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| U.S. warns countries against Snowden travel Sunday, Jun 23, 2013 06:47 PM PDT  By James Pomfret and Lidia Kelly HONG KONG/MOSCOW (Reuters) - Fugitive former U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden sought asylum in Ecuador on Sunday after Hong Kong allowed his departure for Russia in a blow to Washington's efforts to extradite him on espionage charges. In a major embarrassment for U.S. President Barack Obama, an aircraft thought to have carried Snowden landed in Moscow on Sunday, and Ecuadorean Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino tweeted that Ecuador had received an asylum request from Snowden. ... Full Story | Top |
| Mandela's health worsens, condition now 'critical' Sunday, Jun 23, 2013 03:02 PM PDT  By Ed Cropley JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Former South African president Nelson Mandela's condition deteriorated to "critical" on Sunday, the government said, two weeks after the 94-year-old anti-apartheid leader was admitted to hospital with a lung infection. The worsening of his condition is bound to concern South Africa's 53 million people, for whom Mandela remains the architect of a peaceful transition to democracy in 1994 after three centuries of white domination. ... Full Story | Top |
| Analysis: For Obama, a world of Snowden troubles Sunday, Jun 23, 2013 07:09 PM PDT  By Warren Strobel and Paul Eckert WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Since his first day in office, President Barack Obama's foreign policy has rested on outreach: resetting ties with Russia, building a partnership with China and offering a fresh start with antagonistic leaders from Iran to Venezuela. But the global travels on Sunday of former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden highlight the limits of that approach. Leaders Obama has wooed - and met recently - were willing to snub the American president. ... Full Story | Top |
| Analysis: Another China central bank worry; companies push into lending Sunday, Jun 23, 2013 08:54 PM PDT  BEIJING/SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Chinese companies are getting more creative in the business of money lending as they struggle to keep profits ticking over in a cooling economy, raising concerns they are adding to the mountain of debt risks building in the world's No.2 economy. Big state companies in industries struggling with over-capacity but with easy access to credit are borrowing funds, not to invest in their business but to lend to smaller firms sometimes at several times the official interest rate, part of an informal lending market in China that authorities are taking aim at. ... Full Story | Top |
| Erdogan defends riot police tactics in Turkey protests Sunday, Jun 23, 2013 12:08 PM PDT  By Daren Butler ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan piled ridicule on activists behind weeks of protests against his government during a rally on Sunday and defended riot police who fired water cannon at crowds in Istanbul a day earlier. Looking out of over a sea of Turkish flags waved by his AK Party faithful in the eastern city of Erzurum, Erdogan praised his supporters and the general public for opposing what he called a plot against his country. "The people saw this game from the start and frustrated it. They (the protesters) thought the people would say nothing. ... Full Story | Top |
| Syrian rebels renew fight for Aleppo Sunday, Jun 23, 2013 03:53 PM PDT  By Khaled Yacoub Oweis AMMAN (Reuters) - Syrian rebels battled President Bashar al-Assad's forces in and around the northern city of Aleppo on Sunday, seeking to reverse gains made by loyalist forces in the commercial hub over the last two months, activists said. The fighting, by a variety of insurgent groups, happened as France urged moderate rebels to wrest territory back from radical Islamists whose role in the fight to topple Assad poses a dilemma for Western countries concerned that arms shipments could fall into the hands of people it considers terrorists. ... Full Story | Top |
| Scattered, smaller protests continue in dozens of Brazilian cities Sunday, Jun 23, 2013 07:17 PM PDT  By Pedro Fonseca and Sergio Moraes SALVADOR/BELO HORIZONTE, Brazil (Reuters) - Scattered protests took place in dozens of Brazilian cities on Saturday, although fewer people took to the streets in Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Salvador, where vandalism and clashes with police have rocked the country in recent days. ... Full Story | Top |
| Police remove flagpole at center of Afghan, Taliban row Sunday, Jun 23, 2013 07:05 PM PDT  By Hamid Shalizi and Amena Bakr KABUL/DOHA (Reuters) - Police have removed a flagpole from the Taliban's office in Qatar, an official said on Sunday, expunging the last visible sign of official decoration that riled the Afghan government and derailed nascent peace talks. The Taliban was due to hold discussions with U.S. officials in Qatar last Thursday - originally raising hopes the meeting could develop into full-blown negotiations to end Afghanistan's 12-year-old war. ... Full Story | Top |
