| | |
| Embattled Thai PM easily survives no-confidence vote Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 07:44 PM PST  By Amy Sawitta Lefevre BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand's embattled Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra on Thursday breezed through a no-confidence vote in parliament where her party holds a commanding majority, but faced mounting pressure from widening anti-government protests. AMNESTY BILL SPARKED PROTESTS The protests are all-too familiar in Thailand, which has seen eight years of on-off turmoil, from crippling street rallies to controversial judicial rulings and army intervention, each time with Thaksin at the centre of the tumult. Full Story | Top |
| Pope slams 'throwaway culture' that discards unemployed youth Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 07:32 PM PST  By Hugh Bronstein BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Pope Francis took on the issue of high youth unemployment in his first interview aired exclusively in his home country of Argentina on Wednesday, warning that today's "throwaway culture" had discarded a generation of young Europeans. A day after issuing an 84-page platform for his eight-month-old papacy that blasted unfettered capitalism as "a new tyranny," the pontiff used the interview aired on the TN TV channel to link high European unemployment to its twin problem of neglecting older people who are past their earning prime. "It's a throwaway culture that discards young people as well as its older people. In some European countries, without mentioning names, there is youth unemployment of 40 percent and higher," he added. Full Story | Top |
| Analysis: Enforcing rules in air zone will stretch China's air force and navy Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 07:14 PM PST  By Greg Torode and Adam Rose HONG KONG/BEIJING (Reuters) - China's military could struggle to cope with the demands for intensified surveillance and interception if it tries to enforce the rules in its new air defense zone over islands at the heart of a territorial dispute with Japan. Regional military analysts and diplomats said China's network of air defense radars, surveillance planes and fighter jets would be stretched by extensive patrols across its Air Defense Identification Zone, roughly two-thirds the size of Britain. But some noted that even limited action could still spark alarm across a nervous region - and serve China's desire to pressure Japan. China published the coordinates of its zone in the East China Sea over the weekend and warned it would take "defensive emergency measures" against aircraft that failed to identify themselves properly in the airspace. Full Story | Top |
| Japan mulls more than $100 million new spending on Fukushima water-crisis: sources Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 06:03 PM PST  Japan is considering more than $100 million in extra government spending to handle contaminated water at the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, boosting the budget allocation by at least a fifth, government officials familiar with the matter said. The additional budget allocation of between 10 billion and 15 billion yen ($98 million-$147 million) aims to accelerate work on containing leaks and decontaminating the water, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Dealing with contaminated water at the Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) facility represents only a tiny slice of the response to the Fukushima crisis, triggered by the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami, which caused reactor meltdowns. Of the original allocation for the water crisis, 21 billion yen would come from emergency reserve funds from the budget for the fiscal year to next March. Full Story | Top |
| Panama freeing most of North Korean crew in smuggled arms case Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 05:34 PM PST  By Lomi Kriel PANAMA CITY (Reuters) - Panama is freeing most of the 35 North Korean crew members it detained more than four months ago for smuggling Cuban weapons aboard a ship, a senior government official said on Wednesday. Tomas Cabal, head of the anti-terrorism section of Panama's Foreign Ministry, said 32 of the crew of the Chong Chon Gang would be freed and should leave the country by Thursday. The three most senior members, including the captain, still face charges of threatening Panama's security by seeking to move undeclared weapons through the Panama Canal. However, the state prosecutor for organized crime, Nathaniel Murgas, later told reporters that his office was still analyzing the North Korean authorities' request to release the men. Full Story | Top |
| Mali parliamentary vote inconclusive, heads for second round Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 04:59 PM PST  BAMAKO (Reuters) - Mali's three main political parties secured just 16 seats out of 147 available in the first round of a parliamentary election, provisional results showed on Wednesday. The election, which took place on Sunday amid low turnout and some voting abuses, was meant to complete the West African country's transition back to democracy after a coup last year led to an Islamist takeover of the north. Militants were later driven out by a French-led invasion but pockets of resistance have remained. The turnout in the election was 38. ... Full Story | Top |
