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| U.S., Russia agree on Syria U.N. chemical arms measure Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 09:04 PM PDT  By John Irish and Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Ending weeks of diplomatic deadlock, the United States and Russia agreed on Thursday on a U.N. Security Council draft resolution that would demand Syria give up its chemical arms, but does not threaten military force if it fails to comply. Samantha Power, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said a deal was struck with Russia "legally obligating" Syria to give up its chemical stockpile and the measure went to the full Security Council in a closed-door meeting on Thursday night. U.N. ... Full Story | Top |
| Kerry's 'Shall we talk?' prompts rare private meeting between Iran and U.S. Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 08:53 PM PDT  By Lesley Wroughton UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - First there was a handshake, then an invitation to talk and finally a 30-minute tete-a-tete that made for the highest-level official meeting between the United States and Iran in more than three decades. The opportunity for a rare meeting between U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Javad Zarif, came after talks concluded between Zarif and foreign ministers from the six major powers on resolving Tehran's disputed nuclear program. At the start of the talks, Kerry and Zarif shook hands, a senior U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| China's 'mini-Hong Kong' eyes Internet access, shrugs off Shanghai threat Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 08:34 PM PDT  By James Pomfret and Yimou Lee SHENZHEN/HONGKONG (Reuters) - A planned economic zone in southern China will allow full internet freedom, similar to what will be allowed in a proposed free trade zone in Shanghai, a senior official behind the project said on Thursday. China tightly controls the internet through a so-called Great Firewall, routinely deleting online postings and blocking access to websites it deems politically sensitive or inappropriate such as Facebook and Twitter. ... Full Story | Top |
| Palestinian leader urges world powers to rein in Israeli settlements Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 07:43 PM PDT  By Matt Spetalnick UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Thursday that "time is running out" for Middle East peace efforts and urged world powers to rein in Israeli settlement construction that he warned could undermine U.S.-sponsored negotiations. In an address to an annual gathering of world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly, Abbas committed to negotiating with Israel in good faith but he also painted what he called a "dispiriting and bleak" picture for peace prospects. ... Full Story | Top |
| Iran proposes fully implementing nuclear pact within a year: U.S Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 07:33 PM PDT  By Arshad Mohammed UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Iran proposed carrying out an agreement to address concerns about its nuclear program within a year at talks with major powers on Thursday, a senior U.S. State Department official said. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif met with his counterparts from Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States at the United Nations to discuss the nuclear issue and then stepped into a side room for one-one-one talks with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S., Iran voice optimism and caution after rare encounter Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 06:51 PM PDT  By Arshad Mohammed and Matt Spetalnick UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Iran and the United States held their highest-level substantive talks in a generation on Thursday, saying the tone was positive but sounding cautious about resolving the long-running standoff over Iran's nuclear program. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif met after Zarif held wider talks with the United States and other major powers to address Western suspicions that Iran may be trying to develop atomic weapons. ... Full Story | Top |
| Church not helping Peru on pedophilia inquiry into bishop: prosecutor Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 06:19 PM PDT By Mitra Taj LIMA (Reuters) - The Catholic Church has yet to help authorities in Peru who are investigating whether a defrocked bishop sexually abused children before Pope Francis forced him from his post in a poor Andean region, a prosecutor said on Thursday. On September 20, the attorney general's office opened an investigation into Gabino Miranda, until recently the auxiliary bishop of Ayacucho in southern Peru, after a prominent bishop said the Church had kicked Miranda out of the clergy because of suspected pedophilia. ... Full Story | Top |
| Greek far-right party threatens to pull lawmakers from parliament Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 05:59 PM PDT  By Harry Papachristou ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece's far-right Golden Party has threatened to pull out of parliament, a move that would trigger a wave of by-elections that could destabilize the country, its leader said late on Thursday. The threat came after a self-proclaimed Golden Dawn supporter killed an anti-fascist rapper in Athens last week, prompting a court investigation into whether the country's third most popular party is a criminal organization. The seemingly politically motivated stabbing sparked outrage and violent protests in the crisis-struck country. ... Full Story | Top |
