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| Factbox: Berlusconi's business empire Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 12:27 PM PDT LONDON (Reuters) - Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was found guilty of tax fraud by Italy's Cassation Court on Thursday, confirming a ruling from a lower court. Judges at Italy's top court, however, ordered further judicial review of a ban on Berlusconi holding public office. The former prime minister has kept control of his media empire, laying himself open to accusations of a conflict between his political and business interests and leaving him vulnerable to numerous corruption investigations into him and his companies. ... Full Story | Top |
| Italy's top court upholds Berlusconi prison sentence Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 12:12 PM PDT  By Roberto Landucci and Barry Moody ROME (Reuters) - Italy's supreme court on Thursday upheld a jail sentence against Silvio Berlusconi for tax fraud in a devastating blow to the former prime minister that could throw the country's fragile coalition government into crisis. The former cruise ship crooner is Italy's most colorful and scandal-prone figure but it was his first definitive conviction in up to 30 court cases on charges ranging from fraud and corruption to having sex with an under aged prostitute. ... Full Story | Top |
| Timeline: Silvio Berlusconi's rocky political path Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 12:11 PM PDT ROME (Reuters) - Here is a look at some of the high and low points in Italian billionaire and former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's life and career. September 1936 - Silvio Berlusconi is born in Milan. 1960's - Berlusconi makes his fortune during a property boom in Milan. 1965 - Berlusconi marries Carla Elvira Dall'Oglio. The couple have two children, but divorce in 1985. 1973 - Sets up cable television company Telemilano, which grows into Italy's biggest media empire, Mediaset. ... Full Story | Top |
| Italy president, after Berlusconi ruling, says cohesion crucial Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 11:52 AM PDT  ROME (Reuters) - Italy's president Giorgio Napolitano, speaking after a Rome court confirmed a prison sentence against former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, urged the country to maintain its calm. "The country needs to rediscover serenity and cohesion on vitally important institutional matters which have for too long seen it divided and unable to enact reforms," he said in a statement. He said there had so far been a more "respectful and calm" climate than there had been in previous trials involving Berlusconi and added: "I think this is positive for everyone. ... Full Story | Top |
| Germany's Kohl sought to repatriate Turks 30 years ago: report Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 11:47 AM PDT  BERLIN (Reuters) - Former Chancellor Helmut Kohl discussed a secret plan with Margaret Thatcher in 1982 to reduce the number of Turks living in West Germany by 50 percent, according to recently released British documents cited by Spiegel Online in Germany. The German news magazine's online edition reported that the newly elected West German chancellor told Prime Minister Thatcher about the proposal at a meeting in Bonn on October 28, 1982, according to a protocol of the meeting notes marked "PREM 19/1036" that Spiegel Online said was kept secret for 30 years. "Chancellor Kohl said... ... Full Story | Top |
| Moroccans to protest royal pardon for Spanish paedophile Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 11:45 AM PDT By Aziz El Yaakoubi RABAT (Reuters) - Moroccans outraged by a royal pardon for a Spanish pedophile serving a 30-year sentence for raping 11 children in the North African kingdom are planning a protest in Rabat on Friday. The convicted pedophile is among 48 jailed Spaniards who the state news agency MAP said were pardoned by King Mohamed VI on Tuesday at the request of Spain's King Juan Carlos, who visited Morocco last month. Justice Minister Mustapha Ramid confirmed the pedophile is among the prisoners freed by the royal pardon and said he was expelled from Morocco on Thursday. ... Full Story | Top |
| Oil explosion in Quebec train crash 'abnormal', investigator says Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 11:40 AM PDT  By Louise Egan OTTAWA (Reuters) - As investigators seek reasons for the deadly train crash in Lac-Megantic, Quebec, last month and the huge "abnormal" fire it caused, they are focusing on the nature of the fuel cargo as well as the brakes, tanker cars, and locomotive, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) said on Thursday. TSB officials told a news conference that its investigation into the July 6 railway accident, North America's worst in two decades, would last for months and that it was too early to draw conclusions. ... Full Story | Top |
| Courts finally catch up with Berlusconi Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 11:38 AM PDT  By Barry Moody ROME (Reuters) - For two decades Silvio Berlusconi seemed teflon-coated, untouched by dozens of court cases and scandals, dominating political life and becoming Italy's prime minister four times. But on Thursday, judges finally caught up with the flamboyant 76-year-old when the supreme court rejected his appeal against a four-year jail sentence - commuted to one year under an amnesty. ... Full Story | Top |
