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Five Egyptian police killed in attacks in Sinai town -sources Friday, Jul 05, 2013 12:37 PM PDT CAIRO (Reuters) - Five Egyptian police officers were gunned down in separate incidents on Friday in the North Sinai town of El Arish, medical sources said, after Islamist gunmen killed a soldier in a separate attack in a nearby town overnight. The police officers were shot by gunmen while they were guarding a government building, a checkpoint on the southern outskirts of the town, and the hospital, the sources said. It was not clear whether the attacks were coordinated and in reaction to the army's overthrow of elected Islamist President Mohamed Mursi on Wednesday. ... Full Story | Top |
Three shot dead in Cairo, Islamist protests spread Friday, Jul 05, 2013 12:29 PM PDT By Tom Perry and Alexander Dziadosz CAIRO (Reuters) - At least three protesters were shot dead on Friday outside the Republican Guard barracks in Cairo where deposed President Mohamed Mursi is being held, security sources said, as angry Islamist supporters confronted troops across Egypt. As darkness fell, thousands of pro- and anti-Mursi demonstrators gathered in parts of Cairo. Soldiers and special forces backed by armored personnel carriers attempted to keep small groups from the two factions apart. ... Full Story | Top |
Senior Egypt cleric demands politicians' release Friday, Jul 05, 2013 12:18 PM PDT CAIRO (Reuters) - The head of Egypt's leading Islamic institution demanded the release of political prisoners on Friday after the arrests of several leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood following the army's overthrow of Islamist President Mohamed Mursi. Ahmed al-Tayeb, Grand Sheikh of Al-Azhar, also called for the release of "prisoners of conscience" and political activists, the state news agency MENA said. The agency later said two senior Brotherhood leaders, Saad El-Katatni and Rashad al-Bayoumi, had been ordered freed by the prosecutor, pending investigation on allegations of inciting ... Full Story | Top |
Iceland parliament declines Snowden's citizenship bid Friday, Jul 05, 2013 12:14 PM PDT By Robert Robertsson REYKJAVIK (Reuters) - A bid by Edward Snowden for Icelandic citizenship failed when the country's parliament voted not to debate it before the summer recess, lawmakers said on Friday, with options for the U.S. fugitive narrowing by the day. The vote leaves Snowden - believed to be staying in a transit area at a Moscow airport - with one option fewer as he seeks a country to shelter him from U.S. espionage charges. ... Full Story | Top |
Egyptian hardline Islamist presidential candidate arrested Friday, Jul 05, 2013 12:08 PM PDT CAIRO (Reuters) - An Egyptian hardline Islamist presidential candidate was arrested on Friday and accused of inciting violence as thousands of Islamists marched across Cairo to protest against the ouster of deposed President Mohamed Mursi, security sources said. Salafi presidential candidate Hazem Salah Abu Ismail was arrested at his home, the sources said, but no other details were immediately available. Abu Ismail was disqualified from the presidential race that brought Mursi to power in June 2012 after reports that his late mother had held a U.S. passport. ... Full Story | Top |
Fighting in central Cairo, amid protests Friday, Jul 05, 2013 11:54 AM PDT CAIRO (Reuters) - Fighting broke out in central Cairo on Friday evening between supporters and opponents of ousted President Mohamed, witnesses said. A group of Islamist supporters of Mursi gathered outside the national broadcasting headquarters on the banks of the Nile, about a kilometer (half a mile) from Tahrir Square, where Mursi's liberal opponents have set up camp. Television images showed groups of youths running. Some threw fireworks which landed among groups of rival protesters. (Reporting by Patrick Werr, Amr Abdallah Dalsh and Alastair Macdonald; Editing by Mike Collett-White) Full Story | Top |
Mali army back in Tuareg rebel town Kidal under peace pact Friday, Jul 05, 2013 11:49 AM PDT BAMAKO (Reuters) - Mali's army re-entered the Tuareg separatist rebel stronghold of Kidal on Friday, touching off protests by some residents, after a peace agreement was reached between the government and insurgents last month. Inhabitants of the remote northern desert town said some 200 Malian soldiers aboard 20 pick-up trucks arrived at Kidal's military camp. Supporters of the MNLA rebels gathered to protest outside the base, where scuffles broke out with locals who supported the return of Malian troops, residents said. ... Full Story | Top |
Russian PM sacks ally of oil boss Sechin Friday, Jul 05, 2013 11:28 AM PDT By Vladimir Soldatkin MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on Friday sacked a senior resources official, believed to be a close ally of Igor Sechin, the boss of state oil firm Rosneft, in a move analysts said was a sign of growing confrontation between the two men. In an order published on Friday Medvedev dismissed Alexander Popov, the head of Rosnedra, an agency responsible for granting licenses to develop natural resources. Popov was an aide to Sechin when Sechin oversaw Russia's energy sector as deputy prime minister. ... Full Story | Top |
