| | |
| China September industrial profits up 18.4 percent year-on-year Saturday, Oct 26, 2013 08:05 PM PDT  SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Profits earned by Chinese industrial firms rose 18.4 percent to 558.9 billion yuan ($91.9 billion) in September from a year earlier, slower than the annual growth of 24.2 percent in August, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Sunday. For the first nine months of 2013, industrial profits totaled 4.05 trillion yuan, up 13.5 percent from the same period a year earlier, the bureau said on its website. (www.stats.gov.cn) ($1 = 6.0840 Chinese yuan) (Reporting By Gabriel Wildau; Editing by Michael Perry) Full Story | Top |
| Macy's joins Barneys in NYC 'shop-and-frisk' scandal Saturday, Oct 26, 2013 07:07 PM PDT  NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York civil rights leaders on Saturday decried the city's brewing "shop-and-frisk" scandal, in which major retailers Barneys and Macy's are accused of profiling black shoppers who say they were detained by police after buying luxury items. Also on Saturday, rap star Shawn "Jay Z" Carter defended his partnership with Barneys after coming under pressure to cut ties with the company. ... Full Story | Top |
| Man arrested with four guns at New York's Kennedy airport Saturday, Oct 26, 2013 06:22 PM PDT By Kevin Murphy (Reuters) - A Tennessee man faces six felony weapons charges after police found two rifles, two handguns and high-capacity ammunition in luggage he was trying to check at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport on Saturday, an official said. Police arrested Keenan Draughon, 23, at about 8 a.m. EDT when the guns and ammunition were found in his bags, said Joe Pentangelo, spokesman for the Port Authority of New York. ... Full Story | Top |
| Army says pushing back M23 rebels in eastern Congo Saturday, Oct 26, 2013 06:11 PM PDT  By Kenny Katombe and Chrispin Mvano GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo (Reuters) - The Congolese army said it made significant advances against eastern rebel forces in a second day of fierce fighting on Saturday and called on neighboring Rwanda to help disarm the insurgents. The army clashed with M23 rebels on Friday for the first time in two months after peace talks in Uganda broke down this week. Rwanda accused the army of firing a shell into its territory, sparking fears its military might intervene. ... Full Story | Top |
| Protesters march in Washington against NSA spying Saturday, Oct 26, 2013 03:51 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Protesters marched on Capitol Hill in Washington on Saturday to protest the U.S. government's online surveillance programs, whose vast scope was revealed this year by former spy agency contractor Edward Snowden. People carried signs reading: "Stop Mass Spying," "Thank you, Edward Snowden" and "Unplug Big Brother" as they gathered at the foot of the Capitol to demonstrate against the online surveillance by the National Security Agency. Estimates varied on the size of the march, with organizers saying more than 2,000 attended. U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Review of Britain's RBS to call for internal 'bad bank', not breakup: Sky Saturday, Oct 26, 2013 01:50 PM PDT  LONDON (Reuters) - A government-commissioned review into Britain's largely state-owned Royal Bank of Scotland will call for the creation of an internal "bad bank" to house its problem loans, stopping short of breaking up the bank, Sky News reported on Saturday. Britain's finance minister, George Osborne, will not pursue the dismantling of the 81 percent taxpayer-owned bank, according to Sky, with the findings of the review due as early as next Friday. Osborne asked investment bank Rothschild in June to examine if RBS should be made to hive off its soured assets into a separate legal entity. ... Full Story | Top |
| Factbox: Main candidates in Georgia's presidential election Saturday, Oct 26, 2013 01:39 PM PDT (Reuters) - Georgia elects a new president on Sunday that will bring the curtain down on Mikheil Saakashvili's decade in power. Twenty-three candidates will run in the election, the largest number since the former Soviet republic held its first presidential election in 1991. Saakashvili is barred from running after serving two terms. Here are some facts on the main candidates and the rules. GEORGY MARGVELASHVILI, 44, Georgian Dream's presidential candidate, is the front runner, according to opinion polls. ... Full Story | Top |
| Factbox: Key facts about former Soviet Georgia Saturday, Oct 26, 2013 01:37 PM PDT (Reuters) - Georgia elects a new president on Sunday in a vote that will end Mikheil Saakashvili's decade-long rule. Here are some facts about the country. GEOGRAPHY: Georgia, a former Soviet republic, is flanked by Russia to the north, Azerbaijan and Armenia to the east and south, and Turkey to the southwest. Its capital is Tbilisi. POPULATION: 4.5 million. There are 3.5 million eligible voters. RELIGION: Most of the population is Orthodox Christian. SEPARATIST REGIONS: Two regions of Georgia - Abkhazia and South Ossetia - broke away from central control during wars in the 1990s. ... Full Story | Top |