| Dominican Republic breaks off Haiti talks over immigration ruling Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 04:58 PM PST  By Manuel Jimenez SANTO DOMINGO (Reuters) - The Dominican Republic broke off talks with Haiti on Wednesday and recalled its ambassador for consultations over a recent Dominican court ruling that could strip citizenship from more than 200,000 Haitian migrants, many of whom were born on Dominican soil. The two countries, which share the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, have been holding talks mediated by the Venezuelan government to resolve their differences over a September 23 ruling by the Dominican Republic's Constitutional Court. The Dominican government has come under intense international pressure over the ruling, with foreign leaders, United Nations agencies and human rights groups questioning its legal basis. Gustavo Montalvo, chief of staff to Dominican Republic President Danilo Medina, said in a statement the government will not participate in a meeting with Haitian officials scheduled to be held in Caracas on Saturday. Full Story | Top |
| U.N. calls for urgent help for Philippine farmers after typhoon Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 04:40 PM PST  Philippine farmers need urgent assistance to avoid a "double tragedy" befalling rural survivors of the typhoon that hit the country earlier this month, the United Nations' food agency said on Wednesday. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said more than $11 million is needed to help clean and clear agricultural land and de-silt irrigation canals in the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan, which killed at least 3,900 people when it struck on November 8. That is in addition to the $20 million already requested by FAO to help farmers fertilize, irrigate and maintain their crops to ensure the next harvests in 2014, the Rome-based agency said in a statement. Full Story | Top |
| Mali's ex-junta chief Sanogo in custody over kidnapping Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 04:17 PM PST  By Adama Diarra and Tiemoko Diallo BAMAKO (Reuters) - Mali's former junta chief, General Amadou Sanogo, has been detained and charged with complicity in kidnapping after being questioned by a judge on Wednesday, the government said on state television. Sanogo was taken into custody by soldiers earlier on Wednesday, the defense ministry said. "(A Bamako court) laid charges against Amadou Haya Sanogo who has been placed in custody," Mahamane Baby, spokesman for the government on state television said late on Wednesday. Mali's newly elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita is under pressure to restore the state's authority over the army, which overthrew President Amadou Toumani Toure last year, plunging the country into chaos. Full Story | Top |
| International court members agree on trial exceptions for top leaders Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 04:11 PM PST  By Thomas Escritt and Michelle Nichols AMSTERDAM/NEW YORK (Reuters) - The International Criminal Court's member states on Wednesday agreed to changes to the court's trial procedures that could help defuse tensions between the court and the African continent regarding the approaching trial of Kenya's president. Kenya and its African Union allies have been lobbying hard for the trial of Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta to be halted or postponed, saying the case threatens to destabilize the East African region. Kenyatta and his deputy, former political rival William Ruto, face charges of crimes against humanity relating to ethnic clashes after Kenya's 2007 elections, when 1,200 people died. Earlier this month, Kenya and the African Union failed in their bid to have the trials of Kenyatta and Ruto deferred by the U.N. Security Council for one year, leading some African leaders to urge Kenyatta to boycott his trial, which is due to start on February 5. Full Story | Top |
| EU leaders set for frosty dinner with Ukraine's Yanukovich Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 04:09 PM PST  By Luke Baker BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European leaders will come face-to-face with Viktor Yanukovich on Thursday for the first time since the Ukrainian president spurned their offer of a free-trade deal and decided to seek closer ties with Russia instead. In a meeting that promises to be one of the frostier moments of political theatre this year, Yanukovich plans to attend a dinner in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius to honor the Eastern Partnership, the EU's four-year-old program of outreach to former Soviet states. Ukraine had been expected to sign a far-reaching free-trade and political association deal with the EU at the Vilnius summit, the result of years of negotiation. But last week, following intense pressure from Moscow and growing concerns about Ukraine's dire economic situation, Yanukovich announced he wasn't ready to sign the EU deal yet and would bolster links with Russia. Full Story | Top |
