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| Iran, six powers may be nearing a nuclear deal Friday, Nov 22, 2013 11:55 AM PST By Louis Charbonneau and Parisa Hafezi GENEVA (Reuters) - Iran and six world powers appeared closer on Friday towards clinching an elusive interim deal under which Tehran would curb its contested nuclear program, with diplomats saying a major sticking point may have been overcome. A compromise deal over Iran's insistence that its "right" to enrich uranium be internationally recognized has been proposed, they said, possibly opening the way to a breakthrough in intensive negotiations that began in Geneva on Wednesday. The United States and other Western powers say there is no such thing as a right to enrich - a process that can yield both electricity and nuclear bombs - but Iran views it as a matter of national sovereignty and crucial to any deal that would resolve a decade-old standoff over its nuclear intentions. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov arrived in Geneva on Friday evening and planned to participate, spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said. Full Story | Top |
| On 50th anniversary of JFK death - tears, memories, suspicion Friday, Nov 22, 2013 11:52 AM PST By Jon Herskovitz and Marice Richter DALLAS (Reuters) - U.S. President John F. Kennedy was remembered as a transcendent leader of a rising nation at a ceremony in Dallas on Friday, the 50th anniversary of his assassination. "Our collective hearts were broken," Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings told a crowd of about 5,000 who came to a frigid Dealey Plaza, near where Kennedy was slain, for a commemoration marked with prayer, song and tears. Remembered fondly for his youthful vigor and his glamorous wife, Kennedy remains one of Americans' favorite presidents for his handling of the Cuban missile crisis, his call to public service with programs such as the Peace Corps and a promise - later fulfilled - to land an American on the moon before the end of the 1960s. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. seeks to add former Wells Fargo exec as fraud defendant Friday, Nov 22, 2013 11:52 AM PST  The U.S. government on Friday sought permission to add former Wells Fargo & Co executive Kurt Lofrano as a defendant in its year-old lawsuit accusing the bank of fraud. In a motion filed in Manhattan federal court, the Justice Department said Lofrano played a "critical role" in the bank's alleged failure to report defective home loans to the government. Wells Fargo, the country's largest mortgage lender and fourth-largest bank, is accused of misleading the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development into believing the loans qualified for insurance from the agency's Federal Housing Administration, costing hundreds of millions of dollars in losses. Full Story | Top |
| State Department says Kerry will not attend OSCE meeting in Ukraine Friday, Nov 22, 2013 11:48 AM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will not travel to a meeting in Ukraine of the OSCE, the European democracy watchdog, due to scheduling issues, the State Department said on Friday. Kerry had been expected to attend a meeting of the 56-nation Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe in early December. Spokeswoman Jen Psaki would not confirm whether the cancellation of the trip was due to the detention of opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko. (Reporting by Lesley Wroughton; Editing by Doina Chiacu) Full Story | Top |
| Toronto's scandal-hit mayor still has 42 percent approval Friday, Nov 22, 2013 11:46 AM PST  By Cameron French TORONTO (Reuters) - More than 40 percent of Toronto voters still approve of the job Mayor Rob Ford has done, even after he admitted smoking crack cocaine and city council stripped him of much of his authority. Indeed, support for Ford, who has seen much of his authority stripped by city council over the past week, is still comfortably in the 37-49 percent range that he has polled in over the past two years, Forum said. "What we can see from this is that, to his core supporters... who comprise about one third of the voters in Toronto, Rob Ford is a viable candidate for mayor," Forum President Lorne Bozinoff said in a statement. Full Story | Top |
| Americans get extra week to sign up for Obamacare as website improves Friday, Nov 22, 2013 11:34 AM PST  Americans hoping to sign up for health insurance under President Barack Obama's healthcare reform law will have an additional eight days to do so for coverage to begin January 1, 2014, officials said on Friday. Officials at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services said they had no plans to extend the ultimate deadline of March 31, 2014, the date when people without insurance must enroll in a plan or face a tax penalty. That decision reflects, in part, optimism that the website will continue to improve: the site will soon be able to handle 50,000 simultaneous users, said Jeffrey Zients, the Obama administration's HealthCare.gov adviser, and 800,000 people per day, largely because of the more than 300 software and other fixes that technology teams have made to the site over the last seven weeks. Full Story | Top |
