| | |
| S.Korea says finds no GMO in initial tests of U.S. wheat Sunday, Jun 02, 2013 08:00 PM PDT  SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea has not detected genetically modified wheat in initial tests of imports of the grain and flour from Oregon, after news last week that a rogue strain of the crop had been discovered in the U.S. state spooked buyers globally. Korean millers on Friday suspended imports of U.S. wheat until the final results of government tests on shipments from around the United States, now expected on Wednesday. The wheat found in a northeast Oregon field in late April was developed by biotech giant Monsanto Co more than a decade ago but never put into commercial production. ... Full Story | Top |
| Insight: North Korean economy surrenders to foreign currency invasion Sunday, Jun 02, 2013 06:32 PM PDT  By John Ruwitch and Ju-min Park CHANGBAI, China/SEOUL (Reuters) - Chinese currency and U.S. dollars are being used more widely than ever in North Korea instead of the country's own money, a stark illustration of the extent to which the leadership under Kim Jong-un has lost control over the economy. The use of dollars and Chinese yuan, or renminbi, has accelerated since a disastrous revaluation of the North Korean won in 2009 wiped out the savings of millions of people, said experts on the country, defectors and Chinese border traders. ... Full Story | Top |
| Three storm chasers among 13 killed by Oklahoma tornadoes Sunday, Jun 02, 2013 04:32 PM PDT  By Daniel Trotta and Jonathan Allen (Reuters) - Three storm chasers were among 13 people killed by tornadoes that rampaged through central Oklahoma on Friday, underscoring the high risk of tracking tornadoes and forcing the media to rethink how they cover deadly twisters. Tim Samaras, 55, a leading storm chaser and founder of the tornado research company Twistex, was killed in the Oklahoma City suburb of El Reno along with his son, Paul Samaras, 24, and Carl Young, 45, a Twistex meteorologist, according to a statement from Tim Samaras' brother, Jim Samaras. ... Full Story | Top |
| CA-NEWS Summary Sunday, Jun 02, 2013 04:13 PM PDT Thousands take to streets in Turkey, clash with police ISTANBUL/ANKARA (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of people took to the streets in Turkey's four biggest cities on Sunday and clashed with riot police firing tear gas on the third day of the fiercest anti-government demonstrations in years. The din of car horns and residents banging pots and pans from balconies in support of the protests resonated across neighborhoods in Istanbul and Ankara late into the night, as hundreds of demonstrators skirmished with riot police. ... Full Story | Top |
| Thousands take to streets in Turkey, clash with police Sunday, Jun 02, 2013 04:13 PM PDT  By Jonathon Burch and Humeyra Pamuk ISTANBUL/ANKARA (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of people took to the streets in Turkey's four biggest cities on Sunday and clashed with riot police firing tear gas on the third day of the fiercest anti-government demonstrations in years. The din of car horns and residents banging pots and pans from balconies in support of the protests resonated across neighborhoods in Istanbul and Ankara late into the night, as hundreds of demonstrators skirmished with riot police. ... Full Story | Top |
| British manufacturers urge health budget cuts to fund growth Sunday, Jun 02, 2013 04:02 PM PDT  LONDON (Reuters) - British manufacturers urged the government on Monday to cut the healthcare budget and put money into growth-generating areas such as infrastructure and technology when it unveils its latest spending review next month. The criticism of Prime Minister David Cameron's decision to exempt healthcare from budget cuts highlights growing concerns that efforts to reduce Britain's fiscal deficit could endanger its economic recovery. ... Full Story | Top |
| Libya to appeal ICC ruling to hand over Gaddafi's son Sunday, Jun 02, 2013 03:42 PM PDT  TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Libya will appeal a ruling by the International Criminal Court to hand over Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the son of former ruler Muammar Gaddafi, to the tribunal, the justice minister said on Sunday. "We will give what is needed to convince the ICC that Libya is capable of conducting a fair trial in accordance with international standards," the state LANA news agency quoted Justice Minister Salah al-Marghani as saying. ... Full Story | Top |
| UK's Labor vows iron discipline on budget, spells out some cuts Sunday, Jun 02, 2013 03:08 PM PDT  By William Schomberg LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's opposition Labor party will seek to convince skeptical voters it is fit to run the economy by promising "iron discipline" on spending and pledging some cuts to welfare benefits if it wins the 2015 election. Would-be finance minister, Ed Balls, will say on Monday that winter fuel subsidies for the richest pensioners will be scrapped if Labor wins power, a small saving but a sign that the party is determined to show it can cut social spending. ... Full Story | Top |
