| Turkish protesters party in square despite ruling party call Posted: 12 Jun 2013 04:17 PM PDT  By Nick Tattersall and Jonathon Burch ISTANBUL/ANKARA (Reuters) - Hundreds of anti-government demonstrators chanted and sang in Istanbul's Taksim Square early on Thursday, defying an order to end almost two weeks of protests against Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan. The deputy chairman of Erdogan's ruling AK Party, Huseyin Celik, said late on Wednesday that the protesters should withdraw from Gezi Park, a leafy corner of the square where they have set up a ramshackle settlement of tents. ...
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| Government considers options to help Syrian opposition, Kerry says Posted: 12 Jun 2013 01:28 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States is debating what more it might do to help the Syrian opposition in its civil war against the government, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Wednesday without giving any details. "We are determined to do everything that we can in order to help the opposition to be able ... to save Syria," Kerry told reporters at a news conference with British Foreign Secretary William Hague. "People are talking about what further options might be exercised here ... but we don't have anything to announce at this moment. ...
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| U.S. eases trade restrictions to Syria rebel-held areas Posted: 12 Jun 2013 04:11 PM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Wednesday eased restrictions on exports to opposition-held areas in Syria to help rebuild shattered infrastructure in a move U.S. officials said will help facilitate oil sales from rebel-controlled areas. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry signed a limited waiver of the Syria Accountability Act, allowing companies to apply for export license for such things as software, technology, water purification, food and agricultural equipment, and construction materials to opposition-held areas. A senior U.S. ... |
| EU justice chief seeks answers on U.S. data spying Posted: 12 Jun 2013 03:40 PM PDT  By Claire Davenport BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union's chief justice official has written to the U.S. attorney general demanding an explanation for the collection of foreign nationals' data through its Prism spy program. In a letter seen by Reuters, the European commissioner for justice and fundamental rights, Viviane Reding, said she had serious concerns about the possibility that U.S. authorities had accessed European citizens' data on a vast scale. Reding has pushed hard for stronger privacy rules in Europe throughout her mandate. ...
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| U.N. says Syrian government and rebels recruit children to fight Posted: 12 Jun 2013 03:27 PM PDT  By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Syrian troops and rebels are recruiting children to fight in the country's civil war and some have been tortured by government forces for having links to the opposition, U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon said in a report on Wednesday. The report issued after Ban's special envoy for children and armed conflict, Leila Zerrougui, visited Syria in December said thousands of children have been killed in the violence, "while thousands more have seen family members killed or injured. ...
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| Greeks strike over state TV closure as backlash grows Posted: 12 Jun 2013 03:34 PM PDT  By Karolina Tagaris and Renee Maltezou ATHENS (Reuters) - Greek workers will stage a nationwide strike on Thursday, forcing hospitals to work on emergency staff and disrupting transport, in protest against the "sudden death" of state broadcaster ERT, switched off in the middle of the night by the government. Greece's two biggest labor unions plan to bring much of the near-bankrupt country to a standstill during the 24-hour strike against Prime Minister Antonis Samaras's decision to close down ERT, which they describe as "coup-like move... to gag unbiased information. ...
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| Free speech outside Supreme Court: Ban on protests in plaza struck down Posted: 12 Jun 2013 04:04 PM PDT In a case that brings free speech protections literally to the very steps of the US Supreme Court, a federal judge in Washington has struck down as unconstitutional a statute that allowed police to arrest anyone attempting to deliver a message of protest on the wide marble plaza outside the high court's elegant front entrance. |
| Immigration reform: Two Senate bill authors see pathway to ... passage Posted: 12 Jun 2013 02:57 PM PDT Within the sweeping immigration reform measure now before the Senate, there's room to add border security measures that conservative lawmakers want without laying waste to the path to citizenship that liberals demand, say Sens. Michael Bennet (D) of Colorado and Jeff Flake (R) of Arizona, two authors of the bill. |
| Obama in Boston as Markey calls on party's big guns to fend off Gomez Posted: 12 Jun 2013 02:52 PM PDT When President Obama took the stage Wednesday at a Boston rally for Democratic Senate hopeful Edward Markey, he touted the state's storied legacy of powerhouse senators. |
| NSA surveillance foiled 'dozens' of terror plots, agency chief says Posted: 12 Jun 2013 02:47 PM PDT The US government's top-secret phone call-monitoring programs revealed in leaks to the media have helped to foil "dozens" of terrorist attacks on US soil, according to the head of the National Security Agency (NSA). |
| Officials: Obama aides split on arming rebels Posted: 12 Jun 2013 03:39 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (AP) — Despite growing alarm over the Syrian government's military advances, Obama administration officials are split over whether to arm the country's rebel forces or make other military moves that would deepen U.S. involvement in the conflict.
