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| Egypt minister wants Brothers in politics, not arms Sunday, Jul 28, 2013 12:16 PM PDT  By Michael Georgy and Tom Perry CAIRO (Reuters) - The Muslim Brotherhood should be part of Egypt's political future and must stop inciting violence, the country's foreign minister said on Sunday, a day after the group accused security forces of killing 72 of its supporters in the streets. Nabil Fahmy warned that deepening political divisions would lead "ultimately to more tragedies" and accused the Brotherhood of igniting bloodshed that is posing a security threat to Egypt and hindering efforts to revive the fragile economy. ... Full Story | Top |
| Little sign of economic stress in North Korea's well-swept capital Sunday, Jul 28, 2013 11:52 AM PDT  By Se Young Lee PYONGYANG (Reuters) - North Korea's economy is believed to be virtually lifeless after decades of mismanagement, isolation and sanctions aimed at foiling its nuclear ambitions but its showcase capital, Pyongyang, shows no hint of calamity. Secretive North Korea allowed in a large group of foreign journalists last week to cover Saturday's lavish celebrations of the 60th anniversary of the truce that ended the 1950-53 Korean War, which North Korea says it won. No expense seems to have been spared for monuments to the conflict upon which the state was founded. ... Full Story | Top |
| Three loud explosions heard in Libya's Benghazi: witnesses Sunday, Jul 28, 2013 11:49 AM PDT TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Three loud explosions rocked the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi on Sunday, in what appeared to be attacks on judicial institutions there, a resident and a security source said. Resident Hassan Bakoush told Reuters by telephone that he heard an explosion at the court in the north of the city: "It was very loud and I saw the smoke." "Some balconies of nearby buildings are damaged," he added. A security source said there were two more explosions - one in the vicinity of an office of the justice ministry and the other near a court in the south of the city. ... Full Story | Top |
| Egypt's Brotherhood stands ground after killings Sunday, Jul 28, 2013 10:39 AM PDT  By Maggie Fick and Noah Browning CAIRO (Reuters) - Thousands of supporters of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood stood their ground outside a Cairo mosque on Sunday a day after at least 72 were gunned down by security forces, braced for a move against them by the army chief behind the overthrow of Islamist president Mohamed Mursi. General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi made his first appearance since Saturday's bloodshed, smiling before television cameras at a police graduation ceremony, recruits decked out in starched white uniforms. ... Full Story | Top |
| Israel approves prisoner deal to clear way for peace talks Sunday, Jul 28, 2013 10:23 AM PDT  By Ori Lewis JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel's cabinet on Sunday approved the release of 104 Arab prisoners to help restart U.S.-brokered peace talks with the Palestinians after nearly three years of diplomatic stagnation. Thirteen ministers in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition cabinet voted in favor of the prisoner release, seven voted against and two abstained, a government official said. "The cabinet has authorized the opening of diplomatic talks between Israel and the Palestinians...," said a statement issued by the prime minister's office. ... Full Story | Top |
| Driver in Spanish train crash faces questions from judge Sunday, Jul 28, 2013 09:44 AM PDT  By Tracy Rucinski SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA, Spain (Reuters) - The driver of a Spanish train that derailed at high speed was taken before a judge on Sunday for questioning as officials try to determine to what degree he was responsible for the deaths of 79 people in the accident. Francisco Garzon, 52, has been under the arrest since shortly after the accident on suspicion of reckless homicide, but has yet to be formally charged by a magistrate. ... Full Story | Top |
| Some 100 prisoners recaptured out of 1,100 in Libyan jail break Sunday, Jul 28, 2013 09:31 AM PDT TRIPOLI (Reuters) - About 100 inmates out of more than 1,100 who escaped during a prison riot in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi have been recaptured, a security official said on Sunday. Armed violence and lawlessness, caused in part by militia groups who often do as they please, has hobbled governance in large areas of the oil-producing North African state following the 2011 war that toppled Muammar Gaddafi. In all, 1,117 inmates on Saturday broke out of the Kuafiya prison on the outskirts of the city, the cradle of the 2011 uprising that has now become a hot spot for violence. ... Full Story | Top |
| Tunisian opposition may set up rival 'salvation government' Sunday, Jul 28, 2013 09:24 AM PDT By Tarek Amara and Erika Solomon TUNIS (Reuters) - Tunisia's secular opposition said on Sunday it might set up an alternative "salvation government" to challenge the Islamist-led ruling coalition and show its anger at the assassinations of two leftist politicians in six months. Opposition leaders, who have also been emboldened by the Egyptian army's overthrow of an Islamist president this month, said they had no interest in reconciliation with the dominant Islamist Ennahda party. ... Full Story | Top |
