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| Egypt protests set for showdown, violence feared Saturday, Jun 29, 2013 05:33 PM PDT  By Alastair Macdonald and Tom Perry CAIRO (Reuters) - Mass demonstrations across Egypt on Sunday may determine its future, two and half years after people power toppled a dictator they called Pharaoh and ushered in a democracy crippled by bitter divisions. The protesters' goal again is to unseat a president, this time their first freely elected leader, the Islamist Mohamed Mursi. Liberal leaders say nearly half the voting population - 22 million people - have signed a petition calling for change. But with the long dominant, U. ... Full Story | Top |
| Obama sees no threat in China rivalry for Africa business Saturday, Jun 29, 2013 08:16 PM PDT  By Jeff Mason and Mark Felsenthal PRETORIA (Reuters) - The United States does not feel threatened by the growth of trade and investment in Africa by China and other emerging powers, U.S. President Barack Obama said on Saturday. Suggestions that he has allowed China to steal a march over the United States in doing business with Africa have dogged Obama's three-nation swing through the continent, but he said the increased Chinese engagement was beneficial for all. "I don't feel threatened by it. I feel it's a good thing," Obama told a news conference during a visit to South Africa. ... Full Story | Top |
| Gay marriage opponents ask Supreme Court to reimpose California ban Saturday, Jun 29, 2013 08:25 PM PDT  By Steve Gorman and Alex Dobuzinskis LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Opponents of gay marriage filed a long-shot petition on Saturday with the Supreme Court asking the justices to immediately halt same-sex weddings taking place in California since Friday, when an appeals court lifted a 5-year-old ban on gay matrimony. Marriage ceremonies of gay and lesbian couples went ahead after a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco removed its stay of a trial judge's order declaring the gay marriage ban, known as Proposition 8, unconstitutional. ... Full Story | Top |
| Thousands march in Istanbul in solidarity with Kurds Saturday, Jun 29, 2013 11:55 AM PDT  By Ece Toksabay ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Thousands of protesters marched to Istanbul's Taksim Square on Saturday chanting slogans against the government and police after security forces killed a Kurdish demonstrator in southeastern Turkey. The protest had been planned as part of larger unrelated anti-government demonstrations that have swept through the country since the end of May, but became a voice of solidarity with the Kurds after Friday's killing. "Murderer police, get out of Kurdistan!" some protesters chanted. "This is only the beginning, the struggle continues. ... Full Story | Top |
| Obama meets Mandela family, police disperse protesters Saturday, Jun 29, 2013 04:59 PM PDT  By Jeff Mason and Mark Felsenthal JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama met the family of South Africa's ailing anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela on Saturday, offering words of comfort and praising the critically ill retired statesman as one of history's greatest figures. The faltering health of Mandela, 94, a figure admired globally as a symbol of struggle against injustice and racism, is dominating Obama's two-day visit to South Africa. But Obama also faced protests by South Africans against U.S. foreign policy, especially American drone strikes. ... Full Story | Top |
| Syrian army, backed by jets, launches assault on Homs Saturday, Jun 29, 2013 09:14 AM PDT  By Dominic Evans BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces launched a major offensive on Saturday against rebels in Homs, a centre of the two-year-old uprising, in their latest drive to secure an axis connecting Damascus to the Mediterranean. Activists said jets and mortars had pounded rebel-held areas of the city that have been under siege by Assad's troops for a year, and soldiers fought battles with rebel fighters in several districts. "Government forces are trying to storm (Homs) from all fronts," said an activist using the name Abu Mohammad. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. asked Ecuador not to give Snowden asylum: Correa Saturday, Jun 29, 2013 04:07 PM PDT  By Brian Ellsworth QUITO (Reuters) - Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa said on Saturday the United States had asked him not to grant asylum for former U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden in a "cordial" telephone conversation he held with Vice President Joe Biden. Correa said he vowed to respect Washington's opinion in evaluating the request. The Andean nation says it cannot begin processing Snowden's request unless he reaches Ecuador or one of its embassies. Snowden, who is wanted by the United States for leaking details about U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Israel and Palestinians cautious as Kerry extends peace bid Saturday, Jun 29, 2013 04:09 PM PDT  By Lesley Wroughton JERUSALEM (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry extended his Middle East peace mission on Saturday, shuttling between Jerusalem and Amman for more talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders on reviving their stalled negotiations. But officials on both the feuding sides played down prospects of the bustle bringing about any imminent diplomatic breakthrough that would restart the talks. Cancelling a trip to Abu Dhabi, Kerry flew from Jerusalem to the Jordanian capital for a second meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. ... Full Story | Top |
