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| 7.7 magnitude quake hits Canada's British Columbia Sunday, Oct 28, 2012 12:20 PM PDT (Reuters) - A powerful earthquake with a magnitude of 7.7 hit Canada's Pacific coastal province of British Columbia late Saturday, setting off a small tsunami, but there were no immediate reports of injuries or damage, officials said. The U.S. Geological Survey said an earthquake with a 7.7 magnitude had hit the province, centered 123 miles south-southwest of Prince Rupert at a depth of 6.2 miles. Earthquakes Canada said the quake in the Haida Gwaii region has been followed by numerous aftershocks as large as 4.6 and said a small tsunami has been recorded by a deep ocean pressure sensor. ... Full Story | Top |
| Suicide bomber kills 8, wounds 100 in Nigerian church Sunday, Oct 28, 2012 12:11 PM PDT  KADUNA, Nigeria (Reuters) - A suicide bomber drove a jeep full of explosives into a Catholic church during morning mass in northern Nigeria on Sunday, killing at least eight people, wounding more than 100 and triggering reprisal attacks that killed at least two more. There was no claim of responsibility but Islamist sect Boko Haram has bombed several churches in the past in its fight to create an Islamic state in Nigeria where the 160 million population is evenly split between Christians and Muslims. ... Full Story | Top |
| Ukraine's ruling party leads in election: exit polls Sunday, Oct 28, 2012 12:09 PM PDT  KIEV (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich's pro-business ruling party led in a national election on Sunday and seemed likely to keep its majority in parliament, exit polls showed, despite a strong showing by the combined opposition. Two exit polls issued when a day of voting ended showed Yanukovich's Party of the Regions in the lead with between 28 percent and 30.5 percent of the voting in the part of balloting conducted by party lists. ... Full Story | Top |
| Ukraine leader's party expects majority in parliament Sunday, Oct 28, 2012 11:51 AM PDT KIEV (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich's Party of the Regions expects to secure a parliamentary majority after the election on Sunday, Borys Kolesnikov, deputy prime minister and one of the Regions' leaders, said after voting ended. "There are 225 single-seat constituencies and we see our candidates winning 2/3 of them," he said after exit polls showed the Regions winning about 30 percent in party-list voting, in which the other 225 seats are allocated. (Reporting by Pavel Polityuk; Writing by Olzhas Auyezov; Editing by Richard Balmforth) Full Story | Top |
| Gigantic Hurricane Sandy bears down East Coast Sunday, Oct 28, 2012 11:37 AM PDT  NEW YORK CITY (Reuters) - Tens of millions of people along the U.S. East Coast girded themselves on Sunday for Hurricane Sandy, a gigantic storm forecast to assault the densely populated region with battering winds, dangerous flooding and even heavy snowfall. Sandy, expected to come ashore late on Monday, could deliver a harsh blow to major cities in its target zone including New York, Philadelphia, Washington, Baltimore and Boston. Its center was forecast to strike New York-New Jersey area and then move inland toward Philadelphia and the rest of Pennsylvania. ... Full Story | Top |
| Finnish eurosceptics gain local seats, keep pressure on PM Sunday, Oct 28, 2012 11:29 AM PDT HELSINKI (Reuters) - The anti-euro Finns Party won around 12.8 percent of votes in Finnish municipal elections on Sunday, according to a preliminary count, keeping pressure on the pro-Europe government to take a tough stance on aid to euro zone states. Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen's conservative National Coalition party won the most seats with around 21.3 percent of votes, closely followed by the Social Democrats with 20.8 percent. The Finns Party finished fourth, behind another opposition party, the traditionally agrarian Centre Party, which won 20.2 percent. ... Full Story | Top |
| Berlusconi threat to topple Monti shows party divisions Sunday, Oct 28, 2012 11:09 AM PDT  ROME (Reuters) - Former premier Silvio Berlusconi's threat to bring down Italy's government underscores deep divisions in his center-right party ahead of next year's elections and risks rattling markets which see Prime Minister Monti as Italy's saviour. Berlusconi made the unexpected threat on Saturday, still fuming from his conviction 24 hours earlier on charges of tax fraud and a jail sentence of four years which he will not have to serve until all appeals are exhausted. ... Full Story | Top |
