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| Meeting between Venezuela government, opposition may help ease protests Sunday, Feb 23, 2014 07:54 PM PST  By Brian Ellsworth CARACAS (Reuters) - A meeting between a top Venezuelan opposition leader and President Nicolas Maduro on Monday may help ease nearly two weeks of violent anti-government protests that have killed at least eight people. State governor Henrique Capriles will meet Maduro at a routine gathering of governors and mayors and will likely get a chance to present the opposition's grievances. "Dialogue is not about listening to what the government wants to say, it's about making sure the demonstrators' voices are heard," Capriles, a two-time opposition presidential candidate, wrote on Sunday in his weekly column. Five people have died from gunshot wounds in the unrest that began on February 12 with the death of a student protestor and was later fueled by the arrest of hard-line opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez. Full Story | Top |
| Attackers fire at convoy of Colombia presidential candidate Sunday, Feb 23, 2014 07:49 PM PST By Luis Jaime Acosta BOGOTA (Reuters) - Gunmen shot at the convoy of a left-wing Colombian presidential candidate on Sunday but no one was injured, police said, raising tensions ahead of May elections that will center on how to end a five-decade war with guerrillas. The convoy of Aida Avella of the Patriotic Union party came under fire when it was traveling on a highway in the oil-rich northeastern province of Arauca, where the left-wing FARC and ELN rebels have a heavy presence. Also on Sunday, President Juan Manuel Santos, who will seek a second term in the May 25 election, said his personal e-mail had been hacked in what he said was a politically motivated act by people who engage in a "dirty war" to grab power. The Patriotic Union was founded with rebel support in 1985, and around 5,000 members and supporters were assassinated in the years after its creation by right-wing paramilitary groups set up by vigilantes protecting wealthy landowners. Full Story | Top |
| China's premier unveils more measures to tackle corruption Sunday, Feb 23, 2014 07:22 PM PST  The Chinese government will decentralize authority, be more transparent and adopt a "zero tolerance" attitude to corruption this year as it deepens its fight against graft, reported state media, citing Premier Li Keqiang. President Xi Jinping has launched a sweeping crackdown on corruption since taking power, warning that the problem is a threat to the Communist Party's very survival. The latest measures were laid out in a speech by Li on February 11, in a meeting on tackling corruption, but only published by state news agency Xinhua late on Sunday. Li criticized the over-concentration of power by the central government and urged the institution of an open government "as the most effective way to accept supervision". Full Story | Top |
| Seized phone key to Mexico kingpin 'Shorty' Guzman's capture Sunday, Feb 23, 2014 07:00 PM PST  Guzman, who long ran the feared Sinaloa Cartel and was Mexico's most wanted criminal, was caught on Saturday in his native northwestern state of Sinaloa with help from U.S. agents. The phone that helped lead to Guzman's downfall belonged to the son of his deputy, Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, who could now be in line to take over from his boss. The break came when Zambada's son, Serafin Zambada-Ortiz, was arrested in November trying to cross the border from Mexico into the United States, where he faced sealed drug charges. "I don't know where you're getting your information but Serafin Zambada had no connection to Guzman's arrest, period." U.S. prosecutors said on Sunday they plan to seek the extradition of Guzman to face trial in the United States. Full Story | Top |
| Modest condo, port town: prosaic end to Mexican kingpin's reign Sunday, Feb 23, 2014 07:00 PM PST By Michael O'Boyle MAZATLAN, Mexico (Reuters) - He was once on Forbes magazine's billionaires list, but after more than a decade on the run, Mexico's most wanted drug lord Joaquin "Shorty" Guzman was finally caught in a modest beachside condo with American retirees for neighbors. Just days after escaping from the clutches of Mexican troops through a tunnel and sewer, Guzman was fast asleep when Mexican Marines crept up on him in the decidedly unglamorous condominium in this resort city in northwest Mexico. Full Story | Top |
| Young brother and sister killed in Thai bomb blast Sunday, Feb 23, 2014 06:25 PM PST  The six-year-old sister of a boy killed in a bomb blast in the Thai capital died on Monday, doctors said, taking the death toll to three from the latest incident in a conflict that has burst into episodic violence and shows no sign of ending. Supporters of Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra earlier promised to get tough with the protesters who took to the streets last November in their bid to oust her. The protests pit the mainly middle-class anti-government demonstrators from Bangkok and the south against supporters of Yingluck from the populous rural north and northeast. "The violent incidents are terrorist acts for political gains without regard for human life." Leaders of the pro-government United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) vowed on Sunday to "deal with" anti-government leader Suthep Thaugsuban, setting the scene for possible confrontation. Full Story | Top |
