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| CA-NEWS Summary Thursday, Apr 25, 2013 09:07 PM PDT U.S. suspects Syria used chemical weapons, wants proof WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House said on Thursday the Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad had probably used chemical weapons on a small scale in the country's civil war, but insisted that President Barack Obama needed definitive proof before he would take action. The disclosure created a quandary for Obama, who has set the use of chemical weapons as a "red line" that Assad must not cross. It triggered calls from some hawkish Washington lawmakers for a U.S. military response, which the president has resisted. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. suspects Syria used chemical weapons, wants proof Thursday, Apr 25, 2013 09:06 PM PDT  By Phil Stewart and David Alexander WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House said on Thursday the Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad had probably used chemical weapons on a small scale in the country's civil war, but insisted that President Barack Obama needed definitive proof before he would take action. The disclosure created a quandary for Obama, who has set the use of chemical weapons as a "red line" that Assad must not cross. It triggered calls from some hawkish Washington lawmakers for a U.S. military response, which the president has resisted. ... Full Story | Top |
| Capriles to challenge Venezuela election in court Thursday, Apr 25, 2013 08:58 PM PDT  By Daniel Wallis and Diego Ore CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan opposition leader Henrique Capriles said on Thursday he will challenge President Nicolas Maduro's narrow election victory in the courts and that an audit of the vote being prepared by electoral authorities risked being "a joke." Maduro, the hand-picked successor of late socialist leader Hugo Chavez, won the April 14 vote by less than 2 percentage points. The opposition says there were thousands of irregularities in the election and that their figures show Capriles won. ... Full Story | Top |
| Thirty-eight feared dead in Russian psychiatric hospital fire Thursday, Apr 25, 2013 08:36 PM PDT MOSCOW (Reuters) - A fire raged through a psychiatric hospital north of Moscow on Friday and 38 people were feared dead, Russian emergency officials and media reports said. There were believed to have been 41 people in the building when the fire broke out - 38 patients and three staff members - and three were evacuated, the Emergency Situations Ministry said. It said emergency workers searching the hospital had found 12 bodies so far and that the fire had been extinguished. A Health Ministry official said 38 people were feared dead, state-run RIA news agency reported. ... Full Story | Top |
| Canadian priest killed in snatch and grab shooting in Haiti Thursday, Apr 25, 2013 04:49 PM PDT By Susana Ferreira PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) - A Canadian missionary was shot to death on Thursday as he left a bank in Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince, according to authorities. The priest, Richard Joyal, 62, of Manitoba, was shot three times in the back by a man on a motorcycle who snatched a bag the priest was carrying, according to a police official. Joyal, who belonged to the Catholic order of the Societe de Marie, had previously worked in the Philippines and Ivory Coast, according to a source familiar his activities in Haiti. ... Full Story | Top |
| Canadian train plot suspects caused unease with extreme views Thursday, Apr 25, 2013 03:16 PM PDT By Randall Palmer and Alastair Sharp MONTREAL/TORONTO (Reuters) - Chiheb Esseghaier, a Tunisian doctoral student in Quebec, ran afoul of his research institute's administration two years ago when he tore down posters for the charity United Way showing naked men and women with the slogan "Underneath, we are all equal." "We met with him to discuss with him and to try to understand why he did that. We explained that we don't do that here," said Julie Martineau, a spokeswoman at the INRS research center at Varennes, south of Montreal. ... Full Story | Top |
| Boston bomb suspects also wanted to attack New York: officials Thursday, Apr 25, 2013 03:13 PM PDT By Edith Honan and Mark Hosenball NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The two men suspected of carrying out last week's deadly Boston Marathon bombing decided after authorities identified them to drive to Manhattan and set off additional explosives in Times Square, New York City officials said on Thursday. Their plan unraveled only when they realized that a Mercedes sport utility vehicle they had hijacked on April 18, three days after the bombing, did not have enough gasoline for the journey, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Southeast Asia's 2015 unity dream collides with reality Thursday, Apr 25, 2013 02:22 PM PDT  By Stuart Grudgings BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Brunei (Reuters) - Southeast Asian nations have quietly begun to row back on a deadline of forming an "economic community" by 2015, confirming what many economists and diplomats have suspected for years as the diverse group hits tough obstacles to closer union. Rather than referring to the end of 2015 as a firm goal, officials at this year's first summit of leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), whose 10 members range from glitzy Singapore to impoverished Myanmar, prefer to call it a "milestone" to be built on in years ahead. ... Full Story | Top |
