| | |
| Colombia leader rejects Jesse Jackson help in release of U.S. hostage Saturday, Sep 28, 2013 08:04 PM PDT  By Carlos Vargas and Peter Murphy BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombia's president rejected the involvement of U.S. civil rights activist Jesse Jackson in overseeing the release of a former U.S. Marine kidnapped by FARC rebels, saying on Saturday he would not allow the guerrillas a "media spectacle." The FARC kidnapped Afghanistan war veteran Kevin Scott Sutay in June as he trekked through jungle in southeastern Colombia despite warnings from the police to abandon the trip through what it said was a "red zone" of guerrilla activity. ... Full Story | Top |
| More than 30 still missing after Australia-bound refugee boat sank: police Saturday, Sep 28, 2013 07:48 PM PDT  JAKARTA (Reuters) - More than 30 people were still missing two days after a boat carrying asylum seekers to Australia sank off the Indonesian coast, killing 22 people including seven children, Indonesian security officials said on Sunday. The latest disaster to strike refugees using Indonesia's southern coast to try to make the perilous crossing suggests Australia's tough new immigration rules may not be enough to deter asylum seekers. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. concerned about Turkey's choice of Chinese missile system Saturday, Sep 28, 2013 06:51 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States said on Saturday it had expressed serious concerns to Turkey over its decision to co-produce a long-range air and missile defense system with a Chinese firm under U.S. sanctions. Turkey, a member of the NATO military alliance, announced this week that it had chosen the FD-2000 missile defense system from China Precision Machinery Import and Export Corp, or CPMIEC, over rival systems from Russian, U.S. and European firms. CPMIEC is under U.S. sanctions for violations of the Iran, North Korea and Syria Nonproliferation Act. ... Full Story | Top |
| Argentina says Iran committed to probing 1994 bombing Saturday, Sep 28, 2013 04:58 PM PDT By Hugh Bronstein BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Iran has approved a deal with Argentina to investigate the 1994 bombing of a Buenos Aires Jewish community center that courts in the South American country accuse Tehran of sponsoring, Argentine official state news service Telam said. Argentine Foreign Minister Hector Timerman met in New York on Saturday with his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Javad Zarif, who assured him Iran "would honor all points of the agreement" to shed light on the bombing that killed 85 people, Telam said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Greek police arrest leader, lawmakers of far-right Golden Dawn Saturday, Sep 28, 2013 04:54 PM PDT  By Renee Maltezou and George Georgiopoulos ATHENS (Reuters) - Greek police arrested the leader and more than a dozen senior members of the far-right Golden Dawn party early on Saturday after the killing of an anti-fascist rapper by a party supporter triggered outrage and protests across the country. The arrests, which are the most significant crackdown on a political party in Greece since the fall of a military dictatorship in 1974, are the biggest setback to Golden Dawn since it entered parliament on an anti-immigrant agenda last year. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.N. Security Council demands elimination of Syria chemical arms Saturday, Sep 28, 2013 03:34 PM PDT  By John Irish and Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council adopted a resolution on Friday that demands the eradication of Syria's chemical weapons but does not threaten automatic punitive action against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government if it does not comply. The unanimous vote by the 15-member Security Council capped weeks of intense diplomacy between Russia and the United States. It was based on a deal between the two countries reached in Geneva earlier this month following an August 21 sarin nerve gas attack on a Damascus suburb that killed hundreds. ... Full Story | Top |
| Austrian coalition faces far-right challenge in vote Saturday, Sep 28, 2013 03:09 PM PDT By Michael Shields VIENNA (Reuters) - A resurgent right-wing party keen to end taxpayer-funded bailouts of euro zone laggards takes on Austria's political establishment in parliamentary elections on Sunday. The ruling Social Democrats (SPO) and their People's Party (OVP) conservative partners are counting on their record in piloting the Alpine republic through the global financial crisis relatively unscathed to win another five-year term. ... Full Story | Top |
