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| North Korean leader says purge was a cleansing of 'filth' Tuesday, Dec 31, 2013 07:48 PM PST  By Ju-min Park SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un made his first reference to the execution of his powerful uncle in a New Year's address, saying the reclusive state's ruling party had become stronger after it was purged of "factional filth." And as he called for better relations with South Korea, he warned that another war on the Korean peninsula would cause a massive nuclear disaster that would hit the United States. Kim, the third generation of his family to rule North Korea, did not refer by name to his uncle Jang Song Thaek, who was executed last month in a rare public purge for crimes against the ruling Workers' Party and harming national interest. Full Story | Top |
| Revelers usher in 2014 with fireworks, festivities Tuesday, Dec 31, 2013 07:09 PM PST  By Victoria Cavaliere NEW YORK (Reuters) - From Sydney to Dubai, revelers welcomed 2014 with extravagant fireworks displays, while London prepared to celebrate by spraying clouds of fruit-flavored mist and Chicago and San Francisco planned massive outdoor festivities. In New York, crowds gathered in Times Square for the annual New Year's Eve street party. By midnight, some one million people were expected to be on hand for Miley Cyrus, Melissa Etheridge and hip-hop artists Macklemore & Ryan Lewis and the dropping of the 11,875-pound, crystal-encrusted ball marking the start of the new year. "We've been living on granola bars and little bottles of water because if you move, you lose your spot," said Sheila Harshbarger, who traveled to New York from Indiana with her daughter and staked out ground next to a row of police barricades in the freezing cold more than 14 hours before midnight. Full Story | Top |
| South Sudan government, rebels set for New Year's Day talks Tuesday, Dec 31, 2013 07:02 PM PST  By Carl Odera and Aaron Maasho JUBA (Reuters) - South Sudan's government and rebels are set for New Year's Day peace talks in Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa, to thrash out a ceasefire to end weeks of ethnic bloodletting in the world's newest state. Both sides agreed to a ceasefire on Tuesday, mediators said, but fighting between government troops and militias loyal to former Vice President Riek Machar raged in Bor, the capital of the vast Jonglei state and site of an ethnic massacre in 1991. "I'm worried that the continued fighting in Bor might scupper the start of these talks," said Ethiopian Foreign Minister Dr. Tedros Adhanom, who is chairman of the regional Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) bloc that is mediating the talks. Western and regional powers have pushed both sides to end the fighting that has killed at least 1,000 people, cut South Sudan's oil output and raised fears of a full-blown civil war in the heart of a fragile region. Full Story | Top |
| West Nile virus blamed for death of bald eagles in Utah Tuesday, Dec 31, 2013 05:14 PM PST  An unprecedented wintertime outbreak of West Nile virus has killed more than two dozen bald eagles in Utah and thousands of water birds around the Great Salt Lake, state wildlife officials said on Tuesday. At least 27 bald eagles have died this month in the northern and central parts of Utah from the blood-borne virus, and state biologists reported that five more ailing eagles were responding to treatment at rehabilitation centers. The eagles, whose symptoms included leg paralysis and tremors, are believed to have contracted the disease by preying on sick or dead water birds called eared grebes that were infected by the West Nile virus, said Leslie McFarlane, Utah wildlife disease coordinator. Some 20,000 of the water birds have died in and around the Great Salt Lake since November in an outbreak that may be a record in North America, McFarlane said. Full Story | Top |
| Anti-Assad monitoring group says Syrian death toll passes 130,000 Tuesday, Dec 31, 2013 03:56 PM PST The death toll in Syria's civil war has risen to at least 130,433, more than a third of them civilians on both sides of the conflict, but the real figure is probably much higher, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Tuesday. The conflict in Syria began in March 2011 as peaceful protests against four decades of rule by President Bashar al-Assad's family, but turned into an armed insurgency whose sectarian dimensions have reverberated across the Middle East. The anti-Assad Observatory, based in Britain but with a network of sources across Syria, put the number of women and children killed in the conflict so far at 11,709. It said the death toll among rebels fighting the Assad government was at least 29,083. Full Story | Top |
