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| Zimbabwe PM party tries to stop early police vote in election Friday, Jul 12, 2013 12:31 PM PDT  HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC party sought on Friday to prevent an early vote taking place by police officers who will be on duty during the actual election later this month, saying the number voting was vastly inflated. The party asked the High Court to stop the special two-day vote, saying that the 69,000 police officers set to cast their ballots on Sunday and Monday far exceed the 44,133 shown on a Ministry of Finance salary schedule for the whole country. ... Full Story | Top |
| Violence flares around Northern Ireland marches Friday, Jul 12, 2013 12:25 PM PDT  BELFAST (Reuters) - Protestant marchers in Belfast threw objects at police, who responded with water cannon as Northern Ireland's annual parade season descended into violence on Friday. Pro-British Protestants march every summer in the British-ruled province, a regular flashpoint for sectarian violence as Catholics, who favor unification with Ireland, see the parades as provocative. Since a peace agreement was signed in 1998, violence between Catholics and Protestants - which raged on and off for three decades - has largely ended. But much of Belfast remains divided along religious lines. ... Full Story | Top |
| Snowden case shows leakers need protection: U.N. rights chief Friday, Jul 12, 2013 12:22 PM PDT  GENEVA (Reuters) - U.N. human rights chief Navi Pillay gave guarded support for fugitive former U.S. intelligence contractor Edward Snowden on Friday, saying his case showed the need to protect people who uncovered abuses. In her first public comments on the matter, Pillay also called on all countries to respect the right for people to seek asylum. Snowden, wanted by the United States for leaking details of its secret surveillance programs, said on Friday he would seek temporary asylum in Russia. Washington has pressed nations not to take him in or help him travel. ... Full Story | Top |
| Obama to speak with Putin on Friday, raise Snowden concerns Friday, Jul 12, 2013 12:13 PM PDT By Steve Holland and Arshad Mohammed WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama planned to raise U.S. concerns directly with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday about Moscow's handling of former U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden, who is wanted in the United States for disclosing secret surveillance programs. White House spokesman Jay Carney said Obama and Putin would speak by phone about Snowden later in the day, a conversation that was set up in recent days as Washington seeks to persuade Moscow to send Snowden back to the United States to face espionage charges. ... Full Story | Top |
| UK police investigate suspected nail bombing at mosque Friday, Jul 12, 2013 12:07 PM PDT  By Michael Holden LONDON (Reuters) - British police said on Friday they were investigating a suspected nail bomb attack on a mosque in central England and were treating the incident as a suspected terrorist act. Officers were alerted to reports of a loud bang and smoke in Tipton near Birmingham shortly after 1 p.m. No injuries were reported, but the immediate area was evacuated as army bomb disposal experts carried out a search, West Midlands police said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Italy to revoke expulsion of Kazakh oligarch's wife Friday, Jul 12, 2013 12:02 PM PDT By Steve Scherer ROME (Reuters) - Italy said on Friday it would revoke a deportation order against the wife and daughter of Kazakh oligarch and dissident Mukhtar Ablyazov, criticizing serious failings in a procedure it maintained was conducted without its knowledge. The mysterious operation in which the two were expelled from Italy at the end of May was in formal accordance with the law, but new information came to light showing that it was not justified, a government statement said. ... Full Story | Top |
| South American bloc repudiates U.S. on spying, Snowden Friday, Jul 12, 2013 11:57 AM PDT  By Malena Castaldi MONTEVIDEO (Reuters) - South American leaders sent a tough message to Washington on Friday over allegations of U.S. spying in the region and to defend their right to offer asylum to fugitive U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden. Washington wants Snowden arrested on espionage charges after he divulged extensive, secret U.S. surveillance programs. Stuck in the transit area of Moscow's international airport since late June, he is seeking asylum in various countries. ... Full Story | Top |
| Egypt turns back flights from Syria after tighter visa rules: U.N. Friday, Jul 12, 2013 11:53 AM PDT CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt has turned back several flights carrying hundreds of Syrians after tightening visa rules following the toppling of President Mohamed Mursi, the U.N. refugee agency said on Friday. Egypt this week introduced visa requirements for Syrians after local media accused Syrian Islamists of joining deadly clashes between Mursi's supporters and the army who had ousted him. They previously only needed a passport to enter Egypt. ... Full Story | Top |
