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| Hundreds of migrants rescued off Italian coast Friday, Mar 29, 2013 12:43 PM PDT ROME (Reuters) - Italian coastguards said on Friday they had intercepted almost 700 mostly African migrants trying to get to the country on board 10 flimsy and rickety boats. One vessel crammed with 150 people sent out a distress call about 80 miles off the tiny Sicilian island of Lampedusa on Friday afternoon, the service said. Emergency services were sent to rescue them and another 70 people in a rubber craft nearby. All the other boats were stopped over the last two days. Italy's coast is a common destination for migrants from north and sub-Saharan Africa. ... Full Story | Top |
| CA-NEWS Summary Friday, Mar 29, 2013 12:42 PM PDT More trouble for Cohen's SAC Capital as Steinberg indicted in NY (Reuters) - U.S. prosecutors on Friday charged Michael Steinberg, a veteran portfolio manager at Steven A. Cohen's hedge fund, with insider trading in two technology stocks, the most senior SAC Capital Advisors' employee to be indicted in the government's long-running probe. FBI agents arrested Steinberg at his Park Avenue home in New York City at around 6 a.m. EDT (1000 GMT). ... Full Story | Top |
| No end to Italy deadlock despite president's efforts Friday, Mar 29, 2013 12:42 PM PDT  By James Mackenzie and Barry Moody ROME (Reuters) - Italy remained in political deadlock on Friday after a new round of talks led by President Giorgio Napolitano failed to break the stalemate created by elections last month that left no group able to form a government alone. Napolitano, 87, conducted a swift round of talks with the three main forces in parliament on Friday after the failure of a week of efforts by center-left leader Pier Luigi Bersani to win support for a new government. ... Full Story | Top |
| Italy's centre-left rejects coalition with Berlusconi Friday, Mar 29, 2013 12:05 PM PDT ROME (Reuters) - Italy's center-left Democratic Party (PD) on Friday rejected a coalition proposed by former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi as the way out of a deep political crisis, leaving Italy in total deadlock following an election last month. The PD's deputy leader Enrico Letta said after meeting President Giorgio Napolitano that a grand coalition between the traditional parties "would not be the choice of change the country has asked for." PD leader Pier Luigi Bersani this week failed to gather enough support for a government. ... Full Story | Top |
| Azeri election monitor under attack, rights worries grow Friday, Mar 29, 2013 11:53 AM PDT  By Lada Evgrashina and Margarita Antidze BAKU (Reuters) - Azerbaijan said on Friday it was investigating a U.S. vote-monitoring group for fraud ahead of presidential elections in October that are expected to extend President Ilham Aliyev's decade in power in the former Soviet republic. Mainly Muslim Azerbaijan has been governed by Aliyev since he succeeded his father in 2003. It has been courted by the West because of its role as an alternative to Russia in supplying oil and gas to Europe. ... Full Story | Top |
| Gabon jails activist for defaming ally of president Friday, Mar 29, 2013 11:49 AM PDT  LIBREVILLE (Reuters) - A prominent environmental activist was sentenced to six months in prison for defamation in Gabon, his lawyer said on Friday, after he accused an ally of the president of secretly owning the local unit of commodities giant Olam International. Marc Ona Essangui said during a television broadcast that President Ali Bongo's chief of staff, Liban Souleymane, controlled Olam Gabon, which is developing timber, palm oil and rubber projects in the tiny Central African nation. ... Full Story | Top |
| More trouble for Cohen's SAC Capital as Steinberg indicted in NY Friday, Mar 29, 2013 11:35 AM PDT  By Nate Raymond and Matthew Goldstein (Reuters) - U.S. prosecutors on Friday charged Michael Steinberg, a veteran portfolio manager at Steven A. Cohen's hedge fund, with insider trading in two technology stocks, the most senior SAC Capital Advisors' employee to be indicted in the government's long-running probe. FBI agents arrested Steinberg at his Park Avenue home in New York City at around 6 a.m. EDT (1000 GMT). Steinberg, wearing a blue sweater, pleaded "not guilty" to charges of securities fraud and conspiracy to commit securities when he appeared at a late morning arraignment. ... Full Story | Top |
| Italy leftist party rules out coalition with Berlusconi Friday, Mar 29, 2013 11:20 AM PDT ROME (Reuters) - The junior partner in Italy's center-left alliance ruled out a coalition with Silvio Berlusconi's People of Freedom (PDL) party following talks on Friday to try to form a government after last month's deadlocked election. "Any possibility of a broad coalition government is out of the question," said Nichi Vendola, leader of the Left, Ecology, Freedom party, the junior partner in the center-left alliance led by Pier Luigi Bersani. ... Full Story | Top |
