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| New York train derailment kills four, injures 63 Sunday, Dec 01, 2013 06:15 PM PST  By Noreen O'Donnell NEW YORK (Reuters) - A suburban New York train derailed on Sunday, killing four people and injuring 63, including 11 critically, when all seven cars of a Metro-North train ran off the tracks on a sharp curve, officials said. The crash happened at 7:20 a.m. (1220 GMT) about 100 yards (meters) north of Metro-North's Spuyten Duyvil station in the city's Bronx borough, said Metro-North spokesman Aaron Donovan. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. ship Cape Ray readied for possible chemical arms destruction Sunday, Dec 01, 2013 05:55 PM PST By David Alexander and Roberta Rampton WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government has begun outfitting a ship in its reserve ready force with equipment to enable it to destroy some of Syria's chemical weapons at sea in the event Washington is asked to assist in the effort, a defense official said on Sunday. The Maritime Administration vessel MV Cape Ray is being equipped with the newly developed Field Deployable Hydrolysis System, which was designed by the Defense Department to neutralize components used in chemical weapons, a defense official said on condition of anonymity. The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, which supervising the disposal of Syria's chemical arms, said last week the United States had offered to destroy some of the components on a U.S. ship and was looking for a Mediterranean port where the work could be carried out. Full Story | Top |
| Britain's Cameron flies to Beijing, pushing EU-China trade deal Sunday, Dec 01, 2013 05:02 PM PST  By Andrew Osborn BEIJING (Reuters) - British Prime Minister David Cameron flew into China saying he wanted to lay the ground for a multi-billion-dollar free trade deal between Beijing and the European Union, despite growing unease about his own country's membership of the bloc. On a three-day visit with a delegation of around 100 business people, the largest British mission of its kind ever, Cameron said he wanted his country to play an important role in China's expansion as the world's second biggest economy is talking about opening up its markets. "China's transformation is one of the defining facts of our lifetime," Cameron wrote in Caixin, a Chinese weekly news magazine, on the eve of the visit. They can choose to see China's rise as a threat or an opportunity. Full Story | Top |
| Japan: no change to airlines' notification policy when flying in East China Sea zone Sunday, Dec 01, 2013 06:53 PM PST Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said on Monday there was no change to Japan's policy of not notifying Chinese authorities when its commercial aircraft fly through China's new air defense identification zone. Asked if the government planned to alter its earlier request to domestic air carriers that they not notify China of their flight plans, Suga said, "Our stance won't be changed." Japan's top air carriers, Japan Airlines and ANA, earlier told Reuters they have made no change to their plans of not notifying China of their flight plans for aircraft flying through the zone. Full Story | Top |
| Thai protesters seek to topple PM after clashes Sunday, Dec 01, 2013 04:42 PM PST  By Amy Sawitta Lefevre BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thai anti-government protesters vowed to demonstrate again on Monday and forge ahead with a "people's coup" campaign to topple Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, a day after battling riot police outside her fortified office compound. The protesters had set Sunday as "Victory Day" to oust the government but failed to achieve their goal of seizing the prime minister's office at Government House or occupying state buildings, despite intense clashes with riot police. It is the latest dramatic turn in a conflict pitting Bangkok's urban middle class and royalist elite against the mostly poor, rural supporters of Yingluck and her brother, Thaksin Shinawatra, a populist former prime minister ousted in a 2006 military coup. Protest leader Suthep Thaungsuban said he met with Yingluck on Sunday but insisted there were no negotiations to end the worst political crisis since bloody political unrest in 2010. Full Story | Top |
| Biden on delicate mission to defuse tensions in East Asia Sunday, Dec 01, 2013 02:29 PM PST  By David Brunnstrom and Roberta Rampton WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Joe Biden will try to strike a delicate balance of calming military tensions with China while supporting ally Japan against Beijing on a trip to Asia this week that is being overshadowed by a territorial dispute in the East China Sea. Aiming to counter criticism that the United States is neglecting Asia because it is distracted by domestic politics and the Middle East, the White House has long been planning a visit by Biden to Japan, China and South Korea. Full Story | Top |
| White House meets goals for HealthCare.gov, but more work ahead Sunday, Dec 01, 2013 01:25 PM PST  Two months after the disastrous launch of a website that is a key component of President Barack Obama's healthcare law, administration officials said on Sunday they had met their goal of getting the HealthCare.gov site running smoothly but warned that it needs more fixes. Obama adviser Jeffrey Zients said a five-week emergency "tech surge" had doubled the capacity of the online health insurance portal that is crucial to helping millions of people shop for insurance plans, while making it more responsive and less prone to errors. The administration said the effort's key improvement was to increase HealthCare.gov's capacity to 50,000 simultaneous users, which would allow the site to handle at least 800,000 users per day. Full Story | Top |
