| | |
| China paves way to charge ally of former security tsar in graft crackdown Thursday, Feb 27, 2014 08:00 PM PST  A former vice minister of public security and ally of China's retired domestic security chief, Zhou Yongkang, has resigned from his position as a national lawmaker, state media said, possibly opening the way for criminal charges against him. Li Dongsheng was formally sacked this week after being suspended last December for suspected "serious discipline violations", a term normally used to refer to corruption. China's parliament - whose annual session opens in Beijing next week - has accepted Li's resignation as a member of parliament for southwestern Sichuan province, the official Xinhua news agency said late on Thursday. Li joined the Public Security Ministry in 2009, having previously served as a deputy propaganda minister, and helped oversee security for the 2010 Asian Games in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou, according to state media. Full Story | Top |
| China's turbulent Xinjiang weighs anti-terror laws for the first time Thursday, Feb 27, 2014 07:49 PM PST  China's restive far western region of Xinjiang is considering drafting anti-terror laws for the first time, following a string of deadly incidents, a state-run newspaper said on Friday. Authorities are keen to clamp down on unrest that has killed more than 100 people during the past year in the resource-rich region, where tensions have long simmered between a large Muslim Uighur minority and growing numbers of ethnic Han Chinese. Work on the anti-terror law is planned to start this year, although finalizing a draft may take several years, legislative official Bo Xiao told the China Daily. China uses its Criminal Law to tackle what it calls terror-related crimes in Xinjiang, but regional officials consider this inadequate for some cases. Full Story | Top |
| Armed standoff in pro-Russian region raises Ukraine tension Thursday, Feb 27, 2014 07:33 PM PST  By Alessandra Prentice and Alissa de Carbonnel SIMFEROPOL, Ukraine (Reuters) - The United States told Russia to demonstrate in coming days that it was sincere about its promise not to intervene in Ukraine as armed men stormed the regional parliament and hours later others seized the airport in a mainly ethnic Russian region. Crimea, the only Ukrainian region with an ethnic Russian majority, is the last big bastion of opposition to the new leadership in Kiev since pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovich was ousted at the weekend. Full Story | Top |
| Carnival holiday may take heat out of Venezuela crisis Thursday, Feb 27, 2014 07:21 PM PST  By Andrew Cawthorne and Daniel Wallis CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelans began a week-long national holiday on Thursday as some protests still simmered, but President Nicolas Maduro's government was hoping the break would take the heat out of the nation's worst unrest in a decade. The 51-year-old successor to Hugo Chavez brought forward by two days a long national holiday weekend for Carnival when Venezuelans traditionally abandon cities and head for Caribbean coast beaches to unwind and party. In the capital Caracas, which has seen most of the at least 13 fatalities from this month's unrest, opposition supporters gathered in wealthy eastern neighborhoods. In familiar scenes from the last two weeks, when one group of demonstrators tried to block a major six-lane highway that runs nearby, security forces fired teargas to disperse them. Full Story | Top |
| Protests, barricades bring Venezuela's 'Cordial City' to a halt Thursday, Feb 27, 2014 07:21 PM PST By Brian Ellsworth SAN CRISTOBAL, Venezuela (Reuters) - Piles of glass, a trashed refrigerator and the burned remains of a car litter the streets of the Pirineos neighborhood in the Venezuelan city of San Cristobal, giving it the look of a community under siege. In fact, the residents of this middle-class area have created the disorder themselves as part of anti-government protests demanding President Nicolas Maduro resign. The sporadic demonstrations that kicked off two months ago in San Cristobal have turned into a national opposition protest movement and shuttered this city of 250,000 known as the "Cordial City" for its residents' reserved Andean chivalry. Protesters say this western region of Venezuela near the Colombian border, the tail end of the Andes mountains before they drop off toward the Caribbean, suffers some of the worst of the country's rampant crime and most severe product shortages. Full Story | Top |
| Armed men seize main regional airport in Ukraine's Crimea: Interfax Thursday, Feb 27, 2014 06:55 PM PST A group of armed men in military uniforms have seized the main regional airport in Simferopol, Crimea, Interfax news agency said early on Friday. The agency quoted eyewitnesses as saying that about 50 armed men, dressed in uniforms that bore no designated marks, arrived at the airport in three trucks and took it over. The agency said separately a group of people had headed towards the airport, some of them carrying the ensign of the Russian navy. Full Story | Top |
