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| Russia says better to remove most chemical weapons from Syria Friday, Nov 01, 2013 12:22 PM PDT By Steve Gutterman MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia believes most of Syria's chemical arsenal should be removed from the country rather than destroyed there, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov was quoted as saying on Friday. Ryabkov spoke after meeting Sigrid Kaag, head of the joint United Nations-Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) mission to destroy Syria's chemical weapons. "Much speaks in favor of the overwhelming portion of poisonous substances in Syria being removed beyond its borders," state-run news agency RIA quoted Ryabkov as saying. Full Story | Top |
| At least two killed in shooting outside Athens Golden Dawn office Friday, Nov 01, 2013 12:19 PM PDT By Karolina Tagaris ATHENS (Reuters) - At least two people were killed in a drive-by shooting outside the offices of Greece's far-right Golden Dawn party in Athens on Friday, police said. The attack took place as the government is cracking down on Golden Dawn, Greece's third-most popular political force, after a party sympathizer stabbed an anti-fascism rapper to death in September. The victims were aged 20 and 23 years old, Golden Dawn said on its website, but police had not yet verified their identities and details on the shooting were not immediately available. Let everyone know this," government spokesman Simos Kedikoglou told reporters outside the prime minister's mansion. Full Story | Top |
| Pakistani Taliban chief killed in drone strike Friday, Nov 01, 2013 12:14 PM PDT  By Mehreen Zahra-Malik and Saud Mehsud ISLAMABAD/DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan (Reuters) - The chief of the Pakistani Taliban was killed by a U.S. drone strike on Friday, security sources and a senior Taliban commander said. Hakimullah Mehsud was one of Pakistan's most wanted men with a $5 million U.S. bounty on his head. He led an insurgency from a secret hideout in North Waziristan, the Taliban's mountainous stronghold on the Afghan border. "We confirm with great sorrow that our esteemed leader was martyred in a drone attack," a senior Taliban commander told Reuters. Full Story | Top |
| U.N. officials see risk of genocide in Central African Republic Friday, Nov 01, 2013 12:13 PM PDT  By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Central African Republic is at risk of spiraling into genocide as armed groups incite Christians and Muslims against each other in the virtually lawless country, senior U.N. officials told the Security Council on Friday. The landlocked, mineral-rich nation of 4.6 million people has slipped into chaos since northern Seleka rebels seized the capital, Bangui, and ousted President Francois Bozize in March. "More and more you have inter-sectarian violence because the Seleka targeted the churches and the Christians, so now the Christians have created self-defense militias and they are retaliating against the Muslims," said French U.N. Ambassador Gerard Araud after a briefing by U.N. rights and aid officials. Adama Dieng, U.N. special adviser on the prevention of genocide, John Ging, director of operations for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, and Ivan Simonovic, U.N. assistant secretary general for human rights, informally briefed the 15-member Security Council. Full Story | Top |
| New Obama order aims to prepare communities for severe weather Friday, Nov 01, 2013 12:10 PM PDT  By Environment Correspondent Deborah Zabarenko WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In another move to address the impact of climate change, President Barack Obama ordered a bipartisan task force on Friday to help U.S. communities brace for longer heat waves, heavier downpours, more severe wildfires and worse droughts. Friday's executive order set up a panel of governors, mayors, county officials and tribal leaders to advise the White House on how the federal government can respond to communities hit by the effects of a changing climate. Federal agencies were also directed to modernize their programs in ways that will support investments that will help cities and towns gird against extreme weather. Friday's White House order builds on a Climate Action Plan unveiled in June, the centerpiece of which was new regulations to be applied to power plants, and comes three days after the anniversary of the landfall of Superstorm Sandy, which caused more than $60 billion in damage along the U.S. Atlantic coast. Full Story | Top |
