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| Police shoot dead eight during attack in China's Xinjiang Sunday, Dec 29, 2013 08:08 PM PST BEIJING (Reuters) - Police in China's restive far western region of Xinjiang shot dead eight people during a "terrorist attack" on Monday, the regional government said. The incident happened in Yarkand county close to the old Silk Road city of Kashgar in Xinjiang's far south, the Xinjiang government said in a statement on its official news website (www.ts.cn). (Reporting by Ben Blanchard) Full Story | Top |
| Texas billionaire Harold Simmons dies at 82 Sunday, Dec 29, 2013 07:19 PM PST (Reuters) - Billionaire Harold Simmons, one of the richest men in America and a major contributor to the Republican Party, has died in his native Texas at 82. The death, confirmed in a statement by Texas Governor Rick Perry, was first reported on the website of the Dallas Morning News which said he died on Saturday at Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas. Simmons, currently listed at No. 40 on Forbes' list of the 400 wealthiest Americans, funneled millions of dollars to Republican campaigns with a view toward defeating President Barack Obama last year. He was widely considered one of the Republican Party's most aggressive donors in 2012 and took advantage of new rules that place few limits on how much money wealthy individuals and corporations can contribute to political groups. Full Story | Top |
| Suicide bomber kills at least 16 at Russian train station Sunday, Dec 29, 2013 07:16 PM PST  By Sergei Karpov VOLGOGRAD, Russia (Reuters) - A suicide attacker set off a bomb in the entrance hall of a Russian train station on Sunday, investigators said, killing at least 16 people in the second deadly attack within three days as Russia prepares to host the Winter Olympics. Authorities said the attacker detonated a shrapnel-filled bomb in front of a metal detector just inside the main entrance of the station in Volgograd, a busy hub north of the violence-plagued North Caucasus region on Russia's southern fringe. Islamist militants in the North Caucasus have carried out a long string of attacks since President Vladimir Putin came to power in 2000. They now confront him with his biggest security challenge, threatening to disrupt the Olympics that start in the Black Sea resort of Sochi in 40 days. Full Story | Top |
| Chinese PM Li Keqiang pledges 'appropriate liquidity' in 2014 Sunday, Dec 29, 2013 06:31 PM PST  Chinese Premier Li Keqiang has said that the government will keep liquidity at an appropriate level in 2014 to maintain the stability of financial markets and the broader economy. He made the remarks during a recent inspection tour to the northern Chinese city of Tianjin, according to an account published on the website of the State Council, China's cabinet, late on Sunday. The comments came after cash crunches in China's money markets in June and December, which many market observers believe were engineered by the central bank, which refused to aid the market with large cash injections to help banks cope with elevated cash demand at the end of each quarter. Full Story | Top |
| Former aide to retired Chinese security chief probed for graft Sunday, Dec 29, 2013 06:29 PM PST A former aide to retired Chinese security tsar Zhou Yongkang has been placed under investigation for corruption, the government said, the latest move targeting people close to Zhou who is himself subject to a graft probe. The ruling Communist Party's anti-corruption watchdog said on Sunday that Li Chongxi, head of an advisory body to the legislature in the southwestern province of Sichuan, was being investigated for suspected serious breaches of party discipline and the law, the usual euphemism for graft. President Xi Jinping has launched a sweeping crackdown on corruption since taking power, warning corruption is a threat to the ruling Communist Party's very survival, and vowing to pursue powerful "tigers" as well as lowly "flies". Full Story | Top |
| Libyan oil guards threaten to block gas pipeline to Tripoli: sources Sunday, Dec 29, 2013 04:57 PM PST  By Ghaith Shennib TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Oil security guards in central Libya have threatened to block a gas pipeline to the capital Tripoli unless the government meets their salary demands, oil sources and local media said on Sunday. If confirmed, the protest would mark an escalation of a wave of strikes at oilfields and export terminals gripping Libya, reducing its lifeline oil exports to a trickle. The OPEC producer is facing turmoil as the government of Prime Minister Ali Zeidan struggles to control heavily-armed militias who helped topple Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 but kept their weapons to press for political and financial demands. A mix of tribes and militias have seized for months four export ports in the east alone to demand regional autonomy and a greater share of oil revenues from the central government. Full Story | Top |
