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| U.S. watchdog raps Pentagon for buying aircraft for Afghan unit Thursday, Jun 27, 2013 09:06 PM PDT By David Alexander WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A government watchdog criticized the Pentagon on Friday for forging ahead with controversial helicopter purchases from a Russian arms dealer despite warnings the Afghan special forces unit due to receive the aircraft could not fly or maintain them. The watchdog - the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction - urged the Pentagon to suspend the $553 million Russian arms deal as well as a $218 million contract for 18 planes from a U.S. firm until plans were in place to fully recruit and train the Afghan special forces unit. ... Full Story | Top |
| Upbeat Japan data cheers Nikkei, Asia - gold slumps Thursday, Jun 27, 2013 08:53 PM PDT  By Ian Chua SYDNEY (Reuters) - Asian shares rose for a third day on Friday led by a sharp rally in Tokyo's Nikkei, which is on track to end the first half of the year up a barnstorming 31 percent. Gold, however, plumbed fresh three-year lows with investors battered and bruised after a 30 percent drop this year. Analysts suspect the recent leg lower was due in part to forced liquidations of positions and quarter-end selling by funds. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan climbed 0.9 percent, pulling further away from an 11-month low and wiping out this week's losses. ... Full Story | Top |
| Obama heads to South Africa with Mandela on his mind Thursday, Jun 27, 2013 07:06 PM PDT  By Jeff Mason and Mark Felsenthal DAKAR (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama heads to South Africa on Friday hoping to see ailing icon Nelson Mandela, after wrapping up a visit to Senegal that focused on improving food security and promoting democratic institutions. Obama is in the middle of a three-country tour of Africa that the White House hopes will compensate for what some view as years of neglect by the administration of America's first black president. ... Full Story | Top |
| Leader of leftist party in Mexico's Oaxaca state found dead Thursday, Jun 27, 2013 06:31 PM PDT MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - The dead body of a top leader of Mexico's Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) for southern Oaxaca state was found on Thursday and police are investigating his death as a homicide, the state attorney general's office said. Nicolas Estrada, president of the PRD's state council in Oaxaca, one of the leftist party's strongholds, likely died several days before his body was found, officials said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Europe clinches deals on banks, budget, youth jobless Thursday, Jun 27, 2013 06:08 PM PDT  By Luke Baker and Paul Taylor BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European leaders agreed on new steps to fight youth unemployment and promote lending to credit-starved small business on Thursday after deals on banking resolution and the long-term EU budget gave their summit a much needed lift. The 27 leaders resolved to spend 6 billion euros over the next two years to support job creation, training and apprenticeships for young people, and to raid unspent EU budget funds to keep the effort going thereafter. ... Full Story | Top |
| British rebate fears allayed to seal budget deal Thursday, Jun 27, 2013 05:48 PM PDT  By Charlie Dunmore and Luke Baker BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European leaders unanimously backed a deal on the EU's long-term budget at a late-night summit, European Council President Herman Van Rompuy said on Friday, after British concerns over its long-cherished budget rebate were soothed. "When it comes to the EU budget, there is full agreement in the European Council," Van Rompuy told a news conference, allaying concerns that the nearly 1 trillion euro package of spending measures could be derailed by a last-minute hitch. ... Full Story | Top |
| Costa Rica probes soapy money-laundering link to Venezuela Thursday, Jun 27, 2013 05:12 PM PDT By Isabella Cota SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (Reuters) - Costa Rica said on Thursday it was investigating two men suspected of laundering money for Venezuelan government firms after detecting a shady scheme to buy millions of bars of soap. Investigators in the Central American nation said they had frozen at least $15.5 million in bank accounts belonging to a Costa Rican lawyer and a Venezuelan who had made suspicious transactions for a company owned by Venezuela's government. ... Full Story | Top |
| One dead as Egypt simmers ahead of rallies Thursday, Jun 27, 2013 04:50 PM PDT  By Alastair Macdonald and Yasmine Saleh CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's ruling Muslim Brotherhood said one man was shot dead and four wounded in an attack on a provincial party office, stoking factional rivalries ahead of mass rallies starting on Friday. It blamed activists who are campaigning to force President Mohamed Mursi to resign as he marks his first year in office. ... Full Story | Top |