| Ukraine sets European course after ouster of Yanukovich Sunday, Feb 23, 2014 06:24 PM PST  By Natalia Zinets and Alessandra Prentice KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine's interim leadership pledged to put the country back on course for European integration now that Moscow-backed Viktor Yanukovich has been ousted from the presidency, while the United States warned Russia against sending in its forces. As rival neighbors east and west of the former Soviet republic said a power vacuum in Kiev must not lead to the country breaking apart, acting President Oleksander Turchinov said late on Sunday that Ukraine's new leaders wanted relations with Russia on a "new, equal and good-neighborly footing that recognizes and takes into account Ukraine's European choice". European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton will travel to Ukraine on Monday, where she is expected to discuss measures to shore up the ailing economy. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. Treasury Secretary urges Ukraine to begin IMF discussions soon Sunday, Feb 23, 2014 05:20 PM PST U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew has encouraged Ukraine to begin discussions with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on an assistance package as soon as possible once a transitional government is in place in Kiev. Lew spoke with Arseny Yatsenyuk, a member of Ukraine's interim leadership, while returning to Washington from the G20 meeting in Sydney, where there was broad support for an IMF-based package, according to a Treasury official. The United States, together with Europe and others in the international community, were ready to supplement an IMF program to cushion the impact of reforms on low-income Ukrainians, the official said. Ukraine's interim leadership pledged on Sunday to put the country back on course for European integration now Moscow-backed Viktor Yanukovich had been ousted from the presidency. Full Story | Top |
| Factbox: Indonesia's planned copper smelter projects Sunday, Feb 23, 2014 04:01 PM PST (Reuters) - Indonesian policies to force miners to process raw materials at home are misfiring, as disputes over the new rules disrupt plans to invest nearly $4 billion in copper smelters to cater for miners such as Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono imposed a controversial mining law on Jan 12, but the rules have left the mining sector in turmoil. As well as a ban on unprocessed ore shipments, a last-minute export tax on concentrates was also brought in. Below are details on three planned Indonesian copper smelters: PT Indosmelt Cost: $1. ... Full Story | Top |
| Indonesian copper smelters at risk as mining policy misfires Sunday, Feb 23, 2014 03:59 PM PST By Michael Taylor and Wilda Asmarini JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesian policies to force miners to process raw materials at home are misfiring, as disputes over the new rules disrupt plans to invest nearly $4 billion in copper smelters to cater for miners such as Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono imposed a controversial mining law on January 12, but the rules have left the mining sector in turmoil. The tax ratchets up sharply before an outright export ban from 2017 and Freeport and Newmont Mining Corp, which produce 97 percent of Indonesia's copper, have halted all exports and are locked in talks with the government because they say the tax breaches their contracts. This has deepened uncertainty on plans to construct three copper smelters, since the firms building them say they need firm supply guarantees from Freeport and Newmont to put in place financing so they can proceed. Full Story | Top |
| World's oldest Holocaust survivor, Alice Herz-Sommer, dies in UK Sunday, Feb 23, 2014 03:40 PM PST By Andrew Osborn LONDON (Reuters) - A 110-year-old woman believed to be the oldest survivor of the Holocaust and who endured the ordeal partly through her passion for music, has died in London, her family said on Sunday. Alice Herz-Sommer, who is said to have counted writer Franz Kafka among her family friends and is the subject of an Oscar-nominated documentary, was a Jewish pianist and musician from Prague in what is today the Czech Republic. In 1943, the Nazis sent her and her young son to Theresienstadt concentration camp, where tens of thousands of people lost their lives. Her grandson, Ariel Sommer, confirmed her death in London on Sunday, saying: "Alice Sommer passed away peacefully this morning with her family by her bedside. Full Story | Top |
