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| Clinton says U.S. open to bilateral talks if Iran is "ever ready" Friday, Nov 30, 2012 08:01 PM PST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States is open to bilateral talks about Iran's nuclear program if Tehran is "ever ready," U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Friday. Responding to a question, Clinton called Iran the hardest issue she has dealt with as secretary of state "because of the dangers that its behavior already poses and the geometrically greater danger that a nuclear-armed Iran would pose." The United States and its allies suspect Iran of seeking to develop nuclear arms under cover of its civilian atomic program. ... Full Story | Top |
| Senate approves new sanctions for Iran energy, shipping Friday, Nov 30, 2012 08:01 PM PST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate resoundingly approved on Friday expanded sanctions on global trade with Iran's energy and shipping sectors, its latest effort to ratchet up economic pressure on Tehran over its nuclear program. The new package, which keeps in place exemptions for countries that have made significant cuts to their purchases of Iranian crude oil, would be the third round of sanctions in a year if passed into law. The existing sanctions have already hurt Iran's economy, but it is uncertain whether the additional measures will stop or slow Iran's nuclear program. ... Full Story | Top |
| Stung by U.N. defeat, Israel pushes settlement plans Friday, Nov 30, 2012 07:19 PM PST JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Hours after the United Nations voted overwhelmingly to grant de-facto statehood to Palestine, Israel responded on Friday by announcing it was authorizing 3,000 new settler homes in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. An official, who declined to be named, said the government had also decided to expedite planning work for thousands more homes in a geographically sensitive area close to Jerusalem that critics say would kill off Palestinian hopes of a viable state. The decision was made on Thursday when it became clear that the U.N. ... Full Story | Top |
| Little apparent progress in U.S. "fiscal cliff" talks Friday, Nov 30, 2012 07:08 PM PST  HATFIELD, Pennsylvania (Reuters) - With barely a month left before the "fiscal cliff," Republicans and Democrats remained far apart on Friday in talks to avoid the across-the-board tax hikes and spending cuts that threaten to throw the country back into recession. While President Barack Obama visited a Pennsylvania toy factory to muster public support for tax hikes on the rich, portraying Republicans as scrooges at Christmas time, his primary adversary in negotiations, Republican House Speaker John Boehner, continued to describe the situation as a stalemate. ... Full Story | Top |
| Syrian opposition edges toward appointing transition PM Friday, Nov 30, 2012 06:44 PM PST CAIRO (Reuters) - Syria's new opposition coalition edged closer on Friday toward choosing a prime minister to lead a transitional government after three days of talks in Cairo that furthered the dominance of the Muslim Brotherhood. Former Prime Minister Riad Hijab, a longtime apparatchik in President Bashar al-Assad's Baath Party before he defected in August, is the strongest candidate for the job, delegates said. Hijab, who is backed by Jordan and Gulf states, is likely to be chosen before or during a gathering in mid-December of the Friends of Syria, according to coalition insiders. ... Full Story | Top |
| Panama's police kill FARC guerrilla, capture 7 on Colombia border Friday, Nov 30, 2012 06:27 PM PST PANAMA CITY (Reuters) - Panama's national border police on Friday killed one FARC guerrilla and captured seven others while patrolling the remote jungle border province of Darien, a police spokeswoman said. Authorities said they seized weapons and about 20 bags of cocaine along with the guerrillas, members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC. Police encountered the guerrillas in the district of Chepigana, near the Central American country's border with Colombia, after receiving complaints over the past few days of armed men in the area, which prompted increased patrols. ... Full Story | Top |
| Mexico's Pena Nieto picks close aides for top Cabinet jobs Friday, Nov 30, 2012 05:57 PM PST  MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico's incoming president, Enrique Pena Nieto, picked close allies on Friday to head the finance and interior ministries as he seeks to craft economic reforms and reduce drug violence in Latin America's second-biggest economy. Right-hand man Luis Videgaray will take on the Finance Ministry, while Pena Nieto's close political ally Miguel Angel Osorio Chong will oversee a more powerful Interior Ministry that will be responsible for security in the new government. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. demands Iran release hunger-striking human rights lawyer Friday, Nov 30, 2012 05:34 PM PST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Friday demanded that Iran free jailed human rights activist Nasrin Sotoudeh, who it said has been on hunger strike for more than six weeks, and sharply criticized Iranian authorities for their treatment of the 49-year-old prize-winning lawyer. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said reports of Sotoudeh's rapidly declining health were deeply troubling, and that she had been denied medical care and kept in solitary confinement. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.N. rights chief says Mursi decree breaks human rights law Friday, Nov 30, 2012 04:55 PM PST GENEVA (Reuters) - The U.N. human rights chief has warned Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi that his decree expanding his powers would put him beyond the law and open the door to human rights violations, her spokesman said on Friday. Navi Pillay sent a letter to Mursi on Tuesday, urging him to reconsider last week's decree and warning that "approving a constitution in these circumstances could be deeply divisive," spokesman Rupert Colville told a U.N. briefing. ... Full Story | Top |
| Former aide to Egypt leader joins opposition front Friday, Nov 30, 2012 04:55 PM PST CAIRO (Reuters) - A top aide to Egypt's President Mohamed Mursi, who quit when the leader issued a decree expanding his powers, has joined the country's biggest opposition movement, a senior opposition figure said on Friday. Samir Morkos was Mursi's adviser on the transition to democracy and the only Christian in the Islamist leader's team. He is one of at least two presidential advisers to have stepped down since Mursi issued the decree on November 22 that made his decisions immune to legal challenge. ... Full Story | Top |
| Egyptians protest after draft constitution raced through Friday, Nov 30, 2012 04:55 PM PST  CAIRO (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of Egyptians protested against President Mohamed Mursi on Friday after an Islamist-led assembly raced through approval of a new constitution in a bid to end a crisis over the Islamist leader's newly expanded powers. "The people want to bring down the regime," they chanted in Tahrir Square, echoing the chants that rang out in the same place less than two years ago and brought down Hosni Mubarak. ... Full Story | Top |
| Factbox: Egypt's draft constitution Friday, Nov 30, 2012 04:55 PM PST (Reuters) - Here is a look at Egypt's proposed new constitution, drafted by an assembly that raced to pass it, voting on each of 234 articles in a marathon session that ended early on Friday. * BACKGROUND - The text was rushed through during a struggle between President Mohamed Mursi and the judiciary that sharpened on November 22 when the Islamist leader assigned himself sweeping new powers and halted court challenges to his decisions, provoking nationwide protests. Mursi has said his extra powers will lapse once the constitution is adopted in a referendum. ... Full Story | Top |
| Honduras makes record haul of meth precursor chemicals Friday, Nov 30, 2012 04:25 PM PST TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) - Honduran anti-drug agents on Friday seized a record 14 tonnes of precursor chemicals for the production of methamphetamine, part of an ongoing operation that has netted $100 million in assets, federal prosecutors said. The chemicals were discovered Thursday underneath a house in the town of Patagallina in the northern department of Yoro, located along a major drug-smuggling route used by Mexican and Colombian cartels to bring drugs to the United States, said Carlos Vallecillo, spokesman for the federal prosecutor's office. ... Full Story | Top |
| After long jail term, gaming gangster faces less violent but still murky Macau Friday, Nov 30, 2012 04:12 PM PST  MACAU (Reuters) - Notorious Macau gangster Wan "Broken Tooth" Kuok-koi emerged from jail on Saturday morning into a very different gambling haven than the one he bullied in the late-1990s. Imprisoned for close to 15 years inside the enclave's high security prison, the former triad leader was escorted out by two police officers before being whisked into a white Lexus driven by two men dressed in black. Wearing trousers and a long-sleeved white shirt, Wan ignored requests for comment from a crowd of more than 50 journalists who had gathered outside. ... Full Story | Top |
| Three contractors killed at Penoles mine in Mexico Friday, Nov 30, 2012 03:38 PM PST MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Three contractors were killed on Friday while working on the construction of a ventilation duct at a zinc mine in central Mexico owned by Industrias Penoles, the company said in a release. Miner and metals processor Penoles, which runs the world's largest primary silver producer, Fresnillo, operates the Tizapa mine in the central State of Mexico in the tiny municipality of Zacazonapan. Three other contractors also employed by Mineria Castellana were injured and are being treated at a local hospital, Penoles added. ... Full Story | Top |
| Slovenia police clash with protesters ahead of vote Friday, Nov 30, 2012 03:38 PM PST LJUBLJANA (Reuters) - Police used water canon to break up rock-throwing protesters in Slovenia's capital on Friday after a rally against budget cuts and alleged corruption turned violent two days ahead of a presidential election. Officers said it was the first time they had used that level of crowd control since the country's independence from Yugoslavia in 1991 and 15 people, mostly policemen, were injured. Thousands of Slovenians took to the streets in Ljubljana and six other cities in the financially troubled euro zone country, the latest in a series of protests. ... Full Story | Top |
