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Punjab, bread basket of India, hungers for change
Sun,29 Jan 2012 06:06 PM PST
Reuters -  LUDHIANA, India (Reuters) - Punjab made Sunil Jain's family rich, but now he wishes he could afford to leave. Almost every day, the lights go out and machines shut down at the two factories of his $3-million-a-year packaging business in the northern India state. When the power goes out, the plants have to use generators, at up to three times the cost. Profits at Oswal Polypack shrink every year, says Jain, a 49-year-old with a penchant for fat gold jewelry and chewing tobacco. The state government seems not to care and has even raised taxes on the raw materials he needs. ...
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Polls show Romney surging ahead of Gingrich in Florida
Sun,29 Jan 2012 05:28 PM PST
Reuters -  HIALEAH, Florida (Reuters) - Republican Newt Gingrich struggled to halt surging rival Mitt Romney's momentum on Sunday, accusing him of launching false attacks as polls showed Romney widening his lead two days before Florida's presidential primary. Romney, who has battered Gingrich in a flood of television ads and two debates in Florida last week, opened a double-digit lead over the former House of Representatives speaker in four polls released on Sunday. Gingrich said the race was closer in Florida than the polls indicated and vowed to fight on beyond Tuesday's vote. ...
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Troops seize Damascus suburbs back from rebels
Sun,29 Jan 2012 05:23 PM PST
Reuters -  AMMAN (Reuters) - Troops seized eastern suburbs of Damascus from rebels late on Sunday, opposition activists said, after two days of fighting only a few kilometers from the centre of power of President Bashar al-Assad. "The Free Syrian Army has made a tactical withdrawal. Regime forces have re-occupied the suburbs and started making house-to-house arrests," an activist named Kamal said by phone from the eastern al-Ghouta area on the edge of the capital. A spokesman for the Free Syrian Army of defectors fighting Assad's forces appeared to confirm that account. ...
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RBS chief waives bonus after UK political storm
Sun,29 Jan 2012 04:37 PM PST
Reuters -  LONDON (Reuters) - The chief executive of Royal Bank of Scotland has decided to waive a bonus worth almost a million pounds ($1.6 million), the bank said on Sunday, after the handout angered Britons bearing the brunt of government austerity measures. A spokesman for the partly state-owned bank said CEO Stephen Hester would no longer be taking the bonus, which was awarded at a time when most British workers are suffering wage freezes or sub-inflation rises. ...
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Castro defends one-party system as bulwalk against U.S.
Sun,29 Jan 2012 04:07 PM PST
Reuters -  HAVANA (Reuters) - President Raul Castro defended Cuba's one-party political system as a bulwark against U.S. imperialism and said it would remain as it is in a speech on Sunday to a Communist Party conference. He also said previously announced plans to put term limits on the country's leaders were not fully official, but could gradually go ahead. This weekend's conference, which is the first in the party's history, came amid wide-ranging reforms that have given Cubans the right to open small businesses and to buy and sell cars, but have included no promises of significant political change. ...
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Strike to seize up Belgium as EU leaders meet
Sun,29 Jan 2012 03:40 PM PST
Reuters - BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Belgium's first general strike in almost two decades will bring the country to a near halt on Monday in an anti-austerity protest aimed at the government as well as at EU leaders meeting in Brussels. The entire rail network will close, buses and trams will be idled, many schools will be shut and production at the Audi and Volvo car plants will stop. Charleroi Airport, a hub for Ryanair and other low-cost carriers, was forced to scrap all flights due to union plans to block the access road. Prospects for flights at the country's main airport, outside Brussels, were unclear. ... Full Story | Top |
Japan finds water leaks at stricken nuclear plant
Sun,29 Jan 2012 03:01 PM PST
Reuters -  (Reuters) - Japan's stricken nuclear power plant has leaked more than 600 liters of water, forcing it to briefly suspend cooling operations at a spent-fuel pond at the weekend, but none is thought to have escaped into the ocean, the plant's operator and domestic media said. The Fukushima plant, on the coast north of Tokyo, was wrecked by a huge earthquake and tsunami in March last year, triggering the evacuation of around 80,000 people in the world's worst nuclear crisis in 25 years. ...
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Sarkozy details measures for growth, jobs
Sun,29 Jan 2012 02:48 PM PST
Reuters -  PARIS (Reuters) - President Nicolas Sarkozy used a primetime television interview on Sunday to flesh out a flurry of measures to boost employment and competitiveness which he hopes to rush through France's parliament before a presidential election in April. Sarkozy, who is running far behind Socialist challenger Francois Hollande in opinion polls for the election, said he would raise the VAT rate to 21.2 percent from 19.6 percent from October to fund a reduction in social charges on companies. ...
