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| Stray bullets from Syria kill two in Turkish border town Wednesday, Jul 17, 2013 12:44 PM PDT By Seyhmus Cakan DIYARBAKIR, Turkey (Reuters) - A man and a 15-year-old boy were killed by stray bullets shot from Syria into a Turkish border town, officials said on Wednesday. Turkish troops returned fire, in the most serious spillover of violence in weeks. The Turkish military said it acted in accordance with its rules of engagement after bullets fired from the adjacent Syrian town of Ras al-Ain hit police headquarters in the southeastern Turkish town of Ceylanpinar and houses in the town's center. ... Full Story | Top |
| Trian's Peltz wants PepsiCo to buy Mondelez: CNBC Wednesday, Jul 17, 2013 12:35 PM PDT  By Martinne Geller NEW YORK (Reuters) - Trian Fund Management's Nelson Peltz wants PepsiCo Inc to buy Oreo cookie maker Mondelez International Inc for $35 to $38 a share, he told CNBC on Wednesday. The news sent Mondelez shares up 3 percent on Nasdaq. Officials from both companies were not immediately available for comment. Peltz said he also wants PepsiCo to spin off the beverage business after buying Mondelez. ... Full Story | Top |
| Brazil's Rousseff rules out 'fiscal populism' as demands rise Wednesday, Jul 17, 2013 12:28 PM PDT  By Alonso Soto BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff vowed on Wednesday that her government will not spend beyond its means, rejecting the temptation of increasing outlays to improve public services in the wake of an outburst of national discontent last month. In one of the most delicate moments of her presidency, Rousseff said her Workers Party government remained committed to the fiscal responsibility needed to curb high inflation and keep public finances in order. ... Full Story | Top |
| Russian central banker declares homes in U.S., Mexico Wednesday, Jul 17, 2013 12:27 PM PDT By Maya Dyakina MOSCOW (Reuters) - A senior Russian central bank official has declared ownership of six apartments in Mexico and a home in the United States, possibly leaving him open to criticism as President Vladimir Putin campaigns to curtail holdings of foreign assets. Senior central bank officials disclosed their personal wealth on Wednesday, many of them for the first time. First Deputy Chairman Sergei Shvetsov, who supervises $500 billion in foreign reserves, appeared to be the only board member to declare property abroad, according to documents posted on the bank's web site. ... Full Story | Top |
| Protests mount ahead of Greek parliament vote on layoffs Wednesday, Jul 17, 2013 12:18 PM PDT  By Angeliki Koutantou and Renee Maltezou ATHENS (Reuters) - Thousands of Greek workers chanting anti-austerity slogans flocked outside parliament on Wednesday, hours before lawmakers inside vote on a divisive reform bill that would cut thousands of public sector jobs. Prime Minister Antonis Samaras's government is expected to scrape through the vote, despite a much-slimmer majority of only five seats in parliament after losing an ally over the decision to yank the state broadcaster off air and fire its 2,600 staff. ... Full Story | Top |
| Pakistan Taliban fighter asks Malala to come home Wednesday, Jul 17, 2013 12:05 PM PDT  PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - A Taliban commander has written to Pakistani girl activist Malala Yousafzai, saying he regretted her shooting last year by militants and urging her to come home. Yousafzai, now 16, was shot at close range by Taliban gunmen in October as she left school in Swat Valley in northwestern Pakistan. She was flown to Britain for treatment and has not returned since due to persistent Taliban threats against her. On July 12, she addressed the world in an electrifying speech at the United Nations in which she said the pen was mightier than the sword. ... Full Story | Top |
| EU's Ashton floats plan to break Hezbollah deadlock Wednesday, Jul 17, 2013 12:02 PM PDT  By Justyna Pawlak BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union could blacklist Hezbollah's military wing while stressing it is open to talking to the militant Lebanese movement's political faction, under a proposal by the EU's foreign policy chief, EU diplomats said on Wednesday. European governments have been deadlocked over the issue since May when Britain asked for the Shi'ite Muslim group's military wing to be put on the EU terror list, citing evidence it was behind a deadly bus bombing in Bulgaria last year. ... Full Story | Top |
| French general says EU Mali mission should be extended Wednesday, Jul 17, 2013 12:01 PM PDT By Adrian Croft BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The French commander of a European Union mission to train Mali's army, routed by rebels last year, said on Wednesday he believed the mission should be expanded and go on for at least a year longer than planned. The EU trainers, dispatched to Mali in the wake of a French-led military intervention in January that drove al Qaeda-allied Islamist insurgents out of the main northern towns, face a big challenge in turning Mali's rag-tag army into a capable force. ... Full Story | Top |
