Today's Reuters World News Headlines - Yahoo! News:
|
|
Britain offers Afghan financing
Wed,18 Apr 2012 08:11 PM PDT
Reuters -  BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Britain was the only country to publicly pledge an actual amount of cash to pay for Afghanistan security after foreign combat troops withdraw in 2014, at a NATO meeting on Wednesday where differences over funding the country's future persisted. The United States hopes to be able to announce annual contributions worth 1 billion euros (811.2 million pounds) from other NATO allies and partners when it hosts a summit of alliance members next month. But not all ministers at Wednesday's preparatory meeting were ready to commit. ...
Full Story | Top |
IMF says secures $320 billion in drive for new funds
Wed,18 Apr 2012 08:03 PM PDT
Reuters -  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund said on Wednesday it had raised $320 billion so far in a bid to boost its firepower to deal with the euro zone debt crisis, with Poland and Switzerland joining the effort. IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said she had received commitments of $34 billion on Wednesday, including $8 billion from Poland and "a substantial amount" from Switzerland. "Ensuring that the Fund has sufficient resources to tackle crises and to promote global economic stability is in the interests of all our members," she said in a statement. ...
Full Story | Top |
IMF chief says has around $316 billion in funding pledges
Wed,18 Apr 2012 07:12 PM PDT
Reuters -  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The head of the International Monetary Fund said on Wednesday member countries had committed $316 billion toward new IMF resources to help contain the debt crisis in the euro zone. "We have commitments in excess of $316 billion and I have more in the bag," IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde told the Bertelsmann Foundation think tank, speaking before meetings of global finance chiefs in Washington. The figure is more than the $286 billion tallied on Tuesday after Japan, Sweden and Denmark said they would contribute the IMF pot of money. ...
Full Story | Top |
Too early to tell on North Korean leader: Clinton
Wed,18 Apr 2012 07:04 PM PDT
Reuters -  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Secretary of State Hillary Clinton offered some hope on Wednesday that North Korea's young leader, Kim Jong-un, may yet change course despite the reclusive Communist state's recent rocket launch and the threat of a new nuclear test. In an interview with CNN's "The Situation Room," Clinton said it was too early to tell what to make of the surprise remarks to soldiers on Sunday by the youngest son of the late Kim Jong-il, who saw North Korea fall into deep poverty and developed a nuclear weapons program during his 17-year rule. ...
Full Story | Top |
Haitian president condemns storming of Parliament
Wed,18 Apr 2012 05:56 PM PDT
Reuters -  PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) - Haitian President Michel Martelly, who was recovering in a Miami hospital on Wednesday from a blood clot in his lung, condemned the gunmen who stormed and briefly occupied the lower chamber of Parliament in Haiti's capital a day earlier. No shots were fired and no injuries reported during the tense incident that cut short the Chamber of Deputies' session on Tuesday. The intruders left the chamber without firing any shots. ...
Full Story | Top |
Secret Service says three employees to leave over Colombia scandal
Wed,18 Apr 2012 05:10 PM PDT
Reuters -  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Three U.S. Secret Service employees under investigation for alleged misconduct with prostitutes in Colombia before a trip by President Barack Obama are leaving their jobs, the agency said on Wednesday. They were among 11 Secret Service agents and 10 U.S. military personnel who allegedly took as many as 21 women back to their hotel virtually on the eve of Obama's weekend trip to Cartagena for the Summit of the Americas. ...
Full Story | Top |
International bodies condemn arrests by Mali junta
Wed,18 Apr 2012 04:38 PM PDT
Reuters -  BAMAKO (Reuters) - International organizations condemned a wave of arrests by Mali's military rulers extended into a third day on Wednesday despite an agreement by the junta to restore constitutional order. The West African state has been in crisis since a March 22 coup derailed a planned April election and brought about a collapse of internal front lines as Tuareg separatists and Islamist rebels advanced and seized vast northern desert zones. ...
Full Story | Top |
Troops pose with maimed Afghan insurgent bodies
Wed,18 Apr 2012 04:02 PM PDT
Reuters -  BRUSSELS/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. troops are seen posing with the maimed bodies of suspected Afghan insurgents in photos published on Wednesday, an incident that threatened to further fray U.S.-Afghan ties and prompted yet another apology from Washington for soldiers' misbehavior. In one of the pictures, a U.S. paratrooper posed next to an unofficial patch placed beside a body that read "Zombie Hunter," while in another photo soldiers posed with Afghan police holding the severed legs of an insurgent bomber. ...
