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| Ukrainian opposition accuses Yanukovich of stealing EU dream Friday, Nov 29, 2013 11:54 AM PST  By Thomas Grove and Pavel Polityuk KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine's political opposition said on Friday that President Viktor Yanukovich had 'stolen the dream' of closer integration with Europe as his supporters hailed his decision to spurn an EU free trade deal. In a sea of blue and gold, the colors of both the EU and Ukrainian flags, some 10,000 protesters chanted "Ukraine is Europe" in Independence Square, the theatre of the Orange Revolution of 2004-5 that thwarted Yanukovich's first presidential bid. Yanukovich's decision to suspend a deal that would have aligned Ukraine's economy more closely with Europe's by opening borders to goods, and set the stage for an easing of travel restrictions, was for many an opportunity lost. Full Story | Top |
| China scrambles jets to new defense zone, eyes U.S., Japan flights Friday, Nov 29, 2013 08:58 AM PST By Ben Blanchard and Roberta Rampton BEIJING/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - China scrambled jets on Friday in response to two U.S. spy planes and 10 Japanese aircraft, including F-15 fighters, entering its new air defense zone over the East China Sea, state news agency Xinhua said, raising the stakes in a standoff with the United States, Japan and South Korea. Japan and South Korea flew military aircraft through the zone, which includes the skies over islands at the heart of a territorial dispute between Japan and China, the two countries said on Thursday, while Washington sent two unarmed B-52 bombers into the airspace earlier this week in a sign of support for its ally Japan. Full Story | Top |
| Anti-government protesters break into Thai army compound Friday, Nov 29, 2013 06:55 AM PST  By Amy Sawitta Lefevre and Pracha Hariraksapitak BANGKOK (Reuters) - Anti-government protesters briefly forced their way into the compound of Thailand's army headquarters on Friday in a dramatic escalation of city-wide demonstrations seeking to topple Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra. Protesters burst into the army base Bangkok's historic quarter, waving flags and blowing whistles. In another district, about 1,000 people massed outside Yingluck's ruling party headquarters, shouting "get out". The invasion of army headquarters deepened a conflict broadly pitting the urban middle class against the mostly rural supporters of Yingluck and her brother, Thaksin Shinawatra, a former prime minister who was ousted in a 2006 coup and who remains central to Thailand's eight years of on-off turmoil. Full Story | Top |
| Iran sees nuclear deal implementation starting by early January Friday, Nov 29, 2013 08:07 AM PST  By Fredrik Dahl VIENNA (Reuters) - The implementation of a landmark deal between Iran and world powers to curb Tehran's nuclear program in return for some sanctions relief is expected to start by early January, its envoy to the U.N. atomic agency said on Friday. Israel, believed to be the region's only nuclear-armed state, has denounced the deal as an "historic mistake" since it does not dismantle its arch foe's uranium enrichment program. The Jewish state sees Iran as a threat to its existence. Israel's ambassador to the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency told an IAEA board meeting that "the increasing concerns regarding Iran's activities related to nuclear weapons should be thoroughly investigated and clarified". Full Story | Top |
| Ukraine's Yanukovich vetoes EU push to save trade deal Friday, Nov 29, 2013 11:49 AM PST  By Justyna Pawlak and Adrian Croft VILNIUS (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich vetoed last-minute attempts by the European Union to rescue a trade deal that could have been signed at a summit on Friday and would have signaled a historic shift away from Russia, EU diplomats said. Under pressure from Moscow, Yanukovich abandoned plans last week to sign the agreement, preferring closer ties with Ukraine's former Soviet master and dealing a blow to EU efforts to build closer relations with its eastern neighbors. As EU leaders gathered on Vilnius on Thursday for a summit with six countries in eastern Europe and the southern Caucasus, officials from the EU and Ukraine tried to work out a last-minute compromise that could have allowed Yanukovich to sign the trade deal in the near future. EU diplomats told Reuters a preliminary understanding had been reached, but Yanukovich had refused to sign off on it. Full Story | Top |
