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| Defying China, U.S. bombers fly into East China Sea zone Tuesday, Nov 26, 2013 06:58 PM PST  By Phil Stewart and Tim Kelly WASHINGTON/TOKYO (Reuters) - Two unarmed U.S. B-52 bombers on a training mission flew over disputed islands in the East China Sea without informing Beijing, defying China's declaration of a new airspace defense zone and raising the stakes in a territorial standoff. The flight did not prompt a response from China, the Pentagon said, and the White House urged Beijing to resolve its dispute with Japan over the islands diplomatically, without resorting to "threats or inflammatory language". Also defying Beijing, Japan's two biggest airlines - Japan Airlines and ANA Holdings - said they would stop giving flight plans and other information to Chinese authorities from Wednesday when passing through the zone. Full Story | Top |
| Iraq says no success tracing killers of Iranian dissidents Tuesday, Nov 26, 2013 06:11 PM PST By Suadad al-Salhy BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq is hunting militants, still unidentified, who led a deadly attack on an Iranian dissident camp near Baghdad and dismisses suggestions its own security forces were behind the violence, a senior government official said. More than 50 people were killed at the dissident Mujahadin-e-Khalq (MEK) group's Camp Ashraf in September in an attack the United Nations described as "an atrocious crime" and which drew condemnation from the United States and Britain. MEK, which the U.S. State Department removed from its list of terrorist organizations last year, wants Iran's clerical leaders overthrown and fought on former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's side during the Iran-Iraq war in 1980s. The group, which has accused Iraqi security forces of being behind the attack, is no longer welcome in Iraq under the Shi'ite Muslim-led government that came to power after U.S.-led forces toppled Saddam in 2003. Full Story | Top |
| Americans back Iran deal by 2-to-1 margin: Reuters/Ipsos poll Tuesday, Nov 26, 2013 05:49 PM PST  By Matt Spetalnick WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Americans back a newly brokered nuclear deal with Iran by a 2-to-1 margin and are very wary of the United States resorting to military action against Tehran even if the historic diplomatic effort falls through, a Reuters/Ipsos poll showed on Tuesday. The findings were rare good news in the polls for President Barack Obama, whose approval ratings have dropped in recent weeks because of the botched rollout of his signature healthcare reform law. According to the Reuters/Ipsos survey, 44 percent of Americans support the interim deal reached between Iran and six world powers in Geneva last weekend, and 22 percent oppose it. Even if the Iran deal fails, 49 percent want the United States to then increase sanctions and 31 percent think it should launch further diplomacy. Full Story | Top |
| Australia PM seeks security dialogue with Indonesia after spy row Tuesday, Nov 26, 2013 05:21 PM PST  Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said on Wednesday he hoped to establish a "security round table" with Indonesia, seeking to rebuild a strategic relationship with a key Asian neighbor damaged by allegations of spying by Canberra. Reports last week that Australia's intelligence services had tried to eavesdrop on mobile phone conversations of Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, his wife and other top officials have dragged the relations between the sometimes uneasy neighbors to their lowest since the late 1990s. Abbott said he wanted something positive to come from the diplomatic bust-up, which has threatened trade and investment and prompted the suspension of security cooperation over the politically sensitive issue of asylum seekers using Indonesian territory to sail to Australia. "I'm going to reflect on the statement over the next day or so and then we'll be responding more fully but my objective as always is to have the strongest possible relationship with Indonesia." In response to demands from Jakarta, Abbott sent Yudhoyono a letter over the weekend regarding the spying revelations leaked by former U.S. National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden and published in Australia media. Full Story | Top |
