| | |
| Thousands take to the streets in Honduras to protest election result Sunday, Dec 01, 2013 07:47 PM PST By Gustavo Palencia TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) - Honduras' defeated leftist presidential candidate, the wife of ousted former leader Manuel Zelaya, led thousands of supporters onto the streets of Tegucigalpa on Sunday to protest an election result she has called fraudulent. The demonstration by a crowd estimated at several thousand people passed off peacefully, which analysts said offered some hope for political stability. The ruling National Party's Juan Hernandez, who is head of Congress, won last week's election with 36.8 percent of the votes, according to the country's election tribunal. Xiomara Castro ran as the candidate of the Liberty and Refoundation Party (LIBRE) - a coalition of leftist politicians, unions and indigenous groups founded by her husband. Full Story | Top |
| Japan economics minister Amari hospitalized; govt says no policy impact Sunday, Dec 01, 2013 07:01 PM PST  By Sumio Ito and Takaya Yamaguchi TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Economics Minister Akira Amari was hospitalized on Monday for tests, but his absence will likely not disrupt the crafting of an economic stimulus package, the government said. The Cabinet Office said the tests would last three or four days. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga declined to give further details on Amari's condition, citing privacy concerns. Amari's hospitalization could overlap with the government's expected announcement of a 5 trillion yen economic stimulus package on Thursday. Full Story | Top |
| Japan: no change to airlines' notification policy when flying in East China Sea zone Sunday, Dec 01, 2013 06:53 PM PST Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said on Monday there was no change to Japan's policy of not notifying Chinese authorities when its commercial aircraft fly through China's new air defense identification zone. Asked if the government planned to alter its earlier request to domestic air carriers that they not notify China of their flight plans, Suga said, "Our stance won't be changed." Japan's top air carriers, Japan Airlines and ANA, earlier told Reuters they have made no change to their plans of not notifying China of their flight plans for aircraft flying through the zone. Full Story | Top |
| New York train derailment kills four, injures 63 Sunday, Dec 01, 2013 06:15 PM PST  By Noreen O'Donnell NEW YORK (Reuters) - A suburban New York train derailed on Sunday, killing four people and injuring 63, including 11 critically, when all seven cars of a Metro-North train ran off the tracks on a sharp curve, officials said. The crash happened at 7:20 a.m. (1220 GMT) about 100 yards (meters) north of Metro-North's Spuyten Duyvil station in the city's Bronx borough, said Metro-North spokesman Aaron Donovan. Full Story | Top |
| Britain's Cameron flies to Beijing, pushing EU-China trade deal Sunday, Dec 01, 2013 05:02 PM PST  By Andrew Osborn BEIJING (Reuters) - British Prime Minister David Cameron flew into China saying he wanted to lay the ground for a multi-billion-dollar free trade deal between Beijing and the European Union, despite growing unease about his own country's membership of the bloc. On a three-day visit with a delegation of around 100 business people, the largest British mission of its kind ever, Cameron said he wanted his country to play an important role in China's expansion as the world's second biggest economy is talking about opening up its markets. "China's transformation is one of the defining facts of our lifetime," Cameron wrote in Caixin, a Chinese weekly news magazine, on the eve of the visit. They can choose to see China's rise as a threat or an opportunity. Full Story | Top |
| Thai protesters seek to topple PM after clashes Sunday, Dec 01, 2013 04:42 PM PST  By Amy Sawitta Lefevre BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thai anti-government protesters vowed to demonstrate again on Monday and forge ahead with a "people's coup" campaign to topple Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, a day after battling riot police outside her fortified office compound. The protesters had set Sunday as "Victory Day" to oust the government but failed to achieve their goal of seizing the prime minister's office at Government House or occupying state buildings, despite intense clashes with riot police. It is the latest dramatic turn in a conflict pitting Bangkok's urban middle class and royalist elite against the mostly poor, rural supporters of Yingluck and her brother, Thaksin Shinawatra, a populist former prime minister ousted in a 2006 military coup. Protest leader Suthep Thaungsuban said he met with Yingluck on Sunday but insisted there were no negotiations to end the worst political crisis since bloody political unrest in 2010. Full Story | Top |