| Thai anti-govt protesters target PM again despite hint of talks Thursday, Feb 27, 2014 06:40 PM PST  Protesters in Thailand said they will rally at ministries and companies linked to Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra on Friday, keeping up pressure on her to resign despite a vague proposal of talks from their leader. The protesters have blocked big intersections in the capital, Bangkok, since mid-January and forced many ministries to close as part of a four-month campaign to push out Yingluck and eradicate the political influence of her brother, ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra, seen as the real power in Thailand. However, in a speech to supporters late on Thursday, Suthep showed his more combative side, directly blaming Yingluck for two attacks on protesters at the weekend in which five people were killed, including four children. Full Story | Top |
| Brazil's top court overturns some convictions in political corruption case Thursday, Feb 27, 2014 06:18 PM PST Brazil's Supreme Court overturned racketeering convictions against former leaders of the ruling Workers Party on Thursday, reducing their prison sentences in the country's biggest political corruption case. The 6-5 ruling does not affect other convictions for corruption and money-laundering in the congressional vote-buying scandal that almost toppled party leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva from the presidency in 2005. "This is a sad day for this Supreme Court," said a disheartened Chief Justice Joaquim Barbosa, who became a household name in Brazil for his pursuit of convictions in the so-called mensalao, or big monthly payments, case. Full Story | Top |
| Syria says two attempted attacks on chemical weapons convoys: U.N. Thursday, Feb 27, 2014 04:52 PM PST  By Michelle Nichols and Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - There were two attempted attacks on Syrian convoys transporting chemical weapons late last month, Syrian authorities told the international mission overseeing the removal and destruction of its toxic arsenal, according to a U.N. report on Thursday. The monthly report to the U.N. Security Council of the joint mission of the United Nations and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said the attempted attacks were on January 27. "In addition, Syrian authorities indicated that ongoing military activities rendered two sites inaccessible during most of the reporting period," the five-page report said. This delayed "in-country destruction of the final quantities of isopropanol, preventing some activities to consolidate chemical material into a reduced number of locations, and preventing the physical verification of chemical material prior to movement on 27 January 2014." Isopropanol is one of two key ingredients for sarin. Full Story | Top |
| Mexican president 'indignant' at U.S. deportations Thursday, Feb 27, 2014 04:34 PM PST  By Julia Symmes Cobb MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto said he is "indignant" at the United States' deportation of Mexican migrants and described U.S. lawmakers as demonstrating a "lack of conscience" in failing to pass immigration reform. In a television interview aired late on Wednesday Pena Nieto said he and U.S. President Barack Obama discussed the issue during their meeting at a North American leaders' summit held last week in Mexico. His emboldened comments to U.S. Spanish language channel Univision followed days after his administration announced it had captured Mexico's most wanted man, drug lord Joaquin "Shorty" Guzman. Pena Nieto has said any extradition of Guzman to the United States is likely to take time, underscoring the fact the drug lord still has outstanding time to serve in Mexico after a daring 2001 jail break, reportedly in a laundry cart. Full Story | Top |
| Russian spy ship makes surprise visit to Havana Thursday, Feb 27, 2014 04:17 PM PST By Rosa Tania Valdés HAVANA (Reuters) - A Russian spy ship slipped into Havana Bay for an unannounced visit during a period of turmoil in Ukraine and displays of military strength elsewhere in the world. The Viktor Leonov SSV-175, part of the Vishnya class of intelligence ships, quietly entered Cuban waters earlier this week and was docked at a cruise ship terminal on Thursday, its crew casually taking in the view of the old colonial section of the Cuban capital as passers-by gawked. Russian warships have come and gone in Cuba since the collapse of the Soviet Union, usually with much publicity and the opportunity for Cubans to visit the ship. Russia has been stung by recent unrest in Ukraine, where a pro-Russian government was ousted in favor of one seeking an alliance with the West, and where Russia has a major naval base near Sevastopol on the Black Sea. Full Story | Top |
| Group offers plan to meet new EPA power plant emission rules Thursday, Feb 27, 2014 04:16 PM PST By Valerie Volcovici WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Swapping power generated from the dirtiest coal plants with that from under-used natural gas plants would help U.S. states meet new regulations for greenhouse gas emissions, according to a plan released by an environmental group on Thursday. The proposal by the Boston-based Clean Air Task Force (CATF) is the latest to be presented as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency prepares new emissions standards for existing power plants, due for release on June 1. President Barack Obama last June directed the EPA to propose the national standards to lower carbon emissions that states could meet through their own tailored plans. Full Story | Top |