| Berlusconi faces expulsion from parliament over tax fraud sentence Tuesday, Nov 26, 2013 05:19 PM PST  By James Mackenzie ROME (Reuters) - Italian center-right leader Silvio Berlusconi faces one of the heaviest blows of his 20-year political career on Wednesday when the Senate votes on stripping him of his seat in parliament over a conviction for tax fraud. The vote will be the culmination of months of political wrangling and is almost certain to lead to Berlusconi's expulsion from the upper house, opening an uncertain new phase for one of Italy's most divisive political figures. The 77-year-old media billionaire, who has dominated politics for two decades, has already pulled his party out of Prime Minister Enrico Letta's ruling coalition after seven months in government, accusing leftwing opponents of mounting a "coup d'etat" to eliminate him. The Senate is due to vote at around 7.00 p.m. (1800 GMT) to declare Berlusconi ineligible for parliament after he was convicted of masterminding a complex system of illegally inflated invoices to cut the tax bill for his Mediaset television empire. Full Story | Top |
| Italy PM Letta wins confidence vote as Berlusconi moves to opposition Tuesday, Nov 26, 2013 05:18 PM PST  By Paolo Biondi ROME (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta won a confidence vote on the 2014 budget, reinforcing his coalition government a day before the Senate is expected to ban center-right leader Silvio Berlusconi from parliament over a tax fraud conviction. Berlusconi's Forza Italia party voted against the so-called Stability Law, which it described as "completely mistaken, with neither head nor tail", formalizing its break with Letta after seven months in his left-right coalition. The measure passed in the Senate shortly after midnight with a majority of 171 to 135, helped by the votes of rebel senators who broke away from Berlusconi earlier this month. "From today we are in opposition and the grand coalition is over," said Renato Brunetta, lower house leader of Berlusconi's center-right party, now rebranded as Forza Italia, the name of the movement the billionaire media tycoon used to enter politics 20 years ago. Full Story | Top |
| New clashes between army, Islamists in Libya's Benghazi Tuesday, Nov 26, 2013 04:07 PM PST  New clashes between the Libyan army and Islamists erupted in the eastern city of Benghazi early on Wednesday, wounding several people, security sources and residents said. Libya's military is struggling to curb Islamist militants and militias who fought in the 2011 uprising against Muammar Gaddafi but refuse to disarm and control parts of the OPEC producer. Fighting broke out on Monday between army special forces and members of the Ansar Sharia in Libya's second-largest city, killing at least nine people before the Islamists retreated from their main base. Full Story | Top |
| Caribbean leaders consider sanctions on Dominican immigration ruling Tuesday, Nov 26, 2013 04:04 PM PST  By Linda Hutchinson-Jafar PORT OF SPAIN (Reuters) - Caribbean heads of state meeting in Trinidad and Tobago agreed on Tuesday to defer an application from the Dominican Republic for membership in CARICOM, the region's largest cooperation group, until Santo Domingo addresses a high court ruling denying citizenship to thousands of Haitian descendants. Trinidad and Tobago's Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar who chaired the meeting said the controversial September 23 ruling by the Dominican Constitutional Court had created "grave humanitarian situation" that left those affected stateless and with no recourse to appeal. The leaders of CARICOM, a 15-member organization of mostly English-speaking Caribbean nations, called on the Dominican Republic to take immediate steps to redress the situation and asked countries in the region to urge Santo Domingo to "right this terrible wrong." Persad-Bissessar said the meeting attended by Haitian President Michel Martelly also discussed suspending the Dominican Republic's membership in the CARIFORUM group, which is part of CARICOM and coordinates policy cooperation and regional integration. Full Story | Top |
| Winter storm lashes eastern U.S., threatens Thanksgiving travel Tuesday, Nov 26, 2013 03:36 PM PST  By Ian Simpson WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A powerful storm dumped heavy rain and snow over much of the eastern United States on Tuesday, threatening to snarl travel plans for millions of people over the busy Thanksgiving holiday, forecasters said. The Atlantic coast into New England will be drenched with 2 to 4 inches of rain by late Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving, as the storm moves northeast out of the South, said the National Weather Service. The windswept rain will pound the Atlantic corridor from Richmond, Virginia, as far north as Portland, Maine, likely causing poor visibility, flight delays and urban flooding, said online forecasters Accuweather.com. The Thanksgiving holiday is one of the nation's busiest travel times. Full Story | Top |
