| Obama praises Yemeni leader, makes no mention of Guantanamo Posted: 01 Aug 2013 04:19 PM PDT  By Jeff Mason WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama praised Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi for his work combating terrorism but made no mention of efforts to repatriate detainees from the Guantanamo Bay prison in public remarks at the White House on Thursday. Hadi met Obama in the Oval Office a day after he tried to persuade U.S. senators to send home dozens of Yemeni detainees held at the controversial U.S. facility in Cuba. ...
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| Berlusconi conviction leaves Italian government hanging Posted: 01 Aug 2013 04:25 PM PDT  By Roberto Landucci ROME (Reuters) - A ruling by Italy's supreme court upholding a tax fraud conviction against former premier and center-right leader Silvio Berlusconi has left the fate of the country's fragile ruling coalition resting in the balance. Just three months after center-left Prime Minister Enrico Letta took office at the head of an uneasy coalition with Berlusconi's People of Freedom party (PDL), Italy, the euro zone's third largest economy, is again mired in uncertainty. ...
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| U.S. to close some embassies Sunday for security reasons Posted: 01 Aug 2013 04:13 PM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. embassies that would normally be open this Sunday - including those in Abu Dhabi, Baghdad, Cairo - will be closed that day because of unspecified security concerns, the U.S. State Department said on Thursday. "The Department of State has instructed certain U.S. embassies and consulates to remain closed or to suspend operations on Sunday, August 4th," State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf told reporters at her daily briefing. "Security considerations have led us to take this precautionary step. ... |
| Kerry hopes Pakistan drone strikes to end 'very soon' Posted: 01 Aug 2013 02:35 PM PDT  By Lesley Wroughton and Maria Golovnina ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry told Pakistanis on Thursday he hoped U.S. drone strikes in their nation would end "very, very soon," a message meant to ease anti-American resentment in the strategic country. After meeting Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Kerry said they had agreed to re-establish a "full partnership", hoping to end years of acrimony over the drone strikes and other grievances including the May 2011 U.S. raid that killed Osama bin Laden. ...
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| Syria's Assad says he certain to defeat rebels Posted: 01 Aug 2013 01:41 PM PDT  By Oliver Holmes BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said on Thursday he was confident of victory against rebels and made a symbolic visit to a town once overrun by insurgents and now mostly retaken by his army. But Assad's forces took a blow in the central city of Homs, where at least 40 people were killed in a huge explosion that hit a weapons cache and in mortar attacks on mainly Alawite districts - the same minority sect as Assad - and guarded by pro-Assad militia, opposition activists said. ...
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| Snowden will 'build a new life in Russia': lawyer Posted: 01 Aug 2013 02:20 PM PDT  MOSCOW (Reuters) - U.S. fugitive Edward Snowden will publish no more leaks but instead look to build a life in Russia where he has been granted a year-long asylum, his lawyer said on Thursday. Anatoly Kucherena, a Russian lawyer who is assisting Snowden, said the 30-year-old has found shelter in a private home of American expatriates after leaving Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport following more than five weeks in limbo there. ...
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| Snowden walks free in Russia to US anger Posted: 01 Aug 2013 04:19 PM PDT  MOSCOW (AP) — Defying the United States, Russia granted Edward Snowden temporary asylum on Thursday, allowing the National Security Agency leaker to slip out of the Moscow airport where he has been holed up for weeks in hopes of evading espionage charges back home.
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| U.S. shutdown battle begins as Republicans kill spending measure Posted: 01 Aug 2013 04:11 PM PDT  By David Lawder WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A battle in Congress expected this fall over the budget and a potential government shutdown broke out early on Thursday as Republicans in the U.S. Senate effectively killed a $54 billion spending bill for transportation and housing projects. All but one Republican voted against the measure, denying it the 60 votes it needed to advance past a procedural hurdle. ...
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| Mujica defends Uruguay's marijuana licensing plan Posted: 01 Aug 2013 03:58 PM PDT  MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay (AP) — Uruguay is poised to become the first nation to create a legal, regulated marijuana market, encouraging growers and sellers to produce enough pot to keep users from depending on illegal drug traffickers.
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| White House 'extremely disappointed' with Russia Posted: 01 Aug 2013 03:50 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (AP) — A highly anticipated fall summit between President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin could become a casualty of Moscow's defiant decision to grant temporary asylum to National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden, the White House signaled Thursday after weeks of pressuring and pleading for his return to face prosecution.
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| Tunisian army clashes with militants: residents Posted: 01 Aug 2013 03:48 PM PDT TUNIS (Reuters) - Tunisian troops exchanged fire with militants near the Algerian border on Thursday night, a resident said, three days after gunmen killed eight soldiers in one of the deadliest attacks in decades on the country's security forces. Soldiers had been doing security sweeps since Monday in Mount Chaambi, a remote area where the army has been trying to track down Islamist militants since December last year. A resident in the nearby town of Kasserine told Reuters by telephone he could hear heavy intermediate gunfire on the mountain. A Tunisian security source confirmed the attack. ... |
| Mexico president to present energy reform next week Posted: 01 Aug 2013 03:48 PM PDT  MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto said on Thursday his sweeping energy reform, which is expected to include constitutional changes to lure private investment and boost output, will be presented to Congress next week. The energy reform is a key plank of a wider economic overhaul designed to boost growth in Latin America's No. 2 economy to 6 percent a year, create jobs and lower energy costs. ...
