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| Tennessee policeman fired after photos show him choking student Sunday, Apr 27, 2014 09:04 PM PDT By Tim Ghianni NASHVILLE (Reuters) - A sheriff in Tennessee fired an officer after a British newspaper published photographs on Sunday that showed him choking a handcuffed college student until he lost consciousness. The photographs published by online edition of the Daily Mail showed an unidentified officer appearing to throttle 21-year-old Jarod Dotson, while two fellow officers handcuffed the student's hands behind his back, after arresting him at a party near the University of Tennessee, in Knoxville. The student did not appear to show any sign of resistance, while the officer, later identified as 47-year-old Frank Phillips, held him by the neck until he collapsed to his knees. John Messner, the Knoxville photographer who took the pictures, described to the Mail how the officer then slapped Dotson around the head a few times before walking off. Full Story | Top |
| Ukraine rebels free Swedish hostage; Obama seeks unity against Russia Sunday, Apr 27, 2014 09:03 PM PDT  By Matt Spetalnick and Thomas Grove KUALA LUMPUR/SLAVIANSK, Ukraine (Reuters) - Pro-Russian rebels paraded European monitors they are holding in eastern Ukraine on Sunday, freeing one but saying they had no plans to release another seven as the United States and Europe prepared new sanctions against Moscow. U.S. President Barack Obama called for the United States and Europe to join forces to impose stronger measures to restrain Moscow. In a move senior U.S. officials said may come as early as Monday, the White House said it would add names of people close to President Vladimir Putin and firms they control to a list of Russians hit by sanctions over Ukraine, and also impose new restrictions on high-tech exports. Full Story | Top |
| Death of witness may stymie probe into Brazil dictatorship Sunday, Apr 27, 2014 08:57 PM PDT  By Brian Winter RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - A month ago, retired army colonel Paulo Malhães proudly declared that during Brazil's 1964-85 military dictatorship he had tortured leftists until they died and then cut off their hands to prevent their bodies from ever being identified. "I tortured as many as I had to," Malhães, 76, told a special commission investigating crimes committed by the military during that era. "It's difficult to say how many (victims) there were, but it was a lot." Late on Thursday Malhães was found dead, face down and with signs of asphyxiation, after three men broke into his house outside of Rio de Janeiro. But members of the so-called National Truth Commission probing the military's abuses already fear Malhães' death will dissuade other witnesses from coming forward and cow others into silence. Full Story | Top |
| Housing market recovery spreads further outside London - Hometrack Sunday, Apr 27, 2014 08:47 PM PDT  Britain's housing market recovery spread further beyond London this month as prices rose in more parts of England and Wales outside the capital than at any time over the last decade, a survey showed on Monday. Asking prices for houses in England and Wales rose 0.6 percent in April, the same pace as in March, according to the survey of estate agents and surveyors from Hometrack. The report showed 48 percent of postcode districts outside London reported rising house prices, the highest level since June 2004 and three times as high as a year ago. "Demand continues to grow faster than supply, maintaining the supply/demand imbalance that underpins the upward pressure on house prices," said Richard O'Donnell, director of research at Hometrack. Full Story | Top |
| Protests could disrupt Brazil's World Cup quest: Scolari Sunday, Apr 27, 2014 08:33 PM PDT  By Andrew Downie SAO PAULO (Reuters) - People protesting against the World Cup or in favor of more social spending could harm the country's chances of winning the tournament, Brazil manager Luiz Felipe Scolari said on Sunday. Hundreds of thousands of Brazilians took to the streets during last year's Confederations Cup to protest World Cup spending and a lack of infrastructure investment. Scolari said he was not against demonstrations but the World Cup was not the best time for his players to be confronted with any outside issues. "They are Brazil players and they have one mission. Full Story | Top |
| Obama praises business deals, touts U.S. enterprise Sunday, Apr 27, 2014 08:27 PM PDT  President Barack Obama watched over the signing of three business deals in Malaysia on Monday, using the opportunity to promote U.S. commercial expertise during a four-country swing through Asia. The president has sought during stops in Japan, Korea and Malaysia to bolster the U.S. security commitment to Asia, where a rising China has made many U.S. allies nervous. A hoped for trade pact failed to come to fruition despite round-the-clock negotiations in Japan. Officials said they had made progress that would bring Japan into the 12-country Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), which commits countries to lower import tariffs and to dropping other impediments to imports. Full Story | Top |
