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| Israel says "checking" report Syria received Russian S-300 Thursday, May 30, 2013 12:40 AM PDT JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel is looking into reports on Thursday that Syria had received the first shipment of the advanced Russian air defense system S-300, an Israeli official said. "I have no information beyond what has been reported, which we are looking into," the official told Reuters on condition of anonymity, after a Lebanese newspaper quoted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as saying a shipment had arrived. ... Full Story | Top |
| CA-NEWS Summary Thursday, May 30, 2013 12:32 AM PDT Top U.S. tax breaks to cost $12 trillion over decade, benefit wealthy: CBO WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The top ten tax deductions, credits and exclusions will keep $12 trillion out of federal government coffers over the next decade, and several of them mainly benefit the wealthiest Americans, a new study from the Congressional Budget Office shows. The top 20 percent of income earners will reap more than half of the $900 billion in benefits from these tax breaks that will accrue in 2013, the non-partisan CBO said on Wednesday. ... Full Story | Top |
| Assad says Syria has received Russian missile shipment: Lebanese media Thursday, May 30, 2013 12:32 AM PDT  BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syria has already received the first shipment of an advanced Russian air defense system and will soon get the rest of the S-300 missiles, President Bashar al-Assad was quoted as saying on Thursday. "Syria has received the first shipment of Russian anti-aircraft S-300 rockets," Lebanese newspaper al-Akhbar newspaper quoted Assad as saying in an interview due to be broadcast later in the day. "The rest of the shipment will arrive soon." An interview with Assad will be released on Al Manar, a television station linked to Assad's ally, the Shi'ite Muslim militant group ... Full Story | Top |
| Russia: Syria opposition thwarting peace with Assad exit demand Thursday, May 30, 2013 12:32 AM PDT MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Thursday accused the opposition Syrian National Coalition of seeking to thwart peace efforts by making President Bashar al-Assad's exit a condition for participating in a proposed international conference. "One gets the impression that the National Coalition and its regional sponsors are doing everything they can to prevent a political process from starting ... and to achieve military intervention in Syria," Interfax news agency quoted Lavrov as saying. (Writing by Steve Gutterman; editing by Elizabeth Piper) Full Story | Top |
| Bombs hit Baghdad districts, at least 10 dead Thursday, May 30, 2013 12:31 AM PDT BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A car bomb and several roadside blasts exploded in Shi'ite and Sunni Muslim neighborhoods across Baghdad on Thursday, killing at least 10 people in the latest in more than a month-long surge in attacks, police and hospital sources said. No group claimed responsibility for the attacks, but Sunni Muslim Islamist insurgents and al-Qaeda's Iraqi wing have increased their operations since the beginning of the year as part of their campaign to stir sectarian tensions. ... Full Story | Top |
| Thailand's CP Foods says considered bidding for Smithfield Wednesday, May 29, 2013 09:01 PM PDT HONG KONG (Reuters) - Charoen Pokphand Foods Plc, controlled by Thai billionaire Dhanin Chearavanont, said on Thursday it had considered bidding for Smithfield Foods Inc. On Wednesday, China's privately-owned Shuanghui International agreed to buy Smithfield Foods for $4.7 billion in cash to feed growing Chinese appetite for U.S. pork, in a deal that has already stirred concern from U.S. politicians. CP Foods declined to give more details due to a non-disclosure agreement. (Reporting by Denny Thomas and Khettiya Jittapong; Editing by Ryan Woo) Full Story | Top |
| Barbara hits southern Mexico, killing at least two Wednesday, May 29, 2013 07:10 PM PDT  By Jose Cortes SAN PEDRO TAPANATEPEC, Mexico (Reuters) - Hurricane Barbara hit Mexico's southern Pacific coast on Wednesday, flooding roads, toppling trees and killing two men before weakening to a tropical storm as it moved inland. The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Barbara, which had earlier moved close to the country's biggest oil refinery, was 50 miles west of the city of Tuxtla Gutierrez in Chiapas state. Winds were blowing at up to 60 miles per hour. The hurricane was churning north-northeast at about 9 mph and should weaken rapidly overnight, the NHC said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Top U.S. tax breaks to cost $12 trillion over decade, benefit wealthy: CBO Wednesday, May 29, 2013 05:52 PM PDT  By David Lawder WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The top ten tax deductions, credits and exclusions will keep $12 trillion out of federal government coffers over the next decade, and several of them mainly benefit the wealthiest Americans, a new study from the Congressional Budget Office shows. The top 20 percent of income earners will reap more than half of the $900 billion in benefits from these tax breaks that will accrue in 2013, the non-partisan CBO said on Wednesday. