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| Power outage plunges most of Venezuela into darkness Monday, Dec 02, 2013 08:06 PM PST  By Diego Ore and Andrew Cawthorne CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's second massive power outage of the year plunged much of the nation into darkness on Monday night, prompting renewed talk of sabotage from President Nicolas Maduro's government and cries of incompetence from its foes. Power went off in Caracas and other cities around the country soon after 8 p.m. local time (0030 GMT), to the intense annoyance of residents and commuters. Maduro, a 50-year-old former bus driver who narrowly won a presidential election this year after the death of his mentor and former leader Hugo Chavez, accused the opposition then of deliberately sabotaging the power grid to discredit him. His powerful ally and National Assembly president, Diosdado Cabello, repeated the same accusation after Monday's blackout that affected more than half of Venezuela. Full Story | Top |
| Hong Kong milkshake murderer loses appeal against second conviction Monday, Dec 02, 2013 07:22 PM PST By Grace Li HONG KONG (Reuters) - American expatriate Nancy Kissel, who is serving a life sentence for the "milkshake" murder of her Merrill Lynch banker husband, lost a bid to appeal against her conviction in Hong Kong on Tuesday. The case engrossed Hong Kong with its tales of domestic violence, rough sex and adultery that cast a shadow over the high-flying expatriate lifestyles enjoyed by many financial professionals in the former British colony. Her defense team had argued that the prosecution had made errors in its case, including stating that the murder happened when her husband, Robert Kissel, was on a bed, which they said contradicted testimony from a prosecution expert that the death was more likely to have happened on the floor. Full Story | Top |
| Biden urges Japan, China to lower tensions over air defense zone Monday, Dec 02, 2013 07:02 PM PST  By Elaine Lies TOKYO (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Joe Biden urged Japan and China to lower tensions that have spiked since Beijing announced an air defense zone over disputed islands in the East China Sea, while repeating that Washington was "deeply concerned" by the move. Biden will meet Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Tuesday before flying to China the next day as part of an Asian trip in which he will seek a delicate balance between calming tensions over the zone while backing key ally Japan. "This latest incident underscores the need for agreement between China and Japan to establish crisis management and confidence building measures to lower tensions." Influential Chinese tabloid the Global Times, published by the Communist Party's official People's Daily, said Biden should not cozy up to Abe or offer effusive support to Japan. Full Story | Top |
| Thai police say won't resist protesters at headquarters Monday, Dec 02, 2013 07:02 PM PST BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thai police said on Tuesday they would not stand in the way of protesters battling to seize the city police headquarters, a focal point of demonstrations aiming to topple the government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra. "Today, we won't use teargas, no confrontation, we will let them in if they want," the chief of Bangkok's metropolitan police, Kamronvit Thoopkrachang, told Reuters. A Reuters witness said police were clearing barbed-wire barricades from outside the headquarters. (Reporting by Kochakorn Boonlai; Writing by Robert Birsel; Editing by Alan Raybould) Full Story | Top |
| Thai protesters aim to step up their assault on police Monday, Dec 02, 2013 06:13 PM PST  Thai anti-government protesters vowed to storm Bangkok's police headquarters on Tuesday in their unrelenting bid to oust the government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra. The protests have brought clouds of teargas, rubber bullets and intermittent gunfire to parts of Bangkok, the latest turmoil in the struggle between the Bangkok-based establishment and forces loyal to Yingluck and her brother, former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Yingluck has promised not to use force against the crowds trying to storm her offices and the nearby metropolitan police headquarters which are protected by concrete barriers, razor wire and riot police. Earlier on Tuesday, a helicopter dropped leaflets over the protesters reminding them that their leader, Suthep Thaugsuban, was wanted on a charge of insurrection. Full Story | Top |