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Romney lead over Gingrich up in Florida: Reuters/Ipsos poll
Sun,29 Jan 2012 02:19 PM PST
Reuters -  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican White House hopeful Mitt Romney's lead over rival Newt Gingrich edged up to 12 percentage points in Florida, according to Reuters/Ipsos online poll results on Sunday, as Romney's front-runner status stabilized and Gingrich continued to slip. Romney, a former Massachusetts governor and private equity executive, was supported by 42 percent of likely Florida voters surveyed in the online three-day tracking poll, just down from 43 percent in the same poll on Saturday. Romney was at 41 percent on Friday. ...
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Gingrich struggles to stop surging Romney in Florida
Sun,29 Jan 2012 02:18 PM PST
Reuters - LUTZ, Florida (Reuters) - Republican Newt Gingrich struggled to halt surging rival Mitt Romney's momentum on Sunday, accusing him of launching false attacks as polls showed Romney widening his lead two days before Florida's presidential primary. Romney, who has battered Gingrich in a flood of television ads and two debates in Florida last week, opened a double-digit lead over the former U.S. House of Representatives speaker in four polls released on Sunday. Gingrich said the race was closer in Florida than the polls indicated and vowed to fight on beyond Tuesday's vote. ...
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UK opposition seeks debate on RBS chief's bonus
Sun,29 Jan 2012 01:49 PM PST
Reuters -  * CEO could theoretically get 8 mln stg bonus * Opposition calls for parliament debate, could strain coalition LONDON (Reuters) - Pressure grew on the chief executive of bailed-out lender Royal Bank of Scotland on Sunday to give back a million pound ($1.5 million) bonus as the Labor opposition said it would force a parliamentary debate on the row. The bonus for RBS CEO Stephen Hester has hit a raw nerve with Britons at a time of austerity when most workers are suffering wage freezes or sub-inflation rises, while the government has said its hands are tied by his contract. ...
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Economy more worrying than Mideast for Florida Jews
Sun,29 Jan 2012 01:07 PM PST
Reuters - AVENTURA, Florida (Reuters) - Newt Gingrich describes the Palestinians as an invented people and seeks covert action against Iran, while Mitt Romney accuses President Barack Obama of throwing Israel under a bus. But the Republican presidential candidates' tough talk on the Middle East in Florida before Tuesday's primary is doing little to sway the state's large Jewish population from its longstanding support for the Democrats. If anything, it's Republican arguments on the U.S. economy - not Israel - that might win more favor with Jewish voters here come the general election in November. ... Full Story | Top |
Syria troops battle to retake Damascus suburbs
Sun,29 Jan 2012 12:51 PM PST
Reuters - AMMAN/BEIRUT (Reuters) - Around 2,000 Syrian troops backed by tanks launched an assault to retake Damascus suburbs from rebels on Sunday, activists said, a day after the Arab League suspended its monitoring mission in Syria because of worsening violence. They said 19 civilians and rebel fighters were killed as the soldiers in armoured personnel carriers moved in at dawn, along with at least 50 tanks and other armoured vehicles. ...
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Putin critics take to cars to demand fair elections
Sun,29 Jan 2012 12:32 PM PST
Reuters -  MOSCOW (Reuters) - Critics of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin drove in their hundreds around central Moscow on Sunday in cars trailing white ribbons, a symbol of Russia's protest movement, staging a mobile demonstration to demand fair elections. Opposition leaders are trying to maintain momentum after tens of thousands of people angry over alleged election fraud and Putin's plan to return to the Kremlin in a March vote turned out last month for the biggest protests of his 12-year rule. "This has an important symbolic meaning. ...
