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| Pro-Russia protesters seize Ukraine buildings, Kiev blames Putin Sunday, Apr 06, 2014 04:18 PM PDT  By Lina Kushch and Thomas Grove DONETSK/KIEV, Ukraine (Reuters) - Pro-Russian protesters seized state buildings in three east Ukrainian cities on Sunday, triggering accusations from the pro-European government in Kiev that President Vladimir Putin was orchestrating "separatist disorder". The protesters stormed regional government buildings in the industrial hub of Donetsk and security service offices in nearby Luhansk, waving Russian flags and demanding a Crimea-style referendum on joining Russia. Full Story | Top |
| Search planes, ships divert to Indian Ocean area where 'pings' detected Sunday, Apr 06, 2014 04:58 PM PDT  By Jane Wardell and Swati Pandey SYDNEY/PERTH, Australia (Reuters) - Some planes and ships searching for a missing Malaysia Airlines jetliner in the Indian Ocean moved on Monday toward waters where a Chinese vessel had picked up "ping" signals at the weekend, raising hopes of finding the airliner's black-box recorders. "We are running out of time in terms of terms of the battery life," Retired Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, head of the Australian agency coordinating the operation, told a news conference in Perth on Sunday. Chinese patrol ship Haixun 01 reported receiving a pulse signal with a frequency of 37.5 kHz, consistent with the signal emitted by flight recorders, on Friday and again on Saturday. The pulses were detected within two km (1.2 miles) of each other but were hundreds of nautical miles outside the main search zone in the southern Indian Ocean which has been scoured by planes and aircraft for more than a week. Full Story | Top |
| India kicks off world's biggest election in remote northeast Sunday, Apr 06, 2014 08:49 PM PDT  By Shyamantha Asokan DIBRUGARGH, India (Reuters) - The first Indians cast their votes in the world's biggest election on Monday with Hindu nationalist opposition candidate Narendra Modi seen holding a strong lead on promises of economic revival and jobs but likely to fall short of a majority. The CSDS poll found that almost half of voters in Assam, who have one of the country's lowest per capita incomes and often still rely on the center-left Congress' welfare schemes, are set to support the party. Full Story | Top |
| Hungary re-elects maverick PM, far-right opposition gains Sunday, Apr 06, 2014 04:37 PM PDT  By Krisztina Than and Gergely Szakacs BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Hungarians handed their maverick Prime Minister Viktor Orban another four years in power, election results showed on Monday, while one in every five voters backed a far-right opposition party accused of anti-Semitism. Orban has clashed repeatedly with the European Union and foreign investors over his unorthodox policies, and after Sunday's win, big businesses were bracing for another term of unpredictable and, for some of them, hostile measures. After 96 percent of the ballots were counted from Sunday's parliamentary vote, an official projection gave Orban's Fidesz party 133 of the 199 seats, guaranteeing that it will form the next government. The same projection gave the Socialist-led leftist alliance 38 seats, while Jobbik was on 23 seats. Full Story | Top |
| Netanyahu vows retaliation after Palestinian treaty move Sunday, Apr 06, 2014 09:48 AM PDT  By Jeffrey Heller JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised retaliatory measures on Sunday after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas made unilateral moves towards statehood. Netanyahu did not immediately specify the action he would take and said Israel remained willing to press on with U.S.-brokered peace talks, but not "at any price". "They will achieve a state only through direct negotiations and not through empty proclamations or unilateral moves, which will only push a peace accord farther away," Netanyahu told his cabinet at its weekly meeting. Palestinians said the step was a response to Israel's failure to fulfil its pledge to free some two dozen Palestinian prisoners. Full Story | Top |
| Democrat Pelosi says Cheney set tone for CIA interrogation practices Sunday, Apr 06, 2014 10:01 AM PDT  Democratic House Leader Nancy Pelosi said on Sunday that former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney "set a tone" for the interrogation and detention programs conducted by the Central Intelligence Agency in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks. Pelosi said she believed Cheney, an influential figure in U.S. security policy under former President George W. Bush, was proud of the CIA's actions during the Republican administration. "I do believe that during the Bush-Cheney administration, that Vice President Cheney set a tone and an attitude for the CIA," Pelosi said on CNN's "State of the Union" program. Full Story | Top |
| Car bomb explodes in Bahrain capital, F1 race unaffected Sunday, Apr 06, 2014 02:36 PM PDT By Farishta Saeed MANAMA (Reuters) - A home-made bomb exploded in a car in the center of the Bahraini capital Manama on Sunday, the interior ministry said, as the kingdom hosted a Formula One motor racing Grand Prix. Police blocked off the road where the incident took place near a government security building. Small bomb blasts occur sporadically in the U.S.-allied kingdom, which has witnessed low-level political unrest since 2011, when protests mainly by the Shi'ite Muslim community erupted to demand democratic reforms in the Sunni-led government. The government sees the Bahrain Grand Prix as a way to raise Bahrain's international profile and attract tourists and foreign investment. Full Story | Top |
