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| CA-NEWS Summary Tuesday, Apr 30, 2013 12:27 PM PDT Obama signals won't rush to act against Syria over chemical arms WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama cautioned against a rush to judgment on whether Syria used chemical weapons against its own people on Tuesday in a sign he is going to take a deliberate approach to a problem that could lead to U.S. military action. At a White House news conference, Obama said there is evidence chemical weapons were used inside Syria but "we don't know how they were used, when they were used, who used them" and "we don't have a chain of custody that establishes what exactly happened. ... Full Story | Top |
| China dissident's brother says home attacked nightly with dead poultry, bottles Tuesday, Apr 30, 2013 12:27 PM PDT  By Terril Yue Jones BEIJING (Reuters) - Security personnel in eastern China are carrying out a nightly harassment campaign against the brother of blind rights activist Chen Guangcheng, the two said on Tuesday, throwing rocks, bottles and dead poultry at his house for 12 nights in a row. The attacks on the village home of Chen Guangfu continued early on Tuesday, he said. Two cars parked outside his house in Shandong province, shining their headlights through the windows and again security personnel threw rocks and beer bottles at the house and into the yard, he said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Syria says does not trust chemical weapons claims by U.S., Britain Tuesday, Apr 30, 2013 12:21 PM PDT By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Syria urged the United Nations on Tuesday to send scientists to investigate its claim of a chemical attack by rebels in Aleppo, but said it does not trust accusations by the United States, Britain and others that such weapons were used elsewhere in the country. Syria's U.N. Ambassador Bashar Ja'afari also accused "armed terrorist groups" of spreading powder from plastic bags - which he described as "probably a kind of chemical material" - among crowds in the northern city of Saraqeb on Monday. ... Full Story | Top |
| Obama vows new push to close Guantanamo detention camp Tuesday, Apr 30, 2013 12:09 PM PDT  By Matt Spetalnick WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama vowed on Tuesday to make a new push to close the Guantanamo detention center, where about 100 inmates are on hunger strike, saying it was damaging to U.S. interests to keep holding prisoners there in legal limbo. Human rights groups have long been critical of the 12-year-old camp for foreign terrorism suspects, and their concern has intensified in recent weeks. Some of those on hunger strike are being force-fed at the camp at the U.S. Naval Base in Cuba. ... Full Story | Top |
| Obama signals won't rush to act against Syria over chemical arms Tuesday, Apr 30, 2013 12:04 PM PDT  By Steve Holland WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama cautioned against a rush to judgment on whether Syria used chemical weapons against its own people on Tuesday in a sign he is going to take a deliberate approach to a problem that could lead to U.S. military action. At a White House news conference, Obama said there is evidence chemical weapons were used inside Syria but "we don't know how they were used, when they were used, who used them" and "we don't have a chain of custody that establishes what exactly happened. ... Full Story | Top |
| France troops capture suspected French jihadist in Mali Tuesday, Apr 30, 2013 12:03 PM PDT PARIS (Reuters) - A suspected French jihadist has been captured by French forces in Mali, the defense ministry in Paris said on Tuesday, one of a handful of French nationals in the Sahel suspected of fighting against their own country. French authorities had been searching for Gilles Le Guen since October, when he published a YouTube video in which he warned France, the United States and the United Nations not to interfere in Mali. "I confirm the capture of a French terrorist in Mali by the French Army," a defense ministry spokesman told Reuters. ... Full Story | Top |
| Cyprus bailout scrapes through island's parliament Tuesday, Apr 30, 2013 11:59 AM PDT  By Michele Kambas NICOSIA (Reuters) - Cyprus's parliament approved an EU bailout on Tuesday which will force it to wind down its second-largest bank and impose heavy losses on uninsured depositors at another, conditions that have intensified calls from islanders to exit the euro. With a razor-thin majority of just two votes, lawmakers approved terms accompanying 10 billion euros ($13.18 billion)in aid from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). ... Full Story | Top |
| Six Tunisian police wounded in hunt for Islamists near Algeria Tuesday, Apr 30, 2013 11:54 AM PDT TUNIS (Reuters) - A land mine suspected of being planted by hardline Islamists wounded six Tunisian police officers on Tuesday as they pursued a group of insurgents near the Algerian border, the interior ministry said. It was the third mine blast in Tunisia in two days, prompting Prime Minister Ali Larayedh to hold an emergency meeting with his defense and interior ministers. On Monday two policemen were seriously wounded in two explosions, also while searching for militants in the remote Mount Chaambi region west of Tunis. ... Full Story | Top |