| Czech PM declares emergency as floods threaten Prague Sunday, Jun 02, 2013 02:44 PM PDT  By Robert Muller PRAGUE (Reuters) - Czech Prime Minister Petr Necas declared a state of emergency for most of the nation on Sunday as swollen rivers caused by days of heavy rain threatened Prague's historic center and forced evacuations from low-lying areas. Prague authorities limited public transport and planned to close underground stations in the center of the city as water from the Vltava River overflowed into picturesque areas popular with tourists. The main train line connecting the capital and the east of the country was also shut. ... Full Story | Top |
| Niger says 22 escape jail after raid on prison Sunday, Jun 02, 2013 02:39 PM PDT NIAMEY (Reuters) - Some 22 prisoners, including Islamist militants, escaped from a prison in Niger's capital after several gunmen attacked the jail and killed two guards, the government said on Sunday. The prison break comes a week after al Qaeda-linked groups raided a uranium mine and an army barracks in Niger, raising fears that the conflict in neighboring Mali could spread to other West African states. ... Full Story | Top |
| Merkel reins in plan to transfer powers to Brussels Sunday, Jun 02, 2013 01:33 PM PDT  By Noah Barkin and Gareth Jones BERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel has come out against handing the European Commission more powers, in the clearest sign yet that she is reining in her ambitions to create a "fiscal union" in which euro members cede control of their budgets to Brussels. ... Full Story | Top |
| Insight: Simmering anger at Erdogan's authoritarianism boils over in Turkey Sunday, Jun 02, 2013 01:30 PM PDT  By Ayla Jean Yackley ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey's most violent riots in decades may have been started by the destruction of a small Istanbul park, but they have exploded in a show of defiance at what many see as the creeping authoritarianism of Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan. In power for more than a decade, Erdogan's Islamist-rooted AK Party has increased its share of the vote in each of the past three elections, ushered in unprecedented political stability and overseen some of the fastest economic growth in Europe. ... Full Story | Top |
| Palestinians' Abbas appoints new PM to Hamas outrage Sunday, Jun 02, 2013 01:11 PM PDT  By Ali Sawafta RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas named British-educated political independent Rami Hamdallah as new prime minister on Sunday, a move that was immediately condemned by Gaza Strip rulers Hamas. Abbas and the militant Islamist group agreed in principle last month to form a unity government for the divided Palestinian territories, and a Hamas spokesman said Hamdallah's appointment threw that into doubt. ... Full Story | Top |
| Syrian rebels, Hezbollah in deadly fight in Lebanon Sunday, Jun 02, 2013 01:11 PM PDT  By Dominic Evans BEIRUT (Reuters) - Hezbollah guerrillas fought a deadly battle with Syrian rebels in Lebanon's eastern border region early on Sunday, security sources said, in the latest eruption of Syria's conflict on Lebanese soil. Lebanese security sources said at least 12 rebels were killed in the fighting east of the Bekaa Valley town of Baalbek, but the toll would not be clear until bodies were retrieved from the remote and rugged border area. One Hezbollah fighter also died, they said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Gulf Arab countries to consider action against Hezbollah Sunday, Jun 02, 2013 11:48 AM PDT JEDDAH (Reuters) - Gulf Arab countries will consider taking action against Hezbollah if the Shi'ite Muslim Lebanese movement continues its involvement in Syria's civil war or interferes in Gulf Arab affairs, Bahrain's deputy foreign minister said on Sunday. Ghanem al-Buainain said the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) regarded Hezbollah's involvement in Syria as "sectarian intervention", but had not discussed listing the group as a terrorist organization, a step taken by Bahrain last week. ... Full Story | Top |
| Venezuela's Capriles says Maduro government will fall Sunday, Jun 02, 2013 10:43 AM PDT  By Andrew Cawthorne and Diego Ore SAN FRANCISCO DE YARE, Venezuela (Reuters) - Venezuelan opposition leader Henrique Capriles says President Nicolas Maduro's government will "cave in" under the pressure of growing economic troubles, in-fighting and a belief by many Venezuelans that it stole the April election. Capriles is still disputing the election, which he lost to Maduro by a narrower-than-expected 1.5 percentage points. But if, as expected, the fraud claims get nowhere in Venezuela's courts, Capriles says other forces may sink the successor to the late socialist leader Hugo Chavez. ... Full Story | Top |
