| Russian bailout wins Ukraine economic respite but deepens political rift Posted: 17 Dec 2013 03:39 PM PST  By Darya Korsunskaya and Timothy Heritage MOSCOW (Reuters) - Ukraine's President Viktor Yanukovich has secured a $15 billion bailout from Russia, offering respite for an economy heading ever closer to default but also drawing accusations he has sold his country out to its former Soviet master. By grasping the lifeline thrown by Russian leader Vladimir Putin, Yanukovich reignited demands for his resignation by opponents at home already enraged by his decision to walk away from a trade and political deal with the European Union. Tens of thousands of protesters gathered in Kiev after Yanukovich accepted Putin's offer on Tuesday to buy Ukrainian bonds and cut the price of Russian gas exports, a deal which keeps Kiev firmly in Moscow's orbit. "We want to go towards Europe, not Russia, that's our choice," said Yulia, a student protester, after news of the agreement struck when the two presidents met in the Kremlin.
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| U.N. told up to 500 killed in South Sudan clashes: diplomats Posted: 17 Dec 2013 04:51 PM PST  By Andrew Green and Louis Charbonneau JUBA/UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations received reports from local sources in South Sudan on Tuesday that between 400 and 500 people had been killed and up to 800 wounded in the latest violence, and the government said it had arrested 10 politicians in connection with a "foiled coup". "Two hospitals have recorded between 400 and 500 dead and (up to) 800 wounded," a diplomat in New York said on condition of anonymity, citing an estimate United Nations peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous gave during a closed-door briefing for the 15-member body.
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| India removes U.S. Embassy security barriers in spat Posted: 17 Dec 2013 04:43 PM PST  By Shyamantha Asokan and Chris Francescani NEW DELHI/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Indian police removed concrete security barriers outside the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi on Tuesday in apparent retaliation for the treatment of an Indian diplomat who was strip-searched after her arrest in New York last week. The diplomatic spat was triggered by the December 12 arrest of Devyani Khobragade, a deputy consul general at the Indian Consulate in New York, on charges of visa fraud and making false statements for allegedly lying about how much she paid her housekeeper, an Indian national. Indian police and government officials declined repeated requests for comment on why the barricades were taken away, but Indian television networks, citing unnamed sources, said their removal was one of several retaliatory measures India planned. In Washington, the U.S. State Department said it had told the Indian government at a "high" level that Washington expects New Delhi to protect its embassy and stressed it did not want the incident with the Indian diplomat to hurt bilateral ties.
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| UK rushes out welfare curbs to deter East European migrants Posted: 17 Dec 2013 04:18 PM PST  By Andrew Osborn LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister David Cameron said on Wednesday he was rushing out regulations to stop migrants from the European Union being able to immediately claim welfare benefits amid public fears of an influx of Romanian and Bulgarian workers. With his Conservative party trailing in opinion polls ahead of a 2015 election and polls showing most Britons don't want the labor market to be further opened up to east European workers next year, Cameron is under pressure to act on the issue. Anxious not to be outflanked by the anti-immigration UK Independence Party (UKIP), Cameron has said he shares public concerns about EU restrictions being lifted on Romanians and Bulgarians working in Britain at the end of this year. On Wednesday, in comments pre-released by his office, he said he was bringing forward to January 1 a previously announced measure forcing EU migrants to wait three months before they can apply for welfare benefits.
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| Clashes over Congo Republic security official killed at least 22 Posted: 17 Dec 2013 01:30 PM PST At least 22 people were killed when security forces raided the house of Republic of Congo's former deputy intelligence chief and clashed with his security guards, a morgue official said. Gunfire rang out early on Monday as police and soldiers surrounded the home of Colonel Marcel Ntsourou, shutting down roads, schools and businesses in downtown Brazzaville. But an official at a Brazzaville morgue, who asked not to be named, told Reuters on Tuesday he had seen 22 corpses. |
| France says EU countries to send troops to C. African Republic Posted: 17 Dec 2013 01:26 PM PST  By John Irish and Bate Felix PARIS/BANGUI (Reuters) - Some European countries will send troops to support a French-African mission to restore order in Central African Republic, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said on Tuesday, as more violence was reported outside the capital Bangui. France has deployed 1,600 troops to its former colony to prevent worsening violence between Christian militias and largely Muslim Seleka rebels who ousted ex-President Francois Bozize. Hundreds of people were killed in a week of bloodshed which began on December 5 in Bangui when fighters of both sides went door-to-door murdering civilians. At a European Union foreign ministers meeting on Monday, France requested more help from allies to bolster its peacekeeping mission beyond logistical and financial aid.
