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| U.S. airlines give China flight plans for new defense zone Saturday, Nov 30, 2013 03:32 PM PST  By Marina Lopes and Lesley Wroughton NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. airlines United, American and Delta, have notified Chinese authorities of flight plans when traveling through an air defense zone Beijing has declared over the East China Sea, following U.S. government advice. The United States said on Friday it expected U.S. carriers to operate in line with so-called notices to airmen issued by foreign countries, although it added that the decision did "not indicate U.S. government acceptance of China's requirements. Airline industry officials said the U.S. government generally expects U.S. carriers operating internationally to comply with notices issued by foreign countries. In contrast, two major airlines in Japan, the United States' close ally, have agreed with the Japanese government that they would fly through the zone without notifying China. Full Story | Top |
| Obamacare website enters critical phase, unclear if fixes are enough Saturday, Nov 30, 2013 04:00 PM PST  The rollout of President Barack Obama's healthcare law entered a critical phase on Saturday, the deadline for substantially fixing the program's troubled enrollment website, as the administration scrambled to address the most obvious glitches. The White House, facing mounting pressure from Republican opponents and members of Obama's Democratic party, promised five weeks ago that by November 30 it would repair HealthCare.gov. HealthCare.gov is a key portal for Obama's signature domestic achievement, the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, which aims to extend coverage to millions of people and reduce healthcare costs. Making Obamacare work has enormous political stakes for the administration and its Democratic allies who are heading into congressional elections next year. Full Story | Top |
| Syrian PM, visiting ally Iran, says government winning civil war Saturday, Nov 30, 2013 09:50 AM PST  By Dominic Evans BEIRUT (Reuters) - Prime Minister Wael Halki said on Saturday Syrian government forces were winning the war with rebels and would not rest while a single enemy fighter remained at large. Maintaining Syria's unyielding response to Western calls for President Bashar al-Assad to step aside, Halki said the era of "threats and intimidation has gone, never to return, while the era of victory and pride is being created now on Syrian soil". He was speaking during a visit to Iran, which has provided military support and billions of dollars in economic aid to Assad during a 2-1/2-year-old civil war which has killed 100,000 people and shows little sign of being halted by diplomacy. Assad, whose forces have consolidated their hold around Damascus and central Syria this year, faces little internal pressure to make concessions to his opponents as long as he maintains military momentum and Iranian support. Full Story | Top |
| Egypt's draft constitution enshrines army role in politics Saturday, Nov 30, 2013 07:49 AM PST  Egypt's new constitution, according to a draft text completed on Saturday nearly five months after the army deposed an Islamist president, will bolster the military's hand and ban religious parties. The constitution, expected to be put to a referendum in December, is part of an army-planned political transition meant to lead to parliamentary and presidential elections next year. "In the early hours of the morning the assembly (reached) an overall consensus over the constitution articles," its chairman, former Arab League chief Amr Moussa, told a news conference. The 50-member constituent assembly later began voting to approve the draft, article by article, and once this process is complete it will submit the document to interim President Adli Mansour, who will set a date for the referendum. Full Story | Top |
| Two dead in Thai political violence, military bolsters security Saturday, Nov 30, 2013 08:14 PM PST  By Damir Sagolj BANGKOK (Reuters) - A "red shirt" Thai government supporter was shot and killed early on Sunday, raising the death toll to two from political violence in Bangkok as protesters intensified a week-long bid to topple Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra. Police called in military back-up to protect government buildings after fatal street clashes erupted between supporters and opponents of Yingluck and her billionaire brother, ousted former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, near a sports stadium where about 70,000 government supporters had gathered. The fighting is the latest in an intractable conflict that broadly pits Thailand's establishment of royalists, wealthy elites and the urban middle class against the poor supporters of Thaksin, who originate mostly from provinces north of Bangkok, the country's lowest-income regions. