| | |
| Japan PM Abe wants to confirm further cooperation with Australia Sunday, Apr 06, 2014 08:57 PM PDT  TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Monday he wants to confirm further cooperation on defense and the economy with Australian premier Tony Abbott, who is visiting Tokyo. Japanese media reported that Abe and Abbott will announce the basic bilateral agreement later in the day, featuring cuts to Tokyo's tariffs on Australian beef and Canberra ending its duty on cars. Abe also said during a meeting with fellow ruling party members that he will exchange views on issues over the economy, North Korea, and defense with U.S. ... 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 |
| Costa Rica leftist easily wins presidential run-off Sunday, Apr 06, 2014 08:29 PM PDT  By Alexandra Alper SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (Reuters) - A center-left academic who has never held elected office easily won Costa Rica's presidential election on Sunday, ousting the graft-stained ruling party from power after its candidate quit campaigning a month ago. Former diplomat Luis Guillermo Solis, of the Citizen Action Party (PAC), won more than three-quarters of votes by tapping in to public anger at rising inequality and government corruption scandals. In a bizarre twist, his rival Johnny Araya of the ruling National Liberation Party (PLN) announced last month he was halting his campaign as polls showed him with little or no chance of catching Solis. Solis had 77.88 percent of the vote with returns in from 94 percent of polling booths, Costa Rica's election tribunal said. Full Story | Top |
| Factbox: India's mammoth general election Sunday, Apr 06, 2014 08:12 PM PDT (Reuters) - The biggest election the world has ever seen begins in India on Monday in two remote backwater states, with the country looking increasingly likely to embrace a coalition led by a Hindu nationalist to jumpstart a flagging economy. Here key highlights: - Roughly 814.5 million people are registered to vote, an increase of more than 100 million since the last parliamentary election in 2009. In other words, India has added a population greater than that of the Philipines to its voter rolls in five years. - Election dates in parliamentary constituencies were set taking into consideration extreme summer heat, monsoon rains, harvest seasons, religious festivals and most importantly, school exams. Full Story | Top |
| Costa Rica leftist takes huge lead in presidential run-off Sunday, Apr 06, 2014 07:31 PM PDT  SAN JOSE (Reuters) - Center-left academic Luis Guillermo Solis took an overwhelming lead in Costa Rica's presidential election run-off on Sunday, official results showed, storming ahead as widely expected after his opponent slid in polls and stopped campaigning. Solis, a former diplomat who ran on a popular anti-corruption message but who has never been elected to office, had 77.69 percent of the vote with 77.61 percent of polling booths counted, Costa Rica's election tribunal said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Quebec separatist party under threat in Monday election Sunday, Apr 06, 2014 07:12 PM PDT  By Randall Palmer OTTAWA (Reuters) - A month ago, Monday's election in Quebec seemed like such a good idea to the ruling Parti Quebecois, the largest separatist party in the mostly French-speaking Canadian province. Premier Pauline Marois and her minority government hoped to take advantage of a comfortable lead in the polls to capture a majority of seats in the provincial legislature. That would enable them to push through a provincial charter on secularism and possibly set the stage for a new referendum on whether the province should leave Canada. But the strategy has backfired and, after a surge in support for the opposition Liberals, the PQ government now risks being kicked out altogether in the provincial election. Full Story | Top |
| Cuba says U.S. created other 'Cuban Twitter' projects Sunday, Apr 06, 2014 05:43 PM PDT  By Marc Frank HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuba said on Sunday the United States continues to use social media to "subvert" the island's government and that the revelation this week of a U.S.-created, Twitter-like service for Cuba was just one of several examples. The U.S. government has admitted it created a social media network called ZunZuneo, which takes its name from Cuban slang for the tweet of a hummingbird. The program, built by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) using shell companies to hide U.S. government involvement, went dark in 2012 due to a lack of funds. U.S. officials confirmed it on Thursday, calling ZunZuneo a "democracy promotion" program that was neither "secret" nor "covert" under the U.S. government's definitions of those terms. 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| Libyan rebels, government agree to gradually reopen occupied oil ports Sunday, Apr 06, 2014 04:25 PM PDT By Ulf Laessing and Ayman al-Warfalli TRIPOLI/BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) - Libyan rebels occupying four eastern oil ports agreed with the government on Sunday to gradually end their eight-month petroleum blockade, which has cost the North African state billions in lost revenues. Zueitina and Hariga ports, held by federalist rebels demanding more autonomy from Tripoli, will open immediately while the larger ports, Ras Lanuf and Es Sider, will be freed in two to four weeks after more talks, the government said. Ending the oil port standoff will be a major advance for Libya's fragile government, which has struggled to impose its authority over an unruly nation still in flux nearly three years after the fall of Muammar Gaddafi. Top rebel leader Ibrahim Jathran confirmed the blockage of Zueitina and Hariga ports had ended. Full Story | Top |