| Mali's ex-junta chief Sanogo held in custody Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 03:56 PM PST  By Adama Diarra and Tiemoko Diallo BAMAKO (Reuters) - Mali's former junta chief, General Amadou Sanogo, has been detained after being questioned by a judge on Wednesday over what a senior judicial source said were accusations of post-coup violence by the army and financial crimes. The source said Sanogo had been charged with murder although this could not immediately be confirmed by Defence Minister Soumeylou Boubeye Maiga, who told Reuters he had been remanded in custody. Mali's newly elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita is under pressure to restore the state's authority over the army, which overthrew President Amadou Toumani Toure last year, plunging the West African country into chaos. A spokesman for the group of soldiers involved in last year's coup declined to comment on Sanogo's detention. Full Story | Top |
| Syrian opposition to attend Geneva peace conference Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 02:52 PM PST  By Michael Georgy CAIRO (Reuters) - The Syrian National Coalition opposition group will attend the long-delayed "Geneva 2" talks in January aimed at ending the country's civil war, the group's president, Ahmad Jarba, said on Wednesday. In an interview with Reuters and the Associated Press, he also said regional power Iran should only be allowed to attend if it stopped taking part in the bloodshed in Syria and withdrew its forces and proxies. It insists that President Bashar al-Assad can play no future role in Syria. "We are now ready to go to Geneva," Jarba said on a visit to Cairo, adding that the opposition viewed the Geneva talks as a step to a leadership transition and a "genuine democratic transformation in Syria". Full Story | Top |
| Heavy rain, snow in eastern U.S. thwarts some Thanksgiving travel Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 02:44 PM PST  A wintry blast of heavy rain, wind and snow across the eastern United States disrupted Thanksgiving travel plans on Wednesday for some of the millions of Americans hitting the roads and taking to the skies on the busiest holiday travel day of the year. While the travel delays were not as bad as many had feared, meteorologists warned that falling temperatures could create icy road conditions for those who put off travel until Wednesday night. The wintry weather caused around 265 flight cancellations and prompted delays at major airports along the East Coast, including Boston's Logan Airport and New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport and LaGuardia Airport, according to the FlightAware.com tracking site. Tim O'Heir, an audio professional working on a Broadway show in New York, said his flight home to Dallas from LaGuardia Airport was delayed by two hours. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. affirms support for Japan in islands dispute with China Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 02:21 PM PST By Mark Felsenthal and David Alexander WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States pledged support for ally Japan on Wednesday in a growing dispute with China over islands in the East China Sea and senior U.S. administration officials accused Beijing of behavior that had unsettled its neighbors. U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel assured his Japanese counterpart in a phone call that the two nations' defense pact covered the small islands where China established a new airspace defense zone last week and commended Tokyo "for exercising appropriate restraint," a Pentagon spokesman said. China's declaration raised the stakes in a territorial standoff between Beijing and Tokyo over the area, which includes the tiny uninhabited islands known as the Senkaku in Japan and the Diaoyu in China. Full Story | Top |
| Analysis: High-ethanol gas - Not coming to a pump near you Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 02:16 PM PST  By Michael Hirtzer CHICAGO (Reuters) - A month ago, Steve Walk was on the brink of deals to sell two big oil refiners some of his company's specialized oil pumps, which serve up fuel that is 85 percent ethanol, a biofuel made mostly from corn. Walk's company, Protec Fuel, sells and installs the equipment needed to dispense so-called E85. The number of stations across the United States dispensing E85, which is a rarity despite the growing use of biofuels, would have jumped by 10 percent. But those deals are on hold after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's proposal earlier this month to slash the minimum volume of ethanol to be used in the country's gasoline supply next year. Full Story | Top |
