Today's Reuters World News Headlines - Yahoo! News:
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Ex-CIA man Edwin Wilson, jailed for selling arms to Libya, dies
Sat,22 Sep 2012 07:55 PM PDT
Reuters - (Reuters) - Former CIA operative Edwin P. Wilson, who was found guilty in 1983 of selling arms to Libya but released from prison in 2004 after a judge threw out the conviction, has died at age 84, a funeral home director said on Saturday. When Wilson was sent to prison, his was the biggest arms-dealing case in U.S. history. Wilson died on September 10 of complications from heart valve replacement surgery, said Craig Emmick, director at Columbia Funeral Home and Crematory in Seattle. ... Full Story | Top |
Pakistani bounty placed on anti-Islam filmmaker
Sat,22 Sep 2012 06:37 PM PDT
Reuters -  PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - A Pakistani minister offered $100,000 on Saturday to anyone who kills the maker of an online video which insults Islam, as sporadic protests rumbled on across parts of the Muslim world. "I announce today that this blasphemer, this sinner who has spoken nonsense about the holy Prophet, anyone who murders him, I will reward him with $100,000," Railways Minister Ghulam Ahmad Bilour told a news conference, to applause. "I invite the Taliban brothers and the al Qaeda brothers to join me in this blessed mission. ...
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Egypt's Mursi says Iran is vital to ending Syria's crisis
Sat,22 Sep 2012 05:56 PM PDT
Reuters -  CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's Islamist President said on Saturday that having a strong relationship with Iran is important for Egypt at this time to be able to work out a way to end the bloodshed in Syria. Speaking in a televised interview, his first to state TV since his election last June, President Mohamed Mursi described Iran as "a main player in the region that could have an active and supportive role in solving the Syrian problem. ...
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Libyan Islamist militia swept out of bases
Sat,22 Sep 2012 05:36 PM PDT
Reuters -  BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) - The two main Islamist militias in Derna, a city in eastern Libya known as an Islamist stronghold, withdrew from their five bases on Saturday and announced they were disbanding, residents said, a day after a militia was driven out of Benghazi. The Abu Slim and Ansar al-Sharia militias' announcements were apparently motivated by events in Benghazi, where Ansar al-Sharia, a group linked with last week's deadly attack on the U.S. consulate, withdrew from all its bases in the city late on Friday amid mass demonstrations in support of the government. ...
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Fake Italian pilot traveled in cockpit, police say
Sat,22 Sep 2012 05:17 PM PDT
Reuters - ROME (Reuters) - A man who posed as an airline pilot and traveled in the cockpit of at least one plane was arrested in Turin Airport using forged identity cards and wearing a pilot's uniform, Italian police said on Saturday. The 32-year-old, whose real name was not released, allegedly created a fake identity as a Lufthansa pilot named "Andrea Sirlo," complete with a Facebook page that included fake flight attendant friends. ... Full Story | Top |
Ex-Guatemalan Army commander accused in massacre faces charges in U.S
Sat,22 Sep 2012 05:06 PM PDT
Reuters - LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A former Guatemalan army commander accused of taking part in the massacre of more than 200 people during that country's civil war has been returned to the United States to face charges he lied about his past to gain U.S. citizenship, authorities said on Saturday. Jorge Sosa, 54, arrived at Los Angeles International Airport accompanied by U.S. Marshals on Friday evening following his extradition from Calgary, Canada, where he was arrested in January, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Lori Haley said. U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
Seven mutilated, burnt bodies found in western Mexico
Sat,22 Sep 2012 04:34 PM PDT
Reuters - MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Seven decapitated bodies that had been chopped into pieces and burnt were left on a highway in western Mexico on Saturday in a region where rival drug gangs are waging a bloody dispute. The bodies were found in plastic bags in the cargo bed of a burnt-out pick-up truck in the state of Michoacan near the town of Venustiano Carranza and the border of Jalisco state, the Michoacan attorney general's office said in a statement. The killings had all the hallmarks of a drug gang attack, a local official said on condition that he was not identified. ... Full Story | Top |
Panetta's Asia visit shows balancing role U.S. hopes to play
Sat,22 Sep 2012 04:32 PM PDT
Reuters -  ABOARD A U.S. MILITARY AIRCRAFT (Reuters) - Defense Secretary Leon Panetta's week-long visit to the Asia-Pacific region helped deepen the U.S. military's strategic shift to the area, even as it illustrated the balancing role that Washington may have to play to maintain peace and stability. The trip, which concluded on Saturday, took Panetta to Japan, China and New Zealand and coincided with a flare-up in tensions between Tokyo and Beijing over a disputed island group in the East China Sea. Anti-Japanese protests took place in dozens of cities across China while Panetta was in the region. ...