| Mass. crime lab chemist sentenced to 3-5 years for tampering Friday, Nov 22, 2013 11:32 AM PST By Daniel Lovering BOSTON (Reuters) - A former Massachusetts crime lab chemist was sentenced to three to five years in prison on Friday after pleading guilty to tampering with evidence and other charges in a case that shook the foundations of the state's criminal justice system. Annie Dookhan, 35, agreed to plead guilty during a hearing at Suffolk Superior Court in Boston, just weeks after her attorney sought leniency and Judge Carol Ball ruled that her sentence would not exceed three to five years. Dookhan's mishandling of evidence at the now-closed Hinton State Laboratory Institute in Boston, where she worked from 2002 to 2011, may have tainted cases involving as many as 40,000 people, investigators have said. On Friday, the chief counsel of the Massachusetts Committee for Public Counsel Services, Anthony Benedetti, said Dookhan's sentencing was not the end of the drug lab story. Full Story | Top |
| U.N. agrees multi-billion dollar framework to tackle deforestation Friday, Nov 22, 2013 11:30 AM PST By Stian Reklev WARSAW (Reuters) - U.N. negotiators on Friday agreed rules on financing forest projects in developing nations, paving the way for multi-billion dollar investments from governments, funding agencies and private firms in schemes to halt deforestation. The agreement on "results-based" funding for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) was a rare breakthrough at the climate talks in Warsaw, where negotiators are struggling to make progress in discussions on emissions cuts and climate change aid. The deal was "another big step forward", said Ed Davey, the British minister for energy and climate change. Under the new rules, the fledgling Green Climate Fund will play a key role in channeling finance for projects to host governments, who in turn must set up national agencies to oversee the money. Full Story | Top |
| Factbox: Quotes on the 50th anniversary of Kennedy's assassination Friday, Nov 22, 2013 11:27 AM PST (Reuters) - The following are quotes on the 50th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Kennedy was shot dead on November 22, 1963 by Lee Harvey Oswald as his motorcade passed through crowded Dallas streets. (All quotes are from interviews by Reuters News except the excerpt from the 1963 CBS broadcast with Walter Cronkite) BOB HUFFAKER, EYEWITNESS AND FORMER REPORTER AT KRLD RADIO IN DALLAS: "It looked as though the entire city had turned up. Dallas had shown that it really loved that president." TINA TOWNER PENDER, THEN-13-YEAR-OLD EYEWITNESS: "As the first gunshot sounded, I looked up to the building, thinking somebody was throwing firecrackers out of the window but I only had a split second before some stranger, and I still don't know who it was, pulled me to the ground." HUGH AYNESWORTH, EYEWITNESS AND FORMER DALLAS MORNING NEWS REPORTER: "Then I heard what I thought was a motorcycle backfiring, only it wasn't - it was the first shot and then in a few seconds, another shot and a third." DR. Full Story | Top |
| North Korea confirms detention of U.S. citizen: State Department Friday, Nov 22, 2013 11:24 AM PST  North Korea has confirmed through Swedish officials in Pyongyang that it has detained a U.S. citizen, a State Department official said on Friday, after reports that an 85-year-old California man was pulled off a plane as he was about to leave the country. "Our Swedish protecting power has been informed of the detention of a U.S. citizen," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters. The family of Merrill Newman, a retiree from Palo Alto, California, and Korean War veteran, said he was taken away by North Korean officials. Full Story | Top |
| Bombings, shootings kill at least 23 across Iraq Friday, Nov 22, 2013 11:14 AM PST At least 23 people were killed in bombings and shootings in Iraq on Friday, police and medical sources said, the latest in the worst wave of sectarian attacks to sweep the country in five years. The deadliest attack took place in a predominantly Sunni Doura neighborhood in southern Baghdad, where two roadside bombs exploded near a soft drinks store, killing six people and wounding 18, the police and medics said. Another roadside bomb hit the vehicle of a government-backed Sunni militia's patrol in the Sunni neighborhood of Tarmiya in the north of the Iraqi capital, killing three fighters and wounding another three, police said. Two roadside bombs also went off near Sunni mosques in the southern and western outskirts of Baghdad after Friday prayers, killing three worshippers and wounding 12, the police said. Full Story | Top |
