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| Death toll from Pakistan market attack rises to 42 Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 09:09 PM PDT  PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - The death toll from a car bomb explosion in an ancient market in Pakistan's northwestern city of Peshawar rose to at least 42 on Monday, after the third attack in the area in a week. The blast ripped through the busy centuries-old market known as Quiswakhani, or the storytellers' bazaar, in Peshawar's old city on Sunday, exactly a week after more than 80 Christians were killed in a twin suicide bomb attack on a nearby church. A spokesman for the main city hospital said at least 107 people were wounded. ... Full Story | Top |
| Obama administration to sue U.S. state on voting rules: source Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 09:03 PM PDT  By David Ingram WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration plans to sue North Carolina on Monday to block newly enacted voting rules that it believes violates federal civil rights law, a person briefed on the Justice Department's plan said on Sunday. The challenge would be the second of its kind in three months aimed at voting changes in a Republican-led state. In July, the Justice Department said it would sue Texas. The department's civil rights enforcers are acting after the U.S. Supreme Court in June invalidated part of the 1965 Voting Rights Act they previously relied on. ... Full Story | Top |
| Capitol quiet as federal government shutdown nears Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 08:44 PM PDT  By David Lawder and Richard Cowan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - With a deadline to avert a federal government shutdown fast approaching, the U.S. Capitol was eerily quiet on Sunday as Republicans and Democrats waited for the other side to blink first and break the impasse over funding. The Republican-controlled House of Representatives early on Sunday passed a measure that ties government funding to a one-year delay of President Barack Obama's landmark healthcare restructuring law. Senate Democrats have vowed to quash it. ... Full Story | Top |
| After Airbus A400M, Europe faces dearth of big defense projects Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 07:18 PM PDT  By Tim Hepher and Brenda Goh PARIS/LONDON (Reuters) - European politicians will toast the long-awaited Airbus A400M military transport plane at a ceremony in Spain on Monday, but face warnings that Europe's largest-ever collaborative defense project may be its last for years to come. After a tortuous 30 years in development, the first of 170 troop and cargo planes ordered by seven nations grants Europe a step towards independence in military transport, a key plank of foreign intervention capability. ... Full Story | Top |
| India, Pakistan leaders say they want better ties but reach no concrete agreements Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 06:05 PM PDT  By Paul Eckert NEW YORK (Reuters) - Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart, Nawaz Sharif, agreed on Sunday to work to restore a cross-border ceasefire after a spate of shootings in order to improve strained ties, officials said. Singh and Sharif met on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, amid heightened tension between the nuclear-armed neighbors over the Kashmir region, sparked by series of fatal clashes on their de facto Himalayan border. ... Full Story | Top |
| China to crack down on false terrorist threats to airlines Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 06:05 PM PDT  SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China will impose tough penalties on people making false terrorist threats against airlines and airports, after a stream of bogus calls grounded flights and piled pressure on an already strained air traffic control system, state media reported. Flights and domestic airports have been disrupted by 80 fake threats this year, the official Xinhua news service said. Between May 15 and 18 alone, six bomb threats were reported, forcing 22 flights to turn back, land elsewhere or be delayed, a separate China Daily report noted. ... Full Story | Top |
| Japan August output slips but seen rising on exports, domestic demand Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 05:29 PM PDT  By Tetsushi Kajimoto and Stanley White TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's industrial output slid 0.7 percent in August after a hefty gain in the previous month, but analysts see factory activity and the broader economy on track for a steady recovery backed by exports and firm domestic demand. A separate survey showed manufacturing activity expanded in September at the fastest pace since the March 2011 earthquake, underscoring the strength of the world's third-largest economy. Retail sales also rose 1. ... Full Story | Top |
| Italian political crisis threatens to split Berlusconi camp Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 05:24 PM PDT  By James Mackenzie ROME (Reuters) - Silvio Berlusconi's bid to push Italy into new elections faces a test on Monday when he meets lawmakers from his center-right party who have shown growing unease over his shock decision to pull support from Prime Minister Enrico Letta's coalition. Berlusconi's decision to order the five ministers from his People of Freedom (PDL) party to resign from Letta's cabinet has plunged Italy into political chaos and left the euro zone's third-largest economy without a functioning government. ... Full Story | Top |
