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| Sunni clerics call for jihad against Syria's Assad, allies Thursday, Jun 13, 2013 12:24 PM PDT By Omar Fahmy CAIRO (Reuters) - A congress of leading Sunni Muslim clerics issued a call to holy war on Thursday against the Damascus government and its Shi'ite allies, hardening sectarian confrontation across the Middle East over the Syrian conflict. Alarmed by reverses for the mainly Sunni rebels since the Iranian-backed Lebanese militia Hezbollah threw its full weight behind President Bashar al-Assad last month, Sunni religious authorities have stepped up rhetoric that could fuel a wider regional conflict and communal bloodshed in Syria and elsewhere. ... Full Story | Top |
| Obama considers Syria moves, Assad turns guns on north Thursday, Jun 13, 2013 12:22 PM PDT  By Erika Solomon BEIRUT (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama is deciding whether to take new action to help Syria's rebels, the White House said on Thursday, while President Bashar al-Assad's surging forces and their Lebanese Hezbollah allies turned their guns on the north. Assad's forces fought near the northern city of Aleppo on Thursday and bombarded the central city of Homs, having seized the initiative by winning the open backing of Hezbollah last month and capturing the strategic town of Qusair last week. ... Full Story | Top |
| Justice Department steps into NYC stop-and-frisk lawsuit Thursday, Jun 13, 2013 12:16 PM PDT By Chris Francescani and David Ingram NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department asked a federal judge to appoint an independent monitor to oversee the New York Police Department if she rules the department's stop-and-frisk policy is unconstitutional. U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin presided at a 10-week civil trial over the New York police practice of stopping people suspected of unlawful activity and frisking those suspected of carrying weapons. ... Full Story | Top |
| Analysis: This time, bond investors think a Fed pullback is real Thursday, Jun 13, 2013 12:07 PM PDT  By Karen Brettell NEW YORK (Reuters) - This time, the Fed is serious. That's the judgment of U.S. government bond investors who believe the Federal Reserve is close to paring back its $2.5 trillion, 4-1/2-year bond purchase program, and it's causing turmoil in the U.S. Treasury market. Trading in Treasuries has turned notably more volatile in recent days and volatility may continue as traders try to adjust to a marketplace in flux. In the last six weeks, benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note yields have surged to 2.19 percent, from 1.60 percent at the beginning of May. ... Full Story | Top |
| Trayvon Martin murder trial jury to be sequestered: judge Thursday, Jun 13, 2013 11:55 AM PDT  By Barbara Liston SANFORD, Florida (Reuters) - The jury in the racially-charged Trayvon Martin case in Florida will be sequestered during the murder trial of the neighborhood watchman who killed the unarmed black teenager, the judge ruled on Thursday. Seating an impartial jury in the trial of George Zimmerman in a central Florida court may not be as problematic as many had initially feared, despite blanket media coverage that captivated the United States for much of 2012. ... Full Story | Top |
| Monte Paschi seeks to double capital increase: sources Thursday, Jun 13, 2013 11:46 AM PDT  MILAN/ROME (Reuters) - Top management at Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena is pressing to increase the ceiling on a possible rights issue to 2 billion euros ($2.66 billion) from 1 billion euros, two sources familiar with the situation told Reuters. Italy's No.3 bank took 4.1 billion euros in state aid this year to stay afloat but the troubled lender may need more money to cope with a worsening economic scenario and repay the state. ... Full Story | Top |
| Czech cabinet in crisis after police sweep government offices Thursday, Jun 13, 2013 11:45 AM PDT  By Jan Lopatka and Robert Muller PRAGUE (Reuters) - The Czech Republic's main opposition party demanded on Thursday that Prime Minister Petr Necas step down after police raided government offices, seized documents and detained a woman who for years has been one of his closest aides. Necas said he would not consider resigning after the raids, but the investigation is a severe blow to his government, which does not have a stable majority in parliament and has already come close to collapsing several times. ... Full Story | Top |
| Tunisian rapper in court to hear sentence for insulting police Thursday, Jun 13, 2013 11:43 AM PDT TUNIS (Reuters) - A Tunisian rapper who was sentenced to two years in jail in absentia in March for insulting the police was handed the same punishment on Thursday after he surrendered to the authorities. The ruling, which critics called another blow to free speech in Tunisia, came a day after three European feminists were jailed for four months for staging a topless demonstration in the capital Tunis against the Islamist led-government. Ala Yaacoub, known by his rap name "Weld El 15", had been on the run since March but turned himself in earlier on Thursday. ... Full Story | Top |