| Malians flock to vote in bid to rebuild broke nation Sunday, Jul 28, 2013 09:11 AM PDT  By David Lewis and Adama Diarra BAMAKO (Reuters) - Malians turned out in large numbers to vote on Sunday in a presidential election they hope will provide a fresh start for the West African nation after more than a year of turmoil, war and an army coup. From the lush, bustling riverside capital, Bamako, to the northern desert town of Timbuktu, voters crammed into schools turned into polling stations for the day, protected by Malian, French and United Nations forces. ... Full Story | Top |
| Bahrain orders tougher penalties ahead of protests Sunday, Jul 28, 2013 09:09 AM PDT DUBAI (Reuters) - Bahrain ordered tougher penalties for what it called terrorist acts on Sunday ahead of planned anti-government protests next month. Bahrain's lawmakers agreed at an extraordinary session on Sunday to proposals including stripping those who commit or call for 'terrorism crimes' of their nationality and preventing any protests from taking place in the capital Manama, the state news agency BNA said. King Hamad ordered authorities to put the recommendations into effect as soon as possible "through the available constitutional and legal channels", BNA said. U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Colombian peace talks resume in Cuba as conflict rages Sunday, Jul 28, 2013 08:41 AM PDT  By Marc Frank HAVANA (Reuters) - The Colombian government and leftist FARC rebels resumed peace negotiations in Havana on Sunday after a recess of more than two weeks, during which 19 soldiers and a number of rebels were killed and rural protests left four farmers dead and several police injured. More than 200,000 people have died and millions have been displaced in fighting since the FARC, or Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, was founded in 1964 as a communist agrarian reform movement. ... Full Story | Top |
| Zimbabwe's Mugabe warns rival against early poll win claim Sunday, Jul 28, 2013 08:39 AM PDT  By Cris Chinaka HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe on Sunday warned his main rival Morgan Tsvangirai that he would be arrested if he claimed victory before official results were announced in an election this week. In his final campaign rally ahead of a presidential and parliamentary vote on Wednesday, Mugabe said his ZANU-PF party was confident of victory, which would extend his three decades in power. But he expressed concern that Tsvangirai, who is making a third run at the presidency, had threatened not to wait for official results from the electoral authorities. ... Full Story | Top |
| Serbian finance minister cedes economy brief, averts risk of snap poll Sunday, Jul 28, 2013 08:36 AM PDT  BELGRADE (Reuters) - Serbian Finance Minister Mladjan Dinkic agreed on Sunday to cede his economy portfolio, averting possible snap elections that could have dented the country's ambitions to join the European Union. Dinkic said he would remain as finance minister, while the economy portfolio would go to the SNS, Serbia's biggest party, paving the way for a fuller cabinet reshuffle. Dinkic had previously resisted splitting up his ministry, but Prime Minister Ivica Dacic warned on Saturday that the coalition would go on without him if he did not. ... Full Story | Top |
| Millions at Brazil Mass hear pope ask youth to change world Sunday, Jul 28, 2013 08:34 AM PDT  By Philip Pullella and Maria Pia Palermo RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - Rio's famed Copacabana beach, usually the venue for scantily-clad sun-seekers and revelry, became a massive Catholic campground on Sunday as Pope Francis concluded a youth festival by urging young people to go forth and build a new world. A festive crowd estimated by organizers and the Vatican to be more than 3 million strong, including many who slept in the area and local residents who poured out of homes and buses, turned out to see the Argentine pope on the final day of his week-long trip. ... Full Story | Top |
| Italian ministers publish incomes online in transparency drive Sunday, Jul 28, 2013 08:33 AM PDT  ROME (Reuters) - All the ministers in Enrico Letta's left-right coalition government have published their incomes and assets online, aiming to set an example of transparency as they step up the fight against tax evasion. Italian newspapers on Sunday ran tables and illustrated charts ranking the ministers based on their reported salaries and wealth. Justice Minister Anna Maria Cancellieri topped the tables with a reported income of about 319,000 euros ($423,100) for 2012 and a long list of property, land and other investments. ... Full Story | Top |
