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| White House: Obama has not decided to release Israeli spy Tuesday, Apr 01, 2014 12:36 PM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama has not made a decision to release convicted Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard, White House spokesman Jay Carney said on Tuesday. "Jonathan Pollard was convicted of espionage and he is serving his sentence," Carney said. "I don't have any other update to provide you on Mr. Pollard's status. There are obviously a lot of things happening in that arena and I am not going to get ahead of discussions that are under way," he said. (Reporting by Jeff Mason and David Storey; Editing by Sandra Maler) Full Story | Top |
| Prominent Islamist shot dead on Kenyan coast: police Tuesday, Apr 01, 2014 12:30 PM PDT  By Joseph Akwiri MOMBASA, Kenya (Reuters) - A prominent Kenyan Islamist, accused by the United States and U.N. Security Council of supporting the Somali militant group al Shabaab, was shot dead on Tuesday, police said. Abubakar Shariff, also known as Makaburi, was killed as he left a court compound about 15 km (10 miles) north of the port city of Mombasa, police chief for Kisauni area Richard Ngtia told journalists. Makaburi had been attending a court hearing. "Our brother Abubakar Shariff Makaburi has left us. Full Story | Top |
| French Greens say they will not join new government Tuesday, Apr 01, 2014 12:27 PM PDT  The French Greens party will not take part in a newly formed government under Socialist Prime Minister Manuel Valls, it said on Tuesday, breaking away from a coalition marked by tensions over energy policy. The decision capped nearly two years of tense relations between coalition partners as the Greens sought to wind down use of nuclear energy and insisted on maintaining a blanket ban on shale gas exploration. It followed a rout of the ruling Socialist Party in local elections on Sunday which prompted an unpopular President Francois Hollande to appoint his tough-talking former interior minister Valls as prime minister. "The ecologists will back the government without fail when it acts for progress and ecology, but it will oppose it whenever ecology is not taken into account," the party said in a statement. Full Story | Top |
| Kerry cancels meeting with Abbas in Ramallah Tuesday, Apr 01, 2014 12:25 PM PDT BRUSSELS (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Tuesday called off a meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah for last-minute talks on extending peace talks with Israel, a senior State Department official said. "We are no longer travelling tomorrow. We are in close touch with the team on the ground," the official said. (Reporting by Lesley Wroughton; editing by Andrew Roche) Full Story | Top |
| Kerry says too early to draw conclusions about Israel-Palestinian talks Tuesday, Apr 01, 2014 12:25 PM PDT BRUSSELS (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Tuesday it was too early to draw conclusions about the prospects in peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, saying "a lot of possibilities" were in play. Kerry said Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas had agreed to keep his promise to continue negotiating with Israel until the end of the month. "Even tonight, both parties say they want to continue to find a way forward," Kerry told reporters after meeting his NATO counterparts in Brussels to discuss the crisis in Ukraine. ... Full Story | Top |
| Abbas signs international conventions, jeopardizing peace moves Tuesday, Apr 01, 2014 12:25 PM PDT  Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas signed more than a dozen international conventions on Tuesday citing anger at Israel's delay of a prisoner release, in a move jeopardized U.S. efforts to salvage fragile peace talks. His unexpected decision came just a day before U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry had been due to travel to Ramallah for talks aimed at finalizing a complex, three-way deal that would enable the talks to continue into 2015. Israel had promised in exchange to free more than 100 prisoners by the end of March, but failed to release the final batch, saying it wanted guarantees that the Palestinians would extend the negotiations beyond the April 29 deadline. In his remarks to Palestinian leaders in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Abbas made clear he was not abandoning the negotiations, but blasted Israel's delay in freeing prisoners. Full Story | Top |
