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| Two Swiss trains collide, 35 injured, driver feared dead Monday, Jul 29, 2013 12:57 PM PDT  GRANGES-PRES-MARNAND, Switzerland (Reuters) - Two trains collided head-on in Switzerland on Monday evening, injuring about 35 people, five seriously, police said. The driver of one of the trains was still unaccounted for and thought to be inside the wreckage, at Granges-près-Marnand in the canton of Vaud, police spokesman Jean-Christophe Sauterel said. "These are regional trains. The speeds are a little lower and even if one deeply regrets the likely loss of life of one person as well as five serious injuries, the situation could have been much more catastrophic," Sauterel said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Servant was well-treated, say lawyers for Saudi princess in U.S. trafficking case Monday, Jul 29, 2013 12:55 PM PDT  By Dana Feldman SANTA ANA (Reuters) - Lawyers for a Saudi princess accused of holding a Kenyan servant a virtual prisoner in her California home portrayed the servant on Monday as so well-treated that she had access to amenities like a spa and pool and went shopping at local malls. The 42-year-old princess is charged with bringing the woman to the United States in May, confiscating her passport and paying her $220 a month to work 16 hours a day, seven days a week, while essentially holding her captive in a situation Orange County's top prosecutor likened to slavery. ... Full Story | Top |
| Newborn, pregnant women among 31 migrants drowned off Libya: UNHCR Monday, Jul 29, 2013 12:47 PM PDT ROME (Reuters) - A newborn baby and four pregnant women are among 31 migrants feared drowned off the coast of Libya after their boat suffered a puncture and sank while trying to reach southern Europe's shores, the U.N. refugee agency said on Monday. Twenty-two migrants rescued from the sea and taken to the Sicilian island of Lampedusa told the UNHCR agency that 53 people were travelling on their inflatable boat when it ran into difficulties on Friday, the third day of their journey. ... Full Story | Top |
| Tunisia says eight soldiers killed near Algeria border Monday, Jul 29, 2013 12:35 PM PDT TUNIS (Reuters) - Eight Tunisian soldiers were killed by militants near the Algerian border on Monday, the president's office said, in what appeared to be one of the biggest attacks on the country's security forces in decades. The incident occurred in the remote area of Mount Chaambi, where Tunisian troops have been trying to track down Islamist militants since December last year. (Reporting by Erika Solomon; editing by Mike Collett-White) Full Story | Top |
| Gunmen launch major attack on Pakistani prison holding militants Monday, Jul 29, 2013 12:33 PM PDT DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan (Reuters) - Gunmen battled Pakistani security forces for control of a major prison holding hundreds of militants on Monday night, police said. The gunmen launched their attack with a series of heavy explosions before firing rocket propelled grenades and machineguns, district police chief Sohail Khalid said. The prison, in the central town of Dera Ismail Khan, houses Taliban and militants from banned sectarian groups. (Reporting by Katharine Houreld) Full Story | Top |
| Gunmen kill seven Tunisian soldiers near Algeria border: radio station Monday, Jul 29, 2013 12:29 PM PDT TUNIS (Reuters) - Gunmen shot dead seven Tunisian soldiers near the Algerian border on Monday, according to Tunisia's Mosaique radio station. There was no word on the attack from the army, and the identity of the assailants was unclear. A similar ambush near the border on police in April was blamed on hardline Islamist militants. (Editing by Sonya Hepinstall) Full Story | Top |
| Mali counts votes, cheered by high turnout in presidential race Monday, Jul 29, 2013 12:26 PM PDT  By David Lewis and Tiemoko Diallo BAMAKO (Reuters) - Mali tallied votes from its high-stakes election on Monday cheering a robust turnout and lack of violence as proof Malians were eager to turn the page on more than a year of turmoil, war and an army coup. Official results were not due until Tuesday, but that did not stop ex-prime minister Ibrahim Boubacar Keita's camp from saying a first round victory was within reach. ... Full Story | Top |
| Egypt sides defiant as EU envoy seeks compromise Monday, Jul 29, 2013 12:23 PM PDT By Maggie Fick and Matt Robinson CAIRO (Reuters) - Europe's top diplomat pressed Egypt's rulers on Monday to step back from a growing confrontation with the Muslim Brotherhood of deposed Islamist president Mohamed Mursi, two days after 80 of his supporters were gunned down in Cairo. Raising the prospect of more bloodshed, the Brotherhood said it would march again on Monday evening towards a military intelligence headquarters. ... Full Story | Top |