| Armenia opposition chief ends hunger strike, calls for protests Friday, Mar 29, 2013 11:14 AM PDT  YEREVAN (Reuters) - Defeated Armenian presidential candidate Raffi Hovannisian said on Friday he was ending a hunger strike over allegations President Serzh Sarksyan rigged last month's vote, but vowed to continue street protests. Armenia's Constitutional Court has rejected challenges lodged by Hovannisian over the February 18 poll which Sarksyan won with 58.6 percent of the vote. Hovannisian came second with 37 percent. The head of the opposition Heritage Party said he would end his two-week-old hunger strike on Easter Sunday to make sure he had enough energy to keep up his political work. ... Full Story | Top |
| Sicily revokes permission for U.S. military satellite station Friday, Mar 29, 2013 11:04 AM PDT PALERMO, Italy (Reuters) - The Sicilian regional government in Italy has revoked permission for the United States to build a military satellite station on the island, its governor said on Friday, after protests by residents who said it could pose a health risk. The planned ground station was part of the Mobile User Objective System (MUOS), an ultra high-frequency satellite network aimed at significantly boosting communications capacity for the U.S. military and its allies. ... Full Story | Top |
| Italy centrists willing to form coalition with main parties Friday, Mar 29, 2013 10:23 AM PDT ROME (Reuters) - Italy's centrist group is willing to form a grand coalition with the main parties that emerged from a deadlocked election, an official told reporters on Friday after the Italian president held talks with parties to try to form a government. "We expressed our full willingness and commitment to form a grand coalition between the three main parties," said Andrea Olivero, a Senator of the Civic Choice party led by outgoing Prime Minister Mario Monti. ... Full Story | Top |
| Landslide traps 83 mine workers in Tibet: report Friday, Mar 29, 2013 10:00 AM PDT BEIJING (Reuters) - Rescuers worked on Saturday to reach 83 workers trapped by a landslide in a mining area of Tibet, China's state-run news agency Xinhua reported. The landslide, over an area of about 3 km, struck in Maizhokunggar County on Friday, Xinhua said. It buried the camp of the workers, who were employed by Tibet Huatailong Mining Development Co Ltd, according to the report. There was no immediate word on any deaths or injuries. (Reporting by Terril Yue Jones; Editing by Pravin Char) Full Story | Top |
| Italian coastguard intercepts more than 470 migrants Friday, Mar 29, 2013 09:43 AM PDT ROME (Reuters) - Italy's coastguard said on Friday it had intercepted eight flimsy and rickety boats carrying more than 470 migrants, mostly from Africa, who were attempting to reach Italian shores over the past two days. Italy bears the brunt of clandestine seaborne migration to southern Europe. Most migrants risk the voyage across the Mediterranean Sea in small and overcrowded fishing boats. Thousands have died as a result of shipwreck, harsh conditions at sea or a lack of food and water in recent years, activists say. ... Full Story | Top |
| Latvia rescues 220 people stranded on ice Friday, Mar 29, 2013 09:42 AM PDT RIGA (Reuters) - Latvia's emergency services rescued more than 220 people who were stranded on ice floes in the Gulf of Riga on Friday. About 180 people, mostly fishermen, were rescued from a floe off the town of Vakarbulli, while another 43 people were taken off the ice near the seaside resort of Jurmala. The State Fire and Rescue Service used boats, ships and helicopters in an operation that took more than three hours, said Viktorija Sembele, a spokeswoman for the service. The ice had drifted in strong winds about 4 km (2-1/2 miles) from the shore by the end of the operation, she said. ... Full Story | Top |
| White House condemns assaults on women at Egyptian demonstrations Friday, Mar 29, 2013 09:31 AM PDT  ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE (Reuters) - The White House on Friday condemned the rape and assault of women at recent demonstrations in Egypt and called on the Cairo government to prevent sexual violence and prosecute those responsible. The New York Times reported that on January 25, the second anniversary of the Tahrir Square revolution in Cairo, at least 18 cases of sexual assaults were reported by human groups. White House deputy press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters that the United States is deeply concerned at reports of rapes and sexual assaults in public squares in Egypt. ... Full Story | Top |
| Ruling Serb Progressive Party stays popular: opinion poll Friday, Mar 29, 2013 09:26 AM PDT  By Aleksandar Vasovic BELGRADE (Reuters) - The Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), the strongest in Serbia's coalition government, kept its popularity in March, indicating it could win any snap election, an opinion poll published on Friday said. The poll conducted this month put support for the SNS, led by Vice-Premier Aleksandar Vucic, at 38.6 percent, well ahead of the 14.8 percent scored by its closest rival, the opposition Democratic Party, which lost power in an election in May. ... Full Story | Top |