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Palestinian Authority suspends plans to raise taxes
Sun,29 Jan 2012 12:31 PM PST
Reuters - RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - The Palestinian Authority announced on Sunday it was suspending plans to raise income tax that have sparked widespread protests but said it was still seeking ways to cut costs in 2012 to plug a gap resulting from lower-than-expected foreign aid revenues. Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said earlier this month that the Palestinian Authority was planning to double the income tax rate to 30 percent as part of efforts to cut the budget deficit to $750 million in 2012, from $1.1 billion a year earlier. ... Full Story | Top |
Gunmen attack Yemen election committee office
Sun,29 Jan 2012 12:07 PM PST
Reuters - ADEN (Reuters) - Gunmen attacked an office of Yemen's electoral committee in a southern province, a local official said on Sunday, in the latest sign of opposition to a presidential election next month. The official told Reuters the gunmen, armed with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades, wounded two soldiers who were guarding the building in Dalea, before fleeing the scene. ... Full Story | Top |
France's Sarkozy to raise VAT rate to 21.2 percent
Sun,29 Jan 2012 11:44 AM PST
Reuters - PARIS (Reuters) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy said in a televised interview on Sunday that his conservative government would seek to raise the value-added sales tax rate by 1.6 percentage points to finance a reduction of social charges on companies. The planned rise in the VAT rate to 21.2 percent from 19.6 percent, set to come into effect in October, is aimed at boosting the competitiveness of French companies next to German rivals who have much lower social charges. ... Full Story | Top |
Gunmen attack police station in Nigeria's Kano
Sun,29 Jan 2012 11:39 AM PST
Reuters - KANO, Nigeria (Reuters) - Gunmen bombed a police station on Sunday outside Nigeria's second city Kano, the police and witnesses said, leading to an hour of gunbattles in a region plagued by attacks from Islamist sect Boko Haram. Kano state and its capital city of 10 million people have been under siege by gunmen from Boko Haram, which wants to impose sharia law across Nigeria. "We were able to push them out of the area but they burnt part of the police station," Kano police commissioner Ibrahim Idris said. "It was a blast that caused damage to the station. ... Full Story | Top |
Greek PM seeks backing for reforms, debt deal near
Sun,29 Jan 2012 11:33 AM PST
Reuters -  ATHENS (Reuters) - Prime Minister Lucas Papademos sought backing on Sunday from leading Greek party leaders for painful and unpopular reforms that the near-bankrupt country must negotiate now that a long-awaited debt relief deal seems almost secured. Attention is shifting to negotiations with Greece's international lenders who want proof that the Papademos coalition will take action on reforms before they hand over funds from a 130 billion euro bailout. Greece needs the money to avoid a chaotic default when big bond redemptions fall due in March. ...
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India won't cut Iranian oil imports: finance minister
Sun,29 Jan 2012 11:22 AM PST
Reuters - CHICAGO (Reuters) - India, the world's fourth-largest oil consumer, will not take steps to cut petroleum imports from Iran despite U.S. and European sanctions against Tehran, its finance minister said on Sunday during a visit to Chicago. The United States wants buyers in Asia, Iran's biggest oil market, to cut imports to put further pressure on Tehran to rein in its nuclear ambitions. Washington suspects Iran of trying to make nuclear weapons, but Tehran says its nuclear program is for peaceful means. ... Full Story | Top |
Iran says Syria must hold free poll, but needs time
Sun,29 Jan 2012 11:17 AM PST
Reuters - ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Iran called on staunch ally Syrian President Bashar al-Assad Sunday to hold free elections and allow multiple political parties to operate in the country, but said he must be given time to implement these reforms. Iran had at first wholeheartedly supported Assad's hardline stance against the 10 months of popular protests that have called for an end to his leadership. It has since tempered its rhetoric as the uprising has dragged on and international pressure has risen, although it condemns what it calls foreign interference in Syrian affairs. ... Full Story | Top |
Republican leaders expect payroll tax deal
Sun,29 Jan 2012 10:16 AM PST
Reuters -  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Top Republican lawmakers on Sunday said they expect to forge a deal with Democrats to extend the payroll tax cut before it expires at the end of February but offered no specifics on how they would pay for it. "I'm confident that we'll be able to resolve this fairly quickly," top congressional Republican John Boehner said on ABC's "This Week" television show. Republican and Democratic lawmakers have started negotiating a deal to extend unemployment benefits and a tax break for 160 million Americans beyond February. ...
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Putin critics take to cars to demand fair elections
Sun,29 Jan 2012 09:57 AM PST
Reuters -  MOSCOW (Reuters) - Critics of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin drove in their hundreds around central Moscow on Sunday in cars trailing white ribbons, a symbol of Russia's protest movement, staging a mobile demonstration to demand fair elections. Opposition leaders are trying to maintain momentum after tens of thousands of people angry over alleged election fraud and Putin's plan to return to the Kremlin in a March vote turned out last month for the biggest protests of his 12-year rule. "This has an important symbolic meaning. ...