| Bill Gates, in Communist newspaper, urges more in China to help poor Sunday, Apr 27, 2014 07:51 PM PDT  Microsoft founder Bill Gates on Monday took to the pages of the People's Daily, the mouthpiece newspaper of China's ruling Communist Party, to encourage people in China to do more for the poor. "China has many successful entrepreneurs and business people. I hope that more people of insight will put their talents to work to improve the lives of poor people in China and around the world, and seek solutions for them," Gates wrote in an editorial. "Investing for the poor requires participation from the entire community." Philanthropy in China has yet to take off, as some wealthy Chinese fear generous donations could invite unwanted attention on their fortunes. Full Story | Top |
| Macedonia's conservatives re-elected; opposition condemns vote Sunday, Apr 27, 2014 05:27 PM PDT  By Kole Casule SKOPJE (Reuters) - Macedonia's conservative ruling party has secured a third term in office, winning both parliamentary and presidential elections on Sunday, based on preliminary results of the ballot that the opposition said it would not recognize. With more than 63 percent of the votes counted, Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski's VMRO-DPMNE was leading with 43 percent, compared with 24 percent for the main opposition party, the center-left SDSM, the state electoral commission said. Incumbent President Gjorge Ivanov also was leading the SDSM-backed challenger in the presidential election, the commission said. The people have clearly expressed their will," Gruevski, who has ruled the former Yugoslav republic since 2006 in coalition with the ethnic Albanian party DUI, told a cheering crowd at his party's headquarters in Skopje early on Monday. Full Story | Top |
| Chinese spies read Australian MPs' emails for a year: report Sunday, Apr 27, 2014 05:05 PM PDT A cyber attack on the Australian parliamentary computer network in 2011 may have given Chinese intelligence agencies access to lawmakers' private emails for an entire year, the Australian Financial Review reported on Monday. Australian officials, like those in the United States and other Western nations, have made cyber security a priority following a growing number of attacks. The parliamentary computer network is a non-classified internal system used by federal lawmakers, their staff and advisers for private communications and discussions of strategy. Last year, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported that Chinese hackers had stolen the blueprints of a new multi-million-dollar Australian spy headquarters, as well as confidential information from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Full Story | Top |
| Clippers players stage protest after owner's alleged racist comments Sunday, Apr 27, 2014 04:51 PM PDT  By Dan Whitcomb LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Los Angeles Clippers players staged a protest at a playoff game on Sunday against racist comments allegedly made by team owner Donald Sterling, turning their warm-up jerseys inside-out to hide the team name before a loss to the Golden State Warriors. The silent demonstration came as Sterling faced a firestorm of criticism over a 10-minute recording obtained by celebrity news website TMZ in which a man reported to be the NBA owner tells a woman not to post photographs of herself with black people online and not to bring African-Americans to Clippers games. The taped remarks rocked the National Basketball Association (NBA), where most of the players are black, and left its officials scrambling to address the scandal that has threatened to overshadow the playoffs. Ahead of the game against the Golden State Warriors in Oakland, Clippers players gathered at center court, dropped sweat-jackets with the team's name around the tip-off circle and then came out with their warm-up jerseys inside-out, keeping the "Clippers" name off of their chests. Full Story | Top |
| London braced for travel disruption on underground rail workers strike plan Sunday, Apr 27, 2014 04:22 PM PDT By Kylie MacLellan LONDON (Reuters) - Millions of commuters were preparing for transport chaos from Monday evening as workers on the London Underground rail network plan to hold a two-day strike in a dispute over plans to cut jobs and close ticket offices. Eleventh-hour talks will be held on Monday between Transport for London (TfL) and the Rail, Maritime and Transport workers' union (RMT) in a bid to avert the 48-hour walkout due to begin at 2000 GMT, a spokesman for TfL said. The strike action follows the March 11 death of RMT leader Bob Crow, whose success in extracting concessions from employers through hard talk and industrial disruption has set the mould for those vying to replace him, trade union experts say. TfL, which argues that less than three percent of journeys on the 151-year-old tube network now involve passengers using ticket offices, has said it will run a limited service on some lines, with some stations closed. Full Story | Top |