| Ten Haitian migrants die, 100 cling to capsized ship in Bahamas Tuesday, Nov 26, 2013 03:18 PM PST At least 10 Haitian migrants were killed and rescuers scrambled to save about 100 more who clung to the hull and mast of an overloaded wooden sloop that capsized in the Bahamas, the U.S. Coast Guard said on Tuesday. The 40-foot (12-metre), sail-powered coastal freighter ran aground and capsized near Staniel Cay in the central Bahamas on Monday night, officials said. Bahamian authorities said they had not confirmed any deaths, but the U.S. Coast Guard put the death toll at 10. Thirteen survivors were hoisted aboard a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter, said Petty Officer Mark Barney, a Coast Guard spokesman in Miami. Full Story | Top |
| Israel says kills three Qaeda-linked militants in West Bank Tuesday, Nov 26, 2013 02:06 PM PST Israeli security officials said their forces killed three Palestinian militants on Tuesday who were part of an al Qaeda-linked network in the West Bank. The Palestinian Authority, which administers the territory, denied the three had had any relation to al Qaeda and accused Israeli of setting out to kill the men. An official from Israeli's Shin Bet security agency said it had learned from a number of earlier arrests that the network was planning attacks in the coming days against Israeli targets and against the Western-backed Palestinian Authority. Al Qaeda-inspired groups have a small presence in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, but are less common in the occupied West Bank, which is policed by Israeli and Palestinian Authority forces. Full Story | Top |
| Trudeau's Liberals boost claim to be top contender for power in Canada Tuesday, Nov 26, 2013 01:57 PM PST  By Randall Palmer OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada's Liberals have strengthened their claim to be the main challenger to the governing Conservatives in the next general election after being thrust back into the political mainstream by a strong performance in four special elections. While much can change in the two years before the October 2015 general election, Monday's results have given new momentum to the Liberals - led by Justin Trudeau, son of former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau - as they strive to get back into contention after a major setback in the 2011 election. The ability to get voters who oppose the Conservatives to coalesce around one of Canada's two main center-left opposition parties is critical if one of them is to defeat Prime Minister Stephen Harper's party in 2015. There are some deep philosophical differences between the Liberals and the New Democratic Party (NDP) on their left. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. trial ends over Ecuador pollution judgment against Chevron Tuesday, Nov 26, 2013 01:44 PM PST  By Joseph Ax NEW YORK (Reuters) - An attorney for Chevron Corp on Tuesday accused U.S. lawyer Steven Donziger of orchestrating an international criminal conspiracy by using bribery and fraud in Ecuador to secure a multibillion-dollar pollution judgment against the oil company. "It was a scheme so audacious, so bold, that it would make even a Mafia boss blush," lawyer Randy Mastro said during his closing argument before U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan, who is presiding over the non-jury trial. Lawyers for the defense said Chevron had failed to prove Donziger's involvement in any conspiracy. "Steven Donziger may be a jerk. Full Story | Top |
| Suicide bombers kill 14 in attacks on army bases near Baghdad Tuesday, Nov 26, 2013 01:02 PM PST Suicide bombers killed 14 members of Iraq's security services and wounded 37 in attacks on army bases north of Baghdad on Tuesday, police and medical sources said. Iraq is suffering from its worst surge in violence in at least five years with insurgents stepping up bombing campaigns against security forces and civilians. In the first set of attacks, two bombers detonated in quick succession at an intersection between the towns of Taji and Tarmiya, around 25 km (15 miles) north of the Iraqi capital, killing eight Iraqi soldiers and wounding 26. Later on Tuesday two more suicide bombers targeting another army base in a village outside Taji killed six police and wounded 11, police and medics said. Full Story | Top |