| Kuwaitis vote in poll hit by opposition boycott, protests Friday, Nov 30, 2012 03:14 PM PST KUWAIT (Reuters) - Kuwait holds a parliamentary election on Saturday overshadowed by an opposition boycott, protests over a change to the voting rules and a festering political crisis in the U.S.-allied oil producer. The election will be the second this year in the Gulf Arab state, where a series of assemblies have collapsed under the weight of a power struggle between elected MPs and the cabinet, appointed by the prime minister who is chosen by the emir. ... Full Story | Top |
| Congo rebel pullout from Goma runs into hitches Friday, Nov 30, 2012 03:09 PM PST  GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo (Reuters) - A planned battlefield withdrawal by rebels in eastern Congo under a deal brokered by regional governments ran into hitches on Friday, including a dispute over abandoned army supplies the insurgents want to take with them. Leaders of the Tutsi-led M23 rebel movement had agreed to pull out by Saturday from Democratic Republic of Congo's eastern border city of Goma, which they seized on November 20 when they routed government troops backed by United Nations peacekeepers. ... Full Story | Top |
| New Jersey bridge collapse derails freight train; chemical leaks Friday, Nov 30, 2012 02:54 PM PST  PAULSBORO, New Jersey (Reuters) - A railroad bridge collapsed on Friday over a creek in southern New Jersey, causing a Conrail freight train to derail and spill hazardous chemicals into the air and water, authorities said. Seven of the 82 cars derailed, and a tanker car that fell into Mantua Creek leaked vinyl chloride into the waterway, which feeds into the Delaware River near Philadelphia, said Deborah Hersman, chairwoman of the National Transportation Safety Board. ... Full Story | Top |
| Obama cranks up "fiscal cliff" pressure, Boehner says talks stalemated Friday, Nov 30, 2012 02:52 PM PST HATFIELD, Penn. (Reuters) - President Barack Obama turned up the pressure in "fiscal cliff" talks on Friday, hitting the road to drum up support for his drive to raise taxes on the wealthy and warning Americans that Republicans were offering them "a lump of coal" for Christmas. In a visit to a Pennsylvania toy factory, Obama portrayed congressional Republicans as Scrooges who risked sending the country over the fiscal cliff rather than strike a deal to avert the tax increases and spending cuts that begin in January unless Congress intervenes. ... Full Story | Top |
| Factbox: Key figures in Mexico's new government Friday, Nov 30, 2012 02:45 PM PST MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico's incoming president, Enrique Pena Nieto, who takes office on Saturday, appointed a mix of technocrats and career politicians to his Cabinet on Friday. Here are some of his key government appointments: FINANCE MINISTER - LUIS VIDEGARAY Videgaray is Pena Nieto's right-hand man and combines blue-chip academic qualifications with experience in the private sector, local government and Congress. He studied law and economics in Mexico alongside current Finance Minister Jose Antonio Meade. ... Full Story | Top |
| Mexico's Pena Nieto appoints top aides to major Cabinet posts Friday, Nov 30, 2012 02:09 PM PST  MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico's incoming president, Enrique Pena Nieto, on Friday named close allies to head the important finance and interior ministries as he seeks to spur growth and reduce drug-related violence in Latin America's second-biggest economy. Right-hand man Luis Videgaray will take on the Finance Ministry, while Pena Nieto's close political ally Miguel Angel Osorio Chong will oversee a strengthened Interior Ministry that will be responsible for security in the new government. ... Full Story | Top |
| Gushing UK papers laud PM Cameron's stance on press law Friday, Nov 30, 2012 01:54 PM PST  LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister David Cameron woke on Friday to find usually hostile newspapers gushing about his statesman-like qualities after he signaled his opposition to a new law governing the press. After his party suffered a night of humiliation in three parliamentary by-elections, instead of facing questions over his leadership, he was cheered for rejecting the main plank of proposals from a public inquiry he set up in the wake of outrage at the excesses of tabloid newspapers. ... Full Story | Top |
| Mexico's Pena Nieto appoints top aides to key cabinet posts Friday, Nov 30, 2012 01:22 PM PST  MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico's incoming president Enrique Pena Nieto on Friday appointed right-hand man Luis Videgaray as finance minister in his new cabinet. Another close aide, Miguel Angel Osorio Chong, was appointed interior minister and Pedro Joaquin Coldwell was named as energy minister. Pena Nieto takes power on Saturday. (Reporting by Dave Graham; Editing by Simon Gardner) Full Story | Top |
