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| Heavy fighting, explosions in Libya's Benghazi city Thursday, May 01, 2014 09:00 PM PDT Heavy fighting broke out between Libya's army and a militia in the port city of Benghazi in the country's volatile east on Friday, residents said. The army's special forces moved vehicles to the scene of fighting near the city's security headquarters, residents said. The identity of the enemy was not immediately clear, residents said, though there have been frequent clashes in the city between security forces and Islamists militants. Full Story | Top |
| North Korea seen testing engine for intercontinental ballistic missile Thursday, May 01, 2014 08:59 PM PDT By Jack Kim SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea has recently conducted engine tests for an intercontinental ballistic missile that could potentially deliver a nuclear warhead to the United States, a U.S. think tank said on Friday. North Korea conducted at least one engine test for the KN-08 missile in late March or early April, the think tank 38 North said, marking the latest in a series of tests for a missile believed to have a range of more than 10,000 km (6,000 miles). Following the engine tests, the next stage for North Korea would be a test launch of the missile, according to 38 North, which is affiliated with Johns Hopkins University's U.S.-Korea Institute. Commercial satellite imagery indicates movement and removal of missile stages and fuel tanks as well as changes in the flame trench that point to North Korea having conducted one or more tests in the two-week period from March 22, the report said. Full Story | Top |
| Pro-Russian rebels in Slaviansk say Ukraine tries to retake town Thursday, May 01, 2014 08:58 PM PDT Pro-Russian separatists in Slaviansk in eastern Ukraine said on Friday Ukrainian forces had launched a "large-scale operation" to retake the town and one military helicopter had been shot down. A Reuters photographer said he saw a military helicopter open fire on the outskirts of the town and a reporter heard gunfire. In Kiev, an aide to Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said he could not comment. Armed groups seeking union with Russia have seized a number of government buildings in towns in eastern Ukraine. Full Story | Top |
| After bombing in west, China angered by U.S. criticism in terror report Thursday, May 01, 2014 08:19 PM PDT  By Michael Martina URUMQI, China (Reuters) - China's foreign ministry has reacted angrily to U.S. criticism of the level of cooperation from Beijing on fighting terrorism, after an apparent suicide bombing in the country's far west pointed to a possible escalation of unrest there. The Chinese government has blamed religious extremists for carrying out a bomb and knife attack at a train station in Urumqi, regional capital of Xinjiang, on Wednesday evening that killed one bystander and wounded 79. Security was heavy on Friday in Urumqi, scene of deadly riots five years ago between Muslim Uighurs and ethnic Han Chinese in which almost 200 were killed. Full Story | Top |
| Indonesia's Jokowi pledges to eliminate fuel subsidies slowly: media Thursday, May 01, 2014 07:06 PM PDT  Indonesian presidential frontrunner Joko "Jokowi" Widodo said he would gradually eliminate costly fuel subsidies over a four year period if he wins a July election, The Jakarta Post newspaper quoted him as saying on Friday. Fuel subsidies, which the government argues largely benefit the rich, cost the government around $20 billion a year and put pressure on the current account deficit. "In four years, the fuel subsidy should be eliminated gradually, step by step, until it's gone," Jokowi said on the sidelines of a national development planning conference on Wednesday, according to The Jakarta Post. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono raised fuel prices last year, but the issue is politically sensitive and attempts to go too quickly have been met with strong resistance and demonstrations. Full Story | Top |
| At U.S. college, Irish militant archive becomes diplomatic time bomb Thursday, May 01, 2014 05:57 PM PDT By Ross Kerber and David Ingram BOSTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - The arrest of Irish politician Gerry Adams may have its roots in a closed archive of taped interviews with former paramilitaries in Northern Ireland that researchers now fear could be used to charge others over sectarian violence from decades ago. U.S. and British authorities last year won a court battle against Boston College in Massachusetts to obtain interviews from the oral history archive. They said the records were needed to investigate the 1972 killing of a widowed mother by the IRA, a notorious incident from the period known as "The Troubles." The legal victory created a diplomatic time bomb. Material previously made public from the archive has linked Adams to the death of the woman, Jean McConville. Full Story | Top |