| Islamists, ruling party members chide Sudan's Bashir amid protests Saturday, Sep 28, 2013 02:49 PM PDT  By Khalid Abdelaziz and Ulf Laessing KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Islamists and members of Sudan's ruling party called on President Omar Hassan al-Bashir on Saturday to cancel deeply unpopular austerity measures, the first sign of dissent inside ruling circles after a week of unrest that has killed dozens. Police fired teargas to break up thousands of people in the capital during a sixth day of protests against cuts to subsidies on cooking oil and fuel that doubled pump prices overnight. Some in the crowd chanted "Freedom, Freedom" and "Bashir, you are a killer", said witnesses. ... Full Story | Top |
| Jesse Jackson accepts role in Colombia hostage release Saturday, Sep 28, 2013 02:23 PM PDT  By Carlos Vargas BOGOTA (Reuters) - U.S. civil rights activist Jesse Jackson accepted a request on Saturday by Colombia's FARC rebels to oversee the release of a former U.S. Marine they kidnapped in June while he trekked through a known guerrilla zone despite warnings of the risks. Jackson, speaking in Havana where he met on Friday night with Colombian rebel commanders who are in Cuba for peace talks with the Bogota government, said he hoped to arrive in Colombia within a week to facilitate the release of Kevin Scott Sutay. ... Full Story | Top |
| Iraq Kurd opposition party consolidates position in regional vote Saturday, Sep 28, 2013 02:03 PM PDT ARBIL, Iraq (Reuters) - Iraqi Kurdistan's main opposition party has come in second in the autonomous region's parliamentary election, according to preliminary results on Saturday that left the shape of the government still unclear a week after the vote. The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) share power in the previous cabinet with a combined 59 out of 111 parliamentary seats, having fought out their rivalries in a civil war during the 1990s. ... Full Story | Top |
| Italian government breaks up after Berlusconi pulls out ministers Saturday, Sep 28, 2013 01:22 PM PDT  By Catherine Hornby and Antonella Cinelli ROME (Reuters) - Italian center-right leader Silvio Berlusconi pulled his ministers out of the cabinet on Saturday, effectively bringing down the government of Prime Minister Enrico Letta and leaving the euro-zone's third-largest economy in chaos. Talks will now start to find a parliamentary majority to back a new cabinet and avoid going back to an election just seven months after the last one. ... Full Story | Top |
| Nigerian Islamists kill 27 in northeast attacks: official Saturday, Sep 28, 2013 01:08 PM PDT MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (Reuters) - Gunmen from Islamist group Boko Haram killed 27 villagers in two attacks in Nigeria's restive northeast this week, a government official said, as violence continued to flare in the face of an army crackdown on the militants. Boko Haram wants to create an Islamic state in northern Nigeria and has become the biggest security threat in Africa's second largest economy and top oil exporter. ... Full Story | Top |
| Egypt's foreign minister says transitional government phase to end by spring Saturday, Sep 28, 2013 12:57 PM PDT  By Asma Alsharif UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy said on Saturday the transitional phase of government in Egypt should end "by next spring," replacing leaders appointed after the army ousted elected president Mohamed Mursi in July. The Egyptian army headed by General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, ousted Mursi, a Muslim Brotherhood leader, on July 3 after mass protests against his one-year rule. An interim government was appointed and a roadmap for a transition to new elections was announced. "Work is under way, in line with the roadmap, on several tracks. ... Full Story | Top |
| Mexico floods will not affect proposed 2013, 2014 budget deficits -government Saturday, Sep 28, 2013 12:21 PM PDT  MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico's proposed budget deficit goals for this year and 2014 will not be affected by some of the worst storm damage in decades, the Finance Ministry said on Saturday. Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto had previously said Congress would revise its proposed 2014 budget in the wake of the storms this month, which killed at least 147 people and left large swaths of the country under water, buckling bridges and destroying highways. ... Full Story | Top |
| Italian PM Letta accuses Berlusconi of 'huge lie' Saturday, Sep 28, 2013 11:40 AM PDT ROME (Reuters) - Prime Minister Enrico Letta accused center-right leader Silvio Berlusconi on Saturday of telling Italians a "huge lie" by claiming the cabinet's failure to pass measures to avert a rise in sales tax was the reason for pulling out of the government. The statement came after Berlusconi, battling moves to expel him from parliament following a tax fraud conviction, pulled ministers from his center-right party out of the cabinet, effectively bringing down Letta's fragile coalition of left and right. ... Full Story | Top |
