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| CA-NEWS Summary Thursday, May 30, 2013 08:27 PM PDT Toronto mayor vows to run again despite crack scandal, staff exodus TORONTO (Reuters) - Toronto Mayor Rob Ford lost two more staff members on Thursday, two weeks after allegations first surfaced that the leader of Canada's largest city was caught smoking crack cocaine on camera, something he has strongly denied. Security ushered policy advisor Brian Johnston out of city hall around midday on Thursday, and he told reporters he had resigned. Kia Nejatian, the mayor's executive assistant, also left his job, the city confirmed in a statement sent to local media. ... Full Story | Top |
| Venezuela's Maduro slams Colombia's Santos for 'betrayal' Thursday, May 30, 2013 08:26 PM PDT  By Eyanir Chinea and Enrique Andres Pretel CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro accused his Colombian counterpart, Juan Manuel Santos, of "betrayal" on Thursday, saying he had lost faith in him for meeting with Venezuelan opposition leader Henrique Capriles. Maduro said he was putting bilateral relations, which were frequently hostile during his predecessor Hugo Chavez's 14-year socialist rule, under review following Santos' meeting on Wednesday with Capriles. ... Full Story | Top |
| Lawyer hopes Arizona mother in Mexico drug bust may soon be freed Thursday, May 30, 2013 08:07 PM PDT By Tim Gaynor PHOENIX (Reuters) - The attorney for an Arizona mother jailed in Mexico after marijuana was found under her bus seat said on Thursday that video evidence showed she had boarded the vehicle without the drugs and expressed the hope she could be freed by the weekend. Yanira Maldonado, a Mormon and the mother of seven children, was arrested on May 22 after Mexican soldiers searched a bus on which she was traveling with her husband, Gary, and discovered some 12 pounds (5 kilograms) of marijuana under her seat. ... Full Story | Top |
| Indian shot dead in growing land dispute in Brazil Thursday, May 30, 2013 07:51 PM PDT BRASILIA (Reuters) - A growing conflict over land ownership in Brazil's farm belt turned bloody on Thursday when an Indian was shot dead during the violent eviction of some 200 natives from a disputed property owned by a former congressman. The Terena Indians refused a court order to leave the cattle ranch which they invaded two weeks ago. A federal agency designated the ranch as ancestral native land in 2010, but a local court ruled last year that it belonged to the farmer. ... Full Story | Top |
| China's Tiananmen Mothers criticize Xi for lack of reforms Thursday, May 30, 2013 07:50 PM PDT  BEIJING (Reuters) - A group of families demanding justice for the victims of China's 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown have denounced new Chinese President Xi Jinping for failing to launch political reforms, saying he was taking China "backwards towards Maoist orthodoxy". The Tiananmen Mothers activist group has long urged the Chinese leadership to open a dialogue and provide a reassessment of the June 4, 1989 pro-democracy movement, bloodily suppressed by the government which labeled it a "counter-revolutionary" event. ... Full Story | Top |
| After tour abroad, dissident blogger Sanchez returns to Cuba Thursday, May 30, 2013 06:58 PM PDT  By Jeff Franks HAVANA (Reuters) - Dissident blogger Yoani Sanchez, wearing a brightly colored dress and a big smile, returned on Thursday to the homeland she both loves and lambastes, after more than three months on a tour through the Americas and Europe. Her family and about a dozen supporters applauded loudly and shouted "welcome home" as she emerged from the customs area at the Havana airport With tears in her eyes, she hugged them all as curious Cubans awaiting other passengers looked on and asked reporters who she was. ... Full Story | Top |
| Egyptian draft law said to dash hopes of free civil society Thursday, May 30, 2013 05:37 PM PDT CAIRO (Reuters) - A law drafted by the Egyptian presidency for regulating non-governmental organizations dashes hopes for a free civil society after the 2011 uprising against Hosni Mubarak, Human Rights Watch said on Thursday. President Mohamed Mursi has said the bill submitted to the Muslim Brotherhood-led parliament on Wednesday would liberate a civil society that was stifled by Mubarak, who was toppled by an uprising ignited by democracy activists. Human Rights Watch said the new draft was "hostile to the very notion of independent civil society. ... Full Story | Top |
| Syrian opposition admits liberals after inconclusive talks Thursday, May 30, 2013 05:27 PM PDT By Khaled Yacoub Oweis ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Syria's opposition, under pressure to broaden its Islamist-dominated leadership, struggled to overcome deep rifts on Thursday and form a united front for a proposed international conference to try to end the Syrian civil war. Delegates at inconclusive talks in Istanbul agreed to add 14 named members of a liberal bloc led by veteran figure Michel Kilo to the 60-member assembly of the Syrian National Coalition, the closest body that President Bashar al-Assad's foes have to an overall civilian leadership in the two-year-old uprising. ... Full Story | Top |
