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| At least 51 killed in Egypt as Islamists urge defiance Monday, Jul 08, 2013 11:53 AM PDT  By Alexander Dziadosz and Shadia Nasralla CAIRO (Reuters) - At least 51 people were killed on Monday when the Egyptian army opened fire on supporters of ousted president Mohamed Mursi, in the deadliest incident since the elected Islamist leader was toppled by the military five days ago. Protesters said shooting started as they performed morning prayers outside the Cairo barracks where Mursi is believed to be held. But military spokesman Ahmed Ali said that at 4 a.m. (0200 GMT) armed men attacked troops in the area around the Republican Guard compound in the northeast of the city. ... Full Story | Top |
| Pilot of crashed Asiana plane was in 777 training Monday, Jul 08, 2013 07:58 AM PDT  By Sarah McBride and Hyunjoo Jin SAN FRANCISCO/SEOUL (Reuters) - The pilot of the Asiana plane that crashed at San Francisco International Airport was still in training for the Boeing 777 when he attempted to land the aircraft under supervision on Saturday, the South Korean airline said. Lee Kang-kuk was the second most junior pilot of four on board the Asiana Airlines plane. He had 43 hours of experience flying the long-range jet, the airline said on Monday. ... Full Story | Top |
| Germany defends 'strictly legal' cooperation with NSA Monday, Jul 08, 2013 08:26 AM PDT  By Stephen Brown BERLIN (Reuters) - Angela Merkel's government said on Monday that its cooperation with American intelligence was fully regulated by strict legal guidelines after a magazine reported that the U.S. National Security Agency was in close cahoots with German spies. Germany's opposition, with an eye on September's election, when the chancellor will seek a third term, demanded that her government explain how much it knew about U.S. surveillance tactics ahead of talks with Washington about the NSA. ... Full Story | Top |
| France's Sarkozy returns to political stage in party appeal Monday, Jul 08, 2013 10:22 AM PDT  By Catherine Bremer PARIS (Reuters) - Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy made his first political appearance since losing power, staging an appeal to hundreds of conservative lawmakers on Monday to help save the UMP party from financial ruin. Greeted by a mass of fans as he arrived at UMP headquarters, Sarkozy called for donations to prop up the party after France's top legal body ruled last week that it overshot spending limits on his failed 2012 re-election campaign and must repay 11 million euros ($14.15 million) in state subsidies. ... Full Story | Top |
| Bolivia demands answers from Europe in plane spat over Snowden Monday, Jul 08, 2013 11:33 AM PDT  By Daniel Ramos LA PAZ (Reuters) - Bolivia on Monday demanded France, Portugal, Spain and Italy reveal who told them that former U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden was aboard President Evo Morales' flight from Moscow last week. Bolivia said it was an act of "state terrorism" by the United States and its European allies that the four countries banned Morales' plane from their airspace on suspicions it was carrying the U.S. fugitive to Bolivia in defiance of Washington. The government in La Paz told the European ambassadors to provide formal explanations on Monday to the Foreign Ministry. ... Full Story | Top |
| Syria invites U.N. chemical arms chief, but access is in doubt Monday, Jul 08, 2013 11:40 AM PDT  By Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Monday invited chief U.N. chemical weapons investigator Ake Sellstrom to Damascus to discuss allegations of banned arms use in Syria's civil war but suggested it would not compromise on access. Syrian U.N. Ambassador Bashar Ja'afari told reporters that U.N. disarmament chief Angela Kane was also invited to Syria for talks about the U.N. chemical investigation. ... Full Story | Top |
| Mexico opposition wins key state vote, boosting reform outlook Monday, Jul 08, 2013 12:10 PM PDT  By Dave Graham and Miguel Gutierrez MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto's economic agenda looked to be on surer footing after local elections on Sunday yielded results that favor a cross-party pact he forged to push reforms through Congress. In the most closely watched race, the conservative National Action Party (PAN) won a tight contest for governor in its stronghold of Baja California, an outcome that should help defuse tensions between the opposition and Pena Nieto's Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI. ... Full Story | Top |
| Friends say it's Zimmerman on 911 call for help Monday, Jul 08, 2013 11:31 AM PDT By Barbara Liston SANFORD, Florida (Reuters) - Five friends of George Zimmerman testified on Monday they heard his voice calling for help in the background of a 911 emergency call the night he shot Trayvon Martin, backing his claim he killed the unarmed black teenager in self-defense. The second-degree murder trial of the neighborhood watchman could turn on the disputed identity of who was calling for help on the night of February 26, 2012, when Zimmerman, 29, killed Martin, 17, triggering a national debate on race and guns in America. ... Full Story | Top |
