| Iran digs in heels on enrichment at nuclear talks Posted: 23 Nov 2013 03:15 PM PST  By Parisa Hafezi and Fredrik Dahl GENEVA (Reuters) - Iran said on Saturday it cannot accept any agreement with six major powers that does not recognise what it describes as its right to enrich uranium, a demand the United States and its European allies have repeatedly rejected. Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi's statement, late on the unscheduled fourth day of talks over Tehran's nuclear program, appeared to signal a hardening of its position on an issue that Western diplomats earlier suggested may have been resolved thanks to a compromise proposal they floated. It cast doubt on whether Iran and the six powers would succeed in bridging the remaining difficulties and clinch a breakthrough deal under which the Islamic state would curb its atomic activities in exchange for limited sanctions relief. Earlier on Saturday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and foreign ministers of the five other nations joined the talks with Iran as the two sides appeared to be edging closer to a long-sought preliminary agreement.
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| Insight: Kim Jong Un, North Korea's master builder Posted: 23 Nov 2013 01:04 PM PST  By Jack Kim and James Pearson SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea's Kim Jong Un has rattled the United States with his nuclear threats and bemused the world with his penchant for funfairs, Disney and Dennis Rodman. Partly out of the public eye, however, the young leader has presided over a construction boom since he took office two years ago with the aid of funds from China, the North's major backer, and Russia, a former Cold War ally. Based on satellite imagery, first-hand accounts and photographs obtained from people who travel regularly to North Korea, the building activity goes far beyond the ski resort, pleasure parks and apartment blocks reported by state media. A stronger focus on the economy is a major change in policy for the third Kim to rule North Korea, although tensions remain high on the Korean peninsula and Pyongyang has been subject to withering criticism this year as part of a U.N. inquiry into human rights abuses.
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| Opposition marches in Venezuela ahead of local elections Posted: 23 Nov 2013 02:52 PM PST  By Daniel Wallis and Efrain Otero CARACAS (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of opposition supporters marched in Venezuela on Saturday to pressure President Nicolas Maduro's government before December 8 local elections after their leader denounced the pre-dawn arrest of one of his aides. The vote for control of 335 municipalities will be the first big test of Maduro's political strength after he narrowly defeated his opposition rival, Henrique Capriles, in a presidential election in April. Capriles told the main rally in the capital his national tours coordinator, Alejandro Silva, was taken at gunpoint from a Caracas hotel room by military intelligence agents. The aide said later on Twitter that he had been released.
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| China bolsters East China Sea claim, warns of 'defensive measures' Posted: 23 Nov 2013 03:01 PM PST  By John Ruwitch SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China on Saturday bolstered its claim to islands that Japan says it owns, warning that it would take "defensive emergency measures" against aircraft that failed to identify themselves properly in airspace over them. Ties between the Asian powers have been strained for months by the dispute over the islands in the East China Sea, called the Diaoyu by China and the Senkaku by Japan, which are believed to be surrounded by energy-rich seabed. China's government-run Xinhua news agency published a map and coordinates for the newly established "East China Sea Air Defence Identification Zone", which covers most of that sea including the disputed islands. It also released Defence Ministry identification rules for aircraft in the area.
