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| CA-NEWS Summary Monday, Jun 03, 2013 07:26 PM PDT Defiant Erdogan denounces riots in Turkish cities ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Anti-government protesters responsible for Turkey's worst riots in years are "arm-in-arm with terrorism", Prime Minister Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said, in a defiant response to three days of unrest in dozens of cities across the country. Hundreds of police and protesters have been injured since Friday, when a demonstration to halt construction in a park in an Istanbul square grew into mass protests against a heavy-handed police crackdown and what opponents call Erdogan's authoritarian policies. ... Full Story | Top |
| Ecuador says to talk with Britain on Assange on June 17 Monday, Jun 03, 2013 07:25 PM PDT  QUITO/LONDON (Reuters) - Ecuadorean Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino said on Monday he would meet Britain's Foreign Secretary William Hague this month to discuss a possible solution to the year-long diplomatic standoff over WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange. 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 |
| Kerry says time running out to revive Mideast peace Monday, Jun 03, 2013 05:20 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Secretary of State John Kerry urged Israel and the Palestinians on Monday to revive stalled peace talks, warning that the alternative was a "negative spiral of responses." "We're running out of time. If we do not succeed now, we may not get another chance," Kerry said in a speech to the American Jewish Committee in which he urged American Jews to support peace efforts to revive stalled peace talks. "The status quo is simply not sustainable. ... Full Story | Top |
| Woman in red becomes leitmotif for Istanbul's female protesters Monday, Jun 03, 2013 03:46 PM PDT By Alexandra Hudson ISTANBUL (Reuters) - In her red cotton summer dress, necklace and white bag slung over her shoulder she might have been floating across the lawn at a garden party; but before her crouches a masked policeman firing teargas spray that sends her long hair billowing upwards. Endlessly shared on social media and replicated as a cartoon on posters and stickers, the image of the woman in red has become the leitmotif for female protesters during days of violent anti-government demonstrations in Istanbul. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. targets Iran with currency, auto-sector sanctions Monday, Jun 03, 2013 03:42 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Monday ratcheted up its efforts to isolate Iran for its suspected nuclear weapons program, targeting Tehran with currency and auto-sector sanctions. President Barack Obama imposed sanctions on foreign financial institutions that conduct or facilitate significant transactions in the Iranian rial, meant to further weaken a currency that has already lost two-thirds of its dollar value since late 2011 as a result of Western sanctions. A senior administration official said the low level of the rial was a key vulnerability for the Iranian government. ... Full Story | Top |
| China lends Costa Rica $400 million on Xi visit Monday, Jun 03, 2013 03:41 PM PDT  By Isabella Cota SAN JOSE (Reuters) - China lent Central American ally Costa Rica nearly $400 million on Monday during a visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping to a region where Beijing has traditionally vied with rival Taiwan for influence. Costa Rica recently backed China in its dispute with Taiwan, which Beijing regards as a renegade province, in votes at the United Nations. Members of the Costa Rican opposition said the deals announced on Monday raised questions about what China expected in return. ... Full Story | Top |
| Britain's Queen Elizabeth to mark six-decade reign Monday, Jun 03, 2013 03:11 PM PDT  By Costas Pitas LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's Queen Elizabeth II will go back to the scene of her coronation on Tuesday to mark a reign that has weathered six decades of social transformation and the end of her country's global empire. Millions of Britons gathered round brand new black-and-white television sets to watch her get crowned in Westminster Abbey in June 1953. Sixty years on, the cameras will be back to film her joining around 2,000 guests, including British Prime Minister David Cameron, for the official anniversary celebrations in the historic church. ... Full Story | Top |
| Defiant Erdogan denounces riots in Turkish cities Monday, Jun 03, 2013 02:48 PM PDT  By Birsen Altayli and Ayla Jean Yackley ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Anti-government protesters responsible for Turkey's worst riots in years are "arm-in-arm with terrorism", Prime Minister Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said, in a defiant response to three days of unrest in dozens of cities across the country. Hundreds of police and protesters have been injured since Friday, when a demonstration to halt construction in a park in an Istanbul square grew into mass protests against a heavy-handed police crackdown and what opponents call Erdogan's authoritarian policies. ... Full Story | Top |