| Israel vows to deny Hezbollah weapons as details of Syria raid emerge Friday, Nov 01, 2013 11:30 AM PDT  By Crispian Balmer JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel said it would not allow advanced weapons to fall into the hands of Hezbollah, after a raid on Syria that opposition sources said had hit an air force garrison believed to be holding Russian-made missiles destined for the militant group. Israel has a clear policy on Syria and will continue to enforce it, officials said on Friday, after U.S. and European sources said Israel had launched a new attack on its warring neighbor. Israel declined to comment on leaks to U.S. media that its planes had hit a Syrian base near the port of Latakia, targeting missiles that it thought were destined for its Lebanese enemy, Hezbollah. "We have said many times that we will not allow the transfer of advanced weapons to Hezbollah," said Home Front Defense Minister Gilad Erdan, a member of the inner security cabinet which met hours before the alleged Israeli attack. Full Story | Top |
| "Do his phone," Murdoch editor told journalist hunting celebrity scoop Friday, Nov 01, 2013 11:16 AM PDT By Michael Holden LONDON (Reuters) - Andy Coulson, an editor of Rupert Murdoch's now defunct News of the World newspaper, instructed a journalist working on a story about a celebrity to "do his phone", a jury trying Coulson and three others for conspiring to hack phones was told on Friday. The trial was also told how a phone call from Queen Elizabeth's grandson Prince Harry was hacked, and fellow ex-editor Rebekah Brooks authorized payments at Murdoch's Sun tabloid to military figures for a picture of Prince William in a bikini and details of soldiers killed on active duty. Coulson and Brooks are the two most high-profile figures among eight defendants on trial on various charges related to phone-hacking, illegal payments to officials for stories, and hindering police investigations. Full Story | Top |
| Violent protest in Mali's Gao over talks to heal north Friday, Nov 01, 2013 11:09 AM PDT Thousands of residents in Mali's northern city of Gao fought street battles with the police on Friday and torched the mayor's house during a protest over talks aimed at healing divisions in the north. Gao was a stronghold of Islamist militants who took over the north of the country in 2012 before France sent troops to Mali in January to drive them out. The violence highlights the challenges newly elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita faces in fixing the broken nation, once considered a model democracy in West Africa. The mayor's house was torched and three cars were burnt in front of his office," Gao resident Boubacar Maiga said. Full Story | Top |
| Guinea-Bissau postpones election until 2014 Friday, Nov 01, 2013 10:57 AM PDT Guinea-Bissau will postpone an election planned for November until early next year due to a lack of funds, officials said on Friday. The election is supposed to return the West African country to democracy after a military coup last year and Western and regional powers and the United Nations had all urged it to hold the vote before year end. "There is now sufficient funding to hold general elections," interim President Manuel Sherifo Nhamadjo said. The U.N. special representative to the country, Jose Ramos-Horta, said that $20 million had been raised for the election, adding that he now expected it to happen in February or March. Full Story | Top |
| Toronto mayor's lawyer tells police to release alleged crack video Friday, Nov 01, 2013 10:56 AM PDT  By Cameron French TORONTO (Reuters) - Toronto Mayor Rob Ford's lawyer said on Friday his client was not smoking crack cocaine in a video that has been seen only by a few but has dominated Canadian headlines for months, and he urged the city's police to release the video to the public. His comments come a day after Toronto police said they had recovered a copy of a video that is "consistent" with one reportedly seen by journalists at the Toronto Star newspaper and by media blog Gawker earlier this year. Both the Star and Gawker said the video shows the mayor smoking what appears to be crack cocaine. Ford himself has denied the existence of the video and said he does not use crack cocaine. Full Story | Top |
| Shared concern over Syria brings thaw between Turkey and Iran Friday, Nov 01, 2013 10:40 AM PDT  By Humeyra Pamuk and Tulay Karadeniz ISTANBUL/ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey and Iran said on Friday they had common concerns about the increasingly sectarian nature of Syria's civil war, signaling a thaw in a key Middle Eastern relationship strained by stark differences over the conflict. Iran has been a firm ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad since the start of the 32-month-old uprising against him, while Turkey has been one of his fiercest critics, supporting the opposition and giving refuge to rebel fighters. But the election in June of President Hassan Rouhani, a relative moderate who says he wants to thaw Iran's ties with the West, and shared concern over the rise of al Qaeda in Syria, have spurred hopes of a rapprochement. "Sitting here together with the Iranian foreign minister you can be sure we will be working together to fight these types of scenarios which aim to see a sectarian conflict," Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told a conference in Istanbul. Full Story | Top |