| Senator Warren calls for tough cross-border swap rules Thursday, Jun 13, 2013 11:42 AM PDT  By Sarah N. Lynch and Douwe Miedema WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic Senator and Wall Street critic Elizabeth Warren is urging federal regulators to "show some backbone" and stick to their proposal for how new derivatives rules will apply to foreign banks who do business with U.S. companies. "If the Commodity Futures Trading Commission moves in the wrong direction here, it could create loopholes that the big banks will be able to drive a truck through," Warren said in an interview with Reuters on Thursday. ... Full Story | Top |
| Czech opposition demands PM resignation after raids Thursday, Jun 13, 2013 11:33 AM PDT PRAGUE (Reuters) - The Czech republic's centre-left opposition Social Democrats demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Petr Necas on Thursday after organized crime police raided government offices, party chief Bohuslav Sobotka said. "The Social Democrats demand an immediate resignation of the prime minister," Sobotka told reporters. He called for early elections and said his party would start consultations with political partners and the president to secure that. Necas said earlier on Thursday he would not resign. (Reporting by Jan Lopatka; Editing by Michael Roddy) Full Story | Top |
| Washington returns Russian documents penned by last tsars Thursday, Jun 13, 2013 11:25 AM PDT MOSCOW (Reuters) - The United States has returned documents written by Russia's last tsars and composer Pyotr Tchaikovsky that had been smuggled into the West after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The documents were spirited out of Russia in the early 1990s - some of them in shipping containers from St Petersburg shipyards - and sent to the United States where they were recovered in New York, Chicago and Atlanta at auction houses. "You need to remember what ... the 1990s was like. One state ceased to exist and the new state was barely functioning. ... Full Story | Top |
| EU not trying to weaken U.S. financial services rules: aide Thursday, Jun 13, 2013 11:17 AM PDT By Doug Palmer WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The European Union does not want to use negotiations with the United States on a free trade agreement to weaken recent U.S. financial regulatory reforms, an EU official said on Thursday, responding to concerns raised by U.S. politicians. But the EU is interested in exploring how financial regulations across the Atlantic can be made more compatible to allow new business opportunities, Peter Kerstens, a counselor at the European Commission's office in Washington, said at a discussion on the proposed U.S.-EU trade pact. ... Full Story | Top |
| Column: When illogical policy seems to work Thursday, Jun 13, 2013 11:05 AM PDT By Anatole Kaletsky (Reuters) - It's cynical, manipulative and hypocritical, and it looks like it is going to work. How often do you hear a sentence like this, to describe a government initiative or economic policy? Not often enough. The media and a surprisingly high proportion of business leaders, financiers and economic analysts seem to believe that policies which are dishonest, intellectually inconsistent or obviously self-interested in their motivation are ipso facto doomed to fail or to damage the public interest. But this is manifestly untrue. ... Full Story | Top |
| Column: When illogical policy seems to work - Kaletsky Thursday, Jun 13, 2013 11:05 AM PDT By Anatole Kaletsky (Reuters) - It's cynical, manipulative and hypocritical, and it looks like it is going to work. How often do you hear a sentence like this, to describe a government initiative or economic policy? Not often enough. The media and a surprisingly high proportion of business leaders, financiers and economic analysts seem to believe that policies which are dishonest, intellectually inconsistent or obviously self-interested in their motivation are ipso facto doomed to fail or to damage the public interest. But this is manifestly untrue. ... Full Story | Top |
| Lebanese Hezbollah suspects to sue Nigerian government Thursday, Jun 13, 2013 11:01 AM PDT ABUJA (Reuters) - Four Lebanese men suspected of having links to Islamist militant group Hezbollah are seeking 1 billion naira ($6.2 million) in compensation from the Nigerian government for unlawful incarceration, their lawyer said on Thursday. Secret service agents arrested the suspects in northern Nigeria between May 16 and May 28, and a military official told Reuters all had said they were members of the Lebanon-based Shi'ite Muslim organization. ... Full Story | Top |
| Turkey's Erdogan to meet protesters' representatives to defuse row Thursday, Jun 13, 2013 11:00 AM PDT  By Nick Tattersall and Jonathon Burch ISTANBUL/ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan will meet on Thursday with members of a group opposed to the redevelopment of an Istanbul park in a bid to end two weeks of anti-government protests, just hours after Erdogan said his patience had run out. Earlier in the day, Erdogan gave a final warning for those occupying the central Istanbul Gezi Park to leave and struck back at criticism from the European Parliament over the ferocity of a police crackdown on the protesters. "Our patience is at an end. ... Full Story | Top |