| Nigeria says kills more than 50 Islamist insurgents in airstrike Friday, Nov 29, 2013 09:38 AM PST Nigeria's military said on Friday that it may have killed more than 50 Islamist insurgents in an airstrike on one of their main bases in the northeast of the country. The latest strikes on Thursday targeted Boko Haram sect hideouts in the Gwoza hills, near the border with Cameroon. In May, the military stepped up an offensive against the Islamist group, which is fighting to establish an Islamic state in Nigeria, Africa's most populous country split roughly evenly between Christians and Muslims. "We had intelligence that Boko Haram were still hiding somewhere around the Bita bush. Full Story | Top |
| Hezbollah arms suspect gets life in Nigeria, two others freed Friday, Nov 29, 2013 08:59 AM PST A Nigerian court handed a life sentence for illegal arms trafficking and possession on Friday to a Lebanese man suspected of having links with Hezbollah, but it freed another two Lebanese suspects in the case. Judge Adeniyi Ademola struck out all terrorism charges against the men on lack of evidence, noting that being a member of Hezbollah was not enough to be so accused. "Hezbollah is not an international terrorist organization in Nigeria. Secret service agents arrested Mustapha Fawaz, Abdullah Tahini, Talal Ahmad Roda and Hussain Nurudeen Kossdi between May 16 and May 28. Full Story | Top |
| Spain's anti-protest bill criticized as anti-democratic Friday, Nov 29, 2013 08:56 AM PST  By Elisabeth O'Leary and Andrés González MADRID (Reuters) - Spain's conservative government agreed on Friday to toughen penalties for unauthorized street protests up to a possible 600,000 euro ($816,000) fine, a crackdown that belies the peaceful record of the anti-austerity protests of recent years. But Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, whose People's Party (PP)has an absolute majority in parliament, has said the Citizens' Security Law guarantees freedom and will have the support of a majority of Spaniards. Street protests and strikes have became increasingly frequent in recent years following huge cuts to education and health spending aimed at shrinking Spain's public deficit to adhere to European Union demands. But in contrast to Greece and elsewhere, where many similar protests have turned violent, Spain's have remained largely peaceful, despite unemployment of 26 percent, rising poverty, and changes in labor laws that make firing easier. Full Story | Top |
| Russian prosecutors seek nine years for acid attack dancer Friday, Nov 29, 2013 07:01 AM PST  By Maria Tsvetkova MOSCOW (Reuters) - State prosecutors demanded a nine-year jail sentence on Friday for a dancer accused of ordering an acid attack that nearly blinded the Bolshoi Ballet's artistic director and exposed bitter rivalries at one of Russia's great cultural institutions. Pavel Dmitrichenko, a former soloist at the Bolshoi, showed no emotion as he sat still in a courtroom cage listening to the prosecution summary in a trial that lasted one month. The prosecution also asked for 10 years in prison for Yuri Zarutsky, who is accused of throwing the acid in artistic director Sergei Filin's face last January, and six years for Andrei Lipatov, accused of driving him to and from the scene. "Dmitrichenko's motive was a conflict between Filin and Dmitrichenko," prosecutor Yulia Shumovskaya told the Moscow court, saying the dispute was caused by the dancer's disappointment at not being given good roles by Filin. Full Story | Top |
| Lawmakers push Britain closer to European Union referendum Friday, Nov 29, 2013 07:49 AM PST  Britain took a step towards holding a public vote on whether it should remain in the European Union when members of parliament backed an effort to enshrine the referendum promise in law. Prime Minister David Cameron is backing the draft legislation as a way to help bridge damaging divides over Europe in his Conservative party. It is also designed to counter the threat of euro-skeptic voters defecting to the anti-EU UK Independence Party at the next general election in 2015. Full Story | Top |
| Berlusconi accused of bribing witnesses in prostitution trial Friday, Nov 29, 2013 07:41 AM PST  By Emilio Parodi MILAN (Reuters) - An Italian court accused former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi on Friday of bribing witnesses to give false testimony in a trial linked to the case in which he has been convicted for paying for sex with a minor. The accusation, two days after Berlusconi was stripped of his seat in parliament for tax fraud, came in a written judgment in the trial of three associates of the billionaire media tycoon who are charged with procuring prostitutes for parties at his home near Milan. The court said the evidence against Berlusconi and the others implicated had been sent to prosecutors who are expected to open a new investigation into the case, the court documents showed. His lawyers, Niccolo Ghedini and Piero Longo, who were also accused of inducing false testimony in the case, issued a statement saying the accusations were "totally disconnected from reality and from the facts". Full Story | Top |