| Italy's Letta tells Merkel Europe needs more growth Tuesday, Apr 30, 2013 11:42 AM PDT  By Steve Scherer and Stephen Brown ROME/BERLIN (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta, fresh from winning a confidence vote in parliament, told Germany on Tuesday his government would meet its budget commitments but expected Europe to drop its austerity mantra and do more to lift growth. Speaking in Berlin on his first foreign visit since taking office on Sunday, Letta warned that Italy's February election, which saw a surge of support for parties attacking the European Union, showed that a change of course was needed. ... Full Story | Top |
| Hezbollah says opposition will not topple Assad militarily Tuesday, Apr 30, 2013 11:41 AM PDT BEIRUT (Reuters) - Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said on Tuesday that the Syrian opposition fighting the forces of President Bashar al-Assad will not be able to topple him militarily. Nasrallah, a staunch ally of Assad, said in a televised speech that Syria's allies in the region and the world will not allow it to fall "in the hands of Americans, Israel and extremists". (Reporting by Mariam Karouny; Editing by Michael Roddy) Full Story | Top |
| Pope accepts invite to Israel, urges peace talks Tuesday, Apr 30, 2013 11:38 AM PDT  By Philip Pullella VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis urged Israelis and Palestinians to resume talks and make "courageous decisions" to bring peace after his first meeting with Israel's President Shimon Peres on Tuesday and accepted an invitation to visit the Holy Land. The two discussed the civil war in Syria, tensions in Iran and the scourge of anti-Semitism during half an hour of private talks in the Vatican's Apostolic Palace. ... Full Story | Top |
| Puerto doctor gets jail term, evidence to be destroyed Tuesday, Apr 30, 2013 11:28 AM PDT  By Mark Elkington MADRID (Reuters) - Spanish doctor Eufemiano Fuentes, the central figure in the Operation Puerto probe into a doping ring in cycling, got a one-year prison term on Tuesday as the judge ordered all evidence from the case to be destroyed. Fuentes - who is unlikely to be jailed because sentences under two years in Spain are usually suspended - was convicted for crimes against public health, barred from practicing sports medicine for four years and fined. ... Full Story | Top |
| Military push not sole way to end Congo conflict: U.N. envoy Tuesday, Apr 30, 2013 11:26 AM PDT  GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo (Reuters) - A military solution is not the only way to end decades of conflict in eastern Congo, the newly appointed United Nations special envoy to the region said on Tuesday as the world body prepared to bolster its peacekeeping mission there. Former Irish president Mary Robinson was visiting the region for the first time since being appointed U.N. special envoy charged with helping bring an end to the violence, which has left millions dead and the mineral-rich nation in ruins. ... Full Story | Top |
| Russia's oldest rights group told to register as "foreign agent" Tuesday, Apr 30, 2013 11:17 AM PDT MOSCOW (Reuters) - Moscow prosecutors told Russia's oldest human rights group on Tuesday that it must register as a "foreign agent" under a new law that critics say is a move by President Vladimir Putin to silence dissent. Memorial opened in 1987 to document the Soviet Union's totalitarian past but has also spoken out against the detention of Russians held after an anti-Putin protest last year that turned violent. "We don't aim to register, we aim to appeal against this," Memorial's head, Aleksander Cherkasov, told Reuters. ... Full Story | Top |
| Many in Muslim world want sharia as law of land: survey Tuesday, Apr 30, 2013 11:14 AM PDT  By Religion Editor Tom Heneghan (Reuters) - Large majorities in the Muslim world want the Islamic legal and moral code of sharia as the official law in their countries, but they disagree on what it includes and who should be subject to it, an extensive new survey says. Suicide bombing was mostly rejected In the study by the Washington-based Pew Forum, but it won 40 percent support in the Palestinian territories, 39 percent in Afghanistan, 29 percent in Eygpt and 26 percent in Bangladesh. ... Full Story | Top |
| Spanish judge wants eight business leaders in court on graft case Tuesday, Apr 30, 2013 11:11 AM PDT  MADRID (Reuters) - A magistrate investigating corruption allegations against Spain's ruling People's Party (PP) ordered eight business leaders on Tuesday to appear in court for questioning about supposed donations they made to the party. It was the latest development in a high-level corruption scandal that has enraged Spaniards struggling with a deep economic crisis and high unemployment. ... Full Story | Top |