| Ex-Soviet Georgia enters new era with presidential poll Saturday, Oct 26, 2013 01:35 PM PDT  By Margarita Antidze and Timothy Heritage TBILISI (Reuters) - Georgia elects a new president on Sunday in a vote that will end Mikheil Saakashvili's decade-long rule and test confidence in the ruling Georgian Dream coalition led by billionaire Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili. The front-runner to replace Saakashvili, a pro-U.S. leader who fought a war with Russia and has served the maximum two terms, is Georgy Margvelashvili, a member of the coalition which ousted the president's cabinet in an election a year ago. ... Full Story | Top |
| Mozambique says Renamo ambush kills one, injures 10 Saturday, Oct 26, 2013 01:29 PM PDT By Manuel Mucari MAPUTO (Reuters) - Suspected Renamo guerrillas ambushed a passenger minibus in central Mozambique on Saturday, killing one person and injuring 10 more in an attack condemned by President Armando Guebuza, state media said. Fears of hit-and-run attacks by armed partisans of Renamo opposition leader Afonso Dhlakama have increased after the army overran Dhlakama's base in central Sofala province on Monday, forcing him to flee into the bush. ... Full Story | Top |
| Producer Quincy Jones sues Michael Jackson estate over royalties Saturday, Oct 26, 2013 01:28 PM PDT  By Steve Gorman LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Music producer Quincy Jones sued Michael Jackson's estate on Friday, seeking millions of dollars in royalties generated from some of the star's biggest hits after the King of Pop's death. Jones, who worked on Jackson's three biggest solo albums - "Off the Wall", "Thriller" and "Bad" - also named Sony Music Entertainment, the parent company of Jackson's longtime label, Epic Records, in the breach-of-contract complaint. ... Full Story | Top |
| Libya says U.S. firm Marathon to stay, eyes Algeria gas deal Saturday, Oct 26, 2013 12:55 PM PDT  By Ulf Laessing TRIPOLI (Reuters) - U.S. firm Marathon Oil will continue operating in Libya after giving up plans to sell its stake in Waha Oil Company, Oil Minister Abdelbari Arusi said on Saturday. Two years of turmoil after the overthrow of leader Muammar Gaddafi, as well as tough contract terms, have prompted oil companies to reassess their role in the North African country, but the government has been keen to keep them. Sources told Reuters this week that Marathon was blocked from selling its stake in Waha by the government which has first refusal on such a deal. ... Full Story | Top |
| Sebelius finds a silver lining in Obamacare 'data hub' Saturday, Oct 26, 2013 12:40 PM PDT  By Roberta Rampton WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, besieged by bad news about the new government health care website, sought on Saturday to highlight a portion of the complex system that she said is working well. The website, designed to let millions of uninsured Americans shop and enroll in health insurance, has been plagued by delays and error messages since it rolled out on October 1, embarrassing President Barack Obama as his administration scrambles to fix the problems. ... Full Story | Top |
| Czech agro tycoon emerges as king-maker after election Saturday, Oct 26, 2013 12:07 PM PDT  By Jan Lopatka and Jason Hovet PRAGUE (Reuters) - Slovak-born billionaire and political novice Andrej Babis became the king-maker of Czech politics on Saturday, after voters angry at graft among the country's political establishment made his new party the second biggest in parliament. The mercurial 59-year-old overcame being a non-native Czech speaker and a hazy political program to win 18.7 percent of the vote in the election, just behind the Social Democrats, who garnered a disappointing 20.5 percent. ... Full Story | Top |
| Israel dismisses reports Iran halting higher-grade enrichment Saturday, Oct 26, 2013 11:41 AM PDT  JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel on Saturday dismissed as "irrelevant" reports that Iran had halted its most sensitive uranium enrichment activity, and said Tehran's nuclear program must be dismantled. A senior member of Iran's parliamentary national security commission was quoted as saying Iran had stopped refining uranium above the 5 percent required for civilian power stations, as it already had all the 20-percent enriched fuel it needed for a medical research reactor in Tehran. But diplomats accredited to the U.N. ... Full Story | Top |
| Italy's right could split after Berlusconi move: lawmakers Saturday, Oct 26, 2013 11:17 AM PDT  ROME (Reuters) - Italy's political center-right could split, lawmakers said on Saturday, after Silvio Berlusconi resurrected his old Forza Italia party and suspended the People of Freedom (PDL), part of the wobbly left-right coalition government. Several parliamentarians allied to the former prime minister were critical of Berlusconi's move, and five senior PDL members boycotted Friday's meeting where the decision was made. ... Full Story | Top |