| Fire was doused on train before it smashed into Quebec town Monday, Jul 08, 2013 11:03 AM PDT  By Richard Valdmanis and Julie Gordon LAC-MEGANTIC, Quebec (Reuters) - A driverless, runaway fuel train that exploded in a deadly ball of flames in the center of a small Quebec town started rumbling down an empty track just minutes after a fire crew had extinguished a blaze in one of its parked locomotives, an eyewitness said on Monday. The train rolled 12 km (8 miles) from the town of Nantes to the town of Lac-Megantic, near the Maine border in eastern Quebec, gathering speed on a downhill grade. ... Full Story | Top |
| Bulger gang life: collections, beatings, walks on Boston beach Monday, Jul 08, 2013 12:23 PM PDT  By Daniel Lovering BOSTON (Reuters) - Life in accused mob boss James "Whitey" Bulger's gang entailed collecting money from bookies, beating people up and taking long walks along Boston's waterfront to talk business, a top enforcer for the former "Winter Hill" gang told a jury on Monday. Kevin Weeks, 57, is the second of Bulger's top associates to testify against his former boss, who is on trial on charges of committing or ordering 19 murders in the 1970s and 1980s. Bulger, 83, fled Boston after a 1994 tip from a corrupt FBI official that his arrest was imminent. ... Full Story | Top |
| Back from the brink in Portugal, but risks loom Monday, Jul 08, 2013 07:50 AM PDT  By Shrikesh Laxmidas LISBON (Reuters) - Portugal's coalition partners healed a perilous internal rift with a cabinet reshuffle that offers temporary stability, but the result is still likely to test Lisbon's relations with its international lenders. Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho promoted Paulo Portas, the head of the junior coalition party CDS-PP, to be his deputy on Saturday, hoping to end a rift that threatened to bring down the government and endanger the country's bailout. ... Full Story | Top |
| Exclusive: U.S. system for flagging hazardous chemicals is widely flawed Monday, Jul 08, 2013 06:24 AM PDT  By M.B. Pell, Ryan McNeill and Selam Gebrekidan NEW YORK (Reuters) - A 27-year-old U.S. program intended to warn the public of the presence of hazardous chemicals is flawed in many states due to scant oversight and lax reporting by plant owners, a Reuters examination finds. Under the federal Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act, private and public facilities must issue an inventory listing potentially hazardous chemicals stored on their properties. The inventory, known as a Tier II report, is filled with state, county and local emergency-management officials. ... Full Story | Top |
| Turkish police fired water cannon to prevent park protest Monday, Jul 08, 2013 12:56 PM PDT  By Ece Toksabay and Daren Butler ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish police fired teargas and water cannon on Monday at protesters who tried to defy a closure order and enter an Istanbul park at the centre of protests against Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's government. Gezi Park was only open for a few hours after Istanbul's governor allowed people back in, following often violent protests last month against plans to redevelop the area, when riot police ordered it shut ahead of a planned rally. ... Full Story | Top |
| Afghanistan holds translator tied to civilian torture allegations Monday, Jul 08, 2013 07:48 AM PDT By Hamid Shalizi KABUL (Reuters) - Afghan intelligence agents arrested on Monday a U.S. special forces interpreter accused of torturing and killing civilians - allegations that have worsened already strained relations between the government and NATO-led coalition forces. The detained man was identified by the National Directorate of Security (NDS) as Zakeria Kandahari, who has spent years working with U.S. forces who have been fighting Islamist Taliban insurgents for more than a decade. ... Full Story | Top |
| Spanish ruling party says funding allegations 'nonsense' Monday, Jul 08, 2013 07:44 AM PDT  MADRID (Reuters) - Spain's ruling People's Party on Monday denied allegations by its former treasurer it had funded itself illegally through bribes for at least 20 years and insisted its accounts were transparent and sound. Luis Barcenas, the central figure in two party graft cases, told El Mundo newspaper the PP had received kickbacks from construction magnates in return for contracts in regions governed by the party. ... Full Story | Top |
| Czech prosecutors seek to charge former PM Necas Monday, Jul 08, 2013 05:53 AM PDT  By Jan Lopatka PRAGUE (Reuters) - Czech prosecutors asked the lower house of parliament to lift the immunity of former prime minister Petr Necas on Monday, the first time in the country's modern history that a head of government may face criminal charges. Necas, 48, quit as prime minister last month after a close aide was charged with bribery and abuse of office, but he remains a member of parliament and has parliamentary immunity. ... Full Story | Top |