| UK to host international meeting on stolen Ukrainian assets Sunday, Apr 27, 2014 04:21 PM PDT London will host a two-day international meeting this week aimed at helping Ukraine's government to recover stolen assets, Britain's interior ministry said on Monday. Since the toppling of President Viktor Yanukovich in February, Ukrainian prosecutors have accused him and his aides of stealing billions of dollars. Yanukovich has said he has no foreign bank accounts or property abroad. The April 29-30 Ukraine Forum on Asset Recovery, jointly organized by Britain and the United States, will be attended by senior government officials, judicial experts, prosecutors, financial intelligence analysts and regulators. Full Story | Top |
| End game nears on South Africa's strike-hit platinum belt Sunday, Apr 27, 2014 04:19 PM PDT  By Ed Stoddard JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - The end game to South Africa's big platinum strike is drawing near after the producers said they would take their latest wage offer directly to employees after marathon wage talks to end the 13-week strike collapsed on Thursday. South Africa's longest and most damaging mining strike in living memory is not about to come to an abrupt end as both sides strive to win rank and file hearts and minds in a high stakes war of attrition on the platinum belt. Leaders of the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) have signaled their displeasure with the offer from the world's top three producers, Anglo American Platinum, Impala Platinum and Lonmin. AMCU treasurer and negotiator Jimmy Gama was quoted in the City Press newspaper on Sunday as saying the union was consulting with its members about the latest offer through mass meetings that would last until Wednesday. Full Story | Top |
| EU exit could wreck UK financial capital, says City lobby group Sunday, Apr 27, 2014 04:17 PM PDT  By Guy Faulconbridge LONDON (Reuters) - A British exit from the European Union could wreck London's position as the only financial center to rival New York and isolate the country's economy, research ordered by a lobby group for banks and money managers showed. Prime Minister David Cameron has promised to renegotiate the terms of Britain's EU membership and hold an "in-out" referendum by the end of 2017 if his Conservatives win a 2015 national election. TheCityUK, whose members include asset managers, banks, insurance and accountancy firms, warned that Britain outside the EU would be shorn of influence, less attractive to investors and vulnerable to regulations over which London had no influence. "This is yet more powerful evidence that the UK pulling out of the EU is the very last thing our country needs. Full Story | Top |
| Macedonia's conservatives win parliamentary, presidential elections Sunday, Apr 27, 2014 04:10 PM PDT By Kole Casule SKOPJE (Reuters) - Macedonia's conservative ruling party has secured a third term in office, winning both parliamentary and presidential elections on Sunday, based on preliminary results of the ballot that the opposition said it would not recognize. Nikola Gruevski remains prime minister and I can also say ... that Gjorge Ivanov remains president," Vlatko Gjorcev, a senior VMRO-DPMNE party official, told reporters and jubilant supporters late on Sunday. Gruevski, 43, has ruled the landlocked former Yugoslav republic of 2 million people since 2006 in coalition with ethnic Albanian party DUI. With more than 63 percent of the votes counted, VMRO-DPMNE was leading with 43 percent, compared with 24 percent for the main opposition party, the center-left SDSM, the state electoral commission said. Full Story | Top |
| Hague challenges Scottish leader's EU membership plans Sunday, Apr 27, 2014 04:07 PM PDT  By Kylie MacLellan LONDON (Reuters) - Scotland faces lengthy and difficult negotiations to stay in the European Union if it votes to leave Britain this year and it will end up worse off than at present, British Foreign Secretary William Hague told Scottish leader Alex Salmond in a letter. Scots will vote in a referendum on September 18 on whether to quit the United Kingdom. In the event of a "Yes" vote, Salmond hopes to agree a "smooth transition" to renewing Scotland's EU membership before it declares independence from London in March 2016. Britain's main political parties, including Hague's ruling Conservatives, want Scotland to remain in the United Kingdom, but recent opinion polls show supporters of independence catching up on the pro-union camp. Full Story | Top |
| UK housing market recovery spreads further outside London - Hometrack Sunday, Apr 27, 2014 04:04 PM PDT Britain's housing market recovery spread further beyond London this month as prices rose in more parts of England and Wales outside the capital than at any time over the last decade, a survey showed on Monday. Asking prices for houses in England and Wales rose 0.6 percent in April, the same pace as in March, according to the survey of estate agents and surveyors from Hometrack. The report showed 48 percent of postcode districts outside London reported rising house prices, the highest level since June 2004 and three times as high as a year ago. "Demand continues to grow faster than supply, maintaining the supply/demand imbalance that underpins the upward pressure on house prices," said Richard O'Donnell, director of research at Hometrack. Full Story | Top |