| Iran nominee seen as olive branch to United States Monday, Jul 29, 2013 12:18 PM PDT  By Marcus George and Paul Taylor DUBAI/PARIS (Reuters) - If Iran's president-elect wanted to signal his determination to rebuild relations with the United States and strike a "grand bargain", he could hardly do better than pick Mohammad Javad Zarif as his foreign minister. Iranian news agencies reported on Monday that Zarif, a former ambassador to the United Nations and Tehran's leading connoisseur of the U.S. political elite, is set to be in the new cabinet to be announced after President Hassan Rouhani takes office on Sunday. ... Full Story | Top |
| Aggressive Chinese territorial claims bring risks: U.S. general Monday, Jul 29, 2013 12:13 PM PDT  By Andrea Shalal-Esa WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Aggressive moves by China to assert territorial claims run the risk of "miscalculations" but are also helping Washington strengthen ties with other countries in the region, the general who oversees U.S. air forces in the Pacific said Monday. "Being fairly aggressive runs the risk of creating the potential for miscalculation," Air Force General Herbert Carlisle told defense reporters in Washington. "That's something we think about every day. ... Full Story | Top |
| Syria says army retakes Homs district from rebels Monday, Jul 29, 2013 12:04 PM PDT  By Dominic Evans BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian troops drove insurgents from a central district of Homs on Monday, tightening their siege on remaining rebel bastions in the city, which links Damascus to the Mediterranean heartland of President Bashar al-Assad's Alawite sect. The military's gains in Khalidiya district follow a counter-offensive by Assad's forces, which have pushed back rebels around the Syrian capital and retaken several towns and villages near the border with Lebanon in the last few weeks. ... Full Story | Top |
| Israel convicts seven Arab citizens in Jewish gunman's killing Monday, Jul 29, 2013 12:03 PM PDT By Rami Amichai HAIFA, Israel (Reuters) - An Israeli court convicted seven Arab citizens on Monday in connection with the mob killing in 2005 of a Jewish gunman after he went on a lethal shooting rampage on a bus in their town. While none of the men was found guilty of directly causing the death of Eden Nathan-Zaada, a 19-year-old army deserter and far-right West Bank settler, some members of Israel's Arab minority deplored the verdict as a sign of discrimination. ... Full Story | Top |
| Spain mourns train crash victims in official Mass Monday, Jul 29, 2013 11:58 AM PDT  By Silvio Castellanos SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA, Spain (Reuters) - Mourners packed a memorial service on Monday for the 79 people who died in the country's worst rail disaster in decades, as investigators prepared to analyze information from the train's data recording device, or "black box." The driver of the train, 52-year-old Francisco Garzon, has been charged with 79 counts of negligent homicide and released pending trial after a judge determined he was not a flight risk. ... Full Story | Top |
| Pope says gays should not be marginalized Monday, Jul 29, 2013 11:41 AM PDT  By Philip Pullella ROME (Reuters) - Pope Francis has said gay people should not be marginalized but integrated into society, in some of the most conciliatory remarks by a pontiff on the issue of homosexuality. In a broad-ranging 80-minute conversation with journalists on the plane bringing him back from a week-long visit to Brazil on Sunday night, he also said he could not judge gay priests, an emotive topic that divides Catholic opinion. But the 76-year-old Argentine did reaffirm Church teaching that homosexual acts are a sin. ... Full Story | Top |
| Tunisian prime minister aims for December election Monday, Jul 29, 2013 11:30 AM PDT  TUNIS (Reuters) - Tunisia's Prime Minister on Monday proposed holding fresh elections in December, and said that the Islamist-led transitional government would go on with its work despite mounting efforts to dissolve it. Ali Larayedh accused the secular opposition, which has launched widespread protests against the ruling Islamist Ennahda party, of being "coupists". "The government will continue performing its duties and it will not abandon them, not because it is keen to hold power, and we will maintain our responsibilities until the final moment," he said in televised speech. ... Full Story | Top |
| FBI arrests 150 in three days in sex-trafficking sweep Monday, Jul 29, 2013 11:08 AM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The FBI arrested 150 people across the United States on charges of holding children against their will for prostitution, a three-day weekend sweep that officials on Monday called the largest-ever operation against child sex-trafficking. The suspects, whom the FBI referred to as "pimps," were arrested in 76 U.S. cities and are expected to face state and federal charges related to sex crimes and human trafficking, FBI and U.S. Justice Department officials said at a news conference. ... Full Story | Top |
| Italian bus plunges off viaduct, 38 people killed Monday, Jul 29, 2013 10:58 AM PDT  By Roberto Mignucci MONTEFORTE IRPINO, Italy (Reuters) - Thirty-eight people were killed and at least 18 injured when a bus plunged 25 meters (80 ft) off a viaduct in Italy, in the second major transport disaster in southern Europe in less than a week. Initial reports suggested that the coach was travelling at high speeds and hit four or five cars before crashing over the roadside barriers on a stretch of road near Monteforte Irpino, east of Naples, on Sunday night. There were around 50 people on board, many of them children. ... Full Story | Top |