| Greenpeace says Russia to move 30 detained activists Friday, Nov 01, 2013 10:38 AM PDT  Russia is preparing to move 30 Greenpeace activists who were arrested over a protest against Arctic drilling from the far-north city of Murmansk to St. Petersburg, the environmental group said on Friday. The detainees, including two journalists, have been charged with hooliganism for the September 18 protest in which the activists tried to scale Russia's first offshore Arctic oil rig, the Prirazlomnaya, owned by state energy company Gazprom. Russia's Investigative Committee, which is leading the case, could not be reached for comment and the reasons behind any such move were not immediately clear. Greenpeace International head Kumi Naidoo said it would be easier for relatives and consular officials to reach them in St. Petersburg, about 700 km (440 miles) from Moscow, rather than in remote Murmansk. Full Story | Top |
| Removal of Fukushima's spent fuel on target: U.S. Energy Secretary Friday, Nov 01, 2013 10:35 AM PDT  A "significant milestone" is at hand for cleanup of Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant, with spent nuclear fuel removal likely to start on schedule, the U.S. Energy Secretary said on Friday after a visit to the site. "It appears that spent nuclear fuel will begin to be removed from Unit 4 as scheduled in mid-November," Ernest Moniz said in a statement. "This will be significant milestone for Tepco and the Japanese government and in the process of decommissioning the site." Moniz, a nuclear physicist, is the highest ranking U.S. official to visit the crippled Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station since a nuclear disaster in March 2011 that followed an earthquake and tsunami. The cleanup and decommissioning of Fukushima Daiichi, which had been operated by Tokyo Electric Power Co, or Tepco, is expected to take decades. Full Story | Top |
| Syrian army captures strategic town at approaches to Aleppo Friday, Nov 01, 2013 10:32 AM PDT  By Erika Solomon BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syria's armed forces said on Friday they had captured a strategic northern town at the eastern gates of Aleppo, the former commercial hub long the scene of fierce fighting between government and rebel fighters. The town of Safira lies on a road the army said would be used to send in medicine and supplies to government-controlled areas of Aleppo, mired in a bloody stalemate for over a year. It is also the site of a chemical weapons installation under government control and cleared of equipment. The capture of Safira is significant in that it marks a rare victory for Assad's forces near the mostly rebel-held north. Full Story | Top |
| Uganda calls for Congo ceasefire as peace talks progress Friday, Nov 01, 2013 10:32 AM PDT By Elias Biryabarema and Kenny Katombe KAMPALA/RUMANGABO, Democratic Republic of Congo, Nov 1 (Reuters) - Uganda called on the Congolese army and M23 rebels to cease fire on Friday as peace talks progressed in Kampala to end a 20-month conflict. But, while the rebels said they were ready for a peace deal, government forces vowed to pursue their military advantage and crush the rebellion in Democratic Republic of Congo's mineral-rich east. Peace talks resumed in the Ugandan capital Kampala on Wednesday, 10 days after they collapsed over rebel demands for amnesty, triggering renewed hostilities. A week-long army offensive has driven the rebels back to mountain bases and many have fled to neighboring Uganda or defected. Full Story | Top |
| Iranian Kurd leader says West shouldn't be fooled by Rouhani Friday, Nov 01, 2013 10:30 AM PDT By Alexandra Hudson BERLIN (Reuters) - The leader of an armed Iranian Kurdish group says new President Hassan Rouhani is taking advantage of the West's wary optimism towards him to step up pressure on citizens at home, particularly Kurds, and has markedly increased executions. The election in June of Rouhani, a relative moderate and a former chief nuclear negotiator, has created a diplomatic opening between Iran and a group of six world powers which are trying to persuade it to curb its nuclear program. Abdul Rahman Haji-Ahmadi, the Germany-based leader of the Party for Free Life in Kurdistan (PJAK), told Reuters in a written interview that Rouhani "belongs completely to the core system" of Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and bringing him to the fore was Tehran's attempt to get out of political deadlock. "Obviously he has played very well so far, managing to escape from some crises as well as deceiving some of the Iranian peoples," Haji-Ahmadi said, but this would end if he fell short of election pledges in a country hungry for change. Full Story | Top |