| Iraq attacks kill at least 18, including army general: police, medics Sunday, Dec 29, 2013 04:56 PM PST At least 18 people were killed in attacks across Iraq on Sunday, including a military general in a bombing in the northern city of Mosul, police and medical sources said. Violence in Iraq has hit its highest levels since the sectarian fighting of 2006-7, which killed tens of thousands of people. A suicide bomber killed at least eight soldiers, including a brigadier general and three other officers, when he blew himself up by their convoy in the eastern part of Mosul, police and medical sources said. At least four soldiers were killed and ten others wounded when gunmen attacked a military barracks in the town of Garma, 30 km (20 miles) northwest of Baghdad, police and medics said. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. defense chief voices concern in call to Egypt army head Sunday, Dec 29, 2013 04:55 PM PST  The top U.S. defense official expressed "concern" about recent developments in Egypt in a call on Sunday to Egyptian army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the Pentagon said. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel expressed his condolences for the victims of a spate of recent bomb attacks in Egypt, and offered U.S. assistance to investigate the incidents, a Pentagon spokesman said in a statement. A bomb exploded outside an Egyptian army building north of Cairo on Sunday, the latest in a series of violent incidents in Egypt. The Egyptian Army labeled the incident a terrorist attack, but did not name the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamist group it declared a terrorist organization last week. Full Story | Top |
| Exclusive - Hacker took over BBC server, tried to 'sell' access on Christmas Day Sunday, Dec 29, 2013 04:44 PM PST  By Jim Finkle BOSTON (Reuters) - A hacker secretly took over a computer server at the BBC, Britain's public broadcaster, and then launched a Christmas Day campaign to convince other cyber criminals to pay him for access to the system. "HASH" sought to convince high-profile hackers that he had infiltrated the site by showing them files that could only be accessed by somebody who really controlled it, Holden said. Full Story | Top |
| UK not to challenge EU environmental regulations on coal power plants - Times London Sunday, Dec 29, 2013 04:31 PM PST  (Reuters) - The United Kingdom will not challenge the European Union's environmental rules which have led to closure of many old coal power plants even as the country faces threats of power black outs within the next two years, The Times of London reported on Monday. "We are not planning to break the rules on that," Britain's Energy Minister Michael Fallon was quoted as saying by the newspaper. Britain's coal-fired generators, once the backbone of British energy industry, pumped out 91.86 terra watt-hours (TWh) of power in the first nine months of 2013 down three percent from the year before, according to provisional data published in a report by the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change. National Grid has already warned of winter blackouts if investments are not made in new capacities even while Britain's power market is tightening over its ageing power-generation capacity. Full Story | Top |
| Special Report: Japan's homeless recruited for murky Fukushima clean-up Sunday, Dec 29, 2013 04:14 PM PST  By Mari Saito and Antoni Slodkowski SENDAI, Japan (Reuters) - Seiji Sasa hits the train station in this northern Japanese city before dawn most mornings to prowl for homeless men. The men in Sendai Station are potential laborers that Sasa can dispatch to contractors in Japan's nuclear disaster zone for a bounty of $100 a head. It's also how Japan finds people willing to accept minimum wage for one of the most undesirable jobs in the industrialized world: working on the $35 billion, taxpayer-funded effort to clean up radioactive fallout across an area of northern Japan larger than Hong Kong. Almost three years ago, a massive earthquake and tsunami leveled villages across Japan's northeast coast and set off multiple meltdowns at the Fukushima nuclear plant. Full Story | Top |
| Monte Paschi faces nationalization threat after cash call delay Sunday, Dec 29, 2013 04:02 PM PST  By Valentina Za MILAN (Reuters) - A delay to vital fundraising at Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena has increased the risk that Italy's third-biggest bank has to be nationalized, a move the government would like to avoid. The bank's chairman and its chief executive may resign following the unprecedented clash with the main shareholder in the Siena-based lender, a charitable banking foundation with close ties to local politicians. The focus of attention now turns to Rome where both the economy ministry, which has oversight of banking foundations, and the Bank of Italy are closely following events. The capital increase is part of a tough restructuring plan agreed with the European Commission in order to receive clearance for the state bailout. Full Story | Top |