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Tunisia president's former aide gets suspended jail sentence
Sat,22 Sep 2012 04:23 PM PDT
Reuters - TUNIS (Reuters) - A Tunisian military court handed down a suspended prison sentence to President Moncef Marzouki's former aide who criticized the army's role, in a case that may raise concerns about freedoms in the birthplace of the Arab Spring revolts. Ayoub Massoudi publicly accused the head of the army Rachid Ammar in August of throwing his weight behind the Islamist-led government's decision to extradite Muammar Gaddafi's prime minister Baghadi al-Mahmoudi to Libya in June. ... Full Story | Top |
Opposition says Georgia vote a choice between "good and evil"
Sat,22 Sep 2012 03:39 PM PDT
Reuters -  TBILISI (Reuters) - Voters in Georgia face a stark choice between "good and evil" in parliamentary elections on October 1, said opposition leader Bidzina Ivanishvili on Saturday, following days of protests over state prison brutality that have left the ruling party reeling. "We should make a choice between good and evil on October 1," Bidzina Ivanishvili, told a crowd in Zugdidi in western Georgia. "We promise to come to power and to restore justice," said the billionaire leader of the "Georgian Dream" opposition coalition. ...
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France's Hollande hits new low in popularity poll
Sat,22 Sep 2012 03:09 PM PDT
Reuters -  PARIS (Reuters) - French President Francois Hollande's approval ratings have tumbled to their lowest level since he first took office in May, a new poll showed on Sunday, as France's grinding economic stagnation and record unemployment show little sign of easing. According to the Ifop poll for Sunday newspaper JDD, Hollande now has a 43 percent positive rating, down from 54 percent in August - one of the sharpest drops in over a decade. Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault also saw his own approval rating drop to 50 percent, from 57 percent, the poll said. ...
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Somali lawmaker shot dead in latest militant attack
Sat,22 Sep 2012 03:03 PM PDT
Reuters - MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Gunmen shot dead a Somali lawmaker on Saturday, witnesses said, the first assassination of a member of the war-torn country's newly appointed parliament. The unidentified assailants fired several shots at Mustaf Haji Mohamed shortly after evening prayers in Mogadishu's Waberi district, the latest in a wave of militant attacks since the assembly elected President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud on September 10. ... Full Story | Top |
Opposition boycott and apathy threaten Belarus election
Sat,22 Sep 2012 03:01 PM PDT
Reuters -  MINSK (Reuters) - A Belarussian parliamentary election on Sunday is likely to reinforce hardline President Alexander Lukashenko's grip on the small former Soviet country despite a boycott call from the dispirited opposition. The two main opposition parties have urged people to go fishing and mushrooming rather than vote in what they see as a sham exercise to produce a chamber which largely rubber-stamps Lukashenko's directives. ...
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Sudan, South Sudan move towards security deal as U.N. deadline expires
Sat,22 Sep 2012 02:52 PM PDT
Reuters - ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Sudan and South Sudan have taken a step towards a border security agreement that will allow oil exports to resume, officials said on Saturday, paving the way for their leaders to sign a deal to end hostilities at a summit in Ethiopia. Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir and his southern counterpart Salva Kiir are expected to hammer out the border agreement in Addis Ababa on Sunday, to meet a deadline set by the U.N. Security Council. The neighbors reached an interim deal in August to revive southern oil exports that must transit the north to reach Red Sea ports. ... Full Story | Top |
U.N. investigator urges Morocco to end police torture
Sat,22 Sep 2012 02:44 PM PDT
Reuters - RABAT (Reuters) - The United Nations' special rapporteur said on Saturday torture against people suspected of national security crimes in Morocco was systematic and urged the country to quickly end ill treatment in its prisons and police detention centers. At the end of a rare fact-finding mission at the invitation of Moroccan authorities, Juan Mendez told reporters there was also evidence of torture being inflicted on people held in prisons and detention centers in the disputed Western Sahara, which Rabat controls. ... Full Story | Top |
Al Qaeda foe survives Yemen suicide bombing
Sat,22 Sep 2012 02:16 PM PDT
Reuters - ADEN (Reuters) - A suicide bomber failed on Saturday in an assassination attempt on a former Islamist in Yemen who helped drive al Qaeda militants out of a southern region this year, a security source and resident said. Abdul-Latif al-Sayed had just got into a parked car with three others after dining in a restaurant in the southern port city of Aden when the bomber struck, the security source said. The bomber died in the explosion and the four victims were in hospital with serious injuries. ... Full Story | Top |
U.S. stops 20 Iran officials attending U.N. assembly
Sat,22 Sep 2012 02:14 PM PDT
