| UK spy chiefs to be quizzed in public for first time, on Snowden Posted: 06 Nov 2013 04:08 PM PST  By Andrew Osborn LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's intelligence chiefs will give their first ever public testimony on Thursday when they are cross-examined together in parliament about the case of former U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden. The evidence-gathering session comes amid calls for the government to step up oversight of its three main intelligence agencies after documents that Snowden leaked to the press exposed Britain's role in secret mass surveillance programs. Those disclosures detailed Britain's close cooperation with the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA), embarrassing Prime Minister David Cameron and angering lawmakers in his ruling Conservative party who said they harmed national security.
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| NATO war games worry Moscow Posted: 06 Nov 2013 03:50 PM PST  By Adrian Croft and Aija Krutaine ADAZI, Latvia (Reuters) - NATO is staging its biggest military exercise in seven years this week in the Baltic countries and Poland but its insistence that the drills are not aimed at sharpening defenses against a resurgent Russia have not convinced Moscow. NATO says the exercise, involving 6,000 soldiers from the alliance as well as non-members Sweden, Finland and Ukraine, is based on a fictional scenario in which troops from the imaginary state of Bothnia invade Estonia in a crisis sparked by competition for energy resources and economic collapse. But Russian officials see the exercise close to their western border as confirming fears that NATO's expansion since the end of the Cold War would lead to the allies flexing their muscles in Moscow's backyard. The exercise comes soon after much larger Russian maneuvers with Belarus in September that alarmed the small Baltic states, although NATO insists there is no link.
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| Colombia, FARC agree on rebels' future if peace signed Posted: 06 Nov 2013 05:03 PM PST  By Helen Murphy and Rosa Tania Valdés BOGOTA/HAVANA (Reuters) - Colombia's government and Marxist FARC rebels reached a "fundamental agreement" on the guerrillas' future in politics, one of the thorniest issues addressed in peace talks in Cuba, according to a joint statement on Wednesday. The FARC, or Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, has been fighting the government in a jungle and urban conflict that has killed more than 200,000 people in the five decades since it began as a peasant movement seeking land reform. The partial accord may clear the way for FARC to enter Colombian politics, which chief government negotiator Humberto de la Calle said would provide a "new democratic opening" and cement peace after an end of conflict. Like other Latin American guerrilla groups, the FARC aspires to become a political party if a peace deal is signed.
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| Palestinian leader Arafat was murdered with polonium: widow Posted: 06 Nov 2013 11:53 AM PST  By Paul Taylor PARIS (Reuters) - Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was poisoned to death in 2004 with radioactive polonium, his widow Suha said on Wednesday after receiving the results of Swiss forensic tests on her husband's corpse. "We are revealing a real crime, a political assassination," she told Reuters in Paris. A team of experts, including from Lausanne University Hospital's Institute of Radiation Physics, opened Arafat's grave in the West Bank city of Ramallah last November, and took samples from his body to seek evidence of alleged poisoning. "This has confirmed all our doubts," said Suha Arafat after the Swiss forensic team handed over its report to her lawyers and Palestinian officials in Geneva on Tuesday.
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| Insight: Failure to end China's labor camps shows limits of Xi's power Posted: 06 Nov 2013 01:16 PM PST  By Benjamin Kang Lim and Ben Blanchard BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese President Xi Jinping has been blocked in efforts to dismantle the country's labor camp system in a clear sign that he has yet to cement his grip on the ruling Communist Party a year after gaining power, leadership sources said. Xi, whose father was sacked as vice premier and then imprisoned for seven years during the 1966-76 Cultural Revolution, is deeply opposed to the use of labor camps for arbitrary detention and his failure to close them suggests he is not as strong as he appears, the sources said. "Xi Jinping loathes re-education through labor," a source who has known Xi since the 1990s told Reuters. Xi had approved a proposal by domestic security chief Meng Jianzhu to eradicate the system but was thwarted by conservative sections of the party, two other sources said.
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| Powers seek 'first-step' nuclear deal with Iran in Geneva talks Posted: 06 Nov 2013 05:06 PM PST  By Justyna Pawlak and Fredrik Dahl GENEVA (Reuters) - World powers will seek to hammer out a breakthrough deal with Iran to start resolving a decade-old dispute over its nuclear program in two-day talks that begin on Thursday, although both sides say an agreement is far from certain. The United States and its allies say they are encouraged by Tehran's shift to friendlier rhetoric after years of hostility since the June election of President Hassan Rouhani, who has pledged to repair ties with the West and win sanctions relief. But they stress Iran needs to back its words with action and take concrete steps to scale back its atomic work, which they suspect has covert military aims, a charge Tehran denies. "What we're looking for is a first phase, a first step, an initial understanding that stops Iran's nuclear program from moving forward and rolls it back for the first time in decades," a senior U.S. official told reporters on the eve of the talks.
