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| North Korea leader's wife reported back in public after long silence Monday, Oct 29, 2012 08:27 PM PDT  SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korean state media reported public appearances by the wife of leader Kim Jong-un for the first time in two months on Tuesday amid mounting speculation that she had been chastised for inappropriate conduct or that she may be pregnant. Ri Sol-ju's once frequent appearances with her husband in public reported in state media had marked the starkest break by the North's leadership from the dour image of Kim's father, Kim Jong-il, who was rarely seen in public with any of his wives. Ri attended football match and a musical concert with Kim Jong-un on Monday. ... Full Story | Top |
| Shallow 6.3 quake off west Canada coast: USGS Monday, Oct 29, 2012 08:07 PM PDT SYDNEY (Reuters) - A shallow quake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.3 was recorded off British Columbia on Canada's west coast, the U.S. Geological Survey said on Tuesday. The quake, at a depth of about 10 km (6 miles), was centered about 260 km (160 miles) southwest of Prince Rupert, British Columbia, the USGS said. (Reporting by Paul Tait; Editing by John Mair) Full Story | Top |
| Floods across New York as Sandy slams into eastern U.S Monday, Oct 29, 2012 07:59 PM PDT  NEW YORK/REHOBOTH BEACH, Delaware (Reuters) - Sandy, one of the biggest storms ever to hit the United States, roared ashore with fierce winds and heavy rain on Monday near the gambling resort of Atlantic City, forcing evacuations, shutting down transportation and interrupting the presidential campaign. Early reports said there was widespread flooding through New York City, in some cases well inland. Police confirmed at least two people were killed by the storm in the city, and deaths were reported as far away as Toronto as well. ... Full Story | Top |
| Japan seeks exemption on U.S. sanctions on Iran: Nikkei Monday, Oct 29, 2012 07:47 PM PDT  TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan is seeking an exemption from proposed new U.S. sanctions against Iran that could effectively freeze Tehran's use of payments for oil, the Nikkei business daily reported on Tuesday, citing sources. Japanese Finance Minister Koriki Jojima asked U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner at an October 11 meeting in Tokyo for Washington to exempt Japanese banks, the report said, citing unidentified sources familiar with the matter. Geithner said the matter was being considered, the report said. Japanese government officials were not immediately available for comment. ... Full Story | Top |
| Senegal's Sall replaces interior, foreign ministers in reshuffle Monday, Oct 29, 2012 04:27 PM PDT DAKAR (Reuters) - Senegalese President Macky Sall has fired his interior and foreign ministers in his first cabinet reshuffle since taking office six months ago, the government announced on state television late on Monday. Interior Minister Mbaye Ndiaye had come under heavy criticism for his handling of a riot by supporters of a jailed religious leader who smashed car windows, set fire to buses, and ransacked shops in the capital Dakar last week. He was replaced by retired general Pathe Seck. ... Full Story | Top |
| Clinton presses Algeria on Mali intervention plan Monday, Oct 29, 2012 03:40 PM PDT  ALGIERS (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pressed regional power Algeria on Monday to support an Africa-led military intervention in northern Mali, a senior U.S. official said. Clinton's one-day visit comes amid mounting international pressure on Algeria over the crisis in Mali, where a March military coup was followed by a revolt that has seen Tuareg rebels and Islamist militants, some linked to al Qaeda, seize control of the northern two-thirds of the country. The senior U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Lithuania heads for political deadlock after election Monday, Oct 29, 2012 03:30 PM PDT  VILNIUS (Reuters) - Lithuania headed for political deadlock after the coalition winners of a weekend election said they would push ahead with talks to form a government despite a presidential veto of one of their parties over allegations of voter fraud. The Social Democratic party, which with its allies snatched victory on Sunday in a vote against years of austerity, rejected any change in the make-up of the coalition despite President Dalia Grybauskaite saying one of the three parties was unfit to govern because of the fraud allegations. "We have not changed our opinion. ... Full Story | Top |
| Sicilian vote, Berlusconi threat add to Italy uncertainty Monday, Oct 29, 2012 03:01 PM PDT  ROME (Reuters) - Former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi's struggling party suffered a heavy defeat on Monday as voters turned against the center-right in its former stronghold of Sicily, five months before national parliamentary elections. The center-left candidate Renato Crocetta, an openly gay anti-mafia campaigner, was set to be the next regional governor while there were strong gains for the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement of comic Beppe Grillo. ... Full Story | Top |
