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| Russia scraps law enforcement deal with U.S. in new blow to ties Wednesday, Jan 30, 2013 11:24 AM PST MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia scrapped a law enforcement agreement with the United States on Wednesday, further turning back the clock on a "reset" in relations since President Vladimir Putin's return to the Kremlin last year. An order to end the deal, signed by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, was posted on the government's website. It said the agreement, under which Washington provided financial assistance for law enforcement and drugs control programs, "does not address current realities and has exhausted its potential". ... Full Story | Top |
| Fed keeps stimulus in place as economy "paused" Wednesday, Jan 30, 2013 11:17 AM PST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve on Wednesday left in place its monthly $85 billion bond-buying stimulus plan, saying economic growth had stalled but indicating the pullback was likely temporary. Describing the nation's job market as continuing its modest pace of improvement, the Fed repeated a pledge to keep purchasing securities until the outlook for employment improves substantially. "Growth in economic activity paused in recent months, in large part because of weather-related disruptions and other transitory factors," the Fed said in its January policy statement. ... Full Story | Top |
| Egypt curfew scaled back as Mursi seeks end to bloodshed Wednesday, Jan 30, 2013 11:16 AM PST  CAIRO/BERLIN (Reuters) - Egyptian authorities scaled back a curfew imposed by President Mohamed Mursi, and the Islamist leader cut short a visit to Europe on Wednesday to deal with the deadliest violence in the seven months since he took power. Two more protesters were shot dead before dawn near Cairo's central Tahrir Square on Wednesday, a day after the army chief warned that the state was on the brink of collapse if Mursi's opponents and supporters did not end street battles. ... Full Story | Top |
| Israel hits Syria arms convoy to Lebanon: sources Wednesday, Jan 30, 2013 11:13 AM PST BEIRUT (Reuters) - Israeli jets bombed a convoy on Syria's border with Lebanon on Wednesday, sources told Reuters, apparently targeting weapons destined for Hezbollah in what some called a warning to Damascus not to arm Israel's Lebanese enemy. "The target was a truck loaded with weapons, heading from Syria to Lebanon," said one Western diplomat, adding that the consignment may well have included anti-aircraft missiles. ... Full Story | Top |
| Alabama school bus shooting suspect holing up in bunker: police Wednesday, Jan 30, 2013 11:11 AM PST MIDLAND CITY, Alabama (Reuters) - The gunman suspected of fatally shooting an Alabama school bus driver before holing up in an underground bunker with a young child is a Vietnam veteran with anti-America views, authorities and an organization that tracks hate groups said on Wednesday. Law enforcement officials from multiple agencies were convened near the bunker in Midland City as an overnight standoff with the shooter continued on Wednesday, said Dothan Police Sergeant Rachel David. ... Full Story | Top |
| Russian court orders Pussy Riot videos be banned from Internet Wednesday, Jan 30, 2013 10:58 AM PST  MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian punk rockers Pussy Riot on Wednesday lost an appeal against an Internet ban on their music videos, including one showing a protest song for which three band members were jailed. A Moscow City Court upheld a lower court's November decision deeming the videos "extremist". Wednesday's ruling that meant that four Pussy Riot videos were banned from the web. The videos were still available on sites hosted outside Russia, including the Google-owned YouTube. The court rejected an appeal by one band member, Yekaterina Samutsevich, who said the ban violated freedom of speech. ... Full Story | Top |
| At least three shot at Phoenix business complex: police Wednesday, Jan 30, 2013 10:55 AM PST PHOENIX (Reuters) - At least three people were shot and wounded when gunfire erupted at a business complex in Phoenix on Wednesday, and authorities were combing the area for the suspected gunman, police said on Wednesday. Phoenix Police spokesman James Holmes said the people who were shot were taken from the scene to a local hospital, and there was no immediate word on their condition. Asked if there were any fatalities inside the building, in an office block at a busy Phoenix intersection, he said: "Not that I know of. No. ... Full Story | Top |
| Giffords makes emotional plea as US lawmakers confront gun violence Wednesday, Jan 30, 2013 10:55 AM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former congresswoman Gabby Giffords, grievously wounded in a 2011 mass shooting, made an emotional plea on Wednesday for Congress to take action to curb U.S. gun violence, but a National Rifle Association executive said new gun laws "have failed in the past and they'll fail again." Speaking haltingly, Giffords urged lawmakers to "be courageous" as she opened testimony at the first congressional hearing on gun violence since the December 14 massacre in which a gunman shot dead 20 children and six adults at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut. ... Full Story | Top |
