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| China February inflation tame, room for policy easing Saturday, Mar 08, 2014 07:58 PM PST  China's consumer prices rose at their slowest rate in 13 months in February as pork prices fell by their most in over a year, a sign that slowing growth rather than rising prices poses a bigger risk to the world's second-biggest economy. The consumer price index rose 2 percent in February from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Sunday, exactly in line with market expectations. And in an indication that China's wobbly economy is fighting substantial slack, producer prices fell for the 24th consecutive month by dropping 2 percent, slightly above forecasts for a 1.9 percent drop. The tepid price data could fuel investor worries about the health of China's economy, which drew new concerns this week after figures showed export growth slumped by nearly a fifth last month. Full Story | Top |
| Rising star among California Democrats takes stage at convention Saturday, Mar 08, 2014 07:48 PM PST  By Sharon Bernstein LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - California Attorney General Kamala Harris sought to engage and energize fellow Democrats on Saturday and warned them not to become complacent with their domination of state politics. A rising star widely expected to seek higher office, Harris, 49, urged Democrats to "stay awake" at her party's annual convention in Los Angeles, drawing a standing ovation as she urged attention to civil rights issues and consumer protection. Let's stay awake," she warned Democrats, whose party holds about two-thirds of seats in the state legislature as well as the posts of governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state and attorney general. Harris, who served as district attorney of San Francisco before being elected attorney general in 2010, is heading into her re-election bid with a $3 million war chest and little opposition. Full Story | Top |
| China tests anti-smog drone aircraft Saturday, Mar 08, 2014 07:01 PM PST SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China tested a domestically-produced drone aircraft designed to disperse smog on Saturday, official media reported, in an important step for the country's domestic aviation industry. At the opening of an annual parliament meeting last week, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said that China will "declare war on pollution. Almost all Chinese cities monitored for pollution last year failed to meet state standards. ... Full Story | Top |
| Obama to expand national monument on California coast: White House Saturday, Mar 08, 2014 05:39 PM PST President Barack Obama will expand a national monument in California this week to add about 1,665 acres of Pacific shoreline, the White House said on Saturday. Obama on Tuesday will add the federally owned Point Arena-Stornetta Public Lands to the California Coastal National Monument, about 100 miles north of San Francisco, said a White House official who declined to be named. President Bill Clinton established the California Coastal National Monument in 2000 to protect coastal resources. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. veteran honored 70 years after saying 'no thanks' to Purple Heart Saturday, Mar 08, 2014 04:39 PM PST  By Matthew Liptak AUBURN, New York (Reuters) - An 89-year-old U.S. World War Two veteran who was wounded when his plane crashed in occupied France in 1944 received a Purple Heart medal on Saturday, an honor he declined 70 years ago. Richard Faulkner was a 19-year-old staff sergeant when the B-17 bomber in which he was flying on his first combat mission collided with an allied aircraft. "It's just unbelievable that they all died and I didn't," Faulkner said in an interview before the awards ceremony at his retirement community in Auburn, New York, about 200 miles northwest of New York. When he escaped Nazi-controlled territory Faulkner was offered the Purple Heart, but he declined it. Full Story | Top |