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| Incentive for Korea talks remains despite failure Posted: 12 Jun 2013 03:13 PM PDT  SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea dismantled the meeting table, pulled down the placards and rolled up the red carpet. Its intended guest, North Korea, has stopped answering the phone.
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| Turkish gov't open to referendum to end protests Posted: 12 Jun 2013 04:17 PM PDT  ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkey's government on Wednesday offered a first concrete gesture aimed at ending nearly two weeks of street protests, proposing a referendum on a development project in Istanbul that triggered demonstrations that have become the biggest challenge to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's 10-year tenure.
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| Cuba girds for climate change by reclaiming coasts Posted: 12 Jun 2013 11:50 AM PDT  CAYO COCO, Cuba (AP) — After Cuban scientists studied the effects of climate change on this island's 3,500 miles (5,630 kilometers) of coastline, their discoveries were so alarming that officials didn't share the results with the public to avoid causing panic.
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| SAfrica: Mandela 'responding better to treatment' Posted: 12 Jun 2013 12:51 PM PDT  JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Former President Nelson Mandela began responding better to treatment Wednesday morning for a recurring lung infection following "a difficult last few days," South Africa's president said.
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| State broadcaster's end a blow to Greek identity Posted: 12 Jun 2013 01:11 PM PDT  ATHENS, Greece (AP) — When Nazi troops marched into Greece's nearly deserted capital on April 27, 1941, radio announcer Costas Stavropoulos of the Hellenic Broadcasting Corp. announced the grim news. He urged his countrymen and women not to listen to future Nazi radio transmissions and signed off with the Greek national anthem.
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| NSA director says surveillance helped stop 'dozens' of attacks Posted: 12 Jun 2013 04:36 PM PDT  By John Whitesides and Susan Cornwell WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The head of the National Security Agency said on Wednesday that extensive U.S. surveillance efforts had helped stop "dozens" of possible attacks, and warned that making details of the top-secret programs public had compromised national security. In his first appearance before Congress since an NSA contractor lifted the veil on the agency's broad monitoring of phone and internet data, General Keith Alexander defended the program as an essential tool in the fight against terrorism. ...
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| Mandela responding better to treatment: South Africa's Zuma Posted: 12 Jun 2013 04:29 PM PDT  By Wendell Roelf CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - Anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela was responding better to treatment in hospital on Wednesday morning after a "difficult last few days", South Africa's President Jacob Zuma said. Mandela, South Africa's first black president, was rushed to a Pretoria hospital on Saturday in a "serious but stable" condition suffering from a recurring lung infection. He was spending a fifth day under the care of its doctors. "We are very happy with the progress that he is now making," Zuma said in a speech to parliament. ...
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| Kuwaiti premier visits Iraq, tightening bonds Posted: 12 Jun 2013 04:10 PM PDT  BAGHDAD (AP) — Kuwait's prime minister discussed ties with his Iraqi counterpart in Baghdad on Wednesday, signaling improving relations between neighbors still working to overcome the more than two-decade legacy of war.
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| More Americans see man who leaked NSA secrets as 'patriot' than traitor: Poll Posted: 12 Jun 2013 04:10 PM PDT  By Andy Sullivan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Roughly one in three Americans say the former security contractor who leaked details of top-secret U.S. surveillance activity is a patriot and should not be prosecuted, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Wednesday. Some 23 percent of those surveyed said former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden is a traitor while 31 percent said he is a patriot. Another 46 percent said they did not know. ...
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| Syrian extremist rebels raid Shiite village Posted: 12 Jun 2013 03:29 PM PDT  BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian rebels, including Sunni extremists, stormed a village and battled pro-regime militiamen, killing more than 60 Shiite fighters and civilians in an attack steeped in the sectarian hatreds that increasingly characterize the civil war, activists said Wednesday.
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| Tunisia imprisons 3 European topless activists Posted: 12 Jun 2013 03:00 PM PDT  TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — A Tunisian court on Wednesday convicted three European feminist activists who staged a topless courthouse protest last month, sentencing them to four months and a day in prison, a court official said. The defense called the sentence far too harsh.
