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| Deadly gun attack in eastern Ukraine shakes fragile Geneva accord Sunday, Apr 20, 2014 09:49 AM PDT  By Aleksandar Vasovic SLAVIANSK, Ukraine (Reuters) - At least three people were killed in a gunfight in the early hours of Sunday near a Ukrainian city controlled by pro-Russian separatists, shaking an already fragile international accord that was designed to avert a wider conflict. The incident triggered a war of words between Moscow and Ukraine's western-backed government with each questioning the other's compliance with the agreement, brokered last week in Geneva, to end a crisis that has made Russia's ties with the West more fraught than at any time since the Cold War. The separatists said armed men from Ukraine's Right Sector nationalist group had attacked them. Failure of the Geneva agreement could bring more bloodshed in eastern Ukraine, but may also prompt the United States to impose tougher sanctions on the Kremlin - with far-reaching consequences for many economies and importers of Russian energy. Full Story | Top |
| Abdullah widens lead in Afghan presidential vote Sunday, Apr 20, 2014 08:48 AM PDT  By Jeremy Laurence KABUL (Reuters) - Former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah's lead in the Afghan presidential race has widened, the latest official tally of votes released on Sunday showed, although half of the votes have yet to be counted. Afghanistan's Independent Election Commission said initial results based on almost 50 percent of the vote out of the total 34 provinces showed Abdullah in the lead with 44.4 percent, followed by ex-world bank official Ashraf Ghani with 33.2 percent of the votes it said were not fraudulent. "The lead we were expecting, it didn't come as a surprise, but perhaps we were expecting a bigger lead," Abdullah told Reuters in an interview at his home in Kabul. Final results are due on May 14, and a run-off, if needed, will take place in late May. A run-off is seen as a risky proposition in Afghanistan, given security concerns, the prospect of a low turnout and the cost - the bill for the first round was put at more than $100 million. Full Story | Top |
| Australia sees 'regroup' on Malaysian plane search in a few days Sunday, Apr 20, 2014 12:04 PM PDT  By David Lawder WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Australia will decide in a few days whether to alter or scale back the search for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, but will consult all countries involved on any changes, Australia's ambassador to the United States said on Sunday. Kim Beazley told CNN the search countries would "regroup and reconsider" if nothing is found in a section of the Indian Ocean floor now being scanned by a U.S. Navy underwater drone. This includes adjustments to the air and sea surface search efforts and the possibility of bringing in private contractors to replace some military assets, he said. You may well also consider bringing in other underwater search equipment," Beazley said on the "State of the Union with Candy Crowley" program. Full Story | Top |
| Prosecutors extend Korea ferry captain's detention as death toll mounts Sunday, Apr 20, 2014 03:36 AM PDT  By Ju-min Park and Jungmin Jang JINDO/MOKPO, South Korea (Reuters) - South Korean prosecutors investigating last week's ferry disaster said on Sunday they wanted to extend the detention of the captain and two other crew as they try to determine the cause of an accident that likely claimed more than 300 lives. The Sewol ferry was on a routine 400-km (300-mile) voyage from Incheon to the southern holiday island of Jeju in calm weather on Wednesday carrying 476 passengers and crew, among them 339 children and teachers on a high school outing. It took more than two hours for it to capsize completely but passengers were ordered to stay put in their cabins. Full Story | Top |
| Boston Marathon looks to emerge from shadow of 2013 bombing Sunday, Apr 20, 2014 12:13 PM PDT  By Scott Malone BOSTON (Reuters) - Runners from the world's elite racers to first-timers will step to the Boston Marathon starting line on Monday for the first time the race has been held since last year's deadly bombing attack. Some 36,000 people, the second-largest field in the race's 118-year history, will set out from Hopkinton, a town west of Boston, for the 26.2-mile race that finishes on Boston's Boylston Street, where two homemade pressure-cooker bombs last year killed three people and injured 264. The fans, hundreds of thousands of whom are expected to line the course, will also be rooting for top U.S. entrants including Ryan Hall of California and Desiree Linden of Michigan. Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick on Sunday told CBS's "Face the Nation" that added security measures, including a higher than usual police presence, would assure a "very safe" atmosphere at the race. Full Story | Top |
| Former army chief, leftist are only candidates in Egypt presidential poll Sunday, Apr 20, 2014 11:56 AM PDT  By Maggie Fick and Mahmoud Mourad CAIRO (Reuters) - The former army general who toppled Egypt's first freely elected president will face a leftist politician in next month's presidential election, as they were the only candidates to enter before nominations closed, the committee organizing the vote said. The committee had received paperwork from former army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and former parliamentarian and presidential candidate Hamdeen Sabahi, it said at a news conference on Sunday, several hours after the deadline had passed. The elections will be held in a barren political climate after the 2011 uprising that toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak raised hopes of a robust democracy in the biggest Arab nation. Neither candidate has outlined a strategy for tackling poverty, energy shortages and unemployment that afflict many of Egypt's 85 million people. Full Story | Top |
