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| CA-NEWS Summary Tuesday, May 28, 2013 08:53 PM PDT Disputes over arms for Syria cloud U.S.-Russian peace drive MOSCOW (Reuters) - Disputes between Russia and the West over arming warring sides in Syria on Tuesday dimmed prospects for peace talks that were also clouded by disarray among President Bashar al-Assad's political foes. As Western nations debate what action, if any, they should take on Syria, Assad's main allies - Russia, Iran and Lebanon's Shi'ite Hezbollah group - have been closing ranks behind him. ... Full Story | Top |
| China army to conduct first "digital" exercise Tuesday, May 28, 2013 08:52 PM PDT  BEIJING (Reuters) - China will next month conduct its first "digital" technology military exercise, state media said on Wednesday, against growing concern in Washington and elsewhere about Chinese hacking attacks. A brief report by the official Xinhua news agency said the exercise, in north China's remote Inner Mongolia region, will "test new types of combat forces including units using digital technology amid efforts to adjust to informationalized war". ... Full Story | Top |
| South China Sea tension mounts near Filipino shipwreck Tuesday, May 28, 2013 08:45 PM PDT By Manuel Mogato MANILA (Reuters) - A wrecked navy transport ship perched on a remote coral reef could be the next flashpoint in the South China Sea, where China and five other claimants bitterly dispute territory. The Philippines is accusing China of encroachment after three Chinese ships, including a naval frigate, converged just 5 nautical miles from an old transport ship that Manila ran aground on a reef in 1999 to mark its territory. ... Full Story | Top |
| Papua New Guinea reinstates death penalty after gruesome sorcery killings, rapes Tuesday, May 28, 2013 08:20 PM PDT By Rob Taylor CANBERRA (Reuters) - Papua New Guinea has reinstated the death penalty and repealed controversial sorcery laws after a string of gruesome "witch" killings and gang-rapes, with capital punishment to be used for some corruption cases and possibly even growing marijuana. PNG is one of the poorest and most corrupt countries in the world, with rampant graft a major hindrance to the South Pacific nation's ability to develop vast reserves of natural resources. ... Full Story | Top |
| Obama, NATO's Rasmussen to discuss Afghanistan on Friday Tuesday, May 28, 2013 06:28 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama will meet with NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen at the White House on Friday to discuss Afghanistan and other security concerns, White House spokesman Jay Carney said on Tuesday. The meeting comes as NATO and the United States prepare to withdraw most troops from Afghanistan, ending a lengthy war that began after the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. More than 60,000 U.S. troops are still in Afghanistan. ... Full Story | Top |
| Obama, NATO's Rasmussen to discuss Afghanistan at White House on Friday Tuesday, May 28, 2013 04:39 PM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama will meet with NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen at the White House on Friday to discuss Afghanistan and other security concerns, White House spokesman Jay Carney said on Tuesday. The meeting comes as NATO and the United States prepare to withdraw most troops from Afghanistan, ending a lengthy war that began after the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. More than 60,000 U.S. troops are still in Afghanistan. ... Full Story | Top |
| Rival Honduran gangs in truce to end spiral of violence Tuesday, May 28, 2013 04:02 PM PDT  By Orfa Mejia TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) - Two of the most violent gangs in Honduras announced a truce on Tuesday under a church-brokered drive to stem a tide of violence that has turned Honduras into the world's most murderous country. Following the example of similar gangs in neighboring El Salvador, masked members of the "Calle 18" and "Mara Salvatrucha" gangs made separate announcements from within San Pedro Sula prison in northern Honduras, which houses the country's most violent criminals. ... Full Story | Top |
| Exclusive: British fund executives to go on trial in Cuba Tuesday, May 28, 2013 03:56 PM PDT  By Marc Frank HAVANA (Reuters) - The two top executives of a British investment fund in Cuba are scheduled to go on trial in Havana on Thursday, according to sources close to the accused men, as part of an unprecedented government crackdown on corruption involving foreign businessmen. In the second trial of foreign executives on the Communist-run island in a week, Amado Fakhre, a Lebanese-born British citizen and chief executive officer of Coral Capital Group Ltd, faces various bribery charges related mainly to the fund's import business. ... Full Story | Top |