| Man suspected of killing Colorado family captured in Oklahoma Sunday, Dec 29, 2013 03:19 PM PST A man suspected of shooting dead a family of three and setting their Colorado home on fire was captured in an Oklahoma motel after a month-long manhunt, authorities said on Sunday. Harry Carl Mapps, 59, was arrested in Roland, Oklahoma on Saturday night. He was wanted on charges of first degree murder in the deaths of Reginald and Kim Tuttle and their adult daughter, Dawn Roderick, the Pueblo County Sheriff's Office in Colorado said in a statement. Mapps was last registered as a resident in Dimmitt, Texas and may have been homeless and working for the family, the sheriff's office said. Full Story | Top |
| Insight: Italy's Chinese garment workshops boom as workers suffer Sunday, Dec 29, 2013 02:11 PM PST  By Silvia Aloisi PRATO, Italy (Reuters) - Shen Jianhe lost both her job and home when Italian police shut down her garment factory in the Tuscan city of Prato. By day, the 38-year-old mother of four would sew trousers at one of the nearly 5,000 workshops run by Chinese immigrants in Prato, which largely turn out cheap clothing for fast-fashion companies in Italy and across Europe. Prato, the historical capital of Italy's textile business, has attracted the largest concentration of Chinese-run industry in Europe within less than 20 years. As many as 50,000 Chinese live and work in the area, making clothes bearing the prized "Made in Italy" label which sets them apart from garments produced in China itself, even at the lower end of the fashion business. Full Story | Top |
| Two peacekeepers killed in Sudan's Darfur region: U.N. Sunday, Dec 29, 2013 02:09 PM PST (Reuters) - Two peacekeepers - one from Senegal and one from Jordan - were killed in Sudan's Darfur region on Sunday when an unidentified armed group attacked their convoy, the United Nations said. In a statement, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the "cowardly attack" on the peacekeepers near Greida, South Darfur, and said he expects the government of Sudan to bring those responsible to justice swiftly. Law and order has collapsed in much of Darfur, where mainly African tribes took up arms in 2003 against the Arab-led government in Khartoum, which they accuse of discriminating against them. Full Story | Top |
| Opportunity glimmers through China's toxic smog Sunday, Dec 29, 2013 01:11 PM PST  By Adam Jourdan SHANGHAI (Reuters) - As China's smog levels crept past record highs in early December, the phone lines at pollution-busting kit maker Broad Group lit up with Chinese customers worried about hazardous pollution levels that have gripped China this year. China's government is struggling to meet pollution reduction targets and has pledged to spend over 3 trillion yuan ($494 billion) to tackle the problem, creating a growing market for companies that can help boost energy efficiency and lower emissions. "Recently, we haven't been able to make products fast enough to keep up with demand," said Hu Jie, a general manager at Broad Group, which makes pollution-related products ranging from hand-held monitors to eco-friendly buildings. Pollution problems in China, the world's second-biggest economy, are by no means new. Full Story | Top |
| South Sudan forces battle "White Army" Sunday, Dec 29, 2013 11:23 AM PST  By Carl Odera and Aaron Maasho JUBA (Reuters) - South Sudan's army fought on Sunday with "White Army" ethnic militia, accusing rebels of mobilizing the force despite its offer of a truce to end the conflict in the new country. Two weeks of fighting have left at least 1,000 dead and split the oil-producing country barely two years after it won independence from Sudan. The feared White Army - made up largely of Nuer youths who dust their bodies with ash - clashed with government troops 18 miles from the town of Bor five days after rebels were driven out, Information Minister Michael Makuei said. A rebel spokesman denied the White Army was controlled by Riek Machar, a Nuer, the former vice president whose followers oppose President Salva Kiir, a Dinka. Full Story | Top |