| United States tracked Merkel's phone since 2002: report Saturday, Oct 26, 2013 11:04 AM PDT  BERLIN (Reuters) - The United States may have bugged Angela Merkel's phone for more than 10 years, according to a news report on Saturday that also said President Barack Obama told the German leader he would have stopped it happening had he known about it. Germany's outrage over reports of bugging of Merkel's phone by the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) prompted it to summon the U.S. ambassador this week for the first time in living memory, an unprecedented post-war diplomatic rift. ... Full Story | Top |
| No clear outcome as Madagascar election results dribble in Saturday, Oct 26, 2013 10:57 AM PDT  By Alain Iloniaina and Richard Lough ANTANANARIVO (Reuters) - Results dribbled in from Madagascar's presidential election on Saturday but two front-runners said a second round looked likely in a vote many hope will restore investor confidence in an economy left paralyzed by a coup four years ago. A credible poll on the Indian Ocean island would be an important step towards luring back tourists as well as oil and mining companies who were scared off when mutinous troops swept former disc jockey Andry Rajoelina to power in 2009. ... Full Story | Top |
| Czech center-left ekes out slim poll victory, tough coalition talks loom Saturday, Oct 26, 2013 10:39 AM PDT  By Jana Mlcochova and Robert Muller PRAGUE (Reuters) - Czech Social Democrats won a slim victory in a parliamentary election on Saturday but faced a tough task forming a government after a wave of voter anger over sleaze and budget cuts propelled new protest parties into parliament. With most results in, Bohuslav Sobotka's center-left, pro-European Social Democrats had 21 percent of the vote, well short of the 30 percent they had targeted and in need of more than one coalition partner to build a stable government. ... Full Story | Top |
| Czech left leads vote count, new party second: partial results Saturday, Oct 26, 2013 10:39 AM PDT PRAGUE (Reuters) - The center-left Social Democrats held onto their lead in the Czech republic's parliamentary election, partial results showed on Saturday. The party led with 21.3 percent of the vote after 80 percent of polling stations had reported. The new centrist protest movement ANO had 18.7 percent and the Communists were third with 15.7 percent. (Reporting by Jason Hovet; editing by Andrew Roche) Full Story | Top |
| Czech Social Democrat leader expects tough talks on new government Saturday, Oct 26, 2013 10:39 AM PDT PRAGUE (Reuters) - Czech Social Democrat leader Bohuslav Sobotka said he expected tough talks with other parties on forming a minority or coalition government after winning less of a parliamentary election vote than expected on Saturday. The left-leaning Social Democrat party was leading the count with 21.6 percent after 66 percent of polling stations had reported. Seven parties were on course to win seats. (Reporting by Jason Hovet; editing by Andrew Roche) Full Story | Top |
| Table: Center-left Social Democrats lead vote in Czech election Saturday, Oct 26, 2013 10:39 AM PDT PRAGUE (Reuters) - The center-left Social Democrats led the vote in the Czech parliamentary election on Saturday with around 95 percent of polling stations across the country reporting. Pre-election polls had predicted the Social Democrats would win about 25 percent of the vote with Czechs punishing center-right parties that ruled for most of the past seven years for austerity policies and a series of graft scandals. Parties must win at least 5 percent of the vote to enter parliament. The following are the latest election results for the leading parties: CSSD -- 20.8 pct KSCM -- 15. ... Full Story | Top |
| Soccer-Five sent off after brawl near end of match in Argentina Saturday, Oct 26, 2013 10:09 AM PDT BUENOS AIRES, Oct 26 (Reuters) - Five players were shown red cards after a mass brawl in the dying minutes of Arsenal's 1-1 home draw with Gimnasia in an Argentine first division clash. The fighting started when Arsenal's players objected to Gimnasia not giving them possession when play resumed with a bounce up after it was stopped to change a punctured ball. Both benches got involved as well with Arsenal coach Gustavo Alfaro and his Gimnasia counterpart Pedro Troglio and some of the players trying to stop the brawl. ... Full Story | Top |
| Militants say ex-army major carried out Cairo suicide attack Saturday, Oct 26, 2013 09:30 AM PDT By Hadeel Al Shalchi CAIRO (Reuters) - A Sinai-based Islamist militant group that claimed a September assassination attempt on Egypt's interior minister released a video on Saturday saying a former major in the army carried out the suicide bombing. The video, which Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis released on militant websites, runs to 30 minutes and identifies former major Waleed Badr as being responsible for the attack, but does not say if he was a member of the group. ... Full Story | Top |