| Canada train plot suspect traveled to Iran: U.S. officials Thursday, Apr 25, 2013 02:15 PM PDT  By Mark Hosenball WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Investigators believe one of two suspects charged in Canada with plotting to blow up a railroad track carrying passenger trains traveled to Iran within the past two years, U.S. law enforcement and national security officials said on Thursday. Chiheb Esseghaier, a Tunisian-born doctoral student, traveled to Iran on a trip that was directly relevant to the investigation of the alleged plot, the officials said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Analysis: North Korea's epic drama: stage now set for next act Thursday, Apr 25, 2013 02:09 PM PDT  By David Chance and Paul Eckert SEOUL/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - If North Korea's bellicose rhetoric threatening the United States and South Korea with nuclear war was aimed at dragging Washington to the negotiating table, it has likely failed. Pyongyang may once again feel it needs to up the ante. Two months of shrill threats following the North's nuclear test in February appeared at times to drag the Korean peninsula close to war as its young leader celebrated a year in power with a fusillade of verbal aggression that has now died down. ... Full Story | Top |
| Afghan police take first, faltering steps in fight against corruption Thursday, Apr 25, 2013 02:02 PM PDT  By Katharine Houreld HERAT, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Afghanistan's security forces are routinely accused of murder, rape and corruption on a grand scale, but a new anti-corruption police unit's sole conviction last year was a junior policeman who forged some documents, the head of the unit told Reuters. Abuses by the 152,000-strong Afghan police have pushed whole districts into the arms of the Taliban, officials say. Now international forces hope the Shafafiyat - Dari for transparency - anti-corruption unit will crack down on corrupt police. ... Full Story | Top |
| The Pyongyang power couple behind dynastic dictator Kim Thursday, Apr 25, 2013 02:00 PM PDT  By Jack Kim SEOUL (Reuters) - Kim Kyong-hui has battled alcoholism and the killing of her lover to stand alongside her nephew, North Korea's youthful leader Kim Jong-un, as a reminder that he is the true heir of the dynasty's blood-line. The 67-year-old daughter of North Korea's founder Kim Il-sung cuts a rare female figure in Pyongyang's male-dominated hierarchy and ranks as a four-star general, often sporting her trademark dark glasses at important events. ... Full Story | Top |
| Bangladesh building tragedy down to West's cost squeeze: NGOs Thursday, Apr 25, 2013 01:56 PM PDT LONDON (Reuters) - Major western clothing retailers squeezing Asian suppliers and a flawed approach to ensuring even basic working standards are fuelling conditions for tragedies like the latest factory collapse in Bangladesh, NGOs said on Thursday. At least 260 people, mainly female workers, were killed and more than 1,000 were injured when the eight-storey Rana Plaza factory building in Savar, 30 km (20 miles) outside the capital Dhaka, collapsed on Wednesday. ... Full Story | Top |
| At least one person shot dead in Guinea protest Thursday, Apr 25, 2013 01:41 PM PDT CONAKRY (Reuters) - At least one person was shot dead and several were wounded in clashes between security forces and demonstrators after a protest by tens of thousands of opposition supporters in Guinea on Thursday, government and opposition figures said. Opposition parties accuse President Alpha Conde, who took office in 2010 following Guinea's first democratic transfer of power since independence in 1958, of trying to rig coming legislative elections in the world's largest bauxite exporter. ... Full Story | Top |
| Sudan sentences security officers to jail in plot Thursday, Apr 25, 2013 01:40 PM PDT KHARTOUM (Reuters) - A Sudanese court sentenced six security officers to jail terms of up to eight years on Thursday for their role in an alleged coup attempt against President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, local media said, quoting the security services. In November, Sudan arrested its former spy chief Salah Gosh and other senior military and security officers after foiling what the government said was a coup plot. ... Full Story | Top |