| Kerry to visit Middle East, Moldova and attend NATO talks Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 01:52 PM PST  U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will travel to Jerusalem and Ramallah next week to discuss Israeli-Palestinian peace and to consult Israeli officials about Iran, the State Department said on Wednesday. During his trip from December 3 to December 6, Kerry will attend an annual meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels and will become the first secretary of State to visit Moldova in more than two decades. Kerry had planned to visit Israel last week but postponed the trip and traveled instead to Geneva, where six major powers and Iran reached an interim agreement that would constrain the Iranian nuclear program in return for limited sanctions relief. The agreement has drawn sharp criticism from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who described it as a "historic mistake" and expressed fears that the lifting of some sanctions would make it easier for Tehran to pursue a covert nuclear weapons program. Full Story | Top |
| France to secure routes, population hubs in Central African mission Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 01:44 PM PST  By John Irish PARIS (Reuters) - A planned French intervention backing regional troops in Central African Republic will focus first on securing key trade routes and population hubs to stop "acts of revenge", a French defense ministry source said on Wednesday. France is preparing to increase its force in its anarchic former colony to at least 1,000 soldiers once a United Nations resolution is passed next week to try to prevent sectarian violence from destabilizing the wider region. The landlocked mineral-rich nation of 4.6 million people at the heart of Africa has descended into chaos since the Seleka coalition of rebels, many of them from neighboring Chad and Sudan, ousted President Francois Bozize in March. Seleka leader Michel Djotodia, installed as an interim president, has failed to control his mostly Muslim fighters, who have preyed upon the mainly Christian population, unleashing a wave of tit-for-tat killings. Full Story | Top |
| Egypt's interim president to decide on voting system Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 01:00 PM PST  An assembly amending Egypt's constitution has left it to the army-backed interim president to decide on the voting system to be used in a parliamentary poll next year, state news agency MENA said on Wednesday. Egypt's political transition has stumbled since a popular uprising ousted Hosni Mubarak in 2011. In July the army deposed Islamist President Mohamed Mursi after big protests against him. A referendum on the amended constitution is due in December, an important step in the interim government's roadmap that it says will lead to parliamentary and presidential elections. Full Story | Top |
| Rivals look on China's new security body with hope, and caution Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 12:26 PM PST  By Greg Torode HONG KONG (Reuters) - When Chinese leader Xi Jinping met U.S. President Barack Obama at the "Sunnylands Summit" in California in June, Xi's aides peppered their American counterparts with questions about the inner workings of the National Security Council (NSC) in the White House. Just months later, Xi has announced the creation of a Chinese version of the body, to be called the national security commission, and said it was a "top priority". Amid growing maritime tensions with neighboring nations and increasing rivalry with the United States, this commission would increase coordination among the various wings of China's security apparatus, split now among the police, military, intelligence and diplomatic services. Diplomats and officials in Japan, India and the United States are hoping that when the body is fully set up, it would dial down tensions over various flashpoints, including territorial disputes in the East China and South China Seas. Full Story | Top |
| Iran says to continue building at Arak nuclear site despite deal Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 12:20 PM PST Iran will pursue construction at the Arak heavy-water reactor, Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif was quoted as saying on Wednesday, despite a deal with world powers to shelve a project they fear could yield plutonium for atomic bombs. France, one of the six powers that negotiated Sunday's landmark initial accord with Iran to curb its disputed nuclear program, said in response to Zarif's statement that Tehran had to stick to what was agreed in the Geneva talks. The uncompleted research reactor emerged as one of several big stumbling blocks in the marathon negotiations, in which Iran agreed to restrain its atomic activities for six months in return for limited sanctions relief. Iran says it would produce medical isotopes only. Full Story | Top |
| Bahamas seeks talks with Haiti after deadly migrant voyage Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 12:13 PM PST  By Neil Hartnell NASSAU, Bahamas (Reuters) - The Bahamas government on Wednesday called for urgent talks with Haiti and other nations in a bid to discourage illegal migrant voyages like the one this week that ended with 30 Haitians believed to have died when their boat capsized. "This is a human tragedy," Bahamas Foreign Minister Fred Mitchell said. "The government is seeking to hold urgent talks with all the surrounding stakeholders and governments within the next few days with a view again to taking additional measures to discourage the smuggling of human beings through Bahamian waters." About 30 Haitian migrants are believed to have died when their overcrowded wooden sailboat ran aground in the Atlantic Ocean and capsized on Monday night near Staniel Cay, part of the Exuma group of islands in the central Bahamas. Others climbed the mast or made it into life rafts dropped to them from Coast Guard planes and helicopters. Full Story | Top |