| Kerry says hopes Pakistan drone strikes to end soon Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 11:34 AM PDT  By Lesley Wroughton and Maria Golovnina ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry told Pakistanis on Thursday that Washington planned to end drone strikes in their country soon - a message aimed at removing a major source of anti-American resentment in the strategically important country. After meeting Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Kerry said they had agreed to re-establish a "full partnership", hoping to end years of acrimony over the drone strikes and other grievances including the U.S. raid that killed Osama bin Laden. ... Full Story | Top |
| Syria's Assad anticipates rebel defeat in defiant speech Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 11:33 AM PDT  By Oliver Holmes BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said on Thursday he was confident of victory against rebels and made a symbolic visit to a town once overrun by insurgents but now mostly retaken by his army. The visit to the battered town of Daraya, southwest of Damascus, and a defiant speech illustrate the confidence of a president who is taking the upper hand in a conflict two years after many Syrians believed he was about to be toppled. ... Full Story | Top |
| Kerry says Obama has timeline to end U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 11:24 AM PDT  ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - President Barack Obama has a timeline for ending the U.S. program of drone strikes, Secretary of State John Kerry said on Thursday, following talks with the new government of Pakistan. "I think the program will end as we have eliminated most of the threat and continue to eliminate it," Kerry said in an interview with Pakistan Television. "The president has a very real timeline and we hope it's going to be very, very soon," Kerry added, when asked whether the U.S. had a timeline for ending drone strikes. (Reporting by Lesley Wroughton; editing by Mike Collett-White) Full Story | Top |
| Russia grants Snowden a year's asylum, summit in doubt Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 11:18 AM PDT  By Timothy Heritage and Alissa de Carbonnel MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia granted American fugitive Edward Snowden a year's asylum on Thursday, allowing the former U.S. spy agency contractor to slip quietly out of Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport after more than five weeks in limbo but angering the United States. ... Full Story | Top |
| Tunisia's ruling party says won't remove prime minister Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 11:12 AM PDT  By Tarek Amara and Erika Solomon TUNIS (Reuters) - The head of Tunisia's ruling Islamist party on Thursday refused to remove the prime minister from his post, hardening its stance toward the secular opposition's demand that the government be dissolved. Earlier this week, leaders from the Ennahda party, which is facing mounting pressure even from its coalition partners, said they were willing to consider creating a new unity government to help ease the political crisis. ... Full Story | Top |
| Italian firm to provide surveillance drone for U.N. in Congo Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 11:09 AM PDT By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations said on Thursday it has procured an unarmed surveillance drone from Italian defense electronics firm Selex ES, a unit of Finmeccanica, that will be deployed in the Democratic Republic of Congo in the coming weeks. It will be the first time the United Nations has used such equipment and, if the trial use by peacekeepers in eastern Congo is successful, officials and diplomats also hope the drones could be used by missions in Ivory Coast and South Sudan. ... Full Story | Top |
| Tsvangirai denounces Zimbabwe vote as "huge farce" Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 11:07 AM PDT  By MacDonald Dzirutwe HARARE (Reuters) - Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai dismissed Zimbabwe's election as a farce on Thursday after his rival President Robert Mugabe's party claimed a landslide victory that would secure another five years in power for Africa's oldest head of state. Speaking at the headquarters of his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), a dejected Tsvangirai said Wednesday's vote should be considered invalid because of polling day irregularities and vote-rigging by 89-year-old Mugabe's ZANU-PF party. "This has been a huge farce," he told reporters. ... Full Story | Top |
| Manning leaks caused diplomatic 'horror and disbelief': testimony Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 10:59 AM PDT  By Tom Ramstack FORT MEADE, Maryland (Reuters) - U.S. diplomats reacted with "horror and disbelief" when the anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks began publishing classified information in 2010, a U.S. State Department official testified on Thursday at the court-martial sentencing hearing for the soldier convicted of the leaks. ... Full Story | Top |