| Nearly 50 killed as sectarian violence flares in Iraq Thursday, Apr 25, 2013 01:20 PM PDT  By Suadad al-Salhy BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Nearly 50 people were killed in clashes on Thursday in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, sources said, on the third day of the most widespread violence in Iraq since U.S. troops withdrew in December 2011. More than 100 people have been killed in fighting since Tuesday, when troops stormed a Sunni protest camp, triggering clashes that quickly spread to other Sunni areas in western and northern provinces. Thousands of Sunni Muslims have taken to the streets since December in protest at the perceived marginalization of their sect since the U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| South Korea summons Japan envoy over PM's remarks on history Thursday, Apr 25, 2013 12:39 PM PDT  By Ju-min Park SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea summoned Tokyo's ambassador in Seoul on Thursday to protest at Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's defense of visits by senior officials and lawmakers to a shrine seen by Japan's neighbors as a symbol of wartime aggression. China and South Korea chastised Japan after more than 160 lawmakers visited Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine this week. That followed a symbolic offering made by Abe to the shrine and a visit by Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso and two other ministers. ... Full Story | Top |
| Iraq PM's coalition leads in eight of 12 provinces after vote Thursday, Apr 25, 2013 12:31 PM PDT  BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's coalition has taken the lead in eight out of the 12 provinces that held provincial elections at the weekend, including the capital Baghdad, preliminary results showed on Thursday. A Maliki ally also won in Najaf, effectively giving him a lead in a ninth province. The strong showing by Shi'ite Maliki's State of Law alliance - based on 87 percent of the results - consolidates his position ahead of parliamentary elections due in 2014, when he has hinted it will be time to form a majority government. ... Full Story | Top |
| House Republican offers few assurances on immigration bill Thursday, Apr 25, 2013 12:01 PM PDT  By Thomas Ferraro and Richard Cowan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The push for comprehensive immigration legislation faces an uncertain fate in the Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives even as Senate supporters voiced optimism on Thursday for overwhelming backing in that chamber. As the Democratic Party-controlled Senate pushed ahead on an 844-page bill that aims to rewrite America's immigration law, the Republican-controlled House was still undecided on how broad of a bill it might consider - or even if it would advance legislation this year. ... Full Story | Top |
| Differences with centre-right delay Italy's Letta Thursday, Apr 25, 2013 11:59 AM PDT  By Philip Pullella and James Mackenzie ROME (Reuters) - Italy's prime minister-designate Enrico Letta started "encouraging" talks on Thursday for a new government to end two months of political deadlock, but said significant differences with the centre-right would take more time to iron out. Letta, the 46-year-old deputy head of the centre-left Democratic Party (PD), said he would use Friday as a "day to reflect" on his chances of piecing together a broad coalition to govern the euro zone's third-largest economy. ... Full Story | Top |
| Parents say Boston suspects framed, want truth from U.S. Thursday, Apr 25, 2013 11:34 AM PDT By Alissa de Carbonnel MAKHACHKALA, Russia (Reuters) - The parents of the two main suspects in the Boston bombings said on Thursday their sons had been framed and accused U.S. authorities of killing the older brother to put on a display. Anzor Tsarnaev, the father, banged the table in anger as he announced plans to go from Russia to the United States to "find out the truth" and Zubeidat Tsarnaeva, the mother, said she had wanted to scream when she heard of her elder son's death. ... Full Story | Top |
| Venezuela detains American accused of fomenting violence Thursday, Apr 25, 2013 11:17 AM PDT By Brian Ellsworth CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela has detained an American citizen it says was financing opposition student demonstrations after this month's disputed presidential election, the latest in a flurry of accusations over last week's post-vote violence. Interior Minister Miguel Rodriguez said Timothy Hallet Tracy had been seeking to destabilize the country on behalf of an unnamed U.S. intelligence agency after President Nicolas Maduro's narrow presidential victory. ... Full Story | Top |
| Friends of Tunisian accused in Canada plot express shock Thursday, Apr 25, 2013 11:16 AM PDT  By Tarek Amara TUNIS (Reuters) - For the friends and family of Chiheb Esseghaier, the news that the Tunisian-born student had been arrested over an alleged al Qaeda-backed plot in Canada came as a major surprise given his mission to save lives as a medical researcher. His parents insisted he was innocent, saying he sent home money to help the disadvantaged. His friends in the Tunisian capital remembered him as an ordinary student, certainly no Islamist extremist, but perhaps somewhat naive and easily led. ... Full Story | Top |
| Putin: order and discipline not a sign of Stalinism Thursday, Apr 25, 2013 11:12 AM PDT  By Steve Gutterman MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin rejected comparisons with Soviet dictator Josef Stalin on Thursday in his annual televised question-and-answer session with citizens, denying political persecution but saying Russia needed order and discipline. A liberal journalist referred to a host of legal sanctions applied to Putin's opponents since he was re-elected president to ask him whether there were elements of Stalinism in his exercise of power. ... Full Story | Top |