| Latvia to get green light for euro zone membership on Wednesday Monday, Jun 03, 2013 02:20 PM PDT By Jan Strupczewski BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Commission will give Latvia on Wednesday the go-ahead to become the 18th member of the euro zone from the start of next year, European Union officials said on Monday. The EU executive will publish a report on whether the small Baltic state meets all the criteria for membership of the single currency, which include low inflation and long-term interest rates, a stable exchange rate and low public debt and deficit. ... Full Story | Top |
| Somalia cases of killing, maiming, abuse of children halved: U.N. Monday, Jun 03, 2013 02:13 PM PDT By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The number of children killed, maimed, abused and recruited to fight in Somalia dropped by more than half in the first quarter of 2013 due to less fighting between Islamist al-Shabaab militants and government forces, the United Nations said on Monday. In a report to the U.N. Security Council on Somalia, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said there had been 552 verified "grave violations" against children between January and March, down from 1,288 cases during the same period in 2012. ... Full Story | Top |
| Dutch airline excused from 'underwear bomber' suit Monday, Jun 03, 2013 01:55 PM PDT  By Bernard Vaughan NEW YORK (Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Monday dismissed claims against KLM Royal Dutch Airlines in a lawsuit holding it liable for injuries a New York man says he sustained while helping to stop the so-called "underwear bomber" from blowing up a plane in 2009. U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon ruled that the federal court in New York lacked jurisdiction to rule on KLM, in part because the company is based in the Netherlands. ... Full Story | Top |
| Turkish PM Erdogan sees himself leading 'Turkish Spring' Monday, Jun 03, 2013 01:36 PM PDT By Nick Tattersall ISTANBUL (Reuters) - If there is a "Turkish Spring" to rival the pro-democracy uprisings that swept the Middle East, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan believes that he, and not protesters in Istanbul, is leading it. Erdogan has used his blustering, assertive style and a common touch that courts the conservative Islamic heartland to dominate Turkish politics like no leader since Mustafa Kemal Ataturk founded the modern secular republic in 1923. ... Full Story | Top |
| Nations line up to sign U.N. arms trade treaty, U.S. not yet Monday, Jun 03, 2013 01:35 PM PDT  By Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Delegates from dozens of countries gathered in New York on Monday and signed the first treaty to regulate the $70 billion global conventional arms trade, but the United States was not among them. On April 2, the 193-nation U.N. General Assembly overwhelmingly approved the U.N. Arms Trade Treaty that aims to keep weapons out of the hands of human rights abusers and criminals. Argentina's foreign minister, Hector Timerman, was the first to put pen to paper when the signing ceremony opened at U.N. headquarters on Monday. ... Full Story | Top |
| Hague court may try Kenyan vice president in Africa Monday, Jun 03, 2013 01:34 PM PDT  By Thomas Escritt AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - The International Criminal Court could hold a trial outside The Hague for the first time, after ICC judges said on Monday they may hear the case against Kenya's deputy president in his own country or neighboring Tanzania. Judges were responding to requests from William Ruto's lawyers, who said it would be "in the interests of justice" for the politician's trial to be held closer to home. ... Full Story | Top |
| Wanted militia leader spotted fighting in Sudan's Darfur: HRW Monday, Jun 03, 2013 01:30 PM PDT KHARTOUM (Reuters) - A Sudanese pro-government militia leader wanted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court took part in a raid on a rival tribe in the strife-torn Darfur region in April, Human Rights Watch said on Monday. Conflict has raged through the western territory since mainly non-Arab tribes took up arms against the Khartoum government in 2004, accusing it of political and economic neglect. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. calls for restraint by Turkish police confronting protests Monday, Jun 03, 2013 01:29 PM PDT By Lesley Wroughton WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States expressed concern on Monday about the Turkish police's rough treatment of anti-government protesters, in a rebuke to a NATO ally that Washington has often held up as an example of a Muslim democracy. "We are concerned by the reports of excessive use of force by police," U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry told reporters. "We obviously hope that there will be a full investigation of those incidents and full restraint from the police force. ... Full Story | Top |
