| | |
| El Salvador ex-rebel's lead 'irreversible,' rival wants recount Monday, Mar 10, 2014 08:44 PM PDT  By Nelson Renteria and Michael O'Boyle SAN SALVADOR (Reuters) - A former Marxist rebel commander's tiny lead in El Salvador's presidential election is irreversible, the country's electoral tribunal said on Monday, but his right-wing challenger demanded a full recount, insisting he was the real winner. Salvador Sanchez Ceren of the ruling Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN), which as a rebel group fought a string of U.S.-backed governments in the 1980-1992 civil war, claimed victory on Sunday after preliminary results showed he had won 50.11 percent support. Challenger Norman Quijano, a former mayor of San Salvador and candidate of the right-wing Nationalist Republican Alliance (Arena) party, had 49.89 percent support. Quijano said in a Tweet on Monday that he wanted a "vote-by-vote" recount, calling the election tribunal biased and insisting that he was the president-elect. Full Story | Top |
| Kerry-Lavrov meeting depends on Moscow's stance -U.S Monday, Mar 10, 2014 07:15 PM PDT By Arshad Mohammed and Steve Holland WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States held out the possibility on Monday that the U.S. and Russian foreign ministers could meet this week about Ukraine but said it needed to know Moscow would engage seriously on a diplomatic solution. Russia's bloodless seizure of the Crimea region of Ukraine has brought U.S.-Russian relations to one of their lowest points since the Cold War, with the United States searching for a way to keep Russia from annexing Crimea and its Russian naval base. Full Story | Top |
| China deploys 10 satellites to help in search for Malaysia jet Monday, Mar 10, 2014 07:12 PM PDT China has deployed 10 satellites to help in the massive air and sea search for a missing Malaysian airliner, the People's Liberation Army Daily said on Tuesday. The satellites will use high-resolution earth imaging capabilities, visible light imaging and other technologies to "support and assist in the search and rescue operations for the Malaysian Airlines aircraft", the newspaper said in an article that was also carried on the defense ministry's website. Dozens of ships and aircraft from 10 countries scoured the seas around Malaysia and south of Vietnam as questions mounted over possible security lapses and whether a bomb or hijacking attempt could have brought down the Boeing 777-200ER which took off from the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur. China has urged Malaysia to speed up the search for the plane. Full Story | Top |
| Chilean is first foreign fatality in Venezuela unrest Monday, Mar 10, 2014 06:15 PM PDT  By Andrew Cawthorne and Diego Ore CARACAS (Reuters) - A Chilean woman was shot dead while clearing a barricade put up by anti-government protesters, the first foreign fatality during a month of civil unrest in Venezuela, authorities said on Monday. The death of Gisela Rubilar, 47, who was studying in the western Venezuelan city of Merida, brought to at least 21 the number of fatalities in five weeks of demonstrations against President Nicolas Maduro's government. "She was ambushed by extreme right-wing groups ... She was vilely murdered with a shot in the eye," Alexis Ramirez, the governor of Merida state, told reporters, blaming the killing on unidentified demonstrators in the Andean city. The barriers have become frequent flashpoints for violence between protesters, police and government supporters. Full Story | Top |
| Confrontation in Ukraine as diplomacy stalls Monday, Mar 10, 2014 06:13 PM PDT  By Andrew Osborn and Natalia Zinets SEVASTOPOL/KIEV (Reuters) - A pro-Russian force opened fire in seizing a Ukrainian military base in Crimea on Monday and NATO announced reconnaissance flights along its eastern frontiers as confrontation around the Black Sea peninsula showed no sign of easing. Ukrainian activists trying to cross into Crimea to show solidarity with opponents of last week's Russian military takeover there said they were halted by men in uniforms of the now outlawed riot police. With diplomacy at a standstill, Russia said the United States had spurned an invitation to hold new talks on resolving the crisis, the worst East-West standoff since the Cold War - although Washington said later a meeting of foreign ministers was possible this week, if Moscow shows it is ready to "engage". The U.S.-led NATO defense alliance said AWACS early warning aircraft, once designed to counter feared Soviet nuclear missile strikes, would start reconnaissance flights on Tuesday over Poland and Romania to monitor the situation in Ukraine, flying from bases in Germany and Britain. Full Story | Top |
