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| Ukraine parliament ousts Yanukovich, Tymoshenko freed Saturday, Feb 22, 2014 03:03 PM PST By Pavel Polityuk and Matt Robinson KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine's parliament voted to remove President Viktor Yanukovich after three months of street protests, while his arch-rival Yulia Tymoshenko hailed opposition demonstrators as "heroes" in an emotional speech in Kiev after she was released from jail. Yanukovich abandoned the capital to the opposition on Saturday and denounced what he described as a coup after several days of bloodshed this week that claimed 82 lives. Supporters cheered former prime minister Tymoshenko as she left the hospital where she had been held. When she spoke later in Kiev, her reception was mixed. Full Story | Top |
| Venezuela deaths rise as unrest claims student and biker Saturday, Feb 22, 2014 03:28 PM PST By Daniel Wallis and Tomas Sarmiento CARACAS (Reuters) - A female student and a young supermarket worker were the latest fatalities from Venezuela's political unrest as the death toll from 10 days of violence rose on Saturday to at least eight. Both sides are mourning supporters killed in the worst turmoil since President Nicolas Maduro narrowly won an election in April 2013 to replace the late socialist leader Hugo Chavez. The government blames "fascist groups" seeking a coup like the one that briefly ousted Chavez 12 years ago, while the opposition is accusing troops and pro-Maduro militants of attacking peaceful demonstrators. Opposition officials and local media in central Carabobo state said a 23-year-old student, Geraldine Moreno, died in hospital on Saturday after being shot in the face with rubber bullets as security forces broke up a protest there on February 19. Full Story | Top |
| Mexico captures No.1 drug kingpin 'Shorty' Guzman Saturday, Feb 22, 2014 07:13 PM PST  By Michael O'Boyle MAZATLAN, Mexico (Reuters) - Mexico's most wanted man, drug cartel kingpin Joaquin "Shorty" Guzman, was captured on Saturday with help from U.S. agencies in a major victory for the government in a long, grisly war. Guzman, known as "El Chapo" (Shorty) in Spanish, has long run Mexico's infamous Sinaloa Cartel and over the past decade he emerged as one of the world's most powerful organized crime bosses, even making it onto Forbes' list of billionaires. He was caught in his native northwestern state of Sinaloa in an early morning operation without a shot being fired, Attorney General Jesus Murillo Karam said, adding that Guzman's identity had been "100 percent confirmed." It is a political triumph for President Enrique Pena Nieto, who took office in late 2012. Pena Nieto confirmed the capture via Twitter earlier on Saturday and congratulated his security forces. Full Story | Top |
| Thai government supporters vow to 'deal with' Bangkok protesters Saturday, Feb 22, 2014 08:23 PM PST By Amy Sawitta Lefevre BANGKOK (Reuters) - Supporters of Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra promised on Sunday to get tough with anti-government protesters paralyzing parts of Bangkok, raising tension in a protracted crisis hours after a deadly attack on a protest rally. Leaders of the pro-government United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) vowed to "deal with" anti-government leader Suthep Thaugsuban, setting the scene for a possible confrontation between pro- and anti-government groups. "This fight will be harder than any other ... You must think how we can deal with Suthep and those supporting him," Jatuporn Prompan, a UDD leader and senior member of the ruling Puea Thai Party, told thousands of cheering supporters in Nakhon Ratchasima, northeast of the capital. Anti-government protesters have blocked main Bangkok intersections for weeks with tents, tires and sandbags, seeking to unseat Yingluck and halt the influence of her billionaire brother, Thaksin Shinawatra, an ousted former premier regarded by many as the real power behind the government. Full Story | Top |
| G20 aspires to faster economic growth, roadmap sketchy Saturday, Feb 22, 2014 07:09 PM PST  By Wayne Cole and Jane Wardell SYDNEY (Reuters) - The world's top economies have adopted a soft target of adding at least 2 percentage points to growth over five years, a source said, signaling optimism that the worst of crisis-era austerity was behind them. There was a nod to concerns by emerging nations that the Federal Reserve consider the impact of its policy tapering, with the communique saying central banks would be mindful of the effects on the global economy. The G20 communique also stated that it "deeply regrets" that progress on giving emerging nations more say in the International Monetary Fund had stalled, the source said. The growth plan borrows wholesale from an IMF paper prepared for the G20 meeting, which estimated that structural reforms would raise world growth by about 0.5 percentage points per year over the next five years, boosting global output by $2.25 trillion. Full Story | Top |
