Today's Reuters World News Headlines - Yahoo! News:
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IMF economist accuses Fund of suppressing information
Fri,20 Jul 2012 06:15 PM PDT
Reuters -  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A veteran economist at the International Monetary Fund has resigned in protest at what he calls the IMF's failure to head off the global financial meltdown and euro zone crisis, and accused the global lender of suppressing information. In a resignation letter dated June 18 to the IMF's board and senior staff, Peter Doyle said the IMF's failures to head off both the 2009 global financial crisis and the euro zone crisis was a "failing in the first order" and "are, if anything, becoming more deeply entrenched. ...
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Gunman kills 12 in rampage at "Batman" premiere in Colorado
Fri,20 Jul 2012 06:12 PM PDT
Reuters -  AURORA, Colo. (Reuters) - A gunman in a gas mask and body armor opened fire at a packed midnight showing of the new "Batman" film in a Denver suburb on Friday, killing 12 people after hurling a gas canister into the crowded multiplex theater. Armed with an assault rifle, a shotgun and a pistol, he wounded 59 others in the shooting rampage at a screening of "The Dark Knight Rises" at a mall in Aurora, which turned into a chaotic scene of dead or bleeding victims, horrified screams and pleas for help, witnesses said. ...
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China in talks to build five new reactors in UK: paper
Fri,20 Jul 2012 05:09 PM PDT
Reuters - LONDON (Reuters) - Chinese nuclear firms are considering investing 35 billion pounds in building up to five new nuclear reactors in Britain, a newspaper reported on Saturday. A team from the Shanghai Nuclear Engineering Research and Design Institute (SNERDI), an arm of the China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC), met senior British officials in the past week, the Guardian newspaper said on its website. ... Full Story | Top |
At least seven dead in attack on civilian camp in Ivory Coast
Fri,20 Jul 2012 04:54 PM PDT
Reuters - ABIDJAN (Reuters) - At least seven people were killed and dozens injured on Friday when angry mobs set fire to a U.N.-protected camp for civilians forced from their homes in western Ivory Coast, underscoring tensions in the zone. The United Nations said the attack on Nahibly camp - an apparent revenge attack for an overnight robbery in the nearby town of Duekoue that killed five - forced 5,000 people to flee. Those in the camp were Ivorians who fled their homes during last year's civil war. ... Full Story | Top |
Syrian forces attempt fightback after rebel surge
Fri,20 Jul 2012 02:38 PM PDT
Reuters -  BAB AL-HAWA, Syria/AMMAN (Reuters) - Syrian army helicopters pounded Damascus with rockets and heavy machine guns overnight, and tanks bombarded the capital from the ring road, to try to reverse relentless gains by rebels since much of President Bashar al-Assad's entourage was assassinated. The unprecedented rebel momentum of the past few days has fighters boasting that Assad's grip is being pried from the country his family has ruled since his father seized power in a coup 42 years ago. But he remains a fearsome foe. "The regime has been rudderless for last three days. ...
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Exclusive: Kim plans economic change in North Korea
Fri,20 Jul 2012 02:12 PM PDT
Reuters -  BEIJING (Reuters) - Impoverished North Korea is gearing up to experiment with agricultural and economic reforms after young leader Kim Jong-un and his powerful uncle purged the country's top general for opposing change, a source with ties to both Pyongyang and Beijing said. The source added that the cabinet had created a special bureau to take control of the decaying economy from the military, one of the world's largest, which under Kim's father was given pride of place in running the country. ...
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U.N. approves 30-day extension for Syria monitors
Fri,20 Jul 2012 01:21 PM PDT
Reuters - UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously on Friday to briefly extend a monitoring mission in Syria for 30 days, keeping alive a key part of international envoy Kofi Annan's faltering plan to end the 16-month conflict that has killed thousands of people. Despite deep divisions over how to deal with the crisis in Syria, the Security Council backed Annan's peace plan and agreed in April to deploy 300 unarmed observers for an initial 90 days to help implement his six-point strategy to end the fighting. ... Full Story | Top |
Chinese court upholds Ai Weiwei tax fine
Fri,20 Jul 2012 12:31 PM PDT
Reuters -  BEIJING (Reuters) - A Chinese court on Friday upheld a $2.4 million fine for tax evasion against the country's most famous dissident, Ai Weiwei, after barring him from attending the hearing, in a case that critics accuse Beijing of using to muzzle the outspoken artist. Ai had asked the Chaoyang District court to overturn the city tax office's rejection of his appeal against the tax evasion penalty imposed on the company he works for, Beijing Fake Cultural Development Ltd, which produces his art and designs. ...
