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| China security chief blames separatists for Tiananmen attack Thursday, Oct 31, 2013 09:02 PM PDT  By Megha Rajagopalan BEIJING (Reuters) - China's domestic security chief believes a fatal vehicle crash in Beijing's Tiananmen Square in which five died was planned by a Uighur separatist group, designated as a terrorist organization by the United States and United Nations. An SUV ploughed through bystanders in the capital's iconic Tiananmen Square on Monday and burst into flames, killing the three people in the car and two bystanders, in what the government called a terrorist attack. Beijing police have arrested five people it says were radical Islamists who were planning a holy war. Security has been strengthened in both Beijing and in Xinjiang, the restive far western region the Muslim Uighurs call home. Full Story | Top |
| Zelaya's wife to seek IMF deal if elected in Honduras: running mate Thursday, Oct 31, 2013 08:44 PM PDT  By Gustavo Palencia TEGUCICALPA (Reuters) - The wife of ousted Honduran president Manuel Zelaya will seek a deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to resolve a mounting debt crisis if she wins next month's presidential election, her running mate said on Thursday. Juliette Handal, the vice-presidential candidate of Zelaya's wife Xiomara Castro, said their leftist Liberty and Refoundation Party (LIBRE) would seek assistance from the IMF to help tackle the country's bloated budget deficit. "We're going to seek an accord with the International Monetary Fund based on reality; Honduras, the biggest exporter of coffee in Central America, is on track to post a budget deficit of at least six percent of gross domestic product for the second year running. Full Story | Top |
| Indonesia summons Australian ambassador over U.S.-led spying claims Thursday, Oct 31, 2013 08:37 PM PDT  JAKARTA/PERTH (Reuters) - Indonesia summonsed Australia's ambassador on Friday to explain media reports his embassy in Jakarta was used to spy on Southeast Asia's biggest country as part of a U.S.-led global spying network. Indonesia this week called in the chief U.S. diplomat in Jakarta over similar allegations, while China on Thursday demanded an explanation from the United States after the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper reported Australian embassies across Asia were part of the U.S. spying operation. News of Australia's role in a U.S.-led surveillance network could damage relations with Indonesia, Australia's nearest Asian neighbor and a key strategic ally. "Indonesia's Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa has demanded an explanation from the Australian ambassador in Jakarta about the existence and use of surveillance facilities in the Australian embassy here," Indonesia's foreign ministry said in a statement. Full Story | Top |
| Japan lawmaker breaks taboo with nuclear fears letter for emperor Thursday, Oct 31, 2013 08:25 PM PDT  A Japanese lawmaker handed Emperor Akihito a letter on Thursday expressing fear about the health impact of the Fukushima nuclear disaster, breaking a taboo by trying to involve the emperor in politics. Taro Yamamoto, who is also an anti-nuclear activist, gave Akihito the letter during a garden party, setting off a storm of protest on the Internet from critics shocked at his action. "I wanted to directly tell the emperor of the current situation," Yamamoto told reporters, referring to the crisis at the Fukushima nuclear plant north of Tokyo, which has been leaking radioactivity since it was battered by an earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011. Full Story | Top |
| Japan rejects Chinese protests over sea drills, denies interference Thursday, Oct 31, 2013 08:19 PM PDT By Elaine Lies TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan on Friday denied interfering with Chinese military exercises in the western Pacific after Beijing lodged a formal diplomatic protest, saying China's objections were unacceptable and it had acted in line with international law. Ties between the Asian neighbors have been strained for months by a long and bitter dispute over islands in the East China Sea believed to be surrounded by energy-rich waters, and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has said his nation is ready to be more assertive towards China. China's defense ministry on Thursday slammed Japan's "dangerous provocation" in shadowing the drills, without clearly stating the location. It also said Japan had disrupted the live fire exercises. Full Story | Top |
| Venezuelan leader says construction workers see Chavez apparition Thursday, Oct 31, 2013 08:13 PM PDT  By Andrew Cawthorne CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said an image of his political idol and predecessor, the late socialist leader Hugo Chavez, had appeared miraculously in the wall of an underground construction site. In the latest of a series of accusations since taking office in April, Maduro also accused U.S.-based social network Twitter of colluding with his foes in a "massive attack" on his and other prominent government members' accounts. Full Story | Top |