| Seven dead after rains cause landslide in central Mexico Thursday, May 01, 2014 05:10 PM PDT MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - At least seven have died after strong rains caused a landslide in the central Mexican state of Puebla, the state governor tweeted on Thursday. It was not immediately clear how many people were in the area. A storm on Wednesday caused a torrent of mud and water to flood a street in the town of Huehuetlan el Grande, Puebla, covering five vehicles, a state government press release said. (Reporting by Alexandra Alper; Editing by Lisa Shumaker) Full Story | Top |
| Republic of Congo expels 50,000 citizens of neighboring Congo Thursday, May 01, 2014 04:57 PM PDT Republic of Congo has expelled more than 50,000 citizens of the Democratic Republic of Congo over the past month, authorities in Kinshasa said on Thursday, a move rare on this scale in the relations between the two neighbors. Officials in Brazzaville, capital of the Republic of Congo, said the operation is aimed at ending a crime wave linked to foreigners, and that all those living in the country illegally, not just those from the DRC, were being targeted. The Kinshasa government has expressed concern about the way in which the operation was being carried out but said it is seeking to resolve the issue through diplomatic channels. "As of yesterday, we had counted 52,226 people expelled from Brazzaville," Andre Kimbuta Yango, the governor of Kinshasa, told Reuters. Full Story | Top |
| Northern Ireland rocked by Gerry Adams arrest over 1972 killing Thursday, May 01, 2014 04:40 PM PDT  By Padraic Halpin and Neil Maidment ANTRIM, Northern Ireland/DUBLIN (Reuters) - Northern Irish police questioned Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams on Thursday after arresting him under an investigation into one of the province's most notorious murders, a move that stirred fierce political reaction in Britain and Ireland. Reviled by many as the spokesman for the Irish Republican Army in the 1980s during its campaign against British rule, Adams reinvented himself as a Northern Ireland peacemaker and then as a populist opposition parliamentarian in the Irish Republic. His Sinn Fein party, which shares power in the Northern Ireland government, said he was arrested in the town of Antrim on Wednesday evening by police investigating the 1972 abduction and murder of Jean McConville, a widowed mother of 10 children. Adams, 65, who has always denied membership of the IRA, said he was "innocent of any part" in the killing, which he said was "wrong and a grievous injustice to her and her family". Full Story | Top |
| Suspected bomb on edge of Nigerian capital kills at least 15 Thursday, May 01, 2014 04:38 PM PDT  By Isaac Abrak and Afolabi Sotunde ABUJA (Reuters) - A suspected car bomb exploded on the outskirts of Nigeria's capital Abuja on Thursday, killing at least 15 people a week before the city was to host a conference of leaders and business executives focused on Africa's growth prospects, witnesses said. The explosion hit the suburb of Nyanya, close to the site of a morning rush hour bomb attack at a bus station last month that killed at least 75 people. The April 14 attack was claimed by the radical Islamist movement Boko Haram which is waging an insurgency against President Goodluck Jonathan's government. "There was a loud blast then a ball of fire," witness Lateef Adebayo told Reuters by telephone from Nyanya. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. warns of South Sudan genocide risk, raises hope of new forces Thursday, May 01, 2014 04:36 PM PDT  By Phil Stewart and Aaron Maasho ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry warned on Thursday that South Sudan's conflict could descend into genocide, as he renewed threats of sanctions and raised hope that more peacekeeping forces could be deployed swiftly to halt the bloodshed. Kerry, emerging from talks about the increasingly ethnic slaughter in South Sudan with foreign ministers from neighboring Ethiopia, Uganda and Kenya, said all sides agreed the "killing must stop." "A legitimate force that has an ability to help make peace needs to get on the ground as rapidly as possible," Kerry said in Addis Ababa at the start of an African trip. Addressing reporters later, Kerry said the goal was "in these next days, literally, we can move more rapidly to put people on the ground who could begin to make a difference." His Ethiopian counterpart, Foreign Minister Tedros Adhanom, said all sides stressed the need for deployment of a force "as soon as possible." A spokeswoman said Kerry was referring to regional forces under the authority of the United Nations, which already has a mission in South Sudan. Full Story | Top |