| Claim and counter-claim in Albania vote watched by West Sunday, Jun 23, 2013 12:49 PM PDT  By Benet Koleka and Matt Robinson TIRANA (Reuters) - Albania's ruling party and opposition traded claims of victory on Sunday in a parliamentary election watched closely by Western allies worried about the state of democracy in the NATO country. After a vote marred by a fatal shootout, opposition Socialist Party leader Edi Rama called on Prime Minister Sali Berisha to "prepare the transition" after two consecutive terms at the helm of the ex-communist Adriatic nation. "Our data says we won over the forces of destruction," Rama told cheering supporters at his party headquarters. ... Full Story | Top |
| Gunmen kill nine foreign tourists, two locals in northern Pakistan Sunday, Jun 23, 2013 12:14 PM PDT  By By Jibran Ahmed PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - Gunmen stormed a mountaineering base camp in northern Pakistan on Sunday and shot dead nine foreign trekkers and a Pakistani guide as they rested during an arduous climb up one of the world's tallest peaks, police said. The night-time raid - which killed five Ukrainians, three Chinese and a Russian - was among the worst attacks on foreigners in Pakistan in a decade and underscored the growing reach of militants in a highland region once considered secure. One of the victims also held a U.S. passport, a U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| At least 15 killed in grenade attack in northern Kenya Sunday, Jun 23, 2013 07:55 AM PDT By Noor Ali ISIOLO, Kenya (Reuters) - At least 15 people were killed in a grenade attack on Sunday in a remote village in northern Kenya where low-key clan clashes have displaced hundreds of people in the past week, the Kenya Red Cross and local officials said. Pastoralist communities in northern Kenya have long wrangled over the control of highly valuable grazing land. But the fighting, in which more than 20 villagers have been killed in the past two days in Mandera county, near the east African nation's frontier with Ethiopia and Somalia, has marked an escalation in tension. ... Full Story | Top |
| Analysis: For Obama, a world of Snowden troubles Sunday, Jun 23, 2013 02:56 PM PDT  By Warren Strobel and Paul Eckert WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Since his first day in office, President Barack Obama's foreign policy has rested on outreach: resetting ties with Russia, building a partnership with China and offering a fresh start with antagonistic leaders from Iran to Venezuela. But the global travels on Sunday of former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden highlight the limits of that approach. Leaders Obama has wooed - and met recently - were willing to snub the American president. ... Full Story | Top |
| Police remove flagpole at centre of Afghan, Taliban row Sunday, Jun 23, 2013 09:08 AM PDT  By Hamid Shalizi and Amena Bakr KABUL/DOHA (Reuters) - Police have removed a flagpole from the Taliban's office in Qatar, an official said on Sunday, expunging the last visible sign of official decoration that riled the Afghan government and derailed nascent peace talks. The Taliban was due to hold discussions with U.S. officials in Qatar last Thursday - originally raising hopes the meeting could develop into full-blown negotiations to end Afghanistan's 12-year-old war. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. warns countries against Snowden travel Sunday, Jun 23, 2013 04:54 PM PDT  By James Pomfret and Lidia Kelly HONG KONG/MOSCOW (Reuters) - Fugitive former U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden was seeking asylum in Ecuador on Sunday after Hong Kong allowed his departure for Russia in a slap to Washington's efforts to extradite him on espionage charges. In a major embarrassment for President Barack Obama, an aircraft thought to have carried Snowden landed in Moscow on Sunday, and the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks said he was "bound for the Republic of Ecuador via a safe route for the purposes of asylum. ... Full Story | Top |
| China's cash squeeze caused by shadow banking: Xinhua Sunday, Jun 23, 2013 04:08 AM PDT  By Fayen Wong SHANGHAI (Reuters) - There is ample liquidity in China and the latest spike in money market rates was a result of market distortions caused by widespread speculative trading and shadow financing, state news agency Xinhua said in a commentary on Sunday. China's central bank faced down the country's cash-hungry banks on Friday, letting interest rates again spike to extraordinary levels of some 25 percent for some banks as it stepped up the pressure to contain rampant informal lending. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. seeks Snowden's extradition, urges Hong Kong to act quickly Sunday, Jun 23, 2013 12:20 AM PDT  By Steve Holland and Phil Stewart WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States said on Saturday it wants Hong Kong to extradite Edward Snowden and urged it to act quickly, paving the way for what could be a lengthy legal battle to prosecute the former National Security Agency contractor on espionage charges. Legal sources say Snowden, who is believed to be hiding in Hong Kong, has sought legal representation from human rights lawyers since leaking details about secret U.S. surveillance activities to news media. ... Full Story | Top |
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