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| Portugal PM to carry on, seek solution to political instability Tuesday, Jul 02, 2013 12:38 PM PDT LISBON (Reuters) - Portugal's Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho will stay at the helm of the government and work to overcome a political crisis after his foreign minister and head of a coalition party tendered his resignation, which the premier refused to accept. "I have not asked the president to remove the foreign minister," Passos Coelho told the nation on Tuesday in a televised address, adding that he will seek "conditions to assure stability" jointly with the coalition partner CDS-PP in coming hours. Passos Coelho said he would travel to Berlin on Wednesday as prime minister. ... Full Story | Top |
| factbox: Countries' reactions to Snowden's asylum applications Tuesday, Jul 02, 2013 12:37 PM PDT LONDON (Reuters) - Former U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden, wanted by Washington on espionage charges for revealing the secret U.S. electronic surveillance program Prism, has applied for political asylum in more than a dozen countries. The 30-year-old American remains in legal limbo in the transit area at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport. He has no legal travel documents and has made his asylum applications through a legal representative. Here is a list of the countries which Snowden has asked for asylum, as published by WikiLeaks, and their reactions so far. ... Full Story | Top |
| Nearly 50 killed in Iraq bombings Tuesday, Jul 02, 2013 12:36 PM PDT  By Kareem Raheem BAGHDAD (Reuters) - At least 45 people were killed in bomb attacks across Iraq on Tuesday, most of them in busy markets and commercial areas of the capital Baghdad, police and medics said. The deadliest assault took place in the predominantly Shi'ite Shaab neighborhood of northern Baghdad, where two car bombs killed eight people. There were also explosions in the mainly Shi'ite districts of Abu Dsheer, Kamaliya, Tobchi and Shula. "A blast hit near a crowded market full of people shopping," said Ali Sadoun, a policeman whose patrol was stationed in Shula. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. urges Mursi to listen to Egyptian people Tuesday, Jul 02, 2013 12:35 PM PDT  By Mark Felsenthal DAR ES SALAAM (Reuters) - The United States put pressure on embattled Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi on Tuesday to listen to concerns of huge anti-government protests, as Egypt's army planned to push the Islamist leader aside if he fails to strike a power-sharing deal with his opponents within 24 hours. In a phone call at the end of an African tour, President Barack Obama told Mursi that the political crisis can only be resolved by talks with his opponents. ... Full Story | Top |
| Canada charges two in al Qaeda-inspired plot to bomb Canada Day event Tuesday, Jul 02, 2013 12:21 PM PDT  By Andy Clark SURREY, British Columbia (Reuters) - Canadian police said on Tuesday they foiled an al Qaeda-inspired plot to detonate three pressure-cooker bombs during Monday's Canada Day holiday outside the parliament building in the Pacific coast city of Victoria, arresting a Canadian man and woman and seizing their home-made explosive devices. Police said there was no evidence to suggest a foreign link to the planned attack, which targeted public celebrations outside the parliament building in Victoria, capital of the province of British Columbia. ... Full Story | Top |
| Prosecutors consider trial for ex-Vatican bank managers: sources Tuesday, Jul 02, 2013 12:16 PM PDT By Paolo Biondi ROME (Reuters) - Rome prosecutors are considering requesting that two directors of the Vatican bank who resigned on Monday be sent to trial on suspicion of authorizing illegal financial transactions, judicial sources said on Tuesday. The Vatican bank's director general, Paolo Cipriani, and its deputy director, Massimo Tulli, left after the arrest of a senior cleric who is accused of plotting to smuggle 20 million euros ($26 million) into Italy from Switzerland. A spokesman from the Vatican bank, known formally as the Institute for Works of Religion (IOR), declined to comment. ... Full Story | Top |
