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U.S. blocks key fund in climate agreement: report
Thu,24 Nov 2011 06:03 PM PST
Reuters - LONDON (Reuters) - The U.S. is refusing to sign a flagship global climate fund as negotiations intensify ahead of the UN climate summit next week, the Financial Times reported on Thursday. It quoted U.S. officials as saying the United States, backed by Saudi Arabia, had still not agreed to adopt a blueprint for the Green Climate Fund. Countries agreed to create the fund last year to channel up to $100 billion a year by 2020 to help developing countries fight climate change and a U.N. committee completed the draft design of the fund at a meeting in South Africa in October. ... Full Story | Top |
Doctor brain drain costs Africa $2 billion
Thu,24 Nov 2011 04:08 PM PST
Reuters - LONDON (Reuters) - Sub-Saharan African countries that invest in training doctors have ended up losing $2 billion as the expert clinicians leave home to find work in more prosperous developed nations, researchers said on Friday. A study by Canadian scientists found that South Africa and Zimbabwe suffer the worst economic losses due to doctors emigrating, while Australia, Canada, Britain and the United States benefit the most from recruiting doctors trained abroad. ... Full Story | Top |
UK subsidises youth workers to ease jobs drought
Thu,24 Nov 2011 04:05 PM PST
Reuters -  LONDON (Reuters) - Britain will spend up to 1 billion pounds on employment subsidies and other support to help young people into work as youth unemployment hits record levels, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said on Friday. More than one million young people aged 16-24 are out of work in Britain, official data showed last week, with companies holding back from hiring as the economy threatens to tip back into recession after barely growing over the past 12 months. ...
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Trinidad PM says police thwarted assassination plot
Thu,24 Nov 2011 03:27 PM PST
Reuters - PORT OF SPAIN (Reuters) - Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar said on Thursday the country's law enforcement officials foiled a plot involving army soldiers and police officers to assassinate her and other government officials. The prime minister, speaking during a nationally televised press conference, offered few specific details of the alleged plot. But she described it as a "reprisal" for a state of emergency she imposed three months ago to halt a surge in violent crime tied to the drug trade. ... Full Story | Top |
Several killed in central Nigeria religious violence
Thu,24 Nov 2011 03:19 PM PST
Reuters - JOS, Nigeria (Reuters) - Several people were killed in religious violence in central Nigeria on Thursday, prompting the military to impose a 24-hour curfew in one region at the border between the West African country's mostly Muslim north and largely Christian south. Christian and Muslim gangs fighting over ownership of cattle and fertile farmland clashed in Barkin Ladi, an area in the central city of Jos, the capital of Plateau state. Witnesses said they counted at least 10 dead bodies. "The STF (Special Task Force) has imposed 24 hour curfew in Barkin Ladi. ... Full Story | Top |
Italy's brightest look abroad for opportunity
Thu,24 Nov 2011 03:18 PM PST
Reuters - ROME (Reuters) - After working as an unpaid intern for 18 months in Italy, Massimo Fantini decided to try his chances abroad. Within five years he had a good job in a major multinational, had bought a house and had got married. "If I had stayed in Italy, none of this would have been possible," said Fantini, speaking by telephone from New York. "When I talk to my friends who stayed behind, I can hear their frustration. They are losing their energy and their dreams. That is the worst thing you can do to someone," added the 34-year-old accountant. ... Full Story | Top |
Syria faces Arab sanctions deadline over monitors
Thu,24 Nov 2011 03:16 PM PST
Reuters -  BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syria faces a Friday deadline to sign an Arab deal allowing monitors into the country or incur sanctions over its crackdown on protests including halting flights, curbing trade and stopping deals with the central bank. Arab foreign ministers warned in Cairo that unless Syria agreed to let the monitors in to assess progress of an Arab League plan to end eight months of bloodshed, officials would consider imposing sanctions on Saturday. ...
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Germany wakes up to festering neo-Nazi threat
Thu,24 Nov 2011 03:13 PM PST
Reuters - BERLIN (Reuters) - After 30 years living in eastern Germany, Mozambique-born Ibrahimo Alberto this summer decided he could endure no more daily racist abuse. He turned his back on his job, gave up on what had become his home and moved with his family to the west. The last straw for Alberto came when his son was playing in a soccer match and an opponent shouted: "Nigger swine. I'll beat you to death." "I had enough. I saw it was getting more and more," Alberto told German radio after he moved to Karlsruhe. ... Full Story | Top |
Egypt braces for fresh rally against army rule
Thu,24 Nov 2011 03:11 PM PST
Reuters -  CAIRO (Reuters) - Activists vowed to crank up pressure on Egypt's generals on Friday with an overwhelming show of people power to cap almost a week of protests against army rule that have left 41 people dead. State media said the army leaders picked a political veteran in his late 70s to form a national salvation government, a choice that was quickly snubbed by many of the young activists who have led the demonstrations in Tahrir Square. ...