| Japanese families torn as return to Fukushima 'hot zone' begins Tuesday, Apr 01, 2014 12:15 PM PDT  By Mari Saito TAMURA, Japan (Reuters) - People in Japan on Tuesday began their first homecomings in three years to a small area evacuated after the Fukushima disaster, but families are divided as worries about radiation and poor job prospects have kept many away. The reopening of the Miyakoji area of Tamura, a city 220 km (140 miles) northeast of Tokyo and inland from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear station, marks a tiny step for Japan as it attempts to recover from the 2011 disasters. "Many of our friends and neighbors won't come back," said Kimiko Koyama, 69, speaking on her return to the large farmhouse she had occupied for 50 years, while her husband Toshio, 72, tried to fix a television antenna on the roof. "My daughter won't bring our grandsons here because of the radiation." Miyakoji, set amid rolling hills and rice paddies, has been off-limits to most residents since March 2011, when the government ordered evacuations after a devastating earthquake and tsunami triggered a triple meltdown at the power plant on the Pacific coast about 20 km (12 miles) away. Full Story | Top |
| NATO suspends cooperation with Russia over Ukraine crisis Tuesday, Apr 01, 2014 12:11 PM PDT  By Adrian Croft BRUSSELS (Reuters) - NATO suspended all practical cooperation with Russia on Tuesday in protest at its annexation of Crimea and ordered military planners to draft measures to strengthen its defences and reassure nervous eastern European countries. Foreign ministers from the 28-nation, U.S.-led alliance were meeting for the first time since the Russian occupation of Ukraine's Crimea region touched off the worst East-West crisis since the Cold War. They agreed to "suspend all practical civilian and military cooperation between NATO and Russia". NATO officials said the decision could affect cooperation with Russia on Afghanistan in areas such as training counter-narcotics personnel, maintenance of Afghan air force helicopters and a transit route out of the war-torn country. Full Story | Top |
| As hazardous waste swells with energy boom, funds bet on Clean Harbors Tuesday, Apr 01, 2014 12:05 PM PDT By David Randall NEW YORK (Reuters) - Even as its share price has slumped 8 percent in the year to date, hazardous waste manager Clean Harbors, Inc. has cleaned up in terms of fund-manager interest as more of them bet on one of the down sides of the energy boom. The refinery businesses along the Gulf Coast, including those of Valero Energy Corp, Marathon Petroleum Corp and Exxon Mobil Corp, have thrived as a result of higher oil output. That's helped to lure a swarm of fund managers to Norwell, Massachusetts-based Clean Harbors, which controls about 70 percent of commercial incineration capacity in North America and about one-fifth of the landfills that can accept hazardous material, according to analyst estimates, putting it ahead of competitors like Veolia Environmental Services SA. Indeed, 43 mutual funds added a position in Clean Harbors over the last quarter, sending its total ownership up 15 percent to 460 funds, according to fund tracker Morningstar. Full Story | Top |
| Syrian boys become breadwinners as parents struggle in Turkey Tuesday, Apr 01, 2014 11:58 AM PDT  By Dasha Afanasieva KILIS, Turkey (Reuters) - The busy market district of Kilis in southeast Turkey is full of Syrian refugee children, repairing household goods, serving baklava and selling jewelery to become the main breadwinner of their families because their parents struggle to find jobs. The civil war in neighboring Syria has killed more than 140,000 people and driven 2.5 million abroad, at least 700,000 of whom have been formally registered in Turkey under its "open door" policy reflecting support for the Syrian uprising. But the total number of Syrians in Turkey is believed to be much higher and the influx has transformed the southern borderlands, with many Syrian grocery shops selling all their home brands and property prices sky-rocketing. Only 14 percent of Syrian children living outside the camps go to school, according to Turkey's Disaster and Emergency Management Directorate (AFAD), with the majority taking up work, however minimally paid, to help sustain their families. Full Story | Top |
| Aid bureaucracy, suspicion threaten to deepen South Sudan crisis: MSF Tuesday, Apr 01, 2014 11:51 AM PDT  By Tom Miles GENEVA (Reuters) - The humanitarian crisis created by South Sudan's civil war may well worsen this year because of the slow international response and suspicions among warring parties of U.N. relief efforts, the head of aid agency Medecins Sans Frontieres said on Tuesday. More than 1 million people have been displaced since December 15, according to the United Nations, including 800,000 uprooted within South Sudan and 254,000 who have taken refuge in neighboring states. A ceasefire deal in January collapsed and negotiations in Addis Ababa have failed to stop fighting between the government and rebels in the country, which declared independence from Sudan in 2011 but has been plagued by disorder since. All indicates a civil conflict that is there to last, unless there is an unexpected diplomatic success," Bruno Jochum, director general of MSF, also known as Doctors Without Borders, told reporters in Geneva. Full Story | Top |