| 2014 promises faster growth, but no leap forward Sunday, Dec 29, 2013 11:02 AM PST  By Andy Bruce LONDON (Reuters) - The world economy should snap a three-year stretch of slowing growth in 2014, although the upturn over the next 12 months looks likely to be incremental rather than a leap forward. With stock markets rallying in the twilight days of this year and recent indicators for major economies looking brighter, confidence among investors and analysts is high going into 2014. The U.S. Federal Reserve provided a concrete example of that optimism earlier this month when it decided to start curtailing its unprecedented monetary stimulus, based on the strength of recent signals from the economy. The International Monetary Fund, in its October set of forecasts, expects global economic growth to pick up to around 3.6 percent in 2014, from roughly 2.9 percent this year. Full Story | Top |
| Blast at Egyptian army building wounds four soldiers Sunday, Dec 29, 2013 10:34 AM PST  By Yasmine Saleh and Shadia Nasralla CAIRO/ANSHAS (Reuters) - A bomb exploded outside an Egyptian army building north of Cairo on Sunday, wounding four soldiers, the army said, in the second bomb attack on security forces in the Nile Delta in less than a week. Its statement referred to "groups of darkness" and did not name the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamist group it declared a terrorist organization last week. That decision was a response to a suicide bomb attack on Tuesday on a police compound in the Nile Delta city of Mansoura, north of the site of Sunday's explosion. The army-backed government has used the new classification to detain hundreds of the movement's supporters and thousands more are already in jail. Full Story | Top |
| Erdogan vows Turkish graft affair will fail to topple him Sunday, Dec 29, 2013 09:47 AM PST  By Seda Sezer and Dan Williams ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan swore on Sunday he would survive a corruption crisis circling his cabinet, saying those seeking his overthrow would fail just like mass anti-government protests last summer. Erdogan accused his opponents of trying to sap the power of Turkey, which has seen rapid economic growth and assertive foreign policies under his 11-year leadership, in the service of an international plot cloaked as criminal proceedings. Yet striking a somewhat milder tone, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu appeared to seek common ground with a U.S.-based Turkish cleric whose rivalry with Erdogan is widely seen as having stoked the controversy. Erdogan, who is touring Turkey to drum up support before local elections in March, defied his accusers over the detention for suspected graft of three ministers' sons and the head of state-run Halkbank on December 17. Full Story | Top |
| Spain arrests eight over global bank cyber heists Sunday, Dec 29, 2013 09:44 AM PST Spanish police on Sunday said they had arrested eight people suspected of helping to steal more than $60 million from banks worldwide by hacking into credit card processing firms and withdrawing money from cash machines. The arrests are one of the biggest breakthroughs yet outside the United States in connection with a series of global bank heists, coordinated across numerous countries by cells which withdrew millions of dollars in a matter of hours. Spanish police said in a statement they had detained six Romanian citizens and two Moroccans on the outskirts of Madrid, and seized 25,000 euros ($34,400) in cash as well as around 1,000 blank credit cards, IT material and jewels after several building searches. The Spanish police statement said they had acted with the help of an unnamed U.S. security agency. Full Story | Top |
| Soccer-I am not anti-Semitic, says Anelka Sunday, Dec 29, 2013 09:41 AM PST West Bromwich Albion striker Nicolas Anelka said on Sunday he was not anti-Semitic following the controversial gesture he made during Saturday's Premier League draw at West Ham United which sparked widespread criticism. French government ministers hit out at the former France international after he celebrated the first of his two goals with an apparent "quenelle" hand signal and the English FA said it would investigate the incident. The gesture, which is linked to anti-Semitism, has been made famous by French comedian Dieudonne, a close friend of Anelka's. One of the most controversial figures in French sport who was kicked out of the national squad during the 2010 World Cup for insulting his coach Raymond Domenech, Anelka said he only wanted to greet his friend. Full Story | Top |
| Saudi Arabia to give Lebanese army $3 billion Sunday, Dec 29, 2013 09:36 AM PST Saudi Arabia is giving the Lebanese army $3 billion in aid, Lebanon's President Michel Suleiman said on Sunday, calling it the largest grant ever to the country's armed forces. Some of the money was likely to be spent on weapons from France, Suleiman indicated in a televised address. One of the few institutions not overtaken by the sectarian divisions that plague the country, Lebanon's army is ill-equipped to deal with internal militant groups, particularly the Shi'ite Muslim guerrilla and political movement Hezbollah. The Sunni Muslim kingdom of Saudi Arabia may be seeking to bolster the army as a counterbalance to Hezbollah, seen as the most effective and powerful armed group in Lebanon and funded by the regional Shi'ite power Iran. Full Story | Top |