| Islamist party office attacked as Libya violence surges Monday, Jul 29, 2013 10:53 AM PDT  By Ghaith Shennib TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Assailants attacked an Islamist party office in Tripoli and a soldier was killed in fighting in Libya's eastern city of Benghazi, officials said, in a wave of unrest since the killing of a political activist last week. A car later exploded in central Benghazi but the blast was minor and no-one was hurt, a security official said. The death of prominent Muslim Brotherhood critic Abdelsalam al-Mosmary, shot after leaving a Benghazi mosque on Friday, has triggered violent demonstrations and attacks on the movement's offices in Benghazi and Tripoli. ... Full Story | Top |
| Israel convicts six Arab citizens in Jewish gunman's killing Monday, Jul 29, 2013 10:47 AM PDT By Rami Amichai HAIFA, Israel (Reuters) - An Israeli court convicted six Arab citizens on Monday in connection with the mob killing in 2005 of a Jewish gunman after he went on a lethal shooting rampage on a bus in their town. While none of the men was found guilty of directly causing the death of Eden Nathan-Zaada, a 19-year-old army deserter and far-right West Bank settler, some members of Israel's Arab minority deplored the verdict as a sign of discrimination. ... Full Story | Top |
| Kerry seeks 'reasonable compromises' in Middle East talks Monday, Jul 29, 2013 10:44 AM PDT  By Arshad Mohammed and Lesley Wroughton WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry called on Monday for Israel and the Palestinians to make "reasonable compromises" for peace as he prepared to preside over their first direct negotiations in nearly three years. "It is no secret this is a difficult process. If it were easy, it would have happened a long time ago," Kerry said with his newly named envoy for Israeli-Palestinian peace, former U.S. ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk, at his side. ... Full Story | Top |
| White House: Carter traveling to North Korea in personal capacity Monday, Jul 29, 2013 10:42 AM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter is traveling to North Korea on a private trip, the White House said on Monday, commenting on reports that Carter was going to the reclusive nation soon to win release of an American citizen being held there. Earlier on Monday a representative for Carter said he had no immediate plans to make such a trip. White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Carter was going on his own. "President Carter is traveling to North Korea on a private trip. He's doing that in his personal capacity," Earnest said. ... Full Story | Top |
| White House condemns Egyptian military crackdown Monday, Jul 29, 2013 10:22 AM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House condemned the Egyptian military's bloody weekend crackdown on demonstrators on Monday but took no immediate steps to suspend U.S. military assistance to Egypt. White House spokesman Josh Earnest said the crackdown, in which 80 people were gunned down in Cairo, sets back the process of democratization in Egypt and does not square with the interim government's pledge to swiftly return to civilian rule. ... Full Story | Top |
| Russia should use own electronics in defense industry: deputy PM Monday, Jul 29, 2013 10:12 AM PDT  By Alexei Anishchuk NOVO-OGARYOVO, Russia (Reuters) - Russia's defense industry is cutting down on its use of foreign electronics as a result of leaks by ex-U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden, a Russian government official said on Monday. Snowden's actions in divulging details of U.S. government intelligence programs had shown the need for arms makers to be careful in importing any equipment that contained software capable of transmitting sensitive data abroad, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said. Rogozin specifically referred to foreign-made lathes. ... Full Story | Top |
| Tunisian prime minister says aiming for December election Monday, Jul 29, 2013 10:04 AM PDT  TUNIS (Reuters) - Tunisia's Prime Minister Ali Larayedh said on Monday the Islamist-led transitional government would continue working despite mounting efforts to dissolve it, and, for the first time, proposed a date for fresh elections later this year. "The government will continue performing its duties and it will not abandon them, not because it is keen to hold power, and we will maintain our responsibilities until the final moment," he said in televised speech. "We will focus on holding the elections by the end of this year and our date is December 17. ... Full Story | Top |
