of nominees to a newly formed electoral commission, casting doubt on the country's latest efforts to jumpstart election preparations. A political stalemate in the world's top bauxite supplier, nestled in the midst of Africa's fragile 'coup belt', has stalled legislative polls needed to restart foreign aid and complete a shift to civilian rule after a 2008 coup. ... Full Story | Top |
| Burundi gets $2 billion aid pledge, U.N. says Tuesday, Oct 30, 2012 10:46 AM PDT GENEVA (Reuters) - Donors have pledged more than $2 billion for Burundi's 2012-2015 development strategy to help the central African nation rebuild after civil war, the United Nations said on Tuesday. "We ended up with more than $2 billion registered commitments at the conference," Pamphile Muderega of the National Aid Coordination Committee said in a statement. "This represents a doubling of our already optimistic expectations," he said. The statement was issued by the U.N. ... Full Story | Top |
| EU considers sending 200 troops to train Mali army Tuesday, Oct 30, 2012 10:40 AM PDT  BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union is considering sending about 200 troops to train Mali's army to retake the Islamist-held north, but is not willing to deploy them in battle, EU officials said on Tuesday. Fears are growing in Europe that the African country could turn into a platform for terrorist attacks, after Islamist fighters seized two-thirds of its territory earlier this year. "There is a willingness among member states to put boots on the ground - but only on the parade ground," one of the EU officials said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Czech tax vote delayed as PM tries to stave off revolt Tuesday, Oct 30, 2012 10:25 AM PDT  PRAGUE (Reuters) - The Czech Republic's ruling coalition postponed on Tuesday a vote on a law to raise taxes that will double as a vote of confidence in the government, hoping extra time will allow them to prevent a lawmakers' rebellion. Prime Minister Petr Necas' cabinet will resign if the 22 billion crowns ($1.14 billion) mainly in additional value-added and income tax is rejected. ... Full Story | Top |
| Putin foe Navalny fined over weekend protest Tuesday, Oct 30, 2012 10:19 AM PDT  MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's most prominent opposition activist, Alexei Navalny, was fined $1,000 by a Moscow court on Tuesday for his role in a weekend protest under a new law that President Vladimir Putin's opponents say is aimed at smothering dissent. The anti-graft blogger was among three of Putin's foes briefly detained at a protest in central Moscow on Saturday following the first meeting a new opposition body to which Navalny was elected head in an online vote. ... Full Story | Top |
| Support for Hungary's ruling party, opposition, up in October Tuesday, Oct 30, 2012 10:08 AM PDT  BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Public support for Hungary's ruling Fidesz party and its main opposition rivals, the Socialists, increased in October, a survey by pollster Tarki showed on Tuesday. Backing for Prime Minister Viktor Orban's governing party rose three points month-on-month to 18 percent, while at 15 percent support for the Socialists was four points higher, the survey published on the pollster's website said. Meanwhile, the proportion of undecided voters dropped to half the electorate, down from 56 percent in September, the survey said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Europe rights court condemns Poland in abortion rape case Tuesday, Oct 30, 2012 10:06 AM PDT STRASBOURG, France (Reuters) - The European Court of Human Rights on Tuesday condemned Poland for the inhumane and degrading treatment of a 14-year-old rape victim whom the authorities tried to stop having an abortion. The girl's right to a private and family life had been flouted in 2008, the court ruled, saying she had been arbitrarily detained after being briefly placed in a home to separate her from her mother, who favored an abortion. ... Full Story | Top |
| Sandy leaves unprecedented challenges for New York City subways Tuesday, Oct 30, 2012 09:55 AM PDT NEW YORK (Reuters) - The giant storm Sandy wreaked havoc on the New York City subway system, flooding tunnels, garages and rail yards and threatening to paralyze the nation's largest mass-transit system for days. "The New York City subway system is 108 years old, but it has never faced a disaster as devastating as what we experienced last night," Joseph Lhota, the chairman of the Metropolitan Transit Authority, said in a statement early on Tuesday. He later said that water was "literally up to the ceiling" at one downtown station. ... Full Story | Top |
| Ukraine's Yanukovich shrugs off criticism of election Tuesday, Oct 30, 2012 09:50 AM PDT  KIEV (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich shrugged off international criticism on Tuesday of an election which showed his party on a winning course, while opposition nationalists alleged vote-rigging and threatened possible street protests. With the count from Sunday's vote nearing its end, Yanukovich's Party of the Regions and its communist allies were set to retain a comfortable majority in the 450-seat parliament to cement his grip before he seeks a second term in 2015. ... Full Story | Top |
| Sudan dismisses Israeli concerns on arms supplies Tuesday, Oct 30, 2012 09:47 AM PDT KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan dismissed as "misleading" Israeli allegations it supplies arms to foes of the Jewish state and said there was no foreign involvement in a munitions factory Khartoum says was bombed by Israel. The poor Muslim East African country has long been seen by Israel as a conduit for weapons smuggled to the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, via the Egyptian Sinai desert. Four people were killed after fire broke out a week ago at the Yarmouk arms factory in the south of Khartoum, and the following day Sudan said an Israeli air strike was responsible. Israel has not commented on the fire. ... Full Story | Top |