| Mexican cartel kingpin's son nabbed on drug charges in Arizona Friday, Nov 22, 2013 11:09 AM PST A son of Mexican drug kingpin Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada has been arrested in Arizona on cocaine and methamphetamine trafficking charges, authorities said on Friday. Federal agents arrested Serafin Zambada-Ortiz as he crossed into Nogales, Arizona, from Mexico on Wednesday, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration said. He was arraigned on trafficking charges at the U.S. District Court in Tucson on Thursday, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Arizona said. El Mayo Zambada is the right-hand man of powerful Sinaloa cartel chief Joaquin "Shorty" Guzman, and the U.S. State Department has offered a $5 million reward for his capture. Full Story | Top |
| Virginia state Senator Deeds: 'Some wounds won't heal' Friday, Nov 22, 2013 11:09 AM PST  By Gary Robertson RICHMOND, Virginia (Reuters) - A prominent Virginia state politician who was stabbed in what police describe as an attempted murder by his son thanked supporters after his release from a hospital on Friday, but said some wounds would never heal. "I am alive so must live," state Senator Creigh Deeds wrote on his official Twitter page, three days after he was critically wounded and his son died of a self-inflicted gunshot. Your prayers and your friendship are important to me." Deeds, a Democrat who ran for governor in 2009, was attacked on Tuesday at his home in western Virginia. He was taken by helicopter to University of Virginia Medical Center in Charlottesville in critical condition with stab wounds to his head and upper body. Full Story | Top |
| Five plead guilty after cocaine ship is seized in Ghana waters Friday, Nov 22, 2013 10:59 AM PST Four citizens of Guyana and one Ghanaian pleaded guilty on Friday to charges related to the seizure of a ship carrying tens of millions of dollars' worth of cocaine, a senior legal official said. Ghanaian authorities impounded the Guyana-registered MV ATIYAH on Tuesday and arrested the five when they discovered it was carrying 400 kilos (880 pounds) of cocaine worth around $50 million, according to a statement by the Ghana Narcotics Control Board (NACOB). The vessel was monitored at sea and detained by anti-narcotics officers working with the Ghana Navy once it entered territorial waters, NACOB said, without giving further details. In recent years, Latin American drug cartels have increasingly used West Africa's string of weak coastal states, including Ghana, as transit points for drugs being smuggled to the lucrative European market. Full Story | Top |
| Merkel hopeful 'grand coalition' deal will be done next week Friday, Nov 22, 2013 10:59 AM PST  By Andreas Rinke MUNICH, Germany (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Friday she expected a difficult final few days of coalition negotiations but was hopeful that her conservatives and the Social Democrats would reach agreement on a new government next week. The SPD were a distant second and have been in talks for a month with Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) and their Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), about forming a "grand coalition". They will present final proposals to party leaders, including Merkel and SPD chairman Sigmar Gabriel, next week. The CSU had an especially strong result in Bavaria, and her warnings of the need to compromise with the SPD were met by an awkward silence from the hall, although her speech was nevertheless applauded warmly at the end. Full Story | Top |
| No decision on Kerry going to Geneva for Iran nuclear talks: State Department Friday, Nov 22, 2013 10:57 AM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - There has been no decision made yet on whether U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will go to Geneva for Iran nuclear talks, the State Department said on Friday. A department spokeswoman said even if Kerry traveled to Geneva "it's not a prediction of the outcome." (Reporting by Lesley Wroughton; Editing by Doina Chiacu) Full Story | Top |
| No decision on Kerry going to Geneva for Iran nuclear talks-State Dept Friday, Nov 22, 2013 10:54 AM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - There has been no decision made yet on whether U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will go to Geneva for Iran nuclear talks, the State Department said on Friday. A department spokeswoman said even if Kerry traveled to Geneva "it's not a prediction of the outcome." (Reporting by Lesley Wroughton; Editing by Doina Chiacu) Full Story | Top |
| Independent inquiry into Co-op Bank ordered by Treasury Friday, Nov 22, 2013 10:52 AM PST  Chancellor George Osborne ordered an independent inquiry into Co-op Bank on Friday, with regulators also considering enforcement action against the lender. The investigation has been jointly agreed with the Prudential Regulation Authority and the Financial Conduct Authority, the Treasury said in a statement on Friday. "It will be led by an independent person appointed by the regulators, with the approval of the Treasury," the finance ministry said. Full Story | Top |