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| Bombs kill nine and wound 54 in northern Iraq Posted: 23 Nov 2013 01:55 PM PST A car bomb and a suicide bomber killed at least nine people and wounded 54 in northern Iraq on Saturday, police and medical sources said, in the latest of a wave of attacks in crowded public places. The bombings took place in the town of Tuz Khurmato, 170 km (100 miles) north of the capital Baghdad, in a region which both the central government and autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan claim as theirs. The first bomb detonated in a car in a busy market near a Shi'ite mosque after prayers and was quickly followed by a suicide bomber wearing an explosive vest, the sources said. Iraqi authorities are struggling with the worst violence in at least five years and say Sunni Muslim insurgents linked to al Qaeda are to blame for most of the attacks, which have killed hundreds each month since the beginning of 2013. |
| Angolan police kill opposition member, detain 292 protesters Posted: 23 Nov 2013 01:35 PM PST The killing comes after a tense week during which President Jose Eduardo dos Santos' MPLA party accused the main opposition party UNITA of promoting "chaos" with its protests against the kidnap and possible murder of two activists in May 2012. Police said presidential guards shot Manuel Ganga, one of eight members of Angola's second-biggest opposition party CASA-CE detained in the early hours of Saturday for putting up protest posters, after he tried to flee. "During the transfer of the group to a police station, one of them (Ganga) jumped off the vehicle and an officer made the shot that hit him," spokesman Aristofanes dos Santos told a news conference. "He was taken to the hospital but despite treatment he ended up dying," he said, adding that police lamented the "unhappy incident" but that the opposition parties should not have gone ahead with the protests that the Interior Ministry had banned. |
| UK sends six more aid planes to typhoon-hit Philippines Posted: 23 Nov 2013 04:27 PM PST  Britain is to send six more plane-loads of aid to the Philippines to help survivors of a devastating typhoon, the government announced on Sunday. The planes will carry thousands of tents, blankets, tarpaulins and cooking sets to the Philippines in the wake of Super Typhoon Haiyan, which has left more than 5,000 people dead and another 1,600 missing, according to government estimates. The pledges came as Britain's International Development Secretary Justine Greening visited some of the areas worst hit by the typhoon, including the flattened city of Tacloban. The British government has pledged £50 million ($81 million, 60 million euros) to the relief effort and sent two warships, while Britons have donated an additional £57 million through the national Disasters Emergency Committee.
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| Secondary laws for Mexico telecoms overhaul to be delayed: lawmakers Posted: 23 Nov 2013 04:24 PM PST  By Dave Graham MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Legislation to implement a major overhaul of Mexico's telecommunications industry will not be approved until early next year, pushing back a deadline set for December, two senior lawmakers said on Saturday. The secondary laws set out the fine print for a telecoms reform promulgated in June by President Enrique Pena Nieto which gives regulators sweeping powers to rein in billionaire Carlos Slim's telecoms giant America Movil and dominant broadcaster Televisa. The bill raised hopes Pena Nieto was serious about breaking the hold a select few have on much of the economy, but a pile-up of pending bills in Congress has made the December 9 deadline for the secondary telecoms legislation increasingly unlikely. Federico Gonzalez Luna, a congressman who heads the radio and television committee in the lower house, told Reuters that to ensure the secondary laws were properly drawn up, they would now have to wait until 2014.
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| England can take cue from Germany: Hodgson Posted: 23 Nov 2013 04:07 PM PST  England manager Roy Hodgson believes his side should draw inspiration from recent conquerors Germany, as he seeks to assemble a squad capable of making an impact at the World Cup. England were beaten 1-0 by Germany in a friendly game at Wembley Stadium on Tuesday, four days after going down 2-0 to Chile at the same venue. Whereas Chile smothered England with assured, passing football, Germany emerged victorious despite seeming to play within themselves, having fielded a team missing several first-team players. Hodgson concedes that improving England's control of possession is one of his main priorities, but he says that the experimental line-ups that he sent out in the two games should not be judged too harshly.
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| Iran nuclear talks said down to fine print stage Posted: 23 Nov 2013 03:05 PM PST  GENEVA (AP) — An Iran nuclear deal within reach, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and five other foreign ministers focused Saturday on the fine print of a draft agreement meant to satisfy not only the other side, but also to placate powerful domestic forces that fear giving too much for too little in return.
