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U.N. to release divisive report on Rwanda support for Congo rebels
Tue,26 Jun 2012 06:36 PM PDT
Reuters - UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council agreed on Tuesday to publish a controversial document implicating Rwanda's defense minister and several top military officials in backing an army mutiny in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, council diplomats said. The evidence contained in an addendum to a recent report by U.N. experts is the strongest yet to indicate high-level support within Rwandan President Paul Kagame's government for the so-called M23 rebellion against Congolese forces that has caused thousands to flee their homes in the east of the DRC. ... Full Story | Top |
U.S. condemns crackdown on Sudan protests
Tue,26 Jun 2012 06:03 PM PDT
Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Tuesday condemned a crackdown on anti-government protests in Sudan that have spread throughout the capital, Khartoum. The unrest that began as isolated student protests over planned austerity measures in the Arab-African nation expanded over the past several days into larger and more volatile demonstrations. Riot police were ordered in to immediately stop the street uprising, firing tear gas and using batons on rock-throwing demonstrators. There have also been reports that protesters have been arrested, detained and beaten, the U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
A lot at stake for U.S. gun lobby in contempt vote
Tue,26 Jun 2012 06:02 PM PDT
Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Even before President Barack Obama and his Attorney General Eric Holder formally took office in 2009, the National Rifle Association stated that the new administration's secret "gun-control agenda" posed a clear danger to America's gun owners and the constitutional right to bear arms. So after whistleblowers revealed a botched gun-running probe conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives — "Operation Fast and Furious" - a top NRA official called it another "Watergate. ... Full Story | Top |
Arizona police see "difficulties" enforcing immigration law
Tue,26 Jun 2012 05:46 PM PDT
Reuters - PHOENIX (Reuters) - For Arizona sheriff Antonio Estrada, enforcing a state law that requires officers to determine the immigration status of people they stop and suspect are in the United States illegally was always going to be difficult. But that is exactly what he will soon be expected to do now that the U.S. Supreme Court has upheld the most controversial aspect of Arizona's crackdown on illegal immigrants. "They are focusing on one particular group of people, Hispanics, and here along the border ... ... Full Story | Top |
Lawmakers close to deals on transportation, student loans
Tue,26 Jun 2012 05:45 PM PDT
Reuters -  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. congressional negotiators neared a pair of election-year deals on Tuesday - one for a massive job-creating transportation bill, the other to prevent a doubling of student-loan interest rates, said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. Reid, a Democrat, said it was possible that final bipartisan agreements could be reached on both long-stalled pieces of legislation before lawmakers leave at week's end for a holiday recess. ...
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High Court gives some jailed as teens hope of freedom
Tue,26 Jun 2012 05:40 PM PDT
Reuters - CHICAGO (Reuters) - Qu'eed Batts, jailed for life in Pennsylvania at 16 for the gang-ordered slaying of a fellow teen, could be among some 2,000 juvenile murderers eligible for reduced sentences or freedom from jail following a landmark Supreme Court decision. The court ruled on Monday that juvenile murderers cannot be handed mandatory sentences of life in prison without parole, as is the law in 29 U.S. states. The ruling means that the personal stories of youths such as Batts could be heard by judges or parole boards for the first time. None received sentencing hearings after their trials. ... Full Story | Top |
Russia's Lavrov to attend Syria meeting, if it happens
Tue,26 Jun 2012 05:32 PM PDT
Reuters - UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will attend a meeting on the escalating conflict in Syria that international mediator Kofi Annan is attempting to organize in Geneva this weekend, Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said on Tuesday. "Sergei Lavrov has officially accepted the invitation to come to the actual meeting in Geneva on Saturday, June 30," Churkin told reporters ahead of a closed-door meeting of the U.N. Security Council on Syria. "We attach great importance to this meeting." U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
Governor declares state of emergency in Wisconsin flooding
Tue,26 Jun 2012 05:20 PM PDT
Reuters - MILWAUKEE (Reuters) - Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker on Tuesday declared a state of emergency for three counties in the northwest corner of the state ravaged last week when heavy rain caused flooding that damaged more than 500 homes and businesses. Some roads remain underwater from the heavy rain of three to five inches that fell across northwestern Wisconsin on June 19 and 20, causing damage to roads, culverts and other public infrastructure of more than $2.5 million. ... Full Story | Top |
Inmates graduate with high school diplomas, in New York jail
Tue,26 Jun 2012 04:08 PM PDT