| Egypt's lesson for political Islam: politics comes first Monday, Jul 08, 2013 08:11 AM PDT  By Tom Heneghan, Religion Editor PARIS (Reuters)- When the Muslim Brotherhood won power it seemed Egypt's nascent democracy would allow the movement to realize its dream of making Islam the guiding principle in politics. The Arab Spring revolts had opened the door to full Islamist participation in politics after decades of oppression or exile. A year later, Egypt's first Islamist president, Mohamed Mursi, has been forced out, illustrating the Islamists' dilemma as they champion faith while newly empowered citizens look more for effective pluralist governance. ... Full Story | Top |
| Mexico opposition leads in Baja California, boosting reform pact Monday, Jul 08, 2013 06:00 AM PDT  By Dave Graham and Luc Cohen MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico's opposition conservatives were heading for victory in a regional election early on Monday, likely bolstering a fragile national cross-party pact forged to broker economic reforms. Nearly half of Mexico's 31 states held elections on Sunday for a mix of local parliaments and municipal governments, but the focus was on the race for governor in Baja California, a stronghold of the conservative National Action Party (PAN). ... Full Story | Top |
| Battles intensify in Syria's strategic city of Homs Monday, Jul 08, 2013 07:54 AM PDT  By Oliver Holmes BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian troops fought with rebels in Homs on Monday in a battle seen as crucial to the government's attempts to drive a wedge between opposition-held areas and establish links between the capital and President Bashar al-Assad's coastal strongholds. Assad's forces have been on the offensive in the central Syrian city for ten days, hitting rebel-held neighborhoods with air strikes, mortar bombs and tanks. ... Full Story | Top |
| Obama to outline second-term tech plan for 'smarter' government Monday, Jul 08, 2013 05:42 AM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama will describe on Monday his second-term plan for "smarter government" by using technology and data to deliver services faster and save taxpayers money, the White House said. Obama will meet privately with his cabinet on Monday morning about the plan and then make public remarks at 11:50 a.m. (1550 GMT). The White House said the plan would build on progress made so far in opening up government data to entrepreneurs and in modernizing government services. ... Full Story | Top |
| Senior pilot on crashed Asiana jet was on first training flight Monday, Jul 08, 2013 07:09 AM PDT  SEOUL (Reuters) - The senior pilot who oversaw the landing by a more junior colleague of the Asiana passenger jet that crashed in San Francisco on Saturday was on his first flight as a trainer, the South Korean airline said on Monday. Asiana Airlines Inc. said that the senior pilot on the flight, Lee Jung-min, had received his training certificate in June. Lee Kang-kuk was the second most junior pilot of four on board the Asiana Airlines aircraft. He had just 43 hours' experience flying the long-range jet and, under supervision, was making his first landing on a Boeing 777 at San Francisco. ... Full Story | Top |
| Verdict in Singapore: U.S. engineer Shane Todd killed himself Monday, Jul 08, 2013 03:27 AM PDT  By Kevin Lim and John O'Callaghan SINGAPORE (Reuters) - American engineer Shane Todd committed suicide in Singapore last year, a coroner's inquiry in the city-state concluded on Monday, a verdict at odds with his family's belief that he was murdered because of his work. The case had threatened to become a diplomatic issue as Senator Max Baucus, who represents Todd's home state of Montana, had pressed for more U.S. involvement in the investigation. The possibility of damage to U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Texas Senate to resume battle over abortion restrictions Monday, Jul 08, 2013 03:15 AM PDT  By Corrie MacLaggan AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - The political battle in Texas over proposed restrictions on abortion resumes on Monday with a rally by abortion opponents and a public hearing in the state Senate, where Democrat Wendy Davis staged a filibuster last month to stall the Republican-backed measure. Davis's tactic forced Republicans to start over in the state legislature their effort to pass a ban on most abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy and toughen regulations for abortion clinics. ... Full Story | Top |
| Israel jails Arab citizen who briefly joined Syria's rebels Monday, Jul 08, 2013 05:34 AM PDT  By Dan Williams JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel sentenced an Arab citizen to 30 months' imprisonment on Monday for endangering national security by briefly joining Syrian rebels fighting to topple President Bashar al-Assad. Hikmat Massarwa's case was unprecedented, and the relatively light penalty handed down to him as part of a plea bargain reflected Israel's indecision about who - if anyone - to back in its northern neighbor's civil war. Massarwa was arrested on March 19 upon returning via Turkey from Syria, where he had spent a week at a rebel base. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.N. nuclear agency and Iran may meet in August: diplomats Monday, Jul 08, 2013 03:21 AM PDT  By Fredrik Dahl VIENNA (Reuters) - The U.N. atomic agency and Iran may hold a new round of nuclear talks in August, diplomats said on Monday, in what would be their first meeting since last month's election of a relative moderate as the Islamic state's president. If it does take place, the meeting will be scrutinized by the West for any sign of increased Iranian readiness to compromise in the decade-old international dispute over its nuclear program after the June 14 election of Hassan Rouhani. ... Full Story | Top |