| In Iraq and Syria, a resurgence of foreign suicide bombers Thursday, May 01, 2014 04:05 PM PDT  By Mark Hosenball WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Shortly before Abdul Waheed Majeed, a 41-year-old British truck driver, blew himself up in an attack on a Syrian prison, he brushed aside a question in Arabic. "My tongue bro'... it's got like a knot in it." That suicide-bomb attack on February 6 by the Pakistani-born Majeed, appeared to be part of a resurgence of such attacks that represented a disturbing shift in tactics among radical jihadists in the sectarian killing grounds of Syria and Iraq. Many of them have been carried out by foreigners drawn to the conflicts from across the region and from Europe, U.S. and European security and intelligence officials say. Will McCants, an expert at the Brookings Institution think tank in Washington, said given the rapid increase of foreign fighters in Syria "if the war drags on, the number of fighters will far eclipse those we saw in Afghanistan." The security officials estimated that several thousand foreign nationals are active in the two countries. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. offers to help Nigeria in hunt for abducted girls Thursday, May 01, 2014 03:55 PM PDT  The United States said on Thursday it had offered to help Nigeria in its search for around 200 girls abducted by Islamist militants from a school in the northeast of the West African country. "We have been engaged with the Nigerian government in discussions on what we might do to help support their efforts to find and free these young women," State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf told a daily briefing. "We will continue to have those discussions and help in any way we can." Gunmen suspected to be from the radical Islamist movement Boko Haram on April 14 stormed an all-girls secondary school in the village of Chibok, in Borno state, packed the teenagers onto trucks and disappeared into a remote area along the border with Cameroon. The kidnapping occurred the same day a bomb blast, also blamed on Boko Haram, killed 75 people on the edge of the capital, Abuja, and it marked the first attack on the capital in two years. Full Story | Top |
| BP cleaning up oil spill on Alaska's North Slope Thursday, May 01, 2014 03:45 PM PDT  Work crews for BP Plc were clearing contaminated snow on Thursday on Alaska's North Slope after a Prudhoe Bay well line ruptured, spraying a 34-acre area with crude oil and natural gas. Just how much liquid escaped from the line remains under investigation by BP and Alaska's Department of Environmental Conservation. It remains unclear whether the leak, detected earlier this week, is connected to a decline in North Slope oil production. Since the spill occurred, daily North Slope production has dropped about 10,000 barrels per day, from 533,000 to 521,000, according to state tracking data. Full Story | Top |
| Toronto Mayor Ford takes leave to deal with alcohol problem Thursday, May 01, 2014 03:08 PM PDT  By Allison Martell and Cameron French TORONTO (Reuters) - Toronto Mayor Rob Ford flew to the United States in a private plane on Thursday, a TV network said, a day after he said he would take a leave of absence from his job and his re-election campaign to seek treatment for an alcohol problem. Global News reported that it had confirmed Chicago as Ford's destination but did not cite any sources. Ford's decision to take a leave of absence followed months of denials that he has a substance abuse problem and nearly a year after media reports surfaced that he appeared in a video smoking crack cocaine. His departure followed a Globe and Mail report on Wednesday that it had seen a video shot last week that showed Ford using what appeared to be drugs. Full Story | Top |
| Irish-American stronghold Boston stunned by Gerry Adams' arrest Thursday, May 01, 2014 02:32 PM PDT By Scott Malone BOSTON (Reuters) - In the bars of South Boston, Irish-Americans reacted with shock on Thursday to the news that Gerry Adams, a man some regard as a hero for his role in the peace process, had been arrested in Northern Ireland in connection with a murder committed 42 years ago. Some were worried that Adams' arrest would cause trouble back in Ireland and expressed anger that the U.S. government had cleared the way for the release of a trove of documents by Boston College researchers that may have paved the way for the arrest. They had no reason at all to go after him after all these years," said Jerry Byrne, the barman at Croke Park, just down the block from a mural of a map of Ireland that reads "Ireland unfree will never be at peace." Byrne said he viewed Adams, a former Irish Republican Army spokesman who reinvented himself as a populist opposition politician, as a hero for his role in ending the 30 years of sectarian violence in Northern Ireland known as "The Troubles." "They always wanted to get him," Byrne, 55, and originally from Dublin said of Adams. Full Story | Top |
