Today's Reuters World News Headlines - Yahoo! News:
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U.N. Security Council condemns Syria over massacre
Sun,27 May 2012 04:51 PM PDT
Reuters -  AMMAN/UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council on Sunday unanimously condemned the killing of at least 108 people, including many children, in the Syrian town of Houla, a sign of mounting outrage at the massacre that the government and rebels blamed on each other. Images of bloodied and lifeless young bodies, laid carefully side by side after the onslaught on Friday, triggered shock around the world and underlined the failure of a six-week-old U.N. ceasefire plan to stop the violence. ...
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Britain's Blair faces grilling over ties to Murdoch
Sun,27 May 2012 04:07 PM PDT
Reuters - LONDON (Reuters) - Tony Blair's decision to openly court Rupert Murdoch to win power and ensure favorable coverage during his decade-long tenure as British prime minister will come under scrutiny when he faces a media inquiry on Monday. The inquiry, ordered by Prime Minister David Cameron after Murdoch's now defunct News of the World tabloid admitted hacking phones, has tarnished Britain's elite by laying bare the collusion between politicians, the police and the media. ... Full Story | Top |
Egypt presidential election body weighs complaints
Sun,27 May 2012 03:24 PM PDT
Reuters -  CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's election committee on Sunday considered complaints about a presidential poll that has left voters with what many see as a painful run-off choice between an Islamist apparatchik and a throwback to Hosni Mubarak's era. Both contenders are seeking to lay claim to the mantle of the "revolution" that toppled Mubarak 15 months ago, and to appeal to the many Egyptians who picked more centrist figures in last week's first round. ...
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U.N. Security Council condemns Syria over massacre
Sun,27 May 2012 03:09 PM PDT
Reuters - UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council on Sunday unanimously condemned the Syrian government for heavy-weapons attacks on the town of Houla, the site of a massacre of at least 108 people, including many children, the council president said. ... Full Story | Top |
Fresh from defeat, Serbia's Tadic poised for PM
Sun,27 May 2012 02:35 PM PDT
Reuters - BELGRADE (Reuters) - Serbia's Boris Tadic, fresh from defeat in a presidential election a week ago, put himself forward on Sunday as his party's candidate for the more powerful post of prime minister at the helm of a renewed centre-left coalition. After eight years as president, Tadic lost his bid for re-election to rightist opposition leader Tomislav Nikolic, a former leader of the ultranationalist Radical Party who says he now shares the goal of taking Serbia into the European Union. ... Full Story | Top |
U.N. confirmed use of heavy artillery, tank shells in Houla
Sun,27 May 2012 02:08 PM PDT
Reuters - UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. observers in Syria have confirmed that artillery and tank shells were fired at a residential area of Houla, Syria, where at least 108 people, including many children, were killed, the U.N. chief said on Sunday in a letter to the Security Council. The letter from Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, which was obtained by Reuters, said the observers "viewed the bodies of the dead and confirmed from an examination of ordnance that artillery and tank shells were fired at a residential neighborhood. ... Full Story | Top |
U.N. says estimates at least 108 dead in Syria massacre
Sun,27 May 2012 01:29 PM PDT
Reuters - UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations believes that at least 108 people were killed in a massacre in the Syrian town of Houla that the world body has blamed on the Syrian army, the U.N. peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous said on Sunday. Earlier, a diplomat said that General Robert Mood, head of the U.N. observer mission in Syria, told a closed-door meeting via video link from Damascus that at least 116 had died. They later clarified that the 116 figure was actually the rebel Free Syrian Army's estimate, diplomats said. ... Full Story | Top |
Shelling on Syria opposition center kills 30: activists
Sun,27 May 2012 01:08 PM PDT
Reuters - AMMAN (Reuters) - At least thirty people were killed on Sunday when Syrian army tanks shelled residential neighborhoods in the city of Hama that have been serving as bases for rebel attacks against loyalist forces, opposition activists said. The reports could not be verified independently. Opposition sources said the shelling began in the morning on areas near the northern entrance of Hama, after a series of rebel attacks on army roadblocks in the city, and resumed in the evening on the southern al-Malaab district. ... Full Story | Top |
Nepal faces fresh turmoil after charter deadline missed
Sun,27 May 2012 12:43 PM PDT
Reuters -  KATHMANDU (Reuters) - Nepal's warring political parties failed to meet a midnight deadline to agree on a new constitution on Sunday, plunging the Himalayan republic into further uncertainty, but the government moved quickly to defuse the crisis with a call for elections. A new constitution was widely seen as crucial to ending the instability that has plagued Nepal since the end of a Maoist-led civil war in 2006 and subsequent overthrow of the monarchy, but it has been thwarted by demands for the country to be divided into states along ethnic lines. ...