Senior Egypt Brotherhood leaders ordered freed: MENA Friday, Jul 05, 2013 11:11 AM PDT CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's public prosecutor ordered the released on Friday of two leading figures in the Muslim Brotherhood who were arrested following the overthrow of Islamist President Mohamed Mursi, the state news agency MENA said. The two were Saad El-Katatni, head of the Brotherhood's political wing and former speaker of parliament, and Rashad al-Bayoumi, one of the Brotherhood's deputy leaders. Both were arrested on Thursday. They remain under investigation for inciting violence. (Reporting by Tom Perry; Editing by Alastair Macdonald) Full Story | Top |
Top U.S. military officer calls Egyptian counterpart Friday, Jul 05, 2013 11:03 AM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The top U.S. military officer, General Martin Dempsey, spoke with his Egyptian counterpart on Thursday, a spokesman said on Friday, in a demonstration of continued relations with Egypt's military following the ouster of President Mohamed Mursi. No further details were provided about Dempsey's conversation with Lieutenant General Sedki Sobhi, chief of staff of Egypt's armed forces. A spokesman said Dempsey had also spoken with Israel's military chief, Lieutenant General Benny Gantz, on Thursday and Friday. (Reporting by Phil Stewart; Editing by Eric Beech) Full Story | Top |
Egypt's shadow hangs over Syrian opposition Friday, Jul 05, 2013 10:30 AM PDT By Khaled Yacoub Oweis ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Syria's opposition hit deadlock on Friday in talks to elect a new leader, as the toppling of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood dealt a blow to its most influential faction. The stalemate is preventing the main players in the Syrian National Coalition from reaching a deal acceptable to their Saudi and Qatari backers, who want to strengthen the opposition to counter an onslaught by President Bashar al-Assad's forces in Syria's civil war. ... Full Story | Top |
Hundreds of Mursi supporters march to Cairo TV center Friday, Jul 05, 2013 10:29 AM PDT CAIRO (Reuters) - Hundreds of Islamist supporters of deposed Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi marched to the national broadcasting center on the banks of the Nile in central Cairo as night fell on Friday. Witnesses said they crossed a Nile bridge close to Tahrir Square, the site of an encampment of Mursi's opponents. Troops with armored vehicles were stationed nearby. The army has said it intends to keep rival factions apart. The Islamist supporters turned away from Tahrir Square after they crossed the bridge and were congregated outside the television headquarters, known as Maspero. ... Full Story | Top |
Popes John Paul II, John XXIII to be made saints: Vatican Friday, Jul 05, 2013 10:18 AM PDT By Philip Pullella VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope John Paul II, the globe-trotting pontiff who led the Catholic Church for nearly 27 years, and Pope John XXIII, who called the reforming Second Vatican Council, will be declared saints, the Vatican said on Friday. The Vatican said Pope Francis had approved a second miracle attributed to John Paul, a Pole who was elected in 1978 as the first non-Italian pope in 450 years and died in 2005. His progression to sainthood is the fastest in modern times. ... Full Story | Top |
Egypt Brotherhood leader pledges 'lives' to restore Mursi Friday, Jul 05, 2013 10:00 AM PDT CAIRO (Reuters) - The leader of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, Mohamed Badie, told a protest rally on Friday that Mohamed Mursi must be reinstated as president following his removal by the army - "otherwise it's our lives". (Reporting by Tom Perry; Editing by Alastair Macdonald) Full Story | Top |
Two Egyptian police killed in Sinai town: sources Friday, Jul 05, 2013 09:55 AM PDT CAIRO (Reuters) - Two Egyptian police officers were shot dead on Friday by unknown gunmen in the Sinai town of El-Arish in front of a government building, medical sources said, the latest of a string of security incidents in the lawless region. The police officers were guarding the building when the gunmen shot at them, the sources said. Islamist gunmen attacked armed forces guarding the El-Arish airport early on Friday. ... Full Story | Top |
Britain wants EU ministers to break Hezbollah deadlock Friday, Jul 05, 2013 09:54 AM PDT By Adrian Croft BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Britain has asked European Union foreign ministers to discuss putting Hezbollah's armed wing on the EU terror list amid signs that opposition to the move is weakening, diplomats said on Friday. A British drive to blacklist the militant Lebanese movement's armed wing was discussed twice by a special EU group last month, but British diplomats failed to win over a number of skeptical governments which fear the step would fuel instability in the Middle East. ... Full Story | Top |