| Britain protests to Spain over Gibraltar diplomatic bag incident Tuesday, Nov 26, 2013 12:30 PM PST  LONDON/MADRID (Reuters) - Britain accused Madrid on Tuesday of a "serious infringement" of international protocol, saying Spanish police had opened a British diplomatic bag on the border with its contested territory of Gibraltar. Madrid denied that its officers had opened any diplomatic bag, which are typically used to carry official correspondence. Spain lays claim to Gibraltar, a small rocky outcrop on its southern coast that it ceded to Britain 300 years ago, and tensions have been running high in recent months over the British overseas territory. Britain's Foreign Office said the incident happened last Friday and marked the first time a fellow European Union member and NATO ally had broken international rules by opening a diplomatic bag. Full Story | Top |
| Canada does bad job of overseeing rail safety: official watchdog Tuesday, Nov 26, 2013 12:27 PM PST  By David Ljunggren OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada, where 47 people died in a tanker train crash in July, is not doing enough to ensure rail safety thanks to inadequate audits, ill-trained staff and too little focus on high-risk railroads, an official watchdog said on Tuesday. The damning report from Auditor-General Michael Ferguson revealed a series of problems at the federal transport ministry, which is supposed to check that the 31 railways it oversees have effective safety management systems. "Transport Canada needs to address significant weaknesses in its oversight of safety management systems," Ferguson said in the report, adding the ministry was taking too long to resolve significant safety issues. "I've told Transport Canada officials that the public expect better of them," Transport Minister Lisa Raitt said in a statement. Full Story | Top |
| Ukraine leader to go to EU summit, but not ready to sign pact Tuesday, Nov 26, 2013 12:27 PM PST  By Natalia Zinets and Richard Balmforth KIEV (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich said on Tuesday he would attend an EU summit this week, but, criticizing the bloc for a 'humiliating' financial aid offer, declared he would sign a free trade pact only when it suited Ukraine's interests. Shifting Ukraine's economy onto European standards would require not less than $20 billion per year, he said in a television interview. Yanukovich's government announced last week it had shelved plans to sign a landmark pact with the European Union at the summit in Lithuania's capital, stunning EU leaders and igniting pro-Europe rallies in the former Soviet republic. Ukraine's decision to renew instead closer economic cooperation with Moscow revived Western fears of a swing back into Russia's sphere of influence. Full Story | Top |
| Israel, EU reach research deal, finessing settlement issue Tuesday, Nov 26, 2013 12:25 PM PST  Israel struck a compromise deal with the European Union on Tuesday allowing it to join a prestigious EU scientific research project, Israeli government sources said, resolving a dispute over Jewish settlements in occupied territory. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had said the restrictions were unacceptable. "A compromise has been reached that will allow this project to move forward," said an Israeli government official, who asked not to be identified. "Ultimately, we believe it is a two-way street, and both sides have much to gain from this sort of cooperation." The EU is Israel's biggest economic partner, accounting for almost a third of all its exports and imports. Full Story | Top |
| Exclusive: U.N. says Syria combatants stymie aid effort Tuesday, Nov 26, 2013 12:21 PM PST  By Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA (Reuters) - The United Nations says its aid convoys cannot reach around 250,000 people in areas besieged by Syrian government forces or rebels, despite "growing needs and intensifying conflict". The detailed assessment was included in a confidential paper that Valerie Amos, U.N. emergency relief coordinator, presented to a private, unannounced U.N. meeting in Geneva on Tuesday. "Besieged communities continue to be cut off." International mediator Lakhdar Brahimi announced on Monday that peace talks would be held on January 22, the first direct talks between the government of President Bashar al-Assad and opposition forces seeking to topple him. The U.N. document entitled "Humanitarian Situation and Response in Syria" painted a grim picture, saying there were 900 armed clashes in Syria in October compared with 500 in May. It describes a "dangerous and difficult environment for humanitarian workers" and says 12 U.N. staff and 32 volunteers or staff of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent have been killed since the conflict began in March 2011. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. seeks Iran's help in finding missing American Tuesday, Nov 26, 2013 11:59 AM PST  In an apparent effort to test Iranian goodwill following a landmark nuclear deal, the United States on Tuesday asked Iran for help in finding an American private investigator who has been missing there for more than six years. The White House called for Iran's cooperation in locating retired Federal Bureau of Investigation agent Robert Levinson, who disappeared during a business trip to an Iranian island in the Persian Gulf in March 2007. "We welcome the assistance of our international partners in this investigation, and we respectfully ask the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran to assist us in securing Mr. Levinson's health, welfare, and safe return," the White House said in a statement on Tuesday. Full Story | Top |