| Bomb blast kills 13 in center of Syrian capital Tuesday, Apr 30, 2013 11:06 AM PDT  By Oliver Holmes BEIRUT (Reuters) - A bomb blast in the government-held center of Damascus killed 13 people on Tuesday, state television said, while rebels and loyalists to President Bashar al-Assad traded accusations over what they said was a chemical weapons attack the day before. Residents described scenes of carnage in Marjeh Square, in a the commercial district in the heart of the capital, with dozens of cars and buildings damaged by the bomb which went off in front of the former Interior Ministry building. ... Full Story | Top |
| Syrian air strike on Turkish border kills five: activists Tuesday, Apr 30, 2013 11:06 AM PDT By Khaled Yacoub Oweis AMMAN (Reuters) - A Syrian air strike on a headquarters of a rebel brigade along the Turkish border killed at least five people, including children, and wounded dozens more on Tuesday, opposition activists said. The attack targeted buildings belonging to the Ahrar al-Sham, a Salafist Islamist rebel unit fighting to topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, the activists said. A Turkish aid worker said the strike also hit a warehouse on the Syrian side of the border used by aid groups. ... Full Story | Top |
| Gunmen stage protest outside Libyan justice ministry Tuesday, Apr 30, 2013 10:37 AM PDT  By Ghaith Shennib and Jessica Donati TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Armed men in pick-up trucks mounted with anti-aircraft guns and rocket-launchers protested on the road outside Libya's justice ministry on Tuesday to press demands that former dictator Muammar Gaddafi's aides be barred from senior government posts. Tensions between the government and armed militia have been intensifying since authorities began a campaign to dislodge the gunmen from strongholds in the capital Tripoli to tackle lawlessness threatening democratic transition. ... Full Story | Top |
| Somalia's Puntland region executes suspected Islamist militants Tuesday, Apr 30, 2013 10:35 AM PDT BOSASSO, Somalia (Reuters) - Somalia's northern Puntland province executed 13 suspected al Qaeda-linked militants on Tuesday, a military court official said, and security forces deployed heavily in the coastal city of Bosasso to ward off any reprisal attacks. Squeezed out of their strongholds in southern and central Somalia by a military offensive, al Shabaab rebels have slowly infiltrated Puntland, a semi-autonomous region that had largely avoided being caught up in successive Islamist insurgencies. ... Full Story | Top |
| Bulgaria prosecutors say ex-minister oversaw wiretapping breach Tuesday, Apr 30, 2013 10:25 AM PDT  By Tsvetelia Tsolova SOFIA (Reuters) - Bulgarian prosecutors on Tuesday said former Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov had allowed employees in his ministry to commit crimes in a growing wiretapping scandal dubbed "Bulgaria's Watergate". Analysts said the case was undermining public confidence in political institutions in the EU member state and was likely to dent support for the largest political party, the center-right GERB, ahead of parliamentary elections on May 12. ... Full Story | Top |
| South African army deaths from Central African Republic rise to 14 Tuesday, Apr 30, 2013 10:13 AM PDT  JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - One of 27 South African soldiers injured in March in fighting against rebels in Central African Republic has died, bringing to 14 the total killed in the clashes, a defense force spokesman said on Tuesday. The soldier, who was not identified, had been released from hospital on April 19 following an improvement in his condition. "Yesterday, he collapsed at home and was rushed to hospital, where he died," South African National Defense Force spokesman Brigadier General Xolani Mabanga said. Pretoria had originally reported 13 killed in the fighting. ... Full Story | Top |
| UAE head feted in Britain, Cameron urged to raise torture claims Tuesday, Apr 30, 2013 10:00 AM PDT  By Mohammed Abbas LONDON (Reuters) - The president of the United Arab Emirates met Queen Elizabeth on Tuesday on a visit to Britain where Prime Minister David Cameron is under pressure to raise allegations that UAE police tortured British citizens. Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahayan's visit poses a delicate diplomatic challenge for Cameron who has already expressed concern about the torture accusations but is keen to boost lucrative trade and strategically important diplomatic relations in the Gulf. The two men are due to meet on Wednesday. ... Full Story | Top |
| Mali court drops case against newspaper editor Tuesday, Apr 30, 2013 09:54 AM PDT BAMAKO (Reuters) - A court in Mali threw out a case against a newspaper editor who was arrested after publishing an article criticizing the leader of last year's military coup. Boukary Daou was detained on March 6 and charged with inciting revolt after an open letter in his Le Republicain newspaper accused Captain Amadou Sanogo of taking a large salary while leaving his soldiers poorly equipped. Sanogo headed a putsch that toppled President Amadou Toumani Toure. ... Full Story | Top |