| Militants shoot down Iraqi helicopter and occupy northern town Saturday, Feb 22, 2014 01:47 PM PST  By Suadad al-Salhy BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Militants shot down a helicopter on Saturday and briefly occupied a town, in an escalating turf war with Iraq's government that has killed at least 25 people in two days, police said. All four crew members were killed when their helicopter was downed during a reconnaissance flight over the town of Karma in Iraq's western province of Anbar, where the army is engaged in a standoff with anti-government fighters. Sunni Islamist insurgents have been gaining ground in Iraq over the past year and in recent weeks overran several towns, raising the stakes in a conflict against the Shi'ite-led government that made last year the deadliest since sectarian civil strife began to abate in 2008. Late on Friday, dozens of militants in SUVs drove into the small town of al-Sainiyah, near Baiji, some 180 km (110 miles) north of Baghdad, after bombing the local police headquarters, and fought troops for several hours overnight, witnesses said. Full Story | Top |
| U.N. Security Council unanimously approves Syria aid access resolution Saturday, Feb 22, 2014 11:35 AM PST  By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council achieved rare unity to act on Syria's civil war on Saturday when Russia and China supported adoption of a resolution to boost aid access in Syria that threatens to take "further steps" in the case of non-compliance. Russia, supported by China, has shielded its ally Syria on the Security Council during the three-year-long war. They had previously vetoed three resolutions that would have condemned Syria's government and threatened it with possible sanctions. Lithuanian U.N. Ambassador Raimonda Murmokaite, president of the 15-member council for February, described the unanimous approval of the resolution, drafted by Australia, Jordan and Luxembourg, as a "moment of hope" for Syria's people. Full Story | Top |
| Thirteen billboards, one paint-shop worker helped defeat union at VW plant in Chattanooga Saturday, Feb 22, 2014 01:31 PM PST  By Kevin Drawbaugh and Nick Carey WASHINGTON/CHATTANOOGA (Reuters) - In the aftermath of the United Auto Workers' crushing defeat in a vote to represent workers at Volkswagen's sole U.S. factory, a key question remains unanswered: did conservative politicians and anti-union groups work together to stymie the union? In an appeal to the National Labor Relations Board on Friday, the UAW said there was a "coordinated effort" by state politicians, anti-union groups and Tennessee's U.S. Senator Bob Corker to coerce a no vote in the February 12-14 election. However, through the interviews a more complete picture emerges of how at least five national organizations and one grassroots group - all apparently operating independently - mounted a formidable threat to the UAW and helped thwart what many initially viewed as the favorite to win the election. How that loose coalition was able to help defeat the UAW could provide a blueprint for conservative groups to oppose the union as it presses on with its campaign for representation in its first foreign-owned auto plant in the U.S. South. Full Story | Top |
| Suicide bomber kills three in Lebanon: security sources Saturday, Feb 22, 2014 05:15 PM PST  A suicide bomber killed two Lebanese soldiers and a civilian with a car bomb at an army checkpoint in a Hezbollah stronghold in northeast Lebanon on Saturday, security sources said. The Nusra Front in Lebanon - a militant Sunni group named after one of the factions fighting against President Bashar al-Assad in Syria - said it carried out the attack, in a statement posted on Twitter and a website used by militant groups. Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed political and military movement, is fighting alongside Assad's forces against predominantly Sunni Muslim rebels in a conflict that has exacerbated sectarian tensions in Lebanon. Full Story | Top |
| Police fire tear gas at Istanbul anti-government protest Saturday, Feb 22, 2014 05:16 PM PST  By Ece Toksabay ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish riot police fired tear gas on Saturday to disperse thousands of demonstrators in central Istanbul protesting against what they see as authoritarian new laws from Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's government. Battling a corruption scandal, Erdogan's AK Party has pushed through laws tightening government control over the Internet and courts this month, and has proposed a bill envisaging broader powers for the national intelligence agency. Officers backed by water cannon cleared demonstrators from the main Istiklal shopping street, some chanting "Everywhere Taksim, Everywhere Resistance", a reference to weeks of anti-government protests last summer on the nearby Taksim Square. "(Prime Minister) Tayyip Erdogan, don't pull the Internet plug," read one banner among the crowds. Full Story | Top |