| Tunisia president calls for new cabinet after protests Friday, Nov 30, 2012 01:18 PM PST  TUNIS (Reuters) - Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki asked the North African state's Islamist prime minister on Friday to appoint a new cabinet in response to violent protests over economic hardship. Clashes between protesters and police in the northwest town of Siliana wounded more than 220 people this week, with at least 17 blinded by birdshot, according to medical sources. U.N. human rights officials said the security forces used excessive force to quell the protests, in some of their harshest criticism of Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali's government since it took office in October last year. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. disturbed by sentencing of blind Chinese dissident's nephew Friday, Nov 30, 2012 12:47 PM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States is deeply disturbed that the nephew of blind Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng was sentenced to more than three years in jail and views his trial as "deeply flawed," the U.S. State Department said on Friday. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said the trial and sentencing of Chen Kegui lacked basic due process and was a violation of China's own commitments to respect human rights. ... Full Story | Top |
| Penoles mine reports incident in Mexico, three killed says media Friday, Nov 30, 2012 12:27 PM PST MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - A mine in central Mexico owned by silver giant Industrias Penoles reported an "incident" on Friday that local media said was an explosion that killed three people and trapped six others. Miner and metals processor Penoles, which runs the world's largest primary silver producer Fresnillo, operates the Tizapa mine in the central State of Mexico in the tiny municipality of Zacazonapan. "There was an incident at the (Tizapa) facilities," Christian Gomez, a spokesman at the mine told Reuters, denying there was an explosion. He declined to say if there were deaths. ... Full Story | Top |
| Syria jets bombard rebel targets on airport road Friday, Nov 30, 2012 12:03 PM PST  BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian air force jets bombarded rebel targets on Friday close to the Damascus airport road and a regional airline said foreign carriers had halted flights to the capital. Activists said security forces clashed with rebels trying to topple President Bashar al-Assad around Aqraba and Babilla districts on the southeastern outskirts of Damascus which lead to the international airport. ... Full Story | Top |
| Syrian opposition coalition forms new executive Friday, Nov 30, 2012 11:44 AM PST CAIRO (Reuters) - Syria's new opposition coalition created a new executive body at a meeting in Cairo on Friday, less than a month after the group dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood and its allies came into being with Western and Arab support. Voting was underway to elect the 11 members of the new "political assembly" at the conclusion of the 60-member coalition's first full meeting, delegates said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Defiant Israel to boost settlements after UN's Palestine vote Friday, Nov 30, 2012 11:30 AM PST JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel plans to build thousands of new homes for its settlers in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, an Israeli official said on Friday, defying a U.N. vote that implicitly recognized Palestinian statehood there. The United States, one of Israel's few allies in Thursday's battle at the world forum, called "counterproductive" the construction blueprint, which included a stretch of land east of Jerusalem that Palestinians fear would bisect much of the West Bank and choke off their access to the holy city. ... Full Story | Top |
| Strauss-Kahn in preliminary deal to settle case with maid Friday, Nov 30, 2012 11:04 AM PST  NEW YORK/PARIS (Reuters) - Former IMF head Dominique Strauss-Kahn has reached a preliminary agreement to settle a civil lawsuit brought against him by a hotel maid who accused him of sexual assault last year, sources familiar with the case said. U.S. and France-based lawyers for Strauss-Kahn, who was once tipped to become French president, on Friday acknowledged a deal was under discussion, but said it had not yet been finalized. They also denied as "flatly false" and "fanciful" a report that he agreed on a $6 million settlement. ... Full Story | Top |
| Syrian rebel films himself shooting 10 prisoners Friday, Nov 30, 2012 10:55 AM PST BEIRUT (Reuters) - New footage posted on the Internet appears to have been filmed by a Syrian rebel who points the camera along the barrel of his gun as he shoots 10 unarmed prisoners. The video, posted on YouTube on Thursday, shows 10 men wearing t-shirts and camouflage trousers lying face down next to a building and a lookout tower. Even before the shooting, two of the men are not moving and one has blood coming from his torso. "I swear to God that we are peaceful," begs one of the men to the camera, which is being held by the gunman. Cowering, the man gets up to plead with rebels. ... Full Story | Top |