| West Nile virus blamed for death of eagles in Utah Tuesday, Dec 31, 2013 02:21 PM PST An unusual wintertime outbreak of West Nile virus has killed more than two dozen bald eagles in Utah and thousands of shore birds around the Great Salt Lake, state wildlife officials said on Tuesday. At least 27 bald eagles have died this month in the northern and central parts of Utah from the blood-borne virus, and state biologists reported that five more ailing eagles were responding to treatment at rehabilitation centers. The eagles are believed to have contracted the disease by preying on sick or dead shore birds called eared grebes that were infected by West Nile virus, said Leslie McFarlane, Utah wildlife disease coordinator. The water birds have died by the thousands in and around the Great Salt Lake since November. Full Story | Top |
| Gunmen blast natgas pipeline in Sinai: security sources Tuesday, Dec 31, 2013 02:08 PM PST Unknown assailants attacked a natural gas pipeline in the Sinai on Tuesday, Egyptian security sources told Reuters, raising concerns of instability as the country pushes through with a roadmap for political transition to democracy. The blast took place in the central region of Sinai on a pipeline that carried natural gas to an industrial area. There were so far no reports of casualties and security forces are scanning the area to investigate the cause of the blast, the sources said. Egypt has been struggling to maintain stability in the country of 85 million people since the army ousted Islamist President Mohamed Mursi, the country's first elected leader, on July 3 following mass protests against his rule. Full Story | Top |
| Putin vows to annihilate "terrorists" after suicide bombings Tuesday, Dec 31, 2013 01:11 PM PST By Sergei Karpov VOLGOGRAD, Russia (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday vowed to annihilate all "terrorists" following two deadly bomb attacks in the southern Russian city of Volgograd that raised security fears ahead of the Winter Olympics. The uncompromising remarks in a televised New Year address were Putin's first public comments since suicide bombers killed at least 34 people in attacks less than 24 hours apart on a railway station and a trolleybus on Sunday and Monday. But after two decades of violence in the North Caucasus, Islamist militants continue to pose a threat beyond their home region. Russia's Olympic Committee chief said no more could be done to safeguard the Games since every measure possible was already in place around Sochi, beneath the Caucasus mountains. Full Story | Top |
| Italy president says won't serve entire term Tuesday, Dec 31, 2013 12:58 PM PST  By Steve Scherer ROME (Reuters) - Italian President Giorgio Napolitano said on Tuesday that he would stay on the job only as long as he is needed and "not a day more," eight months after breaking a political deadlock by agreeing to serve an unprecedented second term. Napolitano, who some refer to as "King George", used the powers of his office to help guide Italy through a burgeoning debt crisis in 2011 and a political stalemate earlier this year that led to the formation of broad, and sometimes unstable, governing coalition. After replacing an embattled Silvio Berlusconi with Mario Monti in 2011, Napolitano this year handpicked Prime Minister Enrico Letta to form a government to pass badly needed reforms to overhaul the political system - especially with a new electoral law - and to boost economic growth. Opposition parties like Beppe Grillo's 5-Star Movement and Berlusconi's Forza Italia have called for elections in the spring, and have directed a barrage of attacks against Napolitano for opposing them and overplaying his role. Full Story | Top |
| Egypt security forces arrest Brotherhood leader's son Tuesday, Dec 31, 2013 12:56 PM PST By Asma Alsharif CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian security forces have arrested the son of a Muslim Brotherhood leader on charges of inciting violence, the Interior Ministry said on Tuesday, the latest move in a crackdown against the group now branded a terrorist organization. Anas Beltagi was arrested with two others in an apartment in Nasr City, the same district where security forces in August broke up protests calling for the reinstatement of President Mohamed Mursi, a Muslim Brotherhood leader who was ousted by the army in July. They were found in possession of a shotgun and ammunition, the Interior Ministry said in a statement. Beltagi's father, Mohamed Beltagi, is in jail facing trial for inciting violence along with other Muslim Brotherhood leaders. Full Story | Top |
| Iran says nuclear deal to be implemented in late January Tuesday, Dec 31, 2013 12:50 PM PST By Marcus George DUBAI (Reuters) - World powers and Iran have agreed to start implementing in late January an agreement obliging Tehran to suspend its most sensitive nuclear work, an Iranian official was quoted as saying on Tuesday. There was no immediate confirmation of the agreement from the six powers - the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany - or the European Union, which oversees contacts with Iran on behalf of the six. The reported agreement follows nearly 23 hours of talks between nuclear experts from Iran and the six powers held in Geneva on Monday and Tuesday. Full Story | Top |
