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| Biden won't make headway in China if he repeats 'erroneous' remarks: paper Tuesday, Dec 03, 2013 07:01 PM PST  By Ben Blanchard BEIJING (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Joe Biden should not expect to make much progress in defusing tensions over the East China Sea if he plans to repeat "erroneous and one-sided remarks" on the issue when he visits China, a top state-run paper said on Wednesday. Beijing's decision to declare an air defense identification zone in an area that includes disputed islands has triggered protests from the United States, Japan and South Korea and dominated Biden's talks in Tokyo on Tuesday. The United States has made clear it will stand by treaty obligations that require it to defend the Japanese-controlled islands, but it is also reluctant to get dragged into any military clash between rivals Japan and China. Biden is scheduled to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping and Vice President Li Yuanchao in Beijing on Wednesday before flying to Seoul later in the week. Full Story | Top |
| In largest-ever U.S. city bankruptcy, cuts coming for Detroit creditors, retirees Tuesday, Dec 03, 2013 02:59 PM PST  By Joseph Lichterman and Bernie Woodall DETROIT (Reuters) - A federal judge on Tuesday formally declared Detroit bankrupt, a landmark ruling that clears the way for potentially sweeping cuts to city worker pensions and retirement benefits and for steep and possibly precedent-setting losses to the cash-strapped city's bond holders. The ruling by U.S. Judge Steven Rhodes, who cited the city's dismal finances and $18 billion owed to a multitude of creditors in support of his decision, marks a watershed in the history of Detroit. Once known as the cradle of the U.S. auto industry, the arsenal of democracy and the birthplace of Motown music, Detroit now adds an ignominious new title: largest bankrupt city in U.S. history. Detroit's emergency manager, Kevyn Orr, in a news conference after the court hearing, said the city will seek to file a plan of readjustment - the city's roadmap toward financial solvency - by early January. Full Story | Top |
| Arafat did not die of poisoning, French tests conclude Tuesday, Dec 03, 2013 04:37 PM PST  By Paul Taylor PARIS (Reuters) - Yasser Arafat was not the victim of poisoning, French forensic scientists concluded on Tuesday, countering a Swiss report on the 2004 death of the Palestinian leader that found he was probably killed with radioactive polonium. The French conclusions were immediately challenged by his widow, Suha Arafat, who has argued the death was a political assassination by someone close to her husband. A senior Palestinian official dismissed the report as "politicized". "You can imagine how much I am shaken by the contradictions between the findings of the best experts in Europe in this domain," Suha Arafat, dressed in black and reading from a written statement, told a news conference in Paris. Full Story | Top |
| Driver in fatal New York train crash was 'in a daze': sources Tuesday, Dec 03, 2013 03:38 PM PST  By Chris Francescani , Mark Hosenball and Curtis Skinner (Reuters) - The driver of a New York commuter train that derailed on Sunday, killing four people, told investigators he was "in a daze" shortly before the crash, sources said, and officials lamented his train lacked technology that could have prevented the accident. The seven-car Metro-North train was traveling at 82 miles per hour, nearly three times the 30-mph (48-kph) speed limit for the curved section of track where it crashed, investigators have said. The driver, William Rockefeller, 46, applied the brakes five seconds before it derailed. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has cautioned that its investigation would continue for weeks, if not months, and it was far from reaching a conclusion on the cause. Full Story | Top |
| Ukraine protesters threaten tighter blockade over spurned EU pact Tuesday, Dec 03, 2013 02:03 PM PST  By Natalia Zinets and Matt Robinson KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine's government faced a tightening blockade of key buildings by protesters in the capital Kiev on Wednesday amid a crisis over its rejection of closer ties with the European Union that has piled pressure on the creaking economy. Protesters threatened to extend their blockade to the office of President Viktor Yanukovich, who flew to China on Tuesday leaving behind a country in turmoil over his government's decision last month to spurn a landmark EU trade accord. The crisis has exposed once more the East-West tug-of-war playing out in Ukraine, which has oscillated between the EU and former Soviet master Moscow since the 2004-5 Orange Revolution overthrew the post-Soviet political order. Yanukovich's prime minister, Mykola Azarov, said his cabinet would hold its weekly meeting on Wednesday in the government building, paving the way for a possible showdown with the protesters, who have blocked the entrances since Monday. Full Story | Top |
| Twelve killed in Central African Republic attack: U.N. Tuesday, Dec 03, 2013 01:48 PM PST  Armed men killed at least 12 civilians and wounded 30, including children, northwest of the Central African Republic capital, United Nations officials said on Tuesday ahead of a Security Council move to end anarchy in the country. The Council is to vote on Thursday on dispatching French reinforcements to restore order in Central African Republic, which has slipped into chaos since mainly Muslim rebels seized power, leading to tit-for-tat sectarian violence. BINUCA, as the United Nations office in Bangui is known, said unidentified armed men had targeted Boali, about 95 km (60 miles) from the capital at the weekend. The U.N. office did not give details on who was responsible but it warned of tensions between communities leading to "a climate of increasing violence" in the impoverished landlocked country, which is majority Christian. Full Story | Top |