| Left in Lithuania eyes vote win after austerity pain Sunday, Oct 28, 2012 11:07 AM PDT VILNIUS (Reuters) - Center-left parties were set to win Lithuania's final round parliamentary election on Sunday thanks to voter anger over spending cuts, likely spelling the end for a conservative government praised abroad as a model of austerity. Labour and the Social Democratic Party, which won 34 of 141 seats in a first round two weeks ago, have a good chance of winning enough of the 67 remaining seats up for grabs to form a coalition, according to analysts. ... Full Story | Top |
| Hurricane Sandy blows election off course Sunday, Oct 28, 2012 10:22 AM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Hurricane Sandy blew the presidential race off course on Sunday even before it came ashore, forcing Republican Mitt Romney to shift his campaign inland and fueling fears that the massive storm bearing down on the East Coast could disrupt early voting. As much of the heavily populated region braced for what could be the largest storm to ever hit the U.S. mainland, Romney re-routed his campaigning from Virginia to Ohio, another of the handful of battleground states that will decide the outcome of the November 6 election. ... Full Story | Top |
| Miners take "rail-veyors" and robots to automated future Sunday, Oct 28, 2012 10:18 AM PDT SUDBURY, Ontario (Reuters) - In an office trailer parked outside a mine shaft in northern Ontario, operator Carolyn St-Jean leans back in her chair and monitors a machine loading nickel-rich ore into rail cars deep underground. Once filled, the automated train will snake through a series of narrow tunnels, emerge from a rocky outcropping, then loop past St-Jean's window and dump its payload for sorting. Vale SA, the Brazilian company that owns the mine near this nickel-rich Canadian town, has spent nearly $50 million in two years to install and test the "rail-veyor. ... Full Story | Top |
| Tunisian Salafis attack alcohol sellers in capital Sunday, Oct 28, 2012 09:15 AM PDT TUNIS (Reuters) - Clashes broke out between alcohol sellers and hardline Salafi Muslims in the Tunisian capital, a security official said on Sunday, wounding a police commander in the latest illustration of religious tensions in the home of the "Arab Spring". Tunisia, whose authoritarian president, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, was overthrown by a popular uprising last year, now has an elected Islamist-led government. ... Full Story | Top |
| Catalans want referendum on independence - poll Sunday, Oct 28, 2012 09:02 AM PDT MADRID (Reuters) - An overwhelming majority in the powerful northeastern region of Catalonia want a referendum on independence, an opinion poll showed on Sunday, highlighting increasing dissatisfaction with Spain's central government as it struggles with economic crisis. Although a referendum has been rejected by Madrid, which says it would be against the constitution, the poll published by La Vanguardia newspaper also showed a majority in favor of independence in Catalonia, one of Spain's richer regions. ... Full Story | Top |
| Malaysians arrested in Lebanon for Al Qaeda links Sunday, Oct 28, 2012 08:58 AM PDT KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Two Malaysians, suspected of links to al Qaeda, have been arrested in Lebanon, Malaysia's foreign minister Anifah Aman said on Sunday. Local newspapers said the two were believed to have been trying to make their way to Syria to join the 19-month-old revolt against President Bashar al-Assad, where Islamist militants are taking an increasingly prominent role. The two, aged 28 and 21, were arrested on October 18 and were expected to appear in court on Monday, the foreign minister said in a statement. ... Full Story | Top |
| Israel kills Hamas gunman, Gaza salvo hits Israeli city Sunday, Oct 28, 2012 08:57 AM PDT GAZA (Reuters) - Israel killed a Hamas gunman it accused of preparing to fire a rocket from the Gaza Strip on Sunday and a separate Palestinian salvo struck a southern Israeli city, causing no damage. The incidents followed a three-day lull since an upsurge in violence last week in which Israel killed at least four Gaza militants as dozens of rockets were fired at Israeli towns, damaging some homes and wounding several agricultural workers. ... Full Story | Top |
