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| Mexican Senate passes electoral bill, clearing way for energy debate Tuesday, Dec 03, 2013 08:19 PM PST  Mexico's Senate on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved an electoral reform demanded by the opposition, helping pave the way for Congress to focus on an energy bill at the center of President Enrique Pena Nieto's economic agenda. Opposition conservatives demanded passage of the electoral legislation before they would provide their support for an energy bill that would open the state-controlled oil sector to private investment. Mexico's peso rallied on Tuesday after the leader of Pena Nieto's Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) in the Senate said that lawmakers could turn to the energy bill as soon as the political reform was approved. Further boosting the peso, prominent Mexican leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador was hospitalized with heart trouble, reducing the likelihood that he will be able to lead street protests against the energy plans. Full Story | Top |
| Delhi's rubble-strewn Connaught Place mirrors ruling party's election struggle Tuesday, Dec 03, 2013 07:46 PM PST  By Frank Jack Daniel NEW DELHI (Reuters) - The broken paving stones and exposed cables that mar the neo-Georgian grandeur of India's prime shopping precinct give a glimpse into why the ruling Congress party might struggle to hold on to the capital Delhi in a local election on Wednesday. Work is still unfinished on a costly face lift to Connaught Place that was meant to showcase Delhi to the world for the 2010 Commonwealth Games and businesses located in what is some of the world's most costly office real estate are furious. The main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is hopeful a widespread perception that government corruption and incompetence is to blame for shambles like Connaught Place's facelift will feed into voter anger at high prices and unsafe streets, and help it unseat Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit after 15-years in office. Full Story | Top |
| Venezuelan president says he has proof blackout was sabotage Tuesday, Dec 03, 2013 07:40 PM PST  By Daniel Wallis and Deisy Buitrago CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said on Tuesday he had proof that a massive power outage was caused by saboteurs aiming to throw the country into chaos before municipal elections this weekend. The blackout on Monday night was the second major power outage the year, plunging much of the country into darkness and prompting accusations of government incompetence from the opposition. Speaking on state TV alongside Electricity Minister Jesse Chacon and other officials, Maduro briefly showed a photo of what appeared to be a cut conductor cable lying on the floor. "Whoever made this criminal attack wanted to leave our Venezuela without electricity for 24 to 48 hours ... thinking that would convince people not to continue with the revolution." Maduro's combative rhetoric echoed his allegations in September, when he also accused the opposition of sabotaging the national grid to discredit him after a blackout that was one of the worst in the OPEC nation's history. Full Story | Top |
| Vatican refuses to share sex abuse investigations with U.N. panel Tuesday, Dec 03, 2013 06:04 PM PST  The Vatican refused to provide a United Nations rights panel with information on the Church's internal investigations into the sexual abuse of children by clergy, saying on Tuesday that its policy was to keep such cases confidential. In response to a series of tough questions posed by the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC), the Holy See said it would not release information on its internal investigations into abuse cases unless required to do so by a request from a state or government to cooperate in legal proceedings. The response of the Holy See, which will be directly questioned by the panel in January 2014, will be closely watched as it tries to draw a line under financial scandals and abuse by priests that have damaged the standing of the Roman Catholic Church around the world. In its response the Vatican said internal disciplinary proceedings "are not open to the public" in order to protect "witnesses, the accused and the integrity of the Church process", but said this should not discourage victims from reporting crimes to state authorities. Full Story | Top |