| French president says will supply arms to Lebanon army if asked Sunday, Dec 29, 2013 09:20 AM PST RIYADH (Reuters) - France will supply weapons to the Lebanese army if it is asked to do so, French President Francois Hollande said on Sunday during a visit to Saudi Arabia where he met King Abdullah. Riyadh had earlier pledged $3 billion in aid to the Lebanese army to strengthen its capabilities at a time when the country faces renewed instability because of the war in Syria. (Reporting By Julien Ponthus/Natalie Huet; Writing by Angus McDowall; Editing by William Maclean) Full Story | Top |
| Egypt's president says elections within six months of constitution approval Sunday, Dec 29, 2013 08:57 AM PST Egypt's interim president said on Sunday that the government is committed to holding parliamentary and presidential elections within six months of approval of the new constitution, to be voted on next month. The timetable means Egypt would have an elected government by next summer to replace that installed by the army after it ousted elected Islamist President Mohamed Mursi in July. Adly Mansour also said that it would not be unconstitutional for presidential elections to be held before parliamentary elections. The initial plan unveiled in July required parliamentary elections to be held first, but the constitution to be voted on in a referendum on January 14 and 15 would allow presidential elections first. Full Story | Top |
| Israeli ministers endorse legislation to annex part of West Bank Sunday, Dec 29, 2013 08:53 AM PST  A panel of Israeli cabinet ministers endorsed proposed legislation on Sunday to annex an area of the occupied West Bank likely to be the eastern border of a future Palestinian state. The move, pushed by far-right members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party, could weigh on troubled U.S.-brokered peace negotiations several days before another visit to the region by Secretary of State John Kerry. But centrist Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, who also heads Israel's negotiations with the Palestinians, immediately challenged the motion, and said she would use her powers to block the legislation from being voted on in Parliament. The target is to reach an agreement by April towards achieving a "two-state solution" in which Israel and a new Palestinian state would co-exist side by side. Full Story | Top |
| Yemen jails nine al Qaeda members for plot to kill president Sunday, Dec 29, 2013 08:44 AM PST  A Yemeni court jailed nine al Qaeda members for between two and 10 years on Sunday for plotting to assassinate President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, the country's news agency Saba reported. Yemen is battling one of the most active wings of al Qaeda, known as Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), which has been foiled in several attempted attacks on Western targets, including airliners. The prosecution said the group, which was also convicted of planning to kill military officers and kidnap foreigners, planted an explosive device this year on a road used by Hadi on his way to the presidential palace. It was one of several attempted attacks on Hadi, who was elected in February 2012 after his long-serving predecessor Ali Abdullah Saleh stepped down as part of a U.S.-backed power transfer deal. Full Story | Top |
| Saudi prince's firm says to file complaint vs France's EDF Sunday, Dec 29, 2013 08:24 AM PST  Soroof International, a conglomerate controlled by a Saudi Arabian prince, said on Sunday that it would file a complaint before Saudi courts against France's state-run utility EDF . The Saudi company cited the "faulty execution" by EDF of an agreement between the two sides to form a joint venture in Saudi Arabia that would develop electricity projects. The Saudi company is headed by Prince Bander Bin Abdullah Al-Saud. EDF was unable to comment immediately on the issue on Sunday, a working day in the Gulf but the weekend in Europe. Full Story | Top |
| Thousands flood camp in Central African Republic Sunday, Dec 29, 2013 07:27 AM PST  By Paul-Marin Ngoupana BANGUI (Reuters) - More than 100,000 people displaced by inter-religious violence in Central African Republic are sheltering at a makeshift camp at Bangui airport, a medical charity said on Sunday, calling for urgent aid. Medecins Sans Frontiers (MSF) said it was receiving between 15 and 20 wounded a day at the site from fighting in the riverside capital, where the deployment of French and African peacekeepers in early December has failed to halt violence. Attacks by Muslim Seleka rebels, who seized power in March, and Christian militias have killed more than 1,000 people and displaced an estimated 400,000 in Bangui this month. Full Story | Top |