| Qaeda offshoot claims West Bank foothold after killings Sunday, Dec 01, 2013 11:19 AM PST An Islamist group linked to al Qaeda has claimed three militants killed in the West Bank by Israeli forces last week as its members, and said this shows it has taken root in the occupied Palestinian territory. Al Qaeda has struggled to build up significant support in the West Bank, analysts say, and the Palestinian Authority, which administers the area, last week denied an Israeli report that the three men were linked to the organization. "By the will of God Almighty, the global jihadi doctrine has reached the bank of pride, the West Bank, planting its foothold after all attempts to thwart its presence," said Majles Shura al-Mujahideen, or Holy Warriors' Assembly, in a statement posted on an Islamist web forum. Such groups have some grassroots support in the Palestinian territory of Gaza, which is ruled by the Islamist faction Hamas. Full Story | Top |
| Syria-fueled violence kills four in Lebanon's Tripoli Sunday, Dec 01, 2013 09:11 AM PST  By Nazih Siddiq TRIPOLI, Lebanon (Reuters) - Four people were killed by sniper fire the north Lebanese city of Tripoli on Sunday, security sources said, raising to 10 the death toll in two days of violence fuelled by sectarian tensions over Syria's civil war. The clashes between Tripoli's Alawite minority, which supports Syria's Alawite President Bashar al-Assad, and majority Sunni Muslims who back the Syrian rebels, are the latest round of violence which has killed more than 100 people in the Mediterranean city this year. Gun battles have broken out five times since March, killing dozens of people, and twin car bombs at Sunni Muslim mosques in Tripoli killed 42 people in August. Tripoli residents said the sounds of heavy gunfire and rocket explosions echoed across Lebanon's second city from midnight to 6 am. The city was quieter during the day, they said, with soldiers patrolling otherwise empty streets of the rival neighborhoods, but occasional bursts of gunfire continued. Full Story | Top |
| Mandela grandson faces assault charges -South Africa prosecutors Sunday, Dec 01, 2013 06:51 AM PST  JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa will charge one of Nelson Mandela's grandsons with assault and brandishing a gun at another man, a prosecutor's official said on Sunday, in a further embarrassment for the anti-apartheid hero's large and fractious family. Mandla Mandela is due to appear in court on Friday, Luxolo Tyali, a spokesman for the National Prosecuting Authority, told Reuters. "The NPA has decided to prosecute him and summons have been issued," Tyali said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Iran, powers to meet next week on carrying out nuclear deal Sunday, Dec 01, 2013 01:30 AM PST  Envoys of Iran and six world powers will meet next week to start working out steps to implement a deal under which Tehran is to curb its nuclear program in return for some respite from sanctions, a top Iranian negotiator said. Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi was quoted by the state-run news agency Fars as saying in a television interview that Tehran was expecting to hear from senior European Union diplomat Helga Schmid soon. But, underlining years of mutual distrust, Araqchi said the deal was not legally binding and Iran had the right to undo it if the powers failed to hold up their end of the bargain. "The moment we feel that the opposite side is not meeting its obligations or its actions fall short, we will revert to our previous position and cease the process," Fars quoted Araqchi, a senior member of Iran's negotiating team, as saying. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. airlines give China flight plans for defense zone Sunday, Dec 01, 2013 02:00 AM PST  By Marina Lopes and Antoni Slodkowski NEW YORK/TOKYO (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 zone has raised tensions, particularly with Japan and South Korea, and is likely to dominate the agenda of a visit to Asia this week of U.S. Vice President Joe Biden. He will travel to Japan, China, and South Korea and try to ease tensions, senior American officials said. Full Story | Top |
| New York train derailment kills four, injures 63 Sunday, Dec 01, 2013 02:35 PM PST By Noreen O'Donnell NEW YORK (Reuters) - A suburban New York train derailed on Sunday, killing four people and injuring 63, including 11 critically, when all seven cars of a Metro-North train ran off the tracks on a sharp curve, officials said. The crash happened at 7:20 a.m. about 100 yards (meters) north of Metro-North's Spuyten Duyvil station in the city's Bronx borough, said Metro-North spokesman Aaron Donovan. Full Story | Top |
| Thai protesters step up action, PM forced to leave building Sunday, Dec 01, 2013 06:10 AM PST  By Amy Sawitta Lefevre BANGKOK (Reuters) - About 30,000 protesters launched a "people's coup" on Thailand's government on Sunday, swarming state agencies in violent clashes, taking control of a state broadcaster and forcing the prime minister to flee a police compound. But after a day of skirmishes between protesters hurling stones and petrol bombs against riot police firing back with teargas, the demonstrators failed to breach heavily barricaded Government House, office of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra. "They go to different places and they go back out." The protesters sowed chaos in one of Southeast Asia's biggest cities, breaching a police line, seizing seven police trucks, and forcing Yingluck to move to an undisclosed location from a building where she had planned to give media interviews. Small fires burned from petrol bombs that landed by police trucks. Full Story | Top |
| Suicide bomber kills 10 at funeral in northern Iraq Sunday, Dec 01, 2013 06:02 AM PST A suicide bomber in northern Iraq blew himself up at a funeral procession on Sunday, killing at least 10 people and wounding 25, as the country suffers its worst spate of violence for at least five years. No group claimed responsibility for Sunday's attack but suicide bombers linked to al Qaeda frequently target local Sunni Muslim leaders and followers considered supportive of Iraq's Shi'ite-led government. Full Story | Top |
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