| Mexican Congress committees give green light to electoral reform Monday, Dec 02, 2013 04:06 PM PST  By Adriana Barrera MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexican congressional committees on Monday gave the green light to an electoral reform demanded by the opposition, paving the way for lawmakers to push ahead with the energy sector overhaul at the center of President Enrique Pena Nieto's reform agenda. The reform will allow federal lawmakers to serve consecutive terms, sets out rules for coalition governments and should strengthen Congress at the expense of the president. It is the last major hurdle to approval of the energy reform. The progress on the electoral bill comes after Mexico's main leftist party pulled out of a political pact that Pena Nieto's ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) forged a year ago with opposition leaders to push through economic reforms. Full Story | Top |
| Retooled Obamacare website traffic surges but problems remain Monday, Dec 02, 2013 03:48 PM PST A surge of visitors clogged the U.S. government's revamped healthcare insurance shopping website on Monday, signaling that President Barack Obama's administration has a way to go in fixing the portal that showcases his signature domestic policy. By 5:30 p.m. EST, the website had logged 750,000 visitors, the White House said, nearly the 800,000 daily users the refurbished site is supposed to be able to handle. That was significant progress for a website that has become the face of one of the biggest crises of Obama's administration, one that has undermined the Democratic president's promotion of an activist government and threatened to become a drag on Democrats in next year's elections, when control of Congress will be at stake. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, was passed in 2010. Full Story | Top |
| New York train was speeding before derailment: investigators Monday, Dec 02, 2013 03:29 PM PST By Curtis Skinner YONKERS, New York (Reuters) - A New York commuter train that derailed on Sunday morning, killing four people, was traveling nearly three times faster than the speed limit for the curved section of track where it crashed, officials said on Monday. The seven-car Metro-North train's brakes were working properly but were applied just seconds before it derailed, investigators said. They said black-box recorders recovered from the train showed it had been traveling at 82 miles per hour before entering the 30-mile-per-hour (48-kph) curve. The recorders showed the train's brakes were applied "very late in the game," National Transportation Safety Board member Earl Weener told reporters. Full Story | Top |
| Ukraine protests increase risks of currency crisis Monday, Dec 02, 2013 03:13 PM PST By Douglas Busvine MOSCOW (Reuters) - Massive protests against Viktor Yanukovich hammered Ukraine's financial markets on Monday, increasing the risk of a currency crisis as the president tries to hold on until an election in early 2015. Ukraine's debt insurance costs jumped and currency traders increased bets on a devaluation after 350,000 people protested on Sunday against Yanukovich's decision to ditch a trade pact with the European Union. Yet even though the protest was the largest since the Orange revolution that overturned Yanukovich's election victory in 2004, analysts stopped short of predicting wholesale upheaval. "I'm trying to work out when a country has ever provoked a revolution over a trade deal," said Charles Robertson, global chief economist at Renaissance Capital in London. Full Story | Top |
| Ukraine looks to China for money as debt crunch looms Monday, Dec 02, 2013 03:11 PM PST By Pavel Polityuk KIEV (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich will head to China on Tuesday looking for loans and investment, despite the massive protests unleashed by his decision not to sign a trade pact with the European Union. Protesters blockaded the main government building in Kiev on Monday and brought traffic to a halt, seeking to force Yanukovich from office, after hundreds of thousands demonstrated on Sunday against his decision to turn away from the EU towards Russia. Ukraine's currency and bonds came under pressure, along with share prices. But the tug-of-war between Brussels and Moscow for influence in Ukraine has so far done little to alleviate its looming debt crisis, and Yanukovich confirmed on state television on Monday that the visit would go ahead. Full Story | Top |
| Colombian president 'optimistic' about peace, to meet Obama Tuesday Monday, Dec 02, 2013 02:48 PM PST  By David Adams MIAMI (Reuters) - Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, bound for Washington on an official visit, said on Monday he remains cautiously optimistic about peace talks with Marxist FARC rebels taking place in Cuba. "I think the conditions are there" for a successful conclusion to the talks, Santos told an audience of academics, students and diplomats at the University of Miami. "Things are moving hopefully in the correct direction." But he quoted a Colombian proverb as a cautionary note, saying, "The bread can very well burn right at the door of the oven." Santos, a Harvard-educated journalist, spoke eloquently in English about his hopes for peace and economic growth in Colombia during a 30-minute speech at the invitation of University of Miami President Donna Shalala, who awarded him the school's President's Medal for service to society. Santos, on his second official visit to the United States since taking office in 2010, hailed both the year-old peace talks as well as economic progress at home. Full Story | Top |
