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| CA-NEWS Summary Tuesday, Apr 23, 2013 08:08 PM PDT United States, Russia agree to try to revive Syria plan BRUSSELS (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Tuesday he and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had agreed to look for ways to revive a Syrian peace plan, but admitted that doing so would be extremely difficult. Kerry, speaking after talks with Lavrov and NATO colleagues in Brussels, also backed away from earlier comments suggesting he was calling for increased NATO contingency planning on Syria. Lawmakers grill FBI on Boston bombing investigation WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Suspect's widow drawn into Boston bomb investigation Tuesday, Apr 23, 2013 08:08 PM PDT  By Svea Herbst-Bayliss PROVIDENCE, Rhode Island (Reuters) - Katherine Russell has tried to stay out of sight in the five days since her husband, one of the suspects in the deadly Boston Marathon bombing, was killed in a shootout with police. Russell, who wears the traditional Muslim hijab headdress, has made no public comment on what she may have seen or heard in the months before the April 15 bombing that killed three and wounded 264, in which her husband, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, and his brother are the only known suspects. ... Full Story | Top |
| Lawmakers grill FBI on Boston bombing investigation Tuesday, Apr 23, 2013 07:06 PM PDT  By Susan Cornwell and Patricia Zengerle WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. lawmakers grilled top security officials on Tuesday about the handling of the Boston Marathon bombing investigation and why one of the suspects flagged as a possible Islamist radical was not tracked more closely. FBI officials briefed members of Congress behind closed doors in Washington about the investigation into the April 15 blasts that killed three people and injured 264 others. ... Full Story | Top |
| Mexico political dispute hits banking plan, raises doubt on reforms Tuesday, Apr 23, 2013 06:39 PM PDT  By David Alire Garcia and Dave Graham MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto has suspended plans to present a new banking sector reform due to a dispute between Mexico's main political parties, raising doubts about a wider reform agenda that investors are watching closely. The dispute is one of the first major challenges to face Pena Nieto, who had drawn up the overhaul which aims to boost lending under a so-called Pact for Mexico he forged with leaders of the opposition to work jointly on reforms. ... Full Story | Top |
| Analysis: Crossing Obama's "red line" on Syria will require concrete proof Tuesday, Apr 23, 2013 06:00 PM PDT  By Matt Spetalnick and David Alexander WASHINGTON/RIYADH (Reuters) - While President Barack Obama has declared a "red line" over Syrian use of chemical weapons, U.S. officials suggested on Tuesday that Washington was unlikely to respond without clear-cut evidence of such use - evidence that may be very hard to come by. Israel's top military intelligence analyst said in Tel Aviv on Tuesday that Syrian government forces had used chemical weapons - probably the nerve gas sarin - in their fight against rebels trying to force out President Bashar al-Assad. ... Full Story | Top |
| China to build second, larger carrier: report Tuesday, Apr 23, 2013 05:18 PM PDT SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China will build a second, larger aircraft carrier capable of carrying more fighter jets, the official Xinhua news service reported late Tuesday, quoting a senior officer with the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy. The report comes after Chinese officials denied foreign media reports in September 2012 that China was building a second carrier in Shanghai. "China will have more than one aircraft carrier ... ... Full Story | Top |
| Ex-bin Laden secretary gets life for 1998 embassy bombings role Tuesday, Apr 23, 2013 05:14 PM PDT By Nate Raymond NEW YORK (Reuters) - A former personal secretary to Osama bin Laden was sentenced to life in prison on Tuesday, for the second time, for participating in a conspiracy to kill Americans that included the 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa. Wadih El-Hage, a Lebanese-born U.S. citizen and former al Qaeda member, was one of four people convicted in 2001 for their roles in bombings of embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that killed 224 people and injured thousands. El-Hage, 52, was convicted in 2001 on charges including conspiring to kill U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Yemeni at U.S. hearing describes drone strike on his village Tuesday, Apr 23, 2013 05:04 PM PDT By Tabassum Zakaria WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Yemeni man told a Senate hearing on Tuesday about a U.S. drone strike on his village last week that he said turned residents against America. In an emotion-filled voice, Farea Al-Muslimi, a writer, described his shock at the drone attack and the blowback in public opinion from residents against the United States. ... Full Story | Top |