| Party of PM Hun Sen wins Cambodian election, majority slashed Sunday, Jul 28, 2013 08:23 AM PDT  By Prak Chan Thul PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - Cambodia's ruling party won Sunday's general election but with a much-reduced majority, according to the government, a result that will be seen as a setback for authoritarian leader Hun Sen, one of the world's longest-serving prime ministers. Khieu Kanharith, government spokesman and information minister, said on his Facebook page the Cambodian People's Party (CPP) won 68 seats in parliament to the opposition's 55, adding that was the final count. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. House set to vote on tough Iran sanctions bill this week Sunday, Jul 28, 2013 08:16 AM PDT By Timothy Gardner WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives are due to vote on a tough Iran sanctions bill this week that seeks to squeeze the Islamic Republic's oil exports to a trickle. The Republican-led House is due to vote on Wednesday on the bill that seeks to cut Iran's oil exports by another 1 million barrels per day within one year, congressional aides said. The bill, expected to pass easily in the House, would not become law immediately as no companion legislation has yet passed in the Senate. ... Full Story | Top |
| Israel approves prisoner release ahead of Palestinian talks Sunday, Jul 28, 2013 07:08 AM PDT  JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel on Sunday approved the release of 104 Arab prisoners in a move intended to facilitate the restart of peace talks with the Palestinians and end nearly three years of diplomatic standstill. Thirteen ministers in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's cabinet authorized the release, seven voted against and two abstained, a government official said. (Reporting by Ori Lewis; editing by Mike Collett-White) Full Story | Top |
| Migrants say 31 missing after boat sinks off Libya: ANSA Sunday, Jul 28, 2013 06:56 AM PDT ROME (Reuters) - The Italian coastguard has rescued 22 migrants from a boat which sank off the coast of Libya but more than 30 are still missing at sea, ANSA news agency said on Sunday. The coastguard said in total it had rescued more than 500 people trying to reach Europe over the weekend. Most are from sub-Saharan Africa and departed from the Libyan coast, A coastguard spokesman confirmed the rescue of 22 people from the sinking on Friday but could not confirm survivors' accounts, reported by ANSA, that 31 were still missing and feared to have perished. ... Full Story | Top |
| Brazil's Rousseff rules out more spending cuts: newspaper Sunday, Jul 28, 2013 06:54 AM PDT  SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff ruled out additional spending cuts or a reduction in the number of government ministries from 39, saying the benefits of such measures to spur economic growth would be minimal, Folha de São Paulo newspaper reported on Sunday. Rousseff said in an interview with Folha that all possible measures to contain budget expenditures have been taken and that trimming the number of ministries might hamper the government's efforts to reduce social and economic inequality. ... Full Story | Top |
| Liberals, smaller tribes win seats in Kuwait vote after boycott Sunday, Jul 28, 2013 06:11 AM PDT  By Sylvia Westall KUWAIT (Reuters) - Liberals and candidates from some of Kuwait's more marginalized tribes have won seats in a parliament which may prove more cooperative with the ruling family after opposition Islamists and populists boycotted the election. Saturday's ballot was the sixth since 2006 in the major oil producer, where political upheaval and bureaucracy have held up the vast majority of projects in a 30-billion-dinar ($105-billion) economic development plan announced in 2010. ... Full Story | Top |
| Spain's Socialists all but level with ruling conservatives: poll Sunday, Jul 28, 2013 06:03 AM PDT  MADRID (Reuters) - Spain's opposition Socialists have all but drawn level in the polls with the ruling centre-right for the first time since elections in 2011, a survey showed, as a corruption scandal erodes the government's popularity. The People's Party (PP) of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy would win 23 percent of the vote if elections were held now, according to the survey published on Sunday in newspaper El Pais. That is little more than half the 44.6 percent that took the PP to an absolute parliamentary majority in the November 2011 ballot. ... Full Story | Top |
| Tunisian opposition says may set up rival 'salvation government' Sunday, Jul 28, 2013 05:46 AM PDT  TUNIS (Reuters) - Tunisia's secular opposition, angered by two assassinations in its ranks and emboldened by the overthrow of Egypt's president, said on Sunday it was considering setting up an alternative "salvation government" to challenge the Islamist-led leadership. If agreed, the move would mark a significant escalation by the country's opposition groups, who say they have no interest in reconciliation with the ruling Ennahda party. ... Full Story | Top |
| Berlusconi won't seek 'exile' if tax fraud conviction upheld Sunday, Jul 28, 2013 05:43 AM PDT  ROME (Reuters) - Former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said he would not flee Italy and was ready to go to jail rather than face house arrest or community service if a court upholds his conviction for tax fraud next week. Italy's highest appeals court will on Tuesday hear Berlusconi's final appeal against a four-year prison sentence and a ban from public office for tax fraud in connection with the purchase of broadcasting rights by his television network Mediaset. ... Full Story | Top |