| Outages in Tripoli as minorities block power output: government Monday, Dec 02, 2013 02:30 PM PST Libya's government blamed protests by two minority groups demanding more political rights for outages in the capital, Tripoli, and other parts of the North African country, state media said on Monday. Both groups are demanding that their languages and cultural identities be guaranteed in a new constitution two years after the fall of Muammar Gaddafi. The strikes come on top of widespread protests at oilfields and ports over higher pay and political rights that halted most exports and dried up state revenues. Full Story | Top |
| Myanmar looks abroad for investment in healthcare Monday, Dec 02, 2013 02:25 PM PST  By Jared Ferrie YANGON (Reuters) - Yangon General Hospital was once the jewel in the crown of one of Southeast Asia's best healthcare systems. It is a scene that Myanmar's reformist government hopes to change as it ratchets up spending on the sector and seeks foreign investment to revive one of Asia's sickest healthcare systems. Several leading regional healthcare companies are already operating in Myanmar and others plan to enter soon, seeing huge potential in the country's underserved population of about 60 million people. Attracting foreign investment is part of an overhaul of the healthcare system by the quasi-civilian government that took over from the army in 2011. Full Story | Top |
| Ukraine president turns his back on turmoil, heads for China Monday, Dec 02, 2013 02:05 PM PST By Thomas Grove KIEV (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich is set to head for China on Tuesday, leaving a country plunged into crisis by his decision to forego a free trade deal with Europe under pressure from Russia. With pro-Europe demonstrators blockading the government's main building in Kiev, their allies in parliament called for a vote of no confidence in the cabinet on Tuesday over what they say is a lurch back towards Soviet-style rule from Moscow. Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said the government could not perform its basic functions which could affect the payment of pensions and salaries. This is a very serious matter," Interfax news agency quoted him telling the ambassadors of the European Union, United States and Canada. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. sends new submarine-hunting jets to Japan amid East Asia tension Monday, Dec 02, 2013 01:43 PM PST  By Tim Kelly and Phil Stewart TOKYO/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Navy's first two advanced P-8A Poseidon patrol aircraft have arrived in Japan, U.S. military officials said on Monday, helping to upgrade America's ability to hunt submarines and other vessels in seas close to China as tension in the region mounts. The initial deployment - another four of the aircraft are due to arrive in the coming days - was planned before China last month established an air defense identification zone covering islands controlled by Japan and claimed by Beijing. The Pentagon says it is routinely flying operations in the region, including in China's newly declared air defense zone, without informing Beijing ahead of time. Full Story | Top |
| Honduras election authority to review disputed election tally Monday, Dec 02, 2013 12:50 PM PST By Gustavo Palencia TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) - Honduras' electoral authority said on Monday it would review polling booth tallies from last month's presidential election after the second-place leftist candidate called the result fraudulent. The authority said it would go over the vote tallies of more than 16,000 polling booths, but it stopped short of announcing a full vote recount that runner-up Xiomara Castro, the wife of ousted former leader Manuel Zelaya, had called for. 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. He has vowed to curb the drug violence that has given Honduras the world's highest murder rate. Full Story | Top |