| French Greens will not join newly formed government: sources Tuesday, Apr 01, 2014 11:33 AM PDT PARIS (Reuters) - The French Greens party will not take part in a newly formed government under Prime Minister Manuel Valls, parliamentary sources said on Tuesday, breaking out of a ruling coalition with the Socialist Party. The party's executive committee voted after a day of talks not to join the government, the sources told Reuters. (Reporting By Chine Labbe; Writing by Nicholas Vinocur, editing by Astrid Wendlandt) Full Story | Top |
| Shrine for Washington state mudslide site is considered Tuesday, Apr 01, 2014 10:52 AM PDT  By Eric M. Johnson DARRINGTON, Washington (Reuters) - Survivors of a mudslide that left dozens dead or missing in Washington state said they would like to turn the disaster site into a shrine for the victims once bulldozers clear away the mud and debris. Rescue teams pressed on for an 11th day on Tuesday in their efforts to find more victims of the slide, triggered when a rain-soaked hillside collapsed above the north fork of the Stillaguamish River, northeast of Seattle. The torrent of mud roared over the riverbanks and across state Highway 530, flattening more than two dozen homes on the outskirts of the town of Oso in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains. The Snohomish County Medical Examiner's Office said 19 of the confirmed fatalities have now been identified, including a 4-month-old girl and two children aged 5 and 6. Full Story | Top |
| German airliner hostage-taking ends after brief standoff Tuesday, Apr 01, 2014 10:52 AM PDT A Kosovo man took a flight attendant hostage on a German airliner on Tuesday but surrendered to police after a brief standoff, police said. German media said a 50-year-old flight attendant suffered cuts after the man put her in a headlock and held a razor blade to her throat minutes after takeoff from Munich airport. Other crew rushed to the assistance of the flight attendant and there was a scuffle, Bild online said. When no one understood the man's demands, he barricaded himself in a toilet with the flight attendant. Full Story | Top |
| Prominent Islamist killed on Kenyan coast: witnesses Tuesday, Apr 01, 2014 10:34 AM PDT MOMBASA (Reuters) - A prominent Kenyan Islamist, accused by the United States and U.N. Security Council of supporting the Somali militant group al Shabaab, was killed on Tuesday on the Kenyan coast, a police officer at the scene and a witness said. An officer pointed to a dead body that lay a few km (miles) from the port city of Mombasa and said it was the corpse of Abubakar Shariff, also known as Makaburi. A Reuters witness also identified the corpse, which appeared to have bullet wounds to the body and head. There was no immediate official police comment. ... Full Story | Top |
| Russia says JP Morgan 'illegally' blocked embassy money transfer Tuesday, Apr 01, 2014 10:33 AM PDT Russia's Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday U.S. bank JP Morgan had "illegally" blocked a payment from its embassy in Kazakhstan to insurance agency Sogaz "under the pretext of anti-Russian sanctions imposed by the United States". In a statement on its website, the Russian Foreign Ministry suggested the action, which it called "unacceptable, illegal and absurd", would have consequences for the U.S. embassy and consulate in Russia. JP Morgan gave no immediate comment. "Washington should understand any hostile action against a Russian diplomatic mission not only constitutes a flagrant violation of international law but is rife with consequences that will inevitably effect the work of the embassy and general consulate of the United States in Russia," the statement said. Full Story | Top |
| JetBlue plane makes emergency landing in Jamaica Tuesday, Apr 01, 2014 10:22 AM PDT By Horace Helps KINGSTON (Reuters) - Jamaica airport authorities on Tuesday were investigating the emergency landing of a Florida-bound JetBlue airliner that was forced to return to the Caribbean island on Monday night after reports of a smoke odor onboard. The flight was headed to Fort Lauderdale from Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston but returned to Jamaica 15 minutes after take-off, JetBlue officials said on the airline's website. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration said the crew reported smoke in the cockpit. ... Full Story | Top |
