Today's Reuters World News Headlines - Yahoo! News:
|
|
Explosion kills 39 at Venezuela's biggest refinery
Sat,25 Aug 2012 07:50 PM PDT
Reuters -  PARAGUANA/CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - An explosion tore through Venezuela's biggest refinery on Saturday, killing 39 people, wounding dozens more and halting operations at the facility in the worst accident to hit the OPEC nation's oil industry. Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez told Reuters no production units at the Amuay refinery were affected and that there were no plans to halt exports, a sign that the incident will likely have little impact on fuel prices. ...
Full Story | Top |
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. ...
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Reuters -  QUITO (Reuters) - Britain has withdrawn a threat to enter Ecuador's embassy in London to arrest WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange who has taken refuge there, President Rafael Correa said on Saturday,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. ...
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 |
First man on moon Neil Armstrong dead at 82
Sat,25 Aug 2012 03:36 PM PDT
Reuters -  (Reuters) - U.S. astronaut Neil Armstrong, who took a giant leap for mankind when he became the first person to walk on the moon, has died at the age of 82, his family said on Saturday. Armstrong died following complications from heart-bypass surgery he underwent earlier this month, the family said in a statement, just two days after his birthday on August 5. As commander of the Apollo 11 mission, Armstrong became the first human to set foot on the moon on July 20, 1969. As he stepped on the dusty surface, Armstrong said: ""That's one small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind. ...
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 |
Drone strike may have killed Haqqani network leader
Sat,25 Aug 2012 02:18 PM PDT
Reuters - ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - A U.S. drone in Pakistan may have killed a top commander of Haqqani insurgents behind some of the biggest attacks on Western and Afghan government targets in Afghanistan, sources said on Saturday, but this was denied by a senior Haqqani leader. Pakistani intelligence officials and militant sources said Badruddin Haqqani, the network's head of operations who is also believed to handle its vital business interests and smuggling operations, may have been killed during the strike this week in Pakistan's tribal North Waziristan. ... 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 |
Fighters bulldoze Sufi mosque in central Tripoli
Sat,25 Aug 2012 01:41 PM PDT
Reuters - TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Attackers bulldozed a mosque containing Sufi Muslim graves in the center of Tripoli in broad daylight on Saturday, in what appeared to be Libya's most blatant sectarian attack since the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi. Government officials condemned the demolition of the large Sha'ab mosque and blamed an armed group who, they said, considered its graves and shrines to Sufi figures un-Islamic. It was the second razing of a Sufi site in two days. ... Full Story | Top |
Explosion kills 26 at Venezuela's biggest refinery
Sat,25 Aug 2012 12:58 PM PDT
Reuters -  PARAGUANA/CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - An explosion tore through Venezuela's biggest oil refinery on Saturday, killing at least 26 people, wounding more than 50 and halting the facility's operations in the OPEC nation's worst industrial accident in recent memory. Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez told Reuters that none of the production units at the Amuay refinery were affected and that there were no plans to halt exports, a sign that the incident will likely have little impact on fuel prices. ...
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 |
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 |
Kluft decides to retire after missing London Games
Sat,25 Aug 2012 10:21 AM PDT
Reuters - STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Sweden's former Olympic and world heptathlon champion Carolina Kluft has decided to retire after injury prevented her from competing at the London Games this year. "My body is tired, and it feels sad that this is over now," she told SVT. "This is a part of life I'm leaving behind me now. I'm unbelievably happy and proud to have been part of it." Kluft, 29, dominated the heptathlon from 2002 to 2007, winning Olympic gold in 2004 and three world titles. She then swtiched to the long jump. (Reporting by Philip O'Connor; Editing by John Mehaffey) Full Story | Top |
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 |
Exclusive: Venezuela says no force majeure despite Amuay blast
Sat,25 Aug 2012 09:47 AM PDT
Reuters -  CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's state oil company PDVSA will not declare force majeure on fuel shipments despite an explosion that killed at least 24 people at the country's biggest oil refinery on Saturday, Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez told Reuters. Ramirez said Amuay's processing units were not affected by the blast, but that a fire was still burning in a naphtha storage tank. He said PDVSA would boost production at its other refineries, and that it had 10 days worth of stocks to meet its commitments to exports and the domestic market. ...