| Obama jabs Russia, China on failure to extradite Snowden Thursday, Jun 27, 2013 04:33 PM PDT  By Jeff Mason and Mark Felsenthal DAKAR (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama said on Thursday he would not start "wheeling and dealing" with China and Russia over a U.S. request to extradite former American spy agency contractor Edward Snowden. Obama, who appeared concerned that the case would overshadow his three-country tour of Africa begun in Senegal, also dismissed suggestions that the United States might try to intercept Snowden if he were allowed to leave Moscow by air. ... Full Story | Top |
| CFTC charges Corzine in MF Global collapse Thursday, Jun 27, 2013 04:23 PM PDT  By Douwe Miedema WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A top U.S. regulator charged former MF Global chief Jon Corzine over the collapse of the futures brokerage, blaming the former Goldman Sachs co-chief executive with being a key actor in one of the country's 10 biggest bankruptcies. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission said on Thursday it will seek in a civil case to ban Corzine and former Assistant Treasurer Edith O'Brien from the industry, and also seek penalties against the two. "Mr. ... Full Story | Top |
| Tanker cars derail on broken bridge in flood-hit Calgary Thursday, Jun 27, 2013 04:11 PM PDT  By Nia Williams and Scott Haggett CALGARY, Alberta, June 27 - Five rail cars carrying hazardous petroleum products derailed on a broken bridge over the swollen Bow River in Calgary, Alberta, on Thursday, perching perilously close to the water as emergency crews rushed to prevent a spill. The cars contain petroleum distillate, a flammable light oil product that is used in paint and polishes or can be mixed with the sludgy crude from the Canadian oil sands so the crude can flow in pipelines. ... Full Story | Top |
| Factbox: Snowden: a tale of security lapses and other U.S. errors Thursday, Jun 27, 2013 03:53 PM PDT (Reuters) - Edward Snowden's disclosure of U.S. surveillance programs and the ease with which he slipped out of the country have raised questions about the U.S. government's handling of his case at crucial moments, some stretching back years. Here are some key areas of concern that have emerged following the leaks by Snowden, who most recently worked as a contractor for the U.S. National Security Agency: 2011 BACKGROUND CHECK Snowden's 2011 background investigation, to renew his security clearance when he was working as a private U.S. government contractor, is under scrutiny. ... Full Story | Top |
| NSA chief says agency eavesdropping helped foil 54 plots Thursday, Jun 27, 2013 03:16 PM PDT By Deborah Charles and Mark Hosenball BALTIMORE/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The director of the U.S. National Security Agency on Thursday offered a more detailed breakdown of 54 schemes by militants that he said were disrupted by phone and internet surveillance, even as a British newspaper offered evidence of more extensive spying. In a speech in Baltimore, NSA chief General Keith Alexander said the list of cases turned over recently to Congress included 42 that involved disrupted plots and 12 in which surveillance targets provided material support to terrorism. ... Full Story | Top |
| At least 22 killed as bombs tear through coffee shops in Iraq Thursday, Jun 27, 2013 03:15 PM PDT  BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Bombs exploded in busy coffee shops and at other targets across Iraq late on Thursday, killing at least 22 people, police and medics said. In north and south Baghdad, two blasts tore through cafes where scores of young men had gathered to watch a televised football match, killing eight people, police and medical sources said. Two other explosions killed 10 people in coffee shops in the city of Baquba, about 50 km (30 miles) northeast of Baghdad, police said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Ecuador offers U.S. rights aid, waives trade benefits Thursday, Jun 27, 2013 03:12 PM PDT By Alexandra Valencia and Brian Ellsworth QUITO (Reuters) - Ecuador's leftist government thumbed its nose at Washington on Thursday by renouncing U.S. trade benefits and offering to pay for human rights training in America in response to pressure over asylum for former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden. The angry response threatens a showdown between the two nations over Snowden, and may burnish President Rafael Correa's credentials to be the continent's principal challenger of U.S. power after the death of Venezuelan socialist leader Hugo Chavez. ... Full Story | Top |
| Egypt's Mursi circles wagons as trouble looms Thursday, Jun 27, 2013 03:09 PM PDT  By Tom Perry CAIRO (Reuters) - President Mohamed Mursi came to office promising to be a president for all Egyptians. A year into his term, the divisions deepened by his rule have pitched the nation into crisis. As Mursi's opponents mobilize for protests aimed at toppling him, the Muslim Brotherhood man shows no sign of flinching. Instead, he is digging in, backed by Islamist allies determined to shield Mursi from what they see as an attempted coup. ... Full Story | Top |