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Funeral held for Syria officials killed in bombing
Fri,20 Jul 2012 12:12 PM PDT
Reuters - BEIRUT (Reuters) - A funeral ceremony was held on Friday for three of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's senior security officials who were killed in a bomb attack, but the Syrian leader stayed away from the sombre procession. Assad was represented by Vice President Farouq al-Shara at the ceremony, shown on state television news. The attack on a meeting of Assad's inner circle on Wednesday killed his brother-in-law Assef Shawkat, Defense Minister Daoud Rajha and veteran army general Hassan Turkmani. ... Full Story | Top |
Explosions, gunfire heard near Syria-Iraq border post
Fri,20 Jul 2012 12:12 PM PDT
Reuters - OUTSIDE QAIM, Iraq (Reuters) - A series of explosions and bursts of gunfire were heard on Friday at the Syrian-Iraqi Abu Kamal border post that Iraqi officials said was captured by Syrian rebels a day earlier. The fighting appeared to be on the Syrian side of the border, a Reuters photographer on the Iraqi side said. The Iraqi army sealed off the border gate with concrete blast walls earlier on Friday. (Reporting by Saad Salash; Writing by Sylvia Westall; Editing by Alison Williams) Full Story | Top |
Analysis: Egyptian leader looks abroad to win influence at home
Fri,20 Jul 2012 12:04 PM PDT
Reuters -  CAIRO (Reuters) - An early diplomatic offensive by Mohamed Mursi, Egypt's new Islamist president, makes it harder for an army-led establishment to portray him on the international stage as a threat to foreign powers. At home though, it may do little to curb the influence of the generals and help Mursi assert himself as head of state. Egypt's long-standing allies Saudi Arabia and the United States are unwilling to challenge the army's role as self-appointed protector of Egypt, which it uses to justify continued control over national security and a future constitution. ...
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Russia extends jailing of Pussy Riot activists
Fri,20 Jul 2012 11:57 AM PDT
Reuters -  MOSCOW (Reuters) - Three members of female punk group Pussy Riot who derided President Vladimir Putin in a protest in Moscow's main cathedral had their spell in jail extended by six months on Friday in what their lawyers called a show trial dictated by the Kremlin. ...
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Russia detains 5 over attacks on Muslim leaders
Fri,20 Jul 2012 11:42 AM PDT
Reuters -  MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian authorities said they detained five suspects on Friday over attacks that wounded the top Islamic official in the mostly Muslim Tatarstan region, killed his deputy and raised fears of the spread of militancy to Russia's heartland. President Vladimir Putin and top security officials called at the weekly meeting of his Security Council for tough measures against extremism after the attacks in an area previously held up as a model of religious tolerance. ...
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Zanzibar police clash with Islamist mourners
Fri,20 Jul 2012 11:17 AM PDT
Reuters - STONE TOWN, Zanzibar (Reuters) - Riot police clashed with supporters of a separatist Islamist group in Zanzibar gathered at a mosque on Friday to pray for victims of a ferry disaster that killed at least 71 people. Police fired teargas at supporters of the Uamsho (Awakening) group who blocked a busy road in the historic centre of Stone Town after Friday prayers, witnesses said. "Some of them were wearing masks to cover their faces and threw stones at the police. ... Full Story | Top |
Bus crash in Mexico kills 21 passengers
Fri,20 Jul 2012 11:03 AM PDT
Reuters - MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - A bus skidded off the road on Friday in the western Mexican state of Nayarit, killing 21 passengers and injuring at least 29 others, officials said. The accident occurred on the Chapalilla-Tequepexpan bridge on the road between the cities of Tepic and Guadalajara, said Omar Landazuri of the Nayarit civil protection authorities. Landazuri said that children were among the dead, but could not say how many. No other vehicles were involved in the accident. ... Full Story | Top |
Mexico presidential runner-up unveils plan to turn up heat on rival
Fri,20 Jul 2012 10:51 AM PDT
Reuters - MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico's presidential runner-up said on Friday he would launch a media offensive and stage rallies around Mexico to try to overturn the victory of Enrique Pena Nieto, whom he accuses of buying votes to win the presidency. Unveiling his plan for a "defense of democracy," leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said television and radio spots would be used to inform the public of the vote buying and money laundering he said was behind Pena Nieto's win. ... Full Story | Top |
Saudi Prince Bandar: a flamboyant, hawkish spy chief
Fri,20 Jul 2012 10:00 AM PDT
Reuters -  LONDON (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's "peasant prince" with the twinkling eye, hawkish views and fondness for the Dallas Cowboys football team is back, now heading the kingdom's intelligence agency. On Thursday night Prince Bandar bin Sultan was appointed Saudi Arabia's new spy chief at a moment when the world's top oil exporter is engaged in a bitter rivalry with Shi'ite Muslim power Iran played out in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and Bahrain. ...