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Hope builds for refugees as world turns on Assad
Thu,24 Nov 2011 02:49 PM PST
Reuters - YAYLADAG, Turkey (Reuters) - After months of despair that the international community would ever act to help them, Syrian refugees in Turkey say they are now optimistic that the world is ready to take action at last. "Before, people were frustrated that their camp stay would last too long, and felt it was no life in a camp, when the international community seemed paralyzed and hesitant," said Ibrahim Ali, a contractor from a Syrian village, now living in a tented camp in Yayladag on the Turkish side of the border. "But now it's different. People are staying here and morale is high. ... Full Story | Top |
Morocco's election leaves slum dwellers uninspired
Thu,24 Nov 2011 02:16 PM PST
Reuters -  RABAT (Reuters) - As a group of young men stood chatting in the Douar L'Koura slum in Morocco's capital, another man rushed up and warned them the police could soon be on their way. "I just assaulted someone with a knife," he said. Morocco votes Friday in a parliamentary election which the authorities say is a big step toward democracy and testimony that this north African kingdom is responding to the "Arab Spring" uprisings by embracing reform. ...
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At least 26 bodies dumped in Guadalajara
Thu,24 Nov 2011 02:08 PM PST
Reuters -  MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Suspected drug gang hitmen murdered at least 26 people and dumped their bodies in the center of Mexico's second city of Guadalajara on Thursday as a showdown between rival drug gangs intensified. The bodies were found in several vans abandoned around the western city's iconic Millennium Arches monument, together with a message from drug cartels. An official with the attorney-general's office said the death toll could rise beyond the 26 confirmed so far. ...
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Two French nationals abducted in Mali
Thu,24 Nov 2011 01:56 PM PST
Reuters - PARIS (Reuters) - Two French nationals were kidnapped in northern Mali Wednesday, the French Foreign Ministry said Thursday. "We can confirm that two French nationals were kidnapped last night in the town of Hombori, about 200 km (125 miles) west of Gao," spokesman Bernard Valero said. A senior Malian army official told Reuters the two men, an engineer and technician who work for a local cement firm, were abducted at about 0100 GMT from their hotel. "They do regular field trips to Hombori in the north (and were taken) by turbaned men in 4x4s," the official said. ... Full Story | Top |
Libya leaders supported by "money, arms, PR": ex-premier
Thu,24 Nov 2011 01:53 PM PST
Reuters -  TRIPOLI (Reuters) - One of the most senior figures in Libya's outgoing government has denounced its leaders as an unelected elite, supported by "money, arms and PR," and warned that 90 percent of Libya is politically voiceless. Outgoing acting Prime Minister Ali Tarhouni's comments were the strongest criticism to date by a senior politician of the country's new rulers, who led the rebellion that ended Muammar Gaddafi's 42-year rule and have been in charge since his fall. ...
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Gaddafi son needs surgery on gangrenous fingers: doctor
Thu,24 Nov 2011 01:48 PM PST
Reuters -  ZINTAN/TRIPOLI, Libya (Reuters) - Muammar Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam needs surgery to remove gangrenous flesh from a severed thumb and finger which if not treated could make him seriously ill, a doctor who examined him told Reuters on Thursday. Saif al-Islam has been nursing injuries to his right hand which he says were sustained during a NATO airstrike weeks ago. No further details have been available on the state of his heavily bandaged thumb, index and middle fingers. ...
