Today's Reuters World News Headlines - Yahoo! News:
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Clinton tours Arctic as big powers vie for resources
Fri,1 Jun 2012 07:25 PM PDT
Reuters -  TROMSO, Norway (Reuters) - Secretary of State Hillary Clinton boards a research ship on Saturday to tour the Arctic, where big powers are vying for vast deposits of oil, gas and minerals that are becoming available as the polar ice recedes. The top U.S. diplomat took the unusual step of visiting Tromso, a Norwegian town in the Arctic Circle, to dramatize U.S. interests in a once inaccessible region whose resources are up for grabs as the sea ice melts with climate change. ...
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More U.S. warships in Asia-Pacific under new strategy: Panetta
Fri,1 Jun 2012 06:27 PM PDT
Reuters -  SINGAPORE (Reuters) - The United States will keep six aircraft carriers in the Asia-Pacific and move a majority of its other warships to the region in the coming years, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said on Saturday as he offered details of a new U.S. military strategy for the first time. Speaking to an annual security forum in Singapore, Panetta also sought to dispel the notion that the shift in U.S. focus to the Asia-Pacific was part of an American effort to contain China's emergence as a global power. "I reject that view entirely. ...
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U.S. publishes satellite images of Syria
Fri,1 Jun 2012 06:25 PM PDT
Reuters -  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. government website on Friday published what it said was photographic evidence of mass graves and attacks on civilian areas by Syrian government forces. The website, operated by a bureau of the State Department, published a series of overhead photos, said to be taken earlier this week by commercial satellite, showing what it said were mass graves dug following a massacre near the town of Houla. They also showed apparent artillery impact craters near civilian areas of a town called Atarib. Included on the web page, which can be viewed at http://www.humanrights. ...
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Job growth trips again, opens door to more Fed moves
Fri,1 Jun 2012 06:13 PM PDT
Reuters -  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. job growth braked sharply for a third straight month in May and the unemployment rate rose for the first time in nearly a year, raising chances of further monetary stimulus from the Federal Reserve to support the sputtering recovery. Employers added a paltry 69,000 jobs to their payrolls last month, the least since May of last year, and 49,000 fewer jobs were created in the previous two months than had been thought, the Labor Department said on Friday. ...
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Cyber-attacks "bought us time" on Iran: U.S. sources
Fri,1 Jun 2012 05:51 PM PDT
Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States under former President George W. Bush began building a complex cyber-weapon to try to prevent Tehran from completing suspected nuclear weapons work without resorting to risky military strikes against Iranian facilities, current and former U.S. officials familiar with the program said. Barack Obama accelerated the efforts after succeeding Bush in 2009, according to the sources who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the classified nature of the effort. ... Full Story | Top |
Bosnia leader slams Serbia's Nikolic on Srebrenica
Fri,1 Jun 2012 05:07 PM PDT
Reuters - SARAJEVO (Reuters) - The Muslim chairman of Bosnia's tripartite presidency criticized Serbia's new rightist president, Tomislav Nikolic, on Friday for playing down the 1995 Srebrenica massacre of up to 8,000 Muslims, Europe's worst atrocity since World War Two. Both the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague and the International Court of Justice (ICJ) have ruled that the Srebrenica massacre amounted to genocide. But in an interview with Montenegrin state television posted on its website, Nikolic said: "There was no genocide in Srebrenica. ... Full Story | Top |
Arab League requests U.N. action against Syria
Fri,1 Jun 2012 04:57 PM PDT
Reuters - CAIRO (Reuters) - The head of the Arab League has asked the U.N. Security Council to boost the size of a U.N. mission in Syria and give it expanded powers to protect people following a surge in violence there, according to a letter leaked to media outlets on Friday. Images of the bloodied bodies of children and others massacred in the city of Houla in attacks blamed on President Bashar al-Assad's forces have shocked the world and highlighted the failure of a 6-week-old U.N.-backed ceasefire plan to stop the violence in the 14-month uprising against Assad's rule. ... Full Story | Top |
Prophet cartoons haunt Denmark as verdict nears
Fri,1 Jun 2012 04:43 PM PDT
Reuters - COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - A Danish court will rule on Monday whether four men plotted a slaughter at a newspaper in revenge for its publication of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad - an event that took place seven years ago, and is set to haunt Denmark for years to come. Three Swedes and a Tunisian have pleaded not guilty to planning a massacre at the Copenhagen offices of Jyllands-Posten. Police said the attack was meant to "kill as many as possible" and been foiled with just days to spare. It was only the latest of a number of incidents stemming from the cartoons. ... Full Story | Top |
Annan frustrated over Syria, Russia gives no ground
Fri,1 Jun 2012 04:29 PM PDT
Reuters -  BEIRUT (Reuters) - International envoy Kofi Annan said on Friday he was "frustrated and impatient" a week after a massacre in Syria of 108 people shocked the world, but Russia said his peace plan was still the best hope for Syria. Speaking after separate talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande, President Vladimir Putin urged countries to continue to back Annan's peace initiative as the best way to avoid full civil war. "Mr. Annan is a very experienced and respectable person and we must do everything for his mission to succeed. ...