| Netanyahu says strike on Iran would be good for Arabs Tuesday, Oct 30, 2012 09:45 AM PDT  PARIS (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sought on Tuesday to convince Arab states that an Israeli military strike on Iran would benefit them, removing a potential threat and easing tensions across the Middle East. Netanyahu has made a number of veiled threats to attack Iran's nuclear program and has appealed to the United States and the United Nations to set a limit for Tehran on its further development. In an interview published on Tuesday with French magazine Paris Match, Netanyahu said such a strike would not worsen regional tensions, as many critics have warned. ... Full Story | Top |
| UK police might sell New Scotland Yard headquarters Tuesday, Oct 30, 2012 09:44 AM PDT  LONDON (Reuters) - London's cash-strapped police force may sell its New Scotland Yard headquarters as part of plans to save 500 million pounds ($800 million). The 1960s-era complex in the Victoria district could fetch between 150-200 million pounds, property agents said. The Metropolitan Police bought the block from Land Securities in 2008 for 122 million pounds. The possible sale is part of a wider cost-cutting drive to shrink the force's 900,000 square meters estate by one third by 2016, the Met said in an e-mailed statement. "We won't keep older buildings any longer than we need to... ... Full Story | Top |
| Kurdish leaders eat kebab while followers hunger strike: Erdogan Tuesday, Oct 30, 2012 09:39 AM PDT  ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday accused Kurdish leaders of hypocrisy by ordering jailed militants to go on hunger strike while they feasted on kebabs. Some 900 people, most of them imprisoned in more than 50 jails, have refused food for 49 days now against a backdrop of increased violence between Turkish troops and the armed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which the United States and European Union list as a terrorist organization. ... Full Story | Top |
| Qatari draft media law criticized by rights group Tuesday, Oct 30, 2012 09:18 AM PDT DOHA (Reuters) - Qatar's draft media law came under fire on Tuesday from Human Rights Watch, which singled out "loosely worded provisions" penalizing criticism of the Gulf emirate and its neighbors. The New York-based organization urged Qatar's Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani not to approve the law as drafted, calling it "a commitment to censorship". Qatari officials could not immediately be reached for comment. Freedom of expression is tightly controlled in the tiny autocratic Gulf state, with self-censorship prevalent among national newspapers and other media outlets. A close U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Rwandan opposition politician jailed for eight years Tuesday, Oct 30, 2012 08:43 AM PDT KIGALI (Reuters) - Rwanda's high court on Tuesday sentenced a leading opposition politician to eight years in prison, in a case linked to the 1994 genocide and seen as a test of the judiciary's independence. Victoire Ingabire, leader of the unregistered FDU-Inkingi party, had faced six charges and was found guilty of two: conspiring to harm the country through war and terror and minimizing the genocide. Ingabire had pleaded not guilty. She was accused of transferring money to FDLR Hutu rebels and of questioning why no Hutu victims were mentioned in a genocide memorial. ... Full Story | Top |
| Serbian general opens appeal with Libya warning for Britain and France Tuesday, Oct 30, 2012 08:42 AM PDT  THE HAGUE (Reuters) - The former head of the Serbian army, who was convicted last year for war crimes during the Balkans wars of the 1990s, told an appeal court on Tuesday he could not be held responsible for the actions of an army that was not under his direct control. General Momcilo Perisic is appealing against his conviction for murder, persecution and attacks on civilians in Bosnia and Croatia, including the killing of 8,000 Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica and the 42-month siege of Sarajevo by Bosnian Serb forces. ... Full Story | Top |
| Greek Socialists urge PM to seek more concessions Tuesday, Oct 30, 2012 08:06 AM PDT ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece's Socialist party on Tuesday criticized the prime minister for saying talks on an austerity package had concluded and urged him to seek further concessions from foreign lenders before a November 12 meeting of euro zone finance ministers. "We call on the government to do its best, make use of the national forces, to seek the best possible result of this crucial Eurogroup meeting," PASOK party chief Evangelos Venizelos told party officials, according to a statement. ... Full Story | Top |
| Poland denies explosives found on wreck of crashed jet Tuesday, Oct 30, 2012 07:47 AM PDT  WARSAW (Reuters) - Polish prosecutors denied a newspaper report that investigators found traces of explosives on the wreckage of the government jet that crashed in Russia two years ago, killing Poland's President Lech Kaczynski and 95 others. Rzeczpospolita daily said on Tuesday that Polish investigators who examined the remains of the plane in Russia found signs of TNT and nitro-glycerine on the wings and in the cabin, including on 30 seats. ... Full Story | Top |
| Gunmen kill religious leader in Russia's Dagestan Tuesday, Oct 30, 2012 07:19 AM PDT MOSCOW (Reuters) - Gunmen shot dead a Muslim religious leader in Russia's Dagestan region on Tuesday in an attack likely to worsen a spiral of militant violence that threatens Moscow's hold on the restive North Caucasus. Karimulla Ibragimov was at least the fifth Muslim leader killed this year in Dagestan following a rise in tension between moderate and more radical Muslims in the southern Russian republic. Unidentified gunmen opened fire on Ibragimov in the town of Derbent at around 6:30 a.m (0230 GMT), Russia's Investigative Committee said. ... Full Story | Top |
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