| Portuguese punish ruling party for bailout pain in local polls Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 05:18 PM PDT  By Andrei Khalip and Axel Bugge LISBON (Reuters) - Portuguese voters punished the ruling Social Democrats for painful austerity under an EU/IMF bailout, boosting opposition and independent candidates in municipal elections on Sunday. Preliminary results and exit poll projections showed Antonio Costa from the main opposition Socialists was reelected mayor of Lisbon by a landslide, winning more than half the votes cast - an improvement of up to 10 percentage points on his 2009 result. ... Full Story | Top |
| Italian cookbook author Marcella Hazan dies at 89 Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 05:05 PM PDT (Reuters) - Marcella Hazan, whose cookbooks brought the rich taste of authentic Italian food into kitchens across the United States, has died at the age of 89, her family said. Hazan lived in Longboat Key, Florida, with her husband and lifelong collaborator and writing partner Victor. Her death was announced by her daughter-in-law Lael Sara Caplan Hazan on her Facebook page. "The world of authentic home cooking has lost a giant today. My mother-in-law Marcella Hazan, melted away peacefully, my father-in-law Victor, was at her side," Caplan Hazan wrote. ... Full Story | Top |
| UK finance minister to court voters with tough welfare rules Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 05:04 PM PDT  By Guy Faulconbridge and Andrew Osborn MANCHESTER, England (Reuters) - British finance minister George Osborne will propose tougher new welfare rules and a reduction in taxes on Monday in a bid to win over voters grappling with declining spending power ahead of the 2015 election, while promising to sustain an economic recovery. Speaking to Conservative Party activists at the penultimate conference before the election, Osborne will argue that though Britain's $2.5 trillion economy is recovering and he is optimistic about the global economy there can be no complacency. ... Full Story | Top |
| Japan August retail sales rise 1.1 percent Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 04:56 PM PDT  TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese retail sales rose 1.1 percent in August from a year earlier, government data showed on Monday, in a sign that consumer spending is gaining some momentum. That compares with the median estimate for a 0.1 percent annual increase and followed a 0.3 percent decline in the year to July, data from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry showed. To view full tables, go to the website of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry at: http://www.meti.go.jp/english/statistics/tyo/syoudou/index.html (Reporting by Stanley White; Editing by Edmund Klamann) Full Story | Top |
| Amid rare unity, U.N. Security Council mulls action on Syria aid Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 04:49 PM PDT  By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - After adopting a hard-fought, Russian-backed resolution to rid Syria of chemical weapons, the U.N. Security Council is now turning its attention to the country's dire humanitarian crisis, putting to the test its fragile consensus on the conflict. The Security Council is considering a statement to try to boost aid access in Syria by urging Syrian authorities to allow cross-border deliveries from neighboring countries and asking parties to the conflict to hold humanitarian pauses in the fighting. ... Full Story | Top |
| Factbox: What would happen if the U.S. government shuts down? Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 04:43 PM PDT (Reuters) - A partial shutdown of the U.S. government will begin at midnight on Monday if Republicans and Democrats fail to agree on a funding bill. In a government shutdown, spending for essential functions related to national security or public safety would continue along with benefit programs such as Medicare health insurance and Social Security retirement benefits for seniors. But civilian federal employees - from people who process forms and handle regulatory matters to workers at national parks and museums - would be furloughed. ... Full Story | Top |
| Closed museums to be least of the problems in a shutdown Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 04:40 PM PDT  By Patrick Temple-West and Gabriel Debenedetti WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The most iconic image from the last big shutdown of the federal government in 1995 was also its most misleading. It was a sign on the door of the Air and Space Museum in Washington saying "Due to the Federal Government shutdown, the Smithsonian Institution must be closed. We regret the inconvenience." But that shutdown, which lasted from December 16, 1995 to January 6, 1996 as Democratic President Bill Clinton battled a Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives, was a lot more than an inconvenience. ... Full Story | Top |
| Father of Dodgers fan killed in stabbing pleads for witnesses Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 04:30 PM PDT (Reuters) - The father of a man stabbed to death in a fight after a baseball game made an emotional plea on Sunday for witnesses to come forward after prosecutors declined to charge a suspect for lack of evidence. Addressing reporters in front of AT&T Park before the San Francisco Giants' final game of the season, Robert Preece said he believed that someone may have videotaped the altercation that left his 24-year-old son, Jonathan Denver, dead. Such evidence could help authorities get to the truth of what had happened, said Preece. "I don't know how this will end," Preece told reporters. ... Full Story | Top |