| Lebanon's Hezbollah says did not send drone into Israel Thursday, Apr 25, 2013 11:07 AM PDT AMMAN (Reuters) - The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah said on Thursday it did not send a drone into Israeli airspace, hours after Israel said it had shot down a drone from Lebanon. "Hezbollah denies that it has sent any surveillance plane towards the occupied Palestinian land," a statement by the Iranian-backed armed Muslim Shi'ite group said. Asked whether Hezbollah, which sent a drone into southern Israel in October, was behind the incident, an Israeli military spokesman said an investigation was under way. (Reporting by Mariam Karouny; Editing by Michael Roddy) Full Story | Top |
| Israeli military says it shoots down drone from Lebanon Thursday, Apr 25, 2013 11:07 AM PDT By Jeffrey Heller JERUSALEM (Reuters) - An Israeli fighter plane shot down a drone from Lebanon over the Mediterranean sea on Thursday as it was approaching the Israeli coast, the military said. Lebanon's Hezbollah militant group, which sent a drone deep into Israel in October, said it was not behind the latest incident. Israel's military held back from accusing the group, saying an investigation was under way. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. believes Syria used chemical weapons but says facts needed Thursday, Apr 25, 2013 11:00 AM PDT By Phil Stewart and David Alexander WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. intelligence agencies believe Syria's government has likely used chemical weapons on a small scale, the White House said on Thursday, but added that President Barack Obama needed "credible and corroborated" facts before acting on that assessment. The disclosure of the assessment, which Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said was made within the past 24 hours and the White House said was based in part on physiological samples, triggered immediate calls for U.S. action by members of Congress who advocate deeper U.S. involvement. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. to consult with allies if Syrian "red line" crossed: official Thursday, Apr 25, 2013 11:00 AM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States will consult with its allies about what steps to take if it determines that a "red line" has been crossed with regard to the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian government, a White House official said on Thursday. The official, speaking to reporters on a conference call, said the White House believed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's administration maintained custody of chemical weapons and that any use of them would likely have originated from the government. ... Full Story | Top |
| Illegal fishing crackdown in Somalia, 78 Iranians detained Thursday, Apr 25, 2013 10:42 AM PDT By Abdiqani Hassan BOSASSO, Somalia (Reuters) - Maritime police in Somalia's semi-autonomous region of Puntland seized five Iranian ships and detained 78 Iranians in a rare crackdown on illegal fishing in Somalia. Somalia has long complained about illegal fishing off its shores but its coastline, the longest in Africa, is infested with pirates and has been left defenseless against foreign fishing fleets after two decades of civil war. ... Full Story | Top |
| Three dead in random shooting in southern France Thursday, Apr 25, 2013 10:35 AM PDT MARSEILLE (Reuters) - An apparently deranged gunman armed with a Kalashnikov shot dead three people and injured a fourth in the head as he fired at them on a street in southern France on Thursday, officials said. Police arrested a suspect aged about 20 near the site of the shooting. The young man had a record of minor run-ins with authorities, in particular for possessing banned guns, police officials in the city of Marseille said. ... Full Story | Top |
| WTO set for Latin American boss, Brazil and Mexico vie for job Thursday, Apr 25, 2013 10:18 AM PDT  By Tom Miles GENEVA (Reuters) - The next head of the World Trade Organization will be either Mexico's Herminio Blanco or Brazil's Roberto Azevedo, guaranteeing a Latin American nation will hold the top job at the global trade body for the first time. Blanco and Azevedo emerged as the only candidates remaining after the second of three rounds of competition to succeed Pascal Lamy on Sept 1, a diplomatic source said on Thursday. ... Full Story | Top |
| Britain says has information showing Syria chemical weapon use Thursday, Apr 25, 2013 10:16 AM PDT LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's Foreign Office said on Thursday it had information showing chemical weapon use in Syria, and called on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to cooperate with international bodies to prove he had not sanctioned their use. "We have limited but persuasive information from various sources showing chemical weapon use in Syria, including sarin. This is extremely concerning. Use of chemical weapons is a war crime," a Foreign Office spokesman said in a statement. (Reporting by Mohammed Abbas) Full Story | Top |