| Kyrgyz MPs jailed for plotting coup Friday, Mar 29, 2013 09:21 AM PDT By Olga Dzyubenko BISHKEK (Reuters) - A court in Kyrgyzstan sentenced three opposition members of parliament to up to 18 months in jail on Friday for leading a protest the judge said had aimed to seize power by force in the Central Asian nation. Prosecutors had sought jail terms of up to 10 years for nationalist MPs Kamchibek Tashiyev, Sadyr Zhaparov and Talant Mamytov, who led a crowd which tried to storm government headquarters last October. ... Full Story | Top |
| Italy's 5-Star Movement rejects deal with other parties Friday, Mar 29, 2013 09:18 AM PDT ROME (Reuters) - Italy's anti-establishment 5-Star Movement said on Friday that it would not give a confidence vote to any government led by other politicians or technocrats like outgoing Prime Minister Mario Monti. "We repeat our determination not to give a confidence vote to political or pseudo-technocrat governments," Vito Crimi, head of the 5-Star Movement's senators, told reporters after meeting President Giorgio Napolitano. Crimi said his movement would only support a government that it led. ... Full Story | Top |
| Turkish police seize firearms cache on Syrian border Friday, Mar 29, 2013 08:58 AM PDT AKCAKALE, Turkey (Reuters) - Turkish authorities said they had seized thousands of guns in a warehouse by the Syrian border, and a local news agency said the weapons had been destined for Turkey's war-torn neighbor. The firearms - including more than 5,000 shotguns and rifles, starting pistols, gunstocks and 10,000 cartridges - were discovered during a raid in a village on the edge of the Turkish town of Akcakale and displayed to journalists on Friday. ... Full Story | Top |
| Muslims vanish as Buddhist attacks approach Myanmar's biggest city Friday, Mar 29, 2013 07:59 AM PDT  By Jason Szep SIT KWIN (Reuters) - The Muslims of Sit Kwin were always a small group who numbered no more than 100 of the village's 2,000 people. But as sectarian violence led by Buddhist mobs spreads across central Myanmar, they and many other Muslims are disappearing. Their homes, shops and mosques destroyed, some end up in refugee camps or hide in the homes of friends or relatives. Dozens have been killed. "We don't know where they are," says Aung Ko Myint, 24, a taxi-driver in Sit Kwin, where on Friday, Buddhists ransacked a store owned by one of the town's last remaining Muslims. ... Full Story | Top |
| China to spend $16 billion to tackle Beijing pollution crisis Friday, Mar 29, 2013 07:46 AM PDT  SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China will spend 100 billion yuan ($16 billion) over three years to deal with Beijing's pollution, an official newspaper reported on Friday, as the government tries to defuse mounting public anger over environmental degradation. Beijing's government has pledged to improve sewage disposal, garbage treatment and air quality, as well as crack down on illegal construction, the China Daily newspaper said, citing a three-year plan released on Thursday. ... Full Story | Top |
| Tanzanians dig for survivors after building collapse Friday, Mar 29, 2013 07:38 AM PDT  DAR ES SALAAM (Reuters) - A building under construction collapsed in the center of Tanzania's commercial capital Dar es Salaam on Friday and rescuers searched for survivors under the rubble, with conflicting reports about the number of dead. A senior police officer initially told reporters 15 people were killed and two people were pulled out alive. Hours later, the mayor for central Dar es Salaam, Jerry Silaa, said two people were killed and 17 survivors had been found. The building, in the Kariakoo district, was at least 12 storeys high. ... Full Story | Top |
| Bombs at five Iraqi Shi'ite mosques kill 19 Friday, Mar 29, 2013 07:31 AM PDT  BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Car bombs hit five Shi'ite mosques in Baghdad and the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk just after prayers on Friday, killing 19 worshippers and injuring another 130. Ten years after the U.S. invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein, Iraq is still grappling with political turmoil and Sunni Islamist insurgents linked to al Qaeda, who are stepping up attacks on Shi'ite targets and security forces. ... Full Story | Top |
| Montenegrin jailed for 45 years over Sarajevo killings Friday, Mar 29, 2013 06:50 AM PDT  By Maja Zuvela SARAJEVO (Reuters) - A Montenegrin warlord was jailed for 45 years on Friday for the murder, rape and torture of non-Serb civilians in Sarajevo in the Bosnian war, receiving the longest sentence handed down so far by the Bosnian war crimes court. Veselin Vlahovic, nicknamed Batko, was found guilty of the murders of 31 people, rapes of at least 13 women and torture and robbery of dozens of civilians in Grbavica and Vraca, Serb-occupied areas of Sarajevo, in 1992, said presiding judge Zoran Bozic. ... Full Story | Top |
