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| Divided Egypt opposition attacks Mursi on election call Friday, Feb 22, 2013 07:45 PM PST  CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's opposition attacked President Mohammed Mursi on Friday for calling elections during a national crisis, but face a test of unity in challenging Islamists who have won every poll since the 2011 revolution. No sooner had Mursi called the parliamentary polls on Thursday than liberals and leftists accused him of deepening divisions between Islamists and their opponents. Some threatened to boycott voting which starts on April 27th and finishes in late June. ... Full Story | Top |
| Abe vows to revive Japanese economy, sees no escalation with China Friday, Feb 22, 2013 07:11 PM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told Americans on Friday "I am back and so is Japan" and vowed to get the world's third biggest economy growing again and to do more to bolster security and the rule of law in an Asia roiled by territorial disputes. Abe had firm words for China in a policy speech to a top Washington think-tank, but also tempered his remarks by saying he had no desire to escalate a row over islets in the East China Sea that Tokyo controls and Beijing claims. "No nation should make any miscalculation about firmness of our resolve. ... Full Story | Top |
| Thirteen Chadian soldiers, 65 rebels killed in Mali Friday, Feb 22, 2013 04:38 PM PST N'DJAMENA (Reuters) - Thirteen Chadian soldiers were killed in fighting in northern Mali on Friday, the heaviest casualties sustained by French and African troops since the launch of a military campaign against Islamist rebels there six weeks ago, Chad's army said. Chadian troops killed 65 al Qaeda-linked fighters in the clashes that began before midday in the Adrar des Ifoghas mountains near Mali's northern border with Algeria. "The provisional toll is ... on the enemy's side, five vehicles destroyed and 65 terrorists killed. ... Full Story | Top |
| Syria opposition spurns U.S., Russia invites in protest Friday, Feb 22, 2013 03:48 PM PST CAIRO (Reuters) - The main Syrian opposition grouping has said it turned down invitations to visit Washington and Moscow to protest what it described as international silence over destruction of the ancient city of Aleppo by Syrian missile strikes. A statement late on Friday by the Syrian National Coalition, an umbrella group of opposition political forces, said it also had suspended participation in a Friends of Syria conference of international powers due in Rome next month to protest the attacks it said have caused many civilian casualties. ... Full Story | Top |
| Japan PM to seek opposition cooperation on new central bank governor Friday, Feb 22, 2013 03:09 PM PST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Friday he plans next week to seek the backing of a junior coalition partner, the New Komeito party, and opposition parties over the nomination of a new Bank of Japan governor. "I'll be back in Japan on Sunday. From around Monday, I want to make headway on new governor and deputy governors," Abe told a news conference in Washington. "Next week, I would like to ask for help from opposition parties, notify candidates ... and work to win endorsement from New Komeito," he said. Abe did not say who he had in mind for the nomination. ... Full Story | Top |
| Outcome of Italy election deeply uncertain Friday, Feb 22, 2013 02:40 PM PST  ROME (Reuters) - Italy's election campaign drew to a close on Friday with the weak performance of outgoing premier Mario Monti key to a deeply uncertain and potentially unstable result. Political leaders were holding their final rallies before a campaigning ban ahead of two days of voting on Sunday and Monday, and analysts said the result was too close to call. ... Full Story | Top |
| Huge Grillo rally rounds off Italy election campaign Friday, Feb 22, 2013 02:15 PM PST ROME (Reuters) - Comic Beppe Grillo rounded off the Italian election campaign with a fiery rally in central Rome that drew hundreds of thousands of supporters and underlined the capacity of his 5-Star Movement to create an upset when voting opens on Sunday. Arriving in his distinctive campaign bus, Grillo launched into his now familiar tirade against corrupt politicians and bankers, taking aim against targets ranging from Silvio Berlusconi and Mario Monti to German Chancellor Angela Merkel. ... Full Story | Top |
| Rockets hit Aleppo, killing at least 29: monitor Friday, Feb 22, 2013 02:11 PM PST  BEIRUT (Reuters) - Rockets struck eastern districts of Aleppo, Syria's biggest city, on Friday, killing at least 29 people and trapping a family of 10 in the ruins of their home, activists in the city said. "There are families buried under the rubble," said an activist called Baraa al-Youssef, speaking by Skype after visiting the scene in his Ard al-Hamra neighborhood. "Nothing can describe it, it's a horrible sight." Video footage posted by several activists showed a burning building and people carrying the wounded to cars to be ferried to hospital. ... Full Story | Top |
