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| Death toll from Pakistan market attack rises to 42 Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 09:09 PM PDT  PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - The death toll from a car bomb explosion in an ancient market in Pakistan's northwestern city of Peshawar rose to at least 42 on Monday, after the third attack in the area in a week. The blast ripped through the busy centuries-old market known as Quiswakhani, or the storytellers' bazaar, in Peshawar's old city on Sunday, exactly a week after more than 80 Christians were killed in a twin suicide bomb attack on a nearby church. A spokesman for the main city hospital said at least 107 people were wounded. ... Full Story | Top |
| India, Pakistan leaders say they want better ties but reach no concrete agreements Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 06:05 PM PDT  By Paul Eckert NEW YORK (Reuters) - Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart, Nawaz Sharif, agreed on Sunday to work to restore a cross-border ceasefire after a spate of shootings in order to improve strained ties, officials said. Singh and Sharif met on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, amid heightened tension between the nuclear-armed neighbors over the Kashmir region, sparked by series of fatal clashes on their de facto Himalayan border. ... Full Story | Top |
| China to crack down on false terrorist threats to airlines Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 06:05 PM PDT  SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China will impose tough penalties on people making false terrorist threats against airlines and airports, after a stream of bogus calls grounded flights and piled pressure on an already strained air traffic control system, state media reported. Flights and domestic airports have been disrupted by 80 fake threats this year, the official Xinhua news service said. Between May 15 and 18 alone, six bomb threats were reported, forcing 22 flights to turn back, land elsewhere or be delayed, a separate China Daily report noted. ... Full Story | Top |
| Alitalia aircraft makes emergency landing, no injuries Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 05:26 PM PDT ROME (Reuters) - An Alitalia aircraft went off the runway while landing at Rome's Fiumicino airport on Sunday, but there were no injuries among the 151 passengers or crew, authorities said. The airport said the pilot reported problems opening the undercarriage and made an emergency landing. (Reporting by James Mackenzie; Editing by Patrick Graham and Stacey Joyce) Full Story | Top |
| Italian political crisis threatens to split Berlusconi camp Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 05:24 PM PDT  By James Mackenzie ROME (Reuters) - Silvio Berlusconi's bid to push Italy into new elections faces a test on Monday when he meets lawmakers from his center-right party who have shown growing unease over his shock decision to pull support from Prime Minister Enrico Letta's coalition. Berlusconi's decision to order the five ministers from his People of Freedom (PDL) party to resign from Letta's cabinet has plunged Italy into political chaos and left the euro zone's third-largest economy without a functioning government. ... Full Story | Top |
| Portuguese punish ruling party for bailout pain in local polls Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 05:18 PM PDT  By Andrei Khalip and Axel Bugge LISBON (Reuters) - Portuguese voters punished the ruling Social Democrats for painful austerity under an EU/IMF bailout, boosting opposition and independent candidates in municipal elections on Sunday. Preliminary results and exit poll projections showed Antonio Costa from the main opposition Socialists was reelected mayor of Lisbon by a landslide, winning more than half the votes cast - an improvement of up to 10 percentage points on his 2009 result. ... Full Story | Top |
| UK finance minister to court voters with tough welfare rules Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 05:04 PM PDT  By Guy Faulconbridge and Andrew Osborn MANCHESTER, England (Reuters) - British finance minister George Osborne will propose tougher new welfare rules and a reduction in taxes on Monday in a bid to win over voters grappling with declining spending power ahead of the 2015 election, while promising to sustain an economic recovery. Speaking to Conservative Party activists at the penultimate conference before the election, Osborne will argue that though Britain's $2.5 trillion economy is recovering and he is optimistic about the global economy there can be no complacency. ... Full Story | Top |
| Amid rare unity, U.N. Security Council mulls action on Syria aid Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 04:49 PM PDT  By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - After adopting a hard-fought, Russian-backed resolution to rid Syria of chemical weapons, the U.N. Security Council is now turning its attention to the country's dire humanitarian crisis, putting to the test its fragile consensus on the conflict. The Security Council is considering a statement to try to boost aid access in Syria by urging Syrian authorities to allow cross-border deliveries from neighboring countries and asking parties to the conflict to hold humanitarian pauses in the fighting. ... Full Story | Top |