| Anti-corruption crusader rattles India's political class Monday, Oct 29, 2012 02:39 PM PDT  NEW DELHI (Reuters) - From a shabby house in one of New Delhi's grimmest suburbs, a mild-mannered former tax official has launched a salvo of accusations of corruption involving some of India's most powerful people, rocking the political establishment. In quick succession, Arvind Kejriwal has publicly leveled charges of shady dealings against the son-in-law of ruling Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi, the outgoing law minister and the leader of the main opposition party. ... Full Story | Top |
| Hurricane Sandy on verge of New Jersey landfall Monday, Oct 29, 2012 02:36 PM PDT NEW YORK/REHOBOTH BEACH, Delaware (Reuters) - Hurricane Sandy, one of the biggest storms ever to hit the United States, lashed the densely populated East Coast on Monday, shutting down transportation, forcing evacuations in flood-prone areas and interrupting the presidential campaign. Fierce winds and flooding racked hundreds of miles of Atlantic coastline and heavy snows were forecast farther inland at higher elevations as the center of the storm moves ashore along the coast of southern New Jersey or Delaware on Monday evening. U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Ukraine ruling party ahead in vote monitors call flawed Monday, Oct 29, 2012 02:21 PM PDT  KIEV (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Victor Yanukovich's party was on course on Monday to secure a new parliamentary majority, but international monitors condemned the election as flawed and said the country had taken a step back under his leadership. Exit polls and partial results from Sunday's vote showed Yanukovich's Party of the Regions would, with help from long-time allies, win more than half the seats in the 450-member assembly after boosting public sector wages and welfare handouts to win over disillusioned voters in its traditional power bases. ... Full Story | Top |
| Germany's Schaeuble tells skeptical UK "EU needs you" Monday, Oct 29, 2012 01:36 PM PDT  OXFORD (Reuters) - German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble urged Britain on Monday to remain strongly engaged in the European Union, responding to a tide of Euroskepticism that Berlin fears could sweep London towards the exit. Schaeuble's plea, delivered during a visit to Oxford University, came days after British Foreign Secretary William Hague mapped out a very different vision of a much looser EU in which Britain would opt out of many policies. Chancellor Angela Merkel said she would visit Britain, an "important partner", for talks with Prime Minister David Cameron next week. ... Full Story | Top |
| Egypt church moves closer to picking new pope Monday, Oct 29, 2012 12:53 PM PDT CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's Coptic Orthodox church moved a step closer to picking a new pope on Monday when the shortlist was whittled down to three in a process the Christian minority hopes will deliver a leader to guide them safely through the upheaval of the Arab Spring. The previous incumbent, Pope Shenouda III, led the church for four decades until his death in March at the age of 88. His successor will assume the post in a fast-changing Egypt where long oppressed Islamists are now in power - a major shift that is a source of alarm for the minority Christian community. ... Full Story | Top |
| Turkish police fire tear gas at banned secularist march Monday, Oct 29, 2012 12:22 PM PDT  ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish police fired tear gas and water cannon to disperse thousands of secularists protesting at a banned rally in the capital on Monday against what they see as an increasingly authoritarian and Islamist government. The scenes of chanting men and women draped in Turkish flags and carrying banners portraying the country's founding father Mustafa Kemal Ataturk highlight a longstanding division in Turkish society between staunch secularists on the one hand and more conservative religious Turks on the other. ... Full Story | Top |
| Russian punk band "risk lives" in Soviet-style prisons Monday, Oct 29, 2012 11:57 AM PDT  MOSCOW (Reuters) - Two women from punk band Pussy Riot sentenced to jail for an anti-Putin protest in a Moscow cathedral face harsh, Soviet-style prison camps where their lives may be in danger due to a lack of medicine and no hot water amid sub-zero winter temperatures, according to a recently released band member. Pussy Riot's protest has attracted global attention because of the two-year jail sentences meted out to its members for what prosecutors called "hooliganism motivated by religious hatred". ... Full Story | Top |
| Chile's right suffers in local election, presidency eyed Monday, Oct 29, 2012 11:31 AM PDT SANTIAGO (Reuters) - Chilean voters punished President Sebastian Pinera's conservative bloc in municipal elections Sunday, paving the way for a possible comeback by the left in next year's presidential ballot. Pinera took power in 2010, ending 20 years of rule by the leftist Concertacion coalition. Many Chileans hoped he would tackle social inequalities more effectively than his predecessors, but polls show they are disappointed so far. Chile, Latin America's poster child for economic stability, is set to grow a brisk 5 percent this year. ... Full Story | Top |