| Syria meets deadline to destroy chemical production facilities Thursday, Oct 31, 2013 07:42 PM PDT  By Dominic Evans BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syria has destroyed or rendered inoperable all of its declared chemical weapons production and mixing facilities, meeting a major deadline in an ambitious disarmament program, the international chemical weapons watchdog said Thursday. The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), which won the Nobel Peace prize this month, said its teams had inspected 21 out of 23 chemical weapons sites across the country. Syria "has completed the functional destruction of critical equipment for all of its declared chemical weapons production facilities and mixing/filling plants, rendering them inoperable," it said, meeting a November 1 deadline for the work. The next target date is November 15, by when the OPCW and Syria must agree to a detailed plan of destruction, including how and where to destroy more than 1,000 metric tonnes of toxic agents and munitions. Full Story | Top |
| Colombian president's ratings inch higher as unrest cools Thursday, Oct 31, 2013 07:36 PM PDT  Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos' popularity rebounded slightly from a record low for his administration as people felt more upbeat about the economy after a violent farm protest in August hurt his approval ratings, a leading pollster said on Thursday. "He has got over the farm protest in late August and the country has returned to the path it was on prior to that," Gallup Colombia chief Jorge Londono told Reuters. The Gallup poll - carried out between October 18 and 27 - showed 63 percent of those surveyed had a negative image of Santos, down from 72 percent in September. Santos took office in 2010 with an approval rating of 74 percent and maintained decent ratings through the beginning of peace talks with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, rebels. Full Story | Top |
| Peru's Humala swears in fourth prime minister, retains finance minister Thursday, Oct 31, 2013 05:59 PM PDT  Peru's President Ollanta Humala swore in a widely praised regional politician as his fourth prime minister in a Cabinet reshuffle on Thursday, but retained his finance minister despite rumors he might quit. The new prime minister, Cesar Villanueva, has twice been elected president of the northern Amazonian region of San Martin and is affiliated with center-left parties. In his first interview after being sworn in, Villanueva said he supports the free-market economic policies that have been in place for years in Peru. "The major lines have been drawn," Villanueva, 67, said on the state television channel. Full Story | Top |
| Congo rebels retreat, but unclear if rebellion near end: U.S. envoy Thursday, Oct 31, 2013 05:46 PM PDT  By Lesley Wroughton WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Recent military advances by U.N.-backed Congolese troops in crushing a 20-month rebellion in the east are a major step, but it is too soon to say if the M23 rebels are on the brink of defeat, a senior U.S. official said on Thursday. In an interview with Reuters, Russ Feingold, U.S. special envoy for the Great Lakes region of Africa, said a peace deal between the Democratic Republic of Congo and rebels from the M23 group may be reached as soon as this weekend. "It may have happened even without this fighting because we have made a lot of progress, but clearly the M23 is in a tougher position at this point," he said, adding, "It may well be that this weekend at least an initial signing and initialing will occur and perhaps disbanding of the M23 is imminent." Millions of people have died from violence, disease and hunger since the 1990s as foreign-backed ethnic rebel groups have fought for control of eastern Congo's rich deposits of gold, diamonds and tin. Full Story | Top |
| Strong earthquake strikes off Chilean coast, no damage reported Thursday, Oct 31, 2013 04:56 PM PDT A magnitude 6.6 earthquake struck off the coast of Chile on Thursday, the United States Geological Survey reported. The quake was centered 35 miles southwest of Coquimbo and at a depth of 6.6 miles, the USGS said. There were no initial reports of injuries or damage, though the quake caused buildings in the capital Santiago to sway. Mining operations in Chile, the world's No. 1 copper producer, also were not affected, according to initial reports. Full Story | Top |