| Stormy Halloween in central U.S. leaves three people dead Friday, Nov 01, 2013 10:22 AM PDT  By Kevin Murphy Kansas City, Missouri (Reuters) - A violent Halloween storm from the U.S. Gulf Coast to the eastern Great Lakes killed at least three people, two in Texas and one in Tennessee, and contributed to the overturning of a school bus in a rain-swollen creek in Kansas. The National Weather Service said it received 230 reports of high winds across 12 states from Louisiana to Pennsylvania, and reports of tornadoes in Louisiana, Texas, Kentucky and Illinois, although none did major damage. In Nashville, a 9-year-old boy was electrocuted by a downed power line, according to Metro Nashville Police. Full Story | Top |
| Netherlands to send peacekeepers, helicopters to Mali Friday, Nov 01, 2013 10:10 AM PDT  The Netherlands said on Friday it would send combat helicopters and around 380 troops to boost a U.N.-led peacekeeping mission trying to stabilize Mali after a coup and an Islamist incursion. The U.N. force is supposed to take over from an African mission, and French forces who intervened in Mali in January to drive out al Qaeda-linked militants who Paris feared could mount attacks in the region and beyond. But the United Nations last month said the new force, known as MINUSMA, was short of troops and helicopters. "We believe Dutch participation increases the chance of success of the U.N. mission," Prime Minister Mark Rutte told reporters in The Hague Friday after a weekly Cabinet meeting. Full Story | Top |
| Pakistani Taliban confirm death of Hakimullah Mehsud Friday, Nov 01, 2013 10:10 AM PDT ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - The Pakistani Taliban confirmed on Friday that their leader, Hakimullah Mehsud, had been killed in a drone strike in the lawless Pakistani region of North Waziristan, senior Taliban and Pakistani intelligence sources told Reuters. "Hakimullah Mehsud's funeral is scheduled for 3 p.m. (Saturday) in Miranshah," an intelligence source said, referring to the main regional city. (Reporting by Mehreen Zahra-Malik; Writing by Maria Golovnina) Full Story | Top |
| Fired deputy PM says he will return to Syria Friday, Nov 01, 2013 09:23 AM PDT Syria's sacked deputy prime minister on Friday dashed rumors he had defected, and said he would return from abroad to speak for the opposition in parliament. Qadri Jamil was fired this week after apparently angering the Syrian government by meeting U.S. officials to discuss a planned Geneva peace conference to halt Syria's civil war. Jamil considers himself part of the Syrian opposition though he does not support the 2-1/2 year uprising against President Bashar al-Assad. "I will return to Damascus because we are the internal opposition and I am a member of the People's Assembly," Jamil told Al Arabiya television from Moscow, where he has held further talks about the Geneva meeting. Full Story | Top |
| Filmed beating raises questions over migrant rights in Saudi Friday, Nov 01, 2013 08:56 AM PDT The beating looks to be happening in the Saudi's home. "We are investigating the incident," Mufleh al-Qahtani, chairman of the government-licensed National Society for Human Rights, told Reuters by telephone. "We have addressed the authorities ... to verify this video and know who did this. If it is proven to be real, then we will demand that the perpetrator be punished and that the Asian worker can realize his rights." State-owned al-Arabiya television said the state Human Rights Commission was looking into the case after receiving complaints. Full Story | Top |
| Four Palestinian militants killed in Gaza clashes with Israel Friday, Nov 01, 2013 08:40 AM PDT By Nidal al-Mughrabi GAZA (Reuters) - An Israeli air strike killed three militants in the Gaza Strip on Friday, the Islamist group Hamas said, hours after an overnight clash killed a fourth Palestinian gunman and wounded five Israeli soldiers. It was the worst violence between Israelis and Palestinians in the coastal enclave since a ceasefire ended an eight-day conflagration in November. There has also been a rise in shootings and clashes in the occupied West Bank in recent months, even as mediators push on with the latest round of U.S.-brokered peace talks - negotiations that observers say have shown little sign of progress. The Israeli military said its aircraft targeted a tunnel inside the southern Gaza Strip used by militants bent on attacking Israelis, and accused Hamas, Gaza's ruler, of breaching the terms of the ceasefire. Full Story | Top |