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Keystone to be linked to U.S. highway bill: Boehner
Sun,29 Jan 2012 09:42 AM PST
Reuters -  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican lawmakers will try to force the Obama administration to approve the Canada-to-Texas Keystone XL pipeline by attaching it to a highway bill that Congress will consider next month, House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner said on Sunday. President Barack Obama earlier this month denied TransCanada's application for the oil sands pipeline, citing lack of time to review an alternative route within a 60-day window for action set by Congress. ...
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Iraq's Sunni-backed bloc to end parliament boycott
Sun,29 Jan 2012 09:27 AM PST
Reuters - BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's Sunni-backed Iraqiya political bloc said Sunday it would end a boycott of parliament, easing the worst political crisis in Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's power-sharing government in a year. The decision by Iraqiya clears the way for talks among fractious Shi'ite, Kurdish and Sunni blocs, but deep disputes over power-sharing remain unresolved, keeping alive the risk that Iraq could fall back into widespread sectarian violence. The crisis erupted days after the last U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
Iran to stop oil exports to "some" countries soon: IRNA
Sun,29 Jan 2012 08:58 AM PST
Reuters - TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's oil minister said on Sunday the Islamic state would soon stop exporting crude to "some" countries, the state news agency IRNA reported. "Soon we will cut exporting oil to some countries," Rostam Qasemi was quoted by IRNA as saying. Benchmark Brent crude prices rose to around $111.50 a barrel on Friday on expectations Iran's parliament would vote to halt exports to the European Union as early as next week, in retaliation to EU plans to stop all Iranian crude imports by July amid deepening tension over Tehran's nuclear programme. ... Full Story | Top |
Greece should give up budget control: Germany
Sun,29 Jan 2012 08:51 AM PST
Reuters -  BERLIN (Reuters) - Greece must surrender control of its budget policy to outside institutions if it cannot implement reforms attached to euro zone rescue measures, the German economy minister was quoted as saying on Sunday. Philipp Roesler became the first German cabinet member to openly endorse a proposal for Greece to surrender budget control after Reuters quoted a European source on Friday as saying Berlin wants Athens to give up budget control. ...
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Intra-Africa trade can spare continent Euro fallout
Sun,29 Jan 2012 08:43 AM PST
Reuters - ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - African countries can prepare for the impact of the euro-zone crisis that threatens to derail economic growth on the continent by improving trade between their countries and fighting inflation, a top World Bank economist said on Sunday. World Bank's Vice President for Africa, Obiageli Ezekwesili said the traditional partners of Africa in Europe were likely to be affected by the fallout of the European debt crisis, which would squeeze remittances, curb trade and tourism. Ezekwesili said Africa's economic growth forecast for this year stood at 5.3 percent and 5. ... Full Story | Top |
Merkel deflects pressure to boost euro bailout funds
Sun,29 Jan 2012 08:43 AM PST
Reuters -  BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel tried to deflect growing international pressure on Germany to agree an increase in the euro zone's bailout funds Sunday by saying talks were still continuing. Amid calls to raise the size of the permanent European Stability Mechanism (ESM) ahead of an EU summit Monday, Merkel was asked by Bild am Sonntag newspaper about "rising pressure" on Germany to "massively increase" the bailout fund. ...
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Myanmar's Suu Kyi calls for changes to constitution
Sun,29 Jan 2012 07:54 AM PST
Reuters -  DAWEI, Myanmar (Reuters) - Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi called on Sunday for changes to the military-drafted constitution, on her first political trip since ending a boycott of the country's political system last year and announcing plans to run for parliament. Thousands of supporters lined the roads, many shouting "Long live mother Suu," as her motorcade wound through the rural coastal region of Dawei, about 615 km (380 miles) south of her home city, Yangon, the main business centre. ...
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Clashes erupt in Cairo during anti-army protest
Sun,29 Jan 2012 07:21 AM PST
Reuters -  CAIRO (Reuters) - Hundreds of Egyptian protesters demanding an immediate end to military rule clashed on Sunday with rivals in civilian clothes outside central Cairo's state media building, the same place where 25 people were killed in a demonstration in October. "Down with military rule," protesters chanted. The sound of gunshots rang through the air but it was unclear who was firing. "Tell me council, who chose you? It's Mubarak's gang that appointed you," the crowd chanted, referring to the army council which has ruled Egypt since President Hosni Mubarak was ousted on February 11. ...