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Pentagon says Bulgaria bomb smacks of Hezbollah
Fri,20 Jul 2012 09:38 AM PDT
Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A suicide bombing that killed Israeli tourists in Bulgaria this week bore hallmarks of Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants but the U.S. Defense Department has not yet concluded who was behind it, a Pentagon spokesman said on Friday. The attack on a bus carrying Israelis at a Bulgarian airport, "does bear the hallmarks of Hezbollah," George Little, the Pentagon press secretary, told reporters. Bulgaria's interior minister, Tsvetan Tsvetanov, said earlier in the day that the attacker, who killed himself and six others, was a foreign national. ... Full Story | Top |
Damascus chaos strikes fear in Assad's Alawite bastion
Fri,20 Jul 2012 09:35 AM PDT
Reuters - TARTOUS, Syria (Reuters) - Sunbathing and drinking at bars, men and women lived in a bubble on Syria's Mediterranean coast. They refused to believe their country was collapsing into chaos. Until now. A stunning bomb attack in Syria's capital this week that killed four from President Bashar al-Assad's inner circle has shaken the faith of Alawite supporters in his ability to stave off an armed rebellion that has now encroached on Damascus. ... Full Story | Top |
Tens of thousands flee Syria as fighting surges
Fri,20 Jul 2012 09:25 AM PDT
Reuters - GENEVA (Reuters) - Up to 30,000 Syrian refugees may have crossed into Lebanon in the past 48 hours, in a sharp increase of people fleeing fighting in the country, the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR said on Friday. That would match the number of Syrians who already fled to Lebanon during the 16 months of fighting. "We have gone from an average of 1,000 a day to possibly up to 30,000 in the last 48 hours. This is really significant, it is clearly a massive upscaling in displacement," UNHCR spokeswoman Sybella Wilkes told Reuters. ... Full Story | Top |
Israeli protester who set himself alight dies: hospital
Fri,20 Jul 2012 09:14 AM PDT
Reuters - JERUSALEM (Reuters) - A destitute Israeli man died on Friday from injuries he suffered after he set himself alight at a demonstration for economic reform in Tel Aviv last week, a hospital spokesman said. Moshe Silman, in his late 50s, suffered burns to over 90 percent of his body and had been in critical condition since setting fire to himself at the July 14 protest, doctors at Tel Aviv's Sheba Medical Centre said. Family and friends said Silman owned a small haulage firm which ran into debt and he eventually lost his business. ... Full Story | Top |
U.N. court orders Senegal to try Chad ex-president
Fri,20 Jul 2012 08:57 AM PDT
Reuters - THE HAGUE (Reuters) - The International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered Senegal on Friday to put on trial or extradite to Belgium Chadian ex-president Hissene Habre, and Senegal said it would put him on trial later this year. The court, in a ruling that could affect other deposed leaders living in exile, said Senegal had failed to make serious efforts to prosecute Habre, who ruled Chad for eight years from 1982. His government was accused of torturing or killing tens of thousands of opponents. ... Full Story | Top |
Arms dealer jailed in UK over North Korean missile plan
Fri,20 Jul 2012 08:47 AM PDT
Reuters - LONDON (Reuters) - A British arms dealer was jailed on Friday for trying to buy surface-to-air missiles from North Korea to sell them to the former Soviet republic of Azerbaijan. British prosecutors described Michael Ranger as an established international arms dealer who used a company registered in Hong Kong under the name of his girlfriend to organize illegal arms deals between the two countries. ... Full Story | Top |
Gunman kills Yemeni security official, Qaeda blamed
Fri,20 Jul 2012 08:40 AM PDT
Reuters - DUBAI (Reuters) - A gunman shot dead a Yemeni security official in the southern province of Baydha, the defence ministry said on Friday, in an attack it blamed on the country's wing of al Qaeda. The attacker killed Ghazi Said Abdallah Baidha of Yemen's political security service in the town of Radda late on Thursday, then fled on a motorcycle driven by an accomplice, an unidentified official said on a ministry website. ... Full Story | Top |
U.S. urges Mali to accept African force
Fri,20 Jul 2012 07:51 AM PDT
Reuters - BAMAKO (Reuters) - The United States has called on Mali's authorities to accept offers by African states to send a military force to stabilize the country and help retake control of its vast northern desert, now in the hands of al Qaeda-linked Islamists. West Africa's ECOWAS bloc has said for months it wants to send a 3,000-strong force to tackle instability but it has so far not received backing from the United Nations and met resistance from politicians and soldiers in Mali. The U.N. Security Council has been reluctant to back military intervention without a clearer plan for the force. ... Full Story | Top |
Monti says Italy must manage crisis without EU aid
Fri,20 Jul 2012 07:46 AM PDT
Reuters -  ROME (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti says the country should try to get through the financial crisis, which has sent its borrowing costs spiraling, without the help of bailouts from its European partners. The euro zone's third-largest economy is on the right track to meet targets to rein in the public deficit this year and next, Monti said on Friday, but he urged lawmakers to keep up the pace of reforms to ensure the country can solve its problems on its own. ...