| Italian woman defies animal rights militants after online abuse Sunday, Dec 29, 2013 07:19 AM PST An Italian woman who declared in an internet posting that she owed her life to medicines developed from testing on laboratory mice has gone on national television to answer abuse from animal rights militants. Caterina Simonsen, 25, received insults and abuse, which politicians rushed to condemn, after posting a defense of animal testing on Facebook. "Without it, I would have died when I was nine," wrote Simonsen, whose story has dominated Italian newspapers and television reports. Full Story | Top |
| Israel cabinet okays plan to curb government spending growth Sunday, Dec 29, 2013 07:16 AM PST  Israel's cabinet on Sunday approved a Finance Ministry proposal to tighten spending limits on the government's budget starting in 2015. As a result, government spending in 2015 will rise by only 2.6 percent instead of the original target of 4 percent. "The meaning of this measure is the prevention of a dramatic increase in taxes and the prevention of a swelling of government expenditure beyond what is needed," Finance Minister Yair Lapid said in a statement. The Finance Ministry has forecast a budget deficit of 3 percent of GDP in 2013 and 2014. Full Story | Top |
| UK Power Networks says its response to holiday blackouts was too slow Sunday, Dec 29, 2013 06:58 AM PST The head of UK Power Networks, one of Britain's biggest electricity distributors, said its response to a storm that cut off more than 300,000 customers on Christmas Eve had been too slow because many staff were on holiday at the same time. Basil Scarsella, chief executive of the company owned by Hong Kong's Cheung Kong Group, was responding to criticism from customers over delays in restoring supply. Around 600 households across Britain, served by various power firms, remained without power on Sunday. A UK Power Networks spokeswoman said on Sunday that 107 of the firm's eight million customers, who are concentrated in the southeast and east of England, remained without power. Full Story | Top |
| Lebanese ex-minister buried to anti-Hezbollah chants Sunday, Dec 29, 2013 06:50 AM PST  By Erika Solomon and Laila Bassam BEIRUT (Reuters) - Mourners chanting anti-Hezbollah slogans laid to rest former Lebanese minister Mohamad Chatah on Sunday after he was killed by a car bomb his allies blame on the powerful Shi'ite group. Friday's attack on Chatah, a Sunni who was a vocal critic of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his Lebanese ally Hezbollah, has once again stoked sectarian enmities exacerbated by the spillover of Syria's conflict. "There is no God but God and Hezbollah is the enemy of God," mourners chanted as Chatah's coffin - draped in green and gold cloth - was carried to a central Beirut mosque. It was the latest in a series of attacks on both sides of the divide in Lebanon, where the government is paralyzed by a standoff along sectarian lines. Full Story | Top |
| Ukrainian opposition focuses on 2015 election as protests wane Sunday, Dec 29, 2013 06:39 AM PST  By Olzhas Auyezov KIEV (Reuters) - Tacitly acknowledging that street protests would not topple Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich, one of his leading rivals told demonstrators on Sunday that the opposition would steer the country back towards Europe after winning the next election in 2015. Tens of thousands of people gathered on Kiev's Independence Square for what has become a weekly event since late November, when Yanukovich's government refused to sign an association agreement with the European Union and turned instead to Russia for an economic rescue package. The falling numbers have eased the pressure on the government, which is pressing ahead with forging closer ties with Russia, having secured a $15 billion bailout package from Moscow and a discount on vital Russian gas supplies. The opposition wants the country of 46 million people to move closer to Europe and escape the grip of Russia, its former imperial master. Full Story | Top |
| Saudi royal faces death penalty for murder: newspaper Sunday, Dec 29, 2013 05:34 AM PST  A Saudi prince who murdered a fellow Saudi may be executed, a newspaper reported on Sunday, in a rare example of a member of the kingdom's ruling family facing the death penalty. The English-language Arab News did not name the prince or his victim, but said a senior member of the family and government, Crown Prince Salman, had "cleared the way for the possible execution of a prince convicted of murdering a Saudi citizen". In a message about the case to Interior Minister Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, Prince Salman said: "Sharia (Islamic law) shall be applied to all without exception", the daily reported. Prince Salman's message followed a statement from the victim's father that he was not ready to pardon the killer and he was not happy with the amount offered as blood money. Full Story | Top |