| Panama Canal Authority fines detained North Korea ship smuggling Cuban arms Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 05:47 PM PDT  PANAMA CITY (Reuters) - Panama's Canal Authority slapped a fine on Thursday of up to $1 million on the owners of a North Korean ship seized in July for smuggling Cuban weapons under 10,000 tons of sugar. The fine was for failing to accurately disclose the cargo and putting the canal and canal workers at risk, said Jorge Quijano, head of the semi-autonomous Panama Canal Authority. The amount is "a proposed sanction of up to $1 million, and I say 'up to' because there is a process in which clarifications can be made and they can defend their point of view," Quijano said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Draft U.N. resolution on Syria chemical weapons Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 05:46 PM PDT UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United States and Russia reached an agreement on Thursday on a draft U.N. Security Council resolution aimed at ridding Syria of its chemical weapons arsenal. Following is the text of this draft resolution. The Security Council, PP1. Recalling the Statements of its President of 3 August 2011, 21 March 2012, 5 April 2012, and its resolutions 1540 (2004), 2042 (2012) and 2043 (2012), PP2. Reaffirming its strong commitment to the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of the Syrian Arab Republic, PP3. ... Full Story | Top |
| Russian U.N. envoy hopes for Friday vote on Syria resolution Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 05:09 PM PDT UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Russia's U.N. envoy said he hoped the U.N. Security Council would be able to vote on a resolution demanding the eradication of Syria's chemical weapons arsenal on Friday evening. "We hope tomorrow night at ...(around) 8:00 p.m (0000 GMT on Saturday)," Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told reporters on Thursday. "I know that some ministers are extending their stay in New York in order to participate in that vote." (Reporting by Michelle Nichols; writing by Louis Charbonneau) Full Story | Top |
| U.S., Iran voice optimism, caution after rare encounter at U.N. Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 04:55 PM PDT By Arshad Mohammed and Matt Spetalnick UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Iran and the United States held their highest-level substantive talks in a generation on Thursday, saying the tone was positive but sounding cautious about resolving the long-running standoff over Iran's nuclear program. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif met after the Iranian held wider talks with the United States and other major powers to address Western suspicions Iran may be trying to develop atomic weapons. ... Full Story | Top |
| Chile to move ex-Pinochet agents to no-frills jail Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 04:42 PM PDT SANTIAGO (Reuters) - Chilean President Sebastian Pinera on Thursday ordered shut a prison where 10 former agents of dictator Augusto Pinochet are serving sentences for human rights violations, a move that came amid public anger over their relative comfortable conditions. The inmates, including Manuel Contreras, former chief of Pinochet's notorious DINA secret police, will be moved from the Penitenciario Cordillera in Santiago to a jail where other former military officers and collaborators of the dictatorship are being held. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S., Iran upbeat after talks but sound cautionary notes Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 04:32 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. and Iranian officials emerged upbeat on Thursday from a meeting on Iran's nuclear program but both sides also sounded a cautionary note, with the United States saying there was more work to do and Iran insisting on quick sanctions relief. "Needless to say, one meeting and a change in tone, which was welcome, doesn't answer those questions yet and there is a lot of work to be done," U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry told reporters after holding bilateral talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif. ... Full Story | Top |
| Kenya widens mall attack probe, alert for UK 'White Widow' Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 04:29 PM PDT By James Macharia and Matthew Mpoke Bigg NAIROBI (Reuters) - Interpol issued a wanted persons alert at Kenya's request on Thursday for a British woman who has been cited by British police as a possible suspect in the attack on a Nairobi shopping mall that killed at least 72 people. The alert was issued as Kenyan police broadened the investigation into the weekend raid claimed by the al Qaeda-aligned Somali al Shabaab group, the worst such assault since the U.S. Embassy was bombed in the capital by al Qaeda in 1998. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. concern grows about al Qaeda ties to Kenya mall attack Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 04:28 PM PDT By Mark Hosenball and Phil Stewart WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Islamist militant attack on a Kenyan shopping mall increasingly appears to have been carried out by a dominant faction of al Shabaab, which has ideological and personal ties to al Qaeda, U.S. officials said on Thursday. Based on initial reporting from the scene, which is still preliminary and uncertain, U.S. officials believe al Shabaab likely spent a great deal of time planning and staging the siege in Nairobi that killed at least 72 people. ... Full Story | Top |