| Capitol quiet as federal government shutdown nears Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 04:28 PM PDT By David Lawder and Richard Cowan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - With a deadline to avert a federal government shutdown fast approaching, the U.S. Capitol was eerily quiet on Sunday as Republicans and Democrats waited for the other side to blink first and break the impasse over funding. The Republican-controlled House of Representatives early on Sunday passed a measure that ties government funding to a one-year delay of President Barack Obama's landmark healthcare restructuring law. Senate Democrats have vowed to quash it. ... Full Story | Top |
| Italian president hopes to solve political crisis without new vote Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 04:28 PM PDT By Alessandra Galloni and James Mackenzie ROME (Reuters) - Italy's president began talks on Sunday to pull the country out of a new political crisis, attempting to undercut a move by former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to bring down the government and force new elections seven months after the last vote. For the third time since 2011, Italian President Giorgio Napolitano is trying to steer the country out of political chaos that has proven a major threat, not only to the euro zone's third-largest economy, but to the region's efforts to halt its four-year debt crisis. ... Full Story | Top |
| Market bombing kill 33 in Pakistan's Peshawar: police Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 04:08 PM PDT By Hamid Ullah Khan PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - Twin blasts in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar killed 33 people and wounded 70 on Sunday, a week after bombings at a church there killed scores, police and hospital authorities said. Islamist violence has been on the rise in Pakistan in recent months, undermining Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's efforts to tame the insurgency by launching peace talks with the Taliban. The blasts outside a police station hit an area known as Quiswakhani, or the storytellers' bazaar, crowded with shoppers. ... Full Story | Top |
| Kerry sees potential for quick Iran nuclear deal Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 04:02 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Secretary of State John Kerry said a deal on Iran's nuclear weapons program could be reached relatively quickly, and it would have the potential to dramatically improve the relationship between the two countries. Kerry said intensifying diplomatic efforts to resolve the dispute over Iran's nuclear program could produce an agreement within the three- to six-month time frame that Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has called for. ... Full Story | Top |
| Schaeuble and taxes at stake in German coalition talks Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 03:44 PM PDT  By Alexandra Hudson BERLIN (Reuters) - Angela Merkel will be asked to break an election pledge not to raise taxes in talks this week on a 'grand coalition' with the opposition Social Democrats (SPD) which could also threaten her influential finance minister. The chancellor's conservatives notched up their best result in more than two decades in last Sunday's election but fell just short of a parliamentary majority, leaving Merkel in need of a partner. Her former allies, the Free Democrats (FDP), lacked enough support to return to parliament. ... Full Story | Top |
| Sudanese protest again against Bashir in Khartoum Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 03:33 PM PDT KHARTOUM (Reuters) - About 1,000 Sudanese staged another protest in Khartoum on Sunday to demand President Omar Hassan al-Bashir resign, a witness said, as the government moved to raise salaries to soften the impact of unpopular austerity measures. Last week, the government cut back fuel subsidies, which touched off the worst unrest in central Sudan in years. The official death toll stands at 33, but Sudanese rights activists and some diplomats said more than 100 people were killed during clashes with security forces. ... Full Story | Top |
| Rare bomb attack in Iraqi Kurdish capital kills six Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 03:25 PM PDT By Isabel Coles ARBIL, Iraq (Reuters) - Militants launched a coordinated suicide and car bomb attack on the headquarters of the security services in the capital of Iraq's usually peaceful Kurdistan region on Sunday, killing six people in the first major assault there since 2007. Kurdistan has largely managed to insulate itself from the violent instability that afflicts the rest of Iraq, where insurgent groups including the Sunni Islamist al Qaeda have been regaining momentum this year and striking on a near daily basis. ... Full Story | Top |
| Austrian parties set to renew grand coalition after election slap Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 03:02 PM PDT  By Michael Shields and Georgina Prodhan VIENNA (Reuters) - Austria's pro-Europe, centrist coalition partners face weeks of hard bargaining to extend their seven years in power after voters gave them only a tiny combined majority while boosting the far right and a new liberal party. Chancellor Werner Faymann's Social Democrats (SPO) offered talks with their conservative People's Party (OVP) allies to ensure that the two parties that have dominated post-war politics stay in power. ... Full Story | Top |
