| | |
| CA-NEWS Summary Monday, Apr 01, 2013 12:15 PM PDT South Korea vows fast response to North; U.S. deploys stealth jets SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea will strike back quickly if the North stages any attack, the new president in Seoul warned on Monday, as tensions ratcheted higher on the Korean peninsula amid shrill rhetoric from Pyongyang and the U.S. deployment of radar-evading fighter planes. North Korea says the region is on the brink of a nuclear war in the wake of United Nations sanctions imposed for its February nuclear test and a series of joint U.S. and South Korean military drills that have included a rare U.S. show of aerial power. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. accuses Egypt of stifling freedom of expression Monday, Apr 01, 2013 12:14 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Monday accused Egypt of muzzling freedom of speech after prosecutors questioned the most popular Egyptian television satirist over allegations he insulted President Mohamed Mursi and Islam. U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland also suggested the Egyptian authorities were selectively prosecuting those accused of insulting the government while ignoring or playing down attacks on anti-government demonstrators. ... Full Story | Top |
| White House not seeing major mobilizations by North Korea Monday, Apr 01, 2013 10:46 AM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States takes seriously North Korea's war threats but has not seen any sort of large-scale mobilization of troops or positioning of forces by Pyongyang, the White House said on Monday. "We haven't seen actions to back up the rhetoric," White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters. North Korea said last week it is in a "state of war" with South Korea and issued other threats that heightened tension on the Korean Peninsula. ... Full Story | Top |
| Lebanese gunmen kidnap eight Syrians, demand hostage exchange Monday, Apr 01, 2013 10:26 AM PDT TRIPOLI, Lebanon (Reuters) - Gunmen kidnapped eight men from Syria's Alawite minority as they crossed into northern Lebanon on Monday, residents and security sources said, in a bid to gain the release of a Sunni Muslim man believed to be held by Syrian forces. Lebanon's frontier has increasingly been drawn into violence from neighboring Syria's civil war, now in its third year. Sectarian tensions have been on the rise in both countries, with Sunni Muslims in Lebanon supporting the largely Sunni revolt against President Bashar al-Assad in Syria. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.N. General Assembly to vote on draft arms trade treaty? Monday, Apr 01, 2013 09:47 AM PDT  By Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The 193-nation U.N. General Assembly is tentatively planning to vote on Tuesday on a draft treaty to regulate the $70 billion global trade in conventional arms. Iran, Syria and North Korea last week prevented a treaty drafting conference at U.N. headquarters from reaching the required consensus to adopt the treaty. That left delegations that support it no choice but to turn to the General Assembly to adopt it. ... Full Story | Top |
| South Africa's Mandela visited by family after weekend improvement Monday, Apr 01, 2013 09:33 AM PDT  JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela, who is being treated in hospital for pneumonia, was visited by members of his family on Monday after doctors had reported an improvement in his condition over the weekend. A statement from South Africa's presidency said there was "no significant change" in the condition of the 94-year-old former president, who has been in hospital since late Wednesday suffering from a recurrence of a lung infection. "Former President Mandela is still in hospital where he is receiving treatment ... ... Full Story | Top |
| Ghost of Chavez dominates Venezuela election campaign Monday, Apr 01, 2013 09:24 AM PDT  By Brian Ellsworth CARACAS (Reuters) - Weeks after his death, Venezuelan socialist leader Hugo Chavez still leads supporters in singing the national anthem. The late president's recorded voice booms over rallies for his protégé, acting President Nicolas Maduro, who stands under billboards of Chavez's face and waves to crowds carrying signs emblazoned with his name. Maduro, who is favored to win a snap election triggered by Chavez's death last month, rarely misses a chance to lionize the man many Venezuelans know as "El Comandante. ... Full Story | Top |
| March was bloodiest month in Syria war: rights group Monday, Apr 01, 2013 09:20 AM PDT  BEIRUT (Reuters) - March was the bloodiest month yet in Syria's two-year conflict, with more than 6,000 people killed, a third of them civilians, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Monday. The group opposes President Bashar al-Assad but has monitored human rights violations on both sides of a revolt that began as peaceful protests but is now a brutal war between forces loyal to Assad and an array of rebel militias. The Britain-based Observatory, which has a network of sources across Syria, has documented 62,554 dead in the conflict, said Rami Abdelrahman, the head of the group. ... Full Story | Top |