| 'Cyber-Hindus' - India's new breed of political activists Sunday, Dec 01, 2013 04:26 PM PST By Sruthi Gottipati and Mark Bergen NEW DELHI/BANGALORE, India (Reuters) - Four men chatting in a Delhi bar are not, by their own admission, natural drinking buddies. The young professionals in their 20s and 30s come from vastly different regions of India and varied backgrounds. They first "met" on Twitter, spotting each other on the micro-blogging site where they voiced a common desire - to see Hindu nationalist leader Narendra Modi become the next prime minister. After online introductions, they met face-to-face on their own initiative, and, finding they had plenty in common, gather monthly in the nation's capital to talk about life, work, and, most importantly, how to make a difference in India's upcoming election. Full Story | Top |
| Insight: UK power price rises prompt questions of network owners, regulator Sunday, Dec 01, 2013 04:14 PM PST By Tom Bergin LONDON (Reuters) - In 2006, Britain's energy regulator reviewed how the gas and electricity market was functioning. Summarising its findings, it noted the possibility that its rules on pricing had been overly generous to the network owners. The report was one of many produced by regulator Ofgem, tasked by the government with overseeing an industry that was broken up and sold off by the state during the 1980s and 1990s. "The fact that network businesses .... have recently changed hands at a premium to the regulatory asset value (Ofgem's own valuation of the assets) suggests considerable appetite among the investment community and indicates, in hindsight, that past price control reviews could have been somewhat tighter than they were," Ofgem said in its 2006 report 'Financing Networks'. Full Story | Top |
| Egypt tweaks roadmap, may see presidential vote held first Sunday, Dec 01, 2013 03:34 PM PST  By Yasmine Saleh and Tom Perry CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's political transition was pitched into uncertainty on Sunday when a draft constitution was amended to allow a presidential election to be held before parliamentary polls, indicating a potential change in the army's roadmap. The roadmap unveiled when the military ousted Islamist President Mohamed Mursi in July said a parliamentary election should take place before the presidential one. But the draft finalized on Sunday by the 50-member constituent assembly avoids saying which vote should happen first, leaving the decision up to President Adly Mansour, seen as a front for army rule since he was installed to head the interim administration. The draft also says the "election procedures" must start within six months of the constitution's ratification, meaning Egypt may not have an elected president and parliament until the second half of next year. Full Story | Top |
| Egypt assembly raises doubt over vote timetable Sunday, Dec 01, 2013 02:55 PM PST The assembly writing Egypt's new constitution voted on Sunday against an article that requires parliamentary elections to be held before presidential elections, raising uncertainty over the country's political transition timetable. Thirty-three members of the 50-member assembly named by interim President Adly Mansour voted against the article, meaning they will have to redraft it. Some members of the assembly had been calling for presidential elections to be held before parliamentary elections, citing the weak state of Egypt's secular political parties. Full Story | Top |
| Egypt draft constitution opens way to presidential poll first Sunday, Dec 01, 2013 02:55 PM PST A draft Egyptian constitution completed on Sunday opens the way for a presidential election to be held before parliamentary polls, potentially changing the transition plan outlined by the army when it ousted President Mohamed Mursi. The original plan said a parliamentary election should take place before the presidential one. But the draft constitution avoids stipulating which vote should happen first. The draft constitution says the "election procedures" must start within six months from the date of the constitution's ratification, meaning Egypt may not have an elected president or parliament until the second half of next year. Full Story | Top |