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| Pentagon slams Chinese move, says won't change how it operates Posted: 23 Nov 2013 02:51 PM PST U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said on Saturday that the U.S. military would not change how it conducts operations in the East China Sea after what he called a "destabilizing" attempt by China to alter the status quo in the region. China earlier on Saturday imposed new rules on airspace over islands at the heart of a dispute with U.S. ally Japan in the East China Sea, warning of "defensive emergency measures" against aircraft that do not comply with identification procedures. |
| U.S. voices strong concern to China over East China Sea tensions Posted: 23 Nov 2013 02:49 PM PST The United States expressed strong concerns to China on Saturday over an escalation in regional tensions in the East China Sea, saying it increased the risk of an incident. The White House, State Department and Pentagon issued statements after China bolstered its claim to islands that Japan says it owns, warning that it would take "defensive emergency measures" against aircraft that failed to identify themselves properly in airspace over them. "We urge China not to implement its threat to take action against aircraft that do not identify themselves or obey orders from Beijing," said Secretary of State John Kerry. The White House said the "escalatory development" increased regional tensions and affected U.S. interests and those of its allies. |
| Thousands protest Maduro's special powers Posted: 23 Nov 2013 02:28 PM PST  Venezuela's opposition leader Henrique Capriles rallied thousands of demonstrators Saturday to use midterm elections to underscore public opposition to President Nicolas Maduro's special emergency powers. The march came just hours after one of Capriles's closest aides, Alejandro Silva, was taken out of his hotel, roughed up and detained. Maduro says he needs the strengthened hand, which he won for a year, to counter inflation and shortages his government blames on "parasitic" conservative business interests. Maduro maintains that the opposition, whom he only narrowly beat in polls following the death of longtime leader Hugo Chavez earlier this year, are waging "economic warfare" against the country.
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| Islamists poised to enter parliament as Mauritania goes to polls Posted: 23 Nov 2013 02:24 PM PST By Laurent Prieur NOUAKCHOTT (Reuters) - Voters in Mauritania went to the polls in Saturday in legislative and local elections expected to bring a once-outlawed Islamist party into parliament for the first time. The legislative polls - the first since a 2008 army putsch - are being boycotted by most of the West African nation's opposition parties. They refuse to recognise the authority of President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, who led the bloodless coup claiming the previous President Sidi Mohamed Ould Cheikh Abdallahi was incapable of tackling the economic problems squeezing Mauritania's mostly poor inhabitants. Candidates allied to Abdel Aziz, who won a presidential election in 2009 and is now a key ally of the West in the fight against al Qaeda in the region, are tipped to secure a comfortable majority. |
| Iran digs in heels on nuclear enrichment at Geneva talks Posted: 23 Nov 2013 02:19 PM PST GENEVA (Reuters) - Iran said on Saturday it cannot accept any agreement with six major powers that does not recognize what it describes as its right to enrich uranium, a demand the United States and its European allies have repeatedly rejected. "In the past 10 years, Iran has resisted economic and political pressures and sanctions aimed at abandoning its enrichment activities," Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi told reporters. ... |
| South Africa prove too strong for France Posted: 23 Nov 2013 02:14 PM PST  South Africa cemented their status as the second best team on the planet with a 19-10 win over France in Paris on Saturday. Having already beaten Six Nations champions Wales 24-15 and crushed Scotland 28-0 on their November tour to the northern hemisphere, the Springboks ensured they ended their year with a 10th win in 12 matches. Only world champions and undisputed number one team New Zealand have managed to beat South Africa in 2013. And the hosts never looked capable of causing an upset at the Stade de France despite the close scoreline, as South Africa dominated particularly in terms of territory.
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| Dangerous cross-country storm threatens U.S. holiday travel Posted: 23 Nov 2013 02:14 PM PST By Noreen O'Donnell (Reuters) - A dangerous storm that brought snow and drenching rains to the southwestern United States is threatening Thanksgiving travel for millions of people in the eastern states, weather forecasters said on Saturday. The storm is expected to bring heavy rain to the Southeast on Tuesday and then turn north and move up the East Coast, possibly disrupting travel through Wednesday, according to the online meteorologists at AccuWeather.com. "If the storm hugs the coast and develops to its full potential, it could be a flight nightmare, not only for travelers in the East, but also throughout the nation," according to AccuWeather.com's Evan Myers. The Thanksgiving holiday weekend is one of the most heavily traveled in the United States. |
| Women held as 'slaves' in London were part of 'collective' Posted: 23 Nov 2013 02:03 PM PST  A couple accused of keeping three women as slaves in a London house for 30 years are of Indian and Tanzanian origin and two of the victims were part of a political "collective", police said on Saturday. The two older victims involved in Britain's most shocking case of modern-day slavery are thought to have met the male suspect through a "shared political ideology" and began living with him as part of a collective, London's Metropolitan Police said. Police commander Steve Rodhouse said the couple, both aged 67, were of Indian and Tanzanian origin and had been living in Britain since the 1960s. "We believe that two of the victims met the male suspect in London through a shared political ideology, and that they lived together at an address that you could effectively call a 'collective'," he told reporters.