| Black Italy minister pulls out of debate amid racial insults Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 10:36 AM PDT  By Catherine Hornby ROME (Reuters) - Italy's first black minister has pulled out of a debate with the anti-immigrant Northern League after its leader refused to condemn a barrage of racial insults she has faced from his party's members. Integration Minister Cecile Kyenge, who wants to make it easier for immigrants to gain Italian citizenship, was due to discuss the issue with Veneto Governor Luca Zaia at a Northern League festival near Cervia on the Adriatic Coast on Saturday. ... Full Story | Top |
| Moroccans to protest royal pardon for Spanish pedophile Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 10:19 AM PDT By Aziz El Yaakoubi RABAT (Reuters) - Moroccans outraged by a royal pardon for a Spanish pedophile serving a 30-year sentence for raping 11 children in the North African kingdom are planning a protest in Rabat on Friday. The convicted pedophile is among 48 jailed Spaniards who the state news agency MAP said were pardoned by King Mohamed VI on Tuesday at the request of Spain's King Juan Carlos, who visited Morocco last month. Justice Minister Mustapha Ramid confirmed the pedophile is among the prisoners freed by the royal pardon and said he was been expelled from Morocco on Thursday. ... Full Story | Top |
| Egypt's rulers tell pro-Mursi protesters to quit camps Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 10:12 AM PDT  By Asma Alsharif and Tom Perry CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's army-backed government on Thursday warned supporters of deposed president Mohamed Mursi to abandon their Cairo protest camps, promising them a safe exit if they gave up without a fight. The appeal, made by Interior Ministry spokesman Hany Abdel Latif on state television, followed the government's declaration on Wednesday it was ready to take action to end two weeks of sit-in protests by thousands of Mursi supporters at two sites. ... Full Story | Top |
| Chemical weapons investigators head to Syria within days: U.N. Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 09:49 AM PDT  UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. inspectors will travel to Syria within days to investigate claims of chemical weapons use in the country's civil war after the Syrian government granted access to three sites, the United Nations said on Thursday. "The team will depart for Syria as soon as practical and is preparing to depart within days," U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky told reporters. "The team is now assembling ... in The Hague." The head of a U.N. ... Full Story | Top |
| Algeria reinforces army on Tunisian border: minister Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 09:20 AM PDT ALGIERS (Reuters) - Algeria has strengthened its military presence near the border with Tunisia and the two nations are boosting security information exchange to fight Islamist militancy, Algerian Interior Minister Daho Ould Kablia said on Thursday. Islamist militants on Monday shot dead eight Tunisian soldiers in an ambush near the Algerian border. "The army has strengthened its resources and capabilities on the eastern border of the country due to unrest in Tunisia," Ould Kablia told the official APS news agency. ... Full Story | Top |
| Spain's Rajoy says he was wrong to trust treasurer in party funding scandal Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 09:13 AM PDT  By Andrés González MADRID (Reuters) - Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy apologized on Thursday for mishandling a major corruption scandal, but denied he or his center-right People's Party accepted illegal payments and rejected opposition calls to step down. It was the first time Rajoy had admitted any error since it emerged in January that the ruling party's former treasurer Luis Barcenas - in jail pending trial on charges of bribery and tax evasion - hid up to 48 million euros in Swiss bank accounts. "I was wrong. I'm sorry but that is how it was. ... Full Story | Top |
| German Catholic seminarians expelled for Nazi jokes, salute Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 09:08 AM PDT By Tom Heneghan, Religion Editor PARIS (Reuters) - An investigation into rumors of neo-Nazi activity at a seminary in Bavaria has resulted in two student priests being expelled for imitating the Nazi salute and making jokes about death camps, two bishops announced. The commission probing rumors of neo-Nazi activity at the seminary in Wuerzburg also found a third student had said participants in recent anti-racism marches in the southern German state deserved "a smack in the face", the bishops said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Kazakh tycoon Ablyazov faces extradition from France Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 08:52 AM PDT  By Philippe Laurenson AIX-EN-PROVENCE, France (Reuters) - Fugitive Kazakh oligarch Mukhtar Ablyazov, accused of embezzling around $6 billion, was told by a French judge on Thursday that he faced extradition, but his family vowed to fight an expulsion it said was politically motivated. The 50-year-old businessman, in hiding since being handed a jail sentence for contempt of court by an English judge 18 months ago, has been in custody in France since his arrest on Wednesday near the Riviera resort of Cannes. ... Full Story | Top |