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. congressmen in Russia on Boston bombing fact-finding mission Wednesday, May 29, 2013 05:43 PM PDT  MOSCOW (Reuters) - U.S. congressmen will meet security officials in Moscow this week to find out whether the FBI could have done more with Russian intelligence on the Boston bombing suspect to prevent the attack, one of the lawmakers said on Wednesday. U.S. President Barack Obama's administration and the intelligence community face scrutiny over criticism they failed to see the danger from Tamerlan Tsarnaev and his younger brother Dzhokhar - the prime suspects in the twin bombings that killed three people and injured over 170 at the Boston Marathon. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. drone kills Pakistan Taliban No 2 : security officials Wednesday, May 29, 2013 05:34 PM PDT  By Jibran Ahmad PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - A U.S. drone strike killed the No. 2 of the Pakistani Taliban in the North Waziristan region on Wednesday, three security officials said, in what would be a major blow to the militancy. The drone strike killed seven people, Pakistani security officials said, including Taliban deputy commander Wali-ur-Rehman, in the first such attack since a May 11 general election in which the use of the unmanned aircraft was a major issue. It was also the first reported U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Buddhist mobs attack Muslim homes in Myanmar, one dead Wednesday, May 29, 2013 05:31 PM PDT  By Jared Ferrie LASHIO, Myanmar (Reuters) - Security forces struggled to control Buddhist mobs who burned Muslim homes on Wednesday for a second day in the northern Myanmar city of Lashio in a dangerous widening of ultra-nationalist Buddhist violence. Scores of young men and boys on motorbikes and on foot marauded through the city of 130,000 people, some singing nationalist songs, a day after a mosque and religious school were torched. One person was killed and four were wounded in fighting, Ye Htut, spokesman for President Thein Sein, said in a Facebook post. ... Full Story | Top |
| Angry about immigration plan, some gay donors cut off Democrats Wednesday, May 29, 2013 04:57 PM PDT  By Rachelle Younglai WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Some disappointed activists say they are yanking their support for the Democratic Party after Senate Democrats opposed a proposal in an immigration bill that would have allowed citizens to bring their foreign-born, same-sex spouses to the United States. Jonathan Lewis, a Miami philanthropist who donated more than $35,000 in 2012, has stopped giving and is urging others to do the same until President Barack Obama and his fellow Democrats stop breaking promises to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. ... Full Story | Top |
| Venezuela furious at Colombia's meeting with opposition leader Wednesday, May 29, 2013 04:46 PM PDT  By Enrique Andres Pretel and Luis Jaime Acosta CARACAS/BOGOTA (Reuters) - Venezuela reacted with fury to Wednesday's talks between Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and Venezuelan opposition leader Henrique Capriles, saying it was a "bomb" in ties and recalling an envoy to Colombia's peace process. Capriles met Santos in Bogota at the start of a tour around Latin America to press his case that last month's presidential poll in Venezuela was fraudulent and President Nicolas Maduro's government is therefore illegitimate. ... Full Story | Top |
| Three Senegal women freed after rebel kidnapping Wednesday, May 29, 2013 04:28 PM PDT BISSAU (Reuters) - Three Senegalese women who work for a South African organization that cleared land mines and were kidnapped by separatist rebels in Senegal this month were handed over to authorities in neighbouring Guinea-Bissau on Wednesday. Twelve employees of demining firm Mechem were kidnapped by a faction of the Movement of Democratic Forces of Casamance, which has waged a 31-year struggle for independence in Senegal's southern border with Guinea-Bissau. ... Full Story | Top |
| Iran set up terrorist networks in Latin America: Argentine prosecutor Wednesday, May 29, 2013 03:22 PM PDT  By Guido Nejamkis BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - An Argentine prosecutor accused Iran on Wednesday of establishing terrorist networks in Latin America dating back to the 1980s and said he would send his findings to courts in the affected countries. State prosecutor Alberto Nisman is investigating the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires that killed 85 people. Argentine courts have long accused Iran of sponsoring the attack. Iran, which remains locked in a stand-off with world powers over its disputed nuclear program, denies links to the blast. ... Full Story | Top |
| Foes of Newmont's $5 billion Peru mine in standoff with police Wednesday, May 29, 2013 03:03 PM PDT LIMA (Reuters) - Hundreds of protesters were locked in a standoff with police in northern Peru on Wednesday as they vowed to stop Newmont Mining from transferring water from a lake to a reservoir as part of its $5 billion Conga gold project. Residents and local officials said it was the second straight day of tensions near the proposed mine that would be Peru's most expensive ever. ... Full Story | Top |
