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| North Korea crimes evoke Nazi era, Kim may face charges: U.N. inquiry Monday, Feb 17, 2014 10:06 AM PST  By Stephanie Nebehay and Tom Miles GENEVA (Reuters) - North Korean security chiefs and possibly even Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un himself should face international justice for ordering systematic torture, starvation and killings comparable to Nazi-era atrocities, U.N. investigators said on Monday. The investigators told Kim in a letter they were advising the United Nations to refer North Korea to the International Criminal Court (ICC), to make sure any culprits "including possibly yourself" were held accountable. The unprecedented public rebuke and warning to a head of state by a U.N. inquiry is likely to further antagonize Kim and complicate efforts to persuade him to rein in his isolated country's nuclear weapons program and belligerent confrontations with South Korea and the West. Full Story | Top |
| Thai police reclaim Bangkok protest site, to move on others Monday, Feb 17, 2014 07:26 PM PST  By Panarat Thepgumpanat BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thai police cleared anti-government protesters on Tuesday from a site near the Energy Ministry in Bangkok that had been occupied for weeks, and officers with shields also confronted demonstrators blocking the government's headquarters. The protesters have been rallying since November in a bid to oust Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, whom they view as a proxy for her elder brother, Thaksin Shinawatra, a former premier and telecoms tycoon toppled in a military coup in 2006. Security officials said 15,000 officers were involved in an operation, called the "Peace for Bangkok Mission", to reclaim protest sites around government buildings in the centre and north of the capital. "We have taken back one of five protest sites that we aimed to reclaim, which is the Ministry of Energy," National Security Council Chief Paradorn Pattanathabutr told Reuters. Full Story | Top |
| Venezuela raids opposition party office, expels three U.S. diplomats Monday, Feb 17, 2014 04:29 PM PST  By Diego Ore and Brian Ellsworth CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan security forces raided the headquarters of an opposition party accused of fomenting nearly a week of violent protests, witnesses said, as the country expelled three U.S. diplomats on charges of conspiring with demonstrators. Presumed military intelligence officers burst into the opposition Popular Will party office and attempted to forcibly remove several activists after throwing tear gas inside, according to party officials. "The intelligence officers arrived and began to harass us," said party activist Adriangela Ruiz. "They threw tear gas, took computers and tried to take away several people." The government has issued an arrest warrant for Popular Will's founder, Leopoldo Lopez, 42, the U.S.-educated opposition leader accused of murder and terrorism in relation to the violent demonstrations of the past week. Full Story | Top |
| Iran and U.S. agree final nuclear deal may be unreachable Monday, Feb 17, 2014 03:49 PM PST  By Parisa Hafezi and Louis Charbonneau VIENNA (Reuters) - The United States and long-time arch-foe Iran agree on at least one thing ahead of Tuesday's negotiations on a long-term nuclear deal - reaching an agreement will be very difficult, if not impossible. Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the man who has the final say on all matters of state in the Islamic Republic, declared again on Monday that talks between Tehran and six world powers "will not lead anywhere. Their remarks came on the eve of the first round of high-level negotiations since an interim deal was struck on November 24 under which Tehran curbed some nuclear activities for six months in return for limited sanctions relief to allow time for a long-term agreement to be hammered out. Despite his skepticism about the chances for a lasting deal with the West, Khamenei made clear Tehran was committed to continuing the negotiations between Iran and Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States. Full Story | Top |
| Russia boosts Ukraine's Yanukovich with $2 billion fresh credit Monday, Feb 17, 2014 12:29 PM PST By Richard Balmforth KIEV (Reuters) - Russia said on Monday it would give Ukraine a fresh cash injection of $2 billion to support its heavily indebted economy in a boost to the embattled president in Kiev, who has been forced onto the back foot by 12 weeks of unrest. Viktor Yanukovich is contending with an opposition-led street revolt after he walked away from a trade pact with the European Union in November and opted instead for forging closer economic ties with Russia, Ukraine's former Soviet master. With the opposition, backed by the United States and its EU allies, pressing hard for Yanukovich to allow the formation of an independent government, the Kremlin had hinted strongly that a $15-billion lifeline would be frozen unless he produced a new government acceptable to Moscow to replace the prime minister who was removed three weeks ago to appease the protesters. Full Story | Top |