| Death toll hits 36 in Tanzania building collapse Monday, Apr 01, 2013 08:48 AM PDT  DAR ES SALAAM (Reuters) - The death toll from the collapse of a multi-storey building in Tanzania rose to 36 on Monday, a senior police chief said, after more bodies were pulled from the rubble of the building which was under construction near the centre of Dar es Salaam. Police said it was unlikely more bodies would be recovered from the site in the Kariakoo district where rescue workers had cleared most of the debris and reached the basement of the building that collapsed on Friday morning. "The final death toll from the collapse of the building is 36 ... ... Full Story | Top |
| Turkey scraps flights to Armenia after Azeri resistance Monday, Apr 01, 2013 08:44 AM PDT By Jonathon Burch ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey has canceled the first ever scheduled Turkish flights to its long-time rival Armenia, days before the first plane was due to take off, officials have said, following fierce opposition from Turkey's ally and energy partner Azerbaijan. The twice-weekly flights between Turkey's eastern city of Van and the Armenian capital Yerevan were due to begin on April 3 and, encouraged by a U.S. push for rapprochement, were meant to boost bilateral tourism and trade. ... Full Story | Top |
| Ex-President Carter says China pressuring Nepal on Tibetans Monday, Apr 01, 2013 08:30 AM PDT  By Gopal Sharma KATHMANDU (Reuters) - China is putting pressure on Nepal to interrupt the flow of Tibetan refugees into the Himalayan nation, former United States President Jimmy Carter said on Monday. Hundreds of refugees from the Chinese province of Tibet cross treacherous mountain passes to reach Nepal each year, but as the influence of China grows in its impoverished neighbor, their passage is becoming increasingly difficult. ... Full Story | Top |
| Peace restored in stronghold of Kenya's election loser Odinga Monday, Apr 01, 2013 08:21 AM PDT  By Hezron Ochiel KISUMU, Kenya (Reuters) - Calm returned to the western Kenyan stronghold of defeated presidential candidate Raila Odinga on Monday after two days of running battles with police following the Supreme Court's confirmation of his rival Uhuru Kenyatta as president-elect. Two people were shot dead in the unrest, but the violence was on a much smaller scale than the nationwide bloodshed that followed the 2007 election when the western city of Kisumu was one of the places worst affected places by deadly riots. ... Full Story | Top |
| Central bank to reopen in Central African Republic after coup Monday, Apr 01, 2013 07:23 AM PDT By Ange Aboa BANGUI (Reuters) - Central Africa's regional central bank said it would reopen its branch in Bangui on Tuesday, and urged commercial lenders to do the same, offering a financial lifeline to cash-starved businesses a week after a coup. Rebels who accused the government of breaking past peace deals, stormed into the capital of Central African Republic on March 24, triggering days of looting. Banks and businesses closed their doors in the dilapidated riverside city, forcing residents to barter for food and cover long distances by foot. "Without the banks, there is no life ... ... Full Story | Top |
| Hamas law promotes gender segregation in Gaza schools Monday, Apr 01, 2013 06:56 AM PDT  GAZA (Reuters) - New rules from the Education Ministry of the Islamist Hamas movement ruling the Gaza Strip will bar men from teaching at girls' schools and mandate separate classes for boys and girls from the age of nine. The law, published on Monday, would go into effect next school year and applies throughout the coastal enclave, including in private, Christian-led and United Nations schools. Critics of the new measures say the Islamist movement is trying to force its ideology on society, but proponents say they merely want to codify conservative Palestinian values into law. ... Full Story | Top |
| South Korea vows fast response to North; U.S. deploys stealth jets Monday, Apr 01, 2013 06:02 AM PDT By Jack Kim SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea will strike back quickly if the North stages any attack, the new president in Seoul warned on Monday, as tensions ratcheted higher on the Korean peninsula amid shrill rhetoric from Pyongyang and the U.S. deployment of radar-evading fighter planes. North Korea says the region is on the brink of a nuclear war in the wake of United Nations sanctions imposed for its February nuclear test and a series of joint U.S. and South Korean military drills that have included a rare U.S. show of aerial power. ... Full Story | Top |
| North Korea names Kim clan associate to premiership Monday, Apr 01, 2013 05:37 AM PDT  By Jack Kim SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea named former premier Pak Pong-ju, a key confidant of the leadership dynasty who was sacked in 2007 for failing to implement economic reforms, as its cabinet chief on Monday in a move that would further cement the ruling family's grip on power. Pak, believed to be in his 70s, is a key ally of Jang Song-thaek, the uncle of the isolated state's young ruler Kim Jong-un, and worked for Jang's wife, Kim's aunt Kyong-hui, the last remaining personal link to the state's revolutionary founder, Kim Il-sung, grandfather of the current leader. ... Full Story | Top |