| Mali peace broker pulls out of presidential election race Wednesday, Jul 17, 2013 11:59 AM PDT  BAMAKO (Reuters) - The architect of a peace deal between Mali's government and northern separatist rebels pulled out of this month's presidential election on Wednesday after failing to have the July 28 vote postponed. Former minister Tiebile Drame has complained of French pressure to hold a vote that he says cannot be free and fair so soon after a war to liberate northern Mali from a mix of Tuareg separatists and al Qaeda-linked rebels. ... Full Story | Top |
| Queen Elizabeth hopes baby comes soon as she's off on holiday Wednesday, Jul 17, 2013 11:35 AM PDT  By Belinda Goldsmith LONDON (Reuters) - Queen Elizabeth joined the band of increasingly impatient royal baby watchers hoping Prince William and his wife Kate's first child arrives soon, saying she is due to go on holiday. With the future heir to the British throne due any day, the queen, on a series of engagements in the Lake District in northern England, was asked if she would like her third great-grandchild to be a girl or a boy. "I don't think I mind. I would very much like it to arrive. ... Full Story | Top |
| Arabs back Kerry push to renew Israel-Palestinian talks Wednesday, Jul 17, 2013 11:28 AM PDT  By Arshad Mohammed AMMAN (Reuters) - The Arab League endorsed the drive to relaunch Palestinian-Israeli peace negotiations led by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who said gaps between the sides had been greatly narrowed. The encouraging rhetoric after Kerry met an Arab League delegation and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Jordan on Wednesday suggested that Kerry, on his sixth such peace mission to the Middle East in as many months, might have found a path to ending an almost three-year deadlock. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. suggests Egyptian military averted civil war Wednesday, Jul 17, 2013 11:26 AM PDT  By Noah Browning and Shadia Nasralla CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt avoided a possible civil war this month, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Wednesday, making it hard for Washington to conclude that the overthrow of Islamist President Mohamed Mursi was a military coup. The armed forces deposed the elected leader on July 3 after huge street protests against his rule, clearing the way for the installment this week of a new interim cabinet charged with restoring civilian government and reviving the troubled economy. ... Full Story | Top |
| Panama calls in U.N. to inspect North Korean arms ship Wednesday, Jul 17, 2013 11:21 AM PDT  By Lomi Kriel PANAMA CITY (Reuters) - Panama said on Wednesday it had called in the United Nations Security Council to investigate a North Korean ship caught smuggling arms from Cuba, piling more pressure on Pyongyang for a possible breach of U.N. sanctions. Panamanian Security Minister Jose Raul Mulino said his government had asked the United Nations to advise on the case and that Panama aimed to hand over the ship, the Chong Chon Gang, and its contents to U.N. representatives. "It's going to be transferred to the U.N. ... Full Story | Top |
| Bank of Canada lays out conditions for steady rates Wednesday, Jul 17, 2013 11:17 AM PDT  By Randall Palmer and Louise Egan OTTAWA (Reuters) - The Bank of Canada said on Wednesday it will hold its benchmark interest rate steady at 1 percent while the economy remains fragile and inflation stays low, but that it sees rates rising if the economy performs in line with expectations. The policy announcement, the first under new Governor Stephen Poloz, delivered roughly the same message as those of his predecessor, Mark Carney, over the past year: The next move is a rate hike, not a cut, although it won't be any time soon. ... Full Story | Top |
| Fighting in South Sudan cuts off 100,000 people from aid Wednesday, Jul 17, 2013 11:15 AM PDT  By Andrew Green JUBA (Reuters) - Fighting between government forces, rebels and rival tribes has cut off 100,000 people from urgently needed food and medical aid in South Sudan's east, U.N. and aid officials said on Wednesday. South Sudan's army is facing a rebellion from local politician David Yau Yau in the vast Jonglei state, and new clashes have broken out between the rival Lou Nuer and Murle tribes. ... Full Story | Top |
| Chinese position forced suspension of tech trade talks: U.S. Wednesday, Jul 17, 2013 11:12 AM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The top U.S. trade official on Wednesday said talks aimed at cutting tariffs on a new generation of technology products have been suspended because of China's demand to exclude more than 100 products from the tariff cuts. China is one of 20 World Trade Organization members, along with the United States and the 28-nation European Union, that have been negotiating for months to expand the 1996 Information Technology Agreement to include products ranging from flat-screen televisions to the latest semiconductors. ... Full Story | Top |