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France fails to shift Russia's Syria sanctions veto
Fri,1 Jun 2012 03:07 PM PDT
Reuters - PARIS (Reuters) - France's new president, Francois Hollande, failed to win the backing of Russia's Vladimir Putin on Friday for tougher U.N. sanctions aimed at ending violence in Syria. Outrage at last week's mass killings in the Syrian town of Houla prompted France to join several Western nations in stepping up pressure on Syria by expelling senior diplomats and calling on Russia to allow tougher action by the U.N. Security Council. ... Full Story | Top |
U.S. job growth trips again, opens door to more Fed moves
Fri,1 Jun 2012 02:36 PM PDT
Reuters -  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. job growth braked sharply for a third straight month in May and the unemployment rate rose for the first time in nearly a year, raising chances of further monetary stimulus from the Federal Reserve to support the sputtering recovery. Employers added a paltry 69,000 jobs to their payrolls last month, the least since May of last year, and 49,000 fewer jobs were created in the previous two months than had been thought, the Labor Department said on Friday. ...
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Mexico police scour highways after PepsiCo truck torched
Fri,1 Jun 2012 02:25 PM PDT
Reuters -  MORELIA, Mexico (Reuters) - Mexican police on Friday hunted assailants who set ablaze a delivery truck for PepsiCo's local snack food subsidiary in what appeared to be the latest attack against the firm by a drug cartel. A series of attacks on trucks and warehouses belonging to PepsiCo's Sabritas brand started last weekend and are thought to be the first to directly target a global company during Mexico's bloody war on drug traffickers. ...
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U.S. told to decide Iranian group's fate in four months
Fri,1 Jun 2012 02:14 PM PDT
Reuters -  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court on Friday ordered Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to decide within four months whether to remove an Iranian dissident group from a U.S. terrorism list. The three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit unanimously ruled for the group, Mujahadin-e Khalq, or MEK, which has sought to force the State Department to take it off the list or decide within a specified time period on its request to be removed. The appeals court ordered Clinton to either grant or deny the group's petition in four months. ...
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U.S. nuns push back against Vatican crackdown
Fri,1 Jun 2012 02:07 PM PDT
Reuters - (Reuters) - The largest organization of U.S. Catholic nuns on Friday rejected a Vatican assessment that they had fallen under the sway of radical feminism and needed to hand control of their group over to a trio of bishops. The Leadership Conference of Women Religious, whose members represent about 80 percent of nuns in the United States, issued a sharp statement calling the Vatican's rebuke unsubstantiated and "the result of a flawed process that lacked transparency. ... Full Story | Top |
Clinton declines comment on China espionage case
Fri,1 Jun 2012 01:47 PM PDT
Reuters - OSLO (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton declined to comment on Friday on the arrest of a Chinese state security official suspected of spying for the United States, saying only that the two countries continued to cooperate on many issues. The official, an aide to a vice minister in China's security ministry, was detained early this year and accused of passing information to the United States for several years on China's overseas espionage activities, three sources earlier told Reuters. ... Full Story | Top |
Exclusive: China arrests security official on suspicion of spying for U.S.