| Italian PM Letta to seek parliamentary backing: source Saturday, Sep 28, 2013 11:02 AM PDT ROME (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta will seek to verify the level of support he commands in parliament next week, following the resignation of centre-right ministers from his government, but he may not call a full confidence vote, a government source said on Saturday. President Giorgio Napolitano, who would have to decide whether to call new elections or try to oversee the formation of a new government, said in a statement he had been informed by Letta of the resignations and would decide the next steps together with the prime minister. ... Full Story | Top |
| Four killed in suicide bomb attack in Timbuktu: Mali army Saturday, Sep 28, 2013 10:55 AM PDT TIMBUKTU (Reuters) - At least four people were killed and several wounded in a suicide car-bomb attack in Timbuktu on Saturday, the first since Mali's presidential election aimed at ending months of chaos following a Tuareg uprising that led to a military coup. The attack also comes a few days after Tuareg separatists pulled out of a ceasefire agreement and peace process with the new Malian government. Witnesses said the suicide bombers detonated their vehicle near the Malian army camp in Timbuktu, killing both occupants of the vehicle and two passerby. ... Full Story | Top |
| Kenya says 'at war' with al Shabaab, faces security questions Saturday, Sep 28, 2013 10:15 AM PDT  By Matthew Mpoke Bigg and James Macharia NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya is "at war" with Islamist militants who attacked a Nairobi shopping mall, the government said on Saturday as it faced questions about whether it had received advance intelligence warnings of the deadly strike. A week after the raid on the Westgate shopping centre that killed 67 civilians and police and was claimed by the Somali militant group al Shabaab, the government has been trying to reassure Kenyans that it can protect them from further attacks. ... Full Story | Top |
| On eve of meeting, India raps Pakistan on cross-border attacks Saturday, Sep 28, 2013 09:53 AM PDT  By Paul Eckert UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told the United Nations on Saturday that neighboring Pakistan is the "epicenter of terrorism in our region," setting the stage for a tense meeting with his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif. Singh and Sharif are set to meet on Sunday on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, amid heightened tension between the nuclear-armed neighbors over Kashmir sparked by series of fatal clashes on their de facto Himalayan border. ... Full Story | Top |
| Berlusconi's ministers resign from Italy government: deputy PM Saturday, Sep 28, 2013 09:45 AM PDT  ROME (Reuters) - All ministers from former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi's center-right party resigned from the coalition government on Saturday, said a spokesman for Deputy Prime Minister Angelino Alfano. Berlusconi had earlier told ministers from his People of Freedom (PDL) party to consider stepping down in protest at Prime Minister Enrico Letta's order to freeze all decisions ahead of a confidence vote in parliament. "The ultimatum sent by the prime minister and his Democratic Party at their government allies ... ... Full Story | Top |
| Aftershock kills 15 in quake-hit Pakistan province Saturday, Sep 28, 2013 09:40 AM PDT  By Gul Yousufzai QUETTA, Pakistan (Reuters) - At least 15 people were killed on Saturday when an aftershock hit a Pakistani province where hundreds were killed in an major earthquake earlier this week. Saturday's 6.8 magnitude aftershock destroyed most of the town of Nokjo in the western province of Baluchistan, police said. The town is home to at least 15,000 people. At least 515 people were killed in Tuesday's earthquake in the same province, officials said on Friday. The death toll from Saturday's aftershock may rise, said Khan Wasey, the spokesman for the paramilitary Frontier Corps. ... Full Story | Top |
| Miss Philippines crowned Miss World 2013 after protests Saturday, Sep 28, 2013 09:21 AM PDT JAKARTA (Reuters) - Miss Philippines was crowned Miss World 2013 on Saturday at a tightly guarded ceremony in Bali, Indonesia, after the contest was plagued by protests from Muslim hardliners and fears that extremist groups could try to disrupt the event. U.S.-born Megan Young, a 23-year-old studying digital film, accepted the crown from last year's winner, Wenxia Yu of China, and promised to "be the best Miss World ever". ... Full Story | Top |
