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| Indian PM Singh to visit White House in late September Tuesday, Aug 20, 2013 09:06 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is due to meet with U.S. President Barack Obama at the White House on September 27, the White House said on Tuesday. Singh has come under fire in India for quietly trying to restart peace talks with arch-rival Pakistan. Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has called for better relations with India after weeks of mounting tensions along the border the two countries share in mountainous Kashmir. ... Full Story | Top |
| NSA surveillance covers 75 percent of U.S. Internet traffic: WSJ Tuesday, Aug 20, 2013 08:49 PM PDT  (Reuters) - The National Security Agency's surveillance network has the capacity to reach around 75 percent of all U.S. Internet communications in the hunt for foreign intelligence, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday. Citing current and former NSA officials, the newspaper said the 75 percent coverage is more of Americans' Internet communications than officials have publicly disclosed. The Journal said the agency keeps the content of some emails sent between U.S. citizens and also filters domestic phone calls made over the Internet. ... Full Story | Top |
| Mexico's Pemex says ammonia gas pipeline leak kills at least three Tuesday, Aug 20, 2013 08:47 PM PDT  MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - At least three people were killed by an ammonia gas leak from a pipeline owned by state oil monopoly Pemex in southern Mexico on Tuesday and 1,500 people were evacuated from the area and taken to shelters, the company said. Mexican media put the death toll at four and said some 40 others were poisoned by the leak in the southern state of Oaxaca. Pemex said the leak was caused when the pipeline was damaged by heavy machinery operated by a private company doing road work. Pemex has had a poor safety record in recent years. ... Full Story | Top |
| China to give reporters live TV coverage of Bo trial: media Tuesday, Aug 20, 2013 08:38 PM PDT  By John Ruwitch JINAN, China (Reuters) - The trial of ousted Chinese politician Bo Xilai will be televised live to reporters in eastern China, a Hong Kong-based broadcaster said, a landmark move by authorities to appear transparent as they put a lid on the country's biggest political scandal in decades. ... Full Story | Top |
| Japan to issue gravest Fukushima nuclear warning in two years: agency Tuesday, Aug 20, 2013 08:29 PM PDT  By Kentaro Hamada and James Topham TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan will dramatically raise its warning about the severity of a toxic water leak at the Fukushima nuclear plant, its nuclear watchdog said on Wednesday, its most serious action since the plant was destroyed by an earthquake and tsunami in 2011. The deepening crisis at the Fukushima plant will be upgraded from a level 1 "anomaly" to a level three "serious incident" on an international scale for radiological releases, a spokesman for Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Britain defends detention of journalist's partner Tuesday, Aug 20, 2013 07:01 PM PDT  By Estelle Shirbon and Michael Holden LONDON (Reuters) - The British government, accused of abusing media freedom, said on Tuesday police were right to detain a journalist's partner if they thought lives might be at risk from data he was carrying from fugitive U.S. intelligence contractor Edward Snowden. ... Full Story | Top |
| Afghans at court-martial describe pain from massacre by U.S. soldier Tuesday, Aug 20, 2013 06:47 PM PDT  By Jonathan Kaminsky TACOMA, Washington (Reuters) - An Afghan teenager who survived a rampage by a U.S. soldier who killed 16 unarmed civilians last year testified on Tuesday about the pain of losing his grandmother, at the start of a sentencing trial for the man behind the carnage. The teenager, who was shot in the legs and whose sister was also seriously wounded and now suffers nightmares, was among a group of Afghan victims of the violence flown to the United States to testify on the impact of the killings. ... Full Story | Top |
| EU foreign ministers weigh Egypt aid, policy at emergency talks Tuesday, Aug 20, 2013 05:02 PM PDT  By Justyna Pawlak BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union governments will debate on Wednesday how to use their economic muscle to force Egypt's army-backed rulers to end a crackdown on deposed President Mohamed Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood. There may be little they can do to inflict hardship on Cairo by cutting back on aid, because much of their cash goes to civil society groups, not the government, and Saudi Arabia has pledged to plug any shortfall if support is stopped. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. takes tougher line with Egypt but denies aid cut Tuesday, Aug 20, 2013 04:54 PM PDT  By Lesley Wroughton and Patricia Zengerle WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Tuesday adopted a harder line toward Egypt's military-backed government, stressing that its bloody crackdown on protesters could influence U.S. aid to Cairo but denying reports that it has suspended the assistance. The army's clampdown on supporters of deposed Islamist President Mohamed Mursi over the past week, the "suspicious deaths" of 37 prisoners in custody and the detention of Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Badie on Tuesday have worsened relations between Washington and Egypt's new rulers. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. embassy in Sanaa, Yemen reopens after security threats Tuesday, Aug 20, 2013 04:30 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. embassy in Sanaa, Yemen, reopened on Sunday after closing earlier this month due to concerns over potential terrorism attacks, the U.S. State Department said. The Yemen embassy was one of about 20 U.S. embassies and consulates in the Middle East and Africa that were closed in early August when the United States said it had picked up information about unspecified terrorism threats. The reopened embassy in Yemen will "provide limited public services," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Israel, Palestinians hold third round of peace talks Tuesday, Aug 20, 2013 04:26 PM PDT  JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israelis and Palestinians held a third round of negotiations on Tuesday, and Israel's chief representative at the talks predicted the U.S.-brokered peace process would lead to dramatic Israeli decisions. Tzipi Livni coupled her forecast with acknowledgement that at least one partner in Israel's right-wing coalition opposed the goal set by Washington to create a Palestinian state alongside a secure Israel. Livni, speaking on Israel Radio before talks convened in Jerusalem, said "there will be dramatic decisions" by Israel at the end of the negotiating process. ... Full Story | Top |
| Argentine diplomat calls Cameron 'dumb' over Falklands flap Tuesday, Aug 20, 2013 04:23 PM PDT BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Argentina's ambassador to Britain described Prime Minister David Cameron as "dumb" in his handling of the dispute over the Falkland Islands, the latest verbal salvo in the long feud between the two nations that went to war over the South Atlantic archipelago. Ambassador Alicia Castro told lawmakers that Cameron unwisely publicized comments by former Buenos Aires Archbishop Jorge Bergoglio, before he was named pope this year, in which Bergoglio said the islands belonged to Argentina. ... Full Story | Top |
| Egyptian court could free Mubarak as crisis deepens Tuesday, Aug 20, 2013 04:08 PM PDT  By Lin Noueihed and Alistair Lyon CAIRO (Reuters) - Former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak could be freed from jail after a court reviews his case on Wednesday, potentially stirring more unrest in a country where army-backed authorities are hunting down his Muslim Brotherhood foes. The court will convene at the Cairo prison where Mubarak is being held, judicial sources said, and review a petition from his lawyer demanding the leader overthrown in a 2011 revolt be freed. ... Full Story | Top |
| Egypt's ElBaradei to face court for 'betrayal of trust' Tuesday, Aug 20, 2013 03:56 PM PDT  By Lin Noueihed CAIRO (Reuters) - Mohamed ElBaradei, Egypt's former interim vice president, is being sued for a "betrayal of trust" over his decision to quit the army-backed government in protest at its bloody crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood. The case points to the prospect of a new wave of politically driven lawsuits being brought to court following the downfall of President Mohamed Mursi, whose supporters brought a raft of cases against opposition figures during his year in power. ... Full Story | Top |
| Obama lauds Mali election, U.S. reviewing aid Tuesday, Aug 20, 2013 03:45 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama on Tuesday congratulated Mali on holding a "peaceful, inclusive and credible" election this month, a step toward resuming U.S. aid to the West African nation. The United States suspended aid to Mali in April last year, after a coup prompted by an uprising by Islamists and Tuareg separatists. Mali's constitutional court confirmed Ibrahim Boubacar Keita had won Mali's presidential election runoff on August 11 with 78 percent of the vote and he is expected to be sworn in by Mali's supreme court on September 4. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. deports drug cartel 'queen' to Mexico Tuesday, Aug 20, 2013 03:15 PM PDT  MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - The United States on Tuesday deported a Mexican drug smuggler, known as the "Queen of the Pacific", after she served out a jail term, handing her over to authorities in Mexico to face separate money laundering charges. Sandra Avila Beltran, 52, was originally arrested in Mexico in 2007 and allegedly helped build the Sinaloa cartel in the 1990s with Joaquin "Shorty" Guzman - Mexico's most-wanted drug boss. She was extradited to the United States in August 2012. ... Full Story | Top |