| Iraqi police find 18 men shot in head and seven decapitated Friday, Nov 29, 2013 06:29 AM PST By Kareem Raheem BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Police discovered the bodies of 18 men who had been abducted and shot in the head near Baghdad on Friday, and the decapitated corpses of seven men killed in a separate attack in northern Iraq. The 18 bodies were found together in an orchard in Meshahda, a predominantly Sunni Muslim area around 30 km (20 miles) north of Baghdad. A senior police source blamed al Qaeda. Such killings are on the rise in Iraq, alongside a growing insurgent campaign of bomb and gun attacks on security forces and civilians. Full Story | Top |
| Americans mark Thanksgiving Day with travel, parades, shopping Thursday, Nov 28, 2013 04:00 PM PST By Barbara Goldberg NEW YORK (Reuters) - Americans gathered on Thursday to celebrate Thanksgiving by stuffing turkeys and braving cold winds along parade routes, while others started the holiday shopping earlier than ever in a trend that some argued went against the spirit of the holiday. With retailers offering "Black Friday" deals before Thanksgiving tables were even set on Thursday, critics circulated online petitions and a handful of franchise owners said they had defied corporate orders by keeping their stores closed for the holiday. "It bothers me that this country is allowing them to dictate time away from our families," Holly Cassiano, who refused to open her Sears franchise in Plymouth, New Hampshire, told CNN. A Pizza Hut restaurant manager in Elkhart, Indiana, who was fired for refusing to keep the restaurant open on Thanksgiving said the worldwide pizza chain had offered to rehire him and he was considering it. Full Story | Top |
| Analysis: Ukraine fiasco raises doubts about EU neighborhood policy Friday, Nov 29, 2013 05:23 AM PST  By Paul Taylor PARIS (Reuters) - The European Union's failure to conclude a landmark agreement with Ukraine this week raises questions about a policy designed to surround the bloc with a "ring of friends" that has done little so far to stabilize its neighborhood. The fiasco at an Eastern Partnership summit in Vilnius has been blamed mostly on Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich's opaque post-Soviet governance, and on pressure from Russian President Vladimir Putin. But some critics, including one of the architects of the European Neighborhood Policy, say EU efforts to export democracy and the market economy to countries on the bloc's eastern and southern fringes have long been hampered by an unrealistic balance between carrots and sticks. Brussels set too high requirements for partners to adopt EU standards of business regulation, governance and human rights in return for too small financial and political rewards, says Michael Leigh, a senior adviser to the German Marshall Fund, a transatlantic think-tank. Full Story | Top |
| Ukraine holds key to Putin's dream of a new union Friday, Nov 29, 2013 04:46 AM PST  By Timothy Heritage MOSCOW (Reuters) - Ukraine's refusal to sign a trade pact drawing it into Europe's orbit marked a victory for Vladimir Putin, winning him time to lure Kiev into a project for a trade and political bloc stretching from the frontiers of China to the edge of the EU. The Russian president sees his "Eurasian Union", in which Ukraine would play a central role, as a future rival to China, the United States and the European Union. Some say he sees it as the president's personal political legacy - a strong force emerging from the ashes of the old Soviet Union. "The Eurasian Union is a very important project for Putin. Full Story | Top |
| Thailand's red-shirt heartland hides its strength Friday, Nov 29, 2013 05:34 AM PST  By Aubrey Belford HUA KHUA, Thailand (Reuters) - Squatting on flat feet, their faces drawn with exhaustion from harvesting rice, Chantee Sanwang and Nang Laor still had the energy to tussle over who loathes Thailand's anti-government protesters more. As thousands of largely middle-class Thais flood Bangkok streets in protests aimed at overthrowing the government of the populist Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, one volatile factor has been largely absent from the streets: the red-shirted protesters who helped bring her to power. Like the province it sits in, Udon Thani, the village of Hua Khua is part of the rural north and northeastern heartland that is the support base of Yingluck's Puea Thai Party and her self-exiled brother, Thaksin Shinawatra, who was deposed as prime minister in a 2006 military coup. Hua Khua is one thousands of communities that movement leaders call "Red Shirt Villages". Full Story | Top |