| Dissident warns China sending spies to U.S. in scholarly guise Thursday, Feb 27, 2014 04:09 PM PST By David Brunnstrom WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A prominent Chinese dissident who moved to the United States after being fired by Peking University last year warned on Thursday of the dangers of academic exchanges with China, saying Beijing sent spies as visiting scholars. Xia Yeliang, an economics professor, was expelled from Peking University in October amid a broader crackdown on dissent, having drawn the ire of school officials for blog posts calling for democratic reforms and rule of law in China. At his first public event at the think tank, Xia said that the fact so many high-ranking Chinese officials sent their children to study abroad showed a lack of trust in China's own education system and a desire to "borrow the good fame and name" from prestigious U.S. universities such as Harvard and Stanford. "I just have the warning for all those top universities in the U.S.A.: you think you've got some benefits through cooperation with China, but who will win in the future? Full Story | Top |
| World Bank postpones Uganda loan over anti-gay law Thursday, Feb 27, 2014 03:50 PM PST  By Anna Yukhananov WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The World Bank on Thursday postponed a $90 million loan to Uganda's health system over a law that toughened punishment for gays, an unusual move for an institution that typically avoids wading into politics. "We have postponed the project for further review to ensure that the development objectives would not be adversely affected by the enactment of this new law," World Bank spokesman David Theis said in an email. Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni signed an anti-gay bill earlier this week that strengthens already strict laws against homosexuals by imposing a life sentence for certain violations and making it a crime to not report anyone who breaks the law. The World Bank, a poverty-fighting institution based in Washington, usually refrains from getting involved in countries' internal politics or in issues such as gay rights to avoid antagonizing any of its 188 member countries. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. Navy eyes greater presence in Arctic from 2025 Thursday, Feb 27, 2014 03:36 PM PST  We don't think we're going to have to do war-fighting up there, but we have to be ready," said Rear Admiral Jonathan White, the Navy's top oceanographer and navigator, and director of the Navy's climate change task force. The Navy this week released an "aggressive" update to its 2009 Arctic road map after a detailed analysis of data from a variety of sources showed that seasonal ice is disappearing faster than had been expected even three years ago. It also puts a big focus on cooperation with other Arctic nations and with the U.S. Coast Guard, which is grappling with the need to build a new $1 billion ice-breaking ship. The Navy is conducting a submarine exercise in the Arctic next month, and plans to participate in a joint training exercise with the Norwegian and Russian military this summer. Full Story | Top |
| Colombia ELN rebels admit attack on leftist candidate, apologize Thursday, Feb 27, 2014 02:04 PM PST  The National Liberation Army, Colombia's second-biggest guerrilla group, admitted on Thursday it was behind an attack last weekend on a leftist presidential candidate but said it was returning fire after being shot at first. A convoy carrying Aida Avella, 65, a contender from the Patriotic Union party, came under fire on Sunday as it traveled on a dirt road in the cattle-ranching and oil-rich northeastern province of Arauca, where rebels of the ELN have a strong presence. "We deeply regret the incident and apologize to the candidate Aida Avella. Avella represents UP, a party founded in 1985 after a failed peace process brokered by then-President Belisario Betancur with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, a Marxist rebel group. Full Story | Top |
| Exiled former Cuban rebel who broke with Castro dead at 95 Thursday, Feb 27, 2014 01:30 PM PST Huber Matos, a former Cuban revolutionary who fought alongside Fidel Castro, but later turned against him and was jailed before going into exile, died in Miami early Thursday aged 95. The day before he died Matos spoke to supporters in Cuba, the statement said, adding that his last words were: "The struggle continues, long live a free Cuba." Matos supported the Castro revolution against Fulgencio Batista in the 1950s, flying weapons to Cuba from Costa Rica before joining Castro's Rebel Army in the Sierra Maestra mountains. Sentenced to 20 years in jail, he was released in 1979 and returned to Costa Rica to join his wife and children, before moving to Miami. Full Story | Top |