| Iran's sponsorship of terrorism sees "marked resurgence" : U.S. Thursday, May 30, 2013 04:32 PM PDT  By Warren Strobel WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Iran's sponsorship of terrorism overseas underwent "a marked resurgence" in 2012, reaching levels not seen in 20 years, the U.S. State Department charged on Thursday in its annual report on trends in political violence. The report cited a series of actual and planned attacks in Europe and Asia linked to Hezbollah, Iran's Lebanon-based ally, including a July 2012 bombing in Bulgaria that killed five Israeli citizens and a Bulgarian, and wounded 32 others. "The year 2012 was ... ... Full Story | Top |
| "Weak mayor" system keeps Toronto ticking through crack controversy Thursday, May 30, 2013 04:09 PM PDT  By Julie Gordon TORONTO (Reuters) - Between the army of reporters camped at his door and an exodus of top aides, Toronto Mayor Rob Ford has endured a tough two weeks since allegations surfaced that he was caught smoking crack cocaine on video, something he staunchly denies. For North America's fourth-largest city, however, it's been mostly business as usual thanks to a "weak mayor" political system that limits the executive's influence and puts more power in the hands of the city council. ... Full Story | Top |
| Embattled IRS staff remain in jobs despite U.S. tax review scandal Thursday, May 30, 2013 03:57 PM PDT  By Kim Dixon WASHINGTON (Reuters) - They've been scorned in televised congressional hearings for unfairly abusing tax laws, threatened with questioning in a criminal investigation and accused of using federal jobs to push a political agenda. At this point in the saga surrounding the Internal Revenue Service and its use of "Tea Party" and other search terms to flag conservative groups while reviewing their applications for tax-exempt status, all of the employees caught up in the scandal are still drawing federal paychecks. ... Full Story | Top |
| International court tells El Salvador to allow abortion of deformed fetus Thursday, May 30, 2013 03:56 PM PDT  By Isabella Cota SAN JOSE (Reuters) - The regional human rights court for the Americas on Thursday told El Salvador it must let doctors perform an abortion on a woman carrying a seriously deformed fetus that has put her life at risk, but the Central American nation was not bound by the move. The Inter-American Court of Human Rights took the action after El Salvador's Supreme Court issued a ruling on Wednesday rejecting an appeal brought by the 22-year-old woman at the center of the case. She had sought an abortion even though El Salvador banned all types of abortion in 1999. ... Full Story | Top |
| Ricin attack puts spotlight on Bloomberg's gun control push Thursday, May 30, 2013 03:39 PM PDT  By Edith Honan NEW YORK (Reuters) - Letters laced with the deadly poison ricin sent to New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the lobbying organization Mayors Against Illegal Guns illustrate how the group has emerged as a focal point of anger for opponents of gun control. Three letters containing an "oily substance" that turned out to be ricin were intercepted on their way to Bloomberg's office and the mayors group. A similar envelope was sent to President Barack Obama, the Secret Service confirmed on Thursday. ... Full Story | Top |
| Moscow suggests missiles have yet to reach Assad Thursday, May 30, 2013 02:59 PM PDT  By Mariam Karouny and Erika Solomon BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said on Thursday Moscow was still committed to sending him advanced anti-aircraft weapons, although a source close to the Russian defense ministry said the missiles had yet to arrive. The prospect of the missiles arriving is a serious worry for Western and regional countries opposing Assad which have called on Moscow not to send them. ... Full Story | Top |
| Toronto mayor vows to run again despite crack scandal, staff exodus Thursday, May 30, 2013 02:54 PM PDT  By Julie Gordon and Allison Martell TORONTO (Reuters) - Toronto Mayor Rob Ford lost two more staff members on Thursday, two weeks after allegations first surfaced that the leader of Canada's largest city was caught smoking crack cocaine on camera, something he has strongly denied. Security ushered policy advisor Brian Johnston out of city hall around midday on Thursday, and he told reporters he had resigned. Kia Nejatian, the mayor's executive assistant, also left his job, the city confirmed in a statement sent to local media. ... Full Story | Top |