| Mired in recession, ex-Yugoslav Croatia joins troubled EU Saturday, Jun 29, 2013 03:44 PM PDT  By Zoran Radosavljevic ZAGREB (Reuters) - Croatia becomes the 28th member of the European Union at midnight on Sunday, a milestone that caps the Adriatic republic's recovery from war but is tinged with anxiety over the state of the economy and the bloc it joins. EU flags fluttered from a stage in Zagreb's central square ahead of the evening's festivities, though there have been few signs of the gushing welcome that marked past expansions to ex-communist Eastern Europe. ... Full Story | Top |
| Rousseff's popularity plummets in wake of Brazil protests Saturday, Jun 29, 2013 01:35 PM PDT  By Silvio Cascione and Todd Benson SAO PAULO (Reuters) - President Dilma Rousseff's approval rating sank by 27 percentage points in the last three weeks, a poll showed on Saturday in the strongest evidence yet that the recent wave of street protests sweeping Brazil poses a serious threat to her likely re-election bid next year. The share of people who consider Rousseff's administration "great" or "good" plummeted to 30 percent from 57 percent in early June, according to a Datafolha opinion poll published in local newspaper Folha de S.Paulo. ... Full Story | Top |
| Obama urges House to pass immigration reform by August Saturday, Jun 29, 2013 09:25 AM PDT  By Jeff Mason PRETORIA (Reuters) - President Barack Obama on Saturday urged the House of Representatives to follow the lead of the Senate and pass a bill by August to reform the U.S. immigration system. Speaking during a press conference in South Africa, Obama said there was more than enough time for lawmakers to finish work on the issue before their summer recess. Immigration reform is one of the president's top domestic issues. The Senate recently passed a bill that would strengthen U.S. border security and provide a way for undocumented immigrants in the United States to obtain citizenship. ... Full Story | Top |
| Egypt protests set for showdown, violence feared Saturday, Jun 29, 2013 04:58 PM PDT  By Alastair Macdonald and Tom Perry CAIRO (Reuters) - Mass demonstrations across Egypt on Sunday may determine its future, two and half years after people power toppled a dictator they called Pharaoh and ushered in a democracy crippled by bitter divisions. The protesters' goal again is to unseat a president, this time their first freely elected leader, the Islamist Mohamed Mursi. Liberal leaders say nearly half the voting population - 22 million people - have signed a petition calling for change. But with the long dominant, U. ... Full Story | Top |
| Supreme Court petitioned to reimpose California gay marriage ban Saturday, Jun 29, 2013 04:49 PM PDT  By Steve Gorman LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Opponents of gay marriage petitioned the Supreme Court on Saturday to immediately reinstate a 5-year-old ban on same-sex matrimony in California, saying a federal appeals court had acted prematurely in removing the prohibition on gay nuptials. Supporters of the gay marriage ban, known as Proposition 8, which California voters approved in 2008, asked the high court to overrule a 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals order on Friday lifting a stay that had kept same-sex unions outlawed. ... Full Story | Top |
| Britain's Cameron in thwarted Afghan peace talks push Saturday, Jun 29, 2013 04:53 PM PDT  By Andrew Osborn KABUL (Reuters) - British Prime Minister David Cameron flew into Afghanistan on Saturday to try to inject momentum into stalled peace talks, but left empty-handed after the Afghan president said his country could break up if a deal was done with the Taliban. Cameron, who hosted President Hamid Karzai for talks in February about Afghanistan's future, has cast himself as an honest broker able to use Britain's relations with Afghanistan's influential neighbor, Pakistan, to get the Taliban to talk peace. ... Full Story | Top |
| American student killed in Egypt violence taught English Saturday, Jun 29, 2013 08:45 AM PDT  ALEXANDRIA, Egypt (Reuters) - An American college student stabbed to death during a protest in Egypt was in the country to teach English to children and improve his Arabic, his family said. Andrew Pochter, 21, from Chevy Chase, Maryland, died after being stabbed in the chest on Friday in the coastal city of Alexandria, where anti-government protesters stormed an office of the ruling Muslim Brotherhood. "As we understand it, he was witnessing a protest as a bystander and was stabbed by a protester," said a statement from the family. Egyptian officials said he was carrying a small camera. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. bugged EU offices, computer networks: German magazine Saturday, Jun 29, 2013 03:43 PM PDT  BERLIN (Reuters) - The United States has bugged European Union offices and gained access to EU internal computer networks, according to secret documents cited in a German magazine on Saturday, the latest in a series of exposures of alleged U.S. spy programs. Der Spiegel quoted from a September 2010 "top secret" U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) document that it said fugitive former NSA contractor Edward Snowden had taken with him, and the weekly's journalists had seen in part. ... Full Story | Top |
| China's troubled Xinjiang hit by more violence: state media Saturday, Jun 29, 2013 07:06 AM PDT  BEIJING (Reuters) - More than a hundred people, riding motorbikes and wielding knifes, attacked a police station in China's ethnically divided western region of Xinjiang, state media said on Saturday, in the latest unrest to hit the region in the past week. The attack in the remote desert city of Hotan, a heavily ethnic Uighur area, comes two days after the region's deadliest unrest in four years that resulted in the deaths of 35 people. China called the incident a "terrorist attack". Xinjiang is home to the mainly Muslim Uighur people who speak a Turkic language. ... Full Story | Top |