Fri,1 Jun 2012 01:47 PM PDT
Reuters - HONG KONG (Reuters) - A Chinese state security official has been arrested on suspicion of spying for the United States, sources said, a case both countries have kept quiet for several months as they strive to prevent a fresh crisis in relations. The official, an aide to a vice minister in China's security ministry, was arrested and detained early this year on allegations that he had passed information to the United States for several years on China's overseas espionage activities, said three sources, who all have direct knowledge of the matter. The aide had been recruited by the U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
Kidnapped Italian in Nigeria freed-Italy foreign ministry
Fri,1 Jun 2012 01:46 PM PDT
Reuters - ROME (Reuters) - An Italian engineer who was abducted by a group of armed men in the Kwara state in western Nigeria was released on Friday, a spokesman for Italy's Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi said. Details on his release were not immediately available, the spokesman said. In March, a Briton and an Italian abducted in northwest Nigeria were both killed in a failed rescue attempt by British and Nigerian special forces. The mission was condemned by Rome, which had not been informed beforehand. (Reporting By Roberto Landucci) Full Story | Top |
Obama says could end Washington gridlock in second term
Fri,1 Jun 2012 01:31 PM PDT
Reuters -  MINNEAPOLIS (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama told his supporters on Friday he could break Washington's gridlock in a second term, and pushed Congress to enact his "to-do list" prescriptions to heal the economy in spite of it being an election year. At a political fundraiser in Minneapolis, Obama said that if he won re-election in November, Republicans in Congress who now oppose his every move would be more inclined to work with him. "I believe if we are successful in this election - when we're successful in this election - that the fever may break," Obama told the campaign event. ...
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Israeli soldier, Gaza gunmen killed in clash
Fri,1 Jun 2012 01:01 PM PDT
Reuters - GAZA (Reuters) - A Palestinian gunman broke into Israel on Friday and killed a soldier before being shot dead himself in a rare cross-border attack that Israel blamed on the Islamist group Hamas. Israel hit back, with a missile-strike killing one militant and wounding two others in the southern Gaza Strip. Militants also fired rockets out of the Palestinian enclave, but they did not cause any damage, the Israeli army said. Sources in Gaza said the gunman killed in the cross-border attack was affiliated with the Islamic Jihad. ... Full Story | Top |
U.N. General Assembly to meet on Syria massacre: envoys
Fri,1 Jun 2012 12:31 PM PDT
Reuters - UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The 193-nation U.N. General Assembly is planning to meet next week to discuss the escalating crisis in Syria and the recent massacre in the town of Houla, reflecting the growing international outrage over the killings, envoys said on Friday. International mediator Kofi Annan, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and, most likely, U.N. human rights chief Navi Pillay are expected to address the assembly on Thursday, U.N. diplomats told Reuters. Annan is also scheduled to speak to the 15-nation U.N. ... Full Story | Top |
Mexico's Pena Nieto feels the heat with finish in sight
Fri,1 Jun 2012 12:03 PM PDT
Reuters -  MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Two months before Mexico's presidential election, Enrique Pena Nieto was strolling to victory. But with just a month to go, he may suddenly have a race on his hands. Long dormant opposition to Pena Nieto and his Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) has welled up over the past three weeks to throw the result of the July 1 election into some doubt, raising the risk of yet another government with no majority in Congress. ...
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Pope and top aide display unity amid scandal
Fri,1 Jun 2012 12:00 PM PDT
Reuters - MILAN (Reuters) - Pope Benedict and his deputy, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, regarded as the chief target of a campaign of leaks, appeared side by side on Friday at the start of a visit to Milan that is unlikely to provide much respite from the scandal. In his speech, the pontiff made no reference to the scandal, which exploded last week when his butler was arrested for stealing his private documents. Many Vatican insiders believe the butler is merely a scapegoat in a poisonous power struggle between Bertone's allies and enemies. ... Full Story | Top |
Sudan says it pulls police from disputed region
Fri,1 Jun 2012 11:39 AM PDT
Reuters - ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Sudan said it had pulled its police forces from a disputed border region, removing a possible obstacle to troubled peace talks with its neighbor South Sudan which also claims the fertile area. The ownership of Abyei is a major bone of contention between the African countries which came close to war last month after border fighting escalated - the worst violence since South Sudan seceded last year under a 2005 peace agreement. Sudan said on Thursday it had withdrawn its army from Abyei but would keep police forces in the region, defying a call by U.N. ... Full Story | Top |
U.S. asks Iraq to extradite Hezbollah suspect
Fri,1 Jun 2012 11:19 AM PDT
Reuters -  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States has formally asked Iraq to extradite a suspected Hezbollah operative accused of killing American troops, a U.S. official told Reuters, amid heightened concerns in Washington that he may go free. It was not immediately clear when the request was filed and Iraqi officials approached by Reuters denied knowledge of it, casting doubt on whether an extradition was seriously being considered at this point in Baghdad. ...
