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Libertarians nominate ex-Governor Gary Johnson for president
Sat,5 May 2012 08:20 PM PDT
Reuters -  LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - The U.S. Libertarian Party on Saturday chose former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson, who was once a Republican White House hopeful, as its presidential candidate in the November 6 election. Johnson, who announced in December he would run for president as a Libertarian after mounting a long-shot candidacy for the Republican nomination, won 70 percent of the votes cast by 632 delegates at the party's convention in Las Vegas, Libertarian Party spokesman Stephen Gordon said. ...
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Accused 9/11 plotters defiant at Guantanamo arraignment
Sat,5 May 2012 07:12 PM PDT
Reuters -  GUANTANAMO BAY U.S. NAVAL BASE, Cuba (Reuters) - Five Guantanamo prisoners accused of plotting the September 11 attacks refused to answer a U.S. military judge's questions on Saturday in a chaotic court hearing in which defense lawyers sought to cast the war crimes tribunal as unfair. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the confessed architect of the hijacked plane attacks in 2001, and his four co-defendants all exercised their right to indefinitely delay entering a plea to murder and terrorism charges that carry the death penalty. ...
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Keep off beaches, Peru warns after pelican deaths
Sat,5 May 2012 06:32 PM PDT
Reuters -  LIMA (Reuters) - Peru's government declared a health alert along its northern coastline on Saturday and urged residents and tourists to stay away from long stretches of beach, as it investigates the unexplained deaths of hundreds of dolphins and pelicans. At least 1,200 birds, mostly pelicans, washed up dead along a stretch of Peru's northern Pacific coastline in recent weeks, health officials said, after an estimated 800 dolphins died in the same area in recent months. ...
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Conservative lawmaker says UK PM Cameron should go
Sat,5 May 2012 06:16 PM PDT
Reuters -  LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister David Cameron could be removed as leader of the Conservatives to prevent the party losing power in the next national election, a maverick lawmaker from his party warned on Sunday after a humiliating defeat in local elections. The bluntest public demand to date by a lawmaker of his own party for a leadership challenge escalates the strife for Cameron as he grapples with keeping his coalition government together after the worst month of his two-year premiership. ...
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UK urged to force firms to report carbon emissions
Sat,5 May 2012 05:33 PM PDT
Reuters - LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's government should force large companies to provide annual information on their carbon emissions in addition to reporting profits and executive pay, an alliance of businesses and environmental groups said, backed by public opinion. Environmental groups and companies including PepsiCo , Microsoft and Marks & Spencer , working together as the Aldersgate Group, called on the UK to speed up plans to enforce carbon emissions reporting requirements. ... Full Story | Top |
FBI investigating Arizona Neo-Nazi before shooting
Sat,5 May 2012 05:05 PM PDT
Reuters -  PHOENIX (Reuters) - The neo-Nazi founder of an anti-immigrant border militia was already the subject of an FBI domestic terrorism probe before he went on a shooting rampage and killed four people, officials and news reports said on Saturday. The Arizona Republic newspaper said federal agents seized numerous computers and munitions from the Phoenix valley home where white supremacist Jason Todd "J.T." Ready is believed to have killed his girlfriend and three others on Wednesday following a domestic dispute, before shooting himself. ...
