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| Turkish police fired water cannon to prevent park protest Monday, Jul 08, 2013 12:56 PM PDT  By Ece Toksabay and Daren Butler ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish police fired teargas and water cannon on Monday at protesters who tried to defy a closure order and enter an Istanbul park at the centre of protests against Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's government. Gezi Park was only open for a few hours after Istanbul's governor allowed people back in, following often violent protests last month against plans to redevelop the area, when riot police ordered it shut ahead of a planned rally. ... Full Story | Top |
| Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood calls for more protests after killings Monday, Jul 08, 2013 12:46 PM PDT  CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood and its Islamist allies called for more protests on Tuesday, after 51 people were killed in Cairo on Monday when the army opened fire on supporters of ousted Islamist President Mohamed Mursi. Mursi supporters blame the military for opening fire on them outside the Republican Guard compound where the former president is believed to be held. He was ousted by the military on Wednesday. The army said it opened fire in response to an attack on its soldiers. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. won't cut off aid to Egypt immediately: White House Monday, Jul 08, 2013 12:39 PM PDT  By Steve Holland WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House refused to label the military ouster of Egypt's president a coup on Monday and said there would be no immediate cut-off in U.S. aid to Egypt in a move that distances Washington from the country's toppled Muslim Brotherhood leadership. White House spokesman Jay Carney, peppered with questions about Egypt at his daily briefing, struggled to explain how Washington could avoid calling the ouster of Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi a coup. ... Full Story | Top |
| Osama bin Laden report accuses Pakistan of incompetence Monday, Jul 08, 2013 12:37 PM PDT  By Maria Golovnina ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Osama bin Laden was able to avoid detection and live in plain sight for almost a decade due to the incompetence and negligence of Pakistan's intelligence and security services, Pakistan's official report into his killing concluded on Monday. Following a decade-long hunt, the CIA tracked down the al Qaeda leader in 2011 to a compound within sight of an elite Pakistani military academy in Abbottabad, a city close to the capital Islamabad. In a secret night-time mission by U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Mexico opposition wins key state vote, boosting reform outlook Monday, Jul 08, 2013 12:10 PM PDT  By Dave Graham and Miguel Gutierrez MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto's economic agenda looked to be on surer footing after local elections on Sunday yielded results that favor a cross-party pact he forged to push reforms through Congress. In the most closely watched race, the conservative National Action Party (PAN) won a tight contest for governor in its stronghold of Baja California, an outcome that should help defuse tensions between the opposition and Pena Nieto's Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI. ... Full Story | Top |
| Brazil drops plan to import Cuban doctors Monday, Jul 08, 2013 12:08 PM PDT  BRASILIA (Reuters) - The Brazilian government, under pressure to improve public health services, has dropped plans to import a contingent of Cuban doctors and is instead looking to hire physicians in Spain and Portugal, the Health Ministry said on Monday. The plan to bring in Cuban doctors created a backlash because of questions about their qualifications. Brazilian medical associations argued that standards at Cuba's medical schools were lower than in Brazil and equivalent in some cases to a nursing education. ... Full Story | Top |
| Battles intensify in Syria's strategic city of Homs Monday, Jul 08, 2013 11:58 AM PDT  By Oliver Holmes BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian troops fought with rebels in Homs on Monday in a battle seen as crucial to the government's attempts to drive a wedge between opposition-held areas and establish links between the capital and President Bashar al-Assad's coastal strongholds. Assad's forces have been on the offensive in the central Syrian city for ten days, hitting rebel-held neighborhoods with air strikes, mortar bombs and tanks. ... Full Story | Top |
| At least 51 killed in Egypt as Islamists urge defiance Monday, Jul 08, 2013 11:53 AM PDT  By Alexander Dziadosz and Shadia Nasralla CAIRO (Reuters) - At least 51 people were killed on Monday when the Egyptian army opened fire on supporters of ousted president Mohamed Mursi, in the deadliest incident since the elected Islamist leader was toppled by the military five days ago. Protesters said shooting started as they performed morning prayers outside the Cairo barracks where Mursi is believed to be held. But military spokesman Ahmed Ali said that at 4 a.m. (0200 GMT) armed men attacked troops in the area around the Republican Guard compound in the northeast of the city. ... Full Story | Top |
