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| Love is in the air as NZ, Aussie same-sex couples tie the knot Sunday, Aug 18, 2013 09:03 PM PDT By Naomi Tajitsu WELLINGTON (Reuters) - When Trent Kandler and Paul McCarthy decided to get engaged, they knew they would probably have to tie the knot outside their native Australia, where same-sex unions are not yet legal. Two years later, wearing matching three-piece suits and pink ties, the couple marched down the isle at Wellington's Te Papa national museum, 2,200 km (1,370 miles) from home, as a law to legalize gay marriage in New Zealand went into force on Monday. "Our relationship is validated in front of our family and friends," McCarthy told Radio New Zealand after the ceremony. ... Full Story | Top |
| Poll shows Australia's Labor government on course for heavy defeat Sunday, Aug 18, 2013 08:33 PM PDT  CANBERRA (Reuters) - A bold gamble by Kevin Rudd to reclaim the leadership of Australia and launch national elections appears to be failing, with a poll on Monday showing his center-left Labor government is headed for a heavy defeat in a September ballot. A Newspoll in the Australian newspaper showed opposition leader Tony Abbott's conservative coalition was ahead of Rudd's Labor Party by 54 percent to 46 at the midpoint of the five-week campaign, a two-point increase in a fortnight. ... Full Story | Top |
| New ban on New Zealand dairy products bound for China Sunday, Aug 18, 2013 07:45 PM PDT  By Naomi Tajitsu WELLINGTON (Reuters) - More New Zealand milk products bound for China have been halted after elevated levels of nitrates were found, raising further concerns over quality and testing in the world's largest dairy exporter in the wake of a contamination scare earlier this month. New Zealand's agricultural regulator said on Monday it has revoked export certificates for four China-bound consignments of lactoferrin manufactured by Westland Milk Products after higher- than-acceptable nitrate levels were found by tests in China. ... Full Story | Top |
| Illinois expands background checks to all gun purchases Sunday, Aug 18, 2013 06:58 PM PDT  CHICAGO (Reuters) - Illinois Governor Pat Quinn signed a gun-control measure into law on Sunday that expands background checks to cover all firearms purchases in the state, closing what he said was a loophole that exempted gun sales between private parties. The new law also requires all gun owners to report any lost or stolen firearms to local police within 72 hours. "Guns are a plague on too many of our communities," Quinn, a Democrat, said in a statement. "Making sure guns do not fall into the wrong hands is critical to keeping the people of Illinois safe. ... Full Story | Top |
| Obama to meet with financial regulators on Wall Street reform law Sunday, Aug 18, 2013 06:54 PM PDT  By Sarah N. Lynch WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama will sit down with the leading U.S. financial market regulators on Monday to discuss their progress in implementing the 2010 Wall Street reform law, the White House said on Sunday. The Dodd-Frank law was passed by the then-Democratic-controlled Congress with Obama's support as a response to the 2007-2009 financial crisis. It aims to prevent large, complex financial firms from imperiling markets should they collapse. ... Full Story | Top |
| British households find it easier to get credit - survey Sunday, Aug 18, 2013 06:15 PM PDT LONDON (Reuters) - Britons are finding it increasingly easy to get unsecured loans and remain in a mood to spend, according to survey on Monday that highlights the role credit is playing in the country's recovery. Survey compiler Markit said households' perceptions of credit availability rose to 48.4 in August from 47.7 in July. That was the third consecutive rise and the highest since the series began during the depths of the financial crisis in February 2009. ... Full Story | Top |
| Britain detains partner of journalist linked to Snowden Sunday, Aug 18, 2013 06:04 PM PDT By William James LONDON (Reuters) - British authorities used anti-terrorism powers on Sunday to detain the partner of a journalist with close links to Edward Snowden, the former U.S. spy agency contractor who has been granted asylum by Russia, as he passed through London's Heathrow airport. The 28-year-old David Miranda, a Brazilian citizen and partner of U.S. journalist Glenn Greenwald who writes for Britain's Guardian newspaper, was questioned for nine hours before being released without charge, a report on the Guardian website said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Embattled San Diego mayor's foes begin circulating recall petitions Sunday, Aug 18, 2013 05:09 PM PDT  By Marty Graham SAN DIEGO (Reuters) - A campaign seeking to recall San Diego Mayor Bob Filner, who has resisted mounting pressure to resign over sexual harassment allegations, shifted into high hear on Sunday as organizers began collecting signatures for a petition demanding his ouster. Recall proponents will need to amass at least 102,000 valid signatures within 39 days, by September 26, in order to qualify a recall vote for the ballot, a deadline that some experts have said would be difficult to meet. ... Full Story | Top |