Full Story | Top |
Gunfire and wrangling cloud U.N. Syria mission
Wed,18 Apr 2012 03:41 PM PDT
Reuters -  BEIRUT/PARIS (Reuters) - Gunfire and protests near a team of U.N. observers in Syria and diplomatic wrangling over the scope of their mission underlined the precarious prospects for a week-old truce which has so far failed to halt a year of bloodshed. Shooting erupted on Wednesday close to an advance party of military personnel from the United Nations who had been swarmed by protesters denouncing President Bashar al-Assad in the town of Erbin, on the northeastern outskirts of the capital Damascus. There were no reports of casualties. ...
Full Story | Top |
Bissau junta sets two-year roadmap to elections
Wed,18 Apr 2012 03:23 PM PDT
Reuters - BISSAU (Reuters) - Guinea-Bissau's military junta said on Wednesday it would take two years to restore democratic rule in the West African state through elections that will be set by a soon-to-be-named caretaker government. The announcement came after broad international condemnation of the shadowy "Military Command" which seized power last week and cut short a presidential poll by detaining its front-runner, former Prime Minister Carlos Gomes Junior. The former Portuguese colony has seen several coups and army revolts since independence in 1974. ... Full Story | Top |
House votes again to approve Keystone XL pipeline
Wed,18 Apr 2012 03:19 PM PDT
Reuters -  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives voted on Wednesday in favor of speeding up the Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada for the fourth time in two years, but the Nebraska Republican who has championed the project knows the vote may not be the last. The pipeline, put on hold by President Barack Obama earlier this year, has become an outsized political symbol heading into the November elections as Republicans use it to attack Obama's economic and energy policies. ...
Full Story | Top |
Barred Islamist says Egypt army wants to keep power
Wed,18 Apr 2012 03:18 PM PDT
Reuters -  CAIRO (Reuters) - A leader of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood said on Wednesday his removal from the presidential ballot showed the army wanted to cling to power, a charge that turns up the heat between generals and Islamists, who both say they back a transition to democracy. Khairat al-Shater, a wealthy businessman and top official in the Brotherhood, Egypt's biggest Islamist group, had been a frontrunner for next month's first round of voting - until the election committee rejected his bid over a criminal record he acquired during political persecution under Hosni Mubarak. ...
Full Story | Top |
Libya insists on Gaddafi son trial as ICC visits
Wed,18 Apr 2012 03:03 PM PDT
Reuters -  TRIPOLI (Reuters) - The International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor met Libyan officials in Tripoli on Wednesday where they reiterated that Muammar Gaddafi's detained son would be tried at home, despite calls by the Hague-based court to hand him over. The ICC issued an arrest warrant for Saif al-Islam last year, after prosecutors accused him and others of involvement in the killing of protesters during the revolt that eventually toppled his father. ...
Full Story | Top |
Yemen air strike kills six militants, government says
Wed,18 Apr 2012 02:45 PM PDT
Reuters -  ADEN, Yemen (Reuters) - Yemeni warplanes killed at least six militants linked to al Qaeda on Wednesday, the government said as it pressed ahead with an offensive against insurgents in the south. Since the outbreak of anti-government protests that unseated former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, security has deteriorated in Yemen, particularly in the south, where the army is struggling to control Islamist fighters. The defense ministry said it launched an air strike on a group of militants near the southern city of Lawdar, killing six. ...
Full Story | Top |
NATO says concrete plans emerging for Afghanistan after 2014
Wed,18 Apr 2012 02:38 PM PDT
Reuters -  BRUSSELS (Reuters) - NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on Wednesday he saw an "emerging agreement" among the alliance's members on what role they would play in Afghanistan once that country's forces take charge of security by 2015. Speaking during a meeting of NATO allies in Brussels, Rasmussen said a number of member states had already pledged the size of their financial contributions to help the Afghan government maintain security forces after 2014. ...
Full Story | Top |
Netanyahu defends comparison of Iran, Nazi Holocaust
Wed,18 Apr 2012 02:35 PM PDT
Reuters -  JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected criticism of his likening of a nuclear-armed Iran to the Nazi Holocaust as improper, saying in an address to the country on Wednesday that "uncomfortable truths" must be aired. He defended his analogy on the eve of Israel's annual day of Holocaust remembrance against those who say it is not only irreverent to the six million Jews killed by Hitler's Germany but also stokes panic about a new war. ...