| Storms spook some U.S. cities into postponing Halloween fun Thursday, Oct 31, 2013 04:49 PM PDT By Timothy Ghianni NASHVILLE, Tennessee (Reuters) - Forecasts for heavy rain and strong winds spooked dozens of U.S. cities and towns into postponing Halloween trick-or-treating on Thursday as a storm system that flooded parts of Texas, killing at least one person, churned north toward the Great Lakes. Officials in parts of at least four states in the path of the storm - Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee - said they decided to put off the customary practice of children in costumes going from house to house collecting candy. "I think it's a good idea," said Tara Dudzik, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Indianapolis. Full Story | Top |
| Activists say Syrian authorities break Damascus evacuation deal Thursday, Oct 31, 2013 04:15 PM PDT Syrian intelligence agents have arrested at least 230 men out of a group of civilians who were evacuated this week from a Damascus suburb besieged by President Bashar al-Assad's forces under a rare deal with rebels, activists said on Thursday. The deal had enabled 1,800 civilians to flee the Sunni Muslim town of Mouadamiya on Tuesday [nL5N0IJ34O], but most males aged between 14 and 45 among them were arrested and taken to an Airforce Intelligence compound and a school turned into a makeshift detention center, they said. They separated the males when they arrived at the entrance of the town and arrested them," said Ahmad al-Mouadamani, an activist in Mouadamiya who uses an alias. The report could not be independently verified, and there was no immediate comment from Syrian authorities. Full Story | Top |
| Mexican Congress passes diluted government tax reform Thursday, Oct 31, 2013 04:13 PM PDT  By Miguel Gutierrez, Michael O'Boyle and Dave Graham MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico's Congress on Thursday approved a government-backed bill to increase weak tax revenues but watered down the measure that is expected to have only a moderate effect on the tax take. The ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) pushed the bill through with leftist lawmakers, making final tweaks to slightly weaken a proposal to increase income tax rates. Conservatives said the bill was a menace to the stumbling economy and walked out of the Senate in protest when their attempts to change the plan were ignored by the PRI. Lawmakers in the lower house of Congress gave final approval to the tax bill, and President Enrique Pena Nieto is expected to sign the measures into law. Full Story | Top |
| Israeli tank fire kills Gaza militant in clashes: Gaza sources Thursday, Oct 31, 2013 03:55 PM PDT  A Hamas militant was killed and another critically wounded by Israeli tank fire in the southern Gaza Strip on Thursday, medical sources said. Clashes broke out in the area after a number of Israeli tanks crossed the border fence into the Gaza Strip in an area close to where Israel earlier in October uncovered a tunnel that militants had dug under the border, a Hamas source said. An Israeli military spokeswoman said forces were carrying out "a pinpoint action" in the area of the tunnel in the Gaza Strip but did not have further details. Hamas said the Israeli tanks had entered the Gaza side of the border and had remained there for several hours and clashes erupted as militants fired mortar shells at the tanks. Full Story | Top |
| Colombia defense minister says troop cuts after peace 'big mistake' Thursday, Oct 31, 2013 03:54 PM PDT  By Helen Murphy and Luis Jaime Acosta BOGOTA (Reuters) - It would be a "big mistake" for Colombia to reduce troop numbers or cut its security budget if a peace agreement is signed with Marxist FARC rebels to end a half century of war, the defense minister said on Thursday. Colombia has struggled through a year of slow-paced talks with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in an effort to end a conflict that has killed more than 200,000 people since it began in 1964. Meanwhile the FARC has stepped up combat pressure. "It would be a big mistake, because even if the terrorist organization disappears, it doesn't mean many of its crimes disappear," Defense Minister Juan Carlos Pinzon told Reuters in his Bogota office, ruling out any changes to the armed forces. Full Story | Top |
| Syria military base blasts said to be Israeli strike Thursday, Oct 31, 2013 03:21 PM PDT AMMAN/JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Syrian rebels and a U.S. official cited by CNN said on Thursday Israel had mounted a new attack on a Syrian military base but the Israeli government declined to confirm any strike. CNN quoted an unidentified U.S. administration official on Thursday as saying Israeli warplanes struck a Syrian base near the port of Latakia, targeting missiles that Israel thought might be transferred to its Lebanese militia enemy Hezbollah. One Syrian opposition source, a defector from air force intelligence with contacts in the Latakia region, said Israel struck a strategic missile battery near a village called Ain Shikak where President Bashar al-Assad's forces kept long-range Russian missiles that are among their most powerful weapons. Full Story | Top |