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Conservative leader front runner in Greek election
Sat,5 May 2012 04:44 PM PDT
Reuters - ATHENS (Reuters) - Family history weighs heavily on conservative leader Antonis Samaras as he battles to lead Greece after Sunday's general election. His great-grandmother, Penelope Delta, a celebrated author of patriotic children's books, committed suicide in 1941, unable to stand the sight of German tanks rolling down the streets of Athens during World War Two. Such heritage has sometimes propelled Samaras towards the most right-wing corner of the conservative New Democracy party he has led since 2009. ... Full Story | Top |
Conservative rebel shakes up Greek politics
Sat,5 May 2012 04:44 PM PDT
Reuters - ATHENS (Reuters) - Conservative rebel Panos Kammenos has stormed out of nowhere to torpedo his old party's chances of winning outright victory in Sunday's Greek election and put himself in a strong position to be a power broker after the vote. Kammenos splintered from the main conservative party New Democracy in February when he launched the Independent Greeks movement. It is riding a wave of popular discontent against austerity policies demanded by international lenders. ... Full Story | Top |
Greek Socialist bruiser Venizelos faces uphill battle
Sat,5 May 2012 04:44 PM PDT
Reuters - ATHENS (Reuters) - Socialist party leader Evangelos Venizelos is running an uphill race to Sunday's election, trying to convince angry Greeks that deeply unpopular economic reforms are the only way to escape the worst crisis in decades. In less than three years, his PASOK party went from a landslide election victory to fifth place in opinion polls, loathed by Greeks for imposing crippling austerity measures and accused by European powers of mishandling a debt crisis that shook the euro zone to its foundations. ... Full Story | Top |
Angry Greeks vote in cliffhanger election
Sat,5 May 2012 04:44 PM PDT
Reuters -  ATHENS (Reuters) - Angry Greek voters head to the polls on Sunday for an election shrouded in uncertainty that could reignite Europe's debt crisis and renew doubts about the country's future in the euro zone. The first general election since Greece's debt crisis exploded at the end of 2009 will go a long way to dictating whether the country will stick to the terms of EU/IMF bailouts which saved it from bankruptcy but propelled it into a deep recession. At stake is whether the country that drew the decade-old euro zone into the worst crisis since its creation could push it back into turmoil. ...
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Black farmers' quest for justice draws to a close
Sat,5 May 2012 04:33 PM PDT
Reuters -  BIRMINGHAM, Alabama (Reuters) - After decades of discrimination and years of legal wrangling, black American farmers are rushing to beat a May 11 deadline to file racial discrimination claims against the U.S. Department of Agriculture over its lending practices. Many of them missed an earlier deadline to file claims for part of what has become a $1.25 billion settlement resulting from a 2008 federal farm bill and subsequent congressional action. ...
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Keep off beaches, Peru warns after mass pelican deaths
Sat,5 May 2012 04:30 PM PDT
Reuters -  LIMA (Reuters) - Peru's government declared a health alert along its northern coastline on Saturday and urged residents and tourists alike to stay away from long stretches of beach, as it investigates the unexplained deaths of hundreds of dolphins and pelicans. At least 1,200 birds, mostly pelicans, washed up dead along a stretch of Peru's northern Pacific coastline in recent weeks, health officials said, after an estimated 800 dolphins died in the same area in recent months. ...
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Greek leftist taps into anti-politician anger
Sat,5 May 2012 04:25 PM PDT
Reuters - ATHENS (Reuters) - In barely two years, Fotis Kouvelis has gone from obscure leftist rebel to the man who could hold the key to Greece's next government, after winning over many voters with his low-key, avuncular style. With a pro-euro and anti-austerity message, the 63-year-old's Democratic Left party has tapped into voter anger over the terms of an international bailout to emerge as one of four parties battling for third place when Greeks vote in a general election on Sunday. ... Full Story | Top |
Greece's anti-bailout Tsipras seeks left front
Sat,5 May 2012 04:25 PM PDT
Reuters - ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece's youngest political leader, Alexis Tsipras, is seeking a united left front that will call time on the harsh austerity that comes with an international bailout keeping Athens afloat. He calls the ultimatum thrown down by mainstream parties, bailout or bust, a scare tactic to force people to accept painful cuts in pay and pensions. The leader of the Left Coalition, one of four parties vying for third place, Tsipras, 38, is appealing to the KKE communists, the Democratic Left and others to team up at May 6 elections to vote out policies driving Greeks into poverty. ... Full Story | Top |
Five killed and two wounded in Mexico City shootout
Sat,5 May 2012 04:13 PM PDT
Reuters - MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Five young people died and two others were seriously wounded after a gunfight in eastern Mexico City on Saturday, authorities said. The prosecutors' office in Mexico City said two of the dead were female, aged 14 and 20. The male victims were 17, 22 and "about 20", a spokeswoman for the office said. The sex and precise age of the two wounded was still unclear, she added. The shooting took place early on Saturday in Iztapalapa, a poor, crowded district that has struggled with crime. Two cars were found at the scene, one of which contained the bodies of the two girls. ... Full Story | Top |
Libertarians nominate ex-Governor Gary Johnson for president
Sat,5 May 2012 04:06 PM PDT
Reuters - LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - The Libertarian Party on Saturday chose former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson, who was once a Republican White House hopeful, as its presidential candidate in the November 6 election. Johnson, who announced in December he would run for president as a Libertarian after mounting a long-shot candidacy for the Republican nomination, won 70 percent of the votes cast by 632 delegates at the party's convention in Las Vegas, Libertarian Party spokesman Stephen Gordon said. ...
