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| Searchers seek confirmation of 'pings' heard in Malaysia plane hunt Saturday, Apr 05, 2014 09:05 PM PDT  PERTH (Reuters) - International search planes and ships are heading to an area where a Chinese ship twice heard what could be signals from missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370's black box locators, Australian search authorities said on Sunday. Retired Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, the head of the Australian agency coordinating the operation, told a media conference in Perth that two reported acoustic detections from the Haixun 01 were a good lead but there remained no certainty that they had come from the missing plane. ... Full Story | Top |
| Mexican ruling party state official held on suspicion of gang links Saturday, Apr 05, 2014 08:36 PM PDT One of the top ruling party officials in the troubled Mexican state of Michoacan has been held for 40 days while he is investigated for possible links to criminal organizations, the attorney general's office said on Saturday. Jesus Reyna Garcia, a member of President Enrique Pena Nieto's Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), became the interim governor of Michoacan last year stepping in after Governor Fausto Vallejo fell ill. The western state of Michoacan has been the epicenter of fighting between the Knights Templar drug cartel and a complex, increasingly fractured, vigilante movement that sprang up last year against the gang, which it accuses of staging an endless series of kidnappings and extortion. Full Story | Top |
| Mormon women, seeking wider role, denied entrance to all-male priesthood meeting Saturday, Apr 05, 2014 08:30 PM PDT  By Jennifer Dobner SALT LAKE CITY (Reuters) - A group of about 200 Mormon women who want ecclesiastical equality sought but were denied admittance to a male-only session of their faith's spring conference on Saturday, in their bid to promote the ordination of women into the lay priesthood. Adorned in purple, members of Ordain Women marched through a hailstorm from a park to the Salt Lake Tabernacle on Temple Square, the heart of a four-block campus that is the global home of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They were seeking unfilled seats at the evening priesthood meeting at the faith's semi-annual conference. The actions have led to tensions between church officials and the women, who say they are steadfast in their faith but want to play a more significant role in the life of a religion that claims over 15 million adherents worldwide. Full Story | Top |
| Afghanistan runs out of ballot papers as election turnout surprises Saturday, Apr 05, 2014 07:36 PM PDT By Jessica Donati and Hamid Shalizi KANDAHAR/KABUL (Reuters) - Afghanistan's landmark election on Saturday was marred by a shortage of ballot papers that left many voters still queuing to cast their vote with polling due to close, as the organizers appeared unprepared for a high turnout. The Independent Election Commission ordered voting to be extended by at least an hour, with ballot papers being dispatched where they were needed for people to vote for a successor to President Hamid Karzai. Organizers of the vote - meant to be the first democratic handover of power in Afghan history - had feared that a low turnout and Taliban violence would derail the election but as polling stations began to close, those fears had not materialized. "People did not expect this number of people to come out to vote," Toryalai Wesa, governor of the southern city of Kandahar, told reporters. Full Story | Top |
| Obama commends Afghanistan on presidential election Saturday, Apr 05, 2014 07:36 PM PDT President Barack Obama congratulated the millions of people in Afghanistan who voted in the country's presidential election on Saturday, calling the event a milestone in their drive to take full responsibility for their country. "We commend the Afghan people, security forces, and elections officials on the turnout for today's vote - which is in keeping with the spirited and positive debate among candidates and their supporters in the run-up to the election," Obama said in a statement. The United States has been at odds with Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai who has refused U.S. entreaties to sign a bilateral security agreement that would permit about 8,000 U.S. troops to remain in the country after the formal American withdrawal at the end of this year. "These elections are critical to securing Afghanistan's democratic future, as well as continued international support, and we look to the Afghan electoral bodies to carry out their duties in the coming weeks to adjudicate the results - knowing that the most critical voices on the outcome are those of Afghans themselves," Obama said. Full Story | Top |
| Afghan election scores 58 pct turnout: commission chief Saturday, Apr 05, 2014 07:36 PM PDT KABUL (Reuters) - Turnout from Afghanistan's presidential election was seven million out of 12 million eligible voters, or about 58 percent, election commission chief Ahmad Yousuf Nuristani said on Saturday. Nuristani told reporters the figure of seven million was based on preliminary estimates. (Reporting by Hamid Shalizi Writing by Maria Golovnina; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore) Full Story | Top |