| Italian president hopes to solve political crisis without new vote Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 04:28 PM PDT By Alessandra Galloni and James Mackenzie ROME (Reuters) - Italy's president began talks on Sunday to pull the country out of a new political crisis, attempting to undercut a move by former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to bring down the government and force new elections seven months after the last vote. For the third time since 2011, Italian President Giorgio Napolitano is trying to steer the country out of political chaos that has proven a major threat, not only to the euro zone's third-largest economy, but to the region's efforts to halt its four-year debt crisis. ... Full Story | Top |
| Japan September PMI shows manufacturing expanding at fastest since 2011 quake Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 04:16 PM PDT  TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese manufacturing activity expanded in September at the fastest pace since a record earthquake and nuclear disaster in early 2011, a survey showed on Monday, suggesting the economy has been able to stage a full recovery due to strong domestic demand and recovering exports. The Markit/JMMA Japan Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) rose to a seasonally adjusted 52.5 in September from 52.2 in the previous month. ... Full Story | Top |
| TNT Post expands rival UK delivery service to Royal Mail Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 04:16 PM PDT  LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's No. 2 postal firm TNT Post is to begin deliveries in Greater Manchester in November as it steps up its challenge to dominant player Royal Mail, expected to be valued at as much as 3.3 billion pounds in a flotation next month. TNT Post, owned by Dutch mail group PostNL, wants to establish a nationwide delivery network by 2015, providing Royal Mail with competition on the last leg of deliveries for the first time in its centuries of service. ... Full Story | Top |
| Market bombing kill 33 in Pakistan's Peshawar: police Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 04:08 PM PDT By Hamid Ullah Khan PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - Twin blasts in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar killed 33 people and wounded 70 on Sunday, a week after bombings at a church there killed scores, police and hospital authorities said. Islamist violence has been on the rise in Pakistan in recent months, undermining Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's efforts to tame the insurgency by launching peace talks with the Taliban. The blasts outside a police station hit an area known as Quiswakhani, or the storytellers' bazaar, crowded with shoppers. ... Full Story | Top |
| Growth top goal for big UK firms for 1st time since 2011 - poll Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 04:07 PM PDT LONDON (Reuters) - Big companies in Britain say expansion is their top priority for the first time in 18 months, a survey showed on Monday, in another sign the country's economic recovery is on a solid footing. Forty percent of chief financial officers polled by professional services firm Deloitte aim to venture into new markets or introduce new products or services in the next 12 months. Thirty-five percent of respondents said increasing cash flow was a strong priority, making it the second most popular goal. Cost reduction came third, with 29 percent mentioning it. ... Full Story | Top |
| Kerry sees potential for quick Iran nuclear deal Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 04:02 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Secretary of State John Kerry said a deal on Iran's nuclear weapons program could be reached relatively quickly, and it would have the potential to dramatically improve the relationship between the two countries. Kerry said intensifying diplomatic efforts to resolve the dispute over Iran's nuclear program could produce an agreement within the three- to six-month time frame that Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has called for. ... Full Story | Top |
| Schaeuble and taxes at stake in German coalition talks Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 03:44 PM PDT  By Alexandra Hudson BERLIN (Reuters) - Angela Merkel will be asked to break an election pledge not to raise taxes in talks this week on a 'grand coalition' with the opposition Social Democrats (SPD) which could also threaten her influential finance minister. The chancellor's conservatives notched up their best result in more than two decades in last Sunday's election but fell just short of a parliamentary majority, leaving Merkel in need of a partner. Her former allies, the Free Democrats (FDP), lacked enough support to return to parliament. ... Full Story | Top |
| Sudanese protest again against Bashir in Khartoum Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 03:33 PM PDT KHARTOUM (Reuters) - About 1,000 Sudanese staged another protest in Khartoum on Sunday to demand President Omar Hassan al-Bashir resign, a witness said, as the government moved to raise salaries to soften the impact of unpopular austerity measures. Last week, the government cut back fuel subsidies, which touched off the worst unrest in central Sudan in years. The official death toll stands at 33, but Sudanese rights activists and some diplomats said more than 100 people were killed during clashes with security forces. ... Full Story | Top |