| Liberia's Johnson-Sirleaf sacks auditor-general for graft Monday, Jul 08, 2013 11:43 AM PDT  DAKAR (Reuters) - President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf dismissed Liberia's auditor-general and the head of the public procurement agency (GSA) on Monday in a crackdown on public sector corruption. Johnson-Sirleaf, a Nobel peace laureate, has pledged to fight graft as the West African country strives to recover from a sporadic 14-year civil conflict that ended in 2003 and left its once-prosperous economy in tatters. A presidency statement said Auditor-General Robert Kilby, who took office last year, was being dismissed for a clear conflict of interest due to his private business dealings. ... Full Story | Top |
| Syria invites U.N. chemical arms chief, but access is in doubt Monday, Jul 08, 2013 11:40 AM PDT  By Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Monday invited chief U.N. chemical weapons investigator Ake Sellstrom to Damascus to discuss allegations of banned arms use in Syria's civil war but suggested it would not compromise on access. Syrian U.N. Ambassador Bashar Ja'afari told reporters that U.N. disarmament chief Angela Kane was also invited to Syria for talks about the U.N. chemical investigation. ... Full Story | Top |
| Cuba to embark on deregulation of state companies Monday, Jul 08, 2013 11:37 AM PDT  By Marc Frank HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuba will begin deregulating state-run companies in 2014 as reform of the Soviet-style command economy moves from retail services and farming into its biggest enterprises, the head of the Communist Party's reform efforts said. Politburo member and reform czar Marino Murillo said the 2014 economic plan included dozens of changes in how the companies, accountable for most economic activity in the country, did business. ... Full Story | Top |
| Bolivia demands answers from Europe in plane spat over Snowden Monday, Jul 08, 2013 11:33 AM PDT  By Daniel Ramos LA PAZ (Reuters) - Bolivia on Monday demanded France, Portugal, Spain and Italy reveal who told them that former U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden was aboard President Evo Morales' flight from Moscow last week. Bolivia said it was an act of "state terrorism" by the United States and its European allies that the four countries banned Morales' plane from their airspace on suspicions it was carrying the U.S. fugitive to Bolivia in defiance of Washington. The government in La Paz told the European ambassadors to provide formal explanations on Monday to the Foreign Ministry. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.N. urged to consider drones, gunships for South Sudan mission Monday, Jul 08, 2013 11:30 AM PDT  By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations should consider deploying surveillance drones and helicopter gunships in South Sudan because peacekeepers are struggling to protect civilians from violence and rights abuses, the U.N. special envoy to South Sudan said on Monday. Hilde Johnson told the U.N. Security Council that after a U.N. civilian helicopter was shot down in December, new safety procedures and a lack of military helicopters - the peacekeepers have only three - had slowed the mission's ability to respond. Johnson said U.N. ... Full Story | Top |
| White House says will not immediately cut off aid to Egypt Monday, Jul 08, 2013 11:23 AM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House said on Monday it is not in the best interests of the United States to immediately change its aid program to Egypt, where President Mohamed Mursi was removed from office by the military last week. The U.S. government is not yet prepared to label the Egyptian military's overthrow of the government as a coup, a decision that would determine whether U.S. aid to the country would continue, White House spokesman Jay Carney said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Venezuela charges five officials with embezzling China funds Monday, Jul 08, 2013 11:09 AM PDT By Brian Ellsworth CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela has arrested five officials and charged them with embezzling $84 million from a China-financed development fund administered by state-run development bank Bandes, President Nicolas Maduro said on Monday. Maduro did not say whether the case was linked to charges by U.S. authorities earlier this year that employees of a New York broker-dealer had created an elaborate kickback scheme to ensure it won Bandes' bond-trading business. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. tells Egyptian army to exercise 'maximum restraint' Monday, Jul 08, 2013 11:04 AM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The State Department on Monday called on the Egyptian army to exercise "maximum restraint" in dealing with protesters after at least 51 people were killed when the military opened fire on supporters of ousted President Mohamed Mursi. "We strongly condemn any violence as well as any incitement of violence," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told a daily briefing. "We call on the military to use maximum restraint responding to protesters, just as we urge all of those demonstrating to do so peacefully," she added. ... Full Story | Top |
