| South Africa buries 'greatest son' Mandela Posted: 15 Dec 2013 05:28 AM PST  By Ed Cropley QUNU, South Africa (Reuters) - South Africa buried Nelson Mandela on Sunday, leaving the multi-racial democracy he founded without its living inspiration and still striving for the "Rainbow Nation" ideal of shared prosperity he had dreamed of. The Nobel peace laureate, who was held in apartheid prisons for 27 years before emerging to preach forgiveness and reconciliation, was laid to rest at his ancestral home in Qunu after a send-off combining military pomp with the traditional rites of his Xhosa abaThembu clan. As the coffin was lowered into the wreath-ringed grave, three army helicopters flew over bearing the South African flag on weighted cables, a poignant echo of the anti-apartheid leader's inauguration as the nation's first black president nearly two decades ago. Among the 450 mourners at the private burial ceremony were relatives, political leaders and foreign guests including Britain's Prince Charles, American civil rights activist Reverend Jesse Jackson and talk show host Oprah Winfrey.
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| Syrian helicopter bomb raids kill 36 in Aleppo: monitor Posted: 15 Dec 2013 09:43 AM PST  Thirty-six people, nearly half of them children, were killed on Sunday when Syrian army helicopters dropped improvised "barrel bombs" on the disputed northern city of Aleppo, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The Britain-based Observatory said at least 15 of the casualties on Sunday were children. President Bashar al-Assad's forces, battling rebels in a 2-1/2 year conflict that has killed more than 100,000 people, frequently deploy air power and artillery against rebel-held districts across the country. They have been unable to recapture eastern and central parts of Aleppo, which rebels stormed in the summer of 2012, but they have driven rebel fighters back from towns to the southeast of the city in recent weeks.
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| EU suspends trade talks with Ukraine, crowds rally against government Posted: 15 Dec 2013 02:01 PM PST  By Richard Balmforth and Gabriela Baczynska KIEV (Reuters) - The European Union said on Sunday it was halting work on a landmark trade and political pact with Ukraine, hardening their rift even as tens of thousands took to the streets of Kiev urging President Viktor Yanukovich to mend ties with Brussels. EU enlargement chief Stefan Fuele said on Twitter the words and deeds of Yanukovich and his government on the deal were "further and further apart". His announcement came as 200,000 people braved sub-zero temperatures in Kiev to rally for the fourth weekend in a row against Yanukovich's decision not to sign the EU pact at a summit last month and concentrate instead on closer ties with Russia. The EU had kept its offer on the table but Fuele said on Sunday the Ukrainian government's subsequent arguments on the terms of the deal had "no grounds in reality".
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| Israeli soldier killed in Lebanese sniper attack -military Posted: 15 Dec 2013 03:10 PM PST An Israeli soldier was killed on Sunday when a Lebanese sniper opened fire in a normally quiet area of the border between the two countries, and a U.N. peacekeeping force said it was working with both sides to keep the incident from escalating. Israel's military said in a statement that a sniper from the Lebanese Armed Forces had shot at an Israeli vehicle driving near the Rosh Hanikra border crossing. Israel has lodged a complaint with the U.N. force in southern Lebanon and had heightened its state of preparedness along the border, spokesman Peter Lerner said. "We will not tolerate aggression against the State of Israel, and maintain the right to exercise self defense against perpetrators of attacks against Israel and its civilians," he said. |
| Central African Republic leader in talks with militias Posted: 15 Dec 2013 03:37 PM PST  By Paul-Marin Ngoupana and Bate Felix BANGUI (Reuters) - Central African Republic's interim leader is weighing a possible amnesty for militias involved in Christian-Muslim violence that has killed hundreds of people, most of them civilians, in exchange for their disarmament. The majority-Christian country has been paralyzed by cycles of killing, torture and looting since Michel Djotodia's mainly Muslim Seleka rebels seized power in March. In a sign of continued instability within the transitional administration, Djotodia dismissed three members government on Sunday, including Security Minister Josue Binoua whose home was raided by police during the violence last week. The former rebel leader said in a state radio address late on Saturday that he had been contacted by a representative of the mainly Christian and animist anti-balaka, who were demanding inclusion in the transitional government he leads.
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| Romanians rally against bill shielding MPs from corruption probes Posted: 15 Dec 2013 11:14 AM PST  Hundreds of Romanians marched in Bucharest on Sunday to protest against parliament approving a bill that increases the immunity of deputies from corruption charges. Under the bill, members of parliament would no longer be subject to investigation under corruption allegations linked to public office - such as abuse of power or conflict of interest - due to a change in their status. The changes, which were passed in record time and with little debate, raised sharp criticism from the country's president, opposition politicians, pro-democracy groups and Western diplomats for undermining the rule of law. Parliament has also scheduled a vote this week on an amnesty bill that would keep some politicians sentenced to prison for corruption out of jail, but the bill may be withdrawn following public criticism.