| Insight: North Korea's Kim tries new tack with defectors - being nice Sunday, Aug 18, 2013 05:04 PM PDT  (Contains profanity in third paragraph) By Ju-min Park SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is taking a new approach to defectors who have fled his impoverished and repressive state, promising they will not be harmed if they come home, and even offering cash rewards, according to some in the exile community. ... Full Story | Top |
| Athletics-Boycott talk, politics fight performances for airtime Sunday, Aug 18, 2013 04:00 PM PDT (Adds quotes) By Mitch Phillips MOSCOW, Aug 18 (Reuters) - Yelena Isinbayeva's silhouette was the image used to sell the world athletics championships to the Russian public and the pole vault queen certainly made an indelible impression on the 14th edition of the event that concluded on Sunday. On the eve of a threatened retirement and struggling for form, she somehow won her third world title to bring the then-slumbering championships to life and finally extract some noise from the disappointingly small Luzhniki Stadium crowd. ... Full Story | Top |
| Mexico boosts security on northeast border after cartel boss arrest Sunday, Aug 18, 2013 03:41 PM PDT  MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexican authorities have increased security along the country's northeastern border with the United States after arresting the suspected leader of the Gulf Cartel, one of the oldest drug trafficking groups in Mexico, a spokesman said on Sunday. The Mexican army on Saturday captured Mario Ramirez Trevino in Reynosa in Tamaulipas state, across the border from McAllen, Texas, Interior Ministry spokesman Eduardo Sanchez said at a press conference without providing further details. ... Full Story | Top |
| In turnaround, ruling Tunisia Islamists will meet rivals Sunday, Aug 18, 2013 03:27 PM PDT By Tarek Amara TUNIS (Reuters) - Tunisia's governing Islamist party Ennahda switched course on Sunday and agreed to meet with opposition parties to seek a consensus on resolving the country's worst political crisis since its 2011 Arab Spring revolution. Fethi Ayadi, chairman of the party's supreme council, told journalists the talks could start by the end of the week and could consider opposition demands for a caretaker technocrat government to find a way out of the current standoff. ... Full Story | Top |
| UK detains partner of journalist linked to Snowden Sunday, Aug 18, 2013 03:26 PM PDT LONDON (Reuters) - British authorities used anti-terrorism powers to detain the partner of a journalist with close links to Edward Snowden, the fugitive former U.S. spy agency contractor, as he passed through London's Heathrow airport on Sunday. The 28-year-old David Miranda, a Brazilian citizen and partner of U.S. journalist Glenn Greenwald who writes for Britain's Guardian newspaper, was questioned for nine hours, before being released without charge, a report on the Guardian website said. Rio de Janeiro-based Greenwald has interviewed Snowden, wanted by U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Vodafone in multi-million tax settlement: report Sunday, Aug 18, 2013 03:24 PM PDT  (Reuters) - Vodafone Group paid millions to Britain's tax authority as part of a settlement linked to its Irish unit, the Guardian reported on Sunday. The Guardian reported that accounts filed in Dublin showed that in 2009 Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) settled a dispute with the British telecoms provider over its Irish tax returns. The overall size of the settlement has not been revealed but it involved Vodafone reclaiming 67 million euros ($89.33 million) from the Irish government in tax that should have been paid in the UK, the Guardian reported. ... Full Story | Top |
| Prescott joins criticism of Labour leadership Sunday, Aug 18, 2013 02:59 PM PDT  LONDON (Reuters) - Former deputy Prime Minister John Prescott joined critics of Ed Milliband's leadership of Britain's opposition Labour party, saying the party had "massively failed" in its summer political campaign. His comments followed warnings from other senior party figures that Labour is running out of time to communicate clear policies before the 2015 election. Labour is still forecast to win a majority but its poll ratings have slipped over its links with trade unions, while signs of economic recovery have boosted the Conservative party which leads the coalition government. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.N. chemical weapons inspectors to start work in Syria on Monday Sunday, Aug 18, 2013 02:50 PM PDT  DAMASCUS (Reuters) - A team of U.N. chemical weapons experts have arrived in Damascus and will start work on Monday to investigate the possible use of chemical weapons in Syria's civil war. President Bashar al-Assad's government and the rebels fighting him have accused each other of using chemical weapons, a step which the United States had said would cross a "red line" in a conflict which has killed 100,000 people. Like the broader Syrian conflict, the issue of chemical weapons has divided world powers. ... Full Story | Top |