| NATO says Karzai failure to sign pact would end Afghan mission Monday, Dec 02, 2013 12:28 PM PST  By Adrian Croft BRUSSELS (Reuters) - NATO would have to pull all its troops out of Afghanistan by the end of 2014 if Afghan President Hamid Karzai does not sign a security pact with the United States, alliance chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on Monday. An assembly of Afghan elders, the Loya Jirga, last month endorsed the security pact intended to shape the U.S. military presence in the country beyond 2014. But Karzai said he might not sign it until after elections in April. The NATO-led force currently has around 80,000 troops in Afghanistan, the majority American. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. environment chief to share air pollution lessons with China Monday, Dec 02, 2013 12:16 PM PST  By Valerie Volcovici WASHINGTON (Reuters) - China can learn from U.S. struggles to reduce pollution as it confronts recent high-profile incidents of poor air quality paralyzing major cities, the top U.S. environmental regulator said on Monday. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy spoke ahead of a visit to Beijing, Shanghai and other Chinese locations next week. "While I am all too well aware of the severe air quality challenges that China now faces, I see these challenges as ones where the United States can truly speak from experience in support of China's efforts to reduce air pollution," McCarthy said at an event hosted by the Center for American Progress. China is the world's largest polluter as measured in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Full Story | Top |
| White House: violence against Ukraine protests unacceptable Monday, Dec 02, 2013 12:15 PM PST The White House said on Monday violence by the Ukrainian government against protesters was unacceptable and urged authorities to respect Ukrainians' rights to freedom of expression and assembly. "The violence by government authorities against peaceful demonstrators in Kiev on Saturday morning was unacceptable," White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters at a briefing. Full Story | Top |
| Oil spill coats river, sea near ENI Nigeria facility Monday, Dec 02, 2013 11:57 AM PST By Tife Owolabi YENAGOA, Nigeria (Reuters) - A large oil spill near Nigeria's Brass facility, run by ENI, has spread through the sea and swamps of the oil producing Niger Delta region, local residents and the company said on Monday. There are hundreds of leaks every year from pipelines that pass through the delta's creeks, damaging the environment and the profits of oil companies including ENI and Royal Dutch Shell, especially when production has to be deferred. Vast stretches of the delta's unique mangrove swamps are blackened and dead from oil pollution. "During loading operations on a tanker on November 27, an oil spill in the sea was seen. Full Story | Top |
| Ghana says Ivory Coast sent agents to kill exiles: U.N. Monday, Dec 02, 2013 11:56 AM PST By Joe Bavier ABIDJAN (Reuters) - Ghana told a U.N. panel in July that Ivory Coast sent hit squads earlier this year to attempt to abduct or kill exiled supporters of ex-Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo, the panel's report has revealed. Relations between the neighbors soured when thousands of Ivorians fled across the border during a 2011 civil war sparked by Gbagbo's refusal to accept defeat in an election in late 2010 to rival Alassane Ouattara, the current president. Gbagbo is awaiting trial at the International Criminal Court for suspected crimes against humanity during the war in which around 3,000 people died. A number of Gbagbo's top military and government officials are among the refugees living in Ghana. Full Story | Top |
| Russia's Putin faces protests as he woos Armenia Monday, Dec 02, 2013 10:38 AM PST  By Alexei Anishchuk YEREVAN (Reuters) - Hundreds of people marched through the capital of Armenia on Monday to denounce visiting Russian President Vladimir Putin and protest against plans to join a Moscow-led customs union. Some of the estimated crowd of 500 in central Yerevan held up banners declaring "Putin, go home" or "No to the USSR", a reference to the Russian leader's efforts to bind former Soviet republics together more closely in economic and security alliances. Police in Yerevan said they detained 110 protesters, the local news agency Arminfo reported. Putin flew to the South Caucasus country for talks on its decision in September to join Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan in a Customs Union, which he touted as having already brought "tangible dividends." The rally in Yerevan followed much larger protests in Ukraine after it abandoned a trade pact with the European Union last week to rebuild economic ties with Russia instead. Full Story | Top |
| Witness to attack on Lee Rigby thought he would be shot, court hears Monday, Dec 02, 2013 10:22 AM PST  James Henegan was driving past the scene of the attack with Cheralee Armstrong on May 22 when the pair got out of their car to see if they could help soldier Lee Rigby who had been knocked down and was being attacked with a knife. Michael Adebolajo, 28, and Michael Adebowale, 22, drove into and knocked down Rigby, 25, as he crossed a street in Woolwich, southeast London, before attacking his unconscious body with a meat cleaver and knives, the prosecutor told the court on Friday. Full Story | Top |
