| Philippine president puts typhoon death toll at 2,000 to 2,500 Posted: 12 Nov 2013 10:52 AM PST By Andrew R.C. Marshall and Manuel Mogato TACLOBAN, Philippines (Reuters) - The death toll from Typhoon Haiyan's rampage through the Philippines is closer to 2,000 or 2,500 than the 10,000 previously estimated, President Benigno Aquino said on Tuesday as U.S. and British warships headed toward his nation to help with relief efforts. "There was emotional drama involved with that particular estimate." Aquino said the government was still gathering information from various storm-struck areas and the death toll may rise. The official death toll stood at 1,774 on Tuesday. Philippine officials have been overwhelmed by Haiyan, one of the strongest typhoons on record, which tore through the central Philippines on Friday and flattened Tacloban, coastal capital of Leyte province where officials had feared 10,000 people died, many drowning in a tsunami-like wall of seawater. |
| Netanyahu halts plans to build 24,000 more settler homes Posted: 12 Nov 2013 03:40 PM PST  By Jeffrey Heller JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered on Tuesday a reassessment of plans to build nearly 24,000 settler homes, saying he feared an international outcry that would divert attention from Israel's lobbying against a nuclear deal with Iran. The right-wing Israeli leader announced the reversal in the face of stiff U.S. opposition to settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, and Palestinian anger that threatens three-month-old peace talks brokered by Washington. Before news of Netanyahu's change of course, President Mahmoud Abbas ordered the Palestinian leadership to hold "an urgent emergency meeting in the coming hours, with all options on the table," the Palestinian Maan news agency reported. Peace Now, which monitors settlement activity on occupied land Palestinians seek for a state, said the Housing Ministry had issued tenders late last month for drawing up construction plans, but that no building work was imminent.
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| Boosted by foreign Shi'ite militia, Assad's forces advance on Aleppo Posted: 12 Nov 2013 09:57 AM PST  By Khaled Yacoub Oweis AMMAN (Reuters) - Syrian government forces backed by foreign Shi'ite Muslim militia advanced on rebels in the northern city of Aleppo on Tuesday, bent on recapturing districts from opposition brigades weakened by infighting, activists said. They said that rebels saw the threat of President Bashar al-Assad wresting back Aleppo, Syria's former commercial hub and once most populous city, as so grave that Islamist brigades, including an al Qaeda affiliate, had declared an emergency and summoned all fighters to head to the fronts. After 2-1/2 years of conflict, which started when Assad's forces fired on pro-democracy demonstrators and escalated into a full-blown civil war, the fighting has settled into a rough stalemate in which scores of people are killed every day. Aleppo has been divided roughly in half by the warring parties for much of the conflict but the government is determined to reassert total control to solidify a foothold in the north where rebel supplies stream in from Turkey.
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| Mexico nears electoral reform, opening door to energy bill Posted: 12 Nov 2013 04:08 PM PST  By Dave Graham MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Accused a generation ago of engineering the "perfect dictatorship," Mexico's ruling party is now close to agreeing on a plan that could weaken the presidency and strengthen Congress in order to win votes for a major energy reform. The Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and its opposition rivals are shortly expected to unveil the blueprint for a reform aimed at giving Congress greater oversight of government and allowing lawmakers to serve consecutive terms. Billed as a step forward for democracy, the electoral reform is a bargaining chip for President Enrique Pena Nieto's most ambitious plan - changing the constitution to allow more private capital into the state-controlled oil industry. The energy bill is the central pivot of a broader drive for change from telecoms to education that Pena Nieto hopes will help boost Mexico's economic growth, which has long lagged that of other countries in the region.
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| U.S. to name Nigeria's Boko Haram as terrorist group: sources Posted: 12 Nov 2013 04:18 PM PST  By John Shiffman and Mark Hosenball WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The State Department will formally designate the Nigerian Islamist militant group Boko Haram as a "foreign terrorist organization" on Wednesday, congressional sources and others briefed on the matter said. The designation is significant because it directs U.S. law enforcement and regulatory agencies to block business and financial transactions with Boko Haram, which wants to impose Islamic law in northern Nigeria and has ties to al Qaeda. A State Department spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Boko Haram and other splinter Islamist groups are seen as the biggest security threat in Nigeria, Africa's most populous country and top oil exporter.