| Egypt police fire teargas to scatter Tahrir Square protesters Sunday, Dec 01, 2013 02:55 PM PST CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian security forces fired teargas to disperse protesters demonstrating against the army-backed government in Cairo's Tahrir Square on Sunday, witnesses said. Several hundred people had chanted "down down with military rule" and one protester had hung a picture of ousted President Mohamed Mursi from a lamppost before the teargas volleys began. (Reporting by Yasmine Saleh; Writing by Tom Perry; Editing by Mark Heinrich) Full Story | Top |
| Ukrainians stage mass rally against Yanukovich's U-turn on Europe Sunday, Dec 01, 2013 02:45 PM PST By Natalia Zinets and Richard Balmforth KIEV (Reuters) - Ukrainian opposition leaders called on Sunday for President Viktor Yanukovich and his government to resign at a huge pro-Europe rally of about 350,000 people, marred by violent clashes between protesters and riot police. In the biggest protest in the capital Kiev since the "Orange Revolution" of nine years ago, opposition leaders denounced Yanukovich for walking away from a pact offered by the European Union and swinging trade policy back toward Russia. "They stole the dream," heavyweight boxer-turned-opposition politician Vitaly Klitschko told crowds on Independence Square. Full Story | Top |
| At least seven dead in Italian textile factory fire Sunday, Dec 01, 2013 02:34 PM PST By James Mackenzie ROME (Reuters) - At least seven people died and three were injured when a Chinese-owned clothing factory in an industrial zone in the Italian town of Prato burned down on Sunday, killing workers trapped in an improvised dormitory built onsite. "This is a disgrace for all of us, because we have to recognize this reality for what it is: the biggest concentration of illegal employment in northern and central Italy," said Enrico Rossi, president of the region of Tuscany. "No one can say they are surprised at this because everyone has known for years that, in the area between Florence and Prato, hundreds if not thousands of people are living and working in conditions of near-slavery," Roberto Pistonina, secretary general of the Florence and Prato section of the CISL trade union, said on his Facebook page. Prato, a town with one of the highest concentrations of Chinese immigrants in Italy, has at least 15,000 legally registered in a total population of under 200,000, with more than 4,000 Chinese-owned businesses, according to official data. Full Story | Top |
| Biden on delicate mission to defuse tensions in East Asia Sunday, Dec 01, 2013 02:29 PM PST  By David Brunnstrom and Roberta Rampton WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Joe Biden will try to strike a delicate balance of calming military tensions with China while supporting ally Japan against Beijing on a trip to Asia this week that is being overshadowed by a territorial dispute in the East China Sea. Aiming to counter criticism that the United States is neglecting Asia because it is distracted by domestic politics and the Middle East, the White House has long been planning a visit by Biden to Japan, China and South Korea. Full Story | Top |
| Libya sends back 360 Egyptians arriving with forged visas: state media Sunday, Dec 01, 2013 02:25 PM PST TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Libya has deported 360 Egyptians who arrived on two flights with forged visas, state news agency Lana said on Sunday. The Egyptians landed at Misrata airport in central Libya and were sent back to Egypt on the same planes, the agency added, without giving any more details. Libya, facing turmoil two years after the fall of Muammar Gaddafi, has been trying to clamp down on a trade in forged visas for workers from Egypt or other neighboring countries looking to come to the country. (Reporting by Ulf Laessing; Editing by David Evans) Full Story | Top |
| Croats set constitutional bar to same-sex marriage Sunday, Dec 01, 2013 01:39 PM PST  By Zoran Radosavljevic ZAGREB (Reuters) - Croats voted overwhelmingly in favor of defining marriage in the constitution as a "union of man and woman" on Sunday, a move initiated by Roman Catholic groups but criticized by opponents as discrimination against homosexuals. The Church wholeheartedly backed the initiative, which sought to define marriage in the constitution rather than law so that its status can only be changed by a two-thirds majority in parliament. "I am happy because, from now on, no future government will be able to legalize gay marriages," said Zeljka Markic, leader of "In the Name of the Family". Ballet dancer Sanja Grgic said: "I have nothing against gay people, I have many gay friends, but I voted in favor because I think children should grow up in a family that has a mother and a father." Opponents noted that Croatia now shares its constitutional definition of marriage with Belarus, Poland, Moldova, Bulgaria, Montenegro and Serbia, where intolerance of same-sex unions is widespread. Full Story | Top |
