| U.S. will seek triggers to reimpose sanctions on Iran: Rice Posted: 22 Dec 2013 04:33 PM PST  By Ros Krasny HONOLULU (Reuters) - The United States and its allies will have ways to reimpose sanctions on Iran if the Islamic Republic is caught making bombs after striking a deal to freeze its nuclear program, national security adviser Susan Rice said on Sunday. In an interview on the CBS news program "60 Minutes," Rice rejected the idea that, once relaxed, the economic sanctions on Tehran would be hard to reinstate. Any United Nations Security Council resolution that enshrines a final nuclear deal with Iran - not the interim six-month deal signed in Geneva in November - could have triggers to automatically reimpose sanctions on Iran if they violate the deal, she said. The United States does not want Iran to be "in a position to race towards a bomb undetected." Rice said it was still unclear if Iran was hurting enough from existing sanctions on its oil exports and other industries to give up its nuclear ambitions in a "verifiable way." "We don't know.
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| Bomb explodes on Israeli bus, no one hurt - police Posted: 22 Dec 2013 04:29 PM PST  A bomb that Israeli authorities suspect was planted by Palestinian militants exploded in a bus near Tel Aviv on Sunday after passengers were evacuated, and police said no one was hurt. But Fawzi Barhoum, a spokesman for the Islamist militant group Hamas, said in a statement the blast was a "heroic action" in response to what he termed the "continued crimes" of Israel's occupation of land Palestinians seek for a state. Photographs from the scene, in the Tel Aviv suburb of Bat Yam, showed the blast blew out the vehicle's windows. It was a bag on the back bench, and he immediately ordered everyone off," Eitan Fixman, a spokesman for the Dan bus company, was quoted as saying on the YNet news site.
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| Egypt jails key figures of 2011 uprising Posted: 22 Dec 2013 11:57 AM PST  By Tom Perry CAIRO (Reuters) - Three leading figures of Egypt's 2011 uprising were jailed for three years each on Sunday for their role in recent protests, as the army-backed authorities intensified a crackdown on dissent. Ahmed Maher, Ahmed Douma and Mohamed Adel are symbols of the protest movement that ignited the revolt that toppled President Hosni Mubarak in 2011.
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| Fears grow of civil war in South Sudan as rebels seize town Posted: 22 Dec 2013 12:32 PM PST  By Carl Odera and Ben Makori JUBA (Reuters) - South Sudan's government said on Sunday rebels had seized the capital of a key oil-producing region and fears grew of all-out ethnic civil war in the world's newest country. The U.N. announced it was trying to rush more peacekeeping forces to landlocked, impoverished South Sudan as foreign powers urged both sides to stop fighting, fearing for the stability of an already fragile region of Africa. The South Sudan government said on its Twitter account it was no longer in control of Bentiu, the capital of Unity State. Information Minister Michael Makuei said on Saturday an army divisional commander in Unity State, John Koang, had defected and joined rebel leader and former Vice President Riek Machar, who had named him the governor of the state.
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| Syrian helicopter bomb raids kill 42 in Aleppo: monitors Posted: 22 Dec 2013 08:55 AM PST  At least 42 people, including children, were killed on Sunday when Syrian army helicopters dropped improvised "barrel bombs" in the northern province of Aleppo, a monitoring group said. The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said separate air raids hit several districts in Aleppo, but the biggest toll was in Hanano, east of the city. Human Rights Watch said in a report over the weekend that barrel bomb attacks had killed scores of civilians in Aleppo in the last month. "The Syrian air force is either criminally incompetent, doesn't care whether it kills scores of civilians, or deliberately targets civilian areas," HRW senior emergency researcher Ole Solvang said in the report.
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| Protesters gather across Thai capital, demand PM resigns Posted: 22 Dec 2013 01:52 PM PST  By Apornrath Phoonphongphiphat BANGKOK (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of anti-government demonstrators massed peacefully across Thailand's capital on Sunday in their latest bid to topple Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra before a February election the main opposition party will boycott. Yingluck called a snap poll for February 2 to try to cool tension but protesters want to scuttle the election to prevent her from renewing her mandate and perpetuating the influence of her self-exiled brother and former premier, Thaksin Shinawatra. Thailand remains in an all-too-familiar deadlock after eight years of on-off conflict broadly between supporters and opponents of Thaksin, whose populist political machine has won every election since 2001 with widespread support among the rural poor. Chanting "Yingluck, get out", whistle-blowing protesters gathered at locations around Bangkok and set up stages in at least four places, bringing traffic to a halt at three main intersections and in two commercial districts.