| Berlusconi expelled from Italian parliament over tax fraud Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 11:49 AM PST By Roberto Landucci and Catherine Hornby ROME (Reuters) - The Italian Senate expelled former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi over his tax fraud conviction on Wednesday, humiliating the veteran center-right leader who vowed to continue leading his party from outside parliament. The Senate vote, after months of wrangling and delay, opens an uncertain phase for Italy, with the 77-year-old media billionaire now apparently in the twilight of his political career but prepared to use all his resources to disrupt Prime Minister Enrico Letta's coalition government. "We are here on a bitter day, a day of mourning for democracy," Berlusconi told supporters from his Forza Italia party in front of his central Rome residence as the Senate voted a short distance away. Berlusconi, who has dominated Italian politics for two decades, had already pulled his party out of Letta's coalition after seven months in government, accusing left wing opponents of staging a "coup d'etat" to eliminate him. Full Story | Top |
| Factbox: Trials involving Silvio Berlusconi Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 11:44 AM PST By Naomi O'Leary ROME (Reuters) - The Italian Senate expelled Silvio Berlusconi over a tax fraud conviction on Wednesday, stripping him of parliamentary immunity and opening the possibility of his arrest in other cases. Here are some of the legal cases involving the center-right leader: * THE MEDIASET CASE - In August Italy's Supreme Court confirmed a conviction and jail sentence against Berlusconi for tax fraud, his first definitive conviction. Berlusconi will probably begin this in 2014. - The Senate expelled Berlusconi over his conviction on November 27. Full Story | Top |
| Libya's power production at 'lowest level' due to protests: minister Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 11:23 AM PST Libya's power production has hit a low due to protests by members of two minority groups stopping gas and petrol supplies getting to electricity plants in the west of the OPEC producer, the electricity minister said on Wednesday. Militias, tribesmen and civil servants demanding more political rights or higher pay have seized most oilfields and ports, bringing crude exports to a fraction of their capacity. In another escalation, members of the Amazigh and Tibu, two minorities complaining of political marginalization, have staged protests hampering power stations in western Libya, the minister, Ali Muhairig, told reporters. "Power production has fallen to what is considered to be the lowest level," he said, putting output at around 4,600 megawatt - less than the almost 6,000 megawatt measured in summer when output traditionally comes under pressure due to rising demand for air-conditioning units. Full Story | Top |
| Libya struggles to pay salaries, more clashes erupt Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 11:23 AM PST  By Ulf Laessing and Ayman al-Warfalli TRIPOLI/BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) - Libya's Prime Minister Ali Zeidan said on Wednesday his government will be unable to pay public salaries and may have to seek loans if armed militias blockading oilfields and ports continue to choke off crude shipments. Zeidan's warning and renewed armed clashes, including an attack on a centuries-old shrine near Tripoli, have added to a growing sense of chaos in the OPEC producer two years after the NATO-backed ouster of Muammar Gaddafi. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. tells airlines to take precautions over East China Sea Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 11:21 AM PST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States said on Wednesday it had advised U.S. airlines to take necessary steps to operate safely over the East China Sea as tensions between ally Japan and China increase over new airspace defense zone rules imposed by Beijing. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the United States was trying to determine whether the new rules, which require airplanes flying near contested islands to identify themselves to Chinese authorities, apply to commercial airlines in addition to military aircraft. ... Full Story | Top |