| Obama brings out the African in the American Tuesday, Jul 02, 2013 12:05 PM PDT  By Jeff Mason DAR ES SALAAM (Reuters) - Midway through a three-country trip to Africa and shortly after an emotional tour of his hero Nelson Mandela's Robben Island prison cell, Barack Obama was greeted by another revered African leader, Desmond Tutu, with the words: "Welcome home." America's first black president - 'the son of a black man from Kenya and a white woman from Kansas', as Obama describes himself - had returned to Africa for his first extended trip as the world's most powerful leader. ... Full Story | Top |
| John Paul II on brink of sainthood after miracle approved: report Tuesday, Jul 02, 2013 11:45 AM PDT  VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - The late Pope John Paul II moved closer to sainthood on Tuesday after a commission of cardinals and bishops credited him with a second miracle since his death, Italian media reported. A canonization ceremony for the Polish-born pontiff, who died in April 2005, could come as soon as December, news agency ANSA said. That would be the fastest progression to sainthood in modern times. The remaining stage in the ancient procedure is a signature from the current pope, Francis, confirming the decision. Vatican officials declined to comment. ... Full Story | Top |
| Princess Fawzia, Shah's first wife, dies in Egypt Tuesday, Jul 02, 2013 11:33 AM PDT By Abdelrahman Youssef ALEXANDRIA, Egypt (Reuters) - Princess Fawzia Fuad, a daughter and sister of Egyptian kings and the first wife of the last Shah of Iran, died on Tuesday in Alexandria, a member of the former royal family and a senior local police officer said. Her death at the age of 91 was also reported on a Facebook page associated with her nephew, King Fuad II, Egypt's deposed and exiled last monarch. Fawzia, the glamorous sister of Fuad's father King Farouk, married Mohammad Reza Pahlavi in 1939, before he acceded the throne in Tehran. They divorced nine years later. ... Full Story | Top |
| Second ministerial resignation plunges Portugal into crisis Tuesday, Jul 02, 2013 11:22 AM PDT  By Axel Bugge and Andrei Khalip LISBON (Reuters) - Portugal's Foreign Minister Paulo Portas resigned on Tuesday, plunging the country into a political crisis that could upset its smooth exit from an international bailout. Finance Minister Vitor Gaspar, the architect of spending cuts and tax hikes imposed by foreign lenders, resigned a day earlier but Portas' departure is even more serious as it threatens the coalition government's stability. Portas heads the rightist CDS-PP party and, without its support, the centre-right government would lose its majority in parliament. ... Full Story | Top |
| Egypt army plan would sideline Mursi if no deal in 24 hours Tuesday, Jul 02, 2013 11:08 AM PDT  By Yasmine Saleh and Asma Alsharif CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's army has plans to push President Mohamed Mursi aside and suspend the constitution if he fails to strike a power-sharing deal with his opponents within 24 hours, military sources told Reuters on Tuesday. Egypt's first freely elected leader was still clinging to power with tens of thousands of people on the streets from rival factions. There were some clashes between Mursi's Islamist supporters and those who want him forced out after only a year in office. ... Full Story | Top |
| Kenya parliament to debate new tax, opposition grows Tuesday, Jul 02, 2013 10:57 AM PDT  By James Macharia NAIROBI (Reuters) - A proposed tax that would raise the price of food and other basic items was presented to Kenya's parliament on Tuesday, even as civil servants demanded higher pay to cope with rising living costs. The unpopular measure is a tough sell for President Uhuru Kenyatta, who came to office in April saying he would rein in the budget deficit and appealing for wage restraint. Finance Minister Henry Rotich said in his budget speech last month that he would re-introduce value-added tax on goods including medicines and the staples rice, milk, bread and wheat. ... Full Story | Top |
| Mursi role at Syria rally seen as tipping point for Egypt army Tuesday, Jul 02, 2013 10:55 AM PDT By Yasmine Saleh and Tom Perry CAIRO (Reuters) - Army concern about the way President Mohamed Mursi was governing Egypt reached tipping point when the head of state attended a rally packed with hardline fellow Islamists calling for holy war in Syria, military sources said. At the June 15 rally, Sunni Muslim clerics used the word "infidels" to denounce both the Shi'ites fighting to protect Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and the non-Islamists that oppose Mursi at home. ... Full Story | Top |