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| Michelle Bachelet easily regains Chile presidency Posted: 15 Dec 2013 04:49 PM PST  SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — Chile's once and future leader Michelle Bachelet easily won Sunday's presidential runoff, returning center-left parties to power by promising profound social changes in response to years of street protests.
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| Januzaj's rough-house reception irks Moyes Posted: 15 Dec 2013 04:38 PM PST  Birmingham (United Kingdom) (AFP) - Manchester United manager David Moyes has called for referees to offer better protection to winger Adnan Januzaj despite seeing his side convincingly win 3-0 at Aston Villa. Two goals in the space of three first-half minutes from Danny Welbeck and Tom Cleverleyâ s 52nd-minute effort ensured the hosts were well beaten on Saturday as United won a first league game in five attempts.
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| Israeli soldier killed in Lebanon border shooting Posted: 15 Dec 2013 04:36 PM PST  An Israeli soldier was killed by a Lebanese army sniper on Sunday, the Israeli army said in a statement, maintaining its right to "exercise self-defence". "The Israel Defence Forces officially confirms that an IDF soldier was shot while driving along the Israeli-Lebanese border, near Rosh Hanikra," it said in the statement released early Monday. The military earlier said that a Lebanese soldier had opened fire on an Israeli civilian vehicle near the Mediterranean border crossing at Rosh Hanikra. Israeli news website Ynet, quoting army sources, said that the Lebanese soldier had fired six or seven rounds, probably "acting on his own initiative".
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| Bachelet wins Chile presidential run-off Posted: 15 Dec 2013 04:32 PM PST  Socialist Michelle Bachelet was swept back into office Sunday as Chile's next president, on a platform of narrowing the gap between rich and poor. "Chile, now, finally, the time has come to carry out the changes," Bachelet told cheering supporters in Santiago shortly after her landslide win, joined by her children and mother Angela Jeria. Bachelet, 62, takes office March 11 to succeed conservative billionaire President Sebastian Pinera for a term running through 2018. She served as Chile's first woman president in 2006, leaving a lot undone which most Chilean want: mainly dismantling more of the political and social legacy of the Pinochet era.
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| Bachelet, from torture to presidency and back in Chile Posted: 15 Dec 2013 04:28 PM PST  Michelle Bachelet, the winner of Chile's presidential runoff Sunday, years ago became her country's first female president and now has a chance to cement her legacy with a second term. She became Chile's first female president in 2006, and she had a stunning 84 percent approval rating when she left office in 2010. But she came home to Chile this year saying "we knew there were things still to be done." On Sunday, she trounced conservative Evelyn Matthei, 60, by earning 62.40 percent of the vote against her rival's 37.50 percent, the national electoral board said with 81.05 percent of votes tallied.
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| Venezuela finds no explosives on Paris-bound plane Posted: 15 Dec 2013 04:27 PM PST  CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Searchers turned up no evidence of explosives on a Paris-bound Air France plane that was grounded after French intelligence authorities warned that terrorists might be planning to blow it up, Venezuela's government said Sunday.
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| Amnesty accuses Bahrain of torturing detained children Posted: 15 Dec 2013 04:06 PM PST  Amnesty International accused Bahrain on Monday of torturing children who have been arrested on suspicion of participating in Shiite anti-government protests. "Children are being routinely detained, ill-treated and tortured in Bahrain," the rights watchdog said. It claimed that scores of children, including some as young as 13, "were blindfolded, beaten and tortured in detention over the past two years." "By rounding up suspected under-age offenders and locking them up, Bahrain's authorities are displaying an appalling disregard for its international human rights obligations," said Said Boumedouha, Amnesty's deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa.
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| Israel: 1 soldier killed along Lebanon border Posted: 15 Dec 2013 04:00 PM PST JERUSALEM (AP) — An Israeli soldier was killed by a Lebanese army sniper late Sunday as he drove along the border, the Israeli military said, drawing Israeli threats of retaliation. |
| Moderate Syrian rebels vow to protect journalists Posted: 15 Dec 2013 03:53 PM PST  BEIRUT (AP) — The leaders of Syria's main Western-backed moderate rebel faction said they would do everything in their power to protect journalists on assignment in the country and work to secure the release of those who have already been abducted.