| Britain to tackle 'Islamist extremism' after soldier's murder Tuesday, Dec 03, 2013 05:37 PM PST  By Andrew Osborn SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Britain plans to classify "Islamist extremism" as a distinct ideology, British Prime Minister David Cameron said on Tuesday, as part the government's response to the murder of a soldier on a busy London street. A court heard that one of them said it was an "eye for an eye" and revenge for what they considered to be Britain's wars against Muslims. "These tragedies were a wakeup call for government and wider society to take action to confront extremism in all its forms, whether in our communities, schools, prisons, Islamic centers or universities." "Islamist extremism" would, for the first time, be classified as a distinct ideology to guard against it being confused with traditional religious practice, he said. The new definition would make it clear that "Islamist extremism" was a distorted interpretation of Islam that betrayed the religion's principles and tried to sow division. Full Story | Top |
| Arafat did not die of poisoning, French tests conclude Tuesday, Dec 03, 2013 04:37 PM PST  By Paul Taylor PARIS (Reuters) - Yasser Arafat was not the victim of poisoning, French forensic scientists concluded on Tuesday, countering a Swiss report on the 2004 death of the Palestinian leader that found he was probably killed with radioactive polonium. The French conclusions were immediately challenged by his widow, Suha Arafat, who has argued the death was a political assassination by someone close to her husband. A senior Palestinian official dismissed the report as "politicized". "You can imagine how much I am shaken by the contradictions between the findings of the best experts in Europe in this domain," Suha Arafat, dressed in black and reading from a written statement, told a news conference in Paris. Full Story | Top |
| Mexican left-wing leader Lopez Obrador has heart attack, surgery Tuesday, Dec 03, 2013 04:36 PM PST  Mexican leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador was rushed to hospital for surgery on Tuesday after suffering a heart attack, which could undermine his ability to lead protests against President Enrique Pena Nieto's push to open up the oil sector. Lopez Obrador, who was runner-up to Pena Nieto in last year's presidential election, is perceived as one of the biggest threats to the planned reform to open the state-controlled oil sector to private investment. Patricio Ortiz, the cardiologist who attended Lopez Obrador, told a news conference that he was making "satisfactory progress" and was conscious. He could not say how long Lopez Obrador would remain in hospital. Full Story | Top |
| Hezbollah chief says he met Qatari envoy in recent days Tuesday, Dec 03, 2013 04:31 PM PST  By Mariam Karouny BEIRUT (Reuters) - Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said on Tuesday he recently received an envoy from Qatar, the first contact between the two sides since divisions over the crisis in Syria severed their once strong relations. "There is talk between us ... there was a line between us and Qatar which was reopened (recently) but up to a certain limit," Nasrallah said in an interview with Lebanon's OTV television. He did not disclose details about the identity or seniority of the envoy but when asked by the interviewer if the meeting took place in the past few days Nasrallah said: "Yes, it is true. I cannot hide it." Hezbollah, a Shi'ite Muslim group, had developed relatively strong ties with Qatar, especially after the Gulf state funded the reconstruction of many Shi'ite villages destroyed during a 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel. Full Story | Top |
| North Korea's Kim seen behind sacking of powerful uncle Tuesday, Dec 03, 2013 04:28 PM PST  By Jack Kim and Ju-min Park SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is believed to have dismissed a powerful uncle, a man key to his rise to power, from his posts, South Korean lawmakers said on Tuesday, a move that could help consolidate his power base with a younger guard of aides. Jang Song Thaek was likely sacked as vice chairman of the powerful National Defence Commission and as a department head of the ruling Workers' Party, lawmaker Jung Cheong-rae said, citing a senior South Korean official with the National Intelligence Service (NIS). Analysts who watch the North's power structure say Jang's removal would not have been possible without the approval of the third Kim to rule in the family dynasty. Choe Ryong Hae, director of the General Political Bureau of the Korean People's Army, has been the most prominent figure to accompany Kim at public events and is a reminder of the state's political roots in military power. Full Story | Top |