| Russian, U.S. and U.N. officials to meet on Syria on June 5 Thursday, May 30, 2013 01:58 PM PDT MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian, U.S. and U.N. officials will meet next week to prepare for a proposed peace conference in June between warring sides in Syria, U.N. and U.S. officials said on Thursday. "We can confirm that on 5 June 2013 in Geneva, US, Russian and UN officials will hold a three-way meeting to further the preparations for the international conference on Syria envisioned under the U.S.-Russian initiative," a U.N. spokeswoman said in a statement. The meeting was agreed to in talks last week between Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. investigates report of American woman killed in Syria Thursday, May 30, 2013 01:57 PM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States is looking into a report by Syrian state media that an American citizen was killed recently by government forces in the country's civil war, a U.S. State Department official said on Thursday. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters that U.S. authorities were "aware of the case." Washington is working via the Czech Republic mission in Syria to get more information, the official said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Threatening letter sent to Obama, U.S. Secret Service says Thursday, May 30, 2013 01:18 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Authorities intercepted a threatening letter addressed to President Barack Obama that was similar to ones sent to New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the Secret Service said on Thursday. Letters sent to Bloomberg and his gun control group contained material believed to be the deadly poison ricin and contained a reference to gun control, New York police said on Wednesday. A Secret Service official said the White House letter was similar but did not elaborate. ... Full Story | Top |
| Assad says Russia will honor weapons deals Thursday, May 30, 2013 01:17 PM PDT By Dominic Evans and Thomas Grove BEIRUT/MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia has yet to send advanced anti-aircraft missiles to Syria, a source close to the Russian defense ministry said on Thursday, but President Bashar al-Assad said Moscow was still committed to the contract to deliver them. A Lebanese newspaper had earlier quoted Assad as saying in an interview that Moscow had already sent a first shipment of S-300 missiles. When the actual interview was broadcast, however, the Syrian leader stopped short of saying the missiles had arrived. ... Full Story | Top |
| Who's next? Putin critics worry as Russia clampdown spreads Thursday, May 30, 2013 01:09 PM PDT  By Timothy Heritage MOSCOW (Reuters) - A widening clampdown on groups and individuals critical or independent of Russian President Vladimir Putin has left his opponents asking: "Who's next?" Liberal economist Sergei Guriev's flight from Russia under pressure from state investigators has deepened the sense of alarm as the Kremlin broadens a drive to stifle dissent and quell protests that began in December 2011. ... Full Story | Top |
| Turkey arrests 12 in raids on 'terrorist' organization Thursday, May 30, 2013 01:09 PM PDT ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish authorities have arrested 12 people on suspicion of being members of a terrorist organization in raids across the country, a provincial governor said on Thursday. The police raids were carried out in Turkey's largest city Istanbul as well as in the southern provinces of Mersin, Adana and Hatay near the Syrian border, said Adana governor Huseyin Avni Cos. Cos said unknown chemical materials were found during the raids and sent away for investigation. He denied media reports that a small amount of the nerve agent sarin had been uncovered. ... Full Story | Top |
| Tribes clash over Darfur gum arabic land, 64 killed Thursday, May 30, 2013 12:22 PM PDT By Khalid Abdelaziz KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Clashes between tribes in Sudan's Darfur region over land producing the gum arabic stabilizer used in soft drinks have killed more than 60 people and displaced 6,500 other, police and the United Nations said. The fluid gum cut from the acacia trees that have grown on the land for years is one of Sudan's most important agricultural export products but part of the output is being smuggled over the border into Chad, where it is sold for hard currency. ... Full Story | Top |
| Rwandans held in Britain on genocide extradition request Thursday, May 30, 2013 12:14 PM PDT LONDON (Reuters) - Five Rwandans accused of involvement in the genocide that killed 800,000 people in just 100 days were arrested in Britain on Thursday after an extradition request from Rwanda, London police said. Emmanuel Nteziryayo, Charles Munyaneza, Celestin Ugirashebuja, Vincent Bajinya and Celestin Mutabaruka appeared at a London court under extradition warrants alleging genocide and murder, a police spokesman said. Four of the five were freed by the High Court in 2009, overturning a ministerial extradition order because of fears they would not get a fair trial in Rwanda. ... Full Story | Top |
| Ministers to meet to review NATO's cyber defenses Thursday, May 30, 2013 12:08 PM PDT  By Adrian Croft BRUSSELS (Reuters) - NATO defense ministers hold their first review of cyber defense next week in a sign the issue is making its way to the top of the alliance's agenda as fears grow that Western infrastructure and military secrets are vulnerable to hackers. Daily reports about government and private firms' computer systems coming under attack have highlighted the importance of defending NATO computer networks, particularly systems which are used to coordinate military actions among the 28 allies. ... Full Story | Top |
