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| Venezuela opposition leader charged with spurring violence Monday, Apr 29, 2013 12:42 PM PDT CARACAS (Reuters) - A Venezuelan court charged retired general Antonio Rivero on Monday with inciting post-election violence in the latest political flash point in the bitterly divided nation. Opposition leaders say Rivero, a member of the Popular Will movement that is a driving force of Venezuela's opposition coalition, became new President Nicolas Maduro's first political prisoner when he was arrested over the weekend. Authorities say he was one of those behind a wave of violence, on the day after Maduro's disputed April 14 election, that represented a coup attempt and killed nine people. ... Full Story | Top |
| CA-NEWS Summary Monday, Apr 29, 2013 12:42 PM PDT Syrian prime minister survives Damascus bombing, six die BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syria's prime minister survived a bomb attack on his convoy in Damascus on Monday, as rebels struck in the heart of President Bashar al-Assad's capital. Six people were killed in the blast, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Previous rebel attacks on government targets included a December bombing which wounded Assad's interior minister. ... Full Story | Top |
| Syrian prime minister survives Damascus bombing, six die Monday, Apr 29, 2013 12:27 PM PDT  By Dominic Evans BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syria's prime minister survived a bomb attack on his convoy in Damascus on Monday, as rebels struck in the heart of President Bashar al-Assad's capital. Six people were killed in the blast, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Previous rebel attacks on government targets included a December bombing which wounded Assad's interior minister. ... Full Story | Top |
| Syria access essential for credible chemical weapons inquiry: U.N. Monday, Apr 29, 2013 12:27 PM PDT By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon said on Monday that investigators have been gathering and analyzing available information on alleged chemical weapons attacks in Syria, but access to the war-torn country is essential for a "credible and comprehensive inquiry." A U.N. push for unconditional access for its inspection team gained fresh momentum after the United States and Britain said last week they had limited evidence that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's troops used the nerve agent sarin against rebels. U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Lawyers, public chant "hang him" as Bangladesh building owner led to court Monday, Apr 29, 2013 12:27 PM PDT  By Ruma Paul and Serajul Quadir DHAKA (Reuters) - Bangladeshi lawyers and protesters chanted "hang him, hang him" on Monday as the owner of a factory building that collapsed last week killing nearly 400 people was led into court dressed in a helmet and bullet-proof jacket, witnesses said. The drama came as rescue officials said they were unlikely to find more survivors in the rubble of the building that collapsed on Wednesday, burying hundreds of garment workers in the country's worst industrial accident. ... Full Story | Top |
| Obama stresses concern over Syrian chemical weapons in phone call with Putin: White House Monday, Apr 29, 2013 12:18 PM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama underscored U.S. concerns about Syrian chemical weapons in a phone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday, the White House said. The United States is trying to determine the facts around alleged Syrian use of chemical weapons. Last week U.S. officials said they had "varying degrees of confidence" that such weapons were used in Syria, which if proven with certainty could triggered unspecified actions against the Syrian government. ... Full Story | Top |
| France, keen to boost military strength, avoids defense cuts Monday, Apr 29, 2013 12:12 PM PDT  By John Irish and Patrick Vignal PARIS (Reuters) - France will keep its defense budget at the same level for the next six years after the government decided proposed cuts would hamper its ability to mount military operations such as its intervention in Mali. The freeze will still lead to the loss of 34,000 jobs in the defense ministry at a time of growing unemployment in France, according to a strategic review announced on Monday. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. calls on North Korea to release detained U.S. citizen Monday, Apr 29, 2013 12:09 PM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States called on North Korea on Monday to immediately release on humanitarian grounds a U.S. citizen accused of trying to topple the reclusive state's government. Korean-American Kenneth Bae, 44, was in a group of five tourists who visited the northeastern city of Rajin on a five-day trip last November and has been held by North Korean police since then. "We call on the DPRK to release Kenneth Bae immediately on humanitarian grounds," U.S. State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell told reporters at his daily briefing. ... Full Story | Top |