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| Toronto mayor rejects latest call to step aside Posted: 06 Nov 2013 05:03 PM PST  TORONTO (AP) — Toronto's embattled mayor on Wednesday rejected the advice of city council allies to take a temporary leave of absence, returning to work a day after acknowledging he had smoked crack.
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| 3 killed, 6 hurt in Detroit barbershop shooting Posted: 06 Nov 2013 04:59 PM PST DETROIT (AP) — Gunfire broke out Wednesday evening at a Detroit barbershop known for gambling activity, leaving at least three people dead, police say. |
| Bolshoi ballet chief confronts alleged attacker in court Posted: 06 Nov 2013 04:58 PM PST  The artistic director of the Bolshoi ballet Sergei Filin on Wednesday dramatically confronted the former dancer accused of plotting to blind him with acid, rejecting allegations of an affair with a top young ballerina. Filin, who nearly lost his sight in an acid attack early this year, took to the witness stand in the trial of former Bolshoi soloist Pavel Dmitrichenko who is charged with planning the assault. In a stunningly frank testimony, Filin denied favouring ballerinas based on any "intimate relations" and said he cannot forgive anyone behind the attack. The testimony exposed yet more of the intrigue and plotting behind the scenes of the Bolshoi, whose reputation as one of the world's great ballet theatres was dealt a heavy blow by the attack.
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| Cameroon author wins top French literary prize Posted: 06 Nov 2013 04:55 PM PST  Cameroonian author Leonora Miano on Wednesday scooped France's Femina literary prize and used her acceptance speech to denounce racist insults directed at the French justice minister. "It's not only the minister who is insulted, but all black people who are reduced to being animals (by this)," Miano said, referring to two occasions in the past month when Christiane Taubira has been publicly compared to a monkey. Miano's "The Season of Darkness" ("La Saison de l'ombre") explores the loss of loved ones by sub-Saharan Africans during the slave trade.
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| Shell 'manipulates Nigeria oil spills probes': Amnesty Posted: 06 Nov 2013 04:14 PM PST  Amnesty International alleged on Thursday that Shell has repeatedly misrepresented the cause of oil spills in Nigeria, blaming criminal sabotage to avoid liability, in a charge the Anglo-Dutch energy giant dismissed as "unsubstantiated". The number of spills in the southern Niger Delta region, home to Africa's largest oil industry, was "staggering", the London-based rights group said in a new report, "Bad Information. Shell, the largest onshore operator in the delta, has reported 348 spills since the start of 2012, while the Nigerian Agip Oil Company, the Nigerian subsidiary of Italy's ENI, has reported nearly 1,000 over the same period, it added. Oil companies, and particularly Shell, have manipulated the results of spill investigations, the report stated, blaming oil thieving gangs when the firm's neglected, decaying infrastructure may be the cause.
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| Amnesty criticizes Shell's reporting of Nigerian oil spills Posted: 06 Nov 2013 04:09 PM PST By Joe Brock ABUJA (Reuters) - Amnesty International called into question Royal Dutch Shell's accounting in Nigeria for oil spill amounts and causes, saying the oil major was seeking to avoid compensation payments and damage to its reputation. The Anglo-Dutch oil major responded in a statement that it "firmly rejects unsubstantiated assertions that they have exaggerated the impact of crude oil theft and sabotage to distract attention from operational performance". There are hundreds of leaks every year from pipelines that pass through the creeks and swamplands of the Niger Delta, damaging the environment and cutting into profits of oil companies including Shell and Italy's Eni. Widespread oil theft, sabotage and pipeline operational failures are cited as the main reasons for leaks, but the official cause of a leak is often disputed between oil companies and local communities. |
| New Zealand police under fire over 'rape club' probe Posted: 06 Nov 2013 03:59 PM PST  The New Zealand government ordered an independent inquiry Thursday into allegations that police botched an investigation into an online "rape club" that preyed on underage girls. Police Minister Anne Tolley said the case, which has sparked outrage in New Zealand, had been "poorly handled" and she had asked the police watchdog to conduct an inquiry. "I believe this is the right course of action to ensure the public has confidence in the police on this matter," she said after meeting Police Commissioner Peter Marshall on Thursday.