| Kerry to push for solutions as Israeli-Palestinian peace talks intensify Tuesday, Dec 31, 2013 12:48 PM PST  By Lesley Wroughton WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry hopes to narrow differences between Israelis and Palestinians in peace talks this week that are intended to guide the sides toward a deal in April, a senior State Department official said on Tuesday. Kerry departs for the region on Wednesday in his first trip after a Christmas break. Israel and Palestinians resumed peace talks in July after a three-year break aimed at producing a peace agreement within nine months to end their decades-old conflict. Such a step would also demonstrate to both Israelis and Palestinians that progress is being made. Full Story | Top |
| South Sudan, rebel negotiators to arrive in Ethiopia on Wednesday: minister Tuesday, Dec 31, 2013 12:08 PM PST The South Sudanese government and rebel negotiators will arrive for peace talks in Ethiopia on Wednesday, a day later than planned, Ethiopian Foreign Minister Tedros Adhanom said, as fighting raged for the control of the flashpoint town of Bor. "I'm worried that the continued fighting in Bor might scupper the start of these talks," Adhanom, who is the chair of the regional IGAD bloc mediating the talks, told Reuters by phone from the capital Addis Ababa. Full Story | Top |
| Schumacher slightly better but fragile: doctors Tuesday, Dec 31, 2013 11:38 AM PST  By Lucien Libert GRENOBLE, France (Reuters) - French doctors treating Michael Schumacher for brain injuries sustained in a ski fall said the seven-times Formula One world champion was in slightly better condition on Tuesday after an overnight operation, but that he remained fragile. Doctors treating him at a hospital in the eastern city of Grenoble said his condition had stabilized enough by late Monday to carry out a new operation to treat the effects of internal bleeding within Schumacher's skull. "We have won some time but we must continue an hour-by-hour surveillance... It is premature to speculate on his condition," he said, adding that Schumacher was still in a critical state and suffering from severe lesions and contusions. He said the operation was designed to reduce, within Schumacher's skull, the pressure on the brain. Full Story | Top |
| Jordan assumes U.N. Security Council chair as conflicts persist Tuesday, Dec 31, 2013 11:11 AM PST By Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Jordan takes over the U.N. Security Council presidency on Wednesday, the first day of its two-year stint on a 15-nation body struggling to cope with conflicts in Syria, South Sudan, Central African Republic, Mali and elsewhere. Jordan will join Chad, Chile, Lithuania and Nigeria on the council until December 31, 2015. The U.N. General Assembly elected Amman in early December as a replacement for Saudi Arabia after Riyadh turned down the seat in protest at the council's failure to end the Syrian war and act on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and other Middle East issues. Although Jordan was a last-minute stand-in for the Saudi kingdom, Amman's U.N. ambassador, Prince Zeid Ra'ad Zeid al-Hussein, has a reputation at the United Nations for his outspoken stance on human rights issues, U.N. diplomats say. Full Story | Top |
| Leader of group linked to al Qaeda held in Lebanon: sources Tuesday, Dec 31, 2013 10:45 AM PST (Reuters) - A Saudi militant who allegedly leads a group linked to al Qaeda which operates throughout the Middle East has been arrested by military authorities in Lebanon, according to U.S. national security sources. Two U.S. sources said that media reports from Lebanon that Lebanese Armed Forces had recently captured Majid bin Muhammad al-Majid, leader of the Abdullah Azzam Brigades were credible. Lebanese media reported on Tuesday that Majid had been arrested two days ago. The Long War Journal said that the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, named after a founder of al Qaeda and associate of the late Osama bin Laden, were formed some time after 2005 as a spinoff of al-Qaeda in Iraq. Full Story | Top |
| Armed men attack Yemen police headquarters, wounding seven Tuesday, Dec 31, 2013 10:00 AM PST  Armed men including a suicide bomber tried to storm police headquarters in southern Yemen's main city on Tuesday, wounding seven policemen, state media reported. The men tried to force their way into the compound in Aden in several cars, with the bomber blowing himself up in one of the vehicles which was packed with explosives, news agency SABA said. They exchanged gunfire with police, who prevented the attackers from entering the building, SABA quoted Najeeb Maghlas, deputy general director of security in Aden, as saying. Security sources earlier told Reuters police averted another suicide bombing attempt on the same building, and they had arrested two people who admitted links to al Qaeda. Full Story | Top |