| Kremlin says Putin, Obama agree security contacts after Boston Monday, Apr 29, 2013 12:04 PM PDT  By Steve Gutterman MOSCOW (Reuters) - Presidents Vladimir Putin and Barack Obama agreed on Monday to maintain close contacts between U.S. and Russian intelligence agencies and cooperate to ensure security for the 2014 Olympics that Russia is hosting in Sochi, the Kremlin said. Putin and Obama spoke for at least the second time since the April 15 Boston Marathon bombings, which U.S. authorities believe were carried out by two brothers with roots in Russia's volatile and mostly Muslim North Caucasus. ... Full Story | Top |
| Israel evicts Palestinian villagers for army exercise Monday, Apr 29, 2013 12:02 PM PDT  By Noah Browning HAMRA CHECKPOINT, West Bank (Reuters) - Israeli soldiers evicted several hundred Bedouins from a village in the occupied West Bank on Monday after the army declared the area a live-fire training zone. The residents of Wadi al-Maleh, a village mostly inhabited by shepherds in the arid area bordering Jordan, had almost all left their homes by an evening curfew and retreated to neighboring villages, Aref Daraghmeh, a local leader, told Reuters. ... Full Story | Top |
| Seven killed in U.S. cargo plane crash in Afghanistan Monday, Apr 29, 2013 11:58 AM PDT KABUL (Reuters) - Seven crew members of a U.S.-run cargo plane were killed on Monday when their plane crashed shortly after take off from Bagram air base near the Afghan capital Kabul, the cargo operator told Reuters. The Taliban in a statement claimed responsibility for the crash, but NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said there were no reports of insurgent activity in or around the base, which is one of the largest in the country and located about 40 km (25 miles) north of Kabul. ... Full Story | Top |
| Italian reporter in Syria missing for 20 days: newspaper Monday, Apr 29, 2013 11:31 AM PDT ROME (Reuters) - Italian journalist Domenico Quirico, a correspondent for Turin's la Stampa newspaper, has not been heard from for 20 days after entering Syria from Lebanon earlier this month, the daily's editor-in-chief Mario Calabresi said on Monday. The 62-year-old Quirico, an experienced war reporter, entered Syria on April 6 to report on the country's civil war, and has not been in contact since April 9. ... Full Story | Top |
| South Africa's Mandela frail in first TV footage in months Monday, Apr 29, 2013 11:23 AM PDT  JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela made his first television appearance in almost a year on Monday, looking thin and frail in his Johannesburg home where he has been resting after a bout of pneumonia. The veteran leader stared mostly straight ahead, his face showing little expression in the footage of a visit from President Jacob Zuma and other officials, shown by state broadcaster SABC. ... Full Story | Top |
| France says soldier killed in combat in northern Mali Monday, Apr 29, 2013 11:21 AM PDT PARIS (Reuters) - A French soldier was killed in combat in northern Mali on Monday, the president's office said, without providing further details on the incident. The death, announced in a statement, brings the death toll to six from France's intervention to help Malian forces repel an offensive by Islamist rebels. (Reporting By Nicholas Vinocur; Editing by Michael Roddy) Full Story | Top |
| Mali breaks up suspected militant cell in Bamako: security sources Monday, Apr 29, 2013 11:03 AM PDT BAMAKO (Reuters) - Malian security forces have arrested at least eight people suspected of plotting an attack in the capital Bamako for the Islamist militant group MUJWA, two senior security sources said on Monday. Malian officials said the arrests were the first sign that Islamist rebels battling French and African troops for control of Mali's desert north have activated cells in Bamako, which is located in the south. ... Full Story | Top |
| Five convicted in Kosovo organ trafficking case Monday, Apr 29, 2013 10:38 AM PDT  By Fatos Bytyci PRISTINA (Reuters) - Five men were convicted in Kosovo on Monday of involvement in an organ trafficking ring that performed at least 23 illegal kidney transplants at a clinic on the outskirts of the capital, under the noses of United Nations police and NATO peacekeepers. The trial of the men, all citizens of Kosovo, has taken on added significance in the region because it echoes a high-profile probe into alleged organ harvesting by guerrilla fighters during the 1998-99 war. ... Full Story | Top |
