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| China jails prominent rights activist for four years Saturday, Jan 25, 2014 06:47 PM PST  By Sui-Lee Wee BEIJING (Reuters) - A Chinese court sentenced one of China's most prominent rights advocates to four years in prison on Sunday after he campaigned for the rights of children from rural areas to be educated in cities and for officials to disclose their assets. The Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People's Court found Xu Zhiyong guilty of "gathering a crowd to disturb public order", the court said on its official microblog. Xu was tried on Wednesday. Xu's jailing will send a stark warning to activists that the Chinese Communist Party will crush any challenge to its rule, especially from those who seek to organize campaigns. Full Story | Top |
| Chile port workers end strike after three weeks Saturday, Jan 25, 2014 06:01 PM PST  Chilean port workers negotiated a settlement with management on Saturday and ended a more than three-week-old strike that had slowed copper, fruit and other shipments from the world's top copper producer. Other ports joined the strike in solidarity and in protest over what they say is police brutality against striking workers. Full Story | Top |
| Chemical tanks ordered removed in West Virginia after spill Saturday, Jan 25, 2014 04:59 PM PST  (Reuters) - The company whose storage tank spilled a chemical that tainted the water supply of 300,000 people in West Virginia must begin removing its above-ground storage tanks by March 15, Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin ordered on Saturday. Freedom Industries must dismantle and remove 17 tanks and related equipment at its coal processing plant in Charleston, West Virginia, under Tomblin's directive, part of a consent order signed by the company's president and the state's Department of Environmental Protection. Freedom Industries has agreed not to contest the state's jurisdiction in the matter, the governor said. The spill from a Freedom Industries tank was about a mile upriver from the area's main water plant, West Virginia American Water, a unit of American Water Works Company Inc. Tomblin declared a state of emergency while the chemical, used in coal processing, was flushed out of the water system. Full Story | Top |
| Tunisia premier lacks consensus on new caretaker cabinet Saturday, Jan 25, 2014 04:32 PM PST  By Tarek Amara TUNIS (Reuters) - Tunisia's new Prime Minister Mehdi Jomaa on Sunday was forced to delay naming a caretaker government to lead until elections after failing to reach a consensus over the key post of interior minister. Jomaa had planned to present his cabinet before the president on Saturday, but just after midnight the premier told at a press briefing there was no consensus over the cabinet list and he could not name the government. "It is not a question of a person, but rather I am looking for a real consensus in the government. It was a setback for Tunisia after its assembly finished the country's new constitution last week, progress widely praised as a model in contrast to upheaval in Libya, Egypt and Yemen who also ousted leaders in 2011 uprisings. Full Story | Top |
| Syrian civil war foes meet for first time, focus on aid Saturday, Jan 25, 2014 03:50 PM PST  By Mariam Karouny and Tom Miles GENEVA (Reuters) - Syria's civil war foes held their first face-to-face meetings on Saturday, launching talks aimed at ending nearly three years of conflict which has killed 130,000 people and destabilized the wider Middle East. Government and opposition delegates faced each other across a negotiating table at the United Nations headquarters for a total of three hours in the presence of mediator Lakhdar Brahimi, who described the meetings as "a good beginning". While political differences which Brahimi says must form the core of their talks appear insurmountable for now, the two sides focused on Saturday on a possible humanitarian deal aimed at building confidence in the negotiating process. Brahimi said he hoped that authorities in Syria would approve access on Sunday for an aid convoy to reach the rebel-held centre of Homs, allowing it to be delivered on Monday. Full Story | Top |
| Ukraine opposition seek more after offer of top government posts Saturday, Jan 25, 2014 03:35 PM PST By Richard Balmforth and Jack Stubbs KIEV (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich offered the opposition several top government posts on Saturday, hoping to coax his opponents into ending protests that threaten to bring the country to a standstill. But opposition leaders, whose power base is among thousands of protesters massing in Kiev's city centre, continued to press for further concessions, including early elections and the repeal of an anti-protest law. After meeting opposition leaders, Yanukovich offered former economy minister Arseny Yatsenyuk the post of prime minister to replace Mykola Azarov, whose government would be expected to resign, the presidential website said. Full Story | Top |