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| Dyer injured as Swansea draw at Norwich Posted: 15 Dec 2013 03:39 PM PST  Norwich (United Kingdom) (AFP) - Swansea City's Nathan Dyer scored but was then stretchered off with a serious ankle injury as his side drew 1-1 at Norwich City in the Premier League on Sunday. The 26-year-old winger put Swansea ahead with a 12th-minute lob, but after he was carried off later in the first half, Gary Hooper struck with a glorious volley to earn the home side a share of the points. Swansea later tweeted that Dyer will undergo more tests on Monday. The draw meant that Swansea remained in 10th place, while Norwich, who would have leapfrogged their opponents with victory, climbed one position to 14th.
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| Newsmaker: Same charm, bolder plans win Bachelet a second term in Chile Posted: 15 Dec 2013 03:35 PM PST By Alexandra Ulmer SANTIAGO (Reuters) - When Michelle Bachelet became Chile's health minister under President Ricardo Lagos in 2000, he assigned her a daunting task: end the long lines at overwhelmed primary health care centers within three months. Bachelet struggled to meet the deadline. Yet, when Lagos visited a medical center to survey the situation, a woman whisked him aside to praise Bachelet and beg him to keep her in his cabinet. "Within a short period of time, Bachelet managed to forge a relationship with people. |
| Bachelet easily wins Chile election, plans reforms Posted: 15 Dec 2013 03:35 PM PST  By Alexandra Ulmer and Rosalba O'Brien SANTIAGO (Reuters) - Michelle Bachelet was elected as Chile's president again on Sunday in a landslide victory that hands the center-leftist the mandate she sought to push ahead with wide-reaching reforms. Bachelet won with about 62 percent support, the highest proportion of votes any presidential candidate has obtained since Chile returned to holding democratic elections in 1989. Evelyn Matthei, the conservative candidate of the ruling Alianza coalition, conceded defeat after capturing just 38 percent of the vote, the right's worst performance in two decades. Bachelet's supporters waved flags and sounded car horns outside the La Moneda presidential palace.
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| 'Lawrence of Arabia' star Peter O'Toole dead at 81 Posted: 15 Dec 2013 03:12 PM PST LONDON (AP) — Known on the one hand for his starring role in "Lawrence of Arabia," leading tribesmen in daring attacks across the desert wastes, and on the other for his headlong charges into drunken debauchery, Peter O'Toole was one of the most magnetic, charismatic and fun figures in British acting. |
| Trauma, broken dreams as Africans endure wave of Islamist attacks Posted: 15 Dec 2013 03:03 PM PST  It was supposed to be a regular shopping trip to a Kenyan mall until Faith Wambua found herself playing dead for bullet-spraying militants, in an ordeal that capped a year of Islamist violence across the continent affecting countless ordinary Africans. "We were in the wrong place at the wrong time," Wambua said, still struggling to come to terms with Nairobi's Westgate siege, three months after the traumatic events that left at least 67 dead and scores more wounded. From a gas field in Algeria to a school dormitory in Nigeria, citizens across northern and central Africa were caught up in a wave of horrific attacks this year as the global jihadist movement opened up new fronts, threatening to shatter hopes of an African boom. Responsibility for the four-day siege at the upmarket Nairobi mall was claimed by Somalia's Shebab, an Al-Qaeda-linked group determined to demonstrate its capacity to fight back and strike outside the country's borders despite losing ground to African Union troops.
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| Wimbledon champ Murray takes BBC award, sorry for voice Posted: 15 Dec 2013 03:02 PM PST  Andy Murray, the first British man in 77 years to win Wimbledon, claimed the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award on Sunday and then apologised if he sounded bored. Murray, 26, had defeated Novak Djokovic in straight sets in July's Wimbledon championship match for his second career Grand Slam title. In Sunday's awards, he beat British and Irish Lions rugby union player Leigh Halfpenny who finished second and horse-racing jockey AP McCoy who was third. Murray received the trophy from tennis legend Martina Navratilova at his training base in Miami.
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| Lebanese soldier, 4 attackers killed in assaults on army Posted: 15 Dec 2013 02:55 PM PST  A Lebanese soldier and four attackers were killed in two separate assaults late Sunday on army checkpoints in the southern city of Sidon, the military said in a statement. "At 9:15 p.m. (1915 GMT) today (Sunday) an armed man approached an army checkpoint in the north of Sidon, and launched a hand grenade towards it, injuring two soldiers," the army statement said. Then at 10:20 p.m. (2020 GMT), three armed men in a four-by-four vehicle approached a second army checkpoint at another location in the southern city. A security source in Sidon, southern Lebanon's largest city, meanwhile told AFP on condition of anonymity that "the attacks were likely coordinated."