| French president, GE boss to meet over Alstom future Sunday, Apr 27, 2014 03:57 PM PDT  President Francois Hollande and his Economy Minister Arnaud Montebourg are set to meet with General Electric Chief Executive Jeff Immelt on Monday to discuss the future of French engineering group Alstom, a presidential official said. The planned meeting between the French head of state and the boss of one of the world's 10 largest investor-controlled corporations follows a weekend of high political and corporate drama. Immelt arrived in Paris to hammer out a $13 billion deal to buy Alstom's power turbines business after news of talks between the French trains-to-turbines group and the U.S. industrial and financial giant GE late last week. His arrival coincided with political uproar over the potential loss of a national champion and the emergence of a rival proposal involving German group Siemens. Full Story | Top |
| American detained in North Korea tore up his visa: tour company Sunday, Apr 27, 2014 03:54 PM PDT By Victoria Cavaliere NEW YORK (Reuters) - A 24-year-old American man detained in North Korea had arranged a private tour of the country through a U.S. travel company and gave no indication he might try to seek asylum upon arriving in Pyongyang, the company's director said Sunday. Matthew Todd Miller was taken into custody by North Korean officials after entering the country on April 10, ripping up his tourist visa and demanding asylum, according to North Korea's state-run KCNA news agency. Miller's travel to North Korea was arranged by New Jersey-based Uri Tours, which specializes in guided trips through the isolated Communist country, and he gave no indication he might be seeking asylum. "Nothing in his tour application raised concerns prior to his departure," John Dantzler-Wolfe, the director of Uri Tours, told Reuters in an email. Full Story | Top |
| Publicis, Omnicom seek to resolve leadership spat over CFO job: sources Sunday, Apr 27, 2014 03:37 PM PDT  By Leila Abboud and Tom Bergin PARIS/LONDON (Reuters) - The chief executives of advertising companies Publicis and Omnicom Group are working together to resolve a seven-month-old struggle over who will be chief financial officer of their combined group if the $35 billion merger is completed, three people close to the deal said on Sunday. John Wren, the head of New York-based Omnicom, and Maurice Levy, his opposite number at Paris-based Publicis, are in regular contact to try to settle the CFO choice, which has fuelled tensions between the two sides since September as they seek to secure regulatory approvals for the blockbuster deal, the people said. Full Story | Top |
| Australia's plain package tobacco law finally to be tested at WTO Sunday, Apr 27, 2014 03:24 PM PDT By Tom Miles GENEVA (Reuters) - An Australian law forcing cigarette companies to sell their products in plain packets is about to be tested in court, diplomats at the World Trade Organization said on Friday, ending more than two years of procedural delay. Cuba, Ukraine, Indonesia, Honduras and Dominican Republic have brought the action against Australia, the first country to ban the colorful logos used to sell tobacco brands around the world, a law aimed at reducing addiction and disease. Opponents of the law, who say it is heavy-handed and an invitation to counterfeiters, had hoped other countries would hold off from following Australia's example pending a WTO verdict, but Britain, Ireland and New Zealand have already begun drafting similar legislation. Since late 2012, tobacco products in Australia can only be sold in drab olive-colored packets that look more like military or prison issue, with brands printed in small standardized fonts. Full Story | Top |
| Attack in Central African Republic kills 22, including chiefs, MSF staff Sunday, Apr 27, 2014 02:58 PM PDT By Crispin Dembassa-Kette BANGUI (Reuters) - At least 22 people, including 15 local chiefs and three members of staff of the medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres, were killed in an attack on a town in the Central African Republic, officials said on Sunday. Gilles Xavier Nguembassa, a former member of parliament for the area, said four people were killed as the assailants approached the town but most died when Seleka rebels went to an MSF-run health clinic in search of money. A local representative of the Bangui government confirmed the incident. The mainly Muslim Seleka forces seized Bangui in March 2013 but their time in power was scarred by killings and other rights abuses, prompting the creation of the mainly Christian "anti-balaka" self-defense militia. Full Story | Top |