Reuters - NEW YORK (Reuters) - More than two dozen students graduated on Tuesday from one of New York City's more unusual schools, where pens are forbidden and armed guards watch over every classroom. The ceremony at the East River Academy on Rikers Island, New York City's main jail, allowed prisoners to take a step toward a better future with a high school equivalency diploma, known as a GED. "Wow! Wow! I say 'wow' because now I have something people can appreciate me for," said Adboul Hanne, who is awaiting trial on an attempted murder charge. ... Full Story | Top |
Pentagon marks gay pride month for first time
Tue,26 Jun 2012 04:07 PM PDT
Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. military celebrated gay pride month at the Pentagon for the first time on Tuesday, with officials praising the services for smoothly adapting to a law that permits homosexuals to serve openly in the armed forces. "As recently as three years ago, it would have been hard for many of us, including me, to believe that in the year 2012, a gay man or woman in the armed forces could be honest about their sexual orientation," the Pentagon's top lawyer, Jeh Johnson, said in a keynote address. ... Full Story | Top |
U.N. wants Africa's Kony hunters fully equipped by year-end
Tue,26 Jun 2012 03:43 PM PDT
Reuters - UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations wants an African Union force hunting fugitive warlord Joseph Kony and his Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) to be fully equipped by December, according to a U.N. strategy due to be presented to the world body's Security Council on Wednesday. The AU force, which has U.S. backing, aims to have a full strength of 5,000 troops from South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic (CAR) and Uganda, but lacks equipment, training, food and transportation. ... Full Story | Top |
U.S. intelligence sees few cracks in Assad's inner circle
Tue,26 Jun 2012 03:40 PM PDT
Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Despite some military defections, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's inner circle remains cohesive and the 16-month conflict with rebels is likely to be a drawn-out struggle, senior U.S. intelligence officials said on Tuesday. That assessment appears to dash any U.S. hopes that Assad, whose ouster Washington has called for, will fall soon of his own accord. The Obama administration has declined to intervene militarily in Syria, citing the lack of international backing and the country's sectarian divisions. ... Full Story | Top |
British Queen, ex-IRA chief to seal end to conflict
Tue,26 Jun 2012 03:39 PM PDT
Reuters -  BELFAST (Reuters) - Britain's Queen Elizabeth is to shake the hand of a once-feared commander of the Irish Republican Army on Wednesday to draw a line under one of Europe's bitterest conflicts, which cost the lives of thousands of soldiers and civilians, including her cousin. The meeting with Martin McGuinness in a Belfast theatre, 14 years after the Irish Republican Army (IRA) ended its war against Britain's claim to Northern Ireland, will be the final major handshake in a peace process whose success has been studied around the world. ...
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Dutch upper house approves euro zone rescue fund ESM
Tue,26 Jun 2012 03:38 PM PDT
Reuters - AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - The Dutch Senate is set to approve the euro zone's permanent bailout fund after parties with sufficient votes to obtain a majority in the upper house declared their support on Tuesday. While the Senate will not vote on the European Stability Mechanism before Wednesday, only two smaller parties, the left-wing Socialist Party and the populist rightist Freedom Party, said they would vote against the institution, which can lend up to 500 billion euros ($623.55 billion) to bail out euro zone member countries. ... Full Story | Top |
Weeks of Serbian government talks near collapse
Tue,26 Jun 2012 03:26 PM PDT
Reuters - BELGRADE (Reuters) - Talks on forming a pro-reform coalition government in Serbia looked on the verge of collapse on Tuesday, raising the prospect of nationalists taking power in the country which is a candidate for European Union membership. Seven weeks after an inconclusive parliamentary election, the Democratic Party issued a statement late on Tuesday demanding that the Socialist-led bloc say whether its initial agreement to form a government still stands. ... Full Story | Top |
Consumer group urges FDA to reject Arena diet drug
Tue,26 Jun 2012 02:48 PM PDT
Reuters - (Reuters) - Watchdog group Public Citizen urged U.S. regulators on Tuesday not to approve Arena Pharmaceuticals Inc's experimental diet pill lorcaserin, citing concerns it could increase patients' risk of heart valve damage. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is expected to rule on whether to approve the drug by Wednesday. Public Citizen, a nonprofit consumer advocacy group, said physicians at last month's FDA advisory panel meeting on lorcaserin raised serious concerns about evidence of increased valve disease risks in patients who used the drug in clinical trials. ... Full Story | Top |
Utah Senator Hatch faces Tea Party rival in primary run-off
Tue,26 Jun 2012 02:44 PM PDT
Reuters -  SALT LAKE CITY (Reuters) - Veteran U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch faced off on Tuesday against a Tea Party movement-backed challenger who was able to woo enough votes at Utah's Republican nominating convention to force a primary run-off. Hatch, a 78-year-old stalwart of the Republican Party who was first elected to the Senate in 1976, is competing against Dan Liljenquist, a former state senator who has billed himself as a face for change and more conservative leadership. Heavily Republican Utah last elected a Democrat to the U.S. ...