| Struggling Korean builders tell employees to show loyalty: buy apartments Wednesday, May 29, 2013 02:35 PM PDT  By Ju-min Park GOYANG, South Korea (Reuters) - Five years after the global financial crisis, South Korean construction workers are feeling the pinch more than ever as they shoulder a mountain of debt from a real estate bust that has cast a long shadow on the country's growth prospects. Facing the specter of bankruptcy, some construction firms persuaded their staff to take up loans to mop up unsold apartments. "There was pressure. ... Full Story | Top |
| Canada freezes trade with Iran over nuclear program, human rights Wednesday, May 29, 2013 01:34 PM PDT  OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada will freeze all remaining trade with Iran to protest the Tehran's nuclear ambitions and its human rights record, Foreign Minister John Baird said on Wednesday. Canada, which has had increasingly poor relations with Iran for more than a decade, had already imposed a series of trade sanctions. In 2012, bilateral trade was worth around C$135 million ($130 million). Baird said Canada was particularly concerned by the failure of the United Nations' nuclear agency this month to persuade Iran to let it resume an investigation into suspected atomic bomb research. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.N. investigators say most Syria rebels not seeking democracy Wednesday, May 29, 2013 01:05 PM PDT By John Irish PARIS (Reuters) - Most Syrian rebel fighters do not want democracy and the country's civil war is producing ever worse atrocities and increasing radicalization, independent U.N. investigators said on Tuesday. Speaking to reporters in Paris, Brazilian expert Paulo Pinheiro said his team of investigators had documented horrific crimes on both sides, although the scale of those committed by President Bashar al-Assad's forces was greater. ... Full Story | Top |
| Legendary Canadian abortion campaigner Morgentaler dies aged 90 Wednesday, May 29, 2013 12:59 PM PDT  By David Ljunggren OTTAWA (Reuters) - Henry Morgentaler, a Holocaust survivor who became one of Canada's leading abortion campaigners and spent time in jail for terminating pregnancies, died on Wednesday at the age of 90, activists said. Morgentaler set up Canada's first independent abortion clinic in Montreal in 1969 at a time when the procedure could only be performed in hospitals and was limited to cases when doctors deemed that continuation of a pregnancy could harm a woman. ... Full Story | Top |
| Syrian army seizes strategic air base near Qusair Wednesday, May 29, 2013 12:47 PM PDT By Mariam Karouny BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad seized an air base near the strategic town of Qusair on Wednesday and took more ground to the east of Damascus, state media said, dealing fresh setbacks to rebel fighters. Assad's troops have been battling alongside Hezbollah fighters from neighboring Lebanon for the last 10 days to drive rebels from Qusair. Taking the air base and neighboring Dabaa village puts Qusair under siege from all sides and cuts a main reinforcement line for rebel weapons and fighters. ... Full Story | Top |
| France says 3,000-4,000 Hezbollah are fighting in Syria Wednesday, May 29, 2013 12:47 PM PDT PARIS (Reuters) - France said on Wednesday its intelligence services believed 3-4,000 guerillas from Lebanon's Hezbollah militia fighting alongside President Bashar al-Assad's army in Syria's civil war. "As far as Hezbollah militants present in the battlefield, the figures range from 3,000 to 10,000, our estimates are between 3,000 and 4,000," Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told lawmakers. ... Full Story | Top |
| Bombings kill 27 in surging Iraqi violence Wednesday, May 29, 2013 12:41 PM PDT BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Car bombs and roadside explosions hit mainly Sunni Muslim districts of the Iraqi capital and a northern city on Wednesday, killing at least 27 people. The bombings were the latest in a wave of attacks since April that has intensified fears Iraq is sliding into the kind of sectarian conflict that killed thousands in 2006-2007. Two car bombs and a roadside bomb exploded near busy markets in southwestern and western Baghdad on Wednesday evening, killing at least 25 people and wounding another 72, police and medical officials said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Attack on French soldier had religious motivation: prosecutor Wednesday, May 29, 2013 12:34 PM PDT  By Alexandria Sage PARIS (Reuters) - A Muslim convert arrested on suspicion of stabbing a French soldier in a Paris suburb was motivated by religion and had shown some signs of radicalization, French authorities said on Wednesday. The attack took place on May 25, three days after attackers chanting Islamist slogans killed a British soldier in London. France has been on a security alert since January, when its troops began fighting al Qaeda-linked Islamists in Mali. Prosecutor Francois Molins said authorities were treating the Paris attack as a terrorist act. ... Full Story | Top |