| Ecuador says UK violating human rights of WikiLeaks' Assange Tuesday, May 28, 2013 03:08 PM PDT  By Alexandra Valencia QUITO (Reuters) - Ecuador's foreign minister on Tuesday accused the British government of trampling on the human rights of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange by refusing to allow him to travel to Ecuador, which granted him political asylum almost a year ago. Assange, 41, took refuge in Ecuador's tiny embassy in London last June to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning over sex assault and rape allegations. He denies the allegations. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. Embassy workers hurt in Venezuela strip club shooting Tuesday, May 28, 2013 02:32 PM PDT By Brian Ellsworth CARACAS (Reuters) - Two U.S. Embassy employees in Venezuela were injured on Tuesday in a shooting at a well-known Caracas strip club, police said. Officers heard shots around 4:25 a.m. at the Antonella 2012 club, better known as "Angelus" in the upscale Chacao district, a police source told Reuters. One of the embassy employees, military attaché Roberto Ezequiel Rosas, was shot in the leg after a fight between club patrons, according to a police report seen by Reuters and the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity. ... Full Story | Top |
| Family of London murder suspect says ashamed by soldier's slaying Tuesday, May 28, 2013 01:16 PM PDT  By Maria Golovnina LONDON (Reuters) - The family of a man suspected of hacking a British soldier to death on a London street condemned the attack as senseless on Tuesday, distancing itself from the murder which has provoked an anti-Muslim backlash. Lee Rigby, a 25-year-old veteran Of the Afghan war, was butchered in broad daylight by two men who said they killed him in the name of Islam. Police shot and wounded the assailants, both Britons of Nigerian descent, at the scene of the crime which has prompted questions about the security services' ability to prevent attacks of this kind. ... Full Story | Top |
| Actor Rob Lowe to headline JFK-assassination TV movie Tuesday, May 28, 2013 12:57 PM PDT  LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - American actor Rob Lowe will portray slain President John F. Kennedy in a television movie based on a book by TV news commentator Bill O'Reilly and author Martin Dugard, the National Geographic Channel said on Tuesday. "Killing Kennedy" will take the form of a "factual drama" and will premiere on National Geographic TV channel later this year to coincide with the 50th anniversary of Kennedy's assassination, the network said. Kennedy was shot by Lee Harvey Oswald on November 22, 1963 in Dallas as the president's motorcade made its way through the Texas city. ... Full Story | Top |
| Disputes over arms for Syria cloud U.S.-Russian peace drive Tuesday, May 28, 2013 12:53 PM PDT  By Alissa de Carbonnel MOSCOW (Reuters) - Disputes between Russia and the West over arming warring sides in Syria on Tuesday dimmed prospects for peace talks that were also clouded by disarray among President Bashar al-Assad's political foes. As Western nations debate what action, if any, they should take on Syria, Assad's main allies - Russia, Iran and Lebanon's Shi'ite Hezbollah group - have been closing ranks behind him. ... Full Story | Top |
| Pakistan PM to take on foreign, defense portfolios himself: sources Tuesday, May 28, 2013 12:11 PM PDT  By Mehreen Zahra-Malik ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan Prime Minister-elect Nawaz Sharif will oversee the sensitive foreign and defense portfolios as he seeks to forge a working partnership with the all-powerful military in the early days of his tenure, sources close to him said on Tuesday. Sharif, ousted in a bloodless military coup in 1999, has decided not to appoint defense and foreign ministers in the cabinet he is putting together. He led his party, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), back to power in May 11 elections. ... Full Story | Top |
| Obama, China's Xi to discuss cyber security in June meeting Tuesday, May 28, 2013 11:44 AM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama will discuss cyber security with Chinese President Xi Jinping during a meeting in California next week, as Washington becomes increasingly worried about Chinese hacking of U.S. military networks. "Cyber security is a key priority of this administration. It is a key concern that we have," White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters on Air Force One as Obama flew to New Jersey. ... Full Story | Top |
| Brutal murder of teenager overshadows Italy women's rights vote Tuesday, May 28, 2013 11:38 AM PDT By Naomi O'Leary ROME (Reuters) - Italy's lower house ratified on Tuesday a treaty combating violence against women in a session overshadowed by the brutal murder of a teenager that has shocked a country dogged by lingering machismo and inequality between the sexes. The Council of Europe Istanbul convention is intended to reinforce measures to protect women from violence and has had particular resonance in Italy following a horrific series of murders and acid attacks on women in recent months. ... Full Story | Top |