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Senate panel approves "Magnitsky" sanctions on Russia
Tue,26 Jun 2012 02:30 PM PDT
Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. Senate panel on Tuesday unanimously approved a bill that would penalize Russian officials for human rights abuses, a measure with broad support in Congress that Russia protests would be an unwarranted intrusion into its internal affairs. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee passed the "Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act," named after an anti-corruption lawyer who died in 2009 after a year in Russian jails. It is sponsored by Democratic Senator Ben Cardin. ... Full Story | Top |
Cast out of Israel, South Sudanese face risky future
Tue,26 Jun 2012 02:27 PM PDT
Reuters -  JUBA (Reuters) - Wearing low-slung ripped jeans, a silver cross and diamond-studded earrings, Marshan Mai cursed as he stepped off the aircraft back on to the land he left years ago. He was in the second group of South Sudanese migrants who arrived at Juba airport on Tuesday after being deported from Israel and who face an uncertain future back in their war-torn and impoverished country. "I don't want to be here. I didn't want to come back. I have nothing to do here," Mai said, as migrants carried laptops, toy cars, huge plasma screens and a guitar off the plane. ...
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Priest in U.S. church abuse case seeks release from jail
Tue,26 Jun 2012 02:26 PM PDT
Reuters - PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - A monsignor on Tuesday asked a judge to free him from jail following his conviction in the Roman Catholic Church's child sex abuse scandal, saying he was not a flight risk and is prepared to waive his right to fight extradition. William Lynn, 61, the former secretary of the clergy for the Philadelphia Archdiocese, has been behind bars since Friday when he became the only senior church official convicted for covering up the abuse. He faces up to seven years in prison when he is sentenced on August 13 for endangering the welfare of a child. ... Full Story | Top |
Trayvon Martin's killer never identified himself: police
Tue,26 Jun 2012 02:24 PM PDT
Reuters - MIAMI (Reuters) - George Zimmerman, the man charged in the killing of Trayvon Martin, failed on at least two opportunities to identify himself as a neighborhood watch volunteer before he shot the unarmed teenager, a police investigator wrote in a report made public on Tuesday. Pages of the report were among a batch of new evidence released in the case by Florida's state attorney's office. The records included video and audio recordings of Zimmerman and written statements by him and police. ... Full Story | Top |
Rielle Hunter says she has split with John Edwards
Tue,26 Jun 2012 02:20 PM PDT
Reuters -  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Rielle Hunter, the woman who had an affair with former U.S. Senator John Edwards during his U.S. presidential bid, said on Tuesday that she was no longer in a relationship with him. In an interview to promote her tell-all memoir, Hunter, 48, told ABC's "Good Morning America" that she and Edwards had split, but would continue to see each other as they share parenting duties of their now 4-year-old daughter, Frances Quinn Hunter. "We are a family, but as of the end of last week, John Edwards and I are no longer a couple," Hunter told the morning program. "Not at all. ...
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Assad says Syria at war as battle reaches capital
Tue,26 Jun 2012 02:19 PM PDT
Reuters -  BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad declared on Tuesday that his country was at war and ordered his new government to spare no effort to achieve victory, as the worst fighting of the 16-month conflict reached the outskirts of the capital. Video published by activists recorded heavy gunfire and explosions in suburbs of Damascus. A trail of fresh blood on a sidewalk in the suburb of Qudsiya led into a building where one casualty was taken. A naked man writhed in pain, his body pierced by shrapnel. ...