| Venezuela's Maduro sends conciliatory message to U.S. Tuesday, Apr 23, 2013 04:59 PM PDT  By Pablo Garibian CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro named a new acting head of its U.S. diplomatic mission in Washington on Tuesday and sent an offer of dialogue after attacking the United States for "interference" in a row over his election. Disputes between Venezuela and the United States were common during Hugo Chavez's 14-year socialist rule of Venezuela, leaving both nations without ambassadors in each other's capitals. Maduro, who won an election this month to replace Chavez after his death from cancer, has wavered between reaching out to the U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Canada train plot suspects in court; to fight charges Tuesday, Apr 23, 2013 04:15 PM PDT  By Allison Martell and Randall Palmer TORONTO/MONTREAL (Reuters) - Two men charged with an alleged al Qaeda-backed plot to derail a Canadian passenger train made their first court appearances on Tuesday, and the lawyer for one said his client would fight the charges vigorously. Raed Jaser, 35, of Toronto and Chiheb Esseghaier, 30, of Montreal face charges that include conspiring with each other "to murder unknown persons ... for the benefit of, at the direction of, or in association with a terrorist group. ... Full Story | Top |
| Israeli spy says Syria used chemical arms, U.S. unconvinced Tuesday, Apr 23, 2013 04:12 PM PDT By Maayan Lubell JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Syrian government forces have used chemical weapons - probably nerve gas - in their fight against rebels trying to force out President Bashar al-Assad, the Israeli military's top intelligence analyst said on Tuesday. The assessment met with skepticism from the United States, which has declared any use of chemical weapons in Syria's two-year-old civil war a "red line" that could trigger intervention. U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Report urges Haiti to protect quake victims from forced evictions Tuesday, Apr 23, 2013 03:42 PM PDT  By Susana Ferreira PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) - The human rights group Amnesty International accused the Haitian government on Tuesday of failing to stop the forcible eviction of thousands of displaced people living in tent camps set up after the huge earthquake that rocked the capital in 2010. Some 65,000 people were forcibly evicted from 175 camps between July 2010 and the end of March 2013, Amnesty said in a report, warning that more than a quarter of the 320,000 people still living in camps face possible eviction. "This is a story of ongoing human rights violations creating deep suffering. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. could waive duties on imports from Myanmar Tuesday, Apr 23, 2013 03:11 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States is reviewing trade relations with Myanmar in a move that could end import duties on thousands of goods from the Southeast Asian country, which Acting U.S. Trade Representative Demetrios Marantis is due to visit on Wednesday. Shortly before Marantis' departure for Asia last week, the U.S. Trade Representative's office initiated the review, which could add both Myanmar and Laos to the Generalized System of Preferences program, which provides duty-free treatment for up to 5,000 goods from 128 countries and territories. ... Full Story | Top |
| Authorities probe U.S. travels, contacts of Canada suspect Tuesday, Apr 23, 2013 03:10 PM PDT By Mark Hosenball WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. investigators are trying to trace the contacts and movements in the United States of Chiheb Esseghaier, a Tunisian doctoral student in Canada who is one of two suspects arrested by Canadian authorities for allegedly plotting to derail a passenger train. Sources close to the investigation said on Tuesday that Esseghaier, a Montreal resident, had made several trips to the United States. U.S. investigators are now trying to locate and check out people he might have met, the sources said. One U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Italy president set to announce choice for prime minister Tuesday, Apr 23, 2013 03:08 PM PDT  By Philip Pullella ROME (Reuters) - Italy's president Giorgio Napolitano is set to announce on Wednesday his choice of prime minister to form a new government and pull the euro zone's third largest economy out of a two-month political rut. The new coalition government, which could take office in a matter of days, would be backed primarily by the rivals on the center-left and center-right, the same parties that had refused to cut a deal since national elections in late February. ... Full Story | Top |
| Canada's Muslims highlight role as tipsters in train plot Tuesday, Apr 23, 2013 02:30 PM PDT By Alastair Sharp and David Ljunggren TORONTO/OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada's Muslim community, which alerted police to an alleged plot to attack a passenger train that led to two arrests this week, said on Tuesday imams were ready to report radical members who seemed ready to cross a line. Police arrested Raed Jaser of Toronto and Chiheb Esseghaier of Montreal on Monday and said they had been investigating them since last fall after a tip from the Muslim community in Toronto. The men appeared in separate courts on Tuesday. Muslims comprise around one million of Canada's 34.5 million population. ... Full Story | Top |