| German minister's Greek aid comments spark pre-election backlash Tuesday, Aug 20, 2013 02:32 PM PDT  By Gernot Heller AHRENSBURG, Germany (Reuters) - German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said on Tuesday for the first time that Greece will need another bailout, triggering a storm of protest from opposition parties five weeks before an election in Europe's biggest economy. While analysts have long predicted Greece will require more aid, albeit on a smaller scale than previous bailouts totaling about 240 billion euros ($320 billion), Chancellor Angela Merkel has tried to keep Greece out of her campaign for re-election to avoid angering German voters who fear they will foot the bill. ... Full Story | Top |
| Erdogan angers U.S., Israel, Egypt with Mursi defense Tuesday, Aug 20, 2013 02:25 PM PDT  By Ayla Jean Yackley ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan angered Ankara's U.S. ally, as well as regional leaders in Egypt and Israel, by accusing Israel on Tuesday of helping overthrow Cairo's Islamist president. The White House called the remarks "offensive". Erdogan, who has become one of the fiercest critics of the Egyptian army's removal of Mohamed Mursi, told members of his Islamist-rooted AK Party that he had proof that Israel was involved in last month's ouster, which has been followed by a bloody crackdown on the elected president's Muslim Brotherhood. ... Full Story | Top |
| Toronto policeman accused of murder in teen shooting released on bail Tuesday, Aug 20, 2013 02:19 PM PDT  By Solarina Ho TORONTO (Reuters) - A Toronto policeman charged with second degree murder in the shooting death of an 18-year-old who brandished a knife on a streetcar was released on C$510,000 ($491,000) bail on Tuesday. Outlining a rare murder charge against an on-duty police officer, the Toronto police force's Special Investigations Unit said on Monday it had grounds to believe that Constable James Forcillo broke the law in the death of Sammy Yatim. The late-night shooting was filmed by bystanders and widely distributed online. ... Full Story | Top |
| Czech Communists may get share of power after snap election Tuesday, Aug 20, 2013 02:17 PM PDT  By Jana Mlcochova and Robert Muller PRAGUE (Reuters) - The Czech parliament voted on Tuesday to dissolve itself, triggering an early election that could hand the Communist Party a share in power for the first time since a bloodless revolution ended the party's totalitarian rule two decades ago. Opinion polls show that the center-left Social Democrats will be the biggest party, but they will need support from other groups to govern and the leader of the party said he would talk to the Communists about forming a partnership. ... Full Story | Top |
| Pakistan seizes 100 tons of bomb-making equipment in Quetta Tuesday, Aug 20, 2013 12:44 PM PDT By Gul Yousufzai QUETTA, Pakistan (Reuters) - Security forces seized 100 tons of bomb-making material from Quetta, one of Pakistan's most violent cities, on Tuesday night, a security official said. The material was the same type used in two bombings of a predominantly Shi'ite Muslim part of Quetta this year that killed around 200 people, Col. Maqbool Shah of the Frontier Corps told Reuters. The raid came a day after two men were arrested driving a truck in the city with 15 tons of potassium chlorate, a chemical used in bomb-making, hidden under boxes of potato chips, Shah said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Nigeria navy parades four from rare pirate capture Tuesday, Aug 20, 2013 12:15 PM PDT  By Tim Cocks LAGOS (Reuters) - The Nigerian sailors had started marching four captured pirates onto a boat when an officer shouted "hold on" to give the cameras a chance to get into position. With a semi-circle of local reporters in dark orange life jackets snapping photos and rolling film, the men started moving again at Lagos naval command, chains clanking around their ankles. The four were arrested during one of only two successful operations against a sharp rise in pirate attacks this year - and Nigerian authorities were determined to squeeze the maximum publicity out of their coup. ... Full Story | Top |
| Merkel pauses election campaign to visit Dachau concentration camp Tuesday, Aug 20, 2013 12:01 PM PDT  By Stephen Brown DACHAU, Germany (Reuters) - Angela Merkel laid a wreath at Dachau concentration camp on Tuesday, making her the first German chancellor to visit the death camp where Nazis killed more than 41,000 people in the Holocaust. Taking a pause in her campaign for a third term in office, the chancellor met survivors, including Abba Naor, an 85-year-old Jew whose mother and 5-year-old brother were murdered in concentration camps along with dozens more relatives. "Merkel is coming here to say we will never forget what happened here," the Lithuanian-born former inmate said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Spain state rail officials face investigation after crash Tuesday, Aug 20, 2013 11:58 AM PDT MADRID (Reuters) - A judge investigating Spain's worst train disaster in decades will question safety officials from state rail company Adif after finding basic precautions were not made, papers released on Tuesday showed. The main cause of the accident, that killed 79 people in the northwestern region of Galicia last month, was the train's excessive speed, judge Luis Alaez wrote in court documents. But he had also decided to put safety officials at Adif under formal investigation, the papers said. ... Full Story | Top |