| Actor Jim Nabors weds long-time male partner: report Wednesday, Jan 30, 2013 10:50 AM PST SEATTLE (Reuters) - American actor Jim Nabors, the star of 1960s television comedy "Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.," married his long-time male partner at a downtown hotel earlier this month, according to report by a television news program in Hawaii, where the 82-year-old actor lives. Nabors, 82, also a singer, wed 64-year-old Stan Cadwallader, his partner of some 38 years, in a small ceremony on January 15 at the Fairmont Olympic Hotel in downtown Seattle, where the couple traveled after same sex marriage became legal in Washington state last month. ... Full Story | Top |
| GDP unexpectedly shrinks, decline seen temporary Wednesday, Jan 30, 2013 10:41 AM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The economy unexpectedly contracted in the fourth quarter, but analysts said there was no reason for panic given that consumer spending and business investment picked up. Gross domestic product fell at a 0.1 percent annual rate, its weakest performance since it emerged from recession in 2009, the Commerce Department said on Wednesday. If it were not for the hit from slower inventory growth and the deepest plunge in defense spending in 40 years, the economy would have grown at a respectable 2.5 percent rate. ... Full Story | Top |
| Top U.S. firms open to voluntary cybersecurity rules: Senate Wednesday, Jan 30, 2013 10:33 AM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Many Fortune 500 companies support the creation of federal cybersecurity standards to protect them from Internet threats like hacking as long as they are voluntary, according to a Senate survey of top U.S. chief executives released on Wednesday. The report resulted from letters sent to Fortune 500 companies in September by Senator Jay Rockefeller, the Democrat from West Virginia who last year authored a now-expired cybersecurity bill and is now renewing his push for such legislation. ... Full Story | Top |
| White House accuses Republicans of brinkmanship on spending cuts Wednesday, Jan 30, 2013 10:10 AM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House said on Wednesday a drop in GDP in the fourth quarter is driven in large part by a decrease in defense spending and accused Republicans of "political brinkmanship" for threatening to let more defense cuts take effect. White House spokesman Jay Carney said a looming March 1 deadline when defense cuts take effect absent a broader budget deal stands to hurt the U.S. economy and taxpayers unless addressed. He said Republican threats to let the cuts take place amount to "political brinkmanship" that harms only Americans. ... Full Story | Top |
| French troops deployed in last Mali rebel strongholds Wednesday, Jan 30, 2013 10:04 AM PST  DOUENTZA, Mali/PARIS (Reuters) - French troops seized the airport in Mali's northern town of Kidal, the last urban stronghold held by Islamist insurgents, as they moved to wrap up the first phase of a military operation to wrest northern Mali from rebel hands. France has deployed some 4,500 troops in a three-week ground and air offensive to break the Islamist rebels' 10-month grip on major northern towns. The mission is aimed at heading off the risk of Mali being used as a springboard for jihadist attacks in the wider region or Europe. ... Full Story | Top |
| European police arrest 103 in biggest raid on migrant smugglers Wednesday, Jan 30, 2013 10:00 AM PST BUDAPEST (Reuters) - European police on Tuesday simultaneously arrested more than 100 people in 10 countries in what they called the biggest raid on a migrant smuggling ring in the history of the European Union. The traffickers, based in Kosovo with links to the Turkish underworld, specialized in bringing migrants from the Middle East, especially Libya, Syria and Iraq, to Europe for thousands of euros per head, police told a news conference in Hungary on Wednesday. ... Full Story | Top |
| Massachusetts governor names former aide to fill Kerry's Senate seat Wednesday, Jan 30, 2013 09:54 AM PST BOSTON (Reuters) - Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick on Wednesday named his former chief of staff, William Cowan, to fill temporarily the U.S. Senate seat that John Kerry will vacate this week. The Democratic appointee told reporters he had no plans to run in the June 25 special election to choose a permanent successor to Kerry. "I'm going down in this temporary period to continue the good work that Senator Kerry and his team has been doing," said Cowan, 43, a former civil rights lawyer with the Boston firm Mintz, Levin. ... Full Story | Top |
