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| After Snowden, no business as usual for U.S. and Russia Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 09:04 PM PDT  By Matt Spetalnick and Susan Cornwell WASHINGTON (Reuters) - After causing weeks of embarrassment for the U.S. intelligence community, the Edward Snowden saga has now cast a shadow over international efforts to end the Syrian civil war and deal with Iran, and could also undermine White House hopes for a nuclear arms reduction deal. Russia's decision on Thursday to grant asylum to Snowden threatens to send already-strained relations between the United States and Russia to the lowest point in years and further complicate efforts to work out geopolitical challenges. ... Full Story | Top |
| Russia gives Snowden asylum, Obama-Putin summit in doubt Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 08:46 PM PDT  By Timothy Heritage and Steve Holland MOSCOW/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Russia rejected U.S. pleas and granted American fugitive Edward Snowden a year's asylum on Thursday, letting the former spy agency contractor slip out of a Moscow airport after more than five weeks in limbo while angering the United States and putting in doubt a planned summit between the two nations' presidents. The United States wanted Russia to send Snowden home to face criminal charges including espionage for disclosing in June secret American internet and telephone surveillance programs. ... Full Story | Top |
| Japan's deputy PM Aso says he won't resign over Nazi comments Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 08:17 PM PDT  TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso said on Friday he has no intention of resigning over comments he made, but were later retracted, that were interpreted as praise for Germany's Nazi regime and Adolf Hitler's rise to power. The comments by Aso, who is also finance minister and a former premier, drew criticism from a U.S.-based Jewish rights group as well as in media in South Korea, where bitter memories of Japan's World War Two militarism run deep. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. to close some embassies Sunday for security reasons Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 07:56 PM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. embassies that would normally be open this Sunday - including those in Abu Dhabi, Baghdad and Cairo - will be closed that day because of unspecified security concerns, the U.S. State Department said on Thursday. CBS News reported that the embassy closings were tied to U.S. intelligence about an al Qaeda plot against U.S. diplomatic posts in the Middle East and other Muslim countries. CBS said the intelligence did not mention a specific location. "The Department of State has instructed certain U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| France to cut military staff by 12 percent in six-year budget Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 07:05 PM PDT  By Patrick Vignal and Alexandria Sage PARIS (Reuters) - France will cut nearly 34,000 military personnel under a proposed six-year defence budget to be unveiled on Friday, as government belt-tightening and a desire for more nimble forces alters the makeup of Europe's second-largest army. Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian will present the 190 billion euro ($251 billion) budget in a cabinet meeting. ... Full Story | Top |
| Tunisian union gives government one week to step down Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 06:57 PM PDT  TUNIS (Reuters) - Tunisia's powerful union federation said on Friday that the embattled Islamist-led government had one week to reach a deal for creating a new technocrat government, otherwise it will be "forced to consider" other options. The 600,000-strong Tunisian General Labour Union (UGTT) has been trying to mediate between the ruling Ennahda party and the secular opposition, which is demanding the government's ouster as well as the dissolution of a transitional Constituent Assembly that is only weeks away from completing the country's new draft constitution. ... Full Story | Top |
| Tunisian army, militants clash near Algerian border: sources Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 06:02 PM PDT TUNIS (Reuters) - Tunisian troops exchanged fire with militants near the Algerian border on Thursday, security sources said, three days after gunmen killed eight soldiers in one of the deadliest attacks in decades on the country's security forces. Soldiers had been doing security sweeps since Monday in Mount Chaambi, a remote area where the army has been trying to track down Islamist militants since last December. A resident in the nearby town of Kasserine told Reuters by telephone he could hear heavy gunfire on the mountain. ... Full Story | Top |
| Berlusconi conviction leaves Italian government hanging Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 04:25 PM PDT  By Roberto Landucci ROME (Reuters) - A ruling by Italy's supreme court upholding a tax fraud conviction against former premier and center-right leader Silvio Berlusconi has left the fate of the country's fragile ruling coalition resting in the balance. Just three months after center-left Prime Minister Enrico Letta took office at the head of an uneasy coalition with Berlusconi's People of Freedom party (PDL), Italy, the euro zone's third largest economy, is again mired in uncertainty. ... Full Story | Top |