| Looted Cannes gems worth $136 million, official says, record jewel heist Monday, Jul 29, 2013 09:56 AM PDT  By Matthias and Galante NICE, France (Reuters) - An armed robber stole gems worth $136 million (102 million euros) in a weekend jewelery heist in the French Riviera resort of Cannes, making it the country's biggest gem theft. The prosecutor's office in the nearby city of Grasse issued the figure on Monday based on an inventory of pieces seized in broad daylight from a precious jewelery exhibition at the luxury Carlton Hotel. It was well over twice initial estimates, which local media had put at around $53 million. ... Full Story | Top |
| Colombia's ELN rebels pledge to free Canadian captive soon Monday, Jul 29, 2013 09:54 AM PDT BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombian rebel group the National Liberation Army said on Monday it would soon free a Canadian citizen it seized six months ago after his employer, gold miner Braeval, decided it would no longer mine in the area where he was kidnapped. The smaller of Colombia's two insurgent groups, known as the ELN, said the mining company's decision "showed goodwill" and brings closer the release of geologist Jernoc Wobert, who was kidnapped along with two Peruvian and three Colombian colleagues in northern Bolivar province. The other captives were freed weeks later. ... Full Story | Top |
| Obama welcomes Middle East talks, says hard choices remain Monday, Jul 29, 2013 09:27 AM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama welcomed Israeli-Palestinian talks starting in Washington later on Monday but cautioned that a tough path lies ahead. "This is a promising step forward, though hard work and hard choices remain ahead," Obama said in a statement. "I am hopeful that both the Israelis and Palestinians will approach these talks in good faith and with sustained focus and determination," he said. "The United States stands ready to support them throughout these negotiations, with the goal of achieving two states, living side by side in peace and security. ... Full Story | Top |
| Timeline: Zimbabwe's tempestuous democracy Monday, Jul 29, 2013 09:22 AM PDT HARARE (Reuters) - Following are some key events in the recent history of Zimbabwe, which goes to the polls on July 31 in an electoral showdown between veteran leader Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai, his political nemesis of the last 15 years. 1980 - ZANU-PF wins independence elections, leading to Mugabe's installation as prime minister on April 18. Veteran nationalist rival Joshua Nkomo takes home affairs portfolio. 1983 - Mugabe deploys North Korean-trained 5th Brigade in Western province of Matabeleland to crush rebellion by guerrillas loyal to Nkomo. ... Full Story | Top |
| Uganda in talks with Chinese firm to bail out indebted MPs Monday, Jul 29, 2013 09:20 AM PDT By Elias Biryabarema KAMPALA (Reuters) - The Ugandan parliament is in talks with a Chinese company on buying out the debts of legislators facing high repayment fees on loans taken against their salaries, a member of parliament said on Monday. The arrangement has been criticized by diplomats and rights groups, who say Uganda is giving too much leverage to China as its companies secure many infrastructure and oil contracts. ... Full Story | Top |
| In Zimbabwean diaspora, only some trek home to vote Monday, Jul 29, 2013 08:58 AM PDT  By Stella Mapenzauswa JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - If Zimbabwe's election this week delivers a win for the party he supports, Gilbert Zondo could be back home by the end of the year, reviving the teaching career he abandoned five years ago to live in precarious exile in South Africa. "It would be nice to stand in a classroom again and do the job I was trained for," Zondo, from Bulawayo and in his 40s, said in downtown Johannesburg at the weekend as he sat in a bus loading passengers for a trip to Zimbabwe's second city. ... Full Story | Top |
| Factbox: Leading candidates in Zimbabwe election Monday, Jul 29, 2013 08:48 AM PDT HARARE (Reuters) - Following are pen profiles of the three main candidates in Zimbabwe's presidential election on July 31. ROBERT MUGABE (ZANU-PF) Zimbabwe's ruler since independence from Britain in 1980, Mugabe started off as prime minister before becoming executive president after a change in the constitution in 1987. Mugabe, 89, has led the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) since 1977 when, along with Joshua Nkomo's ZAPU, the party was waging a guerrilla war for independence. ... Full Story | Top |
| Factbox: How Zimbabwe election voting system works Monday, Jul 29, 2013 08:34 AM PDT HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe holds presidential and parliamentary elections on July 31 in which Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai will try for the third time to unseat veteran President Robert Mugabe, who is seeking to extend his 33-year grip on power. Below are five facts about the voting: * Zimbabwe has 6.4 million registered voters who are expected to cast their ballots at 9,735 polling stations dotted around the southern African country. * Voters directly elect a president, 210 members of parliament and more than 9,000 councilors. ... Full Story | Top |