| Cypriot TV host gets life in jail for boss's murder Thursday, Jun 13, 2013 10:54 AM PDT  NICOSIA (Reuters) - A Cypriot TV presenter was sentenced to life in prison on Thursday for the murder of her boss in a case which has gripped the Mediterranean island. Prosecutors said Elena Skordelli, 42, was driven by revenge to kill Andis Hadjicostis after she was sacked from her job as news anchor at his Sigma TV channel. Skordelli and her brother Tassos Krasopoulis, 37, were convicted of the premeditated murder of Hadjicostis, CEO of the Dias Group, one of the largest media organizations in Cyprus, who was gunned down outside his home in Nicosia on January 11. ... Full Story | Top |
| News Corp.'s Rupert Murdoch files for divorce from wife Wendi Thursday, Jun 13, 2013 10:54 AM PDT  By Liana B. Baker (Reuters) - News Corp. Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch has filed for divorce from his wife Wendi, the company confirmed on Thursday, just days before News Corp. itself splits into two. The reasons for the filing were not immediately clear, though a spokesman for Murdoch said the marriage had been irretrievably broken for more than six months. Murdoch, 82, married the former Wendi Deng, 44, in 1999. The filing comes just days before the split of News Corp. into two companies, one for its entertainment assets and the other for its publishing business. ... Full Story | Top |
| Murdoch marriage broken down for months: spokesman Thursday, Jun 13, 2013 10:54 AM PDT (Reuters) - Rupert Murdoch's relationship with his wife Wendi had been irretrievably broken for more than six months before he filed for divorce, a spokesman for the News Corp chief executive said on Thursday. Murdoch filed for divorce in New York earlier in the day. He married Wendi Deng in 1999. (Reporting by Liana B. Baker; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick) Full Story | Top |
| Khartoum says rebels based in South Sudan caused oil pipeline blast Thursday, Jun 13, 2013 10:50 AM PDT By Khalid Abdelaziz KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan said that rebels based in South Sudan had attacked a pipeline in its Diffra oilfield on Wednesday, causing an explosion and fire that lasted for several hours. Army spokesman al-Sawarmi Khalid said on Thursday the pipeline, which runs through Diffra oilfield to the Heglig processing facility, was being repaired to restore the flow of oil. ... Full Story | Top |
| Southern Baptists condemn Boy Scouts policy on gays Thursday, Jun 13, 2013 10:50 AM PDT By Amanda Orr HOUSTON (Reuters) - The Southern Baptist Convention on Wednesday voted to voice opposition to the Boy Scouts of America decision to admit gay members, saying that homosexual conduct is contrary to a scout's oath to do his duty to God. The Southern Baptists, the nation's largest Protestant denomination, approved a non-binding resolution opposing the policy at its annual convention in Houston. The resolution requires no action by member churches but leaves them to decide individually whether to stop sponsoring scout troops. ... Full Story | Top |
| Police say probe of 'Whitey' Bulger focused on bookies, guns Thursday, Jun 13, 2013 10:49 AM PDT By Daniel Lovering BOSTON (Reuters) - Jurors hearing the murder and racketeering trial of James "Whitey" Bulger on Thursday saw weapons including machine guns that prosecutors alleged Bulger's gang used in crimes including shaking down smaller-time crooks. One probe into the "Winter Hill" gang started in 1990 by working with suspects who ran illegal gambling rackets, which officials said Bulger's gang extracted cash payments from, a former top Massachusetts State Police official said at Boston's waterfront federal courthouse. ... Full Story | Top |
| Turkey's Erdogan to meet with protesters' representatives Thursday, Jun 13, 2013 10:45 AM PDT ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan will meet on Thursday with representatives of a group opposed to the redevelopment of an Istanbul park, hours after Erdogan said his patience had run out after almost two weeks of anti-government protests. "Upon the prime minister's invitation, members of the Taksim Solidarity will discuss with him our view that Gezi Park should remain a park," Eyup Muhcu, head of the Chamber of Architects, told Reuters. (Reporting by Ayla Jean Yackley; Writing by Daren Butler; Editing by Michael Roddy) Full Story | Top |
| SEC says Revlon misled shareholders in a Perelman deal Thursday, Jun 13, 2013 10:35 AM PDT By Jonathan Stempel (Reuters) - The Securities and Exchange Commission charged Revlon Inc with misleading shareholders about a transaction with its controlling shareholder, billionaire Ronald Perelman, and the cosmetics company agreed to pay a fine of $850,000. Revlon did not admit or deny wrongdoing in settling civil charges that it withheld information that could help helped shareholders evaluate the fairness of a 2009 "going private" transaction with Perelman's MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings Inc. ... Full Story | Top |