| Italy center-left rebuffs coalition deal with Berlusconi Friday, Mar 29, 2013 06:36 AM PDT ROME (Reuters) - Italy's center-left Democratic Party on Friday rebuffed former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's offer of a coalition deal to end political deadlock since an election last month. "It is very difficult to think of a government supported by (Berlusconi's) PDL and the Democratic Party (PD). There are too many important issues in PDL policies that are light-years from those of the Democratic Party," said Luigi Zanda, PD leader in the Senate. Zanda spoke after Berlusconi insisted a coalition with the center-left was the only way to end the crisis. ... Full Story | Top |
| Putin promotes Russian People's Front as new power base Friday, Mar 29, 2013 06:16 AM PDT  By Darya Korsunskaya ROSTOV-ON-DON, Russia (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin staged a televised meeting on Friday with a loyal support group called the People's Front, suggesting he may promote it as an alternative power base to his scandal-plagued ruling party. At an event that mixed echoes of Soviet Communist Party congresses with the atmospherics of a U.S. talk show, Putin said he planned to raise the Front's status by making it a "public movement" and holding a formal founding congress in June. ... Full Story | Top |
| South Africa says Mandela makes progress, in good spirits Friday, Mar 29, 2013 05:38 AM PDT  By Shafiek Tassiem SOWETO, South Africa (Reuters) - South African former President Nelson Mandela is in good spirits and making progress, doctors said on Friday, after the 94-year-old anti-apartheid hero was taken to hospital for the third time in four months for a lung infection. The medical report was a relief to South Africans who had been anxiously praying and waiting for an update on the health of the Nobel Peace Prize laureate, hospitalized before midnight on Wednesday. Global leaders sent their best wishes. ... Full Story | Top |
| Kenyan separatists deny being behind deadly resort attack Friday, Mar 29, 2013 05:09 AM PDT  By Joseph Akwiri MOMBASA, Kenya (Reuters) - A Kenyan separatist movement denied on Friday accusations by the authorities that it was behind a raid in a coastal resort that killed eight people, although it said former members may have been involved. Armed police officers shot dead six attackers and two policemen were killed in Thursday's early morning raid on a casino popular with tourists in Malindi. Officials blamed the banned Mombasa Republican Council (MRC). ... Full Story | Top |
| Italy's Berlusconi says wants coalition with center-left Friday, Mar 29, 2013 04:49 AM PDT ROME (Reuters) - Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said on Friday he was ready to support a coalition government with center-left leader Pier Luigi Bersani but rejected another technocrat administration like the outgoing one led by Mario Monti. "Our position has not changed, we expressed it with absolute clarity to the president," center-right leader Berlusconi told reporters after meeting President Giorgio Napolitano. ... Full Story | Top |
| Israel could withstand Syrian chemical weapons: general Friday, Mar 29, 2013 04:24 AM PDT JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel could withstand any attack involving Syrian chemical weapons, an Israeli general said on Friday, adding it was improbable that Damascus would order such a strike. The fate of Syria's reputed chemical arsenal is a focus of international concern. Israel has threatened to go to war to prevent Islamist militants or Hezbollah guerrillas in neighboring Lebanon from getting such weapons. ... Full Story | Top |
| Kenyans urged to stay calm over vote ruling Friday, Mar 29, 2013 04:18 AM PDT  By Edmund Blair NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya's outgoing president called for his nation to stay calm when a court rules on Saturday on a legal challenge over the presidential election result, seeking to avoid a repeat of the tribal bloodbath that followed a disputed vote five years ago. Orderly voting on March 4 after which Uhuru Kenyatta was declared victor has gone a long way to restoring Kenya's image as one of Africa's more stable democracies. And this time round, a row over the result has played out in court not the street. ... Full Story | Top |
| Iran criticizes Qatar for giving embassy to Syrian opposition Friday, Mar 29, 2013 04:03 AM PDT  DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran, a close ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, accused Qatar on Friday of "intensifying the bloodshed" in Syria and criticized it for enabling an opposition bloc to open its first embassy in Doha. Syrian opposition leader Moaz Alkhatib, whose group is recognized by the Arab League as the sole representative for Syria, opened the embassy in Qatar on Wednesday. "It is in Qatar's interest to stop making hasty actions and intensifying the bloodshed in Syria," Iran's state news agency IRNA quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian as saying. "The wise ... ... Full Story | Top |
