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Assad's forces accused of massacre near Syrian capital
Sat,25 Aug 2012 05:47 PM PDT
Reuters -  AMMAN (Reuters) - Syrian opposition activists accused President Bashar al-Assad's forces on Sunday of committing a massacre of scores of people in a town close to the capital that the army had just retaken from rebels. More than 200 bodies were found in houses and basements around Daraya, a working-class Sunni Muslim town to the southwest of Damascus, according to activists who said most had been killed "execution-style" by troops on house-to-house raids. Due to restrictions on non-state media in Syria, it was impossible to independently verify the accounts. ...
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Republicans to delay business at convention by one day
Sat,25 Aug 2012 05:31 PM PDT
Reuters -  TAMPA (Reuters) - Republicans will delay the start of business at their national convention in Tampa, Florida by one day due to Tropical Storm Isaac, the Republican National Committee chairman said on Saturday. Chairman Reince Priebus said the convention - originally scheduled to be a four-day extravaganza of pomp and party celebration - would convene on Monday as scheduled but then immediately recess until Tuesday afternoon. ...
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Florida governor cancels opening speech at Republican convention
Sat,25 Aug 2012 05:23 PM PDT
Reuters - MIAMI (Reuters) - Florida Governor Rick Scott on Saturday canceled his plans to participate in the opening day of the Republican National Convention to focus on the state's preparations for approaching Tropical Storm Isaac. Scott was expected to give a speech at the convention on Monday night, kicking off the four-day meeting, which will see former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney receive the party's presidential nomination. "I'm going to withdraw from all my RNC activities on Monday," Scott said. "I've got to get ready for taking care of the whole state." U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
Ecuador says Britain withdraws threat to raid embassy in Assange standoff
Sat,25 Aug 2012 04:49 PM PDT
Reuters -  QUITO (Reuters) - Britain has withdrawn a threat to enter Ecuador's embassy in London to arrest WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange who has taken refuge there, President Rafael Correa said on Saturday, taking the heat out of the diplomatic standoff. "We consider this unfortunate incident over, after a grave diplomatic error by the British in which they said they would enter our embassy," Correa said in a weekly media address. In a statement, Ecuador's government said it had received "a communication from the British Foreign Office which said that there was no threat to enter the embassy. ...
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Little respect for conventions in never-ending U.S. campaign
Sat,25 Aug 2012 04:32 PM PDT
Reuters - COMMERCE, Michigan (Reuters) - There are few timeouts in U.S. presidential campaigns any more. A tradition of candidates keeping a low profile while opponents bask in the limelight at their party conventions has frayed in recent elections. This year, that custom will be all but ignored as President Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney compete to be heard amid the cacophony of campaign noise on Twitter, YouTube and the 24-hour news cycle. ... Full Story | Top |
Top ally of former Ivorian president arrested in Ghana
Sat,25 Aug 2012 04:11 PM PDT
Reuters - ABIDJAN (Reuters) - Ghana has arrested a top ally of Ivory Coast's former President Laurent Gbagbo after weeks of deadly attacks on Ivorian police and military installations, officials from the two neighboring West African countries said on Saturday. Gbagbo is awaiting trial at the International Criminal Court in The Hague on charges of crimes against humanity committed during a brief 2011 civil war. ... Full Story | Top |
Hungary's far-right calls for zero tolerance against Roma
Sat,25 Aug 2012 03:47 PM PDT
Reuters - BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Hungary's opposition far-right Jobbik party called on Saturday for zero tolerance against what it called Roma crime and parasitism, and said any member of the large minority who did not conform should leave the country. Tensions between the 500,000 to 700,000 impoverished Roma and other Hungarians in the country of 10 million have risen at a time when Hungary is mired in its second recession in four years and unemployment is stuck in double figures. "We need to roll back these hundreds of thousands of Roma outlaws. ... Full Story | Top |
Syria activists report "massacre" by army near Damascus
Sat,25 Aug 2012 03:07 PM PDT
Reuters - AMMAN (Reuters) - The bodies of at least 200 people were found in a town close to Damascus on Saturday, according to activists who said most appeared to have been killed by Syrian troops "execution style". The deaths would bring the toll from an offensive by President Bashar al-Assad's forces on Daraya, a working class Sunni Muslim town on the southwestern edge of Damascus, to 270, according to a tally by opposition activists in the capital. ... Full Story | Top |
Nicaragua jails Mexican policeman, 17 others transporting cash
Sat,25 Aug 2012 02:38 PM PDT