| British anti-EU party claims Thatcher mantle, has vote hope Tuesday, Apr 23, 2013 02:28 PM PDT  By Andrew Osborn LONDON (Reuters) - The leader of Britain's anti-European Union UK Independence Party said on Tuesday his movement was carrying the torch for the late Margaret Thatcher's views on Europe, saying he planned to cause a "political earthquake". In his most detailed comments to date on his party's electoral strategy, UKIP leader Nigel Farage said he hoped to build on surging poll ratings to make big gains in local elections on May 2, win European Parliament elections next year, and secure a "substantial number" of parliamentary seats in Britain in 2015. ... Full Story | Top |
| For India's drought-hit states, on-track monsoon may be too late Tuesday, Apr 23, 2013 02:21 PM PDT  By Rajendra Jadhav JAMWADI, India (Reuters) - India may be heading for another bumper grain harvest, if the first forecast for this year's monsoon proves correct, but the rain may be too little - and too late - for southern and western states already parched by the worst drought in four decades. Although last year's monsoon rains were, overall, just seven percent below normal, these states - including major sugar producer Maharashtra and cotton-growing Gujarat - went short, in some cases getting less than half the precipitation they needed. ... Full Story | Top |
| Boston bomb suspect's wife assisting probe -lawyer Tuesday, Apr 23, 2013 02:08 PM PDT By Svea Herbst-Bayliss and Scott Malone PROVIDENCE, R.I./BOSTON (Reuters) - The wife of the dead Boston Marathon bombing suspect is assisting authorities and in absolute shock that her husband and brother-in-law were accused of the deadly blasts, her lawyer said on Tuesday. "She cries a lot," attorney Amato DeLuca said of Katherine Russell, 24, an American-born convert to Islam who was married to Tamerlan Tsarnaev in June 2010. "She can't go anywhere. She can't work. ... Full Story | Top |
| Sudan, South Sudan agree to open 10 border crossings Tuesday, Apr 23, 2013 02:00 PM PDT By Aaron Maasho and Khalid Abdelaziz ADDIS ABABA/KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan and South Sudan agreed on Tuesday to open 10 crossings along their joint border to boost travel and trade after a thaw in relations between two sides that had come close to war. Highlighting the volatile situation along the 2,000-km (1,200-mile) boundary, Sudan's army and rebels fought a battle in a state bordering South Sudan. Sudan closed the border after South Sudan's secession in 2011 - hitting traders and communities on both sides. ... Full Story | Top |
| Pakistan police say explosives found near Musharraf house Tuesday, Apr 23, 2013 01:46 PM PDT  By Mehreen Zahra-Malik ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistani police said on Tuesday they had defused 50 kg (110 lb) of explosives hidden in a car wired with remote-controlled detonators near the fortified farmhouse where former president Pervez Musharraf is under house arrest. The discovery added a new sub-plot to the saga of Musharraf's deepening legal woes, which have transfixed Pakistanis unaccustomed to the sight of a once all-powerful military ruler submitting to the will of judges. "When we checked the car we found explosives," police bomb squad constable Rehmat Ali told Reuters television. ... Full Story | Top |
| Bomber targets Pakistan's Hazara minority in run-up to elections Tuesday, Apr 23, 2013 01:46 PM PDT By Gul Yousafzai QUETTA, Pakistan (Reuters) - A prominent leader of Pakistan's ethnic Hazara minority narrowly escaped a suicide attack that killed six people on Tuesday, underscoring the growing threat militants pose to secular politicians in the run-up to next month's general elections. The blast in Quetta was the worst attack since a series of bombings in the city at the start of the year killed almost 200 people, briefly drawing global attention to a growing campaign of persecution of the Hazaras by sectarian militants. ... Full Story | Top |
| Iraq raid on Sunni protest sparks clashes, 44 killed Tuesday, Apr 23, 2013 01:38 PM PDT  By Suadad al-Salhy BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi forces stormed a Sunni Muslim protest camp on Tuesday, triggering a gunfight between troops and demonstrators that spread to army clashes with Sunni militants and killed more than 40 people. The fighting was the bloodiest Iraq has seen since thousands of Sunni Muslims started staging protests in December to demand an end to perceived marginalization of their sect by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's Shi'ite-led government. ... Full Story | Top |
| Pakistan must crack down on Afghan militants: NATO Tuesday, Apr 23, 2013 01:28 PM PDT  By Adrian Croft and David Brunnstrom BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Pakistan must crack down on militants who use the country as a sanctuary to launch attacks in Afghanistan, the head of NATO said on Tuesday, before a U.S.-chaired meeting that will try to ease friction between the neighbors. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will host talks between Afghan President Hamid Karzai and senior Pakistan officials in Brussels on Wednesday, with the aim of calming tension over border disputes and a stalled peace process. ... Full Story | Top |