| Rand Paul wins again in conservative Republican poll Saturday, Mar 08, 2014 03:43 PM PST  Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky came out the favorite for the second straight year among Republican conservative activists voting for the candidate they would like to see in the White House next. Paul, a potential 2016 White House contender, won 31 percent in the annual straw poll taken at the Conservative Political Action Conference. His closest competitors were Texas Senator Ted Cruz, with 11 percent, and conservative neurosurgeon Ben Carson with 9 percent. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. veteran honored 70 yrs after saying "no thanks" to Purple Heart Saturday, Mar 08, 2014 02:02 PM PST By Matthew Liptak AUBURN, New York (Reuters) - An 89-year-old U.S. World War Two veteran who was wounded when his plane crashed in occupied France in 1944 received a Purple Heart medal on Saturday, an honor he declined 70 years ago. Richard Faulkner was a 19-year-old staff sergeant when the B-17 bomber in which he was flying on his first combat mission collided with an allied aircraft. "It's just unbelievable that they all died and I didn't," Faulkner said in an interview before the awards ceremony at his retirement community in Auburn, New York, about 200 miles northwest of New York. When he escaped Nazi-controlled territory Faulkner was offered the Purple Heart, but he declined it. Full Story | Top |
| Immigrant detainees on hunger strike in Washington state Saturday, Mar 08, 2014 02:00 PM PST While advocates for the strikers put their numbers at 1,200, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said in a statement that, on Friday evening, meals had been refused by 750 of a total 1,300 inmates at the Northwest Detention Center, operated by the GEO Group. The hunger strike, in its second day on Saturday, will continue for at least five days and is likely to go longer, said Seattle-area attorney Sandy Restrepo, who represents several of the strikers and, in recent years, has represented hundreds of detainees at the privately run facility. "They are human beings, not criminals, and they deserve better treatment." Under President Barack Obama, deportations from the United States have hit record highs, according to U.S. Department of Homeland Security data. Full Story | Top |
| North Korean-flagged tanker loads oil at seized Libyan port: officials Saturday, Mar 08, 2014 01:55 PM PST A North Korean-flagged tanker has started loading oil at a Libyan port seized by rebels in the east of the country, port and oil officials said on Saturday. The Libyan government threatened earlier on Saturday to bomb the vessel if it tried to ship the cargo out of Es Sider port. The rebels want to sell the oil to bypass the government and get a greater share of the country's oil wealth. "The loading has started," a port worker told Reuters. Full Story | Top |
| Libya threatens to bomb North Korean tanker if it ships oil from rebel port Saturday, Mar 08, 2014 01:54 PM PST  By Ulf Laessing and Feras Bosalum TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Libya threatened on Saturday to bomb a North Korean-flagged tanker if it tried to ship oil from a rebel-controlled port, in a major escalation of a standoff over the country's petroleum wealth. The oil dispute is just one facet of the deepening turmoil in the North African OPEC member, where the government is struggling to control militias who helped topple Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 but kept their weapons and now challenge state authority. A local television station controlled by protesters showed footage of pro-autonomy rebels holding a lengthy ceremony and slaughtering a camel to celebrate their first oil shipment. The station said the ceremony took place in Es Sider. Full Story | Top |
| California election season starts with Democrats convention Saturday, Mar 08, 2014 01:53 PM PST  By Sharon Bernstein LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - California Democrats on Saturday vowed to restore their two-thirds majority in the legislature and push their statewide success eastward in an effort to retake a majority in Congress. The pledge at the state's annual Democratic convention came a week after Democrats effectively lost their prized two-thirds majority in the legislature as two state senators were forced to go on leave under criminal indictments or convictions. The convention, which effectively kicks off election season, showcased Democratic stars such as California Governor Jerry Brown and the state's Attorney General Kamala Harris as well as featured former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, whom party leaders are hoping may be able to return to her old job. Brown, who is running for an unprecedented fourth term in November, said California had been written off for dead and called a failed state, but now it is recovering faster than the rest of the nation. Full Story | Top |