| Health deteriorates for American pastor in Iran prison: law center Tuesday, Dec 03, 2013 04:25 PM PST  An Iranian-American pastor imprisoned in Iran for more than a year because of his Christian faith is in declining health for lack of proper nutrition and necessary medication, a group seeking his release said on Tuesday. An Iranian court in January sentenced Saeed Abedini, 33, a naturalized U.S. citizen, to eight years in prison for undermining national security by working to establish home-based Christian churches in Iran from 2000 to 2005. The Washington-based American Center for Law and Justice, which has petitioned Congress and President Barack Obama to seek Abedini's release, said on Tuesday that the pastor's father was allowed to visit him on Monday for the second time since he was moved a month ago to a prison that houses violent offenders. "It's a worsening situation," said Gene Kapp, spokesman for the center. Full Story | Top |
| EPA fracking study could hurt energy boom: U.S. business leader Tuesday, Dec 03, 2013 04:23 PM PST America's largest business lobby group warned the Obama administration on Tuesday against snuffing out the country's energy boom with regulations on new oil and natural gas drilling technologies. U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Thomas Donohue said an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) study due next year could be used to justify clamping down on drilling techniques that have sparked a surge in U.S. oil and natural gas output. A major force in U.S. politics, the Chamber of Commerce is the biggest business lobbying group in the country and has been a steady critic of President Barack Obama. Full Story | Top |
| Canada panel urges better response plan for oil spills Tuesday, Dec 03, 2013 03:54 PM PST By Julie Gordon VANCOUVER (Reuters) - Canada must be better prepared to respond to major oil spills if more crude starts to flow in pipelines to the country's Pacific Coast, a government panel said on Tuesday, as fears of a major marine disaster grow. The report, by the federal transport department, makes 45 recommendations, including ensuring companies are prepared for a worst-case scenario and new guarantees that taxpayers will not be liable for costs related to spills in Canadian waters. Regulators are currently weighing separate proposals from Enbridge and Kinder Morgan to build new pipelines to carry oil from Alberta to the British Columbia coast, which could bring an additional 600 tankers to the region each year. The review of Canada's ship-source oil spill regime is a key part of the federal government's push to reassure Canadians that it has prepared for that additional traffic and has a policy in place to respond if there is a major spill. Full Story | Top |
| Pentagon says halts ground shipments out of Afghanistan via Pakistan Tuesday, Dec 03, 2013 03:39 PM PST  By Phil Stewart WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. military has halted ground shipments of cargo leaving Afghanistan via its key Pakistan supply route to ensure the safety of drivers following protests in Pakistan over American drone strikes, a Pentagon spokesman said on Tuesday. The affected route, which runs from Torkham Gate at the Afghanistan-Pakistan border to the Pakistani port city of Karachi, has been crucial for the United States as it winds down its combat mission in landlocked Afghanistan and moves equipment out of the country. The route accounts for the vast majority of ground traffic of U.S. military cargo through Pakistan and has been targeted by protesters in Pakistan angered by U.S. drone strikes. "We are aware protests have affected one of the primary commercial transit routes between Pakistan and Afghanistan," Pentagon spokesman Mark Wright told Reuters. Full Story | Top |
| Temperature limit too high to avoid climate change: study Tuesday, Dec 03, 2013 02:06 PM PST By Nina Chestney LONDON (Reuters) - An internationally agreed target to limit rises in global average temperatures to within 2 degrees Celsius is around double the threshold that would avoid catastrophic climate change, a study by 18 eminent scientists said. Governments decided in 2009 that such temperature increases needed to be no more than 2 degrees C (3.6 Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels to avoid effects such as more extreme weather, higher sea levels and ocean acidification. They aim to agree by 2015 on a global deal to cut the greenhouse gas emissions blamed for climate change, but the reductions will not come into force until after 2020. Last month, a United Nations conference in Warsaw kept alive hopes for the 2015 deal but nations made little progress on committing to ambitious emission cuts to keep the world on track towards the 2 degree target. Full Story | Top |