| EU launches peacekeeping force for Central African Republic Tuesday, Apr 01, 2014 10:18 AM PDT The European Union formally launched a peacekeeping force for Central African Republic on Tuesday, overcoming delays due to shortages of soldiers and equipment thanks to last-minute offers of help from EU governments. French and African Union peacekeepers have so far failed to stop the conflict that erupted after the mostly Muslim Seleka rebels seized power a year ago in the majority Christian state. "The launch of this operation demonstrates the EU's determination to take full part in international efforts to restore stability and security in Bangui and right across the Central African Republic," EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said in a statement. The United Nations said on Tuesday it was trying to evacuate 19,000 Muslims urgently from Bangui and other parts of Central African Republic who are surrounded by anti-balaka Christian militia threatening their lives. Full Story | Top |
| Egypt Muslim Brotherhood chief calls Sisi a 'tyrant' Tuesday, Apr 01, 2014 10:11 AM PDT  By Samia Nakhoul CAIRO (Reuters) - The top leader of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood accused Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the former army chief widely tipped to become the country's next president, of being a tyrant and predicted he would fail to stay in power. Speaking on Tuesday from a cage in a courtroom where he faces trial for inciting violence, Brotherhood Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie also dismissed accusations by the military-backed government that the group engaged in terrorism. "The people will not accept an army tyrant," Badie said in reference to Sisi, who resigned from the military on Wednesday in order to contest a presidential election on May 26-27. Sisi toppled President Mohamed Mursi, who was freely elected in 2012 after many years rising through the Brotherhood, last July after mass protests against his rule. Full Story | Top |
| Bulgaria wary as Russia steps up military flights over Black Sea Tuesday, Apr 01, 2014 09:59 AM PDT Bulgaria has put on high alert or deployed its air force about 30 times in two months in response to a recent spike in Russian military aircraft flying near its aerial borders on the Black Sea, its defense minister said on Tuesday. Both the West and Russia have carried out a series of military drills as a show of force in the worsening standoff over Russia's annexation of Crimea, which has sparked retaliatory sanctions from Washington and Brussels. NATO said it was "considering all options" as it studied new steps to bolster its military presence in eastern Europe on Tuesday, while saying it saw no sign that Russia was withdrawing tens of thousands of troops from the Ukranian boarder. Despite its longstanding friendship with former Cold War ally Russia, Bulgaria joined NATO 10 years ago and has twice participated in navy drills with a U.S. warship in the Black Sea since the Ukraine crisis. Full Story | Top |
| Italian PM Renzi says aims to get jobless rate under 10 percent Tuesday, Apr 01, 2014 09:54 AM PDT  Italy can get its unemployment below 10 percent in the medium term with signs of improvement beginning to show through in the economy, Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said on Tuesday, after the jobless rate hit its highest level since at least 1977. "We want to get under 10 percent in the coming months, the coming years," he told a joint news conference in London with British Prime Minister David Cameron. Earlier on Tuesday, statistics agency ISTAT reported headline unemployment running at 13 percent, the highest level since current records began 37 years ago. Renzi, 39, has repeatedly argued that the European Union must change its focus from budget austerity to do more to promote growth and cut unemployment. Full Story | Top |
| CORRECTED-Official death toll from Washington state mudslide rises to 27 Tuesday, Apr 01, 2014 09:35 AM PDT DARRINGTON, Washington (Reuters) - The official death toll from a devastating mudslide in Washington state has risen to 27, up from 24, the Snohomish County Medical Examiner's Office said on Tuesday. A statement issued by the coroner's office said the remains of 19 of the victims of the March 22 disaster have now been positively identified. (Reporting by Eric M. Johnson; Writing by Steve Gorman; Editing by Cynthia Johnston) Full Story | Top |
| France's Hollande seeks fresh start as new PM begins work Tuesday, Apr 01, 2014 09:18 AM PDT  Francois Hollande launched what he has billed as a fresh start to his unpopular 22-month-old presidency on Tuesday, as new prime minister Manuel Valls took up his post and set about forming a reshuffled government. The 51-year-old centrist, who as tough-talking interior minister has consistently been Hollande's most popular minister in surveys, replaced Jean-Marc Ayrault who quit following the ruling Socialist Party's rout in weekend local elections. While Valls is a public favorite, including with conservative voters, his centrist views make him more controversial with the left wing of the Socialist Party. Speculation has centered on whether Pierre Moscovici will remain in the powerful finance minister's job, while coalition sources have also talked about a possible return to government for Segolene Royal, Hollande's ex-partner and a former Socialist presidential candidate. Full Story | Top |