| Rebels in Sudan's Darfur say they shelled state capital Sunday, Oct 28, 2012 08:53 AM PDT KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Rebels in Sudan's Darfur region said on Sunday they had shelled a state capital, in a rare attack on the government stronghold where international peacekeepers are also based. The government did not immediately comment on the report and the claim could not be immediately independently verified. War has ravaged Darfur since rebels took up arms in 2003, complaining the central government had neglected the region. The United States and the International Criminal Court accuse Sudan's government of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Darfur. ... Full Story | Top |
| Pope, ending synod, urges lapsed Catholics to return to fold Sunday, Oct 28, 2012 08:38 AM PDT  VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict, closing a gathering of bishops who discussed how to win back lapsed and lukewarm Catholics, on Sunday said the Church had to develop new ways of reaching out to those who had drifted from the faith. Benedict, 85, said a solemn Mass in St Peter's Basilica to close the three-week synod of some 260 bishops from around the world on the theme of the "New Evangelisation," or how to stem the haemorrhaging of the faithful. ... Full Story | Top |
| Hawaii tsunami warning lifted after 100,000 flee to higher ground Sunday, Oct 28, 2012 08:25 AM PDT  HONOLULU (Reuters) - A tsunami warning prompted by a powerful earthquake off the Canadian coast sent at least 100,000 people fleeing from shore to higher ground in Hawaii late on Saturday, but an evacuation order was canceled after a series of weaker-than-expected waves rolled through the islands. The warning was downgraded to an advisory - a lower-level alert - shortly after 1 a.m. Sunday, though state civil defense authorities said beaches and harbors would remain closed for the time being, and residents were urged to stay away from the water. ... Full Story | Top |
| Greek editor arrested over list of Swiss accounts Sunday, Oct 28, 2012 08:22 AM PDT ATHENS (Reuters) - Greek police arrested the editor of a weekly magazine for publishing a list of more than 2,000 names of wealthy Greeks who have placed money in Swiss bank accounts, police said on Sunday. The so-called "Lagarde List" - given to Greece by French authorities in 2010 with names to be probed for possible tax evasion - has been a topic of heated speculation in the Greek media. It is named after International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde, who was French finance minister when the list was handed over. ... Full Story | Top |
| Syrian jihadist spillover haunts Jordan Sunday, Oct 28, 2012 08:19 AM PDT AMMAN (Reuters) - Jordan's announcement that it has foiled an al Qaeda plot to bomb the capital highlights the threat to Washington's ally from Islamist fighters hardened by conflict in neighboring Syria, and the danger of Damascus trying to export its crisis. The kingdom is no stranger to turmoil. For decades it has navigated the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on its western border and more recently bloodshed in Iraq to the east, which spilled over to Jordan with hotel bombings in Amman seven years ago. ... Full Story | Top |
| Muslim survivors of Myanmar's sectarian violence relive ordeals Sunday, Oct 28, 2012 08:17 AM PDT  SITTWE, Myanmar (Reuters) - Muslim survivors of six days of sectarian violence in western Myanmar spoke on Sunday of fleeing bullets and burning homes to escape on fishing boats after an attack by once-peaceable Rakhine neighbors. The United Nations said 22,587 people had now been displaced after unrest between Muslim Rohingyas and Buddhist Rakhines claimed at least 84 lives in Rakhine State and tested the reformist mettle of the quasi-civilian government that replaced Myanmar's oppressive ruling junta last year. ... Full Story | Top |