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Syria opposition criticizes U.N. on Houla massacre
Sun,27 May 2012 12:12 PM PDT
Reuters - AMMAN (Reuters) - Opposition activists in Syria on Sunday criticized U.N. observers for failing to take action to prevent the massacre of at least 109 people in the town of Houla. They also criticized the U.N mission for not condemning President Bashar al-Assad's forces for the killings on Friday. Syrian authorities have denied responsibility, blaming "terrorists" for the massacre. "The observers' delegation remained helpless and did not take an initiative to intervene, except to count the victims the day after the massacre just as the U.N. ... Full Story | Top |
U.N. Security Council meets on Syria massacre, Russia skeptical
Sun,27 May 2012 12:10 PM PDT
Reuters - UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council met on Sunday to discuss the recent massacre in the Syrian town of Houla, which the United Nations has blamed on the Syrian government but Damascus and Moscow suggested was due to a rebel attack. At least 116 people, including many children, were killed in the Houla attack, the head of the U.N. observer mission in Syria General Robert Mood told the 15-nation council, according to a diplomat who was in the closed-door meeting. The diplomat spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity. Russian Deputy U.N. ... Full Story | Top |
Tech fault shuts Bulgaria Kozloduy nuclear unit
Sun,27 May 2012 11:56 AM PDT
Reuters - SOFIA (Reuters) - A technical glitch automatically shut down one unit at Bulgaria's Kozloduy nuclear plant but did not pose a risk of nuclear contamination, the plant said on Sunday. The plant said the temporary closure of the 1,000-megawatt unit was caused by a malfunction of a turbogenerator protection system at 1952 local time on Saturday. "The reasons for the unit to shut down were identified and the technological problem was resolved," the plant said in a statement. It said the plan was to reconnect the reactor on Monday. ... Full Story | Top |
No strict sharia in Mali's independent north: MNLA rebels
Sun,27 May 2012 11:45 AM PDT
Reuters - DAKAR (Reuters) - Malian rebels who declared an independent Islamic state in the country's north said on Sunday they would impose sharia but not in a strict form. The National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA), which has fought to make Mali's northern Azawad region an autonomous state, on Saturday signed an agreement to merge with Islamist Ansar Dine rebels seeking to impose sharia across Mali. A mix of rebels have occupied the northern two-thirds of Mali since a March 22 coup led to a collapse of army resistance. ... Full Story | Top |
Syria massacre deserves condemnation: Russian diplomat
Sun,27 May 2012 11:44 AM PDT
Reuters - MOSCOW (Reuters) - A senior Russian diplomat said on Sunday the massacre of civilians in the Syrian town of Houla "deserves condemnation" but that it was too early to say who was to blame. "The tragic events in Syria and the deaths of tens of people deserve condemnation. However it is necessary to seriously examine the causes of what happened," Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov said on Twitter. "Let's wait for the objective evaluations of the U.N. mission," he said. The U.N. Security Council was meeting later on Sunday to discuss the killings of at least 109 people. ... Full Story | Top |
Moscow police arrest dozens at Occupy-style rally
Sun,27 May 2012 11:32 AM PDT
Reuters - MOSCOW (Reuters) - Police detained dozens of opposition protesters on Sunday at an Occupy-style rally against President Vladimir Putin in central Moscow. Activists gathered near Red Square in front of the Kremlin and walked toward the popular Arbat pedestrian district, but were detained upon reaching the sit-in protest which began earlier this month. Witnesses said riot police treated protesters who resisted roughly. "One man in his 50s was grabbed and carried away by his arms and legs. ... Full Story | Top |
Vatican faces widening of leaks scandal
Sun,27 May 2012 11:25 AM PDT
Reuters - VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - The Vatican faces a widening scandal that in one short week has seen Pope Benedict's butler arrested, the president of its bank unceremoniously dismissed and the publication of a new book alleging conspiracies among cardinals. It was a poisonous Pentecost Sunday for the pope, who likely had the tumultuous events of the past week on his mind as he celebrated a mass in St Peter's Basilica on the day regarded as the birthday of the Church. ... Full Story | Top |
Iran not ready for visit to suspect nuclear site
Sun,27 May 2012 11:01 AM PDT
Reuters -  DUBAI (Reuters) - The U.N. nuclear watchdog has not yet given good enough reasons to visit an Iranian site where it suspects there may have been experiments for developing nuclear weapons, Iranian media said. The Parchin complex is at the centre of Western suspicions that Iran is developing a nuclear weapons capability despite Tehran's repeated denials of any such ambition. A report from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) last week said satellite images showed "extensive activities" at Parchin. ...