Egypt Brotherhood leader demands Mursi reinstated Friday, Jul 05, 2013 09:43 AM PDT CAIRO (Reuters) - The leader of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, Mohamed Badie, told a protest rally on Friday that he was ready to reach an understanding with the armed forces - but only after the movement's Mohamed Mursi was reinstated as president. As a military helicopter hovered low over the crowd, Badie called on the army not to fire on its own people and said that demonstrations were stronger than tanks. "Our bear chests are stronger than bullets," he said. He had earlier called for mass rallies to continue until the Brotherhood could carry Mursi "on our shoulders". ... Full Story | Top |
French honorary consul in Benghazi survives gun attack Friday, Jul 05, 2013 09:38 AM PDT BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) - France's honorary consul in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi survived a gun attack on his car unharmed, officials said on Friday, in the latest assault on foreigners in the cradle of the North African country's 2011 revolt. The attack happened late on Thursday when Jean Dufriche was on his way back to his residence with his wife. "The consul was driving home when a car drove up and started shooting at their car," said Mohammed al-Hijazy, spokesman of the security operations room in Benghazi. ... Full Story | Top |
Egypt Brotherhood leader Badie appears at protest rally Friday, Jul 05, 2013 09:25 AM PDT CAIRO (Reuters) - The leader of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, Mohamed Badie, appeared before Islamist supporters at a rally in Cairo on Friday which was called to protest at the overthrow of President Mohamed Mursi, a member of the movement. Security sources said Badie had been arrested on Thursday. (The story was refiled to add name of the leader in body of text) (Reporting by Tom Perry; Editing by Alastair Macdonald) Full Story | Top |
Fierce fighting batters Syria's strategic city of Homs Friday, Jul 05, 2013 09:19 AM PDT BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian state forces backed by the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah hammered the central city of Homs on Friday, activists said, sparking concern from United Nations officials over thousands of civilians trapped in the city. President Bashar al-Assad's forces have been using heavy air raids and artillery strikes to push their offensive around the capital and the strategically located Homs, which spans central Syria's eastern and western international borders. ... Full Story | Top |
African Union suspends Egypt over Mursi's ouster Friday, Jul 05, 2013 09:04 AM PDT By Aaron Maasho ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - The African Union voted overwhelmingly on Friday to suspend Egypt from all its activities after the Egyptian army ousted the elected president, Mohamed Mursi, following days of mass protests against his rule. Suspension is the AU's usual response to any interruption of constitutional rule by a member state and it is generally lifted once a country has held a free election once again, which is the Egyptian army's stated goal, though it has given no timeframe. ... Full Story | Top |
Zimbabwe's Mugabe launches 'fight for life' poll campaign Friday, Jul 05, 2013 09:01 AM PDT By MacDonald Dzirutwe HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe launched a "fight of our life" campaign on Friday to extend his three-decade grip on power in a July 31 election already being criticized as poorly planned, underfunded and plagued with irregularities. Speaking to tens of thousands of supporters in a sports ground in Harare's Highfield township, the 89-year-old said his ZANU-PF party wanted to stay in office to push through its plans to increase black ownership of the economy. ... Full Story | Top |
Britain's PM Cameron wins symbolic vote on EU referendum Friday, Jul 05, 2013 08:34 AM PDT By Peter Griffiths LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister David Cameron won a parliamentary vote on Friday on making a referendum on Britain's European Union membership legally binding, but his victory is largely symbolic as it will not tie the hands of a future government. Trailing in the polls before a 2015 election, Cameron hopes his support for the bill will end his Conservative Party's feuds over Europe, win back voters lost to anti-EU rivals and expose the opposition Labor Party's refusal to back a referendum. ... Full Story | Top |
Egypt interim head of state dissolves parliament Friday, Jul 05, 2013 08:20 AM PDT CAIRO (Reuters) - The interim Egyptian head of state who was appointed after the army ousted President Mohamed Mursi dissolved parliament by decree on Friday, state television said. Only the upper house, the Shura Council, had remained active after the lower house was dissolved by military-led authorities shortly before Mursi was elected a year ago. State TV also said that Adli Mansour, the constitutional court chief justice sworn in as head of state on Thursday, had appointed Mohamed Ahmed Farid as head of intelligence. ... Full Story | Top |