| Bulgaria's ousted center-right extends lead before May poll Monday, Apr 01, 2013 05:12 AM PDT  SOFIA (Reuters) - Bulgaria's center-right GERB party, which was forced from power by nationwide protests in February, has extended its lead ahead of elections in May which are likely to produce a hung parliament, an Alpha Research poll showed on Monday. Support for GERB, led by former Prime Minister Boiko Borisov, stood at 21.9 percent in March, up from 20.9 percent in January, while backing for the Socialists fell to 17.4 percent, according to the poll. ... Full Story | Top |
| Kosovo and Serbia near accord to end ethnic partition Monday, Apr 01, 2013 05:06 AM PDT  By Matt Robinson and Fatos Bytyci MITROVICA, Kosovo (Reuters) - It's a dangerous job being a municipal clerk in the Kosovan town of Mitrovica, where the Ibar river forms a natural barrier between Serbs and Albanians. Since Adrijana Hodzic began issuing the identification cards of mainly Albanian Kosovo to Serbs on the north side of the river, her deputy has been shot in the leg and hand grenades lobbed at the homes of her staff. "Sometimes I feel like we're fighting against everyone," said mother-of-two Hodzic, a Mitrovica native. ... Full Story | Top |
| Private dailies re-emerge in Myanmar, face difficulties Monday, Apr 01, 2013 04:55 AM PDT  By Aung Hla Tun YANGON (Reuters) - Four private dailies hit the newsstands for the first time in almost 50 years in Myanmar on Monday, but many others failed to appear, hamstrung by poor financing, archaic equipment and a dearth of reporters. Sixteen dailies were granted licenses by authorities, but only four were published. ... Full Story | Top |
| Suicide bomber in fuel truck kills nine in Iraq's Tikrit Monday, Apr 01, 2013 03:59 AM PDT TIKRIT, Iraq (Reuters) - A suicide bomber drove an oil tanker packed with explosives into a local Iraqi government compound on Monday, killing at least nine people, mostly policemen, in the northern city of Tikrit. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but Sunni Muslim insurgents tied to al Qaeda have been redoubling their efforts to weaken Iraq's Shi'ite-led government and stoke inter-communal conflict. ... Full Story | Top |
| Kenya looks for economic peace dividend after calm vote Monday, Apr 01, 2013 03:23 AM PDT  By Drazen Jorgic and Joseph Akwiri NAIROBI/MOMBASA, Kenya (Reuters) - Kenya's tourism industry may be a swift winner from the election of Uhuru Kenyatta, owner of hotels and a vast business empire, as east Africa's biggest economy seeks to benefit from a vote that avoided a re-run of bloodshed of five years ago. Tourism is a vital sector for the nation of more than 40 million people and was one of the worst hit after a disputed presidential poll in December 2007 led to weeks of tribal blood-letting, scaring away investors and tourists by the planeload. ... Full Story | Top |
| Mali troops hunt for rebels after Timbuktu clash Monday, Apr 01, 2013 03:04 AM PDT  BAMAKO (Reuters) - Malian troops searched house-to-house in Timbuktu on Monday morning following hours of fighting with Islamist rebels who had infiltrated the northern desert town. Residents said calm had returned by late Sunday after heavy clashes and airstrikes by French fighter jets backing the Malian troops forced them to shelter indoors. The fighting reflected the difficulty of securing Mali after a French intervention in January that pushed the rebels out of their northern strongholds. "Things are quiet this morning. ... Full Story | Top |
| Adviser to Libyan PM seized in Tripoli: source Monday, Apr 01, 2013 02:56 AM PDT  TRIPOLI (Reuters) - An adviser to Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zeidan was grabbed from his car by unknown assailants on the outskirts of Tripoli on Sunday evening, a government source said. Mohamed Ali Ghatous, in his 50s, was seized after passing a checkpoint into the eastern Tripoli suburb of Tajoura. A source at Zeidan's office said Ghatous was a senior adviser to the prime minister. "Nobody knows where he is. They left his car behind, probably they thought it could be traced," he said. Ghatous had last spoken to his family by mobile phone from his car before he was taken. ... Full Story | Top |
| Kuwait executes three men convicted of murder Monday, Apr 01, 2013 12:46 AM PDT KUWAIT (Reuters) - Kuwait executed three men on Monday who had been convicted of murder, the first executions in the Gulf Arab state since 2007, state news agency KUNA reported. Kuwaiti media said on Sunday that the three were a Pakistani, a Saudi and a stateless man and they would be hanged. They were executed at the Central Prison, KUNA said, without giving details. Authorities had invited journalists from Kuwaiti publications to witness the executions. ... Full Story | Top |