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White House: Houla killings a "vile testament" to Syria regime
Sun,27 May 2012 10:19 AM PDT
Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House said on Sunday it was horrified by the credible reports of brutal attacks on women and children in Houla, Syria, calling the acts further evidence of an inhuman and illegitimate Syrian government. "These acts serve as a vile testament to an illegitimate regime that responds to peaceful political protest with unspeakable and inhuman brutality," a White House spokesman said. (Reporting by Jeff Mason; Editing by Philip Barbara) Full Story | Top |
NATO has fight on its hands in Afghanistan: Panetta
Sun,27 May 2012 10:17 AM PDT
Reuters -  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - NATO forces still have a fight on their hands in Afghanistan, where the Taliban has displayed resilience although its fighters have not regained territory they lost during the decade-long war, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said on Sunday. Panetta said plans for foreign troops to hand over security responsibilities to Afghan forces starting in mid-2013 were on track and necessary to ensure that the Taliban, which governed Afghanistan before the U.S.-led invasion, is kept at bay. U.S. President Barack Obama, who ordered a surge of U.S. ...
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Two years after BP oil spill, tourists back in Gulf Coast
Sun,27 May 2012 10:11 AM PDT
Reuters - NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - The Gulf Coast is a hot destination again two years after the massive BP Plc oil spill made the region a tourist dead zone, with the petroleum giant pumping more than $150 million into promotions to help the region recover. In New Orleans, about 150 miles northeast of where BP's well blew up on April 20, 2010, the period since more than 4 million barrels of oil gushed into the Gulf of Mexico has seen a frenzy of tourism efforts. ... Full Story | Top |
Merkel's lead over German opposition slumps: poll
Sun,27 May 2012 09:35 AM PDT
Reuters -  BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives saw their lead over the main centre-left opposition party crumble in the sharpest one-week shift in German voter sentiment in seven years, an opinion poll showed on Sunday. An eight percentage point lead by Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU/CSU) over the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) fell to just two points during a week that saw the chancellor face pressure over the euro crisis and domestic turmoil, according to the Emnid poll. ...
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Bahrain convicts six of plotting with Iran
Sun,27 May 2012 09:35 AM PDT
Reuters - DUBAI (Reuters) - A Bahraini court on Sunday sentenced six people to 15 years in jail each for plotting with Shi'ite Iran to stage attacks on targets including the Saudi embassy and the Interior Ministry, the official BNA news agency and a lawyer said. Bahrain, a U.S. ally and home to the U.S. Fifth Fleet, has been in turmoil since pro-democracy protests led by majority Shi'ites erupted last year after revolts in Egypt and Tunisia. The Sunni-led island, along with fellow Gulf Arab countries, have accused Iran of being behind the unrest which continues to rock the country. ... Full Story | Top |
India PM seeks to heal bad blood on Myanmar visit
Sun,27 May 2012 08:21 AM PDT
Reuters - SITTWE, Myanmar (Reuters) - In northwest Myanmar, where the Kaladan River flows out into the Bay of Bengal, the two giant arms of a half-built wharf enfold the estuarine mud with steel and concrete. Their embrace is fraternal - Myanmar's giant neighbor India is funding the new port in Sittwe, the capital of Rakhine State - but also strategic. The port is part of a $214-million river and road network that will carve a trade route into India's landlocked northeast and underscore New Delhi's determination to capitalise on Myanmar's growing importance at Asia's crossroads. ... Full Story | Top |
Dozens held after skirmishes at Moscow gay rallies
Sun,27 May 2012 07:55 AM PDT
Reuters - MOSCOW (Reuters) - Dozens of people were detained in Moscow on Sunday after Russian Orthodox Church activists broke up two gay rights protests, throwing water and shouting prayers at demonstrators. Some Orthodox activists threw punches at the protesters, grabbed their rainbow flags - the symbol of the gay rights movement - and trampled on them in front of television cameras. Skirmishes took place at both protests, outside the city hall and parliament. Neither rally was sanctioned by Moscow authorities. ... Full Story | Top |
Egypt jails Mubarak aide for graft
Sun,27 May 2012 06:16 AM PDT
Reuters - CAIRO (Reuters) - A Cairo criminal court on Sunday sentenced ousted President Hosni Mubarak's former chief of staff to seven years in jail and fined him 36.4 million Egyptian pounds ($6 million) on charges of making illegal gains, the state news agency MENA said. Zakaria Azmi has been held since April 2011 on charges of amassing wealth unlawfully. He is among several officials from Mubarak's administration detained on corruption and other charges. ... Full Story | Top |
