| One killed as Islamist students and police clash in Cairo Posted: 28 Dec 2013 10:13 AM PST By Maggie Fick CAIRO (Reuters) - A student was killed on Saturday and scores were arrested when supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood clashed with Egyptian police at the Cairo campus of Al-Azhar University, state media reported. Shaimaa Mounir, a student activist, told Reuters the dead student was Khaled El-Haddad, a supporter of the Islamist movement which has continued daily protests after the government designated it a terrorist organisation this week. State-run newspaper Al-Ahram said security forces fired teargas to disperse pro-Brotherhood students who were preventing their classmates from entering university buildings to take exams. Police arrested 101 students for possession of makeshift weapons including petrol bombs, the state news agency reported. |
| Iraq troops arrest leading Sunni MP in violent raid Posted: 28 Dec 2013 12:47 PM PST  By Kamal Namaa RAMADI, Iraq (Reuters) - Iraqi security forces arrested a prominent Sunni Muslim lawmaker and supporter of anti-government protests in a raid on his home in the western province of Anbar, sparking clashes in which at least five people were killed, police sources said. The violent arrest of Ahmed al-Alwani is likely to inflame tensions in Sunni-dominated Anbar, where protesters have been demonstrating against what they see as marginalization of their sect by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's Shi'ite-led government. Alwani belongs to the Sunni-backed Iraqiya bloc and has been a strong critic of Maliki and an influential figure in the protest movement. Police sources said a two-hour firefight broke out on Saturday when bodyguards and members of Alwani's tribe resisted police and soldiers who went to arrest Alwani on charges of "terrorism" from his house in the centre of the city of Ramadi.
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| South Sudan says will attack rebel stronghold if ceasefire rejected Posted: 28 Dec 2013 07:46 AM PST  By Aaron Maasho JUBA (Reuters) - South Sudan troops will attack the main stronghold of rebel forces loyal to former vice president Riek Machar if the government's offer of a ceasefire is rejected, a senior minister said on Saturday. Refugees sheltering in U.N. camps spoke of atrocities committed by both main ethnic groups. President Salva Kiir's government offered an olive branch to the rebels on Friday, proposing a ceasefire and saying it would release eight of 11 senior politicians, widely seen to be Machar allies, arrested over an alleged coup plot against Kiir. "Until mechanisms for monitoring are established, when one says there is a unilateral ceasefire, there is no way the other person would be confident this is a commitment," Machar said.
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| Hundreds try to flee C. African Republic on emergency flights Posted: 28 Dec 2013 01:40 PM PST  By Paul-Marin Ngoupana BANGUI (Reuters) - Hundreds of people tried to flee inter-religious violence in Central African Republic on Saturday aboard emergency flights to neighboring Chad, while nearby countries appealed for help to rescue their citizens from the mounting humanitarian crisis. Tit-for-tat violence between Muslim Seleka rebels, who seized power in March, and Christian self-defense militias have killed more than 1,000 people this month in the riverside capital Bangui and displaced hundreds of thousands more. Fighting in the former French colony has surged in recent weeks despite the presence of 1,600 French peacekeepers and nearly 4,000 African Union troops deployed under a U.N. mandate to protect civilians. Bangui was calm on Saturday.
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| Syrian forces kill 25 in Aleppo barrel-bomb attack: activists Posted: 28 Dec 2013 06:03 AM PST  A Syrian army air strike on a vegetable market in the northern city of Aleppo killed at least 25 people on Saturday, a monitoring group said, continuing a campaign of improvised "barrel bombs" that has drawn international condemnation. A video posted on the Internet by local activist group Insaan Rights Watch showed residents pulling mangled corpses out of scorched and twisted car frames. Hundreds of people have been killed by air raids around the city of Aleppo in recent weeks, scores of them women and children, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a pro-opposition monitoring group based in Britain. On Saturday, the Observatory said 25 people, at least four of them children, were killed by barrel bombing that also destroyed part of a hospital.
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| Five decapitated bodies dumped in Michoacan capital Posted: 28 Dec 2013 02:39 PM PST Five severed heads and their bodies were dumped in two spots Saturday morning around the capital of the western state of Michoacan that has been plagued by worsening drug gang violence this year. Michoacan's murder rate rose in 2013 compared to declines in most states. Last month, dozens of mutilated corpses were found buried in mass graves in an area on the border between the states of Michoacan and Jalisco. Violence spiked in Michoacan in recent years and masked groups of vigilantes took power in some rural communities in 2013, claiming the government was failing to stop gang extortion and violence. |
| Lee could have killed Piers Morgan: Hadlee Posted: 28 Dec 2013 04:32 PM PST  "Incensed" New Zealand cricket great Richard Hadlee claims TV host Piers Morgan could have been killed by Brett Lee in an exhibition over and he wants the former Australian speedster punished. During Saturday's tea break in the England-Australia Ashes Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Lee left Morgan battered and bruised as he pounded the Englishman with an over of short-pitched deliveries.