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Trinidad PM says police thwarted assassination plot
Thu,24 Nov 2011 01:41 PM PST
Reuters - PORT OF SPAIN (Reuters) - The prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago Kamla Persad-Bissessar said Thursday the country's law enforcement officials thwarted a plot to assassinate her and other government officials. Nearly a dozen people have been arrested in the alleged plot, including members of the army and police force, Trinidad and Tobago Police Commissioner Dwayne Gibbs said. (Reporting by Linda Hutchinson-Jafar; writing by Kevin Gray; editing by Anthony Boadle) Full Story | Top |
Judge grants appeal to Telmex in TV dispute: report
Thu,24 Nov 2011 01:21 PM PST
Reuters - MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - A judge has granted tycoon Carlos Slim's Telmex an appeal against a government decision that denied the phone company entry into the television market in Mexico, daily El Universal reported on Thursday. Mexico's Communications and Transport ministry in May rejected Slim's efforts to tap the domestic television market by refusing to change Telmex's concession to allow the new service. ... Full Story | Top |
Quebec hearing lifts Maple's hopes on TMX takeover
Thu,24 Nov 2011 12:59 PM PST
Reuters -  MONTREAL (Reuters) - A Canadian consortium aiming to buy the operator of the country's largest exchanges said the C$3.8 billion deal would likely win regulatory approval, its hopes boosted by a first day of hearings on Thursday. In an appearance before regulators in the French-speaking province of Quebec, Maple Group defended its proposal to buy TMX Group against criticism it would create a monopoly and squash competition. Maple is comprised of 13 of Canada's most powerful financial institutions. "There was nothing there that was troubling for us, they were completely understandable questions. ...
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France nominates Coeure for ECB executive
Thu,24 Nov 2011 12:42 PM PST
Reuters - PARIS (Reuters) - France has nominated Treasury Chief Economist Benoit Coeure as a candidate for the executive board of the European Central Bank, to replace outgoing board member Lorenzo Bini Smaghi, the Finance Ministry said on Thursday. Bini Smaghi resigned from his post on the ECB's six-member executive board earlier this month after coming under heavy political pressure to step down and make way for a Frenchman. France was left without a seat on the board when Jean-Claude Trichet stood down as ECB president last month and was replaced by another Italian, Mario Draghi. ... Full Story | Top |
U.S. withdrawal from Iraq: Eight years worth of stuff
Thu,24 Nov 2011 12:38 PM PST
Reuters -  BAGHDAD (Reuters) - At the peak of the United States's war in Iraq, the U.S. military had more than 170,000 troops, 500 bases replete with tents and toilets, kitchens and motor pools, and an airline that flew hundreds of times a day across the country. Moving day has lasted more than a year. The U.S. withdrawal from Iraq after nearly nine years of war is believed to be one of the largest removal jobs in history. At the start of the year logistics experts calculated there were nearly 3 million pieces of equipment to be moved, from airplanes, helicopters and tanks to laptops and lights. ...
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Dutch consider role for ECB in solving crisis
Thu,24 Nov 2011 12:36 PM PST
Reuters - AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - The Dutch finance minister moved closer to endorsing the European Central Bank's (ECB) role as lender of last resort on Thursday, as the Netherlands appeared to break ranks with Germany over how to resolve the euro zone debt crisis. Dutch Finance Minister Jan Kees de Jager told a parliamentary hearing the Netherlands would prefer that the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), the euro zone bailout fund, should be strengthened. But he said that if the EFSF did not succeed, other measures would have to be considered. ... Full Story | Top |
ECB cannot be lender of last resort: Gonzalez-Paramo
Thu,24 Nov 2011 12:34 PM PST
Reuters - OXFORD, England (Reuters) - The ECB cannot be the lender of last resort for troubled euro zone states, one of its top policymakers said on Thursday, underscoring the bank's continued resistance to fierce pressure for it to take a more active role in calming the debt crisis. Pressure on the ECB to act is rising fast with many in both political and financial circles arguing it is the only institution that can realistically see off the crisis. ... Full Story | Top |
Russian anchor off air for finger gesture in Obama story
Thu,24 Nov 2011 12:06 PM PST
Reuters - MOSCOW (Reuters) - A famous Russian TV anchor has been taken off the air for making an obscene gesture after mentioning U.S. President Barack Obama in a live newscast, the channel said on Thursday. Tatiana Limanova, an award-winning journalist and host of a news show on the REN-TV private channel, waved her middle finger when presenting a story about the APEC summit in the United States, a moment after mentioning Obama. The video went viral on the internet, with many viewers speculating the gesture had been meant to insult the U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
Canada very concerned by Europe debt crisis: Harper
Thu,24 Nov 2011 11:37 AM PST
Reuters -  OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada is very concerned about the European debt crisis, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said on Thursday in the latest comment by a senior Canadian government official about the problems in Europe. Harper and Finance Minister Jim Flaherty have repeatedly urged European officials to deal quickly with the crisis. "We're obviously very concerned about the situation in Europe," Harper told the House of Commons. (Reporting by David Ljunggren; editing by Peter Galloway)
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Polish Oscar winner makes first film about Lech Walesa
Thu,24 Nov 2011 11:17 AM PST
Reuters -  WARSAW (Reuters) - Lech Walesa will finally see his life made into a movie, more than three decades after the shipyard electrician launched the Solidarity union that helped topple communism in Eastern Europe. On Thursday, Oscar-winning Polish director Andrzej Wajda began filming the first biopic about Walesa, who remains a respected but controversial figure. ...