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| Winter weather kills seven; record highs in New York, Philadelphia Posted: 22 Dec 2013 04:48 PM PST  A band of severe weather from tornadoes to icy blasts left at least seven people dead as winter storms and severe weather pushed up the East Coast on Sunday, bringing record high temperatures to Philadelphia and New York City but ice storms to parts of New England. The eastern half of the country was getting a "plethora of winter weather" just days before the Christmas holiday, according to the National Weather Service. "This storm is bringing a little bit of everything, from rain, flooding and wind, to ice and snow in some areas," said NWS meteorologist Bruce Sullivan. "What is really extraordinary about this system, though, is the warm air." The system is expected to linger over the East Coast until Monday, snarling road and airline travel for millions of people during one of the busiest travel periods of the year.
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| Police blame Palestinian militants for bus blast Posted: 22 Dec 2013 04:34 PM PST  JERUSALEM (AP) — A pipe bomb believed to have been planted by Palestinian militants exploded Sunday on board a bus in central Israel just moments after it had been evacuated, police said, in the most serious attack inside Israel in more than a year.
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| Obama raises tone on S. Sudan after attack Posted: 22 Dec 2013 04:17 PM PST  President Barack Obama Sunday firmly vowed to take more action in South Sudan if needed amid growing fighting after deploying extra US troops, as the United Nations promised to send more peacekeepers. There are both ethnic and political dimensions to the fighting, as troops loyal to Kiir, an ethnic Dinka, battle forces backing Machar, a Nuer.
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| Rebels hold key oil capital in South Sudan Posted: 22 Dec 2013 02:47 PM PST  KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — South Sudan's central government lost control of the capital of a key oil-producing state Sunday, the military said, as renegade forces loyal to a former deputy president seized more territory in fighting that has raised fears of full-blown civil war in the world's newest country.
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| Tiffany ordered to pay $449 million to Swatch Posted: 22 Dec 2013 02:28 PM PST BERLIN (AP) — Tiffany & Co. was ordered to pay Swatch Group AG about 402 million Swiss francs ($449 million) in compensation over a contractual dispute, the companies said Sunday. |
| Mauritania ruling party wins absolute majority Posted: 22 Dec 2013 02:10 PM PST  Mauritania's ruling UPR party has won a ruling majority in parliament after a second round of legislative elections, according to results given Sunday. The Union for the Republic party had gone into Saturday's election with already a victory in the November 23 first round after a boycott by several opposition parties in the mainly Muslim republic, a former French colony on the west coast of the Sahara desert. According to Sunday's results, which decided an outstanding 26 seats, the UPR now holds 74 seats in the 147-member National Assembly. Following independence from France in 1960 and the ensuing one-party government of Moktar Ould Daddah, deposed in 1978, Mauritania had a series of military rulers until its first multi-party election in 1992.
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| U.S. citizens evacuated from Bor to Juba in South Sudan: State Department Posted: 22 Dec 2013 02:06 PM PST U.S. citizens were safely evacuated on Sunday from Bor to Juba in South Sudan, the State Department said as fears grew of an all-out ethnic civil war in the landlocked African country. "This morning, the United States - in coordination with the United Nations and in consultation with the South Sudanese government - safely evacuated American citizens from Bor, South Sudan. U.S. citizens and citizens from our partner nations were flown from Bor to Juba on U.N. and U.S. civilian helicopters," the State Department said in a statement. It did not specify how many Americans were transported to Juba, a day after three U.S. aircraft came under fire from unidentified forces while attempting an evacuation. |
| UK minister calls for review of 'Help to Buy' scheme Posted: 22 Dec 2013 01:51 PM PST  (Reuters) - The UK's business minister has called for a rethink of the government's "Help to Buy" scheme because of concerns over a housing boom in London and South East England. "We certainly need to look at that (scheme) again. It was conceived in very different circumstances," Vince Cable said on BBC television's Andrew Marr show. "If you don't increase the interest rate ... this boom that's taking place in house prices gets out of control and the only people who can afford to live in large parts of London are foreigners and bankers," Cable said.
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| Turkey PM vows to go after rivals over mass graft probe Posted: 22 Dec 2013 01:30 PM PST  Turkey's prime minister on Sunday warned his rivals he would "break their hands" if they used a widening graft scandal to undermine his rule, as thousands of angry protesters called for the government's resignation. "Everyone will know their place," Recep Tayyip Erdogan told cheering supporters of his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) in his latest combative response to a high-profile probe into bribery and corruption allegations that has ensnared cabinet ministers. His heated remarks came as riot police fired tear gas and water cannon to disperse several thousand demonstrators in Istanbul calling on the AKP government to step down. Many were protesting against grand urban development projects, but some symbolically held up shoe boxes to show their fury over recent claims of widespread bribery by members of Erdogan's Islamic-leaning government.