| Japan, Russia agree to revive talks on island dispute Monday, Apr 29, 2013 10:37 AM PDT  By Alexei Anishchuk MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia and Japan said on Monday they would revive talks on resolving a territorial dispute that has prevented them signing a treaty formally ending their World War Two hostilities, and, wary of China's rising influence, agreed to bolster trade ties. At the two G8 powers' first Moscow summit for 10 years, President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had China's economic and political might in mind as they launched a new effort to warm up their relationship. ... Full Story | Top |
| Car bombs, shootings kill 23 across Iraq Monday, Apr 29, 2013 10:35 AM PDT  BAGHDAD (Reuters) - At least 23 people were killed in Iraq on Monday in a series of car bombs in Shi'ite Muslim areas and militant attacks, medics and police sources said, taking the week's death toll to nearly 200 as sectarian violence intensifies. Clashes have increased as the civil war in Syria puts strain on fragile relations between Sunnis and Shi'ites. The tensions are at their highest in Iraq since U.S. troops pulled out more than a year ago. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.N. condemns attempted assassination of Syrian prime minister Monday, Apr 29, 2013 10:24 AM PDT UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday condemned the attempted assassination of the Syrian prime minister in an attack that killed six people, describing it as a "terrorist attack." Syria's prime minister survived a bomb attack on his convoy in Damascus on Monday though half a dozen other people were killed, as rebels struck in the heart of President Bashar al-Assad's capital. ... Full Story | Top |
| Italy's Letta launches government with call for growth Monday, Apr 29, 2013 10:11 AM PDT  By James Mackenzie ROME (Reuters) - Italy's new Prime Minister Enrico Letta promised to press for a change to the European Union's focus on austerity and pursue economic growth and jobs as his government sought backing from parliament on Monday, ending months of political gridlock. Speaking ahead of a confidence vote in the lower house, Letta said Italy could not afford to focus simply on trying to cut its huge public debt and needed a new emphasis on lifting the economy out of recession. ... Full Story | Top |
| Accused Canadian cannibal/killer to go on trial in September 2014 Monday, Apr 29, 2013 09:20 AM PDT  OTTAWA (Reuters) - A Canadian man accused of murdering and dismembering a Chinese student, eating parts of the corpse and posting an online video of the crime will go on trial in Montreal on September 15, 2014, an official said on Monday. Luka Rocco Magnotta, 30, is accused of killing Jun Lin in Montreal in May 2012, posting a video on the Internet of the stabbing death and defiling the body and eating parts of it. He has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder, indignities to a body and publishing obscene materials. ... Full Story | Top |
| Polish premier fires justice minister for embryo comments Monday, Apr 29, 2013 08:59 AM PDT By Chris Borowski WARSAW (Reuters) - Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk dismissed his justice minister on Monday for comments about trade in embryos, highlighting rifts which threaten the government's slim majority in parliament. Justice Minister Jaroslaw Gowin, seen as an informal leader of the conservative wing of Tusk's Civic Platform, has clashed with him on other issues. If he quits the party and takes some supporters with him, the governing coalition that holds a slim five-seat margin in the lower house of parliament could fall. ... Full Story | Top |
| Analysis: Italy's politics turned upside down by election aftermath Monday, Apr 29, 2013 08:48 AM PDT  By Barry Moody ROME (Reuters) - Five months ago, Silvio Berlusconi was in steep decline and his party was in shambles. His center-left enemies looked triumphant and sat on a 15-point opinion poll lead. Today that situation has turned 180 degrees. The center-left is devastated by divisions and the 76-year-old media tycoon has an opinion poll lead ranging from five to eight points. ... Full Story | Top |
| Egypt's Moussa says Brotherhood out for revenge Monday, Apr 29, 2013 08:27 AM PDT  By Yasmine Saleh and Paul Taylor CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's ruling Muslim Brotherhood is trying to exact revenge on the judiciary for years of imprisonment and political exclusion, but is attacking the wrong target, opposition leader Amr Moussa said on Monday. The elder statesman told Reuters that Egypt faced an exceptional "to-be-or-not-to-be crisis" worse than after its 1967 defeat by Israel, and Islamist President Mohamed Mursi would do better to pursue national unity rather than division. ... Full Story | Top |
| UAE pardons more than 100 Egyptian prisoners Monday, Apr 29, 2013 08:26 AM PDT DUBAI (Reuters) - The United Arab Emirates pardoned more than 100 Egyptian prisoners on Monday in a move hailed by the Egyptian ambassador to Abu Dhabi as a gesture that will improve strained relations between the two countries. Ties between Egypt and the UAE soured after veteran Egyptian ruler Hosni Mubarak, a longtime Gulf ally, was toppled in 2011. The UAE has voiced distrust of the Muslim Brotherhood that helped propel Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi to power last year. ... Full Story | Top |