| Thirty-two presumed dead in massive Quebec seniors' home fire Saturday, Jan 25, 2014 03:34 PM PST  By Matthieu Belanger L'ISLE-VERTE, Quebec (Reuters) - Thirty-two people were presumed to have died in a fire that swept through a wooden retirement residence in the eastern Canadian province of Quebec on Thursday, police said on Saturday. The disaster looks set to be the second worst to hit a Canadian seniors' home after a 1969 blaze in Quebec that killed 54 people. Police, pressed about reports a cigarette had started the fire, said they still had no idea what caused Thursday's blaze in the Residence du Havre in L'Isle-Verte, a town of 1,500 people on the St Lawrence River northeast of Quebec City. Full Story | Top |
| Egypt diplomats kidnapped in Libya over militia chief's arrest Saturday, Jan 25, 2014 03:28 PM PST  By Ghaith Shennib TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Five Egyptian diplomats kidnapped in Tripoli in retaliation for Egypt's arrest of a Libyan militia chief pleaded on Saturday for their government to free him to secure their release. Gunman snatched four diplomatic staff from their homes in the Libyan capital on Saturday, including the cultural attaché, and kidnapped another on Friday, forcing Cairo to evacuate its embassy and its Benghazi consulate. The kidnappings of so many diplomats underlined Libya's persistent chaos two years after Muammar Gaddafi's fall, with heavily-armed former rebels and Islamist militants who fought in the uprising still challenging state authority. Calling themselves Libyan revolutionaries, the kidnappers contacted Al-Arabiya television channel to demand the release in 24 hours of Libyan militia chief Shaban Hadia, and put one of the Egyptian diplomats on the line. Full Story | Top |
| French President Hollande announces separation from Trierweiler Saturday, Jan 25, 2014 02:33 PM PST  By Emmanuel Jarry and Leila Abboud PARIS (Reuters) - French President Francois Hollande announced his separation from first lady Valerie Trierweiler on Saturday following a media storm over allegations he is having an affair with an actress. "I wish to make it known that I have ended my partnership with Valerie Trierweiler," he told Agence France Presse news agency. Hollande sought to put an end to turbulence that began two weeks ago when celebrity magazine Closer published a report that he was having an affair with film actress and Socialist Party supporter Julie Gayet. Questions over Hollande's personal life - and whether Trierweiler was still first lady - have diverted public attention from a shift the president made this month towards more business-friendly policies aimed at reviving the euro zone's second-biggest economy in the face of high unemployment. Full Story | Top |
| Ukraine opposition says ready to lead country Saturday, Jan 25, 2014 01:25 PM PST A Ukrainian opposition leader who was offered the post of prime minister by embattled President Viktor Yanukovich on Saturday said the opposition was ready to lead the country. "We are ready to take on this responsibility and take the country into the European Union," Arseny Yatsenyuk told crowds on Kiev's Independence Square after emerging from talks with Yanukovich. But he added that this would entail the freeing of former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko who was jailed in 2011. Earlier on Saturday, Yanukovich, whose government is facing violent street protests against his rule, offered Yatsenyuk the post of head of government and proposed that another opposition leader, Vitaly Klitschko, be made a deputy prime minister for humanitarian issues. Full Story | Top |
| Death toll from Congo arms depot blast rises to over 20 Saturday, Jan 25, 2014 12:31 PM PST The number of people known to have been killed by an explosion at an arms depot in Democratic Republic of Congo has risen to more than 20, the U.N. mission in the country said on Saturday. The blast occurred on Friday when a lightning strike sparked a fire at the depot near the diamond mining hub of Mbuji-Mayi, Congo's third largest city. "I have instructed our office in Mbuji-Mayi to stand by and support local authorities in dealing with the situation," said Martin Kobler, head of MONUSCO. Full Story | Top |