| Afghan eyes Iran deal to boost trade to Europe, India Sunday, Jul 28, 2013 05:08 AM PDT KABUL (Reuters) - Afghanistan hopes an agreement with Iran to use one of its ports will help boost exports to Europe and India and reduce its dependence on neighboring Pakistan's ports for trade. Iran will allow land-locked Afghanistan to use the port to export goods like fruit and carpets to India and other countries, according to the spokesman for Afghanistan's Ministry of Commerce and Industries. "We want to export to central Asia and Europe, India wants to use the port to send goods to Afghanistan," Wahidullah Ghazikhel told Reuters. ... Full Story | Top |
| Iran's new president to return Zanganeh to oil ministry: source Sunday, Jul 28, 2013 03:46 AM PDT  DUBAI (Reuters) - Iranian President-elect Hassan Rouhani is expected to return respected former oil minister Bijan Zanganeh to the post he held for eight years until hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad came to office in 2005, an Iranian industry source said on Sunday. As oil minister under the reformist government from 1997 to 2005, Zanganeh helped attract billions of dollars of foreign investment into Iran's vast oil and gas industry and was seen as being insulated from political attacks on the administration by the strong support of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei. ... Full Story | Top |
| Japan, China could hold summit soon: Japanese PM's adviser Sunday, Jul 28, 2013 03:39 AM PDT  By Antoni Slodkowski TATSUNO, Japan (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe could soon hold a summit meeting with China's president, Xi Jingping, an adviser to Abe said on Sunday, adding that he had met senior officials close to the Chinese leader on a secret visit to Beijing this month. Abe, whose ruling bloc cemented its grip on power with a win in upper house of parliament elections a week ago, called on Friday for an unconditional meeting between his country and China as soon as possible. ... Full Story | Top |
| Timeline: Mali holds first vote since coup, French intervention Sunday, Jul 28, 2013 03:02 AM PDT (Reuters) - Here is a look at the last 16 months in Mali which is holding a presidential election on Sunday. The vote follows a French-led military intervention from January that expelled Islamist militants who, with Tuareg separatists, had seized the north of the country after a March 2012 coup. March 22, 2012 - Soldiers seize power from Mali's President Amadou Toumani Toure as a protest against the government's ineffective handling of a campaign against northern rebels. Coup leader Captain Amadou Sanogo says he is ready for talks with rebels but wants to preserve Mali's territorial ... Full Story | Top |
| Factbox: Main contenders in the race for Mali's presidency Sunday, Jul 28, 2013 03:02 AM PDT BAMAKO (Reuters) - Mali held a presidential election on Sunday after more than a year of turmoil including a coup and a French-led military intervention to free the north from al Qaeda-allied Islamist rebels. Here are some details on the main candidates out of a field of 27 running in the election. - Ibrahim Boubacar Keita Universally known as IBK, Keita is the political heavyweight in the election race. He has held several portfolios in previous governments and served as prime minister from 1994-2000. ... Full Story | Top |
| Drone strike kills four militants in Yemen: residents Sunday, Jul 28, 2013 01:36 AM PDT DUBAI (Reuters) - Rockets fired from unmanned aircraft killed at least four suspected Islamist militants in southern Yemen late on Saturday, residents said. The fighters were believed to belong to Ansar al-Sharia, a Yemeni militant group linked to al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), al Qaeda's regional arm, the residents told Reuters. The four were travelling in a vehicle in Yemen's southern province of Abyan when two rockets were launched from drones, they said. "Huge blasts were heard late on Saturday from the area," said one. ... Full Story | Top |
| Suicide bomber kills eight Kurdish security forces personnel in Iraq Sunday, Jul 28, 2013 01:23 AM PDT TIKRIT, Iraq (Reuters) - A suicide bomber driving a car packed with explosives blew himself up near a Kurdish security forces patrol killing at least eight of them early on Sunday, police said. The attack took place in the center of the ethnically mixed town of Tuz Khurmato, 170 km (105 miles) north of the capital Baghdad, in a notoriously unstable region over which both the central government and autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan claim jurisdiction. ... Full Story | Top |
| Germany's Schaeuble set to stay center stage in euro crisis Saturday, Jul 27, 2013 11:51 PM PDT  By Annika Breidthardt BERLIN (Reuters) - Two years ago, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble was on the point of giving up his role as iron fist in the euro zone debt crisis, but the 70-year-old champion of closer European integration now seems likely to remain on Europe's center stage. Chancellor Angela Merkel, who made her independent-minded and famously irritable former rival finance minister in 2009, is expected to reappoint him if, as widely forecast, she wins a third term in the September 22 parliamentary poll. ... Full Story | Top |