| Syria airforce bombs cities, truce "practically over" Sunday, Oct 28, 2012 08:02 AM PDT  AMMAN (Reuters) - Syrian jets bombarded Sunni Muslim regions in Damascus and across the country on Sunday, activists said, as President Bashar al-Assad kept up air strikes against rebels despite a U.N.-brokered truce that now appears to be in tatters. "The ceasefire is practically over. Damascus has been under brutal air raids since day one and hundreds of people have been arrested," said veteran opposition campaigner Fawaz Tello. "Assad has been trying to use the truce to seize back control of areas of Damascus," said Tello, who is well connected with rebels. ... Full Story | Top |
| Iraq searches Syrian-bound Iran flight, finds no arms Sunday, Oct 28, 2012 07:58 AM PDT BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq has stopped and searched an Iranian flight bound for Syria to check for weapons being shipped to President Bashar al-Assad, but found only humanitarian aid, authorities said on Sunday. The search was the second carried out by Baghdad since Washington warned Iraq not to allow Iran to ship weapons through its airspace to help Assad in his battle against a 19-month-long revolt. "Yesterday morning we stopped an Airbus plane from Iran heading to Syria... ... Full Story | Top |
| Picture shows captured Turkish journalist in Syria alive Sunday, Oct 28, 2012 07:58 AM PDT ANKARA (Reuters) - A Turkish relief agency trying to secure the release of a Turkish journalist captured by government troops in Syria has obtained a photograph showing him in apparent good health. Cuneyt Unal, who works for the U.S.-funded al-Hurra television channel, went missing with Jordanian colleague Bashar Fahmi shortly after crossing into Syria from Turkey on August 20. Unal appeared in an interview with a Syrian pro-government television channel several days later, in which he described his capture by Syrian soldiers in the city of Aleppo, but there has been no news of him since. ... Full Story | Top |
| New York City to suspend subway, bus, train service ahead of storm: governor Sunday, Oct 28, 2012 07:42 AM PDT NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York City will suspend its train, subway and bus service Sunday night ahead of Hurricane Sandy, which is expected to bring strong winds and dangerous flooding to the East Coast, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said at a news conference. "If it turns and moves off, great. Really great. But if not then we will be prepared for it," Cuomo said. The service is expected to resume operations about 12 hours after the storm ends, officials said at the news conference. New York City's Metropolitan Transportation Authority said service on subways will be curtailed beginning at 7 ... Full Story | Top |
| Drone hits suspected al Qaeda target in north Yemen Sunday, Oct 28, 2012 07:24 AM PDT SANAA (Reuters) - At least four men suspected of being al Qaeda members were killed in what a local official said was a U.S. drone strike on Islamist militants in northern Yemen on Sunday. It was a rare attack on al Qaeda-linked targets in northern Yemen, an area dominated by Shi'ite Muslim Houthi rebels battling Yemeni government forces for control of the rugged mountainous region. The official said that a drone attacked two houses in the Abu Jabara area in Saada Province, killing four people. ... Full Story | Top |
| Ukraine votes, Yanukovich's party expected to keep majority Sunday, Oct 28, 2012 07:23 AM PDT  * Yanukovich's main rival in jail as vote goes ahead * His Regions party likely to secure slim majority * But faces new opposition force led by popular boxer * Observers will pronounce on whether vote free and fair KIEV (Reuters) - Ukrainians voted on Sunday in an election that President Viktor Yanukovich's pro-business ruling party seemed likely to win, but it may now face a re-energized opposition which has promised to fight growing authoritarianism and corruption. ... Full Story | Top |
| British woman, held in Pakistan on drug charges, has baby Sunday, Oct 28, 2012 06:51 AM PDT ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - A British woman, held in Pakistan on charges of drug smuggling, has been sent back to prison with her newborn daughter after giving birth in a hospital, a British legal group said Sunday. Khadija Shah, 25, is being held on charges of trying to smuggle heroin worth nearly $5 million onto a flight to Britain. She gave birth to her baby girl Malaika a few weeks ago but was returned from hospital to Adiala prison near the capital Islamabad. The birth was not reported until Sunday. ... Full Story | Top |