| Russian, US, UN officials to meet on Syria on June 5 Thursday, May 30, 2013 11:54 AM PDT MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian, U.S. and U.N. officials will meet next week to discuss ways to bring the warring sides in Syria together for a peace conference proposed by Washington and Moscow, officials said on Thursday. "On June 5 in Geneva, U.S., Russian and U.N. officials will hold a three-way meeting to further the preparations for the international conference on Syria," a spokesman for U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon said. He said Lakhdar Brahimi, the U.N.-Arab League envoy seeking to foster peace in Syria, and U.N. Under Secretary General for Political Affairs Jeffrey Feltman would take part. ... Full Story | Top |
| Syrian opposition admits liberals to anti-Assad coalition Thursday, May 30, 2013 11:53 AM PDT By Khaled Yacoub Oweis ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Syria's opposition, under pressure to broaden its Islamist-dominated leadership, struggled to overcome deep rifts on Thursday and form a united front for a proposed international conference to try to end the Syrian war. Delegates at talks in Istanbul agreed to add 14 members of a liberal bloc led by veteran figure Michel Kilo to the 60-member assembly of the Syrian National Coalition, the closest body that Assad's foes have to an overall civilian leadership in the two-year-old uprising against President Bashar al-Assad. ... Full Story | Top |
| Syria's Assad says Russia will deliver on arms deals Thursday, May 30, 2013 11:51 AM PDT BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said in an interview broadcast on Thursday that Russia remained committed to military deals signed with Damascus before the outbreak of conflict in the country. Asked by Lebanon's Al-Manar television about delivery of Russian S-300 air defense missiles, Assad said: "The contracts with Russia are not linked to the crisis and Russia is committed to implementing these contracts." "Everything we have agreed on with Russia will take place, and part of it has already taken place," he said. (Reporting by Dominic Evans; Editing by Michael Roddy) Full Story | Top |
| Assad says any Syrian peace accord needs referendum Thursday, May 30, 2013 11:45 AM PDT BEIRUT (Reuters) - President Bashar al-Assad said Syria would attend peace talks with the opposition in principle but any deal that was struck would have to be approved by referendum. Asked whether Syria had any preconditions for attendance at the talks, Assad told Lebanon's al-Manar television: "The only condition is that anything to be implemented will be submitted to Syrian public opinion and a Syrian referendum." (Editing by Michael Roddy) Full Story | Top |
| Nigeria arrests Lebanese suspected of Hezbollah ties Thursday, May 30, 2013 11:36 AM PDT By Chukwuemeka Madu KANO, Nigeria (Reuters) - Nigerian authorities said on Thursday they had arrested three Lebanese in northern Nigeria on suspicion of being members of Hezbollah and that a raid on one of their residences had revealed a stash of heavy weapons. The three suspects were arrested between May 16 and May 28 in the north's biggest city Kano, the city's military spokesman Captain Ikedichi Iweha said in a statement. All had admitted to being members of Hezbollah under questioning. ... Full Story | Top |
| China to study possibility of joining U.S.-led trade talks Thursday, May 30, 2013 11:33 AM PDT BEIJING (Reuters) - China will study the possibility of joining the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade talks, the Commerce Ministry said on Thursday, signaling its openness to the U.S.-led trade pact. "We will analyze the pros and cons as well as the possibility of joining the TPP, based on careful research and according to principles of equality and mutual benefit," Shen Danyang, a Commerce Ministry spokesman, said in a comments published on the ministry's website. "And we also hope to exchange information and materials with TPP members on the negotiations. ... Full Story | Top |
| Germans irked as Hollande says EU cannot dictate French reforms Thursday, May 30, 2013 11:02 AM PDT  By Mark John and Andreas Rinke PARIS/BERLIN (Reuters) - President Francois Hollande pledged on Thursday to carry out long overdue reforms of France's pension system and labor markets but said it was up to Paris, not the European Commission, to determine how they are implemented. At a joint news conference with visiting German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Hollande defended his comment that the EU executive cannot "dictate" reforms to member states - a defiant, nationalist tone that angered Germany's ruling conservatives. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.N. concerned about North Korean defectors in China Thursday, May 30, 2013 10:32 AM PDT  GENEVA (Reuters) - A United Nations human rights investigator and the U.N. refugee agency voiced concern on Thursday about the fate of nine North Korean defectors, some of them children, who were sent back to China this week from Laos after trying to cross the border. Chinese authorities are obliged under international law not to return them to North Korea, where they could face persecution and possibly death, Marzuki Darusman, U.N. special rapporteur on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), said. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. senator McCain pictured with Syrian rebel kidnapper: paper Thursday, May 30, 2013 10:21 AM PDT BEIRUT (Reuters) - U.S. Senator John McCain was photographed during a trip to Syria with a man implicated in the kidnapping by Syrian rebels of 11 Lebanese Shi'ite pilgrims a year ago, a Lebanese newspaper said on Thursday. McCain, a Republican, has been an outspoken advocate for U.S. military aid to the rebels fighting President Bashar al-Assad and made a short, highly publicised trip to meet rebel commanders in Syria three days ago. He has insisted that the United States could locate the "right people" to help among rebel ranks infiltrated with radicalised Islamists. ... Full Story | Top |