| Syria opposition to choose provisional PM on March 2 Friday, Feb 22, 2013 02:01 PM PST CAIRO (Reuters) - Syrian opposition leaders will meet in Istanbul on March 2 to choose a prime minister to head a provisional government that would operate in rebel-controlled areas of Syria, coalition officials said on Friday. The move was aimed at halting a slide into chaos in regions captured by insurgent brigades and estimated to comprise over half of the country, although exiled coalition leaders exert little control or influence over rebels in Syria. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S., Japan agree on approach to Trans-Pacific Partnership talks Friday, Feb 22, 2013 01:48 PM PST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States and Japan agreed language on Friday that could set the stage for Tokyo to join negotiations soon on a U.S.-led regional free trade agreement known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership. In a carefully worded statement following a meeting between President Barack Obama and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the two countries reaffirmed that "all goods would subject to negotiations if Japan joins the talks with the United States and ten other countries. ... Full Story | Top |
| Russia accuses U.S. of double standards over Syria Friday, Feb 22, 2013 01:40 PM PST  MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused the United States on Friday of having double standards on Syria, saying it had blocked a U.N. Security Council statement condemning a car bomb attack in Damascus. Washington denied it had blocked the statement and said it had only asked for balance. The disagreement was likely to sour the atmosphere before Lavrov meets newly appointed U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry next week in Berlin. ... Full Story | Top |
| Cuba's Raul Castro jokingly hints at possible retirement Friday, Feb 22, 2013 12:34 PM PST  HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuban President Raul Castro, who is expected to begin a second five-year term on Sunday, jokingly told reporters on Friday that he was planning his retirement but left open just when he would step down. "I'm going to retire," said a grinning Castro in the company of visiting Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. Castro urged reporters to pay close attention to the National Assembly meeting this weekend, when a Council of State and president will be elected. "I'm going to turn 82, I have a right to retire already," Castro said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Japan PM agrees with Obama to fortify alliance Friday, Feb 22, 2013 12:11 PM PST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Friday he reached an agreement with U.S. President Barack Obama on strengthening the Japan-U.S. alliance. "We have reached a complete agreement" on the assessments of the alliance and its future direction, Abe told reporters after having a summit meeting with Obama. "I would like to declare with confidence that trust and strong bond of the Japan-U.S. alliance has revived completely." (Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka; Editing by Vicki Allen) Full Story | Top |
| On key U.S. visit, Abe vows to bring back a strong Japan Friday, Feb 22, 2013 12:05 PM PST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe brought a clear message to Washington on Friday: "I am back and so is Japan." It was the core theme of a speech prepared for delivery to a major U.S. think tank after meeting U.S. President Barack Obama on his first trip to Washington since taking office in December in a rare comeback to Japan's top job. Abe, whose troubled first term ended after just one year when he abruptly quit in 2007, has vowed to revive Japan's economy with a mix of hyper-easy monetary policy, big spending, and structural reform. ... Full Story | Top |
| Brazil dock workers end strike, expose fragile ports Friday, Feb 22, 2013 11:54 AM PST SANTOS, Brazil (Reuters) - Dock workers returned to work at ports across Brazil on Friday after they disrupted the movement of global commodities with a six-hour strike in protest of the government's plan to overhaul regulations and privatize hundreds of terminals. The short-lived stoppage provided a glimpse of what could be a tense harvest for Brazil, one of the world's biggest commodities exporters, if unions do not reach a deal with the government and call off an open-ended strike set for mid-March. ... Full Story | Top |
| Brazil's 2014 election campaign gets off to early start Friday, Feb 22, 2013 11:53 AM PST  BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazil's 2014 election season got off to an unusually early start this week with the unofficial launch of President Dilma Rousseff's re-election campaign by her mentor and predecessor, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Celebrating his Workers' Party's 10th year in power, Lula laid to rest speculation that he would run again by anointing Rousseff as the party's best option to stay in power. ... Full Story | Top |