| Dutch Liberals, Labour vow austerity in coalition deal Monday, Oct 29, 2012 11:20 AM PDT THE HAGUE (Reuters) - Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte's Liberals agreed a coalition with the Labour Party on Monday and vowed to follow a path of austerity. Outlining nearly 16 billion euros ($20.65 billion) of cuts over the next four years, the two party leaders said the measures were needed to ensure a sustainable budget and meet European Union deficit rules. "We realize that this package will affect everyone in the Netherlands, everyone will feel it," Rutte told a press conference. "But we think it is necessary if our beautiful country is to emerge stronger from the crisis. ... Full Story | Top |
| Storm damages crops in Haiti, fueling food price woes Monday, Oct 29, 2012 10:53 AM PDT PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (Reuters) - As Hurricane Sandy barreled toward the U.S. East Coast on Monday, the full extent of the storm's havoc on Haiti was just beginning to emerge. Extensive damage to crops throughout the southern third of the country, as well as the high potential for a spike in cases of cholera and other water-borne diseases, could mean Haiti will see the deadliest effects of Sandy in the coming days and weeks. Haiti reported the highest death toll in the Caribbean, as swollen rivers and landslides claimed at least 52 lives, according to the country's Civil Protection office. ... Full Story | Top |
| Netanyahu wins party mandate for alliance with far right Monday, Oct 29, 2012 10:51 AM PDT  JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday overcame opposition within his party to an alliance with a far-right group that opinion polls predict will help him triumph in a January election. Netanyahu had angered many Likud party faithful with a surprise announcement on Thursday of the merger with Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman's ultra-nationalist party. ... Full Story | Top |
| Air strikes, car bombs wreck last day of Syria "truce" Monday, Oct 29, 2012 10:50 AM PDT  BEIRUT/AMMAN (Reuters) - Syrian jets bombed parts of Damascus on Monday in what residents said were the capital's fiercest air raids yet, at the end of what was supposed to be a four-day truce. "More than 100 buildings have been destroyed, some leveled to the ground," said opposition activist Moaz al-Shami. "Whole neighbourhoods are deserted." Each side in the 19-month-old conflict between President Bashar al-Assad and rebels blamed the other for breaking the truce proposed by peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi to mark a Muslim holiday. Two car bombs rocked the capital on Monday, state media ... Full Story | Top |
| Greek editor stands trial over Swiss accounts list Monday, Oct 29, 2012 10:21 AM PDT  ATHENS (Reuters) - A prominent Greek journalist who published the names of more than 2,000 wealthy Greeks with Swiss bank accounts appeared in court on Monday to stand trial for violating data privacy laws in a case which aroused international concern. Costas Vaxevanis, editor of the "Hot Doc" weekly magazine, was arrested at the weekend for publishing the "Lagarde List" which French authorities gave to Athens in 2010 so that the account holders could be investigated for possible tax evasion. ... Full Story | Top |
| Israel to limit cluster bombs in possible war with Hezbollah Monday, Oct 29, 2012 10:20 AM PDT TEL AVIV (Reuters) - Israel would use a lot fewer cluster munitions in any future war with Hezbollah than it did in their 2006 conflict, even though it would go into southern Lebanon earlier and harder, a senior Israeli military officer said on Monday. The disclosure confirms Israel already has detailed planning for an offensive aiming to avoid some controversial tactics used in the 34-day push against the Iranian-backed guerrillas. ... Full Story | Top |
| Petronas, Progress extend closing date on proposed deal Monday, Oct 29, 2012 09:57 AM PDT  KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysian state oil company Petronas said on Monday it has extended the closing date on its bid for Canadian gas producer Progress Energy Resources until November 30, as it works to overturn the Canadian government's rejection of the proposed deal. Canada blocked Petronas' C$5.17 billion ($5.18 billion) bid for Progress this month after Industry Minister Christian Paradis said it was unlikely to bring a "net benefit" to the country. The government gave Petronas 30 days to make additional representations to alter the ruling. ... Full Story | Top |
| Mexican city battered by drug gangs feels lure of truce Monday, Oct 29, 2012 09:47 AM PDT  TORREON, Mexico (Reuters) - In a five-year struggle with Mexico's most notorious drug cartel, the city of Torreon has suffered a 16-fold increase in murders, fired its police department and lost control of its main prison to the gang. The Zetas cartel arrived in Torreon in mid-2007, and this center of manufacturing, mining and farming once seen as a model for progress has become one of Mexico's most dangerous cities. ... Full Story | Top |