| Free Syrian Army says no ceasefire for Geneva peace talks Tuesday, Nov 26, 2013 11:33 AM PST By Erika Solomon BEIRUT (Reuters) - The commander of the rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) said on Tuesday his group would shun a planned peace conference in Switzerland in January and would pursue its fight to topple President Bashar al-Assad regardless. General Salim Idriss's stance highlights how hard it will be for international mediators to get Syria's warring and divided parties to the negotiating table in Geneva. The "Geneva 2" conference will convene on January 22, the United Nations said on Monday, with the stated goal of agreeing a transitional government to end a 2-1/2-year-old conflict that has killed well over 100,000 people and displaced millions. "Conditions are not suitable for running the Geneva 2 talks at the given date and we, as a military and revolutionary force, will not participate in the conference," Idriss said. Full Story | Top |
| U.N. Security Council considering sanctions on Central African Republic Tuesday, Nov 26, 2013 11:30 AM PST The U.N. Security Council is considering imposing an arms embargo on the virtually lawless Central African Republic as well as putting a travel ban on people undermining the country's stability, fueling violence and abusing human rights. The landlocked, mineral-rich nation of 4.6 million people has slipped into chaos since northern Seleka rebels seized the capital, Bangui, in March and ousted President Francois Bozize. France has drafted a resolution that would not only see the council establish its first new sanctions regime in 18 months but also authorize African peacekeepers and French troops to take all necessary measures to protect civilians, restore security and help re-establish state authority. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, posted on Twitter on last week: "Long past time for swift deployment of AU forces and imposing sanctions on perpetrators of violence." The Security Council already has 13 sanctions regimes in place on Somalia/Eritrea, al Qaeda, Iraq, Liberia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ivory Coast, Sudan, Lebanon, North Korea, Iran, Libya, the Taliban and Guinea-Bissau. Full Story | Top |
| France to boost Central African force with U.N. backing Tuesday, Nov 26, 2013 11:30 AM PST  By Leigh Thomas and Joe Penney PARIS/BANGUI (Reuters) - France said on Tuesday it would increase its force in Central African Republic to at least 1,000 soldiers once a U.N. resolution is passed next week to try to prevent sectarian violence from destabilizing the entire region. The landlocked nation of 4.6 million people at the heart of Africa has descended into chaos since the Seleka coalition of rebels, many of them from neighboring Chad and Sudan, ousted President Francois Bozize in March. Seleka leader Michel Djotodia, installed as an interim president, has failed to control his mostly Muslim fighters, who have preyed upon the mainly Christian population, unleashing a wave of tit-for-tat killings. France, which presides over the 15-member U.N. Security Council in December, hopes a resolution for international intervention in its mineral-rich former colony can be adopted next week. Full Story | Top |
| Referendum on Egypt's constitution seen in December Tuesday, Nov 26, 2013 11:28 AM PST  By Asma Alsharif CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt will hold a referendum on an amended constitution in December, the group drafting it said on Tuesday, an important step in an army-backed roadmap meant to lead to elections. Hours before the timing of the referendum was announced, protesters took to the streets in defiance of a law passed on Sunday requiring police approval for gatherings of more than 10 people. Police detained 28 people, the Interior Ministry said. Egypt's democratic credentials have been called into question since the military toppled the country's first freely elected president, Islamist Mohamed Mursi, in July, following mass protests against his rule. Full Story | Top |