| Malaysia releases missing plane report, reveals confusion Thursday, May 01, 2014 02:14 PM PDT  By Siva Govindasamy and Tim Hepher KUALA LUMPUR/PARIS (Reuters) - Malaysia on Thursday released its most comprehensive account yet of what happened to missing Flight MH370, in a preliminary report that detailed the route the plane probably took as it veered off course and revealed the confusion that followed. It showed four hours elapsed between the first sign that the Malaysia Airlines jet had failed to report in when expected to and the decision to mount a search operation - and that time included lapses of communication and a false lead from the airline itself. The document, dated April 9, also contributed to a growing safety debate by urging the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the U.N. body that oversees aviation, to consider introducing a system for tracking commercial jets. The Malaysian government and military have come under intense criticism for their handling of events on and after March 8, when the Malaysia Airlines flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing disappeared with 239 passengers and crew on board. Full Story | Top |
| Ukraine wins IMF deal, faces $9 billion in debt payments this year Thursday, May 01, 2014 02:13 PM PDT The International Monetary Fund's board has signed off on a $17 billion bailout for Ukraine to boost the former Soviet state's failing economy, weakened by months of upheaval and a stand-off with Moscow that has triggered the worst East-West crisis since the Cold War. Ukraine desperately needs to increase revenues to try to meet its foreign currency debt obligations, and the first disbursement of $3.2 billion to Kiev will help it meet immediate payments. Below is a list of what Ukraine needs to pay and what it expects to receive in credits this year. Full Story | Top |
| China blames religious extremists for station bombing Thursday, May 01, 2014 01:59 PM PDT  By Michael Martina URUMQI, China (Reuters) - An attack at a train station in China's western city of Urumqi was carried out by two religious extremists who both died in the blast, the government said on Thursday. Three people were killed, including the assailants, and 79 wounded in a bomb and knife attack at the station on Wednesday, according to the government and state media, as President Xi Jinping was wrapping up a visit to the area. The Xinjiang regional government said on its official news website (www.ts.cn) that the two attackers who were killed had "long been influenced by extremist religious thought and participated in extremist religious activities". Full Story | Top |
| UPDATE 1-Cuba calls terrorism designation by U.S. absurd, manipulative Thursday, May 01, 2014 01:24 PM PDT  By Daniel Trotta HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuba labeled as absurd and manipulative an annual U.S. State Department report that once again designated Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism, a setback for advocates hoping for a change in Washington's Cuba policy this year. The annual Country Reports on Terrorism issued on Wednesday continued to list Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria as countries that have "repeatedly provided support for acts of international terrorism." Cuba has been on the list since 1982. Cuba's Foreign Ministry "energetically rejects the manipulation of a matter as sensitive as international terrorism by turning it into an instrument of policy against Cuba and it demands that our country be definitively excluded from this spurious, unilateral and arbitrary list," the Cuban government said in a statement late on Wednesday. Opponents of Washington's Cold War-era policy on Cuba had hoped it would drop Cuba from the list this year in a sign U.S. President Barack Obama might want to normalize relations with the communist-ruled island 90 miles (145 km) from Florida. Full Story | Top |
