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| 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 police shoot dead eight after Xinjiang 'terrorist attack' Sunday, Dec 29, 2013 08:21 PM PST 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 second outbreak of violent unrest this month in a region that has a substantial Muslim population. The attack 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). "At around 6:30 am, nine thugs carrying knives attacked a police station in Kashgar's Yarkand county, throwing explosive devices and setting police cars on fire," the brief statement said. 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 |
| 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 |
| Schumacher 'critical' after skiing fall Sunday, Dec 29, 2013 07:47 PM PST  Retired seven-times Formula One world champion Michael Schumacher was in 'critical' condition with head injuries after an off-piste skiing accident in the French Alps resort of Meribel, his agent said on Sunday. The 44-year-old German was in hospital in Grenoble and under the care of Professor Gerard Saillant, a brain and spinal injury expert who is also president of the International Automobile Federation (FIA) Institute. "He suffered head trauma with coma that needed prompt neurosurgical treatment," Schumacher's agent Sabine Kehm said in a statement late in the evening, which a hospital official read to reporters. Christophe Gernigon-Lecomte, the director of the Meribel ski resort where Schumacher has a vacation home, said earlier that the former champion was wearing a helmet when he fell and hit his head on a rock at around 11 a.m. local time (1000 GMT). Full Story | Top |
| Severe Antarctic weather slows Australian icebreaker bid to reach stranded ship Sunday, Dec 29, 2013 07:00 PM PST  By Maggie Lu Yueyang SYDNEY (Reuters) - Severe Antarctic weather was slowing an Australian icebreaker's bid to reach a Russian ship trapped in ice since Christmas eve with 74 people onboard, the Australian maritime rescue agency said on Monday. The Aurora Australis was currently about 11 nautical miles from the stranded Russian ship Akademik Shokalskiy, said the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA), which is co-ordinating the rescue. The Aurora Australis is travelling slowly due to the conditions to ensure the safety of all on board," AMSA said in a statement. 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| Lebanon rocket fire draws Israeli artillery strike Sunday, Dec 29, 2013 04:26 AM PST  By Ari Rabinovitch JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Rockets launched from south Lebanon struck northern Israel on Sunday and Israel responded with artillery shells across a border that has been largely quiet since a war in 2006. The cross-border fire, which caused no injuries on either side, coincided with heightened political tension in Beirut following the assassination on Friday of a former Lebanese government minister. Israeli authorities said five rockets were launched from Lebanon but only one or two struck inside Israel, near the border town of Kiryat Shmona. A U.N. peacekeeping force in Lebanon, urging restraint, said it was working with the Lebanese Army to obtain further details of the attack. Full Story | Top |
| Analysis: After Web stocks boom, investors wary but rout unlikely Sunday, Dec 29, 2013 06:02 AM PST  By Alexei Oreskovic and Rodrigo Campos SAN FRANCISCO/NEW YORK (Reuters) - For investors in internet stocks, it was a banner year: shares of many companies doubled as revenue climbed and on forecasts for rip-roaring growth in earnings. While there is the potential for a decline in some Web company stock prices that are out of line with their earnings outlook, they say there is little chance of a bloody retreat. Most importantly, this year's stars, such as Facebook and Netflix, actually make money. Web-based advertising has grown into a mature, viable business, and computing speeds support video and sophisticated gaming. Full Story | Top |
| Suicide bomber kills at least 16 at Russian train station Sunday, Dec 29, 2013 02:20 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| Exclusive: U.S. government urged to name CEO to run Obamacare market Sunday, Dec 29, 2013 04:11 AM PST  By David Morgan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House is coming under pressure from some of its closest allies on healthcare reform to name a chief executive to run its federal health insurance marketplace and allay the concerns of insurers after the rocky rollout of Obamacare. Advocates have been quietly pushing the idea of a CEO who would set marketplace rules, coordinate with insurers and state regulators on the health plans offered for sale, supervise enrollment campaigns and oversee technology, according to several sources familiar with discussions between advocates and the Obama administration. Supporters of the idea say it could help regain the trust of insurers and others whose confidence in the healthcare overhaul has been shaken by the technological woes that crippled the federal HealthCare.gov insurance shopping website and the flurry of sometimes-confusing administration rule changes that followed. The advocates include former White House adviser Ezekiel Emanuel, the brother of President Barack Obama's former chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, and the Center for American Progress, the Washington think tank founded by John Podesta, the president's newly appointed senior counselor. Full Story | Top |
| Thousands of Cambodians rally to demand PM steps down Sunday, Dec 29, 2013 02:40 AM PST  By Prak Chan Thul PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of Cambodian opposition supporters, backed by striking garment-factory workers, rallied on Sunday to demand long-serving Prime Minister Hun Sen step down and call an election. The garment workers have in recent days joined the opposition protests to press their demand that the government raise the minimum wage to $160 a month from $95, as recommended on December 24. "Hun Sen and his illegal government can hear us, they can't ignore us, the people show their will for change," Sam Rainsy, leader of the main opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party, told the rally in a Phnom Penh park. "We demand that Hun Sen to steps down and a new election," Sam Rainsy, a former finance minister, told the crowd, some of whom have been camping out in the park since December 15. 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 |
| Insight: Small-town squabbles blamed for stalling Philippine storm aid Saturday, Dec 28, 2013 10:04 PM PST  By Nathan Layne and Manuel Mogato PALO, Philippines (Reuters) - Nena Obrero and her family survived without government aid for three weeks after Super Typhoon Haiyan churned across the central Philippines and reduced much of her hometown to rubble. Obrero lives in Guindapunan, a barangay, or district, of the city of Palo, on the east of Leyte island, where more than 1,000 people were killed on November 8. But they missed out on the initial shipments of rice from the municipal office, the main channel for redistributing aid in the disaster-prone Southeast Asian archipelago, due to political squabbling, Obrero said. Even in a tiny barangay, residents say the biggest loyalties are at play - in this case to the clan of former dictator Ferdinand Marcos's widow, whose supporters belong to a collection of opposition parties, and to rival assassinated politician Benigno Aquino, whose son is now president. Full Story | Top |
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