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. offers to destroy Syria's chemicals at sea: OPCW Saturday, Nov 30, 2013 09:52 AM PST  The United States has offered to destroy Syrian chemicals on a U.S. ship, the global chemical weapons watchdog said on Saturday, and is looking for a suitable Mediterranean port where processing can be carried out. The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has been under pressure to find an alternative plan for the destruction of Syria's poison gas arsenal after Albania backed out of hosting the work. The OPCW said 35 firms had expressed an interest in bidding for commercial contracts by Friday's deadline for the treatment of about 800 tonnes (1 tonne = 1.102 metric tons) of bulk industrial chemicals that are safe to destroy in commercial incinerators. The OPCW said the operation would be carried out on a U.S. vessel at sea using hydrolysis, adding a naval vessel was undergoing modifications to support the operations. Full Story | Top |
| Six killed in clashes in Lebanon's Tripoli Saturday, Nov 30, 2013 09:44 AM PST  By Nazih Siddiq TRIPOLI, Lebanon (Reuters) - Six people were killed in Lebanon's northern city of Tripoli on Saturday in exchanges of fire between neighborhoods which support rival sides in Syria's civil war, security and medical sources said. The dead - including a teenage schoolboy, a Palestinian and a Syrian - were from the Sunni Muslim Bab al-Tabbaneh district, whose residents overwhelmingly support the Sunni Muslim rebels battling Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Thirty-seven people, including nine soldiers, were wounded in the shooting between gunmen in Bab al-Tabbaneh and the adjacent Alawite neighborhood of Jebel Mohsen, which supports the Alawite Syrian leader. Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, a Sunni Muslim from Tripoli, held talks with the interior minister and other security officials in the Mediterranean city to discuss how to end the violence, which erupted despite the deployment of soldiers in both rival districts. Full Story | Top |
| Pakistan promises to help Afghans meet former Taliban chief Saturday, Nov 30, 2013 03:46 PM PST  By Mirwais Harooni and Hamid Shalizi KABUL (Reuters) - Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif promised Afghanistan on Saturday that he would help arrange further meetings between Afghan officials and a former Taliban commander as part of renewed efforts to revive a defunct peace process. Pakistan announced it would release the insurgent group's former second-in-command, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, in September. Afghan officials believe he still retains enough influence within the Taliban to help rekindle peace talks. In a first such meeting, an Afghan delegation travelled to Pakistan about 10 days ago to meet the former commander, who remains under the close supervision of his Pakistani minders. Full Story | Top |
| Mozambique Airlines plane crashes in Namibia, killing 33 Saturday, Nov 30, 2013 08:33 AM PST By Servaas van den Bosch WINDHOEK (Reuters) - A Mozambique Airlines plane en route to Angola crashed in a game park in northeast Namibia, killing all 33 people on board, Namibian police said on Saturday. Flight TM 470 left Maputo on Friday for the Angolan capital Luanda with 27 passengers and six crew when it lost contact with air traffic controllers, the national carrier said in a statement. Namibian Police Force Deputy Commissioner Willy Bampton said rescue workers had found the burned-out wreckage of the aircraft in the dense bush of Bwabwata National Park, near the borders with Angola and Botswana. Full Story | Top |
| Eight dead as police helicopter crashes into Scottish pub Saturday, Nov 30, 2013 03:48 PM PST By Russell Cheyne GLASGOW, Scotland (Reuters) - Eight people were killed and 14 others seriously injured when a police helicopter crashed into the roof of a packed Glasgow pub, trapping many inside in choking dust and debris, Scottish police said on Saturday, Witnesses said the helicopter dropped from the sky like a stone onto the busy Clutha Pub in Scotland's biggest city on Friday night while more than 100 people were crammed inside, listening to a live music concert. The helicopter crew - two police officers and the civilian pilot - were among the dead and the others were discovered inside the wreckage of the building, Chief Constable of Police Scotland Stephen House told reporters. The 12-metre (40 foot) helicopter - a twin-engine Eurocopter EC135 T2, made by a subsidiary of EADS - spiraled into the pub in the center of Glasgow, destroying part of the roof. "Until the helicopter is out of the way we won't know what ... is going on underneath." Immediately after the crash, revelers caked in dust and blood rushed out into the street. Full Story | Top |