| Abe: Japan acting calmly in island dispute with China Friday, Feb 22, 2013 11:52 AM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Friday said he told President Barack Obama in a meeting that Japan would act calmly in its row with China over tiny islands in the East China Sea claimed by both Asian countries. "I explained that we have always been dealing with this issue ... in a calm manner," he said through a translator, while sitting next to Obama in the White House Oval Office. "We will continue to do so and we have always done so," he said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Five killed in Islamist car bomb attacks in north Mali Friday, Feb 22, 2013 11:21 AM PST  GAO, Mali (Reuters) - Five people were killed in a remote Malian town on Friday in car bomb attacks by Islamists on Tuareg MNLA rebels with close links to French forces, a spokesman for the Tuareg fighters said. Violence in northern Mali underscores the risk of French and African forces becoming entangled in a messy guerrilla war as they try to help Mali's weak army counter bombings and raids by al Qaeda-linked Islamist militants. ... Full Story | Top |
| Schools, homes and public parks on front line of Damascus war Friday, Feb 22, 2013 11:09 AM PST DAMASCUS (Reuters) - Syria's civil war has burst into central Damascus and its indiscriminate violence has put civilians in the firing line. Thursday's powerful bomb which killed more than 60 people in the capital's Mazraa district may have targeted President Bashar al-Assad's ruling Baath Party or the embassy of his ally Russia. But many of the victims were ordinary Damascenes in the wrong place at the wrong time - including children packed into an elementary school directly behind the Baath Party offices. ... Full Story | Top |
| Defense cuts jeopardize NATO's effectiveness, Panetta warns Friday, Feb 22, 2013 11:02 AM PST  BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Defense cuts and U.S. budget gridlock are jeopardizing NATO's effectiveness, outgoing U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta warned on Friday. Leaving his last NATO ministerial meeting in Brussels, Panetta joined those warning of the effects of deep Defense cuts in many Western countries and said it would be an "irresponsible act of political dysfunction" if the U.S. Congress permitted sweeping across-the-board Defense cuts to take place. ... Full Story | Top |
| France ready to start Mali withdrawal despite attack: army chief Friday, Feb 22, 2013 10:53 AM PST  OTTAWA (Reuters) - France is still ready to start pulling its forces out of Mali next month despite a rebel attack on the key northern town of Gao, the French head of the armed force said on Friday. Admiral Edouard Guillaud, chief of the defense staff, told reporters after a speech in Ottawa that he was not surprised by Thursday's attack in Gao, when 15 Islamists were killed by French and Malian troops. France's defense minister had earlier said Paris could start pulling out troops in early March. ... Full Story | Top |
| Sizzling prices heat up wage talks in Argentina Friday, Feb 22, 2013 10:35 AM PST  BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - A stagnant economy and one of the world's highest inflation rates are making Argentina's annual wage talks thornier than ever this year just as President Cristina Fernandez turns her attention to mid-term elections. Fernandez, who hails from the left of the Peronist party that has dominated Argentine politics since the late 1940s, has an increasingly difficult relationship with the unions and that is raising the risk of strikes ahead of the October elections. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.N. says Congo again on brink, peacekeepers need to combat rebels Friday, Feb 22, 2013 10:30 AM PST  UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Democratic Republic of Congo's resource-rich east is again on the brink of a major conflict, a senior U.N. official warned on Friday as he urged the U.N. Security Council to urgently approve plans for a peace enforcement unit to combat armed rebel groups. Roger Meece, head of the U.N. mission in Congo known as MONUSCO, told the Security Council that the creation of a peace enforcement unit within the peacekeeping force - which would be a new move for the United Nations - was "an urgently needed and important response to the existing situation on the ground. ... Full Story | Top |
| Exile calls for tougher sanctions on Belarus Friday, Feb 22, 2013 10:18 AM PST  VIENNA (Reuters) - Opposition politician Andrei Sannikov, recently released from jail in his native Belarus, urged the international community to impose tougher sanctions on his country to end human rights abuses. Sannikov, 58, was sentenced to five years in jail last year for taking part in a protest against Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko's re-election, after running against him in 2010 elections. He was Lukashenko´s strongest rival. ... Full Story | Top |