| Two Russian cosmonauts, U.S. astronaut head back to Earth Monday, Mar 10, 2014 05:54 PM PDT  By Irene Klotz CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - A pair of Russian cosmonauts and a U.S. astronaut sealed themselves inside a Russian Soyuz capsule on Monday and left the International Space Station, ending a six-month mission, officials said. With former station commander Oleg Kotov at the controls, the Soyuz slipped away from its berthing port at 8:02 a.m. EDT/0002 GMT. Strapped inside the Soyuz with Kotov are station flight engineers Sergei Ryazansky and NASA's Michael Hopkins. "It was a really good increment," Kotov said during a change-of-command ceremony broadcast on NASA Television on Sunday. Full Story | Top |
| Venezuela says police killed government agent in bungled arrest of protester Monday, Mar 10, 2014 05:48 PM PDT By Daniel Wallis CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan prosecutors accused a policeman on Monday of shooting dead a young female intelligence agent that he mistook for a kidnapper after her plainclothes team forced a suspected protester into their car. The incident took place on Friday in a wealthy eastern part of Caracas, in an area where hooded opposition demonstrators clash nightly with riot police. With various state security agencies operating in the capital's opposition-governed Chacao district, many residents had feared a confrontation between them and the separate police force that works for the municipality and its mayor. In grainy security camera footage, members of national intelligence agency Sebin were seen grappling with a young man who was apparently carrying home groceries, before pushing him into the back of an unmarked car. Full Story | Top |
| Libya says halts tanker outside rebel port, plans military offensive Monday, Mar 10, 2014 05:25 PM PDT  By Ulf Laessing and Feras Bosalum TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Libya on Monday stopped a North Korean-flagged tanker that had loaded oil from a rebel-held port, after naval forces briefly exchanged fire with the rebels, officials said. They also said the government will assemble forces to "liberate" all occupied ports, raising the stakes over a blockage that has cut off vital oil revenue. The conflict over oil wealth is increasing fears that the OPEC producer may slide deeper into chaos or even splinter as the fragile government fails to rein in dozens of militias that helped oust Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 but now defy state authority. The rebels, who have seized three ports and partly control a fourth in the North African country, said they had dispatched forces to central Libya to deal with any government attack. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. criticizes Maldives court's dismissal of election officials Monday, Mar 10, 2014 05:23 PM PDT  The U.S. State Department voiced strong objection on Monday to the Maldives Supreme Court's dismissal of the country's top election officials for failing to follow its guidelines during last year's presidential election. "These actions represent an unprecedented expansion of judicial powers which undermines an independent democratic institution that has made laudable efforts to hold multiple successful elections despite previous judicial interference," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in a statement. On Sunday, the Maldives Supreme Court ordered the head of the election commission, Fuwad Thowfeek, and his deputy, Ahmed Fayaz, removed from their posts and asked the parliament to appoint replacements within six days. The election commission came under the court's scrutiny last year when it went ahead with a presidential runoff after three previous attempts were annulled or postponed by the court. Full Story | Top |
| Freed nuns reach Damascus as prisoner exchange continues Monday, Mar 10, 2014 04:52 PM PDT  By Marwan Makdesi and Khaled Yacoub Oweis DAMASCUS/AMMAN (Reuters) - Thirteen Greek Orthodox nuns arrived in Damascus on Monday after al Qaeda fighters who held them for more than three months freed them in a deal providing for the release of women prisoners held by President Bashar al-Assad's government. Activists said at least 15 were released from Adra prison north of Damascus, just a fraction of the 153 which some officials had said would be included in the exchange. The mostly elderly nuns and three other women from their convent seemed in good health as they sat in a room in Damascus with several other Christian clerics. "All of Syria is happy today (for their return)," Bishop Luka al Khoury told Reuters. Full Story | Top |