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Arab League chief heads to U.N. over Syria
Sun,29 Jan 2012 07:02 AM PST
Reuters - CAIRO (Reuters) - Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby headed to New York on Sunday hoping to win support from the U.N. Security Council for a plan to end violence in Syria that calls on President Bashar al-Assad to step aside. Elaraby will brief the Security Council on Tuesday but the Arab initiative, which is backed by Western states, is facing resistance from Russia and China, two of the five permanent members of the council with veto powers. ... Full Story | Top |
Former Italian President Scalfaro dies at 93
Sun,29 Jan 2012 06:44 AM PST
Reuters -  ROME (Reuters) - Former Italian President Oscar Luigi Scalfaro, who was head of state during the "Bribesville" corruption affair that overturned Italy's old political order in the 1990s, has died, officials said on Sunday. He was 93. Scalfaro, a former interior minister and speaker of the lower house of parliament, was appointed president in 1992 as the bribery and political funding scandal swept aside a party system which had run Italy since World War Two. ...
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Zambia probes sale of Zanaco to Rabobank
Sun,29 Jan 2012 05:57 AM PST
Reuters - LUSAKA (Reuters) - Zambia is investigating the 2007 sale of a 49 percent stake in state-owned Zanaco Bank to Netherlands lender Rabobank , in yet another case that could see a reversal of a deal involving foreigners. President Michael Sata has chipped away at several deals made during the administration of his predecessor Rupiah Banda, after being elected in September on a promise to fight corruption. On Sunday, Justice Minister Sebastian Zulu said a government commission would determine whether the sale of Zanaco was legal and met privatisation requirements. ... Full Story | Top |
Sudan bans edition of independent newspaper: editor
Sun,29 Jan 2012 04:47 AM PST
Reuters - KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan's security forces prevented an independent newspaper from publishing on Sunday, the first day it had planned to resume work after a four-month ban, its editor said. Sudan's constitution guarantees press freedom but journalists have complained of increasing pressure from authorities since South Sudan became independent in July. Security agents came after midnight to the office of the daily al-Jarida to confiscate the entire Sunday edition, editor Osman Shinger said. "We will protest against this. They didn't give us any reason," he said. ... Full Story | Top |
Gunmen attack Yemen election committee office
Sun,29 Jan 2012 04:44 AM PST
Reuters - ADEN (Reuters) - Gunmen attacked an office of Yemen's electoral committee in a southern province, a local official said on Sunday, in the latest sign of opposition to a presidential election next month. The official told Reuters the gunmen, armed with machine guns and rocket propelled grenades, wounded two soldiers who were guarding the building in Dalea before fleeing the scene. ... Full Story | Top |
Arab ministers to discuss Syria crisis on February 5
Sun,29 Jan 2012 04:29 AM PST
Reuters - CAIRO (Reuters) - Arab foreign ministers will meet on February 5 to discuss the Syria crisis, a top Arab League official said on Sunday after the pan-Arab body suspended the work of an observer mission that was sent to check if Damascus was heeding an Arab peace plan. League Deputy Secretary-General Ahmed Ben Helli told reporters the ministers meeting to discuss "the latest developments in Syria" would also hold talks on the Palestinian issue. ... Full Story | Top |
Libyan PM calls for security meeting over weapons
Sun,29 Jan 2012 04:23 AM PST
Reuters - ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Libyan Prime Minister Abdurrahim al-Keib called on Sunday for a regional security conference to tackle a proliferation of weapons by exiled supporters of former leader Muammar Gaddafi. The Libyan civil war may have given militant groups in Africa's Sahel region like Boko Haram and al Qaeda access to large weapons caches, said a U.N. report released on Thursday. "(There is) still a real threat from some of the armed remnants of the former regime who escaped outside the country and still roam freely. ... Full Story | Top |
Libyan PM calls for security meeting over weapons
Sun,29 Jan 2012 04:19 AM PST
Reuters - ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Libyan Prime Minister Abdurrahim al-Keib called on Sunday for a regional security conference to tackle a proliferation of weapons by exiled supporters of former leader Muammar Gaddafi. The Libyan civil war may have given militant groups in Africa's Sahel region like Boko Haram and al Qaeda access to large weapons caches, said a U.N. report released on Thursday. "(There is) still a real threat from some of the armed remnants of the former regime who escaped outside the country and still roam freely. ... Full Story | Top |
S. Sudan finishes oil shutdown, wants border deal
Sun,29 Jan 2012 04:07 AM PST
Reuters -  JUBA (Reuters) - South Sudan has fully shut down oil output in a row with Sudan over export transit fees and will only restart after a broader deal on issues including border security and the disputed region of Abyei, its oil minister said on Sunday. South Sudan took about three-quarters of Sudan's oil output when it seceded in July, but still needs pipelines running through its northern neighbour to export its crude. The two have not agreed on a transit fee. ...
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