| Syria's opposition to chose provisional PM in Istanbul: source Friday, Feb 22, 2013 10:15 AM PST CAIRO (Reuters) - Syria's National Coalition will meet in Istanbul on March 2 to chose a prime minister to head a provisional government to operate in rebel-held areas of the country, a coalition source said on Friday. The date was set after a compromise was reached between a bloc in the coalition that includes the powerful Muslim Brotherhood and other members who favor speedy formation of a government, the source told Reuters at the end of a two-day meeting of the coalition in Cairo. (Reporting by Khaled Yacoub Oweis; Editing by Jon Hemming) Full Story | Top |
| Early election for Bulgaria after government quits Friday, Feb 22, 2013 10:13 AM PST  SOFIA (Reuters) - Bulgaria's president will appoint a caretaker government ahead of a parliamentary election by mid-May after protests toppled austerity-minded Prime Minister Boiko Borisov, the president said on Friday. Wednesday's resignation by Borisov's rightist government has failed to quell anger in the European Union's poorest country over high utility bills and protesters gathered on Friday evening in the capital Sofia and other cities. ... Full Story | Top |
| South Africa's Pistorius goes free on $113,000 bail Friday, Feb 22, 2013 09:35 AM PST  PRETORIA (Reuters) - A South African court granted bail on Friday to Oscar Pistorius, charged with the murder of his girlfriend on Valentine's Day, after his lawyers successfully argued the "Blade Runner" was too famous to flee justice. The decision by Magistrate Desmond Nair drew cheers from the Paralympics star's family and supporters. Pistorius himself was unmoved, in marked contrast to the week-long hearing, when he repeatedly broke down in tears. Nair set bail at 1 million rand ($113,000) and postponed the case until June 4. ... Full Story | Top |
| NATO considers post-2014 Afghan force of 8,000-12,000 Friday, Feb 22, 2013 09:34 AM PST  BRUSSELS (Reuters) - NATO Allies are discussing keeping a training force of between 8,000 and 12,000 troops in Afghanistan after most foreign soldiers leave in 2014, the United States said on Friday. NATO-led forces are gradually handing over responsibility for security to their Afghan counterparts as the bulk of foreign combat forces prepare to withdraw by the end of next year. "A range of 8-12,000 troops was discussed as the possible size of the overall NATO mission," Pentagon spokesman George Little said after a NATO defence ministers' meeting in Brussels. U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Tremonti sees instability after Italian vote Friday, Feb 22, 2013 09:10 AM PST  ROME (Reuters) - Italy's national election this weekend will produce a weak, unstable and probably short-lived government, former economy minister Giulio Tremonti said on Friday. Tremonti, who is running at the head of a small party of his own, said that even if the centre left led by Pier Luigi Bersani confirmed its opinion poll lead and won a majority, it would be too small and fragile to produce an effective administration. ... Full Story | Top |
| Colombian rebels call on Santos to save peace talks Friday, Feb 22, 2013 09:07 AM PST  HAVANA (Reuters) - Colombia's Marxist FARC rebels charged on Friday that the hostile attitude of President Juan Manuel Santos threatened peace negotiations under way in Havana and urged him to salvage the talks, in their harshest criticisms since talks began three months ago. Santos infuriated the rebels earlier this week when he said they should be responsible for compensating the of thousands of farmers who were forced to flee their lands during the region's longest and only remaining guerilla war. ... Full Story | Top |
| Vatican denies sinister motives behind diplomat's transfer Friday, Feb 22, 2013 09:02 AM PST  VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - The Vatican denied on Friday that Pope Benedict's decision to send a senior official to a new post in Latin America was linked to a secret report about leaked papal papers. Since Benedict announced his resignation on February 11, Italian newspapers have been full of rumors about conspiracies, secret reports and lobbies in the Vatican that they say pushed the pope to abdicate. ... Full Story | Top |
| Insight: Congo's neglected state miner hankers for past glory Friday, Feb 22, 2013 08:50 AM PST  KAMBOVE, Democratic Republic of Congo (Reuters) - At the heart of the Democratic Republic of Congo's southern mining belt, Kambove once churned out tonne upon tonne of copper for Gecamines, a sprawling conglomerate that used to make up 60 percent and more of the country's exports. Now, inside the rust-streaked corrugated iron walls of the Kambove copper plant, the conveyor belts run erratically and the corroded walkways have holes so large that visitors can see through to the workers milling below. ... Full Story | Top |