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| Obama speaks with Palestinians' Abbas, Israel's Netanyahu Posted: 01 Aug 2013 03:46 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama spoke separately by phone on Thursday to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the White House said, as the United States seeks to keep up the momentum for peace negotiations. The calls came days after Israeli and Palestinian negotiators broke a three-year lull in talks and met in Washington with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. ...
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| Berlusconi conviction upheld; prison term sticks Posted: 01 Aug 2013 03:38 PM PDT  ROME (AP) — For the first time in decades of criminal prosecution, a conviction against former Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi finally stuck on Thursday, leaving the media mogul with a four-year prison sentence for tax fraud with all of his appeals exhausted.
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| Spanish train driver can't explain why he crashed Posted: 01 Aug 2013 03:23 PM PDT  MADRID (AP) — The driver of the train that derailed in northwestern Spain, killing 79 people, has said he was traveling at twice the speed limit when he approached a treacherous turn.
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| Rockets land near Lebanese presidential palace; no injuries reported Posted: 01 Aug 2013 03:21 PM PDT BEIRUT (Reuters) - Two rockets landed in an area east of Beirut late on Thursday close to a military compound and Lebanon's presidential palace, security sources said. No one was hurt in the incident but it marked the second time in two months that rockets have been fired in the area, amid heightened sectarian tension in Lebanon over the civil war in neighboring Syria. Sunni Muslims in Lebanon mostly support the Syrian rebels fighting to topple President Bashar al-Assad, from Syria's Alawite minority which is an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam. ... |
| Morsi supporters defy police warnings to disperse Posted: 01 Aug 2013 03:14 PM PDT  CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's military-backed government offered protection Thursday to supporters of deposed President Mohammed Morsi who end their two sit-ins — widely seen as a first step toward dispersing the vigils on opposite sides of Cairo.
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| Russia gives Snowden asylum, Obama-Putin summit in doubt Posted: 01 Aug 2013 03:05 PM PDT  By Timothy Heritage and Steve Holland MOSCOW/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Russia rejected U.S. pleas and granted American fugitive Edward Snowden a year's asylum on Thursday, letting the former spy agency contractor slip out of a Moscow airport after more than five weeks in limbo while angering the United States and putting in doubt a planned summit between the two nations' presidents. The United States wanted Russia to send Snowden home to face criminal charges including espionage for disclosing in June secret American internet and telephone surveillance programs. ...
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| Manning leaks caused diplomatic 'horror and disbelief:' testimony Posted: 01 Aug 2013 03:03 PM PDT  By Tom Ramstack FORT MEADE, Maryland (Reuters) - U.S. diplomats reacted with "horror and disbelief" when WikiLeaks began publishing classified information in 2010, a U.S. State Department official testified on Thursday at the court-martial sentencing hearing for Bradley Manning, the soldier convicted of the leaks. To try to establish the extent of damage caused by the anti-secrecy website's exposure of hundreds of thousands of classified diplomatic and military documents and video, prosecutor Captain Angel Overgaard asked the official, Elizabeth Dibble, to describe the reaction. ...
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| Egypt's rulers tell pro-Mursi protesters to quit camps Posted: 01 Aug 2013 02:56 PM PDT  By Asma Alsharif and Tom Perry CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's army-backed government warned supporters of deposed President Mohamed Mursi on Thursday to abandon their Cairo protest camps, promising them a safe exit if they gave up without a fight. The appeal, made by Interior Ministry spokesman Hany Abdel Latif on state television, followed the government's declaration on Wednesday it was ready to take action to end two weeks of sit-in protests by thousands of Mursi supporters at two sites. ...
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| UN peacekeepers enforce security zone in Congo Posted: 01 Aug 2013 02:49 PM PDT GOMA, Congo (AP) — A new effort by U.N. peacekeepers to disarm fighters in volatile eastern Congo is now in effect. |
| Kazakh dissident banker held in southern France Posted: 01 Aug 2013 02:48 PM PDT  PARIS (AP) — He was a favorite of Kazakhstan's longtime leader as the energy-rich nation emerged from decades of Soviet rule, but he turned against his mentor and used his vast wealth to bankroll a nascent opposition. He was granted asylum in Britain, then became a fugitive from the government that had promised to protect him.