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Analysis: Syria's implosion worries neighbors
Fri,20 Jul 2012 07:44 AM PDT
Reuters - LONDON (Reuters) - Signs that President Bashar al-Assad is rapidly losing his grip on Syria alarm his regional allies, Iran and Hezbollah, and worry other neighbors fearful of chaos on their doorsteps. This week's sustained battles in the capital Damascus and the explosion that killed Assad's feared brother-in-law and three other men at the core of his fight for survival have focused attention on the possible consequences of his downfall. ... Full Story | Top |
Mauritius appoints new president, cementing Labour power
Fri,20 Jul 2012 07:35 AM PDT
Reuters - PORT LOUIS (Reuters) - Rajkeswar Purryag was named Mauritius' new president on Friday, cementing the Labour Party's control of the island's top posts and replacing his predecessor who quit the ceremonial position to challenge the ruling coalition. Anerood Jugnauth stepped down in March to return to party politics and challenge Prime Minister Navinchndra Ramgoolam and his governing coalition. His exit disrupted the usually placid political scene in one of Africa's most stable countries. ... Full Story | Top |
More than half Iran parliament backs Hormuz closure bill
Fri,20 Jul 2012 07:33 AM PDT
Reuters - DUBAI (Reuters) - Just over half of Iran's parliament has backed a draft law to block the Strait of Hormuz, a lawmaker said on Friday, threatening to close the Gulf to oil tankers in retaliation against European sanctions on Iranian crude. The assembly has little say in defense and foreign policy, where Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has the last word, but the law would lend political support to any decision to close the strait - a threat that Iran's foreign minister recently played down. ... Full Story | Top |
Iraqi army seals main border crossing to Syria
Fri,20 Jul 2012 07:24 AM PDT
Reuters - OUTSIDE QAIM, Iraq (Reuters) - The Iraqi army sealed the main border crossing to Syria with concrete blast walls on Friday to guard against any escalation in fighting after Syrian rebels seized a border post on the other side from government forces. A Reuters photographer overlooking the desert frontier from the Iraqi side said civilians had burned the main border post building at Abu Kamal in Syria and stripped it of electronic equipment and cables. ... Full Story | Top |
Greek privatization chief's departure risks new delays
Fri,20 Jul 2012 07:13 AM PDT
Reuters - ATHENS (Reuters) - The head of Greece's privatization agency said on Friday he was forced to resign because its new government blocked his effort to sell off assets, in the latest blow to a program central to Greek hopes of regaining credibility with lenders. The acrimonious departure of Costas Mitropoulos risks further delays to Greece's stalled privatization drive and raises uncomfortable questions for the new administration just days before IMF, EU and ECB inspectors arrive to assess compliance with reforms. ... Full Story | Top |
Russia envoy: Assad ready to quit power in "orderly way"
Fri,20 Jul 2012 06:44 AM PDT
Reuters - PARIS (Reuters) - The Russian ambassador to France said on Friday he believed that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had accepted he would have to leave power although only in an orderly fashion, but the Syrian government swiftly denied this. Ambassador Alexandre Orlov told French RFI radio that Assad, embattled by a rebellion against his rule, signaled readiness to step down when he accepted a recent international declaration which foresaw a transition towards a more democratic Syria. ... Full Story | Top |
South Africa's ex-police chief on medical parole
Fri,20 Jul 2012 06:12 AM PDT
Reuters -  JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa released its disgraced former police chief from prison on medical grounds on Friday, after serving 229 days of a 15-year sentence and prompting accusations the ruling ANC bends justice for the politically connected. Jackie Selebi, also the former head of international police agency Interpol, is the most prominent member of the African National Congress to be convicted of corruption, for taking bribes from a drug smuggler. He suffers from kidney disease and diabetes. "Mr Selebi will be going home today," prisons minister Sbu Ndebele told a news conference. ...