| Guinea government launches campaign for disputed June vote Thursday, May 30, 2013 10:15 AM PDT CONAKRY (Reuters) - Guinea's government on Thursday officially declared open campaigning for a disputed June 30 legislative election despite an unyielding stance by opposition parties that have demanded the date of the vote be annulled. The government's decision to go ahead with the election is likely to set it on a collision course with the opposition and escalate violent protests that have rocked the world's top bauxite producing nation since March. ... Full Story | Top |
| War crimes court acquits two ex-Serbian security officials Thursday, May 30, 2013 10:14 AM PDT  By Thomas Escritt THE HAGUE (Reuters) - International judges on Thursday acquitted two former Serbian secret police officials of involvement in war crimes committed in Bosnia and Croatia, in a ruling welcomed by Serbia but received with disbelief by victims of wartime atrocities. The acquittal means no Belgrade government official has been convicted of crimes committed during the war in Bosnia, which claimed more than 100,000 lives over three years to 1995. ... Full Story | Top |
| Hollande sticks to target to cut down unemployment Thursday, May 30, 2013 10:08 AM PDT  PARIS (Reuters) - French President Francois Hollande said on Thursday he was sticking to a target of reversing a growing unemployment trend by year-end, on the day when data showed that the number of jobless hit a fresh all-time high in April. Speaking at a joint news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Hollande said: "Despite this data, despite what it means for many French people individually or for their family, I maintain the goal of reversing the unemployment trend by year-end." (Reporting by Mark John; Writing by Ingrid Melander) Full Story | Top |
| Merkel tells Hollande: France must implement reforms Thursday, May 30, 2013 10:06 AM PDT PARIS (Reuters) - France has an obligation to press ahead with structural reforms now that the European Commission has granted it two extra years to reduce its budget deficit, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Thursday. Speaking at a joint news conference with French President Francois Hollande after talks on reforming Europe, Merkel listed countries, including Spain and Greece, that have enacted tough structural reforms while slashing their budget deficits but did not include France. "We agreed to give France two more years to cut its deficit to 3.0 percent (of gross domestic ... Full Story | Top |
| Police seek gunman in Zurich after two injured Thursday, May 30, 2013 09:46 AM PDT ZURICH (Reuters) - Police were seeking an unidentified gunman who shot and injured two men in Zurich on Thursday, the city's police said. The motive for the shooting remained unclear, but a police spokesman said there was no indication of a link to militant groups. Two Turkish nationals, aged 33 and 41, were in non-critical condition in hospital following the shooting, police said. Some streets in Switzerland's normally calm financial capital were blocked off for nearly three hours as police searched for the gunman. (Reporting By Katharina Bart; Editing by Michael Roddy) Full Story | Top |
| Outside Hungary's borders, a growing power base for PM Orban Thursday, May 30, 2013 09:45 AM PDT  By Gergely Szakacs MIERCUREA-CIUC, Romania (Reuters) - A Hungarian government programme to grant ethnic Hungarians abroad the right to vote has handed Prime Minister Viktor Orban an advantage that could, in a close election, keep him in power. Several million ethnic Hungarians live in neighbouring Romania, Serbia and Ukraine and elsewhere, descendants of Hungarians who found themselves outside their homeland when the country's borders were redrawn at the end of World War One. ... Full Story | Top |
| Russia criticises U.S. refusal to rule out Syria no-fly zone Thursday, May 30, 2013 09:42 AM PDT MOSCOW (Reuters) - Washington's statement that no-fly zones in Syria remained an option was among decisions that "create an unfavourable atmosphere" for peace talks proposed by the United States and Russia, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Thursday. The ministry also criticized opposition calls for President Bashar al-Assad's exit from power, the European Union's decision to let an arms embargo lapse, and a U.N. Human Rights Council declaration it said put too much blame on Syria's government. "The combination of these decisions ... ... Full Story | Top |
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