| At least one killed as Thai anti-government protests turn violent Saturday, Nov 30, 2013 09:39 AM PST By Amy Sawitta Lefevre and Martin Petty BANGKOK (Reuters) - At least one person was shot dead and 10 were wounded after anti-government protesters clashed with supporters of Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra on Saturday, the first bloodshed in a week of demonstrations aimed at toppling her administration. Fighting intensified after anti-government protesters attacked a bus they believed was full of government "red shirt" supporters. As darkness fell, gunfire erupted outside a sports stadium in Bangkok's Ramkamhaeng area where about 70,000 red-shirted supporters of Yingluck and her brother, ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, had gathered for a rally. A gunman fired into Ramkamhaeng University, where hundreds of anti-government protesters had retreated after trying to block people from entering the stadium, witnesses said. Full Story | Top |
| Britain's Cameron 'turns page' on Dalai Lama row with China visit Saturday, Nov 30, 2013 04:27 AM PST  By Andrew Osborn LONDON (Reuters) - Britain has put a diplomatic rift with China over the Dalai Lama behind it and Prime Minister David Cameron has no plans to meet Tibet's spiritual leader again, a senior source in his office said ahead of a visit by the British leader to Beijing. Instead, Cameron will use a three-day visit to China next week, his first since the Dalai Lama rift, to focus on deepening trade ties with the world's second largest economy, taking with him a delegation of around 100 business people. We have turned a page on that issue," said the source when asked whether Cameron would raise the issue of Tibet during his trip. "It's about shifting UK relations up a gear and looking to the future." Foreign trips often pose a public relations problem for the British leader as he has to balance his policy of helping Britain win what he calls the global economic "race" with speaking out about any human rights concerns. Full Story | Top |
| After years on the sidelines, New York's liberals retaking control Saturday, Nov 30, 2013 04:11 AM PST  By Victoria Cavaliere NEW YORK (Reuters) - With Bill de Blasio taking office as mayor in January, New York City appears poised for a resurgence of liberal policies. After 20 years of Republican leadership, not only will America's largest city have the most liberal mayor in a generation, helping him implement change will be a progressive-leaning City Council and a longtime liberal ally in the new public advocate. The city was governed for the last 12 years by Michael Bloomberg, a political independent who was first elected as a Republican, and for eight years before that by Republican Rudolph Giuliani. To observers as well as Democratic legislators, the last election marked a major change in New York City politics, with a new breed of highly liberal politicians ready to enact a series of progressive policies that would have been dead on arrival under Bloomberg or his predecessor Giuliani. Full Story | Top |
| Ukraine police smash pro-Europe protest, opposition to call strike Saturday, Nov 30, 2013 12:23 PM PST  By Richard Balmforth and Thomas Grove KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine's political opposition said on Saturday it would call a general strike to force the resignation of President Viktor Yanukovich's government after police used batons and stun grenades to break up pro-Europe protests. Some 10,000 protesters regrouped in Kiev, flooding a square outside a church. Further rallies were planned for Sunday in the capital Kiev and other cities. Helmeted police stormed an encampment in Kiev's Independence Square where protesters were singing and warming themselves by campfires early in the morning, the opposition said. Full Story | Top |
| French parliament backs reform of law on prostitution Saturday, Nov 30, 2013 04:28 AM PST  The French parliament early on Saturday backed a reform of the country's prostitution law that will impose a 1,500-euro fine on anyone paying for sex. The bill will give France some of the toughest legislation on prostitution in Europe, similar to that of Sweden. Previously, buying and selling sex for money was not illegal in France but the act of soliciting was, as was pimping. Movie stars like Catherine Deneuve, who played a middle-class housewife who chooses to prostitute herself in the 1960s film "Belle de Jour", is one of several dozen celebrities who have signed a petition against the law. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. calls on North Korea to release war veteran Saturday, Nov 30, 2013 02:06 PM 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 accused of killing civilians during the Korean War 60 years ago. Swedish embassy officials were granted access on Saturday to visit Merrill E. Newman, the State Department said, the first access by Western officials to him since his arrest. Newman, an 85-year old former special forces officer, was detained at the end of a trip to North Korea. "On November 30, the DPRK permitted the Embassy of Sweden, protecting power for issues involving U.S. citizens in North Korea, consular access to U.S. citizen Merrill Newman," a State Department official said in a statement. Full Story | Top |
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