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JK Rowling says "spiteful" press hounded her
Thu,24 Nov 2011 11:14 AM PST
Reuters -  LONDON (Reuters) - "Harry Potter" author JK Rowling told a public inquiry into British media standards on Thursday she was forced to move house because of tabloid harassment and had been made to feel like a hostage in her home after she gave birth. During two hours of evidence, Rowling revealed a note had been slipped into her young daughter's schoolbag by a journalist and that she had chased a paparazzo photographer down the street when he tried to take a picture of her with her children. ...
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Author JK Rowling says "spiteful" UK press hounded her
Thu,24 Nov 2011 11:12 AM PST
Reuters -  LONDON (Reuters) - "Harry Potter" author JK Rowling told a public inquiry into British media standards on Thursday she was forced to move house because of tabloid harassment and had been made to feel like a hostage in her home after she gave birth. During two hours of evidence, Rowling revealed a note had been slipped into her young daughter's schoolbag by a journalist and that she had chased a paparazzo photographer down the street when he tried to take a picture of her with her children. ...
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Insight: In Greece, loan sharks compound the pain
Thu,24 Nov 2011 11:08 AM PST
Reuters -  ATHENS (Reuters) - For self-made businessman Dimitrios, the threats began with a phone call from a man who said they knew where his daughter was. At first the 57-year-old window installer kept quiet about the calls. When his car was torched in front of his house, he hid the blackened metal shell from his family. But when he awoke to his wife's screams at a huge banner that had been strung across their street, he could no longer hide the truth. "I WANT MY MONEY BACK," the banner read. And Dimitrios knew the illegal loan shark to whom he owed thousands was not prepared to wait. ...
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Analysis: World economy counts cost of euro zone dithering
Thu,24 Nov 2011 11:07 AM PST
Reuters - LONDON (Reuters)- From credit bottlenecks in eastern Europe to slower growth in China, delays in tackling the euro zone's debt crisis are causing ever-greater economic and financial damage well beyond the borders of the 17-nation bloc. As politicians dither over how to share the costs of cleaning up the mess and preventing a recurrence, concern is mounting among policy advisers and academics that Europe could be condemned to several years of sluggish growth as excess debts are gradually worked off. And wrangling over how to pay for decades of debt accumulation is not limited to Europe. ... Full Story | Top |
Palestinians talk unity, no sign of progress
Thu,24 Nov 2011 11:02 AM PST
Reuters -  CAIRO (Reuters) - Leaders of Fatah and Hamas met for the first time in six months and hailed progress toward ending a rift that has led to separate governments in the West Bank and Gaza, but there was no sign of a breakthrough. The last meeting between President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal in Cairo in May yielded an agreement aimed at reuniting the Palestinian territories under a single government that would oversee new elections set for May 2012. There has been no progress toward implementation since then. ...
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Russia says U.S. imposes missile shield on Europe
Thu,24 Nov 2011 10:37 AM PST
Reuters -  PETROZAVODSK, Russia (Reuters) - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev accused Washington on Thursday of imposing its plans to deploy a missile defense shield on European countries, a day after he threatened to retaliate if the United States pressed ahead with the project. On Wednesday Medvedev said he would arm Russia with missiles capable of countering the U.S. shield, deploy additional weapons in the west and south and set up an early-warning radar system in its Baltic enclave to counteract the U.S. system, which is not expected to be fully in place until 2020. ...
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Riot-hit London area looks ahead to Olympics
Thu,24 Nov 2011 10:37 AM PST
Reuters -  LONDON (Reuters) - The charred buildings damaged in last August's riots stand out like black teeth on Woolwich's central square, a stark image made all the more gruesome as the area in east London has been given a makeover in time for next year's Olympics. The burnt shops lie in walking distance of the Royal Artillery Barracks, one of three Olympic venues in the borough of Greenwich. But while the scars inflicted three months ago remain, locals are already turning their attention to next summer. ...