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| Saudi king appoints son as new Mecca governor Posted: 22 Dec 2013 01:26 PM PST RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — King Abdullah appointed one of his sons on Sunday as the new governor of Mecca, a prestigious and influential position that includes oversight of Islam's holiest shrine, the state media reported. |
| Swatch claims victory in dispute with Tiffany Posted: 22 Dec 2013 01:17 PM PST BERLIN (AP) — Swatch Group AG says it has won a contractual dispute with Tiffany & Co. |
| US ups pressure in S. Sudan, but no military role likely Posted: 22 Dec 2013 01:12 PM PST  The United States -- a key backer of South Sudan's 2011 independence -- is increasing diplomatic pressure amid an intensifying conflict there but will not consider military intervention, experts said. President Barack Obama has warned South Sudan over the week-old conflict, saying the country was on the "precipice" of civil war and that any military coup would trigger an end to diplomatic and economic support from Washington and its allies. Secretary of State John Kerry also told President Salva Kiir over the weekend that the violence endangers the independence of the world's youngest nation, born in July 2011 after a five-decade struggle for independence from Sudan.
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| South Sudan has 'unravelled': country's UN aid chief Posted: 22 Dec 2013 12:56 PM PST  The UN humanitarian chief in South Sudan warned Sunday the country has "unravelled" after a week of violence that has transformed a power struggle within the ruling party into a quasi-civil war. The world's youngest nation, which gained independence from Sudan in 2011 after decades of combat, is falling apart under the pressure of rebel groups seizing towns and oil fields and militias from the country's two largest tribes massacring one another after a fall-out between the President Salva Kiir and his former deputy Riek Machar. "It would have been have been difficult one week ago to imagine that things would have unravelled to this extent," said Toby Lanzer, South Sudan humanitarian coordinator for the the United Nations and deputy head of its peacekeeping mission UNMISS.
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| Special Report: In satellite tech race, China hitched a ride from Europe Posted: 22 Dec 2013 12:55 PM PST  By David Lague HONG KONG (Reuters) - Chinese leader Xi Jinping has exhorted the People's Liberation Army "to get ready to fight and win wars" and "to win regional warfare under information technology-oriented conditions." For now, China's sprawling defense industries and research laboratories are relying on a high-tech short cut. In a vast and carefully coordinated effort, China is scouring the globe for know-how that can be coupled with domestic innovation to produce strategic weapons and equipment. A year ago this month, technicians at a maker of satellite navigation gear in the Belgian town of Leuven worked over the year-end holidays to test one such breakthrough. China had help - and it came from European Union headquarters in Brussels, just down the road from Leuven.
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| Icons of Egypt's protest movement imprisoned Posted: 22 Dec 2013 12:53 PM PST  CAIRO (AP) — An Egyptian court handed down prison sentences to three of the country's most prominent youth activists Sunday in the first use of a controversial new protest law, a harsh warning to the secular groups that supported the military's ouster of Islamist president Mohammed Morsi but have since grown critical of the army-backed government that replaced him.
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| Sonar search for China tycoon missing after France chopper crash Posted: 22 Dec 2013 12:48 PM PST  French police were using two sonar units late Sunday to scan a river bed in southwest France for the bodies of a Chinese tycoon and a French winemaker missing after their helicopter crashed. Efforts to find the remains of Lam Kok, a 46-year-old Chinese tea-and-property magnate, his interpreter and financial advisor, Peng Wang, and James Gregoire, a French entrepreneur and the pilot of the helicopter, have been ongoing since Friday, when the aircraft fell into the Dordogne river. Police early Saturday located the mangled wreckage of the yellow-and-black four-seater helicopter in seven metres (23 feet) of water in the river and recovered the body of Lam Kok's 12-year-old son, Shun Yu Kok, from its rear. Crashed helicopter to be hauled out of river
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| Muslims protest French operations in C. Africa Posted: 22 Dec 2013 12:46 PM PST  Bangui (Central African Republic) (AFP) - Several thousand Muslim supporters of the Central African Republic's former rebel group Seleka protested Sunday against French troops conducting a disarmament operation. The demonstration in the capital Bangui marked the most significant show of hostility towards France since it deployed troops on December 5 to end the chaos that followed Seleka's coup in March. "No to France", the protesters chanted, calling French President Francois Hollande a "criminal" and complaining that his troops had only come to protect Christians. The protest swelled after three ex-Seleka fighters were killed in clashes with French troops, according to Muslim residents and a leader of the former rebel outfit.