| Ukraine protesters threaten tighter blockade over spurned EU pact Tuesday, Dec 03, 2013 02:03 PM PST  By Natalia Zinets and Matt Robinson KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine's government faced a tightening blockade of key buildings by protesters in the capital Kiev on Wednesday amid a crisis over its rejection of closer ties with the European Union that has piled pressure on the creaking economy. Protesters threatened to extend their blockade to the office of President Viktor Yanukovich, who flew to China on Tuesday leaving behind a country in turmoil over his government's decision last month to spurn a landmark EU trade accord. The crisis has exposed once more the East-West tug-of-war playing out in Ukraine, which has oscillated between the EU and former Soviet master Moscow since the 2004-5 Orange Revolution overthrew the post-Soviet political order. Yanukovich's prime minister, Mykola Azarov, said his cabinet would hold its weekly meeting on Wednesday in the government building, paving the way for a possible showdown with the protesters, who have blocked the entrances since Monday. Full Story | Top |
| Twelve killed in Central African Republic attack: U.N. Tuesday, Dec 03, 2013 01:48 PM PST  Armed men killed at least 12 civilians and wounded 30, including children, northwest of the Central African Republic capital, United Nations officials said on Tuesday ahead of a Security Council move to end anarchy in the country. The Council is to vote on Thursday on dispatching French reinforcements to restore order in Central African Republic, which has slipped into chaos since mainly Muslim rebels seized power, leading to tit-for-tat sectarian violence. BINUCA, as the United Nations office in Bangui is known, said unidentified armed men had targeted Boali, about 95 km (60 miles) from the capital at the weekend. The U.N. office did not give details on who was responsible but it warned of tensions between communities leading to "a climate of increasing violence" in the impoverished landlocked country, which is majority Christian. Full Story | Top |
| Britain pushes U.N. resolution against ransom payments to extremists Tuesday, Dec 03, 2013 01:20 PM PST  Britain submitted a draft resolution to the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday that calls on countries to prevent the payment of kidnap ransoms to extremist groups, like al Qaeda, which have earned hundreds of millions of dollars from such crimes. British U.N. Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant said he hoped the 15-member council would be able to adopt the resolution by the end of the month. No new legal obligations would be created, he said, as states were already required not to pay kidnap ransoms under an anti-terrorism resolution adopted in 2001. "There is increasing concern about the amount of money that is being raised by terrorists through kidnap for ransom and it has been particularly a tool of al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and also al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula," Lyall Grant said. Full Story | Top |
| Defense chief could sign Afghan pact instead of Karzai: Kerry Tuesday, Dec 03, 2013 01:16 PM PST  By Adrian Croft and David Brunnstrom BRUSSELS (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry suggested on Tuesday that Afghanistan's defense minister or government, instead of a reluctant President Hamid Karzai, could sign a security pact enabling some U.S. troops to stay in the country after 2014. An assembly of Afghan elders, the Loya Jirga, last month endorsed the security deal with the United States, but Karzai said he might not sign it until after elections next April. The delay has irritated the United States and its allies, which want to get on with planning for the smaller, NATO-led training mission that is to stay on in Afghanistan after 2014, when most foreign troops that have been battling Taliban insurgents will have pulled out. Kerry urged the Afghan government to sign the security deal "sooner, not later" and said this priority was backed by all NATO foreign ministers taking part in a meeting on Tuesday. Full Story | Top |
| African, Asian states agree measures to curb illegal ivory trade Tuesday, Dec 03, 2013 01:08 PM PST  African and Asian countries agreed measures on Tuesday to curb the illegal trade in ivory which threatens to decimate Africa's elephant population, organizers of a conservation conference said. The "African Elephant Summit" issued a list of measures that governments had agreed to, including setting tough sentences for poaching and trafficking, better monitoring of elephant numbers and illegal trade in ivory, and more cross-border cooperation. "Our window of opportunity to tackle the growing illegal ivory trade is closing and if we do not stem the tide, future generations will condemn our unwillingness to act," said Ian Khama, president of Botswana, which hosted the conference convened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. The African elephant, the world's largest terrestrial mammal, is listed as vulnerable on the IUCN "red list" of threatened species, with a population estimated at around 500,000 animals. Full Story | Top |