Reuters - DUBAI (Reuters) - The United States has denied visas to about 20 Iranian government officials hoping to attend next week's United Nations General Assembly, including two ministers, Iran's Fars news agency reported on Saturday. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a regular at the assembly since he took office in 2005, will give his final speech there on Wednesday and will address a meeting on the "rule of law" on Monday. But of the 160-or-so visas requested by the Iranian delegation two months ago, about 20 were turned down, Fars said. ... Full Story | Top |
Egypt Salafi urges U.N. to criminalize contempt of Islam
Sat,22 Sep 2012 02:00 PM PDT
Reuters - CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's president and other Muslim leaders should demand the U.N. criminalize contempt of religion after the release of an anti-Islamic film and cartoons which demonstrate growing racism, said the leader of the biggest ultra-orthodox Islamist party. Despite doctrinal and political differences with President Mohamed Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood, the Salafist Nour Party played a key role in supporting it during presidential elections in June. Led by Emad Abdel Ghaffour, it now ranks as the second-largest party in parliament and plays a formidable force in Egypt's new politics. ... Full Story | Top |
Free Syrian Army rebel leaders move from Turkey to Syria
Sat,22 Sep 2012 01:47 PM PDT
Reuters -  BEIRUT (Reuters) - The rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) has moved its leadership for the first time from Turkey to parts of Syria that are now controlled by rebels, the group's commander-in-chief said on Saturday. The FSA has been based in Turkey for more than a year as fighters have struggled to battle forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad. Although rebels now control large swathes of Syria, they face air and artillery attack from Assad's forces. ...
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Venezuela's Capriles says he'll fix country's problems, not world peace
Sat,22 Sep 2012 01:25 PM PDT
Reuters -  CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's opposition standard bearer Henrique Capriles mocked President Hugo Chavez's grandiose campaign pledges two weeks before the election, and vowed to fix voters' daily problems if he wins. Capriles, a 40-year-old state governor, said the socialist leader was more interested in promoting his self-styled revolution around the globe than in addressing local issues such a power cuts, unemployment and high crime rates. ...
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Militants or no, Islamist fighters praised at Benghazi hospital
Sat,22 Sep 2012 01:21 PM PDT
Reuters - BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) - Before the Ansar al-Sharia fighters came and took over security, al-Jalaa hospital was a terrifying place to work. Now that the militia has been swept out of Benghazi on a wave of public anger after the killing of the U.S. ambassador, Dr Abdulmonin Salim is one person who will miss them. "Really honestly? They were very nice guys," he told Reuters inside a ward in what is one of the biggest trauma hospitals in eastern Libya, now guarded by a military police unit that arrived after the militia fighters left the previous night. U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
U.S. says Benghazi protests show Libyans won't accept tyranny
Sat,22 Sep 2012 12:47 PM PDT
Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States said on Saturday the anger against Islamist militias in Benghazi was a clear sign Libyans were not prepared to allow what it called extremists to dominate. "It's the view of this administration that it's a pretty clear sign from the Libyan people that they're not going to trade the tyranny of a dictator for the tyranny of the mob," said White House spokesman Josh Earnest. ... Full Story | Top |
Norway oil workers reach preliminary wage deal, say negotiators
Sat,22 Sep 2012 11:34 AM PDT
Reuters - (Reuters) - Norwegian energy firms and oil services workers reached a preliminary wage deal on Saturday, raising hopes the sides could avoid another strike after labor action in July hamstrung the world's eighth-largest oil exporter. The sides agreed on a 4.5 percent wage increase plus an rise in various supplements, subject to a ballot by the 5,800 employees covered under a collective agreement, negotiators said in separate statements. "Negotiations have yielded a new proposal for next year's wage agreement ... ... Full Story | Top |
Drunken driver kills seven at Moscow bus stop
Sat,22 Sep 2012 11:29 AM PDT
Reuters - MOSCOW (Reuters) - A drunken driver ploughed his car into a bus stop in Moscow on Saturday, killing seven people and injuring three others, police said. The driver, who was detained and could face nine years in jail, had his license suspended in 2010 for drunk driving, police said. Interfax news agency quoted a police official as saying he was driving at about 200 km per hour (125 mph). "As a result of a test that was conducted, it was determined that at the time of the accident the driver was in a state of alcoholic intoxication," a statement on the Moscow police website said. ... Full Story | Top |
China envoy warns Canada against politicizing Nexen deal
Sat,22 Sep 2012 11:28 AM PDT
Reuters -  TORONTO (Reuters) - China's ambassador to Canada warned in remarks published on Saturday against letting domestic politics drive the Canadian government's decision on whether to approve a Chinese state-owned oil company's proposed $15.1 billion takeover of Calgary-based Nexen Inc. "Business is business. It should not be politicized," Ambassador Zhang Junsai said in an interview with Canada's Globe and Mail newspaper. ...