Full Story | Top |
Bissau junta sets two-year roadmap to elections
Wed,18 Apr 2012 02:30 PM PDT
Reuters - BISSAU (Reuters) - Guinea-Bissau's military junta said on Wednesday it would hand power fully back to civilians in two years, after elections that will be set by a soon-to-be-named caretaker government. The announcement came after broad international condemnation of the West African state's shadowy "Military Command", which seized power last week and cut short a presidential election by detaining its front-runner, Carlos Gomes Junior. The former Portuguese colony has seen several coups and army revolts since independence in 1974. ... Full Story | Top |
Russia admits irregularities in regional vote after protests
Wed,18 Apr 2012 02:09 PM PDT
Reuters -  MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia admitted on Wednesday that some irregularities had taken place in the course of a disputed mayoral election in a southern Russian city last month, after the victory of a pro-Kremlin candidate there set off a wave of anti-government protests. The disputed election in Astrakhan has become a focus for the opposition as it tries to breathe new life into its protest movement which has lost steam since Vladimir Putin was elected president for a six-year term on March 4. ...
Full Story | Top |
Exclusive: Bolivia says may de-flag Iranian ships
Wed,18 Apr 2012 01:59 PM PDT
Reuters -  DUBAI (Reuters) - Bolivia could strike 15 vessels linked to the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines off its shipping register just weeks after IRISL found Bolivian replacements for their Maltese and Cypriot flags. IRISL, its many subsidiaries and their dozens of ships have drawn sanctions from the United States, United Nations and the European Union for their suspected role in transporting military equipment for Tehran. ...
Full Story | Top |
Britain offers Afghan financing, others plan to
Wed,18 Apr 2012 01:53 PM PDT
Reuters - BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Britain was the only country to publicly pledge an actual amount of cash to pay for Afghanistan security after foreign combat troops withdraw in 2014, at a NATO meeting on Wednesday where differences over funding the country's future persisted. The United States hopes to be able to announce annual contributions worth 1 billion euros ($1.3 billion) from other NATO allies and partners when it hosts a summit of alliance members next month. But not all ministers at Wednesday's preparatory meeting were ready to commit. ... Full Story | Top |
Colombia protests Argentina import restrictions to WTO
Wed,18 Apr 2012 01:45 PM PDT
Reuters - BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombia has sent a letter to the World Trade Organization protesting Argentina's import restrictions on its products, the government announced Wednesday. Colombia is among several of Argentina's trading partners who have threatened legal action following efforts by Argentine President Cristina Fernandez's administration to curb imports and improve a deteriorating trade surplus. The move came amid controversy over Argentina's decision this week to expropriate YPF, the country's largest oil company, which is owned by the Spanish company Repsol. ... Full Story | Top |
Britain offers Afghan financing, others plan to
Wed,18 Apr 2012 01:31 PM PDT
Reuters - BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Britain was the only country to publicly pledge an actual amount of cash to pay for Afghanistan security after foreign combat troops withdraw in 2014, at a NATO meeting on Wednesday where differences over funding the country's future persisted. The United States hopes to be able to announce annual contributions worth 1 billion euros (811.2 million pounds) from other NATO allies and partners when it hosts a summit of alliance members next month. But not all ministers at Wednesday's preparatory meeting were ready to commit. ...
Full Story | Top |
Peru rebel leader mocks Humala's army after ambush
Wed,18 Apr 2012 01:21 PM PDT
Reuters - LIMA (Reuters) - Peru's first major hostage-taking in a decade was a ruse to lure soldiers into a remote jungle valley and kill them in ambushes, said the Shining Path rebel who led the kidnappings of 36 gas workers. Martin Quispe Palomino said in television footage broadcast Wednesday the rebels suffered no casualties but killed six soldiers and police over the weekend. The rebels released the workers on Saturday, six days after they were taken hostage near a natural gas field. ... Full Story | Top |
U.S. warns of Boko Haram attacks on Nigeria capital
Wed,18 Apr 2012 01:10 PM PDT
Reuters -  ABUJA (Reuters) - The United States warned its citizens in Nigeria on Wednesday that Islamist militant group Boko Haram might be planning attacks on the capital Abuja - but the Nigerian government dismissed the alert saying it would create "undue panic." Boko Haram, which wants sharia (Islamic law) more widely applied across Africa's most populous nation, has killed hundreds in gun and bomb attacks this year. "The U.S. ...