| Egypt's Brotherhood cries foul over prison deaths Sunday, Aug 18, 2013 02:44 PM PDT  By Crispian Balmer and Yasmine Saleh CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, fighting for its political survival, has accused security forces of killing dozens of detained Islamists, upping the pressure in a crisis that has rocked the Arab world's most populous state. At least 850 people have died since last Wednesday in clashes pitting followers of deposed Islamist President Mohamed Mursi against the army-backed government in the worst bloodletting in Egypt's modern history. ... Full Story | Top |
| Okinawa shows vulnerability of Japan PM's popular appeal Sunday, Aug 18, 2013 02:08 PM PDT  By Nathan Layne NAHA, Japan (Reuters) - Masatoshi Onaga says Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is out of touch with Okinawa, one of Japan's poorest prefectures and the reluctant host to half the U.S. forces in the country. To understand the island's pain, Onaga would like to see Tokyo-based leaders try living in the shadows of the Futenma air base, a facility targeted for closure since 1996 because of its location in a densely populated area, with warplanes taking off and landing over surrounding houses, hospitals and schools. ... Full Story | Top |
| Dogfight over Tokyo: Japan's big airlines vie for landing rights Sunday, Aug 18, 2013 02:03 PM PDT  By Tim Kelly and Kentaro Sugiyama TOKYO (Reuters) - Tokyo's busy Haneda airport is the latest battleground for Japan's two big carriers, Japan Airlines Co Ltd and ANA Holdings , in a politically-charged fight over $400 million worth of landing rights. The two carriers have locked horns for decades at home, but this clash threatens to take on an international dimension by embroiling British Airways and other foreign carriers. ... Full Story | Top |
| EU weighs aid, commercial links with Egypt Sunday, Aug 18, 2013 01:58 PM PDT  By Justyna Pawlak BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union governments will this week question how to best use their economic ties with Egypt to pressure Cairo's army-backed rulers into finding a peaceful compromise with supporters of deposed Islamist President Mohamed Mursi. At stake could be a 5 billion euro ($6.7 billion) package of grants and loans promised by the EU, its member governments and international financial institutions last year, as well as various trade incentives, EU officials and experts say. ... Full Story | Top |
| Ex-rebel sworn in as Central African Republic president Sunday, Aug 18, 2013 01:38 PM PDT BANGUI (Reuters) - Former rebel leader Michel Djotodia was formally sworn in as the Central African Republic's president on Sunday, starting the clock on his interim administration's 18-month deadline to restore order and organize elections. Djotodia has been in charge of the country during the chaos that followed the rebels' seizure of control in March, when they swept into power from their northern bases, overpowering South African forces protecting former leader Francois Bozize. ... Full Story | Top |
| Saudi Arabia warns against pressing Egypt on crackdown Sunday, Aug 18, 2013 01:19 PM PDT  PARIS (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia on Sunday warned the West against putting pressure on Egypt's military-backed government to halt a crackdown on supporters of ousted Islamist President Mohamed Mursi. "We will not achieve anything through threats," Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal, told reporters through an interpreter during a visit to Paris. The prince spoke after meeting French President Francois Hollande, who on Thursday called for a swift end to a state of emergency imposed by Egypt's military authorities. ... Full Story | Top |
| Fate of Polish finance minister not known until November: deputy PM Sunday, Aug 18, 2013 12:03 PM PDT  WARSAW (Reuters) - Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk will not decide whether to replace his finance minister until November, at the earliest, Deputy Prime Minister Janusz Piechocinski said on Sunday. Sources told Reuters on Friday Tusk was planning to dismiss Finance Minister Jacek Rostowski as part of a major cabinet reshuffle planned in a few months' time to help rebuild the flagging support for the ruling Civic Platform party. "In my opinion, whether Minister Rostowski will remain in the government will be decided in November at the earliest," Piechocinski told public radio. ... Full Story | Top |
| Some 38 Brotherhood supporters die in Egypt prison: security sources Sunday, Aug 18, 2013 11:40 AM PDT CAIRO (Reuters) - Some 38 supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood died on Sunday in an incident at an Egyptian prison, security and legal sources said, giving conflicting versions of the deaths. The Interior Ministry did not immediately confirm the death toll, but said in a statement that a number of detainees had tried to escape from a prison on the outskirts of Cairo and had taken a police officer hostage. In subsequent clashes, the ministry said an undisclosed number of people had died from inhaling tear gas rounds. It added that the officer was freed but badly wounded. ... Full Story | Top |