Eight Afghan civilians said killed in NATO airstrike
Sun,27 May 2012 06:13 AM PDT
Reuters - KHOST, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Eight members of an Afghan family, including six children and two women, were killed in a NATO airstrike in eastern Afghanistan, local authorities said on Sunday, although the NATO-led coalition said there was no evidence of any civilian casualties. The strike took place in the Gerda Serai district of Paktia late on Saturday, the provincial governor's spokesman, Rohullah Samon, said as foreign and Afghan security forces try to quell Taliban and Haqqani network insurgents active in the area. ... Full Story | Top |
Difficult Pentecost for pope as butler probe hurts
Sun,27 May 2012 05:42 AM PDT
Reuters -  VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - A saddened Pope Benedict marked a difficult Pentecost Sunday as the Vatican braced for a possible widening of the scandal that has seen his butler arrested on charges of stealing private documents in the "Vatileaks" affair. The pope looked weary as he celebrated a mass in St Peter's Basilica to mark the day when the Church teaches that the Holy Spirit descended on Christ's apostles, or disciples. ...
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Merkel party urges opposition to back fiscal pact
Sun,27 May 2012 05:33 AM PDT
Reuters - BERLIN (Reuters) - A top ally of Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives appealed to the opposition Social Democrats and Greens on Sunday to refrain from "playing political games" and back the government to endorse Europe's new fiscal pact and permanent bailout fund. The SPD and their allies the Greens - making common cause with France's new Socialist President Francois Hollande and some other EU leaders - say the pact must be accompanied by new measures to promote growth and investment in Europe. ... Full Story | Top |
At least 22 militants killed in Yemeni fighting
Sun,27 May 2012 05:12 AM PDT
Reuters - ADEN (Reuters) - At least 22 Islamist militants were killed in overnight clashes and an air strike in southern Yemen, where government troops are fighting rebels linked to al Qaeda, a local official and residents said on Sunday. Around 15 of the dead were killed in fighting north of the militant stronghold of Jaar, a town in Abyan province that has been controlled by the militants since last year. ... Full Story | Top |
Greek sex industry battered by economic storm
Sun,27 May 2012 05:11 AM PDT
Reuters - ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece's once-thriving sex industry has become the latest victim of the country's debt crisis as Greeks spend less on erotic toys, pornography and titillating underwear. About 50 people, almost all young men, lined up on Friday as the Athens Erotic Dream - Greece's biggest sex fair - opened its gates in a nondescript building squeezed against a highway on the outskirts of the capital. The annual show attracted big crowds when it opened in 2008, at the height of Greece's debt-fuelled economic bubble. ... Full Story | Top |
Dutch support for austerity parties falls: poll
Sun,27 May 2012 04:55 AM PDT
Reuters - AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Support in the Netherlands for the five parties that back budget cuts to meet EU targets has fallen sharply over the past month and below the level needed to form a government after elections in September, a poll showed on Sunday. The euro zone's fifth-largest economy has been one of Germany's most committed allies in pushing for euro zone fiscal discipline, but that was thrown into doubt by the collapse of Prime Minister Mark Rutte's centre-right government last month. ... Full Story | Top |
Syrian authorities deny carrying out Houla massacre
Sun,27 May 2012 03:35 AM PDT
Reuters - AMMAN (Reuters) - Syrian authorities on Sunday denied carrying out a massacre after opposition activists said at least 109 civilians were killed in the central town of Houla, among the worst carnage in the 14-month uprising against President Bashar al-Assad. "Women, children and old men were shot dead. This is not the hallmark of the heroic Syrian army," Foreign Ministry spokesman Jihad Makdesi told reporters in Damascus. Makdesi said the massacre was carried out by "terrorists" after fighting between rebels and forces loyal to Assad. ... Full Story | Top |
Slovenia's nuclear plant restarts after maintenance
Sun,27 May 2012 03:21 AM PDT
Reuters -  LJUBLJANA (Reuters) - Slovenia's only nuclear power plant Krsko (NEK) restarted operations on Sunday after closing on April 14 for regular maintenance, NEK said on Sunday. It said in a statement maintenance took a few days longer than the 40 days planned due to more work on the replacement of the head of the reactor's container than expected. "During the maintenance all the work that was planned was completed...including the replacement of the rotor of the main electric generator," said NEK, which performs regular maintenance every 18 months. ...