| South Africa's Zuma drops suit over rape cartoon Sunday, Oct 28, 2012 06:23 AM PDT JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South African President Jacob Zuma intends to drop a four-year-old lawsuit claiming nearly $600,000 in damages from a cartoonist who depicted him poised to rape "Lady Justice", his office said on Sunday. The Sunday Times, named as a defendant in the case, also said it had reached agreement with Zuma's lawyers for the suit and all claims to be ended. "The president ... ... Full Story | Top |
| Two militant suspects killed in police raid on Kenyan coast Sunday, Oct 28, 2012 06:18 AM PDT MOMBASA, Kenya (Reuters) - Kenyan police shot dead a Muslim cleric suspected of ties to Somalia's al Shabaab militants in the city of Mombasa on Sunday, the latest in a string of raids against alleged sympathizers of the Islamist militants along the east African coast. Local residents said gunfire erupted in the early hours when police broke into Omar Faraj's house in the city's rundown Majengo district, the same area where the radical preacher Aboud Rogo, shot dead in August by unknown gunmen, held sermons. ... Full Story | Top |
| Saudi Arabia should stop prosecuting peaceful protesters: HRW Sunday, Oct 28, 2012 05:09 AM PDT DUBAI (Reuters) - An international rights group urged Saudi Arabia on Sunday to stop prosecuting and punishing people for peaceful protests, after the kingdom charged 19 men for staging a sit-down demonstration outside a prison last month. Security forces arrested dozens of men after the September 23 protest near Tarfiya prison in central Saudi Arabia to press for the release of detained relatives. Demonstrators and a rights activist said police had kept the protesters, including women and children, without food or water for nearly a day. ... Full Story | Top |
| Eyeing elections, India PM adds new blood to cabinet Sunday, Oct 28, 2012 03:47 AM PDT NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh gave his cabinet an overdue facelift on Sunday, bringing in younger ministers in a bid to breathe new life into his aged, scandal-tainted government ahead of state and federal elections. The reshuffle, which has been on the cards for six months, may be Singh's last chance to significantly change the direction of his government and convince voters the ruling Congress party deserves a third consecutive term in 2014. ... Full Story | Top |
| French police arrest suspected head of ETA Sunday, Oct 28, 2012 03:39 AM PDT MADRID (Reuters) - French police arrested the suspected head of Basque separatist group ETA early on Sunday in the eastern town of Macon, Spain's Interior Ministry said. Izaskun Lesaka, said to be one of the three leading figures of the group, was arrested in a hotel 70 km from Lyon alongside another ETA member whose identity was yet to be confirmed, the ministry said in a statement. Both ETA members were armed and their arrests follow those of many more in France, Spain and Britain this year as part of a joint operation to crack down on the group. ... Full Story | Top |
| Iran has advanced drone technology: defense minister Sunday, Oct 28, 2012 03:03 AM PDT  DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran possesses drones that are far more advanced than the unmanned aircraft Iranian-backed Hezbollah launched into Israeli airspace this month, Iran's defense minister was quoted as saying on Sunday. Iran's military regularly announces defense and engineering developments though some analysts are skeptical of the reliability of such reports. Earlier this month, Israel shot down a drone after it flew 25 miles into the Jewish state. Lebanese militant group Hezbollah claimed responsibility for the aircraft, saying its parts had been manufactured in Iran and assembled in Lebanon. ... Full Story | Top |