| Gazprom Neft CEO says Russian oil company could look eastward if sanctions hit Sunday, Apr 06, 2014 04:18 PM PDT By Katya Golubkova ST PETERSBURG, Russia (Reuters) - Gazprom Neft has not been affected by Western sanctions over Russia's annexation of Crimea but is ready to move away from dollars in its contracts and to redirect oil flows to Asia if needed, the CEO of Gazprom's oil arm said. Alexander Dyukov told reporters that Western banks are unlikely to stop cooperating with Gazprom Neft and that Western oil majors do not want geopolitical tension to affect their partnerships, but said the company is prepared to step up contacts with Asian lenders and also raise money in Russia. The United States and European Union have imposed visa bans and asset freezes on allies of President Vladimir Putin, and are threatening broader measures that could affect entire economic sectors if Moscow escalates tension over Ukraine. "As for sanctions, they have not affected the company's business in any way," Dyukov said in St. Petersburg, where Gazprom Neft is now based. Full Story | Top |
| 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 |
| Czech leader says NATO could offer troops to Ukraine if Russia goes beyond Crimea Sunday, Apr 06, 2014 04:18 PM PDT The West should take strong action, possibly including sending NATO forces to Ukraine, if Russia tries to annex the eastern part of the country, Czech President Milos Zeman said on Sunday. "The moment Russia decides to widen its territorial expansion to the eastern part of Ukraine, that is where the fun ends," Zeman said in a broadcast on Czech public radio. "There I would plead not only for the strictest EU sanctions, but even for military readiness of the North Atlantic Alliance, like for example NATO forces entering Ukrainian territory," Zeman said. 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". Full Story | Top |
| El Salvador president-elect plans 'routine' health check-up abroad Sunday, Apr 06, 2014 03:23 PM PDT  El Salvador's president-elect, Salvador Sanchez Ceren, said on Sunday he will travel abroad for a "routine" medical check-up ahead of assuming the presidency in June, and said he did not have any serious illness. The 69-year-old Sanchez Ceren, a former Marxist rebel commander from the ruling Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front, became the next president of the small coffee-exporting Central American nation last month. "These are routine check-ups and it's not that I have any serious illness." Sanchez Ceren is set to take office on June 1. Full Story | Top |
| Group of Libyan lawmakers plan to sack parliamentary president Sunday, Apr 06, 2014 03:02 PM PDT By Ahmed Elumami and Feras Bosalum TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Some 30 Libyan lawmakers plan to remove parliamentary president Nouri Abu Sahmain, the country's top official, over a leaked video in which he was grilled by an unknown questioner over a visit by two women to his house, one of them said on Sunday. A week ago, Libya's Attorney General said it had launched an investigation into the video, which has been widely circulated on the country's news websites. The lawmakers' action has the potential to damage Abu Sahmain, who is the top army commander and has quasi-presidential powers, or force him even to resign at a time of growing turmoil in the oil-producing North African country. Lawmaker Abu Bakr Madur told a televised news conference while surrounded by colleagues that Abu Sahmain had lost the trust of the Libyan people and lied about the visit. Full Story | Top |
| Hungary's Jobbik is EU's strongest national radical party: leader Sunday, Apr 06, 2014 02:57 PM PDT Hungary's far-right Jobbik party is now the strongest national radical party in the European Union, Jobbik leader Gabor Vona said on Sunday after his party got close to 21 percent of party list votes in an election, according to preliminary results. "Jobbik continuously ... increases its popularity...And ahead of the European Parliament elections it is important to make clear that today in the EU Jobbik is the strongest national radical party," he added. 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 |
| Hungarian PM Orban declares victory in election Sunday, Apr 06, 2014 02:33 PM PDT BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has declared victory in elections on Sunday, saying the vote showed that Hungary was the most united nation in Europe. Orban said the result was confirmation of his government's policies to create jobs, support families and fight for national sovereignty. "This was not just any odd victory. We have scored such a comprehensive victory, the significance of which we cannot yet fully grasp tonight," Orban told a jubilant crowd at his Fidesz party's election headquarters. He said voters said no to hatred and no to leaving the European ... Full Story | Top |