| Blood, sandals on street as bomb kills two, wounds 22 in Thai capital Sunday, Feb 23, 2014 02:21 PM PST By Amy Sawitta Lefevre and Paul Barker BANGKOK (Reuters) - A bomb killed two people and wounded at least 22 in a busy shopping district of the Thai capital on Sunday, hours after supporters of Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra promised to get tough with demonstrators paralyzing parts of the city. Another child is undergoing an operation and a third child is still in the emergency room with us," a nurse at Ramathibodi Hospital in central Bangkok, who declined to be identified, told Reuters. "The violent incidents are terrorist acts for political gains without regard for human life." The crisis pits mostly middle-class anti-government protesters from Bangkok and the south against supporters of Yingluck from the rural north and northeast of the country. Leaders of the pro-government United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) had vowed to "deal with" anti-government leader Suthep Thaugsuban, setting the scene for possible confrontation between pro- and anti-government groups. Full Story | Top |
| Russian state TV host accuses Ukraine's Yanukovich of 'betrayal' Sunday, Feb 23, 2014 02:14 PM PST By Steve Gutterman MOSCOW (Reuters) - A prominent Russian state TV host said on Sunday that ousted Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich had betrayed his people when he fled Kiev, an uncompromising verdict on a leader President Vladimir Putin had hoped would bring Ukraine closer to Moscow's orbit. The remarks by Dmitry Kiselyov on Russia's main state channel indicate Moscow is unlikely to seek to restore Yanukovich to power despite its calls for implementation of a peace deal that, at least on paper, would keep him as president until a new election. Full Story | Top |
| Italy's new PM Renzi faces first parliamentary test Sunday, Feb 23, 2014 02:08 PM PST  By James Mackenzie ROME (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi faces his first test before a fractious national parliament when he goes before the Senate on Monday to put flesh on his ambitious reform plans and seek to win a confidence vote in his newly installed government. Backed by his own center-left Democratic Party (PD), the small center-right NCD party, centrists and other miscellaneous groups, he should have enough support in the 320-seat upper house. But there will be close attention to the size of his majority after some leftwingers in his own party threatened to vote against the government. If he falls significantly below the 173 secured by his predecessor Enrico Letta in December, his authority could be weakened from the start. Full Story | Top |
| Exclusive: China, eyeing Japan, seeks WW2 focus for Xi during Germany visit Sunday, Feb 23, 2014 12:57 PM PST  By Ben Blanchard and Michael Martina BEIJING (Reuters) - China wants to make World War Two a key part of a trip by President Xi Jinping to Germany next month, much to Berlin's discomfort, diplomatic sources said, as Beijing tries to use German atonement for its wartime past to embarrass Japan. China has increasingly contrasted Germany and its public contrition for the Nazi regime to Japan, where repeated official apologies for wartime suffering are sometimes undercut by contradictory comments by conservative politicians. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. wants Ukraine to remain unified, cautions Russia Sunday, Feb 23, 2014 12:49 PM PST  By Will Dunham and Ros Krasny WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. officials insisted on Sunday that Ukraine should remain unified and cautioned that any military intervention by Russia would be a mistake after bloody street protests ousted the pro-Moscow president. In an appearance on the NBC TV program "Meet the Press," National Security Adviser Susan Rice was asked about a scenario in which Russia would send troops to restore a government more friendly to Moscow, or for the country to be carved up. It is not in the interests of Ukraine or of Russia or of Europe or the United States to see the country split. Rice's appearance provided the most extensive White House comments yet on days of drama in Ukraine in which opposition groups with leanings toward western Europe took control and Russian-backed President Viktor Yanukovich left the capital, Kiev. Full Story | Top |
| Russia recalls ambassador in Ukraine for consultations Sunday, Feb 23, 2014 12:13 PM PST Russia said on Sunday it had recalled to Moscow its ambassador in Ukraine for consultations on the "deteriorating situation" in Kiev, a day after the ouster of President Viktor Yanukovich. "Due to the deteriorating situation in Ukraine and the need for a comprehensive analysis of the situation, the decision was made to recall the Russian ambassador to Ukraine for consultations in Moscow," the ministry said in a statement. Writing by Matt Robinson; Full Story | Top |