| Bombs across Baghdad kill at least 15, clashes continue in Anbar: sources Tuesday, Dec 31, 2013 09:40 AM PST Bombs exploded across the Iraqi capital on Tuesday, killing at least 15 people, police and medical sources said, a day after police broke up a Sunni Muslim protest camp in a western province. No group immediately claimed responsibility for any of Tuesday's attacks but al Qaeda's Iraqi affiliate, which was forced underground in 2006-07, has reemerged this year, invigorated by civil war in Syria and Sunni resentment at home. In the deadliest attack in Baghdad, seven people were killed when two car bombs hit the Shi'ite neighborhood of Zafaraniya. In southeastern Baghdad, three mortar rounds landed near a housing complex, killing four people, medics and police sources said. Full Story | Top |
| Outgoing top Muslim envoy seeks accord with Christians Tuesday, Dec 31, 2013 09:32 AM PST  By Tom Heneghan, Religion Editor PARIS (Reuters) - The outgoing head of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) said on Tuesday some Muslim states should broaden rights for religious minorities. Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, who stepped down on Monday after nine years as secretary general of the 57-country group representing the Islamic world, also said Western countries should do more to combat an increase of prejudice against Muslims there. Concern among churches worldwide for fellow Christians in the Middle East has risen in recent years as wars and Islamist rebels have killed or driven many from their homes there. The fate of Christian minorities in Muslim countries rarely figured in its declarations. Full Story | Top |
| Turkish minister says fending off 'mini-coup attempt' Tuesday, Dec 31, 2013 08:46 AM PST  By Daren Butler ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey's government said on Tuesday it was fending off a "mini coup attempt" by elements in the police and judiciary who served the interests of foreign and domestic forces bent on humbling the country. Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan said the ruling AK Party had in the past survived military coup plots and attempts in the courts to outlaw it. "These latest formations in the judiciary and the police, we can't call it a coup, but a mini coup attempt. This is what interests foreign investors," he told broadcaster CNBC-e, echoing suggestions by Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan of a foreign interest in the crisis. Full Story | Top |
| Thousands block Central African Republic flights in plea for help Tuesday, Dec 31, 2013 08:44 AM PST By Paul-Marin Ngoupana and Serge Leger Kokpakpa BANGUI (Reuters) - Thousands of people caught up in fighting in Central African Republic blocked the runway of its international airport on Tuesday, demanding more aid and the resignation of the president. Families and other refugees chanted anti-government slogans near a makeshift camp where they have taken shelter since clashes erupted between mostly Muslim Seleka fighters and Christian militias early in December. "We are going to stop the takeoff and landing of planes to draw more attention from the international community," said camp resident Rene Kaimba. Some called for the country's interim President Michel Djotodia to step down. Full Story | Top |
| French priest kidnapped in Cameroon set free Tuesday, Dec 31, 2013 07:48 AM PST By Mark John and Tansa Musa PARIS/YAOUNDE (Reuters) - A French Catholic priest kidnapped in northern Cameroon last month was released on Monday and said he had spent the weeks pacing his tent prison, torn by a mixture of boredom and anger. France said it had not paid any ransom for his release. The November 13 kidnapping of Georges Vandenbeusch, 42, was one of a series of attacks on French targets in Africa since France launched a military intervention in Mali in January to oust al Qaeda Islamists who had forged links with Boko Haram militants. He had chosen to remain as a priest in northern Cameroon, a zone where Nigerian Islamist sect Boko Haram is known to operate, despite the security threat. Full Story | Top |
| Trapped ship passengers can't go overboard with New Year celebration Tuesday, Dec 31, 2013 07:17 AM PST By Lincoln Feast and Maggie Lu Yueyang SYDNEY (Reuters) - Passengers and crew aboard a Russian ship trapped for eight days in ice off Antarctica planned to ring in the New Year with dinner, drinks and song as they waited for a break in a blizzard to allow a Chinese helicopter to rescue them. The Akademik Shokalskiy, trapped since December 24 about 100 nautical miles east of a French Antarctic station, Dumont D'Urville, and about 1,500 nautical miles south of Tasmania, welcomes the New Year at 1100 GMT, two hours ahead of Sydney. It was not possible to contact the ship immediately thanks to patchy communications in one of the coldest and remotest places on Earth, but the plan was for passengers to congregate in the bar and sing a song about their adventure. "Tonight's celebrations have been tempered by the knowledge that we will definitely be getting helicoptered off, basically at the earliest opportunity, once the weather improves," Andrew Peacock, the expedition's doctor, said by satellite telephone. Full Story | Top |