Full Story | Top |
Montenegrin journalist given prison term for libel
Wed,18 Apr 2012 12:52 PM PDT
Reuters - BELGRADE (Reuters) - A court in Montenegro ordered a journalist to serve four months in prison for libel on Wednesday in a case that could damage the country's reputation for media freedom as it prepares for talks on joining the European Union. The case stems from a 2007 report in the Montenegrin weekly Monitor in which journalist Petar Komnenic alleged that authorities in the Adriatic country had placed a number of senior judges under illegal surveillance. Komnenic was convicted of libel in February 2011 and ordered to pay a fine of 3,000 euros ($3,900) or serve four months in jail. ... Full Story | Top |
Egypt's mufti visits Jerusalem for first time
Wed,18 Apr 2012 12:30 PM PDT
Reuters -  CAIRO (Reuters) - The grand mufti, one of Egypt's highest religious authorities, said he had visited Jerusalem on Wednesday for the first time, angering Islamist groups opposed to any step that might be viewed as recognizing Israeli control of the city. Mufti Ali Gomaa said on his Twitter account that he had visited Jerusalem, entering from the West Bank via Jordan and not from the Israeli side. He said he prayed in the al-Aqsa mosque, one of Islam's holiest sites, in the walled old city. East Jerusalem was captured by Israel from Jordan in the 1967 war. ...
Full Story | Top |
Norway's mass killer demands acquittal or death
Wed,18 Apr 2012 12:27 PM PDT
Reuters -  OSLO (Reuters) - Norwegian anti-Islamic fanatic Anders Behring Breivik said on Wednesday he should be executed or acquitted after killing 77 people last summer in what he said was a battle to defend Europe against mass immigration. "There are only two just outcomes to this case -- acquittal or the death penalty," the 33-year-old said, calling the prospect of a prison sentence "pathetic". Norway has no death penalty and formal sentencing cannot exceed 21 years, though Breivik could be held the rest of his life if he is judged to pose a continuing danger. ...
Full Story | Top |
Sudan's Bashir vows to "liberate" South Sudan
Wed,18 Apr 2012 12:19 PM PDT
Reuters - KHARTOUM/JUBA (Reuters) - Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir vowed on Wednesday to "liberate" South Sudan from its ruling party, a sharp escalation of rhetoric after fierce border clashes that edged the African neighbors closer to all-out war. There has been growing alarm over the worst violence seen since South Sudan split away from Sudan as an independent country in July under the terms of a 2005 peace settlement. Global powers have urged the two sides to end the fighting. ... Full Story | Top |
France's Sarkozy rows back on nuclear help for Libya
Wed,18 Apr 2012 12:14 PM PDT
Reuters -  PARIS (Reuters) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy backpedalled from a denial and acknowledged on Wednesday that he had discussions with Muammar Gaddafi about selling a nuclear reactor to Libya some four years before Paris helped topple the late dictator in 2011. France's readiness to provide a reactor to Gaddafi's Libya has become a hot issue ahead of the election, eclipsing Sarkozy's key role in helping drive the dictator from power last year, which he frequently portrays as one of his achievements. ...
Full Story | Top |
Switzerland criticized for new immigrant curbs
Wed,18 Apr 2012 11:46 AM PDT
Reuters - ZURICH (Reuters) - Switzerland drew strong criticism from European officials on Wednesday after it said it would reimpose quotas on workers from central and eastern Europe, cutting the number of permits granted annually by two thirds. "This measure is neither economically justified by the labor market situation nor by the number of EU citizens seeking residence in Switzerland," Catherine Ashton, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, said, in a strongly worded criticism of the move. ... Full Story | Top |
U.S. says Syria at turning point, stresses pressure
Wed,18 Apr 2012 11:21 AM PDT
Reuters - BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Syria is at a turning point where the violence must stop or the United States will find ways to increase pressure on the Damascus government, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Wednesday. Clinton gave no details of what the United States or other nations might do if a much-violated ceasefire between government forces and rebels does not take hold and if U.N. monitors are unable to fully deploy in Syria. ... Full Story | Top |
Bank of Canada lifts some forecasts, warns on debt
Wed,18 Apr 2012 11:07 AM PDT
Reuters -  OTTAWA (Reuters) - The Bank of Canada on Wednesday raised its economic growth forecasts for the first three quarters of 2012 and repeated a warning about high household debt, pointing to the popularity of home equity lines of credit (HELOCs) as part of the problem. Thanks to low borrowing costs, household spending and business investment will power Canada's moderate economic growth through the end of 2014, while exports remain weak and high oil prices fail to bring the usual benefits, the central bank said in its quarterly Monetary Policy Report. ...