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Late NFL star Seau's family undecided on brain research
Sat,5 May 2012 04:02 PM PDT
Reuters -  (Reuters) - Former National Football League star Junior Seau's family is revisiting its plans for research on the brain of the retired linebacker, who killed himself in his California home on Wednesday, a pastor for the family said on Saturday.
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Obama ramps up campaign, knocks Romney's CEO past
Sat,5 May 2012 03:56 PM PDT
Reuters -  COLUMBUS, Ohio (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama used his first rallies of the 2012 campaign on Saturday to attack Republican Mitt Romney for learning the "wrong lessons" as a business executive, and promised to move the economy forward if he wins a second term. Obama formally launched his Chicago-based re-election effort last year, but the Democratic president's own campaigning has been confined to fundraisers while the Republican Party whittled down possible nominees to run against him. That changed this weekend. ...
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Factbox: Armenia's parliamentary election
Sat,5 May 2012 03:44 PM PDT
Reuters - YEREVAN (Reuters) - Armenia votes on Sunday in a parliamentary election. Here are some key facts about the former Soviet republic and main contenders in the upcoming election. MAIN CONTENDERS IN ELECTION: President Serzh Sarksyan's Republican Party, the Prosperous Armenia party led by businessman Gagik Tsarukyan, the Armenian National Congress - a diverse coalition of radical opposition groups led by former President Levon Ter-Petrosyan, the Dashnaktsutiun Party, the Country of Law Party; the moderate opposition Heritage Party. ... Full Story | Top |
Armenia hopes for calm election, democratic outcome
Sat,5 May 2012 03:42 PM PDT
Reuters - YEREVAN (Reuters) - Armenia holds a parliamentary election on Sunday which leaders hope will reinforce stability and be free of the fraud and violence that marred the South Caucasus country's last national polls. The biggest parties in the coalition government, President Serzh Sarksyan's Republican Party and Prosperous Armenia led by businessman Gagik Tsarukyan, are expected to remain the strongest in the former Soviet republic of 3.3 million. ... Full Story | Top |
Backing EU path, Serbian right wing bids for power
Sat,5 May 2012 03:36 PM PDT
Reuters - BELGRADE (Reuters) - Serbia's right-wing opposition bids for power on Sunday in knife-edge elections marked by an unprecedented pro-European consensus more than a decade since the fall of nationalist strongman Slobodan Milosevic. Liberals who took power in 2000 face their strongest challenge yet from the opposition led by Tomislav Nikolic, once demonized by the West as Milosevic's spiritual heir but who says he now shares the goal of taking Serbia into the European Union. ... Full Story | Top |
Merkel's party set for photo finish in state vote
Sat,5 May 2012 03:32 PM PDT
Reuters -  BERLIN (Reuters) - Angela Merkel's conservatives face a photo-finish state vote in Germany's north on Sunday, knowing that losing power in Schleswig-Holstein could give vital momentum to the opposition and dent the chancellor's 2013 re-election hopes. Merkel's resolute stance through the dramas of the euro zone crisis has left her personal popularity intact. But her national centre-right coalition is in jeopardy after a slump in public support for her junior coalition partners, the Free Democrats (FDP), due to their infighting and prickly leaders. ...
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Foes of Russia's Putin plan "million-man march"
Sat,5 May 2012 03:25 PM PDT
Reuters - MOSCOW (Reuters) - Vladimir Putin's opponents plan a "million-man march" in Moscow on Sunday to revive their flagging protest movement and renew pressure on Russia's supreme leader on the eve of his return to the presidency. But the opposition leaders' first attempt to organize a big rally for two months could fall flat because protests against Putin have lost momentum since his election victory on March 4. ... Full Story | Top |
Foes of Russia's Putin plan "million-man march"
Sat,5 May 2012 03:21 PM PDT
Reuters -  MOSCOW (Reuters) - Vladimir Putin's opponents plan a "million-man march" in Moscow on Sunday to revive their flagging protest movement and renew pressure on Russia's supreme leader on the eve of his return to the presidency. But the opposition leaders' first attempt to organize a big rally for two months could fall flat because protests against Putin have lost momentum since his election victory on March 4. ...