| Police capture suspect in Russian shooting spree that killed six Tuesday, Apr 23, 2013 01:12 PM PDT MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Russian man suspected of shooting dead six people in a rampage in the centre of the western city of Belgorod was captured on Tuesday after a 30-hour manhunt, police said. The suspect, Sergei Pomazun, was detained by two transport police officers who discovered him trying to flee the city 650 km (400 miles) south of Moscow on a freight train, Interior Ministry spokesman Kirill Gerasimenko said. One of the officers suffered two knife wounds during the capture and was hospitalized, Gerasimenko told state-run Rossiya-24 television. ... Full Story | Top |
| Japan shrine visits, isles row stir East Asia tensions Tuesday, Apr 23, 2013 12:58 PM PDT  By Kaori Kaneko TOKYO (Reuters) - Tensions flared between Japan and its Asian neighbors after a group of Japanese lawmakers visited a shrine seen by China and South Korea as a symbol of Japan's past militarism, and Chinese patrol vessels played cat-and-mouse with a flotilla of Japanese nationalists near disputed islands in the East China Sea. Beijing protested over the voyage by 10 boats carrying about 80 Japanese activists into waters near the islands, known as the Senkaku in Japan and the Diaoyu in China. ... Full Story | Top |
| Ethiopia says preparing to pull troops out of Somalia Tuesday, Apr 23, 2013 12:51 PM PDT  By Aaron Maasho ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Ethiopia will withdraw its troops from Somalia soon, its prime minister said on Tuesday, voicing frustration with the Mogadishu government and African Union peacekeeping forces that are also battling Islamist militants there. After waging an ill-fated war in Somalia in 2006-2009, Ethiopia in 2011 once again rolled troops into Somalia to fight al Qaeda-allied al Shabaab, opening a third front alongside Kenyan troops and an African Union mission. ... Full Story | Top |
| Libya car bomb hits French embassy, wounds guards Tuesday, Apr 23, 2013 12:34 PM PDT  By Marie-Louise Gumuchian and Ghaith Shennib TRIPOLI (Reuters) - A car bomb devastated France's embassy in Tripoli on Tuesday, wounding two French guards in the Libyan capital, which had not seen major attacks like that which killed the U.S. ambassador in Benghazi last year. Since Muammar Gaddafi was toppled by Western-backed rebels in 2011, Tripoli, like the rest of the sprawling desert state, has been awash with weapons and roving armed bands, but violence in the city has not targeted diplomats before in the way Western envoys have been shot at and bombed in the east of the country. ... Full Story | Top |
| French parliament allows gay marriage despite protests Tuesday, Apr 23, 2013 12:09 PM PDT  By Nicholas Vinocur PARIS (Reuters) - France became the 14th country to allow same-sex marriage on Tuesday after parliament approved a new law championed by President Francois Hollande, but it came at a political price amid violent street protests and a rise in homophobic attacks. Hollande's "marriage for all" law is one of the biggest social reforms in France since his left-wing mentor and predecessor Francois Mitterrand abolished the death penalty in 1981, a move which also split opinion. ... Full Story | Top |
| Myanmar frees 56 political prisoners day after sanctions dropped Tuesday, Apr 23, 2013 12:08 PM PDT  By Aung Hla Tun YANGON (Reuters) - Myanmar's president announced an amnesty on Tuesday for about 100 prisoners, a senior official said, 56 of whom were confirmed as political detainees by a group monitoring activists held in the country's jails. The release is the latest in a series of amnesties decided by reformist President Thein Sein and came a day after the European Union lifted all sanctions on Myanmar excluding an arms embargo. Bo Kyi, of the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), told Reuters the group had confirmed the release of 56 political prisoners from five jails. ... Full Story | Top |
| United States, Russia agree to try to revive Syria plan Tuesday, Apr 23, 2013 12:01 PM PDT  By David Brunnstrom BRUSSELS (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Tuesday he and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had agreed to look for ways to revive a Syrian peace plan, but admitted that doing so would be extremely difficult. Kerry, speaking after talks with Lavrov and NATO colleagues in Brussels, also backed away from earlier comments suggesting he was calling for increased NATO contingency planning on Syria. Kerry said he and Lavrov had discussed ways to revive a peace plan agreed in Geneva last June that called for a transitional government. ... Full Story | Top |