| Italy's Renzi sworn in as prime minister Saturday, Feb 22, 2014 10:11 AM PST  By Giselda Vagnoni ROME (Reuters) - Italian center-left leader Matteo Renzi took office on Saturday as his country's youngest prime minister, facing pressure to show immediate results after he forced out his predecessor over the slow pace of economic reforms. The 39-year-old Renzi has named a low-profile list of ministers with a mix of politicians and technocrats which included no figures capable of challenging his control of the government. Business and union leaders have repeatedly warned that the government must take urgent action to save Italy's ailing industry, with thousands of companies going out of business and millions put out of work. "The responsibility is enormous and this must not fail," said Rocco Palombella, secretary general of the UILM union, which represents workers in the engineering sector. Full Story | Top |
| HSBC to announce bonuses totaling $4 billion: report Saturday, Feb 22, 2014 08:46 AM PST  HSBC will announce staff bonuses totaling just under 2.4 billion pounds ($4 billion) globally for 2013 and is expected to report a significant rise in pretax profit, Sky News reported on its website on Saturday without citing its sources. Referring to an unnamed source close to the bank, Sky also said Chief Executive Stuart Gulliver will receive a 1.8 million pound bonus as part of an overall pay deal worth more than 7 million pounds, though this would be less than his previous year pay deal of 7.4 million. Europe's biggest bank is expected to announce the size of its bonus pool on Monday along with its yearly results. Earlier this month Barclays prompted an angry reaction from politicians and labor unions after it increased its bonuses by 13 percent to 2.4 billion pounds, even as it announced plans to axe 12,000 jobs. Full Story | Top |
| Egypt's ousted Mursi says jail-break trial is 'void' Saturday, Feb 22, 2014 08:57 AM PST  Egypt's deposed President Mohamed Mursi on Saturday rejected the right of a court to try him and other Muslim Brotherhood leaders on charges related to a mass jail break in 2011, security and judicial sources said. Mursi and his comrades, including the Brotherhood's top leader Mohamed Badie, are charged with killing and kidnapping policemen, attacking police facilities and breaking out of jail during the 2011 uprising against Hosni Mubarak. "As far as I'm concerned, these procedures are void and I don't accept them," Mursi said, describing himself as the president of the republic and calling on the Egyptian people to continue their "peaceful revolution," according to the sources. Some of the other roughly 130 defendants, who were held in a different courtroom cage from Mursi, applauded him and chanted: "Down with military rule!" It is not unusual for high-profile defendants to be locked up in cages in Egyptian courts. Full Story | Top |
| Pakistani Taliban say government must embrace Islamic law Saturday, Feb 22, 2014 06:44 AM PST By Saud Mehsud UNDISCLOSED LOCATION IN WAZIRISTAN, Pakistan, Feb 22 (Reuters) - T he Pakistani Taliban told the government there was no chance of peace in the country unless Pakistan changed its political and legal system and officially embraced Islamic law. The government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif wants to find a negotiated settlement to years of fighting with the militants but talks broke down this month after a string of attacks. In a rare face-to-face meeting with journalists on Friday in an undisclosed location in Waziristan, a lawless region on the Afghan border, main Taliban spokesman Shahidullah Shahid said there was still hope negotiations might resume. "Despite recent bombings in North Waziristan and killing of our 74 men by the security forces during the peace talks, we are still serious about the talks," he said, wearing an AK-47 bandolier across his chest. Full Story | Top |
| Mexico captures No.1 drug kingpin 'Shorty' Guzman Saturday, Feb 22, 2014 03:37 PM PST By Lizbeth Diaz and Gabriel Stargardter MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico's most wanted man, drug cartel kingpin Joaquin "Shorty" Guzman, was captured on Saturday with help from U.S. agencies in a major victory for the government in a long, brutal drugs war. Guzman, known as "El Chapo" (Shorty) in Spanish, has long run Mexico's infamous Sinaloa Cartel. He was caught in his native northwestern state of Sinaloa in an early morning operation without a shot being fired, Attorney General Jesus Murillo Karam said, adding that Guzman's identity had been 100 percent confirmed. It is a political triumph for President Enrique Pena Nieto, who took office in late 2012. Full Story | Top |
| Germany's Merkel to back Kerry peace efforts during Israel visit Saturday, Feb 22, 2014 06:11 AM PST  German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said she will lobby on behalf of Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts led by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry when she visits Israel on Monday. Kerry, who held talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Paris on Thursday, is trying to nudge both sides at least to agree on a framework deal by the end of April although months of negotiations have made little visible progress. "We need a stable two-state solution as soon as possible, with a Jewish state of Israel as well as a state for the Palestinians," Merkel said in her weekly video podcast on Saturday. Without such an agreement, neither Israel nor the Palestinians would have a prosperous future, she said. Full Story | Top |