| British news staff may face terrorism charges over Snowden leaks Tuesday, Dec 03, 2013 01:07 PM PST  By William James and Michael Holden LONDON (Reuters) - British police are examining whether Guardian newspaper staff should be investigated for terrorism offenses over their handling of data leaked by Edward Snowden, Britain's senior counter-terrorism officer said on Tuesday. The disclosure came after Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger, summoned to give evidence at a parliamentary inquiry, was accused by lawmakers of helping terrorists by making top secret information public and sharing it with other news organizations. The Guardian was among several newspapers which published leaks from U.S. spy agency contractor Snowden about mass surveillance by the National Security Agency (NSA) and Britain's eavesdropping agency GCHQ. Assistant Commissioner Cressida Dick, who heads London's Specialist Operations unit, told lawmakers the police were looking to see whether any offenses had been committed, following the brief detention in August of a man carrying data on behalf of a Guardian journalist. Full Story | Top |
| Mexico leftist Lopez Obrador has heart attack but is improving Tuesday, Dec 03, 2013 12:57 PM PST  Mexican leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who was runner-up to President Enrique Pena Nieto in last year's presidential election, is fine after being admitted to hospital with a heart condition, his spokesman said on Tuesday. Lopez Obrador has been spearheading protests against Pena Nieto's push to open up the state-controlled oil sector, a central plank of the president's wider economic reform drive. Cesar Yanez, a spokesman for Lopez Obrador, said the 60-year-old former mayor of Mexico City had experienced pressure on his heart and was being attended by doctors. A fiery orator and leader of the Mexican left, Lopez Obrador's closest brush with the presidency came in 2006, when he was narrowly defeated by conservative Felipe Calderon, and spent much of the next six years saying he had been robbed of victory. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. urges Ukraine to listen to its people Tuesday, Dec 03, 2013 12:32 PM PST By David Brunnstrom and Justyna Pawlak BRUSSELS (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry urged the Ukrainian government on Tuesday to "listen to the voices of its people" after President Viktor Yanukovich's decision to spurn a pact with the European Union sparked mass protests. Kerry said Ukrainians had demonstrated "in unbelievable numbers" in favor of the accord on closer ties with Europe, which Yanukovich rejected last week in favor of Russian incentives. "Mr Yanukovich has obviously made a personal decision and the people don't agree with that decision," Kerry said after a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels. "Clearly there is a very powerful evidence of people who would like to be associated with Europe ... we stand with the vast majority of the Ukrainians who want to see this future for their country," he told a news conference. Full Story | Top |
| Boxing champ Klitschko emerges as contender in Ukraine crisis Tuesday, Dec 03, 2013 12:18 PM PST By Richard Balmforth and Thomas Grove KIEV (Reuters) - Urbane liberals are joining black-booted skinheads to protest on the streets of Kiev, but if the Orange Revolution of nine years ago is to be repeated, they need a leader to unite them. Enter Vitaly Klitschko, a towering world boxing champion with a doctorate in sports science, who is looking increasingly like the opposition's most powerful contender. Protesters and commentators saw Klitschko emerging on Tuesday as a leader-in-waiting, as the opposition digs in to unseat President Viktor Yanukovich after he ditched a trade pact with the European Union to revive economic ties with former Soviet master Moscow. "I'd stand behind Klitschko," said Grigory Parkhomenko, a 54-year-old retired factory worker at Kiev's 'opposition-occupied' city hall. Full Story | Top |
| Approval for Russia's Putin lowest since 2000: opinion poll Tuesday, Dec 03, 2013 12:11 PM PST  By Steve Gutterman MOSCOW (Reuters) - Rising prices and an economic slowdown helped drive President Vladimir Putin's public approval rating to its lowest level in more than 13 years last month, a Russian polling agency said on Tuesday. A survey by the independent Levada agency found 61 percent of respondents voiced approval for Putin's performance in November, down from 64 percent in October and the previous low this year of 62 percent, recorded in January. The approval rating would be envied by many leaders but it was the lowest for Putin in Levada's monthly survey since June 2000, the month after he started his first of three presidential terms. "Against a backdrop of constantly rising prices, many people see little prospect for positive change in the (economic) situation," Levada deputy director Alexei Grazhdankin said, citing what he said may have been the main factor denting Putin's rating. Full Story | Top |