| One Muslim Brotherhood member dies in attack: Brotherhood Thursday, Jun 27, 2013 02:47 PM PDT CAIRO (Reuters) - A member of Egypt's ruling Muslim Brotherhood was shot dead in an attack on the group's office in the Nile Delta town of Zakazik on Thursday, a day before the start of a wave of opposition protests. The news was carried by the official website of the Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party, which blamed an opposition youth group and people loyal to ousted president Hosni Mubarak for the attack. Two people died on Wednesday in street clashes between supporters and opponents of President Mohamed Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood in the city of Mansoura. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. suspends trade benefits for Bangladesh over safety Thursday, Jun 27, 2013 02:30 PM PDT  By Doug Palmer WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama on Thursday cut off longtime U.S. trade benefits for Bangladesh in a mostly symbolic response to dangerous conditions in that country's garment industry that have cost more than 1,200 lives in the past year. "I have determined that it is appropriate to suspend Bangladesh ... because it is not taking steps to afford internationally recognized worker rights to workers in the country," Obama said in a statement. The U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Obama starts long-awaited Africa tour at slave port Thursday, Jun 27, 2013 02:26 PM PDT By Mark Felsenthal GOREE ISLAND, Senegal (Reuters) - Almost four centuries after Africans started being shipped to North America as slaves, the first U.S. president of African ancestry on Thursday visited an infamous embarkation point for those destined for lives in chains. In his first - and, many Africans say, long-overdue - extended tour of the continent since entering the White House, President Barack Obama focused on political and economic issues while also recalling a painful chapter in Africa's and America's past. ... Full Story | Top |
| With multiple missions, U.S. military steps up Africa focus Thursday, Jun 27, 2013 02:25 PM PDT  By Peter Apps, Political Risk Correspondent WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Striking Islamist militants with drones, supporting African forces in stabilizing Somalia and Mali and deploying dozens of training teams, the U.S. military has returned to Africa. Its presence remains mostly low key, barely mentioned in the context of President Barack Obama's visit this week to Africa. Nevertheless, with some 4,000-5,000 personnel on the ground at any given time, the United States now has more troops in Africa than at any point since its Somalia intervention two decades ago. ... Full Story | Top |
| Analysis: Clashing visions weigh on U.S. drive for Taliban talks Thursday, Jun 27, 2013 02:07 PM PDT  By Matthew Green ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - As the United States makes a fresh attempt to start talks with the Taliban, competing visions in Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan over what an eventual peace process might look like have emerged as one of the biggest hurdles. Washington's hopes of negotiating with the insurgents to stabilize Afghanistan before most foreign troops leave by the end of 2014 had appeared to achieve a breakthrough last week when the Taliban opened an office in the Qatari capital Doha. ... Full Story | Top |
| Spain ruling party's ex-treasurer sent to jail in corruption case Thursday, Jun 27, 2013 02:01 PM PDT  By Teresa Larraz Mora MADRID (Reuters) - A former treasurer for Spain's ruling People's Party was sent to jail without bail on Thursday as the High Court continues a pre-trial investigation into corruption charges against him. Judge Pablo Ruz said that Luis Barcenas - who worked for the People's Party for almost three decades, mostly in the accounting department - had failed to explain the origin of up to 48 million euros held in Swiss bank accounts. Ruz said Barcenas was a flight risk and could also pressure witnesses or destroy evidence. ... Full Story | Top |
| Top officer rejects comparison of U.S., Chinese cyber snooping Thursday, Jun 27, 2013 01:22 PM PDT  By David Alexander WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The top U.S. military officer on Thursday dismissed comparisons of Chinese and American snooping in cyber space, saying all countries gathered intelligence on their potential adversaries but Beijing's problematic "niche" was intellectual property theft. Army General Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, also said the U.S. government was close to completing an update of its rules of engagement in cyber space and that Americans needed to understand a cyber attack could trigger a real-world military response. ... Full Story | Top |
| No plan to restrict Bangladesh clothing imports: U.S. trade chief Thursday, Jun 27, 2013 01:03 PM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States has no plans to restrict clothing imports from Bangladesh to put additional pressure on that country to improve safety conditions for workers, the top U.S. trade official said on Thursday. U.S. Trade Representative Mike Froman told reporters he hoped that suspending U.S. trade benefits on a number of non-textile goods would be enough to encourage the Bangladeshi government to make needed reforms. (Reporting by Doug Palmer; Editing by Sandra Maler) Full Story | Top |