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| Security, humor mark Iranian nuclear talks Posted: 23 Nov 2013 01:27 PM PST  GENEVA (AP) — The first hurdle facing the world's top diplomats as they try to play architects of a new Iranian nuclear order is running the gantlet of media staking out the hotel protected by a phalanx of security and an armored vehicle.
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| Bombers in Beirut Iran embassy attack identified Posted: 23 Nov 2013 01:15 PM PST  Lebanese authorities say they have identified the two men who launched a double suicide attack on the Iranian embassy this week which killed 25 people in Hezbollah's southern Beirut bastion. Relatives of one of the men said he was a supporter of Al-Qaeda and Sheikh Ahmed Assir, a radical Sunni preacher in southern Lebanon who has been on the run since his supporters clashed with Lebanese troops in the summer, killing 17 soldiers. The embassy attack was claimed by an Al-Qaeda-affiliated group that said it was targeting the Iran-backed Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah, which is fighting alongside President Bashar al-Assad's troops against Sunni-led rebels in neighbouring Syria. The test on Adnan Abu Dahr showed that human remains at the scene belonged to his son, Mouin Abu Dahr, who was identified as one of two attackers, the judge was quoted by the National News Agency as saying.
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| Insight: China's Xi fails to earn stripes as anti-graft 'tiger' hunt underwhelms Posted: 23 Nov 2013 01:12 PM PST  By Adam Rose BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese President Xi Jinping has raised expectations he will tackle corruption much more forcefully than his predecessors, but official data on investigations suggests the crackdown so far is little different to previous years. Authorities have opened a similar number of corruption probes in 2013 to last year, data from the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP), which oversees criminal investigations and prosecutions nationwide, shows.
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| Factbox: Main decisions at U.N. climate talks in Warsaw Posted: 23 Nov 2013 12:57 PM PST Around 195 countries ended a two-week meeting in Warsaw on Saturday evening to agree the outlines of a deal meant to be agreed in 2015 to combat global warming. Following are some of the main decisions: FINANCE Developed nations promised in 2009 to increase their aid to poorer countries to help them cope with climate change to $100 billion a year after 2020, from $10 billion a year in 2010-12. But in Warsaw they rejected calls to set targets for 2013-19. LOSS AND DAMAGE The talks agreed a new "Warsaw International Mechanism" to provide expertise, and possibly aid, to help developing nations cope with losses from extreme events related to climate change. |
| Suspected Islamists kill 12 in northeast Nigeria: police Posted: 23 Nov 2013 12:55 PM PST  Maiduguri (Nigeria) (AFP) - Suspected Boko Haram Islamists have killed 12 people in Nigeria's restive northeast, burning homes and stealing cars in an area repeatedly attacked by the insurgent group, police and residents said Saturday. The attack in the Sandiya village happened Thursday in Borno state, Boko Haram's stronghold, but details were slow to emerge given the communication shutdown in the area. Borno is one of three Nigerian areas where a state of emergency has been imposed and where the military has shut down the mobile phone network in an attempt to block Islamists from coordinating attacks. He said they burnt scores of houses and stole several vehicles in the village some 85 kilometres (50 miles) from the state capital Maiduguri.
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| Modest deal breaks deadlock at UN climate talks Posted: 23 Nov 2013 12:37 PM PST  WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Avoiding a last-minute breakdown, annual U.N. climate talks limped forward Saturday with a modest set of decisions meant to pave the way for a new pact to fight global warming.
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| Cooper stars as Australia down Scotland Posted: 23 Nov 2013 12:19 PM PST  Australia defeated Scotland 21-15 at Murrayfield on Saturday to put some much-needed gloss on what had been a nightmare week for the Wallabies. Despite having almost an entire first team unavailable due to suspensions and injuries, the Wallabies scored two tries, while for the second game in a row Scotland failed to cross their opponents' line. Fly-half Quade Cooper was behind both Australia tries by full-back Israel Folau and winger Chris Feauai-Sautia with centre Christian Leali'ifano adding a conversion and three penalties.