| UK clashes with EU over plan to curb migrant benefits Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 10:43 AM PST  By Andrew Osborn LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister David Cameron unveiled plans to limit European Union migrants' access to welfare in Britain and said he wanted eventually to restrict migrants from poorer EU states relocating to richer ones, stirring a row with the European Commission. Cameron's Conservatives risk seeing their vote split at European elections next year and at a national election in 2015 by the anti-immigration UK Independence Party (UKIP) and he is under pressure from his own party to get tough on the issue. "We need to face the fact that free movement has become a trigger for vast population movements caused by huge disparities in income. That is extracting talent out of countries that need to retain their best people and placing pressure on communities." Cameron said he planned to change British law so that new EU migrants would have to wait three months before they could obtain unemployment benefits. Full Story | Top |
| FARC peace may cut Colombia cocaine, but synthetic drugs new scourge Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 10:38 AM PST  By Helen Murphy and Luis Jaime Acosta BOGOTA (Reuters) - A peace deal between FARC rebels and the Colombian government would greatly help cut cocaine production in Colombia, but officials fear new crime gangs could fill the gap while anti-narcotics police fight a new scourge: synthetic drugs. As government and FARC negotiators in Havana begin discussing illicit drugs - the third item on a five-point peace agenda - anti-narcotics police chief General Ricardo Restrepo said Colombia had warned the world about the growing risk. Full Story | Top |
| Libya will be unable to pay salaries if oil strikes continue: PM Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 10:17 AM PST TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Libya will be unable to pay public salaries and might have to borrow to meet its budget obligations if strikes blocking oil exports continue, Prime Minister Ali Zeidan said on Wednesday. "We are facing a financial crisis," Zeidan told reporters. "Oil revenues are down to 20 percent (of previous levels)." (Reporting by Ulf Laessing; Editing by Patrick Graham) Full Story | Top |
| Witness-tampering charges could derail Bemba war crimes trial Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 10:15 AM PST  By Thomas Escritt AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - A lawyer for former Congo vice-president and war crimes suspect Jean-Pierre Bemba went on trial himself on Wednesday on charges of colluding with his client and three others to mislead the court with forged documents and bribed witnesses. Aimé Kilolo Musamba, a Belgian citizen, was arrested in Belgium on an ICC arrest warrant on Saturday, along with three other people alleged to have conspired with Bemba to bribe witnesses and knowingly provide false evidence to the court. They included Jean-Jacques Mangenda Kabongo, another member of Bemba's legal team, who was arrested in the Netherlands, Congolese politician Fidele Babala Wandu, and Narcisse Arido, a defense witness. Full Story | Top |
| Kenyan president vetoes 'unconstitutional' media law Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 09:44 AM PST  Kenya's president vetoed a bill on Wednesday that would have imposed fines and restrictions on journalists, saying it was unconstitutional, the first time he has used his power to reject legislation. A day later, President Uhuru Kenyatta, told journalists he would make sure their rights were protected and on Wednesday he sent the bill back to parliament, his office said. The bill set up a tribunal that would have drawn up and enforced a code of conduct for journalists. Breaking that code would have left reporters facing fines of up to 1 million Kenyan shillings ($11,500) - or 20 million shillings for media outlets. Full Story | Top |
| Analysis: Reversible Iran deal puts more pressure on final talks Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 09:36 AM PST  By Fredrik Dahl VIENNA (Reuters) - By dropping earlier demands that Iran shut down an underground uranium enrichment plant and ship material out of the country as part of a preliminary deal, nuclear negotiators have kicked some of the toughest questions forward to talks for the next year. The curbs to its nuclear program that Iran agreed to on Sunday are easier to reverse than measures that were previously called for by the six global powers seeking to prevent Tehran from developing an atomic bomb, experts say. But supporters say the compromise was necessary to halt Iran's nuclear advances so that the real bargaining could begin, and should help keep both sides focused on the final negotiations which lie ahead. A senior Western diplomat acknowledged that Iran could resume its most controversial activity - production of 20 percent enriched uranium - if it should decide to abandon the deal or if final talks fail. Full Story | Top |
| Egypt orders arrest of two symbols of anti-Mubarak revolt Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 09:05 AM PST  By Yasmine Saleh CAIRO (Reuters) - Two Egyptian pro-democracy campaigners renowned for their role in the popular uprising that ousted Hosni Mubarak are to be arrested for inciting protests, a source in the prosecutor's office said on Wednesday. The arrest orders for Ahmed Maher, head of the April 6 youth movement, and Alaa Abdel Fattah were issued a day after they joined demonstrations outside parliament in defiance of a law passed by the army-backed government on Sunday to curb protests. Scuffles broke out on Wednesday between protesters and security forces in the northern port city of Alexandria during a demonstration against the new law and against the arrest of 24 activists on Tuesday, the state news agency MENA said. Rocks were thrown back and forth and security forces used teargas to try and disperse the crowd, it said. Full Story | Top |