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| UK file shows Kohl wanted 1/2 Turks out of Germany Posted: 01 Aug 2013 02:08 PM PDT BERLIN (AP) — According to newly published British documents former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl said in 1982 that he wanted to cut in half the number of Turks living in Germany. |
| Italy supreme court upholds Berlusconi jail sentence Posted: 01 Aug 2013 02:00 PM PDT  By Roberto Landucci and Barry Moody ROME (Reuters) - Italy's supreme court on Thursday upheld a jail sentence against Silvio Berlusconi for tax fraud in a devastating blow to the four-times prime minister that could throw the country's fragile coalition government into crisis. The former cruise ship crooner is Italy's most colorful and scandal-prone figure but it was his first definitive conviction in up to 30 court cases on charges ranging from fraud and corruption to having sex with an underage prostitute. ...
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| Berlusconi definitively convicted for first time Posted: 01 Aug 2013 01:54 PM PDT ROME (AP) — Former Premier Silvio Berlusconi says the Italian Supreme Court's decision to uphold his tax fraud conviction and jail sentence is "baseless" and robs him of his political rights. |
| Zimbabwe: Disputed poll poses fresh divisions Posted: 01 Aug 2013 01:48 PM PDT  HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — Allegations of vote-rigging flowed in Zimbabwe on Thursday, with reports of fake registration cards, voters turned away from the polls and people appearing on voters' lists four times with different IDs. Even before results were announced, the main opposition camp said longtime President Robert Mugabe stole the election, which his supporters denied.
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| Berlusconi says tax fraud sentence completely unfounded Posted: 01 Aug 2013 01:44 PM PDT  ROME (Reuters) - Former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said a prison sentence against him for tax fraud confirmed by the country's supreme court on Thursday was completely unfounded and that he would push for reforms of the justice system. The Court of Cassation earlier upheld a lower court's conviction of Berlusconi for the fraudulent purchase of broadcasting rights by his Mediaset television empire. "I never devised any system of fiscal fraud. No false invoice exists in the history of Mediaset," Berlusconi said in a video message following the court's decision. ...
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| Judges Reject Silvio Berlusconi’s Appeal, but His Political Appeal Endures Posted: 01 Aug 2013 01:33 PM PDT For the first time, after more than two decades of high-profile judicial battles, Italy's former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has been definitively convicted of a crime. After seven hours of deliberation Thursday, the judges in Italy's highest court emerged from their chamber to reject his final appeal on charges of tax fraud—and therefore confirming a one-year prison sentence, while sending back for a review a five-year ban from public office. He was originally sentenced last October. |
| Snowden's WikiLeaks 'adviser' takes public role Posted: 01 Aug 2013 01:10 PM PDT  LONDON (AP) — The whole time Edward Snowden has been seeking asylum, WikiLeaks staffer Sarah Harrison has been by his side.
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| EU says Zimbabwe poll peaceful, withholds judgment on fairness Posted: 01 Aug 2013 01:01 PM PDT  BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union, which has eased sanctions on Zimbabwe to encourage reforms, praised Zimbabweans on Thursday for turning out in large numbers to vote peacefully but said it was too early to assess the election's fairness. Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai dismissed the election as a "farce" after his rival President Robert Mugabe's party claimed a landslide victory that would secure another five years in power for Africa's oldest head of state. The EU's verdict on the elections will decide whether it continues to ease sanctions on Zimbabwe or extends them. ...
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| Obama rethinks Putin summit after Snowden granted asylum Posted: 01 Aug 2013 12:57 PM PDT  By Steve Holland and Mark Felsenthal WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama is rethinking whether to hold a summit in Moscow with President Vladimir Putin next month after Russia rejected U.S. pleas and gave temporary asylum to former American spy agency contractor Edward Snowden, the White House said on Thursday. White House spokesman Jay Carney said Obama and U.S. officials are "extremely disappointed" by Russia's decision to give Snowden a one-year asylum in the face of entreaties from American officials to expel Snowden back to the United States to face espionage charges. ...
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| Insurer QBE sets aside immediate needs payouts for Spain train victims Posted: 01 Aug 2013 12:55 PM PDT  MADRID (Reuters) - Australian insurance group QBE said on Thursday it had set aside 2.75 million euros ($3.64 million) for the immediate needs of those affected by last week's train crash in Galicia in northwest Spain, which left 79 people dead. QBE may have to cover much higher costs of injury to third parties and rail infrastructure, but only if its client, state train operator Renfe, is found to bear responsibility for the accident. The company said the payout announced on Thursday did not mean a recognition of responsibility, which will be decided by a legal process. ...
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| Berlusconi ally says court sentence will not hurt government Posted: 01 Aug 2013 12:52 PM PDT ROME (Reuters) - A decision by Italy's supreme court to uphold a jail sentence against Silvio Berlusconi for tax fraud will not have repercussions for the government, an ally of the former prime minister said on Thursday. After leaving a meeting of Berlusconi's center-right People of Freedom (PDL) party, Nitto Palma, who served as justice minister during Berlusconi's last government, said there was a lot of bitterness about the verdict. ... |
| Massive weapons depot blast in Syria kills 40 Posted: 01 Aug 2013 12:39 PM PDT  DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Rebels sent a wave of rockets slamming into regime strongholds in the central city of Homs on Thursday, triggering a succession of massive explosions in a weapons depot that killed at least 40 people and wounded dozens, an opposition group and residents said.
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