| Microsoft rushes to fix browser after attacks; no fix for XP users Sunday, Apr 27, 2014 02:55 PM PDT  By Jim Finkle BOSTON (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp is rushing to fix a bug in its widely used Internet Explorer web browser after a computer security firm disclosed the flaw over the weekend, saying hackers have already exploited it in attacks on some U.S. companies. PCs running Windows XP will not receive any updates fixing that bug when they are released, however, because Microsoft stopped supporting the 13-year-old operating system earlier this month. Security firms estimate that between 15 and 25 percent of the world's PCs still run Windows XP. Microsoft disclosed on Saturday its plans to fix the bug in an advisory to its customers posted on its security website, which it said is present in Internet Explorer versions 6 to 11. Full Story | Top |
| In wealthy Chinese city, debt guarantees spark default contagion Sunday, Apr 27, 2014 02:42 PM PDT  By Gabriel Wildau SHANGHAI (Reuters) - A network of loan guarantees set up to improve companies' access to credit in one of China's richest districts is creating new risks of default as some debts sour, another sign of how private firms are bearing the brunt of an economic slowdown. Chinese media have reported on a credit crunch developing among steel and textile manufacturers in Hangzhou city, 175 km (110 miles) south of Shanghai in Zhejiang province, as the failure of some to repay loans pushes their burden onto healthier firms. Hangzhou is part of the Yangtze River Delta (YRD), an engine of growth during China's boom years but now the source of a third of non-performing loans in the country. The government ranks the city's Xiaoshan district as China's seventh wealthiest. Full Story | Top |
| Macedonia's ruling conservatives claim parliamentary, presidential election victory Sunday, Apr 27, 2014 01:45 PM PDT Macedonia's ruling conservative VMRO-DPMNE party claimed a double victory in parliamentary and presidential elections on Sunday, based on its own vote count ahead of an official result. Nikola Gruevski remains prime minister and I can also say...that Gjorge Ivanov remains president," Vlatko Gjorcev, a senior party official, told reporters. The state electoral commission is still counting the votes, but their early preliminary results show the VMRO-DPMNE in a clear lead in most electoral units. Full Story | Top |
| Egypt sees deficit at 14-14.5 percent of GDP next fiscal year Sunday, Apr 27, 2014 01:28 PM PDT The Egyptian government sees its budget deficit running at 14-14.5 percent of gross domestic product in the fiscal year starting on July 1, Finance Minister Hany Dimian said on Sunday, above a target of 10-10.5 percent he gave in March. Egypt's economy has suffered from more than three years of political turmoil that has driven away tourists and investment. Last month, Dimian cut the economic growth target for the fiscal year to the end of June to 2-2.5 percent from 3-3.5 percent. "We expect the budget deficit in the new budget to stand at 340-350 billion Egyptian pounds ($48.60 billion-$50.03 billion), which is around 14 to 14.5 pct of GDP," Dimian said in an interview with CBC, a local TV station. Full Story | Top |
| EU courts Moldova with visa-free travel from Monday Sunday, Apr 27, 2014 12:42 PM PDT Moldovan citizens will no longer require visas to travel to most of the European Union from Monday, as the bloc presses ahead with deeper ties with east European nations in defiance of Russia. Moldova, Georgia and Ukraine are all seeking tighter links with the European Union as part of Eastern Partnerships with the bloc, which allow for closer trade and business ties without full EU membership. In response to the Ukraine crisis, the European Union has said it will accelerate the partnerships and from Monday, all citizens of Moldova with a biometric passport can travel visa-free to Europe's Schengen zone, the European Commission said on Sunday in a statement. Full Story | Top |
| Sisi urges big vote in Egyptian election; Islamists urge boycott Sunday, Apr 27, 2014 12:37 PM PDT  Former Egyptian army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Sunday called for a big turnout in a presidential election he is expected to win easily, countering a call for a boycott by allies of deposed Islamist president Mohamed Mursi. Sisi, who deposed Mursi after mass protests against his rule last July, faces only one competitor in the May 26-27 election - leftist Hamdeen Sabahi. He came third in the 2012 election won by Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood. Sisi called on Egyptians to vote in "unprecedented numbers for the sake of Egypt", according to an official statement outlining comments he made during a meeting on Sunday with investors in the tourism industry. Full Story | Top |