| Mickey Mouse and armed men: surreal scenes on Kiev protest square Saturday, Mar 08, 2014 01:30 PM PST By Timothy Heritage KIEV (Reuters) - Two weeks after Ukraine's president was overthrown, the cradle of the uprising is a surreal place as children play alongside diehard protesters still dressed in combat gear. Dozens of people were killed last month defending the barricades and fortified tent camp in Kiev's Independence Square, some of them shot by snipers in bloody clashes. Their main goal was achieved when President Viktor Yanukovich fell, but hundreds of grizzled protesters are still on the square. Full Story | Top |
| Warning shots fired to turn monitors back from Crimea Saturday, Mar 08, 2014 12:45 PM PST By Peter Graff and Andrew Osborn KIEV/SEVASTOPOL, Ukraine (Reuters) - Shots were fired in Crimea to warn off an unarmed international team of monitors and at a Ukrainian observation plane, as the standoff between occupying Russian forces and besieged Ukrainian troops intensified. Russia's seizure of the Black Sea peninsula, which began 10 days ago, has so far been bloodless, but its forces have become increasingly aggressive towards Ukrainian troops, who are trapped in bases and have offered no resistance. President Vladimir Putin declared a week ago that Russia had the right to invade Ukraine to protect Russian citizens, and his parliament has voted to change the law to make it easier to annex territory inhabited by Russian speakers. Tempers have grown hotter in the last two days, since the region's pro-Moscow leadership declared it part of Russia and announced a March 16 referendum to confirm it. Full Story | Top |
| Kerry urges Russia to exercise utmost restraint in Ukraine's Crimea Saturday, Mar 08, 2014 12:19 PM PST By Arshad Mohammed and Roberta Rampton WASHINGTON/KEY LARGO, Florida (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry warned Russia on Saturday that any steps to annex Ukraine's Crimea region would close the door to diplomacy, a U.S. State Department official said. Kerry's latest telephone call with his Russian counterpart, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, came as the standoff between occupying Russian forces and besieged Ukrainian troops intensified in Crimea. "He made clear that continued military escalation and provocation in Crimea or elsewhere in Ukraine, along with steps to annex Crimea to Russia would close any available space for diplomacy, and he urged utmost restraint," the official said. Full Story | Top |
| Red Cross worker killed in Central African Republic Saturday, Mar 08, 2014 11:27 AM PST A Red Cross worker was killed on Saturday in the north of the Central African Republic, amid escalating religious violence that peacekeepers have been powerless to stop. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said in a statement armed men entered the Catholic mission in the northern town of Ndele, where four of its staff were based, and killed one of them, a Central African man. The attack came after warnings last week that humanitarian workers were at risk in the former French colony and calls from senior U.N. officials for the international community to deploy more troops. "We are outraged by this killing," said Georgios Georgantas, head of the ICRC delegation in the country. Full Story | Top |
| Timeline: Political crisis in Ukraine and Russia's occupation of Crimea Saturday, Mar 08, 2014 11:25 AM PST KIEV (Reuters) - Here is a timeline of the fall of Ukraine's government and Russia's subsequent incursion into Ukraine's Crimea region. The crisis began in November when Ukraine's then president, Viktor Yanukovich, under Russian pressure, turned his back on a trade deal with the EU and accepted a $15 billion bailout from Moscow. That prompted three months of street protests, leading to the overthrow of Yanukovich on February 22. Moscow denounced the events as an illegitimate coup and refused to recognize the new Ukrainian authorities. ... Full Story | Top |
| Iraqi women protest against proposed Islamic law in Iraq Saturday, Mar 08, 2014 10:37 AM PST  By Suadad al-Salhy BAGHDAD (Reuters) - About two dozen Iraqi women demonstrated on Saturday in Baghdad against a draft law approved by the Iraqi cabinet that would permit the marriage of nine-year-old girls and automatically give child custody to fathers. The group's protest was on International Women's Day and a week after the cabinet voted for the legislation, based on Shi'ite Islamic jurisprudence, allowing clergy to preside over marriages, divorces and inheritances. "On this day of women, women of Iraq are in mourning," the protesters shouted. "We believe that this is a crime against humanity," said Hanaa Eduar, a prominent Iraqi human rights activist. Full Story | Top |