Reuters - MANAGUA (Reuters) - A Nicaraguan judge on Saturday ordered the incarceration of 18 people, including a Mexican policeman, who had posed as journalists while attempting to pass through the Central American country last week with at least $7 million in cash. The suspects will remain behind bars in "protective custody" until a September 5 court date, when they will face money laundering and other criminal charges lodged by the federal prosecutors. ... Full Story | Top |
Last rebel group signs deal with Central African Republic
Sat,25 Aug 2012 02:28 PM PDT
Reuters - BANGUI (Reuters) - Central African Republic's last armed rebel group signed a peace deal with the government on Saturday that was designed to end years of violence in the country. "We picked up guns to fight the bad governance, corruption, nepotism and exclusion that characterized this regime, and we think that our message has been heard," Abdoulaye Issene Ramadan, leader of the CPJP rebel group, said in the capital Bangui. "Today we bury the hatchet. ... Full Story | Top |
Activists say 122 more bodies found in Damascus suburb
Sat,25 Aug 2012 02:26 PM PDT
Reuters - AMMAN (Reuters) - More than 200 bodies were found on Saturday in a town outside Damascus a day after it was retaken by the Syrian army, opposition activists said, accusing President Bashar al-Assad's forces of mass summary executions. Local activists initially reported finding 79 bodies, but 122 more were found later in the day. Most were found in houses and basement shelters of residential buildings and appear to have been shot dead by troops who had stormed the premises, they said. Due to restrictions on non-state media, it was impossible to independently verify the accounts. ... Full Story | Top |
French police union demands tougher legal action after shootings
Sat,25 Aug 2012 01:59 PM PDT
Reuters - LA ROCHELLE, France (Reuters) - A leading French police union called on Saturday for tougher legal measures after three officers were shot and injured in clashes in the Paris suburb of Grigny overnight. "Criminal determination and the extreme violence of organized gangs in the face of the national police can no longer be trivialized," Nicolas Comte, secretary general of the Unite SGP Police-Force Ouvriere union, said in a statement. Anyone firing on police should be automatically charged with attempted murder, Comte said. ... Full Story | Top |
Colombia's president says to keep defense minister in post
Sat,25 Aug 2012 11:57 AM PDT
Reuters - BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said on Saturday he would not remove his embattled defense minister in a cabinet shake-up despite growing criticism over an increasing number of attacks by Marxist guerrillas in Latin America's No. 4 economy. Two years into his four-year term, the 61-year-old Santos is reshuffling his 16-member cabinet to shore up slumping approval ratings and strengthen his support base within the ruling national coalition ahead of his likely re-election bid in 2014. ... Full Story | Top |
Legal marijuana backers raise $3 million in two states
Sat,25 Aug 2012 11:12 AM PDT
Reuters - (Reuters) - Campaigns to become the first U.S. states to legalize marijuana for recreational use in Washington and Colorado have raised $3 million ahead of a November vote, far outpacing the opposition. Proponents of pot legalization in Washington state have raised nearly $2 million since the initiative qualified for the ballot in January, and about $1 million in Colorado since its measure earned a place on the ballot the following month, according to the most recent state campaign figures. ... Full Story | Top |
Hollande approval rating slips to 54 percent: Ifop poll
Sat,25 Aug 2012 11:07 AM PDT
Reuters - PARIS (Reuters) - French President Francois Hollande's approval rating fell to 54 percent in August, continuing a steady decline since he came to office, according to a poll released on Saturday. The declining ratings reflect the challenges Hollande faces in tackling high unemployment and a stagnant economy as he seeks to slash 33 billion euros from next year's budget to meet deficit targets, part of a drive to restore faith in the euro. ... Full Story | Top |
Lebanese Shi'ite hostage arrives home from Syria
Sat,25 Aug 2012 10:40 AM PDT
Reuters - BEIRUT (Reuters) - A Lebanese man who was kidnapped with a group of 10 other Lebanese Shi'ite pilgrims in Syria in May arrived home on Saturday, hours after Syrian rebels released him as a "goodwill gesture". Hussein Omar is the first of the group, seized after they crossed into Syria from Turkey, to be freed. Omar told reporters in Beirut that the kidnappers had promised him that they would release the rest of the group within days. The kidnapping inflamed tension in Lebanon, a country divided between friends and foes of the 17-month armed revolt against Syria's President Bashar al-Assad. ... Full Story | Top |
Merritt eyeing world record in Birmingham
Sat,25 Aug 2012 10:24 AM PDT
Reuters -  LONDON (Reuters) - Olympic 110 meters hurdles champion Aries Merritt is eyeing the world record when he races at a Diamond League meeting in Birmingham, England on Sunday. The American hurdler, who was disqualified from the event at the Lausanne Diamond League earlier this week for a false start, said if conditions were agreeable bettering the world mark of 12.87 seconds was within his reach. "I think the world record is obtainable," Merritt told a news conference said. "I just need the right conditions and I need to stay in the blocks," he said in reference to Lausanne. ...