| West stumbles as autocratic force trumps economics Tuesday, Apr 01, 2014 09:15 AM PDT A quarter-century after the fall of the Soviet Union, authoritarian rulers such as Vladimir Putin and Bashar al-Assad are showing they can and will defy international norms, suppress dissent and use military force. American policymakers are struggling with how to respond. "It's a big philosophical question about how to deal with a strong state with anti-Western and autocratic proclivities," said Michael McFaul, the most recent American ambassador to Moscow. "I would say on that score we are kind of confused as a country." Citing the sweeping unpopularity of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, American officials have embraced economic sanctions as their primary means of pressuring foreign governments. Full Story | Top |
| Finnish retailer Stockmann freezes Russia expansion over Crimea crisis Tuesday, Apr 01, 2014 09:06 AM PDT By Sakari Suoninen HELSINKI (Reuters) - Finnish retailer Stockmann is freezing plans to open more department stores in Russian cities due to the uncertainty caused by the Crimean crisis, the company's chief executive said on Tuesday. Hannu Penttila, who has headed the company since 2001, told Reuters in an interview that so far the biggest impact of the crisis for the retailer had been through the weaker rouble. Expansion in Russia had been one of the firm's strengths over the past decade. But a slowdown in Russia's economy has hit sales in the past year. Full Story | Top |
| Exclusive: Bulgarian nationalists may topple government over Russia sanctions Tuesday, Apr 01, 2014 08:33 AM PDT  By Matthias Williams and Tsvetelia Tsolova SOFIA (Reuters) - Bulgaria's nationalist Attack party will work to topple the government if Sofia backs a new round of Western sanctions against Russia over its annexation of Crimea, the party's leader told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday. If the party pulls the plug on Prime Minister Plamen Oresharski's minority coalition government, it could tip the European Union's poorest member state back into political instability. Months of street protests felled one government last year and almost toppled its successor, at a time when the country was struggling to revive economic growth. Attack, which is a noisy critic of the United States and Bulgaria's NATO membership, is the only Bulgarian party to openly champion Russia's intervention in the Ukraine. Full Story | Top |
| NATO suspends cooperation with Russia Tuesday, Apr 01, 2014 08:28 AM PDT BRUSSELS (Reuters) - NATO said on Tuesday it will suspend "all practical civilian and military cooperation" with Russia because of Moscow's occupation and annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region. The decision was taken by NATO foreign ministers who urged Russia in a statement "to take immediate steps ... to return to compliance with international law." NATO and Ukraine announced in a joint statement after their ministers met in Brussels that they would intensify cooperation and promote defense reforms in Ukraine through training and other programs. ... Full Story | Top |
| As Russia growls, Swedes, Finns eye defence options, NATO Tuesday, Apr 01, 2014 08:27 AM PDT By Alistair Scrutton and Sakari Suoninen STOCKHOLM/HELSINKI (Reuters) - When Russian warplanes staged a mock bombing run on Sweden last year, air defences were caught napping. Instead, Danish jets belonging to NATO's Baltic mission based in Lithuania, took to the air to shadow the Russians. The discussion that incident triggered over Sweden's ability to defend itself has grown with Russia's seizure of Crimea from Ukraine. As in neighbour and fellow EU member Finland, Swedes wonder whether to seek shelter in the U.S.-led NATO alliance, abandoning Stockholm's two centuries of formal neutrality. Full Story | Top |
| Investors look beyond anti-gay law and stick with Uganda Tuesday, Apr 01, 2014 08:16 AM PDT By Carolyn Cohn LONDON (Reuters) - Fuzzy guidelines on ethical investing and donors' timid response to Uganda's new anti-gay law have reassured fund managers and private equity firms about continuing to invest in the newly oil-rich country, despite worldwide criticism. Business leader Richard Branson was among those to object when the east African country signed legislation this year which strengthened punishments for anyone caught having gay sex, imposing jail terms of up to life for "aggravated homosexuality" - including sex with a minor or while HIV-positive. ... Full Story | Top |