| Rebels seize military post on Syria's southern border Saturday, Sep 28, 2013 08:56 AM PDT  By Dominic Evans BEIRUT (Reuters) - Rebel fighters including foreign Islamists took control of a military post on Syria's southern border with Jordan on Saturday after four days of heavy fighting with President Bashar al-Assad's forces, activists said. The former customs post on the edge of the city of Deraa, where Syria's uprising against Assad erupted in 2011, was seized by several groups including the al Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front and the Islamist Ahrar al-Sham, according to the reports. ... Full Story | Top |
| Guinea votes in long-delayed parliamentary election Saturday, Sep 28, 2013 08:39 AM PDT By Saliou Samb CONAKRY (Reuters) - Guinea voted on Saturday in a parliamentary election touted as the completion of its transition to democracy after a 2008 military coup and the end to decades of political instability. The election, two years overdue, is the first democratic parliamentary vote since independence from France in 1958. A disputed result could reignite ethnic and political violence that has killed dozens in the run-up to voting. ... Full Story | Top |
| Merkel ally attacks left's plan to poll members over tie-up Saturday, Sep 28, 2013 08:17 AM PDT  BERLIN (Reuters) - The head of Angela Merkel's Bavarian allies has attacked a plan by the opposition Social Democrats (SPD) to put any decision on forming a "grand coalition" with her to a vote of its grassroots members, warning against tactics that threaten stability. The SPD agreed late on Friday it would poll its 472,000 members if it decides to join Merkel - a union many in the party oppose for fear they will lose their political identity alongside the highly popular chancellor. The poll could turn into an unwieldy process that complicates the creation of a new government. ... Full Story | Top |
| President says Italy needs continuity, not continuous polls Saturday, Sep 28, 2013 08:05 AM PDT  By Catherine Hornby ROME (Reuters) - Italian President Giorgio Napolitano said on Saturday the country needed a stable government, not more elections, after Prime Minister Enrico Letta said he felt compelled to call a confidence vote this week that could lead to yet another poll. Months of bickering within Letta's coalition government came to a head on Friday when a showdown with his centre-right partners, the People of Freedom (PDL) party of former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, scuppered a package of vital budget measures. ... Full Story | Top |
| Egypt soldier killed in Sinai, video shows attacks Saturday, Sep 28, 2013 08:01 AM PDT ISMAILIA, Egypt (Reuters) - An Egyptian soldier was shot dead in the Sinai Peninsula on Saturday, security officials said, and militants released a video showing attacks against the army in the region where the state is trying to stamp out al Qaeda-linked fighters. The soldier, a conscript, was shot while standing guard by a government building the town of Sheikh Zuweid, close to the border with the Gaza Strip, the sources said. He was hit in the stomach. ... Full Story | Top |
| Tunisia's ruling Islamists to step down, pave way for vote Saturday, Sep 28, 2013 08:00 AM PDT  By Tarek Amara TUNIS (Reuters) - Tunisia's Islamist-led government agreed on Saturday to resign after talks with secular foes to form a caretaker administration and prepare for elections to safeguard the democratic transition in the country where the Arab Spring uprisings began. The talks, which could begin next week, aim to end weeks of deadlock between the governing coalition and secular opposition that has endangered prospects for stable democracy almost three years after Tunisians toppled autocrat Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali. ... Full Story | Top |
| Death toll rises to 29 in India's Mumbai building collapse Saturday, Sep 28, 2013 07:31 AM PDT  MUMBAI (Reuters) - Rescuers have recovered 29 bodies from a collapsed five-storey apartment block in India's financial capital of Mumbai, a city official said, and the death toll is expected to rise as more are still feared trapped under the rubble. Police said they had arrested a decorator after a complaint from the city municipal corporation that the decorator had allegedly made changes in the basement of the collapsed building. The cause of the collapse of the building, said to be built 35 years ago, is not known. ... Full Story | Top |
| Iranians cheer, protest over Rouhani's historic phone call with Obama Saturday, Sep 28, 2013 07:15 AM PDT  By Marcus George DUBAI (Reuters) - Hundreds of Iranians cheered President Hassan Rouhani on his return from New York on Saturday after his historic phone call with U.S. President Barack Obama but a smaller number of hardliners shouted "Death to America" and threw eggs and shoes at his official car leaving the airport, Iranian media reported. While an anticipated handshake between Rouhani and Obama at United Nations headquarters failed to materialize, they held a 15-minute call on Friday at the end of the moderate new Iranian president's trip for the U.N. General Assembly. ... Full Story | Top |