| Car bombs and mortar attacks kill at least 17 in Iraq Saturday, Jan 25, 2014 12:25 PM PST  At least 17 people were killed in violence across Iraq on Saturday, including by car bombs and a mortar attack on a Shi'ite Muslim village, police and medical sources said. The deadliest attack took place in a village near the Iraqi city of Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) northeast of Baghdad, where three mortar bombs killed six people, police said. A woman and a child were among the victims, five of whom belonged to the same family, the police said, adding that the assailants might have been aiming at a nearby police station. Violence in Iraq climbed back to its highest level in five years in 2013, when nearly 9,000 people were killed, most of them civilians, according to the United Nations. Full Story | Top |
| Egypt says evacuates Libya embassy, Benghazi consulate after kidnappings Saturday, Jan 25, 2014 12:01 PM PST TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Egypt evacuated its embassy in the Libyan capital Tripoli and the consulate in Benghazi as a precautionary measure after five of its diplomatic staff were kidnapped, a foreign ministry spokesman told Al-Arabiya news channel on Saturday. (Reporting by Ahmed Tolba and Ulf Laessing, editing by Patrick Markey) Full Story | Top |
| Twenty-nine dead in clashes on anniversary of Egypt uprising Saturday, Jan 25, 2014 11:47 AM PST By Sameh Bardisi and Maggie Fick CAIRO (Reuters) - Twenty-nine people were killed during anti-government marches on Saturday while thousands rallied in support of the army-led authorities, underlining Egypt's volatile political fissures three years after the fall of autocrat President Hosni Mubarak. Security forces lobbed teargas and some fired automatic weapons in the air to try to prevent demonstrators opposed to the government reaching Tahrir Square, the symbolic heart of the 2011 uprising that toppled the former air force commander. As police tried to calm Cairo's politically-charged streets, a car bomb exploded near a police camp in the Egyptian city of Suez, security sources said. But the growing violence has not dented the popularity of General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, whose ouster of Islamist Mohamed Mursi, Egypt's first freely-elected president, plunged the country into turmoil. Full Story | Top |
| Madagascar's president takes over; grenade blast kills child Saturday, Jan 25, 2014 11:46 AM PST  By Alain Iloniaina ANTANANARIVO (Reuters) - Madagascar's new president Hery Rajaonarimampianina, who won the first elections since a coup in 2009, took office on Saturday but his inauguration was marred by an explosion that killed one person and wounded dozens after the ceremony. The government said initial investigations showed the blast was caused by a grenade that was thrown near Mahamasina stadium where a musical show was taking place in the evening, hours after the inauguration there. His inauguration may not have pleased everyone. That's perhaps one of the reasons why this happened," said Arsene Rakotondrazaka, minister of internal security, who was at the scene. Full Story | Top |
| Death toll from protest clashes in Egypt rises to 29: health ministry Saturday, Jan 25, 2014 11:24 AM PST Cairo (Reuters) - The death toll from clashes during protests in Egypt on Saturday climbed to 29, state television quoted a health ministry official as saying. The fighting erupted on the third anniversary of the popular uprising which toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak. Security forces fought opponents of the army-backed government which replaced Islamist President Mohamed Mursi. (Writing by Michael Georgy; editing by Andrew Roche) Full Story | Top |
| Strifetorn Central African Republic names new PM Saturday, Jan 25, 2014 11:02 AM PST  Central African Republic's new interim President Catherine Samba-Panza has named Andre Nzapayeke, a former official of the African Development Bank, as prime minister, state radio said on Saturday. Samba-Panza, who took office two days ago, is seeking to build an interim government to restore order to the former French colony after months of sectarian violence that has left thousands dead or homeless. That triggered revenge attacks by Christian militia known as "anti-balaka", or anti-machete, and fighting has escalated in recent days despite the presence of about 1,600 French troops and 5,000 African Union peacekeepers. On Saturday, local Red Cross president Pastor Antoine Mbao Bogo said his staff had recovered four bodies in Bangui. Full Story | Top |