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| Iranian foreign minister blames West for snag in nuclear talks Posted: 12 Nov 2013 11:50 AM PST  By Marcus George and Jon Hemming DUBAI (Reuters) - Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif rejected U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's pinning of blame on Iran for the lack of a deal on its nuclear program last week, saying splits between Western countries prevented a breakthrough. Responding to remarks by Kerry in Abu Dhabi on Monday, Zarif said that singling out Iran only served to undermine confidence in the Geneva negotiations, which will resume on November 20. The United States, European Union powers and Iran worked hard for months on a proposal to help end the 10-year standoff over Iran's nuclear activity, diplomats said. Hopes for a deal rose so high that foreign ministers of six world powers traveled to Geneva to put their weight behind the talks.
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| Africa presses for UN vote to suspend Kenya trial Posted: 12 Nov 2013 04:45 PM PST  UNITED NATIONS (United States) (AFP) - The UN Security Council will vote Friday on an African call for the International Criminal Court trial of Kenyan leaders to be suspended for a year, diplomats said. Rwanda's UN envoy Eugene Richard Gasana told reporters after Security Council talks on the case that African states were pressing for a vote this week on their draft resolution. Rwandan deputy ambassador Olivier Nduhungirehe later told AFP there would be a vote Friday on a resolution calling for crimes against humanity charges against President Uhuru Kenyatta and Vice President William Ruto to be deferred for one year.
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| AP PHOTOS: Typhoon: from landfall to aftermath Posted: 12 Nov 2013 04:43 PM PST  Five days into what could be the Philippines deadliest disaster ever, workers still struggle to get aid to those affected by Typhoon Haiyan. The scale of the disaster and challenges of delivering assistance means few in the region, strewn with debris and corpses, have received any help, despite tons of aid waiting to be distributed. The official death toll from the disaster rose to 1,774 on Tuesday, though authorities have said they expect that to rise markedly. President Benigno Aquino III told CNN that the death toll could be 2,000 or 2,500. Millions of people have been affected across a large swath of the country, many of them made homeless.
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| Queen 'deeply saddened' by Philippines typhoon Posted: 12 Nov 2013 04:35 PM PST  Britain's Queen Elizabeth II on Tuesday sent her "heartfelt condolences" to the victims of Typhoon Haiyan, which swept through the Philippines over the weekend. "I was deeply saddened to hear of the loss of life and devastation caused by the typhoon that hit the Philippines at the weekend," she said in a message sent to Philippine president Benigno Aquino III. "Prince Philip joins me in offering our heartfelt condolences to the victims and their families at this difficult time. A Buckingham Palace spokesman said the monarch would contribute to Britain's rescue appeal, which has raised £1.5 million ($2.4 million, 1.77 million euros) in the 15 hours since it was launched on Tuesday.
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| Putin in S. Korea to push new 'Silk Road' via N. Korea Posted: 12 Nov 2013 04:29 PM PST  Russian President Vladimir Putin was in South Korea Wednesday to push a pet project for a new major trading route linking Asia and Europe by rail that requires prying open North Korea. Putin hopes his brief visit will include the signing of a memorandum of understanding on the ambitious project, which envisages an "Iron Silk Road" uniting the rail networks of South and North Korea and connecting them to Europe via the Trans-Siberian Railway. Russia took a first step in September, when it completed a 54-kilometre (33-mile) track from the its southeast border town of Khasan to the North Korean port of Rajin. Located in the far northeast, where the borders of North Korea, Russia and China converge, Rajin offers a warm-water port for the North's two giant neighbours.
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| U.N. Security Council to vote this week on delay of Kenya trials: Rwanda Posted: 12 Nov 2013 04:23 PM PST  By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - As Africa urges the U.N. Security Council to take it more seriously, Rwanda plans to put to a vote this week a draft resolution to defer International Criminal Court trials of Kenya's leaders for one year, despite lacking sufficient support. The 15-member Security Council is split, diplomats say, over an African Union request to postpone the trials of President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto so they can deal with the aftermath of the Nairobi mall attack in September by the al Qaeda-linked group al Shabaab, in which at least 67 people died. Kenyatta and Ruto face charges related to the violence after Kenya's 2007 elections, in which 1,200 people died.
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| Raytheon, Lockheed consider fresh bid for Turkey missile defense Posted: 12 Nov 2013 04:21 PM PST  By Andrea Shalal-Esa WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. arms makers Raytheon Co and Lockheed Martin Corp are considering ways to sweeten their offer to build a Patriot missile defense system for Turkey after Ankara said it could still back away from a provisional $3.4 billion deal with China, sources familiar with the issue said on Tuesday. Both sources said no decisions had been made and it was important to allow Turkey - a member of NATO - time to make up its mind. Turkey announced in September it had chosen China's FD-2000 long-range air and missile defense system against rival offers from Franco/Italian Eurosam SAMP/T and Raytheon. It said China offered the most competitive terms and would allow co-production in Turkey, but the decision caused alarm in NATO countries worried about China's growing clout.