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Damascus in disarray at start of Muslim holy month
Fri,20 Jul 2012 05:49 AM PDT
Reuters - BEIRUT (Reuters) - While President Bashar al-Assad's forces and rebels battle in several districts of Damascus, residents in the deserted heart of the Syrian capital fear they are at the eye of a storm that could strike soon. Friday was the first day of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, often a quiet day as daylight fasting begins. But residents in central Damascus said the streets were dead with few signs of security forces around government buildings where there was a heavy presence only days ago. Assad's forces are stretched. ... Full Story | Top |
Exclusive: Banks in Libor probe consider group settlement-sources
Fri,20 Jul 2012 05:31 AM PDT
Reuters -  ZURICH/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A group of banks being investigated in an interest-rate rigging scandal are looking to pursue a group settlement with regulators rather than face a Barclays-style backlash by going it alone, people familiar with the banks' thinking said. Such discussions are preliminary, and it is unclear if regulators will enter these talks, aimed at resolving allegations that banks attempted to manipulate the London interbank offered rate, or Libor, a benchmark that underpins hundreds of trillions of dollars in contracts. ...
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Shelter for fleeing Ivorians set ablaze in west
Fri,20 Jul 2012 05:22 AM PDT
Reuters - ABIDJAN (Reuters) - Angry mobs set fire to a U.N.-guarded camp for civilians forced from their homes in western Ivory Coast on Friday in what witnesses said was a reprisal for an overnight robbery in a nearby town that killed five people. The Naibly camp holds 5,000 Ivorians who fled their homes during last year's civil conflict and is near the town of Duekoue where local police official said the robbery took place. ... Full Story | Top |
ASEAN urges South China Sea pact but consensus elusive
Fri,20 Jul 2012 05:21 AM PDT
Reuters -  PHNOM PENH/JAKARTA (Reuters) - Southeast Asian states sought to save face on Friday with a call for restraint and dialogue over the South China Sea, but made no progress in healing a deep divide about how to respond to China's growing assertiveness in the disputed waters. After heated discussions at a summit last week that saw its customary communique aborted for the first time in its 45-year history, the Association of Southeast Asian nations (ASEAN)issued a six-point statement that omitted the contentious issues that had its 10 members locked in a bitter dispute for days. ...
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North Korea says U.S. hostility forcing it to "reexamine" nuclear program
Fri,20 Jul 2012 04:49 AM PDT
Reuters -  SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea said on Friday it was being forced to "reexamine" its nuclear program because of fresh signs the United States remains hostile towards the country, indicating it will step up defiant efforts to boost its nuclear arsenal. The new leadership of North Korea, headed by the third generation of the Kim family, reinforced its control on the reclusive state this week by further promoting its young leader Jong-un and purging a top general who was seen as opposing his reforms. ...
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Bus bomber was not Bulgarian, minister says
Fri,20 Jul 2012 04:48 AM PDT
Reuters -  BURGAS, Bulgaria (Reuters) - The man who blew up a bus carrying Israeli tourists at a Bulgarian airport, killing himself and six others, was a foreign national and Sofia is trying to pin down details with the help of foreign spy services, the interior minister said on Friday. Israel has accused Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants of carrying out Wednesday's attack at Burgas airport, a popular gateway for tourists visiting Bulgaria's Black Sea coast. Iran has denied having any involvement. ...
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Ex-Japan PM joins anti-nuclear demo outside PM's office
Fri,20 Jul 2012 04:30 AM PDT
Reuters -  TOKYO (Reuters) - In a rare move by a former Japanese prime minister, Yukio Hatoyama joined a boisterous anti-nuclear demonstration outside his old office on Friday, a fresh sign that the ruling party he once led is fracturing over energy and other policies. Japan's debate over nuclear power has become increasingly heated after incumbent Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's decision to restart idled reactors despite persistent public safety concerns following last year's Fukushima nuclear crisis. ...
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