| American retirees and cheap digs: drab end to Mexico kingpin's reign Sunday, Feb 23, 2014 12:12 PM PST By Michael O'Boyle MAZATLAN, Mexico (Reuters) - He was once on Forbes' billionaire list, but after more than a decade on the run Mexico's most wanted drug lord Joaquin "Shorty" Guzman was finally caught in a modest beachside condo with American retirees for neighbors. Just days after escaping from the clutches of Mexican troops through a tunnel and sewer, Guzman was fast asleep when Mexican Marines crept up on him in the decidedly unglamorous condo in this resort in northwest Mexico. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. to seek extradition of Mexican drug kingpin Guzman Sunday, Feb 23, 2014 12:12 PM PST By Mark Hosenball and John Shiffman WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. prosecutors plan to seek the extradition of Mexico's most wanted man, drug cartel kingpin Joaquin "Shorty" Guzman, to face trial in the United States after he was captured in Mexico. Robert Nardoza, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's office in Brooklyn, said on Sunday his office would request Guzman's extradition to face a variety of charges. Guzman, caught on Saturday in Mexico with help from U.S. security forces, had long run Mexico's infamous Sinaloa Cartel. Full Story | Top |
| Syrian rebel, friend of al Qaeda leader, killed by rival Islamists Sunday, Feb 23, 2014 12:04 PM PST By Mariam Karouny BEIRUT (Reuters) - A Syrian rebel commander who fought alongside al Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden and was close to its current chief, Ayman al-Zawahiri, was killed by a suicide attack on Sunday, intensifying infighting between rival Islamist fighters. The Observatory for Human Rights in Syria said Abu Khaled al-Soury, also known as Abu Omair al-Shamy, a commander of the Salafi group Ahrar al-Sham was killed along with six comrades by al Qaeda splinter group the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). It said al-Soury had fought in Iraq and Afghanistan. "Sheikh Abu Khaled was an important jihadi figure, he fought the Americans in Iraq and in Afghanistan. Full Story | Top |
| Ukraine charts course to Europe, wants better Russia ties Sunday, Feb 23, 2014 11:26 AM PST Acting President Oleksander Turchinov said on Sunday Ukraine would try to improve relations with Russia but made clear that Kiev's return to European integration would be the priority. In an address to the nation, Turchinov spelled out the enormity of the task facing Ukraine's new leadership following the fall of Viktor Yanukovich, including stabilizing an economy which he said was close to default and "heading into the abyss". "We recognize the importance of relations with the Russian Federation and are ready for dialogue with the Russian leadership in order to build relations with this country on a new, truly equitable and good-neighborly basis," he said. But he added: "Another priority is the return to the path of European integration ... We must return to the family of European nations." Turchinov, the parliamentary speaker, was handed the president's duties temporarily in a vote in the chamber earlier on Sunday. Full Story | Top |
| Global warming won't cut winter deaths as hoped: UK study Sunday, Feb 23, 2014 10:43 AM PST By Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent OSLO (Reuters) - Global warming will fail to reduce high winter death rates as some officials have predicted because there will be more harmful weather extremes even as it gets less cold, a British study showed on Sunday. A draft U.N. report due for publication next month says that, overall, climate change will harm human health, but adds: "Positive effects will include modest improvements in cold-related mortality and morbidity in some areas due to fewer cold extremes, shifts in food production and reduced capacity of disease-carrying vectors." However a report in the journal Nature Climate Change on the situation in England and Wales said climate warming would likely not decrease winter mortality in those places. Lead author Philip Staddon of the University of Exeter told Reuters that the findings were likely to apply to other developed countries in temperate regions that risk more extreme weather as temperatures rise. Excess winter deaths (EWDs), the number of people who die in winter compared to other times of the year, roughly halved to 31,000 in England and Wales in 2012-12 from 60,000 typical in the 1950s, official data show. Full Story | Top |
| Russia says Ukraine opposition has flouted deal and seized power Sunday, Feb 23, 2014 10:21 AM PST Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Sunday opponents of Ukraine's Viktor Yanukovich had failed to abide by a peace deal they signed on Friday and had seized power, the ministry said. In their second telephone conversation in two days, Lavrov told Kerry "the most important thing now is to provide for the complete fulfillment" of the agreement brokered by three top European Union diplomats, the Russian Foreign Ministry said. A Russian envoy sent by President Vladimir Putin to participate in mediation efforts did not sign the peace deal. Full Story | Top |