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| Colombia boosts security after FARC plot to kill Uribe Posted: 12 Nov 2013 04:18 PM PST  Colombia's government said Tuesday it was tightening security after details emerged of a FARC rebel plot to murder ex-president Alvaro Uribe. Defense Minister Juan Carlos Pinzon said he met with Uribe "to inform him of the detection of a plan by the FARC's Teofilo Forero Mobile Column to make an attempt on his life." Pinzon said President Juan Manuel Santos ordered authorities "to guarantee the security and integrity of the former head of state and protect him, as well as to get those responsible for these threats." The defense chief also said Uribe -- a vehement critic of peace talks with the rebels, and likely presidential reelection hopeful next year -- would get whatever security he and his family need -- in addition to their normal 300-person detail.
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| China, Russia, Cuba win UN rights council seats Posted: 12 Nov 2013 03:45 PM PST UNITED NATIONS (AP) — China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, Cuba and Algeria won seats Tuesday on the U.N. Human Rights Council, riling independent human rights groups who said their election undermined the rights watchdog's credibility. |
| Cubans heartened by possible reversal of 3D ban Posted: 12 Nov 2013 03:41 PM PST  HAVANA (AP) — Something unusual appears to be happening in Havana.
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| Aid trickling into hard-hit areas in Philippines Posted: 12 Nov 2013 03:41 PM PST  TACLOBAN, Philippines (AP) — Desperately needed food, water and medical aid are only trickling into this city that took the worst blow from Typhoon Haiyan, while thousands of victims jammed the damaged airport Tuesday, seeking to be evacuated.
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| Toronto's DeRosa retires after 16 seasons Posted: 12 Nov 2013 03:36 PM PST  Toronto (Canada) (AFP) - Mark DeRosa, an infielder who played for eight Major League Baseball clubs in his 16 season career, has retired, the Toronto Blue Jays announced on Tuesday. DeRosa joined the American League club on a one-year deal worth $750,000 and batted .235 with seven home runs, 12 doubles and 36 runs batted in for Toronto, who finished last in the AL East division this past season. The 38-year-old American averaged .268 for his career with 100 homers, 196 doubles and 494 runs batted in over 1,241 games for Atlanta, Texas, the Chicago Cubs, St. Louis, Cleveland, San Francisco, Washington and Toronto. The Blue Jays had picked up a $750,000 option for 2014 earlier this month to keep DeRosa for next season.
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| Israel halts plans to explore new settlements Posted: 12 Nov 2013 03:35 PM PST  JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel's prime minister on Tuesday abruptly halted a plan to explore the potential construction of thousands of new homes in West Bank settlements, saying it had created an "unnecessary confrontation" with the international community that threatened to weaken his campaign against Iran's suspect nuclear program.
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| U.S. to name Nigeria's Boko Haram as terrorist group: sources Posted: 12 Nov 2013 03:33 PM PST  The U.S. State Department will formally designate the Nigerian Islamist militant group Boko Haram as a "foreign terrorist organization" on Wednesday, congressional sources and others briefed on the matter said. The designation is significant because it directs U.S. law enforcement and regulatory agencies to block business and financial transactions with Boko Haram, which wants to impose Islamic law in northern Nigeria. A State Department spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Boko Haram and other splinter Islamist groups are seen as the biggest security threat in Nigeria, Africa's most populous country and top oil exporter.
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| China, Cuba, Russia, Saudi Arabia elected to U.N. Human Rights Council Posted: 12 Nov 2013 03:26 PM PST  By Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - China, Cuba, Russia and Saudi Arabia on Tuesday won three-year seats on the Geneva-based Human Rights Council, the United Nations' top rights body, despite concerns about abuses and restrictions on freedoms in all four nations. The annual election for one-third of the council's membership was held in the 193-nation U.N. General Assembly. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power said the newly elected members of the council include "some that commit significant violations of the rights the council is designed to advance and protect" and that the election itself was a reminder that the council's work remains unfinished. Peggy Hicks of Human Rights Watch was more specific.
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| Israel PM cancels plan to build 20,000 settler homes in W.Bank Posted: 12 Nov 2013 03:16 PM PST  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu late Tuesday cancelled plans to build 20,000 new settler homes in the West Bank, hours after their announcement sparked US and Palestinian criticism. Netanyahu ordered Israeli Housing Minister Uri Ariel "to reconsider all of the steps for evaluating planning potential (for the settler homes) that he distributed without any advance coordination," a statement from Netanyahu's office said. Netanyahu told Ariel the plan was "meaningless" legally -- "and an action that creates an unnecessary confrontation with the international community at a time when we are making an effort to persuade elements in the international community to reach a better deal with Iran," according to the statement. Netanyahu made it clear the housing ministry's call for tenders for the homes threatened to distract from his efforts to convince world powers to not sign a deal with Iran, over its nuclear programme, he considered inadequate.