| Nine Senegalese freed by Casamance rebels: media Friday, Jul 12, 2013 11:50 AM PDT DAKAR (Reuters) - Nine Senegalese working for a demining organization were freed on Friday in Guinea-Bissau after being held captive by separatist rebels in Senegal's restive southern region of Casamance, the state news agency reported. The nine were part of a group of 12 employees of South African demining firm Mechem kidnapped by a faction of the Movement of Democratic Forces of Casamance on May 4. "They were released and handed over to a Guinea Bissau-based NGO who will hand them to Bissau authorities," Senegal's state news agency APS said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Quebec town takes small steps to normalcy after train disaster Friday, Jul 12, 2013 11:44 AM PDT  By Richard Valdmanis and Phil Wahba LAC-MEGANTIC, Quebec, July 12 - Shell-shocked residents of Lac-Megantic, Quebec, took small steps on a long path back to normalcy on Friday as they returned to homes and businesses just a short walk from the lakeside town's center, devastated by a fiery rail crash last week. The town's main church, Paroisse de Ste-Agnes, opened its doors to mourners, allowing them to drop off pictures, flowers and notes for the estimated 50 people killed. ... Full Story | Top |
| Egypt's divide turns brother against brother Friday, Jul 12, 2013 11:43 AM PDT  By Tom Finn CAIRO (Reuters) - Islam Ibrahim has no idea if his older brother Nasim was one of the Republican Guardsmen shooting at him when he and hundreds of other Egyptians were wounded and more than 50 killed. The brothers, who moved together to Cairo from a village near the Suez canal, stayed close until last week, when the army in which Nasim serves toppled the president that Islam has vowed to defend. "I don't know if he was there with them or not," said Islam, 24, with a bandage from a gunshot on his knee and an open wound from birdshot on his shoulder. "I don't like to think about it. ... Full Story | Top |
| Egyptian army helicopter briefly enters Gaza airspace Friday, Jul 12, 2013 11:41 AM PDT GAZA (Reuters) - An Egyptian military helicopter briefly crossed into Israeli-controlled airspace over the Gaza Strip on Friday, in a possible sign of increased security jitters a week after Egypt's army toppled President Mohamed Mursi. Security sources in Egypt and Israel both described the flyover as a navigational error, but it came shortly after militants killed an Egyptian policeman and wounded a second in an attack on checkpoints in the lawless Sinai Peninsula across the border from the Palestinian Gaza Strip. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. joins German call for Egypt's Mursi to be released Friday, Jul 12, 2013 11:29 AM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department said on Friday that it agreed with a German call for deposed Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi to be released after avoiding answering the question since his ouster by the military last week. Asked if the United States agreed with the German Foreign Ministry's call for Mursi to be released, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters "We do agree." Mursi has been detained at an undisclosed location since he was toppled. Speaking at her daily briefing, Psaki also said she could confirm that U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Thomson Airways says Dreamliner forced to return to UK Friday, Jul 12, 2013 11:26 AM PDT LONDON (Reuters) - A Boeing 787 Dreamliner operated by Britain's Thomson Airways, flying to the United States from northwest England, was forced to return to Britain due to technical problems as a precaution on Friday, the airline said. The incident was unrelated to a fire aboard another Dreamliner operated by Ethiopian Airlines while it was on the ground at Britain's Heathrow Airport. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.N. rights chief warns on undue surveillance in Snowden case Friday, Jul 12, 2013 11:21 AM PDT  GENEVA (Reuters) - U.N. human rights chief Navi Pillay made her first comment on the Edward Snowden case on Friday, saying people needed to be sure their communications were not being unduly scrutinized and calling on all countries to respect the right to seek asylum. "While concerns about national security and criminal activity may justify the exceptional and narrowly-tailored use of surveillance programs, surveillance without adequate safeguards to protect the right to privacy actually risk impacting negatively on the enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms," she said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Dead Asiana crash victim was run over by fire truck: police Friday, Jul 12, 2013 11:20 AM PDT  SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - One of the two teenage Chinese girls who died in the Asiana plane crash at San Francisco airport on Saturday was run over by a fire truck rushing to the scene, a police department official said on Friday, though it is not known whether she was still alive at the time. "The passenger was underneath the fire retardant foam and when the fire truck repositioned itself to battle the flames aboard the fuselage, the passenger victim was discovered in the tire track of the fire truck," said Albie Esparza, public information officer at the San Francisco Police Department. ... Full Story | Top |