| Maldives court orders security forces to enforce run-off election postponement Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 03:17 PM PDT  By J.J Robinson MALE (Reuters) - The Maldives Supreme Court on Friday ordered security forces to take action against anyone who violates the constitution, after the archipelago's election chief said it will hold a presidential run-off on September 28 as scheduled despite a court ruling to postpone it. In a special court session after midnight, six out of seven Supreme Court judges ruled that the court's earlier order of September 23 to postpone the run-off should be upheld. In its order, the court told security forces to "stop any individual from disobeying" the postponement. ... Full Story | Top |
| Six major powers, Iran agree to meet in Geneva next month Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 03:09 PM PDT  UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Six major powers and Iran on Thursday agreed to meet in Geneva next month for further talks on resolving the standoff with Tehran on its nuclear program, the European Union's foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said on Thursday. "We had a discussion about how we would go forward with an ambitious timeframe to see whether we can make progress quickly," Ashton told reporters after a meeting between major powers and Iran. She described the meeting as substantial and energetic. The meeting took place on the sidelines of the U.N. ... Full Story | Top |
| China state sector a honey pot for corrupt officials Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 03:05 PM PDT  By Charlie Zhu HONG KONG (Reuters) - In March last year, after getting government approval to go ahead with a $900 million refinery expansion in China's southeastern Fujian province, state-run oil giant Sinopec Corp warned the team handling the project against taking bribes. "Project engineering and construction has been a main area for corruption at Sinopec," the Fujian unit of Asia's largest refiner said in a blunt memo, according to a Sinopec source who read it to Reuters. "All members, especially those in key posts, must treasure their positions, stay guarded and resist temptation. ... Full Story | Top |
| Friends of Syria say determined to boost support to opposition Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 03:04 PM PDT UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The Friends of Syria group declared on Thursday that it is determined to boost aid to all parts of the opposition Syrian National Coalition, which has been struggling with increasing infighting in recent weeks. "In order to allow a political transition, and to empower a credible alternative to both the Syrian regime and extremist groups, we are determined to increase and deepen our support to the coalition in all its components," the Friends of Syria said in a statement. The core of the Friends of Syria is mainly Western and Gulf Arab countries and Turkey. ... Full Story | Top |
| Kenya says 'white widow' Interpol alert not linked to mall attack Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 02:59 PM PDT  NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya asked international police agency Interpol to issue a wanted persons alert for Samantha Lewthwaite, a British citizen dubbed the "white widow" who has been cited by British police as a possible suspect in the Kenyan mall attack. Ndegwa Muhoro, director of Kenya's Criminal Investigation Department, said the so-called red alert for Lewthwaite is not related to the attack by Somalia's Islamist al Shabaab militants on the Westgate mall in Nairobi that killed at least 72 people. "The 'red alert' has nothing to do with Westgate. ... Full Story | Top |
| Mali Tuareg separatists suspend participation in peace process Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 02:37 PM PDT OUAGADOUGOU (Reuters) - Tuareg separatists pulled out of a peace agreement with the Mali government on Thursday, accusing Bamako of not respecting its commitments to a truce reached in June. The ceasefire in the West African nation allowed Mali's government and military to return to the separatists' northern stronghold of Kidal and enabled national elections to take place in July and August. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. prosecutors accuse ex-Mexican governor of laundering millions Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 02:14 PM PDT By Jared Taylor McALLEN, Texas (Reuters) - U.S. prosecutors have accused a former Mexican state governor of laundering stolen millions via the United States, in an unwelcome reminder for the Mexican government of corruption allegations dogging the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party. The PRI's long rule of Mexico in the 20th century was increasingly marred by allegations of mismanagement and corruption, which helped bring down the party in a 2000 election after 71 years in office. ... Full Story | Top |
| Kerry, Iranian foreign minister sit side-by-side at nuclear talks Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 01:48 PM PDT  UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif joined nuclear talks with six world powers on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday, taking a seat next to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. Thursday's meeting was the first between a top U.S. diplomat and an Iranian foreign minister since a brief encounter in May 2007, and came amid a charm offensive by new Iranian President Hassan Rouhani that has raised hopes for easing more than three decades of estrangement between Washington and Tehran. ... Full Story | Top |