| Protesting schoolchildren face expulsion in Bosnian language row Friday, Nov 29, 2013 04:21 AM PST  By Daria Sito-Sucic SARAJEVO (Reuters) - Several hundred children from the Serb-controlled part of Bosnia faced expulsion from school on Friday after camping out in Sarajevo for three months in protest at being denied lessons in their native Bosnian language. The protest has revived debate over Bosnia's highly devolved education system, split along ethnic lines between Serbs, Croats and Muslim Bosniaks since the end of the country's 1992-95 war. Muslim Bosniaks in two towns in Bosnia's autonomous Serb Republic withdrew their children from school in early September, demanding they be taught language, history and geography classes in their own tongue. Bosniaks are a minority within the Serb Republic, one of two autonomous regions created under a 1995 peace deal that split power in Bosnia along ethnic lines after a war that killed 100,000 people. Full Story | Top |
| EU exit would be dreadful for Britain, says former PM Major Friday, Nov 29, 2013 02:07 AM PST  A British exit from the European Union would be a dreadful decision that would cost billions of pounds and leave the world's sixth largest economy isolated, former Prime Minister John Major was quoted as saying on Friday. Prime Minister David Cameron has promised to try to renegotiate the terms of his country's EU membership before holding an "in-out" referendum if re-elected in 2015, which could lead to Britain dropping out of a club it joined in 1973. Major, who served as prime minister from 1990 to 1997, backed attempts to renegotiate Britain's EU ties but said the government needed to be realistic about what it could achieve. In a speech to business leaders at the Institute of Directors, Major said Britain would pay a severe price if it left the EU. Full Story | Top |
| Philippine cenbank confident of rebounding from Typhoon blow Thursday, Nov 28, 2013 11:58 PM PST  As the Philippines gets down to the daunting task of rebuilding after this month's destructive typhoon, the nation's central bank said it stood ready to support the economy beyond the initial hit to growth from the catastrophic storm. Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Amando Tetangco said the central bank has the flexibility to "fine-tune" policy settings if necessary to steer the economy forward. "Given the way the forecasts stand now, as of currently there does not seem to be a reason for altering the stance of policy," Tetangco told reporters on Friday ahead of a policy meeting on December 12. The central bank, which is expected to stand pat at the December meeting, has held the overnight borrowing rate at a record low of 3.5 percent since October 2012 when it was cut by 25 basis points. Full Story | Top |
| Analysis: Déjà vu with a difference as Thai PM faces down protesters Thursday, Nov 28, 2013 11:23 PM PST  By Andrew R.C. Marshall BANGKOK (Reuters) - The French have the best phrase for Thailand's turbulent politics: déjà vu. Five years ago, a Thai government led by Somchai Wongsawat, the brother-in-law of ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, was besieged by ultra royalist street protesters bent on overthrowing what they saw as a corrupt and illegitimate regime. Today, another Thaksin relative, his sister Yingluck Shinawatra, is prime minister, and Bangkok's streets are again overrun by thousands of Thais proclaiming their hatred of Thaksin and their love for the long-reigning King Bhumibol Adulyadej. The campaign against Yingluck began in earnest after her ruling Puea Thai Party tried to pass an amnesty bill that critics said would have nullified the graft conviction of her billionaire brother Thaksin, who was deposed in a 2006 military coup. Full Story | Top |
| Mega Millions rule changes boost Friday jackpot to $230 million Thursday, Nov 28, 2013 10:17 PM PST (Reuters) - Mega Millions rule changes aimed at creating bigger and faster-growing jackpots boosted the top prize for Friday's draw to an estimated $230 million, the lottery said. If the winner chooses to take a cash prize instead of an annuity, it would amount to $125 million, according to the Mega Millions website. www.megamillions.com The rule changes went into effect on October 22 and since no one matched all the numbers drawn on Tuesday, the November 29 jackpot is still growing. The largest jackpot in history stands at $656 million and was won in the Mega Millions lottery in March 2012. Full Story | Top |
| China military sends air patrols through new defense zone: Xinhua Thursday, Nov 28, 2013 01:20 PM PST  China's military sent several fighter jets and an early warning aircraft on patrol into disputed air space over the East China Sea on Thursday, the Chinese state news agency Xinhua reported, quoting a spokesman for the People's Liberation Army Air Force. The move raises the stakes in a standoff with the United States, Japan and South Korea over the zone. Japan and South Korea sent their own military aircraft through the air space on Thursday. Full Story | Top |
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