| Militias battle anew in Lebanon's Tripoli, army arrests 21 fighters Tuesday, Dec 03, 2013 10:29 AM PST  By Oliver Holmes and Laila Bassam TRIPOLI, Lebanon (Reuters) - Clashes resumed on Tuesday between Lebanese militias who back opposing sides of Syria's war and 21 fighters were arrested by the army as it pursued a six-month-long mandate to end bloodshed battering the city of Tripoli. The conflict between the majority Sunni Muslim Bab al-Tabbaneh district and the adjacent Alawite neighborhood of Jebel Mohsen in Tripoli has killed over 100 people this year. The two neighborhoods have been in on-off conflict since the 1980s but the 2-1/2-year-old civil war in neighboring Syria pitting Alawite President Bashar al-Assad against majority Sunni rebels has opened old wounds on both sides in Tripoli, and fighting has become more frequent and intense. Over the weekend, the relatives of the car bomb victims protested in a Tripoli square, demanding that leading Alawite political leaders be arrested and calling for Jebel Mohsen's electricity and water supplies to be cut off. Full Story | Top |
| Defense chief could sign Afghan pact instead of Karzai: Kerry Tuesday, Dec 03, 2013 01:16 PM PST  By Adrian Croft and David Brunnstrom BRUSSELS (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry suggested on Tuesday that Afghanistan's defense minister or government, instead of a reluctant President Hamid Karzai, could sign a security pact enabling some U.S. troops to stay in the country after 2014. An assembly of Afghan elders, the Loya Jirga, last month endorsed the security deal with the United States, but Karzai said he might not sign it until after elections next April. The delay has irritated the United States and its allies, which want to get on with planning for the smaller, NATO-led training mission that is to stay on in Afghanistan after 2014, when most foreign troops that have been battling Taliban insurgents will have pulled out. Kerry urged the Afghan government to sign the security deal "sooner, not later" and said this priority was backed by all NATO foreign ministers taking part in a meeting on Tuesday. Full Story | Top |
| British news staff may face terrorism charges over Snowden leaks Tuesday, Dec 03, 2013 01:07 PM PST  By William James and Michael Holden LONDON (Reuters) - British police are examining whether Guardian newspaper staff should be investigated for terrorism offenses over their handling of data leaked by Edward Snowden, Britain's senior counter-terrorism officer said on Tuesday. The disclosure came after Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger, summoned to give evidence at a parliamentary inquiry, was accused by lawmakers of helping terrorists by making top secret information public and sharing it with other news organizations. The Guardian was among several newspapers which published leaks from U.S. spy agency contractor Snowden about mass surveillance by the National Security Agency (NSA) and Britain's eavesdropping agency GCHQ. Assistant Commissioner Cressida Dick, who heads London's Specialist Operations unit, told lawmakers the police were looking to see whether any offenses had been committed, following the brief detention in August of a man carrying data on behalf of a Guardian journalist. Full Story | Top |
| Obama urges Americans not be discouraged by rocky healthcare rollout Tuesday, Dec 03, 2013 12:24 PM PST  President Barack Obama urged Americans not to be discouraged by the rocky rollout of HealthCare.gov on Tuesday and vowed to fix whatever glitches remain as he sought to restore confidence in his leadership. Obama used a speech at the White House to address criticisms of the law and accuse his Republican opponents of attempting to gain politically from the problems surrounding his central domestic policy achievement. Obama, whose job approval ratings have sunk as problems mounted around the healthcare system's website, said repairs to the website have now made it work well for the vast majority of users and that "we're are going to keep on working to fix whatever problems come up." "Do not let the initial problems with the website discourage you because it's working better now," Obama told an audience of supporters of the law. "And it's going to keep on working better over time." Obama is struggling to contain the political damage from the troubled rollout of the new health law. Full Story | Top |
| Thai government defuses confrontation, protest leader says not over Tuesday, Dec 03, 2013 11:15 AM PST  By Panarat Thepgumpanat BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand's government ordered police on Tuesday to stop confronting protesters demanding the resignation of the prime minister, raising hope that days of political violence may end, but the leader of the campaign said the fight would go on. The protesters opposing Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra had been besieging various government buildings, including Government House, the complex that houses her offices. After days of firing teargas and rubber bullets to hold them off, police handed out roses to flag-waving protesters after the barricades were brought down. The protesters mingled with police, shouted slogans and left peacefully. Full Story | Top |
| Arafat did not die of poisoning, French tests conclude Tuesday, Dec 03, 2013 11:23 AM PST By Paul Taylor PARIS (Reuters) - Yasser Arafat was not the victim of poisoning, French forensic tests concluded on Tuesday, countering the theory put forward by a Swiss report on the 2004 death of the Palestinian leader. The French conclusions were immediately challenged by his widow Suha Arafat, who has argued the death was a political assassination by someone close to her husband. A senior Palestinian official dismissed the report as "politicized". "You can imagine how much I am shaken by the contradictions between the findings of the best experts in Europe in this domain," Suha Arafat, dressed in black and reading from a written statement, told a news conference in Paris. Full Story | Top |
| German states launch lonely bid to ban far-right NPD Tuesday, Dec 03, 2013 09:13 AM PST  By Erik Kirschbaum BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany's 16 states launched a battle on Tuesday to ban the far-right National Democratic Party (NPD) after the federal government failed spectacularly a decade ago to outlaw a party its critics say shows an affinity for Hitler's Nazis. Fearing another court defeat, Chancellor Angela Merkel's government opted not to formally back the petition to the Constitutional Court to ban the NPD, which the domestic intelligence service has called "racist, anti-Semitic and revisionist". Banning a political group is difficult in Germany, still haunted by memories of Nazi and communist regimes which crushed dissent. A previous attempt by the federal government in 2003 to ban the NPD failed, causing deep embarrassment. Full Story | Top |
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