| Europe floods to cost insurers up to $4.5 billion: Swiss Re Monday, Jul 08, 2013 04:08 AM PDT  By Caroline Copley ZURICH (Reuters) - Floods in central Europe last month may cost insurance companies $3.5-4.5 billion, only half of one previous estimate but more than was paid out for the last major washout in 2002, the world's second biggest reinsurer said on Monday. The forecast from Swiss Re compares to an earlier warning from a damage modeling agency that losses could top $8 billion. That, and its estimate of a $300 million hit for its own results, saw shares in Swiss Re and some other sector firms rise. ... Full Story | Top |
| Polish PM Tusk loses bellwether regional election Monday, Jul 08, 2013 03:25 AM PDT  WARSAW (Reuters) - The party of Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk lost an election for mayor of a provincial city that had been one of his strongholds, a sign of the toll the economic slump is taking on the government's popularity. The city of Elblag, near Poland's Baltic Sea coast, has a population of only 124,000, but it took on nationwide significance after Tusk traveled there several times to campaign for his party's candidate. ... Full Story | Top |
| Syrian opposition head expects advanced weapons Monday, Jul 08, 2013 01:20 AM PDT  By Khaled Yacoub Oweis ISTANBUL (Reuters) - The new head of the opposition Syrian National Coalition said he expected advanced weapons supplied by Saudi Arabia to reach rebel fighters soon, strengthening their currently weak military position. Ahmad Jarba, who has close links to Saudi Arabia, told Reuters in his first interview since being elected president of the coalition on Saturday that the opposition would not go to a proposed peace conference in Geneva sponsored by the United States and Russia unless its military fortunes improve. "Geneva in these circumstances is not possible. ... Full Story | Top |
| Egypt left leader urges immediate government formation Monday, Jul 08, 2013 02:57 AM PDT  CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's main left-wing political leader called on Monday for the immediate formation of an interim government to fill a dangerous political vacuum after a deadly clash between the army and Muslim Brotherhood supporters in which dozens were killed. Former presidential candidate Hamdeen Sabahi, leader of the Popular Current party, told Reuters the new authorities created when the army toppled Islamist President Mohamed Mursi last week in response to mass protests could not afford to wait. ... Full Story | Top |
| Former PM Fischer to be new Czech finance minister Monday, Jul 08, 2013 02:55 AM PDT  PRAGUE (Reuters) - Czech Prime Minister Jiri Rusnok has chosen economist Jan Fischer to be the new finance minister, Rusnok said on Monday. Fischer, 62, was the central European country's caretaker prime minister in 2009-2010 and unsuccessfully ran in a presidential election in January this year. (Reporting by Jason Hovet, editing by Jan Lopatka) Full Story | Top |
| Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood calls for uprising Monday, Jul 08, 2013 02:58 AM PDT  CAIRO (Reuters) - The Muslim Brotherhood called on Egyptians to rise up against those who "want to steal" the revolution, a statement by its political wing said on Monday, after the Health Ministry said 35 people were killed in shooting outside the Cairo headquarters of the Republican Guard. "(The Freedom and Justice Party) calls on the great Egyptian people to rise up against those who want to steal their revolution with tanks and armored vehicles, even over the dead bodies of the people," a statement on the party's Facebook page said. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. investigators en route to scene of fatal Alaska plane crash Monday, Jul 08, 2013 11:57 AM PDT  By Yereth Rosen ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) - A "go team" of federal safety investigators was en route to Alaska's Kenai Peninsula on Monday to determine why a float plane crashed and burned at an airport in the fishing community of Soldotna, killing all 10 people on board. No survivors were found after the plane, a de Havilland DHC3 Otter operated by local air-taxi company Rediske Air, crashed at the airport in Soldotna, about 80 miles southwest of Anchorage, shortly after 11 a.m. local time on Sunday. ... Full Story | Top |