| Thai government wants end to protests but promises no crackdown Saturday, Jan 25, 2014 10:46 AM PST  Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has called an election for February 2 in the hope of cementing her hold on power in the face of more than two months of protests trying to shove her from office. He also heads the government's crisis committee, the Centre for the Administration of Peace and Order (CAPO). He said CAPO would talk with protest leaders to ask them to stop occupying government offices. The ruling was sought by the Election Commission, which argues that the country is too unstable at the moment to hold a vote and that it would anyway result in too few legitimately elected MPs to form a parliamentary quorum. Full Story | Top |
| Ukraine president offers government posts to opposition leaders Saturday, Jan 25, 2014 10:42 AM PST By Richard Balmforth KIEV (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich offered two opposition leaders top government posts on Saturday, the presidential website said, after the two sides met for talks aimed at seeking an end to a violent political crisis. Former economy minister Arseny Yatsenyuk would be offered the post of prime minister and Vitaly Klitschko, an internationally known boxer, would be proposed as deputy prime minister responsible for humanitarian issues, the website said. If Yatsenyuk accepts the post of prime minister the president would be ready to accept the resignation of the government of Mykola Azarov, the website said. There was no immediate reaction from the opposition leaders, who have been calling for the dismissal of Azarov's government since unrest broke out in Kiev two months ago. Full Story | Top |
| India, Japan seek early agreement on nuclear cooperation Saturday, Jan 25, 2014 10:19 AM PST  India and Japan's talks on nuclear cooperation have gained momentum over the past few months and the two hope for an agreement on civilian nuclear energy soon, leaders of the countries said after meeting on Saturday. "Our negotiations towards an agreement for cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy have gained momentum in the last few months," India's prime minister, Manmohan Singh, said in a statement after meeting his Japanese counterpart, Shinzo Abe. Full Story | Top |
| South Sudan government, rebels say each other violating ceasefire Saturday, Jan 25, 2014 09:46 AM PST By Carl Odera JUBA (Reuters) - The government and rebels in South Sudan traded accusations on Saturday of breaking a ceasefire deal supposed to calm violence that has driven half a million people from their homes. "The rebel forces are still continuing to attack our forces," Information Minister Michael Makeui Lueth said on arrival from Ethiopia where President Salva Kiir's government signed a deal on Thursday with the rebels led by former vice president Riek Machar. The deal came into effect on Friday night after a 24-hour window under an agreement brokered by regional grouping of nations IGAD. "If nothing is done by the IGAD, then definitely our forces will not fold their hands," Lueth said. Full Story | Top |
| Syrian talks haven't achieved much, but will continue: mediator Saturday, Jan 25, 2014 09:41 AM PST International mediator Lakhdar Brahimi said a first day of face-to-face talks between Syria's opposing sides had not yielded significant results but he hoped they would lead to aid supplies reaching the besieged city of Homs. "We haven't achieved much but we are continuing," Brahimi told a news conference on Saturday after two meetings between the government and opposition delegations at United Nations headquarters in Geneva. Full Story | Top |
| Police say about five wounded by bomb near scene of Madagascar presidential inauguration Saturday, Jan 25, 2014 09:37 AM PST ANTANANARIVO (Reuters) - About five people were injured on Saturday by an "explosive device" near the stadium where Madagascar's new president was inaugurated earlier on Saturday, police said. "We see only that there are several wounded, possibly five. We even see a severed leg there," Germain Ratsirombahina, commissioner at a police station in the capital told Reuters by phone. (Reporting by Alain Iloniaina; Writing by Duncan Miriri) Full Story | Top |
