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| U.S. military personnel freed after brief detention in Libya Saturday, Dec 28, 2013 11:01 AM PST By Ayman al-Sahli and Lesley Wroughton SABRATHA, Libya/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Four American military personnel were briefly detained in western Libya on Friday after part of their convoy failed to stop at a checkpoint and was found to be carrying weapons, Libyan officials said. U.S. and other Western embassies have beefed up security at their missions in Libya, which is still in turmoil two and a half years after the fall of Muammar Gaddafi. Full Story | Top |
| UK power firm boosts compensation for Christmas blackouts Saturday, Dec 28, 2013 10:02 AM PST  One of Britain's biggest power distributors pledged on Saturday to almost triple compensation to households left without power over Christmas after the first of two fierce winter storms battered the country. UK Power Networks, a distribution network owned by Hong Kong's Cheung Kong Group that covers London, the southeast and east of England, said it would almost triple its compensation to those affected by long-term power cuts. About 4,000 households across Britain remained without power on Saturday with many without electricity since Christmas Eve when a storm packing winds of more than 100 mph caused flooding and travel chaos for thousands of people. Full Story | Top |
| South Sudan says will attack rebel stronghold if ceasefire rejected Saturday, Dec 28, 2013 07:46 AM PST  By Aaron Maasho JUBA (Reuters) - South Sudan troops will attack the main stronghold of rebel forces loyal to former vice president Riek Machar if the government's offer of a ceasefire is rejected, a senior minister said on Saturday. Refugees sheltering in U.N. camps spoke of atrocities committed by both main ethnic groups. President Salva Kiir's government offered an olive branch to the rebels on Friday, proposing a ceasefire and saying it would release eight of 11 senior politicians, widely seen to be Machar allies, arrested over an alleged coup plot against Kiir. "Until mechanisms for monitoring are established, when one says there is a unilateral ceasefire, there is no way the other person would be confident this is a commitment," Machar said. Full Story | Top |
| Russia launches new Soyuz rocket Saturday, Dec 28, 2013 07:41 AM PST Russia successfully launched an upgraded version of its Soviet-design Soyuz rocket on Saturday, the Defence Ministry said, giving a boost to the country's troubled space program. The launch of the Soyuz 2.1v rocket, which features a new engine and digital guidance system, had originally been planned for the beginning of 2012 but was postponed due to an accident during testing which caused engine damage, Interfax reported. The lightweight launch vehicle blasted off Saturday afternoon from Russia's Plesetsk launch pad in the northwest Arkhangelsk region. The Soyuz 2.1v is the latest addition to Russia's Soyuz family of rockets, which has become the world's most frequently used booster since its first launch in 1966. Full Story | Top |
| Yemeni tribesmen blow up pipeline in south: local official Saturday, Dec 28, 2013 03:47 AM PST Yemeni tribesmen blew up a pipeline in the eastern Hadramout province on Saturday, disrupting oil flow two days after they seized an Oil Ministry building in the region, a local government official said. The authorities face regular challenges from tribesmen who attack oil pipelines and power lines for reasons including demands for more employment and the release of jailed relatives. Tribal sources said on Thursday that the Oil Ministry attack was in response to the killing of a tribal leader this month at an army checkpoint after his bodyguards refused to hand over their weapons to soldiers. Yemen, one of the Arab world's poorest countries, is struggling to restore state authority after long-serving President Ali Abdullah Saleh was forced to step down in 2011. Full Story | Top |
| Australia's iron ore ports prepare as Cyclone Christine nears Saturday, Dec 28, 2013 03:18 AM PST  By Morag MacKinnon PERTH, Australia (Reuters) - Ports in Australia's Pilbara region, through which almost half of the world's seaborne iron ore is shipped, were sending ships out to sea on Saturday ahead of a tropical cyclone that is forecast to reach the coast by Tuesday. The last of more than 40 vessels in the anchorages and harbor at Port Hedland are expected to leave by the early hours of Sunday, port spokesman Steed Farrell told Reuters. Ships were also moving out to sea from Dampier port, through which both iron ore and gas from the north-west shelf is shipped. The Australian Bureau of Meteorology said the storm, a Category 1 cyclone named Christine, was estimated to be 570 km (355 miles) north, northeast of Port Hedland and moving southwest, parallel to the coast, at 12 km (7 miles) per hour on Saturday evening. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. military personnel released after being held by Libya government Friday, Dec 27, 2013 10:18 PM PST Four American military personnel were detained by the Libyan government on Friday and held in custody for several hours before being released, U.S. officials said. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said President Barack Obama's administration was looking into the incident, but confirmed that "all four U.S. military personnel being held in Libyan government custody have been released." A U.S. defense official said the Americans appeared to have been checking possible evacuation routes for the U.S. embassy in Tripoli. Psaki said the United States, which backed the 2011 uprising against Muammar Gaddafi, valued its relationship with "the new Libya." "We have a strategic partnership based on shared interests and our strong support for Libya's historic democratic transition," she said. Full Story | Top |
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