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| Jordan removes last hurdle to cleric's extradition from UK Wednesday, Jun 12, 2013 11:39 AM PDT  AMMAN (Reuters) - Jordan has removed the last hurdle preventing Britain from sending radical cleric Abu Qatada back home for trial by approving an extradition treaty satisfying British concerns about evidence used against him, officials said on Wednesday. The British government has for years been unable to deport Abu Qatada back to his native Jordan, where he is wanted on alleged terrorism charges, because judges have said evidence obtained through torture could be used against him. ... Full Story | Top |
| Turkish president urges dialogue after police clear square Wednesday, Jun 12, 2013 07:22 AM PDT  By Humeyra Pamuk and Ayla Jean Yackley ANKARA/ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey's president called on Wednesday for dialogue with legitimate demonstrators after riot police cleared the Istanbul square at the center of almost two weeks of protest against Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan. Abdullah Gul, who has taken a more conciliatory tone than Erdogan during the unrest, said it was the duty of government to engage with its critics but appeared to close ranks with the prime minister, saying violent protests were a different matter. ... Full Story | Top |
| Snowden says he will stay in Hong Kong and fight extradition Wednesday, Jun 12, 2013 12:13 PM PDT  By John Whitesides WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The National Security Agency contractor who revealed the U.S. government's top-secret monitoring of phone and Internet data says he intends to stay in Hong Kong and fight any effort to bring him back to the United States to face charges. Edward Snowden, in his first public comments since he dropped out of view in Hong Kong on Monday, said he did not travel to the former British colony to avoid punishment for leaking details of the surveillance program. "I am not here to hide from justice. ... Full Story | Top |
| Russian protesters march as Putin seeks firmer political footing Wednesday, Jun 12, 2013 12:20 PM PDT  By Gabriela Baczynska and Alexei Anishchuk MOSCOW (Reuters) - Thousands of Russians marched through Moscow demanding Vladimir Putin resign on Wednesday, as the president took the helm of a loyalist movement designed to broaden his power base. With helmeted riot police looking on, some 10,000 protesters chanted "Russia without Putin!" and called for the release of activists who face long jail terms over violence at a protest against his inauguration to a third presidential term last year. ... Full Story | Top |
| Mandela responding better to treatment: South Africa's Zuma Wednesday, Jun 12, 2013 08:28 AM PDT  By Wendell Roelf CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - Anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela was responding better to treatment in hospital on Wednesday morning after a "difficult last few days", South Africa's President Jacob Zuma said. Mandela, South Africa's first black president, was rushed to a Pretoria hospital on Saturday in a "serious but stable" condition suffering from a recurring lung infection. He was spending a fifth day under the care of its doctors. "We are very happy with the progress that he is now making," Zuma said in a speech to parliament. ... Full Story | Top |
| Swiss upper house backs U.S. tax deal to protect banks Wednesday, Jun 12, 2013 09:45 AM PDT  By Katharina Bart ZURICH (Reuters) - Switzerland cleared the first hurdle towards ending a long-running U.S. tax probe after one chamber of lawmakers voted to allow banks to sidestep strict secrecy laws to end the threat of criminal charges for helping wealthy Americans evade tax. The draft law is set to face far tougher opposition in Switzerland's lower house next week than in the upper chamber, which passed it by a decisive 24 votes to 15 on Wednesday. The protection of client information has helped to make Switzerland the world's biggest offshore financial center, with $2 trillion in ... Full Story | Top |
| Analysis: Turkey's history of military coups hangs over protests Wednesday, Jun 12, 2013 10:31 AM PDT  By Ralph Boulton and Parisa Hafezi ISTANBUL/ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey's "pashas", the generals who once made politicians quake at the mere hint of disapproval, are staying silent as riots sweep the nation. Today the words "military coup" are nowhere to be heard, a tribute perhaps to the prime minister now accused of trampling on democracy. Until recently Turkish army chiefs repeatedly got rid of politicians who displeased them or proved unable to cope with turmoil. In 1960 they toppled a premier and later hanged him; three more coups followed in 40 years. ... Full Story | Top |
| American who leaked NSA secrets is a free man in Hong Kong - for now Wednesday, Jun 12, 2013 07:57 AM PDT By James Pomfret and Anne Marie Roantree HONG KONG (Reuters) - Edward Snowden, an American who has leaked details of top-secret U.S. surveillance programs, is technically free to leave the China-ruled city at any time, local lawyers said on Wednesday, but the ex-CIA employee said he would stay. Snowden has not been charged by the U.S. government nor is he the subject of an extradition request. If Washington asks for his extradition, it will be decided in court. ... Full Story | Top |
| Economic, social pressures behind Kuwait crackdown on foreign workers Wednesday, Jun 12, 2013 07:15 AM PDT  By Sylvia Westall and Ahmed Hagagy KUWAIT (Reuters) - The narrow, cracked streets of the district of Jleeb al-Shuyoukh, down the road from Kuwait's main airport, would normally be bustling with Indian and Bangladeshi workers by late morning, just before the summer sun becomes unbearable. But since Kuwaiti police launched a series of raids about two months ago, saying they were tracking down illegal laborers, the streets are almost empty and many small businesses have closed their doors, residents say. ... Full Story | Top |