| Italy president says confidence vote will test government's majority Tuesday, Nov 26, 2013 11:10 AM PST A confidence vote on Italy's 2014 budget will establish whether there is a parliamentary majority to support the government going forward, the Italian president said on Tuesday, after Silvio Berlusconi's party broke with the ruling coalition. "The need to verify the existence of a majority in support of the government will be fulfilled very shortly during the current session in the Senate," Giorgio Napolitano said after a meeting with Prime Minister Enrico Letta as tensions rose ahead of a vote to expel Berlusconi from parliament on Wednesday. Letta's administration is expected to survive the confidence vote, expected late Tuesday, with the support of centre-right lawmakers who broke from Berlusconi's group to back the government. Full Story | Top |
| EU agrees new compromise on car emissions limits Tuesday, Nov 26, 2013 11:06 AM PST  By Barbara Lewis and Tom Körkemeier BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union on Tuesday agreed a compromise to enforce stricter rules on carbon dioxide emissions for EU cars, ending months of wrangling after Germany insisted an earlier deal was torn up. The new outline agreement delays 100 percent implementation of a limit of 95 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometer (CO2/km) for all new cars until 2021 from a previous deadline of 2020. It also changes the rules on flexibility, giving more leeway to German luxury car manufactures such as Daimler and BMW whose emissions are higher than those of smaller, lighter automakers such as Fiat. "We have worked together with the European Parliament for limited additional flexibility. Full Story | Top |
| Ghana, Ivory Coast aim to settle maritime boundary peacefully Tuesday, Nov 26, 2013 10:51 AM PST West African neighbors Ghana and Ivory Coast aim to settle a long dispute over their maritime boundary, the Ivorian government said, which could defuse sometimes tense relations and smooth the way for oil and gas exploration. So far only Ghana has awarded acreage in the disputed area. Oil exploration in Africa's Gulf of Guinea has accelerated since Ghana discovered its giant Jubilee oil and gas field in 2007 and brought it online in record time in late 2010. Ivory Coast, meanwhile, drilled only a handful of offshore exploration wells during a decade-long political crisis that ended in 2011. Full Story | Top |
| Berlusconi breaks with government ahead of Italy Senate showdown Tuesday, Nov 26, 2013 10:49 AM PST  By Paolo Biondi ROME (Reuters) - Silvio Berlusconi's center-right party declared on Tuesday it would vote against Italy's 2014 budget, confirming its break with the ruling coalition a day before the Senate moves to expel the media tycoon over a tax fraud conviction. Prime Minister Enrico Letta's government has called a confidence vote to speed up the budget which parliament must pass before the end of the year and is expected to have the numbers to win even without Berlusconi's support. "From today we are in opposition and the grand coalition is over," said Renato Brunetta, lower house leader of Berlusconi's center-right party, now rebranded under its original name Forza Italia. Around 60 center-right lawmakers have split away from Forza Italia and pledged their support for the government, meaning that Letta should easily have the majority he needs to survive and keep approval of the budget on track. Full Story | Top |
| Rebel governors leave Nigerian ruling party for opposition Tuesday, Nov 26, 2013 10:34 AM PST By Camillus Eboh and Joe Brock ABUJA (Reuters) - Rebel governors who defected from Nigeria's ruling party merged their splinter group with the main opposition party on Tuesday, eroding the power base President Goodluck Jonathan would need for re-election. Governors are among the most powerful figures in Africa's largest oil-exporting country - some control budgets bigger than those of many African states - and their influence carries a great deal of weight in selecting presidential candidates. Seven governors from Jonathan's party have defected, the most explicit internal threat to his assumed plan to run in elections in early 2015. The seven governors and ex-presidential hopeful Atiku Abubakar formed the splinter group opposed to Jonathan in August. Full Story | Top |