| Kosovo issues arrest warrant for Serb minister for illegal entry Saturday, Oct 26, 2013 09:02 AM PDT PRISTINA (Reuters) - Kosovo has issued an arrest warrant for a Serbian minister who entered the country illegally, a police spokesman said on Saturday, a move that may hamper implementation of a deal to normalise ties between Pristina and Belgrade. Pristina authorities said Aleksandar Vulin, the Serbian minister in charge of Kosovo, had visited ethnic Serbs living in northern Kosovo last week during campaigning for local elections on November 3. "We have received an arrest warrant on Vulin and we will act accordingly," Kosovo police spokesman Brahim Sadriu said, without giving further details. ... Full Story | Top |
| Afghanistan to ask Pakistan about Taliban chief's whereabouts Saturday, Oct 26, 2013 08:37 AM PDT By Hamid Shalizi and Dylan Welch KABUL (Reuters) - Afghanistan will demand an explanation from Pakistan on the whereabouts of a former Taliban second-in-command when the leaders of both countries meet next week to discuss how to end years of insurgency, an Afghan official said on Saturday. The whereabouts of Mullah Baradar has been the source of intense speculation since Pakistan announced his release on September 20. Pakistani sources say he is still kept in a safe house and is closely watched by his Pakistani handlers. ... Full Story | Top |
| Bahrain defends use of teargas following criticism Saturday, Oct 26, 2013 08:21 AM PDT  By Mahmoud Habboush DUBAI (Reuters) - Bahrain has defended its use of teargas after rights groups criticized the Gulf kingdom's reported plans to buy 1.6 million canisters of the material. Local and international rights groups have accused the authorities of using teargas excessively and of firing canisters directly at protesters or into cars and houses where they can cause serious injuries. ... Full Story | Top |
| Iran border guards killed, captured on Pakistan border Saturday, Oct 26, 2013 07:35 AM PDT DUBAI (Reuters) - Fourteen Iranian border guards were killed and three others captured by "bandits" on the southeastern frontier with Pakistan overnight, Iranian media reported on Saturday. In response, the Iranian judiciary executed 16 people it said were elements of "terrorist" groups, according to the ISNA news agency. There were no further details of who they were or whether or when they had been tried. ... Full Story | Top |
| Kurdish fighters seize Syrian border post from Islamists Saturday, Oct 26, 2013 07:33 AM PDT BEIRUT (Reuters) - Kurdish militants seized a Syrian border post on the frontier with Iraq early on Saturday, fighters and monitors said, after three days of clashes with an al Qaeda-linked group which had held the crossing since March. The armed Kurdish group YPG told Reuters fighting carried on through the day and a senior security official on the Iraqi side of the crossing said he could hear gunshots, mortar fire and shelling. ... Full Story | Top |
| Airbus executive says time for Germany to pay A350 loan in full Saturday, Oct 26, 2013 06:37 AM PDT BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany should pay the remaining 600 million euros of a disputed development loan for Airbus's A350 passenger plane now the aircraft maker has allocated work to German employees, an Airbus executive said. The German government had demanded that Airbus guarantee a certain amount of the work on the lightweight A350 plane would be done in Germany as a condition for paying out the remaining part of the loan. ... Full Story | Top |
| $1.3 million worth of art auctioned for Syrian refugee children Saturday, Oct 26, 2013 06:36 AM PDT  By Oliver Holmes BEIRUT (Reuters) - An estimated $1.3 million worth of art from more than 130 artists, mostly from Syria and Lebanon, is being auctioned at below-gallery prices in Beirut to raise money for Syrian refugee children. "This is first time that you have so many artists from the Middle East mobilize for a cause," said Noura Jumblatt, president of the Lebanese Beiteddine festival and wife of Druze leader Walid Jumblatt. ... Full Story | Top |