| Jesse Jackson determined to free U.S. hostage despite Colombian veto Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 02:38 PM PDT  By Marc Frank HAVANA (Reuters) - U.S. civil rights activist Jesse Jackson said on Sunday he will continue to work for the release of a U.S. army veteran kidnapped by Colombian FARC rebels in June, despite the Colombian government's rejection of his mediation. Jackson, who arrived in Cuba on Friday to talk with Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC) commanders who are here for peace talks with the Colombian government, said he was told Afghanistan war veteran Kevin Scott Sutay was free to leave if the logistics were in place to get him out of the jungle. ... Full Story | Top |
| Tuareg separatists, Malian army clash in northern town Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 02:31 PM PDT By Tiemoko Diallo BAMAKO (Reuters) - Tuareg separatists and Malian soldiers exchanged fire in the northern town of Kidal on Sunday, residents said, in a sign of escalating tensions three days after MNLA rebels ended a ceasefire with the newly elected government. Local officials said Tuareg separatists attacked an army unit stationed outside a bank in the center of the desert town. However, a spokesman for the rebel group said it was the soldiers who opened fire on an MNLA vehicle, injuring three men inside. ... Full Story | Top |
| Xi Jinping hopes traditional faiths can fill moral void in China: sources Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 02:05 PM PDT  By Benjamin Kang Lim and Ben Blanchard BEIJING (Reuters) - President Xi Jinping believes China is losing its moral compass and he wants the ruling Communist Party to be more tolerant of traditional faiths in the hope these will help fill a vacuum created by the country's breakneck growth and rush to get rich, sources said. Xi, who grew up in Mao's puritan China, is troubled by what he sees as the country's moral decline and obsession with money, said three independent sources with ties to the leadership. ... Full Story | Top |
| Italian PM Letta to seek confidence vote on Wednesday Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 01:12 PM PDT ROME (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta said he would go before parliament on Wednesday for a confidence vote after ministers in Silvio Berlusconi's center-right party pulled out of his government at the weekend. Letta said he wanted to avoid elections under the current widely criticised voting system which he said would produce more stalemate but said there were signs that dissenters in Berlusconi's People of Freedom (PDL) party could support him in a confidence vote. "I hope that there is a part of the PDL which is not in accord with Berlusconi," he told RAI state television. ... Full Story | Top |
| Israel charges two soldiers with beating bound Palestinian Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 12:19 PM PDT JERUSALEM (Reuters) - The Israeli military has charged two soldiers with beating up a blindfolded and bound Palestinian detainee, the army said on Sunday. According to the charges, brought before a military court last Monday, the soldiers were guarding a Palestinian man who was being held at a military base in May 2012 after illicitly entering Israel from the Palestinian Gaza Strip. A statement from the military said the Palestinian had been placed "bound and blindfolded" in an isolated room, where two soldiers had beaten him while another filmed the incident. ... Full Story | Top |
| Russian court remands last of Greenpeace Arctic oil protesters Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 12:16 PM PDT  By Alexei Anishchuk MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Russian court has ordered eight remaining Greenpeace activists be held in custody for two months over a protest against Arctic offshore drilling, the environment advocacy group said on Sunday, dashing any hope some might be released quickly. Authorities detained all 30 members of the pressure group who were aboard icebreaker the Arctic Sunrise when they broke up attempts to scale state-run Gazprom's Prirazlomnaya offshore oil platform on September 18. ... Full Story | Top |
| Italian PM Letta to go before parliament Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 11:49 AM PDT ROME (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta will go before parliament to chart a possible way out of the country's political crisis, a statement from the Italian President's office said on Sunday. The statement, which came after a meeting between Letta and President Giorgio Napolitano, said the two men had discussed possible solutions after the shock resignation of five ministers belonging to Silvio Berlusconi's center-right party. ... Full Story | Top |
| Iran's foreign minister says nuclear enrichment is not negotiable Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 11:46 AM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Iran's foreign minister said on Sunday the country's right to peaceful nuclear enrichment was not negotiable in talks with the United States but it does not need to enrich uranium to military-grade levels. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Iran was willing to open its nuclear facilities to international inspections but the United States must end economic sanctions as part of any deal on Iran's nuclear program. ... Full Story | Top |