| Zimbabwe campaign ends with PM pushing Mugabe to retirement Monday, Jul 29, 2013 08:32 AM PDT  By Ed Cropley HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai vowed to pack entrenched President Robert Mugabe off into retirement at a thunderous final campaign rally on Monday, capping a high-spirited election race that has gone down to the wire. With no reliable opinion polls, it is hard to say whether 61-year-old Tsvangirai will succeed on Wednesday in his third attempt to unseat his 89-year-old rival, who has run the southern African nation since independence from Britain in 1980. ... Full Story | Top |
| Italian government's fate hangs on Berlusconi court ruling Monday, Jul 29, 2013 08:30 AM PDT  By Barry Moody ROME (Reuters) - The fate of Italy's fragile government hangs on a ruling by the supreme court, which meets on Tuesday to decide whether to uphold a tax fraud conviction against former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. Italy's Cassation Court will rule on the media magnate's final appeal against a jail sentence and 5-year ban from public office handed down by lower courts for the fraudulent purchase of broadcasting rights by his television network Mediaset. ... Full Story | Top |
| Party in Tunisian ruling coalition demands new government Monday, Jul 29, 2013 08:18 AM PDT By Tarek Amara TUNIS (Reuters) - A secular party in Tunisia's ruling Islamist-led coalition demanded a unity government on Monday to defuse a deepening political crisis, hours after the army sealed a square in the capital where protesters had clashed. Tensions have been mounting over opposition efforts to oust the government following last week's assassination of a leftist politician, the second such killing in six months. Soldiers blocked off the central Bardo square in Tunis, declaring it a "closed military zone" after pro- and anti-government protesters threw rocks at each other. ... Full Story | Top |
| For Palestinians, Israelis new peace talks offer little hope Monday, Jul 29, 2013 08:09 AM PDT  By Maayan Lubell and Nidal al-Mughrabi JERUSALEM/GAZA (Reuters) - When Israeli and Palestinian peace negotiators break bread at a Muslim feast in Washington on Monday, it will be a diplomatic breakthrough of sorts after almost three years of deadlock. Back home, however, it seems Israelis and Palestinians hold out little hope for their leaders' renewed peace drive, the outcome of months of intensive mediation by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to get the sides back to talks, with the hope of resolving a decades-old conflict. "They (the Palestinians) want to wipe Israel out. ... Full Story | Top |
| European Court to hear new CIA jail case against Poland Monday, Jul 29, 2013 08:01 AM PDT  By Christian Lowe WARSAW (Reuters) - The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has agreed to consider a second case against Poland over allegations it allowed the CIA to run a secret jail on its soil, intensifying pressure on Warsaw to reveal how closely it was involved in the U.S. "war on terror". The Strasbourg-based court will consider an application from Saudi-born Abu Zubaydah, who alleges that he was held illegally about a decade ago in a CIA-run facility on the grounds of an intelligence training academy in a Polish forest. ... Full Story | Top |
| Kuwait's emir reappoints PM after election Monday, Jul 29, 2013 07:41 AM PDT  KUWAIT (Reuters) - Kuwait's ruler reappointed Sheikh Jaber al-Mubarak al-Sabah as prime minister after Saturday's election in the Gulf state and asked him to form a new cabinet, state news agency KUNA said on Monday. Sheikh Jaber, who has held the post since late 2011, will now form a new government of around 15 ministers, with top posts expected to go to members of the ruling Al-Sabah family. ... Full Story | Top |
| Protests in Rome as Nazi war criminal celebrates 100th birthday Monday, Jul 29, 2013 07:33 AM PDT ROME (Reuters) - Dozens of demonstrators, including members of Rome's Jewish community, protested outside the apartment building where the former SS officer responsible for one of Italy's worst wartime massacres celebrated his 100th birthday on Monday. Erich Priebke, a former SS captain, lives under house arrest in the Italian capital after being sentenced to life imprisonment in 1998 for the massacre in the Ardeatine Caves near Rome where 335 civilians were killed in March 1944. ... Full Story | Top |
| Egypt's new top general stirs echoes of Nasser Monday, Jul 29, 2013 07:15 AM PDT  By Michael Georgy and Tom Perry CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's army is recasting the country's political drama, giving a popular general the starring role in a change with echoes of the past that could undermine democracy in the Arab world. Army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has emerged as a hero to many Egyptians after toppling Islamist President Mohamed Mursi and cracking down hard on his Muslim Brotherhood. Many liken Sisi to Gamal Abdel Nasser, the charismatic colonel who led a coup against the monarchy in 1952, set up an army-led autocracy and rounded up thousands of Muslim Brothers. ... Full Story | Top |
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