| 'Shame, shame, shame' Mugabe tells U.S. and Britain Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 01:40 PM PDT  By Lesley Wroughton UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe on Thursday berated the United States and former colonial power Britain and its allies for trying to control his nation and its resources, telling them to remove their "illegal and filthy sanctions." "Shame, shame, shame to the United States of America. Shame, shame, shame to Britain and its allies," Mugabe, 89, said in a speech to the United Nations General Assembly. "Zimbabwe is for Zimbabweans, so are its resources. Please remove your illegal and filthy sanctions from my peaceful country. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S., China want quick, binding U.N. resolution on Syria, U.S. says Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 01:39 PM PDT  By Arshad Mohammed and John Irish UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United States and China strongly agree on the need for the U.N. Security Council to quickly adopt a binding resolution on eradicating Syria's chemical weapons arsenal, a senior U.S. official said on Thursday in remarks that appeared aimed at putting pressure on Russia to accept the measure. Russia appeared unswayed. When asked if diplomats were close to a deal on a Syria resolution, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters at the United Nations, "Russia's very close, the U.S. is not. ... Full Story | Top |
| Russia's Putin makes plans for prison amnesty Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 01:21 PM PDT  By Steve Gutterman MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin is considering a prison amnesty later this year, a gesture that could enable him to counter critics who say the courts have been used to silence his political foes. In an order posted on the Kremlin website on September 24 but publicized on Thursday, Putin told his human rights council to make suggestions for an amnesty marking the 20th anniversary of Russia's adoption of its post-Soviet constitution, in December. ... Full Story | Top |
| Italian PM Letta to meet president as political crisis mounts Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 01:12 PM PDT  By Francesca Trianni and Roberto Landucci NEW YORK/ROME (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta returns from a visit to New York on Friday to face the threat of a government collapse following renewed threats from Silvio Berlusconi's center-right party to pull out of his fragile coalition. Letta will immediately meet President Giorgio Napolitano to discuss the crisis, which has loomed ever closer since Berlusconi was convicted of tax fraud last month and sentenced to four years in prison, commuted to a year under house arrest or in community service. ... Full Story | Top |
| Tunisian opposition rallies against ruling Islamists Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 01:05 PM PDT  SFAX, Tunisia (Reuters) - Thousands protested in cities across Tunisia on Thursday to call on the ruling Islamist Ennahda party to step down immediately to make way for new elections to end a stalemate with its secular opponents. The North African nation that started the 2011 "Arab Spring" revolts has been caught in political deadlock since July after the assassination of an opposition leader. Waving national flags and chanting "Leave Now", protesters took to the streets of six cities to demand the resignation a government critics fear wants impose a hardline Islamist agenda. ... Full Story | Top |
| At least 29 killed in central Sudan's worst unrest for years Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 01:00 PM PDT By Khalid Abdelaziz and Ulf Laessing KHARTOUM (Reuters) - At least 29 people have been killed in protests in Khartoum over fuel subsidy cuts, police said on Thursday, and more clashes broke out in Khartoum in the worst unrest seen in Sudan's central regions for years. President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, who came to power in a 1989 coup, has been spared the sort of Arab Spring uprising that unseated autocratic rulers in states from Tunisia to Yemen since 2011, but anger has risen over rising inflation and corruption. ... Full Story | Top |
| Harper: Obama assures him Keystone verdict to be based on facts Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 12:42 PM PDT  By John McCrank and Jonathan Spicer NEW YORK (Reuters) - The logic behind the Keystone XL pipeline is "simply overwhelming," Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said on Thursday, adding that U.S. President Barack Obama had assured him his decision on the project would be based on facts. Addressing a business audience in New York, Harper said he was optimistic that Obama would approve TransCanada Corp's pipeline from Canada to the United States. ... Full Story | Top |
| Arabs battle Syrian Kurds as Assad's foes fragment Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 12:38 PM PDT By Khaled Yacoub Oweis AMMAN (Reuters) - Syrian rebels and al Qaeda-linked fighters clashed with Kurds in northern Syria on Thursday, activists said, in a battle for territory highlighting the country's descent towards sectarian and ethnic fiefdoms after two years of war. The heavy fighting in the town of Atma on the border with Turkey's Hatay province followed outbreaks of internecine conflict by rival rebel forces elsewhere, which have undermined their military campaign to topple President Bashar al-Assad. ... Full Story | Top |