| Sun-dimming volcanoes partly explain global warming hiatus-study Sunday, Feb 23, 2014 10:06 AM PST By Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent OSLO (Reuters) - Small volcanic eruptions help explain a hiatus in global warming this century by dimming sunlight and offsetting a rise in emissions of heat-trapping gases to record highs, a study showed on Sunday. Eruptions of at least 17 volcanoes since 2000, including Nabro in Eritrea, Kasatochi in Alaska and Merapi in Indonesia, ejected sulfur whose sun-blocking effect had been largely ignored until now by climate scientists, it said. The pace of rising world surface temperatures has slowed since an exceptionally warm 1998, heartening those who doubt that an urgent, trillion-dollar shift to renewable energies from fossil fuels is needed to counter global warming. "This is a complex detective story," said Benjamin Santer of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, lead author of the study in the journal Nature Geoscience that gives the most detailed account yet of the cooling impact of volcanoes. Full Story | Top |
| Estonia's PM to resign as parties prepare for 2015 vote Sunday, Feb 23, 2014 10:02 AM PST  Estonia's Prime Minister Andrus Ansip said on Sunday he would submit his and his government's resignation to the country's president on March 4, with slightly more than a year to go before parliamentary elections. "The preparations for the next parliament elections in 2015 have begun." Ansip, Estonia's longest-serving prime minister, has held office with three coalition governments since April 2005, and said two years ago he would not form another government. The prime minister's center-right Reform Party is betting the president will again nominate a leader from his party to form a new government as it still holds the largest number of seats in parliament, although is losing support in opinion polls. "As the chairman of the Reform Party, I assure you that we have candidates who would do well in the role of prime minister," Ansip said. Full Story | Top |
| EU's Ashton to travel to Ukraine on Monday, will discuss economy Sunday, Feb 23, 2014 09:52 AM PST European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton will travel to Ukraine on Monday, where she is expected to discuss measures to shore up the ailing economy, the EU said on Sunday. "In Kiev she is expected to meet key stakeholders and discuss the support of the European Union for a lasting solution to the political crisis and measures to stabilize the economic situation," an EU statement said. The EU has said it is prepared to offer economic support to Ukraine but it would be conditional on the country reaching an agreement with the International Monetary Fund. Full Story | Top |
| American-Israeli prisoner killed in jail battle with police Sunday, Feb 23, 2014 09:50 AM PST  Israeli police shot dead an American-Israeli prisoner on Sunday after he wounded three guards with a pistol at a jail near Tel Aviv, police said. Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said Samuel Sheinbein, serving a 24-year sentence for a 1997 Maryland murder, had shot the three security officers, leaving one critically injured. Israeli security forces "returned fire and shot and killed the suspect", Rosenfeld said. Israeli media said Sheinbein, in his early 30s, had barricaded himself inside a bathroom in his cell. Full Story | Top |
| Seventeen dead in bombings and shootings in Iraq Sunday, Feb 23, 2014 09:43 AM PST  By Ghazwan Hassan and Kareem Raheem TIKRIT, Iraq (Reuters) - At least 17 people were killed and dozens wounded in bombings and shootings in northern Iraq and Baghdad on Sunday, police and medical sources said. In Baghdad, a bomb exploded in a second-hand market for bicycles and motorcycles in the Shi'ite neighborhood of Sadr City, killing five people and wounding 22, police and medical sources said. Gunmen attacked a police checkpoint and killed one policeman near the mainly Sunni town of Tarmiya, north of Baghdad, police sources said. Full Story | Top |
| Pakistan jets pound militant hideouts, killing 38 Sunday, Feb 23, 2014 09:32 AM PST  By Jibran Ahmed PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistani fighter jets attacked suspected militant hideouts in tribal areas on the Afghan border on Sunday, killing at least 38 insurgents, officials said, in the third air strike in recent days. The raids came after peace negotiations with Taliban insurgents broke down last week and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif authorized the army on February 20 to attack militants in the volatile region on the Afghan border. "Fighter jets pounded training facilities of the terrorists in Tirah valley early on Sunday," said one military official. "There are confirmed reports that 38 terrorists including some important commanders were killed," said another security official, adding that at least six hideouts were destroyed. Full Story | Top |