| Saudi Arabia has 26 more cases of MERS virus, 10 dead Sunday, Apr 27, 2014 12:16 PM PDT Saudi Arabia confirmed 26 more cases of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), which has killed nearly a third of sufferers, and said 10 more people have died from the disease. The confirmations follow Egypt's announcement on Saturday that it had confirmed its first case of MERS in a man who had recently returned to the country from Riyadh, where he was working. Saudi Arabia, where MERS was discovered around two years ago and which remains the country most affected, has now had 339 confirmed cases of MERS, of which 102 have been fatal. The 143 cases announced since the start of April represent a 73 percent jump in total infections in Saudi Arabia this month. Full Story | Top |
| Election violence flares in South Africa's platinum belt Sunday, Apr 27, 2014 12:15 PM PDT By Ed Stoddard JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Police used water cannon and stun grenades to disperse rioters in South Africa's strike-hit platinum belt on Sunday after a government minister was attacked by rock-throwing protesters while campaigning for the May 7 election. Police spokesman Thulani Ngubane told Reuters a community hall, municipal center and the house of a councillor for the ruling ANC were burnt down. He would not identify the rioters but local media and union leaders said the minister had been attacked by members of the striking AMCU miners' union. Ngubane confirmed sports minister Fikile Mbalula had to be whisked away under police protection after he and the ANC activists he was campaigning with were confronted by a crowd in the shanty town of Freedom Park northwest of Johannesburg. Full Story | Top |
| U.S.-Philippines pact could modestly boost American arms sales Sunday, Apr 27, 2014 11:56 AM PDT By Andrea Shalal WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A new 10-year security pact between the United States and the Philippines could lead to modest increases in U.S. weapons sales in coming years, especially for maritime surveillance equipment, analysts said on Sunday. The agreement, to be signed on Monday, establishes a framework for an increased U.S. military presence in the Philippines and is part of a "rebalancing" of U.S. resources toward the fast-growing Asia-Pacific region. Virginia-based defense analyst Loren Thompson noted that the deal came as China increasingly encroaches on maritime areas claimed by Manila in the South China Sea, even as a long-running Muslim insurgency in the southern Philippines is abating. "What Manila needs most in the way of military technology is weapons that can help enforce its claim to areas in the South China Sea," Thompson said. Full Story | Top |
| South African police use water cannon to disperse platinum belt rioters Sunday, Apr 27, 2014 11:54 AM PDT JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Police said on Sunday they used water cannon and stun grenades to disperse rioters in South Africa's platinum belt after the country's sports minister was attacked by rock-throwing protesters while campaigning for the May 7 election. Police spokesman Thulani Ngubane told Reuters a community hall, municipal center and the house of a councillor for the ruling ANC were burnt down. He would not identify the rioters but local media and union leaders said the minister had been attacked by members of the striking AMCU miners' union. ... Full Story | Top |
| Deutsche Bahn to sue Arcelor, Saarstahl for damages Sunday, Apr 27, 2014 11:52 AM PDT  Deutsche Bahn said it was filing claims against a number of steel companies including ArcelorMittal and Saarstahl for damages which the German rail operator alleges were caused by fixing of the price of railway sleepers. That is why we are suing now," Deutsche Bahn management board member Gerd Becht told weekly newspaper Bild am Sonntag according to a report published on Sunday. A spokeswoman for the state-owned company told Reuters that the companies involved included ArcelorMittal and Saarstahl and said the suit was to be filed in the Netherlands. Neither ArcelorMittal nor Saarstahl were immediately available for comment. Full Story | Top |
| Looting follows evacuation of Muslims from Central African capital Sunday, Apr 27, 2014 11:43 AM PDT  By Emmanuel Braun and Crispin Dembassa-Kette BANGUI (Reuters) - Peacekeeping troops escorted around 1,300 Muslims out of Bangui on Sunday, triggering looting and removing one of the last pockets of Muslims from the capital of a nation torn apart by religious violence. Foreign troops have escorted thousands of Muslims to relative safety in the north of the Central African Republic. Peacekeepers stood by as Christians, some armed with machetes and bows and arrows, swarmed into and picked apart houses in Bangui's northern PK12 neighborhood, which had been a Muslim stronghold in the majority Christian south. "We are leaving to save our lives," Mohamed Ali Mohamed, who was born and brought up in the area, told Reuters as fellow Muslims tied jerry cans to trucks ahead of the trip. Full Story | Top |