| Malaysia air probe finds scant evidence of attack: sources Monday, Mar 10, 2014 04:43 PM PDT By Eveline Danubrata and Mark Hosenball KUALA LUMPUR/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Investigators in Malaysia are voicing skepticism that the airliner that disappeared early Saturday with 239 people on board was the target of an attack, U.S. and European government sources close to the probe said. The fate of the Malaysian airliner that vanished about an hour into a flight to Beijing remained a mystery, as a massive air and sea search, now in its third day, failed to turn up any trace of the Boeing 777 plane. Neither Malaysia's Special Branch, the agency leading the investigation locally, nor spy agencies in the United States and Europe have ruled out the possibility that militants may have been involved in downing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370. "There is no evidence to suggest an act of terror," said a European security source, who added that there was also "no explanation what's happened to it or where it is." Meanwhile, dozens of ships and aircraft from 10 countries were still scouring the seas around Malaysia and south of Vietnam as questions mounted over possible security lapses that could have led to a downing of the Boeing 777-200ER after it climbed to an altitude of 35,000 feet. Full Story | Top |
| Ohio Libertarian candidates appeal to get names on May ballot Monday, Mar 10, 2014 04:41 PM PDT By Kim Palmer CLEVELAND (Reuters) - Libertarian Party candidates for Ohio governor and attorney general are challenging rulings by a Republican secretary of state that would keep their names off the ballot in a state primary in May, attorneys said Monday. Secretary of State Jon Husted on Friday ordered the names of gubernatorial candidate Charlie Earl and attorney general candidate Steven Linnabary pulled from the ballot, finding their petitions did not meet Ohio elections standards. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. Senate Democrats pulling all-nighter on climate change Monday, Mar 10, 2014 04:37 PM PDT  By Thomas Ferraro and Valerie Volcovici WASHINGTON (Reuters) - More than two dozen U.S. Senate Democrats joined forces to speak through the night on Monday, hoping to "wake up" Congress to what is seen as the threat of climate change. "Despite overwhelming scientific evidence and overwhelming public opinion, climate change deniers still exist," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said. "They exist in this country and in this Congress." The Nevada Democrat made the comments in kicking off the marathon gabfest at 6:27 p.m. on Monday. Thirty of the Senate's 53 Democrats, plus the two independents who caucus with them, have signed up to participate. Full Story | Top |
| With eye on Crimea, U.S. starts military drills on Russia's doorstep Monday, Mar 10, 2014 04:06 PM PDT By Marcin Goettig WARSAW (Reuters) - The United States will signal its resolve to protect its NATO allies near Russia's borders on Tuesday with the start of the first joint military training exercises in the region since the Kremlin intervened in Ukraine. In the Black Sea, across the water from the Crimean Peninsula where Russian military groups have seized control from Ukrainian authorities, a U.S. navy destroyer will take part in maneuvers with Romanian and Bulgarian warships. To the north in Poland, U.S. fighter jets are arriving at the central Lask air base to take part in joint exercises, with Poland's president expected to review the maneuvers. Full Story | Top |
| Syria among 'most dangerous places on Earth' for children: UNICEF Monday, Mar 10, 2014 03:56 PM PDT  The number of children affected by the civil war in Syria has more than doubled over the past year, with hundreds of thousands of young Syrians trapped in besieged parts of the country, the United Nations Children's Fund said on Monday. "After three years of conflict and turmoil, Syria is now one of the most dangerous places on earth to be a child," said the UNICEF report. "In their thousands, children have lost lives and limbs, along with virtually every aspect of their childhood." "They have lost classrooms and teachers, brothers and sisters, friends, caregivers, homes and stability," it said. "Instead of learning and playing, many have been forced into the workplace, are being recruited to fight, or subjected to enforced idleness." UNICEF said the child casualty rates were the highest recorded in any recent conflict in the region. Full Story | Top |
| Turkish cleric says Erdogan risking decade of reforms: FT Monday, Mar 10, 2014 03:48 PM PDT  By Humeyra Pamuk ANKARA (Reuters) - A U.S.-based cleric locked in a feud with the Turkish government has likened Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's grip on power to that of the once-dominant military, and warned that political and economic reforms of the past decade are under threat. In a rare written political commentary, Pennsylvania-based preacher Fethullah Gulen said Erdogan had lost trust at home and abroad because of measures such as curbs on Internet freedom, greater government control of the courts and stronger powers for the intelligence agency. Full Story | Top |