| Relief in Afghanistan after largely peaceful landmark election Saturday, Apr 05, 2014 07:36 PM PDT  By Mirwais Harooni and Jessica Donati KABUL/KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Afghanistan's presidential election closed on Saturday amid relief that attacks by Taliban fighters were fewer than feared for a vote that will bring the first-ever democratic transfer of power in a country plagued by conflict for decades. It will take six weeks for results to come in from across Afghanistan's rugged terrain and a final result to be declared in the race to succeed President Hamid Karzai. This could be the beginning of a potentially dangerous period for Afghanistan at a time when the war-ravaged country desperately needs a leader to stem rising violence as foreign troops prepare to leave. "On behalf of the people, I thank the security forces, election commission and people who exercised democracy and ... turned another page in the glorious history of Afghanistan." One of the eight candidates will have to score over 50 percent of the vote to avoid a run-off with his nearest rival. Full Story | Top |
| U.S., eyeing North Korea, to send more missile defense ships to Japan Saturday, Apr 05, 2014 07:28 PM PDT  By Phil Stewart TOKYO (Reuters) - The United States will deploy two additional destroyers equipped with missile defense systems to Japan by 2017, in a move Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said on Sunday was a response in part to North Korean missile launches that have alarmed the region. Tensions have been building between North Korea and its neighbors since Pyongyang - in an apparent show of defiance - fired two Rodong missiles on March 26, just as the leaders of Japan, South Korea and the United States were sitting down to discuss containing the North Korean nuclear threat. Full Story | Top |
| Advisers to India's Modi dream of a Thatcherite revolution Saturday, Apr 05, 2014 07:22 PM PDT  By Frank Jack Daniel and Rajesh Kumar Singh NEW DELHI (Reuters) - When Indian opposition leader Narendra Modi gave a speech on the virtues of smaller government and privatization on April 8 last year, supporters called him an ideological heir to former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who died that day. Modi, favorite to form India's next government after elections starting on Monday, has yet to unveil any detailed economic plans but it is clear that some of his closest advisers and campaign managers have a Thatcherite ambition for him. "If you define Thatcherism as less government, free enterprise, then there is no difference between Modi-nomics and Thatcherism," said Deepak Kanth, a London-based banker now collecting funds as a volunteer for Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). "What Thatcher did with financial market reforms, you can expect a similar thing with infrastructure in India under Modi," he said, referring to Thatcher's trademark "Big Bang" of sudden financial deregulation in 1986. Full Story | Top |
| Victims of U.S. mudslide are remembered in first funeral services Saturday, Apr 05, 2014 06:27 PM PDT  By Jonathan Kaminsky ARLINGTON, Washington (Reuters) - A school custodian killed in Washington state's mudslide was described as a tough-minded animal lover on Saturday and a popular librarian was memorialized, as mourners gathered in the first of a series of services for the over two dozen dead. About 250 people crammed into a golf course clubhouse in Arlington, Washington, for the funeral of Summer Raffo, 36, a school custodian and specialist in hoof care for horses, just a few miles from the site where a torrent of mud swept her car off Highway 530 on March 22. She was dependable." Another service was held in nearby Darrington for Linda McPherson, 69, who was found dead in the debris of her home. Full Story | Top |
| Snowden, Greenwald urge caution of wider government monitoring at Amnesty event Saturday, Apr 05, 2014 05:28 PM PDT  By Karl Plume CHICAGO (Reuters) - Edward Snowden and reporter Glenn Greenwald, who brought to light the whistleblower's leaks about mass U.S. government surveillance last year, appeared together via video link from opposite ends of the earth on Saturday for what was believed to be the first time since Snowden sought asylum in Russia. A sympathetic crowd of nearly 1,000 packed a downtown Chicago hotel ballroom at Amnesty International USA's annual human rights meeting and gave Greenwald, who dialed in from Brazil, a raucous welcome before Snowden was patched in 15 minutes later to a standing ovation. The pair cautioned that government monitoring of "metadata" is more intrusive than directly listening to phone calls or reading emails and stressed the importance of a free press willing to scrutinize government activity. Amnesty International is campaigning to end mass surveillance by the U.S. government and calling for Congressional action to further rein in the collection of information about telephone calls and other communications. Full Story | Top |