| Top official says Chinese security depends on Afghan stability Saturday, Feb 22, 2014 04:21 AM PST  By Mirwais Harooni KABUL (Reuters) - China urged its neighbor Afghanistan on Saturday to embrace an inclusive political solution to its long-running conflict during a rare visit by a top Chinese official, who said the very security of his own country's western regions depended on peace. Foreign Minister Wang Yi was due to meet President Hamid Karzai during his visit, which coincides with preparations by U.S. and allied troops to draw down their forces after more than 12 years of fighting Taliban extremists. China, which shares a short border with Afghanistan in the country's mountainous northeastern corridor, has become increasingly concerned about security in its western region of Xinjiang, where it says Muslim extremists receive help from militants in neighboring countries. "The peace and stability of this country has an impact on the security of western China, and more importantly, it affects the tranquility and development of the entire region," Wang told a news conference alongside his Afghan counterpart, Zarar Ahmad Osmani. Full Story | Top |
| Pope Francis inducts new cardinals as predecessor Benedict looks on Saturday, Feb 22, 2014 07:21 AM PST  By Philip Pullella VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis urged 19 freshman cardinals to shun rivalries and factions at an induction ceremony on Saturday where his scandal-plagued predecessor, pope Benedict, made a surprise appearance. It was the first time Benedict attended a papal rite since his resignation a year ago. Rivalry between factions of the Curia, the Vatican's central administration, was blamed for the mishaps and scandals that dogged Benedict's eight-year papacy, capped by the so-called "Vatileaks" scandal in 2012 in which Benedict's butler stole personal documents and leaked them to the media. Cardinals are the pope's closest advisers in the Vatican and around the world. Full Story | Top |
| G20 support builds to adopt ambitious target for global growth Saturday, Feb 22, 2014 04:06 AM PST  By Gernot Heller and Cecile Lefort SYDNEY (Reuters) - The world's top economies may agree to set an ambitious target for faster global growth at a weekend meeting in Sydney, where major central banks are also being urged to coordinate policies to avoid "surprises" that could further roil emerging markets. Opening the two-day meeting of the Group of 20 finance ministers and central bankers on Saturday, Australian Treasurer Joe Hockey said support was building for setting a firm goal for growth. And while Canada's central bank chief Stephen Poloz called the goal "aspirational" and doubts remain about its implementation, it would give the group fresh focus and mark a sea change from recent meetings where the debate was all about growth versus budget austerity. France's finance minister, Pierre Moscovici, welcomed a goal of lifting world growth by a total of 2.5 percentage points over five years, calling it ambitious but "not unrealistic". Full Story | Top |
| Apple security flaw could allow hackers to beat encryption Friday, Feb 21, 2014 10:04 PM PST  By Joseph Menn SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A major flaw in Apple Inc software for mobile devices could allow hackers to intercept email and other communications that are meant to be encrypted, the company said on Friday, and experts said Mac computers were even more exposed. "It's as bad as you could imagine, that's all I can say," said Johns Hopkins University cryptography professor Matthew Green. Apple did not say when or how it learned about the flaw in the way iOS handles sessions in what are known as secure sockets layer or transport layer security, nor did it say whether the flaw was being exploited. But a statement on its support website was blunt: The software "failed to validate the authenticity of the connection." Apple released software patches and an update for the current version of iOS for iPhone 4 and later, 5th-generation iPod touches, and iPad 2 and later. Full Story | Top |
| Thai protesters turn in SIM cards seen linked to PM's family Saturday, Feb 22, 2014 12:24 AM PST  By Pairat Temphairojana BANGKOK (Reuters) - Some Thai anti-government protesters followed the advice of their leader on Saturday, shunning products of firms linked to the family of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and handing back cellphone SIM cards. The protesters have blocked main Bangkok intersections with tents, tires and sandbags, seeking to unseat Yingluck and halt the influence of her billionaire brother, Thaksin Shinawatra, an ousted former premier regarded by many as the real power behind the government. This week, they targeted businesses linked, or once linked, to the Shinawatra family, sending stock prices tumbling and on Saturday some answered protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban's call to return their SIM cards belonging to mobile phone company Advanced Info Service Pcl (AIS). The company promptly sent a text message to clients saying it no longer had any connection with the Shinawatra family. Full Story | Top |
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