PRAGUE (Reuters) - Leftist former prime minister Milos Zeman won the Czech Republic's first direct presidential election, partial results showed on Saturday. Zeman, 68, was leading by 55.8 to 44.2 percent over Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg, a prince from a centuries-old aristocratic family, results from 93.75 percent of voting districts showed. (Reporting by Jan Lopatka; Editing by Janet Lawrence)
WASHINGTON (AP) — J.D. Williams didn't think much about the smoke cloud that often shrouded his air base in Iraq. Not when it covered everything he owned with black soot or when his wheezing and coughing made it difficult to sleep at night.
JEREMIE, Haiti (Reuters) - The smooth black asphalt of National Road No. 7 stretches for about five miles beyond Camp Perrin, a town in fertile southwest Haiti. It abruptly stops before reaching farmer Liphete Denis' front door, replaced by a rocky dirt path that floods in the rainy season and billows dust clouds when the weather turns dry. "I don't know why they stopped," said Denis, 43. "We'd like the road done. We need it." The 56-mile road project was meant to connect the southern port city of Les Cayes with Jérémie, a city in one of Haiti's most neglected regions. ...
KUWAIT, Jan 26 (Reuters) - The decline of the yen couldspark a currency war in southeast Asia, Badr al-Saad, the headof Kuwait's sovereign wealth fund, said in comments aired onSaturday. The Chinese economy will grow between 7.7 percent to 8percent over the next two years, far better than developedeconomies, al-Saad, the managing director of Kuwait InvestmentAuthority (KIA), told pan-Arab network al-Arabiya at the WorldEconomic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. "The only fear is the decline of the yen. ...
DUBAI (Reuters) - Bahrain expects talks with the opposition aimed at breaking nearly two years of political deadlock to start next week or early in February, a cabinet member said in comments published on Saturday. The Gulf Arab state, a U.S. ally against Iran, has been in turmoil since protests erupted in early 2011 led by majority Shi'ite Muslims demanding an end to the Sunni-led monarchy's political domination and full powers for parliament. ...
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Valery Abramkin, a former Soviet dissident, nuclear scientist and rights activist who was held for years in the Siberian gulag and campaigned for prison reform in Vladimir Putin's Russia, has died, his colleagues said on Saturday. Abramkin, 66, head of the Moscow Center For Prison Reform and a member of the Moscow Helsinki rights group and Putin's Presidential Rights Council, died late on Friday after a long illness. ...
ADANA, Turkey (Reuters) - The first of six Patriot missile batteries being sent by NATO countries to defend Turkey from possible attack from Syria went operational on Saturday. The United States, Germany and the Netherlands are each sending two batteries to Turkey and up to 400 soldiers to operate them after Ankara asked NATO for help. The Patriots are capable of shooting down hostile missiles in mid-air. ...
DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) - Japan's economy minister said on Saturday his country's extraordinary fiscal and monetary stimulus program was not aimed at weakening the yen or undermining central bank independence. Akira Amari told the World Economic Forum in Davos it was up to the market to determine the currency's exchange rate, and the Bank of Japan had chosen independently to sign a joint statement with the government on actions to fight deflation and revive economic growth. ...
KAMPALA (Reuters) - Leading opposition politician Kizza Besigye was arrested for planning anti-government riots in the Ugandan capital Kampala, police said on Saturday. Besigye has led protests for years aimed at toppling President Yoweri Museveni, to whom he lost a presidential election in February 2011. He denounced that poll as fraudulent. His supporters were at the forefront of widespread anti-government protests against the high cost of living in 2011 and, after a lull last year, they led demonstrations again in October and Besigye was arrested. ...
WASHINGTON (AP) — As the Senate prepares to begin debating new gun control measures, some of President Barack Obama's fellow Democrats are poised to frustrate his efforts to enact the most sweeping limits on weapons in decades.
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's parliament passed a law on Saturday intended to block Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki from a third term, as the Shi'ite premier faced growing pressure from mass Sunni street protests. Lawmakers from Sunni, Kurdish and Shi'ite parties voted for the law, but the legislation still needs the president's approval and will face challenges in federal court after Maliki's supporters rejected it as illegal. ...
ABUJA (Reuters) - Five Indian sailors kidnapped when their ship was attacked off the coast of Nigeria last month have been released, the vessel's operating company said on Saturday. Pirates looted the SP Brussels, an oil and chemicals tanker, on December 17 about 40 miles off the coast of the Niger Delta, a vast wetlands region home to Africa's largest energy industry. "Five crew members who were taken from the vessel by armed men ... have been released," Medallion Marine said in a statement. "All five are reported to be in good health after their ordeal. ...
KONNA, Mali (Reuters) - French special forces were in action on Saturday at the Islamist rebel-held stronghold of Gao in northeast Mali, confronting "harassment" from rebel fighters, a French officer in Mali said on Saturday. "The rebels have melted in to the local population. There is harassment. The operation is still under way. It is a bit complicated," the officer, who asked not to be named, told Reuters. French aircraft were providing air support. (Reporting Rich Valdmanis and David Lewis; Writing by Pascal Fletcher)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Michelle Obama has a new look, both in person and online, and with the president's re-election, she has four more years as first lady, too.
KONNA, Mali (Reuters) - French forces in Mali have seized the airport and the bridge over the Niger River at the Islamist rebel-held stronghold of Gao, the French Defence Ministry said on Saturday. French and Malian troops have advanced rapidly against al Qaeda-allied Islamist militant fighters holding the Saharan north of the West African state after France intervened earlier this month at the request of the Malian government. ...
CAIRO (Reuters) - Twenty-two people were killed on Saturday in violence that erupted in Port Said, northeast of Egypt's capital, after protesters took to the street angry that people from their city had be blamed for a soccer disaster, state television said. More than 200 people were also injured, state television reported, citing the Health Ministry. A court ruled on Saturday that 21 people, mostly from the city, were sentenced to death for their role in the stadium disaster in Port Said that killed 74 people. (Reporting by Omar Fahmy; Writing by Edmund Blair; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) - International bankers and finance ministers warned on Saturday that Europe's crisis was not over even though the euro currency is now stabilized, it will take years to overcome economic malaise and mass unemployment in Europe. ...
ROME (Reuters) - The four-member board of the Bank of Italy was meeting on Saturday to consider the position of scandal-hit bank Monte dei Paschi di Siena and decide whether to authorize its request for 3.9 billion euros ($5.3 billion) of state loans. Italy's third-largest bank this week revealed loss-making derivatives trades that could cost it about 720 million euros, causing heavy losses in its shares and prompting questions about how the risky deals could have been hidden from regulators. ...