| Kenya lawyer says London murder suspect freed on British advice Wednesday, May 29, 2013 11:50 AM PDT By Joseph Akwiri MOMBASA, Kenya (Reuters) - A Kenyan lawyer who in 2010 represented a man suspected of hacking a British soldier to death in London last week said on Wednesday the suspect was freed from arrest in Kenya three years ago on the recommendation of the British High Commission. Britain's authorities face questions about what they knew about the activities of two Britons of Nigerian descent suspected of butchering Lee Rigby, a 25-year-old veteran of the Afghan war, in broad daylight in a London street. ... Full Story | Top |
| Syrian opposition says peace talks must mean Assad exit Wednesday, May 29, 2013 11:36 AM PDT  By Khaled Yacoub Oweis ISTANBUL (Reuters) - The Syrian opposition said on Wednesday it would only take part in planned international peace talks if a deadline was set for a settlement that forces President Bashar al-Assad to leave power. In its first official reaction to the Geneva conference being prepared by the United States and Russia, the opposition coalition adopted a declaration calling for "binding international guarantees" for any resolution of Syria's two-year-old conflict. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. calls on Hezbollah to pull fighters out of Syria Wednesday, May 29, 2013 11:35 AM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department called on Lebanon's Hezbollah militia on Wednesday to withdraw its fighters from Syria immediately, saying their involvement on the side of President Bashar al-Assad signaled a dangerous broadening of the war. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki condemned the declaration last weekend by the leader of the Lebanese guerrilla movement, Hasran Nasrallah. He confirmed his combatants were in Syria and vowed they would stay in the war "to the end of the road." "This is an unacceptable and extremely dangerous escalation. ... Full Story | Top |
| Syria says it has no preconditions for peace talks Wednesday, May 29, 2013 11:17 AM PDT BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syria's government has no preconditions for attending planned peace talks aimed at ending the country's two-year conflict, but is awaiting more details about the meeting, its foreign minister said on Wednesday. Walid al-Moualem, speaking from Damascus, told the Beirut-based television channel al-Mayadeen his government had yet to decide on the makeup of its delegation to take part in the proposed talks in Geneva. "We will go with good intentions, with hopes that we reach a (deal) ... we will go to Geneva with no preconditions," he said. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. vice president warns Brazil not to lag behind on trade Wednesday, May 29, 2013 11:12 AM PDT  By Paulo Prada RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Joe Biden encouraged Brazil on Wednesday to open its economy further to keep up with free trade trends worldwide, at the start of a visit aimed at boosting business between the two largest economies in the Americas. Much of the future relationship with the United States will depend on whether Brazil, whose economy still remains relatively protected by high tariffs and other barriers, can make trade easier, Biden said in a speech to local authorities and business leaders at a wharf by Rio's port. Citing U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Despite north Lebanon truce, Alawite fighters keep finger on trigger Wednesday, May 29, 2013 11:06 AM PDT By Laila Bassam TRIPOLI, Lebanon (Reuters) - The battle-scarred streets of this hilltop enclave have fallen quiet, but fighters say the shaky truce is a mere pause in a conflict that has just begun and which threatens all Lebanon. Jabal Mohsen, a minority Alawite district of the northern port city of Tripoli, has for decades been at the ready for sporadic clashes with the impoverished, majority Sunni Muslim Bab al-Tabbaneh neighborhood that sprawls beneath it. The latest violence, the heaviest in years, broke out about 10 days ago. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.N. nuclear investigation could be foiled by clean-up: diplomats Wednesday, May 29, 2013 10:59 AM PDT  By Fredrik Dahl VIENNA (Reuters) - The U.N. nuclear watchdog acknowledged on Wednesday it might not find anything if allowed access to an Iranian military facility, in an apparent reference to suspected clean-up work there, diplomats said. Herman Nackaerts, deputy director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), made the comment during a closed-door briefing where he showed satellite imagery indicating Iran had now partly paved the site, they said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Over 19,000 refugees flee conflict in eastern South Sudan: U.N. Wednesday, May 29, 2013 10:42 AM PDT  By Hereward Holland JUBA (Reuters) - More than 19,000 people have fled fighting raging in the east of South Sudan and sought refuge in neighboring countries since the start of the year, the United Nations said on Wednesday. Almost 12,000 have entered Ethiopia from South Sudan's Jonglei state, where the army is trying to put down a rebellion. Some 5,000 South Sudanese have crossed the border to Kenya, and another 2,500 to Uganda. "The increase in numbers in Ethiopia in the past weeks has been particularly sharp, with around 4,000 new arrivals since 7 May," the UN said in a statement. ... Full Story | Top |