| Outrage in Italy at pig's head sent to Rome synagogue Saturday, Jan 25, 2014 09:27 AM PST Offences against Jewish targets in Rome including a pig's head sent to the city's main synagogue caused outrage in Italy on Saturday in the run-up to International Holocaust Remembrance Day next week. "This is a vile and cowardly act which offends the Jewish community and all Romans on the eve of the memorial day," Nicola Zingaretti, president of Lazio, the region in which the city of Rome is located. The pig's head was sent in a parcel to Rome's Grand Synagogue on Friday and similar packages were also addressed to the Israeli embassy in Rome and to a museum holding an exhibition on the Nazi Holocaust. Holocaust remembrance day is January 27, the anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp in 1945 by Soviet troops. Full Story | Top |
| Hungary's leftist opposition faces tough election campaign Saturday, Jan 25, 2014 09:13 AM PST  By Marton Dunai BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Hungary's leftist opposition alliance launched its election campaign on Saturday but faces an uphill struggle to defeat Prime Minister Viktor Orban's ruling Fidesz party on April 6. The Socialists - the main force in the alliance - endorsed their leader Attila Mesterhazy to head the opposition grouping in the battle against center-right Fidesz. "We have an offer (to voters) that we talked through with our allies as well," Mesterhazy told a 10,000-strong crowd at his party's congress in Budapest. We need a responsible economic policy, a fair social policy and a strong democracy." The Socialists' allies include former Socialist Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany's Democratic Coalition, the Egyutt (Together) 2014 formation of another ex-premier, Gordon Bajnai, and former lawmaker Gabor Fodor's new liberal party. Full Story | Top |
| Central African Republic names new prime minister Saturday, Jan 25, 2014 08:59 AM PST Central African Republic's new interim President Catherine Samba-Panza has named Andre Nzapayeke, a former official of the African Development Bank, as prime minister, state radio said on Saturday. Samba-Panza, who took office two days ago, is seeking to build an interim government to restore order to the former French colony after months of sectarian violence that has left thousands dead or homeless. That triggered revenge attacks by Christian militia known as anti-balaka, or anti-machete, and fighting has escalated in recent days despite the presence of about 1,600 French troops and 5,000 African Union peacekeepers. Full Story | Top |
| British police say volunteers going to Syria war will face arrest Saturday, Jan 25, 2014 08:57 AM PST Britons travelling to Syria to help the rebels fighting President Bashar al-Assad could be arrested on their return, a senior police chief warned on Saturday, saying they may pose a security risk to the UK. Peter Fahy, head of the Association of Chief Police Officers, said there was "huge concern" about Britons, including a rising number of youngsters, fighting in Syria and becoming radicalized by hardline Islamists. British police have already arrested 16 people on suspicion of terrorism offences in Syria this year, some as young as 17, compared to 24 arrests in all of 2013. Most of the Britons involved in attacks in the UK, including the four suicide bombers who committed the 2005 London bombings that killed 52 people, as well as their co-conspirators, were reported to have received training in camps in countries such as Afghanistan and Pakistan. Full Story | Top |
| German anti-euro party regroups with attack on EU federalism Saturday, Jan 25, 2014 08:32 AM PST  By Sarah Marsh ASCHAFFENBURG, Germany (Reuters) - Germany's new eurosceptic party launched its campaign for the European parliament elections on Saturday with an attack on European Union federalism and defense of national sovereignty, in an attempt to regroup after months of perilous infighting. About 300 delegates in the Alternative for Germany (AfD) gathered at a party congress in the Bavarian town of Aschaffenburg to elect its candidates for the European vote in May, where fringe parties are expected to do well. "We can only win if we stick together," AfD leader Bernd Lucke said in his opening speech, comparing his party's plight to that of David against Goliath. The established parties such as Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives were too "cowardly" to address Europe's conflicts and problems, said the economics professor, who was elected lead candidate for the AfD's European campaign. Full Story | Top |
| Madagascar's new president takes over power from ex-coup leader Saturday, Jan 25, 2014 08:07 AM PST  Madagascar's new president Hery Rajaonarimampianina, who won the first elections since a coup in 2009, took office on Saturday, pledging to create an investment-friendly climate in the Indian Ocean island. The World Bank said on Friday the next step of forming a government was crucial and resumption of normal lending hinged on the appointment of a new prime minister. We need to put in place a climate for investment that respects the rule of law," Rajaonarimampianina said as he took office. The former finance minister won the presidential election on December 20, the first in the country since the 2009 coup that plunged Madagascar into a political crisis that has sharply slowed economic growth and deepened poverty. Full Story | Top |