| $1.2 million bail set for Florida mom who drove kids into ocean Saturday, Mar 08, 2014 10:02 AM PST  By Barbara Liston ORLANDO (Reuters) - A judge set bail at $1.2 million on Saturday for a pregnant woman facing attempted murder charges for driving a minivan carrying her three young children into the surf off a Florida beach, according to jail records. Ebony Wilkerson, 32, has been charged with three counts of first-degree attempted murder and three counts of child abuse in the incident, which occurred on Tuesday at Daytona Beach. Wilkerson had come to Florida three days before the episode to escape an abusive marriage, according to the arrest affidavit. The children told investigators their mother had been acting "crazy" since they arrived in Florida, and Wilkerson's sister tried twice to get mental health treatment for her the day before she drove the van into the water, the affidavit said. Full Story | Top |
| Syria government forces take village near Lebanese border Saturday, Mar 08, 2014 09:46 AM PST  By Alexander Dziadosz BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian government forces seized a village in the central Homs province on Saturday, state media and a monitoring group said, as part of a push for control of areas along the Lebanese border. The village of al-Zara, west of the city of Homs, fell after "heavy clashes" between government and rebel forces, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, although the number of casualties was not immediately clear. In a statement on state news agency SANA, Syria's armed forces said they had established complete control over the village and killed and captured a "large number of terrorists", using state media's customary term for rebels fighting to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad. The victory gave government forces control over a route connecting central Syria to the Mediterranean coast and which had been used as "a primary route for terrorist groups coming from Lebanese territory to neighboring areas to carry out criminal operations", it said. Full Story | Top |
| Ukraine border guards patrol plane comes under fire Saturday, Mar 08, 2014 09:42 AM PST KIEV (Reuters) - A Ukrainian border patrol plane came under fire while flying at about 1,000 meters (3000 feet) near the administrative border with Russian-occupied Crimea on Saturday, the border guards said. No one was hurt when gunmen opened fire on the unarmed aircraft, a spokesman said. The Diamond light aircraft was flying three crew on an observation mission, the spokesman said. Russian forces took control of Crimea last week. Pro-Moscow separatists have declared the region part of Russia and plan a referendum for March 16 to confirm it. ... Full Story | Top |
| Obama calls six world leaders about Ukraine crisis: White House Saturday, Mar 08, 2014 09:41 AM PST  KEY LARGO, Florida (Reuters) - President Barack Obama made a series of phone calls on Saturday to world leaders about the ongoing crisis in Ukraine, including British Prime Minister David Cameron, French President Francois Hollande, and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi the White House said. He also held a conference call about the situation with the presidents of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said in a statement. No further details about the discussions were immediately available. (Reporting by Roberta Rampton; Editing by Sandra Maler) Full Story | Top |
| Ukraine facing loss of its navy as Russian forces in Crimea dig in Saturday, Mar 08, 2014 09:35 AM PST By Andrew Osborn NOVOOZERNOE, Ukraine (Reuters) - Lashed by the wind as it whips across Crimea's biggest lake, a third of Ukraine's warships have nowhere to go and nothing to do but rise and fall on its choppy waves. Russian forces have blocked their only exit point to the Black Sea by sinking two ageing vessels there, and Russia's well-armed Moskva missile cruiser can be seen treading water a short distance off the coast, with menace. With six more of Ukraine's two dozen warships similarly blockaded and Russian forces building up their strength ahead of a referendum that seems likely to result in Crimea becoming part of Russia, Ukraine is facing the humiliating loss of its navy. Full Story | Top |