| Obama must follow Guantanamo promise with action: Yemen Sunday, Jun 02, 2013 09:59 AM PDT  JEDDAH (Reuters) - Yemen gave a qualified welcome on Sunday to President Barack Obama's promise to lift a ban on repatriating Yemeni prisoners from Guantanamo Bay, saying he now had to back up his words with actions. Foreign Minister Abubakr al-Qirbi said his government was building a "rehabilitation center" to house Yemenis who have been detained at the U.S. camp in Cuba for more than a decade. Obama promised last month to end the ban on transferring Yemenis back home, one of the main obstacles to clearing out the detention camp, and altered the rules for U.S. drone strikes. ... Full Story | Top |
| Thousands march for rights in rare Ethiopia protest Sunday, Jun 02, 2013 09:05 AM PDT By Aaron Maasho ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - About 10,000 Ethiopians staged an anti-government procession on Sunday in the first large-scale protest since a disputed 2005 election ended in street violence that killed 200 people. The demonstrators marched through Addis Ababa's northern Arat Kilo and Piazza districts before gathering at Churchill Avenue in front of a looming obelisk with a giant red star perched on top, a relic of Ethiopia's violent Communist past. Some carried banners reading "Justice! Justice! Justice!" and some bore pictures of imprisoned opposition figures. ... Full Story | Top |
| War-torn Syria says Turkey unsafe for travel Sunday, Jun 02, 2013 09:02 AM PDT BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian authorities, battling a rebel uprising in which 80,000 people have been killed, on Sunday advised citizens against travel to neighboring Turkey on safety grounds. Tens of thousands of Turkish protesters have rallied for three days against Prime Minister Tayyip Ergodan's government, to the barely disguised delight of Syria's government which blames Erdogan for fuelling Syria's civil war. ... Full Story | Top |
| Regional group declares self-government for east Libya Sunday, Jun 02, 2013 08:50 AM PDT  TRIPOLI (Reuters) - The leader of a political group in Libya's oil-rich Cyrenaica province declared it a self-governing region in a speech on Saturday, evidence of growing pressure for a planned new constitution to adopt a federal structure. Ahmed Zubair al-Senussi, head of the Cyrenaica Council and a distant relative of Libya's last king, has no formal authority under current transitional arrangements and it is not clear how he would be able to implement the declaration on the ground. ... Full Story | Top |
| Soldiers foil suicide attack on Yemen gas pumping station Sunday, Jun 02, 2013 07:57 AM PDT ADEN (Reuters) - Yemeni soldiers shot at a suspected al Qaeda suicide bomber on Sunday as he tried to ram an explosives-laden vehicle into a gas pumping station in the south, a local official said. The official said soldiers guarding the facility, part of a $4.5 billion LNG project at the southern port city of Balhaf, fired on the vehicle as it sped towards them, causing it to blow up outside the station's entrance. "The vehicle exploded before it reached the port and without causing any losses to the soldiers," the official, who asked not to be named, told Reuters. ... Full Story | Top |
| Egypt parliament ruled illegal, but to stay on Sunday, Jun 02, 2013 07:19 AM PDT  By Tom Perry CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's top court ruled on Sunday that parliament's Muslim Brotherhood-led upper house was illegal but could stay on until elections, dealing the Islamists a moral blow but letting them keep their grip on lawmaking for now. The decision resolves an area of legal uncertainty hanging over a political transition repeatedly upset by the courts. The ruling by the Supreme Constitutional Court upheld the upper house's right, as set out in a new constitution, to legislate in the absence of a lower house. ... Full Story | Top |
| One dead, two missing in Austrian floods, landslides Sunday, Jun 02, 2013 06:59 AM PDT  VIENNA (Reuters) - Torrential rain caused widespread flooding and landslides across Austria on Sunday, forcing hundreds of people to evacuate their homes. At least one person died and two were missing in the deluge, which in some places has dumped up to two months' worth of rain in just days. One clean-up worker was killed in a mudslide in the town of St Johann near Salzburg, the Austrian Press Agency reported, while two other people were missing in the province after being swept into raging streams. ... Full Story | Top |
| 'Cash for access' scandal hits Britain's parliament Sunday, Jun 02, 2013 06:51 AM PDT  By Estelle Shirbon LONDON (Reuters) - Three members of Britain's upper house of parliament were suspended from their parties on Sunday after media sting operations caught them apparently offering to use their influence for personal gain. The undercover investigations have thrust the issue of lobbying into the limelight and had already forced a member of the lower house of parliament, Patrick Mercer, to resign from the ruling Conservative Party and seek legal advice. ... Full Story | Top |