| Lack of cash and monitors add to Afghan election troubles Sunday, Dec 01, 2013 01:28 PM PST  By Jessica Donati and Hamid Shalizi KABUL (Reuters) - Organizers of Afghanistan's make-or-break presidential election next year say poor security, a shortage of monitors and funding holes are undermining their ability to safeguard the process from the widespread fraud that marred the last poll in 2009. "The foundation of the election due to technical issues was not done in the proper way," said Noor Mohammad Noor, spokesman for the Independent Election Commission (IEC). "We need measures to secure the process through observers." Western nations, who have spent hundreds of billions of dollars on a conflict that has failed to end the Taliban insurgency, have pledged about a third less cash to the United Nations (U.N.) fund that will cover most of the election's costs compared with 2009, official U.N. figures shows. The reduced budget is partly because some land and equipment that had to be bought last time is being reused and fewer foreign advisers are needed, say the U.N. and IEC chief Yousof Nooristani. Full Story | Top |
| White House meets goals for HealthCare.gov, but more work ahead Sunday, Dec 01, 2013 01:25 PM PST  Two months after the disastrous launch of a website that is a key component of President Barack Obama's healthcare law, administration officials said on Sunday they had met their goal of getting the HealthCare.gov site running smoothly but warned that it needs more fixes. Obama adviser Jeffrey Zients said a five-week emergency "tech surge" had doubled the capacity of the online health insurance portal that is crucial to helping millions of people shop for insurance plans, while making it more responsive and less prone to errors. The administration said the effort's key improvement was to increase HealthCare.gov's capacity to 50,000 simultaneous users, which would allow the site to handle at least 800,000 users per day. Full Story | Top |
| Karzai accuses U.S. of cutting Afghan military supplies Sunday, Dec 01, 2013 12:14 PM PST  By Hamid Shalizi KABUL (Reuters) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai accused his U.S. ally on Sunday of withholding military supplies to press him to sign a bilateral security deal that will shape the U.S. military presence after most foreign troops leave in 2014. "The cutting of fuel supplies and support services to the Afghan army and police is being used as a means of pressure to ensure Afghanistan ... signs the Bilateral Security Agreement," a statement from Karzai's palace said. Karzai said last week he might refuse to sign the deal until after Afghanistan's presidential election in April 2014. "There has been no stoppage in the delivery of requested fuel and we continue to process all orders as soon as they are received," the NATO-led force in Afghanistan said in a statement. Full Story | Top |
| China launches lunar probe carrying 'Jade Rabbit' moon buggy Sunday, Dec 01, 2013 11:39 AM PST  China launched its first ever extraterrestrial landing craft into orbit en route for the moon in the small hours of Monday, in a major milestone for its space program. The Chang'e-3 lunar probe, which includes the Yutu or Jade Rabbit buggy, blasted off on board an enhanced Long March-3B carrier rocket from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in China's southwestern Sichuan province at 1:30 a.m. (1730 GMT). President Xi Jinping has said he wants China to establish itself as a space superpower, and the mission has inspired widespread pride in China's growing technological prowess. If all goes smoothly, the rover will conduct geological surveys and search for natural resources after the probe touches down on the moon in mid-December as China's first spacecraft to make a soft landing beyond Earth. Full Story | Top |
| Qaeda offshoot claims West Bank foothold after killings Sunday, Dec 01, 2013 11:19 AM PST An Islamist group linked to al Qaeda has claimed three militants killed in the West Bank by Israeli forces last week as its members, and said this shows it has taken root in the occupied Palestinian territory. Al Qaeda has struggled to build up significant support in the West Bank, analysts say, and the Palestinian Authority, which administers the area, last week denied an Israeli report that the three men were linked to the organization. "By the will of God Almighty, the global jihadi doctrine has reached the bank of pride, the West Bank, planting its foothold after all attempts to thwart its presence," said Majles Shura al-Mujahideen, or Holy Warriors' Assembly, in a statement posted on an Islamist web forum. Such groups have some grassroots support in the Palestinian territory of Gaza, which is ruled by the Islamist faction Hamas. Full Story | Top |