| Lebanese march against domestic violence in rare non-partisan protest Saturday, Mar 08, 2014 09:21 AM PST  By Stephen Kalin BEIRUT (Reuters) - A few thousand protesters took to the streets of Beirut on Saturday to demand that politicians approve Lebanon's first law against domestic violence in a non-partisan display rarely seen in Lebanon's highly politicized climate. Organizers harnessed popular outrage over the deaths of two Lebanese women in suspected domestic violence cases which struck a nerve in a country where regular car bombs and rocket attacks have desensitized many to violence. Lebanon, known for its nightclubs, stylish boutiques and liberal social norms, offers women freedoms denied to many in the Arab world, but campaigners say one woman a month is killed by domestic violence in the country of 4 million. Many Lebanese took to social media following the deaths last month of Manal Assi and Cristelle Abou Chakra to condemn a seven-month delay in passing the domestic violence law, held up by political disagreements and backlog of bills linked to the Syrian civil war. Full Story | Top |
| Gulf airlines defend female cabin crew policies Saturday, Mar 08, 2014 09:15 AM PST  Qatar Airways and Emirates Airline have defended their policies on pregnancy and marriage for cabin crew after the Qatar carrier came under fire over its working conditions. The International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) is running a campaign against Qatar Airways over its monitoring of staff and rules preventing women from becoming pregnant and getting married. It has called on women across the globe to speak out against the airline on Saturday, International Women's Day. "The treatment of workers at Qatar Airways goes further than cultural differences. Full Story | Top |
| Far-right leader to run for president in Ukraine Saturday, Mar 08, 2014 09:08 AM PST By Pavel Polityuk KIEV (Reuters) - Ukrainian far-right leader Dmytro Yarosh said on Saturday he would run for president and launched a scathing attack on the new government, two weeks after he helped bring it to power through street protests. Yarosh's ultra-nationalist views make him a rank outsider in the May 25 election, but his remarks signaled a growing split with other leaders of the protest movement that toppled Moscow-backed Viktor Yanukovich as president on Feb 22. The outspoken leader of the Right Sector paramilitary movement, which wears black combat gear and ski masks, announced his presidential campaign despite being wanted by Russia on charges of incitement to terrorism. "I am running for president," Yarosh told a news conference, confirming a decision by Right Sector's leadership body. Full Story | Top |
| Two Yemeni soldiers, four militants killed in south: ministry Saturday, Mar 08, 2014 09:06 AM PST At least two Yemeni soldiers and four militants were killed in a clash on Saturday when al Qaeda fighters tried to attack a military compound in southern Yemen, the Defence Ministry said. The clash occurred when al Qaeda militants approached the compound in Lawdar town with suicide belts, hand grenades and explosive devices, the ministry said on its website. It later quoted a military source as saying four "terrorists" had been killed, one of whom had Saudi nationality and went by the name "Abu Musab". Yemen is home to one of al Qaeda's most lethal franchises, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. Full Story | Top |
| Al Qaeda-linked militants in Lebanon apologize for civilian deaths Saturday, Mar 08, 2014 09:03 AM PST  A Sunni Lebanese militant group linked to al Qaeda has apologized for the civilian casualties of a suicide bombing last month and said its fight was against Iran and its ally Hezbollah, not Shi'ites in general. The Abdullah Azzam Brigades took credit for a February 19 attack on Shi'ite Iran's cultural center in Beirut that killed eight people in an area where support for the Shi'ite political and military movement Hezbollah runs strong. "The Abdullah Azzam Brigades' operations do not target Shi'ites in general, or any other sect, and we always stress to our martyrdom-seekers to be cautious and abort an operation if they think it could kill others than those targeted," it said. Lebanon has been increasingly hit by violence linked to the war in its much larger neighbor Syria, which has killed over 140,000 people over the last three years and forced millions to flee their homes, including nearly 1 million into Lebanon. Full Story | Top |
| Libya says will bomb North Korea-flagged tanker if it ignores orders Saturday, Mar 08, 2014 08:44 AM PST Libya will bomb a North Korea-flagged oil tanker trying to load crude at an eastern port controlled by armed protesters if the vessel fails to follow orders from the navy, Prime Minister Ali Zeidan said on Saturday. "The tanker will be bombed if it doesn't follow orders when leaving (the port). Full Story | Top |