| Senegal charges ex-Chad leader with crimes against humanity Tuesday, Jul 02, 2013 10:49 AM PDT  By Diadie Ba DAKAR (Reuters) - A judge in Senegal formally charged Chad's former president Hissene Habre with crimes against humanity, war crimes and torture on Tuesday and remanded him in custody pending trial, his lawyer said. Habre, 71, was arrested on Sunday in the Senegalese capital Dakar, where he has been living in exile for 22 years since he was overthrown in a 1990 coup in Chad. Human rights groups hold Habre responsible for the torture or killing up to 40,000 people during his 1982-1990 presidency of the poor, oil-rich central African state. ... Full Story | Top |
| French energy minister sacked after budget row Tuesday, Jul 02, 2013 10:42 AM PDT  PARIS (Reuters) - France's energy and environment minister Delphine Batho was dismissed on Tuesday, the president's office said, after she publicly criticized cuts to her ministry's budget for 2014. Socialist Party lawmaker Philippe Martin was named as her successor, a switch unlikely to have a significant impact on strategic energy policy as this has long been the preserve of the president. Batho was summoned to Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault's office hours after she told RTL radio that she disagreed with a plan to cut the environment ministry's budget by 7 percent next year. ... Full Story | Top |
| Some lawmakers balk at limited abortion legislation in Ireland Tuesday, Jul 02, 2013 10:34 AM PDT By Padraic Halpin DUBLIN (Reuters) - Four lawmakers from Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny's party came out on Tuesday against a move to legalize abortion under certain conditions but are unlikely to be able to scuttle the measure or threaten his comfortable majority. Kenny's government is proposing access to abortion when a woman's life is in danger and both sides of the debate have staged protests on an issue that has long polarized the overwhelmingly Roman Catholic country. ... Full Story | Top |
| Colombia's FARC rebels call on government to bring ELN into talks Tuesday, Jul 02, 2013 10:33 AM PDT By Nelson Acosta HAVANA (Reuters) - Colombia's FARC rebels, the country's biggest insurgent group, called on Tuesday for the government to broaden peace talks to include its smaller counterpart known as the ELN, a day after the two groups announced they would work more closely together. Colombia's government has been in peace negotiations in Cuba with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, since November in the hope of ending five decades of war. The government has said it was willing to talk with the ELN, or National Liberation Army, but separately from the FARC. ... Full Story | Top |
| Hague court to release ex-Bosnian Serb parliament chief early Tuesday, Jul 02, 2013 10:17 AM PDT AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - The war crimes tribunal for ex-Yugoslavia has granted early release to the former head of the Bosnian Serb parliament who was convicted of forcing thousands of Muslims and Croats from their homes during Bosnia's 1992-95 war. The International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) said Momcilo Krajisnik, 68, would be freed on September 1 after serving two-thirds of his prison term on a conviction for persecution, deportation and forcible transfer of civilians. ... Full Story | Top |
| Russia passes amnesty for economic crimes in boost to business Tuesday, Jul 02, 2013 10:15 AM PDT MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's lower house of parliament on Tuesday approved an amnesty for several thousand entrepreneurs jailed for economic crimes. The routine criminalization of business disputes is symptomatic of the weak rule of law in Russia and has hampered the development of new businesses, essential to a drive to create a more vibrant economy less reliant on heavy industry and natural resources. Entrepreneurs are often jailed by corrupt judges on trumped-up charges brought by crooked investigators and judges, with echoes of the repressive justice of the Soviet era. ... Full Story | Top |