| Mali government resigns, new PM appointed: state TV Saturday, Apr 05, 2014 04:54 PM PDT  Mali's government has resigned and town planning minister Moussa Mara will become prime minister, a presidential spokesman said on state television late on Saturday. Outgoing prime minister Oumar Tatam Ly submitted the entire government's resignation to President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita on Saturday and it was accepted, the statement said. His replacement Mara, a political veteran who ran against Keita in Mali's August Presidential election, will be responsible for appointing new ministers. President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, known universally by his initials IBK, was elected on a pledge to unite Mali and is seeking to rebuild the country from the ashes of a war against Islamists. Full Story | Top |
| France's far-right to ban faith-based school lunch options Saturday, Apr 05, 2014 04:31 PM PDT Far-right National Front leader Marine Le Pen said on Friday it would prevent schools from offering special lunches to Muslim pupils in the 11 towns it won in local elections, saying such arrangements were contrary to France's secular values. France's republic has a strict secular tradition enforceable by law, but faith-related demands have risen in recent years, especially from the country's five-million-strong Muslim minority, the largest in Europe. "We will not accept any religious demands in school menus," Le Pen told RTL radio. "There is no reason for religion to enter the public sphere, that's the law." The anti-immigrant National Front has consistently bemoaned the rising influence of Islam in French public life. Full Story | Top |
| One Syrian refugee killed in clashes with Jordanian security Saturday, Apr 05, 2014 03:39 PM PDT At least one Syrian refugee was killed in Jordan's sprawling Zaatari camp when hundreds of refugees clashed with security forces, residents said on Saturday. They said scores of refugees in the sprawling camp close to the Syrian border were injured as baton-wielding anti-riot police used tear gas to disperse stone-throwing refugees who set fire to official offices and caravans. Jordanian police blamed agitators who were apprehended after trying to flee the refugee camp of nearly 70,000 residents. Residents say the rioting, the first such serious disturbance this year, was provoked when a Jordanian security officer ran over with his car and seriously injured a 4-year old Syrian child, prompting outrage by residents and relatives protesting ill treatment. Full Story | Top |
| Two teenagers arrested in Detroit motorist beating Saturday, Apr 05, 2014 03:14 PM PDT Two teenagers were taken into custody on Saturday in the severe beating in Detroit of a motorist who stopped to help a 10-year-old boy he struck with his vehicle, with the arrests coming a day after city leaders decried the attack, police said. The two juveniles, age 16 and 17, were taken into custody without incident and are believed to have been among a group of 10 to 12 bystanders who attacked the driver, said Detroit police spokesman Sergeant Michael Woody. Steven Utash, 54, remains in critical condition in a Detroit hospital, Woody said. The child he hit, David Harris, was released from a hospital on Thursday, police said. Full Story | Top |
| Mormon women look for entrance to priesthood Saturday, Apr 05, 2014 02:54 PM PDT By Jennifer Dobner SALT LAKE CITY (Reuters) - A group of 500 Mormon women who want ecclesiastical equality with men are expected to seek admittance to a male-only session of the faith's spring conference on Saturday, as they promote the ordination of women into the lay priesthood of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Adorned in purple, members of Ordain Women plan to march from a park to the Salt Lake Tabernacle on Temple Square, the heart of a four-block campus that is the church's global home. They will stand in line for seats to the evening priesthood meeting at a semi-annual two-day conference, after last month church officials rebuffed their request for advance tickets to that meeting. In a letter, the church said "activist events" such as the group's attempt at entry detract from the sacred environment of Temple Square and the "spirit of harmony" during the two-day conference which includes four events open to both genders and the male-only priesthood meeting. Full Story | Top |
| 'Verbal altercation' may have led to Fort Hood rampage: Army Saturday, Apr 05, 2014 02:52 PM PDT  By Lisa Maria Garza and Eileen O'Grady FORT HOOD, Texas (Reuters) - The suspected gunman at Fort Hood in Texas argued heatedly with fellow soldiers before going on a shooting spree that left three dead and 16 injured at the expansive U.S. Army base, a military investigator said on Friday. The suspected shooter Ivan Lopez, a 34-year-old soldier battling mental illness, then turned the gun on himself in the second mass shooting at the base in the last five years. "We do have credible information he was involved in a verbal altercation with soldiers from his unit just prior to him allegedly opening fire," Christopher Grey, of the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command, told a news conference, without offering further details. Investigators from the military, Texas Rangers and the Federal Bureau of Investigation have interviewed more than 900 people to gather details of the crime scene that played out over an area covering about two city blocks, Grey said. Full Story | Top |