| Thai rebels press for independence, set to scupper peace talks Monday, Apr 29, 2013 08:22 AM PDT  By Amy Sawitta Lefevre BANGKOK (Reuters) - Leaders of a Muslim rebel group in southern Thailand said they will press for an independent state and made other demands that are likely to scupper a second round of peace talks, which started in Malaysia on Monday. Resistance to Bangkok's Buddhist rule has existed for decades but flared up violently in 2004 since when a campaign of bombings and roadside shootings has killed over 5,300 people, according to monitoring group Deep South Watch. ... Full Story | Top |
| Racist fans attack Hungarian activist ahead of Jewish Congress Monday, Apr 29, 2013 08:21 AM PDT BUDAPEST (Reuters) - The head of a Hungarian anti-racism group said far-right soccer fans shouted "Sieg Heil" and attacked him, breaking his nose days before the country is due to host the World Jewish Congress. Ferenc Orosz, chairman of the Raoul Wallenberg Association, told Reuters he was assaulted after arguing with a group of supporters chanting the Nazi slogan at a match between the Hungarian teams Videoton and Ferencvaros in Budapest on Sunday. ... Full Story | Top |
| New PM Letta says Italy must reform, extend welfare provision Monday, Apr 29, 2013 08:07 AM PDT ROME (Reuters) - Italy must reform an outdated and inadequate welfare system, new Prime Minister Enrico Letta said in his maiden speech to parliament on Monday. "We need a welfare system which is more universal, more focused on young people and women, extending it to those who are not covered, especially temporary workers," Letta said, adding that he would work with trade unions to find ways to cut unemployment. Letta also announced that the first measure of his government would be to reduce the salaries of parliamentarians. (Reporting by Naomi O'Leary, writing by Gavin Jones) Full Story | Top |
| Letta says Italy must focus on growth immediately Monday, Apr 29, 2013 08:07 AM PDT ROME (Reuters) - Italy must focus immediately on reviving its economy and it will lobby its European partners to obtain more growth-oriented policies at the EU level, new Prime Minister Enrico Letta said in his maiden speech to parliament on Monday. Letta said that later this week he would visit leaders in Brussels, Paris and Berlin to demonstrate the importance Italy attached to EU-wide economic strategy. ... Full Story | Top |
| Italy PM Letta says electoral law must be changed by next vote Monday, Apr 29, 2013 08:07 AM PDT ROME (Reuters) - Italy's widely condemned electoral law will be changed before the next national election, new Prime Minister Enrico Letta said in his first speech to parliament on Monday. "We must solemnly make the commitment that February's was the last vote conducted under the current electoral law," Letta said, adding that it must be replaced with a system able to guarantee stable governments. Letta formed a broad coalition government after two months of political stalemate following the election, which left no political group in control of parliament. ... Full Story | Top |
| Italy debt costs hit multi-year lows after government formed Monday, Apr 29, 2013 08:07 AM PDT By Francesca Landini MILAN (Reuters) - Italian benchmark borrowing costs fell to their lowest since October 2010 at auction on Monday, signaling a thumbs-up from investors to the appointment of a new government that ended two months of political stalemate. The treasury sold all of its planned 3 billion euros ($3.9 billion) of 10-year bonds at 3.94 percent, well below the 4.66 percent it paid at a similar sale one month ago. It also sold 3 billion euros of five-year bonds at 2.84 percent, 0.82 percentage points less than in March. ... Full Story | Top |
| Gunmen kill five, rob bank in north Nigeria Monday, Apr 29, 2013 07:44 AM PDT KADUNA (Reuters) - Gunmen armed with rocket-propelled grenades attacked a police station and a bank in northern Nigeria, killing three policemen and two civilians, authorities said on Monday, in a region struggling to control an Islamist insurgency. The gunmen struck the town of Ringim late on Thursday night, said Abdul Jinjiri, police spokesman for Jigawa state, where the town is located. "After attacking a police station and killing three of our men, they then moved to nearby Unity Bank and killed two civilians there," Jinjiri said. "They were not able to steal any money from the bank. ... Full Story | Top |