| Russian assembly backs law limiting foreign investments Friday, Feb 22, 2013 08:32 AM PST MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian lawmakers gave initial backing on Friday to legislation that would prevent senior officials holding bank accounts or stocks abroad, a move by Vladimir Putin to show he is tackling corruption. If approved by both houses of parliament and signed by the president, the package of laws will give deputies and other state officials three months to decide whether to close foreign accounts and sell stocks abroad - or quit. ... Full Story | Top |
| Russian parliament demands return of orphan from U.S Friday, Feb 22, 2013 08:27 AM PST MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian lawmakers appealed to U.S. Congress on Friday to help return a Russian boy living with a Texas family, after the death of his three-year-old brother intensified a dispute over international adoptions. The motion, approved overwhelmingly without any votes against by the lower house, is likely to increase tension between Moscow and Washington in a row that has contributed to a gradual cooling of relations since Vladimir Putin returned to the presidency last May. ... Full Story | Top |
| Tunisia's new premier promises inclusive government Friday, Feb 22, 2013 08:24 AM PST  TUNIS (Reuters) - Tunisia's prime minister-designate Ali Larayedh, a hardliner from the main Islamist Ennahda party, said on Friday he hoped to form a "government of all Tunisians", but opposition leaders swiftly signaled discontent. Tunisia plunged into political crisis on February 6 when the assassination of secular opposition politician Chokri Belaid on February 6 ignited the biggest street protests since the overthrow of strongman Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali two years ago. ... Full Story | Top |
| We are women not dolls, say Berlusconi supporters Friday, Feb 22, 2013 08:01 AM PST  ROME (Reuters) - Silvio Berlusconi's party has invited female supporters to sign a manifesto saying that their decision to vote for him does not make them worthy of ridicule. "I am a woman, not a doll," begins the manifesto on the party's website and printed in a full-page advertisement in Italy's leading newspaper days before a general election that Berlusconi's centre right looks likely to lose. Critics accuse the former prime minister of picking female politicians based on looks, and for exploiting scantily-clad starlets on his television shows. ... Full Story | Top |
| Tortuous coalition talks may force Israelis back to polls Friday, Feb 22, 2013 08:00 AM PST JERUSALEM (Reuters) - The slow pace of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition building, held up by disputes over state benefits for ultra-Orthodox Jews, has raised speculation Israel may be forced into a new election. Netanyahu's rightwing Likud-Beitenu ticket won 31 seats in an election on January 22, more than any other party, but far short of a majority in the 120-member parliament. President Shimon Peres asked Netanyahu to form a government for what would be his third term In office. ... Full Story | Top |
| Fighting resumes in Sudan's Darfur after January outbreak Friday, Feb 22, 2013 07:47 AM PST  KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Fighting re-erupted in the north and south of Sudan's strife-torn Darfur region, tribal and rebel officials said on Friday, after clashes last month that killed hundreds of people and displaced more than 130,000. Conflict has plagued the vast arid region since mainly non-Arab tribes revolted against the Arab government in Khartoum in 2003, accusing it of political and economic neglect. Violence has ebbed since 2004 but picked up again in recent months. ... Full Story | Top |
| Mali crisis risks dragging on, civilians bear brunt: ICRC Friday, Feb 22, 2013 07:20 AM PST GENEVA (Reuters) - The conflict in northern Mali risks dragging on for months, cutting off civilians from aid and basic services in a Somalia-like situation, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) warned on Friday. The independent agency said that it had become harder to contact armed Islamist groups and determine who was in control of territory to get security guarantees for its aid convoys. ... Full Story | Top |
| South Africa court sets Pistorius bail at $113,000 Friday, Feb 22, 2013 07:03 AM PST PRETORIA (Reuters) - A South African court set bail for athlete Oscar Pistorius at 1 million rand ($113,000) on Friday and postponed his murder trial until June 4. Pistorius, who is accused of murdering his girlfriend at his home in Pretoria on Valentine's Day, was also ordered by Magistrate Desmond Nair to surrender his passports and avoid his home and all witnesses in the case. ($1 = 8.8750 South African rand) (Reporting by Peroshni Govender; Writing by David Dolan; Editing by Ed Cropley) Full Story | Top |
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