| Will "bad boy" Balotelli's return help his boss Berlusconi? Wednesday, Jan 30, 2013 09:43 AM PST  ROME (Reuters) - Soccer players do not usually enter a nation's political fray but when the country is Italy, the player is Mario Balotelli and the person running for office is his new boss Silvio Berlusconi, all bets are off. Balotelli, the hot-tempered forward who had been playing for Manchester City, is poised to sign for AC Milan, the club owned by the former prime minister vying for a political comeback. The timing of the deal and its potential electoral implications were not lost on anyone, least of all Berlusconi's centre-left opposition. ... Full Story | Top |
| Former Illinois Governor Ryan leaves prison Wednesday, Jan 30, 2013 09:42 AM PST (Reuters) - Former Illinois Governor George Ryan was transferred to home confinement on Wednesday after spending five years in federal prison, a U.S. Bureau of Prisons spokesman said. Ryan, a Republican, was convicted in 2006 of racketeering, fraud and other offenses involving favoritism and kickbacks for state contracts and property leases. He was sentenced to 6-1/2 years in jail. Ryan, 78, was released from a federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana, and reported to a halfway house in Chicago, Bureau of Prisons spokesman Ed Ross said. Shortly afterward he was put under house arrest. ... Full Story | Top |
| Pakistani girl shot by Taliban to have skull reconstructed Wednesday, Jan 30, 2013 09:35 AM PST LONDON (Reuters) - A Pakistani schoolgirl shot in the head by the Taliban for advocating girls' education is to return to a specialist hospital in Britain for surgery to reconstruct her skull. Fifteen-year-old Malala Yousufzai, who was shot in October and brought to Britain for treatment, was discharged from the hospital earlier this month to spend time with her family after her initial treatment phase. ... Full Story | Top |
| White House on offensive to get Hagel as defense secretary Wednesday, Jan 30, 2013 09:26 AM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - As Chuck Hagel, President Barack Obama's nominee to lead the Pentagon, prepared to meet with senior New York Senator Chuck Schumer in mid-January, the White House stepped in and ensured that the get-together would take place quickly - and in the West Wing. Some of the loudest objections to Obama's choice of Hagel for secretary of defense stemmed from lawmakers' concerns about his past comments on Israel and Iran. ... Full Story | Top |
| Threat of ethnic reprisals stalks liberated Mali towns Wednesday, Jan 30, 2013 09:24 AM PST KONNA, Mali (Reuters) - Omar Sangare surveyed the wreckage in his hometown of Konna in central Mali, ravaged by battles between the army and Islamist rebels, and vowed his days of living peacefully with Arabs and Tuaregs were over. "They are traitors," said Sangare, a member of Mali's black African majority, examining the rubble of a military base. "We saw our former neighbors, people who used to live here and run shops, among the attackers. ... Full Story | Top |
| Erdogan says can seek referendum on Turkey constitution if no deal Wednesday, Jan 30, 2013 09:22 AM PST  ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday he will take proposed constitutional reforms, expected to include the creation of an executive presidency, directly to parliament and if necessary to the people if no deal can be reached by April. A cross-party parliamentary commission drafting a new constitution had been expected to finish its work by the start of this year but has failed to reach a consensus. ... Full Story | Top |
| Peres sure to ask Netanyahu to form new Israeli government Wednesday, Jan 30, 2013 09:19 AM PST  JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli President Shimon Peres on Wednesday began talks with political parties over who should form a new government, and appears certain to ask incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to assemble it. The formal consultation procedure to nominate a lawmaker to form a government, the president's only important executive power, began after Peres was presented with the official results from last week's general election. ... Full Story | Top |
| City officials probed for negligence over Brazil nightclub fire Wednesday, Jan 30, 2013 09:17 AM PST  SANTA MARIA, Brazil (Reuters) - Prosecutors in southern Brazil, where 235 people died when a fire ravaged the Kiss nightclub in Santa Maria last weekend, are investigating whether city leaders and inspectors were negligent in allowing the club to operate. The investigation, which is separate from a criminal probe into the causes of the tragedy, comes after police said the club's sole exit was partially blocked and that fire extinguishers and emergency exit lights weren't working. ... Full Story | Top |
| "Chinese walls" to help EU passenger train services - EU rail boss Wednesday, Jan 30, 2013 09:10 AM PST BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Europe's transport chief proposed on Wednesday opening up the region's railway network to more competition, with plans that would dilute the power of dominant players like Germany's Deutsche Bahn and France's SNCF. The European Union's rail freight services have been fully open to competition since 2007 as part of moves to a single market. But national domestic passenger markets remain largely closed. To remedy that, the Commission proposes separating those who manage the tracks from those who run the trains. ... Full Story | Top |