| Lebanon passes disputed domestic violence law Tuesday, Apr 01, 2014 08:14 AM PDT Lebanon's parliament approved a law on Tuesday designed to curb domestic violence but activists said it had been watered down so much it would provide only limited protection for women. In two minutes the law was approved without any of the requested amendments," said Faten Abou Chakra of KAFA, a group supporting abused women. "This law is distorted, and will not guarantee real protection for women." Thousands of protesters marched in Beirut three weeks ago to demand measures to outlaw domestic violence after the deaths earlier this year of two women in suspected cases of domestic violence. KAFA first proposed legislation seven years ago to establish penalties for domestic violence and provide protection orders. Full Story | Top |
| Saudis charge three over allegedly seditious tweets: paper Tuesday, Apr 01, 2014 08:12 AM PDT It said the men were the first to be charged under the terms of a February royal decree, which set out prison sentences for anybody who went abroad to fight, incited others to do so, or gave material or moral support to extremist groups. Saudi Arabia has clamped down on public dissent since the 2011 Arab uprisings, which led to a wave of political turmoil in some of its neighbours, analysts and international human rights activists say. Full Story | Top |
| Iran denies interference in Yemeni affairs Tuesday, Apr 01, 2014 08:09 AM PDT Iran on Tuesday denied accusations by the Yemeni president of meddling in his country's domestic affairs, urging Sanaa to instead take "serious action" to secure the release of an Iranian diplomat kidnapped last year. Quoted in a newspaper on Monday, Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi urged Iran to stop supporting separatists in the south and religious groups in the north of Yemen as the country tries to stabilise following political upheaval that began in 2011. Iran's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Marzieh Afkham, denied Tehran was meddling in Yemen affairs when asked about Hadi's comments, the state news agency IRNA reported. Full Story | Top |
| Former Bogota mayor would beat Santos in Colombian election: poll Tuesday, Apr 01, 2014 08:06 AM PDT  Enrique Penalosa, a former mayor of Bogota, would win the presidential election in a second round against President Juan Manuel Santos, according to a poll by Centro Nacional de Consultoria published late on Monday. The center-left Penalosa, who ran the capital city from 1998 to 2001, would finish 26 percent to 18 percent behind Santos in the first ballot on May 25, but beat him in a June runoff with 41 percent to 36 percent, the survey of 1,500 people showed. The results differ from those of surveys by Gallup and Ipsos Napoleon Franco, which give center-right Santos a comfortable win in both rounds of voting against right-wing Oscar Ivan Zuluaga. Full Story | Top |
| Britain's PM orders review into Muslim Brotherhood's activities Tuesday, Apr 01, 2014 08:02 AM PDT  By Kylie MacLellan and Andrew Osborn LONDON (Reuters) - The Muslim Brotherhood's activities in Britain will be reviewed over concerns about possible links to violence, Prime Minister David Cameron said, widening pressure on a veteran Islamist movement facing an intensifying crackdown in the Arab world. The Brotherhood and affiliated organizations and parties are part of the political landscape in many Arab and Islamic states where they have placed deep roots in society thanks to their involvement in social and charitable works. But the Brotherhood has been crushed in Egypt after the military overthrew an elected Islamist president in July, declared a terrorist organization in Saudi Arabia and subjected to a wave of prosecutions and jailings in Gulf Arab kingdoms leery of any spread of Islamist influence since the Arab Spring. Britain, where many Brotherhood-influenced organizations are based, said its review would include looking at allegations made by authoritarian Arab leaders that the group was linked to violence, a charge it has repeatedly denied. Full Story | Top |
| Canada safety board urges faster phase-out of old rail tankers Tuesday, Apr 01, 2014 07:58 AM PDT By Randall Palmer OTTAWA (Reuters) - The Transportation Safety Board of Canada renewed its call on Tuesday for the speedy phase-out of older oil-by-rail cars in light of last summer's inferno that killed 47 people in an oil train explosion in the Quebec town of Lac-Megantic. "A long and gradual phase-out of older-model cars simply isn't good enough," Transportation Safety Board Chair Wendy Tadros told a House of Commons committee examining whether Canada's safety is adequate as much more oil is sent by rail. This echoed remarks she made on January 23 when her agency and the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board made initial recommendations stemming from the Lac-Megantic crash and other oil-by-rail accidents. Regulators are focusing on DOT-111 tanker cars which are used to carry oil. Full Story | Top |