| Exclusive: Afghan peace team seeks Dubai meeting with Taliban figures Monday, Feb 17, 2014 11:28 AM PST  By Hamid Shalizi and Missy Ryan KABUL (Reuters) - A delegation from Afghanistan's High Peace Council has travelled to Dubai to meet former and current Taliban figures, in the hope of laying the groundwork for peace talks to end Afghanistan's long conflict, sources familiar with the move told Reuters. Officials led by Mohammad Masoom Stanekzai, a senior aide to President Hamid Karzai, travelled on Sunday to the United Arab Emirates, officials from the High Peace Council and the Afghan government confirmed. The delegation planned to meet a group of Taliban figures led by Agha Jan Mutassim, who was a finance minister during the Taliban's 1996-2001 government, the officials said on condition of anonymity. Full Story | Top |
| Bomb attacks kill at least 24 in Iraq capital Monday, Feb 17, 2014 11:42 AM PST At least 24 people were killed in bomb explosions in the Iraqi capital late on Monday, including blasts near two Shi'ite Muslim mosques and at a busy bus station, police and medics said. No group immediately claimed responsibility for any of the attacks, but Shi'ites are often targeted by Sunni Islamist insurgents who have been regaining ground in Iraq over the past year and overran several towns in recent weeks. In Monday's deadliest attack, a minibus packed with explosives blew up at a bus station in the mainly Shi'ite district of Ur in northern Baghdad, killing at least 11 people, police and medical sources said. A further nine people were killed in car bomb attacks targeting mosques in Baghdad's predominantly Shi'ite districts of Amil and Karrada, police and medical sources said. Full Story | Top |
| Renzi poised to form Italian government, promises rapid change Monday, Feb 17, 2014 10:07 AM PST  By James Mackenzie ROME (Reuters) - Italian centre-left leader Matteo Renzi received a mandate on Monday to form a new government, promising rapid tax, labor and institutional reforms to revive a deeply troubled economy. Renzi, who engineered the removal of a party rival from the premiership last week, plans a radical program to lift Italy out of its most serious economic slump since World War Two. "In this difficult situation, I will bring all the energy and commitment I am capable of," he told reporters after President Giorgio Napolitano gave him the mandate to form the next government. The 39-year-old Renzi had been expected to take over since his rival Enrico Letta was ousted as prime minister at a meeting of their Democratic Party (PD) last week, following growing impatience with the slow pace of economic reforms. Full Story | Top |
| Co-pilot hijacks Ethiopian plane to Geneva, exits cockpit by rope Monday, Feb 17, 2014 09:32 AM PST  By Tom Miles and Aaron Maasho GENEVA/ ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - A co-pilot who hijacked an Ethiopian Airlines flight to seek asylum in Switzerland on Monday surrendered to police at Geneva airport after jumping out of a cockpit window and scrambling down an emergency rope. The airliner's second-in-command, named by Ethiopia as Hailemedhin Abera Tegegn, 31, took control of the plane when the pilot left the cockpit to use the toilet. With the airliner on the tarmac, an unarmed Hailemedhin made his exit via a cockpit window, without harming passengers or crew, police spokesman Pierre Grangean told a news conference. The airliner could later be seen with a knotted yellow rope dangling from an open cockpit window. Full Story | Top |
| Syria peace talks failure spurs U.S.-Russia recriminations Monday, Feb 17, 2014 08:11 AM PST  By Arshad Mohammed and Steve Gutterman JAKARTA/MOSCOW (Reuters) - The United States accused Damascus on Monday of paralyzing Geneva peace negotiations, while Russia denied that and said nations backing Syrian rebels were leaning toward trying to end the civil war on the battlefield rather than in talks. A second round of talks in Geneva broke up on Saturday with chief mediator Lakhdar Brahimi lamenting a failure to advance much beyond agreement on an agenda for a third round later. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said President Bashar al-Assad's government was behind the impasse, aided and abetted by Russia and other allies of Damascus. Full Story | Top |
| German coalition hurt by scandal but won't break Monday, Feb 17, 2014 08:43 AM PST  Agriculture Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich's resignation prompted tit-for-tat calls for the Social Democrats, who share power in Chancellor Angela Merkel's "grand coalition", to offer up a scalp of their own. However, analysts expect the coalition, which has a large parliamentary majority, to return to business as usual after a brief spell of shin-kicking between Merkel's conservatives, its Bavarian sister party led by Horst Seehofer and the Social Democrats of Sigmar Gabriel. So despite the fighting, the coalition will survive." Merkel's grand coalition, which was sworn in only two months ago, has to tackle delicate reforms of the energy and pension systems. But Friedrich's resignation last Friday was over allegations dating from when he held a different position in a different government. Full Story | Top |