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South Sudan denies abuses cited by HRW in Jonglei report
Sat,25 Aug 2012 10:09 AM PDT
Reuters - JUBA (Reuters) - The head of a South Sudan disarmament campaign dismissed a Human Rights Watch (HRW) report saying soldiers had raped, beaten, tortured and killed civilians during the campaign in Jonglei, the country's largest state. South Sudan seceded from Sudan a year ago under a 2005 peace deal and is awash with firearms after a decades-long civil war with Khartoum that killed an estimated two million people. Run mostly by former guerilla fighters, South Sudan's nascent government has struggled to assert control over its vast and restive territories since declaring independence. ... Full Story | Top |
UPDATE 1-Athletics-Merritt eyeing world record in Birmingham
Sat,25 Aug 2012 10:05 AM PDT
Reuters - * Merritt eyes hurdles world record * Gay returns to 200 metres (Recasts) LONDON, Aug 25 (Reuters) - Olympic 110 metres hurdles champion Aries Merritt is eyeing the world record when he races at a Diamond League meeting in Birmingham, England on Sunday. The American hurdler, who was disqualified from the event at the Lausanne Diamond League earlier this week for a false start, said if conditions were agreeable bettering the world mark of 12.87 seconds was within his reach. "I think the world record is obtainable," Merritt told a news conference said. ... Full Story | Top |
Two dead, 9 wounded in gunfire near NY's Empire State Building
Sat,25 Aug 2012 09:36 AM PDT
Reuters -  NEW YORK (Reuters) - An out-of-work fashion designer fatally shot a former co-worker near the Empire State Building on Friday and was then killed in a blaze of gunshots by police, stunning tourists and commuters outside of one of New York's most popular landmarks. Nine bystanders were wounded, possibly all of them by police bullets, though none of their injuries were life-threatening, police said. Much of the day, police listed the casualty total at 10 people but late Friday changed the number to 11. ...
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Sweden to buy 40-60 next generation Saab Gripen jets
Sat,25 Aug 2012 09:23 AM PDT
Reuters - STOCKHOLM/ZURICH (Reuters) - Sweden said on Saturday it would buy 40-60 new JAS 39 Gripen fighter jets from aerospace firm Saab after inking a deal last year to share some of the development costs with Switzerland. Sweden has not previously said how many of the next generation Gripen planes it would buy, although its development partner for the jet, Switzerland, said late last year it would buy 22 at a cost of 3.1 billion Swiss francs. ... Full Story | Top |
Republicans shuffle speech lineup to give Ann Romney prime TV slot
Sat,25 Aug 2012 08:47 AM PDT
Reuters -  POWELL, Ohio (Reuters) - Republican officials shuffled the speaking lineup at their convention in Tampa next week to ensure that presidential candidate Mitt Romney's wife Ann will reach a prime-time television audience when she speaks to the gathering. Ann Romney will now speak on Tuesday night after it became clear that television networks were not planning to show her Monday-night address before a prime-time audience. ...
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German Finance Minister rejects more time for Greek reforms again
Sat,25 Aug 2012 08:42 AM PDT
Reuters - BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany's finance minister reaffirmed on Saturday his opposition to giving Greece more time to carry out promised reforms, a day after Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras pleaded in Berlin for "more air" to implement the painful measures. "More time generally means more money and that very soon means a new (bailout) program," Wolfgang Schaeuble told the Tagesspiegel on Sunday newspaper, according to advance excerpts of an interview. ... Full Story | Top |
Egypt reopens Rafah crossing with Gaza: sources
Sat,25 Aug 2012 08:38 AM PDT
Reuters - ISMAILIA, EGYPT/GAZA (Reuters) - Egypt reopened the Rafah border crossing with Gaza on Saturday, a lifeline for Gazans which had been closed for much of the month since an August 5 attack on Egyptian guards, Palestinian and Egyptian security sources said. The move signals an advance in relations between Egypt's new government lead by President Mohammed Mursi and Gaza's Islamist rulers Hamas, which had deteriorated since the attack in which gunmen killed 16 Egyptian soldiers on the Israeli border. ... Full Story | Top |
Serb villages evacuated, wildfires rage unabated
Sat,25 Aug 2012 08:37 AM PDT
Reuters - CACAK, Serbia (Reuters) - Police in Serbia ordered the evacuation of several thousand villagers in the southwest of the country on Saturday as over-stretched emergency services, backed by a Russian plane, battled wildfires scorching the western Balkans. Near the Serbian town of Cacak, fires raged through hillsides and cornfields dried to a crisp by drought, a Reuters correspondent reported. Several houses were ablaze. Police said they had ordered the villages of Miokovci and Gornja Gorevnica, near Cacak, to be evacuated. "The situation ... ... Full Story | Top |
Ukraine's Yanukovich flirts with Russia as election looms
Sat,25 Aug 2012 08:21 AM PDT
Reuters -  SOCHI, Russia (Reuters) - Ukraine's President Viktor Yanukovich hinted on Saturday he may soften his stance against Russia over gas prices and membership of Moscow-backed regional groups, seeking support from the Soviet-era ruler before an October parliamentary election. Ukraine is heavily dependent on Russian gas while about 70 percent of Russia's gas exports to Europe go via Ukraine. ...
