Reuters News

U.N. human rights chief urges murder inquiry into Duterte's killing claim| Reuters

MANILA The United Nations human rights commission has urged the Philippines to launch a murder investigations into President Rodrigo Duterte claims he killed three people as mayor of Davao City and all killings in his war on drugs.Since July when Duterte assumed the presidency, there had been 6,000 people killed in the government's war on drugs, about a third died in police anti-narcotics operations and the rest by motorcycle-riding masked men and vigilante groups.Duterte told a gathering of businessmen last week that as mayor of Davao City he "personally" killed criminals as he prowled the streets.He later admitted killing three men, who were involved in a kidnapping case, during a police gunfight in late 1980s."The Philippines judicial authorities must demonstrate their commitment to upholding the law and their independence from the executive by launching a murder investigation," said Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, in reference to Duterte's claims. "The killing described by President Duterte also violates international law, including the right to life, freedom from violence and force, due process and fair trial, equal protection before the law and innocence until proven guilty," Zeid said in a statement.He also said "there is surprisingly little information on actual prosecutions" over recent killings, despite police investigations into thousands of killings by vigilantes."Credible and independent investigation must be urgently re-opened into the killings in Davao, as well as into the shocking number of killings that have occurred across the country since Duterte became president," Zeid said.

Rahul Gandhi accuses Narendra Modi of taking cash payments | Reuters

By Rupam Jain | NEW DELHI NEW DELHI Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party denied allegations by Congress politician Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday that Modi had accepted $6 million in suspicious cash payments in the months before winning a 2014 general election.Gandhi, heir apparent to the leadership of the Congress party that has governed India for most of its seven decades of independence, levelled the allegations at a rally in Modi's home state of Gujarat.He has threatened for weeks to cause an "earthquake" by exposing what he called Modi's personal corruption.

Flawed diamond regulations fuelling child labour in Congo mines - campaigners | Reuters

By Kieran Guilbert DAKAR (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The failure of European jewellery firms to scrutinise their supply chains and a flawed diamond certification scheme are fuelling child labour and sexual abuse in artisanal mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a campaign group said on Thursday.Thousands of children work illegally in diamond mines in Congo's diamond-rich Kasai region - mainly to pay for food and school fees - and girls who live around the mines are prey to rape, forced marriage and prostitution, according to Swedwatch.Yet few jewellery firms have policies to assess the risk of child labour and abuses in their diamond supply chains, and many do not provide public information about efforts to operate responsibly, Swedwatch said in a report.Swedwatch also said the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS), an initiative seeking to end trade in "blood diamonds" used to finance conflict, was obscuring rights abuses.The KPCS classifies less than 0.1 percent of the world's diamonds as untradeable for ethical reasons. Yet this figure only includes diamonds used by rebel groups to finance conflict, and does not account for diamond extraction involving rights violations across Africa, Swedwatch said."The KPCS is outdated and does not cover most human rights abuses linked to diamond extraction today," Therese Sjöström, a researcher at Swedwatch, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation from Stockholm.Andrey Polyakov, head of the World Diamond Council (WDC), said the success of the KPCS was based on its focus on conflict.

China welcomes Sao Tome decision to ditch Taiwan ties | Reuters

BEIJING China's Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday it welcomed an announcement from the small west African country of Sao Tome to end diplomatic relations with self-ruled Taiwan."We have noted the statement from the government of Sao Tome and Principe on the 20th to break so-called 'diplomat' ties with Taiwan. China expresses approval of this, and welcomes Sao Tome back onto the correct path of the 'one China' principle," the ministry said in a statement

U.S. plays down absence from Moscow talks on Syria, says not 'sidelined' | Reuters

By Yeganeh Torbati and David Alexander | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON The United States on Tuesday sought to downplay its absence from talks on the Syrian conflict among Russia, Iran and Turkey in Moscow, saying it was not a "snub" and did not reflect a decline of U.S. influence in the Middle East.However, President Barack Obama's decision to offer only limited support to moderate rebels has left Washington with little leverage to influence the situation in Syria, especially after Moscow began launching air strikes against rebels fighting President Bashar al-Assad

U.S. tightens sanctions against North Korea's U.N. diplomats | Reuters

By Joel Schectman | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON The U.S.

Nasdaq rises to record, Dow bats eyes at 20,000 | Reuters

By Noel Randewich The Dow and Nasdaq Composite rose to record highs on Tuesday in a rally fuelled by optimism about U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's policies.The Dow Jones industrial average ended just 25 points shy of 20,000, a level it has never breached, helped by a 1.68 percent gain in Goldman Sachs (GS.N).U.S

Gold falls as dollar rises, investors retreat | Reuters

By Marcy Nicholson and Pratima Desai | NEW YORK/LONDON NEW YORK/LONDON Gold fell on Tuesday as the dollar rose and investors sold on expectations of stronger global economic growth and higher U.S. interest rates, while deadly incidents in Turkey and Germany failed to spur safe-haven buying.Spot gold XAU= was down 0.7 percent at $1,131.18 an ounce by 2:51 p.m

Volkswagen reaches agreement to fix, buyback U.S. diesels | Reuters

WASHINGTON A U.S. federal judge said on Tuesday Volkswagen AG (VOWG_p.DE) has reached an agreement for a mix of buybacks and fixes for about 80,000 polluting 3.0-liter diesel VW, Porsche and Audi vehicles as the German automaker works to put a diesel emissions cheating scandal behind it.During a hearing in San Francisco, U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer also said German company Robert Bosch GmbH has reached agreed in principle to settle civil allegations made by U.S.

Cake and sympathy - beaten women forget pain of domestic abuse in Chennai cafe | Reuters

By Anuradha Nagaraj CHENNAI, India (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Measuring flour, whisking eggs and folding batter, K. Asma forgets the deep scars that run down her face and neck as she bakes cupcakes in an upscale cafe in the Indian port city of Chennai.Four years ago, Asma poured kerosene on herself and lit a match, after reaching breaking point in an abusive marriage