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Russia shows support for Syrian probe of Houla massacre
Fri,1 Jun 2012 11:17 AM PDT
Reuters - MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia said on Friday that the Syrian government's investigation into the massacre in the region of Houla indicated it was a "well planned action by militants" intent on undermining peace efforts. In a statement that suggested support for the government's conclusions, which a U.S. diplomat has called a "blatant lie", the Russian Foreign Ministry said the killings were the result of financial aid and illicit arms supplies to militants. It said Russia was awaiting the results of a U.N. ... Full Story | Top |
U.N. rights forum agrees Houla investigation
Fri,1 Jun 2012 11:08 AM PDT
Reuters - GENEVA (Reuters) - The United Nations Human Rights Council condemned Syria on Friday for last week's massacre in the Houla region and called for a U.N. investigation to identify the perpetrators and gather evidence for possible criminal prosecution. The 47-member forum, which held an emergency session in Geneva, adopted a resolution by a vote of 41 states in favor to 3 against - China, Cuba and Russia - with two abstentions and one delegation absent. ... Full Story | Top |
Turkey tells U.N. and aid donors to move to Somalia
Fri,1 Jun 2012 11:07 AM PDT
Reuters - ISTANBUL (Reuters) - The United Nations should beef up its operation in Somalia, and other countries who want to help the war-torn state should actually move in and set up bases there, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday. Erdogan's direct remarks at a international conference on Somalia in Istanbul, the second hosted in Turkey in two years, was the latest sign of his administration's growing interest and clout in Africa. "Without living there you cannot devise the correct policies and you cannot help. ... Full Story | Top |
Hezbollah urges Syrian kidnappers to free Lebanese hostages
Fri,1 Jun 2012 10:29 AM PDT
Reuters - BEIRUT (Reuters) - Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, leader of Lebanon's Shi'ite Hezbollah group, on Friday urged the kidnappers of a group of Lebanese Shi'ites in Syria to release them, saying they were "innocent civilians". "If you have a problem with me, there are many ways we can solve it and on many levels. If you want war we can solve it with war, if you want peace then we can solve it in peace," he said. The group of about a dozen Lebanese men were on a bus that was stopped by gunmen as it crossed into northern Syria from Turkey on its way home from a pilgrimage to Iran. ... Full Story | Top |
Clinton: Iran must take concrete nuclear steps
Fri,1 Jun 2012 10:21 AM PDT
Reuters - OSLO (Reuters) - Major powers will know within a few weeks if Iran plans to take concrete action to demonstrate that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Friday. Six major powers are scheduled to hold a third round of talks with Iran in Moscow on June 18-19 that the West hopes will persuade Iran to answer questions about its nuclear program, which the West suspects is designed to develop nuclear weapons. Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes. ... Full Story | Top |
Clinton says Russia stance on Syria seen as supporting Assad
Fri,1 Jun 2012 10:11 AM PDT
Reuters - OSLO (Reuters) - Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Friday Russia's stance on the conflict in Syria was seen as supporting the government of President Bashar al-Assad. "I repeat the appeal that I have made to Russia because their position of claiming not to take a position is certainly viewed in the Security Council, in Damascus and elsewhere, as a position supporting the continuity of the Assad regime," Clinton told a news conference. ... Full Story | Top |
U.N. rights forum agrees to Houla investigation
Fri,1 Jun 2012 10:11 AM PDT
Reuters - GENEVA (Reuters) - The United Nations Human Rights Council condemned Syria on Friday for last week's massacre in the Houla region and called for a U.N. investigation to identify the perpetrators and gather evidence for possible criminal prosecution. The 47-member forum, which held an emergency session in Geneva, adopted a resolution by a vote of 41 states in favor to 3 against - China, Cuba and Russia - with two abstentions and one delegation absent. ... Full Story | Top |
NATO, Afghan forces kill 14 after rebels attack base
Fri,1 Jun 2012 09:58 AM PDT
Reuters -  KHOST, Afghanistan (Reuters) - NATO and Afghan forces killed 14 insurgents during a rebel attack on a foreign military base in the eastern city of Khost on Friday, the coalition said, in one of the heaviest rebel tolls in a single incident in weeks. Several insurgents, including some wearing suicide vests, attacked the base with rocket propelled grenades. "As of now, we have reports of 14 insurgents killed," a spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force said. ...