| Bright prospects? China's rooftop solar goal looks too ambitious Thursday, Feb 27, 2014 01:21 PM PST  Beijing's goal of tripling solar power from small-scale operations such as rooftop panels looks overly ambitious, risking disappointment for investors who have bid up shares in Chinese solar panel makers in the past year. China has a target of installing 14.5 gigawatts (GW) of solar generating capacity this year - close to Finland's entire power capacity. The aim is to redress an imbalance caused by a glut of large solar farms in China's vast western region, where there is plenty of sunshine but not enough infrastructure to harness and transmit the power to the densely populated south and east. But unless China promises bigger subsidies and financing support, and streamlines the process of acquiring rooftop rights, companies say the rooftop installations just aren't worth it. Full Story | Top |
| Baghdad motorbike blast, other attacks kill 52 in Iraq Thursday, Feb 27, 2014 01:14 PM PST  By Kareem Raheem BAGHDAD (Reuters) - At least 52 people were killed Wednesday as a motorcycle rigged with explosives detonated in Baghdad's Sadr City and militants targeted mostly Shi'ite neighborhoods around the country. Blood covered the ground, storefront windows were shattered and shoes and motorcycle parts were strewn around the market, according to a Reuters correspondent at the scene. "I was hit in my face and my hands and when I got up, everyone was screaming and running towards me away from the blast." It was not clear who was behind the bombing but violence against Shi'ites is often blamed on the Sunni Muslim Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), an al Qaeda-linked group. Baghdad has been hit by wave after wave of bombings since April as the precarious peace enjoyed since the end of Iraq's sectarian war in 2008 has unraveled. Full Story | Top |
| Global warming slowdown likely to be brief: U.S., UK science bodies Thursday, Feb 27, 2014 12:58 PM PST  By Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent OSLO (Reuters) - A slowdown in the pace of global warming so far this century is likely to be only a pause in a longer-term trend of rising temperatures, the science academies of the United States and Britain said on Thursday. Since an exceptionally warm 1998, there has been "a short-term slowdown in the warming of Earth's surface," Britain's Royal Society and the U.S. National Academy of Sciences said in a report. But, they said, that "does not invalidate our understanding of long-term changes in global temperature arising from human-induced changes in greenhouse gases." The warming slowdown has emboldened those who question the evidence about climate change and ask whether a shift in investments towards renewable energies such as wind and solar power, advocated by many experts, is really needed. A build-up of greenhouse gases from human activities, mainly the burning of fossil fuels, is warming the atmosphere and the oceans, raising sea levels and melting Arctic ice, the report said, supporting the long-held view of a U.N. panel of climate scientists. Full Story | Top |
| Kerry urges Russia to join U.S., allies in helping Ukraine Thursday, Feb 27, 2014 12:56 PM PST U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry urged Russia on Thursday to join the United States and allies in stabilizing Ukraine and said he would watch closely whether Moscow keeps its word not to interfere in the internal affairs of the former Soviet republic. Kerry's comments came as Ukraine warned Russia about troop movements after armed men seized the parliament in Ukraine's Crime region and raised the Russian flag. Kerry said he spoke by phone on Thursday to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who reaffirmed earlier statements by President Vladimir Putin that Moscow would respect the territorial integrity of Ukraine. Lavrov also underscored that Russian military exercises on the border of Ukraine were previously scheduled and not related to events in Ukraine, Kerry added. Full Story | Top |
| Cyprus parliament rejects state sell-offs required for aid Thursday, Feb 27, 2014 12:32 PM PST  By Michele Kambas NICOSIA (Reuters) - International aid to cash-starved Cyprus was thrown into turmoil on Thursday after its parliament rejected a privatization plan, throwing into disarray the disbursement of a new tranche of financial assistance next month. The rejection dealt an unexpected setback to an administration that has gained plaudits in three reviews from its borrowers, the International Monetary Fund and the European Union, for meeting bailout commitments. Earlier, hundreds of workers at corporations facing privatization staged an angry protest outside parliament. Thursday's vote carried overtones of a chaotic bailout almost a year ago, when the parliament rejected terms for international aid, rendering the loan conditions significantly worse days later. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. cites crackdowns on protestors, gays in global rights report Thursday, Feb 27, 2014 12:17 PM PST  By Susan Heavey WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Thursday expressed growing concern about government crackdowns on peaceful protest and persecution of gays in a number of countries in its annual review of global human rights. The State Department report highlighted conflicts in Syria, Ukraine, Turkey, Vietnam, Egypt and other countries where military forces have used violence and political repression to target protesters demanding their rights. "The year 2013 may well be known for some of the egregious atrocities in recent memory," U.S. State Department's Acting Assistant Secretary Uzra Zeya told reporters. She referred in particular to a chemical weapons attack in Syria that killed over 1,000 people, and torture and detentions in North Korea. Full Story | Top |