Full Story | Top |
France's Hollande: must decide on Greece after troika report
Sat,25 Aug 2012 09:39 AM PDT
Reuters - PARIS (Reuters) - French President Francois Hollande said Greece's leaders must show their commitment to reform and Europe must decide on how to help the country as soon as possible after it receives a progress report from Athens' international lenders in October. Greece must also stay in the euro zone, he added after a meeting with Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras on Saturday, echoing comments by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who held similar talks with Samaras on Friday. ... Full Story | Top |
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 |
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. ...
Full Story | Top |
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 |
Venezuela's Amuay refinery stopped after blast: Ramirez
Sat,25 Aug 2012 06:54 AM PDT
Reuters - CARACAS (Reuters) - An explosion has stopped operations at Venezuela's biggest oil refinery, Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez said on Saturday, adding that he expected the 645,000-barrel-per day Amuay facility to resume operations within two days. Officials say at least 19 people were killed and more than 50 wounded in the blast, which was caused by a gas leak. (Reporting by Daniel Wallis; Editing by Sandra Maler) 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 |
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 |
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 |
Sudan rebels, army clash in oil state
Sat,25 Aug 2012 06:27 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 |
Four Swiss killed in plane accident
Sat,25 Aug 2012 06:19 AM PDT
Reuters - ZURICH (Reuters) - Four Swiss citizens were killed when a flight between Belgium and Switzerland went down in eastern France, officials said. The spokesman for the Swiss Foreign Ministry said the relatives had been informed and that the cause of the accident was not yet known. He declined to give any further details. The flight went down at 1600 GMT on Friday in Solemont, east of the city of Besancon and just shy of the Swiss border, a French Finance Ministry official said in a statement. (Reporting by Catherine Bosley; Editing by Alison Williams) 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 |
Libya Islamists destroy Sufi shrines, library: military
Sat,25 Aug 2012 04:49 AM PDT
Reuters - ZLITAN (Reuters) - Conservative Islamists blew up the tomb of a 15th century Sufi scholar and burned down a library in the Libyan city of Zlitan, a military official said on Saturday, the latest attacks on sites in the region branded idolatrous by some sects. The attackers used bombs and a bulldozer to destroy a complex of shrines that included the tomb of Abdel Salam al-Asmar on Friday and ruined thousands of books at the Asmari Mosque library, said witnesses and Zlitan military council official Omar Ali. ... Full Story | Top |
Venezuela refinery explosion kills 7, injures 48
Sat,25 Aug 2012 01:40 AM PDT
Reuters - PARAGUANA, Venezuela (Reuters) - A gas explosion at Venezuela's Amuay refinery killed seven people and injured another 48, the local governor said on Saturday, adding that the situation was under control. "There's no risk of another explosion," she told state TV. "Right now, we're attending to the injured." (Reporting by Deisy Buitrago, Writing by Andrew Cawthorne; Editing by Alison Williams) Full Story | Top |
Air strike kills Pakistani Taliban commander in Afghanistan
Sat,25 Aug 2012 01:08 AM PDT
Reuters - KABUL/PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - A NATO air strike in eastern Afghanistan has killed a commander of the Pakistani Taliban, both NATO and the Taliban said on Saturday. Both sides identified the dead commander as Mullah Dadullah and said several of his comrades were also killed in the attack on Friday. A NATO statement did not say who carried out the assault but the alliance is alone in having the air power to conduct such an operation. It said Dadullah's deputy, Shakir, was also killed. ... Full Story | Top |
Syria arrests filmmaker, actor who helped crackdown victims
Fri,24 Aug 2012 09:33 PM PDT
Reuters - AMMAN (Reuters) - Security forces in Syria have arrested a filmmaker and an actor who helped people made homeless or jobless by President Bashar al-Assad's forces, their friends said on Friday, part of an apparent crackdown on the country's secular intelligentsia. Arwa Nairabiya - who founded the "Damascus Dox Box" documentary film festival - was arrested at Damascus airport on Thursday evening before boarding a plane to Cairo, fellow filmmakers and relatives said. ... Full Story | Top |
Mexican police shoot two U.S. Embassy staff in botched chase
Fri,24 Aug 2012 08:15 PM PDT
Reuters -  MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Two U.S. Embassy employees were shot at and wounded by Mexican police on Friday after they were caught up in a police chase on the outskirts of the capital, Mexico's Navy said. Police fired on the vehicle in which the embassy employees were traveling, which carried diplomatic plates, after the driver veered out of the way when he saw the officers' weapons. "At that moment those in the ... (police) vehicle opened fire on the diplomatic vehicle," the Navy said in a statement. "Moments later, three other vehicles joined the chase and fired shots at the U.S. Embassy ...
Full Story | Top |
| |
|
No comments:
Post a Comment