| Pipeline delay gives boost to Obama's political base Sunday, Apr 20, 2014 07:03 AM PDT  By Jeff Mason and Steve Holland WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The latest delay to a final decision on the Keystone XL oil pipeline will reinforce a White House strategy to energize President Barack Obama's liberal-leaning base before fall elections in which Democrats risk losing control of the U.S. Senate. Environmentalists, worried about the project's effect on climate change, have put enormous pressure on the president to reject the pipeline from Canada's oil sands, staging demonstrations outside the White House and protests in states where he travels. A decision to approve it now could have prompted that vocal group, which was instrumental in electing Obama in 2008 and 2012, to sit out the November 4 congressional elections. The State Department's announcement on Friday that it would give government agencies more time to study the project was seen by strategists from both parties as a move to prevent that and boost Obama in the eyes of his supporters. Full Story | Top |
| Turkey Twitter accounts appear blocked after Erdogan court action Sunday, Apr 20, 2014 08:45 AM PDT  By Seda Sezer ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Two anonymous Twitter accounts used to release secretly recorded conversations implicating family and associates of Turkey's prime minister and senior government officials in a corruption scandal appeared on Sunday to have been blocked. Twitter last week agreed to comply with a Turkish government request to close some accounts that officials said had breached national security or privacy regulations. Twitter said in a tweet on its policy feed: "Reminder: Our Country Withheld Content Policy means we act after due process, e.g., a court order". "We don't withhold content at the mere request of a gov't official and we may appeal a court order when it threatens freedom of expression," it tweeted. Full Story | Top |
| Venezuelan protesters hold Easter rally, plan to burn Maduro effigies Sunday, Apr 20, 2014 11:29 AM PDT  By Andrew Cawthorne CARACAS (Reuters) - Hundreds of protesters rallied on Sunday to demand the "resurrection" of Venezuelan democracy while effigies of both President Nicolas Maduro and opposition leaders were paraded for burning in a local Easter Day tradition. Though millions of Venezuelans have headed for Caribbean beaches and family gatherings over the Easter period, student demonstrators have sought to keep a nearly three-month protest movement going with religious-themed demonstrations. After a barefoot rally and a "Via Crucis" march in the style of Jesus' tortured walk towards crucifixion, the students gathered on Sunday in a Caracas square for a demonstration denominated "Resurrection of Democracy." Easter marks the day Christians believe Jesus was resurrected from the dead after being crucified. "We're staying in the street until we get our country back, until we get democracy back," student leader Djamil Jassir, 22, told Reuters in a square where protesters displayed dozens of used gas cannisters and bullets as symbols of repression. Full Story | Top |
| Brazil´s president also responsible for refinery deal: ex CEO Sunday, Apr 20, 2014 11:21 AM PDT  Brazil´s President Dilma Rousseff must assume her share of responsibility for the controversial purchase of a refinery in Texas by Petroleo Brasileiro SA, the former chief executive of the state-run oil company said in an interview published on Sunday. Rousseff chaired the board of Petrobras in 2006 when it approved the purchase of Pasadena Refining System Inc, near Houston. Its high cost and losses later incurred at the refinery have put Petrobras at the center of a growing political scandal that began with bribery accusations and was fanned by the arrest of a former director in connection with a money-laundering case. The fall-out could complicate a re-election bid in October by Rousseff, who has said she was not informed of two clauses in the refinery contract that made it an onerous deal for Petrobras. Full Story | Top |
| Kuwaiti newspapers suspended over 'plot' tape stories Sunday, Apr 20, 2014 10:38 AM PDT A judge has suspended two Kuwaiti newspapers for two weeks after they published stories about a recording that discusses an alleged plot to overthrow the Gulf state's ruling system, their editors and the state news agency said on Sunday. Kuwait, a major oil producer and U.S. ally, has imposed a news blackout on a sensitive investigation into the tape, saying earlier this month that media coverage about it was damaging to the country. The Information Ministry said the newspapers had published "articles and views on the case which could affect relevant investigations by the Public Prosecution, and could even undermine the national interest," the KUNA news agency reported. Al Watan editor-in-chief Sheikh Khalifa Ali al-Khalifa al-Sabah told Reuters that his publication would contest the decision and continue to update its website. Full Story | Top |