| Kerry resumes tough Israeli-Palestinian peace mission Thursday, Jun 27, 2013 12:34 PM PDT  By Lesley Wroughton AMMAN (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's drive to revive Middle East peace talks hit familiar warning signals on Thursday as Israel's prime minister stressed security needs and a Palestinian negotiator denounced Israeli settlement building. Kerry, on his fifth visit to the region, met Jordan's King Abdullah for talks focused on both the peace process and the Syrian civil war, which has driven more than 500,000 refugees into Jordan. ... Full Story | Top |
| Portuguese anti-austerity strike hits mostly transport Thursday, Jun 27, 2013 11:47 AM PDT  By Axel Bugge and Daniel Alvarenga LISBON (Reuters) - Portuguese unions halted public transport on Thursday in a peaceful one-day strike against austerity measures that have led to the worst economic slump since the 1970s and sent unemployment to record levels. Trains, metro services and many public offices shut down. But restaurants and shops opened as hard-up Portuguese who could not afford to miss a day at work opted to go by car, clogging many entry points to Lisbon with traffic jams. ... Full Story | Top |
| Egypt protests could heap pressure on beleaguered currency Thursday, Jun 27, 2013 11:21 AM PDT By Patrick Werr CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's central bank faces an uphill task keeping the country's currency stable if mass anti-government protests planned over the coming days turn violent or drag on for too long. A round of violent protests in December triggered a run on the Egyptian pound that cost the government over $2 billion to bring under control and caused it to abandon its policy of a freely convertible currency. Opponents of President Mohamed Mursi have called for mass protests on Friday and Sunday to demand he step down after one year in office. ... Full Story | Top |
| Prosecutor says Berlusconi should pay damages in Mondadori case: sources Thursday, Jun 27, 2013 11:16 AM PDT  MILAN (Reuters) - Prosecutors have recommended Italy's supreme court back a ruling that orders Silvio Berlusconi's Fininvest to pay more than 500 million euros in damages over the acquisition of a publisher twenty years ago, legal sources said on Thursday. The former prime minister, back in vogue after this year's elections, has already paid out 564 million euros ($733 million) to businessman Carlo De Benedetti's CIR holding in the battle, which relates to the 1991 sale of Mondadori. ... Full Story | Top |
| Daughter says Mandela 'still there', raps media 'vultures' Thursday, Jun 27, 2013 10:43 AM PDT  By Siphiwe Sibeko PRETORIA (Reuters) - Nelson Mandela's eldest daughter lambasted foreign media "vultures" for violating her father's privacy as he lay critically ill in hospital, and said the former South African president was still clinging to life on Thursday. Makaziwe Mandela's outburst came as anxiety increased over the faltering health of the 94-year-old anti-apartheid hero, admired across the world as a symbol of resistance against injustice and oppression and then of racial reconciliation. ... Full Story | Top |
| Gulf states and BRICS should help Syria: U.S. says Thursday, Jun 27, 2013 10:40 AM PDT By Dominic Evans BEIRUT (Reuters) - Gulf Arab states and the fast-emerging BRICS economies should do more to address an expected funding shortfall of billions of dollars for Syrian aid efforts, a senior United States official said on Thursday. Describing Syria as an "overwhelming and fast-moving humanitarian catastrophe", Assistant Secretary of State Anne Richard said the accelerating pace of the crisis presented an almost unprecedented challenge. Around 1. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. sanctions North Korea bank as it targets weapons program Thursday, Jun 27, 2013 10:36 AM PDT By Paige Gance WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration said on Thursday it was sanctioning North Korea's Daedong Credit Bank for its role in supporting Pyongyang's weapons of mass destruction program. The U.S. Treasury said Daedong Credit Bank has been providing financial services to the Korea Mining Developing Trading Corp, or KOMID, which it said was Pyongyang's premier arms dealer, and the Tanchon Commercial Bank, or TCB, its main financial arm. ... Full Story | Top |
| Spain ruling party ex-treasurer ordered to jail in corruption case Thursday, Jun 27, 2013 10:25 AM PDT  MADRID (Reuters) - A Spanish High Court judge on Thursday ordered Luis Barcenas, former treasurer for the ruling People's Party, to jail without bail. The judge wrote in a court order that Barcenas was a flight risk due to the serious charges he faces and the amount of money he has in offshore accounts. Barcenas, who handled PP accounts for close to two decades, is charged with money laundering, bribery, tax fraud and other crimes. The judge's investigation has unearthed up to 47 million euros in numerous Swiss bank accounts linked to Barcenas. ... Full Story | Top |