| Italian local politician branded a racist after rape comment Thursday, Jun 13, 2013 10:32 AM PDT By Steve Scherer ROME (Reuters) - A local party official for Italy's Northern League caused a national uproar on Thursday for posting a violent comment on her Facebook page aimed at the country's first black minister. Dolores Valandro, an elected local councilor in the northern city of Padua, wrote above a picture of African-born Integration Minister Cecile Kyenge that she should be raped. Valandro's comment was in reference to a story from an Italian web site called "All the Crimes of Immigrants" about the alleged attempted rape of two woman by an African man. ... Full Story | Top |
| Sales, jobs data show underlying economic strength Thursday, Jun 13, 2013 10:31 AM PDT  By Lucia Mutikani WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Retail sales rose more than expected in May and first-time applications for unemployment benefits fell last week, signs of economic resilience in the face of belt-tightening in Washington. The data on Thursday suggested rising home prices and steady job gains, which hoisted consumer confidence to multi-year highs in May, was starting to create a virtuous cycle in which gains in spending were forcing employers to keep hiring. ... Full Story | Top |
| France upholds probe into Equatorial Guinea leader's son: source Thursday, Jun 13, 2013 10:28 AM PDT PARIS (Reuters) - A French court upheld on Thursday an arrest warrant for the son of Equatorial Guinea's president on charges of money-laundering, a source familiar with the case said. The Paris appeals court also ruled that a luxurious property seized last year as part of the probe should remain in the hands of French investigators, who suspect Equatorial Guinea's leaders of embezzling public funds to buy real estate in France. ... Full Story | Top |
| RBS faces struggle to find CEO amid political meddling Thursday, Jun 13, 2013 10:26 AM PDT  By Matt Scuffham and Chris Vellacott LONDON (Reuters) - Royal Bank of Scotland will struggle to recruit a suitable replacement for ousted chief executive Stephen Hester, someone who must steer it through privatization and accept that political interference comes with the job. Hester's departure, engineered by chairman Philip Hampton with the backing of Britain's finance ministry, presents RBS with the near-impossible task of finding an ideal candidate - an experienced banker untainted by the industry's scandals who has the skill to deal with its biggest shareholder, the government. ... Full Story | Top |
| White House says expects Turkey to uphold democratic freedoms Thursday, Jun 13, 2013 10:24 AM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House on Thursday said Turkish authorities should uphold the freedoms of expression and assembly, and individuals should not be punished for exercising their rights amid a police crackdown on anti-government protests. "Turkey is a close friend and ally of the United States, and we expect the Turkish authorities to uphold these fundamental freedoms," White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters. Carney said U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Cooling Canada's housing market will take time: central bank Thursday, Jun 13, 2013 10:19 AM PDT  By Louise Egan and Randall Palmer OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada's housing market is stabilizing after the heated conditions of the past several years but progress will be slow, the Bank of Canada said on Thursday as it also warned that record-high household debt levels would persist through this year. The bank added in a semi-annual report that the risks to the economy posed by debt and the housing market remain unchanged at "elevated", even though the situation appears to have improved over the past six months. ... Full Story | Top |
| Syrian rebels to tell West: 'Arm us, or Assad gains' Thursday, Jun 13, 2013 10:08 AM PDT By Mariam Karouny BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian rebels will use a planned meeting with Western officials to drive home a warning that continued reluctance to arm them will hand an irreversible military advantage to President Bashar al-Assad's Iranian-backed forces. Deeply frustrated by the foot-dragging over military aid, several rebel commanders contrasted what they said was Western preference for talks over action with the unqualified support Assad enjoyed from his allies in Tehran and Moscow. ... Full Story | Top |
| Greeks strike over state TV closure, PM offers talks Thursday, Jun 13, 2013 10:01 AM PDT  By Lefteris Papadimas and Harry Papachristou ATHENS (Reuters) - Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras moved to defuse a political crisis over the government's abrupt closure of state broadcaster ERT that prompted a nationwide strike on Thursday and brought thousands into the streets in protest. Samaras, who has branded defenders of ERT hypocrites, invited two left-wing junior coalition parties opposed to the shutdown to talks next Monday, his office said, seeking to avert political instability in the bailed-out euro zone country. ... Full Story | Top |
