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| CA-NEWS Summary Wednesday, May 29, 2013 12:42 PM PDT Attack on Red Cross in eastern Afghanistan kills one guard JALALABAD, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Insurgents attacked the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad on Wednesday, killing an Afghan guard in the second major assault on a humanitarian organization in less than a week. Seven staff members, believed to be the total number of foreign workers at the ICRC in Jalalabad, were rescued by Afghan police during the attack, which involved a suicide bomber and three gunmen, an Interior Ministry spokesman said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Bombings kill 27 in surging Iraqi violence Wednesday, May 29, 2013 12:41 PM PDT BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Car bombs and roadside explosions hit mainly Sunni Muslim districts of the Iraqi capital and a northern city on Wednesday, killing at least 27 people. The bombings were the latest in a wave of attacks since April that has intensified fears Iraq is sliding into the kind of sectarian conflict that killed thousands in 2006-2007. Two car bombs and a roadside bomb exploded near busy markets in southwestern and western Baghdad on Wednesday evening, killing at least 25 people and wounding another 72, police and medical officials said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Legendary Canadian abortion campaigner Morgentaler dies aged 90 Wednesday, May 29, 2013 12:36 PM PDT  By David Ljunggren OTTAWA (Reuters) - Henry Morgentaler, a Holocaust survivor who became one of Canada's leading abortion campaigners and spent time in jail for terminating pregnancies, died on Wednesday at the age of 90, activists said. Morgentaler set up Canada's first independent abortion clinic in Montreal in 1969 at a time when the procedure could only be performed in hospitals and was limited to cases when doctors deemed that continuation of a pregnancy could harm a woman. ... Full Story | Top |
| Attack on French soldier had religious motivation: prosecutor Wednesday, May 29, 2013 12:34 PM PDT  By Alexandria Sage PARIS (Reuters) - A Muslim convert arrested on suspicion of stabbing a French soldier in a Paris suburb was motivated by religion and had shown some signs of radicalization, French authorities said on Wednesday. The attack took place on May 25, three days after attackers chanting Islamist slogans killed a British soldier in London. France has been on a security alert since January, when its troops began fighting al Qaeda-linked Islamists in Mali. Prosecutor Francois Molins said authorities were treating the Paris attack as a terrorist act. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. congressmen in Russia on Boston bombing fact-finding mission Wednesday, May 29, 2013 12:13 PM PDT MOSCOW (Reuters) - U.S. congressmen will meet security officials in Moscow this week to find out whether the FBI could have done more with Russian intelligence on the Boston bombing suspect to prevent the attack, one of the lawmakers said on Wednesday. U.S. President Barack Obama's administration and the intelligence community face scrutiny over criticism they failed to see the danger from Tamerlan Tsarnaev and his younger brother Dzhokhar - the prime suspects in the twin bombings that killed three people and injured over 170 at the Boston Marathon. ... Full Story | Top |
| Kenya lawyer says London murder suspect freed on British advice Wednesday, May 29, 2013 11:50 AM PDT By Joseph Akwiri MOMBASA, Kenya (Reuters) - A Kenyan lawyer who in 2010 represented a man suspected of hacking a British soldier to death in London last week said on Wednesday the suspect was freed from arrest in Kenya three years ago on the recommendation of the British High Commission. Britain's authorities face questions about what they knew about the activities of two Britons of Nigerian descent suspected of butchering Lee Rigby, a 25-year-old veteran of the Afghan war, in broad daylight in a London street. ... Full Story | Top |
| Syrian opposition says peace talks must mean Assad exit Wednesday, May 29, 2013 11:36 AM PDT  By Khaled Yacoub Oweis ISTANBUL (Reuters) - The Syrian opposition said on Wednesday it would only take part in planned international peace talks if a deadline was set for a settlement that forces President Bashar al-Assad to leave power. In its first official reaction to the Geneva conference being prepared by the United States and Russia, the opposition coalition adopted a declaration calling for "binding international guarantees" for any resolution of Syria's two-year-old conflict. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. calls on Hezbollah to pull fighters out of Syria Wednesday, May 29, 2013 11:35 AM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department called on Lebanon's Hezbollah militia on Wednesday to withdraw its fighters from Syria immediately, saying their involvement on the side of President Bashar al-Assad signaled a dangerous broadening of the war. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki condemned the declaration last weekend by the leader of the Lebanese guerrilla movement, Hasran Nasrallah. He confirmed his combatants were in Syria and vowed they would stay in the war "to the end of the road." "This is an unacceptable and extremely dangerous escalation. ... Full Story | Top |
