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| U.N. chief recommends "offensive military operation" in Mali Wednesday, Nov 28, 2012 07:55 PM PST  UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday recommended that the Security Council approve an African Union peace enforcement mission be deployed to combat Islamist extremists in northern Mali, but did not offer financial support from the world body. Diplomats and U.N. officials say that peace enforcement missions allow the use of lethal force in serious combat situations, while peacekeeping operations are intended to support and monitor an already existing ceasefire. The last U.N. ... Full Story | Top |
| Riot police move in to end Myanmar copper mine protest Wednesday, Nov 28, 2012 07:47 PM PST YANGON (Reuters) - Riot police fired water cannon and tear gas early on Thursday to break up a three-month protest against a vast copper mining project run by the powerful Myanmar military and its partner, a subsidiary of a Chinese arms manufacturer. After decades of oppression, the Monywa mine has become a test of Myanmar's commitment to reform as protesters probe new-found freedoms, including a relaxation of laws on protests that took effect in July. It also illustrates growing resentment towards Chinese companies that have expanded in recent years across the country. ... Full Story | Top |
| Chinese police plan to board vessels in disputed seas Wednesday, Nov 28, 2012 07:41 PM PST  BEIJING (Reuters) - Police in the southern Chinese island province of Hainan will board and search ships which enter into what China considers its territorial waters in the disputed South China Sea, state media said on Thursday, a move which could raise tensions further. The South China Sea is Asia's biggest potential military trouble spot with several Asian countries claiming sovereignty. ... Full Story | Top |
| Japan opposition LDP remains election favorite: poll Wednesday, Nov 28, 2012 07:37 PM PST TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's opposition Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) held on to its comfortable lead ahead of the December 16 general election, an opinion poll by the Nikkei daily showed on Thursday, with the hawkish Japan Restoration Party firmly in second place ahead of the ruling Democratic Party. The survey gave 23 percent support in the election for the lower house of parliament to the LDP, which is calling for aggressive monetary steps to end deflation. ... Full Story | Top |
| Japan's new Restoration Party seeks bigger defense spending Wednesday, Nov 28, 2012 07:06 PM PST  TOKYO (Reuters) - A new Japanese party that hopes to become a force to contend with in a December 16 general election is calling for more defense spending to protect national interests and lower corporate and income taxes to bolster the economy, domestic media said on Thursday. The Japan Restoration Party, which came in second to the main opposition Liberal Democrats in an opinion poll published on Thursday, also wants to shrink the role of the central government while promoting free-market competition and making it easier to revise Japan's pacifist constitution. ... Full Story | Top |
| Chavez's return to Cuba for treatment rattles Venezuela Wednesday, Nov 28, 2012 06:51 PM PST  CARACAS/HAVANA (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez was back in Cuba on Wednesday for cancer-linked medical treatment that revived questions about the viability of his socialist rule and left Venezuelans again guessing about his exact condition. After weeks of scarce public appearances, Chavez, 58, announced in a letter on Tuesday that he was going to Havana for therapy known as "hyperbaric oxygenation" - a method used to reduce bone decay caused by radiation therapy. ... Full Story | Top |
| Farm murders highlight apartheid's toxic legacy in South Africa Wednesday, Nov 28, 2012 06:16 PM PST ERMELO, South Africa (Reuters) - In a country cursed by one of the world's highest murder rates, being a white farmer makes a violent death an even higher risk. Whether attacks have been motivated by race or robbery, a rising death rate from rural homicides is drawing attention to the lack of change on South Africa's farms nearly two decades after the end of apartheid - and to the tensions burgeoning over enduring racial inequality. Some of South Africa's predominantly white commercial farmers go as far as to brand the farm killings a genocide. ... Full Story | Top |
| Egypt's Mursi to urge unity in face of political crisis Wednesday, Nov 28, 2012 05:45 PM PST  CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi will address the nation on Thursday, calling for unity as he pushes through a new constitution he hopes will defuse a crisis prompted by his decision to grant himself sweeping powers. The assembly tasked with writing the constitution ended its session in the early hours on Thursday, wrapping the final draft it will put to vote later in the day. But as Mursi's opponents pressed on with their week-old protests in Cairo's Tahrir Square, critics said the Islamist-dominated assembly's bid to finish the constitution quickly could make matters worse. ... Full Story | Top |