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Yemeni minister survives assassination attempt
Sat,25 Aug 2012 08:20 AM PDT
Reuters - ADEN (Reuters) - Yemen's Transport Minister Waed Abdullah Bathib survived an assassination attempt on Saturday when shots were fired at his car, a local government official said. Nobody was hurt in the attack in the southern city of Aden, but Bathib's car was pockmarked by bullets, the official told Reuters. He said that the shots were fired from another car. It was not clear who was behind the attack in the Khormaksar district of the city or how many gunmen were involved. ... Full Story | Top |
Libya Islamists destroy Sufi shrines, library-military
Sat,25 Aug 2012 07:53 AM PDT
Reuters - ZLITAN, Libya (Reuters) - Ultra-conservative Islamists used bombs and a bulldozer to destroy the tomb of a 15th century Sufi scholar in the Libyan city of Zlitan, witnesses said on Saturday, the latest attack in the region on sites branded idolatrous by some sects. The attackers reduced the revered last resting place of Abdel Salam al-Asmar to rubble on Friday and also set fire to a historic library in a nearby mosque, ruining thousands of books, witnesses and a military official added. ... Full Story | Top |
Sudan rebels, army clash in oil state
Sat,25 Aug 2012 07:52 AM PDT
Reuters - KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Rebels clashed with Sudanese government forces in the oil-producing border state of South Kordofan during an Islamic holiday this week, both sides said, each claiming victory over the other. Sudan's regions bordering newly-independent South Sudan have been convulsed by conflict since last year, forcing hundreds of thousands of people to flee their homes, according to the United Nations. Aid agencies have warned of a humanitarian catastrophe in the border states as food stocks dwindle. ... Full Story | Top |
Syrian kidnappers release Lebanese hostage
Sat,25 Aug 2012 06:39 AM PDT
Reuters - BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian rebels released a Lebanese hostage on Saturday who was among a group of Lebanese Shi'ite pilgrims kidnapped after crossing into Syria from Turkey in May. A rebel source said the release of Hussein Omar, the first hostage to be freed, was a "goodwill gesture". Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati said he received a call from Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu confirming the release of Omar. "(Mikati) wished that Turkish authorities will continue its efforts to release all the kidnapped Lebanese in Syria as soon as possible," a statement from Mikati's office said. ... Full Story | Top |
Turkish minister plays down Syria link to Turkey attacks
Sat,25 Aug 2012 06:39 AM PDT
Reuters - ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has played down possible Syrian links to a recent rise in guerrilla attacks in Turkey, saying unrest across the border was not the cause of Turkey's problems. Turkey has seen an upsurge in attacks over the past few weeks, including a car bombing in the southern city of Gaziantep on Monday that killed nine people. Some Turkish officials have blamed the attacks on the conflict in Syria. ... Full Story | Top |
Iran has duty to support Assad: intelligence official
Sat,25 Aug 2012 06:39 AM PDT
Reuters - DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran has a responsibility to support the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as it fights an armed uprising, the head of the intelligence unit of Iran's elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps was quoted as saying on Saturday, An Iranian lawmaker said a legislative committee would visit Syria to strengthen bilateral relations and consult Syrian officials, the state news agency IRNA reported. "We all have a responsibility to support Syria and not allow the line of resistance to be broken," Fars news agency quoted Hossein Taeb, the intelligence unit head, as saying. ... Full Story | Top |
Athletics-Gay racing over 200 metres in Birmingham on Sunday
Sat,25 Aug 2012 06:11 AM PDT
Reuters - LONDON, Aug 25 (Reuters) - American sprinter Tyson Gay,fourth in the 100 metres at the London Olympics, will race over200 for the first time in two years at a Diamond League meetingin Birmingham on Sunday. The 30-year-old, who has run the second fastest 100 of alltime and won silver in the 4x100 relay in London earlier thismonth, decided to concentrate on the shorter sprint two yearsago after suffering numerous injuries. "I feel like my body is ready for the longer sprint again,"Gay said in a news release. ... Full Story | Top |