| Italy's voters give boost to fragile coalition, shun Grillo Tuesday, May 28, 2013 11:38 AM PDT  By Steve Scherer ROME (Reuters) - Italian voters gave Prime Minister Enrico Letta's fragile coalition government a badly needed boost in local elections, shunning Beppe Grillo's anti-establishment 5-Star Movement three months after its spectacular success in a parliamentary vote. Letta's battered and divided Democratic Party (PD) won control of five of the 16 biggest cities that voted on Sunday and Monday, and is in the lead before run-offs in two weeks' time for the rest, Interior Ministry results showed. ... Full Story | Top |
| Muslims and Buddhists clash in northern Myanmar Tuesday, May 28, 2013 11:28 AM PDT YANGON (Reuters) - Muslims and Buddhists clashed in Myanmar's northern city of Lashio on Tuesday, witnesses said, as a wave of sectarian violence reached a mountainous region near China's border. Phone lines were down in the city of about 131,000 people and the extent of the violence was unclear. Witnesses reported several large fires and said a mosque and Buddhist monastery appear to have been torched. ... Full Story | Top |
| Russian punk band member taken to hospital after hunger strike Tuesday, May 28, 2013 11:25 AM PDT  MOSCOW (Reuters) - A member of the Russian punk group Pussy Riot who went on hunger strike in jail last week after being barred from a parole hearing was hospitalized on Tuesday, the husband of another band member said. Maria Alyokhina, 24, and two other band members were sentenced to two years in prison after they broke into Moscow's main cathedral last year to perform a profanity-laced punk song against President Vladimir Putin. ... Full Story | Top |
| Libya's congress chief steps down after political ban Tuesday, May 28, 2013 10:50 AM PDT  By Ghaith Shennib and Marie-Louise Gumuchian TRIPOLI (Reuters) - The head of Libya's national assembly said he was stepping down on Tuesday following the passing of a law banning anyone who held a senior post in Muammar Gaddafi's regime from government, regardless of their part in toppling the dictator. In a televised speech to congress, Mohammed Magarief announced his resignation after the passage of the "political isolation" law, which critics and diplomats fear could strip government of experienced leaders, further complicating the transition to an orderly democracy. ... Full Story | Top |
| Iran's presidential candidates clash over nuclear approach Tuesday, May 28, 2013 10:43 AM PDT  By Yeganeh Torbati DUBAI (Reuters) - A former Iranian nuclear negotiator running for president used his first television appearance of the campaign to reject accusations he had been too soft in talks with world powers. The most prominent moderate candidate in an election dominated by hardliners, cleric Hassan Rohani, nuclear negotiator from 2003 to 2005, oversaw an agreement to suspend Iran's fledgling uranium enrichment-related activities. ... Full Story | Top |
| Airbus supplier Premium Aerotec changes top management Tuesday, May 28, 2013 10:31 AM PDT  PARIS (Reuters) - The bosses of Airbus supplier Premium Aerotec have resigned as the company seeks new management to help improve its financial performance. President and Chief Executive Kai Horten, and Human Resources head Wolfram Sauer are leaving the company with immediate effect, while Chief Financial Officer Helmut Kretschmer will remain in charge until the end of June, the company said. "Premium Aerotec is intensifying its company-wide restructuring to give a rapid and lasting boost to the company's operational and economic performance," the group said in a statement on Tuesday. ... Full Story | Top |
| Kenyan MPs defy president, hike pay to 130 times minimum wage Tuesday, May 28, 2013 10:18 AM PDT  By James Macharia NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenyan members of parliament, already among the world's best-paid lawmakers, voted on Tuesday to increase their salaries to more than 130 times the minimum wage in defiance of government plans to cut them as part of spending reforms. President Uhuru Kenyatta, who won a closely fought March 4 election on an economic growth agenda, has implored lawmakers to accept pay cuts and help rein in public sector salaries to free up cash to create jobs. ... Full Story | Top |
| Syria conference being undermined: Russian minister Tuesday, May 28, 2013 09:37 AM PDT MOSCOW (Reuters) - Efforts to convene an international peace conference on Syria are being undermined by actions involving or backed by Western countries, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was quoted as saying on Tuesday. The comments underlined the problems faced by Russia and the United States as they try to arrange a conference on ending bloodshed in Syria that Lavrov agreed to work towards with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry earlier this month. ... Full Story | Top |