| Ukrainian far-right surges in protest voting Monday, Oct 29, 2012 09:43 AM PDT KIEV (Reuters) - A Ukrainian nationalist party accused of being anti-Semitic and hostile to homosexuals has made sharp gains in the country's parliamentary election, shaking up its political elite. Svoboda, which draws on suspicion of Russia and of Ukraine's large Russian-speaking minority, was winning about 9 percent of the ballot in early returns on Monday, though many saw its surge into parliament as more of a protest vote against the government and main opposition rather than an endorsement of its policies. ... Full Story | Top |
| Germany's fast-sinking Pirates could shipwreck Merkel Monday, Oct 29, 2012 09:36 AM PDT BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany's Pirates, a party that came from nowhere to be a major political force, are suffering a dramatic reversal of fortune that could harm Chancellor Angela Merkel's 2013 re-election chances. After surging ahead of the Free Democrats (FDP), Left Party and Greens to become Germany's third strongest party, polling 13 percent in April, the Pirates have fallen back to 4 percent. Their drop below the 5 percent threshold needed for seats in parliament could mean the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) and Greens recover enough votes to form a majority next year and oust Merkel. ... Full Story | Top |
| Ukraine's Tymoshenko launches hunger strike over "rigged" vote Monday, Oct 29, 2012 09:31 AM PDT KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine's jailed former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko launched a hunger strike on Monday to protest against alleged vote-rigging in favor of President Viktor Yanukovich's party in a weekend election, her lawyer said. Exit polls and partial results from Sunday's vote showed Yanukovich's Party of the Regions would, with help from long-time allies, win more than half the seats in the 450-member assembly. The united opposition bloc, which includes Tymoshenko's Batkivshchyna (Fatherland) party, was second with about 100 seats, according to preliminary estimates. ... Full Story | Top |
| Lithuania president vetoes coalition in vote fraud row Monday, Oct 29, 2012 08:55 AM PDT VILNIUS (Reuters) - Lithuania's president on Monday vetoed a proposed coalition government, saying one of the three parties involved stood accused of serious voter fraud in a weekend election and was therefore unfit to govern. President Dalia Grybauskaite's surprise intervention cast a cloud of uncertainty over the aftermath of the election - which turned into a vote against austerity - setting up a possible standoff or new talks on forming a different government. The party accused of fraud, the Labor Party, strongly denies wrongdoing. ... Full Story | Top |
| Italy PM Monti says intends to serve until 2013 election Monday, Oct 29, 2012 07:45 AM PDT  MADRID (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti dismissed fears on Monday that his government could fall, after former premier Silvio Berlusconi said at the weekend that the center right could withdraw its support before elections next year. Speaking at a news conference in Madrid with Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, Monti said he did not consider Berlusconi's comments to be a threat to him and the unelected ministers in his technocrat government. He said he and his colleagues had not sought office and were only serving a limited term. ... Full Story | Top |
| Dutch Liberal and Labor parties agree to coalition deal Monday, Oct 29, 2012 07:41 AM PDT  THE HAGUE (Reuters) - Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte's Liberal Party and the Labor Party said they had reached a coalition deal on Monday, paving the way for a pro-austerity, pro-European government to be sworn in as early as next week. Rutte, whose Liberals won the most seats in the September 12 election, will remain as prime minister, while Labor Party member of parliament Jeroen Dijsselbloem is widely tipped to replace Jan Kees de Jager as the new finance minister. ... Full Story | Top |
| Bulgaria nationalists rally in support of Muslims' trial Monday, Oct 29, 2012 07:35 AM PDT PAZARDZHIK, Bulgaria (Reuters) - Hundreds of nationalists rallied in a southern Bulgarian town on Monday in support of the prosecution of 13 religious leaders accused of spreading radical Islam in a case causing communal strains in the Balkan country. The trial, just months after a suicide bomber killed five Israeli tourists and a Bulgarian driver at the Black Sea port of Burgas, has tested a delicate ethnic balance between the country's minority Muslims and its Orthodox Christian majority. ... Full Story | Top |
| Residents blocked from returning to captured Libyan town Monday, Oct 29, 2012 07:02 AM PDT  TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Thousands of Libyans who fled fighting in the former Gaddafi stronghold of Bani Walid will not be allowed to return home for several more days until work was complete to make the town safe and restore services, officials said on Monday. Militias aligned with the defense ministry took control of Bani Walid - one of the last towns to fall to rebels in last year's war - on Wednesday after fighting that has underlined the weakness of central authority a year after dictator Muammar Gaddafi was deposed. ... Full Story | Top |