| German MP meets Snowden, says he is willing to come to Germany for inquiry Thursday, Oct 31, 2013 03:19 PM PDT  By Alexandra Hudson BERLIN (Reuters) - A German lawmaker said he met Edward Snowden in Moscow on Thursday and the fugitive former U.S. spy agency contractor was willing to come to Germany to assist investigations into alleged U.S. surveillance of Chancellor Angela Merkel. Hans-Christian Stroebele, a legislator for the opposition Greens party, told German broadcaster ARD it was clear Snowden "knew a lot" and that he would share details of their surprise meeting including a letter from Snowden addressed to the German government and chief federal prosecutor on Friday. "He made it clear he knows a lot and that as long as the National Security Agency (NSA) blocks investigations..., he is prepared to come to Germany and give testimony, but the conditions must be discussed," said Stroebele. Germany is a close ally of the United States. Full Story | Top |
| Iraqi leader blames regional unrest for revival of al Qaeda in Iraq Thursday, Oct 31, 2013 03:08 PM PDT  By David Alexander WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said on Thursday he was seeking U.S. help to counter a resurgent al Qaeda in his country and blamed the revival of the extremist group on power vacuums in the region rather than divisive Iraqi policies. On his first visit to Washington in two years, Maliki met with U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and Army General Martin Dempsey before speaking at the U.S. Institute of Peace. He is due to meet President Barack Obama on Friday. Speaking to an audience of about 200, Maliki highlighted the extremist violence in his country while stressing U.S.-Iraqi relations and the suffering as a result of violence following the 2003 war to topple Saddam Hussein. Full Story | Top |
| Niger says 92 migrants found dead in Sahara after failed crossing Thursday, Oct 31, 2013 02:59 PM PDT By Abdoulaye Massalatchi NIAMEY (Reuters) - Rescuers have found the bodies of 92 migrants, most of them women and children, strewn across the Sahara desert in northern Niger after their vehicles broke down and they died of thirst, authorities said on Thursday. Rescue worker Almoustapha Alhacen said the bodies of 52 children, 33 women and seven men were found close to the Algerian border, some 160 km (100 miles) north of the mining town of Arlit in northern Niger. Many of the victims, all believed to be from Niger, were in an advanced state of decomposition and had been partly devoured by animals, probably jackals, he said. Niger's government declared three days of national mourning starting on Friday and said it would launch a crackdown on the networks ferrying migrants across the Sahara. Full Story | Top |
| Jailed indigenous teacher freed under new Mexican pardon law Thursday, Oct 31, 2013 02:36 PM PDT  An indigenous Mexican teacher jailed over a decade ago for the slayings of seven people was released on Thursday under a pardon by President Enrique Pena Nieto after the government found evidence the teacher's rights had been abused. Alberto Patishtan was arrested in 2000 for the murder of seven policemen, who were killed in an ambush in Chiapas state. Mexican Interior Minister Miguel Angel Osorio Chong said scrutiny of the case had thrown up "evidence consistent with grave human rights violations, particularly of due process." Pena Nieto had announced on Tuesday that he planned to pardon Patishtan. Full Story | Top |
| German lawmaker meets Snowden, says he may help German spy inquiry Thursday, Oct 31, 2013 02:20 PM PDT A German lawmaker said he met Edward Snowden in Moscow on Thursday and the fugitive former U.S. spy agency contractor was willing to help German investigations into reports the United States tapped Chancellor Angela Merkel's mobile phone. Hans-Christian Stroebele, a legislator for the opposition Greens party, told German broadcaster ARD it was clear Snowden "knew a lot" and that he would share details of their surprise meeting including a letter from Snowden to the German government on Friday. Full Story | Top |
| Russian lawyer says Snowden to start website job Thursday, Oct 31, 2013 02:20 PM PDT  By Steve Gutterman MOSCOW (Reuters) - Former U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden has found a job working for a website in Russia, where he was granted asylum after fleeing the United States, a Russian lawyer helping him said on Thursday. "Edward starts work in November," lawyer Anatoly Kucherena said, according to state-run news agency RIA. Snowden, 30, a former National Security Agency contractor who disclosed secret U.S. internet and phone surveillance programs, fled to Hong Kong and then to Russia in June. President Vladimir Putin rejected U.S. pleas to send Snowden home to face charges including espionage, and the temporary asylum he was granted in early August can be extended annually. Full Story | Top |