| EU aid offer for Ukraine to sign pact was humiliating: Yanukovich Tuesday, Nov 26, 2013 10:31 AM PST Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich said on Tuesday that the terms of a financial aid offer from the EU had been humiliating and he would consider signing a landmark free trade pact with the bloc only when it suited Ukraine's interests. He said the EU had offered aid worth 610 million euros and had linked this to Ukraine agreeing on a new program with the International Monetary Fund which itself had laid down unacceptable conditions. Full Story | Top |
| White House: China, Japan should resolve dispute diplomatically Tuesday, Nov 26, 2013 10:22 AM PST LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The White House said on Tuesday that a dispute between China and Japan over islands in the East China Sea should be solved diplomatically. "The policy announced by the Chinese over the weekend is unnecessarily inflammatory," White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters in California, where President Barack Obama is traveling. "These are the kinds of differences that should not be addressed with threats or inflammatory language, but rather can and should be resolved diplomatically," he said. (Reporting by Jeff Mason; Editing by Will Dunham) Full Story | Top |
| EDF sells its 4 percent stake in Veolia Environnement Tuesday, Nov 26, 2013 09:52 AM PST French state-controlled utility EDF said on Tuesday it planned to sell its 4.01 percent stake in water and waste group Veolia Environnement to institutional investors. Upon completion of the offering, which will be managed by Morgan Stanley, EDF will have sold all of its shares in Veolia, the company said. Veolia has a diversified and largely institutional shareholder register, with the top ten investors owning just 35.16 percent of its capital, Reuters Eikon data shows. EDF was Veolia's fourth-largest shareholder, ahead of the Government of Qatar, which has a 3.79 percent stake. Full Story | Top |
| Gunmen kill 37 in central Nigeria village raids Tuesday, Nov 26, 2013 09:43 AM PST Gunmen opened fire on four villages in central Nigeria early on Tuesday, killing 37 people in the latest tit-for-tat violence in ethnically and religiously divided Plateau state. Hundreds have been killed in the past year in clashes pitting the cattle-herding and largely Muslim Fulani people against settled communities like the Berom in Plateau. The attack "took place in four communities simultaneously," at 1.30 a.m. (0030 GMT) on Tuesday, said Captain Salisu Ibrahim Mustafa, a spokesman for the military Special Task Force (STF) for Plateau. Violence often flares in the Middle Belt, fuelled by decades- old land disputes between semi-nomadic, cattle-keeping communities such as the Fulani and settled farming peoples like the Berom, both often armed with automatic weapons. Full Story | Top |
| Battle lines drawn as Scotland unveils independent future Tuesday, Nov 26, 2013 09:40 AM PST  By Belinda Goldsmith GLASGOW, Scotland (Reuters) - The Scottish government unveiled its long-awaited vision for independence on Tuesday, promising Scots they could forge their own prosperity but keep the pound and the queen if they vote next year to end a 306-year-old union with England. With separatists lagging in opinion polls, First Minister Alex Salmond said an independent Scotland would take charge of its own finances, raising taxes and spending revenues from North Sea oil and gas reserves as it sees fit. Launching a 670-page blueprint for independence, he said the country would also run its own defense force, expelling nuclear submarines from Scotland, while a new publicly funded broadcaster would form a joint venture on content with the BBC. "We know we have the people, the skills and resources to make Scotland a more successful country," Salmond told a news conference at the Glasgow Science Centre on the bank of the River Clyde, once home to a booming shipbuilding industry. Full Story | Top |
| Poland's Krakow bans coal burning to heat homes Tuesday, Nov 26, 2013 09:22 AM PST Local authorities in Poland's southern city of Krakow banned its citizens from heating their homes with coal and wood after a report showed the historical town's atmosphere is among the worst polluted in Europe. Supporters said the decision would have a positive impact on the health of citizens and the condition of the monuments. Poland, which hosted U.N. climate talks this year, generates 90 percent of its electricity from coal. "This resolution is a precedent on a national scale, it will introduce many changes in Poland and the region," local deputy speaker Wojciech Kozak said in a statement. Full Story | Top |