| Obama praises Yemeni leader, makes no mention of Guantanamo Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 04:19 PM PDT  By Jeff Mason WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama praised Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi for his work combating terrorism but made no mention of efforts to repatriate detainees from the Guantanamo Bay prison in public remarks at the White House on Thursday. Hadi met Obama in the Oval Office a day after he tried to persuade U.S. senators to send home dozens of Yemeni detainees held at the controversial U.S. facility in Cuba. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. shutdown battle begins as Republicans kill spending measure Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 04:11 PM PDT  By David Lawder WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A battle in Congress expected this fall over the budget and a potential government shutdown broke out early on Thursday as Republicans in the U.S. Senate effectively killed a $54 billion spending bill for transportation and housing projects. All but one Republican voted against the measure, denying it the 60 votes it needed to advance past a procedural hurdle. ... Full Story | Top |
| Tunisian army clashes with militants: residents Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 03:48 PM PDT TUNIS (Reuters) - Tunisian troops exchanged fire with militants near the Algerian border on Thursday night, a resident said, three days after gunmen killed eight soldiers in one of the deadliest attacks in decades on the country's security forces. Soldiers had been doing security sweeps since Monday in Mount Chaambi, a remote area where the army has been trying to track down Islamist militants since December last year. A resident in the nearby town of Kasserine told Reuters by telephone he could hear heavy intermediate gunfire on the mountain. A Tunisian security source confirmed the attack. ... Full Story | Top |
| Mexico president to present energy reform next week Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 03:48 PM PDT  MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto said on Thursday his sweeping energy reform, which is expected to include constitutional changes to lure private investment and boost output, will be presented to Congress next week. The energy reform is a key plank of a wider economic overhaul designed to boost growth in Latin America's No. 2 economy to 6 percent a year, create jobs and lower energy costs. ... Full Story | Top |
| Obama speaks with Palestinians' Abbas, Israel's Netanyahu Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 03:46 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama spoke separately by phone on Thursday to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the White House said, as the United States seeks to keep up the momentum for peace negotiations. The calls came days after Israeli and Palestinian negotiators broke a three-year lull in talks and met in Washington with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. ... Full Story | Top |
| Rockets land near Lebanese presidential palace; no injuries reported Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 03:21 PM PDT BEIRUT (Reuters) - Two rockets landed in an area east of Beirut late on Thursday close to a military compound and Lebanon's presidential palace, security sources said. No one was hurt in the incident but it marked the second time in two months that rockets have been fired in the area, amid heightened sectarian tension in Lebanon over the civil war in neighboring Syria. Sunni Muslims in Lebanon mostly support the Syrian rebels fighting to topple President Bashar al-Assad, from Syria's Alawite minority which is an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam. ... Full Story | Top |
| Manning leaks caused diplomatic 'horror and disbelief:' testimony Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 03:03 PM PDT  By Tom Ramstack FORT MEADE, Maryland (Reuters) - U.S. diplomats reacted with "horror and disbelief" when WikiLeaks began publishing classified information in 2010, a U.S. State Department official testified on Thursday at the court-martial sentencing hearing for Bradley Manning, the soldier convicted of the leaks. To try to establish the extent of damage caused by the anti-secrecy website's exposure of hundreds of thousands of classified diplomatic and military documents and video, prosecutor Captain Angel Overgaard asked the official, Elizabeth Dibble, to describe the reaction. ... Full Story | Top |
| Egypt's rulers tell pro-Mursi protesters to quit camps Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 02:56 PM PDT  By Asma Alsharif and Tom Perry CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's army-backed government warned supporters of deposed President Mohamed Mursi on Thursday to abandon their Cairo protest camps, promising them a safe exit if they gave up without a fight. The appeal, made by Interior Ministry spokesman Hany Abdel Latif on state television, followed the government's declaration on Wednesday it was ready to take action to end two weeks of sit-in protests by thousands of Mursi supporters at two sites. ... Full Story | Top |