Full Story | Top |
New Brotherhood candidate for Egypt vote may struggle
Wed,18 Apr 2012 10:45 AM PDT
Reuters - CAIRO (Reuters) - The man thrust unexpectedly into the limelight as the Muslim Brotherhood's candidate to lead Egypt is a mild-mannered figure whose low public profile may leave him struggling against more forceful rivals vying for the votes of Islamists and others. Mohamed Mursi, the head of the Brotherhood's political party, was the movement's backstop candidate for next month's presidential election until its first choice, millionaire businessman Khairat al-Shater, was disqualified. ... Full Story | Top |
Peru rebel leader defiantly mocks Humala's army
Wed,18 Apr 2012 10:43 AM PDT
Reuters - LIMA (Reuters) - Peru's first major hostage-taking in a decade was a ruse to lure soldiers into a remote jungle valley and kill them in ambushes, said the Shining Path rebel who led the kidnappings of 36 gas workers. Martin Quispe Palomino said in television footage broadcast Wednesday the rebels suffered no casualties but killed six soldiers and police over the weekend. The rebels released the workers on Saturday, six days after they were taken hostage near a natural gas field. ... Full Story | Top |
Czech PM sees snap election if majority lost
Wed,18 Apr 2012 10:43 AM PDT
Reuters -  PRAGUE (Reuters) - Czech Prime Minister Petr Necas said on Wednesday he would seek early elections in June if he cannot quickly regain a clear parliamentary majority after a junior coalition party split, a potential death blow to his fragile centre-right coalition. Tuesday's defection by Deputy Prime Minister Karolina Peake and her allies from the centrist Public Affairs party weakened Necas's support in parliament and it remained unclear whether he could still command enough votes to avoid a government collapse. ...
Full Story | Top |
UK vows annual $110 million to post-2014 Afghanistan
Wed,18 Apr 2012 10:42 AM PDT
Reuters - BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Britain will provide 70 million pounds ($110 million) a year to fund the Afghan armed forces after British combat operations end in Afghanistan in 2014, the defense ministry said on Wednesday. "The UK contribution of 70 million pounds per annum to the funds to support the Afghan National Security Forces will make Afghanistan a safer and more stable country and protect our own national interests," said Defense Secretary Philip Hammond. ... Full Story | Top |
West aims to agree on Afghan financing in May: NATO chief
Wed,18 Apr 2012 10:42 AM PDT
Reuters -  BRUSSELS (Reuters) - NATO should be able to nail down plans next month on the size and cost of Afghan security forces needed after most foreign troops leave in 2014, the alliance's chief said on Wednesday at a meeting where Washington pressed allies to commit funds. A timetable agreed between NATO and Afghanistan in 2010 calls for the withdrawal of most foreign combat troops from Afghanistan by the end of 2014, when Afghan security forces are supposed to have full control. Afghanistan will need donor countries to provide billions of dollars a year to pay for its army and police. ...
Full Story | Top |
Pakistan avalanche brings call for glacier demilitarization
Wed,18 Apr 2012 10:35 AM PDT
Reuters -  GYARI, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistan's army chief on Wednesday made a rare call for the demilitarization of the world's highest battlefield after touring the site of an avalanche that buried 129 Pakistani soldiers near the border with rival India. General Ashfaq Kayani was speaking 11 days after a Pakistani army battalion headquarters near the Siachen Glacier in the disputed Kashmir region was engulfed by up to 80 feet of snow. Eleven civilians were also trapped. The tragedy has revived criticism of the 28-year conflict over the glacier, which critics say is futile. ...
Full Story | Top |
Egypt's Moussa steps up campaign, launches manifesto
Wed,18 Apr 2012 10:13 AM PDT
Reuters - CAIRO (Reuters) - As others have fallen by the wayside, Amr Moussa stepped up his campaign for the Egyptian presidency on Wednesday, going to a Cairo slum to launch his manifesto in a bid to win over voters, whose choices have been narrowed down in only a few days. With just a few weeks to go before the historic vote to fill the post from which Hosni Mubarak was ousted 14 months ago, Moussa's well-organized campaign and wide name recognition give him a head start: he is an ex-Arab League secretary general and served as Egypt's foreign minister for a decade. ... Full Story | Top |
Oil buyers cut more Iran imports due to sanctions
Wed,18 Apr 2012 09:45 AM PDT
Reuters - TOKYO/LONDON (Reuters) - Japan will slash crude purchases from Iran in April, and European and Taiwanese customers will also take less, industry sources told Reuters on Wednesday, adding to signs Western sanctions are curbing sales from OPEC's second-largest producer. Japan is cutting volumes by almost 80 percent in April compared with the first two months of 2012. The cuts, amounting to 250,000 barrels per day, are the steepest yet by the four Asian nations that buy most of Iran's 2.2 million bpd of exports. ... Full Story | Top |
| |
|
No comments:
Post a Comment