| Gunmen attack Malian army in northern town of Kidal Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 11:31 AM PDT BAMAKO (Reuters) - Gunmen attacked Malian government forces in the northern desert town of Kidal on Sunday, a local official said, three days after Tuareg separatist rebels broke off a ceasefire with the newly elected government. "We are under fire. The shooting is taking place all over Kidal," said regional governor Adama Kamissoko in Kidal, a long-standing base for the MNLA separatist rebels. "The armed group attacked and the army has responded." (Reporting by Tiemoko Diallo; Writing by Daniel Flynn; Editing by Kevin Liffey) Full Story | Top |
| Bahrain jails 50 for ties to anti-government group: activists Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 11:29 AM PDT DUBAI (Reuters) - A Bahraini court sentenced 50 people on Sunday to between five and 15 years in jail for setting up a group that organizes anti-government protests, and that authorities say is working to topple the government by force, activists said. Bahrain has seen almost daily protests by members of the Shi'ite majority since February 2011, when it crushed a Shi'ite-led uprising demanding that the Sunni al-Khalifa dynasty give up power. ... Full Story | Top |
| Italy to face international pressure if crisis drags on Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 11:28 AM PDT By Alessandra Galloni and Giselda Vagnoni ROME (Reuters) - Italy could face pressure from international partners if the current political crisis persists and reverberates through the euro zone, Labour Minister Enrico Giovannini said on Sunday. Speaking a day after Silvio Berlusconi pulled his ministers out of the cabinet, Giovannini said the move -- which pulls the rug from under Prime Minister Enrico Letta's government and lurches the country into another political crisis -- is likely to cause some instability on financial markets on Monday. ... Full Story | Top |
| Egypt extends detention of hunger strike Canadians Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 11:01 AM PDT By Hadeel Al Shalchi CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's army-backed authorities have extended the detention of two Canadians held without charge since political clashes in mid-August as officials investigate a small remote control aeroplane and other items found in the pair's hotel room. The Canadian government called earlier this month for Tarek Loubani, a doctor, and John Greyson, a filmmaker, to be released. ... Full Story | Top |
| Suicide bomber kills 40 at Iraq mosque Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 10:49 AM PDT By Ali al-Rubaie HILLA, Iraq (Reuters) - At least 40 people were killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up at a Shi-ite Muslim funeral in a southern Iraqi town on Sunday. The blast brought down the ceiling of the mosque in Mussayab, 60km (40 miles) south of the capital Baghdad. Police said some bodies were still trapped beneath the debris. At least 50 people were wounded. Those inside had been mourning the death of a man killed a day earlier by militants. "Until now, we are trying to retrieve bodies from under the debris. Most of the bodies were torn to pieces. ... Full Story | Top |
| Gunmen kill students as they sleep in Nigerian college Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 10:49 AM PDT  By Joe Hemba DAMATURU, Nigeria (Reuters) - Suspected Islamist militants stormed a college in northeastern Nigeria and shot dead around 40 male students, some of them while they slept early on Sunday, witnesses said. The gunmen, thought to be members of rebel sect Boko Haram, attacked one hostel, took some students outside before killing them and shot others trying to flee, people at the scene told Reuters. "They started gathering students into groups outside, then they opened fire and killed one group and then moved onto the next group and killed them. ... Full Story | Top |
| At least 16 dead as Syrian school hit in air strike: activists Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 10:47 AM PDT  BEIRUT (Reuters) - At least 16 people, most of them students, were killed in an air strike that hit a secondary school in the rebel-held Syrian city of Raqqa on Sunday, activists said. Fighting continued across the country including in the outskirts of the capital, underlining the relentless nature of the civil war in the face of international efforts to destroy Syria's chemical arms and revive peace talks. Raqqa in northeastern Syria has been under the control of insurgents fighting to oust President Bashar al-Assad since March but the city has been regularly bombed by government forces. ... Full Story | Top |
| Kenya raps U.S. over 'unfriendly' travel warning after attack Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 10:32 AM PDT By Matthew Mpoke Bigg and Pascal Fletcher NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya rebuked the United States on Sunday for warning its citizens over travel to the east African country after the September 21 Nairobi mall attack, calling the alert "unfriendly" and asking Washington to lift it. Interior Minister Joseph Ole Lenku delivered the diplomatic slap when he updated reporters on a government investigation into the assault carried out eight days ago by Islamist militants on the crowded upmarket Westgate centre. ... Full Story | Top |