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| Four passengers airlifted from fire-hit North Sea ferry Posted: 28 Dec 2013 04:08 PM PST  A fire broke out late Saturday on a ferry in the North Sea, causing four people to be airlifted to hospital suffering from smoke inhalation, British officials and media said. Two Royal Air Force (RAF) search and rescue helicopters and two lifeboats were scrambled to evacuate passengers after the blaze off the coast of Yorkshire in northern England. Four people were winched into one of the helicopters and taken to hospital, according to RAF squadron leader Dave Webster, who said the fire had now been extinguished. Some 946 passengers were on board the ferry operated by DFDS Seaways, which was travelling between Newcastle and Amsterdam in the Netherlands, Sky News reported.
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| Syria 'unlikely' to meet chemical deadline: UN Posted: 28 Dec 2013 04:07 PM PST  UNITED NATIONS (United States) (AFP) - Syria is "unlikely" to meet a December 31 deadline to move its most dangerous chemical arms out of the country, the United Nations acknowledged for the first time Saturday. The UN and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said "important progress" has been made on eliminating Syria's banned weapons, but called on President Bashar al-Assad's government to "intensify efforts" to meet internationally set deadlines. The year-end deadline was the first key milestone under a UN Security Council-backed deal arranged by Russia and the United States that aims to wipe out all of Syria's chemical arms by the middle of 2014. "Preparations continue in readiness for the transport of most of the critical chemical material from the Syrian Arab Republic for outside destruction.
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| Turkey: Rift with US-based cleric widens Posted: 28 Dec 2013 03:02 PM PST  ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey's embattled prime minister on Saturday ratcheted up the rhetoric against a U.S.-based Muslim cleric seen as a threat to his government, for the first time directly suggesting followers have infiltrated the police and judiciary and are pushing a corruption probe against his allies.
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| NHL Bruins lose Seidenberg for season with knee injury Posted: 28 Dec 2013 02:05 PM PST  Boston Bruins defenseman Dennis Seidenberg will miss the remainder of the season with torn right knee ligaments, the National Hockey League club announced on Saturday. German Seidenberg suffered tears to his medial collateral and anterior cruciate ligaments during the Bruins' 5-0 home victory Friday over Ottawa. Doctors examined Seidenberg on Saturday and discovered the extent of his injuries, estimating his recovery time at between six and eight months, potentially just ahead of training camp for the 2014-15 season. Seidenberg's 11th NHL season ended with one goal in 34 games.
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| African asylum seekers protest in Israel Posted: 28 Dec 2013 01:54 PM PST  Several thousand African asylum seekers who entered Israel illegally via Egypt staged a peaceful protest in Tel Aviv on Saturday, police said. Under legislation passed on December 10, illegal immigrants entering Israel can be held for up to a year without trial. It was the latest in a series of measures aimed at cracking down on close to 60,000 illegal immigrants from Africa, whom Israel says pose a threat to the state's Jewish character.
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| Bahraini authorities question opposition leader Posted: 28 Dec 2013 01:21 PM PST  Sheikh Ali Salman's al-Wefaq Islamic Association said after his release that he would be subject to a travel ban preventing him from leaving Bahrain. Bahrain's interior ministry said earlier in a Twitter message that Sheikh Salman had "incited hatred" of the government and "promoted rioting and vandalism". The questioning came nearly two months after the tiny Gulf kingdom, which is ruled by the Sunni Muslim Al-Khalifa dynasty, charged Sheikh Salman with insulting the interior ministry. In his Friday sermon, Sheikh Salman urged his followers to react peacefully to what he described as "state violence".
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| NHL Blues' Steen out with concussion Posted: 28 Dec 2013 01:16 PM PST  St Louis Blues center Alexander Steen, who ranks second in the National Hockey League this season with 24 goals, has a concussion and was placed on injured reserve on Saturday. Blues general manager Doug Armstrong said that Steen, a strong candidate for Sweden's 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic squad, is able to exercise with the club but no timetable has been set for his return. Steen, the Blues' top scorer this season, has already matched his career-best total for goals in a season from the 2009-10 campaign, his first full season in St Louis after coming over in a trade from Toronto. Steen, who has also played for Modo and Frolunda in the Swedish elite league, has 147 goals in 572 career NHL games.