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Nigeria president replaces execs of state oil NNPC
Tue,26 Jun 2012 02:14 PM PDT
Reuters - ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan is replacing the managing director of state oil company Nigerian National Petroleum Corp (NNPC) and three other senior directors on Tuesday, a presidency statement said. "To further strengthen the ongoing reforms ... and in furtherance of efforts to achieve greater transparency and accountability ... President Jonathan has approved the re-composition of the executive management team of the NNPC," the statement said. ... Full Story | Top |
U.S. group flags chemical levels in Coke sold abroad
Tue,26 Jun 2012 02:11 PM PDT
Reuters - (Reuters) - Coca-Cola Co's namesake soda sold in several countries, including Brazil and Kenya, still contains a high level of a chemical linked to cancer in animals months after it made changes to the drinks sold in California, a U.S. watchdog group said on Tuesday. The Center for Science in the Public Interest said that samples of Coca-Cola tested in nine countries showed "alarming amounts" of the chemical 4-methylimidazole, or 4-MI, used as an ingredient in caramel coloring. High levels of that chemical have been linked to cancer in animals. ... Full Story | Top |
TransCanada wins 1 of 3 US permits for Keystone line
Tue,26 Jun 2012 02:02 PM PDT
Reuters - CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) - The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has granted TransCanada Corp one of three permits it needs to build the $2.3 billion southern section of the Keystone XL pipeline, a project President Barack Obama had pledged to move forward quickly. TransCanada, which seeks to build the overall project in stages after Obama rejected the contentious first application, said the approval covers wetland and water crossings in the Galveston, Texas, district. ... Full Story | Top |
Mexico's Pena Nieto with big poll lead before election
Tue,26 Jun 2012 01:54 PM PDT
Reuters -  MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico's presidential front-runner Enrique Pena Nieto maintained his wide lead over leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and his Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) could win a majority in Congress, a new poll less than a week before the election showed on Tuesday. The latest voter survey for the July 1 election by Consulta Mitofsky showed support for Pena Nieto at 38.4 percent, up 0.8 percentage points from a poll published last week by the firm. ...
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Kuwaitis protest after elected parliament thrown out
Tue,26 Jun 2012 01:46 PM PDT
Reuters - KUWAIT (Reuters) - Thousands of Kuwaitis protested on Tuesday against a court ruling that effectively dissolved a parliament dominated by opposition Islamists and reinstated the previous, more government-friendly, assembly. They packed Erada square opposite parliament in the OPEC-oil producer and chanted "we will not surrender", after lawmakers decried the ruling as a coup against the constitution and called for protests. "We came here to say no to the previous parliament because its members were corrupt," said Khaled al-Khalifa, 24. "They stole the people's money. ... Full Story | Top |
Romney would get tough on China: Portman
Tue,26 Jun 2012 01:44 PM PDT
Reuters -  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney would move aggressively to open up more foreign markets for U.S. exports, while getting tougher with China on its trade and currency practices, Senator Rob Portman said on Tuesday. The potential Romney vice presidential running mate said President Barack Obama has allowed the United States to fall "behind in a very significant way (on trade) because we are not engaging in opening up markets virtually anywhere. ...
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White House says ready for Supreme Court health decision
Tue,26 Jun 2012 01:41 PM PDT
Reuters -  ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE (Reuters) - The White House said on Tuesday it was ready for a Supreme Court verdict on President Barack Obama's flagship health reform law and remained convinced the legislation would be upheld. "We are, as I have said in the past, confident that the Affordable Care Act is constitutional, in keeping with decades of precedent under the commerce clause," White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters aboard Air Force One. "We continue to implement the law accordingly and we are ready for the Supreme Court's decision, whatever it may be. ...
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Romney presses attacks on "Obamacare" before ruling
Tue,26 Jun 2012 01:36 PM PDT
Reuters -  SALEM, Virginia (Reuters) - Republican Mitt Romney stepped up his criticism on Tuesday of President Barack Obama's signature domestic policy achievement, saying if the U.S. Supreme Court does not overturn the 2010 healthcare overhaul when it decides its fate this week he would dump it if elected in November. Eager to change the subject back to Obama's economic stewardship after nearly two difficult weeks focusing on immigration, Romney accused Obama of taking his eye off the ball when he pushed the healthcare measure through Congress in 2010. ...