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| E-cigarettes could save millions of lives, conference told Posted: 12 Nov 2013 03:13 PM PST  Switching to e-cigarettes could save millions of smokers' lives, a conference on the increasingly popular devices heard Tuesday, though some experts warned more research on the health effects is needed. The merits of e-cigarettes were thrashed out at a one-day gathering of some 250 scientists, policymakers, industry figures and enthusiasts at the Royal Society in London. The use of electronic cigarettes -- battery-powered devices that simulate smoking by heating and vaporising a liquid solution containing nicotine -- has grown rapidly, with tobacco manufacturers jumping on the trend. Delegates in London debated how the market had moved faster than science or the law.
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| New Iran sanctions would risk war, White House warns Posted: 12 Nov 2013 03:09 PM PST  The White House warned US lawmakers Tuesday that tightening sanctions on Iran could box America into a "march to war" and derail a diplomatic push to limit Tehran's atomic program. The warning marked a significant toughening of President Barack Obama's stance towards Congress as he prepares to resume high-stakes nuclear diplomacy with Iran later this month. "The American people do not want a march to war," White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters. Obama has vowed he will not allow Iran to develop a nuclear weapon, but last week intense negotiations in Geneva between Iran and six world powers failed to reach an interim deal to halt its program.
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| Orange diamond fetches $35.5M at Geneva auction Posted: 12 Nov 2013 03:07 PM PST  GENEVA (AP) — The largest fancy vivid orange diamond ever sold at auction went for $35.5 million in Geneva, where a pink diamond estimated to be worth more than $60 million is also on the block.
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| Saudi officially rejects UN Security Council seat Posted: 12 Nov 2013 03:02 PM PST  Saudi Arabia officially told the United Nations on Tuesday that it would not be taking up a UN Security Council seat -- opening the way for Jordan to take the place. Saudi envoy to the United Nations Abdullah al-Mouallimi wrote to UN leader Ban Ki-moon to inform him of the move and reaffirm a Saudi protest over the way the council has acted over the Syria conflict. UN spokesman Martin Nesirky confirmed that a letter had been received about the Security Council seat, but did not give details. "The matter is now one for the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Security Council and the member states to consider," he said.
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| Toronto Mayor Rob Ford bobblehead becomes instant collector's item Posted: 12 Nov 2013 02:51 PM PST  Hundreds of people lined up at Toronto City Hall on Tuesday to buy a limited-edition bobblehead doll of embattled Mayor Rob Ford, which quickly sold out and began popping up on eBay for as much as 15 times its purchase price. Ford, who insists he will not step down, was on hand to sign the figurines. The sale of 1,000 "Robbie Bobbies" was conceived before Ford admitted last week that he had smoked crack cocaine in "one of my drunken stupors." But the furor did not mute demand for the little statuettes - a recreation of Ford's head on a springy neck - with lines that stretched around the cavernous City Hall lobby. We weren't quite sure how it was going to work out." Jay White told the Toronto Star he lined up at City Hall more than three hours early to get a Ford bobblehead.
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| MERS virus match found in Saudi Arabian camel Posted: 12 Nov 2013 02:34 PM PST RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — The Saudi Health Ministry says it has discovered a deadly virus in a camel in Jiddah province, on the western coast of Saudi Arabia. |
| Kurds declare an interim administration in Syria Posted: 12 Nov 2013 01:56 PM PST Ethnic Kurds declared an interim administration in northeastern Syria on Tuesday, further solidifying their geographic and political presence after driving out Islamist rebels. Long oppressed under Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his father before him, Kurds view the civil war as an opportunity to gain more autonomy - like their ethnic kin in neighboring Iraq. Control over Syria's northeast, where Kurds predominate, had in recent months swung back and forth between them and mainly Arab Islamist rebels, who strongly oppose what they suspect are Kurdish plans to seccede. "In light of the current circumstances which Syria is going through, and in order to fill an administrative vacuum ... we see is as utmost necessity to reach a transitional, pluralistic, democratic administration," said a statement sent to Reuters. |
| Spanish pianist could face jail for practicing Posted: 12 Nov 2013 01:54 PM PST MADRID (AP) — To most people, noise pollution is a jet engine roaring over their head. For one Spanish woman, it was a neighbor playing the piano more softly than a spoken conversation. |
| PLO in Damascus talks on ending refugee camp siege Posted: 12 Nov 2013 01:53 PM PST  The Palestine Liberation Organisation is in talks with the Syrian government about ending a Palestinian refugee camp siege that has prompted tens of thousands to flee, Palestinian officials said Tuesday. Pro-Damascus Palestinian groups have lain siege for months to pro-rebel groups inside the Yarmuk camp in the southern outskirts of Damascus, prompting the exodus of at least 135,000 of its 170,000 residents. "Negotiations are underway for the withdrawal of the armed men from the camp, the opening of the entrance points and the return of services," the PLO's ambassador to Damascus, Anwar Abdel Hadi told AFP.