| White House says no-fly zone for Syria remains on table Wednesday, May 29, 2013 10:36 AM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House said on Wednesday that President Barack Obama has not ruled out the idea of a no-fly zone over Syria in response to the ongoing conflict there. "Every option available to the president remains on the table when it comes to our policy towards Syria. That of course includes the possibility of a no-fly zone," White House spokesman Jay Carney told a news briefing. (Reporting By Laura MacInnis; Editing by Sandra Maler) Full Story | Top |
| Ghana transfixed as court case throws elections into doubt Wednesday, May 29, 2013 10:32 AM PDT By Matthew Mpoke Bigg ACCRA (Reuters) - Ghana's Supreme Court must decide in the coming months whether or not to overturn December elections that handed the presidency to John Mahama, in a rare case of African judicial vigour that has transfixed the country. Proceedings in a packed courtroom, where opposition leader Nana Akufo-Addo is challenging the outcome of the 2012 poll, are broadcast live on the radio and blare from cars and buses as the population of 25 million tunes in for the latest developments. ... Full Story | Top |
| Yemen appeals for funds for Guantanamo prisoners rehab center Wednesday, May 29, 2013 10:23 AM PDT By Mohammed Ghobari SANAA (Reuters) - Yemen's human rights minister appealed to the United States and Gulf Arab countries to help fund a $20 million rehabilitation centre that Sanaa says will stop Yemenis released from Guantanamo Bay prison going back to militant activities. Washington halted the repatriation of Yemeni prisoners in 2010 after a man trained by al Qaeda-linked militants in Yemen attempted to blow up a U.S.-bound plane in 2009 with a bomb concealed in his underwear. Last week U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Syrian opposition says peace talks must guarantee Assad's exit Wednesday, May 29, 2013 10:21 AM PDT ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Syria's opposition coalition said on Wednesday it would only take part in a planned peace conference in Geneva if a deadline was set for an internationally-guaranteed settlement based on President Bashar al-Assad leaving power. In its first official reaction to the conference being prepared by the United States and Russia, the coalition voted to adopt a declaration seen by Reuters that said it was committed to the aim of removing Assad and his most senior officials. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.N. Security Council set to blacklist Syria's Nusra militants Wednesday, May 29, 2013 10:15 AM PDT UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council is set to blacklist Syria's Islamist al-Nusra Front on Friday as an alias of al Qaeda in Iraq, a move that will subject the group to sanctions including an arms embargo, travel ban and assets freeze, diplomats said. It's unlikely members of the Security Council's al Qaeda sanctions committee will object to the proposal submitted by Britain and France, diplomats said on condition of anonymity. All 15-members of the sanctions committee must agree for Nusra to be listed. ... Full Story | Top |
| Tunisia hands suspended jail terms to 20 people over US embassy attack Wednesday, May 29, 2013 10:11 AM PDT TUNIS (Reuters) - A Tunisian court sentenced 20 people to two-year suspended jail terms for involvement in a deadly attack on the U.S. embassy last year, their lawyer said on Wednesday. Four people were killed and dozens injured when police opened fire to quell hundreds of protesters who smashed windows, hurled petrol bombs and stones and started fires at the embassy in the capital Tunis last September. Islamist protesters had targeted the compound over a film made in the United States, which portrayed the Prophet Mohammad as a fool and a womaniser. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.N. Security Council boosts peacekeeping force in Abyei Wednesday, May 29, 2013 10:11 AM PDT UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council approved on Wednesday an extra 1,126 troops for a U.N. peacekeeping force in the flashpoint Abyei region, claimed by Sudan and South Sudan and a base for several armed groups. The 15-member council extended for six months the mandate of the mission, known as UNISFA, and boosted to 5,326 the number of troops, provided by Ethiopia, in the province, prized for fertile land and oil reserves. "The presence of armed groups inside the Safe Demilitarised Zone remains a considerable security concern," U.N. ... Full Story | Top |
| Attack on Red Cross in eastern Afghanistan kills one guard Wednesday, May 29, 2013 09:52 AM PDT  By Hamid Shalizi and Rafiq Sherzad JALALABAD, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Insurgents attacked the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad on Wednesday, killing an Afghan guard in the second major assault on a humanitarian organization in less than a week. Seven staff members, believed to be the total number of foreign workers at the ICRC in Jalalabad, were rescued by Afghan police during the attack, which involved a suicide bomber and three gunmen, an Interior Ministry spokesman said. ... Full Story | Top |
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