| NATO, Russia moving ahead with talks on Syria chemical arms mission-U.S Thursday, Feb 27, 2014 12:12 PM PST  By Adrian Croft BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Talks between NATO and Russia on a possible joint mission to protect a U.S. ship that will destroy Syria's deadliest chemical weapons are moving ahead despite tensions over Ukraine, a top U.S. commander said on Thursday. U.S. Air Force General Philip Breedlove, commander of U.S. forces in Europe, said NATO and Russia were discussing a possible joint naval operation in the Mediterranean to protect the U.S. cargo ship Cape Ray due to destroy Syria's toxins. Full Story | Top |
| Iran says nuclear program to stay 'intact' Thursday, Feb 27, 2014 12:04 PM PST  Iran is willing to address international concerns about its atomic activities but will keep its nuclear program "intact", not close it down, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Thursday. His remarks signaled that Tehran will not agree to dismantle any of its atomic facilities in talks with six world powers on a final settlement of the decade-old dispute over its nuclear activity. By late July, Western governments hope to hammer out an accord that would lay to rest their suspicions that Iran is seeking the capability to make a nuclear bomb, an aim it denies, while Tehran wants a lifting of economic sanctions. "And I can assure you that Iran has that political will and good faith that is required in order to achieve that." However, he also said there was a "problem in terms of both substance and approach", apparently referring to the other side in the talks. Full Story | Top |
| British spy agency collected images of Yahoo webcam chats: Guardian Thursday, Feb 27, 2014 11:59 AM PST  By Julia Fioretti LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's spy agency GCHQ intercepted millions of people's webcam chats and stored still images of them, including sexually explicit ones, the Guardian newspaper reported on Thursday. GCHQ files dating between 2008 and 2010 provided to the newspaper by the former U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden, revealed that the surveillance program, codenamed Optic Nerve, saved one image every five minutes from randomly selected Yahoo Inc webcam chats and stored them on agency databases. Optic Nerve, which began as a prototype in 2008 and was still active in 2012, was intended to test automated facial recognition, monitor GCHQ's targets and uncover new ones, the Guardian said. It said that under British law, there are no restrictions preventing images of U.S. citizens being accessed by British intelligence. Full Story | Top |
| Venezuela unrest shakes up opposition Thursday, Feb 27, 2014 11:58 AM PST  By Andrew Cawthorne and Diego Ore CARACAS (Reuters) - One month ago, Henrique Capriles was Venezuela's undisputed opposition leader, espousing a vision of dialogue and measured dissent towards the socialist government. Now, though, an explosion of protests has put President Nicolas Maduro under pressure and also exposed rifts inside the opposition as a rival to Capriles takes a more prominent role. Leopoldo Lopez, a U.S.-educated economist who leads a radical wing of the opposition, defied Capriles' moderate approach to organize street resistance against Maduro - and has been jailed for leading the protests. Capriles, 41, acknowledges tension within the opposition and is frustrated by Lopez but insists the main battle is against Maduro, who succeeded late socialist leader Hugo Chavez by being Capriles in an election last April. Full Story | Top |
| Ukraine needs $4 billion in immediate help: EU diplomat Thursday, Feb 27, 2014 11:51 AM PST Ukraine's new rulers have told the European Union that the country's battered economy needs an immediate infusion of some $4 billion, a EU diplomat said on Thursday. Since President Viktor Yanukovich was ousted over the weekend, Ukraine's finance ministry has said it needed $35 billion to survive this year and next and asked for the first payments to be made in the next one to two weeks, possibly alongside a donors' conference. Ukraine's new finance minister, Oleksander Shlapak, said he hoped the IMF would work on an aid package of at least $15 billion. The EU diplomat spoke as Ukraine was hit by a fresh crisis as armed men seized the local parliament in the Crimea region and raised the Russian flag, alarming Kiev's new rulers. Full Story | Top |