| Rare bomb attack in Iraqi Kurdish capital kills six Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 03:25 PM PDT By Isabel Coles ARBIL, Iraq (Reuters) - Militants launched a coordinated suicide and car bomb attack on the headquarters of the security services in the capital of Iraq's usually peaceful Kurdistan region on Sunday, killing six people in the first major assault there since 2007. Kurdistan has largely managed to insulate itself from the violent instability that afflicts the rest of Iraq, where insurgent groups including the Sunni Islamist al Qaeda have been regaining momentum this year and striking on a near daily basis. ... Full Story | Top |
| Osbourne to court voters with tough welfare rules Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 03:16 PM PDT  By Guy Faulconbridge and Andrew Osborn MANCHESTER (Reuters) - Chancellor George Osborne will propose tougher new welfare rules and a reduction in taxes on Monday in a bid to win over voters grappling with declining spending power ahead of the 2015 election, while promising to sustain an economic recovery. Speaking to Conservative Party activists at the penultimate conference before the election, Osborne will argue that though Britain's $2.5 trillion (1.54 trillion pounds) economy is recovering and he is optimistic about the global economy there can be no complacency. ... Full Story | Top |
| Amanda Knox back on trial for Kercher murder in Italy Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 03:03 PM PDT  By Catherine Hornby FLORENCE (Reuters) - The retrial of Amanda Knox for the murder of her British roommate in 2007 opens in Florence on Monday, refocusing international attention on the sensational case although the American will not be in court. Knox and her Italian boyfriend at the time, Raffaele Sollecito, were convicted in 2009 of killing 21-year-old Leeds University student Meredith Kercher in what was described as a drug-fuelled sexual assault. After winning an appeal in 2011 quashing the guilty verdict, both were freed from prison. ... Full Story | Top |
| Austrian parties set to renew grand coalition after election slap Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 03:02 PM PDT  By Michael Shields and Georgina Prodhan VIENNA (Reuters) - Austria's pro-Europe, centrist coalition partners face weeks of hard bargaining to extend their seven years in power after voters gave them only a tiny combined majority while boosting the far right and a new liberal party. Chancellor Werner Faymann's Social Democrats (SPO) offered talks with their conservative People's Party (OVP) allies to ensure that the two parties that have dominated post-war politics stay in power. ... Full Story | Top |
| Jesse Jackson determined to free U.S. hostage despite Colombian veto Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 02:38 PM PDT  By Marc Frank HAVANA (Reuters) - U.S. civil rights activist Jesse Jackson said on Sunday he will continue to work for the release of a U.S. army veteran kidnapped by Colombian FARC rebels in June, despite the Colombian government's rejection of his mediation. Jackson, who arrived in Cuba on Friday to talk with Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC) commanders who are here for peace talks with the Colombian government, said he was told Afghanistan war veteran Kevin Scott Sutay was free to leave if the logistics were in place to get him out of the jungle. ... Full Story | Top |
| Tuareg separatists, Malian army clash in northern town Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 02:31 PM PDT By Tiemoko Diallo BAMAKO (Reuters) - Tuareg separatists and Malian soldiers exchanged fire in the northern town of Kidal on Sunday, residents said, in a sign of escalating tensions three days after MNLA rebels ended a ceasefire with the newly elected government. Local officials said Tuareg separatists attacked an army unit stationed outside a bank in the center of the desert town. However, a spokesman for the rebel group said it was the soldiers who opened fire on an MNLA vehicle, injuring three men inside. ... Full Story | Top |
| Gods forbid: India's temples guard their gold from government Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 02:18 PM PDT  By D. Jose THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, India (Reuters) - India's Hindu temples are resisting divulging their gold holdings - perhaps nearly half the amount held in Fort Knox - amid mistrust of the motives of authorities who are trying to cut a hefty import bill that is hurting the economy. The central bank, which has already taken steps that have slowed to a trickle the incoming supplies that have exacerbated India's current account deficit, has sent letters to some of the country's richest temples asking for details of their gold. ... Full Story | Top |
| Analysis: Default or not, Asia a hostage to U.S. debt Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 02:11 PM PDT  By Choonsik Yoo and Kevin Yao SEOUL/BEIJING (Reuters) - Unless the U.S. Congress settles a political showdown to raise the country's debt ceiling in coming weeks, it will be left on the edge of an unprecedented default. But America's main creditors in Asia may be the least of its worries. The creditors - China, Japan and other Asian governments - have a hoard of U.S. Treasuries in their $5 trillion cache of foreign exchange reserves, the equivalent of almost a third of U.S. gross domestic product. ... Full Story | Top |