| Canadian police arrest Toronto man on suspicion of spying for China Sunday, Dec 01, 2013 10:26 AM PST By Janet Guttsman TORONTO (Reuters) - Canadian police have arrested a Toronto man suspected of seeking to give China classified information about Canadian shipbuilding procurement policies, security officials said on Sunday. Jennifer Strachan, a chief superintendent with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, told a news conference that Canadian citizen Qing Quentin Huang, 53, faced two charges of attempting to communicate with a foreign entity. "On Thursday the RCMP was informed that the accused was taking steps to pass on information of a classified nature to China," she told a rare weekend news conference. "In these types of cases, sharing of information may give a foreign entity a tactical, military or competitive advantage by knowing the specifications of vessels responsible for defending Canadian waters and Canadian sovereignty." Strachan said Huang, who was arrested on Saturday, had worked for a subcontractor involved in ship design. Full Story | Top |
| Syria-fueled violence kills four in Lebanon's Tripoli Sunday, Dec 01, 2013 09:11 AM PST  By Nazih Siddiq TRIPOLI, Lebanon (Reuters) - Four people were killed by sniper fire the north Lebanese city of Tripoli on Sunday, security sources said, raising to 10 the death toll in two days of violence fuelled by sectarian tensions over Syria's civil war. The clashes between Tripoli's Alawite minority, which supports Syria's Alawite President Bashar al-Assad, and majority Sunni Muslims who back the Syrian rebels, are the latest round of violence which has killed more than 100 people in the Mediterranean city this year. Gun battles have broken out five times since March, killing dozens of people, and twin car bombs at Sunni Muslim mosques in Tripoli killed 42 people in August. Tripoli residents said the sounds of heavy gunfire and rocket explosions echoed across Lebanon's second city from midnight to 6 am. The city was quieter during the day, they said, with soldiers patrolling otherwise empty streets of the rival neighborhoods, but occasional bursts of gunfire continued. Full Story | Top |
| North Yemen fighting kills more than 120 Sunday, Dec 01, 2013 08:56 AM PST Fighting between Shi'ite Houthi rebels and Sunni Salafis in northern Yemen has killed more than 120 and a government official in charge of enforcing a ceasefire accused the Houthis of breaking the truce, a newspaper said on Sunday. The latest round of fighting between the Houthis and Salafis has added to the challenges facing U.S. allied Yemen, already grappling with a southern separatist movement and an insurgency by Islamist militants linked to al Qaeda. Amin al-Hemyari, head of government observers monitoring a ceasefire reached last month, said the death toll among Salafis in the town of Damaj had risen to more than 120, with dozens wounded, the government-run al-Thawra newspaper said. Clashes started after Houthi rebels, who control most of Saada province, accused the Salafis of massing thousands of fighters, including foreigners, in a religious school in Damaj with the aim of attacking them. Full Story | Top |
| Ukraine opposition distances itself from violence near Yanukovich HQ Sunday, Dec 01, 2013 08:46 AM PST Ukraine's opposition leaders said that violence near President Viktor Yanukovich's presidential headquarters on Sunday was nothing to do with them and had been stage-managed by the authorities with a view to justifying a police crackdown. "We know that the president wants to ... declare a state of emergency in the country," former economy minister Arseny Yatsenyuk told journalists, reacting to clashes near the presidential administration building involving protesters who appeared to be trying to break through police lines using a building excavator. Full Story | Top |
| Ukrainian nationalist protesters occupy Kiev city hall Sunday, Dec 01, 2013 08:46 AM PST KIEV (Reuters) - Ukrainian nationalist protesters broke into Kiev's city hall and were occupying at least part of the building during mass protests that drew several hundred thousands out on the streets to protest the government's decision to forego an EU deal. Nationalist leader Oleh Tyahniboh told Interfax that representatives of his party had taken over the building. "Today literally 40 minutes ago, our boys took the Kiev Council," he told crowds on Kiev's Independence Square. (Reporting by Pavel Polityuk, Writing by Thomas Grove, Editing by Richard Balmforth) Full Story | Top |