| Tanker seized at Libyan rebel port not yet in government harbor: PM Monday, Mar 10, 2014 03:19 PM PDT A tanker that loaded oil from a rebel-held port in eastern Libya has been halted by government forces but it has not yet reached a port controlled by government forces, Prime Minister Ali Zeidan told Reuters on Monday. Oil officials said earlier navy forces had seized the North Korea-flagged tanker outside the rebel-held Es Sider port to escort it to a government-controlled port in western Libya. Giving the first details of the operation, Prime Minister Zeidan said the tanker was not yet in western Libya. Tomorrow it will move." Authorities would unload the crude from the tanker once it reached a western port and then launch legal measures against the potential buyers. Full Story | Top |
| Italy lawmakers wrangle but set to pass Renzi electoral law Monday, Mar 10, 2014 02:43 PM PDT  By Roberto Landucci ROME (Reuters) - Italian lawmakers rejected a bid on Monday to set minimum quotas for women in parliament under a new electoral law but are expected to pass the package as a whole, advancing Prime Minister Matteo Renzi's quest for wider economic reforms. Reforming the system blamed for leaving Italy with a deadlocked parliament has been a top priority for Renzi since he took over leadership of the main center-left Democratic Party (PD) last year. It is seen as a big test of the 39-year-old prime minister's ability to pass the kind of broad structural reforms considered necessary to revive Italy's stricken economy and repair its sagging public finances. Renzi defied party critics to reach broad agreement on a new law with veteran center-right leader Silvio Berlusconi but final approval has been delayed by wrangling in parliament, as well as the upheaval in which he ousted his predecessor Enrico Letta as prime minister last month. Full Story | Top |
| Al Shabaab leader urges Somalis to battle old enemy Ethiopia Monday, Mar 10, 2014 02:42 PM PDT By Abdi Sheikh MOGADISHU (Reuters) - The leader of the al Qaeda-aligned Islamist group al Shabaab has urged Somalis to wage holy war against Ethiopia, Somalia's Horn of Africa neighbor whose forces are preparing to lead an African Union offensive against the militants. Ethiopia fought an ill-fated war in Somalia in 2006-09 but sent troops back in 2011 to fight al Shabaab. Ethiopian forces have in the past two weeks pushed al Shabaab out of several towns, including Hudur, the capital of the Bakool region in south-central Somalia. In a recorded voice message released on Sunday, Shabaab leader Ahmed Godane, also known as Mukhtar Abu al-Zubayr, said Mogadishu's Western-backed government and Ethiopia were acting at the behest of the United States and would be defeated. Full Story | Top |
| Libya key source for illicit arms, fueling conflicts: U.N. envoy Monday, Mar 10, 2014 02:27 PM PDT  By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. experts say Libya has become a primary source of illicit weapons, including shoulder-fired missiles, which have been trafficked to at least 14 countries and are fueling conflicts on several continents, Rwanda's U.N. envoy said on Monday. Rwandan Ambassador Eugene Gasana, chair of the U.N. Security Council's Libya sanctions committee, briefed the 15-member council on the final report of the independent panel of experts who monitor violations of the world body's sanctions regime. A U.N. arms embargo was imposed on Libya at the start of an uprising in 2011 that ousted leader Muammar Gaddafi. Full Story | Top |
| Swedish leader condemns violence linked to far right Monday, Mar 10, 2014 02:24 PM PDT  The Swedish government has condemned an attack over the weekend in which four people were wounded, saying violence by far-right groups was hurting the country's image. Four people were beaten and cut in a fight in the early hours of Sunday in the city of Malmo after a march to celebrate International Women's Day, police said. Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt said in a statement: "Incidences of nazism and racism besmirch much of what people think is good about Sweden. "You can't exclude the possibility that there is a Swedish Anders Breivik among these groups and it is SAPO's duty to investigate them," he told Sweden's national news agency, referring to the Norwegian who killed 77 people in a bomb and gun attack in 2011. Full Story | Top |
| Pistorius vomits in court at Steenkamp autopsy details Monday, Mar 10, 2014 02:18 PM PDT  By Vanessa Romeo PRETORIA (Reuters) - Track star Oscar Pistorius, on trial for the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, wept and vomited into a bucket in a South African courtroom on Monday after hearing graphic details from her autopsy. Pathologist Gert Saayman was interrupted several times by the 27-year-old Paralympic and Olympic athlete's sobbing and retching but the defense team argued against an adjournment, saying a break would not improve his state of mind. Earlier, Judge Thokozile Masipa imposed a broadcast blackout on Saayman's testimony out of respect for Steenkamp's family and to prevent children from accidentally hearing its contents. "Broadcast would compromise the privacy of the deceased, hurt the interests of the Steenkamps and be against the morals of society," Saayam said when he took the stand to ask for a temporary broadcast blackout of a trial that has so far been shown in its entirety on live television. Full Story | Top |