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Glencore to lay out Xstrata merger plans
Sun,27 May 2012 02:33 AM PDT
Reuters -  LONDON (Reuters) - Glencore will this week move into the final stage of its long-awaited $30 billion takeover of miner Xstrata, as shareholders are sent detailed documents on the deal, kicking off a last charm offensive ahead of July votes. But Xstrata investors hoping for an improvement to the all-share offer are likely to be disappointed, at least for now. ...
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Bodies of 10 illegal diamond miners found in South Africa
Sun,27 May 2012 01:20 AM PDT
Reuters -  JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - The bodies of 10 illegal diamond miners were pulled from a disused mine in South Africa's Northern Cape province, diamond giant De Beers said late on Saturday. De Beers officials have been at the site since Tuesday after a tunnel collapsed in an area where the diamond producer had stopped mining two years ago. "The operation will progress until all illegally excavated tunnels are found, De Beers said in a statement. Eleven diggers reportedly escaped from the collapsing tunnels on Tuesday and one survivor has been recovered. ...
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Parma mayor becomes Italy's most-watched politician
Sun,27 May 2012 01:02 AM PDT
Reuters - PARMA, Italy (Reuters) - Federico Pizzarotti was an unknown, 38-year-old computer technician at a bank until a few weeks ago. Just four days after being elected the mayor of Parma, he has become the most-watched political figure in Italy. Pizzarotti's leap to fame comes thanks to the grassroots Five-Star Movement, led by comedian Beppe Grillo, which dealt a stunning blow to the parties that have governed Italy for the past two decades in this month's local elections. ... Full Story | Top |
India PM seeks to heal bad blood on Myanmar visit
Sat,26 May 2012 10:30 PM PDT
Reuters -  SITTWE, Myanmar (Reuters) - In northwest Myanmar, where the Kaladan River flows out into the Bay of Bengal, the two giant arms of a half-built wharf enfold the estuarine mud with steel and concrete. Their embrace is fraternal - Myanmar's giant neighbor India is funding the new port in Sittwe, the capital of Rakhine State - but also strategic. The port is part of a $214-million river and road network that will carve a trade route into India's landlocked northeast and underscore New Delhi's determination to capitalize on Myanmar's growing importance at Asia's crossroads. ...
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Nepal on alert as clock ticks towards constitution deadline
Sat,26 May 2012 10:20 PM PDT
Reuters -  KATHMANDU (Reuters) - Nepal stood on the brink of fresh political turmoil on Sunday as wrangling over the young Himalayan republic's first federal constitution ground towards a midnight deadline. A new constitution is widely seen as crucial to helping end the instability that has plagued Nepal since the end of a Maoist-led civil war in 2006 and subsequent overthrow of the monarchy, but it has been thwarted by demands for the country to be divided into states along ethnic lines. ...
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China detains official for rapes after online uproar
Sat,26 May 2012 09:24 PM PDT
Reuters - BEIJING (Reuters) - Police in central China detained a former Communist Party official on suspicion of raping underage girls, state media said on Sunday, following an online uproar about the latest case of abuse of power. Li Xingong, who was the party's deputy head in Yongcheng city in Henan province, is accused of assaulting more than ten girls during police interrogations, the official Xinhua news agency reported. City authorities have "ordered swift and severe punishment on the suspect in accordance with relevant laws", it added. ... Full Story | Top |
Jordan hikes gasoline, power prices to ease budget deficit
Sat,26 May 2012 04:09 PM PDT
Reuters - AMMAN (Reuters) - Jordan has raised the price of gasoline and electricity for major mining firms, hotels and banks, to ease its worsening budget deficit that could reach $4 billion this year, officials said on Saturday. The move, announced by the cabinet, which takes effect after midnight is the first major rise in retail gasoline prices since street protests early last year inspired by the wave of Arab unrest pushed the authorities to expand social spending and freeze fuel price hikes, including gasoline. The prices of premium petrol would increase to 1 dinar ($1.4) from 0. ... Full Story | Top |
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