| Owner of Ukraine ex-president's palatial estate slams 'dirty propaganda' Thursday, Feb 27, 2014 11:42 AM PST (Reuters) - A politician whose company owned the luxury country residence of the ousted president of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovich, is ready to support the country's new government, he told Reuters on Thursday. Sergei Klyuev, a businessman and member of parliament, vowed to return home soon to fight allegations that he and other members of the country's political elite - described by their opponents as "The Family" - had enriched themselves at public expense, for example by rigging state contracts and privatizations. Klyuev also said his brother Andriy, the president's former chief of staff, was still in Ukraine and recovering from a gunshot wound. I don't know the details but I think he is much better now," Sergei Klyuev said without being more specific about his sibling's exact location. Full Story | Top |
| Obama to take stock of peace talks with Netanyahu, Abbas Thursday, Feb 27, 2014 11:28 AM PST  President Barack Obama will take stock of peace negotiations in upcoming Oval Office meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on March 17, the White House said on Thursday. The Obama administration had originally hoped to help broker a deal by April 29. But on Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said he hopes at best to get Israel and the Palestinians to agree on a "framework" for an agreement by that time. The framework would guide further talks, White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters. Full Story | Top |
| Nigerian Islamists kill 12 in village attacks: witnesses Thursday, Feb 27, 2014 11:27 AM PST By Imma Ande YOLA, Nigeria (Reuters) - Gunmen from Islamist sect Boko Haram shot dead at least 12 people during a four-hour siege on villages in northeast Nigeria overnight, two days after a deadly attack on a school, witnesses said on Thursday. Boko Haram, whose fight for an Islamic state in northern Nigeria has killed thousands and made them the biggest threat to security in Africa's top oil producer, is increasingly preying on the civilian population. The owner of a bakery, Martha Yakubu, said she counted 12 dead bodies, including two of her workers. The military said in a statement that six members of Boko Haram, one soldier and three civilians were killed in the fighting. Full Story | Top |
| Foreign banks in Ukraine face choice - hunker down or cut losses Thursday, Feb 27, 2014 11:17 AM PST By Megan Davies MOSCOW (Reuters) - Foreign banks have pared back their exposure in Ukraine in recent years and the unfolding crisis could force them to choose between cutting their losses or holding on to grab market share. While Russian banks retain a strong presence, several European banks have pulled out of Ukraine since the global financial crisis in 2008. The toppling of President Viktor Yanukovich by violent protests has pushed an already frail economy close to default, with the former Soviet state's new leaders appealing for $35 billion over two years to hold up its economy. Among banks which have pared back in Ukraine since 2008 are Germany's Commerzbank, which sold its Bank Forum unit in 2012; Full Story | Top |
| Ex-Murdoch UK editor Brooks: 'I sanctioned payments to officials' Thursday, Feb 27, 2014 10:55 AM PST  By Michael Holden LONDON (Reuters) - Rebekah Brooks, Rupert Murdoch's former British newspaper boss, told a London court on Thursday she had sanctioned payments to public officials "half a dozen times" but denied approving the illegal sums for which she is on trial. Brooks is accused of authorizing almost 40,000 pounds ($66,000) in illegal payments from a reporter on Murdoch's Sun tabloid to a Ministry of Defence (MoD) official while she was editor of the paper. However, the offence relating to authorizing illegal payments carries a potentially much lengthier jail sentence. Asked by her defence lawyer if she had ever sanctioned such payments, which is illegal, Brooks replied: "Yes, probably since I was deputy editor of the Sun, 1998 to 2009, a handful of occasions, half a dozen." "CHEAP AT THE PRICE" Brooks was asked about a series of stories she approved that the prosecution says relate to illegal payments by a Sun journalist, who cannot be named for legal reasons, to an MoD official. Full Story | Top |
| Morocco raises stakes in diplomatic spat with ally France Thursday, Feb 27, 2014 10:52 AM PST  By Aziz El Yaakoubi and John Irish RABAT/PARIS (Reuters) - Morocco has halted judicial cooperation with France, blocking procedures from prisoner transfers to joint investigations, officials said on Thursday, in a growing dispute with its former colonial ruler over allegations of human rights abuses. French President Francois Hollande spoke to the Moroccan king this week to try to defuse the rare row with Rabat, an ally under fire from rights groups over police abuses, press freedom and judicial independence. Rabat on Saturday summoned the French ambassador after French police went to the Moroccan Embassy in Paris seeking to question the head of the domestic intelligence service (DRT) over torture allegations, following lawsuits filed against him in France by French-Moroccan activists. "We haven't received any explanation regarding the seven French police officers who went to question the head of the territorial surveillance," Moroccan government spokesman Mustapha Khalfi told reporters. Full Story | Top |