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| Snowstorm hits eastern part of Canada Posted: 15 Dec 2013 02:51 PM PST  A snowstorm swept central and eastern Canada Sunday, disrupting air traffic and travel from Ontario to the Atlantic coast. Environment Canada issued a warning that snowfall accompanied by strong wind had dumped up to 35 centimeters (14 inches) of snow on some regions. Air traffic was seriously disrupted with hundreds of flights canceled at major airports in Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Halifax, airport services said. According to Montreal-Trudeau Airport, the majority of flights in eastern Canada had been canceled, and nearly all other flights were facing significant delays for departure and arrival.
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| Israeli soldier killed in shooting attack along Lebanese border Posted: 15 Dec 2013 02:50 PM PST JERUSALEM (Reuters) - An Israeli soldier was killed in a shooting attack by a Lebanese sniper along the border with Lebanon on Sunday, an Israeli military spokesman said. Israel's military said in a statement that a sniper from the Lebanese Armed Forces had opened fire on an Israeli vehicle driving near the Rosh Hanikra border crossing. (Reporting by Ari Rabinovitch; Editing by Mohammad Zargham) |
| Nelson Mandela laid to rest Posted: 15 Dec 2013 02:45 PM PST  Qunu (South Africa) (AFP) - Nelson Mandela, South Africa's first black president, was laid to rest Sunday after a state funeral filled with tearful eulogies and strident vows to pursue his ideals of equality and justice. Mandela's casket was buried at a family plot in his rural boyhood home of Qunu, watched by his widow Graca Machel, ex-wife Winnie Madikizela–Mandela, other family members and around 450 selected guests. The interment followed a ceremonial state funeral that ran well over its allotted two hours, as speaker after speaker paid emotional tribute to the man who led South Africa out of the apartheid era. "The person who lies here is South Africa's greatest son," said ANC deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa.
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| McCain: CIA misled Congress on missing American Posted: 15 Dec 2013 02:35 PM PST  WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. John McCain said Sunday that the CIA has not been forthcoming with the Congress on details about an American who disappeared while on a secret intelligence mission to Iran.
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| Lone children paint terrifying picture of C.Africa violence Posted: 15 Dec 2013 02:31 PM PST  Bangui (Central African Republic) (AFP) - It's hard to single them out from the noisy crowd in a makeshift camp housing thousands of people displaced by deadly violence in the Central African capital. They're children, all alone, traumatised by the massacres they witnessed in Bangui, days after a wave of sectarian violence came to a head in the capital, prompting France to deploy 1,600 troops to assist an African peacekeeping force already on the ground. "The children say that the armed men come into the house", says Eloge Lusambya, a UNICEF worker at the Don Bosco camp who has the delicate task of talking to kids left scared and in desperate situations. The children stay hunkered down at home."
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| Michelle Bachelet easily wins Chile presidency Posted: 15 Dec 2013 02:22 PM PST  SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — Chile's once and future President Michelle Bachelet won Sunday's runoff election after promising profound changes in society in response to years of street protests.
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| Ireland promises end to greed culture on exiting bailout Posted: 15 Dec 2013 02:08 PM PST  Prime Minister Enda Kenny vowed that Ireland would never return to a culture of "speculation and greed" as it formally exited an international bailout on Sunday. Ireland is the first eurozone nation to leave its bailout programme but celebrations were muted as the country faces more austerity despite the end of the three-year rescue package. Dublin turned to the International Monetary Fund and European Union in November 2010 for an 85 billion euro ($115 billion) lifeline following a banking crash and one of history's worst housing bubbles. After painful belt-tightening, Ireland is now returning unaided to the international lending markets -- while eurozone strugglers Greece, Portugal and Cyprus remain locked into the bailout process.
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| Tunisia adopts compensation law for Ben Ali victims Posted: 15 Dec 2013 02:03 PM PST  Tunisia's parliament early Sunday adopted a "transitional justice" law designed to compensate victims of the former regimes of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and Habib Bourguiba, official media said. The law was rushed through parliament after repeated delays as the ruling Islamist Ennahda party and the opposition accused each other of trying to exploit the issue for political gain. It stipulates the creation of an independent "truth and dignity body" tasked with identifying and compensating victims of abuse under the regimes of Ben Ali, who was ousted in the 2011 uprising, and founding president Bourguiba. The transitional justice system should also lead to a reform of the laws and institutions that allowed such violations, and strengthen the rule of law.