| Britain 'concerned' about way Zimbabwe election was organized Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 08:46 AM PDT  LONDON (Reuters) - Britain said on Thursday it was concerned that Zimbabwe had not enacted important electoral reform before Wednesday's vote in the former British colony and by reports that large numbers of voters had been turned away. "We are also concerned by the late publication of the electoral roll," a spokesman for the British Foreign Office told Reuters. "Any judgment on the credibility of elections will need to take these factors into account." (Reporting By Andrew Osborn; Editing by Guy Faulconbridge) Full Story | Top |
| Moroccans to protest against royal pardon for Spanish pedophile Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 08:41 AM PDT By Aziz El Yaakoubi RABAT (Reuters) - Moroccans outraged by a royal pardon for a Spanish pedophile serving a 30-year sentence for raping 11 children in the North African kingdom are planning a protest in Rabat on Friday. The convicted pedophile is among 48 jailed Spaniards who the state news agency MAP said were pardoned by King Mohamed VI on Tuesday at the request of Spain's King Juan Carlos, who visited Morocco last month. The decision prompted a frenzy of angry postings on social media in Morocco. ... Full Story | Top |
| Egypt's defiant Muslim Brotherhood supporters gird for conflict Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 08:18 AM PDT  By Asma Alsharif CAIRO (Reuters) - Standing by a brick and sandbag barricade on the edge of a Muslim Brotherhood protest camp in Cairo, chief guard Mohamed Saqr is preparing to resist a threatened attempt by security forces to storm in. The army-backed government has announced it will clear two Brotherhood encampments soon and on Thursday offered a safe exit to those keeping up a peaceful vigil if they leave voluntarily. ... Full Story | Top |
| Explosion in Syrian city of Homs kills 40: monitoring group Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 08:14 AM PDT  BEIRUT (Reuters) - Forty people were killed and at least 120 people were wounded in an explosion at a weapons cache in the central Syrian city of Homs on Thursday, a group opposed to President Bashar al-Assad said. The explosion occurred in the south-eastern district of Wadi al-Dhahab, which the army has taken over, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The group has a network of sources in the opposition and state security forces. The Observatory said the casualties were soldiers and civilians and that some of the wounded were in a critical condition. ... Full Story | Top |
| Babies given away live on air in Pakistani talk show Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 07:24 AM PDT  By Katharine Houreld and Mehreen Zahra-Malik ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistani television is screening what many call its most controversial content yet in a ruthless quest for ratings: a talk-show host who gives away babies live on air. Aamir Liaquat Hussain, a bespectacled 41-year-old with a neatly trimmed beard, gave away two abandoned infant girls to childless families last month and plans to give away a baby boy this week. ... Full Story | Top |
| Spain PM says corruption scandal has hit country's image abroad Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 07:23 AM PDT  MADRID (Reuters) - A corruption scandal which has undermined the authority of Spain's ruling People's Party (PP) has hit the country's image abroad, the Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said during an appearance in Parliament on Thursday. Rajoy was testifying about his involvement in the scandal which centers on allegations that his party collected millions of euros in cash donations which were then distributed to senior PP figures, including himself. ... Full Story | Top |
| India's cheap food plan falls short on scope, quality Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 07:19 AM PDT  By Jo Winterbottom and Mayank Bhardwaj NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's multi-billion dollar plan to give cheap grain to 67 percent of its population bypasses some of the needy and does not tackle malnutrition, said the chief minister of Chhattisgarh state, which gives 90 percent of its people low-cost food. With an eye to elections which are due by May 2014, the Congress-led government last month sidestepped parliament by launching its $22 billion food subsidy plan with an ordinance, which brings it into law immediately. ... Full Story | Top |
| Serbia woos ex-IMF head Strauss-Kahn for advisory role Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 06:53 AM PDT  By Valerie Hopkins BELGRADE (Reuters) - Serbia has approached former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn about the possibility of him joining the government in an advisory role as it seeks foreign advisors to assist a revamped cabinet, a government source said. The Balkan country averted an early election on Wednesday but risked unnerving foreign investors as the largest party in the coalition government agreed to the sacking of the finance minister. ... Full Story | Top |