| Search ends for missing on Everest, some Sherpas call for shutdown Sunday, Apr 20, 2014 06:44 AM PDT  By Gopal Sharma KATHMANDU (Reuters) - Rescuers have given up searching for three sherpa guides missing two days after the deadliest ever accident on Nepal's Mount Everest killed at least 13 and shocked the mountaineering world. It not possible to find the three missing persons, dead or alive," said Lakpa Sherpa, of the Himalayan Rescue Operation, speaking from base camp, the starting point for Everest expeditions. The helicopters used in the search and to ferry bodies from the mountain have been called back to Kathmandu, an army spokesman said. Rescuers brought six bodies from the base camp to Kathmandu at the weekend and have kept them at a sherpa Buddhist monastery in accordance with tradition. Full Story | Top |
| Families of Iran prisoners stage protest outside parliament Sunday, Apr 20, 2014 07:53 AM PDT Families of Iranian prisoners charged with political offences demonstrated outside parliament in Tehran on Sunday to protest at what they said was violent treatment of their relatives at the Evin prison, the Iranian Students' News Agency reported. Family members holding pictures of the prisoners said more than 20 of their relatives were hurt in clashes with security guards on April 17, according to Kaleme, a website linked to opposition leaders Mirhossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karoubi. It is unusual for families to gather outside parliament to complain about alleged abuses of their relatives, although such protests have been held outside Evin itself in the past. The prisoners are among hundreds rounded up during mass demonstrations by reformists protesting against the disputed re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in presidential elections in 2009, in the worst unrest since the 1979 Islamic revolution. Full Story | Top |
| Bankrupt British loans official resigns, embarrassing PM Cameron Sunday, Apr 20, 2014 07:51 AM PDT By Andrew Osborn LONDON (Reuters) - The head of a British government agency that hands out billions of pounds of loans to local authorities has resigned after failing to reveal he was bankrupt, Prime Minister David Cameron's office said on Sunday. Cameron appointed Tony Caplin, a former senior official in his ruling Conservative party, to head the Public Works Loans Board (PWLB) last year. The PWLB is in charge of distributing infrastructure loans to local authorities across Britain and controls a loans portfolio of up to 60 billion pounds ($100.85 billion). Full Story | Top |
| Church of England still invested in payday lender Sunday, Apr 20, 2014 06:11 AM PDT  The Archbishop of Canterbury said the Church of England still held an indirect investment in short-term loan company Wonga, even though he branded its activities "morally wrong" nine months ago. Archbishop Justin Welby, leader of the world's 80 million Anglicans, said last year he had been embarrassed to learn that the church's pension fund had invested a relatively small sum in a U.S. venture capital firm that led Wonga's 2009 fundraising. Shortly before that investment came to light, Welby had pledged to drive such lenders out of business by backing rival credit unions as he made a scathing attack on so-called "payday" lenders such as Wonga, which charge high interest rates on loans that are typically repaid when borrowers receive their next paychecks. But on Sunday in an interview with The Sunday Telegraph newspaper, Welby said he had been unable to force the church's investment arm, the Church Commissioners, to exit the investment. Full Story | Top |
| Syria's Assad pays Easter visit to recaptured Christian town Sunday, Apr 20, 2014 08:27 AM PDT  By Firas Makdesi MAALOULA, Syria (Reuters) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Sunday visited an ancient Christian town recaptured from rebels last week, state media said, as he seeks to persuade minorities that the government is their best protection against hardline Islamists. Assad's Easter visit to Maaloula - a rare appearance outside central Damascus - also highlighted growing government confidence in recent gains against insurgents around the capital and along the Lebanese border. Islamist fighters, including some from the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front, had taken over part of Maaloula in December and held several nuns captive until releasing them in March in a prisoner-exchange deal. Full Story | Top |
| On Easter, Pope calls for end to war, condemns waste exacerbating hunger Sunday, Apr 20, 2014 03:35 AM PDT  By Philip Pullella VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis, in his Easter address before a huge crowd, on Sunday denounced the "immense wastefulness" in the world while many go hungry and called for an end to conflicts in Syria, Ukraine and Africa. "We ask you, Lord Jesus, to put an end to all war and every conflict, whether great or small, ancient or recent," he said in his "Urbi et Orbi" (to the city and the world) message. Francis, marking the second Easter season of his pontificate, celebrated a Mass to an overflowing crowd of at least 150,000 in St. Peter's Square and beyond. Full Story | Top |
| Joyful homecoming for four French journalists after Syria captivity Sunday, Apr 20, 2014 02:11 AM PDT  By Sunaina Karkarey VILLACOUBLAY AIRBASE, France (Reuters) - Four French journalists held captive in Syria for more than 10 months returned home to France on Sunday, freshly shaved and beaming, where they were met at an airbase by President Francois Hollande, their families and friends. Nicolas Henin, Pierre Torres, Edouard Elias and Didier Francois smiled at a crowd of journalists, some of them colleagues, after descending from a military helicopter at the Villacoublay airbase southwest of Paris. Full Story | Top |