| White House says U.S. has not cut off aid to Egypt Tuesday, Aug 20, 2013 11:48 AM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Media reports that suggest the United States has cut off aid to Egypt are not accurate, a White House spokesman said on Tuesday, adding that the Obama administration is still reviewing its options. "That review has not concluded and ... published reports to the contrary that assistance to Egypt has been cut off are not accurate," White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters in a briefing. He said Obama was convening a meeting with his national security team on Tuesday to discuss Egypt and the review of U.S. aid to the country. ... Full Story | Top |
| Colombian rebels say they share blame for decades of bloodshed Tuesday, Aug 20, 2013 11:36 AM PDT By Nelson Acosta HAVANA (Reuters) - Colombia's largest rebel organization for the first time on Tuesday accepted partial responsibility for decades of bloodshed and called for a commission to investigate the causes of the armed conflict that has killed more than 200,000. The admission from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) came after a similar one by the Colombian government and appeared to mark some progress in peace negotiations that have dragged on for nine months in Havana while fighting continues in Colombia. ... Full Story | Top |
| Insight: Egypt's political strife puts Christians in peril Tuesday, Aug 20, 2013 11:24 AM PDT  By Alexander Dziadosz MINYA, Egypt (Reuters) - Last Wednesday, Ayub Youssef was driving to the southern Egyptian town of Delja where he works as a Catholic priest when a friend called and told him to turn back. By the time he reached the town on Sunday, about 20 houses had been burned. An ancient monastery was smashed and ransacked. One of his parishioners, a 60-year-old barber named Iskander Tous, had been killed in the chaos. Now, Youssef said, Christians in Delja were living like prisoners in their homes. "No one goes out at all. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. condemns Erdogan's comments on Israel, Egypt Tuesday, Aug 20, 2013 11:14 AM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States condemned comments by Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan accusing Israel of having a hand in the Egyptian military's overthrow of president Mohamed Mursi, a White House spokesman said on Tuesday. "We strongly condemn the statements that were made by Prime Minister Erdogan today. Suggesting that Israel is somehow responsible for recent events in Egypt is offensive, unsubstantiated, and wrong," White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters in a briefing. ... Full Story | Top |
| Sierra Leone says arrests soldiers planning presidential protest Tuesday, Aug 20, 2013 11:11 AM PDT  FREETOWN (Reuters) - Sierra Leone's army said it arrested nine soldiers over the weekend for planning a protest during a visit by President Ernest Bai Koroma to his hometown. The arrests highlight increasing disgruntlement with Koroma among the Sierra Leone army, who have complained of low wages and inadequate housing as the country struggles to emerge from the 1991-2002 civil war. ... Full Story | Top |
| French PM sends more police to crime-ridden Marseille Tuesday, Aug 20, 2013 10:43 AM PDT  MARSEILLE, France (Reuters) - The French prime minister said on Tuesday he would step up policing in Marseille to stem a spate of killings by drug gangsters that is tainting the image of the country's second-largest city. Jean-Marc Ayrault, flanked by his interior and justice ministers, said he would send in 130 extra riot police and 24 investigative officers this week after two more murders in recent days, one in front of a busy restaurant. ... Full Story | Top |
| Iraqi Kurdistan sets quota for Syria refugees: aid groups Tuesday, Aug 20, 2013 10:40 AM PDT  By Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA (Reuters) - The government of Iraqi Kurdistan has set an entry quota of 3,000 refugees a day to cope with an influx of Kurds fleeing the civil war in Syria, but there are signs many more are still coming in, aid agencies said on Tuesday. About 35,000 refugees, believed to be mainly Syrian Kurds, have entered Iraq since last Thursday, including an estimated 5,100, well over the cap, on Tuesday, the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR said. UNHCR officials told an internal U.N. ... Full Story | Top |
| Red Cross chief in North Korea to discuss separated families Tuesday, Aug 20, 2013 10:19 AM PDT  GENEVA (Reuters) - The president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Peter Maurer, arrived in Pyongyang on Tuesday to discuss the reunification of families on the divided Korean peninsula and other humanitarian issues, the agency said. North Korea said on Sunday it had accepted a South Korean offer to hold talks on resuming reunions of families separated by the Korean War, three days after an overture by South Korean President Park Geun-hye. North Korea and South Korea are technically still at war after their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty. ... Full Story | Top |