| Boeing Dreamliner catches fire at Britain's Heathrow airport Friday, Jul 12, 2013 11:13 AM PDT By Rhys Jones LONDON (Reuters) - A Boeing 787 Dreamliner operated by Ethiopian Airlines caught fire at Britain's Heathrow airport on Friday in a fresh blow for the U.S. planemaker which earlier this year was forced to ground the new planes for three months after battery fires. Boeing shares tumbled by as much as 7 percent, wiping $5.4 billion off its market capitalization after television footage showed the Dreamliner surrounded by foam used by firefighters at Heathrow. At 1745 GMT, shares were down 3.2 percent at $103.50. ... Full Story | Top |
| Insight: Fast-growing U.S. craft brewers struggle with worker safety Friday, Jul 12, 2013 11:12 AM PDT  By M.B. Pell NEW YORK (Reuters) - Welder Mark Moynihan crawled down a narrow tube into a space the size of a car interior to seal the crack in the fermentation tank at Calhoun's Bar-B-Q & Brewery in Knoxville, Tennessee. The space was oversaturated with oxygen. He lit his torch, and a flash-fire erupted. His hair and clothing disintegrated instantly. Moynihan, a contractor for the craft brewery, dragged himself up the tube and out of the vat while still on fire, suffering serious burns over much of his body. ... Full Story | Top |
| At least six dead as French train derails Friday, Jul 12, 2013 11:10 AM PDT  By Pauline Mevel BRETIGNY-SUR-ORGE, France (Reuters) - At least six people died and a dozen were seriously injured when a train derailed and hit the platform at a station in central France on Friday, leaving several carriages torn and one lying on its side, officials said. Local prefect Michel Fuzeau said nine of the 12 people injured were very seriously wounded, and Interior Minister Manuel Valls said the death toll would probably rise. ... Full Story | Top |
| Ethiopian Airlines Dreamliner was parked for eight hours before fire Friday, Jul 12, 2013 10:58 AM PDT  ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Ethiopian Airlines said on Friday smoke was detected coming from its aircraft with registration number ET-AOP after it had been parked at Britain's Heathrow airport for more than eight hours. "The aircraft was empty when the incident was observed. The cause of the incident is under investigation by all concerned," the airline said in a brief statement on its Boeing 787 Dreamliner that caught fire. (Reporting by Aaron Maasho; Writing by James Macharia; Editing by Andrew Roche) Full Story | Top |
| Egypt's bruised Islamists protest after bloody week Friday, Jul 12, 2013 10:50 AM PDT  By Maggie Fick and Yasmine Saleh CAIRO (Reuters) - Islamist supporters of Egypt's ousted president, Mohamed Mursi, protested in Cairo on Friday after a week of violence in which more than 90 people were killed in a bitterly divided nation. Nine days after the army toppled Egypt's first elected leader following a wave of demonstrations against him, Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood is trying to mobilize popular support for his reinstatement, which for now looks like a lost cause. ... Full Story | Top |
| Pakistan's Malala, shot by Taliban, takes education plea to U.N. Friday, Jul 12, 2013 10:46 AM PDT  By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani girl who was shot in the head by the Taliban last year for demanding education for girls, marked her 16th birthday with a passionate speech at the United Nations on Friday in which she said education could change the world. "Let us pick up our books and pens. They are our most powerful weapons. One child, one teacher, one pen and one book can change the world. Education is the only solution," said Yousafzai, speaking out for the first time since she was attacked. Wearing a pink head scarf, Yousafzai told U.N. ... Full Story | Top |
| Gathering thousands, Egypt's Brotherhood shows passion and power Friday, Jul 12, 2013 10:44 AM PDT  By Maggie Fick CAIRO (Reuters) - They came in their thousands, bussed in across the desert from thousands of kilometers down the Nile, marching into the square with toddlers on their shoulders, insisting they were prepared to die. Men in white robes and skullcaps held umbrellas over the heads of women in black niqab full-body veils to shield them from the sun. They carried huge Egyptian flags and chanted "our souls, our blood for Islam". ... Full Story | Top |
| UK's Thomson Airways says Dreamliner forced to return to UK Friday, Jul 12, 2013 10:38 AM PDT LONDON (Reuters) - A Boeing 787 Dreamliner operated by Britain's Thomson Airways flying to the United States from northwest England was forced to return to Britain due to technical issues as a precaution on Friday, the airline said. The incident was unrelated to a fire aboard another Dreamliner operated by Ethiopian Airlines while on the ground at Britain's Heathrow airport. ... Full Story | Top |