| Ukraine opposition leader Klitschko calls for Yanukovich to resign Sunday, Dec 01, 2013 08:46 AM PST Ukrainian opposition leader Vitaly Klitschko, addressing hundreds of thousands of protesters in central Kiev, called on President Viktor Yanukovich and his government to resign, saying they had "stolen" Ukraine's dream of European integration. "The government and the president should resign," said the heavyweight boxing champion turned opposition politician. If this government does not want to fulfill the will of the people, then there will be no such government, there will be no such president. There will be a new government and a new president," he said to cheering crowds. Full Story | Top |
| Ukraine protesters charge police lines with tractor: eyewitnesses Sunday, Dec 01, 2013 08:46 AM PST A group of protesters, attending a mass pro-Europe rally in the Ukrainian capital Kiev, on Sunday used a tractor to try to break through police lines near the headquarters of President Viktor Yanukovich, eyewitnesses said. (Writing By Richard Balmforth; Full Story | Top |
| Tax hikes, security dent Mexican President's approval rating: poll Sunday, Dec 01, 2013 08:40 AM PST  For the first time, more Mexicans disapprove of President Enrique Pena Nieto's performance than approve, partly because of his tax increases, according to a newspaper poll released on Sunday, the anniversary of his first year in office. The Reforma survey of 1,020 people showed that while 48 percent disapproved of Pena Nieto's job performance, up from 30 percent in April, just 44 percent approved. Those surveyed mainly took issue with Pena Nieto's new tax scheme, which Mexico's Congress passed in October. The reform, signed into law by Pena Nieto, aims to raise revenue by almost 2.7 percent of gross domestic product by 2018. Full Story | Top |
| Syrian helicopters drop 'barrel bombs' on rebel town, killing 20 Sunday, Dec 01, 2013 07:04 AM PST Syrian army helicopters bombarded the northern rebel-held town of Al-Bab for a second day on Sunday, killing 20 people including four women when they dropped improvised barrel bombs on a market district, a monitoring group said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the death toll could rise because many people were severely wounded in the raid, which came a day after 26 people were killed in a similar attack on the same town by President Bashar al-Assad's forces. The British-based Observatory said three rebels from the Tawhid Brigade were killed in Saturday's raid, which appeared to target their headquarters in Al-Bab. Sunday's attack may have been aimed at another rebel group, it said. Full Story | Top |
| Mandela grandson faces assault charges -South Africa prosecutors Sunday, Dec 01, 2013 06:51 AM PST  JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa will charge one of Nelson Mandela's grandsons with assault and brandishing a gun at another man, a prosecutor's official said on Sunday, in a further embarrassment for the anti-apartheid hero's large and fractious family. Mandla Mandela is due to appear in court on Friday, Luxolo Tyali, a spokesman for the National Prosecuting Authority, told Reuters. "The NPA has decided to prosecute him and summons have been issued," Tyali said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Obama administration declares victory on fixing HealthCare.gov Sunday, Dec 01, 2013 06:48 AM PST  The Obama administration declared victory on Sunday in its effort to get HealthCare.gov working smoothly for the vast majority of users, saying the site had reached a goal of handling 50,000 simultaneous users after a five-week "tech surge." In a six-page progress and performance report, administration officials said the troubled website could now handle at least 800,000 visitors per day, with the system remaining up at least 90 percent of the time. The new performance levels mark significant improvement after the Obamacare website's disastrous October 1 launch, when it crashed in the face of high traffic volumes and remained down 60 percent of the time for weeks. Full Story | Top |
| Thai protesters step up action, PM forced to leave building Sunday, Dec 01, 2013 06:10 AM PST  By Amy Sawitta Lefevre BANGKOK (Reuters) - About 30,000 protesters launched a "people's coup" on Thailand's government on Sunday, swarming state agencies in violent clashes, taking control of a state broadcaster and forcing the prime minister to flee a police compound. But after a day of skirmishes between protesters hurling stones and petrol bombs against riot police firing back with teargas, the demonstrators failed to breach heavily barricaded Government House, office of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra. "They go to different places and they go back out." The protesters sowed chaos in one of Southeast Asia's biggest cities, breaching a police line, seizing seven police trucks, and forcing Yingluck to move to an undisclosed location from a building where she had planned to give media interviews. Small fires burned from petrol bombs that landed by police trucks. Full Story | Top |