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| Brazil Finance Ministry to announce new economic measures Posted: 12 Jun 2013 02:52 PM PDT  BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazilian Finance Minister Guido Mantega will announce new economic measures at a news briefing later on Wednesday, the ministry said in a statement. The new measures come amid growing speculation the government will remove more capital controls to limit the sharp depreciation of the Brazilian real. Local media has also said the government could announce measures to reaffirm its commitment to fiscal responsibility. (Reporting by Alonso Soto; Editing by Sandra Maler)
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| Greek gov't in deep crisis over state broadcaster Posted: 12 Jun 2013 02:49 PM PDT  ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece's fragile governing coalition failed to reach a compromise Wednesday about the closure of the state-run ERT broadcaster. That left the government in a crisis that could lead to early elections, just a year after it was formed to save the country from bankruptcy.
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| Erdogan: from 'rock star' to mixed reviews from Arabs Posted: 12 Jun 2013 02:44 PM PDT  By Alastair Macdonald and Tarek Amara CAIRO/ TUNIS (Reuters) - Two years ago, Tayyip Erdogan was mobbed by adoring crowds in Arab capitals and Turkey seemed set to expand its trade and influence across the region on the back of his support for the upstart democrats of the Arab Spring. Today, his crackdown on protests at home has sickened some of those who hailed an unlikely liberator from the land of their former Ottoman overlords; they now scorn the prime minister as little better than the dictators they ousted. ...
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| Australian launches Cuba-Fla. record swim attempt Posted: 12 Jun 2013 02:44 PM PDT  HAVANA (AP) — Australian endurance athlete Chloe McCardel stroked through the open waters north of Cuba on Wednesday, determined to become the first person to swim the Straits of Florida nonstop without a protective shark cage.
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| Strike over EU plan disrupts European flights Posted: 12 Jun 2013 02:36 PM PDT  PARIS (AP) — A strike by air traffic controllers forced cancellations of more than 60 percent of flights around France and disrupted travel elsewhere in Europe on Wednesday, as workers protested a plan to simplify the continent's patchwork airspace.
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| Irish PM: Abortion activists send letters in blood Posted: 12 Jun 2013 02:25 PM PDT  DUBLIN (AP) — Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny says anti-abortion activists in his predominantly Roman Catholic country are inundating his office with threatening packages and letters condemning him as a baby-killer, some written in blood.
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| CEO of bailed-out Royal Bank of Scotland to leave Posted: 12 Jun 2013 02:13 PM PDT LONDON (AP) — Bailed-out U.K. lender Royal Bank of Scotland said Wednesday that Stephen Hester will step down as chief executive later this year — a move that creates some uncertainty as the bank prepares to return to the private sector. |
| Exclusive: Snowden as a teen online: anime and cheeky humor Posted: 12 Jun 2013 01:54 PM PDT  By Kristina Cooke and John Shiffman SAN FRANCISCO/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Long before he became known worldwide as the NSA contractor who exposed top-secret U.S. government surveillance programs, Edward Snowden worked for a Japanese anime company run by friends and went by the nicknames "The True HOOHA" and "Phish." In 2002, he was 18 years old, a high-school dropout and his parents had just divorced. On the tiny anime company's website, he wrote of his skills with video games and popularity with women. As an adult, the former CIA employee has not left much of a digital trail on the Internet. ...
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| Iran denies foreign minister called for talks with U.S. Posted: 12 Jun 2013 01:49 PM PDT  By Zahra Hosseinian (Reuters) - Iran's Foreign Ministry has denied a Reuters report that Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi sent a letter to Iran's supreme leader several months ago calling for wide-ranging talks with Washington, the ISNA student news agency reported on Wednesday. "Our country's Foreign Ministry spokesman denied Reuters' report about the foreign minister's letter to the supreme leader about negotiations with America," ISNA reported. ...
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| Egypt Islamists call for counter-demonstrations Posted: 12 Jun 2013 01:41 PM PDT  CAIRO (AP) — Egyptian Islamist groups called Wednesday for demonstrations to counter this month's planned opposition protest campaign against the rule of the country's Islamist president, raising concerns of a new round of turmoil.
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| Israeli PM warns of another Holocaust from Iran Posted: 12 Jun 2013 01:21 PM PDT  WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu began his two-day visit to Poland, which Germany's Nazis occupied during World War II and where they committed the worst crimes ever against the Jewish people, with a stern warning about a potential Holocaust from Iran.
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