| Russia's Putin faces tough choices over Ukraine Sunday, Feb 23, 2014 09:05 AM PST By Timothy Heritage KIEV (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin faces a decision over Ukraine that is likely to shape his political legacy as well as the future of Russia's western neighbor, trapped in an East-West battle that has echoes of the Cold War. President Viktor Yanukovich's loss of power deprives Putin of an ally vital to his hopes of keeping Ukraine, the cradle of Russian civilization, in what he sees as Russia's orbit. But making a stand over Ukraine, or getting drawn into a new bidding war with the European Union to win sway over the cash-strapped country, would be risky. Moscow can ill-afford to improve the $15 billion financial bailout package it offered in December. Full Story | Top |
| Ukrainians turn Kiev street into shrine to their dead Sunday, Feb 23, 2014 08:31 AM PST By Matt Robinson KIEV (Reuters) - Thousands of Ukrainians streamed into Kiev's Independence Square on Sunday, carrying flowers and candles in a spontaneous pilgrimage to commemorate the protesters who died for the ouster of President Viktor Yanukovich. Marshalled through barricades by helmeted members of a self-styled 'self-defense' force, families poured down Institutska Street, the scene last week of the worst violence in Ukraine's 22 years of independence. Flowers were stuck to the metal shields of the self-defense members, a hardcore of protesters that grew into distinct, organized units and show no sign of disarming. Yanukovich was ousted on Saturday, abandoning his Kiev office and country residence to flee for his native eastern Ukraine, stripped of his powers by a parliament packed with defectors from his Party of Regions. Full Story | Top |
| Polls show Scots becoming more skeptical about independence Sunday, Feb 23, 2014 08:29 AM PST  Scots are becoming more skeptical about the idea of Scotland becoming independent of the United Kingdom, two polls showed on Sunday, delivering a setback to nationalists who want the small country to call off its 307-year-old union with England. The polls were published on the eve of the first full cabinet meeting to be held in Scotland by Prime Minister David Cameron's government, a move meant to demonstrate his commitment to keeping the oil-rich nation in the UK. Scots will decide whether to break from the UK in a referendum on September 18, with the pro-independence Scottish National Party (SNP) trying to persuade them they would be freer and more prosperous on their own, a claim Cameron rejects. An ICM poll for the Scotland on Sunday newspaper showed support for a "no" vote had risen to 49 percent, up five percentage points in a month, while support for a "yes" vote remained static at 37 percent. Full Story | Top |
| Activists say Syrian security forces abduct prominent dissident Sunday, Feb 23, 2014 08:05 AM PST  By Khaled Yacoub Oweis AMMAN (Reuters) - Akram al-Bunni, a prominent leftist writer and former political prisoner, was abducted by Syrian intelligence agents as he left a wedding reception at a Damascus hotel on Saturday, opposition activists said. They said Bunni, who had previously spent two decades as a political prisoner, was snatched by agents from an intelligence division run by Hafez Makhlouf, a cousin of President Bashar al-Assad. His brother Anwar al-Bunni, a human rights lawyer who was also a political prisoner for five years, said Akram had riled the authorities by publicly supporting a democratic alternative to the four-decade rule of the Assad family. "This regime has not been satisfied that it stole 20 years of Akram's life and the effect that left on his health," Anwar al-Bunni told Reuters on Sunday from Damascus. Full Story | Top |
| France risks long stay after misjudging Central African Republic Sunday, Feb 23, 2014 08:02 AM PST  By John Irish and Daniel Flynn PARIS/DAKAR (Reuters) - When France sent troops to halt violence between Christians and Muslims in Central African Republic, commanders named the mission Sangaris after a local butterfly to reflect its short life. Buoyed by a swift victory in last year's war against Islamists in Mali, France's military predicted six months would be enough to quell sectarian conflict in Central African Republic, which began in March when Muslim Seleka rebels seized power in the majority Christian country. Now, with the country sliding into what the top U.N. human rights official termed 'ethnic-religious cleansing', as Muslims flee northward to escape vicious reprisals by Christian militia, France faces a long fight with scant support from Western allies to stop the nation of 4.5 million people splitting in two. France's parliament is due to vote on extending Sangaris on Tuesday, but officials say Paris has already accepted its troops will stay at least until elections due by February next year, at the request of Interim President Catherine Samba Panza. Full Story | Top |