| Saudi protester jailed for 10 years over Twitter messages Monday, Mar 10, 2014 02:08 PM PDT A Saudi court sentenced a man to 10 years in jail and a 100,000 riyal ($26,700) fine for joining protests against the kingdom's rulers and using Twitter to urge people to do the same, state news agency SPA said on Monday. SPA quoted Justice Ministry spokesman Fahd al-Bakran as saying the unidentified defendant had also retweeted messages against the monarchy, Muslim scholars and security services. "(He was) convicted of entering an Internet site hostile to the state that encourages fighting and promotes deviant thought," Bakran said, referring to al Qaeda ideology. The verdict was announced two days after Saudi Arabia designated the Muslim Brotherhood, the Nusra Front and the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant as terrorist organizations. Full Story | Top |
| Right-wing El Salvador candidate says wants vote recount Monday, Mar 10, 2014 02:07 PM PDT MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - El Salvador's right-wing presidential candidate Norman Quijano said via tweet on Monday that he wants a "vote-by-vote" recount, after election officials said his former Marxist rebel rival had an irreversible lead after a tight vote. Quijano of the conservative Nationalist Republican Alliance Party said he is the president-elect according to his party's count and called the Electoral Tribunal tainted before and throughout the electoral process. (Reporting by Alexandra Alper and Gabriel Stargardter; Editing by Simon Gardner) Full Story | Top |
| World Bank to provide Ukraine up to $3 billion this year Monday, Mar 10, 2014 01:45 PM PDT The World Bank said on Monday it plans to provide Ukraine with up to $3 billion in 2014 to support the country's new government in the midst of its current crisis, though only part of the money would be new. The bank, a Washington-based lender that focuses on ending poverty, already has several projects in Ukraine. Officials from the International Monetary Fund are in Kiev this week to discuss a possible lending program for Ukraine, where the government says it is nearing bankruptcy. IMF support would be conditioned on the government undertaking reforms such as floating the hryvnia currency and raising domestic gas prices, which are now heavily subsidized. Full Story | Top |
| Israeli soldiers kill Palestinian at Jordan crossing Monday, Mar 10, 2014 01:44 PM PDT  Israeli soldiers shot and killed a Palestinian judge from Jordan on Monday in an altercation at a crossing point between Jordan and the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Palestinian officials said. The Israeli military said the man had tried to seize a soldier's gun at the Allenby bridge, which spans the Jordan River, and that troops had then shot him. The Palestinian Authority in the West Bank city of Ramallah condemned what it called the "shooting at close range" by Israeli troops. An Israeli military official said the army was checking reports about the man's identity. Full Story | Top |
| Two Ukrainian journalists disappear in Crimea: watchdog Monday, Mar 10, 2014 12:36 PM PDT Unidentified gunmen have seized two Ukrainian journalists in Crimea, Reporters Without Borders said on Monday, warning that those behind attacks on the media were trying to turn the region into a "black hole for news". "The forces controlling the Crimea are responsible for the fate of these journalists," Christophe Deloire, secretary general for the press freedom watchdog, said in a statement. Tension in the Black Sea peninsula has been growing since pro-Russian separatists took control of the regional parliament, declaring Crimea part of the Russian Federation and announcing a referendum for March 16 to confirm this. In little more than a week, Russian forces have taken over military installations across Crimea, home to the Russian Black Sea Fleet. Full Story | Top |