| Thai government defuses confrontation, protest leader says not over Tuesday, Dec 03, 2013 11:15 AM PST  By Panarat Thepgumpanat BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand's government ordered police on Tuesday to stop confronting protesters demanding the resignation of the prime minister, raising hope that days of political violence may end, but the leader of the campaign said the fight would go on. The protesters opposing Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra had been besieging various government buildings, including Government House, the complex that houses her offices. After days of firing teargas and rubber bullets to hold them off, police handed out roses to flag-waving protesters after the barricades were brought down. The protesters mingled with police, shouted slogans and left peacefully. Full Story | Top |
| Russia's Putin, Saudi Prince Bandar discuss Syria, Iran: Kremlin Tuesday, Dec 03, 2013 10:57 AM PST  Russian President Vladimir Putin met Saudi intelligence chief Prince Bandar bin Sultan near Moscow and discussed the war in Syria and Iran's nuclear program, the Kremlin said on Tuesday. Russia has staunchly supported President Bashar al-Assad during the conflict, which has killed more than 100,000 people since March 2011, while Saudi Arabia has backed rebels trying to overthrow the Syrian leader. The Kremlin said Putin and Prince Bandar discussed plans for a long-delayed international peace conference on Syria to be held in Geneva on January 22. Full Story | Top |
| France to allow armed security guards on its ships Tuesday, Dec 03, 2013 10:55 AM PST  France is to allow private armed guards to protect its shipping fleet against pirates, the government said on Tuesday. France is one of the main contributors to an international naval force that patrols the Gulf of Aden and the northwestern Indian Ocean to foil pirate attacks launched from Somalia. Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said the arming of private security forces would make the French merchant fleet more competitive with European rivals. "We will allow recourse to private teams capable of complementing the navy's missions," Ayrault told the newspaper Ouest France. Full Story | Top |
| Shell Canada issues all clear after Sarnia refinery spill Tuesday, Dec 03, 2013 10:55 AM PST  CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) - Shell Canada issued an all clear following a spill into the St. Clair river from its Sarnia, Ontario, manufacturing center, according a notice with Ontario's Sarnia-Lambton Network Alert System on Tuesday. The company said there was a hydrocarbon leak totaling 300 milliliters at the facility on Tuesday with some oily water making its way into the nearby St. Clair River. Shell personnel are on the scene deploying a boom to ensure the product is contained and recovered and Ontario's Ministry of Environment has been notified about the incident, a Shell spokesman said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Militias battle anew in Lebanon's Tripoli, army arrests 21 fighters Tuesday, Dec 03, 2013 10:29 AM PST  By Oliver Holmes and Laila Bassam TRIPOLI, Lebanon (Reuters) - Clashes resumed on Tuesday between Lebanese militias who back opposing sides of Syria's war and 21 fighters were arrested by the army as it pursued a six-month-long mandate to end bloodshed battering the city of Tripoli. The conflict between the majority Sunni Muslim Bab al-Tabbaneh district and the adjacent Alawite neighborhood of Jebel Mohsen in Tripoli has killed over 100 people this year. The two neighborhoods have been in on-off conflict since the 1980s but the 2-1/2-year-old civil war in neighboring Syria pitting Alawite President Bashar al-Assad against majority Sunni rebels has opened old wounds on both sides in Tripoli, and fighting has become more frequent and intense. Over the weekend, the relatives of the car bomb victims protested in a Tripoli square, demanding that leading Alawite political leaders be arrested and calling for Jebel Mohsen's electricity and water supplies to be cut off. Full Story | Top |