| Tens of thousands march for same-sex marriage in Taiwan Saturday, Oct 26, 2013 06:33 AM PDT  By Michael Gold TAIPEI (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of demonstrators, many displaying rainbows and glitter, thronged the center of Taiwan's capital on Saturday to press demands to legalize same-sex marriage amid an increasingly tolerant environment on the island nation. Organizers and participants said they were heartened by the prospect of same-sex marriage becoming a reality, despite enduring traditional attitudes among many residents. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.N. Syria envoy says Iran should join Geneva peace talks: Press TV Saturday, Oct 26, 2013 06:22 AM PDT  DUBAI (Reuters) - The United Nations peace envoy for Syria said on Saturday Iran should be invited to planned peace talks in Geneva, Iran's English-language Press TV reported, in comments sure to rile Gulf Arab states. Iran has strongly backed President Bashar al-Assad in Syria's civil war while Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Arab states support the Syrian leader's mainly Sunni rebel foes. The Saudis are also deeply worried by signs of a tentative reconciliation between its ally the United States and its regional rival Iran. ... Full Story | Top |
| Finnish parliament should vote again on Fennovoima reactor: minister Saturday, Oct 26, 2013 05:38 AM PDT HELSINKI (Reuters) - Finnish Finance Minister Jutta Urpilainen said parliament should hold a new vote on nuclear consortium Fennovoima's permit to build a nuclear reactor after it chose a supplier not included in original plans. The suggested move would mean extra uncertainty for Fennovoima's plans, already strained by the weakened financial conditions of some of its stakeholders such as miner Talvivaara and stainless steel maker Outokumpu. ... Full Story | Top |
| Tito's widow, First Lady of Yugoslavia, receives state funeral Saturday, Oct 26, 2013 05:22 AM PDT  BELGRADE (Reuters) - Jovanka Broz, Yugoslavia's former First Lady who lived virtually forgotten for many years after war tore apart the socialist federation built by her husband Tito, received a state burial on Saturday. Broz died of heart failure in a Belgrade hospital on October 20, at the age of 88 Thousands of mourners, many from other former Yugoslav republics, gave Broz a final salute as her coffin, covered with red flowers, was carried into the "House of Flowers" compound where she was buried next to her husband Josip Broz Tito. ... Full Story | Top |
| Judge dismisses 'betrayal of trust' case against ElBaradei Saturday, Oct 26, 2013 05:19 AM PDT  By Hadeel Al Shalchi CAIRO (Reuters) - A judge has dismissed a lawsuit against Egypt's former interim vice president for "betrayal of trust" in quitting the army-backed government in protest against its bloody crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood. Cairo's Misdemeanours Court judge Wael El-Mahdi on Saturday threw out the case against Mohamed ElBaradei, saying it lacked sufficient grounds. ElBaradei was out of the country. Anti-Mursi Egyptian law professor Sayyid Al-Ateeq brought the suit against ElBaradei in August. ElBaradei, former head of the U.N. ... Full Story | Top |
| Results trickle in from Madagascar's first election since coup Saturday, Oct 26, 2013 05:07 AM PDT  By Alain Iloniaina and Richard Lough ANTANANARIVO (Reuters) - Results trickled in from Madagascar's presidential election on Saturday, though it was too early to identify a dominant candidate in the vote that many hope will save a cash-starved economy left crippled by a coup. A credible poll would be an important step towards luring back tourists and investors who were scared off when mutinous troops swept former disc jockey Andry Rajoelina to power in the Indian Ocean island in 2009. ... Full Story | Top |
| Japan PM says ready to be more assertive against China: media Saturday, Oct 26, 2013 03:50 AM PDT  TOKYO (Reuters) - Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, in an interview published on Saturday, said Japan was ready to be more assertive towards China as Beijing threatened to strike back if provoked. A top retired Chinese diplomat said any move by Tokyo to contain China could amount to an attempt to conceal ulterior motives in the region and prove to be "extremely dangerous". And the defense ministry warned Japan not to underestimate China's resolve to take whatever measures were needed to protect itself. ... Full Story | Top |
| Saudi women break driving ban, defying warnings: campaigners Saturday, Oct 26, 2013 03:50 AM PDT  RIYADH (Reuters) - A few women filmed themselves driving in Saudi cities on Saturday, defying government warnings of arrest and prosecution to take part in a campaign against men-only road rules, activists said. But some others stayed at home, put off by phone calls from men who said they were from the Interior Ministry, reported organizers of the demonstration against an effective ban on women drivers. ... Full Story | Top |
| Greenpeace activist dangles from Eiffel Tower in Russia protest Saturday, Oct 26, 2013 03:39 AM PDT  PARIS (Reuters) - A Greenpeace activist suspended himself from the Eiffel Tower on Saturday to call for the release of 30 people who have spent more than a month in a Russian jail over a protest against oil drilling in the Arctic After lowering himself from the second tier of the Paris landmark, the man unfurled a large yellow sign saying: "Free the Arctic 30." He was brought down about two hours later by firemen without incident. ... Full Story | Top |
|
No comments:
Post a Comment