| Firefighters hold line against fierce Southern California wildfire Thursday, May 01, 2014 01:22 PM PDT  By Dan Whitcomb LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Firefighters made progress on Thursday against a wildfire driven by Santa Ana winds that has charred more than 1,000 acres of drought-parched scrubland east of Los Angeles, threatening a wealthy community in the foothills of the San Bernardino Mountains. The fire, which erupted on Wednesday morning at the Etiwanda Preserve north of the community of Rancho Cucamonga about 65 miles east of Los Angeles, was only about 10 percent contained as of Thursday morning. But fire officials said the flames, which on Wednesday threatened homes on the outskirts of Rancho Cucamonga, forcing hundreds of people to evacuate, had been turned away from the community and were now burning mostly in the foothills. Full Story | Top |
| Cuba calls terrorism designation by U.S. absurd, manipulative Thursday, May 01, 2014 01:21 PM PDT  By Daniel Trotta HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuba labeled as absurd and manipulative an annual U.S. State Department report that once again designated Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism, a setback for advocates hoping for a change in Washington's Cuba policy this year. The annual Country Reports on Terrorism issued on Wednesday continued to list Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria as countries that have "repeatedly provided support for acts of international terrorism." Cuba has been on the list since 1982. Cuba's Foreign Ministry "energetically rejects the manipulation of a matter as sensitive as international terrorism by turning it into an instrument of policy against Cuba and it demands that our country be definitively excluded from this spurious, unilateral and arbitrary list," the Cuban government said in a statement late on Wednesday. Opponents of Washington's Cold War-era policy on Cuba had hoped it would drop Cuba from the list this year in a sign U.S. President Barack Obama might want to normalize relations with the communist-ruled island 90 miles from Florida. Full Story | Top |
| Moscow May Day parade lauds Putin as rebels seize more Ukraine buildings Thursday, May 01, 2014 01:10 PM PDT  By Nigel Stephenson and Thomas Grove MOSCOW/DONETSK, Ukraine (Reuters) - Russia staged a huge May Day parade on Moscow's Red Square for the first time since the Soviet era on Thursday, with workers holding banners proclaiming support for President Vladimir Putin after the seizure of territory from neighboring Ukraine. Thousands of trade unionists marched with Russian flags and those of Putin's ruling United Russia party onto the giant square beneath the Kremlin walls, past the red granite mausoleum of Soviet state founder Vladimir Lenin. But others were more directly political, alluding to the crisis in Ukraine where Russia's annexation of Crimea in March precipitated the biggest confrontation with the West since the Cold War. Full Story | Top |
| Tunisian assembly approves new electoral law Thursday, May 01, 2014 12:45 PM PDT  By Tarek Amara TUNIS (Reuters) - Tunisia's national assembly on Thursday approved a new electoral law, to take one of the last steps in the country's move to full democracy after the 2011 uprising that inspired the "Arab Spring" revolts. Members of the 217-seat assembly voted 132 in favor and 11 against the new electoral law. "This is an important step," said Mehrzia Labidi, vice president of the assembly. With its new constitution and a caretaker administration governing until elections later this year, Tunisia's relatively smooth progress contrasts with the turmoil in Egypt, Libya and Yemen, which also ousted long-standing leaders three years ago. Full Story | Top |
| Magma rising in Washington state's Mount St. Helens volcano : USGS Thursday, May 01, 2014 12:45 PM PDT  By Eric M. Johnson SEATTLE (Reuters) - Magma levels are slowly rebuilding inside Mount St. Helens, a volcano in Washington state that erupted in 1980 and killed 57 people, although there was no sign of an impending eruption, U.S. scientists said. "The magma reservoir beneath Mount St. Helens has been slowly re-pressurizing since 2008," the U.S. Geological Survey said in a statement on Wednesday. "It is likely that re-pressurization is caused by (the) arrival of a small amount of additional magma 4 to 8 km (2.5 to 5 miles) beneath the surface." The USGS said this is to be expected with an active volcano and does not indicate "the volcano is likely to erupt anytime soon." The USGS, and the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network at University of Washington, closely monitor ground deformation and seismicity at the volcano. Full Story | Top |
| Kerry raises detained Ethiopian bloggers with PM Thursday, May 01, 2014 12:39 PM PDT  By Aaron Maasho ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said he had raised concerns about Ethiopia's detention of six bloggers and three journalists during a meeting with the country's prime minister on Thursday. The bloggers - part of a group called Zone 9 that has published articles and appeals criticizing government policies - and the local journalists were arrested last week and accused of attempting to incite violence. Rights groups have taken to Twitter and other websites calling for their release and accused the government of trying to silence critics. Addis Ababa has said the charges relate to "serious criminal activities" and have nothing to do with muzzling the media. Full Story | Top |