| Syria says it has no preconditions for peace talks Wednesday, May 29, 2013 11:17 AM PDT BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syria's government has no preconditions for attending planned peace talks aimed at ending the country's two-year conflict, but is awaiting more details about the meeting, its foreign minister said on Wednesday. Walid al-Moualem, speaking from Damascus, told the Beirut-based television channel al-Mayadeen his government had yet to decide on the makeup of its delegation to take part in the proposed talks in Geneva. "We will go with good intentions, with hopes that we reach a (deal) ... we will go to Geneva with no preconditions," he said. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. vice president warns Brazil not to lag behind on trade Wednesday, May 29, 2013 11:12 AM PDT  By Paulo Prada RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Joe Biden encouraged Brazil on Wednesday to open its economy further to keep up with free trade trends worldwide, at the start of a visit aimed at boosting business between the two largest economies in the Americas. Much of the future relationship with the United States will depend on whether Brazil, whose economy still remains relatively protected by high tariffs and other barriers, can make trade easier, Biden said in a speech to local authorities and business leaders at a wharf by Rio's port. Citing U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Despite north Lebanon truce, Alawite fighters keep finger on trigger Wednesday, May 29, 2013 11:06 AM PDT By Laila Bassam TRIPOLI, Lebanon (Reuters) - The battle-scarred streets of this hilltop enclave have fallen quiet, but fighters say the shaky truce is a mere pause in a conflict that has just begun and which threatens all Lebanon. Jabal Mohsen, a minority Alawite district of the northern port city of Tripoli, has for decades been at the ready for sporadic clashes with the impoverished, majority Sunni Muslim Bab al-Tabbaneh neighborhood that sprawls beneath it. The latest violence, the heaviest in years, broke out about 10 days ago. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.N. nuclear investigation could be foiled by clean-up: diplomats Wednesday, May 29, 2013 10:59 AM PDT  By Fredrik Dahl VIENNA (Reuters) - The U.N. nuclear watchdog acknowledged on Wednesday it might not find anything if allowed access to an Iranian military facility, in an apparent reference to suspected clean-up work there, diplomats said. Herman Nackaerts, deputy director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), made the comment during a closed-door briefing where he showed satellite imagery indicating Iran had now partly paved the site, they said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Over 19,000 refugees flee conflict in eastern South Sudan: U.N. Wednesday, May 29, 2013 10:42 AM PDT  By Hereward Holland JUBA (Reuters) - More than 19,000 people have fled fighting raging in the east of South Sudan and sought refuge in neighboring countries since the start of the year, the United Nations said on Wednesday. Almost 12,000 have entered Ethiopia from South Sudan's Jonglei state, where the army is trying to put down a rebellion. Some 5,000 South Sudanese have crossed the border to Kenya, and another 2,500 to Uganda. "The increase in numbers in Ethiopia in the past weeks has been particularly sharp, with around 4,000 new arrivals since 7 May," the UN said in a statement. ... Full Story | Top |
| White House says no-fly zone for Syria remains on table Wednesday, May 29, 2013 10:36 AM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House said on Wednesday that President Barack Obama has not ruled out the idea of a no-fly zone over Syria in response to the ongoing conflict there. "Every option available to the president remains on the table when it comes to our policy towards Syria. That of course includes the possibility of a no-fly zone," White House spokesman Jay Carney told a news briefing. (Reporting By Laura MacInnis; Editing by Sandra Maler) Full Story | Top |
| Ghana transfixed as court case throws elections into doubt Wednesday, May 29, 2013 10:32 AM PDT By Matthew Mpoke Bigg ACCRA (Reuters) - Ghana's Supreme Court must decide in the coming months whether or not to overturn December elections that handed the presidency to John Mahama, in a rare case of African judicial vigour that has transfixed the country. Proceedings in a packed courtroom, where opposition leader Nana Akufo-Addo is challenging the outcome of the 2012 poll, are broadcast live on the radio and blare from cars and buses as the population of 25 million tunes in for the latest developments. ... Full Story | Top |