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| Chadian civilians flee attacks, threats in C.Africa capital Posted: 28 Dec 2013 12:58 PM PST  Bangui (Central African Republic) (AFP) - Hundreds more Chadian civilians headed Saturday to their home country after facing repeated attacks and threats from majority Christians in the strife-torn Central African Republic. Under the taunts of angry residents looking on, Chadians, who are traditionally Muslim, piled into a convoy of several dozen cars, trucks and taxis that left the capital Bangui, heading north for the long journey to neighbouring Chad. French peacekeepers kept the protesters at a distance from the convoy as the Chadians earlier jostled to cram their personal belongings into the cars. The land convoys are in addition to flights set up by the Chadian government that the International Organisation for Migration says has evacuated some 3,000 people in the past week.
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| Kerry in New Year's Day trip to Israel Posted: 28 Dec 2013 12:57 PM PST  US Secretary of State John Kerry will make a New Year's Day trip to Israel and the Palestinian Territories aiming to push forward peace talks as a nine-month deadline looms. "On January 1, Secretary of State John Kerry will travel to Jerusalem to meet with Prime Minister (Benjamin) Netanyahu, and to Ramallah to meet with President (Mahmud) Abbas," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Saturday. "In these meetings, he will discuss the ongoing final status negotiations between the Israelis and Palestinians, among other issues," she added in a statement.
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| Syria's Assad sends message to pope Posted: 28 Dec 2013 12:47 PM PST  Syrian President Bashar al-Assad sent a message to Pope Francis Saturday, that state media said expressed his determination to defend Syrians of all religions against hardline Islamists among the rebels. The message was passed on through a Syrian government delegation that held talks at the Vatican with the pontiff's Secretary of State Pietro Parolin and foreign affairs official Dominique Mamberti. "The delegation brought a message from President Assad for the Holy Father and explained the position of the Syrian government," a statement said. The official Syrian Arab News Agency said Assad expressed his government's "determination to exercise its right to defend all its citizens, whatever their religion, against the crimes committed by the takfiri (Sunni Muslim extremist) bands who attack them in their homes, in their places of worship and in their neighbourhoods."
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| Activists: Syrian airstrike kills 21 in Aleppo Posted: 28 Dec 2013 12:28 PM PST  BEIRUT (AP) — A Syrian government airstrike hit a crowded vegetable market in a rebel-held neighborhood of the northern city of Aleppo on Saturday, shattering cars and storefronts and killing at least 21 people, activists said.
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| ETA prisoners accept 'legal channels' for release Posted: 28 Dec 2013 12:22 PM PST  Madrid (Spain) (AFP) - Jailed members of the armed Basque separatist group ETA said Saturday they could use "legal channels" to seek their freedom, abandoning their insistence on an amnesty. ETA, blamed for the deaths of 829 people in a four-decade campaign of shootings and bombings for an independent homeland in northern Spain and southern France, renounced its armed struggle in October 2011. The latest announcement appears to be a further softening of the organisation's position, but it is unlikely to lead to negotiations with the Spanish and French governments, both of which have repeatedly refused to enter any talks and insist instead that ETA simply disarm and disband. The EPPK prisoner collective, representing some 700 ETA members in jails across Spain and France, has long called for a general amnesty.
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| French footballer Anelka sparks row with 'Nazi-style' salute Posted: 28 Dec 2013 12:08 PM PST  French footballer Nicolas Anelka triggered controversy Saturday when he made a post-goal gesture many interpret to be a modified 'Nazi-style' salute. The 34-year-old striker thrust his straightened right arm downwards while tapping his bicep with the other hand after scoring a goal in a game in Britain between his West Bromwich Albion team and West Ham United. The gesture -- an imitation of a salute frequently used by a French comedian friend of Anelka's who has been convicted several times for anti-Semitic public comments -- was immediately and widely condemned. British media reported that the Football Association was investigating the incident, while the European Jewish Congress demanded English Premier League officials ban Anelka.
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| Egyptian student dies during protests at campus Posted: 28 Dec 2013 12:03 PM PST  CAIRO (AP) — Riot police moved into Egypt's main Islamic university on Saturday, firing tear gas and breaking up a strike by students that threatened to disrupt midterms. One student was killed in the melee, an administration building was torched and students fled from exam rooms.