| Fire was doused on train before it smashed into Quebec town Monday, Jul 08, 2013 11:03 AM PDT  By Richard Valdmanis and Julie Gordon LAC-MEGANTIC, Quebec (Reuters) - A driverless, runaway fuel train that exploded in a deadly ball of flames in the center of a small Quebec town started rumbling down an empty track just minutes after a fire crew had extinguished a blaze in one of its parked locomotives, an eyewitness said on Monday. The train rolled 12 km (8 miles) from the town of Nantes to the town of Lac-Megantic, near the Maine border in eastern Quebec, gathering speed on a downhill grade. ... Full Story | Top |
| France gives asylum to Ukrainian topless feminist activist Monday, Jul 08, 2013 10:50 AM PDT PARIS (Reuters) - France has granted asylum to a feminist activist who hacked down a Christian cross last year in Kiev with a chainsaw, the Ukrainian woman said on Monday. Inna Shevchenko sought asylum last February after receiving threats over the act in August 2012 - during which she was topless - which was meant as a protest against the prosecution of the Russian feminist punk band, Pussy Riot. ... Full Story | Top |
| White House says it is concerned about Egypt violence Monday, Jul 08, 2013 10:44 AM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States remains concerned about the increasing violence and political polarization in Egypt, and has called on the transitional authority in Egypt to avoid reprisals, arrests and restrictions on the media, White House spokesman Jay Carney said on Monday. (Reporting by Laura MacInnis and Roberta Rampton; Editing by Sandra Maler) Full Story | Top |
| France's Sarkozy returns to political stage in party appeal Monday, Jul 08, 2013 10:22 AM PDT  By Catherine Bremer PARIS (Reuters) - Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy made his first political appearance since losing power, staging an appeal to hundreds of conservative lawmakers on Monday to help save the UMP party from financial ruin. Greeted by a mass of fans as he arrived at UMP headquarters, Sarkozy called for donations to prop up the party after France's top legal body ruled last week that it overshot spending limits on his failed 2012 re-election campaign and must repay 11 million euros ($14.15 million) in state subsidies. ... Full Story | Top |
| Maine has no plans to halt oil rail shipments after Quebec tragedy Monday, Jul 08, 2013 08:35 AM PDT  By Dave Sherwood BOWDOINHAM, Maine (Reuters) - Maine has no plans to review shipments of crude through the state on rail lines after a deadly oil train derailment just across the border in Quebec's Lac-Megantic over the weekend, the state's Department of Transportation said. The train was hauling about 50,000 barrels of crude from North Dakota's Bakken shale development to Irving Oil's 300,000 barrel per day (bpd) plant in Saint John, New Brunswick. ... Full Story | Top |
| Egypt's lesson for political Islam: politics comes first Monday, Jul 08, 2013 08:11 AM PDT  By Tom Heneghan, Religion Editor PARIS (Reuters)- When the Muslim Brotherhood won power it seemed Egypt's nascent democracy would allow the movement to realize its dream of making Islam the guiding principle in politics. The Arab Spring revolts had opened the door to full Islamist participation in politics after decades of oppression or exile. A year later, Egypt's first Islamist president, Mohamed Mursi, has been forced out, illustrating the Islamists' dilemma as they champion faith while newly empowered citizens look more for effective pluralist governance. ... Full Story | Top |
| South African police arrest five for botched circumcision deaths Monday, Jul 08, 2013 08:11 AM PDT JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South African police have arrested five people on suspicion of murder for botched circumcisions that led to the deaths of about 30 boys in coming-of-age rituals in the rural Eastern Cape province, a police spokeswoman said on Monday. Police were also investigating suspected assault, gross bodily harm and unlawful circumcisions that left 300 others injured across the province over the last week, police spokeswoman Sibongile Soci said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Turkey shuts Istanbul protest park ahead of new anti-government rally Monday, Jul 08, 2013 08:08 AM PDT ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Police closed an Istanbul Park at the heart of last month's fierce anti-government protests shortly before a new protest rally against Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan was scheduled to take place. Police cleared people from the park and prevented others from entering, a Reuters witness said. Police gave no reason for Monday's closure. Riot police expelled protesters from the park last month following a fortnight of frequently violent protests against plans by Erdogan's government to redevelop the area. ... Full Story | Top |