| Ukraine's ambassador in Moscow meets Russian deputy minister Saturday, Mar 08, 2014 08:40 AM PST  MOSCOW (Reuters) - Ukraine's ambassador to Russia and a deputy Russian foreign minister held a "frank" meeting on Saturday, Moscow said, without giving details of any discussion of Russian-occupied Crimea. Envoy Vladimir Yelchenko met deputy minister Grigory Karasin, the Russian foreign ministry said, and "issues of Russo-Ukrainian relations were discussed in a frank atmosphere". Russia has denounced the overthrow of Ukrainian President President Viktor Yanukovich in mass protests last month as a coup, and declared the country's interim leadership illegitimate. ... Full Story | Top |
| Israel brings arms ship to dock, hopes to shame Iran Saturday, Mar 08, 2014 08:18 AM PST  A ship seized by the Israeli navy on suspicion of smuggling arms from Iran to the Gaza Strip docked on Saturday in Israel, which planned to put the cargo on display in hope of denting Tehran's rapprochement with the West. Israel said it found dozens of advanced Syrian-made rockets hidden on board in Iran and destined for the ship's next port in Sudan, from where they would have been trucked through Egypt to Gaza. Iran and Gaza's Islamist Hamas rulers, both hostile to the Jewish state, rejected the Israeli findings as fabrications. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has been dismayed at world powers' nuclear diplomacy with Iran since Tehran installed the relatively pragmatic Hassan Rouhani as president last year, voiced hope they would now rethink the outreach. Full Story | Top |
| EU's Ashton visits Iran for first time; nuclear issue on agenda Saturday, Mar 08, 2014 07:22 AM PST  European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton arrived in Tehran on Saturday to discuss issues including Iran's disputed nuclear program, before another round of talks between Iran and world powers, Iranian media reported. During Ashton's two-day visit, her first to Iran and the first by an EU foreign policy chief since 2008, bilateral, regional and international issues will be discussed, the semi-official Fars news agency reported. Full Story | Top |
| Warning shots fired as OSCE mission turned away from Crimea Saturday, Mar 08, 2014 06:47 AM PST Warning shots were fired when an unarmed OSCE military observer mission was turned back while trying to cross into Ukraine's Crimea region on Saturday, the European security body said. An OSCE spokeswoman said in an e-mail that the mission was withdrawing to the nearest big city, Kherson, to decide on its next steps. The mission has been invited by Ukraine's government, but the Russian separatist authorities in Crimea say they have not given it permission to enter the region. Russian forces seized control of the region last week and President Vladimir Putin declared that Moscow has the right to invade Ukraine to protect Russians there. Full Story | Top |
| Italy's Renzi plans 10 billion euro cut to income tax: report Saturday, Mar 08, 2014 06:31 AM PST  The Italian government of Matteo Renzi will propose a 10 billion euro cut to income tax, daily newspaper La Repubblica reported on Saturday, without giving a source for the information. But the 39-year-old must tread carefully to pursue growth without breaking European Union spending rules. The European Commission put Italy on its watch list last week due to its high public debt and weak competitiveness, meaning it will monitor reforms and could impose fines if they are not implemented. Renzi had previously promised a 10 billion euro cut to the tax wedge, the difference between what an employer pays and what a worker takes home, but had not clearly stated whether the reduction would come from income tax, social contributions or a regional tax on productive activities. Full Story | Top |
| Large Russian troop convoy moves to base near Simferopol: witnesses Saturday, Mar 08, 2014 06:18 AM PST SIMFEROPOL, Ukraine (Reuters) - A convoy of hundreds of Russian soldiers in about 50 troop trucks drove into a base near Crimea's capital Simferopol on Saturday, a Reuters reporting team in the Russian-occupied Ukrainian province said. The convoy was accompanied by 8 armored vehicles, two ambulances, petrol tankers and other hardware. Russia says its only troops in Crimea are those normally stationed there with its Black Sea Fleet, an assertion Washington calls "(President Vladimir) Putin's fiction". Kiev says there are 30,000 Russians in Crimea. ... Full Story | Top |