| France urges Myanmar leader to investigate anti-Muslim violence Wednesday, Jul 17, 2013 11:03 AM PDT  PARIS (Reuters) - French President Francois Hollande pressed Myanmar's president on Wednesday to investigate violence against the country's Muslim minority in depth, and said a pledge to release political prisoners must be followed by action. Hollande met briefly with Thein Sein in Paris two days after the former military leader visited his British counterpart in London as part of a tour aimed at securing Western aid to help Myanmar emerge from decades of dictatorship. ... Full Story | Top |
| Libyan minority groups say will boycott constitution vote Wednesday, Jul 17, 2013 10:29 AM PDT By Ghaith Shennib TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Three Libyan ethnic minorities announced on Wednesday they would boycott an election of a committee to draft a new constitution, the first blow to a democratic process supposed to decide what political system the country will adopt. Members of the Amazigh, Tibu and Tuareg communities denounced a law passed on Tuesday under which 60 people will be elected by popular vote to draft a charter, saying that such a constitutional committee would not be "fully representative". ... Full Story | Top |
| Pirelli head found guilty of receiving stolen data Wednesday, Jul 17, 2013 10:22 AM PDT  MILAN (Reuters) - The chairman of tyre maker Pirelli, Marco Tronchetti Provera, was handed a 20-month suspended jail sentence on Wednesday for receiving stolen information when he was head of Telecom Italia. Provera, one of Italy's most prominent businessmen, was also ordered by a Milan court to pay 900,000 euros ($1.2 million) to Telecom Italia, which he led from 2001 to 2006. Provera was found guilty of receiving phone data in 2004 stolen from a security agency in Brazil. ... Full Story | Top |
| Egypt's Brotherhood says EU has no offer for crisis Wednesday, Jul 17, 2013 10:19 AM PDT  CAIRO (Reuters) - A senior figure in ousted President Mohamed Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood met the European Union's foreign affairs chief in Cairo on Wednesday and said Brussels had offered no proposal that could resolve Egypt's political crisis. EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton held a 45-minute meeting with Amr Darrag and other Muslim Brotherhood leaders, as well as Mursi's prime minister, Hisham Kandil. Asked whether he was disappointed that the EU was not supporting the Brotherhood, Darrag said: "We are not expecting support from anybody. We are relying only on ourselves. ... Full Story | Top |
| EU urges Ethiopia to release journalists, revise terror law Wednesday, Jul 17, 2013 10:17 AM PDT By Aaron Maasho ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - A European Union parliamentary delegation urged Ethiopia on Wednesday to release journalists and opposition politicians jailed under an anti-terror law, and revise the legislation that critics say is used to stifle dissent. Ethiopian opposition parties routinely accuse the government of harassment and say their candidates are often intimidated in polls. All but two of the 547 seats in the legislature are held by the ruling party. ... Full Story | Top |
| Arab League backs Kerry's Palestinian peace bid Wednesday, Jul 17, 2013 10:14 AM PDT  AMMAN (Reuters) - The Arab League endorsed a U.S. drive to relaunch Palestinian-Israeli peace negotiations on Wednesday, saying in a statement carried on the Jordanian news agency that it hoped this could lead to a two-state solution. The statement reported by the Petra news agency came after an Arab League delegation met U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in the Jordanian capital Amman. It repeated a 2002 League offer of a comprehensive Arab peace with Israel but also contained a newer readiness to adjust the pre-1967 borders by swapping land. ... Full Story | Top |
| Contaminated school meal kills 25 Indian children Wednesday, Jul 17, 2013 09:50 AM PDT  PATNA, India (Reuters) - At least 25 Indian children died and dozens needed hospital treatment after apparently being poisoned by a school meal, sparking violent protests and angry allegations of blame. The children aged four to 12 fell ill on Tuesday after consuming a lunch of rice, soybean and lentils in the impoverished eastern state of Bihar. The school, at Mashrakh village in the district of Chapra, provided free meals under the Mid-Day Meal Scheme, the world's largest school feeding program involving 120 million children. ... Full Story | Top |
| UK spy agency's use of U.S. data was legal: UK lawmakers Wednesday, Jul 17, 2013 09:43 AM PDT  By Michael Holden LONDON (Reuters) - British agents did not circumvent the law by using data gathered by a clandestine U.S. spy program, the head of an influential British parliamentary committee said on Wednesday, but added the framework governing such access did need to be re-examined. Former U.S. security contractor Edward Snowden released details of the PRISM program last month to the media, lifting the lid on what he called a vast surveillance system that vacuumed up emails and phone data. Leaked documents showed the data was sometimes handed over to Britain's security services. ... Full Story | Top |