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Officials say plan on al Qaeda detainees would harm probes
Thu,24 Nov 2011 10:27 AM PST
Reuters -  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Senate plan requiring that all foreign al Qaeda suspects found in the United States be turned over to the military instead of civilian law enforcement could gravely damage U.S. counter-terrorism investigations, the Obama administration warned. Top administration officials charged that the plan would set up new hurdles for U.S. investigators - particularly at the FBI and the Justice Department - and would raise questions as to how and when they must involve the military. ...
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France says ECB independence very important
Thu,24 Nov 2011 10:08 AM PST
Reuters - PARIS (Reuters) - France, like Germany, attaches great importance to the European Central Bank's independence, French Finance Minister Francois Baroin said on Thursday. "Germany attaches a very high price to the independence of the German (central) bank and the (European) Central Bank and we attach great importance to the independence of this central bank," Baroin told Europe 1 radio. France and Germany have had diverging views over the ECB's role in the euro zone's debt crisis, with Paris urging the central bank to be a lender of last resort in a proposal that has made Berlin uneasy. ... Full Story | Top |
Bombs in Iraq market kill 10, wound dozens
Thu,24 Nov 2011 09:59 AM PST
Reuters - BASRA, Iraq (Reuters) - Three bombs exploded in a market in Iraq's southern oil city of Basra Thursday, killing at least ten people and wounding dozens, security sources said. Basra, 420 km (240 miles) southeast of Baghdad, is the largest city in the mainly Shi'ite south and the heart of Iraq's oil industry. It hosts a major conference for international oil executives and industry officials starting Friday. ... Full Story | Top |
Heating oil keeps flowing to Syria from Europe
Thu,24 Nov 2011 09:55 AM PST
Reuters - LONDON (Reuters) - Crucial heating oil is flowing to Syria, partly from a Swiss-based oil trader, lessening the chance fuel shortages will hurt the population this winter as cold sets in and various sanctions bite, traders said and shipping data showed. AOT Trading AG has provided a steady supply of gasoil to Syrian ports with the most recent shipment arriving only days ago, surprising rival European trading houses that have dropped trade with Syria's increasingly unpopular government. AOT declined to comment. ... Full Story | Top |
Arabs give Syria one day to avoid sanctions
Thu,24 Nov 2011 09:49 AM PST
Reuters - CAIRO (Reuters) - The Arab League said on Thursday it was giving Syria 24 hours to sign a deal to accept Arab monitors under a plan to end an eight-month crackdown on protests, or risk sweeping economic sanctions. The League, which usually shies away from punishing member states, took the decision at a ministerial meeting after Damascus pursued violent measures against protesters, even though it said it had accepted an Arab peace plan this month. The pan-Arab body said in a statement it was informing the United Nations and urging it to take "necessary measures according to the U.N. ... Full Story | Top |
Factbox: Worst atrocities in Mexico's drug war
Thu,24 Nov 2011 09:37 AM PST
Reuters - (Reuters) - Mexican authorities found more than 20 bodies in cars left at a major traffic intersection in the western city of Guadalajara, local media and officials said on Thursday. Below are some of the worst attacks since President Felipe Calderon took office in December 2006 and declared war on powerful drug cartels. More than 45,000 people have been killed in drug-related violence since then. ... Full Story | Top |
Time catches up with India's traditional bazaars
Thu,24 Nov 2011 09:37 AM PST
Reuters -  NEW DELHI/MUMBAI (Reuters) - Foreign supermarket giants eyeing India may see rich pickings at New Delhi markets like Karol Bagh, where shoppers must negotiate a plethora of dubious-looking power lines, stinking rubbish piled high on sidewalks and cars parked three deep. There is money in the narrow and clogged streets here, part of India's $450 billion retail sector that ranks as one of the last frontier markets unpenetrated by global retailers. But the ragged, tiny shops seem a stain on the Asian juggernaut's modern ambitions. ...
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Egypt truce holds, protesters plan huge Friday rally
Thu,24 Nov 2011 09:27 AM PST
Reuters -  CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian protesters and police observed a truce on Thursday after violence that has killed 39 people in five days, but said they would intensify pressure for an end to army rule with a mass rally on Friday in Tahrir Square backed by trade unions. The ruling army council again promised that parliamentary elections would start on time next week, after offering a faster timetable for a handover to civilian control. ...
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