| Riot police clash with May Day protesters in Istanbul Thursday, May 01, 2014 11:52 AM PDT  By Ayla Jean Yackley and Evrim Ergin ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish police fired tear gas, water cannon and rubber pellets on Thursday to stop May Day protesters, some armed with fire bombs, from defying Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and reaching Istanbul's central Taksim square. Citing security fears, authorities shut parts of the city's public transport system, erected steel barricades and deployed thousands of riot police to block access to Taksim, a traditional union rallying point and the focus of weeks of anti-government protests last summer. Erdogan, who warned last week he would not let labor unions march on Taksim, has cast both last year's street protests and a corruption scandal dogging his government since December as part of a plot to undermine him. While it was the unions who called for demonstrations to press workers' rights and express broad opposition to Erdogan's government, some of those who clashed more violently with police were from marginal leftist groups. Full Story | Top |
| Yemeni army kills 13 al Qaeda fighters, including one Uzbek Thursday, May 01, 2014 11:24 AM PDT  By Mohammed Mukhashaf ADEN, Yemen (Reuters) - Yemeni armed forces killed an al Qaeda commander from Uzbekistan and at least 12 other militants in fighting in south Yemen on Thursday, the third day of an offensive against the Islamist group, local military and security sources said. The Uzbek citizen, known as Abu Muslim al-Uzbeki, died during fighting in the province of Abyan, the source told Reuters. On Tuesday, President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi said 70 percent of al Qaeda fighters in Yemen were foreigners. Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and its offshoot, Ansar al-Sharia, have hampered the U.S.-allied country's efforts to restore stability since a popular uprising in 2011 that forced a change in government. Full Story | Top |
| France deports Algerian suspected of recruiting for Syria jihad Thursday, May 01, 2014 11:21 AM PDT France said it had deported on Thursday an Algerian national suspected of recruiting young French Muslims to join the Syrian civil war, the first such case since Paris unveiled a raft of policies to stop its citizens from becoming radicalized. France, which has been a staunch opponent of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, has made clamping down on violent cells and self-radicalized operators planning attacks in the country a priority since a Toulouse-based al Qaeda-inspired gunman shot dead seven people in March 2012. But with the Syrian conflict entering its fourth year, the government has come under criticism for failing to stop its nationals - some as young as 15 - from heading to Syria. Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said in a statement that a 37-year-old man who had been a resident in France since 1980 had been sent back to Algeria on Thursday morning. Full Story | Top |
| Romania calls for greater U.S. military presence in Black Sea Thursday, May 01, 2014 11:21 AM PDT Romania has called for the United States and NATO to boost their military presence in the Balkan country to promote stability in the Black Sea region following Russia's annexation of Crimea. The foreign ministry, in a statement issued on Thursday, said Foreign Minister Titus Corlatean stressed the importance of an enhanced, long-term U.S. presence in the Black Sea region "to deter any other destabilizing initiatives." Corlatean has been in Washington this week to discuss the situation in Ukraine, which neighbors Romania, with U.S. officials. The ministry said visits by U.S. warships to Romanian Black Sea ports and joint naval, aerial and terrestrial military exercises aimed at "consolidating a collective defense dimension," should increase. Romania, a former Communist state which joined the European Union in 2007, has been among the staunchest advocates of Western sanctions against Moscow after Russia annexed the Ukrainian region of Crimea. Full Story | Top |