| Tsvangirai denounces Zimbabwe vote as 'huge farce' Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 02:47 PM PDT  By MacDonald Dzirutwe HARARE (Reuters) - Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai dismissed Zimbabwe's election as a farce on Thursday after his rival President Robert Mugabe's party claimed a landslide victory that would secure another five years in power for Africa's oldest head of state. Speaking at the headquarters of his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), a dejected Tsvangirai said Wednesday's vote should be considered invalid because of polling day irregularities and vote-rigging by 89-year-old Mugabe's ZANU-PF party. "This has been a huge farce," he told reporters. ... Full Story | Top |
| Kerry hopes Pakistan drone strikes to end 'very soon' Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 02:35 PM PDT  By Lesley Wroughton and Maria Golovnina ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry told Pakistanis on Thursday he hoped U.S. drone strikes in their nation would end "very, very soon," a message meant to ease anti-American resentment in the strategic country. After meeting Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Kerry said they had agreed to re-establish a "full partnership", hoping to end years of acrimony over the drone strikes and other grievances including the May 2011 U.S. raid that killed Osama bin Laden. ... Full Story | Top |
| Snowden will 'build a new life in Russia': lawyer Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 02:20 PM PDT  MOSCOW (Reuters) - U.S. fugitive Edward Snowden will publish no more leaks but instead look to build a life in Russia where he has been granted a year-long asylum, his lawyer said on Thursday. Anatoly Kucherena, a Russian lawyer who is assisting Snowden, said the 30-year-old has found shelter in a private home of American expatriates after leaving Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport following more than five weeks in limbo there. ... Full Story | Top |
| Italy supreme court upholds Berlusconi jail sentence Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 02:00 PM PDT  By Roberto Landucci and Barry Moody ROME (Reuters) - Italy's supreme court on Thursday upheld a jail sentence against Silvio Berlusconi for tax fraud in a devastating blow to the four-times prime minister that could throw the country's fragile coalition government into crisis. The former cruise ship crooner is Italy's most colorful and scandal-prone figure but it was his first definitive conviction in up to 30 court cases on charges ranging from fraud and corruption to having sex with an underage prostitute. ... Full Story | Top |
| Berlusconi says tax fraud sentence completely unfounded Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 01:44 PM PDT  ROME (Reuters) - Former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said a prison sentence against him for tax fraud confirmed by the country's supreme court on Thursday was completely unfounded and that he would push for reforms of the justice system. The Court of Cassation earlier upheld a lower court's conviction of Berlusconi for the fraudulent purchase of broadcasting rights by his Mediaset television empire. "I never devised any system of fiscal fraud. No false invoice exists in the history of Mediaset," Berlusconi said in a video message following the court's decision. ... Full Story | Top |
| Syria's Assad says he certain to defeat rebels Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 01:41 PM PDT  By Oliver Holmes BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said on Thursday he was confident of victory against rebels and made a symbolic visit to a town once overrun by insurgents and now mostly retaken by his army. But Assad's forces took a blow in the central city of Homs, where at least 40 people were killed in a huge explosion that hit a weapons cache and in mortar attacks on mainly Alawite districts - the same minority sect as Assad - and guarded by pro-Assad militia, opposition activists said. ... Full Story | Top |
| EU says Zimbabwe poll peaceful, withholds judgment on fairness Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 01:01 PM PDT  BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union, which has eased sanctions on Zimbabwe to encourage reforms, praised Zimbabweans on Thursday for turning out in large numbers to vote peacefully but said it was too early to assess the election's fairness. Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai dismissed the election as a "farce" after his rival President Robert Mugabe's party claimed a landslide victory that would secure another five years in power for Africa's oldest head of state. The EU's verdict on the elections will decide whether it continues to ease sanctions on Zimbabwe or extends them. ... Full Story | Top |
| Obama rethinks Putin summit after Snowden granted asylum Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 12:57 PM PDT  By Steve Holland and Mark Felsenthal WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama is rethinking whether to hold a summit in Moscow with President Vladimir Putin next month after Russia rejected U.S. pleas and gave temporary asylum to former American spy agency contractor Edward Snowden, the White House said on Thursday. White House spokesman Jay Carney said Obama and U.S. officials are "extremely disappointed" by Russia's decision to give Snowden a one-year asylum in the face of entreaties from American officials to expel Snowden back to the United States to face espionage charges. ... Full Story | Top |