| New Czech PM starts picking ministers, parties cry foul Thursday, Jun 27, 2013 10:17 AM PDT  By Jan Lopatka PRAGUE (Reuters) - The new Czech prime minister picked ministers for his cabinet on Thursday who are certain to widen a rift between parliament and the executive that could cripple policymaking for months. Jiri Rusnok was appointed on Tuesday by the leftist president, Milos Zeman, to form a technocrat cabinet despite protests from both the outgoing center-right coalition and the opposition Social Democrats. Two of his first three cabinet nominations are seen as close to Zeman, playing into the parties' criticism that the newly elected president is making a power grab. ... Full Story | Top |
| Turkey's Erdogan seeks to further curb army power Thursday, Jun 27, 2013 09:50 AM PDT  By Parisa Hafezi ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's government, which faced a wave of street protests and riots this month, moved on Thursday to amend an article of the Armed Forces charter cited by generals in the past to justify coups as defense of public order. Since he was first elected in 2002, Erdogan has radically cut back the power of a military that had toppled four governments in forty years. The last administration felled, in 1997, was led by an Islamist party to which Erdogan belonged. ... Full Story | Top |
| Egyptian media tycoon investigated after criticism from Mursi Thursday, Jun 27, 2013 09:32 AM PDT By Asma Alsharif and Shadia Nasralla CAIRO (Reuters) - The owner of an Egyptian TV channel that satirizes the Islamist president was accused of tax evasion and banned from leaving the country on Thursday, hours after Mohamed Mursi attacked him by name in a keynote speech. "This is dictatorship," a lawyer for business tycoon Mohamed al-Amin told Reuters. Amin's CBC channel has had legal run-ins before over its ridicule of President Mursi on a hit satirical program modeled on American comic Jon Stewart's "Daily Show". ... Full Story | Top |
| Qatar's new PM signals lower key world role Thursday, Jun 27, 2013 09:24 AM PDT By Regan Doherty and Amena Bakr DOHA/DUBAI (Reuters) - A stickler for discipline with a security background, Qatar's new prime minister will have a narrower remit than his influential predecessor, who led the Gulf state's forays into global finance and Arab Spring politics. Known as a man of few words, Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser al-Thani will also take on the role of interior minister in the wide reshuffle that has followed the accession of the son of the emir who abdicated this week after 18 years in office. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.N. council brings Iraq closer to end of 1990s sanctions Thursday, Jun 27, 2013 09:00 AM PDT  UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council brought Iraq one step closer on Thursday to ending United Nations sanctions imposed on Baghdad more than two decades ago after former President Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait In 1990. The 15-member council unanimously agreed that the issue of missing Kuwaiti people, property and archives should be dealt with under Chapter 6 of the U.N. Charter - which urges countries to peacefully resolve any conflicts - instead of Chapter 7. ... Full Story | Top |
| UN Security Council renews Golan peacekeepers amid Syrian war Thursday, Jun 27, 2013 08:54 AM PDT  UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council renewed for six months on Thursday a peacekeeping mission in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights monitoring a decades-old truce between Israel and Syria that has been shaken by a spillover of violence from Syria's civil war. The unanimously agreed resolution stresses the need for the peacekeepers, who currently just carry handguns, to boost their protection. Diplomats said troops would likely now get equipment such as flak jackets, armored vehicles and machine guns. ... Full Story | Top |
| China lifts 17-year ban on Dalai Lama photos at Tibet monastery: group Thursday, Jun 27, 2013 08:47 AM PDT  By Sui-Lee Wee BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese officials have lifted a ban on Tibetan monks displaying photographs of the Dalai Lama at a prominent monastery, a rights group said on Thursday, an unexpected policy shift which could ease tensions in the restive region. The decision concerning the Gaden monastery in the Tibetan capital Lhasa - one of the most historically important religious establishments in Tibet - reversed a ban introduced in 1996, the Britain-based Free Tibet group told Reuters, citing sources with direct knowledge of the situation. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. to suspend trade benefits for Bangladesh: source Thursday, Jun 27, 2013 08:44 AM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama is expected to announce on Thursday that the United States is suspending U.S. trade benefits for Bangladesh after two tragedies in the past year in the country's garment sector that have cost more than 1,200 lives, a congressional source said. U.S. trade officials have said they expected Obama to announce a decision on the matter by the end of June. The U.S. Trade Representative's office did not have an immediate comment on whether an announcement would come Thursday. Suspending Bangladesh from the U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
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