| Italy PM Renzi urges Britain to stay in EU Tuesday, Apr 01, 2014 07:57 AM PDT Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi urged Britain on Tuesday to remain in the European Union, saying its membership was "crucial" for the 28-member bloc. "There is no Europe, there is no great Europe without the presence of the United Kingdom," he told a joint news conference with British Prime Minister David Cameron. "For us, it is fundamental that, in the complex, complicated process that is getting underway, the presence of the UK in Europe should not be in discussion. It is absolutely fundamental and crucial for us and we will work together, I am sure of it." Cameron has promised a referendum by 2017 to decide whether Britain remains in the EU if his Conservative Party wins next year's national elections. Full Story | Top |
| Election protests in Turkey as opposition cries foul Tuesday, Apr 01, 2014 07:54 AM PDT  By Jonny Hogg and Gulsen Solaker ANKARA (Reuters) - Riot police fired water cannon in Ankara on Tuesday to disperse thousands of Turks demanding a partial recount in national polls that saw Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's ruling party sweep the electoral map. The Islamist-rooted AK Party kept control of the two biggest cities, the financial center Istanbul and the capital Ankara, and increased its share of the national vote in Sunday's municipal elections despite a corruption scandal dogging Erdogan's government. The crowd, calling for a recount of the Ankara result which was particularly close, gathered in front of the Supreme Electoral Council (YSK) chanting "Thief Tayyip!" and "YSK, the people are with you!" before the riot police moved in. The election in NATO's only predominantly Muslim state took place amid a fierce power struggle between Erdogan and U.S.-based Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom he accuses of pursuing a dirty campaign of anonymous postings of audio recordings that implicate the prime minister in graft. Full Story | Top |
| With an eye on Crimea, Bosnian Serb leader calls for confederation Tuesday, Apr 01, 2014 07:48 AM PDT By Gordana Katana BANJA LUKA, Bosnia (Reuters) - Emboldened by events in Ukraine, the leader of Bosnia's Serbs called on Tuesday for Bosnia to become a confederation of three states, and again threatened a referendum on secession if the proposal fails. Milorad Dodik, president of Bosnia's autonomous Serb Republic, has long advocated Bosnia be scrapped as a state, but has grown increasingly bold as elections approach in October that threaten to shake his 8-year grip on power. Dodik, who has courted Russian political backing, has seized on Crimea's referendum to split from Ukraine - which was followed by Russian annexation - as a prime example of self-determination in action, unnerving Western capitals uncertain about his true intentions. Full Story | Top |
| Apocalyptic prophecies drive both sides to Syrian battle for end of time Tuesday, Apr 01, 2014 07:39 AM PDT  By Mariam Karouny BEIRUT (Reuters) - Conflict in Syria kills hundreds of thousands of people and spreads unrest across the Middle East. If the scenario sounds familiar to an anxious world watching Syria's devastating civil war, it resonates even more with Sunni and Shi'ite fighters on the frontlines - who believe it was all foretold in 7th Century prophecies. Among those many thousands of sayings, or hadith, are accounts which refer to the confrontation of two huge Islamic armies in Syria, a great battle near Damascus, and intervention from the north and west of the country. The power of those prophecies for many fighters on the ground means that the three-year-old conflict is more deeply rooted - and far tougher to resolve - than a simple power struggle between President Bashar al-Assad and his rebel foes. Full Story | Top |
| Lebanon security forces launch new push to halt Tripoli violence Tuesday, Apr 01, 2014 07:27 AM PDT  Lebanese security forces set up checkpoints and patrols in the northern city of Tripoli, raided homes and arrested more than 20 people in a push to control sectarian violence fuelled by the war in Syria. At least 27 people have been killed over the past three weeks in Tripoli in clashes between Sunni Muslims and members of the Alawite sect, an off-shoot of Shi'ite Islam. The long-standing rivalry between the two sides has been worsened by the violence in Syria, which is sunk in a three-year-old conflict that has killed over 150,000 people and become increasingly sectarian. Syria's President Bashar al-Assad is an Alawite and the rebels fighting to overthrow him are overwhelmingly Sunni. Full Story | Top |
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