| Russia doubts new Syria opposition head's commitment to peace Monday, Jul 08, 2013 08:06 AM PDT MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia said on Monday that remarks by the new leader of the opposition Syrian National Coalition have raised questions about his dedication to a political solution of the conflict, and urged the group to commit to attending a peace conference. Ahmad Jarba, elected president of the coalition on Saturday, told Reuters the opposition would not go to the conference that Russia and the United States are trying to convene in Geneva unless its military fortunes improve. "The first statements by the new leader of the National Coalition ... ... Full Story | Top |
| Pilot of crashed Asiana plane was in 777 training Monday, Jul 08, 2013 07:58 AM PDT  By Sarah McBride and Hyunjoo Jin SAN FRANCISCO/SEOUL (Reuters) - The pilot of the Asiana plane that crashed at San Francisco International Airport was still in training for the Boeing 777 when he attempted to land the aircraft under supervision on Saturday, the South Korean airline said. Lee Kang-kuk was the second most junior pilot of four on board the Asiana Airlines plane. He had 43 hours of experience flying the long-range jet, the airline said on Monday. ... Full Story | Top |
| Back from the brink in Portugal, but risks loom Monday, Jul 08, 2013 07:50 AM PDT  By Shrikesh Laxmidas LISBON (Reuters) - Portugal's coalition partners healed a perilous internal rift with a cabinet reshuffle that offers temporary stability, but the result is still likely to test Lisbon's relations with its international lenders. Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho promoted Paulo Portas, the head of the junior coalition party CDS-PP, to be his deputy on Saturday, hoping to end a rift that threatened to bring down the government and endanger the country's bailout. ... Full Story | Top |
| Afghanistan holds translator tied to civilian torture allegations Monday, Jul 08, 2013 07:48 AM PDT By Hamid Shalizi KABUL (Reuters) - Afghan intelligence agents arrested on Monday a U.S. special forces interpreter accused of torturing and killing civilians - allegations that have worsened already strained relations between the government and NATO-led coalition forces. The detained man was identified by the National Directorate of Security (NDS) as Zakeria Kandahari, who has spent years working with U.S. forces who have been fighting Islamist Taliban insurgents for more than a decade. ... Full Story | Top |
| Czech president angers parties with power grab Monday, Jul 08, 2013 07:47 AM PDT  By Jan Lopatka PRAGUE (Reuters) - Czech President Milos Zeman is taking advantage of a political crisis to expand his powers, infuriating lawmakers who accuse him of undermining parliamentary democracy and jeopardizing the stability that has long made Prague a safe haven for investors. Zeman won the Czech Republic's first direct presidential election in January and since then has gone further than his predecessors - who were both chosen by parliament - in testing the limits of a role viewed hitherto as largely ceremonial. ... Full Story | Top |
| Blood, anger, bewilderment among wounded after Cairo attack Monday, Jul 08, 2013 07:31 AM PDT  By Alexander Dziadosz CAIRO (Reuters) - The Cairo hospital is full. Men are crammed two, three, four to a room. Their clothes are soaked with blood. Their story starts the same way. It was dawn, they were praying. Then someone shouted, and they found themselves under fire by the military from all directions. "They shot us with teargas, birdshot, rubber bullets - everything. Then they used live bullets," said Abdelaziz Abdel Shakua, a bearded 30-year-old who was wounded in his right leg. ... Full Story | Top |
| Hamas shaken and cautious after Egyptian upheaval Monday, Jul 08, 2013 07:26 AM PDT By Nidal al-Mughrabi GAZA (Reuters) - Just a year ago, tens of thousands of Hamas supporters took to the streets of Gaza for a noisy celebration of the election of fellow Islamist Mohamed Mursi as Egypt's president. Stunned silence among Hamas officials in the Palestinian enclave, which shares a border with Egypt's lawless Sinai peninsula, greeted his overthrow last Wednesday by the Egyptian military. ... Full Story | Top |
| Death toll in Cairo shooting rises to 51: emergency services Monday, Jul 08, 2013 07:20 AM PDT  CAIRO (Reuters) - The death toll in violence at the Cairo headquarters of the Republican Guard on Monday rose to 51, the head of Egypt's emergency services said. The number of wounded was 435, Mohamed Sultan said. The military said "a terrorist group" had tried to storm the building. The Muslim Brotherhood said the army opened fire while some Islamist demonstrators were holding morning prayer outside the barracks were toppled President Mohamed Mursi was being held. (Reporting By Shadia Nasralla) Full Story | Top |