| Italy centre-left rivals face off in TV debate Wednesday, Nov 28, 2012 04:51 PM PST ROME (Reuters) - Italy's centre-left rivals Pier Luigi Bersani and Matteo Renzi went head-to-head in a final television debate on Wednesday before a runoff vote to choose who will stand in next year's election as candidate to succeed Prime Minister Mario Monti. In a calm discussion with few moments of tension, the candidates reaffirmed plans to continue the budget discipline and economic policy agenda of Monti's government while also ensuring fairness in society and protection for workers. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. to honor Israel's Barak, outgoing architect of Iran policy Wednesday, Nov 28, 2012 04:46 PM PST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Outgoing Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak will receive the highest award he could be given by a U.S. secretary of defense when he visits the Pentagon on Thursday, three days after announcing his exit from political life next year. The 70-year-old Barak, a leading strategist in confronting Iran over its nuclear program who has also served as Israel's prime minister and armed forces chief, has been a regular visitor to the Pentagon in recent years as tensions with Tehran simmer. ... Full Story | Top |
| Congo rebels keep hold on towns they pledged to leave Wednesday, Nov 28, 2012 03:55 PM PST GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo (Reuters) - Rebels in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo kept a firm grip on Wednesday over towns captured from government forces, despite a pledge to respect a deal brokered by Uganda and withdraw. World powers and regional neighbors are scrambling to contain the latest violence in Congo's volatile east, where political and ethnic rifts and competition for vast mineral resources are again threatening to ignite a regional war. ... Full Story | Top |
| Day of reckoning for Cameron and British press Wednesday, Nov 28, 2012 03:34 PM PST  LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister David Cameron faces a no-win dilemma on Thursday when a far-reaching inquiry into British newspapers delivers its verdict on how to curb the excesses of the country's notoriously aggressive press. Cameron, who was embarrassed when details of his personal links to Rupert Murdoch and his media empire emerged at the inquiry, will have to decide whether to accept its findings, which risk dividing his coalition government and angering an already hostile press. ... Full Story | Top |
| Albania marks independence with giant cake and quarrels Wednesday, Nov 28, 2012 02:41 PM PST  TIRANA (Reuters) - The foreign minister of neighboring Greece boycotted festivities on Wednesday marking 100 years of Albania's independence after its prime minister hailed a town over the border as "Albanian lands". Reflecting the delicate nature of Balkan politics after the wars that split Yugoslavia, the president of Macedonia also stayed away after the car of his prime minister was hit with eggs and its flag burned in Tirana during a visit last week. ... Full Story | Top |
| Strong European support for Palestinian statehood move Wednesday, Nov 28, 2012 02:00 PM PST  UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - A Palestinian bid for indirect U.N. recognition of statehood received vows of support from more than a dozen European nations as of Wednesday, and diplomats said this backing may deter Israel from harsh retaliation against the Palestinian Authority for seeking to upgrade its U.N. status. A Palestinian resolution on Thursday that would change its U.N. observer status from an "entity" to a "non-member state," implicitly recognizing the sovereign state of Palestine, is expected to pass easily in the 193-nation U.N. General Assembly. ... Full Story | Top |
| Egypt's Mursi to address nation on Thursday: source Wednesday, Nov 28, 2012 01:49 PM PST CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's President Mohammed Mursi will address the nation on Thursday on a decree he issued last week and the street protests that erupted afterwards, a presidential source told Reuters on Wednesday. Protesters have said Mursi's decree gives him dictatorial powers but the source explained Mursi would seek to clarify otherwise. "The president will address the nation on state TV on Thursday evening and will speak about the constitutional decree and why it was issued as well as the events that ensued afterwards," said the source. ... Full Story | Top |
| Algeria hopes voter apathy won't spoil local elections Wednesday, Nov 28, 2012 01:29 PM PST ALGIERS (Reuters) - Algeria is hoping that a fair turnout in municipal elections on Thursday will strengthen the credibility of a political system that has survived the Arab Spring without major protests but failed to meet hopes for reform. The memory of a brutal civil war in the 1990s between Islamists and the state that killed around 200,000 people is a key factor, analysts say, that has held Algerians back from mass protests like those that swept away rulers in neighboring Tunisia and Libya, as well as Egypt and Yemen. ... Full Story | Top |