| Hardliners hold fire on Iran nuclear deal, but for how long? Tuesday, Nov 26, 2013 09:12 AM PST  By Marcus George DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran's nuclear negotiators returned home as heroes on Sunday, greeted by jubilant supporters after securing a deal with world powers over the country's disputed atomic program. Two days on, Iran's political realities are sinking in. To ensure the deal stays on track, Iran's new moderate government needs to protect it from virulently anti-Western security hardliners who wield great economic and political power and are close to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Those voices are mostly silent as yet, but as the complex accord's costs and benefits are weighed by Iran's factionalized political class, hardliners who call the United States and its allies "world arrogance" will be poised to pounce. Full Story | Top |
| Judges rule Kenyatta must attend Hague trial unless excused Tuesday, Nov 26, 2013 09:11 AM PST  Kenya's president must request a leave of absence whenever he is unable to attend a session of his trial at the International Criminal Court, judges said on Tuesday in a ruling likely to further strain the ICC's relationship with the country. President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto face separate charges of crimes against humanity for their alleged role in orchestrating ethnic clashes after the 2007 elections, when more than 1,200 people died. But trial judges were told by an appeals chamber earlier this month that no suspect could be granted a blanket excusal. The court is already at odds with Kenya and its African Union allies, who warn that the charges against Kenyatta and Ruto risk destabilizing the entire East African region at a time of a growing threat of violence from Somali Islamist militants. Full Story | Top |
| Merkel, SPD narrow differences before final coalition push Tuesday, Nov 26, 2013 09:08 AM PST  By Erik Kirschbaum BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives and the center-left Social Democrats (SPD) narrowed differences on several contentious policy issues on Tuesday as marathon talks to hammer out agreement on a "grand coalition" got underway. The latest draft coalition deal showed the SPD had given into demands from Merkel's Bavarian allies to introduce a motorway toll for foreign cars. However they extracted a pledge from the conservatives to end discrimination against homosexual couples in areas like adoption rights. The final scheduled round of talks between Merkel's conservatives and the SPD begins at 7:30 p.m. (1830 GMT) and they still have a long list of unresolved issues to sort out after more than a month of negotiations. Full Story | Top |
| Pope attacks 'tyranny' of markets in manifesto for papacy Tuesday, Nov 26, 2013 08:46 AM PST  By Naomi O'Leary VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis attacked unfettered capitalism as "a new tyranny" and beseeched global leaders to fight poverty and growing inequality, in a document on Tuesday setting out a platform for his papacy and calling for a renewal of the Catholic Church. The 84-page document, known as an apostolic exhortation, was the first major work he has authored alone as pope and makes official many views he has aired in sermons and remarks since he became the first non-European pontiff in 1,300 years in March. In it, Francis went further than previous comments criticizing the global economic system, attacking the "idolatry of money", and urged politicians to "attack the structural causes of inequality" and strive to provide work, healthcare and education to all citizens. "How can it be that it is not a news item when an elderly homeless person dies of exposure, but it is news when the stock market loses 2 points?" The pope said renewal of the Church could not be put off and said the Vatican and its entrenched hierarchy "also need to hear the call to pastoral conversion". Full Story | Top |
| China destroys 500 barbecues to tame Beijing pollution - media Tuesday, Nov 26, 2013 08:44 AM PST  More than 500 illegal outdoor barbecues, which Chinese state media say cause "serious air pollution", have been destroyed in Beijing as part of an emergency program to alleviate the city's often hazardous pollution. "Over 500 illegal barbecue grills in Beijing were destroyed on Tuesday amid the city's efforts to fight air pollution and lingering foggy weather," state media Xinhua reported on Tuesday. China has adopted an emergency response program to try to reduce the pollution, including alternating days for cars with odd and even license plates to be on the road and closing schools when the smog is particularly heavy. Smoke from factories and heating plants that encircle Beijing, winds blowing in from the Gobi Desert and fumes from millions of vehicles all contribute to the smog that often forms a thick blanket over the city. Full Story | Top |
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