| Israel frees Palestinian prisoners before Kerry visit Tuesday, Dec 31, 2013 06:25 AM PST  By Ali Sawafta RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - Israel freed 26 Palestinian prisoners on Tuesday, days before U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry was due back in the Middle East to press the two sides to reach a framework peace deal. Israel agreed to release a total of 104 Palestinian prisoners as part of a U.S.-brokered package that in July revived peace talks after a three-year break. On Friday, an Israeli official said plans would be announced after the release to build 1,400 homes for Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank, territory Palestinians seek for a state along with the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem. Jailed before or just after the first Israeli-Palestinian interim peace accord was signed 20 years ago, the inmates boarded buses for home outside Ofer prison in the West Bank as Israelis protested in East Jerusalem against the amnesty. Full Story | Top |
| Hamas rejects terror label of Egypt Islamists Tuesday, Dec 31, 2013 06:25 AM PST By Nidal al-Mughrabi GAZA (Reuters) - The Palestinian group Hamas condemned on Tuesday Egypt's designation of the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist group last week, reaffirming its solidarity with the ousted movement despite a crippling blockade imposed by Cairo. Ismail Haniyeh, prime minister of the Hamas Gaza government, also snubbed calls by some rival Palestinian factions to sever its connections with the Brotherhood. No one, regardless of its influence, can push Hamas or any of the Palestinian resistance factions to abandon their ideology, abandon their history," Haniyeh told reporters. Egyptian prosecutors and officials say the Muslim Brotherhood has links with domestic Islamist militants who have stepped up attacks on security forces across the country. Full Story | Top |
| Putin vows to annihilate "terrorists" after bombs rock Russia Tuesday, Dec 31, 2013 05:26 AM PST MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that Russia would "fiercely and consistently continue the fight against terrorists until their complete annihilation", the Interfax news agency reported. The remarks in a New Year's Eve address were Putin's first public comments since suicide bombers killed at last 34 people in two attacks in the space of less than 24 hours in Russia's southern city of Volgograd. (Writing by Steve Gutterman) Full Story | Top |
| Analysis: Fernandez image wilts in year-end Argentine heat wave Tuesday, Dec 31, 2013 05:03 AM PST  By Hugh Bronstein BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Argentina ends 2013 with a heat wave that has sparked protests over electricity shortages, taking another chunk out of President Cristina Fernandez's popularity as she faces a rocky final two years in power. Budding signs of flexibility in dealing with the International Monetary Fund and the Paris Club of creditor nations might eventually make Argentina safer as Fernandez eases her trademark tough stance vis-Ã -vis the markets. With reserves falling, inflation rising and confidence slammed by heavy-handed currency controls, Fernandez was feeling the heat before families in some of Argentina's most populated areas took to the streets last week, banging pots and pans and shouting for their electricity to be reconnected. The electricity shortages are a consequence of under investment in the country's distribution network. Full Story | Top |
| Congo 'prophet' says criticism of Kabila prompted violence Tuesday, Dec 31, 2013 04:58 AM PST  By Bienvenu Bakumanya KINSHASA (Reuters) - A self-proclaimed Congolese 'prophet' said on Tuesday an uprising by his supporters in Kinshasa was prompted by an army assault on his residence after he criticized President Joseph Kabila, something the government denied. Armed youths tried to seize the airport, a military barracks and the state television headquarters in the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo on Monday before being repulsed by troops, in clashes the government said killed 103 people, including 8 soldiers. Paul Joseph Mukungubila, who calls himself 'the prophet of the Eternal' and who ran unsuccessfully for president in 2006, said the attacks were a spontaneous response by his followers to an army assault on his home in the eastern mining town of Lubumbashi. "I have lost a lot of brothers ... I cannot understand what happened," Mukungubila told Radio France Internationale, insisting his followers were not carrying arms. Full Story | Top |
| War, weather, bureaucracy cause Syria to miss chemical weapons deadline Tuesday, Dec 31, 2013 03:50 AM PST  Security concerns and bureaucracy have caused President Bashar al-Assad's government to miss Tuesday's deadline for the removal of deadly toxins from Syria under an international effort to remove its chemical arsenal, the global chemical weapons agency said. Bad weather and a complex multinational procurement effort for equipment have also delayed the operation, an official from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said. Syria agreed to abandon its chemical weapons by next June under a deal proposed by Russia and hashed out with the United States after an August 21 sarin gas attack that Western nations blamed on Assad's forces. Damascus agreed to transport the "most critical" chemicals, including around 20 tonnes of mustard nerve agent, out of the Mediterranean port of Latakia by December 31 to be safely destroyed abroad away from the war zone. Full Story | Top |