| Venezuela expels three U.S. diplomats, protests rumble Monday, Feb 17, 2014 02:56 PM PST By Girish Gupta and Brian Ellsworth CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela gave three U.S. diplomats 48 hours to leave the country on Monday, accusing them of conspiring against the government to incite protests that were the OPEC nation's most serious violence since President Nicolas Maduro's April election. Foreign Minister Elias Jaua said the three consular staff used visa visits to universities as cover for promoting student-lead protests. The demonstrations, which have energized the opposition but show few signs they can oust Maduro, continued on Monday with rowdy protests around Caracas and various provincial cities. On Wednesday, the protests turned deadly and three people were fatally shot. Full Story | Top |
| Iran seen honoring nuclear deal but stockpile may grow: diplomats Monday, Feb 17, 2014 09:35 AM PST  By Fredrik Dahl VIENNA (Reuters) - A monthly update by the United Nations atomic watchdog is expected to show later this week that Iran is complying with last year's landmark nuclear agreement with six world powers, diplomats said on Monday. But the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is also likely to report that Iran's stockpile of lower-grade refined uranium has increased in recent months, one of them said. Iran's holding of uranium - which Tehran says it needs to fuel a planned network of nuclear power plants - is closely watched in the West as it could provide weapons-suitable material if refined much further. Iran denies any such aim. Full Story | Top |
| Bet Scots will say No, but hedge the referendum Monday, Feb 17, 2014 08:12 AM PST  By Alastair Macdonald LONDON (Reuters) - If Scots vote now on independence, their 307-year-old union with England will continue - nine polls since December show the No vote winning their referendum by anywhere from 8 to 28 percentage points. The trouble for investors in Britain, and anyone taking a view on whether the United Kingdom survives, is they don't vote for another seven months and many Scots say they may change their mind by September 18. "I think anyone would be pretty foolish to predict with any certainty at this stage," said Edinburgh pollster Mark Diffley, even though his firm, Ipsos, has always found a solid majority saying they would vote No. Most recently, in December, fully 63 percent of those giving Ipsos an opinion opposed independence. Yet over a third admit to some uncertainty on how they will cast a ballot whose historic and uncertain consequences divide Scots in ways that show little clear pattern, cutting across party loyalties and lines of gender, class, age and geography. Full Story | Top |
| Rescued South Africa gold miners arrested, charged Monday, Feb 17, 2014 06:23 AM PST  Twenty two artisanal gold miners who came out of a disused and temporarily blocked shaft near Johannesburg over the last two days have been arrested and will be charged with illegal mining, South African police said on Monday. Ten of the men emerged blinking in the sunlight and covered in yellow-brown dust on Monday in a field in Benoni, a town east of Johannesburg, adding to a dozen who came up the previous day after a crane removed a concrete slab blocking their exit. They were given a cold drink and medical check before being taken away to the nearby police station. Illegal mining of abandoned shafts is common in the gold mines around Johannesburg, with informal miners living underground in dangerous, cramped conditions for weeks on end as they dig out small parcels of gold-bearing ore. Full Story | Top |
| Gas blast shakes apartment buildings in central Istanbul Monday, Feb 17, 2014 08:17 AM PST By Ece Toksabay ISTANBUL (Reuters) - An explosion caused by a gas leak tore through a residential building near central Istanbul's Taksim Square on Monday, injuring several people and sending debris spewing into a narrow side street, city officials said. An injured man and a woman were carried away on stretchers," said Rafet Demir, a 50-year old parking lot manager. "Police informed residents and shopkeepers that it was a natural gas explosion," he said. Most residential buildings in central Istanbul use gas for heating and cooking and explosions caused by leaks are not uncommon, although they are rarely so damaging. Full Story | Top |