| Insurer QBE sets aside immediate needs payouts for Spain train victims Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 12:55 PM PDT  MADRID (Reuters) - Australian insurance group QBE said on Thursday it had set aside 2.75 million euros ($3.64 million) for the immediate needs of those affected by last week's train crash in Galicia in northwest Spain, which left 79 people dead. QBE may have to cover much higher costs of injury to third parties and rail infrastructure, but only if its client, state train operator Renfe, is found to bear responsibility for the accident. The company said the payout announced on Thursday did not mean a recognition of responsibility, which will be decided by a legal process. ... Full Story | Top |
| Berlusconi ally says court sentence will not hurt government Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 12:52 PM PDT ROME (Reuters) - A decision by Italy's supreme court to uphold a jail sentence against Silvio Berlusconi for tax fraud will not have repercussions for the government, an ally of the former prime minister said on Thursday. After leaving a meeting of Berlusconi's center-right People of Freedom (PDL) party, Nitto Palma, who served as justice minister during Berlusconi's last government, said there was a lot of bitterness about the verdict. ... Full Story | Top |
| Factbox: Berlusconi's business empire Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 12:27 PM PDT LONDON (Reuters) - Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was found guilty of tax fraud by Italy's Cassation Court on Thursday, confirming a ruling from a lower court. Judges at Italy's top court, however, ordered further judicial review of a ban on Berlusconi holding public office. The former prime minister has kept control of his media empire, laying himself open to accusations of a conflict between his political and business interests and leaving him vulnerable to numerous corruption investigations into him and his companies. ... Full Story | Top |
| Timeline: Silvio Berlusconi's rocky political path Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 12:11 PM PDT ROME (Reuters) - Here is a look at some of the high and low points in Italian billionaire and former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's life and career. September 1936 - Silvio Berlusconi is born in Milan. 1960's - Berlusconi makes his fortune during a property boom in Milan. 1965 - Berlusconi marries Carla Elvira Dall'Oglio. The couple have two children, but divorce in 1985. 1973 - Sets up cable television company Telemilano, which grows into Italy's biggest media empire, Mediaset. ... Full Story | Top |
| Italy president, after Berlusconi ruling, says cohesion crucial Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 11:52 AM PDT  ROME (Reuters) - Italy's president Giorgio Napolitano, speaking after a Rome court confirmed a prison sentence against former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, urged the country to maintain its calm. "The country needs to rediscover serenity and cohesion on vitally important institutional matters which have for too long seen it divided and unable to enact reforms," he said in a statement. He said there had so far been a more "respectful and calm" climate than there had been in previous trials involving Berlusconi and added: "I think this is positive for everyone. ... Full Story | Top |
| Germany's Kohl sought to repatriate Turks 30 years ago: report Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 11:47 AM PDT  BERLIN (Reuters) - Former Chancellor Helmut Kohl discussed a secret plan with Margaret Thatcher in 1982 to reduce the number of Turks living in West Germany by 50 percent, according to recently released British documents cited by Spiegel Online in Germany. The German news magazine's online edition reported that the newly elected West German chancellor told Prime Minister Thatcher about the proposal at a meeting in Bonn on October 28, 1982, according to a protocol of the meeting notes marked "PREM 19/1036" that Spiegel Online said was kept secret for 30 years. "Chancellor Kohl said... ... Full Story | Top |
| Moroccans to protest royal pardon for Spanish paedophile Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 11:45 AM PDT By Aziz El Yaakoubi RABAT (Reuters) - Moroccans outraged by a royal pardon for a Spanish pedophile serving a 30-year sentence for raping 11 children in the North African kingdom are planning a protest in Rabat on Friday. The convicted pedophile is among 48 jailed Spaniards who the state news agency MAP said were pardoned by King Mohamed VI on Tuesday at the request of Spain's King Juan Carlos, who visited Morocco last month. Justice Minister Mustapha Ramid confirmed the pedophile is among the prisoners freed by the royal pardon and said he was expelled from Morocco on Thursday. ... Full Story | Top |
| Oil explosion in Quebec train crash 'abnormal', investigator says Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 11:40 AM PDT  By Louise Egan OTTAWA (Reuters) - As investigators seek reasons for the deadly train crash in Lac-Megantic, Quebec, last month and the huge "abnormal" fire it caused, they are focusing on the nature of the fuel cargo as well as the brakes, tanker cars, and locomotive, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) said on Thursday. TSB officials told a news conference that its investigation into the July 6 railway accident, North America's worst in two decades, would last for months and that it was too early to draw conclusions. ... Full Story | Top |