| Zimbabwe's Mugabe to hold elections by end-July Sunday, Jun 02, 2013 06:50 AM PDT  HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe will hold elections by the end of July in line with a court order, angering rivals who want them delayed to allow for reforms to ensure a fair vote, state media reported on Sunday. The Constitutional Court ruled on Friday that parliamentary and presidential polls must take place before July 31 and that Mugabe must set a date for them before parliament's term ends on June 29, stoking a political row over the timing and funding of the vote in the southern African state. ... Full Story | Top |
| Syria to grant Red Cross access to Qusair when fighting over: TV Sunday, Jun 02, 2013 06:18 AM PDT BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syria will allow the Red Cross to enter the besieged town of Qusair after military operations are over, Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem told U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Sunday, state TV said. U.N. humanitarian officials have called for an immediate ceasefire in Qusair, where President Bashar al-Assad's forces and Hezbollah fighters are battling to drive out rebels, saying 1,500 wounded people are in need of emergency medical treatment. ... Full Story | Top |
| Over 7,000 Syrian refugees return from Iraq as security improves Sunday, Jun 02, 2013 06:01 AM PDT By Suadad al-Salhy BAGHDAD (Reuters) - More than 7,000 Syrian refugees in Iraq have crossed back to the rebel-held Syrian border town of Albu Kamal in recent weeks due to better security there, an Iraqi official said on Sunday. The reverse flow coincides with a lull in battles and air raids by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's military, which has been on the offensive elsewhere in Syria, especially in the western town of Qusair, around Damascus and in the south. The mayor of the Iraqi border town of al-Qaim said 7,000 out of 11,000 Syrian refugees hosted there had returned home. ... Full Story | Top |
| South Africa investigates Libyan claims on stashed Gaddafi assets Sunday, Jun 02, 2013 05:39 AM PDT  JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's Treasury is looking into Libyan assertions that slain leader Muammar Gaddafi and his family stashed money and other assets in the country, a spokesman said on Sunday. "There was a group that approached Treasury claiming to represent the Libyan government and we are in the process of verifying their claims about assets that are in South Africa," Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan's spokesman Jabulani Sikhakhane said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Malawi protests Tanzania plans to deploy vessels on lake Sunday, Jun 02, 2013 05:37 AM PDT LILONGWE (Reuters) - Malawi has protested against plans by its neighbor Tanzania to deploy two ships on Lake Malawi, which it says threaten mediation efforts to resolve a long-standing border dispute. Malawi's Foreign Affairs Minister Ephraim Chiume said on Saturday that Tanzanian government officials had stated publicly that the East African nation was buying six new passenger ships, two of which were destined for Lake Malawi. ... Full Story | Top |
| Analysis: Kerry pushing for Middle East peace, but is he a Lone Ranger? Sunday, Jun 02, 2013 05:02 AM PDT  By Arshad Mohammed WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Four months into his term, Secretary of State John Kerry is trying, simultaneously, to end two of the world's most intractable conflicts: the Syrian civil war and the struggle between Israel and the Palestinians. The two issues, according to an aide, have consumed the vast majority of Kerry's time and energy - he has already flown more than 100,000 miles to 23 countries, including four trips to Israel - since he took office February 1. ... Full Story | Top |
| Landmine blast wounds 3 Tunisian soldiers near Algerian border Sunday, Jun 02, 2013 04:25 AM PDT TUNIS (Reuters) - Three Tunisian soldiers have been wounded in a landmine explosion near the Algerian border where security forces are pursuing Islamist insurgents, the defense ministry said. The incident, which happened on Saturday, was the latest of several mine blasts in the remote area of Mount Chaambi, the focus of a hunt for Islamist militants since December. "Three soldiers were wounded in a mine explosion while in a military vehicle during a search operation at Mount Chaambi," state news agency TAP quoted defense ministry spokesman Colonel Mokhtar Ben Nasr as saying late on Saturday. ... Full Story | Top |
| Sudan security bans opposition newspaper Sunday, Jun 02, 2013 04:24 AM PDT KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan's security service has banned the newspaper of the opposition Communist party, its editor said on Sunday, the third paper targeted by authorities in the past few weeks. Sudan's constitution guarantees press freedom but the security service has clamped down on independent and even pro-government media if they criticize the government. "The security services have issued a publication ban by ordering our printing and distribution firms to stop dealing with us," said Madiha Abdella, editor of al-Midan, the Communist mouthpiece. ... Full Story | Top |