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| NATO's top commander questions Turkish missile deal with China Posted: 06 Nov 2013 03:50 PM PST By Adrian Croft ADAZI, Latvia (Reuters) - NATO's top military commander urged Turkey on Wednesday to buy a missile defense system that is compatible with other NATO systems, questioning whether the $3.4 billion Chinese system that Ankara is leaning towards is suitable. The comments by U.S. Air Force General Philip Breedlove, NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Europe, add to pressure on Ankara to rethink its decision to build a missile defense system with a Chinese firm. NATO member Turkey said in September it had chosen the FD-2000 missile defense system from China Precision Machinery Import and Export Corp, or CPMIEC, over systems from Russian, U.S. and European firms. |
| China military hackers persist despite being outed by U.S.: report Posted: 06 Nov 2013 03:42 PM PST  By Deborah Charles and Paul Eckert WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The disclosure early this year of a secretive Chinese military unit believed to be behind a series of hacking attacks has failed to halt the cyber intrusions, a U.S. computer security company and congressional advisory panel said on Wednesday. A report by the cybersecurity company Mandiant in February identified the People's Liberation Army's Shanghai-based Unit 61398 as the most likely culprit in hacking attacks on a wide range of industries. China's Defense Ministry denied the accusations. The U.S.-China Economic and Security Commission, a panel which advises the U.S. Congress on China policy, said Mandiant's revelations brought only a brief pause in cyber intrusions by that PLA unit.
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| American hijacker, back from Cuba, now faces US justice Posted: 06 Nov 2013 03:32 PM PST  An American Black Panther who hijacked a plane from the United States to Cuba in 1984 returned to his home country Wednesday and was arrested, the Justice Department said. William Potts, now 56, has a life story that reads like something on the big screen, spent almost three decades in Cuba, while American prosecutors sought to bring him to justice in the United States. In Cuba, Potts reportedly thought he would be warmly welcomed and trained as a revolutionary; The American, also known as William Freeman, had been charged with hijacking in the United States for the crime carried out March 27, 1984.
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| Iran's Ebadi criticizes Rouhani's rights record Posted: 06 Nov 2013 03:15 PM PST  NEW YORK (AP) — Iranian Nobel Peace laureate Shirin Ebadi strongly criticized the human rights record of President Hassan Rouhani, citing a dramatic increase in executions since he took office this year and accusing the government of lying about the release of political prisoners.
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| Bombings in Damascus, southern Syrian city kill 16 Posted: 06 Nov 2013 03:08 PM PST A car bomb killed at least eight security personnel in a rare attack on a military intelligence headquarters in the southern Syrian city of Suweida on Wednesday, and a separate blast killed eight people in Damascus. The pro-opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said the car bomb in Suweida, which had largely spared violence in Syria's civil war, had also wounded dozens. The Observatory's head, Rami Abdelrahman, said a major - earlier identified as a colonel - was among security officers killed in the blast at the regional Air Force Intelligence headquarters. |
| Possible evidence of Arafat poisoning is reported Posted: 06 Nov 2013 02:55 PM PST  RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — Swiss scientists have found evidence suggesting Yasser Arafat may have been poisoned with a radioactive substance, a TV station reported Wednesday, prompting new allegations by his widow that the Palestinian leader was the victim of a "shocking" crime.
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| Ajax keep alive hopes of Last 16 with win over Celtic Posted: 06 Nov 2013 02:40 PM PST  Dutch champions Ajax got the result they needed to keep alive their hopes of reaching the Champions League Last 16 on Wednesday with a 1-0 win over Scottish champions Celtic. Knowing defeat would have seen them eliminated from the competition the Dutch champions started in determined fashion with Fraser Forster keeping out efforts from Stefano Denswil and Siem De Jong. Despite dominating possession Ajax were made to wait until the 51st minute to make the breakthrough when a wonderful passing move ended with Lasse Schone expertly guiding the ball past Forster. Emilio Izaguirre then cleared off the line after Forster misjudged Schone's corner before Anthony Stokes and Kris Commons missed rare chances for the Hoops.
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| U.S. looking for 'first step' from Iran in nuclear talks Posted: 06 Nov 2013 02:36 PM PST  By Louis Charbonneau and Yeganeh Torbati GENEVA (Reuters) - The United States increased pressure on Iran on Wednesday to agree in the next two days a "first step" nuclear deal that would see it halt expansion of its atomic program and reverse parts of it. On the eve of two-day talks with world powers, a senior U.S. administration official said that Washington could, in return, offer Iran "very limited, temporary, reversible" relief on the sanctions imposed to pressure Tehran to stop the nuclear activities that the West fears are weapons-related. "For the first time, Iran appears to be committed to moving this negotiation process forward quickly," the official said on condition of anonymity, adding: "nothing is yet agreed to (and) there are gaps between the two sides which remain quite real." The Geneva talks are the second round of negotiations that started in the Swiss city last month, seeking to build on a diplomatic opening created by the June election of Hassan Rouhani as Iran's new president, promising to open a fresh dialogue with the West.