| Israel says supplying humanitarian aid to Syrians near Golan Tuesday, Dec 03, 2013 10:29 AM PST Israel is providing humanitarian aid to Syrian civilians caught up in fighting between President Bashar al-Assad's forces and rebels near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, its defense minister said on Tuesday. Israel has not publicly taken sides in the 2-1/2-year-old conflict in Syria, with which it is still formally at war. "We cannot sit by and watch the humanitarian difficulty on the other side - not when it comes to wounded, not when it comes to preparations for winter, not when it comes to other problems like food for babies," Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon told reporters during a tour of the Golan. Full Story | Top |
| Mexico leftist Lopez Obrador is fine after heart trouble sends him to hospital Tuesday, Dec 03, 2013 10:19 AM PST  MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexican leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who was runner-up to President Enrique Pena Nieto in last year's presidential election, is fine after being admitted to hospital with a heart condition, his spokesman said on Tuesday. Lopez Obrador has been leading protests against Pena Nieto's push to open up the state-controlled oil sector, a central plank of the president's wider economic reform drive. Cesar Yanez, a spokesman for Lopez Obrador, said the 60-year-old former mayor of Mexico City was "fine." (Reporting by Simon Gardner; editing by Jackie Frank) Full Story | Top |
| Russia needs Arctic presence to guard against U.S. threat: Putin Tuesday, Dec 03, 2013 10:00 AM PST  By Alexei Anishchuk MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday Russia had vital defense and economic interests in the Arctic, citing a potential U.S. military threat from submarine-based missiles there. Russia detained 30 Greenpeace activists protesting against Arctic drilling at Russian Prirazlomnaya offshore platform in September and they now face charges carrying seven-year jail sentences, underlining Moscow's strong interest in the Arctic. Putin has ordered a Soviet-era military base reopened in the Arctic as part of a drive to make the northern coast a global shipping route and secure the region's vast energy resources. "It only takes 15-16 minutes for U.S. missiles to reach Moscow from the Barents Sea. Full Story | Top |
| Italy PM Letta dismisses signs of tension ahead of vote Tuesday, Dec 03, 2013 09:45 AM PST  By James Mackenzie ROME (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta dismissed signs of growing tension in his government on Tuesday, ahead of a confidence vote next week to confirm his new majority after Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia party quit the ruling coalition. The government said the vote would be held on December 11, after Letta's center-left Democratic Party (PD) elects a new leader this coming Sunday. The decision comes a week after Letta won a Senate confidence vote on the 2014 budget by 171 votes to 135, despite Forza Italia's vote against the coalition. Full Story | Top |
| Police officer feared Woolwich suspect would kill her, court hears Tuesday, Dec 03, 2013 09:40 AM PST  By Costas Pitas LONDON (Reuters) - A police officer who arrived shortly after a British soldier was hacked to death in broad daylight on a London street thought she too was going to be killed by one of the suspected murderers, the Old Bailey court was told on Tuesday. Michael Adebolajo, 28, and Michael Adebowale, 22, are accused of running over Drummer Lee Rigby, 25, as he crossed a street in Woolwich, southeast London, in May before attacking his unconscious body with a meat cleaver and knives. In comments read out by prosecutor Richard Whittam, the female specialist firearms officer, identified only as 'D49', said how she feared she too would be attacked moments after arriving on the scene. Full Story | Top |
| Ukraine PM says ready to talk to protesters, wants end to blockade of buildings Tuesday, Dec 03, 2013 09:02 AM PST Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said on Tuesday he was ready to talk to demonstrators protesting over the government's U-turn on Europe, but he wanted them to end their blockade of the main government headquarters and other official buildings. "We are open for criticism and are ready for dialogue with the representatives of the protesters, and the opposition parties," he said in a statement. "The protesters must end the occupation of government buildings and stop preventing the state administration from working," he added. Full Story | Top |