| U.N. chief says C. African Republic peacekeepers 'overwhelmed' Saturday, Apr 05, 2014 02:40 PM PDT  By Hubert-Mary Djamany BANGUI (Reuters) - French and African soldiers serving in Central African Republic are "overwhelmed" by the "state of anarchy" in the country, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Saturday, a day after Chadian troops began withdrawing from the peacekeeping mission. The U.N. Security Council is due to approve next week a 12,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping force for the former French colony. The force will take over authority from African Union troops in an attempt to restore order to the country. "I commend the African Union and French forces for making a difference," he said in a speech before the interim government. Full Story | Top |
| Finland's PM Katainen to step down, eyeing EU posts Saturday, Apr 05, 2014 02:39 PM PDT  By Jussi Rosendahl HELSINKI (Reuters) - Finnish Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen announced on Saturday that he was stepping down in June with a view to taking a senior European Union post, a move that could further unsettle a coalition government that last month lost one of its parties. Katainen, who had led a quarrelsome six-party coalition government since 2011, said he would not run again as chairman of his conservative National Coalition party at its congress in June, which means he will then cease to be prime minister. Finnish media have floated the names of Economy Minister Jan Vapaavuori, Municipal Minister Henna Virkkunen, EU Minister Alexander Stubb or Petteri Orpo, who heads the party in parliament. Katainen took the helm of National Coalition in 2004, taking the traditional conservative party in a more liberal direction and leading it to power in 2011 for the first time in 20 years. Full Story | Top |
| Funerals start for victims of deadly U.S. mudslide Saturday, Apr 05, 2014 02:38 PM PDT By Jonathan Kaminsky DARRINGTON, Washington (Reuters) - Mourners gathered on Saturday to remember victims killed in Washington state's mudslide, the first of a series of memorial services for the more than two dozen dead, even as the search continues for more victims. A funeral for school custodian Summer Raffo, 36, was taking place in Arlington, a town only a few miles from the site where a torrent of mud swept her car off Highway 530 on March 22. Another service was held in nearby Darrington for retired librarian Linda McPherson, 69, who was found dead in the debris of her home. "She was a sweet, mellow, gentle woman," said Peter Selvig, who served on the Darrington School Board with McPherson. Full Story | Top |
| U.N. chief says Central African Republic peacekeepers 'overwhelmed' Saturday, Apr 05, 2014 02:14 PM PDT By Hubert-Mary Djamany BANGUI (Reuters) - French and African soldiers serving in Central African Republic are "overwhelmed" by the "state of anarchy" in the country, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Saturday, a day after Chadian troops began withdrawing from the peacekeeping mission. The U.N. Security Council is due to approve next week a 12,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping force for the former French colony. The force will take over authority from African Union troops in an attempt to restore order to the country. "I commend the African Union and French forces for making a difference," he said in a speech before the interim government. Full Story | Top |
| Brazilian leader Rousseff slips in poll on economic woes Saturday, Apr 05, 2014 02:12 PM PDT  By Anthony Boadle BRASILIA (Reuters) - Support for President Dilma Rousseff is slipping among Brazilian voters who are increasingly pessimistic about their country's economy and disappointed with her performance, according to a poll published on Saturday. While Rousseff is still on track to win re-election outright in elections on October 5, she has lost six points among potential voters since last month, a survey by local Datafolha polling firm said. The poll showed more Brazilians want a change of course in government policies, and twice as many Brazilians think Rousseff's predecessor and mentor Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is more qualified than her to carry out those changes. The leader of the main opposition party Aécio Neves was unchanged at 16 percent of voter intentions and Eduardo Campos, governor of Pernambuco state, edged forward one point to 10 percent. Full Story | Top |