| Yemen appeals for funds for Guantanamo prisoners rehab center Wednesday, May 29, 2013 10:23 AM PDT By Mohammed Ghobari SANAA (Reuters) - Yemen's human rights minister appealed to the United States and Gulf Arab countries to help fund a $20 million rehabilitation centre that Sanaa says will stop Yemenis released from Guantanamo Bay prison going back to militant activities. Washington halted the repatriation of Yemeni prisoners in 2010 after a man trained by al Qaeda-linked militants in Yemen attempted to blow up a U.S.-bound plane in 2009 with a bomb concealed in his underwear. Last week U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Syrian opposition says peace talks must guarantee Assad's exit Wednesday, May 29, 2013 10:21 AM PDT ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Syria's opposition coalition said on Wednesday it would only take part in a planned peace conference in Geneva if a deadline was set for an internationally-guaranteed settlement based on President Bashar al-Assad leaving power. In its first official reaction to the conference being prepared by the United States and Russia, the coalition voted to adopt a declaration seen by Reuters that said it was committed to the aim of removing Assad and his most senior officials. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.N. Security Council set to blacklist Syria's Nusra militants Wednesday, May 29, 2013 10:15 AM PDT UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council is set to blacklist Syria's Islamist al-Nusra Front on Friday as an alias of al Qaeda in Iraq, a move that will subject the group to sanctions including an arms embargo, travel ban and assets freeze, diplomats said. It's unlikely members of the Security Council's al Qaeda sanctions committee will object to the proposal submitted by Britain and France, diplomats said on condition of anonymity. All 15-members of the sanctions committee must agree for Nusra to be listed. ... Full Story | Top |
| Tunisia hands suspended jail terms to 20 people over US embassy attack Wednesday, May 29, 2013 10:11 AM PDT TUNIS (Reuters) - A Tunisian court sentenced 20 people to two-year suspended jail terms for involvement in a deadly attack on the U.S. embassy last year, their lawyer said on Wednesday. Four people were killed and dozens injured when police opened fire to quell hundreds of protesters who smashed windows, hurled petrol bombs and stones and started fires at the embassy in the capital Tunis last September. Islamist protesters had targeted the compound over a film made in the United States, which portrayed the Prophet Mohammad as a fool and a womaniser. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.N. Security Council boosts peacekeeping force in Abyei Wednesday, May 29, 2013 10:11 AM PDT UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council approved on Wednesday an extra 1,126 troops for a U.N. peacekeeping force in the flashpoint Abyei region, claimed by Sudan and South Sudan and a base for several armed groups. The 15-member council extended for six months the mandate of the mission, known as UNISFA, and boosted to 5,326 the number of troops, provided by Ethiopia, in the province, prized for fertile land and oil reserves. "The presence of armed groups inside the Safe Demilitarised Zone remains a considerable security concern," U.N. ... Full Story | Top |
| Attack on Red Cross in eastern Afghanistan kills one guard Wednesday, May 29, 2013 09:52 AM PDT  By Hamid Shalizi and Rafiq Sherzad JALALABAD, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Insurgents attacked the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad on Wednesday, killing an Afghan guard in the second major assault on a humanitarian organization in less than a week. Seven staff members, believed to be the total number of foreign workers at the ICRC in Jalalabad, were rescued by Afghan police during the attack, which involved a suicide bomber and three gunmen, an Interior Ministry spokesman said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Egypt's president sends controversial NGO law to parliament Wednesday, May 29, 2013 09:49 AM PDT  By Maggie Fick CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi submitted to parliament on Wednesday a controversial bill regulating NGOs and human rights groups but said it did not impose restrictions on their activities. An earlier draft had drawn criticism from activists, Western governments and the United Nations human rights chief, who said it was more stifling than regulations under the deposed President Hosni Mubarak. ... Full Story | Top |
| Syrian army seizes strategic air base near Qusair: media Wednesday, May 29, 2013 09:45 AM PDT BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad seized an air base in a village near the town of Qusair on Wednesday, in a major blow for rebels in their battle with government forces backed by Hezbollah fighters, state media said. Assad's troops and Hezbollah fighters already surround Qusair from three sides. Taking control of Dabaa village, to the north, would put the strategic town under siege from four sides and cut a main reinforcement line for the rebels. ... Full Story | Top |