| Kerry to visit Egypt, tensions high before Mursi trial Friday, Nov 01, 2013 08:35 AM PDT  By Michael Georgy CAIRO (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will visit Egypt a day before deposed Islamist President Mohamed Mursi goes on trial, the next likely flashpoint in the struggle between his Muslim Brotherhood and the army-backed interim government. In Alexandria, seven people were wounded after residents clashed with Mursi supporters before security forces intervened, a security official said. Forty-five Mursi supporters were arrested. Ties between Washington and strategic ally Cairo have deteriorated since the overthrow of Mursi, Egypt's first democratically elected president. Full Story | Top |
| Japan, Russia agree on next step toward peace treaty Friday, Nov 01, 2013 08:24 AM PDT  By Kiyoshi Takenaka TOKYO (Reuters) - Foreign ministers from Japan and Russia on Friday agreed to hold a vice ministerial-level meeting early next year to work toward the resolution of an island dispute and signing of a peace treaty formally ending their World War Two hostilities. Tokyo and Moscow have conflicting claims over a string of windswept islands called the Southern Kuriles in Russia and the Northern Territories in Japan. The dispute has prevented the two from signing a peace treaty for nearly 70 years. Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, in a meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, was quick to praise improving Russo-Japanese ties, a prerequisite for achieving the difficult tasks of concluding a peace treaty and putting an end to the island dispute. Full Story | Top |
| Drone strike kills four in Pakistan's North Waziristan Friday, Nov 01, 2013 08:21 AM PDT By Saud Mehsud DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan (Reuters) - A drone strike killed four people in Pakistan's lawless North Waziristan region on Friday, possibly including a senior Pakistani Taliban commander, intelligence sources said. North Waziristan is the stronghold of the Taliban insurgency and shares a border with Afghanistan. One Pakistan army source told Reuters separately the military were checking reports that a top Taliban commander might have been killed in the attack. There was no official comment from neither the government nor the Taliban. Full Story | Top |
| Kenyan press, opposition criticize proposed harsh media law Friday, Nov 01, 2013 08:10 AM PDT By James Macharia NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenyan media and opposition politicians have criticized media rules proposed by the government, saying they would muzzle the press and stunt democracy in the country. Kenyan members of parliament late on Thursday voted to pass a new law that empowers the government to form a powerful tribunal to draw up a code of conduct for the media. In an African region where several nations tightly control news-gathering, Kenya's media has enjoyed broad freedoms to criticize successive governments. The government said the bill was still open for discussion. Full Story | Top |
| U.N. envoy says no preconditions for Syria peace talks Friday, Nov 01, 2013 07:47 AM PDT  By Erika Solomon BEIRUT (Reuters) - The United Nations envoy to Syria said on Friday there would be no preconditions for long-delayed peace talks, an assertion likely to anger an opposition movement that says it will only attend if the goal is to remove President Bashar al-Assad. Lakhdar Brahimi said he hoped the conference - known as Geneva 2 - could still be held in the next few weeks despite obstacles that have held it up for months. The talks are meant to bring Syria's warring sides to the negotiating table, but have been repeatedly delayed because of disputes between world powers, divisions among the opposition and the irreconcilable positions of Assad and the rebels. Brahimi has previously said he thought Assad would not be part of the transitional government that Geneva 2 would attempt to install. Full Story | Top |
| Taseko Mines to challenge findings of environment threat Friday, Nov 01, 2013 07:31 AM PDT  (Reuters) - Taseko Mines Ltd said on Friday that it will challenge findings of a Canadian federal review panel, which said that the company's revised plan for a copper-gold mine in British Columbia poses significant threats to the environment. In a statement, Taseko said the findings contradict best practices in place around the world. (Reporting by Rod Nickel in Winnipeg, Manitoba; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick) Full Story | Top |