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Hollande favorite as French prepare for Sunday vote
Sat,5 May 2012 02:18 PM PDT
Reuters -  Campaigning ended on Saturday in France for a decisive second-round presidential vote expected to crown Francois Hollande the country's first Socialist leader in two decades despite polls showing President Nicolas Sarkozy clawing back some ground. Sunday's election, which coincides with parliamentary polls in Greece, may prove decisive for the direction of Europe as Hollande has promised he will try to temper a German-led austerity drive across Europe and reorientate the recession-struck euro zone towards growth. ...
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9/11 suspects defiant at Guantanamo arraignment
Sat,5 May 2012 02:14 PM PDT
Reuters - GUANTANAMO BAY U.S. NAVAL BASE, Cuba (Reuters) - The arraignment of five Guantanamo prisoners accused of plotting the September 11 attacks got off to a chaotic start on Saturday when all the defendants defiantly refused to answer the judge's questions and one made outbursts in court. Defense lawyers answered routine questions about their resumes with complaints that the proceedings were unfair and that the defendants had been abused. The judge struggled to keep the proceedings in the death penalty case on track. "Why is this so hard?" asked the exasperated judge, Army Colonel James Pohl. ...
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France's Sarkozy cuts Hollande poll lead to four points
Sat,5 May 2012 02:02 PM PDT
Reuters - PARIS (Reuters) - An opinion poll on Friday suggested French President Nicolas Sarkozy has cut his Socialist rival Francois Hollande's lead to just four percentage points ahead of Sunday's decisive second-round vote, the narrowest gap to date. The daily survey by pollster Ifop-Fiducial had Hollande, who has led in the polls for months, losing one percentage point to stand at 52 percent of those intending to vote, while Sarkozy rose to 48. ... Full Story | Top |
Factbox: France's voters pick president, then parliament
Sat,5 May 2012 02:02 PM PDT
Reuters - PARIS (Reuters) - France's 46.03 million voters cast ballots on Sunday in a presidential election where all opinion polls point to a victory for Socialist Francois Hollande over conservative re-election contender Nicolas Sarkozy. A parliamentary election follows on June 10 and 17. Following are some facts about the electoral system: THE SYSTEM The French directly elect their president and members of the National Assembly, the 577-seat lower house of parliament, every five years. The system allows for two rounds of voting. ... Full Story | Top |
Statoil to drill with Rosneft on Russian shelf
Sat,5 May 2012 12:44 PM PDT
Reuters -  MOSCOW (Reuters) - Norway's Statoil will drill in Russian Arctic waters thought to contain 2 billion metric tons (2.20 billion tons) of oil in partnership with Rosneft, marking the third deal of its kind for the Russian state company. The agreement, signed on Saturday, provided a showcase for president-elect Vladimir Putin, serving out his final days as prime minister before a May 7 inauguration, and Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin, in charge of energy and industrial policy. ...
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Netanyahu is mistaken on Iran, says election rival
Sat,5 May 2012 11:35 AM PDT
Reuters -  JERUSALEM (Reuters) - A key rival of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticized his hawkish stance on Iran's nuclear program on Saturday, making the issue a central theme for parliamentary elections expected this year. "It's a most serious mistake to turn the issue of defense against Iran into Israel's biggest problem," Shelly Yechimovitch, leader of the left-of-centre Labour party, said in a televised interview. ...
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Bahrain says home-made bomb wounds four policemen
Sat,5 May 2012 11:18 AM PDT
Reuters -  DUBAI (Reuters) - An improvised bomb wounded four Bahraini policemen on Saturday, a commander said, as police clashed again with protesters demanding the release of a jailed rights activist on hunger strike. Unrest has racked Bahrain for more than a year, with mainly majority Shi'ite protesters demanding more democracy and an end to what they see as discrimination in the Sunni-ruled kingdom. "The officers were dealing with saboteurs who were terrorizing citizens ... ...
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Libyan leader says doctors have told him to rest
Sat,5 May 2012 11:01 AM PDT
Reuters -  BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) - Libya's interim leader Mustafa Abdel Jalil said on Saturday doctors had ordered him to rest because of a minor health problem. Abdel Jalil, the chairman of the ruling National Transitional Council, told reporters he had been for a check-up at a hospital in the eastern city of Benghazi but that it "was nothing serious". "Because of the amount of work and the circumstances and the problems we are facing every day ... I had a small health problem," he said. "What I am going through right now is nothing serious. ...