| "Blade Runner" Pistorius set to return to court in murder case Monday, Jun 03, 2013 01:28 PM PDT  PRETORIA (Reuters) - South African athletics star Oscar Pistorius is set to attend a court hearing in Pretoria on Tuesday in his first formal appearance since his release on bail in February for the Valentine's Day killing of his girlfriend. Pistorius, 26, has admitted to shooting Reeva Steenkamp, 29, four times through a locked bathroom door on February 14 at his home in an affluent Pretoria community. In pre-trial testimony, his lawyers told the court the shooting was a tragic mistake and Pistorius was acting in self-defence against what he thought was an intruder. ... Full Story | Top |
| Guinea media set strike after government shuts opposition radio Monday, Jun 03, 2013 01:17 PM PDT By Saliou Samb CONAKRY (Reuters) - Guinean media called a 24-hour strike for Thursday in protest at the government's closure of an opposition-owned radio station for one month in the run-up to an election after a listener had called on air for an uprising. The long-delayed vote on June 30 is supposed to seal a transition to democracy after a 2008 military coup in the mineral-rich West African nation. But the opposition fears it will be rigged and has staged protests to try to block it. ... Full Story | Top |
| Mali government accuses Tuareg rebels of ethnic violence Monday, Jun 03, 2013 01:02 PM PDT BAMAKO (Reuters) - The Malian government on Monday accused Tuareg separatist rebels of violence against non-Tuaregs in the northeastern town of Kidal and said the army would retake it before a presidential election in July. Tension over Kidal risk turning public opinion against France, which was feted for liberating Mali's north from nine months of Islamist occupation in February but has come under criticism for allowing the MNLA Tuareg rebels to retain their grip on the desert town. ... Full Story | Top |
| Turkish protesters accuse media of ignoring unrest Monday, Jun 03, 2013 12:55 PM PDT By Parisa Hafezi ANKARA (Reuters) - The orange broadcasting van lay on its side in the glare of an arc light on Istanbul's Taksim Square while protesters clambered over it. On its bonnet was scrawled "government crony media for sale" and on a side panel "Where were you yesterday?" The anger of many demonstrators involved in four days of clashes with police across Turkey has turned increasingly on media they see as cowed by Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan. ... Full Story | Top |
| French conservatives pick woman for Paris mayor race Monday, Jun 03, 2013 12:08 PM PDT  PARIS (Reuters) - The spokeswoman for Nicolas Sarkozy's re-election campaign last year won a primary election on Monday to become the conservative UMP party's candidate for the 2014 Paris mayoral race. Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet, 40, an up-and-coming opposition figure who was also Sarkozy's environment minister, beat three little-known candidates to win the UMP candidacy with 58 percent of the electronic vote. ... Full Story | Top |
| Five foreigners sentenced to death for drug smuggling in Egypt Monday, Jun 03, 2013 11:58 AM PDT CAIRO (Reuters) - An Egyptian court sentenced five foreigners to death by hanging on Monday for smuggling drugs, an official said. British citizen Charles Raymond Ferndale, 74, and three citizens of the Seychelles were held in a cage inside the courtroom in the popular tourist destination of Hurghada on the Red Sea coast as the verdict was read out. The fifth defendant, a Pakistani, escaped during the arrest and was sentenced in absentia. The convicted men were arrested in 2011 in possession of three tonnes of hashish on board a ship off Egypt's eastern coast, according to the court official. ... Full Story | Top |
| ICC takes more time to build case against Ivory Coast's Gbagbo Monday, Jun 03, 2013 11:53 AM PDT  AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Judges at the International Criminal Court on Monday gave prosecutors until November to rescue their case against former Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo, saying the evidence submitted so far was not strong enough to merit a trial. Prosecutors now have until November 15 to carry out further investigations in a case that is testing the ICC's credibility after a string of collapsed prosecutions and criticisms from African leaders who accuse the court of targeting Africans. ... Full Story | Top |