| Suspected Liberian gunmen attack Ivorian border town Sunday, Feb 23, 2014 07:56 AM PST By Ange Aboa and Joe Bavier ABIDJAN (Reuters) - At least four Ivorian soldiers and several attackers were killed when suspected gunmen from Liberia raided a border town in the west of the country, authorities said on Sunday. Gunmen from Liberia have carried out several assaults on towns near the border in recent years which the government and the United Nations have blamed on allies of former president Laurent Gbagbo. Ivory Coast, the world's top cocoa producing nation, is recovering from a decade-long political crisis that culminated in 2011 in a brief civil war after Gbagbo refused to accept his election defeat to Alassane Ouattara. Ivory Coast defense minister Paul Koffi Koffi told Reuters that the latest attack took place early on Sunday in the small town of Grabo, but the situation was now under control. Full Story | Top |
| At 90, Zimbabwe's Mugabe says has energy of 9-year-old Sunday, Feb 23, 2014 07:38 AM PST  By MacDonald Dzirutwe MARONDERA, Zimbabwe (Reuters) - Robert Mugabe celebrated his 90th birthday on Sunday, having spent more than a third of his life as leader of Zimbabwe, lauded as a liberation hero by some and condemned as a human rights abuser by others. At a birthday party-cum-political rally in a football stadium, Mugabe, showed no signs of ill health after returning from Singapore for what aides said was a cataract operation. Zimbabwe's sole ruler since the former Rhodesia gained independence from Britain in 1980, Mugabe is under Western sanctions. He denies human rights abuses and election fraud and blames former colonial power Britain for smearing his name. Full Story | Top |
| Nigeria closes northern border with Cameroon to keep out Islamists Sunday, Feb 23, 2014 07:24 AM PST Nigeria has sealed its northern border with Cameroon in an effort to shut out Islamist militants using its neighbor as a launchpad for attacks, the military said on Sunday. The closure extends from northern Borno state, by Lake Chad, to the southern end of Adamawa state, around halfway along Nigeria's 1,500-mile border with Cameroon. Both states are covered by a state of emergency that President Goodluck Jonathan declared last May as part of an offensive meant to crush Islamist sect Boko Haram. "To effectively curtail the activities of the insurgents, the Cameroon border in the northeast has been closed indefinitely," Brigadier-General Rogers Ibe Nicholas said in a statement. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. condemns attacks by Boko Haram in Nigeria Sunday, Feb 23, 2014 07:24 AM PST  By Will Dunham WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Sunday condemned last week's attacks in Nigeria by the Islamist group Boko Haram and underscored a commitment to help Nigerian authorities crack down on the militants the United States deems a terrorist organization. "Unspeakable violence and acts of terror like the ones committed by Boko Haram last week in northern Nigeria are horrific, wrong and have no place in our world," Kerry said in a statement. Boko Haram gunmen killed about 100 people in the northeastern Nigeria town of Bama on Wednesday, storming the town, firing on a school, shooting or burning to death dozens of people and trashing the palace of a traditional ruler of one of West Africa's oldest Islamic kingdoms. Last Sunday, Boko Haram gunmen killed more than 100 people in the village of Igze, spraying homes with bullets, detonating explosions and burning down dozens of houses. Full Story | Top |
| The threat of Israel boycotts more bark than bite Sunday, Feb 23, 2014 07:23 AM PST  By Crispian Balmer JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Though voices are getting louder inside and outside Israel about the threat of economic boycotts for its continued occupation of Palestinian territories, there seems little prospect of it facing measures with real bite. With a number of European firms already withdrawing some funds, Israeli Finance Minister Yair Lapid has warned that every household in Israel will feel the pinch if ongoing peace talks with the Palestinians collapse. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has also warned that Israel risks a financial hit if it is blamed for the failure, but investors and diplomats say they are unconvinced. It is true that some foreign firms have started to shun Israeli business concerns operating in East Jerusalem and the West Bank - land seized in the 1967 war - and the European Union is increasingly angered by relentless Jewish settlement expansion. Full Story | Top |
| Merkel, Putin say Ukraine must remain intact Sunday, Feb 23, 2014 07:05 AM PST German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed in a phone call on Sunday that Ukraine's "territorial integrity" must be safeguarded and that the country urgently needed a functional government. "They underscored their joint interest in a stable Ukraine - both in economic and political terms," Merkel's spokesman Steffen Seibert said in a statement, adding they had agreed to stay in close contact. Full Story | Top |
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