| France to seek 14 billion euros in cuts next year: paper Saturday, Jun 29, 2013 08:37 AM PDT  PARIS (Reuters) - France will pursue 14 billion euros ($18.2 billion) in spending cuts next year as it attempts to reduce the public deficit to 3 percent of economic output by 2015, Le Monde reported. France's Socialist government aims to tame the deficit by trimming ministerial budgets, cutting state aid to companies and reducing local government funding. With the economy back in a shallow recession, jobless claims at an all-time high and his approval ratings around 30 percent, President Francois Hollande has been reluctant to accelerate the cuts. ... Full Story | Top |
| Russian pro-, anti-gay activists clash, police detain dozens Saturday, Jun 29, 2013 07:38 AM PDT  ST PETERSBURG, Russia (Reuters) - Police detained dozens of people when pro- and anti-gay activists clashed in the Russian city of St Petersburg on Saturday, just two weeks after parliament passed a law banning homosexual "propaganda". Critics say the bill - a nationwide version of laws in place in cities including St Petersburg, President Vladimir Putin's hometown, - effectively bans gay rights rallies and could be used to prosecute anyone voicing support for homosexuals. ... Full Story | Top |
| Gay marriages resume in California after five-year hiatus Saturday, Jun 29, 2013 03:50 AM PDT  By Dan Levine SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Same-sex couples - some in shorts and jeans, some in their work clothes - rushed to be wed in California on Friday after a court abruptly ended the state's five-year ban on gay marriage in the wake of landmark rulings at the Supreme Court. On a balcony overlooking the grand staircase at San Francisco City Hall, an ornate space that has long been a magnet for weddings, the couple whose case sparked this week's Supreme Court decision exchanged vows. ... Full Story | Top |
| Rebels kill policeman, injure 14 others in Chechnya Saturday, Jun 29, 2013 04:14 AM PDT MOSCOW (Reuters) - Rebels have killed a Russian policeman and injured 14 others in Chechnya, police said on Saturday, a rare clash in the now mostly calm North Caucasus republic which lies near to the venue for the 2014 Winter Olympics. Moscow waged two wars against separatist rebels in mainly Muslim Chechnya in the 1990s but the province has been fairly peaceful in recent years as Islamist insurgents have turned their focus to the nearby regions of Dagestan and Ingushetia. ... Full Story | Top |
| North Korea to discuss nuclear talks in Moscow - report Saturday, Jun 29, 2013 04:16 AM PDT  MOSCOW (Reuters) - North Korea's chief nuclear negotiator will meet senior Russian officials in Moscow next week, state media reported, amid signs of a new push to get Pyongyang to re-join protracted talks over ending its atomic program. Kim Kye-gwan, North Korea's First Deputy Foreign Minister, will meet deputy foreign ministers Vladimir Titov and Igor Morgulov on Thursday "as part of efforts to resume the six-party talks", the RIA Novosti news agency reported. ... Full Story | Top |
| Mandela remains 'critical but stable' Saturday, Jun 29, 2013 05:21 AM PDT  JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Former South African president Nelson Mandela's condition remains "critical but stable" but the government hopes the 94-year-old anti-apartheid hero will be out of hospital soon, President Jacob Zuma said on Saturday. "We hope that very soon he will be out of hospital," Zuma said at a televised press conference with visiting U.S. President Barack Obama. Mandela has been in hospital for three weeks for treatment for a recurring lung infection. (Reporting by Ed Stoddard and Ed Cropley; Editing by Ed Cropley) Full Story | Top |
| South African police, protesters clash ahead of Obama visit Saturday, Jun 29, 2013 06:06 AM PDT  JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South African riot police clashed with protesters in Soweto on Saturday shortly before a visit to the sprawling Johannesburg township by U.S. President Barack Obama, a Reuters photographer said. Armed police fired stun grenades to disperse the crowd of several hundred protesters, who had gathered outside the Soweto campus of the University of Johannesburg, where Obama was due to address a town hall meeting with students. (Reporting by Dylan Martinez; Writing by Ed Cropley) Full Story | Top |
| Syrian army launches offensive in Homs city Saturday, Jun 29, 2013 04:15 AM PDT  BEIRUT (Reuters) - Troops loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad launched a military offensive on Saturday against rebel-held areas of Homs, the country's third-largest city and a centre of the two-year-old uprising against his rule. Activists said jets and mortars pounded rebel territory and soldiers attacked the district of Khalidiyah, where state television reported they were making "great progress". Video uploaded on the Internet showed heavy explosions and clouds of white smoke after what the activists said were air strikes on the adjacent neighborhood of Jouret al-Shiyyah. ... Full Story | Top |
| Obamas to meet Mandela family, not visit hospital Saturday, Jun 29, 2013 03:50 AM PDT  PRETORIA (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama will meet on Saturday with relatives of anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela, but they will not visit the hospital where the former South African president is critically ill, the White House said. Obama is in South Africa on the second stop of a three-nation Africa tour. His visit had triggered intense speculation that the United States' first African-American president might visit 94-year-old Mandela in the Pretoria hospital where he has spent three weeks being treated for a lung infection. ... Full Story | Top |
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