| Cameroon ruling party sweeps senate elections Monday, Apr 29, 2013 07:42 AM PDT  YAOUNDE (Reuters) - Cameroon's ruling party won 56 of the 70 seats contested in the country's first senate elections held on April 14, according to results issued on Monday by the Supreme Court. President Paul Biya will appoint another 30 senators himself, ensuring his Cameroon People's Democratic Movement has tight control over the new 100-seat legislative body. The creation of the senate is intended in part to clarify succession in the African oil producer nation, whose long-serving President Biya is now 80 years old. ... Full Story | Top |
| Pirates kidnap five crew from ship off Nigeria Monday, Apr 29, 2013 07:40 AM PDT ABUJA (Reuters) - Pirates have kidnapped five crew members from a cargo ship off Nigeria, the vessel's management company said on Monday, part of a growing trend of attacks that are pushing up maritime insurance costs in the Gulf of Guinea. A Russian and a Polish citizen were among those taken hostage when the Antigua and Barbuda-flagged MV City of Xiamen container ship was attacked late on April 25 about 100 miles off Nigeria's coast, Sunship Schiffahrtskontor KG, the ship's German operator, said in a statement. ... Full Story | Top |
| Netanyahu says Iran hasn't crossed nuclear "red line" Monday, Apr 29, 2013 07:29 AM PDT  JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday Iran had not crossed the "red line" he set for its nuclear program, despite an assessment to the contrary by a former Israeli intelligence chief. At the United Nations in September, Netanyahu drew a red line across a cartoon bomb to illustrate the point at which he said Iran will have amassed enough uranium at 20 percent fissile purity to fuel one nuclear bomb if enriched further. He said then that Iran could reach that threshold by mid-2013. ... Full Story | Top |
| Dubai court jails Britons for four years on drug charges Monday, Apr 29, 2013 07:08 AM PDT By Mahmoud Habboush DUBAI (Reuters) - A Dubai court sentenced three Britons to four years in jail on drug charges on Monday, a decision that may overshadow a visit to Britain by the United Arab Emirates president because of allegations that the defendants were tortured. The three were convicted a day after British Prime Minister David Cameron voiced concern about the allegations and his spokesman said the case would be on the agenda of his talks this week with UAE President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahayan. ... Full Story | Top |
| Factbox: Western forces in the Gulf Monday, Apr 29, 2013 06:47 AM PDT (Reuters) - The United States and some Western allies deploy weaponry and other military equipment in the energy-rich Gulf to provide security to Gulf Arab states at short notice. Here is a list of equipment currently deployed, according to research institutions, mostly at bases shared with host states. KUWAIT USA CENTCOM: 23,000 personnel. One Heavy Brigade Combat Team, also known as an Armored Brigade Combat Team. ... Full Story | Top |
| South Africa's Mandela in good health, good spirits: ANC Monday, Apr 29, 2013 06:43 AM PDT  JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela is in good health and good spirits, South Africa's ruling African National Congress said on Monday, in the first update on his condition since he was discharged from hospital in early April. President Jacob Zuma and other party leaders visited the 94-year-old former president at his Johannesburg home. "After receiving a briefing from the medical team, the national officials are satisfied that President Mandela is in good health and is receiving the very best medical care," the ANC said. ... Full Story | Top |
| In changing region, U.S. committed to military ties with Gulf Arabs Monday, Apr 29, 2013 06:42 AM PDT  By William Maclean and David Alexander DUBAI/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Washington is signaling its military commitment to its Gulf Arab allies at a time of unfamiliar strain in their decades old partnership. Syria's civil war and Iran's nuclear program have led to tensions, with Gulf Arab states willing a more assertive U.S. response to bring Iran to heel and force Syrian President Bashar al-Assad from power. Growing U.S. energy independence has further complicated a relationship founded on oil and defense. ... Full Story | Top |
| Kenya chief justice denies taking bribe in presidential petition Monday, Apr 29, 2013 06:37 AM PDT  By James Macharia NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya's chief justice on Monday denied accusations that he had received bribes to rule in favor of President Uhuru Kenyatta in a petition challenging the outcome of last month's election that was the biggest test yet of the newly reformed judiciary. Kenya's Supreme Court, chaired by Chief Justice Willy Mutunga, upheld Kenyatta's victory, dismissing a petition by presidential contender Raila Odinga. Former Prime Minister Odinga accepted the verdict, helping douse tensions after tribal violence blighted the previous election five years before. ... Full Story | Top |
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