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Strauss-Kahn group rape inquiry to be shelved: report
Sat,22 Sep 2012 10:33 AM PDT
Reuters -  PARIS (Reuters) - French prosecutors are set to shelve an inquiry into accusations of group rape by former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn and three friends after a crucial witness retracted her allegations, according to an unsourced report by newspaper Le Figaro. The inquiry was opened in May as part of an investigation into Strauss-Kahn's ties to a suspected prostitution ring in the northern city of Lille. It focused on allegations by a prostitute, denied by Strauss-Kahn, that the former IMF chief and friends forced her to have sex in a group in Washington in December 2010. ...
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Congo could allow oil exploitation in parks: minister
Sat,22 Sep 2012 09:06 AM PDT
Reuters - KINSHASA (Reuters) - The Democratic Republic of Congo will allow exploration work inside Africa's oldest national park if significant oil deposits are found there, the country's hydrocarbons minister said on Saturday. Congo is keen to expand its underdeveloped oil sector, which currently produces only 26,000 barrels a day despite oil-rich areas in both the east and west of the country. ... Full Story | Top |
Four arrested over wave of kidnappings in Mozambique
Sat,22 Sep 2012 08:04 AM PDT
Reuters - MAPUTO (Reuters) - Mozambique police have arrested four men accused of running a kidnapping ring behind more than 20 abductions in the capital Maputo in the past year. The alleged ring-leader, Bakhir Ayoob, is the son-in-law of Mohamed Bachir Suleman, a wealthy businessman in the city. Washington has branded Suleman a drug kingpin and in 2010 banned U.S. companies from having any financial dealings with him. Wealthy Muslims have been the main targets of the kidnappings, which began in November. All those abducted were released after ransoms were paid. ... Full Story | Top |
Crews extinguish fire at Venezuela's El Palito refinery
Sat,22 Sep 2012 08:03 AM PDT
Reuters -  CARACAS (Reuters) - Firefighters extinguished a blaze in a fuel storage tank at Venezuela's El Palito refinery, state oil company PDVSA said on Saturday. The fire was started by a lightning bolt during a storm Wednesday night, but the 146,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) El Palito facility continued operating. Two tanks were initially set alight, but the fire in one was put out within hours. In a statement, PDVSA said the blaze in the second storage tank was completely extinguished late on Friday. No one was hurt in Wednesday night's lightning strike. ...
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Cameroon sentence ex-minister to 25-year jail term
Sat,22 Sep 2012 07:54 AM PDT
Reuters - YAOUNDE (Reuters) - A court in Cameroon on Saturday sentenced former presidential hopeful and senior minister Marafa Hamidou Yaya to a 25-year jail term on embezzlement charges related to the botched purchase of a presidential plane in 2004. The court handed down the sentence early on Saturday morning after a marathon overnight trial. The court handed the same sentence to Yves Michel Fotso, former director of defunct state air transport company CAMAIR. Hamidou Yaha was minister of territorial administration until he was sacked in December in a cabinet reshuffle by President Paul Biya. ... Full Story | Top |
Yemen minister says Saleh trying to spoil transition
Sat,22 Sep 2012 07:27 AM PDT
Reuters - SANAA (Reuters) - Ousted Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh is interfering in the Arabian Peninsula state's transition process but Western countries are still reluctant to cut him off completely, a Yemeni government minister said on Saturday. Yemen's Gulf neighbors led by Saudi Arabia sponsored a U.S.-backed deal that allowed Saleh to leave office in February after a year of fighting to suppress an uprising that left over 2,000 people dead. ... Full Story | Top |
Afghanistan bans Pakistani papers over "propaganda"
Sat,22 Sep 2012 06:00 AM PDT
Reuters - KABUL (Reuters) - Afghanistan has banned all Pakistani newspapers over what security officials say is anti-government propaganda aimed at Kabul, an interior ministry spokesman said on Saturday, in a move likely to worsen already tense cross-border ties. Pakistani newspapers are usually filled with statements that the Afghan government does not properly represent its people and that its NATO-led allies are "occupying" the country, rather than offering security support, Ihsanuddin Taheri told Reuters. ... Full Story | Top |
Libya's Ansar says it quit Benghazi bases to preserve security
Sat,22 Sep 2012 04:38 AM PDT