| Deploying missiles in Turkey could take several weeks: NATO Friday, Nov 30, 2012 10:52 AM PST BRUSSELS (Reuters) - NATO allies are expected to take several weeks to deploy Patriot surface-to-air missiles to defend Turkey from a spillover of Syria's civil war, a NATO spokeswoman said on Friday. Turkey formally asked for the Patriot missiles earlier this month after weeks of talks with NATO allies about how to shore up security on its 900-km (560-mile) border. NATO experts are in Turkey looking at sites to place the missiles. If deployed, they would be under the control of NATO's top command. ... Full Story | Top |
| Bosnian teachers, policemen protest against pay cuts Friday, Nov 30, 2012 10:51 AM PST BANJA LUKA, Bosnia (Reuters) - Thousands of teachers and policemen demonstrated across Bosnia's Serb Republic on Friday against a 10 percent pay cut planned for non-government public workers next year, the first major protest in years against government spending cutbacks. The government has drafted an austerity budget for 2013 of 1.94 billion marka ($1.3 billion), a 7 percent rise on the current year's spending only because of the costs of its growing foreign debt. The budget, set to be debated next week by the parliament, cuts the public sector wage bill by 56. ... Full Story | Top |
| UK blocks aid to Rwanda over Congo rebel claims Friday, Nov 30, 2012 10:50 AM PST LONDON/KIGALI (Reuters) - Britain said on Friday it was withholding 21 million pounds ($34 million) of aid which was about to be paid to Rwanda because of "credible" reports the government in Kigali is supporting rebels in neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Britain, one of Rwanda's largest donors, is the latest Western ally to freeze aid after a United Nations report said Rwanda was behind an eight-month-old rebellion responsible for the worst fighting in eastern Congo for years. ... Full Story | Top |
| Factbox: Senate approves wider economic sanctions on Iran Friday, Nov 30, 2012 10:47 AM PST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate on Friday approved a broader range of economic sanctions on Iran. The measures are aimed at pressuring Tehran to stop efforts to enrich uranium to levels that could be used in weapons. The package, passed 94-0, is now part of the annual defense policy bill, which must be approved by the Senate and House of Representatives before it can become law. ... Full Story | Top |
| White House: Israeli settlement plan "counterproductive" Friday, Nov 30, 2012 10:38 AM PST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House said on Friday a new Israeli settlement expansion plan was "counterproductive" and could make it harder to bring Israel and the Palestinians back to the negotiating table. "We reiterate our longstanding opposition to settlements and East Jerusalem construction and announcements," White House spokesman Tommy Vietor said. Israel plans to build thousands of new homes for its settlers in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, an Israeli official said earlier, defying a U.N. vote that implicitly recognized Palestinian statehood there. ... Full Story | Top |
| Gunmen kidnap police recruits in northern Iraq: officers Friday, Nov 30, 2012 10:07 AM PST ANBAR, Iraq (Reuters) - Masked gunmen hijacked a bus carrying 20 police recruits in northern Iraq on Friday and took them to a remote area bordering Syria where al-Qaeda operates, police sources said. The kidnappers, armed with machineguns and rocket propelled grenades, seized the vehicle on the road from Mosul to the capital Baghdad and took the recruits to Anbar province, said officers. "There were 20 volunteers coming from Mosul on their way to Baghdad. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.N. chief "horrified" by Syrian violence Friday, Nov 30, 2012 09:53 AM PST UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The 20-month conflict in Syria has reached "new and appalling heights of brutality and violence" as the government steps up its shelling and air strikes and rebels boost their attacks, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Friday. Ban and international Syria mediator Lakhdar Brahimi addressed the 193-member U.N. General Assembly on the revolt against Syrian President Bashir al-Assad, which began as peaceful rallies calling for democracy but grew to an armed struggle after the military cracked down on protesters. ... Full Story | Top |
| Russia says has new evidence against opposition leader Friday, Nov 30, 2012 09:35 AM PST  MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian detectives said on Friday they had new evidence in the investigation into an outspoken Kremlin opponent and his associates who allegedly sought to stir mass disorder and overthrow President Vladimir Putin's government. The federal Investigative Committee, a state body with extended powers, formally charged leftist opposition leader Sergei Udaltsov and two associates last month with organizing mass disorder and detained them ahead of trial. ... Full Story | Top |
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