| Spotify seeks to hire U.S. filings expert as bankers eye IPO Monday, Feb 17, 2014 09:56 AM PST  By Daniel Dickson and Mia Shanley STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Online music streaming service Spotify is recruiting a U.S. financial reporting specialist, adding to speculation that the Swedish start-up is preparing for a share listing, which one banker said could value the firm at as much as $8 billion. Meeting U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) standards for filing financial disclosures is essential for any firm planning to go public and bankers and lawyers said they inferred from the job ad that the company is getting ready for an initial public share offering (IPO), possibly next year. Full Story | Top |
| Detroit bankruptcy bond fight a watershed for municipal market Monday, Feb 17, 2014 06:17 AM PST The city of Detroit's effort to declare some of its general obligation bonds as unsecured debt will be challenged in bankruptcy court Wednesday in what could be a precedent-setting turn in the largest-ever municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history. The issue in front of federal bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes is whether a pledge of Detroit tax revenue to pay off the voter-approved bond issues is a binding obligation under Michigan law, as argued by bond insurers in two lawsuits, or merely a promise. The outcome of the dispute could have a far-reaching impact on the $3.7 trillion municipal market, where general obligation bonds made up some 60 percent of the issues sold in the last decade. That could reduce investor interest in not only any future Detroit borrowings but in debt from other Michigan municipalities, forcing them to pay higher interest rates. Full Story | Top |
| Thai PM under siege, lengthy protests take toll on economy Monday, Feb 17, 2014 03:53 AM PST  By Amy Sawitta Lefevre BANGKOK (Reuters) - Protesters seeking to oust Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra surrounded Thai government headquarters on Monday in response to police efforts to clear them from the streets, as farmers besieged her temporary office to demand payment for rice. Thailand has been in crisis since November, when Bangkok's middle class and the royalist establishment started a protest aimed at eradicating the influence of Yingluck's brother Thaksin, a populist former premier ousted by the army in 2006 who is seen as the power behind her government. Data published on Monday showed the economy grew just 0.6 percent in the fourth quarter from the third and, with the country likely to be without a fully functioning government for months, the state planning board slashed its forecast for 2014. About 10,000 anti-government demonstrators surrounded Government House in Bangkok, taking back control of a road the police had cleared them from on Friday in the first real sign of a pushback by the authorities after months of protests. Full Story | Top |
| Iran says Russia could build nuclear reactor in exchange for oil Monday, Feb 17, 2014 02:31 AM PST  By Steve Gutterman MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia could build a second reactor at Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant in exchange for Iranian oil, the Iranian ambassador to Moscow said in remarks published on Monday. Russia could also supply Iran with trucks, railroad tracks, mini-refineries or other goods to pay for the oil, ambassador Mehdi Sanaei told the daily Kommersant, under a deal Reuters revealed was being negotiated last month. Reuters reported Iran and Russia were negotiating to swap up to 500,000 barrels of oil per day for goods in the deal that would undermine Western efforts to maintain economic pressure on Tehran while global powers seek to curb its nuclear program. In an interview published a day before the six powers including Russia resume talks with Tehran on a nuclear deal, Sanaei confirmed Russia and Iran were discussing supplies of "a few hundred thousand barrels per day". Full Story | Top |
| Murdoch's ex-British paper boss Brooks to start phone-hacking defense Monday, Feb 17, 2014 12:21 AM PST  By Michael Holden LONDON (Reuters) - Rebekah Brooks, the former boss of Rupert Murdoch's British newspapers, is due to begin her defense on Wednesday against allegations she was complicit in widespread phone-hacking at the now defunct News of the World weekly. The case centers on widespread phone-hacking by journalists at the News of the World Sunday tabloid, which Murdoch closed amid huge public anger in July 2011, and other allegations of crimes by staff on its sister daily paper The Sun. Brooks, who ran News Corp.'s British newspaper arm News International until July 2011 and had previously edited both papers, denies conspiracy to illegally intercept voicemail messages on mobile phones, conspiracy to commit misconduct in a public office by authorizing illegal payments to public officials, and conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. Full Story | Top |