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| Hollande urges Lebanon to stick to election calendar Posted: 28 Dec 2013 12:03 PM PST  French President Francois Hollande called on Lebanese authorities Saturday to hold presidential elections in May as planned, regardless of the latest violence in Beirut that killed an influential critic of the Syrian regime. President Michel Sleiman's mandate runs out on May 25 and there are fears that a successor will be hard to find because of huge disagreements between Lebanon's pro- and anti-Syria blocs. "This escalation of violence which threatens Lebanon's unity must end," Hollande told influential pan-Arab newspaper Al-Hayat in an interview to be published Sunday. "France calls for... the respect of the constitutional deadlines, especially the presidential election scheduled for May 2014," he said.
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| Bahrain's Shiite opposition says its chief arrested Posted: 28 Dec 2013 11:55 AM PST  Bahrain police have arrested Ali Salman, head of the main Shiite opposition bloc Al-Wefaq that has spearheaded protests against the authorities in the Sunni-ruled kingdom, the group said on Saturday. "Al-Wefaq can confirm that Sheikh Ali Salman has been arrested," it said in a brief statement. In a separate statement, Al-Wefaq said supporters of the 48-year-old Salman gathered outside his home in central Manama after hearing of his arrest. However, security forces quickly intervened to disperse the protesters, Al-Wefaq said, denouncing the use of tear gas against them.
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| Off-colour City go top of Premier League, United win again Posted: 28 Dec 2013 11:34 AM PST  Manchester City took over at the top of the Premier League table on Saturday but only after weathering heavy pressure from Crystal Palace in a narrow 1-0 home victory. Having described the English festive fixture schedule as "not normal", City manager Manuel Pellegrini made six changes to his side and Palace almost took full advantage at the Etihad Stadium. City goalkeeper Joe Hart was left with an ugly cut beneath his left eye that would later require stitches after saving at the feet of Cameron Jerome in the first half and it was to mark the start of a frantic afternoon for the England man. He saved brilliantly from Jason Puncheon and Mile Jedinak, while Marouane Chamakh headed wide from eight yards out as Palace looked to continue their impressive recent form under new manager Tony Pulis.
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| US peace envoy back in Belfast, faces hard sell Posted: 28 Dec 2013 11:30 AM PST  LONDON (AP) — American envoy Richard Haass returned to Belfast on Saturday for a second attempt to quell simmering disputes that have periodically erupted into violence across Northern Ireland. But his plan — details of which have not been made public — appeared to face long odds after the province's leading Protestant politician suggested some parts of the proposed deal were unacceptable.
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| Benedict takes up Francis' invite for lunch Posted: 28 Dec 2013 11:25 AM PST  VATICAN CITY (AP) — Retired Pope Benedict XVI has shared a holiday meal with his successor, Francis, at the Vatican.
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| Earthquake shakes Mediterranean coast of Turkey Posted: 28 Dec 2013 11:18 AM PST ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — A magnitude-6 earthquake struck Saturday in the Mediterranean Sea, south of the Turkish province of Antalya. The quake caused panic, but no damage or casualties were reported. |
| Saracens tighten grip with win at Worcester Posted: 28 Dec 2013 11:18 AM PST  English Premiership leaders Saracens made it 10 wins from 11 games with a 26-8 success at bottom club Worcester on Saturday that nudged their opponents closer towards relegation. Wing David Strettle, South African hooker Schalk Brits, full-back Alex Goode and fly-half Charlie Hodgson each claimed a try, with Hodgson adding three conversions at Sixways Stadium. Worcester scored first through an Ignacio Mieres penalty and saw Leonardo Senatore cross for a 37th-minute try, but they could make no inroads on the visitors' lead in a scoreless second period. The defeat left Worcester nine points adrift at the foot of the table.
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| Tunisian parties reach compromise on constitution Posted: 28 Dec 2013 11:13 AM PST TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — The head of Tunisia's transitional parliament says rival political parties reached agreement on contentious points in a draft constitution, and the document will go to the legislature Jan. 3. |
| U.S. military personnel freed after brief detention in Libya Posted: 28 Dec 2013 11:01 AM PST By Ayman al-Sahli and Lesley Wroughton SABRATHA, Libya/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Four American military personnel were briefly detained in western Libya on Friday after part of their convoy failed to stop at a checkpoint and was found to be carrying weapons, Libyan officials said. U.S. and other Western embassies have beefed up security at their missions in Libya, which is still in turmoil two and a half years after the fall of Muammar Gaddafi. |
| Air strike on market, hospital in Syria's Aleppo kills 25 Posted: 28 Dec 2013 10:48 AM PST  Helicopters dropped TNT-packed barrels on a vegetable market and next to a hospital in Syria's northern city Aleppo Saturday, killing at least 25 civilians including children, a watchdog said. "The number of people killed has risen to 25 including two women, four children, a teenager and a media activist," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, updating an earlier toll. The Observatory and activists in Aleppo say President Bashar al-Assad's regime has waged a massive aerial offensive against the city and nearby villages since December 15, killing more than 400 people, mostly civilians.