| Greek far-right lawmakers to make pleas against criminal charges on Tuesday Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 10:17 AM PDT  By Renee Maltezou ATHENS (Reuters) - The leader of Greece's far-right Golden Dawn party and four more of its lawmakers will appear in court on Tuesday to enter pleas on charges of belonging to a criminal organization after being arrested following the killing of an anti-fascist rapper. They spent nine hours with prosecutors overnight and were taken at 3:30 a.m. (0030 GMT) back to police headquarters where they will be held until they appear before an investigating magistrate on Tuesday. ... Full Story | Top |
| Former German foreign minister latest to face plagiarism charge Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 10:09 AM PDT  BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany's former foreign minister and senior Social Democrat Frank-Walter Steinmeier has became the latest German politician to face allegations of academic plagiarism, an act which brought down two of Angela Merkel's ministers. Weekly magazine Focus cited university professor Uwe Kamenz as saying that he had found 500 areas of suspicious "similarities" when comparing Steinmeier's doctoral thesis in law in 1991 with some 100 sources. ... Full Story | Top |
| Egyptian students clash as Mursi turmoil spreads to campuses Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 09:57 AM PDT CAIRO (Reuters) - Rival groups of students, some armed with guns and Molotov cocktails, clashed in Egypt on Sunday, state media and security sources said, as violence triggered by the overthrow of President Mohamed Mursi spread to universities. At least 29 people were wounded in fighting between groups for and against the ousted Islamist leader at at least three campuses, said the reports. Egypt has been gripped by turmoil since the army ousted Mursi on July 3 after mass protests against his rule, prompting his Muslim Brotherhood to take to the streets. ... Full Story | Top |
| Portuguese seen lodging protest over bailout pain in local polls Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 08:56 AM PDT  By Axel Bugge LISBON (Reuters) - Portuguese voters were expected to punish the ruling centre-right Social Democrat candidates in local polls on Sunday after years of budget cuts and tax hikes under the country's international bailout. A record number of mayoral candidates were standing as independents in the first local election since Portugal turned to the International Monetary Fund and European Union for the 78 billion euro ($106 billion) bailout in 2011. After two and a half years of recession, unemployment is at a record high of about 17 percent. ... Full Story | Top |
| Assad says Syria will respect U.N. chemical weapons accords: Italian TV Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 08:32 AM PDT ROME (Reuters) - Syria will respect United Nations accords on chemical weapons, President Bashar al-Assad told Italian television station RaiNews24 on Sunday. "We joined the international agreement against the acquisition and use of chemical weapons even before this resolution was passed," he said when asked if Syria would comply with Friday's U.N. resolution. 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 Assad's government if it does not comply. ... Full Story | Top |
| Israel says it caught Iranian spy with photos of U.S. embassy Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 08:26 AM PDT JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel disclosed on Sunday the arrest of an Iranian-Belgian citizen on suspicion of spying for Iran, saying he had photographed the U.S. embassy and intended to establish business ties in the Jewish state as a cover for espionage. Israel and Iran are bitter adversaries. Israel, widely believed to be the Middle East's only nuclear power, says Iran is covertly seeking to develop atomic weapons. Iran says it is enriching uranium solely for peaceful purposes. ... Full Story | Top |
| Austria coalition survives far-right gains: projections Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 08:05 AM PDT VIENNA (Reuters) - The partners in Austria's pro-Europe, centrist coalition appear to have won enough votes to form a new government, staving off a strong challenge from the euroskeptic right wing, initial projections showed on Sunday. Chancellor Werner Faymann's Social Democrats (SPO) - who had campaigned on a platform of defending jobs and pensions and redistributing wealth - were poised to get 26.7 percent of the parliamentary vote, according to ARGE Wahlen projections reported by the Austria Press Agency. These were in line with Austrian television projections. ... Full Story | Top |
| Kenya asks U.S. to lift 'unfriendly' travel warning Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 08:02 AM PDT  NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya on Sunday asked the U.S. government to lift an advisory warning U.S. citizens over travel to the east African country after the September 21 Nairobi mall attack, calling it "unnecessary" and "unfriendly". "We believe issuing the travel advisory is counter-productive in the fight against global terrorism," Interior Minister Joseph Ole Lenku told a news briefing. "We request the United States, as a friend of Kenya, to lift the travel advisory," he added. (Reporting by Matthew Mpoke Bigg; Editing by Pascal Fletcher) Full Story | Top |
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