| Maldives to hold run-off vote despite court delay: official Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 12:28 PM PDT  By J.J Robinson MALE (Reuters) - The Maldives will go ahead with a presidential election run-off on September 28, election commissioner Fuwad Thowfeek said on Thursday, despite a decision by the Supreme Court to postpone the second round following a complaint of vote rigging. Thowfeek's comments followed mounting international pressure on the government to push ahead with a run-off, amid hopes that the vote could help end months of political turmoil in the Indian Ocean archipelago. ... Full Story | Top |
| Sudan says 29 people killed in riots Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 12:10 PM PDT KHARTOUM (Reuters) - A total of 29 people have been killed in anti-government protests in Sudan, state news agency SUNA said on Thursday, in the first official toll since the outbreak of violence on Monday. The death toll included civilians and police officers, police said in a statement carried by SUNA. Activists put the number of dead much higher and it was impossible to verify claims from either side. (Reporting by Ulf Laessing and Khalid Abdelaziz; Editing by Robin Pomeroy) Full Story | Top |
| Railway in Quebec crash allowed to operate until October 18: Canada Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 12:09 PM PDT TORONTO (Reuters) - The U.S. company whose runaway oil tanker train exploded and killed 47 people in a small Quebec town in July can operate trains through October 18, Canadian regulators said on Thursday in a ruling that prolongs a temporary extension by about two weeks. But the Canadian Transportation Agency said it had not yet decided whether to grant a request from Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway and its Canadian subsidiary for permission to continue operations until January 15, 2014. The company filed for bankruptcy protection in August, just weeks after the Lac-Megantic disaster. ... Full Story | Top |
| Russia ready to help guard Syria chemical sites, will not import arms Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 11:51 AM PDT  MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia is ready to help guard Syrian chemical weapons sites and destroy President Bashar al-Assad's stockpiles but will not ship any of the chemical arms to Russia for destruction, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Thursday. Ryabkov was outlining some of the contributions Moscow is willing to make to implement a U.S.-Russian deal that calls for the destruction of Syria's chemical arsenal by the middle of next year. ... Full Story | Top |
| Guinea braces for long-delayed parliamentary vote Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 11:49 AM PDT  By David Lewis and Saliou Samb CONAKRY (Reuters) - Parliamentary elections in Guinea on Saturday officially cap the mineral-rich West African country's return to civilian rule after a 2008 coup, but many fear that the vote could reignite violence that killed dozens of people earlier this year. The contest, two years overdue, is ostensibly for the 114 seats to Guinea's National Assembly, but with no single party expected to command an outright majority, political deal-making is sure to follow. ... Full Story | Top |
| Anti-crime effort in Puerto Rico is paying off, officials say Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 11:48 AM PDT SAN JUAN (Reuters) - An anti-crime initiative that put more federal agents in Puerto Rico and boosted coordination with the U.S. mainland is making streets safer in both places, top U.S. and Puerto Rican law enforcement officials said on Thursday. The effort, Operation Caribbean Resilience, began in July 2012 and has been expanded over the last three months in the U.S. territory. ... Full Story | Top |
| Former Auschwitz guard charged in 'last chance' push for justice Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 11:20 AM PDT BERLIN (Reuters) - German prosecutors on Thursday charged a 93-year-old alleged former guard at the Auschwitz death camp as an accessory to murder, part of a renewed drive to bring lower-level Nazi collaborators to justice before they die. The prosecution service in the city of Stuttgart said the accused worked as a guard at Auschwitz in Nazi-occupied Poland from 1941 to 1943, a period in which 12 prisoner convoys arrived at the death camp. More than 10,000 of those prisoners were determined unfit for work and sent to the gas chamber immediately upon arrival. ... Full Story | Top |
| Mali says Sahel needs rapid reaction force to fight Islamists Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 11:10 AM PDT  By John Irish UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Mali's newly elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita called on Thursday for nations in the Sahara region to create a regional multilateral force that could intervene quickly to respond to the ongoing Islamist threat across the area. Attacks in Niger, growing instability in southern Libya and clashes between Tunisian government troops and Islamist militants have shown how al-Qaeda-linked rebels have taken advantage of a security vacuum in the region since French-led forces intervened in Mali earlier this year to oust them. ... Full Story | Top |
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