| Iran's Khamenei says big election turnout will frustrate foes Wednesday, Jun 12, 2013 09:01 AM PDT  By Yeganeh Torbati DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran's supreme leader urged voters to turn out in big numbers for a presidential election on Friday, saying such a show of strength would frustrate Tehran's enemies. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was speaking on the last day of a subdued campaign that has not produced a leading candidate from three main hardliners and one moderate. The winner will replace Mahmoud Ahmadinejad but inherit an economy struggling with high unemployment and inflation, and buckling under the weight of international sanctions imposed over Iran's disputed nuclear program. ... Full Story | Top |
| UK says will use G8 summit to push for Syria talks Wednesday, Jun 12, 2013 04:46 AM PDT  LONDON (Reuters) - Britain will use its role as host of a summit of the G8 group of nations next week to try to get both sides in the Syrian conflict to attend a peace conference, Prime Minister David Cameron said on Wednesday. "We should use the G8 to try and bring pressure on all sides to bring about ... a peace conference, a peace process, and a move towards a transitional government in Syria," Cameron told parliament. Russian President Vladimir Putin will fly to London on Sunday for advance talks about Syria before the summit in Northern Ireland, he added. ... Full Story | Top |
| Insight: In Washington, lawmakers' routines shaped by fundraising Wednesday, Jun 12, 2013 08:38 AM PDT  By Andy Sullivan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - For lawmakers in Washington, the daily chase for money can begin with a breakfast fundraiser in the side room of a Washington restaurant. At noon, there might be a $500-per-plate lunch with lobbyists in a Capitol Hill town house. The day might wrap up in an arena sky box in downtown Washington, watching a basketball game with donors. In between, there is "call time" - up to four or five hours a day for lawmakers in tough re-election campaigns - in telemarketing-style cubicles a few hundred yards from the Capitol. ... Full Story | Top |
| No one's picking up in North Korea day after talks with South break down Wednesday, Jun 12, 2013 02:27 AM PDT  SEOUL (Reuters) - A day after snubbing Seoul by offering to send a junior official to hold the first supposedly high-level talks between the two Koreas in six years, North Korea appeared to be refusing to pick up a phone line it re-established just last Friday. The unpredictable North had called for talks between the two countries in order to try to reopen a money-spinning joint industrial park that it closed in April after threatening the South with nuclear annihilation. ... Full Story | Top |
| Syrian rebels kill dozens of Shi'ites in eastern town Wednesday, Jun 12, 2013 04:35 AM PDT BEIRUT (Reuters) - Sunni Muslim insurgents have killed about 60 Shi'ite Muslims in a rebel-held eastern Syrian town where President Bashar al-Assad's agents had been trying to recruit and arm fighters for his cause, according to opposition sources on Wednesday. The attack was another sign of how a revolt that began more than two years ago with peaceful protests against four decades of Assad family rule is descending into sectarian bloodshed. ... Full Story | Top |
| Gulf Shi'ites fear rising sectarian rhetoric over Syria Wednesday, Jun 12, 2013 03:45 AM PDT  By Sami Aboudi DUBAI (Reuters) - Shi'ite Muslims in the Gulf, alarmed by the shrill sectarian rhetoric of some Sunni clerics after Lebanon's Hezbollah militia entered Syria's civil war, fear they will be blamed and may be victimized for the bloodshed. "Hate language is on the rise, in the press, on social media and even at lectures in mosques. Shi'ites in general are being blamed for what's happening in Syria," said Waleed Sulais, a researcher at the Saudi Adalah Centre for Human Rights. ... Full Story | Top |
| Analysis: Emerging market crunch may cause Fed to think twice Tuesday, Jun 11, 2013 10:53 PM PDT  By Mike Dolan LONDON (Reuters) - If currency turbulence in emerging markets escalates into full-scale investor flight, the Federal Reserve may have a fresh headache in deciding when to slow its dollar printing policy. Given all the obvious influences on Fed policy - domestic inflation, jobless youths, long-term unemployment, stuttering credit creation or banking stability - gyrations on markets from Turkey to South Africa or South Korea may seem tangential. But an enmeshing of the United States and the economies of the developing world since the turn of the century means the link between U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Analysis: Raising prices easier said than done for U.S. companies Wednesday, Jun 12, 2013 12:04 AM PDT  By Steven C. Johnson and Phil Wahba NEW YORK (Reuters) - Walt Disney Co last week hiked single-day admission prices at its U.S. theme parks by up to 9.6 percent, the fifth increase since 2009. But other U.S. companies might want to think twice before following suit. Just ask Kohl's Corp. The department store chain raised prices two years ago only to see shoppers take their business elsewhere. It has been struggling to make up lost ground ever since and recently said it would ramp up advertising to lure customers back. While U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Across U.S., nearly half say government spying OK within limits: Poll Tuesday, Jun 11, 2013 06:07 PM PDT  By Andy Sullivan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Nearly half of all Americans say the U.S. government's broad surveillance tactics are acceptable within limits, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll on Tuesday that also found widespread concern about the methods that were revealed last week. The poll, conducted from Friday to Tuesday, found that few were completely untroubled by the news that the National Security Agency has been secretly monitoring telephone and Internet activity of millions of Americans. More than one in three of those surveyed said the activity was completely unacceptable. ... Full Story | Top |