| Canada finance minister keen to stay as cabinet shuffle looms Tuesday, May 28, 2013 09:30 AM PDT  By Louise Egan OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty has no plans to quit and has received no indication that his job is in jeopardy ahead of a cabinet reshuffling, his chief spokesman said on Tuesday. Flaherty's poor health - he suffers from a rare skin disease - has fueled speculation in recent months that he would step down. But Dan Miles, his director of communications, said Flaherty was feeling much better these days. ... Full Story | Top |
| One killed as street vendors, police clash in Tunisia Tuesday, May 28, 2013 09:24 AM PDT Tunis (Reuters) - One person was killed and 20 were hurt on Tuesday in clashes in the Tunisian town of Bizerte between police and street vendors angry at being moved from the downtown, residents and local media said. Hundreds of vendors hurled rocks and petrol bombs at the police, who responded with tear gas, Interior Ministry spokesman Lotfi Hidouri said. They also set fire to the market and burned tires in the road. Three radio stations said a 70-old man died after inhaling tear gas but the Interior Ministry was unable to confirm this. ... Full Story | Top |
| Kenya starts to light up again after national blackout Tuesday, May 28, 2013 09:20 AM PDT By James Macharia NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya's power grid failed on Tuesday, plunging east Africa's biggest economy into a blackout for about five hours before it was restored to most parts, sole power distributor Kenya Power said. Kenya Power supplies 1,250 megawatts of electricity to more than 2 million customers connected on the national grid, against demand of 1,700 megawatts, with most of the fuel generated from hydro power stations run by KenGen. ... Full Story | Top |
| Zimbabwe minister says economy shrinking on vote uncertainty Tuesday, May 28, 2013 09:10 AM PDT  By MacDonald Dzirutwe HARARE (Reuters) - Uncertainty over the date of elections in Zimbabwe is pushing the fragile economy closer to recession just as it was pulling out of a decade of decline, the finance minister said on Tuesday. Presidential and parliamentary elections should be held this year but political reforms and problems finding the money to pay for the vote in the impoverished country are holding things up and no date has been set. ... Full Story | Top |
| June 15-16 eyed for Geneva conference on Syria: diplomats Tuesday, May 28, 2013 09:04 AM PDT By Tom Miles GENEVA (Reuters) - A proposed conference to try to end two years of conflict in Syria could take place on the weekend of June 15-16 in Geneva, diplomatic sources said on Tuesday. The idea for the conference was hatched at a meeting between U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov earlier this month. Lavrov said on Monday that holding the meeting would be a "tall order" but he saw some chance of success. Diplomats said that details of how the conference would be organized had yet to be agreed, and there was still no firm agreement on the date. ... Full Story | Top |
| Analysis: France and Britain roll the dice on Syria Tuesday, May 28, 2013 09:01 AM PDT  By Luke Baker BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Britain and France claimed victory on Tuesday with an EU decision to let them supply arms to Syrian rebels but it brings many risks and was cast by other diplomats and regional experts as a "miscalculation". Shortly after midnight, after more than 12 hours of negotiation, the EU's 27 member states failed to agree on how to renew their Syrian arms embargo. That means the restrictions expire as of June 1, allowing EU states to export arms if they want, although only Britain and France are inclined to do so. ... Full Story | Top |
| Ugandan police fire tear gas at journalists protesting crackdown Tuesday, May 28, 2013 08:55 AM PDT KAMPALA (Reuters) - Ugandan police fired tear gas at journalists in the capital Kampala on Tuesday who were protesting against a media crackdown after press reports sparked a rare public debate on who will succeed aging President Yoweri Museveni. Authorities in the east African country halted operations at two newspapers and two radio stations on May 20 after they reported a purported plot to assassinate certain people who said that Museveni was grooming his son for power. ... Full Story | Top |
| France calls for action against Islamists in southern Libya Tuesday, May 28, 2013 08:24 AM PDT  By Abdoulaye Massalatchi NIAMEY (Reuters) - France urged African nations on Tuesday to make a concerted effort to tackle a growing Islamist threat in the deserts of southern Libya. French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, speaking on a visit to Niger where suicide bombers attacked a French-run uranium mine last week, said there were signs that Libya's lawless south was becoming a safe haven for Islamist groups in the Sahara. "It seems we must make a special effort on southern Libya - which is also what Libya wants," Fabius said after meeting Niger President Mahamadou Issoufou. ... Full Story | Top |