| Italy minister faces more pressure over Kazakh case Wednesday, Jul 17, 2013 09:28 AM PDT  By Paolo Biondi ROME (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta defended his interior minister from growing calls for him to resign over the expulsion of a dissident Kazakh oligarch's wife and daughter, as pressure on his fragile coalition mounted on Wednesday. Interior Minister Angelino Alfano, who also holds the title of deputy prime minister, told parliament on Tuesday that he had not been informed about the operation in which former Kazakh energy minister Mukhtar Ablyazov's wife and six-year-old child were detained in May. ... Full Story | Top |
| Guinea deploys troops as 17 killed in ethnic clashes Wednesday, Jul 17, 2013 09:25 AM PDT CONAKRY (Reuters) - Guinea deployed security forces to towns in the southeast on Wednesday in a bid to stem three days of ethnic violence in the West African country in which at least 17 people have been killed, officials said. Guinea's second city of Nzerekore and the surrounding region near the border with Ivory Coast have been gripped by clashes between local communities after a man accused of being a thief was lynched on Sunday. Government spokesman Damantang Albert Camara said the toll rose to 17 after a death was reported on Wednesday in Beyla, a town near Nzerekore. ... Full Story | Top |
| Russian protest leader wins one battle, faces another Wednesday, Jul 17, 2013 09:20 AM PDT  By Maria Tsvetkova and Gabriela Baczynska MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian protest leader Alexei Navalny won a rare victory on Wednesday by being accepted as a candidate in a Moscow mayoral election which he sees as a stepping stone to challenging Vladimir Putin for the presidency. But his ability to contest September's election and the next presidential vote in 2018 depend on a judge's verdict on Thursday in the most prominent trial of an opposition figure in Russia since Soviet times. ... Full Story | Top |
| Early Zimbabwe vote raises fears of election chaos Wednesday, Jul 17, 2013 09:15 AM PDT  HARARE (Reuters) - President Robert Mugabe's rivals said on Wednesday the chaotic organization of early voting for soldiers and police showed Zimbabwe was not ready for a July 31 general election in which more than six million people are registered to vote. Mugabe's main rival, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, told a rally that the long queues seen during two days of special voting for 70,000 police officers and soldiers clearly showed the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) was ill-prepared. ... Full Story | Top |
| Kerry says no U.S. rush to judgment on Egypt coup question Wednesday, Jul 17, 2013 09:13 AM PDT  AMMAN (Reuters) - Secretary of State John Kerry said on Wednesday there would be no hasty U.S. decision on whether Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi's ouster constituted a coup, a determination that would affect U.S. aid for Cairo. "On the issue of a coup, this is obviously an extremely complex and very difficult situation," Kerry told a news conference in Amman, where he held talks with Arab officials, adding that Washington would not "rush to judgment". ... Full Story | Top |
| Egypt finance minister says IMF loan is 'part of the solution' Wednesday, Jul 17, 2013 09:10 AM PDT  CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's finance minister said on Wednesday that an IMF loan was only "part of the solution" to the country's problems and the new transitional government would have to draw up a plan that would start to fix the troubled economy. "We need time to read and study the issues and files on the ground to come up with sound and well thought out decisions that will pave the way and build the future for governments to come," Ahmed Galal said in a statement released by the ministry. (Reporting by Patrick Werr; Editing by Edmund Blair) Full Story | Top |
| Russia's Putin puts U.S. ties above Snowden Wednesday, Jul 17, 2013 09:02 AM PDT  By Denis Dyomkin and Alexei Anishchuk MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin signaled clearly on Wednesday that he did not want a dispute over the fate of former U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden to derail Russia's relations with the United States. Russia has ruled out extraditing Snowden, wanted by Washington for leaking details of U.S. surveillance programs, and the U.S. citizen is currently stuck in the transit area of Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport. Allowing him to stay in Russia even temporarily would upset Washington. ... Full Story | Top |
| Captain of cruise liner disaster seeks new plea deal Wednesday, Jul 17, 2013 09:00 AM PDT  By Gabriele Pileri and Silvia Ognibene GROSSETO, Italy (Reuters) - Lawyers for Francesco Schettino, captain of the shipwrecked Costa Concordia cruise liner, will again request a plea deal in a trial over the disaster in which 32 people died, his defense said on Wednesday. Schettino faces charges including manslaughter and causing the loss of his ship in the accident in January 2012 when the huge liner struck a rock off the picturesque island of Giglio and keeled onto its side, setting off a chaotic night evacuation of more than 4,000 passengers and crew. ... Full Story | Top |