| Thai PM seeks reconciliation despite threat of more protests Tuesday, Dec 31, 2013 03:41 AM PST  By Viparat Jantraprap BANGKOK (Reuters) - Embattled Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra called for reconciliation on Tuesday as the streets of the capital, Bangkok, emptied ahead of New Year celebrations, a rare period of calm after weeks of unrest. Anti-government protesters have vowed to disrupt a February 2 election called by Yingluck in a bid to settle a crisis that has pitted her government against Bangkok's conservative elite and middle class. The demonstrators have threatened to shut down Bangkok after the New Year, with plans to block roads in up to 20 places, although the scope of their protests has not always matched the promises made by their leader, Suthep Thaugsuban. Yingluck has not been in Bangkok for more than a week, spending time among supporters in the north, but she used social media to send a message seeking peace and reconciliation. Full Story | Top |
| South Sudan, rebels sending delegations to Ethiopia for talks Tuesday, Dec 31, 2013 03:17 AM PST JUBA (Reuters) - South Sudan will send a delegation to Ethiopia for peace talks and the Ethiopian government said rebel leader Riek Machar would also send a team to the talks in its capital. "We are going there," South Sudan Foreign Minister Barnaba Marial Benjamin told Reuters. Benjamin also said there was no question of President Salva Kiir sharing power with Machar because he had launched a coup against the country's leader. (Reporting by Aaron Maasho; Writing by Richard Lough; Editing by Darzen Jorgic and Patrick Graham) Full Story | Top |
| South Sudan rebel leader Machar ready for peace talks: BBC Tuesday, Dec 31, 2013 03:01 AM PST NAIROBI (Reuters) - South Sudan rebel leader Riek Machar is ready to enter peace talks with the Juba government and is sending a three-person delegation to the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, the BBC reported Machar as saying on Tuesday. Rebels have seized control of parts of the strategically key town of Bor as a deadline set by the country's neighbors for an end to hostilities and peace talks neared. (Reporting by Richard Lough and Drazen Jorgic; editing by Patrick Graham) Full Story | Top |
| Analysis: Bahrain impasse risks more instability in 2014 Tuesday, Dec 31, 2013 02:55 AM PST  By Rania El Gamal DUBAI (Reuters) - Bahraini government and opposition groups are sliding into an increasingly dogged confrontation amid rising fears over violence, with authorities using arrests, raids and strict new laws against activists seeking political reform. An example was a July car bombing in the capital: the resulting security crackdown, involving raids, arrests, tough new laws and strict sentencing, boosted the Sunni Muslim monarchy's control, but mutual mistrust was also deepened. "The worst scenario is that the crackdown by the authorities will increase and the violent reaction to this crackdown will also increase," said Sheikh Ali Salman, a Shi'ite cleric and head of the main opposition al-Wefaq group, which advocates non-violence. On Monday, the government said it had foiled an attempt to smuggle explosives and arms, some made in Iran and Syria, into the country by boat. Full Story | Top |
| South Sudan rebels control part of key town of Bor: officials Tuesday, Dec 31, 2013 02:00 AM PST South Sudanese rebels battled their way to the center of the strategically important town of Bor on Tuesday and were in control of some neighborhoods as the fighting raged on, the town's mayor and a government minister said. Information Minister Michael Makuei said: "This morning (the rebels) advanced to the center. The fighting is still taking place." (Reporting by Carl Odera and Aaron Maasho; Writing by Richard Lough; Full Story | Top |
| French priest kidnapped in Cameroon set free: French government Tuesday, Dec 31, 2013 01:50 AM PST Georges Vandenbeusch, the French priest kidnapped in northern Cameroon last month, has been released, the office of President Francois Hollande said on Tuesday. The brief statement said Hollande thanked Cameroonian and Nigerian authorities for their work in securing his release and highlighted the "personal involvement" of Cameroonian President Paul Biya. The 42-year-old priest had chosen to remain in northern Cameroon, a zone where Nigerian Islamist sect Boko Haram is known to operate, despite the security threat. His November 13 kidnapping was the latest in a series of attacks on French targets in Africa since France launched a military intervention in Mali in January to oust al Qaeda Islamists there, who had forged links with Boko Haram. Full Story | Top |