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| Post-mortem due for UK doctor who died in Syria Posted: 22 Dec 2013 12:26 PM PST  LONDON (AP) — The body of a British doctor who died while in government custody in Syria was returned to the U.K. on Sunday for a post-mortem examination.
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| France's Hollande 'regrets' Algeria quip Posted: 22 Dec 2013 12:17 PM PST  French President Francois Hollande on Sunday expressed his "sincere regrets" over a joke he made suggesting Algeria was unsafe, drawing a line under a brief but fiery diplomatic spat with the north African country. Algerian Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra initially called the quip "regrettable" and said it ended the year on a "bad note", but later declared himself satisfied with Hollande's apology. The controversy erupted after Hollande joked during a speech last week to the CRIF Jewish representative group that French Interior Minister Manuel Valls had just returned "safe and sound" from a trip to Algeria. "Everyone knows the friendly feelings Francois Hollande holds for Algeria and the great respect he has for its people," the statement said.
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| Bomb explodes on Israeli bus, no one hurt: police Posted: 22 Dec 2013 12:13 PM PST A bomb that Israeli authorities suspect was planted by Palestinian militants exploded in a bus near Tel Aviv on Sunday after passengers were evacuated, and police said no one was hurt. But Fawzi Barhoum, a spokesman for the Islamist militant group Hamas, said in a statement the blast was a "heroic action" in response to what he termed the "continued crimes" of Israel's occupation of land Palestinians seek for a state. Photographs from the scene, in the Tel Aviv suburb of Bat Yam, showed the blast blew out the vehicle's windows. It was a bag on the back bench, and he immediately ordered everyone off," Eitan Fixman, a spokesman for the Dan bus company, was quoted as saying on the YNet news site. |
| Ice storm snarls travel across Eastern Canada Posted: 22 Dec 2013 12:11 PM PST TORONTO (AP) — A storm system is bringing freezing rain across much of Eastern Canada, cutting power to hundreds of thousands of people and wreaking havoc on holiday plans at one of the busiest travel times of the year. |
| Egypt forms panel to probe post-Morsi bloodshed Posted: 22 Dec 2013 11:47 AM PST  Egypt said Sunday a panel has been formed to probe the violence that has plagued the country since June 30, when millions demanded the resignation of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi. Egypt has been rocked by militant attacks and street clashes since the army ousted Morsi on July 3 following massive protests against his year-long rule, leaving the country bitterly polarised. Interim president Adly Mansour issued a decree Sunday to form an "independent fact-finding committee that will investigate the incidents that happened from June 30 onwards," a statement issued by his office said. Since Morsi's overthrow the military-installed authorities have launched a sweeping crackdown on his supporters, jailing thousands of Islamists, including virtually the entire top leadership of his Muslim Brotherhood, which prevailed in a series of polls held after the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak in 2011.
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| Cameron says Syria must answer for 'sickening' UK doctor death Posted: 22 Dec 2013 11:33 AM PST  British Prime Minister David Cameron has written to the mother of a British doctor who died in a Syrian jail, saying Damascus must answer for his "sickening" death, the family's lawyer revealed Sunday. Syria claims Abbas Khan, who was arrested last year after travelling to Aleppo to treat wounded civilians, committed suicide. Cameron accused the regime of subjecting Khan, a father of two, to "despicable treatment", but the doctor's family, who have criticised Britain's efforts to secure his release, called the letter "too little too late". "Abbas's death is a sickening and appalling tragedy and it is right that the Syrian regime should answer for it," said Cameron's letter, according to a copy sent to AFP by Nabeel Sheikh, the family's lawyer.
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| Iran nuclear talks suspended for Christmas Posted: 22 Dec 2013 11:32 AM PST  Iran's foreign minister and the EU's top diplomat agreed during telephone call Sunday to postpone until after Christmas talks on implementing a landmark nuclear agreement, the country's chief negotiator said. "During this telephone conversation, it was agreed to continue the negotiations, but with the Christmas holidays in sight it was decided to interrupt and resume (the talks) a week after the holidays," said Abbas Araqchi. The Iranian nuclear negotiator said the agreement was reached during a call that lasted "45 minutes" between Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.