| Plight of Syrian refugees stranded near Jordan border worsens Wednesday, May 29, 2013 09:44 AM PDT  By Suleiman Al-Khalidi AMMAN (Reuters) - Thousands of Syrian refugees stranded near the closed border with Jordan, including mothers and babies, are running out of food and many need medical treatment, aid workers and refugees said on Wednesday. Jordan closed its northern border about 10 days ago after offering refuge to hundreds of thousands of Syrians who have fled violence since the revolt against President Bashar al-Assad's rule began in March 2011. Syrians trying to enter through unofficial border crossings have also been turned back. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.N. rights body condemns Syria and demands halt to Qusair attacks Wednesday, May 29, 2013 09:32 AM PDT GENEVA (Reuters) - The main United Nations human rights body condemned Syria and its use of foreign fighters on Wednesday and called for a halt to its attacks with missiles and other heavy weapons on civilians in the town of Qusair. The 47-member Geneva forum adopted a resolution brought by Qatar, Turkey and the United States with a vote of 36 states in favor, one (Venezuela) against and eight abstentions. Two delegations were absent for the vote. ... Full Story | Top |
| Syrian army seizes strategic air base near Qusair: state media Wednesday, May 29, 2013 08:58 AM PDT BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad seized an air base in Dabaa village near the town of Qusair on Wednesday, in a major blow for rebels in their week-long battle with government forces backed by Hezbollah fighters, state media said. Assad troops and Hezbollah fighters already surround the border town of Qusair from three sides. Taking control of Dabaa, on the northern side of Qusair, would put the strategic town under siege from four sides. (Reporting by Mariam Karouny; editing by Andrew Roche) Full Story | Top |
| UK says informed U.N. chief of more Syria chemical attacks Wednesday, May 29, 2013 08:58 AM PDT By Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Britain has written to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon about additional suspected chemical weapons attacks by Syrian government forces in March and April, British U.N. Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant said on Wednesday. "We continue to inform the Secretary-General and Mr. Sellstrom of any information as, and when, we get it," he said, referring to the Swedish head of a U.N. chemical weapons investigation team, Ake Sellstrom. He declined to provide details, but a U.N. ... Full Story | Top |
| Turkish foreign minister joins push to solve Syria opposition crisis Wednesday, May 29, 2013 08:58 AM PDT ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu joined senior Arab and Western envoys on Wednesday in a last-ditch effort to solve a crisis in Syria's opposition which threatens to derail a planned peace conference. The Syrian National Coalition members meeting in Istanbul have so far failed to agree to attend the Geneva conference, provisionally planned for June, or who should represent them, and is deadlocked over appointing a new leadership and Western-backed proposals to widen its membership. ... Full Story | Top |
| France says as many as 4,000 Hezbollah militants fighting in Syria Wednesday, May 29, 2013 08:48 AM PDT PARIS (Reuters) - France said on Wednesday its intelligence services believed there were as many as 4,000 guerillas from Lebanon's Hezbollah militia fighting alongside Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's army. "As far as Hezbollah militants present in the battlefield, the figures range from 3,000 to 10,000, our estimates are between 3,000 and 4000," Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told lawmakers. ... Full Story | Top |
| Russian economist flees in new sign of pressure on Putin critics Wednesday, May 29, 2013 08:24 AM PDT  By Douglas Busvine MOSCOW (Reuters) - A prominent economist and government adviser has fled Russia after being questioned by state investigators, amid a growing clamp-down on groups and individuals critical or independent of President Vladimir Putin. Sergei Guriev, an English-speaking economist well known to Western investors, had been questioned as a witness in an investigation into the defunct Yukos oil company, whose founder Mikhail Khodorkovsky was jailed in 2005 for fraud. ... Full Story | Top |
| New Bulgarian government may struggle to govern Wednesday, May 29, 2013 08:15 AM PDT  By Tsvetelia Tsolova SOFIA (Reuters) - Bulgaria's new Socialist-led government won a parliamentary vote of confidence on Wednesday, ending months of political impasse but lacking the broad backing that may be required to steer the economy and attract much needed investment. The European Union's poorest member has been without a permanent administration since February, when street protests against low living standards and corruption toppled a government led by the center-right GERB party. The minority government received 119 votes in favor and 98 against. ... Full Story | Top |
| Victory for Orban as Hungary exits EU's budget sin bin Wednesday, May 29, 2013 08:03 AM PDT  By Krisztina Than BRUSSELS/BUDAPEST (Reuters) - The European Commission proposed on Wednesday to take Hungary off its list of budget sinners and the government claimed victory for Prime Minister Viktor Orban after years of clashes with Brussels. Orban has been at loggerheads with the European Union over his go-it-alone policies, windfall taxes on banks and laws that Brussels and the United States said had weakened democracy in the former communist country. Orban has denied these accusations. ... Full Story | Top |