| Obamacare enrollees urged to change passwords over Heartbleed bug Saturday, Apr 19, 2014 08:56 PM PDT  By Chris Francescani NEW YORK (Reuters) - Americans with accounts on President Barack Obama's health insurance enrollment website, HealthCare.gov, were advised that their passwords had been reset to guard against the "Heartbleed" bug, in a message posted on the site on Saturday. The warning marks the latest fallout from the widespread security bug, which surfaced this month and allows hackers to steal data online without a trace. Companies from Amazon.com Inc to Google Inc. have been forced to take steps to protect against Heartbleed. HealthCare.gov, a health insurance exchange for the 36 states that opted out of creating their own state insurance exchanges, was created under Obama's signature health care law, the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Full Story | Top |
| Iran says it watered down, converted over 200 kg of enriched uranium Saturday, Apr 19, 2014 03:31 PM PDT  Iran said on Saturday it had completed watering down and converting more than 200 kilograms (440 lb) of enriched uranium under a deal reached in Geneva last November with world powers over its disputed nuclear program. "Based on the agreement with the West, we were supposed to have half of our 200 kilogram stock of uranium diluted and the other half converted to uranium oxide," Iran's atomic chief, Ali Akbar Salehi, told the Arabic-language Al Alam television channel. The International Atomic Energy Agency said on Thursday that Iran has acted to cut its most sensitive nuclear stockpile by nearly 75 percent in implementing a landmark pact with world powers, but a planned facility it will need to fulfil the six-month deal has been delayed. Salehi, who heads the country's atomic energy organization, said the fast process of uranium conversion was expected to expedite the release of frozen Iranian assets in the West. Full Story | Top |
| Social Security to resume benefits statement mailings Saturday, Apr 19, 2014 04:10 PM PDT  By Mark Miller CHICAGO (Reuters) - Paper Social Security benefits statements, which used to be mailed out every year and then fell victim to budget cuts, are going to make a partial comeback. Starting this September, the Social Security Administration (SSA) will resume mailings at five-year intervals to workers who have not signed up to view their statements online, an agency spokesman told Reuters. The statements will be sent to workers at ages 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 55 and 60, he said, adding the agency would continue to promote use of the online statements. The SSA stopped mailing most paper statements in 2011 in response to budget pressures, and saved the SSA $70 million annually - about 50 cents per mailed statement. Full Story | Top |
| U.N. peace envoy criticizes Israeli Easter security in Jerusalem Saturday, Apr 19, 2014 03:28 PM PDT  By Allyn Fisher-Ilan JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli police refused to let the U.N.'s peace envoy to the Middle East, other diplomats and a crowd of Palestinians pass through a barricade to attend a pre-Easter ritual in the Jerusalem church that Christians revere as the burial site of Jesus, the U.N. official said on Saturday. The incident, following two days of violence at a separate holy site known as a flashpoint for Jews and Muslims, underscored rising tensions in the politically charged city ahead of Pope Francis's Holy Land visit next month. Israel dismissed the U.N. complaint, calling it an attempt to inflate a "micro-incident" and saying police at the barricade keep people back as a crowd-control measure while there was no reported violence among the tens of thousands of Christians who thronged to the Holy Sepulchre Church in Jerusalem's old walled city to witness the "Holy Fire" ritual. Robert Serry, the United Nation's peace envoy to the Middle East, said in a statement Israeli security officers had stopped a group of Palestinian worshippers and diplomats in a procession near the church, "claiming they had orders to that effect". Full Story | Top |
| Gunmen kill two Egyptian policemen near Cairo, court jails Islamists Sunday, Apr 20, 2014 05:01 AM PDT  Gunmen killed an Egyptian intelligence officer and a policeman on a road outside Cairo in a late-night firefight, the Interior Ministry said on Sunday. The armed men fled the scene after shooting dead Captain Ashraf Badeer el-Qazaz of the intelligence service and a police conscript, the ministry said in a statement. The two men were on security patrol late on Saturday on a desert road linking Cairo to the canal city of Suez when they tried to stop a vehicle, which then opened fire on them. Islamist militants have stepped up attacks on members of the security forces and killed hundreds of them since the army toppled Egypt's first freely elected president, Mohamed Mursi, last July. Full Story | Top |
| South Korea recovers first bodies from inside sunken ferry Saturday, Apr 19, 2014 04:05 PM PDT  South Korean divers retrieved three bodies from inside a sunken ferry overnight, officials said on Sunday, the first time they have been able to gain entry to the passenger section of the ship. "At 11:48 p.m. (10.48 ET) the joint rescue team broke a glass window and succeeded in getting inside the vessel," the South Korean government said in a statement. The discovery of the bodies brought to 36 the official death toll from what looks to be South Korea's deadliest maritime accident in 21 years. Full Story | Top |
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