| Sunni clerics call for jihad against Assad, allies Thursday, Jun 13, 2013 10:00 AM PDT CAIRO (Reuters) - Leading Sunni Muslim clerics issued a call to jihad in Syria on Thursday at a meeting in Cairo which condemned the conflict as a "war on Islam" and said believers should use all means to ensure victory. ... Full Story | Top |
| Zimbabwean PM Tsvangirai rejects July 31 election date Thursday, Jun 13, 2013 09:57 AM PDT  By MacDonald Dzirutwe HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai rejected President Robert Mugabe's declaration of a July 31 election on Thursday, accusing his rival of breaching the constitution and creating a political crisis. The Constitutional Court ordered Mugabe two weeks ago to hold the poll by the end of July, following an application to the court by a Zimbabwean citizen demanding the president set a date before the current parliament expired. ... Full Story | Top |
| Obama concerned about Syria, reviewing options: White House Thursday, Jun 13, 2013 09:54 AM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama continues to monitor the deteriorating situation in Syria with concern and will make any decision on further steps based on U.S. national interests, White House spokesman Jay Carney said on Thursday. "The president and every member of his national security team are greatly concerned by the terrible situation in Syria and the worsening situation in Syria," Carney told reporters at his daily briefing. ... Full Story | Top |
| Supreme Court OKs patenting of human DNA if synthetic Thursday, Jun 13, 2013 09:48 AM PDT  By Lawrence Hurley WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In a first of its kind ruling on human genes, a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday decided that synthetically produced genetic material can be patented but naturally occurring DNA extracted from the human body cannot. The nine justices handed a partial victory to Salt Lake City, Utah-based biotechnology company Myriad Genetics Inc, which holds the patents in question. But the rights group that challenged the patents also found reason to be pleased. ... Full Story | Top |
| Support grows for U.S. offshore corporate income tax cut: lawmaker Thursday, Jun 13, 2013 09:42 AM PDT By Kim Dixon WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Support from U.S.-based multinational companies is coalescing around a proposal to stem offshore profit shifting and cut the tax rate on some corporate profits, a top congressional Republican working to revamp the tax code said on Thursday. Under the proposal, income from intangible assets such as patents and trademarks earned by U.S. companies abroad would face an immediate 15 percent tax rate. That would be well below the present 35 percent tax rate that can be deferred by leaving profits abroad. ... Full Story | Top |
| Defying shutdown, Greece's ERT runs bootleg news online Thursday, Jun 13, 2013 09:40 AM PDT  By Renee Maltezou ATHENS (Reuters) - Plastered on a studio inside the headquarters of shuttered Greek state broadcaster ERT, a sign proclaims: "The revolution will not be televised." For roughly 600 ERT journalists who found themselves out of a job when the government abruptly switched off the signal on Tuesday, the move was nothing short of a coup. Some defied management orders to leave the building and are broadcasting a bootleg news channel over the Internet in a sit-in atmosphere with conscious parallels to the protests in Istanbul's Taksim Square in neighboring Turkey. ... Full Story | Top |
| Egyptian anger grows over Suez Canal development plan Thursday, Jun 13, 2013 09:35 AM PDT  By Asma Alsharif and Jonathan Saul CAIRO/LONDON (Reuters) - A plan by Egypt's Islamist-led government to develop the land along the Suez Canal faces fierce opposition in districts that have been flashpoints for violence before, and may even threaten traffic on the strategic waterway. Officials say a draft law aims to raise $100 billion in yearly revenues, bypass bureaucracy and create an industrial hub for shipping along the 192 km (120-mile) strip. Those opposing argue it gives the president absolute powers to seize land. ... Full Story | Top |
| Britons' net incomes fall to lowest since 2001-02 Thursday, Jun 13, 2013 09:33 AM PDT  LONDON (Reuters) - Britons' real net incomes fell to their lowest level in a decade in the year ending in March 2012, annual data from the country's labour ministry showed on Wednesday. Average net incomes including social benefits fell 3 percent during the 2011/12 tax year to their lowest level since 2001/02 on an inflation-adjusted basis. "Income fell as earnings and benefit income grew more slowly than the cost of living as measured by RPI (retail price inflation)," the Department for Work and Pensions said. ... Full Story | Top |
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