| European parliament eurosceptic group expels Italian for racism Monday, Jun 03, 2013 11:40 AM PDT ROME (Reuters) - An Italian member of the European Parliament was expelled from the eurosceptic Europe of Freedom and Democracy group on Monday for what its co-leader called "repugnant" racist remarks towards a black minister in Italy's government. Mario Borghezio, an EFD member from Italy's pro-devolution Northern League, has a history of outspoken and racist remarks, but his latest comments were too much for the group, which said it had kicked him out by a majority vote. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. expands search team in GMO wheat investigation Monday, Jun 03, 2013 11:25 AM PDT  By Charles Abbott and Jane Chung WASHINGTON, SEOUL (Reuters) - The United States has expanded its search team in Oregon as it hunts for the source of unapproved genetically modified wheat found growing wild on a farm there in April. An Agriculture Department spokesman told Reuters on Monday that a team of 15 is now collecting evidence and information, versus nine investigators on the ground last week. He said there are "no indications that there is any GE (genetically engineered) wheat in commerce." Preliminary tests on U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Red Cross pushing for access to Syria's besieged Qusair Monday, Jun 03, 2013 11:08 AM PDT  By Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA (Reuters) - The International Committee of the Red Cross said on Monday it was still seeking a formal Syrian response to its request for urgent access to the besieged town of Qusair after a minister said aid efforts should wait until the fighting was over. Humanitarian groups say as many as 1,500 wounded people may be trapped in Qusair by fighting between rebels and President Bashar al-Assad's forces, who are backed by fighters from Lebanon's militant Shi'ite group Hezbollah. ... Full Story | Top |
| Wife of runaway Kazakh oligarch under investigation: prosecutor Monday, Jun 03, 2013 11:06 AM PDT By Dmitry Solovyov ALMATY (Reuters) - The wife of fugitive Kazakh oligarch and dissident Mukhtar Ablyazov is under investigation for involvement in a crime, prosecutors said on Monday, after she and her daughter were deported from Italy last week. Ablyazov, whose whereabouts are unknown, has accused Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev of ordering the "kidnapping" of his wife and daughter, who are now staying with relatives in the Central Asian state's commercial capital Almaty. ... Full Story | Top |
| Portugal's biggest unions band together for general strike Monday, Jun 03, 2013 11:00 AM PDT LISBON (Reuters) - Portugal's UGT labour union said on Monday it will take part in a general strike called for June 27, making it the second time the two biggest unions would walk out together since the country's EU/IMF bailout in 2011. The move will pile pressure on the center-right governing coalition, which took office in 2011 and whose popularity has dwindled after it enacted the largest tax increase in Portugal's modern history this year to meet stringent deficit targets under the bailout. ... Full Story | Top |
| Many German tax inspectors oblivious to Holocaust, book finds Monday, Jun 03, 2013 10:47 AM PDT By Erik Kirschbaum BERLIN (Reuters) - Many low-level tax inspectors in Germany's Nazi-era finance ministry were oblivious to the Holocaust and dutifully tried to contact murdered Jews whose wealth was being plundered by the ministry's top officials, according to a new book. Germans have publicly atoned for Nazi crimes in a myriad of ways over six decades, providing scores of billions of dollars in reparations to Holocaust victims, their descendants and the state of Israel. But only recently have leading government ministries come clean on their own particular Nazi past. ... Full Story | Top |
| White House calls for restraint from violence in Turkey Monday, Jun 03, 2013 10:44 AM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House urged protesters and police in Turkey on Monday to refrain from violence and said the United States would continue to work with Turkey on the conflict in Syria and other international issues. "We have concerns about some of the response, but we certainly expect the Turkish government to work through this," White House spokesman Jay Carney said when asked about the rioting that has spread since Friday, injuring hundreds of people in Turkey. ... Full Story | Top |
| ICC says Kenyan vice-president's trial to start September 10 Monday, Jun 03, 2013 10:34 AM PDT  AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Kenyan Deputy President William Ruto will be tried for crimes against humanity on September 10, judges at the International Criminal Court (ICC) ruled on Monday, accepting his lawyers' request for more time to prepare his defense. Ruto and President Uhuru Kenyatta were elected on a joint ticket in March. Both are accused of orchestrating violence after the previous election, five years ago, in which 1,200 people died. Ruto has said he would abide by ICC rulings and attend hearings in The Hague if ordered to do so, although he has asked to participate by video link. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. comes to Syrian peace effort 'late,' Kerry says Monday, Jun 03, 2013 10:25 AM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States came "late" to an effort to end the Syrian civil war and is trying to prevent the total collapse of the country, Secretary of State John Kerry said on Monday. "This is a very difficult process, which we come to late," Kerry said at a news conference, speaking of a U.S.-Russian effort to bring the warring parties to a peace conference in Geneva that might lead to a transitional government. ... Full Story | Top |