| Oscar-winning filmmaker to challenge Azeri president in vote Tuesday, Jul 02, 2013 10:11 AM PDT By Lada Evgrashina BAKU (Reuters) - Azerbaijan's embattled opposition named an Oscar-winning screenwriter on Tuesday as its candidate to challenge President Ilham Aliyev's decade-long rule in an October election. Rustam Ibragimbekov's huge popularity will go some way to open up the election race in the oil and gas-producing former Soviet republic, but analysts said Aliyev was still expected to win. Ibragimbekov co-wrote "Burnt by the Sun", which tells the story of a Soviet army officer and his family during the Stalinist purge and won the best foreign language film Oscar in 1994. ... Full Story | Top |
| Portugal's foreign minister, party head Portas resigns Tuesday, Jul 02, 2013 09:56 AM PDT LISBON (Reuters) - Portugal's Foreign Minister Paulo Portas has resigned, the president's office said on Tuesday, in a further blow to the center-right coalition that has kept the country's international bailout on track. Finance Minister Vitor Gaspar, the architect of the spending cuts and tax hikes required by the bailout, resigned on Monday citing the growing erosion of public support for the program. Portas heads the rightist CDS-PP party and without its support, the government would lose its majority in parliament. ... Full Story | Top |
| Senegal to detain ex-Chad leader pending trial: judge Tuesday, Jul 02, 2013 09:54 AM PDT  DAKAR (Reuters) - Chad's former president Hissene Habre has been remanded in custody pending trial in Senegal on charges of crimes against humanity, war crimes and torture during his eight years in power, his lawyer said on Tuesday. Habre, 71, was arrested on Sunday in the Senegalese capital Dakar, where he has been living in exile for 22 years since he was overthrown in a 1990 coup in Chad. "He is remanded in custody from today," Habre's lawyer, Francois Serres, told Reuters. "He has been formally charged. ... Full Story | Top |
| Zimbabwe PM's party says Mugabe allies trying to rig vote Tuesday, Jul 02, 2013 09:45 AM PDT  By MacDonald Dzirutwe HARARE (Reuters) - The party of Zimbabwe's Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said thousands of dead people were still on the electoral roll only four weeks before a presidential election, accusing allies of President Robert Mugabe of trying to rig the outcome. The July 31 contest is Tsvangirai's third attempt to unseat Mugabe, the 89-year-old veteran who has ruled since independence from Britain in 1980. The two were forced into a power sharing deal after the last, disputed polls in 2008. ... Full Story | Top |
| Portugal PM to address nation after another minister quit Tuesday, Jul 02, 2013 09:40 AM PDT  LISBON (Reuters) - Portugal's Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho will address the nation around 8 p.m. local time (3:00 p.m. EDT) on Tuesday after the resignation of Paulo Portas, his foreign minister. Portas is head of a small party that guarantees the government's majority in parliament. A government spokesman contacted by Reuters would not provide any further details. (Reporting By Sergio Goncalves, writing by Andrei Khalip, editing by Axel Bugge) Full Story | Top |
| Russian tycoon Lebedev avoids jail over TV brawl Tuesday, Jul 02, 2013 09:38 AM PDT  By Maria Tsvetkova MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian media magnate Alexander Lebedev was ordered on Tuesday to do 150 hours of community service, but avoided a jail sentence after being convicted of battery for punching a rival during a television talk show. Lebedev has said he saw the trial as President Vladimir Putin's revenge for his criticism of the government, and the financial backer of The Independent and London Evening Standard newspapers said he planned to appeal against the verdict. ... Full Story | Top |
| Billionaire Saudi prince branded 'capricious' in UK court Tuesday, Jul 02, 2013 09:38 AM PDT  By Estelle Shirbon LONDON (Reuters) - A billionaire Saudi prince fighting a lawsuit connected to the sale of a private jet to Libya's Muammar Gaddafi was branded "capricious" and "a debt-dodger" in a London court on Tuesday. Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, a nephew of Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah, was in the second day of a cross-examination that is likely to be one of the most hostile public grillings inflicted on a senior Saudi royal. ... Full Story | Top |
| South African police investigating Mandela grandson in grave dispute Tuesday, Jul 02, 2013 09:29 AM PDT  JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South African police opened an investigation on Tuesday into Nelson Mandela's grandson on suspicion of illegally exhuming the bodies of three of the ailing anti-apartheid hero's children, a police spokesman said. The investigation is the latest twist in an unedifying family feud that has drawn global attention as the 94-year-old Mandela lies in a Pretoria hospital in a critical condition. ... Full Story | Top |