| Suicide bomber kills 10 at funeral in northern Iraq Sunday, Dec 01, 2013 06:02 AM PST A suicide bomber in northern Iraq blew himself up at a funeral procession on Sunday, killing at least 10 people and wounding 25, as the country suffers its worst spate of violence for at least five years. No group claimed responsibility for Sunday's attack but suicide bombers linked to al Qaeda frequently target local Sunni Muslim leaders and followers considered supportive of Iraq's Shi'ite-led government. Full Story | Top |
| Gunmen kill Yemeni colonel and son in eastern Yemen -official Sunday, Dec 01, 2013 04:58 AM PST Gunmen shot dead a Yemeni army colonel and his son on Sunday when he stopped his car at a roundabout in his hometown, a local official said, extending a string of assassinations of top armed forces figures by suspected Islamist militants. Four passersby were also wounded when the gunmen, who were on foot, fired on Colonel Ahmed al-Marfadi, deputy commander of the 37th Armored Division, and his son when they stopped at a traffic light in the center of the town of al-Qatan in the province of Hadramout, the government official said. Yemeni officials have blamed similar assassinations on Islamist militants linked to al Qaeda. Tackling lawlessness in Yemen, situated near important oil shipment routes and bordering the world's biggest oil exporter Saudi Arabia, is an international concern for the United States and other Western countries. Full Story | Top |
| Thailand government urges Bangkok public to stay indoors overnight Sunday, Dec 01, 2013 04:31 AM PST Thailand's government told people in Bangkok to stay indoors from 10 p.m. on Sunday night until 5 a.m. after a day of violence in which protesters seeking to topple Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra launched attacks on state agencies. Full Story | Top |
| Iran says seeks better cooperation with Saudi Arabia Sunday, Dec 01, 2013 04:26 AM PST Iran said on Sunday it wanted stronger cooperation with U.S. ally Saudi Arabia, as it seeks to ease concerns among Gulf Arab neighbors about a potential resurgence in its influence following a nuclear deal with world powers. Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, on a tour of Gulf Arab states, said after talks in Kuwait that no date had been set for an expected visit to Sunni Muslim power Saudi Arabia, Shi'ite Iran's main regional rival. But he suggested the nuclear deal reached in Geneva on November 24 should not be seen as a threat. Full Story | Top |
| Voter support for Spain's small political parties grows: poll Sunday, Dec 01, 2013 03:46 AM PST  Spain's small political parties are gaining support from voters disillusioned with the country's two largest parties, an opinion poll showed on Sunday, meaning coalitions would be needed to pass major laws. If general elections were held today, the result would be the most fragmented since Spain's return to democracy in the late 1970s, the Metroscopia poll published in newspaper El Pais showed. Spain's ruling center-right People's Party (PP) would still beat its socialist rival in an election with 33.9 percent of the vote, down from the 44.6 percent it won in 2011 to achieve an absolute majority in parliament. The leading opposition Socialist party would win 31.5 percent of the vote, up from 28.7 percent in 2011, but to govern would need a coalition with leftist party Izquierda Unida (IU), for which support has nearly doubled to 12 percent in the past two years. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. calls on North Korea to release war veteran Sunday, Dec 01, 2013 03:06 AM PST  By Lesley Wroughton and Jack Kim WASHINGTON/SEOUL (Reuters) - The United States called on North Korea on Saturday to release an elderly U.S. military veteran held in custody since last month and who Pyongyang has accused of killing civilians during the Korean War 60 years ago. Merrill E. Newman, an 85-year old former special forces officer, is in good health, his family said in a statement after getting an update on his condition from Swedish diplomats who had visited him in the North Korean capital over the weekend. Merrill reports that he is being well treated and that the food is good," the family said. Sweden's North Korean embassy gives consular help to the United States, which has no mission there. Full Story | Top |
|
No comments:
Post a Comment