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| Turkey PM lashes out after new round of protests Posted: 28 Dec 2013 10:35 AM PST  Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday lashed out at the judiciary as he tried to tamp down a corruption probe that has shaken his government and sparked a new wave of anti-government protests. The premier clearly targeted -- without naming it -- the Gulen movement, of ally-turned-enemy Fethullah Gulen, an influential Muslim cleric who lives in self-imposed exile in the United States, and who has loyalists in Turkey's judiciary, police force and political sphere. The prime minister sought to portray the corruption probe as damaging to all of Turkey, not just to himself and his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). But recent attempts to bury the investigation have left him locked in a struggle with Turkey's courts.
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| Argentine activist demands apology over Russia arrest Posted: 28 Dec 2013 10:22 AM PST  An Argentine Greenpeace activist amnestied by Russia after being thrown in jail for protesting oil drilling in the Arctic demanded an apology from Moscow on Saturday. Speaking to reporters at Buenos Aires International Airport following her release, Camila Speziale said Russia owed an apology to the 30 activists who were arrested and held in custody for three months. "Russia should apologize to us all," Speziale said as she arrived home with fellow Argentine activist and detainee Hernan Perez Orsi.
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| Tens of thousands protest against Niger government Posted: 28 Dec 2013 10:02 AM PST  Tens of thousands of opposition supporters staged a protest rally on Saturday against what they said was the failure of President Mahamadou Issoufou to improve living standards in Niger, one of the world's poorest countries. The rally, in the capital Niamey, was the largest in Niger since pro-democracy protests against then-President Mamadou Tandja that helped to block his bid to serve a third term and ushered in a military coup that toppled him in February 2010. It was the first public show of strength by the Alliance for the Republic, Democracy and Reconciliation in Niger (ARDR), a coalition of 15 opposition parties formed in October. Last month, a court lifted a government ban on opposition marches.
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| Thousands protest Niger leader Posted: 28 Dec 2013 10:01 AM PST  Thousands of opposition supporters took to the streets of the Niger capital Niamey on Saturday to protest corruption and media censorship, in the first major rally against President Mahamadou Issoufou's rule since his 2011 election win. Demonstrators chanted "Down with the regime!" and "No to dictatorship" as they gathered outside parliament, with some carrying portraits of ex-president Mamadou Tandja, who was ousted in a military coup in 2010 but remains a popular figure in the west African country. The protest, organised by an alliance of opposition parties, marks the first large street demonstration against Issoufou since he came to power.
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| Guinea-Bissau interior minister resigns over Syrian refugee row Posted: 28 Dec 2013 09:52 AM PST  Guinea-Bissau's attorney general ordered the arrest of the recently-resigned interior minister on Saturday for suspected involvement in the boarding of a group of Syrians with allegedly false passports on a flight to Portugal. Portuguese flag-carrier TAP suspended flights between the two nations when one of its aircraft from Bissau arrived in Lisbon on December 10 with the group of 74 refugees. Antonio Suka Tchama, who is believed to have facilitated the Syrians' embarkation, announced his resignation over the affair on December 18 but has not admitted any wrongdoing. "We have evidence that it is the minister who demanded, directly threatening the station manager, the forced embarkment of 74 Syrian refugees on board a TAP flight," said a statement from Attorney General Abdu Mane, ordering Tchama's arrest.
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| Iraq forces arrest Sunni MP, kill brother and guards Posted: 28 Dec 2013 09:51 AM PST  Ramadi (Iraq) (AFP) - Iraqi security forces on Saturday raided the home of a Sunni MP who backs anti-government protesters, arresting him and sparking clashes that killed his brother and five guards, police said. The raid threatens to inflame widespread discontent among Iraq's Sunni Arab minority and could compound rampant violence plaguing the country. Police said automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades were used in the clashes that erupted during the raid on MP Ahmed al-Alwani's home in Ramadi, west of Baghdad. Alwani's brother and five guards were killed, while 18 people, including 10 members of the security forces, were wounded, police and a doctor at Ramadi hospital said.
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