| Royal favorite Goulding grabs first UK chart number one Sunday, Aug 18, 2013 11:06 AM PDT  LONDON (Reuters) - Singer-songwriter Ellie Goulding hit the top of the British singles charts for the first time on Sunday with her song "Burn", the Official Charts Company said. Goulding, 26, who performed at the wedding reception of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in 2011, sold 117,000 copies of her single to take the number one spot from U.S. singer and actress Miley Cyrus. Lady Gaga's new single "Applause" charted at number five after it was hurriedly released on Tuesday, almost a week ahead of schedule, when a version was leaked online. ... Full Story | Top |
| Fed minutes, euro zone surveys to point the way Sunday, Aug 18, 2013 11:04 AM PDT  By Alan Wheatley, Global Economics Correspondent LONDON (Reuters) - A blend of past and present holds the key this week to gauging global economic prospects. Month-old minutes from the Federal Reserve could offer hints on when the U.S. central bank will scale back its extraordinary stimulus and up-to-date sentiment indicators will help track momentum in the reviving euro zone. The single currency area ended an 18-month recession last quarter, growing 0.3 percent, and August business surveys are likely to show the modest recovery is slowly broadening out. ... Full Story | Top |
| Southern African leaders back re-election of Zimbabwe's Mugabe Sunday, Aug 18, 2013 10:48 AM PDT  By Mabvuto Banda LILONGWE (Reuters) - Southern African leaders on Sunday endorsed the re-election of veteran President Robert Mugabe, brushing aside a campaign from Zimbabwe's opposition MDC who said the vote July was rigged and its results should be overturned. The decision by the 15-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC), which helped broker a power-sharing deal after disputed elections in 2008, clears the way for Mugabe, 89, to be sworn as early as this week for a fresh five-year term. ... Full Story | Top |
| Guantanamo prosecutors want 2014 trial for 9/11 case Sunday, Aug 18, 2013 10:43 AM PDT By Jane Sutton GUANTANAMO BAY U.S. NAVAL BASE, Cuba (Reuters) - Prosecutors in the Guantanamo war crimes tribunal are pushing the judge to set a September 2014 trial date in the 9/11 case, a decision that could hinge on how deeply the defense is allowed to delve into the defendants' treatment in secret CIA prisons. A U.S. military judge, Army Colonel James Pohl, will hear arguments on the issue in a weeklong pretrial hearing that begins on Monday at the Guantanamo Bay U.S. Naval Base in Cuba. ... Full Story | Top |
| Singapore unveils master plan for port, airport, waterfront Sunday, Aug 18, 2013 10:26 AM PDT  By Kevin Lim and Rachel Armstrong SINGAPORE (Reuters) - The Singapore government unveiled a master plan on Sunday to double capacity at Southeast Asia's busiest airport, build a new waterfront city, move its massive port and relocate a military airbase to free up land for development. The plan announced by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong follows mounting discontent in one of the world's wealthiest nations over an influx of foreign workers and expatriates blamed for a range of problems - from strained infrastructure to among the highest living costs in Asia. ... Full Story | Top |
| Merkel says SPD rivals can not be trusted before vote Sunday, Aug 18, 2013 10:23 AM PDT  By Erik Kirschbaum BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel told voters they could not trust the opposition Social Democrats as they had a track record of breaking promises to grab power with the help of the ostracized far left, in an escalation of rhetoric before elections. Merkel's conservatives hold a 16-point lead over the Social Democrats (SPD) in polls, but she fears the opposition might still be able to win if it forms a coalition with the Left Party - a movement with its roots in former East Germany's Communists. ... Full Story | Top |
| Showdown looms in Venezuela over decree powers plan Sunday, Aug 18, 2013 10:21 AM PDT  By Daniel Wallis CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan politicians traded insults at the weekend with a showdown looming in the National Assembly over President Nicolas Maduro's plans to ask for fast-track decree powers he says he needs to combat corruption. Maduro, who narrowly won an April election to replace his late mentor Hugo Chavez, says he is ready to change "all the laws" if necessary to stamp out widespread graft that is denting his popularity with some core supporters. ... Full Story | Top |
| Liberia booming but still needs peacekeepers: president Sunday, Aug 18, 2013 10:08 AM PDT  By Alphonso Toweh MONROVIA (Reuters) - Investments in mining, agriculture and oil will push Liberia's economic growth into double-digits within five years, but it will still need U.N. peacekeepers to help keep order until 2017, the president said. Speaking on the 10th anniversary of the end of 14 years of on-off civil war, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf told Reuters peace, investment and an eightfold-fold increase in government revenues were concrete signs of recovery. ... Full Story | Top |