| Mali's ex-junta chief remanded in custody after questioning: government Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 08:50 AM PST  BAMAKO (Reuters) - Mali's former military chief, General Amadou Sanogo, has been remanded in custody after he was questioned by a judge on Wednesday, Mali's Defense Minister Soumeylou Boubeye Maiga said. A senior judicial source said Sanogo had been charged with murder. It was not immediately possible to confirm the information. (Reporting by Tiemoko Diallo; Writing by David Lewis; Editing by Alison Williams) Full Story | Top |
| EU executive to Britain: Freedom of movement rules 'non-negotiable' Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 08:41 AM PST  The European Commission told Britain on Wednesday that European Union freedom of movement rules were non-negotiable and that London had to accept them if it wanted to remain in the bloc's single market. "Free movement is non-negotiable," Viviane Reding, vice-president of the EU executive told Reuters when asked about plans by Prime Minister David Cameron to impose tighter controls on migrants from Romania and Bulgaria and to try to restrict freedom of movement rules for poorer EU states. "If Britain wants to leave the single market, you should say so. Full Story | Top |
| Mississippi River reopens after fuel spill, cleanup continues Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 08:39 AM PST (Reuters) - The upper Mississippi River reopened to vessel traffic near Le Claire, Iowa, late on Tuesday following a day-long closure triggered by a fuel leak from a tow boat that struck an underwater object and sank, the U.S. Coast Guard said on Wednesday. The river, which was closed late Monday from mile marker 493 to 501 about 15 miles upriver from Davenport, Iowa, reopened at about 6:00 p.m. CST (midnight GMT) on Tuesday. The tow boat Stephen L. Colby remains partially submerged near the shoreline. Cleanup and salvage operations are ongoing, the Coast Guard said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Execution-style sectarian killings on upswing in Iraq Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 08:20 AM PST  By Kareem Raheem BAGHDAD, Iraq (Reuters) - Police found the bodies of 13 people around Baghdad on Wednesday, the apparent victims of execution-style shootings that recalled the height of Iraq's sectarian slaughter. This year has been Iraq's most violent since the Sunni-Shi'ite bloodbath of 2006-07, now with a resurgence of sectarian killings as well as a growing insurgent campaign of bomb and gun attacks targeting security forces and civilians. Police retrieved the corpses of eight men, blindfolded and handcuffed, in the mainly Sunni Muslim area of Arab Jubbor, south of Baghdad, on Wednesday. ... Full Story | Top |
| Britain's Cameron dismisses Scotland's independence plans Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 08:15 AM PST  By Peter Griffiths LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister David Cameron on Wednesday dismissed the Scottish government's vision of how the country would look if it votes for independence next year, accusing nationalists of ducking the biggest policy questions. Speaking in the UK parliament in London, Cameron said the 670-page blueprint for independence lacked credibility and failed to give detailed answers about an independent Scotland's future currency or its role in the European Union and NATO. "We were just left (with) a huge set of questions." Britain's three main UK-wide political parties oppose Scotland's independence, arguing that the country of 5 million people would be less prosperous and less secure on its own. Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond, leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP), which dominates the devolved Scottish parliament, says it could thrive if it took the historic step. Full Story | Top |
| Angola police block march to opposition funeral Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 08:04 AM PST Manuel Ganga, a member of Angola's second-biggest opposition party, CASA-CE, was killed after being detained for putting up posters about the kidnap and suspected murder of two activists in May 2012. The killing came just hours before police used teargas to disperse the biggest demonstration against long-serving President Jose Eduardo dos Santos since the end of a civil war in 2002 in Africa's second-biggest oil producer. It is unacceptable, as we had yesterday coordinated with police that we would hold a peaceful funeral march, but it was the police who blocked us," CASA-CE leader Abel Chivukuvuku told reporters. Opposition parties and international rights groups have long accused Dos Santos of suppressing rights and using violence to block dissent during his 34 years in power, but analysts say Saturday's events could yet cause him problems. Full Story | Top |
|
No comments:
Post a Comment