| China's grand makeover plan a work in progress; fuzzy on implementation Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 02:08 PM PDT  By Kevin Yao and Benjamin Kang Lim BEIJING (Reuters) - China's leaders will lay out plans to transform the world's second-largest economy at a key party meeting in November, leaving the question of how to do it largely unanswered as much of the reform agenda is still a matter of heated internal debate. People familiar with the discussions say that out of a long list of reforms that the Communist Party's 200-member Central Committee is set to announce, only a mooted financial overhaul has reached a point where there is a plan and a roadmap. ... Full Story | Top |
| Xi Jinping hopes traditional faiths can fill moral void in China: sources Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 02:05 PM PDT  By Benjamin Kang Lim and Ben Blanchard BEIJING (Reuters) - President Xi Jinping believes China is losing its moral compass and he wants the ruling Communist Party to be more tolerant of traditional faiths in the hope these will help fill a vacuum created by the country's breakneck growth and rush to get rich, sources said. Xi, who grew up in Mao's puritan China, is troubled by what he sees as the country's moral decline and obsession with money, said three independent sources with ties to the leadership. ... Full Story | Top |
| UK seeks full cyber warfare capability, experts Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 01:57 PM PDT MANCHESTER, England (Reuters) - Britain will recruit hundreds of computer experts to defend its vital networks against cyber attacks and launch high-tech assaults of its own, Defence Secretary Philip Hammond said on Sunday. Addressing the annual conference of his ruling Conservative party, Hammond said Britain was spending increasing amounts of its defence budget, the fourth largest in the world, on cyber intelligence and surveillance. ... Full Story | Top |
| Italian PM Letta to seek confidence vote on Wednesday Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 01:12 PM PDT ROME (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta said he would go before parliament on Wednesday for a confidence vote after ministers in Silvio Berlusconi's center-right party pulled out of his government at the weekend. Letta said he wanted to avoid elections under the current widely criticised voting system which he said would produce more stalemate but said there were signs that dissenters in Berlusconi's People of Freedom (PDL) party could support him in a confidence vote. "I hope that there is a part of the PDL which is not in accord with Berlusconi," he told RAI state television. ... Full Story | Top |
| Wall Street braces for volatility as shutdown seems likely Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 12:43 PM PDT  By Ryan Vlastelica NEW YORK (Reuters) - As a last-minute deal to resolve spending negotiations in Washington appeared less likely, U.S. stock investors braced for what had previously seemed remote: a shutdown of the U.S. government that could spark a major equity decline. The House of Representatives early on Sunday voted for an emergency spending bill that includes a delay of President Barack Obama's signature healthcare reform law despite veto threats from the White House. ... Full Story | Top |
| NZ PM Key sees lower asset sale proceeds, no Solid Energy sale Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 12:23 PM PDT WELLINGTON (Reuters) - New Zealand Prime Minister John Key said on Monday he expected proceeds from the sale of state-owned assets would be near the low-end of the expected range of NZ$5 billion-NZ$7 billion ($4.13 billion-$5.78 billion) due in part because the troubled coal miner Solid Energy would not be coming to the market. "Definitely it's going to be near the lower end than the higher end, but Solid Energy isn't going to come to the market," Key said on Television New Zealand, reiterating a similar forecast Finance Minister Bill English made last week. ... Full Story | Top |
| Israel charges two soldiers with beating bound Palestinian Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 12:19 PM PDT JERUSALEM (Reuters) - The Israeli military has charged two soldiers with beating up a blindfolded and bound Palestinian detainee, the army said on Sunday. According to the charges, brought before a military court last Monday, the soldiers were guarding a Palestinian man who was being held at a military base in May 2012 after illicitly entering Israel from the Palestinian Gaza Strip. A statement from the military said the Palestinian had been placed "bound and blindfolded" in an isolated room, where two soldiers had beaten him while another filmed the incident. ... Full Story | Top |
| Russian court remands last of Greenpeace Arctic oil protesters Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 12:16 PM PDT  By Alexei Anishchuk MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Russian court has ordered eight remaining Greenpeace activists be held in custody for two months over a protest against Arctic offshore drilling, the environment advocacy group said on Sunday, dashing any hope some might be released quickly. Authorities detained all 30 members of the pressure group who were aboard icebreaker the Arctic Sunrise when they broke up attempts to scale state-run Gazprom's Prirazlomnaya offshore oil platform on September 18. ... Full Story | Top |
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