| Twelve dead in fresh violence in China's Xinjiang Saturday, Jan 25, 2014 07:41 AM PST Chinese police shot dead six people during a "terrorist" attack in the restive western region of Xinjiang and six more died when explosives they were carrying detonated, state media said, as officials accused a prominent academic of aiding militants. Police came under attack on Friday by a group throwing explosive devices in Xinhe county, official news agency Xinhua said on Saturday, citing local authorities, the latest violence to jolt the region with a large Muslim population. Xinjiang has been the theatre of numerous incidents of unrest in recent years, which the government often blames on the separatist East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), though experts and rights groups cast doubt on its existence as a cohesive group. Around 100 people, including several policemen, have been killed in violence in Xinjiang since last April, according to state media reports. Full Story | Top |
| Yemeni official says diplomat's body found, but Iranian report denies it Saturday, Jan 25, 2014 07:06 AM PST An Iranian embassy official kidnapped in the Yemeni capital Sanaa in July was found beheaded in central Yemen on Saturday, a provincial official said. But Iran's Student News Agency (ISNA) quoted an Iranian embassy official as denying that the headless body belonged to the missing employee, kidnapped by armed men while he was travelling through the diplomatic quarter of Sanaa in July. Full Story | Top |
| Militants tell Russians to rebel against Kremlin or face attacks Saturday, Jan 25, 2014 06:45 AM PST  A militant group that claimed responsibility for last month's suicide bombings in Volgograd which killed at least 34 people told Russians on Saturday to rebel against President Vladimir Putin or face further attacks. The warning, which came two weeks before the Winter Olympics in Russia's southern city of Sochi, does not mention the Games. But the group - which identified itself as Vilayat Dagestan from the northern Caucasus region where Moscow has battled an insurgency for over a decade - last week warned Putin to expect a "present" at the event. Putin has staked much personal and political prestige on the Games in Sochi, on the western edge of the Caucasus mountains. Full Story | Top |
| Explosion heard near police building in Egyptian city of Suez: state TV Saturday, Jan 25, 2014 06:27 AM PST CAIRO (Reuters) - An explosion was heard on Saturday near a police building in the Egyptian city of Suez, state television reported. The building was a camp for riot police in the city, which lies at the southern entrance to the Suez Canal. One security source told Reuters that three attackers had planted a bomb and fled before the explosion. (Reporting By Omar Fahmy and Sameh Bardisi; Writing by Maggie Fick; Editing by Janet Lawrence) Full Story | Top |
| Four protesters killed in clashes in Cairo: security sources Saturday, Jan 25, 2014 06:02 AM PST CAIRO (Reuters) - Four protesters were killed on Saturday in clashes that erupted during anti-government marches in Cairo, security sources said, on the anniversary of the revolt that toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak. The sources gave no further details. Reuters witnesses had earlier seen Egyptian police fire live rounds in the air, along with tear gas and birdshot, to disperse protesters. (Reporting By Sameh Bardisi; Writing by Maggie Fick; Editing by Janet Lawrence) Full Story | Top |
| Syria talks to discuss ceasefire, aid deal for Homs: opposition Saturday, Jan 25, 2014 05:12 AM PST Syrian government and opposition delegations will discuss on Saturday a deal for a short ceasefire to allow humanitarian aid to enter besieged rebel-held areas in Homs, opposition delegate Anas al-Abdah said. He said the issue would be the first on the agenda of talks attended by the two sides later in the day, following their brief morning session in the presence of international mediator Lakhdar Brahimi. The opposition has asked fighters on the ground to respect a ceasefire and to protect convoys of aid once the agreement is reached, Abdah told reporters after the morning meeting at the United Nations headquarters in Geneva. "We had a suggestion prepared for this before the conference began and already spoke about it to the Red Cross and countries that are close to the regime like Russia, as well as United States and the United Nations," he said. Full Story | Top |
