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| U.S. plans to impose new sanctions on Russia this week Sunday, Apr 27, 2014 09:03 PM PDT The United States plans to slap new sanctions on Russia this week that the White House says will target people and companies inside President Vladimir Putin's "inner circle." Washington also plans to impose new restrictions on high-tech exports to Russia's defense industry in a move aimed at punishing Moscow for not living up to an agreement to defuse the situation in eastern Ukraine, where armed pro-Russian separatists seized about a dozen government buildings. The leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) major economies agreed on Saturday to swiftly impose further sanctions on Russia over the Ukraine crisis. 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 |
| Six confirmed dead in Arkansas after tornado rips through two counties Sunday, Apr 27, 2014 08:52 PM PDT LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas (Reuters) - At least six people were killed on Sunday when a tornado ripped through two Arkansas counties north of Little Rock, authorities said. The fatalities occurred in Faulkner and Pulaski Counties, north of Little Rock, according to law enforcement officials. The governor's office reported that the U.S. National Guard had been dispatched to the scene. (Reporting by Suzi Parker in Little Rock; Writing by Dan Whitcomb) 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 'Open arms and smile' fail to protect German colonel in Ukraine Sunday, Apr 27, 2014 01:06 PM PDT By Alissa de Carbonnel and Thomas Grove MOSCOW/SLAVIANSK, Ukraine (Reuters) - Days before he was taken prisoner, the German colonel who leads the team of European observers being held by separatist gunmen in eastern Ukraine described his technique for working in dangerous hotspots. "In a moment when the situation gets tense I back off," Colonel Axel Schneider told a Reuters reporter in the Ukrainian city of Donetsk on Tuesday, when asked about the challenges of operating near the flashpoint city of Slaviansk. "I am here with my arms open and a smile on my face." Schneider's approach did not work on Friday, when the bus carrying him and his seven fellow observers was boarded by pro-Russian militiamen at a checkpoint on the edge of Slaviansk, in eastern Ukraine. On Sunday, after three days being detained on suspicion of being NATO spies - including one night spent in a cellar - Schneider and his colleagues were paraded by their captors at a news conference in Slaviansk's city administration building. 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| Germany deplores 'public parading' of observers held in Ukraine Sunday, Apr 27, 2014 11:09 AM PDT (Reuters) - Germany denounced as "revolting" on Sunday the parading of European observers held captive by pro-Russian rebels in Ukraine, and said Moscow had a duty to press its separatist allies to free the prisoners. The captives were shown to journalists in Slaviansk, a town in Eastern Ukraine that separatists have turned into a heavily fortified redoubt. "The public parading of the OSCE observers and Ukrainian security forces as prisoners is revolting and blatantly hurts the dignity of the victims," German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said in a statement. 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 |
| White House says sanctions will include Russia's defense industry Sunday, Apr 27, 2014 10:11 AM PDT The United States will impose further sanctions on Russia on Monday over the crisis in Ukraine and they will include high-tech exports to Russia's defense industry, a White House official said on Sunday. White House deputy national security adviser Tony Blinken said the sanctions are designed to punish Russia for not living up to an agreement to de-escalate the situation in eastern Ukraine, where armed pro-Russian separatists have taken control of about a dozen government buildings. The White House had previously said "cronies" of Russian President Vladimir Putin and the companies they control would be targeted with sanctions. Full Story | Top |
| Timeline: Ukraine crisis and Russia's stand-off with the West Sunday, Apr 27, 2014 10:11 AM PDT (Reuters) - Here is a timeline of the fall of Ukraine's government, Russia's subsequent annexation of Ukraine's Crimea and growing unrest in eastern Ukraine where armed pro-Russian separatists have seized government buildings. The resulting stand-off between Russia and the West has brought relations between the two sides to their lowest since the Cold War. Washington accuses Moscow of coordinating the unrest in eastern Ukraine, though Russia denies this. Moscow made similar denials over Crimea until Russian President Vladimir Putin acknowledged his troops had acted alongside local militia. ... Full Story | Top |
| Ukraine separatists say free Swedish observer on medical grounds Sunday, Apr 27, 2014 09:29 AM PDT One of the eight European observers being detained by pro-Russian separatists in the eastern Ukraine city of Slaviansk on Sunday evening was escorted to an Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) vehicle and driven away. A Reuters reporter outside the city administration building in Slaviansk said the man came out, escorted by three unarmed men, got into a white OSCE jeep and drove off. Stella Korosheva, a spokeswoman for the separatist mayor of Slaviansk, said the observer who left is a Swedish national. Full Story | Top |
| Sectarian strife threatens Iraq ahead of election Sunday, Apr 27, 2014 09:02 AM PDT By Ned Parker, Ahmed Rasheed and Raheem Salman BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The Sunni militants who seized the riverside town of Buhriz late last month stayed for several hours. The next morning, after the Sunnis had left, Iraqi security forces and dozens of Shi'ite militia fighters arrived and marched from home to home in search of insurgents and sympathizers in this rural community, dotted by date palms and orange groves. According to accounts by Shi'ite tribal leaders, two eyewitnesses and politicians, what happened next was brutal. They pulled out the young men and summarily executed them." The killings turned this town 35 miles northeast of Baghdad into a frontline in Iraq's gathering sectarian war. Full Story | Top |