| Insight: The poison pill in India's search for cheap food Saturday, Jul 27, 2013 10:35 PM PDT  By Rajendra Jadhav and Jo Winterbottom MUMBAI/NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Nearly a decade ago, the Indian government ruled out a ban on the production and use of monocrotophos, the highly toxic pesticide that killed 23 children this month in a village school providing free lunches under a government-sponsored program. Despite being labeled highly hazardous by the World Health Organization (WHO), a panel of government experts was persuaded by manufacturers that monocrotophos was cheaper than alternatives and more effective in controlling pests that decimate crop output. ... Full Story | Top |
| Business booms for asylum middlemen in Afghan exodus Saturday, Jul 27, 2013 06:35 PM PDT  By Rob Taylor and Mirwais Harooni KABUL (Reuters) - In a brightly lit travel agency in a gloomy Kabul mall, business is booming for Naser Gulzad. But all he can think about is shutting up shop and following his customers out of Afghanistan. Like many Afghans watching the exit of NATO-led troops and fearing a comeback by the Taliban or the country's notorious warlords, Gulzad wants desperately to join an exodus gathering pace ahead of what is expected to be a tumultuous 2014. "People are really worried about their own future and the future of Afghanistan. ... Full Story | Top |
| Police clash with protesters in Tunisia's Sidi Bouzid Saturday, Jul 27, 2013 06:29 PM PDT  By Tarek Amara TUNIS (Reuters) - Tunisian police fired teargas late on Saturday to disperse violent protests in the southern town of Sidi Bouzid, cradle of the country's revolution and hometown of slain secular opposition figure Mohamed Brahmi, witnesses said. Tensions have run high in Tunisia since Brahmi's Thursday assassination, and large protests throughout the day were met with police teargas. ... Full Story | Top |
| Mali scrambles to be ready for Sunday's 'fresh start' vote Saturday, Jul 27, 2013 06:19 PM PDT  By David Lewis and Tiemoko Diallo BAMAKO (Reuters) - Malian election officials scrambled to distribute voting material for an election on Sunday intended to provide a fresh start to a country divided by a coup and a war in its desert north. Candidates wound up campaigns promising reconstruction and reconciliation but, underscoring security fears despite a successful French offensive against al Qaeda-linked fighters, an Islamist group threatened to attack polling stations. ... Full Story | Top |
| Canadian, jailed in Mauritania for terror link, reported back home Saturday, Jul 27, 2013 06:09 PM PDT OTTAWA/NOUAKCHOTT (Reuters) - A Canadian man jailed for "terrorist conspiracy" in the west African nation of Mauritania arrived back in Canada under police escort on Friday after his sentence was cut on appeal, Canadian television said. The Canadian Broadcasting Corp and CTV News both quoted a government official as saying Aaron Yoon had flown into Toronto. Canada's foreign ministry said earlier in the day that it was aware Yoon had been released by Mauritanian authorities. ... Full Story | Top |
| Pope urges Brazil's youth to seek change, fight apathy Saturday, Jul 27, 2013 05:29 PM PDT  By Anthony Boadle and Philip Pullella RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - Pope Francis on Saturday encouraged Brazil's young people, who have protested against corruption in their country, to continue their efforts to change society by fighting apathy and offering "a Christian response." The 76-year-old pope spoke to a crowd estimated by the Vatican to be more than 2 million people gathered on Rio's famed Copacabana beach for an evening rally where he also urged young people to shun fleeting fads and be "athletes of Christ. ... Full Story | Top |
| Al Shabaab claim attack on Turkish mission in Somalia, three dead Saturday, Jul 27, 2013 05:21 PM PDT  By Feisal Omar and Abdi Sheikh MOGADISHU (Reuters) - A car loaded with explosives rammed into an office housing Turkish embassy staff in the Somali capital, killing three people, witnesses and officials said on Saturday, the latest in a series of blasts claimed by Islamist al Shabaab rebels. Al Shabaab was pushed out of bases in Mogadishu by Somali and African forces about two years ago, raising hopes of a return to relative security in a city hit by years of war. ... Full Story | Top |
| Tunisia leaders aim for new power-sharing deal 'in coming hours' Saturday, Jul 27, 2013 04:58 PM PDT TUNIS (Reuters) - Coalition partners of Tunisia's ruling Islamist party said on Saturday they were in talks to reach a new power-sharing deal, in a bid to stave off unrest as protests intensified late into the night. The spokesman for the Constituent Assembly, Tunisia's transitional parliament tasked with drafting a new constitution, said he expected a deal in the coming hours. "The trend now is to move towards expanding the base of power," Mufdi al-Masady told a local radio station. ... Full Story | Top |
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