| Cuba's Raul Castro criticizes U.S., backs allies on Snowden Sunday, Jul 07, 2013 02:49 PM PDT  By Marc Frank HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuban President Raul Castro on Sunday backed offers of asylum by Venezuela and other Latin American countries to fugitive U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden and criticized the United States for what he described as bullying other nations. Castro, speaking behind closed doors to Cuba's National Assembly, said Venezuela and other countries in the region have the right to grant asylum "to those persecuted for their ideals or struggles for democracy, according to our tradition," according to the official Prensa Latina News Agency. ... Full Story | Top |
| Murray reaches summit to enter British sporting folklore Sunday, Jul 07, 2013 01:39 PM PDT  By Martyn Herman LONDON (Reuters) - The last few heart-pounding strides towards the summit proved the most precarious for Andy Murray as he beat Novak Djokovic to end a 77-year British jinx at Wimbledon on a Sunday that will forever be etched in the nation's sporting fabric. The record books will show an almost routine 6-4 7-5 6-4 win for the boy from Dunblane but the three hours nine minutes it took to finish off a slightly below-par Djokovic felt like an eternity. ... Full Story | Top |
| Greece, foreign lenders close in on deal to unlock aid Sunday, Jul 07, 2013 01:41 PM PDT  By Lefteris Papadimas and Ingrid Melander ATHENS/AIX-EN-PROVENCE, France (Reuters) - Greece is likely to reach a deal with foreign lenders on its latest bailout review before a meeting of euro zone finance ministers on Monday to decide on further aid, EU and Greek officials said on Sunday. Athens has been in talks with inspectors from the European Union, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund "troika" for nearly a week to show it can deliver on its pledges after failing to meet public sector reform targets. Greece hopes euro zone finance ministers will free up its next 8. ... Full Story | Top |
| Brazil seeks U.S. response to alleged spying on citizens Sunday, Jul 07, 2013 01:08 PM PDT  RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - Brazil will demand an explanation from the United States over report its citizens' electronic communications have been under surveillance by U.S. spy agencies for at least a decade, foreign minister Antonio Patriota said on Sunday. Patriota's remarks were in response to a report in the Globo daily newspaper on Sunday saying that the U.S. National Security Agency has been monitoring the telephone and e-mail activity of Brazilian companies and individuals as part of U.S. espionage activities. The report cited documents obtained from U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Japan PM Abe seeks personal redemption in upper house election Sunday, Jul 07, 2013 02:39 PM PDT  By Linda Sieg TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is a man with a mission: to erase the bitter stain of defeat and attain personal political redemption with a victory in a national election this month. With his Liberal Democratic Party-led coalition (LDP) back in power since December and all but assured of a handsome win in a July 21 poll for parliament's upper house, Abe might forgiven for slowing his pace a bit. ... Full Story | Top |
| Emergency vehicle may have run over one of Asiana crash victims Sunday, Jul 07, 2013 04:33 PM PDT  SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - An emergency vehicle rushing to the scene of the Asiana Airlines crash at San Francisco's international airport may have run over one of the two teenage Chinese girls killed in the incident, the local fire department said on Sunday. San Francisco's medical examiner is now conducting an autopsy to determine the cause of the girl's death, fire department spokeswoman Mindy Talmadge said. "One of the deceased did have injuries consistent with those of having been run over by a vehicle," Talmadge said. "Many agencies were on the field yesterday. ... Full Story | Top |
| Crew tried to abort landing before San Francisco air crash Sunday, Jul 07, 2013 03:28 PM PDT  By Sarah McBride and Gerry Shih SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The Asiana Airlines Boeing 777 that crashed at San Francisco's airport on Saturday was traveling "significantly below" its intended speed and its crew tried to abort the landing just seconds before it hit the seawall in front of the runway, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board said on Sunday. ... Full Story | Top |
| Syrian opposition head expects advanced weapons to reach rebels Sunday, Jul 07, 2013 03:24 PM PDT  ISTANBUL (Reuters) - The new president of the opposition Syrian National Coalition said on Sunday he expected advanced weapons supplied by Saudi Arabia to reach rebel fighters soon and change their military situation, which he described as weak. Ahmad Jarba, who has close links to Saudi Arabia, told Reuters in the first interview since he was elected president of the coalition on Saturday that the opposition will not go to a proposed U.S.- and Russian-sponsored peace conference in Geneva unless its military position becomes strong. "Geneva in these circumstances is not possible. ... Full Story | Top |
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