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| Former Kadhafi security agent shot dead in Libya Posted: 23 Nov 2013 12:18 PM PST  Benghazi (Libya) (AFP) - Gunmen on Saturday shot dead a former member of Moamer Kadhafi's security services in eastern Libya, in the latest violence to hit the region, an official said. Unidentified men with assault rifles gunned down Fares al-Zarruk in a busy street in the centre of Derna, a town that has been hit by mounting deadly unrest, the security official said. Also on Saturday, an Iraqi university lecturer went missing in Derna and was presumed kidnapped, another official told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity. "The family of Professor Khaled Hamid Heidar lost all contact with him on Saturday afternoon," said, calling the disappearance "apparently a kidnapping".
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| Armed militia besiege Kenyan village, seize police posts Posted: 23 Nov 2013 12:17 PM PST  Armed militiamen on Saturday laid siege to a village in northern Kenya where they also seized three police posts, amid a territorial dispute between local communities, Kenyan authorities said. "Armed militiamen believed to be from the Pokot community are holding three police camps hostage in Lorokon village, Turkana county," said the National Disaster Operations Centre in a tweet. "Police officers and reservists (are) combatting the bandits in Turkana, but there is heavy resistance."
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| Latvian leader dubs supermarket cave-in 'murder' Posted: 23 Nov 2013 12:16 PM PST  Latvia's president demanded on Saturday that a supermarket cave-in which killed at least 54 people be treated as murder, as rescuers threatened by falling debris halted their search for survivors until dawn.
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| Security, military police dominate Honduras vote Posted: 23 Nov 2013 12:16 PM PST  TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) — The last thing Honduras needs is a presidential election that's a draw.
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| Arsenal pull clear, Mersey rivals thrill Posted: 23 Nov 2013 12:13 PM PST  A calamitous mistake by Southampton goalkeeper Artur Boruc set Arsenal en route to a 2-0 victory that sent the Premier League leaders four points clear on Saturday. Arsenal had already hit the woodwork through Jack Wilshere and Aaron Ramsey at the Emirates Stadium when Boruc attempted to outwit Olivier Giroud with some fancy footwork inside his penalty area in the 22nd minute. Giroud made sure of victory with four minutes remaining, registering his 10th goal of the season from the penalty spot after Jose Fonte had been penalised for pulling Per Mertesacker's shirt. "It's a very good win against a difficult team," said Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, whose side are only the second team to beat Southampton in the league this term.
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| Sunnis close Iraqi capital mosques in protest Posted: 23 Nov 2013 12:03 PM PST  BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi Sunni religious leaders said Saturday they closed the sect's mosques in Baghdad indefinitely to protest attacks targeting clerics and worshippers, highlighting the country's deepening sectarian rift. The closures came as violence across the country killed 12 people Saturday.
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| Mauritania stages peaceful election despite opposition boycott Posted: 23 Nov 2013 12:03 PM PST  Mauritanians voted Saturday in nationwide elections overshadowed by a widespread boycott of opposition parties, with all eyes on the performance of an Islamist party allowed to take part for the first time. "I think these elections today are a victory for democracy in my country," President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz said after visiting his local polling station in Nouakchott. Around a third of Mauritania's 3.4 million people are eligible to vote in the first parliamentary and local polls since 2006, a test of strength for Abdel Aziz five years after he came to power in a coup and four years after he won a widely contested presidential vote. His Union for the Republic (UPR) is expected to retain power and opinion is divided over whether the main Islamist party Tewassoul, only legalised in 2007, will provide a serious challenge to the favourites or sink back into obscurity following the election.
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| Activists: Government airstrikes kill 44 in Syria Posted: 23 Nov 2013 12:00 PM PST  BEIRUT (AP) — A string of government airstrikes on rebel-held areas in northern Syria killed at least 44 people Saturday, activists said, as al-Qaida-linked rebels captured one of the country's major oil fields in the east.
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