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| Gunners down Dortmund to avenge London defeat Posted: 06 Nov 2013 02:34 PM PST  Having lost 2-1 at London's Emirates Stadium, the Gunners claimed revenge at Borussia's Westfalenstadion as Welshman Aaron Ramsey headed the only goal of the match played in heavy rain. Arsenal deserved the victory having taken their chance during a bright second-half spell and absorbed huge amounts of first-half pressure from the hosts who had peppered the Gunners' goal. "We had a bit of luck in London and we were punished for it tonight," fumed Dortmund goalkeeper Roman Weidenfeller. Their victory means Arsenal remain top of Group F on goal difference, level on nine points with second-placed Napoli, who beat bottom side Marseille 3-2 in Italy.
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| Hildebrand blunder leaves Chelsea in command Posted: 06 Nov 2013 02:30 PM PST  Chelsea shook an unexpected loss to Newcastle United out of their system by overcoming Schalke 3-0 on Wednesday to close on a place in the Champions League knockout phase. The London club had seen a six-game winning run ended at St James' Park on Saturday, but they got back on track by reasserting their control of Champions League Group E with their 100th victory in UEFA competition. Schalke goalkeeper Timo Hildebrand gifted Samuel Eto'o the opening goal with a dreadful error and the Chelsea striker claimed a second shortly after half-time before substitute Demba Ba added a late third. It was a repeat of the scoreline from when the sides met in Gelsenkirchen two weeks ago and it left Jose Mourinho's side three points clear of Schalke at the top of the group with two matches to come.
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| Nuke talks must convince hard-liners in Iran, US Posted: 06 Nov 2013 02:30 PM PST  GENEVA (AP) — One of the biggest challenges in this week's talks on Iran's nuclear program will be winning over two tough audiences that won't be at the table: hard-liners in Tehran and Washington.
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| Colombia and FARC strike deal on key peace issue Posted: 06 Nov 2013 02:26 PM PST  Colombia's government and FARC guerrillas reached agreement Wednesday on the rebels' future participation in politics, a deal that brings the country closer to ending a half-century of civil war. The accord was a much-needed boost to year-long peace talks that had appeared to be close to stalling in recent months, with President Juan Santos repeatedly warning the process was dragging on without progress. The rebels' political reintegration was one of five agenda points under negotiation between Santos's government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). "We have reached fundamental agreement on the second point of the agenda," they said in a joint statement read out in Havana by a Cuban diplomat, Rodolfo Benitez, confirming the political deal.
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| Tunisia old guard shuts out youths behind revolt Posted: 06 Nov 2013 02:00 PM PST  Three years after Tunisia's revolution, youths who formed the vanguard of protests find themselves sidelined from the political arena by veteran leaders determined to hold on to power. Sparked on December 17, 2010 by the self-immolation of a 26-year-old street vendor angry with corruption and police harassment, the uprising toppled autocratic president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali a month later. But since then, "the revolution of the youths has been confiscated by the old who were hiding at home or abroad during the popular uprising," said Naima Charmiti. One of them, Rached Ghannouchi, 73, heads the ruling Islamist party Ennahda and spent two decades in exile before returning to Tunisia in 2011.
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| Thousands rally against upcoming elections in Mauritania Posted: 06 Nov 2013 01:59 PM PST  Thousands of Mauritanians rallied in the capital Nouakchott on Wednesday to protest against nationwide elections later this month that have been dismissed by the opposition as a sham. The demo was organised by the umbrella Coordination of Democratic Opposition (COD), 10 of whose 11 parties are boycotting what they call an "electoral masquerade" after talks on how the vote should be run broke down last month. Around a third of Mauritania's 3.4 million people are eligible to vote in the first parliamentary and local polls since 2006, five years after the coup of junta chief Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, who was eventually elected in widely-contested polls. "The elections are stillborn, and we won't do anything that could give them life, on the contrary, we will make them fail," Mohamed Ould Khlil, a COD member, told AFP.