| Immigration bill clears early test vote; Obama calls for action Tuesday, Jun 11, 2013 05:57 PM PDT  By Richard Cowan and Jeff Mason WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate overwhelmingly voted on Tuesday to begin consideration of a White House-backed bill to overhaul the U.S. immigration system, burying a procedural roadblock that opponents regularly use to delay or kill legislation. With last November's election indicating broad support for the landmark measure, even some senators who have expressed opposition voted to allow the debate and amendment process to commence. ... Full Story | Top |
| Preview: Iran election offers choice, but little change Tuesday, Jun 11, 2013 03:15 PM PDT  By Marcus George DUBAI (Reuters) - Friday's presidential election in Iran is unlikely to bring significant change to the Islamic republic, whose supreme leader has ensured hardline candidates dominate the field. But the sole moderate could yet upset the race. World powers embroiled in talks with Iran over its disputed nuclear program are looking for signs of a recalibration of its negotiating position after eight years of inflexibility under firey populist President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. ... Full Story | Top |
| Pakistan tries anew to end insurgency in resource-rich Baluchistan Tuesday, Jun 11, 2013 10:33 PM PDT  By Mehreen Zahra-Malik ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan has pledged to rein in human rights abuses by security forces in the huge, resource-rich province of Baluchistan as a first step towards starting talks to end a long-running insurgency waged by guerrillas seeking an independent homeland. The new chief minister of the province bordering Afghanistan and Iran urged security forces, who deny wrongdoing, to end a campaign of enforced disappearances to support his hopes of kindling dialogue. On Sunday, the day Abdul Malik took oath, five bullet-riddled bodies were found in the province. ... Full Story | Top |
| Government reviews security damage from NSA disclosures Tuesday, Jun 11, 2013 04:32 PM PDT  By Mark Hosenball and John Whitesides WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration has launched an internal review of the potential damage to national security from leaks about U.S. surveillance efforts, as a group of senators and technology companies on Tuesday pushed the government to be more open about the top-secret programs. A senior U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| New York lays out $20 billion plan to adapt to climate change Tuesday, Jun 11, 2013 05:01 PM PDT  By Hilary Russ NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Tuesday announced a $20 billion plan to prepare for rising sea levels and hotter summers expected as a result of climate change in the coming decades. The ambitious proposal - which could become the benchmark for other cities dealing with climate change - could reshape Lower Manhattan's waterfront, with the possible addition of a "Seaport City" out of the East Side. ... Full Story | Top |
| Algeria president gets therapy after stroke: state media Tuesday, Jun 11, 2013 01:34 PM PDT  ALGIERS (Reuters) - Algeria's President Abdelaziz Bouteflika is recovering with the help of physical rehabilitation in France more than a month after he was rushed to hospital there suffering from a stroke, the presidency said on Tuesday. Bouteflika has been neither heard nor seen in public since he was taken in for treatment in Paris on April 27, raising widespread speculation about his state of health. ... Full Story | Top |
| Immigration bill clears early test vote; Obama calls for action Tuesday, Jun 11, 2013 03:29 PM PDT By Jeff Mason and Richard Cowan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate voted on Tuesday to begin debate and amendments on a historic immigration bill, burying a procedural roadblock that opponents regularly use to delay or even kill legislation. With November's election results indicating broad support for updating the country's immigration laws, even some senators who have expressed opposition to the Senate bill voted to allow the debate to go ahead. By a vote of 82-15, the Senate cleared the way for the long-anticipated debate that could extend through June. ... Full Story | Top |
| Turkish police battle protesters after Erdogan warning Tuesday, Jun 11, 2013 02:45 PM PDT By Nick Tattersall and Ece Toksabay ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish riot police using tear gas and water cannon battled protesters for control of Istanbul's Taksim Square, hours after Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan demanded an immediate end to 10 days of demonstrations. Istanbul Governor Huseyin Avni Mutlu appeared on television, declaring that police operations would continue day and night until the square, focus of demonstrations against Erdogan, was cleared. ... Full Story | Top |
| New York lays out $20 billion plan to adapt to climate change Tuesday, Jun 11, 2013 04:57 PM PDT By Hilary Russ NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Tuesday announced a $20 billion plan to prepare for rising sea levels and hotter summers expected as a result of climate change in the coming decades. The ambitious proposal - which could become the benchmark for other cities dealing with climate change - could reshape Lower Manhattan's waterfront, with the possible addition of a "Seaport City" out of the East Side. ... Full Story | Top |
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