| Hungary's ruling party declares victory based on early results Sunday, Apr 06, 2014 01:03 PM PDT  Hungary's ruling Fidesz party will have a majority in the next parliament based on the early results of Sunday's election, Fidesz lawmaker Gergely Gulyas told public television. "We do not see the precise scale of our election victory just yet, however, it is certain that the Fidesz-Christian Democrat alliance will have more than 100 seats in the next, smaller 199 member parliament." (Reporting by Gergely Szakacs; Full Story | Top |
| Costa Rica leftist seen winning one-horse presidential run-off Sunday, Apr 06, 2014 12:50 PM PDT  By Alexandra Alper SAN JOSE (Reuters) - A center-left academic with a popular anti-corruption message but who has never been elected to office is expected to win Costa Rica's presidential election run-off on Sunday after his opponent slid in polls and stopped campaigning. Luis Guillermo Solis, a former diplomat, rode a wave of anti-government sentiment over rising inequality and graft scandals to finish ahead in February's first-round vote, surprising pollsters who had placed him fourth. Facing a depleted war chest, rival Johnny Araya of the ruling National Liberation Party (PLN) quit campaigning after an opinion poll showed him trailing badly. Solis has promised to fight Costa Rica's stubborn poverty while stamping out corruption, an issue that has dogged incumbent President Laura Chinchilla's administration. Full Story | Top |
| Libyan rebels to reopen two eastern oil ports on Sunday Sunday, Apr 06, 2014 12:37 PM PDT BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) - Libyan rebels will reopen the seized eastern oil ports of Zueitina and Hariga on Sunday after reaching an agreement with the government, according to a copy of the deal. The government will pay financial compensation to the rebel fighters, drop charges against them and remove its threat of a military offensive, the agreement, signed by the country's justice minister and rebel leader Ibrahim Jathran, said. (Reporting by Ayman al-Warfalli; Writing by Ulf Laessing; Editing by Robin Pomeroy) Full Story | Top |
| India to kick off world's biggest election in remote northeast Sunday, Apr 06, 2014 12:35 PM PDT  By Shyamantha Asokan LAHOAL, India (Reuters) - Indians start voting in the world's biggest ever election on Monday, with a Hindu nationalist opposition party that has promised economic rejuvenation and jobs tipped to emerge as the clear leader but likely to fall short of an absolute majority. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), led by Hindu nationalist Narendra Modi, and its allies are forecast to win the biggest chunk of seats but fall shy of a majority, according to a poll released this week by respected Indian pollsters CSDS. In such a situation, a coalition government led by the BJP is seen as the most likely outcome. 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. Full Story | Top |
| Pro-Russia protesters seize third state building in eastern Ukraine: Ifax Sunday, Apr 06, 2014 12:03 PM PDT MOSCOW (Reuters) - Protesters waving Russian flags seized the regional administrative building in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, the third state premises in eastern Ukraine to be occupied by pro-Russian demonstrators on Sunday, Interfax reported. Earlier in the day, similar groups had seized the regional administrative building in Donetsk and the offices of the state security services in Luhansk, demanding that regional lawmakers carry out a referendum on joining Russia. Ukraine accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of orchestrating the seizures. ... Full Story | Top |
| Blast kills at least 29 Syrian rebels in Homs: monitoring group Sunday, Apr 06, 2014 12:02 PM PDT At least 29 Syrian rebels including two field commanders were killed when a vehicle exploded in the central city of Homs on Sunday, a monitoring group said. To the south, the capital Damascus saw heavy fighting as warplanes pounded an eastern suburb and a mortar strike hit the city's heavily defended center, killing two people at the Damascus Opera House. President Bashar al-Assad's forces are in firm control of the capital's center, but rebels have been able to launch mortar and rocket attacks into downtown districts, sometimes hitting heavily secured upmarket areas and embassy grounds. The explosion in Homs was at the al-Jaj market near a police base, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, adding that the death toll was expected to rise. Full Story | Top |
| Libya's government, rebels agree to reopen two occupied oil ports: minister Sunday, Apr 06, 2014 11:56 AM PDT Libya's government has reached a deal with federalist rebels to reopen the occupied Zueitina and Hariga oil ports, which account for around 200,000 barrels per day of crude exports, the justice minister said on Sunday. The reopening of two terminals will be a major breakthrough in the eight-month blockade of key ports by rebels that has cost the OPEC country billions of dollars in lost oil revenues. But a spokesman for rebels holding the two remaining larger ports -- Ras Lanuf and Es Sider -- said more talks are needed to reach a deal on reopening those terminals. The rebels want more regional autonomy and a greater share of Libya's oil wealth. Full Story | Top |