| Syria misses self-imposed deadline for destroying chemical arms Sunday, Apr 27, 2014 08:50 AM PDT  Syria appeared to have missed a self-imposed deadline to get rid of all its chemical weapons by April 27, as the United Nations announced that more than 92 percent of the arsenal had been shipped out of the country or destroyed. The UN deadline for the total destruction of Syria's chemical weapons is June 30, but the government had vowed to complete the removal of its 1,300 tonnes of chemical substances on April 27, after missing several deadlines. Sigrid Kaag, head of the joint mission of the United Nations and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, told reporters in Damascus that the UN hoped Syria would meet the June deadline. Full Story | Top |
| Zarif says most Iranians support nuclear deal with West Sunday, Apr 27, 2014 08:34 AM PDT  Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Sunday he saw a good chance for a nuclear deal with the West because "most Iranians" were in favor of it, playing down resistance from Islamic hardliners. "Some factions have no interest in reaching an agreement due to political reasons, but what counts at the end is the vote of the majority of Iranian people," Zarif told a joint news conference in Tehran with visiting Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz. He was referring to the landslide victory in last July's presidential election of Hassan Rouhani, a relative moderate, after he pledged to end sanctions imposed on Iran by the United States and its Western allies in order to force Tehran to open its nuclear program to outside scrutiny. "I am sure if we score a decent deal, it will be backed by a majority of Iranians," he added. Full Story | Top |
| Abbas calls Holocaust "most heinous crime" against humanity Sunday, Apr 27, 2014 08:32 AM PDT  By Jeffrey Heller JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called the Nazi Holocaust "the most heinous crime" against humanity in modern times, in an apparent bid to build bridges with Israel days after troubled peace talks collapsed. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected the overture on Sunday, saying Abbas's Palestinian power-sharing deal with Hamas, which led Israel to suspend the negotiations on Thursday, put him in partnership with an Islamist group that denies the Holocaust and seeks the Jewish state's destruction. "What I say to him very simply is this: President Abbas, tear up your pact with Hamas," Netanyahu said on the CBS news program Face the Nation. Abbas's message, published in Arabic and English by the official Palestinian news agency WAFA, coincided with Israel's annual remembrance day for the 6 million Jews killed in the Holocaust, and included an expression of sympathy for the families of the victims. Full Story | Top |
| Afghan presidential hopefuls rally supporters ahead of run-off Sunday, Apr 27, 2014 08:05 AM PDT  By Mirwais Harooni and Hamid Shalizi KABUL (Reuters) - The two leading candidates in the race to become Afghanistan's next president rallied supporters and urged election officials to come clean on fraud on Sunday as the country readied for an expected grueling run-off in June. Abdullah Abdullah and Ashraf Ghani, both ministers in the transition government after U.S.-led forces drove the Taliban from power in 2001, shared over three-quarters of the nearly 7 million votes cast, but neither clinched an absolute majority. After decades of war and foreign occupation, Afghanistan is being left to stand on its own feet this year with the political change-of-guard and the withdrawal of foreign combat troops by December 31. More than 12 years after U.S. troops invaded Afghanistan to capture al Qaeda militants blamed for the September 11 attacks on the United States, a potent Islamist insurgency is still the biggest problem confronting the government. Full Story | Top |
| Netanyahu tells Abbas to 'tear up' pact with Hamas Sunday, Apr 27, 2014 07:23 AM PDT  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday to "tear up" his pact with Hamas, saying Israel would not take part in Middle East peace talks with a Palestinian government backed by the Islamist group. Netanyahu also said Abbas's comments earlier on Sunday denouncing the Holocaust could not be reconciled with his alliance with Hamas. Full Story | Top |
| Germans outraged by Berlusconi's comments on concentration camps Sunday, Apr 27, 2014 07:14 AM PDT  German politicians on Sunday condemned as "unacceptable" and "absurd" comments by former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi that Germans denied the existence of Nazi concentration camps. Social Democrat (SPD) General Secretary Yasmin Fahimi described the comments as "repugnant, shocking and completely unacceptable". "These lapses ... not only damage the image of Italy but also endanger the political culture and values of Europe," she told Reuters. Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) are allies of Berlusconi's Forza Italia in the European parliament's European Peoples Party conservative grouping. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. concerned about Iran missiles, committed to Gulf security Sunday, Apr 27, 2014 07:00 AM PDT By Praveen Menon and Rania El Gamal ABU DHABI (Reuters) - A senior U.S. official signaled optimism on Sunday about a possible resolution of the Iranian nuclear dispute but said Washington remained concerned that Iran's ballistic missiles threatened Gulf Arab states. Frank Rose, U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state for space and defense policy, said Washington was "acutely" aware of Gulf Arab states' anxieties about Iran and wanted to help them launch a Gulf-wide coordinated missile defense capability. "We are optimistic that we'll have a successful resolution of the Iran nuclear issue ... but that doesn't downgrade our concern about Iran's other bad behaviors, specifically their support for terrorism as well as their continued development of ballistic missile capabilities," Rose told reporters on the sidelines of a conference in Abu Dhabi on missiles and defense. Full Story | Top |
| Colombia's Santos would win election, but support down - poll Sunday, Apr 27, 2014 06:53 AM PDT  Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos remains frontrunner to win a second term in office in next month's election, but his two closest rivals are gaining ground, according to a poll published on Sunday. Twenty-three percent said they would vote for the center-right incumbent in the first round of voting on May 25, one percentage point less than in the last poll in March and five less than two months ago, according to the survey by Ipsos Napoleon Franco published in weekly Semana magazine. A perceived slowdown in peace talks with Marxist FARC rebels to bring an end to five decades of conflict has also raised concern among voters. Backing for right-wing contender Oscar Ivan Zuluaga, who represents former President Alvaro Uribe's party, has risen. Full Story | Top |
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