| Islamists attack military bases in northeast Nigeria Monday, Dec 02, 2013 10:06 AM PST Nigerian authorities imposed a 24-hour curfew in the main northeastern city of Maiduguri on Monday after Islamist militants attacked an air force base and army sites overnight, the military said. Baba Ahmed Jidda, a spokesman for the government of Borno State, of which Maiduguri is the capital, announced the curfew in a statement, but gave no details of the attacks and did not say if they had caused casualties. The Nigerian military has periodically imposed curfews on Maiduguri, birthplace of the Boko Haram insurgency that is the gravest threat to Africa's top oil producer. Full Story | Top |
| Cameron clashes with Brussels over EU-China trade Monday, Dec 02, 2013 09:59 AM PST  By Andrew Osborn and Ben Blanchard BEIJING (Reuters) - British Prime Minister David Cameron promised China's leaders on Monday he would advocate a multi-billion-dollar free trade deal between Beijing and the European Union, riling the EU executive which rejected the move as premature. On a three-day visit with around 100 business people, the largest-ever British mission of its kind, Cameron said Britain was the Western country most open to Chinese investment and well-placed to take advantage of China's market liberalisation. "China's transformation is one of the defining facts of our lifetime ... I see China's rise as an opportunity, not just for the people of this country but for Britain and the world," Cameron told reporters after meeting Premier Li Keqiang at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. Full Story | Top |
| Ukraine protesters urge general strike as markets hit currency Monday, Dec 02, 2013 09:57 AM PST By Natalia Zinets and Richard Balmforth KIEV (Reuters) - Ukrainian protesters blockaded the main government building on Monday, seeking to force President Viktor Yanukovich from office with a general strike after hundreds of thousands demonstrated against his decision to abandon an EU integration pact. Prime Minister Mykola Azarov accused the opposition of planning to seize the parliament, while Yanukovich appealed for calm, saying protests should be peaceful and law-abiding. "Any bad peace is better than a good war," Yanukovich said in his first comment on the mass unrest over the weekend. "Everyone must observe the laws of our state." In a sign that he felt the security situation was under control, though, Yanukovich announced he would stick to a plan to travel on Tuesday to China, from which he is seeking loans and investment to avert a debt crisis. Full Story | Top |
| Bahrain court rejects jailed activist's request for release Monday, Dec 02, 2013 09:47 AM PST A Bahraini court on Monday rejected a request by a prominent human rights activist that he be freed after serving three quarters of a prison term for taking part in unlicensed protests. Bahrain, where the Sunni Al Khalifa family rules over a majority Shi'ite population, has been in political turmoil since Shi'ite-led pro-democracy protests erupted in 2011. Lawyer Mohammed al-Jishi said leading rights activist Nabeel Rajab, sentenced last year to two years in prison for cases related to organizing and participating in protests, had a legal right to an early release after spending a year and half in prison. A hero to protesters but villain for those Bahrainis who fear they will bring Shi'ite Islamists to power, Rajab is the founder of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, a non-government body that says it promotes human rights in the Gulf Arab island kingdom. Full Story | Top |
| Somali prime minister voted out by lawmakers Monday, Dec 02, 2013 09:23 AM PST  By Abdrahman Hussein and Ismail Taxta MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Somalia's parliament on Monday sacked Prime Minister Abdi Farah Shirdon, citing his government's poor performance over the past year. The prime minister, a political newcomer appointed in October last year, fell out with President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud over the composition of a new cabinet, prompting Monday's no-confidence vote. "(Shirdon) and his cabinet ministers had failed," Somali legislator Ibrahim Suleiman told Reuters. "This toppled government had low capacity." It could be months before a new cabinet is appointed and then approved by the parliament, which could jeopardize the modest security gains and the limited progress made on building a federal state. Full Story | Top |