| Assad's forces counter rebel gains in Syria's Deir al-Zor Tuesday, Aug 20, 2013 10:02 AM PDT  By Khaled Yacoub Oweis AMMAN (Reuters) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces attacked rebel positions in the eastern city of Deir al-Zor on Tuesday, days after a rebel advance threatened to bring the whole city under the control of anti-Assad forces, opposition activists said. The provincial capital on the banks of the Euphrates, 430 km (270 miles) northeast of Damascus, anchors a vast, arid oil-producing region bordering Iraq. Half of it fell to rebels a year ago but Assad's forces have held out in several districts in the west of the Sunni Muslim city and in the airport to the east. ... Full Story | Top |
| Snowden writer's partner begins legal action over UK detention Tuesday, Aug 20, 2013 10:02 AM PDT LONDON (Reuters) - David Miranda, the partner of a journalist who has written reports based on leaks by Edward Snowden, has begun legal action to stop the British authorities inspecting data they seized from him, his lawyer said on Tuesday. Miranda's lawyer Gwendolen Morgan said her client was seeking a judicial review of the legal basis for his detention at London's Heathrow airport on Sunday under anti-terrorism laws and wanted assurances from the authorities that property seized from him would not be examined before this. ... Full Story | Top |
| Britain defends detention of Snowden writer's partner Tuesday, Aug 20, 2013 10:02 AM PDT LONDON (Reuters) - Britain on Tuesday defended the detention under anti-terrorism powers of the partner of a journalist who has written about U.S. and British surveillance programmes based on leaks by Edward Snowden, saying it had a duty "to protect the public". David Miranda, partner of U.S. journalist Glenn Greenwald, was questioned for nine hours on Sunday at London's Heathrow Airport before being released without charge, prompting calls for an explanation of why anti-terrorism powers were used to detain the Brazilian citizen. ... Full Story | Top |
| Army judge to sentence WikiLeaks' Manning on Wednesday Tuesday, Aug 20, 2013 09:53 AM PDT  By Medina Roshan FORT MEADE, Maryland (Reuters) - Bradley Manning, the soldier convicted of giving classified U.S. files to WikiLeaks, will be told at 10 a.m. EDT on Wednesday how much of his life will be spent in a military prison, a U.S. Army spokesman said on Tuesday. The judge, Colonel Denise Lind, began deliberating Manning's sentence on Tuesday and later told the court that sentencing would take place at 10 a.m., the spokesman said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Syrian Kurds' flight drags Iraq deeper into neighbor's war Tuesday, Aug 20, 2013 09:51 AM PDT  By Murad Talaat PESHKHABOUR, Iraq (Reuters) - Mahmoud Qarou packed his bags two days ago, joining tens of thousands of Syrian refugees escaping into northern Iraq, convinced that the two-year conflict could only get worse. About 35,000 Syrian refugees have poured into neighboring Iraqi Kurdistan over a new border crossing since Thursday, fleeing a surge in attacks by al Qaeda-linked Sunni Arab rebel group al-Nusra Front on Kurdish villages near the border. "There is no peaceful solution in Syria. ... Full Story | Top |
| Mirror journalist, Sun director to be charged over UK corruption Tuesday, Aug 20, 2013 09:39 AM PDT  LONDON (Reuters) - A former journalist at the Daily Mirror tabloid and a veteran editorial director at Rupert Murdoch's Sun newspaper are to be charged with making illegal payments to public officials, British prosecutors said on Tuesday. The Crown Prosecution Service said Greig Box Turnbull would face two charges of conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office in the first such charge for a journalist from the Trinity Mirror group. He is accused of making payments to prison officers for information to generate news stories over a seven-year period. ... Full Story | Top |
| Egypt's ElBaradei faces court for 'betrayal of trust' Tuesday, Aug 20, 2013 09:39 AM PDT By Lin Noueihed CAIRO (Reuters) - Mohamed ElBaradei, Egypt's former vice president, will be sued in court for a "betrayal of trust" over his decision to quit the army-backed government in protest at its bloody crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood. The case, brought by an Egyptian law professor, will be heard in a Cairo court on September 19, judicial sources said on Tuesday. ... Full Story | Top |
| Israel will make 'dramatic decisions' for peace, negotiator says Tuesday, Aug 20, 2013 09:19 AM PDT  JERUSALEM (Reuters) - U.S.-brokered peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians will result in dramatic Israeli decisions, the chief Israeli negotiator predicted on Tuesday. Tzipi Livni coupled her forecast with acknowledgement that at least one partner in Israel's right-wing coalition opposed the goal set by the United States, which is brokering the talks, to create a Palestinian state alongside a secure Israel. ... Full Story | Top |
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