| Courts finally catch up with Berlusconi Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 11:38 AM PDT  By Barry Moody ROME (Reuters) - For two decades Silvio Berlusconi seemed teflon-coated, untouched by dozens of court cases and scandals, dominating political life and becoming Italy's prime minister four times. But on Thursday, judges finally caught up with the flamboyant 76-year-old when the supreme court rejected his appeal against a four-year jail sentence - commuted to one year under an amnesty. ... Full Story | Top |
| Kerry says Obama has timeline to end U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 11:24 AM PDT  ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - President Barack Obama has a timeline for ending the U.S. program of drone strikes, Secretary of State John Kerry said on Thursday, following talks with the new government of Pakistan. "I think the program will end as we have eliminated most of the threat and continue to eliminate it," Kerry said in an interview with Pakistan Television. "The president has a very real timeline and we hope it's going to be very, very soon," Kerry added, when asked whether the U.S. had a timeline for ending drone strikes. (Reporting by Lesley Wroughton; editing by Mike Collett-White) Full Story | Top |
| Tunisia's ruling party says won't remove prime minister Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 11:12 AM PDT  By Tarek Amara and Erika Solomon TUNIS (Reuters) - The head of Tunisia's ruling Islamist party on Thursday refused to remove the prime minister from his post, hardening its stance toward the secular opposition's demand that the government be dissolved. Earlier this week, leaders from the Ennahda party, which is facing mounting pressure even from its coalition partners, said they were willing to consider creating a new unity government to help ease the political crisis. ... Full Story | Top |
| Italian firm to provide surveillance drone for U.N. in Congo Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 11:09 AM PDT By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations said on Thursday it has procured an unarmed surveillance drone from Italian defense electronics firm Selex ES, a unit of Finmeccanica, that will be deployed in the Democratic Republic of Congo in the coming weeks. It will be the first time the United Nations has used such equipment and, if the trial use by peacekeepers in eastern Congo is successful, officials and diplomats also hope the drones could be used by missions in Ivory Coast and South Sudan. ... Full Story | Top |
| Black Italy minister pulls out of debate amid racial insults Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 10:36 AM PDT  By Catherine Hornby ROME (Reuters) - Italy's first black minister has pulled out of a debate with the anti-immigrant Northern League after its leader refused to condemn a barrage of racial insults she has faced from his party's members. Integration Minister Cecile Kyenge, who wants to make it easier for immigrants to gain Italian citizenship, was due to discuss the issue with Veneto Governor Luca Zaia at a Northern League festival near Cervia on the Adriatic Coast on Saturday. ... Full Story | Top |
| Moroccans to protest royal pardon for Spanish pedophile Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 10:19 AM PDT By Aziz El Yaakoubi RABAT (Reuters) - Moroccans outraged by a royal pardon for a Spanish pedophile serving a 30-year sentence for raping 11 children in the North African kingdom are planning a protest in Rabat on Friday. The convicted pedophile is among 48 jailed Spaniards who the state news agency MAP said were pardoned by King Mohamed VI on Tuesday at the request of Spain's King Juan Carlos, who visited Morocco last month. Justice Minister Mustapha Ramid confirmed the pedophile is among the prisoners freed by the royal pardon and said he was been expelled from Morocco on Thursday. ... Full Story | Top |
| Chemical weapons investigators head to Syria within days: U.N. Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 09:49 AM PDT  UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. inspectors will travel to Syria within days to investigate claims of chemical weapons use in the country's civil war after the Syrian government granted access to three sites, the United Nations said on Thursday. "The team will depart for Syria as soon as practical and is preparing to depart within days," U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky told reporters. "The team is now assembling ... in The Hague." The head of a U.N. ... Full Story | Top |
| Algeria reinforces army on Tunisian border: minister Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 09:20 AM PDT ALGIERS (Reuters) - Algeria has strengthened its military presence near the border with Tunisia and the two nations are boosting security information exchange to fight Islamist militancy, Algerian Interior Minister Daho Ould Kablia said on Thursday. Islamist militants on Monday shot dead eight Tunisian soldiers in an ambush near the Algerian border. "The army has strengthened its resources and capabilities on the eastern border of the country due to unrest in Tunisia," Ould Kablia told the official APS news agency. ... Full Story | Top |
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