Georgia arrests two after truck search yields record heroin find Friday, Jul 05, 2013 08:14 AM PDT TBILISI (Reuters) - Georgian police have arrested two foreigners after finding 116 kg (255 lbs) of heroin in a truck, the country's biggest seizure of illegal drugs, the Interior Ministry said on Friday. A Turk and a Moldovan were detained on Wednesday after crossing the border from Armenia in a truck with tens of millions of dollars worth of heroin hidden in a secret compartment, ministry spokeswoman Nino Giorgobiani said. ... Full Story | Top |
Egypt is 'stable', head of army tells Saudi king Friday, Jul 05, 2013 08:05 AM PDT LONDON (Reuters) - Egypt's armed forces chief told Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah on Friday that the situation in Egypt was "stable", the Saudi state news agency said, as Islamists demonstrated across the country against the military's overthrow of President Mohamed Mursi. Security sources told Reuters that security forces had shot dead at least three Mursi supporters at a rally in Cairo on Friday, but the military later denied firing on protesters. ... Full Story | Top |
Ukraine opposition wants Tymoshenko freed for treatment Friday, Jul 05, 2013 08:00 AM PDT KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine's opposition parties on Friday pressed President Viktor Yanukovich to release jailed ex-prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko for medical treatment in Germany, saying this would be likely to secure the signing of key agreements with the European Union. Tymoshenko, 52, a former prime minister and arch rival of Yanukovich, was jailed for seven years in October 2011 for abuse of office linked to a 2009 gas deal she brokered with Russia. ... Full Story | Top |
Troops, Mursi supporters clash in Sinai, Suez cities Friday, Jul 05, 2013 07:56 AM PDT CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian troops and Islamist supporters of deposed President Mohamed Mursi clashed in three cities on Friday - El-Arish in North Sinai and Suez and Ismailia on the Suez Canal - witnesses and security sources said. Protesters tried to enter government buildings in all three towns. Some threw rocks and troops responded by shooting in the air and firing teargas into the crowds, security sources said. (Reporting By Maggie Fick; Editing by Alastair Macdonald) Full Story | Top |
Gunfire kills three pro-Mursi supporters in Cairo: sources Friday, Jul 05, 2013 07:28 AM PDT CAIRO (Reuters) - At least three demonstrators were shot dead outside the Republican Guard barracks in Cairo where deposed Islamist President Mohamed Mursi is being held, security sources said. The sources said security forces had opened fire. A spokesman for the army said troops had only fired blank rounds and teargas. A Reuters journalist saw demonstrators hit by shotgun pellets. It was not clear whether security forces other than the army were present. Hundreds of supporters of Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood had marched towards the suburban compound and gathered outside. ... Full Story | Top |
Egypt army did not fire on pro-Mursi protesters: spokesman Friday, Jul 05, 2013 07:28 AM PDT CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian troops did not open fire on supporters of ousted President Mohamed Mursi on Friday, an army spokesman said, after security sources said three demonstrators were shot dead by security forces in a protest near where Mursi is being held. The spokesman said soldiers were using only blank rounds and teargas. It was unclear whether security forces other than the army were present. (Reporting by Yasmine Saleh; Writing by Tom Perry; Editing by Alastair Macdonald) Full Story | Top |
EU threatens to suspend data-sharing with U.S. over spying reports Friday, Jul 05, 2013 07:23 AM PDT By Adrian Croft BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union is threatening to suspend two agreements granting the United States access to European financial and travel data unless Washington shows it is respecting EU rules on data privacy, EU officials said on Friday. The threat reflects European disquiet about allegations that the United States has engaged in widespread eavesdropping on European internet users as well as spying on the EU. Cecilia Malmstrom, the EU's home affairs commissioner, wrote to two senior U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
Facing jail, protest leader Navalny condemns Putin's Russia Friday, Jul 05, 2013 07:15 AM PDT By Gabriela Baczynska KIROV, Russia (Reuters) - Protest leader Alexei Navalny said on Friday he would destroy the political system under President Vladimir Putin that was "sucking the blood out of Russia", after state prosecutors demanded he be jailed for six years on theft charges. Navalny says the trial, in the industrial city of Kirov, is intended to sideline him as a potential rival to Putin. A six-year term would keep the anti-corruption campaigner in prison until after the next presidential election, scheduled for 2018. ... Full Story | Top |