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| Greece: New case of girl with unrelated couple Posted: 12 Nov 2013 01:46 PM PST THESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — Greek authorities have charged another Roma couple with child abduction after DNA testing showed a four-year-old girl being brought up as theirs was not related to them. |
| Mandela's granddaughter bares her past in book Posted: 12 Nov 2013 01:45 PM PST  JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Nelson Mandela's family is no stranger to the public eye —its successes and trials have been aired for decades in films, books and the news media.
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| Western-backed Syrian opposition names cabinet for rebel areas Posted: 12 Nov 2013 01:38 PM PST By Dasha Afanasieva and Khaled Yacoub Oweis ISTANBUL/AMMAN (Reuters) - The Syrian National Coalition named a provisional government for rebel-held areas on Tuesday, despite U.S. misgivings, members of the fractious Western-backed opposition group said in Istanbul. Washington and its European allies hope a proposed peace conference in Geneva will produce an interim government that can help end the armed conflict raging in Syria since 2011 - a scenario they fear the coalition's decision could disrupt. The coalition serves as a channel for Western support for the rebels, but its leaders are all outside Syria and their influence on disparate rebel factions is patchy at best. "The United States is against the provisional government because it thinks it will undermine the Geneva talks," said an opposition official who was involved in naming the cabinet. |
| Canada FM predicts larger budget surplus in 2015 Posted: 12 Nov 2013 01:28 PM PST  Canada's Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said Tuesday he expects a much larger budget surplus of Can$3.7 billion (US$3.5 billion) when he eventually takes the country out of the red in two years. Canada's debt-to-gross domestic product ratio meanwhile is expected to fall to a pre-recession level of 27.6 percent two years later, and then continue dropping. Canada had seen a decade of surpluses before the ruling Tories plunged the nation into deficit two years into its first mandate by hiking spending in order to give the economy a boost during the 2008-2009 global economic crisis.
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| China points to social welfare reforms needed for urbanization drive Posted: 12 Nov 2013 01:24 PM PST  By Koh Gui Qing and Wayne Arnold BEIJING/HONG KONG (Reuters) - Among the issues China's top leaders tackled this week as they hammered out their policy roadmap, some may determine whether children attending the likes of the Pengying school in Beijing fulfill their dreams. Thanks to China's system of internal passports, or hukou, parents in search of better jobs in the capital, or other urban areas, leave behind the public services they were entitled to as residents of their home villages - their pension, healthcare insurance and free public schooling. That means that if they want to educate their children they have to find an unlicensed school, such as Pengying, which charges an annual fee of 1,400 yuan ($228), most of a month's earnings for some migrant families. She brought her 8-year-old to Beijing from southwest Sichuan province, more than 1,000 kilometers (625 miles) away, and started a catering business.
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| 'Many dead bodies' as Sudan rebels renew attacks Posted: 12 Nov 2013 01:18 PM PST  There were "many, many casualties, many dead bodies" in the afternoon ambush which destroyed three tanks near Dilling town in South Kordofan state, said Arnu Ngutulu Lodi, spokesman for the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army-North (SPLA-N). Lodi said the government convoy had travelled from Khartoum and through El Obeid, the North Kordofan capital, before it was hit on the road to the South Kordofan capital Kadugli. SPLA-N fighters conducted the operation alongside the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) from Darfur, Lodi said. The two groups belong to the Sudan Revolutionary Front which seeks to topple the Khartoum regime and install a government more representative of the country's diversity.
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| China, Russia return to UN Rights Council Posted: 12 Nov 2013 01:15 PM PST  UNITED NATIONS (United States) (AFP) - China, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Cuba won seats on the UN Human Rights Council on Tuesday, despite fierce international criticism of their records. The UN General Assembly elected 14 seats on the 47-member council which is taking on increased diplomatic importance because of Syria's civil war and other conflicts. South Africa, Vietnam, Algeria, Morocco, Namibia, Maldives, Macedonia and Mexico also secured three year terms.
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