| Pro-Russian protesters storm prosecutor's office in Ukraine's Donetsk Thursday, May 01, 2014 11:17 AM PDT By Thomas Grove DONETSK, Ukraine (Reuters) - Pro-Russian protesters stormed the prosecutor's office in the separatist-held city of Donetsk on Thursday, hurling rocks, firecrackers and teargas at riot police defending officials the rebels accused of working for Kiev's Western-backed leaders. To shouts of "Fascists", a refrain Moscow uses to describe Ukraine's new government, hundreds of people pelted the police with paving stones and then cornered some, dragging them to the ground and beating them. Donetsk, a city of about 1 million people in Ukraine's industrial east, is at the center of an armed uprising across the steel and coal belt by mainly Russian-speakers threatening to secede from Ukraine. The violence, in a city already largely under the control of separatists, underscored the shifting security situation across swathes of eastern Ukraine where suspicion of Kiev runs deep. Full Story | Top |
| West urges North Korea to close political prison camps, end caste system Thursday, May 01, 2014 11:09 AM PDT  By Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA (Reuters) - Western powers called on North Korea on Thursday to dismantle its political prison camps and a caste system that ranks citizens based on family loyalty to the ruling dynasty. North Korea defended its human rights record in a debate at the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva, continuing to deny the existence of such camps, believed to hold up to 120,000 inmates. The Rights Council examined the record of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) as part of its scrutiny of each U.N. member state every four years. North Korea is to say on Monday which recommendations it accepts. Full Story | Top |
| IMF says Ukraine would need modified bailout if eastern region lost Thursday, May 01, 2014 10:45 AM PDT By Anna Yukhananov WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund warned on Thursday it would be forced to re-design its $17 billion bailout for Ukraine and require additional financing if the country lost territory in its restive eastern region. The Fund also said a deterioration in relations between Ukraine and Russia, which buys about a quarter of Ukrainian exports, could further hurt Kiev's economy and force an adjustment to the bailout approved by the IMF board on Wednesday. "A long-lasting disruption of relations with Russia that depresses exports, investment, and growth, or a loss of economic control over the East that reduces budget revenue would require a significant recalibration of the program and additional financing, including from Ukraine's bilateral partners," the IMF said in a staff report released on Thursday. In outlining the risks to the program, the IMF also warned of uncertainty about the Ukraine government's commitment to an extensive program of reforms, many of them politically unpopular, especially after its May 25 presidential election. Full Story | Top |
| Factbox: Panama's presidential candidates and their policies Thursday, May 01, 2014 10:35 AM PDT Here are some facts about the three main candidates and their policies: JOSE DOMINGO ARIAS, DEMOCRATIC CHANGE (CD) - Arias, 50, is a former textile industry businessman. He was housing minister before being chosen by the CD to run with Marta Linares de Martinelli, the wife of outgoing President Ricardo Martinelli, as his running mate. - Arias' close ties to the president have led many to say his candidacy is a proxy for Martinelli, who has presided over robust growth fueled by a surge in infrastructure spending, notably the $5.25 billion expansion of the Panama Canal. - If he wins, the CD would be the only party to win re-election in Panama since the U.S. invasion to oust military strongman Manuel Noriega in 1989. Full Story | Top |
| Panama election to test Martinelli's hold on power Thursday, May 01, 2014 10:33 AM PDT  By Christine Murray and Elida Moreno PANAMA CITY (Reuters) - Panamanians vote for a new president on Sunday in the closest contest in a generation with opponents of President Ricardo Martinelli seeking to thwart the business tycoon's attempt to maintain an indirect grip on power. Panama is a banking and trading hub and its successful canal has helped fuel the fastest economic growth in Latin America in recent years. Opinion polls show ruling Democratic Change (CD) party candidate Jose Domingo Arias, whose running mate is Martinelli's wife, neck and neck with moderate leftist ex-Panama City mayor Juan Carlos Navarro of the Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD). Just behind in third place is the Panamenista Party's Juan Carlos Varela, the vice-president. Full Story | Top |