| Russian ship missing in rough Okhotsk Sea, 11 on board Sunday, Oct 28, 2012 02:05 AM PDT MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Russian cargo ship with some 11 crew on board was missing on Sunday in the rough waters of the Sea of Okhotsk, with a storm complicating the rescue operation, Russian news agencies reported. The Amurskoye ship was carrying ore from a mine in Okhotsk when emergency services received a distress signal emitted by its radio buoy at around 12.15 a.m. EDT, the RIA agency said. Stormy weather, rains and snow in the area of the Shantar islands in the northern part of the Okhotsk Sea are complicating search efforts, RIA quoted an emergency official as saying. ... Full Story | Top |
| Seven Tibetans burn themselves in anti-Beijing protests: group Saturday, Oct 27, 2012 09:10 PM PDT BEIJING (Reuters) - A total of seven Tibetans have set fire to themselves in the past week in protest against what they claim is heavy-handed Chinese rule in the Himalayan region, a human rights group said in a statement issued late on Saturday. Cousins Tsepo, 20, and Tenzin, 25, set themselves aflame outside a government building in Driru County, north of regional capital Lhasa on Thursday, London-based group Free Tibet said. Tsepo died on the way to hospital and Tenzin was taken away by officials, Free Tibet said. His whereabouts are unknown. ... Full Story | Top |
| Lawyers for China premier's family deny "hidden riches" claim Saturday, Oct 27, 2012 07:41 PM PDT  BEIJING (Reuters) - Lawyers representing the family of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao have rejected claims made by the New York Times on Friday that they have accumulated at least $2.7 billion in "hidden riches", Hong Kong media reported on Sunday. The New York Times, citing corporate and regulatory records, reported on Friday that Wen's mother, siblings and children had amassed the majority of their wealth since Wen was named Vice Premier in 1998. ... Full Story | Top |
| Saudi authorities disperse anti-Assad protest in Mecca Saturday, Oct 27, 2012 06:08 PM PDT  MECCA (Reuters) - Saudi authorities quickly dispersed a protest by hundreds of Syrian pilgrims calling for the fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and denouncing what they said was international failure to stop bloodshed in Syria, a Reuters witness said. Protesters held up rebel flags and marched toward the Jamarat Bridge in Mina, east of the Saudi Arabian city of Mecca, where more than 3 million Muslim pilgrims congregated for the annual haj. ... Full Story | Top |
| Satellite images suggest Sudan arms factory was bombed: group Saturday, Oct 27, 2012 04:59 PM PDT UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Analysis of satellite imagery of a Sudanese munitions factory that Khartoum accused Israel of bombing earlier this week suggests the site may have been hit with aerial bombardment as Sudan claims, a monitoring group said on Saturday. The Satellite Sentinel Project, whose founders include Hollywood actor George Clooney and the Enough Project, said it conducted a comparative analysis of DigitalGlobe imagery of the arms factory in Khartoum, where a huge explosion on Tuesday killed two people and caused a large fire. ... Full Story | Top |
| Greek editor's arrest sought over list with Swiss accounts Saturday, Oct 27, 2012 04:47 PM PDT ATHENS (Reuters) - Greek police are seeking to arrest the editor of a weekly magazine for publishing a list of more than 2,000 names of wealthy Greeks who have placed money in Swiss bank accounts, police said on Saturday. The so-called "Lagarde List" - given to Greece by French authorities in 2010 with names to be probed for possible tax evasion - has been a topic of heated speculation in Greek media in recent weeks. It is named after International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde, who was French finance minister when the list was handed over. ... Full Story | Top |
| Guinea Bissau arrests suspected counter-coup bid leader Saturday, Oct 27, 2012 04:27 PM PDT BISSAU (Reuters) - The suspected leader of a failed October 21 counter-coup attempt in Guinea-Bissau was arrested on Saturday, witnesses and a security official said. Captain Pansao Ntchama, a bodyguard to the then head of the army under ousted Prime Minister Carlos Gomes Junior, and four other suspects were detained at a farm on an island near the West African country's capital Bissau. "Ntchama and his men have been incarcerated in a cell at the headquarters of the armed forces," an army officer told Reuters, requesting not to be named. ... Full Story | Top |
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