| Germany rejects U.S. criticism of export reliance Thursday, Oct 31, 2013 02:16 PM PDT  By Gernot Heller and Sarah Marsh BERLIN (Reuters) - Angela Merkel's conservatives on Thursday rejected U.S. criticism of Germany's dependence on exports but her likely future coalition partner agreed Europe's bulwark economy must do more to spur domestic demand. The United States has long called for countries like China and Germany with trade surpluses to do more to spur imports but the Obama administration's reprimand in a semi-annual report to Congress on Wednesday stood out for its stark language. It said Germany was hampering economic stability in Europe and hurting the global economy. The German current account surplus is the biggest in the world. Full Story | Top |
| Russia demands U.S. explanation over blacklisted singer Thursday, Oct 31, 2013 02:13 PM PDT By Alexei Anishchuk MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's foreign ministry asked the United States on Thursday to explain why it had imposed sanctions on a well-known singer and supporter of President Vladimir Putin, calling the move "unacceptable". The U.S. Treasury Department this week named Grigory Lepsveridze as one of six people it said were linked to a "Eurasian crime syndicate" called the Brothers' Circle. The Treasury added him to its list of blacklisted people, meaning U.S. citizens were barred from doing business with him, and any assets he had in the United States were frozen. Lepsveridze, who performs under the stage-name Grigory Leps, dismissed the allegation. Full Story | Top |
| Police have video of Toronto mayor, won't detail contents Thursday, Oct 31, 2013 02:12 PM PDT  By Cameron French TORONTO (Reuters) - Police said Thursday they have obtained a video "consistent" with media accounts that it shows Toronto Mayor Rob Ford smoking crack cocaine, but they would not confirm the contents of the video. Ford, who has denied he smokes crack, said he could not comment on the matter because the video is evidence in a separate case before the courts. In the first official link between Ford and a high-profile Toronto drugs investigation, Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair on Thursday identified the mayor as a subject in a video recovered during the probe. "I can tell you that the digital video file that we have recovered depicts images which are consistent with those that had previously been reported in the press," Blair said. Full Story | Top |
| Dominican Republic pressured to reverse controversial nationality ruling Thursday, Oct 31, 2013 02:11 PM PDT By Ezra Fieser SANTO DOMINGO (Reuters) - The Dominican government is facing intense international pressure over a court ruling that stripped citizenship from hundreds of thousands of people and threatens to damage the tourism-dependent country's reputation. Foreign leaders, United Nations agencies, human rights groups and members of the Dominican diaspora in the United States have called on the government to reverse the September 23 court ruling that strips Dominican nationality from children of illegal immigrants even if they were born on Dominican soil and had been granted their documents. A network of 25 groups and human rights activists delivered a letter to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday asking him to use "all available points of leverage" to pressure the Dominican government into reversing the ruling. "We plan to continue mounting pressure on the government here in the Dominican Republic with demonstrations and protests. Full Story | Top |
| Analysis: Aquino's Mr Clean image skewered by Philippine pork barrel politics Thursday, Oct 31, 2013 02:07 PM PDT  By Manuel Mogato MANILA (Reuters) - A scandal over lawmakers' misuse of public funds has become the biggest crisis of Philippine President Benigno Aquino's three-year rule, tainting his carefully crafted image as a corruption fighter and undermining his ability to push economic reforms. Aquino has struggled to keep the scandal at arms length since late July, when a whistleblower revealed that some lawmakers, including the president's allies, were stealing up to half the money being allocated to local projects from discretionary government funds. While corruption allegations are far from new in the Philippines, the revelations have struck a chord with Filipinos because of the scale of the wrongdoing and the shock that little had changed despite Aquino's reform drive. Aquino, the only son of democracy icon and former president Corazon Aquino, has tried to tap into the public mood by saying he too is outraged by the corruption, which was corroborated in a detailed report by the state auditing body. Full Story | Top |