| RA Yemeni MP killed, shots fired at U.N. envoy's convoy-security sources Friday, Nov 22, 2013 10:47 AM PST By Adel Al-Khader SANAA (Reuters) - Attackers on a motorbike shot dead a Yemeni parliament member in Sanaa and a gunman opened fire on a convoy carrying the United Nations' envoy to Yemen without causing any injuries or damage, in two separate incidents on Friday, security sources said. Jamal Benomar's office swiftly denied the report, saying there was no gunfire directed at the motorcade. The attacks underscore the fragility of Yemen, a U.S. ally grappling with a host of challenges, including from al Qaeda militants, southern separatists and Shi'ite Houthi rebels in the north, as it pursues reconciliation talks aimed at restoring stability to the country. A security source said parliament member, Abdul Karim Jedban, who is also a delegate to the reconciliation conference, was killed in a drive-by shooting by two men on a motorbike as he left a mosque in Sanaa. Full Story | Top |
| Fed's Tarullo details plans to counter bank runs Friday, Nov 22, 2013 10:47 AM PST By Douwe Miedema WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Global regulators should have more policy tools to counter the risk of devastating bank runs and should have powers over a wide array of market participants, U.S. Federal Reserve Governor Dan Tarullo said on Friday. "There is a need to supplement prudential bank regulation with a third set of policy options in the form of regulatory tools that can be applied on a market-wide basis," Tarullo said at a conference on shadow banking. Tarullo also detailed the Fed's plans to make new rules that would make it less attractive for banks to raise cash in short-term wholesale funding markets, a key factor in the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008. Banks that substantially rely on short-term funding in the interbank market should be required to hold more capital on top of what is already mandated by international rules under the so-called Basel III pact, Tarullo said. Full Story | Top |
| Brazil awards $9 bln of airport deals, prepping Rio for Olympics Friday, Nov 22, 2013 10:44 AM PST (Adds officials' comments, details of highway auctions) By Leonardo Goy and Roberta Vilas Boas SAO PAULO, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Brazil opened two of its busiest airports to private investors on Friday, awarding $9 billion worth of contracts in a hotly contested auction as the country overhauls crowded terminals ahead of the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympics. The concessions, in Rio de Janeiro and Belo Horizonte, mean private operators will be running the international airports in both World Cup host cities next year, but there will be little time for their investments ahead of the tournament in June. Local contractors and foreign airport operators won the two concessions for a combined 20.8 billion reais ($9 billion), paying a premium of more than 250 percent over minimum bids as they hope to cash in on a recent boom in Brazilian air travel. It was a welcome victory for President Dilma Rousseff, who has struggled to restore credibility with the private sector as economic growth slumps and investors complain of a heavy-handed approach to concessions in the power industry and elsewhere. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. government rarely uses best cybersecurity steps: advisers Friday, Nov 22, 2013 10:43 AM PST By Alina Selyukh WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government itself seldom follows the best cybersecurity practices and must drop its old operating systems and unsecured browsers as it tries to push the private sector to tighten its practices, technology advisers told President Barack Obama. "The federal government rarely follows accepted best practices," the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology said in a report released on Friday. William Press, computer science professor at the University of Texas at Austin, and Craig Mundie, senior adviser to the CEO at Microsoft Corp, comprised the cybersecurity working group. The Obama administration this year stepped up its push for critical industries to bolster their cyber defenses, and Obama in February issued an executive order aimed at countering the lack of progress on cybersecurity legislation in Congress. Full Story | Top |