| North Korea readies rockets after U.S. show of force Friday, Mar 29, 2013 03:54 AM PDT  By David Chance and Phil Stewart SEOUL/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - North Korea put its missile units on standby on Friday to attack U.S. military bases in South Korea and the Pacific, after the United States flew two nuclear-capable stealth bombers over the Korean peninsula in a rare show of force. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un signed off on the order at a midnight meeting of top generals and "judged the time has come to settle accounts with the U.S. imperialists in view of the prevailing situation", the official KCNA news agency said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Suicide bomber kills 10 in Pakistan Friday, Mar 29, 2013 03:42 AM PDT  PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - Ten people were killed in Pakistan on Friday when a suicide bomber attacked a paramilitary police convoy, security officials said. The assault took place in the northwestern city of Peshawar, about 200 meters (yards) from the U.S. consulate but there was no indication the compound was the target. Abdul Majeed Marwat, a commander for the Frontier Constabulary, said he was the target. Two members of the force and eight civilians were killed and 15 people were wounded, said the security officials. ... Full Story | Top |
| Building collapse kills 15 in Tanzania: police Friday, Mar 29, 2013 03:39 AM PDT DAR ES SALAAM (Reuters) - At least 15 people were killed in Tanzania's commercial capital on Friday when a building under construction collapsed, police officer said at the scene, as rescuers scrabbled to find survivors. "Fifteen bodies have been recovered from the rubble," Dar es Salaam Police Commander Suleiman Kova told reporters at the site, where the building of 12 or more storeys fell. "So far, only two people have been rescued alive, but the rescue operation is still ongoing." (Reporting by Fumbuka Ng'wanakilala; Writing by Edmund Blair in Nairobi) Full Story | Top |
| Russia warns against military activity near North Korea Friday, Mar 29, 2013 03:20 AM PDT MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia said on Friday that heightened military activity near North Korea was slipping into a "vicious cycle" that could get out of control, implicitly criticizing U.S. bomber flights that followed threats from Pyongyang. Foreign Ministry Sergei Lavrov suggested that North Korea should also cool down, calling on "all sides not to flex their military muscle" and avoid the danger of a belligerent response. "We are concerned that alongside the adequate, collective reaction of the U.N. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.N. rebukes Turkey over return of Syrian refugees Friday, Mar 29, 2013 03:01 AM PDT GENEVA (Reuters) - The U.N. refugee agency criticized Turkey on Friday for sending home at least 130 Syrians without its scrutiny and urged it to investigate the riot which sparked the departures that some witnesses said were forced. Turkey denied on Thursday it had rounded up and deported hundreds of Syrian refugees following unrest at the Suleymansah border camp, highlighting the strain the exodus from Syria's civil war is placing on neighbouring states. ... Full Story | Top |
| China calls for easing of tensions on Korean peninsula Friday, Mar 29, 2013 12:15 AM PDT BEIJING (Reuters) - China called for an easing of tensions on Friday as North Korea put its missile units on standby to attack U.S. military bases in South Korea and the Pacific after the United States flew two nuclear-capable stealth bombers over the Korean peninsula. Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei made the comments at a daily news briefing. (Reporting by Sui-Lee Wee; Writing by Ben Blanchard) Full Story | Top |
| As U.S. hardens line on North Korea, South may pay Thursday, Mar 28, 2013 11:17 PM PDT By David Chance and Ju-min Park SEOUL (Reuters) - Washington's decision to fly B-52 and stealth bomber missions over Korea this week in a warning to Pyongyang risks pushing the North into staging an attack on the South just as its threats may have been on the cusp of dying down. New leaders in Seoul, Beijing and most importantly, an untested 30-year-old in Pyongyang who has to prove he is capable of facing down a perceived threat from the United States, have raised the stakes in a month-long standoff that risks flaring into a conflict. ... Full Story | Top |
| Iran, North Korea, Syria block U.N. arms trade treaty Thursday, Mar 28, 2013 08:14 PM PDT  By Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Iran, Syria and North Korea on Friday prevented the adoption of the first international treaty to regulate the $70 billion global conventional arms trade, complaining that it was flawed and failed to ban weapons sales to rebel groups. To get around the blockade, British U.N. Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant sent the draft treaty to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and asked him on behalf of Mexico, Australia and a number of others to put it to a swift vote in the General Assembly. U.N. ... Full Story | Top |
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