| Senate preparing Ukraine bill with sanctions, loan guarantees: aides Monday, Mar 10, 2014 12:28 PM PDT By Patricia Zengerle WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. senators are preparing a bill to address the crisis in Ukraine that includes sanctions and aid provisions, as well as backing for loan guarantees, Senate aides said on Monday. However, members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee were still undecided on whether to include a shift in funding for the International Monetary Fund that has been urged by the Obama administration, the aides said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Northeast Syria faces food crisis, but access eases elsewhere: WFP Monday, Mar 10, 2014 12:14 PM PDT  By Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA (Reuters) - Three northeastern provinces of Syria face an "alarming" food crisis, although access to relieve the impact of civil war has improved somewhat elsewhere, a U.N. aid agency said on Monday. Western powers and U.N. human rights investigators have accused the Syrian government of a policy of "starvation until submission" to punish tens of thousands of civilians in rebel-held areas. Days before the Syrian conflict enters its fourth year, the World Food Programme (WFP) said the hardest areas to reach were the northeastern provinces of Raqqa, Deir al-Zor and Hassaka. But there are certainly widespread (and) what I would call alarming nutritional indicators," Amir Abdulla, the U.N. agency's deputy executive director, told a news briefing in Geneva. Full Story | Top |
| Legalization won't fix world's drugs problem: U.N. official Monday, Mar 10, 2014 12:13 PM PDT Legalization will not solve the world's narcotics problem, the U.N. anti-drugs chief said on Monday, indicating disagreement with a decision by Uruguay to allow the growing, sale and smoking of marijuana. In a move that will be closely watched by other nations debating drug liberalization, Uruguay's parliament in December approved a bill to legalize and regulate the sale and production of marijuana - the first country to take such a step. Yury Fedotov, executive director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), said it was the prerogative of member states to decide "what needs to be done" and how they envisage the implementation of relevant international law. "However, as the head of UNODC, I have to say that legalization is not a solution to the (world's) drug problem," Fedotov told reporters ahead of a major international meeting on the issue in Vienna on March 13-14. Full Story | Top |
| Senior Palestinian official killed in Lebanon: state media Monday, Mar 10, 2014 12:10 PM PDT AIN EL-HILWEH, Lebanon (Reuters) - A high-ranking military official from the Palestinian group Fatah was killed on Monday by gunmen in southern Lebanon, Lebanese state media said. Brigadier General Jamil Zeidan died in hospital after unidentified assailants shot him in Ain El-Hilweh, the largest Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon, the National News Agency reported. A senior Fatah official confirmed Zeidan's death to Reuters. Shootings and armed clashes are not uncommon in the camp, which houses about 50,000 refugees. ... Full Story | Top |
| Truck driver strike at Vancouver port picks up steam Monday, Mar 10, 2014 12:10 PM PDT By Julie Gordon VANCOUVER (Reuters) - Unionized container truck drivers set up picket lines at Canada's largest port on Monday, joining hundreds of non-unionized workers who walked off the job last month in a dispute over pay and services. Workers represented by Canada's largest private sector union Unifor rejected a tentative deal on Saturday that could have adverted the job action at Port Metro Vancouver, calling the offer "too little, too late." They will now join a nearly two-week long strike by non-unionized drivers, which has already crippled operations at the busy port, hitting the export of commodities like lumber and specialized grain products, and the import of consumer goods. "The impact of truckers walking off the job is in the order of about C$885 million ($796.9 million) per week," Port Metro Vancouver Chief Executive Robin Silvester said in a statement late on Sunday. "Goods are not moving and that is bad news for consumers and businesses." Rising Asian demand for Canadian products has led to a boom at the city's port facilities, which handled a record 135 million metric tons of cargo in 2013, including about 25 million metric tons of containerized material. Full Story | Top |
| Turkish 'coup' convicts freed amid political turmoil Monday, Mar 10, 2014 12:08 PM PDT  By Ece Toksabay and Gareth Jones ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey ordered the release of 19 men convicted of plotting a coup, days after an ex-military chief was freed in a case now entwined in a power struggle between Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and a U.S.-based Muslim cleric. The 19 people, including prominent journalists, lawyers, retired military officers, a convicted gang leader and the killer of a top court judge, were among hundreds convicted in the "Ergenekon" case, which lay at the heart of Erdogan's drive to break the political power of Turkey's military. Cleric Fethullah Gulen is widely believed to have helped Erdogan by using a network of supporters in the judiciary and police to drive the Ergenekon trial forward. The latest releases underscore how radically the Erdogan-Gulen feud has altered Turkey's political landscape. Full Story | Top |