| NATO to plan for all options in Afghanistan, including pullout Thursday, Feb 27, 2014 10:43 AM PST  By Adrian Croft and Justyna Pawlak BRUSSELS (Reuters) - NATO defense ministers agreed on Thursday to plan for all options for the alliance's future presence in Afghanistan including a possible pullout of all its troops this year, NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said. With foreign troops due to end combat operations in Afghanistan at the close of 2014, NATO has been planning to keep a slimmed-down force there to train and assist Afghan forces who continue to battle Taliban insurgents. But NATO and U.S. officials say President Hamid Karzai's refusal to sign an agreement with the United States creating a legal framework for U.S. troops to stay in Afghanistan could force it to pull out all its troops by the end of the year. "Today we agreed the need to plan for all possible outcomes including the possibility that we may not be able to deploy to Afghanistan after 2014 due to the persistent delays we have seen," NATO Secretary-General Rasmussen told a news conference. Full Story | Top |
| Russia raises military clout with reforms after Georgian war Thursday, Feb 27, 2014 10:40 AM PST  By Peter Apps LONDON (Reuters) - Refitting Soviet-era warships, fielding new aircraft and tanks and seeking new overseas bases, the Russian military that now has troops on alert amidst a crisis in Ukraine is more potent than the force which briefly fought Georgia six years ago. Moscow is seriously investing in building its clout. But Russian forces remain much weaker than at their Soviet peak and face huge problems ranging from corruption to a long-term shortage of recruits, not to mention the risk of insurgency if they ever set foot in Ukraine. Moscow denies any direct link between its surprise military drills announced on Wednesday and Ukraine, where largely pro-Western demonstrators ousted Viktor Yanukovich, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, last weekend. Full Story | Top |
| Egypt appoints Hany Dimian finance minister: government official Thursday, Feb 27, 2014 10:36 AM PST CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's prime minister appointed former finance ministry official Hany Dimian as finance minister in the new government on Thursday, a government official said. Dimian will face the daunting task of strengthening an economy battered by political turmoil since a popular uprising toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak in 2011. (Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by Robin Pomeroy) Full Story | Top |
| White House warns Russia to avoid 'provocative' actions with Ukraine Thursday, Feb 27, 2014 10:35 AM PST The White House warned Russia on Thursday to respect Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity and told Moscow to avoid "provocative" actions with regard to the crisis-hit country. "We strongly support Ukraine's territorial integrity and sovereignty. We expect other nations to do the same," White House spokesman Jay Carney told a briefing. Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered 150,000 troops to be ready for war games near Ukraine on Wednesday, and on Thursday, Russia put fighter jets on combat alert. Full Story | Top |
| Britain opens inquiry into letters to IRA suspects Thursday, Feb 27, 2014 10:25 AM PST  By Belinda Goldsmith LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister David Cameron announced on Thursday an independent inquiry into letters sent to IRA suspects, after an angry response to the freeing of an Irishman accused of a 1982 bombing that killed four soldiers in London. Cameron said it was clear that there had been a "dreadful mistake" in the case of John Downey, who walked free from a London court this month because of a letter which mistakenly told him he was longer being sought for prosecution. Cameron said an independent judge with full access to government files and officials would lead the review and report back by the end of May. Britain's Northern Ireland Minister Theresa Villiers said the letters, 187 of which have been sent as part of a 1998 peace deal, tell their recipients that they are no longer being sought for prosecution but do not amount to immunity from arrest. Downey, 62, from County Donegal in Ireland, was charged with murdering four members of the Royal Household Cavalry who were killed 32 years ago when a car bomb exploded in Hyde Park as they paraded towards Buckingham Palace on July 20. Full Story | Top |
| Romanian prosecutors say face rising political pressure Thursday, Feb 27, 2014 10:24 AM PST  By Luiza Ilie BUCHAREST (Reuters) - Romania's chief anti-corruption prosecutor said on Thursday her team saw an sharp increase in political pressure to drop cases while they were investigating high-ranking officials last year, adding this could be a measure of her department's success. There has been growing concern about respect for the rule of law in Romania, one of the European Union's poorest and most corrupt states, whose parliament tried to pass a law last year shielding lawmakers from graft investigations. Top-level convictions such as that of leftist former prime minister Adrian Nastase drew accusations from ruling officials that prosecutors and judges were acting on orders from center-right political leaders. The European Commission and United States urged Romanian politicians last year to stop pressuring the judiciary. Full Story | Top |
|
No comments:
Post a Comment