| Smooth Afghan poll raises questions about Taliban strength Sunday, Apr 06, 2014 04:39 PM PDT  By John Chalmers and Maria Golovnina KABUL (Reuters) - A bigger-than-expected turnout in Afghanistan's presidential election and the Taliban's failure to derail the vote have raised questions about the capacity of the insurgents to tip the country back into chaos as foreign troops head home. The Taliban claimed that they staged more than 1,000 attacks and killed dozens during Saturday's election, which they have branded a U.S.-backed deception of the Afghan people, though security officials said it was a gross exaggeration. There were dozens of minor roadside bombs, and attacks on polling stations, police and voters during the day. But the overall level of violence was much lower than the Taliban had threatened to unleash on the country. Full Story | Top |
| Strait, Lambert leads winners at Academy of Country Music awards Sunday, Apr 06, 2014 08:35 PM PDT  By Robert Galbraith LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - Country music veteran George Strait and singer Miranda Lambert led the winners at the 49th Academy of Country Music awards, while the genre's biggest names, including Blake Shelton, Lady Antebellum, Eric Church and Keith Urban, sang their hits. Strait, 61, won the night's top prize of Entertainer of the Year, beating out Lambert, Luke Bryan, Blake Shelton and Taylor Swift. Full Story | Top |
| Actor Mickey Rooney, America's boy next door, dies at 93 Sunday, Apr 06, 2014 08:41 PM PDT  (Reuters) - Actor Mickey Rooney, the pint-sized screen dynamo of the 1930s and 1940s best known for his boy-next-door role in the Andy Hardy movies, died on Sunday at 93, the TMZ celebrity website reported. Rooney, who was one of the biggest box office stars of the movies' studio era, had been ill for some time, TMZ said. Rooney, who spent almost his entire life in show business, teamed up with Judy Garland in the 1939 movie musical "Babes in Arms." He also starred with Elizabeth Taylor in 1944's "National Velvet," which launched Taylor's career. Rooney was best known for his role as Andy Hardy, the popular all-American teenager, which he portrayed in about 20 movies. Full Story | Top |
| Mass strike paralyses Libya's Benghazi, airport closed Sunday, Apr 06, 2014 06:28 AM PDT Public and private sector staff including oil workers went on strike in the Libyan port city of Benghazi on Sunday, protesting against worsening security and demanding the resignation of parliament whose mandate has expired. Traffic at Benghazi's international airport was halted by the strike. As a result, a Turkish Airlines plane was turned away, according to state media. Most foreigners left Benghazi after the U.S. ambassador to Libya was killed in an Islamist assault on the U.S. consulate in September 2012. Full Story | Top |
| Ridding Ukraine of corruption is vital, says presidential candidate Sunday, Apr 06, 2014 05:12 AM PDT  By Paul Ingrassia and Richard Balmforth KIEV (Reuters) - Ridding Ukraine of corruption is key for any new leadership, says presidential candidate Petro Poroshenko, who warns that failure will anger a "reborn" people with high expectations for real change after months of turmoil. Poroshenko, a confectionery billionaire who is one of two leading candidates in a May 25 election, said Ukrainians had earned the right to a path to membership in the EU after the revolt that threw off president Viktor Yanukovich. After the ousting of Yanukovich, the killings of more than 100 protesters and Russia's seizure of Crimea, people will demand a radical shift by future leaders away from the sleaze and malpractice of the past, said Poroshenko, 48. Full Story | Top |
| Egyptian law shielding state deals set to go to cabinet: minister Sunday, Apr 06, 2014 07:15 AM PDT  A law banning third-party challenges to contracts signed by the Egyptian government will be sent to the cabinet by next week, trade and investment minister Mounir Fakhry Abdel Nour said on Sunday. The law is intended to reassure and attract investors unnerved by a host of legal challenges made in particular to sales of property and companies by the Mubarak government, some of which have left those firms in legal limbo. Egypt's economy has been battered by three years of political turmoil and wants to attract foreign investment to replenish its depleted foreign reserves and spur growth. The appeal will be left to parties to the contract," Abdel Nour told reporters at a news conference. Full Story | Top |
| Italian diplomat detained in the Philippines: ministry Sunday, Apr 06, 2014 09:58 AM PDT ROME (Reuters) - The Italian ambassador to Turkmenistan has been detained by police in the Philippines, who have accused him of violating laws on the safeguarding of children, the Foreign Ministry in Rome said on Sunday. The ambassador, Daniele Bosio, denies the accusations, a ministry spokesman said, adding that the Italian embassy in Manila was aware of the situation. Bosio was on holiday in the Philippines, the Italian newspaper La Repubblica said. (Reporting by Naomi O'Leary; Editing by Kevin Liffey) Full Story | Top |
| U.S., in nod to Tokyo, to send more ships to Japan, prods China Sunday, Apr 06, 2014 12:24 AM PDT  By Phil Stewart and Nobuhiro Kubo TOKYO (Reuters) - The United States moved on Sunday to reassure Tokyo over its mounting security concerns, saying it would send more missile defense ships to Japan following North Korean launches and use a high level trip to warn China against abusing its "great power." Japan has watched with alarm in recent weeks as North Korea carried out a series of missile launches, including firing two medium-range missiles capable of hitting the U.S. ally. Tokyo has also voiced growing anxiety over China's military buildup and increasingly assertive behavior in a territorial dispute over East China Sea islands. U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel announced that two Navy destroyers equipped with missile defense systems would be deployed to Japan by 2017. Full Story | Top |