| South Korea pledges "strong response" to North Korean "provocation" Sunday, Mar 31, 2013 07:54 PM PDT SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korean President Park Geun-hye said on Monday there would be strong and swift military response to any North Korean provocation without regard to political consequences, after Pyongyang said at the weekend it was entering a state of war with its rival. "If there is any provocation against South Korea and its people, there should be a strong response in initial combat without any political considerations," Park told the minister of defense and its senior officials at a meeting on Monday. (Reporting by Jack Kim; Editing by David Chance) Full Story | Top |
| Insight: China's losing battle against state-backed polluters Sunday, Mar 31, 2013 06:58 PM PDT  By David Stanway SHANGHANG COUNTY, China (Reuters) - When Zijin Mining Group threatened to move its headquarters some 270 kms from its home county of Shanghang to Xiamen on China's southeast coast, a local Communist Party boss rushed to confront the company's chairman Chen Jinghe. "If you want to move, you'll have to move the Zijin Mountain to Xiamen as well," the official told Chen, referring to a vast local mine that has helped transform the firm into China's top gold producer and second-biggest copper miner. ... Full Story | Top |
| Iran sanctions spur boom for Pakistani diesel smugglers Sunday, Mar 31, 2013 05:38 PM PDT  By Hamdan Albaloshi JOGAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - Some of the contraband is spirited across the mountains in Pepsi bottles carried by child smugglers. Yet more is loaded into pick-up trucks or siphoned into barrels and strapped onto mules. So lucrative are the returns that even seasoned opium traffickers are abandoning their traditional cargo to grab a share of Pakistan's closest thing to an oil boom: a roaring trade in illicit Iranian diesel. ... Full Story | Top |
| Britain's Osborne defends welfare cuts after church attacks Sunday, Mar 31, 2013 05:07 PM PDT  LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's government on Monday defended a raft of new welfare spending cuts, a key plank of efforts to rein in spending as the economy flounders, after church leaders attacked the changes as unjust. Finance minister George Osborne and Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith labeled opponents of their plan as "shrill", and insisted it would lead to a fairer benefits system and encourage more Britons to work. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. F-22 stealth jets join South Korea drills amid saber-rattling Sunday, Mar 31, 2013 03:01 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States sent F-22 stealth fighter jets to South Korea on Sunday to join military drills aimed at underscoring the U.S. commitment to defend Seoul in the face of an intensifying campaign of threats from North Korea. The advanced, radar-evading F-22 Raptors were deployed to Osan Air Base, the main U.S. Air Force base in South Korea, from Japan to support ongoing bilateral exercises, the U.S. military command in South Korea said in a statement that urged North Korea to restrain itself. ... Full Story | Top |
| Fighting erupts after car bombing in Mali Sunday, Mar 31, 2013 01:48 PM PDT By Tiemoko Diallo BAMAKO (Reuters) - Malian soldiers backed by French fighter jets battled Islamist rebels in Timbuktu on Sunday after insurgents used a car bomb as cover to infiltrate the northern desert town, sources said. The French-led offensive in Mali has pushed a mix of Islamists out of their northern strongholds and remote mountain bases but the militants have hit back with several suicide attacks and guerilla-style raids. ... Full Story | Top |
| Syria says rebels set fire to three eastern oil wells Sunday, Mar 31, 2013 01:33 PM PDT  BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian rebels have set three oil wells in the east of the country ablaze, causing a daily loss of nearly 5,000 barrels of oil and 52,000 cubic meters of gas, state media quoted an oil ministry official as saying on Sunday. SANA news agency said the damage to the oil wells in Deir al-Zor province, much of which is in rebel hands, followed disputes among the fighters over "sharing out the stolen oil" from fields in areas they control. It said Syria's Furat Petroleum Corporation was working to extinguish the three fires. ... Full Story | Top |
| Egypt's Mursi sends Islamic bond law to clerics: TV Sunday, Mar 31, 2013 01:16 PM PDT  CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi referred a law allowing the state to issue Islamic bonds to a panel of top Muslim scholars on Sunday, state television said, a step that could complicate the government's plans to pass the legislation. The parliament led by the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party approved the law earlier this month and referred it to Mursi, triggering a protest last week by Al-Azhar, the country's leading Islamic authority. Al-Azhar said its top scholars should have been consulted, as stated in the new, Islamist-tinged constitution passed. ... Full Story | Top |
|
No comments:
Post a Comment