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Canada dismemberment suspect may be in France: source
Fri,1 Jun 2012 09:43 AM PDT
Reuters -  PARIS (Reuters) - A Canadian suspected of dismembering a man in Montreal, filming the murder and then mailing body parts to political parties in Ottawa may now be in France, where police are conducting a search, a police source told Reuters on Friday. Luka Rocco Magnotta, 29, faces first degree murder charges in connection with the grisly videotaped death of 32-year-old Chinese student Jun Lin. Montreal police said Magnotta and Jun both featured in the graphic video, which was posted on a Canadian Internet site that specializes in gore. ...
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Gaddafi extradition postponed pending court ruling
Fri,1 Jun 2012 09:42 AM PDT
Reuters -  THE HAGUE (Reuters) - The son of late Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi can stay in detention in Libya while the International Criminal Court decides if it has the jurisdiction to try him, the court ruled on Friday. The ICC issued a warrant for Saif al-Islam Gaddafi last June after prosecutors accused him of involvement in the killing of protesters during the revolt that toppled his father, who ruled Libya with an iron fist for 42 years. Libya has resisted handing over the dictator's western-educated son, saying he should be tried at home. ...
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U.N.'s Ban says bold steps needed to stop Syrian violence
Fri,1 Jun 2012 09:41 AM PDT
Reuters - ISTANBUL (Reuters) - The escalating violence in Syria shows the urgent need for the international community to take bolder steps, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told a news conference in Istanbul on Friday. Ban voiced fears a day earlier that any repeat of the massacre of civilians a week ago in Houla could tip Syria into a civil war, and drag neighbouring countries into a bloody sectarian conflict. "If the escalating violence shows anything, it is that we urgently need bolder steps," Ban told a news conference at the end of an international meeting on aid for Somalia. ... Full Story | Top |
South Africans live for the now, ignore calls to save
Fri,1 Jun 2012 09:33 AM PDT
Reuters - JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Like many South Africans, Nkululeko Makhaya has only the most basic financial strategy for his future: a pension contribution deducted from his salary and 100 rand ($11.90) put aside each month towards family funeral cover. The 35-year-old admits this is woefully inadequate, but with only a modest salary and obligations to both his immediate and extended family, there is barely enough each month to see him through to the next paycheck, let alone save. ... Full Story | Top |
Kosovo Serbs, NATO troops hurt in gun fight
Fri,1 Jun 2012 09:10 AM PDT
Reuters - ZVECAN, Kosovo (Reuters) - At least three Kosovo Serbs and two NATO soldiers were wounded in a gunfight on Friday as peacekeepers tried to dismantle roadblocks erected last year by local Serbs, a Reuters witness and NATO said. NATO troops in the Kosovo Force (KFOR) fired tear gas and small arms and some protesters fired back with handguns. The troops, in armored personnel carriers, were confronted by hundreds of Serbs who pelted them with stones near roadblocks in villages outside the town of Zvecan in a Serb-dominated northern area of Kosovo. ... Full Story | Top |
Canada sees modest growth, rates likely on pause
Fri,1 Jun 2012 08:21 AM PDT
Reuters - OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada's economy grew at a lackluster pace in the first quarter, and expanded by much less than expected in March, suggesting the central bank will be in no rush to follow through on a warning it could raise interest rates. Gross domestic product (GDP) expanded 1.9 percent in the quarter on an annualized basis, Statistics Canada said on Friday, in line with market forecasts for the quarter, but below the central bank's most recent projection of 2.5 percent growth. The growth matched the economy's fourth-quarter performance, which was revised up from 1. ... Full Story | Top |
Vatican has long history of intrigue and controversy
Fri,1 Jun 2012 08:11 AM PDT
Reuters -  VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict is fighting the worst crisis of his papacy, but his problems are only the latest in a long history of controversies and intrigue in the headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church. The "Vatileaks" scandal, in which the pope's private papers are alleged to have been pilfered by his own butler, pales in comparison to the scandals of centuries past when popes were accused of violence, nepotism and sexual excesses. ...
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Irish government relieved at EU referendum win
Fri,1 Jun 2012 08:01 AM PDT
Reuters - DUBLIN (Reuters) - Irish voters backed the European Union's new fiscal treaty in a referendum on Friday, saving Europe a major headache but leaving the government little time to celebrate as problems across the euro zone continue to weigh at home. The government had campaigned for voters to back the treaty, arguing that a rejection would hurt Ireland's chances of attracting the investment it needs to recover and raise serious concerns about the country's funding prospects. Final results showed only five constituencies out of 43 voted "No", with 60 percent of the electorate coming out in favor. ... Full Story | Top |
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