| Merkel says Italy has taken 'considerable' reform steps Tuesday, Apr 30, 2013 09:31 AM PDT BERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Tuesday that Italy had already taken "considerable" steps towards tackling weakness in its economy. "We want to ensure Europe emerges from this crisis stronger than it went into it. As part of that every country must do its part. Italy has taken considerable steps in this regard," Merkel said at a joint news conference with Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta in Berlin. ... Full Story | Top |
| ECB member Honohan says Cyprus bailout not a template Tuesday, Apr 30, 2013 09:28 AM PDT DUBLIN (Reuters) - The treatment of deposit holders during the bailout of Cyprus is not something that will be repeated, Irish Central bank governor and European Central Bank governing council member Patrick Honohan said on Tuesday. "I think what happened in Cyprus certainly will not happen in any other country. It was certainly an unusual process that we observed," said Honohan when asked by a journalist if the "raiding" of savers in Cyprus might be repeated. Asked if he was happy with how the bailout of Cyprus was handled, Honohan said: "I would have done (things) differently myself. ... Full Story | Top |
| Anger builds as Bangladesh gives up hope of more survivors Tuesday, Apr 30, 2013 09:21 AM PDT  By Ruma Paul and Serajul Quadir DHAKA (Reuters) - Rescue officials in Bangladesh said on Tuesday they had given up hope of finding more survivors from a garment factory complex that collapsed killing hundreds, as the government came under pressure to do more to enforce building safety standards. At least 390 people have been confirmed dead in what is just the latest incident to raise serious questions about worker safety and low wages in the poor South Asian country that relies on garments for 80 percent of its exports. ... Full Story | Top |
| Iceland's center-right Progressives to form new government Tuesday, Apr 30, 2013 08:56 AM PDT  REYKJAVIK (Reuters) - The center-right Progressive Party will form Iceland's next government, likely to be a coalition with the Independence Party that shares its plans to end EU accession talks and cut household debt. Progressive leader Sigmundur Gunnlaugsson, who could become one of Iceland's youngest leaders at 38, has pledged an end to austerity and to return to growth five years after a spectacular banking collapse plunged the north Atlantic island into crisis. ... Full Story | Top |
| Serbia-Kosovo deal with go ahead without vote: Serb PM Tuesday, Apr 30, 2013 08:51 AM PDT  By Jaksa Scekic BELGRADE (Reuters) - Serbia stepped back from holding a referendum on a landmark accord with its former Kosovo province on Tuesday, saying it would push on with the deal seen as central to its hopes of joining the European Union. The accord outlines an end to the ethnic partition of majority-Albanian Kosovo five years after it seceded from Serbia, and opens the door to European Union membership talks with Belgrade this year. ... Full Story | Top |
| Israel calls up army reservists for drill in the north Tuesday, Apr 30, 2013 08:48 AM PDT  JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel's military said on Tuesday it had called up hundreds of reservists for a drill in northern Israel where tensions are high with neighbors Syria and Lebanon, but a military spokesman said there was no change in the overall security situation. Israel has been on high alert for spillover from Syria's civil war, which has included sporadic fire and Israeli frontier positions. It has also warned it would act to prevent Syria's sophisticated weapons from falling into the hands of Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. ... Full Story | Top |
| Russian club owner convicted in fire that killed 156 Tuesday, Apr 30, 2013 08:23 AM PDT  MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Russian court sentenced the owner of a Russian nightclub where a fire killed 156 people to nearly 10 years in jail on Tuesday after convicting him and seven others, including organizers of a fireworks show that touched off the blaze. The 2009 fire at the Lame Horse nightclub in the city of Perm, 1,150 km (720 miles) east of Moscow, broke out when a pyrotechnics display set fire to wicker decorations during a party. Many of the victims died of smoke inhalation and others were crushed to death as they tried to get out. ... Full Story | Top |
| Russia bars airlines from Syria due to risk of ground fire Tuesday, Apr 30, 2013 08:13 AM PDT MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia has banned its airlines from flying over Syria, the aviation agency said on Tuesday, after a plane with 160 passengers detoured to avoid danger from fighting on the ground. Syria's spreading civil war has largely halted airline traffic to and from the country. The Rosaviatsiya agency said most Russian airlines had heeded a recommendation issued in February not to cross Syrian territory but some had ignored the risk and continued to do so on flights to and from Egypt, among other destinations. ... Full Story | Top |