| Syria says backing rebels risks new attacks on America Thursday, Apr 25, 2013 10:09 AM PDT  By Michael Stott and Samia Nakhoul DAMASCUS (Reuters) - U.S. support for Syrian rebels may lead to more attacks on American soil like those of September 11, said a senior Syrian official who warned that Islamist fighters would spread "the fire of terrorism" around the world. Western powers are alarmed at al Qaeda militants joining a revolt that began two years ago with rallies for democracy and President Bashar al-Assad has seized on that unease; now, 10 days after the Boston Marathon bombings, Syria's deputy foreign minister told Reuters that U.S. aid to the rebels may backfire. ... Full Story | Top |
| EU puts fresh pressure on Ukraine over Tymoshenko, reforms Thursday, Apr 25, 2013 10:03 AM PDT  KIEV (Reuters) - Foreign ministers of several EU countries gave Ukraine a discouraging report on Thursday on its efforts to deepen ties with the bloc and suggested the jailing of opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko remained a serious obstacle. They said agreements on free trade and political association with the European Union were being stymied in particular by cases of "selective justice", a term used by the West to describe the prosecution of rival politicians, including former prime minister Tymoshenko, under President Viktor Yanukovich. ... Full Story | Top |
| Italy's Letta says EU can change austerity policies Thursday, Apr 25, 2013 10:01 AM PDT  ROME (Reuters) - Italian prime minister-designate Enrico Letta said on Thursday that the time had come for the European Union to soften its focus on economic austerity policies that had crushed growth in crisis-hit countries including Italy. "If Italy wants and if there is a parliament prepared to support the policies of the government which I intend to form, which wants to change the approach in Europe ... I think we can profit from a moment in which this is possible," Letta told officials from the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement in a meeting. (Reporting By James Mackenzie) Full Story | Top |
| Ex-Catholic has no right to Church job: German court Thursday, Apr 25, 2013 09:58 AM PDT By Tom Heneghan, Religion Editor PARIS (Reuters) - Germany's top labor court ruled on Thursday the country's Catholic charity network had the right to fire an employee who quit the Church in protest against the sexual abuse crisis and disputed decisions by ex-Pope Benedict. The 60-year-old teacher, challenging his 2011 dismissal, had claimed his constitutional right to freedom of opinion trumped the Church's right to employ only Catholics who agreed with the religious mission of their jobs. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. Steel gives lockout notice at Canada plant: union Thursday, Apr 25, 2013 09:57 AM PDT TORONTO (Reuters) - U.S. Steel Corp has given workers at its Lake Erie works at Nanticoke, Ontario, notice of a lockout to start on Sunday at 9 a.m. EDT (1300 GMT), according to a letter posted on a union website. In 2012, the plant, on the north shore of lake Erie, produced about 10 percent of U.S. Steel's 23.6-million-ton global raw steel output. Its annual capacity is 2.6 million tons. The steelmaker and United Steelworkers Local 8782 have been in talks on a new contract for workers at the plant, which U.S. Steel acquired in 2007 as part of its takeover of Canada's Stelco. ... Full Story | Top |
| Boston suspects discussed setting off bombs in New York: sources Thursday, Apr 25, 2013 09:41 AM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and his brother discussed setting off bombs in New York after attacking the Boston Marathon but their plan fell apart when they became embroiled in a shootout with police, law enforcement sources said. One source said the Tsarnaev brothers' original intent when they hijacked a car and its driver in Boston last Thursday night was to drive to New York with seven bombs to set them off. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.N. council extends contentious Western Sahara peacekeeping mission Thursday, Apr 25, 2013 09:38 AM PDT By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council renewed a peacekeeping mission in disputed Western Sahara on Thursday after the United States backed down in an annual battle with Morocco, backed by France, over whether peacekeepers should monitor human rights abuses. In an apparent compromise, the unanimously approved U.S.-drafted resolution encourages "the parties to continue in their respective efforts to enhance the promotion and protection of human rights in Western Sahara and the ... refugee camps. ... Full Story | Top |
| Italy center-right poses conditions for support of government Thursday, Apr 25, 2013 09:35 AM PDT  ROME (Reuters) - Italy's center-right on Thursday said it would support a new government by Enrico Letta but only if the prime minister designate agreed to economic priorities, including the abolition of a much-hated tax on primary residences. Speaking after meeting with Letta, Angelino Alfano, secretary of the People of Freedom party (PDL), said his delegation was satisfied with the talks but more would be needed to discuss outstanding issues. (Reporting By Philip Pullella) Full Story | Top |
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