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| 36 people killed in Aleppo air raids Posted: 15 Dec 2013 01:50 PM PST  At least 36 people, including 15 children, were killed in regime air raids on rebel districts of the northern city of Aleppo on Sunday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. They were killed when regime forces unleashed an aerial attack using explosive-laden barrels over six districts in eastern Aleppo, including Sakhur, Ard al-Hamra and Haydariyeh, said Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman. The Aleppo Media Centre (AMC), an activists network on the ground, reported several air attacks on rebel-held areas of the city. Once Syria's commercial capital, Aleppo has suffered massive destruction since a rebel offensive in July last year.
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| Bachelet pulls ahead in Chile vote with 62 percent: fresh count Posted: 15 Dec 2013 01:41 PM PST SANTIAGO (Reuters) - Michelle Bachelet is on course to win Chile's presidential election with a commanding lead over her opponent Evelyn Matthei, a fresh tally showed on Sunday. Center-left Bachelet was winning around 62.08 percent of votes versus 37.91 percent for Matthei with 6.35 percent of ballots counted, according to figures from electoral service Servel. (Reporting by Santiago newsroom; Editing by Mohammad Zargham) |
| Report: Lebanese army fires at Israeli soldiers Posted: 15 Dec 2013 01:31 PM PST BEIRUT (AP) — A Lebanese army force opened fire Sunday along the volatile border with Israel, Israeli officials and Lebanon's National News Agency said. |
| Central African Republic leader sacks three government ministers Posted: 15 Dec 2013 01:31 PM PST  BANGUI (Reuters) - Central African Republic's interim leader Michel Djotodia dismissed three members of the transitional government on Sunday in the wake of Christian-Muslim clashes this month, a presidential spokesman said. They include Finance Minister Christophe Mbremaidou, Rural Development Minister Joseph Bedounga and Security Minister Josue Binoua, who is accused of stockpiling weapons at his home, Guy Simplice Kodegue said. ...
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| Syria refugee toddler dies in Lebanon tent fire Posted: 15 Dec 2013 01:28 PM PST  Tyre (Lebanon) (AFP) - A Syrian toddler died Sunday when a fire ripped through the family tent in a refugee camp in southern Lebanon, a security official told AFP. The child was alone in the tent when a diesel-powered heater caught fire in a makeshift refugee camp on the road between the southern Lebanon towns of Ras al-Ain and Naqura. The toddler's parents are originally from Aleppo, in northern Syria, but have spent the past nine months in southern Lebanon. We saw flames, and we ran to the place where the fire had broken out, to try and extinguish it," said Ali Jumaa Mansour, a supervisor at the makeshift camp.
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| Choice of new Tunisia PM causes hope, concern Posted: 15 Dec 2013 01:08 PM PST  A deal naming a premier-designate was met on Sunday with both hope and apprehension in Tunisia, which has been in the grip of political crisis for months. Industry Minister Mehdi Jomaa was named late Saturday by the Islamist-dominated ruling coalition and opposition to form a government of independents to end the stalemate caused by the killing of leftist MP Mohamed Brahmi in July. Houcine Abassi, head of the powerful UGTT union that has mediated talks, said he would announce the date for Jomaa's government to take office within days. Jomaa's nomination followed months of talks between moderate Islamists Ennahda and the mostly secular opposition, after the two sides agreed to negotiate an interim government under a roadmap brokered in October.
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| Mandela buried in rolling hills of South Africa Posted: 15 Dec 2013 01:04 PM PST  QUNU, South Africa (AP) — His flag-draped casket resting on a carpet of animal skins, Nelson Mandela was laid to rest Sunday in the green, rolling hills of the eastern hamlet where he began his extraordinary journey — one that led him from prison to the presidency, a global symbol of endurance and reconciliation in the fight against South Africa's racist rule.
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| Israel considers buying its own 'Air Force One' Posted: 15 Dec 2013 12:59 PM PST  A week after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly chose to miss Nelson Mandela's memorial service because of travel costs, Israeli ministers voted Sunday to consider buying an Israeli equivalent of "Air Force One." They approved creating a committee to consider buying a plane for the premier and president, "as is customary in many other countries," a government statement said, floating the possibility of a shared aircraft for Netanyahu and globe-trotting President Shimon Peres. The most famous official jet is commonly known as Air Force One, which is actually the call sign for whatever official aircraft the US president uses. Netanyahu has been criticised and ridiculed over his spending, including a double bed installed on the plane that flew him to London in April for the funeral of Britain's Margaret Thatcher on a trip that cost $127,000 (98,000 euros).
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