| Argentine president is godmother to lesbians' baby Saturday, Apr 05, 2014 01:43 PM PDT  By Juan Bustamante CORDOBA, Argentina (Reuters) - Argentina's leftist president Cristina Fernandez on Saturday became the godmother of a lesbian couple's baby in a rare baptism performed by the Catholic Church, which is staunchly opposed to gay marriage. A nominally Catholic country, Argentina has been a trailblazer for gay rights in the region since Peronist Fernandez legalized same-sex marriage in 2010. Fellow Argentine Pope Francis, at the time archbishop of Buenos Aires, came out strongly against the law. Priest Carlos Varas baptized 2-1/2-month-old Uma in the Cathedral of Cordoba, Argentina's second largest city, under the watchful gaze of her beaming parents, Carina Villaroel and Soledad Ortiz. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. military rescuing sick baby on family's boat in Pacific Ocean Saturday, Apr 05, 2014 01:08 PM PDT An American family that had been sailing across the Pacific Ocean for several weeks was the focus of a U.S. military rescue mission on Saturday after their 1-year-old daughter became severely ill, officials said. Eric and Charlotte Kaufman, along with their daughters Cora, 3, and 1-year-old Lyra sailed from Mexico on March 19 toward islands in the South Pacific and eventually New Zealand, according to therebelheart.com, where they have been writing about their sometimes stormy voyage. The family sent out a distress call by satellite from their boat, named Rebel Heart, on Thursday about 1,000 miles off Mexico's Pacific coast. That prompted a team from the California Air National Guard's 129th Rescue Wing to fly out to sea in a military transport plane from their base at Moffett Federal Airfield near San Francisco, said spokesman Second Lieutenant Roderick Bersamina. Full Story | Top |
| At least 20 Iraqi soldiers killed in attacks Saturday, Apr 05, 2014 01:02 PM PDT At least 20 Iraqi soldiers were killed on Saturday, most of them upon entering a house rigged with explosives northwest of the capital, security officials said. Militants last week overran the house in the town of Garma, 30 km (20 miles) northwest of Baghdad, which had previously been used as an army post, officials said. The army moved in on Saturday morning after militants retreated, but when they entered the house, a powerful blast tore through the building, two security officials said. The identity of the attackers was not clear, but Sunni Islamist insurgents are regaining ground in Iraq and have taken over several towns and cities since the start of the year, including Falluja, around 70 km (44 miles) from Baghdad. Full Story | Top |
| France to shun Rwanda genocide ceremony after Kagame accusations Saturday, Apr 05, 2014 12:30 PM PDT  France said on Saturday it had canceled plans to attend a ceremony marking the 20th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide following accusations of French involvement in the massacre by Rwandan President Paul Kagame. The African weekly Jeune Afrique quoted Kagame last month as saying in an interview that both France and Belgium had played a "direct role ... in the political preparation of genocide and participation in its execution". The French Foreign Ministry said France was "surprised by the recent accusations made by the Rwandan president", and that French Justice Minister Christiane Taubira, who had been due to travel to the Rwandan capital Kigali on Monday, would no longer attend the commemoration. Full Story | Top |
| Egypt court sentences police captain in southern province to death Saturday, Apr 05, 2014 12:23 PM PDT An Egyptian court on Saturday sentenced a police officer to death for the 2012 killing of two men in the southern province of Qena, state news agency MENA reported. Mahmoud Fathi Ali Al-Ataar, a police captain, was standing trial on charges of killing a local driver and a salesman in January 2012 and stealing 130,000 Egyptian pounds ($18,600) from the men. The judge in Qena ruled that the policeman's file be referred to the mufti, the country's highest religious authority to whom death sentences are always sent for review. The judge scheduled the next hearing in the trial until June 2, pending the mufti's review of the sentences, state news agency MENA reported. Full Story | Top |
| Italy's Berlusconi demands Renzi's Senate reform be negotiated Saturday, Apr 05, 2014 12:07 PM PDT  Italian center-right leader Silvio Berlusconi on Saturday demanded a renegotiation of a reform of the upper house of parliament to which Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has tied his political future. Renzi, 39, has vowed to quit if parliament blocks the reform of the Senate, part of a wider drive to slim down Italy's political apparatus and fix an electoral system blamed for creating deadlock and unstable governments. Berlusconi had previously said his center-right Forza Italia party would back the package, whose outlines he agreed with Renzi in January. If Forza Italia were to oppose the measure, Renzi's coalition with the New Center Right party and other smaller groups would still have a theoretical majority in the Senate of 169 votes to 139. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. trade representative to visit Japan for talks on access Saturday, Apr 05, 2014 11:50 AM PDT  U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman will travel to Japan on Monday for high-level talks in a bid to break a stalemate over market access for American farm groups and autos, his office said on Saturday. Talks about a 12-nation Pacific Rim trade pact have been bogged down as the United States tried to persuade Japan to lower trade barriers. Froman said on Thursday it was time for Japan "to step up to the plate" and open its markets, which will then pave the way for an agreement on the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Acting Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Wendy Cutler had already been scheduled to visit Tokyo next week as bilateral talks have accelerated ahead of a visit to Japan later this month by President Barack Obama. Full Story | Top |