| Lebanese army to control troubled Tripoli for six months Monday, Dec 02, 2013 09:15 AM PST  The Lebanese government has told the army to take over security in the restive coastal city of Tripoli for six months, caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said on Monday. Ten people were killed in weekend clashes between Tripoli's Alawite minority, which supports Syria's Alawite President Bashar al-Assad, and majority Sunni Muslims who back his foes. Mikati, a Sunni from Tripoli, told Lebanon's LBC television he had agreed with President Michel Suleiman and armed forces commander General Jean Qahwaji to "put Tripoli under the complete supervision of the army" for six months. Full Story | Top |
| Putin: Ukraine protests seek to shake legitimate rulers Monday, Dec 02, 2013 09:00 AM PST Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday said protests in Ukraine against its decision to abandon a European Union integration pact were an attempt to shake its legitimate rulers. "This reminds me more of a pogrom than a revolution," Putin told reporters on a visit to Armenia. Demonstrations in Kiev at the weekend, which saw violent clashes with police, drew as many as 350,000 protesters rallying against President Viktor Yanukovich's decision to abandon a trade pact with the European Union and seek closer economic ties with Russia. Putin said to all appearances the protesters were "very well prepared and trained militant groups" - hinting that outside actors had been involved in training the demonstrators, an accusation he made against participants in Ukraine's "Orange revolution" which overturned a stolen election nine years ago. Full Story | Top |
| Ukraine's Yanukovich appeals for 'a bad peace not a good war' Monday, Dec 02, 2013 09:00 AM PST Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich called on Monday for only peaceful rallies and appealed to both protesters and police alike to observe the law, his website reported him as saying in a television interview. Protesters blocked the main government building on Monday after seizing Kiev's city hall and main trade union building during mass rally that brought at least 350,000 people into the streets. Separately, Prime Minister Mykola Azarov was quoted by Interfax news agency as saying that the political opposition had the "illusion" that it could overthrow the existing order. Full Story | Top |
| Afghan president denies suggesting elections be delayed Monday, Dec 02, 2013 08:54 AM PST  By Jessica Donati and Hamid Shalizi KABUL (Reuters) - President Hamid Karzai denied on Monday that he had suggested delaying the elections scheduled for April next year to avoid the heavy snow that could cut off access to some parts of the country, as asserted by the poll's organizers. The Independent Election Commission (IEC) chairman had told Parliament that Karzai suggested pushing back the elections to address concerns about snow blocking voters. "The president will never interfere in the affairs of the election commission nor he would allow others to do so," Aimal Faizi said. His assertion the deal should wait until after the elections has been taken by some as evidence of his reluctance to step out of the limelight. Full Story | Top |
| Hong Kong confirms first human case of bird flu Monday, Dec 02, 2013 08:26 AM PST HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hong Kong confirmed its first case of deadly H7N9 bird flu on Monday in a further sign that the virus is continuing to spread beyond mainland China's borders. The case coincides with the 10th anniversary of the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, which killed nearly 300 people in Hong Kong and had a significant impact on the city's travel and retail industry. ... Full Story | Top |
| South Africa charges Czech gold dealer with gangland violence Monday, Dec 02, 2013 08:25 AM PST By Peroshni Govender JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - A Czech gold and diamond dealer who has been evading police for eight years was charged with a gangland-style attempted murder and kidnapping in a South African court on Monday. Radovan Krejcir, 45, who is also wanted in the Czech Republic on multiple counts of fraud, pleaded not guilty as he applied for bail, and alleged he had been tortured with electric shocks while in police custody. South African media gave blanket coverage to his arrest last week amid reports that he had been running rings round police for years. National police chief Riah Phiyega took the unusual step of announcing his arrest in person. Full Story | Top |
| Islamists take Syrian Christian town, monastery: state media Monday, Dec 02, 2013 08:03 AM PST Islamist fighters in Syria have taken over the ancient quarter of the Christian town of Maaloula and are holding several nuns in a monastery there, state news agency SANA said on Monday. Fighting for the town, about five km (three miles) from the main road linking Damascus to Homs, is part of a wider struggle between rebel fighters and President Bashar al-Assad's forces for control of the strategic central Syrian highway. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Monday fighters from the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front had captured the old quarter of Maaloula after several days of fighting. Observatory director Rami Abdulrahman said he could not confirm the SANA report that Nusra fighters had stormed the Greek Orthodox monastery of Mar Thecla and were holding several nuns captive. Full Story | Top |