| Growing number of U.S. lawmakers urge suspension of Egyptian aid Sunday, Aug 18, 2013 10:04 AM PDT  By Doug Palmer and Lisa Lambert WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A growing bipartisan chorus of U.S. lawmakers said on Sunday that the United States should suspend its $1.5 billion in military and economic aid to Egypt following a violent crackdown on protesters that has left nearly 800 dead. Senator John McCain, a top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said he now supported suspending the aid, even though he initially believed it should be continued after the Egyptian military removed democratically elected President Mohamed Mursi from office last month. ... Full Story | Top |
| Italy PM says government survival crucial to economic recovery Sunday, Aug 18, 2013 10:04 AM PDT  By Paolo Biondi RIMINI, Italy (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta on Sunday warned that the collapse of his government would undermine economic recovery and anger voters after local media reported center-right leader Silvio Berlusconi was poised to pull the plug on the executive. Italian newspapers said Berlusconi, who was convicted of tax fraud earlier this month, would bring down the government in October if he is expelled from the Senate - a measure the court ruling foresees but which requires a parliamentary vote to enact. ... Full Story | Top |
| Insight: Egypt seen as graveyard of Islamist ambitions for power Sunday, Aug 18, 2013 09:32 AM PDT  By Samia Nakhoul BEIRUT (Reuters) - As the army ruthlessly crushes the Muslim Brotherhood on the streets of Cairo, having swept away its elected president, Egypt is being painted as the graveyard of the Arab Spring and of Islamist hopes of shaping the region's future. This week's bloody drama has sent shockwaves out of Egypt, the political weathervane and cultural heart of the Arab world. ... Full Story | Top |
| Egypt government says 79 people died in violence Saturday: report Sunday, Aug 18, 2013 09:19 AM PDT  CAIRO (Reuters) - Seventy-nine people died across Egypt on Saturday during political violence and 549 were wounded, the state news agency MENA said on Sunday, quoting government figures. The latest tally means at least 830 people have died in Egypt since Wednesday in clashes pitting supporters of deposed Islamist President Mohamed Mursi against the security forces. (Writing by Tom Perry; editing by Crispian Balmer) Full Story | Top |
| GM, BASF reopen in Egypt, Electrolux plans partial resumption Sunday, Aug 18, 2013 09:10 AM PDT STOCKHOLM/FRANKFURT (Reuters) - General Motors and German chemicals firm BASF reopened facilities in Egypt on Sunday while Electrolux said it would partly resume operations on Monday. Electrolux, the world's second-biggest home appliances maker with nearly 7,000 employees in Egypt, suspended production in Egypt on Wednesday due to the unstable security situation. The Swedish company, with around 10 production facilities on the outskirts of Cairo, said it was assessing developments continuously and operations would partly resume on Monday. ... Full Story | Top |
| Fracking protesters march in British rural idyll Sunday, Aug 18, 2013 08:22 AM PDT By Sarah Young BALCOMBE (Reuters) - British opposition to shale gas extraction flared up in the tiny village of Balcombe on Sunday as hundreds marched on an oil exploration site in protest at the drilling process known as 'fracking'. Banner-waving men, women and children traveled in by buses and bikes to join locals in a mile-long trek, surrounded by police, towards a drilling operation run by Cuadrilla Resources in the picturesque English county of West Sussex. Britain's government needs to win over a skeptical public if it is to stimulate a U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Analysis: U.S. firms' blaming dollar for weak profits may be premature Sunday, Aug 18, 2013 08:21 AM PDT  By Caroline Valetkevitch NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. companies' warnings that a stronger dollar could drag on profits in the second half of the year could prove overstated. The dollar has lately been defying expectations of a rise, weakening at a time when the betting had been on strengthening as the U.S. economy outpaced other major regions. If the weakness continues, the dollar could become a help instead of a hindrance for companies that rely heavily on selling goods and services abroad, particularly if Europe shows additional signs of improvement and China's pace of growth becomes stable. ... Full Story | Top |
| Booming Gibraltar fears new era of sour relations with Spain Sunday, Aug 18, 2013 07:26 AM PDT  By Fiona Ortiz GIBRALTAR (Reuters) - The people of tiny Gibraltar - a wealthy British enclave perched on a rocky outcrop near Spain's southern tip - have a tradition of griping about their big neighbour, which claims the territory as its own. But the tetchy relationship has taken a sharp nosedive as an escalating spat over fishing has interrupted a decade of relative calm, igniting concerns that Gibraltar's tourism and port industries could be hurt. ... Full Story | Top |
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