| Italy PM Letta backs deputy over Kazakh deportation Wednesday, Jul 17, 2013 08:42 AM PDT  LONDON (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta backed his deputy Angelino Alfano, who is under fire over the deportation of the wife of a dissident Kazakh oligarch, saying on Wednesday that a police report had shown he bore no responsibility for the affair. Speaking during a visit to London, Letta said he had read the report into the case from police chief Alessandro Pansa "which shows Alfano was not involved". He said he would take part in a debate in parliament on Friday on a no-confidence vote called against Alfano by opposition parties. (Reporting By Francesco Canepa) Full Story | Top |
| Turkish agency warns of donor fatigue as Syria aid drops sharply Wednesday, Jul 17, 2013 08:40 AM PDT  By Ece Toksabay ISTANBUL (Reuters) - International aid for Syria has tailed off sharply in recent months with the conflict apparently slipping from people's minds even as the humanitarian crisis deepens, Turkey's IHH relief agency warned on Wednesday. IHH, whose trucks ferry aid gathered in Turkey and abroad to Syria every day, said it was now delivering as little as a tenth of the aid it had been sending earlier in the year. "The daily number of aid trucks delivered into Syria has dropped to just 5-10 from a previous 50-60," IHH head Bulent Yildirim told a news conference in Istanbul. ... Full Story | Top |
| Czech parliament rejects early election plan Wednesday, Jul 17, 2013 08:22 AM PDT  By Robert Muller PRAGUE (Reuters) - The Czech lower house of parliament rejected a motion on Wednesday to dissolve itself and force an early election in September, setting up more months of political uncertainty. The motion was proposed by the center-left Social Democrats after leftist President Milos Zeman picked his long-time ally, Jiri Rusnok, last month to lead a new government against the will of the main political parties. ... Full Story | Top |
| North Korea arms ship from Cuba likely breached sanctions: UK Wednesday, Jul 17, 2013 08:09 AM PDT  UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - A North Korean cargo ship Panama said was hiding missile equipment in a shipment of brown sugar from Cuba appears to have violated a U.N. arms embargo on Pyongyang, Britain's U.N. Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant said on Wednesday. The ship was stopped last week as it headed into the Panama Canal and Panamanian authorities arrested the crew on Monday after finding undeclared missile-shaped objects. "Clearly the facts still need to be established," Britain's U.N. Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant told reporters on Wednesday. ... Full Story | Top |
| Kerry urges Israel to 'look hard' at Arab peace initiative Wednesday, Jul 17, 2013 08:07 AM PDT  AMMAN (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry urged Israel on Thursday to consider carefully a 2002 Arab League peace initiative that it rejected in the past. "Israel needs to look hard at this initiative, which promises Israel peace with 22 Arab nations and 35 Muslim nations - a total of 57 nations that are standing and waiting for the possibility of making peace with Israel," he said in Amman, where he met officials from Arab League member countries. ... Full Story | Top |
| Russian protest leader wins one battle and faces another Wednesday, Jul 17, 2013 07:58 AM PDT  By Maria Tsvetkova and Gabriela Baczynska MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian protest leader Alexei Navalny won a rare victory on Wednesday by being accepted as a candidate in a Moscow mayoral election which he sees as a stepping stone to challenging Vladimir Putin for the presidency. But his ability to contest September's election and the next presidential vote in 2018 depend on a judge's verdict on Thursday in the most prominent trial of an opposition figure in Russia since Soviet times. ... Full Story | Top |
| Kerry says Israeli-Palestinian gaps narrowed significantly Wednesday, Jul 17, 2013 07:56 AM PDT  AMMAN (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry voiced confidence on Wednesday he was on track toward achieving soon a resumption of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, saying gaps had been greatly narrowed. "We have been able to narrow these gaps very significantly. And so we continue to get closer and I continue to remain hopeful that the sides can soon be able to come and sit at the same table," Kerry told a news conference in Amman, where he held talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Arab officials. ... Full Story | Top |
| Gunmen kill pro-Assad figure in Lebanon as Syria war spreads Wednesday, Jul 17, 2013 07:01 AM PDT  By Oliver Holmes BEIRUT (Reuters) - Gunmen assassinated a well-known media defender of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Lebanon on Wednesday, as Syria's civil war steadily infects its smaller neighbor. The conflict is also spilling over Syria's northern border, where Turkish troops returned fire after stray bullets from Syria struck the police headquarters and several homes in the Turkish border town of Ceylanpinar, the Turkish military said. ... Full Story | Top |
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