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Putin says ready to "go far" in U.S. relations: Ifax
Sat,5 May 2012 10:53 AM PDT
Reuters -  Russia's President-elect Vladimir Putin is ready to go far in developing ties between Russia and the United States provided the relationship is equal, Interfax news agency quoted Putin's foreign policy aide as saying on Saturday. Putin discussed bilateral relations at a closed-door meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama's top security aide Tom Donilon at his Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow on Friday, three days before his inauguration ceremony at the Kremlin. ...
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Europe must balance austerity with growth: EU's Rehn
Sat,5 May 2012 10:42 AM PDT
Reuters - BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Europe needs to balance cutting its debt with measures to stimulate growth, the region's top economics official said on Saturday, as austerity threatens to drag the bloc into its second recession in three years. During the financial crisis, the message from Brussels has been that struggling euro zone countries must cut their budget deficits and carry out structural reforms to increase competitiveness. ... Full Story | Top |
Democrats could gain if Indiana's Lugar loses U.S. Senate seat
Sat,5 May 2012 10:23 AM PDT
Reuters - (Reuters) - The last time Republican Senate veteran Richard Lugar stood for election, in 2006, he was so respected that the Democrats did not bother to run against him and he won his Indiana seat with 87 percent of the vote. But now Lugar, 80, is faltering under a conservative challenge from within his own party in Tuesday's Indiana Republican primary. That is giving Democrats, struggling to keep control of the U.S. Senate in November's elections, a glimmer of hope of winning the U.S. Senate seat Lugar has held for 36 years. ... Full Story | Top |
Sudan says South Sudan troops inside its territory
Sat,5 May 2012 10:17 AM PDT
Reuters - KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan's army accused South Sudan on Saturday of having troops on its territory, a sign tensions between the former civil war foes were unlikely to cool despite an international ultimatum to end fighting. Sudanese army spokesman al-Sawarmi Khalid said the military would abide by a U.N.-backed African Union call to halt hostilities, in an effort to end weeks of border fighting that has threatened to escalate into a full-blown war. But Khalid said the army had a right to defend its territory from foreign troops. "We have committed to (the decision). ... Full Story | Top |
Gunmen in army uniform execute five in east Nigeria
Sat,5 May 2012 10:13 AM PDT
Reuters - MAIDUGURI (Reuters) - Gunmen in military uniform abducted five people in eastern Nigeria, tied their hands and shot them dead, police said on Saturday. The attack overnight took place in Dananaca village, Taraba state, which is usually peaceful but which suffered a bombing at the hands of Islamist militants last week. "The police are still investigating to ascertain if the people are real soldiers and from which unit," police spokesman for Taraba state Ibiam Mbaseki told Reuters by telephone. ... Full Story | Top |
Leading Iraqi lawmakers threaten vote of no confidence
Sat,5 May 2012 10:02 AM PDT
Reuters - BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Four of the most senior political leaders in Iraq's fragile coalition have threatened to bring a vote of no confidence in the government unless "autocratic decision-making" stops, a letter published in a state newspaper on Saturday said. Iraq's Shi'ite, Sunni and Kurd coalition began to creak in December, after U.S. troops left, when the government tried to remove Sunni Deputy Prime Minister Saleh al-Mutlaq and issued an arrest warrant for Sunni Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi. ... Full Story | Top |
Anxious Hollande tries to relax ahead of French vote
Sat,5 May 2012 09:50 AM PDT
Reuters -  TULLE, France (Reuters) - French Socialist Francois Hollande spent Saturday mingling with well-wishers and sampling delicacies at a market in his rural political base as he savored what may be his last moments of quiet if he wins Sunday's election runoff. Final opinion polls give Hollande a lead of around six points for the decisive round against President Nicolas Sarkozy, suggesting he could be a day from becoming the first Socialist to win a French presidential election since 1988. ...
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FCC rejects Liberty Media bid for Sirius XM control
Sat,5 May 2012 09:44 AM PDT
Reuters - (Reuters) - A federal regulator dismissed John Malone's Liberty Media Corp's application to take control of Sirius XM Radio Inc with its current stake of 40 percent. Friday's decision by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission came after Liberty Media, Sirius XM's largest shareholder, in March requested approval to take over the company's operating licenses, arguing that it had de facto control of Sirius XM with its large stake and board seats. ... Full Story | Top |
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