| Justice Department's criminal division chief to step down Wednesday, Jan 30, 2013 08:50 AM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The head of the Justice Department's criminal division, who has shouldered much of the blame for bringing few cases related to the financial crisis, but who also led the unit to record settlements, will step down on March 1. "As I wrote to the President, and want to tell you, serving as the head of this remarkable Division has been the greatest privilege of my professional life," Lanny Breuer said in a memo to criminal division employees dated Tuesday. Breuer, 54, who previously worked as a defense lawyer and in the Clinton White House, has led the division since 2009. ... Full Story | Top |
| Ex-Sea Star Line president guilty of price fixing Wednesday, Jan 30, 2013 08:47 AM PST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The former president of Sea Star Line LLC has been convicted of conspiring to fix the prices of shipping freight between the continental United States and Puerto Rico, the U.S. Justice Department said. Sea Star had pleaded guilty in 2011, and was sentenced to pay a $14.2 million fine. Its former president, Frank Peake, was convicted in Puerto Rico on Tuesday of conspiring with executives of other shipping companies to rig bids for shipping contracts and to set rates, the department said. He was convicted after a two-week trial but was not immediately sentenced. ... Full Story | Top |
| Greek protesters occupy ministry office, clash with police Wednesday, Jan 30, 2013 08:46 AM PST  ATHENS (Reuters) - Greek anti-austerity protesters stormed the office of the labor minister on Wednesday and clashed with police after 30 demonstrators were arrested. The scuffles erupted after police detained members of the Communist-affiliated PAME group who had forced their way into the ministry and occupied Labour Minister Yannis Vroutsis's office for about two hours. ... Full Story | Top |
| Bulk of Timbuktu manuscripts survived occupation unharmed Wednesday, Jan 30, 2013 08:38 AM PST DAKAR (Reuters) - The majority of Timbuktu's ancient manuscripts appear to be safe and unharmed after the Saharan city's 10-month occupation by Islamist rebel fighters, experts said on Wednesday, rejecting some media reports of their widespread destruction. Denying accounts that told of tens of thousands of priceless papers being burned or stolen by the fleeing rebels, they said the bulk of the Timbuktu texts had been safely hidden well before the city's liberation by French forces on Sunday. ... Full Story | Top |
| Donors meet target of $1.5 billion aid for stricken Syrians: U.N. Wednesday, Jan 30, 2013 08:35 AM PST  KUWAIT (Reuters) - Donor countries have pledged more than $1.5 billion to aid Syrians stricken by civil war, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Wednesday after warning that the conflict had wrought a catastrophic humanitarian crisis. In a pointed message for Syria's leader, Ban told a fund-raising conference that President Bashar al-Assad bore primary responsibility to stop his country's suffering after nearly two years of conflict that have cost an estimated 60,000 lives. ... Full Story | Top |
| Factbox: Rising Syrian death toll, refugee wave Wednesday, Jan 30, 2013 08:27 AM PST (Reuters) - Here is a look at the rising human cost of Syria's civil war as U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon announced on Wednesday that international donors had pledged more than $1.5 billion to aid displaced Syrians, meeting a U.N. target. DEATH TOLL IN SYRIA - The United Nations said earlier this month that more than 60,000 people had been killed during the 22-month-old revolt against President Bashar al-Assad. This figure was based on 59,648 individuals reported killed in Syria between March 15, 2011 and November 30, 2012. ... Full Story | Top |
| Turkish commander confirms resignation in protest over jailings Wednesday, Jan 30, 2013 08:16 AM PST ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey's number-two naval commander said he had resigned in protest over the "shameful" jailing of hundreds of colleagues on coup plot charges, fearing he would be the next victim. Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's government has detained several hundred serving and retired officers over the past few years, including as much as one fifth of Turkey's top military chiefs, on charges of conspiring to overthrow the government. ... Full Story | Top |
| Erdogan to seek referendum on Turkey constitution if no deal Wednesday, Jan 30, 2013 08:16 AM PST ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday he would seek a referendum on changes to the constitution, expected to include the creation of an executive presidency, if no deal is reached with the opposition within two months. Erdogan, who has dominated Turkish politics since his AK Party first came to power in 2002, is widely viewed as wanting to become the head of state in a newly constituted executive presidency at elections due next year. ... Full Story | Top |