| British police arrest two men over North Sea ferry fire Sunday, Dec 29, 2013 05:18 AM PST British police said on Sunday they had arrested two men after a suspected arson attack on a ferry in the North Sea carrying more than 1,000 people from Newcastle in England to Amsterdam. Police said the incident occurred late on Saturday night on board the MS King Seaways, a ship operated by Denmark's DFDS Seaways, after a passenger set fire to a cabin in circumstances that remained unclear. "Two men have been arrested - a 26-year-old man on suspicion of arson and a 28-year-old man on suspicion of affray," Britain's Northumbria police force said in a statement. "Both are currently helping police with inquiries." DFDS, which operates the daily service from the North Shields port near Newcastle to IJmuiden near Amsterdam, said in a statement that crew members had put the fire out within 15 minutes. Full Story | Top |
| After troubled rollout, Obamacare's new test starts on New Year's Day Sunday, Dec 29, 2013 05:06 AM PST  New Year's Day will bring a fresh test for President Barack Obama's healthcare overhaul, as hundreds of thousands of Americans will begin to use the program's new medical coverage for the first time. For the nation's healthcare system as well as its politics, the stakes are huge in Wednesday's launch of the program known as Obamacare. For anxious Democrats with an eye on the 2014 congressional elections, it is a chance for the Obama administration to rebound from the disastrous rollout of the website that enrolls people in private coverage through the program - and show that the White House's effort to help millions of uninsured and underinsured Americans is finally gaining its footing. Or, as Republican congressman Fred Upton and other critics of Obamacare warned in recent days, Wednesday could represent the beginning of another debacle that fuels Republicans' push to make dissatisfaction with Obamacare the chief issue in the November elections. Full Story | Top |
| Protesters gather at Libyan ministries demanding PM quit Sunday, Dec 29, 2013 05:04 AM PST  Protesters gathered outside ministries and major institutions across Libya's capital on Sunday, state news agency Lana reported, and those at the foreign ministry said they wanted Prime Minister Ali Zeidan to quit. Zeidan's government is struggling to assert control over the North African country, which is in turmoil and has been awash with arms since the 2011 uprising that ousted Muammar Gaddafi. A witness said that dozens of unarmed protesters, who placed a cement block in front of the foreign ministry's gate in central Tripoli and attached banners accusing Zeidan and his government of failure, were preventing staff from entering. Lana also reported protests at the entrances of Zeidan's office, the oil, finance, transport and justice ministries as well as the central bank and supreme court. Full Story | Top |
| French 'millionaire's tax' gets constitutional go-ahead Sunday, Dec 29, 2013 04:47 AM PST  France's Constitutional Council gave the green light on Sunday to a 'millionaire's tax', to be levied on companies that pay salaries of more than 1 million euros ($1.38 million) a year. The measure, introduced in line with a pledge by President Francois Hollande to make the rich do more to pull France out of crisis, has infuriated business leaders and soccer clubs, which at one point threatened to go on strike. It was originally designed as a 75 percent tax to be paid by high earners on the part of their incomes exceeding 1 million euros, but the council rejected this, saying 66 percent was the legal maximum for individuals. The Socialist government has since reworked the tax to levy it on companies instead, raising the ire of entrepreneurs. Full Story | Top |
| Protests against Bangladesh election turn violent Sunday, Dec 29, 2013 04:45 AM PST  By Ruma Paul DHAKA (Reuters) - Violent clashes erupted in Bangladesh on Sunday as opposition supporters took to the streets to protest against a January 5 general election which they are boycotting. The opposition says it will not take part in the vote unless an interim government oversees it and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina steps down. The leader of the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), Begum Khaleda Zia, called for a march on the capital, Dhaka, in defiance of a police ban to protest against what she calls the "farcical" election. One person was killed as police opened fire to disperse protesters throwing stones and crude bombs in central Dhaka and a railway guard was killed in a blast at a city station, police said. Full Story | Top |
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