| Taiwan parliament sit-in may end after government concession on China pact Sunday, Apr 06, 2014 07:38 AM PDT By Michael Gold TAIPEI (Reuters) - Protesters occupying Taiwan's parliament for the last three weeks to block a trade pact with China said on Sunday they will consider leaving now the government has announced a key concession. Concerned that the deal would increase China's economic influence and hurt local business, the protesters paralyzed the legislature to halt the pact's ratification, in the island's worst political crisis in years. Speaker Wang Jin-Pyng said on Sunday that parliament would now approve a "review mechanism" of trade agreements before the Chinese pact is passed - something the protesters hope will give Taiwan the ability to temper Beijing's clout. "We strongly support the decision of Speaker Wang to agree to enact the supervisory mechanism before further (parliamentary) review of the trade pact," the protesters said in a statement. Full Story | Top |
| Tunisia treads path to political stability but still faces tests Sunday, Apr 06, 2014 07:08 AM PDT  By Tarek Amara TUNIS (Reuters) - Three years after its uprising that inspired the Arab Spring revolutions, Tunisia is on its way to political stability with a new constitution and the promise of elections later this year. At the same time the country's caretaker government, led by Prime Minister Mehdi Jomaa, is conscious that some real social challenges lie ahead. Jomaa, a former aerospace executive who worked in France, warned Tunisians last month that they must make "painful sacrifices" to revive the economy. Tunisia's budget deficit is set to grow to 8 percent of gross domestic product this year, mostly due to public worker wage costs and subsidies which are a hangover from former Tunisian autocrat Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali ousted in 2011. Full Story | Top |
| French government faces growing unrest from party ranks Sunday, Apr 06, 2014 05:18 AM PDT  France's newly reshuffled Socialist government faces growing unrest from within its own party and from former coalition allies the Greens ahead of a confidence vote on Tuesday which will test France's ability to push ahead on reforms. President Francois Hollande, whose administration has failed to lower stubbornly high unemployment in Europe's second-biggest economy after two years in power, is staking his credibility on a "responsibility pact" to cut companies' payroll taxes if they boost hiring in return. New Prime Minister Manuel Valls, who was put in charge after Socialists suffered a rout in local elections last week, has been tasked with helming the reform despite resistance from the Left and after the Greens declined posts in his government in protest at his centrist stances. "The local elections were a rebuke of (the current) economic policy and the ruling majority's disarray," Socialist deputy Pouria Amirshahi said. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. investors look for quick rebound from winter doldrums Sunday, Apr 06, 2014 01:08 AM PDT  By Caroline Valetkevitch NEW YORK (Reuters) - Companies across America are blaming the brutal winter for weak first-quarter results, but investors are expecting a quick rebound in the second quarter and will likely judge harshly companies that are less optimistic about a recovery. "The truth is the weather did really hurt things," said Randy Warren, chief investment officer of Warren Financial Service in Exton, Pennsylvania. Full Story | Top |
| Finnish PM says expects government to survive his departure Sunday, Apr 06, 2014 06:56 AM PDT  Finnish Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen expressed confidence on Sunday that Finland's left-right coalition would survive his departure in June and said he saw no need for early elections. Full Story | Top |
| Israeli exporters weigh options as shekel strength persists Sunday, Apr 06, 2014 12:11 AM PDT  By Steven Scheer JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Arie Levin envisions a time in the not too distant future where his micro electronics company, AVX Corp, may no longer have operations in Israel. Due to a sharp appreciation of the shekel against the dollar, AVX, which was founded in 1972 and makes components for wireless products, has already shifted some of its thin film production from Jerusalem to the Czech Republic. "The deterioration of the value of the dollar versus the shekel has contributed to a 20 percent increase in our costs, which narrows down the profit margins and forces us to look for other solutions," said Levin, head of AVX Israel, which is 70 percent owned by Kyocera. "If nothing changes, I envision I will be under pressure to move more and more and that is the last thing I would like to do." The shekel stands at 3.47 per dollar, near its strongest level since August 2011. Full Story | Top |
| Victims of U.S. mudslide are remembered in first funeral services Sunday, Apr 06, 2014 02:56 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 |
| Advisers to India's Modi dream of a Thatcherite revolution Saturday, Apr 05, 2014 11:19 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 many campaign workers 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 |
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