| Ukraine PM says will stick to austerity despite Moscow pressure Saturday, Apr 05, 2014 11:45 AM PDT  By Natalia Zinets, Richard Balmforth and Paul Ingrassia KIEV (Reuters) - The Kiev government will stick to unpopular austerity measures "as the price of independence" as Russia steps up pressure on Ukraine to destabilise it, including by raising the price of gas, Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk told Reuters. Yatseniuk, 39, who stepped in as interim prime minister last month after Viktor Yanukovich and his ministers fled the "Euromaidan" protests, conceded that it would be very difficult "under the current Russian presence" to undo what he described as Russia's "international crime" in seizing Crimea. But he said Ukraine would never recognise the Russian takeover in exchange for re-establishing good relations. We will never recognise the annexation of Crimea ... The time will come when Ukraine will take over control of Crimea," he said, speaking in English, seated in his cavernous, Soviet-built government headquarters beneath the blue and yellow Ukrainian flag. Full Story | Top |
| Ukraine detains 15 suspected of planning unrest in Russian-dominated east Saturday, Apr 05, 2014 11:45 AM PDT Ukraine's state security service said on Saturday it had detained 15 people suspected of planning to overthrow the authorities in a mostly Russian-speaking eastern region and had confiscated hundreds of rifles, grenades and petrol bombs. The service said those arrested were planning to stir up unrest in the region of Luhansk which, like most of Ukraine's eastern regions, has been tense since the ouster of pro-Russia former president Viktor Yanukovich in February. "The group of attackers planned to carry out an armed seizure of power on April 10 in the Luhansk region through the intimidation of the peaceful population and the use of weapons and explosives," the service, which has intelligence and policing functions, said in a statement. Eastern Ukraine's population is largely made up of Russian-speakers who are culturally close to Russia. Full Story | Top |
| Iran upbeat on nuclear talks, says all sticky issues addressed Saturday, Apr 05, 2014 11:44 AM PDT  Iran said on Saturday it had useful expert-level nuclear talks with world powers in Vienna, addressing all major technical issues in the way of a final settlement. "The meetings were useful, raised mutual insight into our differing positions," Iranian negotiator Hamid Baeedinejad told the official IRNA news agency at the end of the three-day talks in Vienna. "Everyone came well-prepared ... addressing issues in minute technical details can facilitate hard political decisions." He said the results would be submitted on Monday to Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton Who acts on behalf of the six world powers - the United States, France, Germany, Russia, China and Britain. Full Story | Top |
| Finland's PM Katainen says he will resign in June Saturday, Apr 05, 2014 11:24 AM PDT  Finnish Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen announced on Saturday that he was stepping down in June, saying he was interested in top EU posts. Katainen, who has been leading a quarrelsome six-party coalition government since 2011, said he would not run for a new term as a chairman of his conservative National Coalition party at its congress in June, which means he will no longer be prime minister after that. Katainen also said he would not run for the EU parliament in May or the Finnish parliament next year either, but added he is interested in international tasks. The 41-year old led his party for 10 years, during which he also served as Finland's finance minister in the previous government coalition. Full Story | Top |
| Chinese ship hunting for missing Malaysia jet detects 'ping' Saturday, Apr 05, 2014 10:59 AM PDT By Siva Govindasamy and Swati Pandey KUALA LUMPUR/PERTH, Australia (Reuters) - A Chinese patrol ship hunting for a missing Malaysia Airlines jetliner detected a pulse signal in the south Indian Ocean on Saturday, the state news agency Xinhua reported, in a possible indicator of the underwater beacon from a plane's "black box". Australian search authorities said such a signal would be "consistent" with a black box, but both they and Xinhua stressed there was no conclusive evidence linking the "ping" to Flight MH370, which went missing on March 8 with 239 people aboard shortly after taking off from Kuala Lumpur for Beijing. A black box detector deployed by the vessel Haixun 01 picked up the "ping" signal with a frequency of 37.5kHz per second - the same as emitted by flight recorders - at about 25 degrees south latitude and 101 degrees east longitude, Xinhua said. Dozens of ships and planes from 26 countries are racing to find the black box recorders before their batteries run out. Full Story | Top |