| Opposition Labor increases pressure on Cameron before EU talks Monday, Oct 29, 2012 06:38 AM PDT  LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's opposition Labor party piled pressure on Prime Minister David Cameron on Monday by pushing for an even tougher line on the European Union budget than that proposed by his ruling Conservative Party. Cameron is promising to take a tough line at what are shaping up to be fraught talks next month to agree the EU's next seven-year budget in the face of growing anti-EU sentiment in Britain. ... Full Story | Top |
| Ukraine president's party set for election win, OSCE unhappy Monday, Oct 29, 2012 06:23 AM PDT  KIEV (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Victor Yanukovich's party was on course on Monday to secure a parliamentary majority but international monitors said flaws in the way the election was conducted meant the country had taken a "step backwards". Exit polls and first results from Sunday's vote showed Yanukovich's Party of the Regions would, with help from long-time allies, win more than half the seats in the 450-member assembly after boosting public sector wages and welfare handouts to win over disillusioned voters in its traditional power bases. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.N.-Arab League envoy regrets Syria truce crumbled Monday, Oct 29, 2012 05:41 AM PDT MOSCOW (Reuters) - International envoy Lakhdar Brahimi expressed regret on Monday at the failure of a four-day truce in Syria that he had arranged between President Bashar al-Assad's government and rebel forces. Brahimi also said after talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow that there was no immediate plan to send U.N. peacekeepers to the Middle Eastern country. "I am terribly sorry ... that this appeal (for a truce) has not been heard to the level we hoped it would, but that will not discourage us. ... Full Story | Top |
| Iran has pictures of restricted Israeli areas: Iran MP Monday, Oct 29, 2012 05:02 AM PDT DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran holds pictures of Israeli bases and other restricted areas obtained from a drone launched into Israeli airspace earlier this month, an Iranian lawmaker was quoted as saying on Monday. Earlier this month, Israel shot down a drone after it flew 25 miles into the Jewish state. Lebanese militant group Hezbollah claimed responsibility for the aircraft, saying its parts had been manufactured in Iran and assembled in Lebanon. ... Full Story | Top |
| Syria state TV says 10 killed by car bomb in Damascus Monday, Oct 29, 2012 04:24 AM PDT BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian state television said 10 people, including women and children, were killed by a car bomb in the southeastern district of Jaramana in the capital of Damascus on Monday. "A terrorist car bomb exploded on the Rooda road, next to the bakery entrance," state TV said. Damascus residents say Jaramana is controlled by forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad, who is fighting an armed revolt against forty years of family rule. (Reporting by Oliver Holmes; Editing by Louise Ireland) Full Story | Top |
| Thai cabinet reshuffle sees return of Thaksin loyalists Monday, Oct 29, 2012 04:19 AM PDT  BANGKOK (Reuters) - A cabinet reshuffle in Thailand has brought loyal allies of self-exiled former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra into the government led by his sister, consolidating his grip on power as he bides his time before making a serious effort to come home. Thaksin, ousted by the army in 2006, lives abroad to avoid a prison sentence for abuse of power but is widely thought to be running Southeast Asia's second-largest economy from bases in Dubai and elsewhere through Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.N.-Arab League envoy regrets Syria truce not successful Monday, Oct 29, 2012 03:46 AM PDT  MOSCOW (Reuters) - U.N.-Arab League peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi expressed regret on Monday that a U.N.-brokered truce had not been more successful in Syria but said he would not let this discourage his peace efforts. Brahimi also said after talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow that there was no immediate plan to send U.N. peacekeepers to the Middle East country. "I am terribly sorry ... that this appeal (for a truce) has not been heard to the level we hoped it would, but that will not discourage us. ... Full Story | Top |
| Lithuania at risk of political stalemate after election Monday, Oct 29, 2012 03:44 AM PDT  VILNIUS (Reuters) - Lithuania's president vetoed plans on Monday by three opposition parties to form a government after a weekend election, saying claims of vote buying and tax fraud made one of them unfit to rule. Voters turned against Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius' austerity-minded administration on Sunday, in a warning for other European governments pushing through tough budgets. That put an alliance of the opposition Social Democratic Party, the Labor Party and the party of an impeached former president in prime position to succeed him. ... Full Story | Top |
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