| Boston bombing suspect condition upgraded to "fair" from "serious" Tuesday, Apr 23, 2013 11:41 AM PDT  BOSTON, April 23 - The suspect in last week's Boston Marathon bombing attack is now in "fair" condition at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, an upgrade from his prior condition of "serious," the U.S. Attorney's Office in Boston said on Tuesday. (Reporting by Scott Malone; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick) Full Story | Top |
| Ten killed by mortar attack on Iraqi Sunni mosque: police Tuesday, Apr 23, 2013 11:27 AM PDT BAGHDAD (Reuters) - At least ten worshippers were killed when mortar rounds landed on an Iraqi Sunni mosque in Muqdadiya in Diyala province, 80 km (50 miles) northeast of Baghdad, police and medical sources said. (Reporting by Reuters reporter in Baquba, writing by Patrick Markey) Full Story | Top |
| Italy's president to name new premier Wednesday: center left official Tuesday, Apr 23, 2013 11:25 AM PDT ROME (Reuters) - Italian President Giorgio Napolitano is expected to announce his decision on a new premier on Wednesday, center-left official Enrico Letta said. Letta, the outgoing deputy leader of the center-left Democratic Party (PD), spoke after Napolitano completed a rapid round of consultations with political parties on Tuesday following his unprecedented re-election last weekend. ... Full Story | Top |
| Revolt mounts against Egypt's Mursi over judges Tuesday, Apr 23, 2013 11:15 AM PDT  By Paul Taylor CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi faced a mounting revolt against Islamist attempts to force out thousands of judges when his own legal adviser quit on Tuesday, three days after the justice minister tendered his resignation. Mohamed Fouad Gadalla resigned in protest at what he called an "attempt to assassinate the judiciary and undermine its independence", according to a letter to Mursi published by the state-owned Al Ahram daily's website. The president's office said it was aware of the report and had no immediate comment. ... Full Story | Top |
| Nigeria gun battle was joint assault with Chad, Niger: sources Tuesday, Apr 23, 2013 10:57 AM PDT By Tim Cocks ABUJA (Reuters) - A bloody gun battle against Islamist insurgents in Nigeria last week involved forces from neighboring Chad and Niger, officials said on Tuesday, as West African countries increasingly view jihadist groups as a cross-border threat. A joint force of more than 100 was assembled after an intelligence report said militants from the Boko Haram militant group had moved into Baga, a fishing town in northeast Nigeria on the shores of Lake Chad, two Nigerian military sources, a senior officer from Niger and a Chadian military official said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Anger in Lebanese streets as Syria border fighting rages Tuesday, Apr 23, 2013 10:39 AM PDT  By Dominic Evans BEIRUT (Reuters) - Stripped to the waist, his face heavily bruised and a rope around his neck, the grey-haired Syrian man was led by his captors on a humiliating parade through the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli. "I am an Alawite shabbiha," read slogans daubed on the bare chest of the man, referring to militias from a minority sect fighting for President Bashar al-Assad in neighboring Syria. Vigilantes led the man through Tripoli, a predominantly Sunni Muslim city, on Monday. ... Full Story | Top |
| Iran offers to be West's "reliable partner" in Middle East Tuesday, Apr 23, 2013 10:36 AM PDT  By Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA (Reuters) - Iran said on Tuesday it would be a "reliable partner" in the Middle East if Western countries would take a more cooperative approach in talks on its nuclear program. Western powers blame tension with Iran in part on its refusal to fully cooperate with United Nations calls for curbs on its nuclear activity to ensure it is for peaceful purposes only, and to open up to investigations by U.N. inspectors. Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran's ambassador to the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency, said U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Russia plans to deploy fighter jets, base in Belarus Tuesday, Apr 23, 2013 10:23 AM PDT  By Andrei Makhovsky and Alexei Anishchuk MINSK/MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia plans to deploy fighter jets in Belarus this year and eventually establish an air base in the former Soviet republic, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Tuesday. The moves would increase Russia's military presence in Belarus, viewed by Moscow as a buffer between Russia and NATO, and could unnerve neighboring members of the Western alliance. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.N. nuclear watchdog says Iran meeting set for mid-May Tuesday, Apr 23, 2013 09:53 AM PDT VIENNA (Reuters) - The U.N. nuclear watchdog said on Tuesday it will hold a new meeting with Iran on May 15 aimed at enabling its inspectors to resume a stalled investigation into suspected nuclear bomb research by the Islamic state. The International Atomic Energy Agency has been trying for more than a year to coax Iran into granting IAEA officials the access to sites, documents and officials they want for their inquiry. Tehran says its nuclear program is entirely peaceful. ... Full Story | Top |
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