| Italian priests, Canadian nun kidnapped in Cameroon Saturday, Apr 05, 2014 10:05 AM PDT By Anne Mireille Nzouankeu and Bernard Fonka Mutta YAOUNDE (Reuters) - Two Italian priests and a Canadian nun were kidnapped in northern Cameroon overnight, a bishop and a government source said on Saturday, months after a French priest was seized nearby. It was not immediately clear who took them, though Nigerian Islamist sect Boko Haram is known to operate in the area. He named the priests as Giampaolo Marta and Gianantonio Allegri, both missionaries sent out by the diocese of Vicenza in northeast Italy, and the nun as Gilberte Bissiere. Local governor Augustine Fonka Awa told Reuters that Bissiere was in her 70s and ill and had intended to return to Canada when she was seized. Full Story | Top |
| Israel's Livni says U.S. should change role in Mideast peace talks Saturday, Apr 05, 2014 09:58 AM PDT  By Maayan Lubell JERUSALEM (Reuters) - The United States should change its role in the Middle East peace process allowing for more direct talks between Israel and the Palestinians, Israel's chief negotiator Tzipi Livni said on Saturday. The U.S.-brokered peace talks veered toward collapse this week, prompting a warning from Secretary of State John Kerry on Friday, that Washington was evaluating whether it was worth continuing its role in the negotiations. "Part of what happened in the past few months was more negotiations between us and the United States and less with the Palestinians," Livni told Channel Two's Meet the Press. Full Story | Top |
| Renovated civil rights museum reopens in Memphis Saturday, Apr 05, 2014 09:46 AM PDT By Verna Gates MEMPHIS, Tennessee (Reuters) - The National Civil Rights Museum, housed in the converted motel where Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, reopened on Saturday after a $27.5 million renovation, offering new interactive exhibits chronicling the civil rights movement. On April 4, 1968, the civil rights leader was shot and killed while standing on the balcony of the Lorraine Hotel in downtown Memphis. They want to be engaged, immersed and to feel," said Beverly Robertson, the museum's president. In another exhibit called "The Children's March," visitors walk up to big screens showing video footage of teenage civil rights marchers being attacked by police dogs and fire hoses. Full Story | Top |
| India poised for mammoth vote, Hindu nationalists strong Saturday, Apr 05, 2014 09:22 AM PDT  By Shyamantha Asokan LEZAI, India (Reuters) - The biggest election the world has ever seen begins on Monday in a remote backwater of tea gardens and rice paddies, with India looking increasingly likely to embrace a coalition led by a Hindu nationalist to jumpstart a flagging economy. India's 815 million voters are set to inflict a resounding defeat on the ruling Congress party, led by the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty, surveys show, after the longest economic slowdown since the 1980s put the brakes on development and job creation in a country where half of the population is under 25 years old. Despite misgivings among many Indians about his handling of religious riots in 2002, Narendra Modi, the prime ministerial candidate of the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has dominated a lengthy, frenetic campaign where parliamentary candidates range from a tech billionaire to a magician. Voting will take place in nine stages over five weeks, kicking off in two small north-eastern states close to Myanmar, then spreading to the frozen Himalayan plateaus, western deserts and the tropical south before ending on May 12 in India's densely populated northern plains. Full Story | Top |
| Weighty issues remain for Japan, Australia in trade pact talks Saturday, Apr 05, 2014 07:25 AM PDT  Australian Trade Minister Andrew Robb said substantive issues remained in trade negotiations with Japan as the two nations rushed to conclude a free trade agreement before their prime ministers meet on Monday. There are still a couple of substantial issues we are negotiating and we will meet again tomorrow," Robb said after a five-hour session with Japanese Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Yoshimasu Hayashi in Tokyo on Saturday. Hayashi said afterwards that there had been a "frank exchange of opinion." He said he would report on the progress to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who will meet Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbot in Tokyo on Monday. Abbott has set the Japan free trade deal as his top priority, promising to drop tariffs on manufactured imports, including Japanese cars, while pushing Tokyo to cut tariffs on agricultural goods, particularly beef. Full Story | Top |
| 23 killed in family feud in southern Egypt: officials Saturday, Apr 05, 2014 07:19 AM PDT At least 23 people were killed in clashes between rival families in the southern Egyptian city of Aswan, health and security officials said on Saturday. The violence erupted late Friday after students from the feuding families had scrawled insulting graffiti on the walls of a school, security sources said. One family is from the Nubian ethnic group and the other from the Arab Beni Helal clan, the sources said. The two sides used gunfire and petrol bombs and several houses were burned to the ground before police were able to stop the fighting on Saturday morning, the Interior Ministry said in a statement. Full Story | Top |
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