| Orange celebrations as King Willem-Alexander takes Dutch throne Tuesday, Apr 30, 2013 08:08 AM PDT  By Gilbert Kreijger and Thomas Escritt AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Willem-Alexander became the first king of the Netherlands since 1890 on Tuesday, ascending a throne largely stripped of political power but still invested with enormous symbolic significance for the Dutch people. At his investiture in Amsterdam's 600-year-old Nieuwe Kerk, or New Church, the 46-year-old monarch swore an oath to uphold the Dutch constitution and stressed the need for unity at a time of economic crisis. "I take office in a period when many in the kingdom feel vulnerable or uncertain. ... Full Story | Top |
| Algeria contemplates future without ailing Bouteflika Tuesday, Apr 30, 2013 08:03 AM PDT  By Lamine Chikhi ALGIERS (Reuters) - Ill-health may force veteran Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, now in hospital in Paris, to hasten his departure from power, plunging a youthful, restless nation into an uncertain political transition. Algeria, led by Bouteflika since 1999, has for decades drawn its presidents from an ageing cohort of men who won their spurs in the bitter 1954-62 independence war with France. ... Full Story | Top |
| European rights court criticizes Ukraine over Tymoshenko case Tuesday, Apr 30, 2013 07:31 AM PDT  STRASBOURG, France (Reuters) - Ukrainian opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko was unlawfully detained before she was tried and jailed in 2011, the European Court of Human Rights said on Tuesday in a ruling that may add to Western complaints over her fate. The French-based rights court dismissed allegations by Tymoshenko that she was subjected to inhuman and degrading treatment, but ruled the pre-trial detention order was an unjustified restriction of her freedom at that time. However, despite the hopes of her supporters, Ukraine said the ruling would not affect her status as a jailed convict. ... Full Story | Top |
| Hungary bans far-right protest ahead of Jewish Congress Tuesday, Apr 30, 2013 06:59 AM PDT BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Hungary has banned a far-right rally planned for the day before an international conference of Jewish leaders opens in the capital, it said on Tuesday. Prime Minister Viktor Orban has instructed police to prevent any disturbance around the World Jewish Congress, which begins on Sunday and is expected to express concern over rising anti-Semitism across Europe. "The captain of Budapest city police has banned an anti-Bolshevik and anti-Zionist demonstration organized in parallel with the opening of the World Jewish Congress," the government said in a statement. ... Full Story | Top |
| Roadside bomb kills three NATO soldiers in Afghan south Tuesday, Apr 30, 2013 06:56 AM PDT KABUL (Reuters) - A roadside bomb killed three members of NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in southern Afghanistan on Tuesday, the coalition said. It is ISAF policy not to identify the nationality of soldiers killed on duty. The Taliban on Sunday launched its spring offensive, saying it would take aim at foreign military bases and diplomatic areas. (Reporting by Amie Ferris-Rotman; Editing by Janet Lawrence) Full Story | Top |
| Mosque, Muslim shops attacked near Myanmar's biggest city Tuesday, Apr 30, 2013 06:41 AM PDT YANGON (Reuters) - Rioters attacked a mosque and Muslim businesses in central Myanmar on Tuesday, police said, the closest a series of sectarian clashes pitting Muslims against majority Buddhists has come to the commercial capital Yangon. Roaming gangs armed with bricks smashed the mosque's windows and looted dozens of shops after a Muslim woman collided with a Buddhist monk while walking in the street, angering residents, a police statement said. "Police had to disperse the crowd by firing warning shots," presidential spokesman Ye Htut said in a statement on his Facebook page. ... Full Story | Top |
| Pakistani court bars ex-president from elections for life Tuesday, Apr 30, 2013 06:37 AM PDT  By Jibran Ahmed PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - A Pakistani court on Tuesday imposed a lifetime ban on former President Pervez Musharraf from contesting elections, derailing his efforts to regain influence by winning a seat in parliament. It was the first time a court in Pakistan had declared a citizen ineligible from contesting elections for life. The former army chief returned last month after nearly four years of self-imposed exile to contest a May 11 general election, but election officers disqualified him because of court cases pending against him. ... Full Story | Top |
| Pope accepts Peres' invitation to Israel Tuesday, Apr 30, 2013 06:23 AM PDT  By Philip Pullella VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Israeli President Shimon Peres invited Pope Francis on Tuesday to visit Israel, at his first meeting with the new pontiff who has appealed for peace in the Middle East. The pope accepted the invitation "with willingness and joy," a Vatican spokesman said, but there was no indication when a trip would be made. "I am expecting you in Jerusalem, not just me but the whole country of Israel," Peres told the pope in the presence of reporters after 30 minutes of private talks in the Vatican's Apostolic Palace. ... Full Story | Top |
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