| Labour says own party could oust UK PM Cameron by 2015 Monday, Jun 03, 2013 10:14 AM PDT  By Guy Faulconbridge and Andrew Osborn LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's opposition Labour party on Monday seized on divisions in the ruling Conservative party to suggest that David Cameron could be ousted as prime minister by his own party before the next election. Ed Balls, who could be finance minister if Labour wins the election, said the issue pulling the Conservatives apart - membership of the European Union - would barely figure in voters' concerns come 2015. ... Full Story | Top |
| Analysis: Franco-German EU deal puts onus on Hollande to reform Monday, Jun 03, 2013 10:05 AM PDT  By Paul Taylor and Mark John PARIS (Reuters) - A Franco-German deal to strengthen the euro zone has ended months of bickering between Paris and Berlin and raised the onus on French President Francois Hollande to embark on potentially explosive social and economic reforms. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Europe's most powerful politician, made a string of symbolic concessions to France in joint proposals for closer economic policy coordination outlined last week, in return for a clear commitment to reform. ... Full Story | Top |
| Czech capital on alert as floods swamp central Europe Monday, Jun 03, 2013 09:56 AM PDT By Jason Hovet and Jana Mlcochova PRAGUE (Reuters) - Volunteers piled up sandbags to keep a swollen river from overwhelming the Czech capital's historic centre on Monday after floods across central Europe forced factories to closed, drove thousands from their homes and killed at least eight people. Six people died in the Czech Republic from the worst flooding in a decade and a state of emergency was declared, while in Austria two people died and another two were missing. ... Full Story | Top |
| Swiss billionaire gets 18 years jail for Italian asbestos deaths Monday, Jun 03, 2013 09:52 AM PDT MILAN (Reuters) - A billionaire Swiss industrialist convicted for his part in Italy's biggest asbestos scandal had his jail sentence lengthened to 18 years on Monday, in a ruling campaigners said would set a precedent for work-safety lawsuits. Stephan Schmidheiny, found guilty of negligence that led to more than 2,000 asbestos-related deaths, was also ordered to pay millions of euros in damages to local authorities, victims and their families by an appeals court in Turin. ... Full Story | Top |
| Kurdish rebels clash with Turkish army during withdrawal Monday, Jun 03, 2013 09:51 AM PDT ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Kurdish militants opened fire on Turkish troops in southeast Turkey near the border with Iraq on Monday, wounding one soldier, the military said, the first such incident since the rebels began withdrawing from Turkey under a peace process. There were two bursts of gunfire in Uludere in Sirnak province just after noon (5 a.m. ET) and a Turkish Cobra attack helicopter was subsequently sent to the area, the Turkish military said in a statement. ... Full Story | Top |
| Six dead in Lebanon's Tripoli, shots fired at Sidon cleric Monday, Jun 03, 2013 09:37 AM PDT TRIPOLI, Lebanon (Reuters) - Six people were killed in clashes in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli and gunmen attacked a cleric in the southern port of Sidon on Monday, security sources said, in violence stoked by civil war in neighboring Syria. The overnight clashes in Tripoli ended a week of relative calm after 29 people were killed last month in the deadliest fighting yet between gunmen sympathetic to the uprising against Bashar al-Assad and Alawite supporters of the Syrian president. Three of the dead came from the Sunni Muslim Bab Tebbaneh neighborhood. ... Full Story | Top |
| France hits rich families' tax breaks in benefit reforms Monday, Jun 03, 2013 09:29 AM PDT  By Elizabeth Pineau and Leigh Thomas PARIS (Reuters) - President Francois Hollande's government on Monday announced cuts in tax breaks for rich households as part of a plan to reduce the huge cost of France's generous family benefits system. The changes will stop short of cutting allowances outright for high-earning families, as some officials had wanted. Instead, the bulk of the savings will come from reducing the income tax exemptions that wealthy parents can claim according to the number of the children they have. The Socialist government aims to save 2 billion euros ($2. ... Full Story | Top |
| Suspect in British soldier murder blows kisses in dock Monday, Jun 03, 2013 09:25 AM PDT  By Peter Griffiths LONDON (Reuters) - One of two men charged with murdering a British soldier on a busy London street appeared in court for the first time on Monday, blowing kisses to a supporter in the public gallery and clutching what appeared to be a Koran. Michael Adebolajo, 28, was remanded in custody until a hearing within the next 48 hours to decide whether he can be released on bail. Adebolajo, who was shot by police along with another man at the scene of the killing of Drummer Lee Rigby, appeared at Westminster Magistrates Court with his left arm wrapped in bandages. ... Full Story | Top |
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