| Air strike kills 33 in Syria's Aleppo: monitoring group Thursday, May 01, 2014 10:31 AM PDT  At least 33 people were killed when Syrian government warplanes attacked a busy market in a rebel-controlled district of Aleppo on Thursday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The attack came a day after an air strike on a school in Aleppo killed at least 18 people, mainly children. Despite the continuing civil war, Syrian authorities are preparing for a June presidential election in which President Bashar al-Assad is expected to extend his grip on power. Aleppo is divided between Assad's forces and rebels aiming to topple him. Full Story | Top |
| Kerry says he'll pause, reassess after Israeli-Palestinian peace bid Thursday, May 01, 2014 09:51 AM PDT  By Phil Stewart ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Thursday he would pause and reassess what might be possible after failing to meet his April 29 goal for an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal, saying both sides still wanted to try to negotiate. "So we believe the best thing to do right now is pause, take a hard look at these things and find out what is possible and what is not possible in the days ahead." The failure to reach a deal has given more ammunition to critics of President Barack Obama's foreign policy, who also accuse him of not reacting forcefully enough to Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimean peninsula. But Kerry, who has invested much of his own time and clout in the Israeli-Palestinian peace effort, strongly suggested he was not about to walk away. Israel suspended the talks a week ago, even before the deadline passed, in response to a reconciliation pact between Fatah, the Palestinian faction that leads the West Bank, and Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip and which the United States and Israel regard as a terrorist group. Full Story | Top |
| Le Pen urges French to vote against EU's 'gravediggers' Thursday, May 01, 2014 09:49 AM PDT  By Johnny Cotton and John Irish PARIS (Reuters) - French far-right leader Marine Le Pen launched a scathing attack on the European Union on Thursday, urging voters later this month to punish Brussels "gravediggers" she held responsible for pushing France into decline. Fresh from March's successful municipal elections when her anti-EU party secured power in 10 town halls across France, Le Pen has sought to capitalize on growing discontent over Socialist President Francois Hollande's handling of the economy and rising unemployment that he has been unable to stem. Mainstream center-left parties are facing the same problem across the 28-nation European Union - a disenchanted industrial proletariat that has borne the brunt of globalization and the financial crisis is being drawn to the political extremes. "On May 25, put an end to this system that despises you ... turn your back on the dishonor and capitulation," Le Pen, a fiery ex-lawyer, told thousands of supporters gathered in central Paris for the May Day holiday. Full Story | Top |
| Northern Ireland's first minister denies politics behind Gerry Adams arrest Thursday, May 01, 2014 09:12 AM PDT Northern Ireland's first minister denied any political motivation behind the arrest of Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams who is being questioned as part of an investigation into one of the province's most notorious murders. "Is anybody going to say to me that if the police are aware of claims and evidence in relation to such a barbaric killing that it would be political policing for them to question those who have been suggested to have been involved?" Peter Robinson asked reporters "I would suggest to you that it would be political policing if the PSNI had not questioned those that were deemed to have been involved in any way," Robinson said. Northern Ireland's Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness said the arrest of Adams was a deliberate attempt by unidentified "dark" forces within the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) to undermine the peace process and said it was linked to elections later this month. Full Story | Top |
| British PM Cameron says no political interference behind Adams arrest Thursday, May 01, 2014 09:12 AM PDT British Prime Minister David Cameron said on Thursday there had been no political interference in the arrest of Gerry Adams who is being questioned as part of an investigation into one of Northern Ireland's most notorious murders. "We have an independent judicial system, both here in England and also we do have one in Northern Ireland and there has been absolutely no political interference in this issue," Cameron told Sky television. Northern Ireland's Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness said earlier the arrest of Adams was a deliberate attempt by unidentified "dark" forces within the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) to undermine the peace process and added it was linked to elections later this month. Full Story | Top |
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