Soccer-Stoke poised to sign U.S. midfielder Edu
Sat,25 Aug 2012 05:53 AM PDT
Reuters - Aug 25 (Reuters) - Stoke City are set to sign United Statesinternational Maurice Edu from Rangers. "City have agreed personal terms for the 26-year-old to movefrom Ibrox for an undisclosed fee," the English Premier Leagueclub said on their website (www.stokecityfc.com) on Saturday. "The transfer is now subject to Edu passing a medical overthe weekend and then being granted a work permit. ... Full Story | Top |
Lonmin says more than half of workers back at some shafts
Sat,25 Aug 2012 05:13 AM PDT
Reuters - JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - More than half of the workers at some of Lonmin's South African Marikana mine shafts reported for work on Saturday, the company said, as it seeks to resume full operations in the wake of protests in which 44 people were killed last week. "Eastern shafts are working this weekend and we have 57 percent attendance across these shafts. The rest of the mine is closed as this is their off-weekend," Lonmin, which accounts for about 12 percent of global platinum output, said in a statement. ... Full Story | Top |
UK says "deeply concerned" by Gambia execution reports
Sat,25 Aug 2012 04:51 AM PDT
Reuters - BANJUL (Reuters) - British Foreign Office Minister Alistair Burt said on Saturday he was "deeply concerned" by reports Gambia had executed nine prisoners and was preparing to execute others. The tiny West African country declined late on Friday to confirm or deny an Amnesty International report saying nine of its 47 death row inmates were killed overnight Thursday. "I am deeply concerned over reports that nine prisoners on death row in The Gambia have been executed following comments by President (Yahya) Jammeh that all death row prisoners would now be executed," Burt said. ... Full Story | Top |
Death metal, the sound of Tampa, won't be heard at Republican convention
Sat,25 Aug 2012 04:30 AM PDT
Reuters -  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - When they convene in Tampa to nominate Mitt Romney for president next week, Republicans will not hear a note from the city's most notable musical exports: death-metal bands such as Deicide and Obituary. The South Bronx hatched hip-hop and Seattle birthed grunge rock. Tampa gave the world death metal, a boundary-pushing style of heavy rock that features lyrics that can be decidedly anti-Christian. ...
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Dexia says likely to pump money into Luxembourg arm
Sat,25 Aug 2012 04:18 AM PDT
Reuters - BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Franco-Belgian bank Dexia SA said it believes it will need to recapitalise its Luxembourg arm before the latter's imminent sale, which could see it demanding further money from the Belgian and French governments. Dexia, bailed out for a second time in three years last October, agreed in April to sell Dexia Banque Internationale a Luxembourg (Dexia BIL) for 730 million euros. A 90 percent stake will go to Precision Capital, owned by Qatar's al-Thani royal family, and the remaining 10 percent to the Luxembourg government. ... Full Story | Top |
Obama aims to shift campaign focus back to Medicare
Sat,25 Aug 2012 03:00 AM PDT
Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama used his regular weekly radio address Saturday to continue pounding away at Republican plans to overhaul Medicare, the U.S. healthcare program for the elderly. The address underscored the new prominence Medicare has assumed as a campaign issue in the past two weeks, since the Republican Party's presumptive presidential nominee, Mitt Romney, picked Paul Ryan as his running mate. Ryan, a Wisconsin congressman and chairman of the U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
Chelsea sign Azpilicueta and Moses
Sat,25 Aug 2012 02:09 AM PDT
Reuters - LONDON (Reuters) - European champions Chelsea completed a double transfer swoop for Olympique Marseille defender Cesar Azpilicueta and Wigan Athletic winger Victor Moses on Friday. No fees were disclosed by the Londoners but media reports said Spaniard Azpilicueta, 22, cost about seven million pounds while Moses was bought for nine million pounds. "I'm a right back and my first mission is to defend for the team but I also like to offer solutions offensively and I enjoy going forward," the former Marseille player told the club website (www.chelseafc.com). ... Full Story | Top |
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