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| Iraq's Maliki vows to act against 'Qaeda' protest site Posted: 22 Dec 2013 11:31 AM PST  Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said Sunday that an anti-government sit-in has become a headquarters for Al-Qaeda, and called for protesters to depart before security forces move in. If security forces move against the site, where Sunni Arab demonstrators have gathered for almost a year, it would likely inflame widespread discontent among the minority community and could add to the already-rampant violence plaguing the country. Maliki's remarks came a day after a disastrous military operation against militants in the mostly Sunni Anbar province west of Baghdad, in which five senior officers and 10 other soldiers were killed. "I say clearly and honestly that the sit-in site in Anbar has turned into a headquarters for the leadership of Al-Qaeda," Maliki, a Shiite, said in remarks broadcast Sunday on Iraqiya state TV.
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| New air strikes on Syria's Aleppo kill dozens Posted: 22 Dec 2013 11:30 AM PST  Syrian regime helicopters bombarded residential areas of the divided city of Aleppo with crude explosive-filled barrels, killing dozens of people in a tactic widely condemned as unlawful. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said six children were among 56 people killed in so-called barrel bomb attacks and airstrikes in Aleppo and neighbouring villages. Hundreds have been killed during the past week as regime aircraft have dropped TNT-filled barrels on Aleppo, now largely reduced to rubble, activists, medics and other witnesses said. The Observatory said the raids killed at least 56 people, including seven rebel fighters and six children, in several opposition neighbourhoods of Aleppo city as well as nearby villages Atareb and Marea, adding the number was likely to rise.
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| Government airstrikes kill at least 32 in Syria Posted: 22 Dec 2013 11:14 AM PST BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian aircraft pummeled opposition areas in the northern city of Aleppo on Sunday, killing at least 32 people and extending the government's furious aerial bombardment of the rebel-held half of the divided city to an eighth consecutive day. |
| France steps up search for China tycoon after chopper crash Posted: 22 Dec 2013 10:59 AM PST  French police stepped up their search Sunday for a Chinese billionaire and two others feared dead after their helicopter crashed as he was surveying a newly purchased vineyard in southwest France. There was little hope of finding alive Lam Kok, a 46-year-old Chinese tea-and-property tycoon, his interpreter and advisor Peng Wang or winemaker James Gregoire after police on Saturday recovered the body of Lam's 12-year-old son from the back of the wrecked helicopter lying in seven metres (23 feet) of water in the Dordogne river. The four had boarded the helicopter piloted by Gregoire on Friday to make a celebratory tour of a Bordeaux chateau and wine-growing estate that Lam had just bought from the Frenchman. "We are meticulously combing the area, with practically no visibility, almost by hand," local gendarmerie commander Ghislain Rety said.
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| Egypt court jails anti-Mubarak activists for 3 years Posted: 22 Dec 2013 10:56 AM PST  An Egyptian court on Sunday sentenced three activists who spearheaded the 2011 uprising against Hosni Mubarak to three years in jail for organising an unlicensed protest, judicial sources said. It was the first such verdict against non-Islamist protesters since the overthrow of president Mohamed Morsi on July 3 and was seen by rights groups as part of a widening crackdown on demonstrations by military-installed authorities. Ahmed Maher, Ahmed Douma and Mohamed Adel were also convicted of rioting and assaulting security forces during an unauthorised protest last month, and were fined 50,000 Egyptian pounds ($7,100, 5,200 euros) each, the sources said. Maher is the founder of the April 6 youth movement that led the revolt against Mubarak.
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| Match-winner Barkley cites beginner's luck Posted: 22 Dec 2013 10:51 AM PST  Swansea (United Kingdom) (AFP) - Ross Barkley gave Everton a 2-1 victory at Swansea City with a memorable late free-kick on Sunday, then admitted that he does not even practise shooting from set-pieces. The 20-year-old midfielder, capped by England for the first time this season, settled Sunday's game at the Liberty Stadium with a masterful 22-yard free-kick that cleared the defensive wall and went in off the bar. Having earlier spurned an opportunity to put Everton ahead when he slipped as he shaped to shoot, he said he was simply grateful to have been given an opportunity to atone. "I told Romelu Lukaku to leave it, because I saw the goal and thought 'I'm going to score this.'
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| Tributes flow following Swann's shock exit Posted: 22 Dec 2013 10:47 AM PST  Tributes flowed for England spinner Graeme Swann after his bombshell retirement from international cricket Sunday midway through the Ashes series. Swann explained his shock decision in press conference in Melbourne on Sunday, telling reporters England's 150-run defeat in last week's Perth Test -- which gave Australia a 3-0 series lead and the Ashes for the first time since 2009 -- had sealed his decision. His retirement, effective immediately, comes days before the fourth Test as a rattled England side try to stave off a 5-0 clean sweep in the series. Australia and England players, plus former greats, said they were stunned by Swann's decision.
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