| Three soldiers killed in attack in Libya's Benghazi Wednesday, May 29, 2013 07:49 AM PDT TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Unknown assailants threw an explosive device at a military checkpoint in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi early on Wednesday, killing three soldiers and injuring three others, security officials said. The attack was the latest in a wave of violence against security forces in the city, the cradle of the 2011 uprising against Muammar Gaddafi. Nearly two years after he was ousted, the Tripoli government is still struggling to impose its authority on a country awash with weapons and where lawless militias do as they please. ... Full Story | Top |
| New bridge linking Europe and Asia embodies Turkey's rise Wednesday, May 29, 2013 07:46 AM PDT  By Daren Butler and Evrim Ergin ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey launched construction on Wednesday of a third bridge linking its European and Asian shores, the latest in a slew of multi-billion dollar projects that Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan sees as embodying its emergence as a major power. Erdogan, who has led a decade-long transformation of a once crisis-prone economy into Europe's fastest growing, has prioritized the building frenzy as the nation's infrastructure struggles to keep up with its growth. ... Full Story | Top |
| Syria says its forces destroy trucks carrying smuggled oil Wednesday, May 29, 2013 07:41 AM PDT BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad have destroyed several trucks carrying crude oil being smuggled from eastern oil fields to Turkey, state television said on Wednesday. It said the tankers were being taken from Tayem oil field, which rebel sources said earlier this month was partly under the control of rebel forces. Syrian television did not say exactly where the tankers had been hit, but said "terrorists" smuggling the consignment had been killed in the attack. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.N. rights chief urges halt to flow of arms, fighters to Syria Wednesday, May 29, 2013 07:41 AM PDT By Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA (Reuters) - The United Nations' human rights chief urged countries on Wednesday not to supply Syria with weapons and to press both sides to find a political end to the war, to prevent more massacres and the threat to regional stability. "If the current situation persists, or deteriorates further, increased inter-communal massacres are a certainty, rather than a risk," Navi Pillay told the U.N. Human Rights Council. ... Full Story | Top |
| Buddhist mobs attack Muslim homes for second day in Myanmar; one dead Wednesday, May 29, 2013 07:40 AM PDT  By Jared Ferrie LASHIO, Myanmar (Reuters) - Buddhist mobs armed with sticks and machetes burned Muslim homes on Wednesday for a second day in the northern Myanmar city of Lashio, contradicting claims in state media that soldiers and police had restored calm. A Reuters reporter saw scores of young men and boys on motorbikes and on foot marauding through the city of 130,000 people in a mountainous region about 700 km (430 miles) from the commercial capital Yangon. One person was killed and four were wounded in fighting that began at about 2 p.m. ... Full Story | Top |
| Venezuelan opposition TV station tones down, angers Capriles Wednesday, May 29, 2013 06:43 AM PDT  By Andrew Cawthorne and Diego Ore CARACAS (Reuters) - A flagship Venezuelan TV channel known for its militant opposition to late socialist leader Hugo Chavez has toned down under new owners, depriving the opposition of a favored platform as it fights a new government. During Chavez's tumultuous 14-year rule, Globovision played a controversial and high-profile role: it was derided by officials as a pro-U.S., law-breaking broadcaster but feted in the opposition as a beacon of free speech. ... Full Story | Top |
| Kenya police raped, tortured refugees in 'rampage': rights group Wednesday, May 29, 2013 06:11 AM PDT By Katy Migiro NAIROBI, May 29 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Kenyan police tortured and abused more than 1,000 refugees, asylum seekers and Somali Kenyans in Nairobi in a "10-week rampage" beginning in late 2012, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report on Wednesday. The abuses were part of a police crackdown that began the day after an attack on a crowded bus in the Somali-dominated suburb of Eastleigh, which killed seven people, HRW said. No one claimed responsibility for the blast. ... Full Story | Top |
| Guinea's Conde orders probe after clashes kill 12 in past week Wednesday, May 29, 2013 06:09 AM PDT By Saliou Samb CONAKRY (Reuters) - Guinean President Alpha Conde has ordered a judicial inquiry into unrest that has killed at least 12 people in the past week in an apparent effort to defuse protests against preparations for a long-delayed election. Investor confidence in the world's top bauxite exporter has been undermined by repeated clashes since March pitting police and supporters of Conde against opposition demonstrators who fear the election outcome will be rigged. ... Full Story | Top |
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