| Congo accuses Rwanda of shielding alleged war criminal Wednesday, Nov 28, 2012 01:22 PM PST  UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The Democratic Republic of Congo accused neighboring Rwanda on Wednesday of supporting a rebellion in the country's east to prevent the arrest of former Congolese general Bosco Ntaganda who is wanted by the International Criminal Court. The eight-month-old insurgency in a resource-rich Congolese province by M23 rebels was partly triggered by President Joseph Kabila's plan to arrest Ntaganda on international charges of enlisting child soldiers, murder, ethnic persecution and rape. A group of experts has reported to the U.N. ... Full Story | Top |
| Protesters threaten operation of Western Libya's main oil refinery Wednesday, Nov 28, 2012 12:58 PM PST TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Protests outside western Libya's main oil refinery on Wednesday could shut down operations, causing a shortage of petrol in the country's capital, the deputy oil minister said. Omar Shakmak said that while the Zawiya Oil Refinery Co was still operational, protests by wounded war veterans demanding government compensation could cause a stoppage in fuel distribution. "We have enough fuel stored in Tripoli to last us 25 days but the problem is that protesters are not allowing trucks in or out of the fuel storage areas of the refinery which could cause a shortage," he said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Bangladesh fire protests rage, supervisors arrested Wednesday, Nov 28, 2012 12:53 PM PST  DHAKA/CHICAGO (Reuters) - Three supervisors of a Bangladeshi garment factory were arrested on Wednesday as protests over a suspected arson fire that killed more than 100 people raged on into a third day, with textile workers and police clashing in the streets of a Dhaka suburb. The government has blamed last weekend's disaster, the country's worst-ever industrial blaze, on saboteurs and police said they had arrested two people, who were seen on CCTV footage trying to set fire to stockpiles of material in another factory. ... Full Story | Top |
| Tunisia secures more loans as protests hit deprived town Wednesday, Nov 28, 2012 12:51 PM PST  TUNIS (Reuters) - Tunisia, struggling to ease economic difficulties that have provoked unrest since its democratic revolution, said on Wednesday it had secured more international lending to cover its 2013 spending. Tunisia's new, elected Islamist-led government has sought to revive the economy in the face of a decline in trade with the crisis-hit euro zone and disputes between secularists and hardline Salafi Islamists over the future direction of the North African Arab state. ... Full Story | Top |
| Yemenis agree on national dialogue conference Wednesday, Nov 28, 2012 12:44 PM PST SANAA (Reuters) - Yemeni political parties agreed on the number of delegates they would each send to a national dialogue conference seen as crucial for the success of a U.S.-backed power transfer deal signed last year. The deal, announced by U.N. envoy to Yemen Jamal Benomar on Wednesday, means the conference should soon convene to discuss constitutional reforms that would pave the way for presidential and parliamentary elections in 2014. ... Full Story | Top |
| Jewish group raps eastern EU states on Holocaust property claims Wednesday, Nov 28, 2012 12:34 PM PST PRAGUE (Reuters) - A global Jewish group urged central and east European countries on Wednesday to return or provide compensation for property seized during the Holocaust and accused Poland, Latvia and Romania in particular of foot-dragging. After a conference in Prague, the World Jewish Restitution Organisation (WJRO) said tens of thousands of Nazi Holocaust victims and their heirs had not been able to resolve claims on stolen property despite two decades of trying since the fall of post-war communist regimes in central and eastern Europe. ... Full Story | Top |
| As China showcases carrier, global naval balance shifting Wednesday, Nov 28, 2012 12:00 PM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - China has showcased its first aircraft carrier landings while maintenance woes have reduced the United States to a single carrier in the Gulf, pointing to the beginnings of a subtle shift in the balance of naval power. With South China Sea tensions growing, the threat of Middle East conflict still very real and counterterrorism and counter piracy operations also demanding resources, demands on Western navies - and the U.S. in particular - seem ever-growing. ... Full Story | Top |
| Splits mar start of Syrian opposition talks Wednesday, Nov 28, 2012 11:32 AM PST CAIRO (Reuters) - Syria's new opposition coalition held its first full meeting on Wednesday to discuss forming a transitional government but disagreements broke out at the outset, showing that President Bashar al-Assad's foes remain deeply divided. A transitional government is crucial to win effective Arab and Western support for the 20-month revolt against Assad, and would bolster the opposition as a democratic alternative to decades of autocratic rule in Syria. ... Full Story | Top |