Egyptian forces shoot three dead near where Mursi held: security sources Friday, Jul 05, 2013 06:43 AM PDT CAIRO (Reuters) - At least three demonstrators were shot dead by Egyptian security forces on Friday outside the Republican Guard barracks in Cairo where deposed Islamist President Mohamed Mursi is being held, security sources said. Mursi supporters had approached the compound. (Reporting by Tom Perry; Editing by Alastair Macdonald) Full Story | Top |
Egypt Islamists hit by gunfire near where Mursi held Friday, Jul 05, 2013 06:22 AM PDT CAIRO (Reuters) - Several Islamist supporters of deposed Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi were wounded by gunfire on Friday as a crowd of several hundred tried to march towards the military barracks where he is held. A witness told Reuters that he saw several people fall to the ground, wounded by shotgun pellets. Security forces were cordoning the Republican Guard barracks but it was not immediately clear who had opened fire. (Reporting by Tom Perry; Editing by Alastair Macdonald) Full Story | Top |
Northern Irish communities hold talks to avert parade riots Friday, Jul 05, 2013 05:51 AM PDT By Ian Graham BELFAST (Reuters) - The two sides of Northern Ireland's sectarian divide are holding talks in advance of the Protestants' annual parades for the first time in an effort to avert riots, officials said on Friday. Pro-British Protestants stage marches every summer in the British-ruled province, a tradition seen as provocative by Irish nationalists who want to be part of a united Ireland. Since a peace agreement was signed in 1998, violence between the province's Catholics and Protestants - which had raged on and off for three decades - has largely ended. ... Full Story | Top |
Egypt's top prosecutor submits resignation: MENA Friday, Jul 05, 2013 05:47 AM PDT CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's prosecutor general has tendered his resignation, the state news agency said on Friday, three days after being reinstated in his post following the removal of an appointee of the ousted president, Mohamed Mursi. Originally appointed by Hosni Mubarak, Abdel Meguid Mahmoud was forced out after the Islamist Mursi was elected a year ago, prompting a long legal battle. Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood complained that its efforts to govern were being hampered by Mubarak loyalists in the judiciary and other state institutions. ... Full Story | Top |
Egypt's army says no South Sinai, Suez state of emergency Friday, Jul 05, 2013 05:38 AM PDT CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian troops were "on alert" in the Sinai Peninsula, a military spokesman said on Friday, but he denied a report by the state-owned Al-Ahram newspaper that a state of emergency had been declared in Suez and South Sinai provinces. The newspaper's website said that the raised alert levels were a response to an overnight attack by Islamist gunmen on an airport in the Sinai town of El Arish. "We were already very prepared in this important strategic region," a military source said. "The announcement is just to assure our soldiers and people that we are ready in Sinai. ... Full Story | Top |
Suicide bomber in uniform kills 12 Afghan police Friday, Jul 05, 2013 05:29 AM PDT KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) - A suicide bomber wearing an Afghan police uniform detonated an explosive-laden vest in a police dining room on Friday in the country's volatile south, killing 12 police in an apparent insider attack, local officials said. The bombing took place inside a police reserve unit dining room in Trinkot, in Uruzgan province, on Friday afternoon, when dozens of officers were having lunch ahead of the important Friday prayer session. "Police were having lunch when a man with police uniform detonated his suicide vest, killing 12 police and wounding five. ... Full Story | Top |
Egypt liberals call 'urgent' anti-Islamist rallies Friday, Jul 05, 2013 05:23 AM PDT CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's liberal coalition issued an "urgent call" for supporters to take to the streets on Friday in response to demonstrations by Islamist supporters of deposed President Mohamed Mursi. The National Salvation Front, which endorsed the army's removal of Mursi and a plan it issued for holding new elections, said people must protect what it called the "June 30 Revolution" - referring Sunday's mass rallies that prompted the army move. ... Full Story | Top |
Egypt army says no state of emergency in Suez or South Sinai Friday, Jul 05, 2013 05:19 AM PDT CAIRO (Reuters) - The Egyptian army has not declared a state of emergency in South Sinai and Suez provinces, a spokesman said on Friday, denying a report by state-owned newspaper Al-Ahram. The spokesman said the army in the Sinai peninsula was "on alert". Al-Ahram had reported that raised alert levels were in response to an overnight attack by Islamist gunmen on an airport in the North Sinai town of El-Arish. (Reporting by Asma Alsharif; Writing by Mike Collett-White; Editing by Alastair Macdonald) Full Story | Top |
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