| Lawyers, families urge Pakistan to free Bagram detainees Monday, Dec 02, 2013 07:59 AM PST By Maria Golovnina PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - Family members and lawyers representing a group of Pakistani men released from a U.S. military prison but held by Pakistani authorities urged the government on Monday to free them or explain why they are still being kept behind bars. The six men were arrested by U.S. authorities in neighboring Afghanistan on suspicion of links to the Taliban but they were released on November 16 from the high-security Bagram prison there without charge. They were repatriated to their homeland and have since been held at a prison in Peshawar in northwestern Pakistan. "We don't know on what charges they are being held," Sarah Belal, one of the lawyers, said outside the sprawling Central Jail in Peshawar, a volatile and chaotic city on Pakistan's Afghan border. Full Story | Top |
| U.N. evidence on Syria war crimes implicates Assad, Pillay says Monday, Dec 02, 2013 07:57 AM PST Evidence collected by U.N. investigators probing Syrian war crimes implicates President Bashar al-Assad, United Nations human rights chief Navi Pillay said on Monday. Pillay later denied having direct knowledge of their secret list of suspects, but her revealing remarks about the head of state were at odds with a policy of keeping the identity of alleged perpetrators under wraps pending any judicial process. The U.N. investigators, who collect testimony in utmost secrecy and independently from Pillay, have previously said the evidence points to the highest levels of Syria's government, but have not named Assad or any other officials publicly. They have compiled secret lists of suspects and handed them to Pillay for safe storage, in hope that one day suspects will face trial for violations including torture and mass killings. Full Story | Top |
| Journal withdraws controversial French Monsanto GM study Monday, Dec 02, 2013 07:45 AM PST  Reed Elsevier's Food and Chemical Toxicology (FCT)journal, which published the study by the French researcher Gilles-Eric Seralini in September 2012, said the retraction was because the study's small sample size meant no definitive conclusions could be reached. "Ultimately, the results presented - while not incorrect - are inconclusive, and therefore do not reach the threshold of publication for Food and Chemical Toxicology." At the time of its original publication, hundreds of scientists across the world questioned Seralini's research, which said rats fed Monsanto's GM corn had suffered tumors and multiple organ failure. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) issued a statement in November 2012 saying the study by Seralini, who was based at France's University of Caen, had serious defects in design and methodology and did not meet acceptable scientific standards. In its retraction statement, the FCT said that, in light of these concerns, it too had asked to view the raw data. Full Story | Top |
| Tunisian militant landmine blast kills soldier Monday, Dec 02, 2013 07:33 AM PST TUNIS (Reuters) - A Tunisian soldier was killed and another wounded in a landmine explosion near the Algerian border where security forces are pursuing Islamist militants, the army said on Monday. Tunisia, which was long one of the most secular states in the Arab world, has been struggling to contain hardline Islamists who have become more active since the overthrow of President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali in January 2011. ... Full Story | Top |
| British diplomat to visit Iran for first time in two years Monday, Dec 02, 2013 07:28 AM PST  Britain's newly-appointed envoy will travel to Iran on Tuesday, the first diplomatic visit by a British official since its embassy in Tehran was stormed more than two years ago. The election of a relative moderate, President Hassan Rouhani, has paved the way for a thaw in ties between the two countries. London announced the appointment of Ajay Sharma as its charge d'affaires in November. "In the first step, the British non-resident charge d'affaires will travel to Tehran on Tuesday with a delegation to visit (diplomatic) facilities in the country and have talks with officials at the Foreign Ministry," Mohammad Habibullah Zadeh, his Iranian counterpart, was quoted as saying by state news agency IRNA. Full Story | Top |
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