| Kenya says has restored 50 percent of power supplies Tuesday, May 28, 2013 08:15 AM PDT NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya Power said it had restored at least 50 percent of the country's electricity supplies after east Africa's biggest economy was hit on Tuesday by a nationwide blackout, the exact cause of which was still unknown. "At least 50 percent of the grid is back," said Gregory Ngahu, a communication officer at the country's sole power distributor Kenya Power, adding that electricity in most parts of the country's major cities had been restored. (Reporting by Kevin Mwanza; Writing by James Macharia; Editing by Anthony Barker) Full Story | Top |
| Pirates kidnap oil tanker crew off Nigeria: security sources Tuesday, May 28, 2013 07:31 AM PDT ABUJA (Reuters) - Armed pirates attacked an oil products tanker off the coast of Nigeria in West Africa and abducted an unknown number of crew, security sources said on Tuesday. Increasing piracy in the Gulf of Guinea region, which includes Africa's No. 1 oil producer Nigeria and is a significant source of cocoa and metals for world markets, is jacking up costs for shipping firms operating there. ... Full Story | Top |
| Three Lebanese soldiers killed near Syria border Tuesday, May 28, 2013 07:26 AM PDT  By Laila Bassam BEIRUT (Reuters) - Gunmen killed three Lebanese soldiers at an army checkpoint in the eastern Bekaa Valley on Tuesday before fleeing towards the Syrian border, Lebanese officials said. It was not clear who carried out the attack, the latest incident in a frontier region which has been increasingly drawn into the violence in neighboring Syria. ... Full Story | Top |
| Drone crashes in southern Somalia, may have been shot down Tuesday, May 28, 2013 07:16 AM PDT MOGADISHU (Reuters) - A suspected U.S. reconnaissance drone crashed on Tuesday in southern Somalia, where African forces are fighting Islamist al Shabaab insurgents, the rebels and the provincial governor said. Lower Shabelle region governor Abdikadir Mohamed Nur said that al Shabaab militants had shot at the aircraft over the town of Bulamareer for several hours before it crashed. "Finally they hit it and the drone crashed," Nur told Reuters. The insurgents confirmed that a drone had crashed but did not say if they had downed it. "A U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Russia to send Syria air defense system to deter 'hotheads' Tuesday, May 28, 2013 07:04 AM PDT  By Alissa de Carbonnel MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia will deliver an advanced air defense system to the Syrian government despite Western opposition because it will help deter "hotheads" who back foreign intervention, a senior Russian official said on Tuesday. Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov also accused the European Union of "throwing fuel on the fire" by letting its arms embargo on Syrian expire, saying it would complicate efforts to arrange an international peace conference. ... Full Story | Top |
| Kenya hit by national blackout after power grid failure Tuesday, May 28, 2013 06:50 AM PDT NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya's power grid failed on Tuesday, plunging east Africa's biggest economy into a nationwide power blackout, sole power distributor Kenya Power said. Kenya Power supplies 1,250 megawatts of power to over 2 million customers connected on the national grid, against a demand of 1,700 megawatts, with most of the fuel generated from hydro power stations run by KenGen. ... Full Story | Top |
| Chevron-contracted vessel sinks off Nigeria, 12 crew missing Tuesday, May 28, 2013 06:50 AM PDT ABUJA (Reuters) - Twelve crew members are missing after a Chevron contracted tug boat sank on Sunday due to rough seas off the coast of Nigeria, the ship's owner said on Tuesday. The Jascon-4 capsized early on Sunday due to "heavy ocean swells" while the vessel was "performing towing operations" at a mooring point around 30 kilometers off oil-producing Delta state, Chevron's Nigeria unit said on Sunday. "Unfortunately all twelve crew members are still missing," a spokeswoman for the ship's owner West African Ventures said. ... Full Story | Top |
| UK and France say can arm Syria rebels now but no immediate plans Tuesday, May 28, 2013 06:44 AM PDT LONDON/PARIS (Reuters) - Britain and France said on Tuesday they did not have to wait until August 1 to arm rebels fighting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, contradicting European Union officials, but both countries stressed they had no plans to do so yet. EU governments failed to renew an EU arms embargo on Monday due to differences in opinion, opening the way for Britain and France to supply weapons. But EU officials said the two countries had made a commitment not to do so before August 1. "I must correct one thing of concern. ... Full Story | Top |
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