| Libya port protesters say will respond to attempts to stop oil sales Saturday, Mar 08, 2014 06:07 AM PST TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Armed protesters controlling eastern Libyan ports will respond to any central government attempts to stop them selling oil independently after a North Korean-flagged tanker docked at one of the ports they hold, a leader said on Saturday. Abb-Rabbo Albarassi, self-declared prime minister of Libya's eastern autonomy movement, said protesters had no plans for secession but demanded 15 percent of national oil sale revenues to go to their region. He said the group would respect previous oil contracts, but demanded some of the deals be investigated for corruption. ... Full Story | Top |
| China says no room for compromise with Japan on history, territory Saturday, Mar 08, 2014 05:58 AM PST  China said on Saturday that there was no room for compromise with Japan on questions of history and disputed territory, "each inch" of which it would defend from its Asian neighbor. China's ties with Japan have long been poisoned by what China sees as Japan's failure to atone for its occupation of parts of China before and during World War Two. Beijing's anger over the past is never far from the surface, and relations have deteriorated sharply over the past 18 months because of a dispute over a chain of uninhabited islands in the East China Sea. "On the two issues of principle, history and territory, there is no room for compromise," Foreign Minister Wang Yi told reporters on the sidelines of China's annual parliament. Full Story | Top |
| Latin American foreign ministers to discuss Venezuela unrest Saturday, Mar 08, 2014 05:51 AM PST  Latin American foreign ministers will meet next week to discuss the unrest in Venezuela that has left at least 20 dead and convulsed the South American OPEC nation, diplomatic sources said on Friday. The officials will gather on Tuesday at a meeting of the Union of South American Nations (Unasur) group of Latin American nations in Chile, where the leaders are congregating for the inauguration of President Michelle Bachelet. Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa said late on Thursday that the bloc's presidents would meet. Diplomatic sources said, however, that foreign ministers would meet instead. Full Story | Top |
| Poland evacuates consulate in Crimea: foreign minister Saturday, Mar 08, 2014 05:38 AM PST Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said on Saturday Poland had evacuated its consulate in Ukraine's Crimea due to disturbances by Russian forces. Sikorski said on Twitter: "Because of continuing disturbances by Russian forces there, we have reluctantly evacuated our consulate in Crimea, Ukraine." The consulate is in Sevastopol, the home of both Russia's Black Sea Fleet and the Ukrainian navy, where Russian troops drove a truck into a missile defense post and took control of it overnight. Full Story | Top |
| Tanzania's inflation unchanged at 6 percent in February Saturday, Mar 08, 2014 04:44 AM PST Tanzania's year-on-year inflation was 6.0 percent in February, unchanged from the previous month, the statistics office said on Saturday. "The monthly headline inflation rate for the month of February 2014 has increased at a lower speed of 1.4 percent compared to an increase of 1.8 percent recorded in January 2014," the National Bureau of Statistics said. Analysts said they expect the inflation rate to rise because of higher energy and fuel costs, making it unlikely the government will achieve its 5.0 percent inflation target by June. "The inflation rate will likely go up over the coming months due to a significant increase in power tariffs from January this year and higher diesel and petrol prices," Humphrey Moshi, economics professor at the University of Dar es Salaam, told Reuters. Full Story | Top |
| Beat the crowd: Middle East, North Africa hotspots tout for tourists Saturday, Mar 08, 2014 04:15 AM PST  It's a tough sell, but tour operators from locations considered among the world's most dangerous have been trying to drum up interest at the world's biggest travel fair, the ITB Berlin in the German capital. "OK, you cannot visit all places in Yemen," conceded Ibrahim Mohamed Al-Attab, deputy marketing manager of the Yemen Tourism Promotion Board. Al-Attab, like his counterparts from Iraq and Libya, tried to stress the cultural and natural attractions of his country, ravaged by conflicts in the past half century and well off the beaten track for most travelers. Full Story | Top |
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