| Bomber hits peacekeepers in Somalia, 8 civilians dead Friday, Jul 12, 2013 10:13 AM PDT  By Abdi Sheikh MOGADISHU (Reuters) - A suicide bomber rammed a vehicle packed with explosives into an African peacekeeping convoy in the Somali capital on Friday, officials said, killing eight civilians but no soldiers in the latest attack to expose the fragility of recent security gains. The blast was claimed by Islamist al Shabaab rebels who carried out a deadly assault on a nearby United Nations base last month and another bombing in a Mogadishu market this week. ... Full Story | Top |
| Factbox: Excerpts from speech by Pakistan's Malala at the United Nations Friday, Jul 12, 2013 10:02 AM PDT (Reuters) - In her first speech since the Taliban in Pakistan tried to kill her for advocating education for girls, Malala Yousafzai celebrated her 16th birthday on Friday at the United Nations by making an appeal for compulsory free schooling for all children. Here are excerpts from her speech: "I cannot believe how much love people have shown me. I have received thousands of good wish cards and gifts from all over the world. Thank you to all of them. Thank you to the children whose innocent words encouraged me. Thank you to my elders whose prayers strengthened me." "Malala day is not my day. ... Full Story | Top |
| Italy revokes expulsion of Kazakh oligarch's wife Friday, Jul 12, 2013 09:57 AM PDT ROME (Reuters) - Italy's government said on Friday it would revoke a deportation order against the wife and daughter of Kazakh oligarch and dissident Mukhtar Ablyazov, criticizing serious failings in the procedure which it said was conducted without the knowledge of ministers. A statement said the operation in which the two were expelled from Italy was in formal accordance with the law but condemned the way it was handled by officials. ... Full Story | Top |
| Seven dead in French train derailment: government Friday, Jul 12, 2013 09:48 AM PDT PARIS (Reuters) - Seven people died and several dozen were injured when a regional train derailed en route from Paris to the central city of Limoges, Interior Minister Manuel Valls said on Friday. "The death toll is evolving constantly at this point and unfortunately it will probably rise," Valls said. "At this stage there are seven people dead, several dozen wounded and some of them are serious." (Reporting by Alexandria Sage and Natalie Huet; Editing by Catherine Bremer) Full Story | Top |
| Fugitive Snowden to seek temporary asylum in Russia Friday, Jul 12, 2013 09:47 AM PDT  By Lidia Kelly and Maria Tsvetkova MOSCOW (Reuters) - Ex-intelligence contractor Edward Snowden, encamped at a Russian airport evading the reach of U.S. authorities, said on Friday he had sacrificed a comfortable life in disclosing U.S. spying secrets but had no regrets. "A little over one month ago, I had family, a home in paradise," he said in first public remarks on what he sees as the personal cost of incurring Washington's anger in disclosing details of U.S. electronic surveillance programs. "I also had the capability without any warrant to search for, seize, and read your communications. ... Full Story | Top |
| Cuban food ration system marks 50 years amid controversy Friday, Jul 12, 2013 09:17 AM PDT  By Rosa Tania Valdes HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuba's food-rationing system marked 50 years on Friday amid controversy, with President Raul Castro facing popular resistance to his plans to end the benefit as he moves the country from broad subsidies of goods and utilities to targeted welfare. Castro quickly began market-oriented reforms in 2008 after he replaced his ailing brother Fidel, who installed a communist government on the island nation in the early 1960s. But the younger Castro has criticized the rationing system as "paternalistic, irrational and unsustainable. ... Full Story | Top |
| Tunisian opposition seeks to copy Egypt's ouster of Islamists Friday, Jul 12, 2013 09:10 AM PDT By Tarek Amara TUNIS (Reuters) - Secular opponents of Tunisia's Islamist-led government are hoping to emulate their counterparts in Egypt, who have acclaimed an army coup against Islamist President Mohamed Mursi. In 2011, Tunisians set the pace, rising up against their veteran leader and inspiring Egyptians to turf out their own, in popular revolts that touched off others across the Arab world. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. IRS documents show liberal groups vetted like Tea Party: Democrats Friday, Jul 12, 2013 09:08 AM PDT By Kim Dixon WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A top Democrat probing the Internal Revenue Service scrutiny of conservative "Tea Party" groups released documents on Friday suggesting that "Occupy" and other liberal-leaning groups received similar scrutiny. Representative Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the House of Representatives' Oversight and Government Reform Committee, released documents from 2010 and 2012 used by IRS staff reviewing tax-exempt applications that suggest the key words "Progressive" and "Occupy" were subjected to added review, in addition to Tea Party applications. ... Full Story | Top |