| EU regulator likely to fine J&J, Novartis next month: sources Friday, Nov 22, 2013 10:41 AM PST By Foo Yun Chee BRUSSELS (Reuters) - EU antitrust regulators are set to fine Johnson & Johnson and Novartis next month as part of a crackdown against deals delaying the sale of cheaper generic medicines, two people familiar with the matter said on Friday. The sanction, the second against so-called pay-for-delay deals after fines against Lundbeck and eight others in June, underlines the European Commission's determination to challenge a practice common in the pharmaceutical industry. Antitrust regulators on both sides of the Atlantic have in recent years criticized the practice for inflating consumers' bills and pushing up public healthcare costs. "The European Commission is likely to issue a decision next month," one of the people said. Full Story | Top |
| Evolution battle stirs as Texas delays new biology text Friday, Nov 22, 2013 10:25 AM PST By Jim Forsyth SAN ANTONIO, Texas (Reuters) - Social conservatives on the Texas State Board of Education have delayed approval of a high school biology textbook, pending a review by experts, citing concerns about the book's lessons on evolution. In the latest episode of a lengthy battle by evangelicals in Texas to insert Christian and Biblical teachings into public school textbooks, the board on Thursday blocked the book's approval. A volunteer reviewer concluded that the assertions in "Pearson Biology," which include lessons on natural selection and the Earth's cooling process, are "errors" that need to be corrected by publisher Pearson Education, one of the nation's largest producers of school textbooks, board members said. "Publishers of several other books agreed to make the changes we pointed out," said David Bradley, a leader of the social conservatives on the board, referring to earlier efforts to change other science texts. Full Story | Top |
| Accused dancer says Bolshoi director treated troupe like puppets Friday, Nov 22, 2013 10:19 AM PST  By Thomas Grove MOSCOW (Reuters) - A dancer accused of plotting an acid attack on the Bolshoi Ballet's artistic director said on Friday that his former boss acted like a tsar and treated his troupe like puppets. Pavel Dmitrichenko, who gained fame on the Bolshoi stage playing villains, was testifying in court on the events leading up to the attack in January that nearly blinded Sergei Filin. The dancer also said the man accused of throwing the acid in Filin's face had threatened to do the same to Dmitrichenko's girlfriend if he went to the police. The disfiguring attack and subsequent revelations of power struggles at the Bolshoi have blackened the reputation of Russia's premier cultural institution. Full Story | Top |
| Women enslaved in UK beaten and emotionally abused - police Friday, Nov 22, 2013 10:17 AM PST  By Belinda Goldsmith LONDON (Reuters) - Three women enslaved for 30 years in a London house were beaten and subjected to psychological abuse, in one of the worst cases of domestic servitude to emerge in Britain, police said on Friday. The women were rescued from the house in south London four weeks ago after calling an anti-slavery charity for help. Investigators said the three women had faced physical abuse including beatings over decades in servitude. "What we are finding is a complicated and disturbing picture of emotional control over many years," Commander Steve Rodhouse told a news conference, adding it could take months to unravel exactly what had happened over the past 30 years. Full Story | Top |
| Son of California man held in North Korea says has not heard from father Friday, Nov 22, 2013 10:08 AM PST  By Dana Feldman LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The son of a California retiree and Korean War veteran who was detained by North Korean authorities last month during a trip to the reclusive Asian nation said on Friday he has had no communication with his father since then. Jeff Newman also told Reuters in an interview that his family remained concerned about the health of his 85-year-old father, Merrill Newman, and does not know whether heart medication sent to North Korea on his behalf had reached him. The son, who lives in the Los Angeles suburb of Pasadena, told CNN on Wednesday that the elder Newman had been on an airplane on the last day of his trip waiting to take off when North Korean authorities boarded the aircraft and took him away. The father's detention came a day after he and his tour guide had been interviewed by North Korean authorities at a meeting in which Merrill Newman's military service during the Korean War was discussed, the son told CNN. Full Story | Top |
| Blatter blames France, Germany for Qatar choice Friday, Nov 22, 2013 10:07 AM PST  By Naomi O'Leary ROME (Reuters) - France and Germany should be held to account over the treatment of migrant workers in Qatar because they exerted political pressure to award the 2022 World Cup to the tiny Gulf state, FIFA president Sepp Blatter said on Friday. Blatter said financial interests prompted Europe's two largest economies to lobby for a Qatar tournament and that construction companies were ultimately responsible for the treatment of their workers. FIFA has faced a series of controversies since it awarded the World Cup to Qatar in 2010, with the latest fuelled by reports of rife exploitation of migrant workers in the country's construction sector. Full Story | Top |