Reuters - BENGHAZI (Reuters) - The Libyan Islamist militia Ansar al-Sharia said on Saturday it had evacuated its bases in Benghazi in the interest of security. "The commander of the battalion gave orders to members to evacuate their premises and hand them over to the people of Benghazi," said spokesman Yousef al-Jehani. "We respect the views of the people of Benghazi, and to preserve security in the city we evacuated the premises." The group, which has denied suggestions that it was responsible for an attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi in which the U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
Iran's Revolutionary Guard says expects Israel to launch war
Sat,22 Sep 2012 03:56 AM PDT
Reuters - DUBAI (Reuters) - Israel will eventually go beyond threats and will attack Iran, the commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards was quoted as saying on Saturday. As speculation mounts that Israel could launch air strikes on Iran before U.S. elections in November, Mohammad Ali Jafari told a news conference that the Jewish state would be destroyed if it took such a step. ... Full Story | Top |
Rebels down fighter jet in northern Syria: witness
Sat,22 Sep 2012 02:40 AM PDT
Reuters - AMMAN (Reuters) - Rebel fighters trying to oust President Bashar al-Assad shot down a fighter jet as it flew over the northern Syrian town of Atarib in Idlib province, a witness said. The witness, an independent journalist who asked to remain anonymous, said rebel fighters were attacking a military base near the town when the jet flew over and rebels shot it down with anti-aircraft guns. Vastly outgunned, rebels say they need surface-to-air missiles to take down planes and helicopters used by the Syrian military to bombard opposition strongholds. ... Full Story | Top |
Bahrain says it arrested 29 during protest on Friday
Sat,22 Sep 2012 02:38 AM PDT
Reuters -  DUBAI (Reuters) - Bahrain arrested 29 people in the commercial district of the capital Manama on Friday as anti-government protesters marched in the city centre in defiance of a government ban, state media said late on Friday. Bahrain, where the U.S. Fifth Fleet is based, has been in political turmoil since a protest movement dominated by majority Shi'ite Muslims erupted in February 2011 demanding the Sunni-led monarchy enact democratic reforms. The demonstration was organized by an opposition group called February 14, said Jasim Husain, one of the leaders of the main opposition group, Wefaq. ...
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Russia deputy agriculture minister "surprised" by grain export ban talk
Sat,22 Sep 2012 02:32 AM PDT
Reuters - SOCHI, Russia (Reuters) - Russia's Deputy Agriculture Minister, Ilya Shestakov, said he was surprised by a sudden statement by Economy Minister Andrei Belousov that Russia could limit grain exports, and said neither a ban nor protective tariffs were under discussion. "To be honest Andrei Removich (Belousov's) statement was a surprise for me too," Shestakov told reporters in the Black Sea resort town of Sochi at an economic forum. "We have not even discussed limiting exports and it sounded very strange," he added. ... Full Story | Top |
Lift restrictions on women's education, rights group tells Iran
Sat,22 Sep 2012 02:01 AM PDT
Reuters -  DUBAI (Reuters) - Human Rights Watch urged Iran on Saturday to lift restrictions on women attending university and enrolling in certain academic fields. Thirty-six universities across Iran have banned women from 77 different majors, including accounting, counseling, and engineering, for the school year that begins on Saturday, Iran's Mehr news agency reported in August. ...
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Philippines close to landmark peace deal in rebel south
Sat,22 Sep 2012 12:58 AM PDT
Reuters - MANILA/KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - The Philippine government and Muslim rebels are closing in on a peace deal after nearly 15 years of violence-interrupted talks, a potential landmark success for President Benigno Aquino that could pave the way for more investment in the country's impoverished but resource-rich south. Negotiators from both sides told Reuters that the major obstacles to a framework deal being signed this year appear to have been surmounted after a period of intense diplomacy. ... Full Story | Top |
Suspect in Mekong massacre pleads guilty in Chinese court
Fri,21 Sep 2012 10:59 PM PDT
Reuters - BEIJING (Reuters) - A Burmese drug runner and five members of his gang have pleaded guilty in a Chinese court to murdering 13 Chinese sailors on the Mekong River, state media said, in a case that has marked China's growing law enforcement role beyond its borders. Naw Kham was extradited to China by Laos officials in May, the chief suspect in the killings of Chinese boat crews last year in the "Golden Triangle" region known for drug smuggling where the borders of Laos, Myanmar and Thailand meet. ... Full Story | Top |
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