| Colombia leaves pact recognizing U.N. court rulings Wednesday, Nov 28, 2012 11:29 AM PST BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombia has withdrawn from a treaty that binds it to the U.N. International Court of Justice in anger at a ruling that shifts some of its resource-rich waters to Nicaragua, President Juan Manuel Santos said on Wednesday. The Hague-based court last week reduced an expanse of sea belonging to Colombia, drawing a demarcation line in favor of Nicaragua even while saying a cluster of disputed islands in the western Caribbean belonged to Colombia and not to Managua. ... Full Story | Top |
| NATO reassures Russia on missiles as ambassador contacts resume Wednesday, Nov 28, 2012 11:26 AM PST BRUSSELS (Reuters) - NATO countries assured Russia on Wednesday that the planned deployment of Patriot missiles to Turkey was a defensive measure as the alliance and Moscow resumed ambassador-level meetings after a gap of nearly a year. Envoys from the 28 alliance members held their first meeting with Alexander Grushko, a former deputy foreign minister who President Vladimir Putin appointed last month as Russia's ambassador to NATO. Russia had left the post vacant since Grushko's predecessor, Dmitry Rogozin, was promoted to deputy prime minister at the end of 2011. ... Full Story | Top |
| EU cuts Syria sanctions term to possibly help rebels Wednesday, Nov 28, 2012 11:24 AM PST LONDON/BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union will reduce its renewal term for sanctions on Syria to three months from an expected year, to make it easier in future to equip rebels fighting to depose President Bashar al-Assad, EU diplomats said on Wednesday. EU sanctions on Syria include visa bans and asset freezes on individuals and businesses connected to Assad's government, a ban on oil imports from Syria, and an embargo on the supply of arms to the country, imposed to prevent the flow of weapons to Assad's forces. ... Full Story | Top |
| Amnesty urges Kuwait not to crack down on protests Wednesday, Nov 28, 2012 10:59 AM PST KUWAIT (Reuters) - Kuwaiti authorities must allow protesters to gather peacefully and express their views without the threat of arrest, Amnesty International said ahead of an opposition march over voting rules planned later this week. Protesters plan a march in central Kuwait on Friday, on the eve of parliamentary elections which the opposition is boycotting in protest. Opposition politicians and youth protest groups say new voting rules introduced by Kuwait's 83-year-old ruler by decree in October are an attempt to skew the December 1 election in favour of pro-government candidates. ... Full Story | Top |
| Iran "will press on with enrichment:" nuclear chief Wednesday, Nov 28, 2012 10:56 AM PST  DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran will go on refining uranium "with intensity" and the number of enrichment centrifuges it has operating will rise substantially in the current year, the country's nuclear energy chief was quoted as saying on Wednesday. The comments by Fereydoun Abbasi-Davani, head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation, signaled continued defiance in the face of international demands that Tehran halt enrichment to the higher 20 percent fissile purity level, close down its Fordow enrichment plant, and ship out its stockpile of the material. ... Full Story | Top |
| Saudi diplomat shot dead in Yemen, al Qaeda blamed Wednesday, Nov 28, 2012 10:47 AM PST SANAA (Reuters) - Gunmen shot dead a Saudi diplomat and his Yemeni bodyguard in Yemen's capital Sanaa on Wednesday in an attack a local security source said appeared to be the work of al Qaeda. The killing, the latest attack on security officials and politicians in the U.S.-allied state, underscores the challenges facing Yemen since an uprising that began last year toppled President Ali Abdullah Saleh. ... Full Story | Top |
| Russian mafia whistleblower, 44, found dead in UK Wednesday, Nov 28, 2012 10:46 AM PST  WEYBRIDGE, England/LONDON (Reuters) - A Russian businessman helping Swiss prosecutors uncover a powerful fraud syndicate has died in unexplained circumstances near his mansion in Britain, in a chilling twist to a Russian mafia scandal that has strained Moscow's ties with the West. Alexander Perepilichny, 44, sought refuge in Britain three years ago and had been helping a Swiss investigation into a Russian money-laundering scheme by providing evidence against corrupt officials, his colleagues and media reports said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Putin's Russia not ready to shift on Syria Wednesday, Nov 28, 2012 10:43 AM PST MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia seems to be positioning itself for the day Bashar al-Assad may lose power, but nothing in recent statements shows President Vladimir Putin is shifting to join Western rivals in backing the rebels in Syria's civil war. As Syria's new opposition coalition consolidates, Russia has stepped up efforts to tell the world it is not on President Assad's side, despite its blocking Western and Arab efforts to provide U.N. support for the rebel forces trying to topple him. ... Full Story | Top |