| EU lawmakers urged to back data list to track fighters to Syria Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 06:39 AM PDT  By Alexandria Sage PARIS (Reuters) - Nine European Union nations urged the European Parliament on Thursday to set aside privacy concerns and back plans for an EU-wide passenger data list aimed at thwarting suspected militants travelling from Europe to fight in Syria. EU governments say hundreds of their citizens are joining rebel forces battling Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. They fear some of these newly-trained fighters - estimated at up to 600 people - will return home to carry out attacks in Europe. ... Full Story | Top |
| Merkel coalition takes lead in poll for first time in four years Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 06:24 AM PDT  BERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel's center-right coalition has enough support to win a parliamentary majority in a September 22 election, the first time it has taken the lead in nearly four years, according to a new poll. The Infratest-dimap survey put Merkel's conservatives on 42 percent, unchanged from a week ago, but a 1 point gain for their Free Democrat (FDP) coalition partners pushed their combined score to 47 percent. ... Full Story | Top |
| Bangladesh court rules top Islamic party illegal Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 06:16 AM PDT  By Ruma Paul DHAKA (Reuters) - A Bangladesh court on Thursday declared as illegal the country's main Islamic party, Jamaat-e-Islami, effectively banning it from a general election due early next year. The ruling that the registration of Jamaat as a political party conflicted with the country's secular constitution immediately triggered violent protests by party supporters. Party activists took to the streets in the capital, Dhaka, and other towns including Bogra, Jessore and Gaibandha. ... Full Story | Top |
| Assad says sure he will defeat Syrian rebels Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 06:00 AM PDT  By Oliver Holmes BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said on Thursday he was confident of victory against rebels in a 28-month-old civil war that has killed more than 100,000 people and sent nearly two million fleeing abroad. Insurgents have seized large swathes of territory, but Assad's forces have staged a counter-offensive in recent weeks, pushing them back from around the capital Damascus and retaking several towns near the border with Lebanon. ... Full Story | Top |
| Three suspected militants killed in drone strike south Yemen: official Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 05:58 AM PDT ADEN (Reuters) - At least three suspected al Qaeda militants were killed on Thursday in east Yemen by missiles fired from an unmanned aircraft, the third such strike in under a week, a government official said. Drone strikes on suspected al Qaeda targets in Yemen are usually carried out by U.S. forces, although Washington does not comment publicly on the practice. The U.S. government backs Yemen with funds and logistical support in its efforts to quash Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), considered one of the most aggressive branches of the global militant organization. ... Full Story | Top |
| Dissident Kazakh Ablyazov faces extradition to Ukraine Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 05:36 AM PDT  By Philippe Laurenson AIX-EN-PROVENCE, France (Reuters) - Dissident Kazakh oligarch Mukhtar Ablyazov, accused at home of embezzling more than $5 billion, was told by a French judge on Thursday that he faced extradition, but his family vowed to fight an expulsion it said was politically motivated. The 50-year-old businessman, an outspoken critic of Kazakhstan's long-time leader Nursultan Nazarbayev, has been in custody in France since his arrest on Wednesday near the French Riviera resort of Cannes. ... Full Story | Top |
| Egypt solution hinges on dignified exit for Mursi Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 05:25 AM PDT  By Paul Taylor PARIS (Reuters) - European attempts to broker a resolution to Egypt's bloody political stand-off hinge on finding a way for ousted Islamist President Mohamed Mursi to step down with dignity in return for a role for his Muslim Brotherhood in the country's future. But it is far from clear that the resurgent military and security establishment which overthrew the elected president a month ago is willing to end a crackdown on the Brotherhood, or even suspend it long enough to permit talks on a settlement. ... Full Story | Top |
| Italy's top court to issue verdict on Berlusconi fraud appeal Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 05:16 AM PDT  By Roberto Landucci and Barry Moody ROME (Reuters) - Five supreme court judges on Thursday considered their verdict in Silvio Berlusconi's appeal against a tax fraud conviction that could end his 20-year domination of Italian politics and throw the government into turmoil if confirmed. The judges of Italy's Court of Cassation retired to consider the verdict at noon (1000 GMT/6 a.m. ET) after hearing prosecution and defence arguments on Tuesday and Wednesday. The verdict was expected to take up to five hours, officials said. ... Full Story | Top |
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