| Obama will use executive powers to conserve lands: Interior secretary Thursday, Oct 31, 2013 01:56 PM PDT  By Patrick Rucker WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama will use his executive powers to protect more mountains, rivers and forests from development if Congress does not act to preserve such wild spaces, the U.S. Interior Secretary said on Thursday. Such preservation efforts can also come through Congress but presidents in a second term have typically felt freer to designate such spaces unilaterally. On Thursday, Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said that the president was ready to move ahead. "There's no question that if Congress doesn't act, we will act," Jewell said at a luncheon at the National Press Club in Washington. Full Story | Top |
| Venezuelan leader says workers see Chavez apparition at building site Thursday, Oct 31, 2013 01:45 PM PDT  By Andrew Cawthorne CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said an image of his idol and predecessor, the late socialist leader Hugo Chavez, has appeared miraculously in the wall of an underground construction site. Since his death from cancer earlier this year, Chavez has taken on mythical proportions for supporters and Maduro has spoken of seeing his former mentor's spirit several times, including in the shape of a bird. Full Story | Top |
| International court postpones Kenyan president's trial Thursday, Oct 31, 2013 01:25 PM PDT  By Thomas Escritt and Michelle Nichols THE HAGUE/UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The International Criminal Court delayed Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta's trial for crimes against humanity by three months on Thursday, while African ministers made an impassioned plea for the U.N. Security Council to defer the case for one year. The decision of the Hague-based court to postpone the start of Kenyatta's trial to February 5 from November 12 was announced as a delegation of African Union ministers met informally with the 15-member Security Council in New York. Full Story | Top |
| Horsemeat found in canned beef at two UK retailers -food agency Thursday, Oct 31, 2013 01:11 PM PDT A batch of canned sliced beef containing horsemeat has been removed from the shelves of retailers Home Bargains and Quality Save, Britain's Food Standards Agency said on Thursday . Routine tests by local government trading standards officers in Lincolnshire, eastern England, found the product, which was manufactured in Romania in January this year, contained horse DNA at a level of between 1 and 5 percent. Neither Home Bargains, the trading name of family-owned business TJ Morris, nor Quality Save, a chain of discount stores operating in northern England, could immediately be reached for comment. The beef tested negative for the drug phenylbutazone, or 'bute', the anti-inflammatory painkiller for sporting horses which is banned for animals intended for eventual human consumption as it is potentially harmful, the agency said. Full Story | Top |
| Egyptian Islamists call for daily protests before Mursi trial Thursday, Oct 31, 2013 01:08 PM PDT  Supporters of Egypt's ousted Islamist President Mohamed Mursi called on Thursday for daily protests in the four days before his trial on November 4, raising the prospect of more violence in a crisis that has already cost hundreds of lives. Mursi, who was ousted by the army on July 3 after mass demonstrations against his rule, is due to appear in court on Monday along with 14 other senior Muslim Brotherhood figures on charges of inciting violence. The trial could further inflame tensions between the Brotherhood and the army-backed interim government of the most populous Arab state. "The Alliance calls on all proud, free Egyptians to gather in the squares in protest against these trials ... starting on Friday," the Brotherhood and its allies said in a statement. Full Story | Top |
| Death toll in attack on Salafi-held town in Yemen rises to 24 Thursday, Oct 31, 2013 12:52 PM PDT The death toll from a Shi'ite Muslim Houthi attack on a mountain town in north Yemen held by their Salafi Sunni Muslim rivals has risen to 24, a Salafi spokesman said on Thursday as the two sides fought for a second day. Fighting erupted despite government mediation efforts to shore up a ceasefire in place since late last year in a province long beyond the control of the authorities in Sanaa, capital of the turbulent Arabian Peninsula state. Salafi spokesman Abu Ismail al-Hajouri said more than 100 people were also wounded in the town of Damaj, which he said the Houthi rebels, who dominate the northern province of Saada, had besieged for weeks. He said Salafis were fighting back with light automatic weapons. Full Story | Top |
| Kenyan warplanes bomb al Shabaab strongholds in Somalia Thursday, Oct 31, 2013 12:42 PM PDT By James Macharia NAIROBI (Reuters) - The Kenyan military said its warplanes bombed targets held by al Qaeda-linked Islamists in Somalia on Thursday, in retaliation for an attack on a Nairobi mall that killed at least 67 people. The Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) said they destroyed a training camp used by the members of the al Shabaab Islamist group who attacked the Westgate Mall on September 21. A Kenyan drone strike killed two leading members of al Shabaab on Monday. "This was part of a broader mission by the AMISOM (the U.N.-backed African peacekeeping mission in Somalia), targeting where the Shabaab were training. Full Story | Top |
