Reuters News Agency

Guinea soldier wanted for stadium massacre arrested in Senegal| Reuters

By Saliou Samb | CONAKRY CONAKRY Senegal authorities have arrested a Guinean soldier linked to a 2009 massacre in Conakry where at least 150 people were killed and dozens of women raped, a Senegalese security source said on Tuesday.The source said Lieutenant Aboubacar "Toumba" Diakite, who witnesses say played a key role in the massacre at a Conakry stadium, was arrested in Dakar on Monday.The Sept. 28, 2009, incident in Guinea's capital is seen as one of the worst acts of repression in West Africa's recent history and Human Rights Watch called the arrest a breakthrough in the bid to bring justice.In that incident, security forces opened fire on pro-democracy protestors who had gathered at the stadium to put pressure on then junta leader Moussa Dadis Camara not to stand at an election the following year.

EU agrees new gun rules after militant attacks| Reuters

BRUSSELS The European Union agreed stricter gun rules on Tuesday but balked at a proposal for a complete ban on the most lethal semi-automatic weapons such as the Kalashnikov.The measure is part of an overall tightening of EU rules that govern the purchase and sale of such weapons since two Islamist gunmen shot dead 12 people in the offices of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in January 2015.

Nepal’s ex-king Gyanendra: national unity under attack | Reuters

By Gopal Sharma | KATHMANDU KATHMANDU Nepal's national unity is under attack and its people must act to save it, former King Gyanendra said on Wednesday, in some of his most critical political comments since being toppled by a parliamentary vote eight years ago.A specially elected Constituent Assembly dominated by Maoist former rebels ended Nepal's 239-year-old monarchy in 2008 and turned the impoverished country of 28 million people into a republic.Political parties are still haggling over creating federal states under a new constitution prepared last year, with the Madhesi ethnic minority demanding an autonomous state in the southern plains bordering India. This is opposed by some upper caste Brahmins living in the hills of the mainly Hindu nation.More than 50 people died during protests in the Madhes, also known as the Tarai, last year while demanding a greater say for the Madhesi community in the government. "Social goodwill among Nepali people is being erased and relentless efforts are being made to break the feeling of unity between Tarai (plains), hills and Himal (mountains)," Gyanendra said in a statement.

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.

Clinton lawyer blasts FBI after email search warrant release | Reuters

By Nate Raymond | NEW YORK NEW YORK The FBI acted inappropriately when it announced the revival of its investigation into Hillary Clinton's private email setup days before the Nov.

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.

Mexico fireworks market blast kills at least 10, hurts scores | Reuters

MEXICO CITY At least 10 people died on Tuesday in an explosion at a fireworks market outside the Mexican capital, a government official said, declining to provide his name as the death toll is still preliminary.The blast struck the San Pablito fireworks market in Tultepec, about 20 miles (32 km) north of Mexico City, injuring at least 60 others, according to an official tally by emergency services which could rise.

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

Iranian Kurdish opposition offices in northern Iraq hit by explosion; six killed | Reuters

ERBIL, Iraq Six people were killed in a bomb attack on the offices of an Iranian Kurdish opposition group in northern Iraq late on Tuesday, Iraqi Kurdish security sources said.The explosion targeted the offices of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI) in Koy Sanjak, east of Erbil, the capital of the autonomous Iraqi Kurdish region. Clashes opposed in June and July PDKI fighters and Iranian Revolutionary Guards in northwestern Iran, leaving several dead on both sides.

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