| In Cambodia, pressure mounts on a longtime leader Tuesday, Dec 31, 2013 01:33 AM PST  By Prak Chan Thul PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - Cambodian garment factory workers Then Any and Vong Pov aren't showing up for work anymore. Their strike has taken on a new significance and is presenting a rare challenge to one of the world's longest-serving leaders, Prime Minister Hun Sen. The pair are just 18 and have only basic education, but are among 350,000 new and powerful allies of a political opposition seeking a re-run of a July election they say was stolen from them by the ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP). Huddled behind barbed wired fences and stared down by riot police outside Hun Sen's offices are hundreds of factory workers demanding a doubling of wages and threatening to shut down roads and cripple an industry worth $5 billion a year. Vong Pov added: "Factories must give us a raise, otherwise, we will strike continuously." Instrumental in courting support of disgruntled workers who make clothes and footwear for brands like Adidas, Gap and Nike is Sam Rainsy, whose once-impotent party reinvented itself this year to tap resentment and present Hun Sen with an unprecedented electoral challenge. Full Story | Top |
| Exclusive: China may raise Iran oil imports with new contract: sources Tuesday, Dec 31, 2013 01:26 AM PST  By Chen Aizhu BEIJING (Reuters) - China may buy more Iranian oil next year as a state trader is negotiating a new light crude contract that could raise imports from Tehran to levels not seen since tough Western sanctions were imposed in 2012, running the risk of upsetting Washington. An increase would go against the spirit of November's breakthrough agreement relaxing some of the stringent measures slapped on Iran two years ago over its nuclear program. The November deal between Tehran and the group known as P5+1 -- made up of the United States and five other global powers -- paused efforts to reduce Iran's crude sales but required buyers to hold to "current average amounts" of Iranian oil imports. That agreement was seen as a reward for a softer diplomatic tone from Tehran that was forced, some U.S. officials and lawmakers say, by U.S. and EU sanctions that slashed Iran's oil exports by more than half to about 1 million barrels per day (bpd) and cost it as much as $80 billion in lost revenue. Full Story | Top |
| Religious extremism blamed for Xinjiang attack Tuesday, Dec 31, 2013 01:17 AM PST Chinese police said the nine people responsible for a deadly "terrorist attack" in the western region of Xinjiang were promoting religious extremism, state media reported on Tuesday. Xinjiang is home to a Turkic-speaking, Muslim people known as Uighurs, some of whom resent what they see as oppressive treatment by the government. The Xinjiang government said police shot dead eight people on Monday during the attack in Yarkand county close to the old Silk Road city of Kashgar in Xinjiang's south. State news agency Xinhua said late on Monday an initial probe showed the gang, led by Usman Barat and Abdugheni Abdukhadir, had gathered to watch terrorist videos and promote religious extremist ideas since August. Full Story | Top |
| Talks to ease Northern Ireland tensions break down Monday, Dec 30, 2013 11:16 PM PST  By Ian Graham BELFAST (Reuters) - Marathon talks between the leaders of Northern Ireland's Catholic and Protestant communities broke down on Tuesday without agreement to ease tensions that have led to one of the worst years of rioting in the British province for a decade. The U.S. diplomat chairing the talks said the five largest parties in Northern Ireland failed to reach an agreement during 18 hours of talks that ended shortly before 0500 GMT, the culmination of six months of negotiations. That put an end three decades of sustained sectarian violence in the province between pro-British Protestants and Catholics who generally favor unification with Ireland. We are not there," said Richard Haass, the president of the U.S. Council on Foreign Relations think-tank and a former adviser to the President George W. Bush on Northern Ireland. Full Story | Top |
| Iron ore miners wait to assess Australian cyclone damage Monday, Dec 30, 2013 11:03 PM PST By James Regan SYDNEY (Reuters) - Iron ore miners were waiting for conditions to ease before assessing damage caused by a cyclone that ripped across northwest Australia on Tuesday, closing ports and threatening mining operations in the sparsely populated Pilbara region. The key shipping ports of Dampier, Cape Lambert and Port Hedland, the world's largest iron ore export terminal, bore the brunt of the storm after clearing dozens of iron ore freighters and evacuating staff over the weekend. Cyclone Christine, the second to batter Western Australia state in the November 1-April 30 cyclone season, forced mining companies Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton and Fortescue Metals to suspend shipping until emergency authorities sound the all-clear, expected over the next day or two as the storm continues to weaken. Full Story | Top |
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