| Colder weather, lower renewable drive spot prices higher Friday, Nov 01, 2013 07:26 AM PDT PRAGUE (Reuters) - Central European spot power prices rose on Friday as cooler weather is expected to drive up demand and on forecasts for lower wind power output, traders said. On regional exchanges, Czech and Slovak electricity for Saturday rose more than 15 percent to 30.17 euros ($41.02) per megawatt-hour (MWh), while Hungarian day ahead jumped 23 percent to 32.30 euros. In the over-the-counter market, spot prices rose to 30 euros in the Czech Republic and to 47 euros in Hungary. Data from Thomson Reuters Point Carbon showed forecasts for colder weather and higher consumption. ... Full Story | Top |
| Shi'ite rebels attack north Yemen town, death toll rises Friday, Nov 01, 2013 07:16 AM PDT Shi'ite Muslim Houthi rebels backed by tanks launched a fresh attack on Friday on a town in north Yemen held by their Sunni Muslim Salafi rivals, a Salafi spokesman said, bringing the total death toll in three days of sectarian clashes to 40. Salafi spokesman Abu Ismail al-Hajouri told Reuters the casualties were all Salafis and that at least 200 more people had been wounded during the Houthi offensive against the town of Damaj. Full Story | Top |
| Snowden writes to Germans to seek support in spy row Friday, Nov 01, 2013 07:06 AM PDT  By Stephen Brown and Alexandra Hudson BERLIN (Reuters) - Fugitive U.S. intelligence contractor Edward Snowden has told Germany he is counting on international support to stop Washington's 'persecution' of him for revealing the scale of its worldwide phone and Internet surveillance. In an open letter to a country at the center of the row over U.S. spying on allies, Snowden said his revelations had helped to "address formerly concealed abuses of the public trust". Complaining that Washington continued to "treat dissent as defection" and speaking of a "sustained campaign of persecution" that he said had forced him into exile in Russia, Snowden wrote that "speaking the truth is not a crime." "I am confident that with the support of the international community, the government of the United States will abandon this harmful behavior," read his letter to Chancellor Angela Merkel, the German parliament and German federal prosecutors. Snowden gave the letter to German lawmaker Hans-Christian Stroebele, who presented it to the media in Berlin on Friday. Full Story | Top |
| Russian PM plays down 'gas war' talk, warns Ukraine on EU Friday, Nov 01, 2013 07:04 AM PDT  By Stephen Adler and Timothy Heritage MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said he saw no reason for Moscow to cut gas supplies to Ukraine over an unpaid bill for now, playing down talk of an imminent "gas war" that might disrupt flows to Europe. In an interview with Reuters, he denied Russia's demands for payment had anything to do with opposition to Ukraine signing agreements with the European Union this month which would mark a historic shift away from former imperial master Moscow. But the 48-year-old ex-president said the "special relationship" between the two former Soviet republics would change if Ukraine moved closer to Europe and that Kiev should no longer come to Moscow seeking loans. Full Story | Top |
| Bulgaria's ruling group challenges land purchases ban Friday, Nov 01, 2013 06:35 AM PDT  Bulgaria's ruling alliance asked the country's top court on Friday to quash a widely criticized ban on arable land acquisitions by foreigners to avert infringement action by the European Union. The request to overturn the extension, filed to the Constitutional Court earlier in the day, was signed by 19 ruling Socialist deputies and 36 ethnic-Turkish MRF junior allies. "We hope that the Constitutional Court will rule as quickly as possible because this is a very important issue," said MRF deputy Cetin Kazak. Prime Minister Plamen Oresharski said last week Bulgaria would look at finding a way to review the extended ban. Full Story | Top |
| China's economy to sustain 'mid- to high-speed' growth: premier Friday, Nov 01, 2013 05:51 AM PDT  China's economy will keep growing at mid- to high speed in coming years, Premier Li Keqiang said on Friday, promising to lead the world's second-largest economy on a road of "comprehensive reform". Speaking to a group of Chinese and foreign business leaders, Li said China would further reform its government finances, financial markets and industry, among other areas. "For several years in the future, China's economy shall continue to grow at mid- to high speed," Li said. China's maturing economy is set to grow at its slackest pace in 23 years this year, at 7.5 percent, as its export sales falter on fragile global demand. Full Story | Top |