| Hungarians march against anti-Semitism after far-right poll gains Sunday, Apr 27, 2014 11:33 AM PDT  Tens of thousands of Hungarians joined a protest march on Sunday against anti-Semitism, three weeks after the far-right Jobbik party won nearly a quarter of votes cast in a national election. Budapest's annual 'March of the Living' has drawn an increasing number of participants in recent years to commemorate the deaths of around half a million Hungarian Jews during the Holocaust in World War Two. The marchers, many holding European Union and Israeli flags, attended the inauguration of a Holocaust monument on a bank of the Danube where Jews were executed during the war. They then marched in silence through the city to an old railway station from which trains departed 70 years ago for Nazi death camps. Full Story | Top |
| Serbia's new PM pledges painful reforms with eyes on EU Sunday, Apr 27, 2014 11:24 AM PDT  By Maja Zuvela and Ivana Sekularac BELGRADE (Reuters) - Serbia's parliament approved the cabinet of Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic who took office on Sunday pledging deep economic reform and a drive to get the country into the European Union by the end of the decade. In March the 44-year-old Progressive Party (SNS) leader won the strongest popular mandate of any government since the days of Slobodan Milosevic, a leader during the wars of Yugoslavia's demise in the 1990s that left Serbia isolated and bankrupt. "The European Union might not be an ideal community but it is the best community we could join and I hope that Serbia will become its member of the end of this decade," he said. Full Story | Top |
| Autopsy shows Connecticut student died of multiple stab wounds Sunday, Apr 27, 2014 11:17 AM PDT  (Reuters) - A 16-year-old Connecticut girl killed at her high school last week in an attack police say was carried out by a classmate died of multiple stab wounds to her face and torso, according to an autopsy report released Sunday. Maren Sanchez's death has officially been ruled a homicide, a spokeswoman with Connecticut's Office of the Chief Medical Examiner added. Sanchez, 16, was killed on Friday in a stairwell at Jonathan Law High School in Milford, Connecticut by a classmate who may have been upset that she rebuffed his invitation to the prom, police said. Full Story | Top |
| Election violence flares on South Africa's platinum belt Sunday, Apr 27, 2014 11:11 AM PDT By Ed Stoddard JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Violence erupted on South Africa's platinum belt on Sunday when members of the striking AMCU union attacked sports minister Fikile Mbalula as he campaigned in the area for the ruling ANC in May 7 elections, union officials and local media said. SABC radio, the public broadcaster, said the minister had to be whisked away in a bulletproof car when AMCU members set upon him and ANC activists, pelting them with rocks, as they went door to door in Freedom Park, a shantytown northwest of Johannesburg. Sydwell Dokolwana, the regional secretary for the National Union of Mineworkers, a key ANC ally and AMCU's arch rival, told Reuters he was with the minister at the time and that several people were hurt and buildings were torched. "There was a group of about 100 guys with AMCU shirts. Full Story | Top |
| Libyan oil port Zueitina to re-open after damage assessed Sunday, Apr 27, 2014 10:42 AM PDT By Ayman al-Warfalli BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) - Libya's eastern oil port of Zueitina, which had been occupied by rebels as part of an eight-month oil blockade, will reopen after damage at its facilities has been assessed, the country's justice minister said on Sunday. Salah al-Merghani also told reporters in the eastern city of Benghazi that a committee to investigate oil corruption had been formed, as agreed under a deal between the government and rebels to end a blockade of eastern oil ports. The reopening of four oil export terminal has been delayed with the rebels accusing the government of not fulfilling all parts of the deal, such as paying financial compensation. Under the agreement the rebels will be reintegrated in a state oil security force from which they defected last summer when they occupied ports to press for a share of oil exports. Full Story | Top |
| Separatists seize control of TV HQ in east Ukraine city Sunday, Apr 27, 2014 10:11 AM PDT  By Maria Tsvetkova DONETSK, Ukraine (Reuters) - Pro-Russian separatists on Sunday seized control of the offices of regional state television in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk and said they would take it off air and broadcast a Kremlin-backed Russian channel instead. A Reuters reporter said four separatists in masks, with truncheons and shields, were standing at the entrance to the building controlling access, while more separatists in camouflage fatigues could be seen inside. About 15 police officers were standing a short distance away but were not trying to resist the separatists. It was the first time the station had been seized by the separatists, though previously a transmission tower in the Donetsk region had briefly been seized and technicians forced to broadcast Russian stations' output. Full Story | Top |
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