| Libya orders military force to 'liberate' rebel-held ports Monday, Mar 10, 2014 12:01 PM PDT By Ulf Laessing and Feras Bosalum TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Libya's parliament has ordered a special force to be sent within one week to "liberate" all rebel-held ports in the volatile east, officials said on Monday, raising the stakes over a blockage that has cut off vital oil revenue. The conflict over oil wealth is increasing fears that Libya may slide deeper into chaos or even splinter as the fragile government fails to rein in dozens of militias that helped oust Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 but now defy state authority. The rebels, who have seized three ports and partly control a fourth in the OPEC member country, said they had dispatched forces to central Libya to deal with any government attack. The North Korea-flagged tanker was undamaged and being escorted to western Libya, culture minister and government spokesman Habib al Amin told Reuters. Full Story | Top |
| Weather delays return from space of Russian torchbearers, U.S. astronaut Monday, Mar 10, 2014 11:54 AM PDT  An American astronaut and two Russians who carried a Sochi Olympic torch into open space will have to stay in orbit one day longer than planned because of bad weather on the steppes of Kazakhstan, officials said on Monday. Cosmonauts Oleg Kotov and Sergei Ryazansky had been scheduled to leave the International Space Station (ISS) along with NASA's Mike Hopkins early on Tuesday and touch down in Kazakhstan at 0924 local time (2324 EDT Monday). Heavy fog and low visibility prevented airborne rescue and recovery teams from getting close to the remote landing site on the windswept flatlands near the Kazakh town of Zhezkazgan on Monday, a Russian space industry source said. Kotov and Ryazansky took an unlit Olympic torch on a spacewalk in November and posed with it outside the ISS. Full Story | Top |
| Northern California unscathed by 6.8 offshore quake Monday, Mar 10, 2014 11:52 AM PDT By Steve Gorman LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A series of small aftershocks continued to rattle the extreme northern coast of California on Monday, hours after a magnitude 6.8 earthquake shook the town of Eureka and an area extending into Oregon and Nevada with no reports of damage. The main tremor, which struck at about 10:30 p.m. on Sunday, was centered in the Pacific about 50 miles west of Eureka and 10 miles beneath the ocean floor, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. ... Full Story | Top |
| NATO to fly AWACS planes over Poland, Romania to monitor Ukraine crisis Monday, Mar 10, 2014 11:51 AM PDT NATO will start reconnaissance flights over Poland and Romania to monitor the situation in neighboring Ukraine where Russian forces have taken control of Crimea, the alliance said on Monday. Ukraine is not a NATO member but Russia's intervention in Crimea has alarmed neighboring countries, including alliance members that used to be dominated by the Soviet Union. Acting on a recommendation from the alliance's top military commander, U.S. Air Force General Philip Breedlove, NATO ambassadors gave the go-ahead to the AWACS flights, a NATO spokesman said. Full Story | Top |
| EU diplomats preparing next level of sanctions on Russia Monday, Mar 10, 2014 11:34 AM PDT By Luke Baker BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union is preparing to impose travel bans, asset freezes and other restrictions on Russia for its failure to "de-escalate" the crisis in Crimea, officials said on Monday. While the formal decision to impose the sanctions is only expected to be taken when EU foreign ministers next meet on March 17, preparations on the measures have already started. ... Full Story | Top |
| No automated messages from missing Boeing jet: sources Monday, Mar 10, 2014 11:30 AM PDT The Malaysian passenger jet that disappeared on Saturday did not make automatic contact with a flight data-monitoring system after vanishing from radar screens, two people familiar with the matter said. The Boeing 777-200ER is equipped with a maintenance computer capable of talking to the ground automatically through short messages known as ACARS. In the case of the Malaysia Airlines jet, however, investigators have no such evidence to help them discover what happened to the passenger plane, the people said. "There were no signals from ACARS from the time the aircraft disappeared," a source involved in the investigations said. Full Story | Top |
| Russia condemns Ukraine 'lawlessness'; Kiev denies allegations Monday, Mar 10, 2014 11:23 AM PDT MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's Foreign Ministry said on Monday it was outraged by lawlessness in eastern Ukraine, and accused the far-right paramilitary movement Right Sector of "conniving" with the new government in Kiev. Ukraine denied the allegation, and dismissed as untrue Moscow's accusations of misdeeds in its eastern regions. ... Full Story | Top |
|
No comments:
Post a Comment