| UAE president suffered a stroke, in stable condition-state news agency Saturday, Jan 25, 2014 05:06 AM PST DUBAI (Reuters) - The president of the United Arab Emirates has undergone surgery after a stroke and is in a stable condition, state news agency WAM reported on Saturday. It quoted the presidential affairs ministry as saying Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahayn suffered a stroke early on Friday which "required doctors to perform surgery", adding his condition has since stabilized. It gave no further details. (Reporting by Sami Aboudi; Editing by Janet Lawrence) Full Story | Top |
| Afghan president says U.S. should start talks with Taliban or leave Saturday, Jan 25, 2014 05:01 AM PST  By Mirwais Harooni KABUL (Reuters) - President Hamid Karzai appeared to stiffen his resolve on Saturday not to sign a security pact with Washington, saying the United States should leave Afghanistan unless it could restart peace talks with the Taliban. The president said pressing ahead with talks with the Taliban, in power from 1996-2001, was critical to ensure that Afghanistan was not left with a weak central government. "Starting peace talks is a condition because we want to be confident that after the signing of the security agreement, Afghanistan will not be divided into fiefdoms," he said. Full Story | Top |
| Philippines, Muslim rebels agree to peace in comprehensive pact Saturday, Jan 25, 2014 04:54 AM PST  By Anuradha Raghu KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - The Philippine government on Saturday agreed the final chapter of peace talks with the country's largest Muslim separatist group, clearing the last hurdle to an historic pact to end four decades of conflict that has killed tens of thousands. Representatives from the Philippine government and the 11,000-strong Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) signed the final and most challenging Annex on Normalization -- the fourth part of a peace roadmap that was set out in October 2012. The conclusion of the talks, held in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur, paves the way for the signing of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) that will allow the rebel group to set up an autonomous government to run parts of the poor, but resource-rich southern island of Mindanao -- in exchange for decommissioning their weapons. "It marks the end of a process, which is the formal negotiations," said Miriam Coronel-Ferrer, the Philippine government's chief negotiator. Full Story | Top |
| Italy poll shows backing for center-left leader Renzi reforms Saturday, Jan 25, 2014 04:40 AM PST  More than 60 percent of Italian voters support electoral reforms proposed by center-left leader Matteo Renzi and 50 percent welcome his deal on the package with center-right rival Silvio Berlusconi, according to an opinion poll on Saturday. The survey, by the Ipsos polling institute for the daily Corriere della Sera, offers encouragement for Renzi who pushed through the proposals in the face of skepticism from many on his own side only weeks after winning the leadership of the center-left Democratic Party (PD). The package is being closely watched by Italy's European partners as an indication of whether Renzi's arrival at the head of the largest party in Prime Minister Enrico Letta's left-right coalition heralds wider reforms of the economy, including a Jobs Act he has promised in the next few weeks. Full Story | Top |
| Bomb hits Cairo, Qaeda-linked group claims attacks Saturday, Jan 25, 2014 04:33 AM PST  A bomb exploded near a police academy in Cairo on Saturday, security sources said, a day after a wave of deadly blasts raised fears that an Islamist insurgency was gaining momentum. An al Qaeda-inspired group, based in Egypt's lawless Sinai Peninsula, claimed responsibility for Friday's attacks which killed six people, said the SITE monitoring organization. No one was wounded in Saturday's explosion, said the interior ministry, but more violence was expected as rival political movements gather to mark the third anniversary of the uprising that toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak. Islamist militants based in the Sinai Peninsula have stepped up attacks since the army toppled President Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood in July. Full Story | Top |
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