| Race for top EU jobs turns murkier before elections Sunday, Apr 06, 2014 11:54 AM PDT  By Paul Taylor PARIS (Reuters) - The race for the European Union's top leadership jobs has turned murkier with news that Finland's prime minister is stepping down to seek a European role while France is touting its former finance minister as its nominee for a European Commission post. That undermines the chances of two potential compromise candidates - both French - to head the executive body, in what is expected to be a tough fight between national governments and the European Parliament in June, with the added spice of a eurosceptic Britain following its own agenda. The European Parliament, the EU's directly elected body, wants the next Commission president - the big prize - to be the leading candidate of the political group which wins the most votes in next month's European parliamentary election. The floor leaders of the three biggest political parties said as much on Thursday in a joint statement, declaring: "The next elected Commission president will be the result of a transparent process, not the product of back-room deals." But if no party wins a clear victory, and if Britain objects to the official frontrunners as too integrationist, the top job may go to a dark-horse third candidate, as it did in 2004, when Portugal's Jose Manuel Barroso was picked to break a deadlock. Full Story | Top |
| Communist on track to beat ruling party candidate in Siberian city Sunday, Apr 06, 2014 11:46 AM PDT A Communist was on track to win a mayoral election in Russia's third city on Sunday, partial returns indicated, in a setback for the party at the center of President Vladimir Putin's tightly controlled political system. With more than two-thirds of the ballots counted in Novosibirsk, Anatoly Lokot led a field of 11 candidates with 43.4 percent while the ruling United Russia party candidate, Vladimir Znatkov, had 39.9 percent, state-run news agency Itar-Tass reported. Defeat in the Siberian city would be a blow to United Russia, which critics accuse of using the levers of executive power to maintain its grip on administrations and legislatures across Russia in the absence of active popular support. Although United Russia is a key source of support for Putin, in power since 2000, he has tried to decrease his reliance on it by courting rivals and creating a less formal organization called the People's Front. Full Story | Top |
| Ukraine Interior Minister says Putin behind seizure of state buildings Sunday, Apr 06, 2014 11:17 AM PDT Ukraine's Interior Minister Arsen Avakov accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of being behind the seizure of state buildings by pro-Russia protesters in eastern Ukraine on Sunday and promised that police would restore order peacefully. He also accused Ukraine's ousted president Viktor Yanukovich of conspiring with Putin to fuel tensions in the region. Earlier, pro-Russian protesters demanding a referendum on whether to join Russia seized a regional government building in the city of Donetsk and the offices of security services in nearby Luhansk. Full Story | Top |
| Islamists kill 17 in northeast Nigeria, attack mosque Sunday, Apr 06, 2014 10:38 AM PDT Islamist militants attacked a remote town in northeast Nigeria's Yobe state on Saturday, killing 17 people including five who were worshipping at a mosque, witnesses said. They said dozens of gunmen surrounded the village of Buni Gari, shooting residents and setting shops and houses ablaze. Boko Haram militants, fighting for an Islamic state in Nigeria, have in the past year broadened the range of their targets beyond security forces, government officials and Christians to include schoolchildren and other civilians, sometimes massacring whole villages and abducting girls. A military crackdown since last May has failed to stem the insurgency, which remains the leading security threat to Africa's top oil producer and has blighted President Goodluck Jonathan's record ahead of elections next February. 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 |
| Ukraine president cancels trip over protests in eastern Ukraine Sunday, Apr 06, 2014 09:42 AM PDT KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine's acting president, Oleksander Turchinov, has cancelled a trip to Lithuania scheduled for Monday to deal with protests in eastern Ukraine, where pro-Russian protesters seized a regional government building and state security offices, the parliamentary press service said on Sunday. The statement said Turchinov was holding an emergency meeting with the heads of security services. (Reporting by Natalia Zinets, Writing by Thomas Grove; Editing by Kevin Liffey) Full Story | Top |
| In tornado-prone Oklahoma, some better prepared than others Sunday, Apr 06, 2014 09:07 AM PDT  By Heide Brandes MOORE, Oklahoma (Reuters) - The mayor of Moore, Oklahoma, a municipality twice devastated by tornados in the past 15 years, is fixated on garage doors, knowing they are a key to protecting the city from even more damage during this year's tornado season. Moore, in the heart of "Tornado Alley," where twisters frequently hit, will be operating this year under new building codes, arguably some of the most stringent in the nation, to protect people and structures from deadly winds. In all new construction starting this month, garage doors must be insulated and storm resistant, roofs must have sheathing to keep them in place, and structures must be better anchored and secured around their edges. "Garage doors are the first to come off during a tornado. Full Story | Top |