| Neither U.S. nor EU has strategy for Ukraine Monday, Feb 17, 2014 03:10 AM PST  But when U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland was caught using the "F-word" on an unsecure telephone line to disparage European Union policy on Ukraine, it highlighted the fact that neither Washington nor Brussels has much of a strategy for handling the crisis in the former Soviet republic. Since Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich pulled out of a major trade pact with the EU in November under Russian pressure, provoking mass protests, the United States and Europe have struggled to gain any influence over the outcome. Nuland's outburst in late January, which leaked onto the Internet, was apparently directed at the EU's reluctance to impose targeted financial and travel sanctions on Yanukovich and his aides over a crackdown on the pro-European demonstrations. In another part of the conversation with the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, she discussed which opposition leaders Washington wanted to join or stay out of a proposed transitional government. Full Story | Top |
| Rassoul: U.S.-Afghan strains to ebb as foreign forces withdraw Monday, Feb 17, 2014 02:31 AM PST  By Hamid Shalizi and Missy Ryan KABUL (Reuters) - Severe strains in Afghan ties with the United States, the chief backer of the international military mission in Afghanistan, are likely to subside as U.S. and NATO forces depart, a contender in a presidential election in April said. The international community will not stay in Afghanistan forever - they should not stay forever," former Foreign Minister Zalmay Rassoul said in an interview this week. "The Afghan people want a friendship with the United States, but at the same time we need to make sure that Afghanistan will be a long-term, sovereign friend of the United States. So I have no worry about the future relation of Afghanistan and the United States, in the framework of respect for our sovereignty," he said. Full Story | Top |
| Asia-Pacific stability depends on success of ASEAN code of conduct -Kerry Sunday, Feb 16, 2014 11:20 PM PST  By Arshad Mohammed and Kanupriya Kapoor JAKARTA (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry increased diplomatic pressure on China on Monday to resolve maritime disputes with Southeast Asia based on international legal principles, rather than through individual deals as Beijing prefers. Speaking in Jakarta, Kerry said the stability of the Asia-Pacific depended on achieving a binding code of conduct to help nations peacefully address competing claims in the South China Sea and to avoid conflict in one of the world's most strategically important waterways. The United States has been increasingly uneasy at what it sees as China's effort to gain creeping control over waters in the Asia-Pacific, including its November 23 declaration of an air defense identification zone (ADIZ) in an area of the East China Sea that includes islands at the center of a dispute with Japan. Full Story | Top |
| Free Syrian Army sacks chief, appoints replacement Sunday, Feb 16, 2014 08:53 PM PST  The Western- and Arab-backed Syrian Free Army (FSA) has sacked its leader and replaced him with a more experienced field commander as part of a revamp of moderate forces fighting President Bashar al-Assad, opposition sources said on Monday. A statement by the FSA's Supreme Military Council said it replaced General Selim Idriss, who had served in the Corps of Engineers of Assad's army, with Colonel Abdelilah al-Bashir, head of FSA operations in the province of Qunaitera on the border with the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. The announcement was made on Sunday after a Supreme Military Council meeting in Turkey attended by Asaad Mustafa, defense minister in a provisional government set up by the opposition last year, the sources said. Full Story | Top |
| North Korea says U.N. rights report based on 'faked' material Monday, Feb 17, 2014 05:41 AM PST  By Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA (Reuters) - North Korea said on Monday a United Nations report on its human rights record due to be issued later in the day was based on material faked by hostile forces backed by the United States, the European Union and Japan. A statement sent to Reuters from the Communist state's diplomatic mission in Geneva said that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea "categorically and totally rejects the report," drawn up by a three-member Commission of Inquiry. The two-page North Korean statement, in English, said the report was an "instrument of a political plot aimed at sabotaging the socialist system" and defaming the country. And it denounced the Commission as "a marionette running here and there in order to represent the ill-minded purposes of the string-pullers, such as the United States, Japan and the member states of the EU." The Commission was set up by the U.N. Human Rights Council a year ago at the request of the European Union, the United States and Japan under a resolution adopted by consensus at the 47-member state forum. Full Story | Top |
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