| Key U.S. senators strongly criticize Obama's Syria policy Thursday, Oct 31, 2013 12:32 PM PDT  By Patricia Zengerle WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic and Republican members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee strongly criticized the Obama administration on Thursday for lacking a plan to resolve the war in Syria. "I just don't get a sense that we have a strategy," said Democratic Senator Robert Menendez, the panel's chairman, during a contentious hearing on Syria policy. Noting the war's human cost and recent gains by President Bashar al-Assad's forces, several senators made clear their disappointment at the administration's failure to carry through with promises of military aid for the rebels. "I think our help to the opposition has been an embarrassment and I find it appalling you would sit here and act as if we're doing the things we said we'd do three months ago, six months ago, nine months ago," said Senator Bob Corker, the panel's top Republican. Full Story | Top |
| Murdoch editors Brooks, Coulson had affair, British hacking trial told Thursday, Oct 31, 2013 12:24 PM PDT By Kate Holton and Michael Holden LONDON (Reuters) - Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson, former editors of Rupert Murdoch's now-defunct News of the World tabloid, had a six-year affair at the time their reporters hacked phone messages of politicians and royalty, a London court heard on Thursday. Revealing their close ties, prosecutor Andrew Edis said the intimacy of their relationship indicated both knew as much as the other about the criminal activities of senior journalists on the paper. Brooks and Coulson are on trial accused of conspiring to hack into phones of high-profile public figures or those close to them and also making illegal payments to public officials, charges they deny. What effect did it have?" Edis told the court. Full Story | Top |
| Ethiopian opposition says members beaten, illegally detained Thursday, Oct 31, 2013 12:03 PM PDT By Aaron Maasho ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - An Ethiopian opposition group accused police and security officials of beating, illegally detaining and abducting more than 150 of its members between July and September this year. Addis Ababa, long seen by the West as a bulwark against militant Islam in the Horn of Africa, denies charges that it is quashing dissent. In a 39-page report launched on Thursday, the Unity for Democracy and Justice (UDJ) detailed what it said were "gruesome rights violations" committed against its supporters and members. "One hundred and fifty members and supporters of the party have been subject to severe beatings, illegal detentions and abductions by police and security officials," party chairman Negasso Gidada told reporters. Full Story | Top |
| Emerging economies nearing half of global warming emissions Thursday, Oct 31, 2013 11:50 AM PDT Total greenhouse gas emissions by China and other emerging nations since 1850 will surpass those of rich nations this decade, complicating U.N. talks about who is most to blame for global warming, a study showed on Thursday. Developing nations accounted for 48 percent of cumulative emissions from 1850 to 2010, according to the study by the PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, research group Ecofys and the European Commission's Joint Research Center. "Discussions at the U.N. climate negotiations tend to focus on which countries have contributed most to climate change," the study said. The biggest emitters since 1850, taken as the start of widespread industrial use of fossil fuels that emit greenhouse gases when burnt, were the United States, China, the European Union and Russia, it said. Full Story | Top |
| Bomb attacks across Iraq kill at least 16 Thursday, Oct 31, 2013 11:39 AM PDT Bombs exploded across Iraq on Wednesday, killing at least 16 people, police and medical sources said. It was not immediately clear who was behind the attacks, but Sunni Islamist militants including al Qaeda, have been regaining ground in Iraq, seeking to undermine the Shi'ite-led government. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki flew to the United States this week seeking military supplies to counter insurgents who have pushed the civilian death toll above 3,000 so far this year. In the latest violence, a suicide bomber blew himself up in a group of people who had gathered to assess the damage from two earlier blasts in the town of Tuz Khurmato, 170 km (100 miles) north of Baghdad, killing four people, police and medics said. Full Story | Top |
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