| UK rejects public inquiry into ex-KGB spy's poisoning Friday, Jul 12, 2013 08:46 AM PDT  By Michael Holden LONDON (Reuters) - The British government has turned down a request for a public inquiry into the murder of a former Russian spy in London which could have revealed whether Moscow was behind the killing, a coroner announced on Friday. Coroner Robert Owen had asked ministers to hold an inquiry, declaring his own investigation flawed after bowing to ministers' requests for some material to be kept secret which could have shed light on Russia's suspected involvement. ... Full Story | Top |
| Romania sentences transport minister to jail for graft Friday, Jul 12, 2013 08:29 AM PDT BUCHAREST (Reuters) - Romania's Transport Minister Relu Fenechiu was handed a five year prison sentence for corruption on Friday, becoming the country's first government minister convicted while in office. The case, that Romania hopes will show the EU it is serious about tackling graft, dates back about a decade to when he controlled a group of companies that prosecutors said supplied sub-standard equipment to a state-firm. Prime Minister Victor Ponta removed Fenechiu from office and assumed the role of interim transport minister until a successor is found. ... Full Story | Top |
| UK rejects public inquiry into Litvinenko's poisoning Friday, Jul 12, 2013 08:05 AM PDT  By Michael Holden LONDON (Reuters) - The British government has turned down a request for a public inquiry into the murder of a former Russian spy in London which could have revealed whether Moscow was behind the killing, a coroner announced on Friday. Coroner Robert Owen had asked ministers to hold an inquiry, declaring his own investigation flawed after bowing to ministers' requests for some material to be kept secret which could have shed light on Russia's suspected involvement. ... Full Story | Top |
| South American bloc to send tough message to U.S. on spying, Snowden Friday, Jul 12, 2013 07:58 AM PDT  By Malena Castaldi MONTEVIDEO (Reuters) - South American leaders planned to send a tough message to Washington on Friday over allegations of U.S. spying in the region and to defend their right to offer asylum to fugitive former U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden. Capping two weeks of strained North-South relations over the Snowden saga, presidents from the Mercosur bloc of nations were meeting in Montevideo, Uruguay. Complaints against the United States were high on the agenda. ... Full Story | Top |
| Indian leader's 'puppy' remark triggers new controversy over riots Friday, Jul 12, 2013 07:45 AM PDT  By Sruthi Gottipati and Annie Banerji NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Indian Hindu nationalist leader and possible prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi triggered an uproar on Friday over a remark he made in an interview about deadly communal riots in Gujarat state in 2002. Modi, chief minister of western Gujarat state and head of the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party's election campaign, was asked in an interview with Reuters whether he regretted the violence. Modi compared his feelings to the occupant of a car involved in an accident. ... Full Story | Top |
| Analysis: China case shows war on drug costs in emerging markets Friday, Jul 12, 2013 07:16 AM PDT  By Ben Hirschler, Adam Jourdan and Lavinia Mo LONDON/HONG KONG (Reuters) - International drugmakers are under fire in emerging markets as governments crack down on high prices and corporate malpractice, raising a risk to the price premiums global players enjoy over local rivals. China's probe into pricing by 60 firms, including local units of multinationals, and its dramatic charge against GlaxoSmithKline Plc of widespread bribery to boost sales and prices are the latest salvos. ... Full Story | Top |
| Portugal opposition wants bailout renegotiation Friday, Jul 12, 2013 07:10 AM PDT  By Shrikesh Laxmidas and Axel Bugge LISBON (Reuters) - The opposition Socialists demanded a renegotiation of Portugal's bailout terms on Friday, raising a hurdle to a cross-party pact the president says is needed to end the euro zone country's dependence on international funding next year. Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho and Socialist leader Antonio Jose Seguro said they are ready to discuss a deal, but analysts say their divergence on painful austerity policies linked to the bailout could make it hard to resolve the crisis. "We have to abandon austerity politics. ... Full Story | Top |
| Swiss banks seek permission to send data in U.S. probe: sources Friday, Jul 12, 2013 06:40 AM PDT By Katharina Bart ZURICH (Reuters) - Credit Suisse and Julius Baer are among five Swiss banks which have sought government approval to hand data to U.S. prosecutors in a bid to reach settlements in a long-running tax dispute, four sources familiar with the matter said. The requests represent a push towards sealing a final deal for some of the dozen Swiss banks in the crosshairs of U.S. prosecutors for helping wealthy Americans evade taxes through hidden accounts. ... Full Story | Top |
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