| Grenade blast in Russian courthouse kills two Friday, Nov 01, 2013 05:39 AM PDT A man facing an assault charge detonated a grenade in a courthouse in Russia on Friday, killing himself and a court officer and wounding two other people, state authorities said. The man entered the courthouse where he had a hearing scheduled and detonated the grenade when guards tried to stop him for a search, the federal Investigative Committee said. A court officer died at the scene in the Ural Mountains city of Kurgan, 1,730 km (1,075 miles) east of Moscow, and the attacker died in hospital, the committee said. Full Story | Top |
| Coulson warned of illegal payment to police -court Friday, Nov 01, 2013 05:21 AM PDT Andy Coulson, former editor of Rupert Murdoch's News of the World, agreed to pay a police officer for a telephone directory of Britain's royal family despite being warned it was illegal, a London court heard on Friday. Prosecutor Andrew Edis said the tabloid's former royal editor Clive Goodman had emailed Coulson in January 2003 asking him to approve a 1,000-pound ($1,600) cash payment to a royal protection officer for a "Green Book" which contained private numbers of the royal household. Edis said it was not clear whether Coulson had received the full email from Goodman including the warning, although he argued he had, but said Coulson had received enough to know that paying a police officer for a stolen book was illegal. Full Story | Top |
| Turkey, Iran signal thaw in ties amid mutual concern on Syria Friday, Nov 01, 2013 04:26 AM PDT  By Humeyra Pamuk ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey and Iran said on Friday they had common concerns about the increasingly sectarian nature of Syria's civil war, signaling a thaw in a key Middle Eastern relationship strained by stark differences over the conflict. Iran has been a staunch ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad since the start of the 32-month-old uprising against him, while Turkey has been one of his fiercest critics, supporting the opposition and giving refuge to rebel fighters. But the election in June of President Hassan Rouhani, a relative moderate who says he wants to thaw Iran's icy relations with the West, and shared concern over the rise of al Qaeda in Syria, have spurred hopes of a rapprochement. "Sitting here together with the Iranian foreign minister you can be sure we will be working together to fight these types of scenarios which aim to see a sectarian conflict," Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told a conference in Istanbul. Full Story | Top |
| Russia, Ukraine halt giant Antarctic marine sanctuary plan: group Friday, Nov 01, 2013 04:23 AM PDT Russia and the Ukraine on Friday again scuttled plans to create the world's largest ocean sanctuary in Antarctica, pristine waters rich in energy and species such as whales, penguins and vast stocks of fish, an environmentalist group said. The Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources wound up a week-long meeting in Hobart, Australia, considering proposals for two "marine protected areas" aimed at conserving the ocean wilderness from fishing, drilling for oil and other industrial interests. "It seems pretty clear that a small group of countries led by Russia wanted to wreck the agreement," Steve Campbell, director of the Antarctic Ocean Alliance which campaigns for protecting the Antarctic seas, said by phone from London. Russia and Ukraine also actively blocked the two proposals in July, with China withdrawing support for one. Full Story | Top |
| China's Xinhua says 'Peeping Tom' U.S. risks own security by spying on allies Friday, Nov 01, 2013 04:00 AM PDT The United States country risks its own security by refusing to trust even its own friends and spying on its allies, China's official Xinhua news agency said on Friday, labeling the latest revelations heart-stoppingly fascinating. It is particularly hurtful to those supposed to trust America the most - its allies," Xinhua said in an English-language commentary, peppered with colorful language. "What is counter-intuitive in the NSA forage is its nonsensical approach: relentless and indiscriminate like a vacuum cleaner. It just bugs everybody, even its closest allies in Europe," it added. Full Story | Top |
| Kerry to make first trip to Egypt since Mursi's ouster Friday, Nov 01, 2013 03:38 AM PDT  U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will visit Egypt on Sunday for the first time since the army toppled the country's first freely elected president on July 3, state news agency MENA said. It said the visit to Egypt, whose alliance with the United States has come under strain, would only last several hours. Ties between Washington and Cairo have deteriorated since the overthrow of President Mohamed Mursi, an Islamist who was elected last year. A popular uprising toppled authoritarian ruler Hosni Mubarak, a longtime U.S. ally, in February 2011. Full Story | Top |
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