| French far-right chief Le Pen loses immunity Tuesday, Jul 02, 2013 09:21 AM PDT  By Gilbert Reilhac STRASBOURG, France (Reuters) - The leader of France's far-right National Front lost her right to legal immunity as a European Parliament deputy on Tuesday, exposing her to possible prosecution over a racism charge. A majority of her fellow parliamentarians backed the request by a court in Lyon, three years after she was accused of inciting racial hatred for comparing Muslim street prayers to the occupation of France by Nazi Germany. ... Full Story | Top |
| French energy minister sacked after row over budget Tuesday, Jul 02, 2013 09:21 AM PDT PARIS (Reuters) - France's energy and environment minister Delphine Batho was dismissed on Tuesday, the president's office said, after she publicly criticized cuts to her ministry's budget for 2014. Socialist Party lawmaker Philippe Martin was named as her successor. Earlier on Tuesday, Batho told RTL radio she disagreed with a plan to cut the environment ministry's budget by 7 percent next year as the government battles to cut public spending by 14 billion euros to avoid its deficit veering off course. (Reporting by Elizabeth Pineau; Writing by Nathalie Huet) Full Story | Top |
| Merkel says does not see fresh Greek debt 'haircut': media Tuesday, Jul 02, 2013 09:20 AM PDT BERLIN (Reuters) - Greece's debt sustainability is guaranteed, German Chancellor Angela Merkel was quoted as saying on Tuesday, just as international lenders gave the indebted country three days to deliver on conditions to its international bailout. "Greece has made progress thanks to the very reform-oriented government by (Prime Minister Antonis) Samaras," she told Sueddeutsche Zeitung in a group interview with other European papers. "I expect that debt sustainability will continue to be a given. ... Full Story | Top |
| Somali central bank governor denies U.N. charges over funds Tuesday, Jul 02, 2013 09:18 AM PDT By Edmund Blair NAIROBI (Reuters) - The governor of the Central Bank of Somalia denied on Tuesday allegations in a U.N. report linking him to irregularities regarding millions of dollars withdrawn from the bank, saying the charges were malicious and baseless. Somalia, under a Western-backed government that took office last year, is trying to rebuild after 20 years of war in which the nation was carved up into fiefdoms by warlords and then ruled by Islamist militants. Its public institutions remain feeble. The U.N. ... Full Story | Top |
| Merkel opponent derides jobless summit as cynical ploy Tuesday, Jul 02, 2013 09:17 AM PDT  By Stephen Brown and Holger Hansen BERLIN (Reuters) - Angela Merkel's summit on youth unemployment in Europe is an attempt to paper over the economic consequences of the austerity policies she championed in the region, a leading member of Germany's opposition Social Democrats (SPD) said on Tuesday. Andrea Nahles, General Secretary of the SPD and manager of the center-left party's campaign to unseat Merkel in a September election, said the chancellor had already held several "show summits" on a range of issues that yielded no results. ... Full Story | Top |
| Exclusive: Egypt army plan would scrap constitution, parliament - sources Tuesday, Jul 02, 2013 09:09 AM PDT  By Yasmine Saleh and Asma Alsharif CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's armed forces would suspend the constitution and dissolve an Islamist-dominated parliament under a draft political roadmap to be pursued if Islamist President Mohamed Mursi and his opponents fail to reach a power-sharing agreement by Wednesday, military sources said. The sources told Reuters the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) was still discussing details of the plan, intended to resolve a political crisis that has brought millions of protesters into the streets. ... Full Story | Top |
| Protesters angered by rape, storm police HQ in Ukrainian town Tuesday, Jul 02, 2013 09:05 AM PDT  By Richard Balmforth KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine's president ordered a top-level inquiry on Tuesday after a night of violence in a small southern town in which people angered by the rape of a local woman in which they said police were involved attacked a police headquarters with petrol bombs. The protests, prompted by suspicions one of the policemen involved was being protected because of family connections, came at an awkward time for the former Soviet republic. ... Full Story | Top |