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Romania probes plot to spare ex-PM jail with wound
Tue,26 Jun 2012 01:27 PM PDT
Reuters - BUCHAREST (Reuters) - Romanian prosecutors said on Tuesday they were investigating allegations that a doctor and three policemen helped former Prime Minister Adrian Nastase try to avoid jail after he shot and wounded himself last week. Nastase, 62, shot himself in the neck with a pistol when police came to take him to jail for corruption. But local media have questioned the seriousness of the wound given the lack of blood when he was in the ambulance, and suggested it may have been a ploy to keep him out of prison. ... Full Story | Top |
Bomb explodes outside Tunisian consulate in Tripoli
Tue,26 Jun 2012 01:07 PM PDT
Reuters - TRIPOLI (Reuters) - A bomb exploded outside the Tunisian consulate in Tripoli on Tuesday, causing damage but no injuries, a Libyan security official said, the latest in a rash of attacks on foreign targets in the North African state. Libyan police had no information on the identity or motive of the attackers, and a consulate official declined to comment. ... Full Story | Top |
Assad says Syria in a "real state of war"
Tue,26 Jun 2012 12:59 PM PDT
Reuters - BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said on Tuesday his country was in a state of war and ordered his newly appointed government to direct all its efforts towards vanquishing the uprising against him. "We live in a real state of war from all angles," Assad told a cabinet he appointed on Tuesday in a speech aired on Syrian state television. "When we are in a war, all policies and all sides and all sectors need to be directed at winning this war." Assad dismissed the arguments of Western countries that have been calling for him to step aside. ... Full Story | Top |
Spain considers tax hikes to curb deficit, please EU
Tue,26 Jun 2012 12:51 PM PDT
Reuters - MADRID, June 26 - Spain is considering raising consumer, energy and property taxes, the government said on Tuesday, as it struggles to reduce a public deficit that may have already exceeded one of its budgeted ceilings for the full year. Underlining the state of Spanish finances as it negotiates an international bailout for its banks, the central government deficit was 3.41 percent of gross domestic product from January to May, close to a end-year target of 3.5 percent, Treasury data showed. ... Full Story | Top |
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania leaders sue to block receiver
Tue,26 Jun 2012 12:49 PM PDT
Reuters - HARRISBURG - (Reuters) - The City Council in Pennsylvania's capital of Harrisburg sued the state on Tuesday to halt work by a receiver overseeing the city's fiscal recovery plan. The federal lawsuit challenges the state's takeover of Harrisburg, claiming that state lawmakers' approval in October of a receiver was unconstitutional. ... Full Story | Top |
Roche revamps research ops, cuts 1,000 U.S. jobs
Tue,26 Jun 2012 12:37 PM PDT
Reuters -  ZURICH/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Swiss drugmaker Roche Holding AG said on Tuesday it was overhauling its research operations by closing the 80-year-old New Jersey facility where Valium was discovered, cutting 1,000 jobs and replacing its drug research chief. Jean-Jacques Garaud, head of pharmaceutical research, will leave the company at the end of this week, Roche said. He will be replaced by Mike Burgess, head of cancer drugs. Roche will also shutter its 127-acre Nutley, N.J.-based campus and move those activities to Germany and Switzerland, a consolidation aimed at curbing drug development costs. ...
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Italy's Monti wins confidence votes on labor reform
Tue,26 Jun 2012 12:31 PM PDT
Reuters - ROME (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti on Tuesday won the first two of four confidence votes called to accelerate the passage of his labor reform that has been criticized by both by labor unions and the business establishment. The final two votes, and definitive approval of the reform, are due on Wednesday. If the government lost one of the votes Monti would have to resign. But the prime minister is considered certain to win, as the main parties backing his technocrat government have already promised their support, albeit often grudgingly. ... Full Story | Top |
Agencies ordered to preserve records in leak probes
Tue,26 Jun 2012 12:25 PM PDT
Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. intelligence and defense officials have been ordered to preserve documents and emails that could be relevant to national security leak investigations being pursued by federal prosecutors, Obama administration officials said on Tuesday. A U.S. defense official said the order to Defense Department personnel applies to any documentation - emails, faxes and paper documents - that might be relevant to investigators. "We are in receipt of a preservation order issued by the Justice Department," the official said. ... Full Story | Top |
Egyptian "terrorist" group member was no threat: U.S.
Tue,26 Jun 2012 12:08 PM PDT
Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A member of an Egyptian "terrorist" group who met U.S. officials in Washington this month despite U.S. law barring such visits did not pose a threat to the United States, the State Department said on Tuesday. Hani Nour Eldin, a member of Egypt's dissolved parliament, obtained a U.S. visa and meetings with U.S. officials despite his membership in Egypt's Gama'a al-Islamiyya, which the State Department deems a "foreign terrorist organization" (FTO). ... Full Story | Top |
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