| Russia doubts new Syrian opposition leader's commitment to peace Monday, Jul 08, 2013 07:17 AM PDT MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia said on Monday that remarks by the new leader of the opposition Syrian National Coalition have raised questions about his dedication to a political solution of the conflict, and urged the group to commit to attending a peace conference. Ahmad Jarba, elected president of the coalition on Saturday, told Reuters the opposition would not go to the conference that Russia and the United States are trying to convene in Geneva unless its military fortunes improve. (Writing by Steve Gutterman; Editing by Thomas Grove) Full Story | Top |
| Government to assign email addresses to all Iranians Monday, Jul 08, 2013 07:13 AM PDT  DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran is to assign all citizens an individual email address which the communications minister said on Monday would aid interaction between state authorities and the people. It was unclear whether the move would add to regulations on Internet use imposed by a conservative Islamist leadership wary of secular cultural influences it blames on the West. President-elect Hassan Rouhani, a relative moderate who takes office next month, has called for less state intervention in people's private lives, including less filtering of the Internet and a loosening of media controls. ... Full Story | Top |
| Senior pilot on crashed Asiana jet was on first training flight Monday, Jul 08, 2013 07:09 AM PDT  SEOUL (Reuters) - The senior pilot who oversaw the landing by a more junior colleague of the Asiana passenger jet that crashed in San Francisco on Saturday was on his first flight as a trainer, the South Korean airline said on Monday. Asiana Airlines Inc. said that the senior pilot on the flight, Lee Jung-min, had received his training certificate in June. Lee Kang-kuk was the second most junior pilot of four on board the Asiana Airlines aircraft. He had just 43 hours' experience flying the long-range jet and, under supervision, was making his first landing on a Boeing 777 at San Francisco. ... Full Story | Top |
| Iran says Egyptian army interference is 'unacceptable' Monday, Jul 08, 2013 06:57 AM PDT DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran on Monday called the Egyptian army's ousting of president Mohamed Mursi "unacceptable" and said Israel and the West did not want to see a powerful Egypt. The comments from Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Araqchi were more disapproving than his immediate reaction last Thursday, when he merely called for the Egyptian people's "legitimate demands" to be fulfilled. ... Full Story | Top |
| Greek state workers protest layoffs demanded by EU/IMF lenders Monday, Jul 08, 2013 06:14 AM PDT  ATHENS (Reuters) - Thousands of Greek municipal workers and state school teachers took to the streets of Athens on Monday to protest against the public sector layoffs that the government has promised its international lenders in exchange for bailout funds. Euro zone finance ministers were due to decide on Monday how to keep Greece afloat and had threatened to delay the latest 8.1 billion euro payment to Athens to put more pressure on it to enact unpopular reforms. ... Full Story | Top |
| Mexico opposition leads in Baja California, boosting reform pact Monday, Jul 08, 2013 06:00 AM PDT  By Dave Graham and Luc Cohen MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico's opposition conservatives were heading for victory in a regional election early on Monday, likely bolstering a fragile national cross-party pact forged to broker economic reforms. Nearly half of Mexico's 31 states held elections on Sunday for a mix of local parliaments and municipal governments, but the focus was on the race for governor in Baja California, a stronghold of the conservative National Action Party (PAN). ... Full Story | Top |
| Czech prosecutors seek to charge former PM Necas Monday, Jul 08, 2013 05:53 AM PDT  By Jan Lopatka PRAGUE (Reuters) - Czech prosecutors asked the lower house of parliament to lift the immunity of former prime minister Petr Necas on Monday, the first time in the country's modern history that a head of government may face criminal charges. Necas, 48, quit as prime minister last month after a close aide was charged with bribery and abuse of office, but he remains a member of parliament and has parliamentary immunity. ... Full Story | Top |
| Israel jails Arab citizen who briefly joined Syria's rebels Monday, Jul 08, 2013 05:34 AM PDT  By Dan Williams JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel sentenced an Arab citizen to 30 months' imprisonment on Monday for endangering national security by briefly joining Syrian rebels fighting to topple President Bashar al-Assad. Hikmat Massarwa's case was unprecedented, and the relatively light penalty handed down to him as part of a plea bargain reflected Israel's indecision about who - if anyone - to back in its northern neighbor's civil war. Massarwa was arrested on March 19 upon returning via Turkey from Syria, where he had spent a week at a rebel base. ... Full Story | Top |
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