| Canada to announce terrorism charges after B.C. arrests Tuesday, Jul 02, 2013 09:03 AM PDT OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canadian police said they would announce terrorism charges on Tuesday after arrests made in the Pacific province of British Columbia. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said the arrests were made by a team of agents from the police, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service spy agency and the Canadian Border Service Agency. The agents were working on a national security investigation, it added in a statement. No other details were provided. Police scheduled a 2 p.m. EDT (1800 GMT) news conference in Surrey, British Columbia, about 30 km (19 miles) southeast of Vancouver. ... Full Story | Top |
| Obama administration sanctions Myanmar general for dealings with North Korea Tuesday, Jul 02, 2013 08:37 AM PDT  By Paige Gance WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration on Tuesday sanctioned the head of a missile research and development facility in Myanmar for ignoring international requirements that he stop buying military equipment from North Korea. Lieutenant General Thein Htay runs the Directorate of Defense Industries, which was sanctioned in July 2012 for buying military equipment and material from North Korea. "Thein Htay has disregarded international requirements to stop purchasing military goods from North Korea," said U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Canada police say will announce terrorism charges later Tuesday Tuesday, Jul 02, 2013 08:32 AM PDT OTTAWA (Reuters) - The Royal Canadian Mounted Police on Tuesday will announce terrorism charges following arrests made in the Pacific province of British Columbia, the force said in a statement. The arrests were made by a special team of agents from the police, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service spy agency and the Canadian Border Service Agency. The statement gave no further details but said police would hold a news conference at 2 p.m. EDT. (Reporting by David Ljunggren; Editing by Jeffrey Hodgson and Vicki Allen) Full Story | Top |
| UAE Islamist group had no desire to topple government: families Tuesday, Jul 02, 2013 08:26 AM PDT By Yara Bayoumy DUBAI (Reuters) - With a small, wealthy local population, the United Arab Emirates seemed immune to both Islamist militancy and revolts of the Arab Spring. So when it said it had exposed a "secret organization" plotting to depose the ruling sheikhs, astonishment reigned. Many of the so-called UAE94 group belonged to al-Islah, an Islamist association suspected of ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, the movement which came to power in Egypt last year and advocates Islamic principles in everything from politics to education. ... Full Story | Top |
| Turkish Jews worried after politician links diaspora to protests Tuesday, Jul 02, 2013 08:23 AM PDT  ISTANBUL (Reuters) - A Turkish deputy prime minister linked the "Jewish diaspora" to recent anti-government unrest, drawing condemnation from world Jewish leaders on Tuesday and concern among Turkey's Jews the comments could make them targets of popular anger. Deputy Prime Minister Besir Atalay's office said his comments, made to reporters in the town of Kirikkale and published on the Cihan news agency website on Monday, were taken out of context. ... Full Story | Top |
| Trucks pile up at border of new EU member Croatia Tuesday, Jul 02, 2013 08:11 AM PDT  BATROVCI, Serbia (Reuters) - A day after Croatia joined the European Union, a glitch in its EU-standard customs software caused huge delays at the border with Serbia, the bloc's new external frontier. Some 1,300 trucks were stuck on Tuesday in a 15 km (10 miles) long queue at the Batrovci crossing just inside Serbia, which lies along Europe's main transit road from Turkey to Western Europe. The drivers, mostly from southeastern Europe, said they were worried about the fresh produce they were ferrying, as they had to wait for 12 hours or more to cross. "We have a huge problem. ... Full Story | Top |
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