| Tymoshenko urges Ukrainians to rally over U-turn on EU Friday, Nov 22, 2013 10:05 AM PST By Richard Balmforth KIEV (Reuters) - Jailed Ukrainian opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko on Friday called on people to take to the streets after President Viktor Yanukovich's government dropped plans for a landmark deal with the European Union and revived talks on ties with Russia. Several hundred demonstrators, ringed by riot police, had already gathered in central Kiev denouncing the government's action even before Tymoshenko issued her emotional appeal. The protests evoked memories of the Orange Revolution, which Tymoshenko co-led, but their numbers could not compared with the tens of thousands who massed nine years ago. In a separate statement, Tymoshenko said she had felt "simply like killing" Yanukovich when she heard of the government's U-turn. Full Story | Top |
| Microsoft to win EU okay for $7.3 billion Nokia deal: sources Friday, Nov 22, 2013 09:50 AM PST  By Foo Yun Chee BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Microsoft is set to secure unconditional EU regulatory approval for its proposed 5.4-billion-euro ($7.30 billion) takeover of Nokia's mobile phone business, two people familiar with the matter said on Friday. The deal, announced in September and which includes a 10-year licensing agreement of Nokia's patent portfolio, underscores Microsoft's push into the competitive consumer devices market. It faces fierce competition from market leader Samsung Electronics and Apple. Microsoft also declined to comment. Full Story | Top |
| Exclusive: Euro zone mulls cheap loans as incentive for economic reforms -document Friday, Nov 22, 2013 09:46 AM PST  By Luke Baker BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Euro zone states are considering cheap loans to member governments as an incentive to carry out painful economic reforms, an EU document showed, introducing a discussion on fiscal transfers. The proposal did not specify how exactly the loans could be financed, mentioning only a European Commission idea from March that it could be either through direct contributions from governments or through designating a new revenue source. The document, prepared by the chairman of European Union leaders Herman Van Rompuy, will form the basis of discussions between senior euro zone officials at a meeting in Brussels on Wednesday to prepare for next month's European Union summit. Full Story | Top |
| White House says 2015 enrollment for Obamacare pushed back one month Friday, Nov 22, 2013 09:45 AM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration will push back the open enrollment season for Obamacare health insurance in 2015 by a month to give insurance companies more time to determine their rates, the White House said on Friday. (Reporting by Roberta Rampton, Jeff Mason, Steve Holland; Editing by Doina Chiacu) Full Story | Top |
| White House hopeful for Iran agreement in Geneva: spokesman Friday, Nov 22, 2013 09:42 AM PST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States remains hopeful that an agreement can be reached between western powers and Iran over Tehran's nuclear program during talks in Geneva, White House spokesman Jay Carney said on Friday. (Reporting by Jeff Mason and Roberta Rampton; Editing by Doina Chiacu) Full Story | Top |
| Soccer-Blatter blames France, Germany for Qatar choice Friday, Nov 22, 2013 09:41 AM PST By Naomi O'Leary ROME, Nov 22 (Reuters) - France and Germany should be held to account over the treatment of migrant workers in Qatar because they exerted political pressure to award the 2022 World Cup to the tiny Gulf state, FIFA president Sepp Blatter said on Friday. Blatter said financial interests prompted Europe's two largest economies to lobby for a Qatar tournament and that construction companies were ultimately responsible for the treatment of their workers. FIFA has faced a series of controversies since it awarded the World Cup to Qatar in 2010, with the latest fuelled by reports of rife exploitation of migrant workers in the country's construction sector. Full Story | Top |
| Afghanistan rejects U.S. call for quick security deal Friday, Nov 22, 2013 09:38 AM PST  By Jessica Donati and Hamid Shalizi KABUL (Reuters) - The future of U.S. troops in Afghanistan remained in doubt on Friday after a spokesman for President Hamid Karzai rejected a U.S. call to sign a security pact by the end of the year rather than after next year's presidential election. The United States has repeatedly said it will not wait until after the April 2014 vote to seal the Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA) and rejected Karzai's suggestion for the signing to take place next year "properly and with dignity". Without an accord, the United States could pull out most of its troops by the end of 2014, as it did two years ago when it failed to negotiate a deal with Iraq. "They have set other deadlines also, so this is nothing new to us." Karzai had suggested on Thursday, as the Afghan leaders began a meeting known as a Loya Jirga, that the signing of the pact should wait until after the poll. Full Story | Top |