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| WikiLeaks aide leaves Snowden, won't return to UK Posted: 06 Nov 2013 01:48 PM PST LONDON (AP) — WikiLeaks staffer Sarah Harrison, a key ally of former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, has left Russia for Germany, saying her lawyers had advised her against travel to Britain over fears she could be prosecuted if she returns to her native country. |
| Al-Qaeda claims murders of French journalists in Mali Posted: 06 Nov 2013 01:38 PM PST  Al-Qaeda's north African division claimed responsibility Wednesday for the murders of two French journalists in Mali's rebel-infested desert, saying they were killed to avenge France's "new crusade" in its former colony. Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) said in a statement published online by Mauritanian news agency Sahara Medias the killings were "the minimum debt" owed by the French people and President Francois Hollande "in return for their new crusade". "This operation was a response to crimes committed by France against Malians and the work of African and international forces against the Muslims of Azawad," AQIM said, using the name given by the Tuareg people to northern Mali.
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| Protesters want Toronto mayor gone Posted: 06 Nov 2013 01:29 PM PST  Hundreds of people protested outside Toronto City Hall Wednesday, calling on Mayor Rob Ford to resign as he returned to work after admitting that he once smoked crack cocaine. To me, it's like a Shakespearean play happening, and everyone knows how this is going to end," said Les Williams, a 59-year-old who works in the film industry. Elizabeth Patitsas, a PhD student at the University of Toronto, said that she was worried that Ford's substance abuse problem would taint the city's reputation. Calling the mayor an "international embarrassment," she said his plans to seek another term were "just a slap in the face of Toronto's constituents."
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| Libya warns against buying oil from militias Posted: 06 Nov 2013 01:27 PM PST TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — Libya's government on Wednesday warned oil companies not to buy from export terminals seized by militias in the east of the country. |
| Mexico top court overturns drug kingpin's release Posted: 06 Nov 2013 01:20 PM PST  Mexico's Supreme Court overturned Wednesday a lower court decision to free drug kingpin Rafael Caro Quintero, whose sentence for the killing of a US agent was cut short in August. Caro Quintero, considered a forefather of Mexico's modern drug cartels, has vanished since walking out of prison on a legal technicality with 12 years left to run on his 40-year sentence. US authorities, who were outraged by the release of the 61-year-old founder of the Guadalajara drug cartel, are seeking his extradition. The US Drug Enforcement Administration offered on Tuesday a $5 million reward for information leading to his capture, saying Caro Quintero faces charges in California for the 1985 abduction, torture and murder of its agent Enrique Camarena.
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| Syria rebels urge UN envoy Brahimi 'neutrality' Posted: 06 Nov 2013 01:15 PM PST  Syria's key opposition National Coalition on Wednesday urged UN-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi to remain neutral, after he cited opposition divisions over new delays to peace talks. The statement comes a day after Brahimi said intensive talks on a mooted peace conference in Geneva had failed to produce a final date for the long-planned discussions. "The Syrian National Coalition confirms that the mission of the joint UN-Arab League envoy -- as understood by the Syrian people -- is to seek to achieve their legitimate aspirations and lift their suffering, or to remain neutral at the very least," the Coalition said a statement. The comments come after Brahimi announced that no date had been set for peace talks despite renewed suggestions that a conference could take place in November.
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| Al-Qaida takes responsibility for reporters' death Posted: 06 Nov 2013 01:13 PM PST  DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Al-Qaida's branch in North Africa claimed credit Wednesday for slaying two French radio journalists who were abducted in northern Mali over the weekend, according to a statement published online. It was an admission of responsibility for a kidnapping that experts said didn't fit the terrorist network's usual standards of operation.
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| Ban pleads for women's rights to curb Sahel fertility Posted: 06 Nov 2013 12:59 PM PST  UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon pleaded Wednesday in Niger, the country with the world's highest fertility rate, for better reproductive health to curb the Sahel region's runaway demographic growth. But I also want men to join this call," Ban said in Niamey, on an unprecedented regional tour with the leaders of five international organisations. The time to do this is now," he said, at the launch of a $200-million regional initiative to improve women's reproductive health and girls' education. The fertility rate in Niger tops seven children per woman and more than two thirds of the population is under 24, exerting huge economic pressure on the impoverished, landlocked west African state.
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| Sudan plans cabinet reshuffle after fuel price protests Posted: 06 Nov 2013 12:54 PM PST  Sudan's government will have a major cabinet reshuffle in the next two weeks, its first vice president said on Wednesday, a move apparently aimed at appeasing protesters after fuel price increases provoked the country's worst unrest in years. The government cut fuel subsidies to ease a financial crunch aggravated by the secession of oil-producing South Sudan in 2011. "The cabinet reshuffle is in its final stage," First Vice President Ali Osman Taha told Al Jazeera television. Rights groups and some diplomats said up to 150 people died when security services in the vast northeast African state fired on protesters.
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