| Merkel coalition partner warns against higher state spending Sunday, Jun 02, 2013 04:02 AM PDT  BERLIN (Reuters) - The leader of Chancellor Angela Merkel's junior coalition partner chided her over spending promises made ahead of September's federal election and said now was not the time to abandon "economic sense". Merkel, whose center-right Christian Democrats (CDU) are well ahead in opinion polls, has signaled that more funds will be made available for families and for infrastructure projects if she wins a third term in office. "I urgently advise staying in the realm of economic sense. ... Full Story | Top |
| Pentagon chief tours ship at cutting edge of U.S. pivot to Asia Sunday, Jun 02, 2013 03:37 AM PDT  By David Alexander SINGAPORE (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Sunday toured the new combat ship at the leading edge of the U.S. military's pivot to Asia, a modest little vessel whose development over the past decade has been beset by cost overruns, mishaps and criticism. Hagel spoke with the crew of the USS Freedom, the Navy's first Littoral Combat Ship (LCS), a class of shallow-draft vessels built to patrol in coastal waters while tackling threats like mines, quiet diesel-electric submarines and other systems used to deny access to big warships. ... Full Story | Top |
| Several fighters killed in Lebanon clash: sources Sunday, Jun 02, 2013 03:01 AM PDT BEIRUT (Reuters) - Several fighters were killed in an overnight clash in eastern Lebanon, close to the border with Syria, between Hezbollah fighters and Syrian rebel forces, Lebanese security sources said on Sunday. One source said 15 people were killed in the fighting east of the Bekaa Valley town of Baalbek, but the exact toll would not be clear until bodies could be retrieved from the area, about 2 km (1 mile) from the border. (Editing by Robin Pomeroy) Full Story | Top |
| Austerity-weary Spaniards crave political change Sunday, Jun 02, 2013 02:46 AM PDT  MADRID (Reuters) - Spaniards tired of spending cuts and allegations of high-level corruption want new parties to shake up the current political scene, according to an opinion poll published on Sunday. In Spain, where 27 percent of the workforce is jobless owing to a painful recession, power has switched between the center-right People's Party (PP) and the socialist PSOE since 1982. The country was ruled by dictator Francisco Franco for decades until his death in 1975. Spaniards have become disenchanted with their politicians, especially since the ruling PP was accused of graft. ... Full Story | Top |
| Fighting in Syria's Qusair, U.N. says world watching Sunday, Jun 02, 2013 01:54 AM PDT  By Dominic Evans BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian troops and Hezbollah guerrillas besieging the border town of Qusair fought with rebels on Saturday as the United Nations warned all sides they would be held accountable for the suffering of trapped civilians. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said fighting was taking place inside Qusair and in villages around it, largely controlled by President Bashar al-Assad's forces who have cut off access to the town. ... Full Story | Top |
| Iranian presidential candidate's staff arrested: report Sunday, Jun 02, 2013 01:51 AM PDT By Yeganeh Torbati DUBAI (Reuters) - Members of a moderate Iranian presidential candidate's campaign team were arrested on Saturday, an opposition website said, after a rally in which he criticized heightened security measures in the country. Supporters of Hassan Rohani also shouted slogans in support of detained opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi at the rally in Tehran, according to a video of the event posted on YouTube. ... Full Story | Top |
| Magnitude 6.5 earthquake strikes Taiwan, some damage Sunday, Jun 02, 2013 01:47 AM PDT TAIPEI (Reuters) - A magnitude 6.5 earthquake struck the island of Taiwan on Sunday and caused some damage, Taiwan media reported. The quake struck 24 miles southeast of the city of T'ai-chung at a depth of nine miles, the U.S. Geological Survey said. The agency initially said it was 6.6 magnitude but later downgraded it slightly. Taiwan television said the quake triggered a gas explosion in the centre of the island but it gave no details. There were no reports of any casualties. The quake also rattled the island's capital of Taipei. ... Full Story | Top |
| Merkel says EU Commission should not get more powers Sunday, Jun 02, 2013 01:26 AM PDT  BERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel is opposed to handing more powers to the European Commission and agrees with France that European Union governments should work more closely on economic policy, she said in an interview published on Sunday. Berlin has traditionally backed a stronger Commission but the EU's Brussels-based executive has seen its influence wane during the euro zone debt crisis, while Germany, Europe's biggest economy, has increasingly steered decision-making. ... Full Story | Top |
|
No comments:
Post a Comment