| Tesco drops Irish beef baron's firm over horsemeat row Wednesday, Jan 30, 2013 08:13 AM PST  LONDON/DUBLIN (Reuters) - Tesco fired a supplier controlled by Ireland's most powerful beef baron on Wednesday for selling it burgers containing horsemeat and promised to use DNA testing equipment to check the content of products on its shelves. The world's No. 3 retailer, Tesco is reeling from a wave of bad publicity after the Irish food safety authority discovered that 29 percent of a frozen beef burger was horsemeat. The move, which comes days after a similar move by Burger King, is a blow to Ireland's 2 billion euro ($2. ... Full Story | Top |
| Mozambique floods displace nearly 150,000 Wednesday, Jan 30, 2013 08:06 AM PST MAPUTO (Reuters) - Widespread flooding in southern Mozambique has displaced 143,000 people and aid agencies are struggling to get assistance to communities underwater for nearly a week, officials said on Wednesday. The death toll from the flooding in the lower Limpopo river now stands at 80, Mozambican officials said, while aid groups said supplies of drugs and malaria test kits were running low, raising concerns about the spread of disease. ... Full Story | Top |
| Nepal PM calls May election to defuse mounting crisis Wednesday, Jan 30, 2013 08:03 AM PST KATHMANDU (Reuters) - Nepal's Maoist Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai promised on Wednesday to hold delayed elections in May, raising hopes for an end to a political stalemate that has crippled the Himalayan republic still emerging from a decade-long civil war. A former rebel leader, Bhattarai announced the polls to a rally of 10,000 cheering, flag-waving supporters in the heart of the Nepali capital. It was a show of strength after weeks of violent street protests by opposition parties demanding the prime minister's resignation. ... Full Story | Top |
| Assad must heed cries of Syrian people: U.N.'s Ban Wednesday, Jan 30, 2013 07:44 AM PST KUWAIT (Reuters) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has a primary responsibility to stop the suffering of his country's people and should listen to their cries, the head of the United Nations said on Wednesday. "We cannot go on like this. What is more important is that the primary responsibility rests with the Syrian government, with President Assad, he should listen to the voices and cries of so many people," U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said after a donor conference in Kuwait. (Reporting by Sylvia Westall.. Editing by Jeremy Gaunt.) Full Story | Top |
| Hamas allows Gaza voter registration in step to heal Palestinian split Wednesday, Jan 30, 2013 07:33 AM PST  GAZA (Reuters) - Palestinian officials will begin registering voters in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip next month to pave the way for elections aimed at healing a nearly six-year split between Palestinian factions. Hamas had barred the Palestinian Central Election Commission from Gaza, a territory it seized from the Fatah movement in a brief 2007 civil war, accusing the body of bias in favor of the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority which rules the West Bank. ... Full Story | Top |
| Orthodox Jewish revival opens niche for Yiddish news Wednesday, Jan 30, 2013 07:29 AM PST (Reuters) - The rapid revival of strict Orthodox Jewish communities that has shifted New York City's religious demographics and transformed Israel's political landscape has created a new market niche for a 115-year-old Yiddish newspaper. Next Monday, Forverts (Forward) will launch a daily news website for Yiddish speakers who are bringing the language of Eastern Europe's Ashkenazi Jews back from its near-death experience when millions of speakers died in the Holocaust. ... Full Story | Top |
| Mursi says sees Egypt economy growing 5.5 percent in 2014 Wednesday, Jan 30, 2013 07:28 AM PST BERLIN (Reuters) - Egypt's President Mohamed Mursi said during a visit to Germany on Wednesday that he hoped for economic growth of 5.5 percent next year and of between 7 and 8 percent in subsequent years. Mursi, whose one-day visit to Berlin is aimed partly at reassuring Western investors about economic prospects for his crisis-racked country, also said he saw around 750,000 new jobs being created in Egypt on an annual basis. The World Bank recently forecast economic growth in Egypt of 2.6 percent this year and of 3.8 percent in 2014, rising to 4.7 percent in 2015. ... Full Story | Top |
| Monitoring agency "confident" it will detect North Korea atomic test Wednesday, Jan 30, 2013 07:26 AM PST VIENNA (Reuters) - The international agency that monitors nuclear tests said on Wednesday it would have no trouble detecting the seismological activity around any nuclear test by North Korea "within minutes" but it could take at least several days to confirm whether it was an atomic explosion. North Korea, which detonated nuclear explosions in 2006 and 2009, vowed last week to conduct more rocket and nuclear tests after the U.N. Security Council censured it for a December long-range missile launch. ... Full Story | Top |
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