| Egypt assembly seeks to wrap up constitution Wednesday, Nov 28, 2012 10:35 AM PST  CAIRO (Reuters) - The assembly writing Egypt's constitution said it could wrap up a final draft later on Wednesday, a move the Muslim Brotherhood sees as a way out of a crisis over a decree by President Mohamed Mursi that protesters say gives him dictatorial powers. But as Mursi's opponents staged a sixth day of protests in Tahrir Square, critics said the Islamist-dominated assembly's bid to finish the constitution quickly could make matters worse. Two people have been killed and hundreds injured in countrywide protest set off by Mursi's decree. ... Full Story | Top |
| Iran welcomes UK decision barring arms case extradition Wednesday, Nov 28, 2012 10:20 AM PST DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran's Foreign Ministry has welcomed the decision of a British court not to extradite a former Iranian diplomat wanted by the United States after he was caught in a sting operation trying to export night-vision weapons' sights to Iran. Nosratollah Tajik, 59, a former Iranian ambassador to Jordan, was arrested in London in 2006 after agents from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security posed as arms dealers seeking to sell the military kit in violation of arms embargoes. ... Full Story | Top |
| Greek minister scraps Albania trip over PM's territorial remark Wednesday, Nov 28, 2012 10:14 AM PST  ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece's foreign minister cancelled a trip to Albania on Wednesday after the neighboring country's prime minister suggested a northwestern Greek town was "Albanian land". Nationalists in Greece and Albania had long made claims on their respective lands. But relations between the Balkan neighbors have significantly improved since they signed a friendship treaty in 1996. Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha's remarks were in a text he sent to a museum to mark the 100th anniversary of Albanian independence from Ottoman rule and honor the founder of modern Albania, Ismail ... Full Story | Top |
| Mexico's drug war bright spot hides dark underbelly Wednesday, Nov 28, 2012 09:53 AM PST  CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico (Reuters) - Inside a notorious Mexican prison where armed convicts used to roam freely, selling drugs and deciding who was allowed in, the state is in control again. Prisoners are back in their cells and the once overcrowded complex sparkles with cleanliness. But outside on the dusty streets of Ciudad Juarez, store owners lock themselves behind their doors, fearful of police and carefully vetting customers to avoid becoming the next victims of still rampant crime. ... Full Story | Top |
| AMSC slashes workforce, cuts outlook on weak wind energy market Wednesday, Nov 28, 2012 09:52 AM PST (Reuters) - AMSC said it laid off about a quarter of its workforce and forecast a larger-than-expected loss for the current quarter as the power technology company struggles to stem losses caused by overcapacity and weak demand in the wind power market. The company, which has cut more than half its workforce since August 2011, now has only about 340 employees. The maker of electrical components for wind turbines expects a loss of "less than 31 cents per share", excluding items, for the third quarter ending December. It earlier forecast a loss of less than 26 cents. ... Full Story | Top |
| Russian court jails Red Square bomb plot convict for 15 years Wednesday, Nov 28, 2012 09:23 AM PST MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Moscow court on Wednesday convicted a man of participating in a failed plot to carry out a suicide bomb attack in Red Square on New Year's Eve in 2010 and sentenced him to 15 years in prison, the Russian prosecutor general's office said. The court found that Ilyas Saidov brought two bombs to Moscow from the volatile North Caucasus republic of Dagestan on a bus and delivered them to two women who were to set them off on the square outside the Kremlin, it said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Polish ruling on kosher meat angers Jews Wednesday, Nov 28, 2012 08:51 AM PST WARSAW (Reuters) - Jewish groups said on Wednesday a Polish court ruling on methods used to slaughter livestock could halt the production of kosher meat, threatening their religious freedom in a country where Nazi Germany massacred millions of Jews in World War Two. Poland's Constitutional court this week reinforced a law that states livestock has to be stunned before slaughter, ruling out the practice stipulated by the Jewish faith of slaughtering the animal by slitting its throat while it is still conscious. ... Full Story | Top |
| South Africa's Zuma set for ANC re-election, Ramaphosa may come back Wednesday, Nov 28, 2012 08:48 AM PST JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South African President Jacob Zuma looks set for re-election as head of the ruling ANC in December but the battle for the post of his deputy could thrust millionaire businessman and former unionist Cyril Ramaphosa back into political prominence. Despite sluggish growth in Africa's biggest economy, bloody labor strife that dented South Africa's image this year and a slew of scandals during Zuma's three years in power, five of the country's nine provinces are backing the president to stay on as leader of the African National Congress. ... Full Story | Top |
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