| Two killed as Egyptian tribal clash resumes Sunday, Apr 06, 2014 08:29 AM PDT  Two people were killed on Sunday when tribal clashes flared for a third day in the southern city of Aswan, security sources said. At least 25 people have now been killed in the violence between members of the city's two big tribes, the Nubian and the Arab Beni Helal clans. The prime minister and interior minister travelled to Aswan on Saturday afternoon to try to quell the tension as residents demanded an end to the bloodshed. Nubian clan members blocked a main street with burning car tyres on Sunday and members of the Beni Helal tribe set ablaze carts on another main road, witnesses said. Full Story | Top |
| Tunisia arrests Islamist militants after bomb mishap Sunday, Apr 06, 2014 07:40 AM PDT Tunisian police have arrested a group of Islamist militants who accidentally exploded a bomb they were manufacturing as part of a planned attack on the country's commercial city of Sfax, the government said on Sunday. Two of those arrested were wounded in the bomb blast while handling the explosive, the ministry said in a statement. Ansar al Sharia, listed as a foreign terrorist organization by the United States, was one of the most hardline movements calling for an Islamic state to emerge since Tunisia's 2011 uprising ousted autocrat Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali. With an economy heavily reliant on foreign tourism, Tunisia has been cracking down on Islamist militants that it views as a key challenge on its path to full democracy. Full Story | Top |
| Two killed by mortar fire on Damascus opera house -state media Sunday, Apr 06, 2014 07:28 AM PDT Two people were killed and eight wounded when mortar fire hit the grounds of the Damascus Opera House in the Syrian capital, state media said on Sunday. President Bashar al-Assad's forces are in control of central Damascus, but rebels have been able to launch mortar and rocket attacks into the city's centre, sometimes hitting heavily secured upmarket districts and embassy grounds. Elsewhere, at least 13 rebel fighters were killed in a vehicle explosion in the central city of Homs, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, adding that the death toll was likely to rise. The Observatory, which monitors violence through a network of sources in Syria, said at least five people including three children had also been killed in the Damascus suburb of Douma during shelling by government forces. Full Story | Top |
| Merkel ally says U.S. assurances on NSA spying 'insufficient' Sunday, Apr 06, 2014 07:10 AM PDT  A leading ally of Angela Merkel has criticized the United States for failing to provide sufficient assurances on its spying tactics and said bilateral talks were unlikely to make much progress before the German leader visits Washington next month. Reports last October - based on disclosures by former U.S. intelligence contractor Edward Snowden - that Washington had monitored Merkel's mobile phone caused outrage in Germany, which is particularly sensitive about surveillance because of abuses under the East German Stasi secret police and the Nazis. Berlin subsequently demanded talks with Washington on a "no-spy" deal, but it has become clear in recent months that the United States is unwilling to give the assurances Germany wants. "The information we have so far is insufficient," Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere, one of Merkel's closest cabinet allies, told German weekly magazine Der Spiegel. Full Story | Top |
| Bomb kills Afghan election workers, destroys ballot papers Sunday, Apr 06, 2014 07:09 AM PDT A roadside bomb killed two Afghan election workers and one policeman and destroyed dozens of ballot papers on Sunday, police and an election official said, the day after an election that ended without any major violence despite Taliban threats. Although the Taliban failed to pull off major attacks on election day itself, some fear insurgents are preparing to disrupt the ballot-counting process which is due to take weeks in a country with basic infrastructure and a rugged terrain. In the first such attack since polling closed on Saturday night, a bomb hit a car carrying election staff and ballot papers in Khanabad district of the northern Kunduz province, police said. "The car carrying ballot papers from four polling stations was hit and all the materials were burnt," Amza Ahmadzai, an election official in Kunduz, told Reuters, adding that two staff and one policeman were killed. 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 |
| Bill Gates wants China to encourage wealthy Chinese to be more giving Sunday, Apr 06, 2014 05:58 AM PDT  By Rachel Armstrong and Andrew Toh SINGAPORE (Reuters) - China should do more to encourage wealthy Chinese to donate to charitable causes and to make philanthropy a common practice in the world's most populous country, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates said on Sunday. Gates, who runs the $38 billion Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, said he thought people in China would take cues from central leadership on donations and worthy causes. "When you have something like a disaster (in China) you see the basic generosity, but if you look at systemic things like giving to health causes, giving to universities to do research, giving to handicapped people, it's not there yet," Gates told Reuters in Singapore. According to the World Bank, the average income per capita in China was $6,091 in 2012. Full Story | Top |
|
No comments:
Post a Comment