| Tunisia's Islamists, opposition agree to talks over new government: mediator Saturday, Sep 28, 2013 05:54 AM PDT TUNIS (Reuters) - Tunisia's Islamist government has agreed to resign after talks with secular opponents that could begin next week to form a caretaker government and set a date for elections, a powerful union negotiating the deal said on Saturday. The negotiations aim to end deadlock between the Islamist-led coalition and secular parties that has threatened to derail a fragile transition to democracy in the North Africa country that started the 2011 Arab Spring revolts. (Reporting by Tarek Amara; writing by Patrick Markey) Full Story | Top |
| French hostage of Nigerian Islamists pleads for help in video: SITE Saturday, Sep 28, 2013 04:26 AM PDT By Lionel Laurent and Joe Brock PARIS/ABUJA (Reuters) - A French hostage kidnapped by Islamist militants in Nigeria has asked for French and Nigerian government help in securing his release in a video released by his captors, according to the SITE web monitoring service. If the video is confirmed as authentic it would be the first visual sign of life from Francis Collomp since around 30 gunmen stormed his compound on December 19 in the remote northern Nigerian town of Rimi, close to the Niger border where al Qaeda's North African wing operates. ... Full Story | Top |
| Three killed in gunfight in Lebanon's Baalbek Saturday, Sep 28, 2013 04:16 AM PDT BEIRUT (Reuters) - Three people were killed in clashes in the Lebanese town of Baalbek on Saturday after gunmen opened fire on a checkpoint manned by militant group Hezbollah, security sources said. One Hezbollah member was killed and two others were wounded when gunmen opened fire from a car at the checkpoint, the sources said. Hezbollah gunmen returned fire, killing two men and wounding three, they said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Greek PM rules out snap elections after Golden Dawn arrests Saturday, Sep 28, 2013 03:46 AM PDT ATHENS (Reuters) - Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras ruled out early elections after the arrest of senior Golden Dawn members and lawmakers on Saturday and said his government would focus on ensuring stability in the country. "The case is now in the hands of the justice system," Samaras told reporters after a meeting to discuss the developments around the arrests, the biggest crackdown on a political party since the fall of a military junta in 1974. "Justice, stability, without elections," he said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Greece says all Golden Dawn members assured of fair trial Saturday, Sep 28, 2013 03:19 AM PDT ATHENS (Reuters) - Lawmakers and members of the far-right Golden Dawn party arrested on Saturday on charges of being part of a criminal organization will get a fair trial, Greek Justice Minister Haralambos Athanassiou said. "Democracy in Greece is strong," the minister said after meeting Prime Minister Antonis Samaras and Public Order Minister Nikos Dendias. "All those arrested will have a fair trial." Senior Golden Dawn members, including its leader, were arrested on Saturday in the biggest crackdown against a political party in Greece since the fall of a military junta in 1974. ... Full Story | Top |
| Greece says no risk of political instability after Golden Dawn arrests Saturday, Sep 28, 2013 02:54 AM PDT ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece's finance minister played down the risk of political instability after police arrested the leader of the far-right Golden Dawn party, two of its lawmakers and party members on Saturday. "There is no risk of destabilization," Yannis Stournaras told reporters after a meeting in which Prime Minister Antonis Samaras briefed Greece's European Union and International Monetary Fund lenders on the crackdown against the party. (Reporting by Renee Maltezou, Writing by Deepa Babington; Editing by Janet Lawrence) Full Story | Top |
| China police rescue 92 kidnapped children: state media Saturday, Sep 28, 2013 01:34 AM PDT BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese police have rescued 92 children and two women kidnapped by a gang for sale and arrested 301 suspects, state media said on Saturday, in one of the biggest busts of its kind in years. Police simultaneously swooped on locations in 11 provinces on September 11 after a six-month investigation, China Central Television and state news agency Xinhua said, quoting the Ministry of Public Security. No reason was given for the delay in reporting the operation. State media did not give a breakdown of how many boys and how many girls were kidnapped. ... Full Story | Top |
|
No comments:
Post a Comment