| Netanyahu ally urges more cautious tone with U.S. Tuesday, Dec 03, 2013 08:36 AM PST  By Crispian Balmer JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should take the heat out of his dispute with U.S. President Barack Obama, his top coalition partner said on Tuesday, warning that the spat over Iran was not helping Israel. Relations between Israel and Washington, traditionally the closest of allies, have soured over the past month with Netanyahu openly criticizing Obama for backing the big powers' interim deal with Iran meant to curb its nuclear activities. Some analysts believe U.S.-Israeli ties have deteriorated to their worst point in more than 20 years, unsettling the Jewish state which relies heavily on military and diplomatic support from Washington. "I think we have to lower the flames with the Americans," said Finance Minister Yair Lapid, who heads the second largest party in the government. Full Story | Top |
| Nigeria eases curfew, boosts security in Maiduguri Tuesday, Dec 03, 2013 08:02 AM PST  Nigerian authorities relaxed a curfew and intensified military patrols in Maiduguri on Tuesday, a day after suspected Islamist militants launched strikes on military bases in the northeast city. The attack ended weeks of relative calm in the capital of Borno state, the birthplace of the Boko Haram insurgency that is the gravest threat to security in Africa's top oil producer and the continent's second largest economy. Thousands of people have been killed this year alone in violence linked to Boko Haram, an Islamist sect which wants to impose sharia law in a country of nearly 170 million people split roughly equally between Christians and Muslims. Baba Ahmed Jidda, a spokesman for the government of Borno State, of which Maiduguri is the capital, said on Tuesday the curfew had been relaxed to between 7 p.m. (1800 GMT) and 6 a.m., from the 24-hour restriction imposed on Monday. Full Story | Top |
| U.N. forces use drones for first time, in eastern Congo Tuesday, Dec 03, 2013 07:26 AM PST  By Kenny Katombe GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo (Reuters) - United Nations forces in Democratic Republic of Congo launched unmanned aircraft on Tuesday to monitor the volatile border with Rwanda and Uganda, the first time U.N. peacekeepers have deployed surveillance drones. The aircraft will be used to look out for threats from a host of local and foreign armed groups in the mineral rich east where Congo and U.N. experts have accused Rwanda and Uganda of sending arms and troops to back the recently-defeated M23 rebels, something both countries deny. "The drones ... will allow us to have reliable information about the movement of populations in the areas where there are armed groups," U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Herve Ladsous said at the launch of the drones in Goma, the largest city in eastern Congo. U.N. peacekeepers have received widespread criticism for doing too little to end fighting in eastern Congo, a hilly and thickly forested region that Kinshasa has struggled to control during two decades of virtually constant conflict. Full Story | Top |
| U.N. falls short of feeding Syria's hungry as winter bites Tuesday, Dec 03, 2013 07:24 AM PST  By Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA (Reuters) - The United Nations said on Tuesday it had delivered food to 3.4 million people in Syria in November, falling short again of its monthly target of 4 million as heavy fighting kept it from reaching hungry people in contested areas. As winter bites, the number of children in Syria deemed vulnerable and in need of assistance has nearly quadrupled from a year ago to 4.3 million, the U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF) said. U.N. aid chief Valerie Amos was to brief the Security Council on the humanitarian situation in Syria later on Tuesday amid deep concerns about lack of access to besieged civilians. The World Food Programme (WFP) said it had reached eight communities in November that had been cut off for months, mainly in rural Homs and Deraa, but that it was gravely concerned about many others. Full Story | Top |
| Newspaper accuses Cameron, on trade trip, of meddling in China's affairs Tuesday, Dec 03, 2013 06:55 AM PST  By Andrew Osborn SHANGHAI (Reuters) - A Chinese state newspaper on Tuesday accused British Prime Minister David Cameron, in Shanghai on a visit aimed at deepening trade cooperation, of meddling in China's affairs. The Global Times newspaper published an editorial headlined "China won't fall for Cameron's 'sincerity'" in which it accused Britain of backing Japan in a row with Beijing about airspace over the East China Sea and said London had been meddling in Hong Kong, its former colony. It dismissed Britain as "just an old European country apt for travel and study", saying it was not a big world power. Cameron, on the second day of a visit to China, is trying to rebuild relations with the world's second largest economy after a rift with Beijing over the Dalai Lama, Tibet's spiritual leader, prompted him to cancel a trip last year after China said its leaders would not be available to meet him. Full Story | Top |
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