| White House presses Afghans to sign security pact this year Friday, Nov 22, 2013 09:38 AM PST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House again urged Afghan leaders on Friday to sign a security pact before the end of the year, saying timing was key if the United States was going to keep troops in Afghanistan after 2014. "We look forward to an agreement that can be signed by both sides. We need it done by the end of the year," White House spokesman Jay Carney told a news briefing. "We can't push it into next year and be expected to plan for a post 2014 military presence," he said. (Reporting by Jeff Mason and Roberta Rampton) Full Story | Top |
| Insight: Old assumptions questioned in Arafat's mysterious death Friday, Nov 22, 2013 09:35 AM PST  By Crispian Balmer RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - President Yasser Arafat's spartan bedroom remains largely as he left it in 2004, when he flew off to France for treatment for a mystery illness only to return home two weeks later in a coffin. Arafat's body, wrapped in a Palestinian flag, was buried nine years ago, but conspiracy theories he was poisoned were never laid to rest, with accusations flying on all sides. Should evidence emerge that Israel killed the Palestinian leader, a legacy of rancor could wreck the chances of peace for years to come. Like many Palestinians, Imad Abu Zaki, one of Arafat's closest bodyguards, has no doubt who did it. Full Story | Top |
| Syria Islamists unite as faction-fighting goes on Friday, Nov 22, 2013 09:32 AM PST  By Khaled Yacoub Oweis and Erika Solomon AMMAN/BEIRUT (Reuters) - Islamist fighters in Syria have joined forces to form what may be the biggest rebel army in the country, further undermining Western-backed military commanders and potentially challenging al Qaeda. The announcement on Friday of a common leadership for the Islamic Front, an amalgam of six major Islamist groups which had earlier declared an intention to merge, coincided with accounts of a battle on the Turkish border between rival Islamists that ended with al Qaeda allies taking control of the town of Atma. Factional fighting and fragmentation among those seeking to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad have hampered the revolt and the latest effort to unite has yet to show that it can result in effective coordination among groups which between them control large parts of Syria and some tens of thousands of fighters. Gains by Assad since the United States held back from intervening following a poison gas attack on rebel territory in August have both hardened many rebels against the Western-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA), notionally charged with coordinating the war, and also galvanized some major formations to come together. Full Story | Top |
| Syria mediator Brahimi holding talks with Iran and Russia Friday, Nov 22, 2013 09:32 AM PST Syrian mediator Lakhdar Brahimi held talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Friday on a planned international conference aimed at ending Syria's civil war, Brahimi's spokeswoman said. "They discussed preparations for 'Geneva 2' in general, not specifically Iran's participation," Khawla Mattar told Reuters in Geneva where they met at the United Nations complex. "They were catching up." Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who flew to Geneva on Friday to join talks between six major powers and Iran on curbing its nuclear program, was expected to meet Brahimi later in the day or on Saturday, according to diplomats and a source in the Russian delegation to the Iran negotiations. Full Story | Top |
| Insight: For Cisco and Huawei, a bruising rivalry reaches stalemate Friday, Nov 22, 2013 09:29 AM PST  By Jeremy Wagstaff, Sinead Carew and Jim Finkle (Reuters) - Cisco Systems Inc and Huawei Technologies Co, two of the world's largest communications equipment makers, have been slugging it out for a decade now - in court, in emerging markets, in the lobbies of government and even on blogs. Earlier this month Cisco CEO John Chambers admitted in an earnings call that political dynamics were stymieing his company's long march into Huawei's backyard. Asked whether the recent U.S. spying scandal was affecting overseas business, Chambers said it was having an impact, particularly in China, which is Cisco's biggest emerging market country but represents less than 5 percent of its total revenue. Huawei has also admitted something of a defeat in the United State for carrier equipment, which accounts for more than 70 percent of its global revenues. Full Story | Top |
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