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| UN: Hundreds estimated killed in South Sudan Posted: 17 Dec 2013 04:49 PM PST  JUBA, South Sudan (AP) — Fighting in South Sudan has killed up to 500 people, U.N. diplomats said Tuesday, and the United Nations fears the violence in the oil-rich East African country is "largely along ethnic lines."
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| Hundreds killed as rival troops battle in South Sudan: UN Posted: 17 Dec 2013 04:45 PM PST A UN official said Tuesday between 400-500 people are believed to have been killed in South Sudan, where two days of fighting between rival troops has sent thousands of terrified civilians fleeing an alleged coup bid. The United States ordered non-essential embassy staff out of the country as fierce battles raged in the capital Juba, setting off alarm bells over ethnic violence in the world's youngest nation. "We are afraid of going outside," said Juba resident Jane Kiden. President Salva Kiir on Monday accused soldiers loyal to his arch-rival, former vice president Riek Machar, of staging a coup attempt in the oil-rich but deeply impoverished nation. |
| British crackdown on EU migrant benefits begins on January 1 Posted: 17 Dec 2013 04:38 PM PST  A British crackdown on "benefit tourism" will begin on January 1 when migrants from the European Union will be banned from claiming unemployment handouts until three months after arrival, Prime Minister David Cameron announced Wednesday. Cameron said the move, part of a package of immigration measures announced last month, would make Britain "a less attractive place for EU migrants who want to come here and try to live off the state". The prime minister is under pressure from his Conservative party and right-leaning newspapers to manage an expected influx of migrants from Bulgaria and Romania, two of the EU's poorest members, when restrictions on their entry to Britain end on January 1. "I want to send the clear message that whilst Britain is very much open for business, we will not welcome people who don't want to contribute," Cameron said.
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| Unpaid workers in Qatar running low on food Posted: 17 Dec 2013 04:32 PM PST  Migrants who have worked for nearly a year without pay on a Qatar skyscraper are facing "severe foot shortages" and cannot leave or seek other employment, Amnesty International said Wednesday. Qatar has come under mounting criticism from rights groups, particularly after being chosen to host the 2022 World Cup, which has spotlighted the conditions of migrant workers in the gas-rich monarchy's booming construction industry. Amnesty urged Qatari authorities to address the plight of 80 migrant workers, mostly from Nepal, who are working for the Lee Trading and Contracting (LTC) company, saying they are "working in conditions that may amount to forced labour." They also can't afford to send money back home to their families or to pay off debts," said Salil Shetty, secretary general of Amnesty International.
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| Canada tap Kineen to coach women's Olympic team Posted: 17 Dec 2013 04:24 PM PST  Calgary (Canada) (AFP) - Kevin Dineen, sacked by the NHL's Florida Panthers last month, will coach Canada's women's ice hockey team at the Sochi Olympics, Hockey Canada announced on Tuesday. Dineen, 50, takes over from Dan Church, who resigned suddenly last week less than two months before the Winter Games, where Canada's women will be vying for a fourth straight Olympic gold. "This is a critical time for Canada's National Women's Team with the start of the Olympics less than two months away, and we feel Kevin is a terrific fit with our staff as we get ready for Sochi," said Melody Davidson, general manager of female national teams with Hockey Canada.
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| UN: 'Heavy toll,' scores of casualties in S Sudan Posted: 17 Dec 2013 03:31 PM PST UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The president of the United Nations Security Council says fighting in South Sudan has led to a "heavy toll" in deaths. |
| Brazil says not considering Snowden asylum Posted: 17 Dec 2013 03:17 PM PST  Brazil says it is not considering granting asylum to Edward Snowden even after the former U.S. National Security Agency contractor offered on Tuesday to help investigate revelations that the NSA has spied on Brazilians and their president. The Brazilian government has received no official request from Snowden since he arrived in Moscow in June, a foreign ministry spokesman said. In a letter published Tuesday by the Folha de S. Paulo, a Brazilian newspaper, and by social media, Snowden offered to collaborate with a Brazilian investigation into the NSA Internet surveillance program he revealed earlier this year. Simultaneously, Avaaz, a website for public petitions, launched an online signature campaign to press President Dilma Rousseff to grant Snowden asylum.
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| India removes U.S. Embassy security barriers in spat Posted: 17 Dec 2013 03:15 PM PST  By Shyamantha Asokan and Chris Francescani NEW DELHI/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Indian police removed concrete security barriers outside the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi on Tuesday in apparent retaliation for the treatment of an Indian diplomat who was strip-searched after her arrest in New York last week. The diplomatic spat was triggered by the December 12 arrest of Devyani Khobragade, a deputy consul general at the Indian Consulate in New York, on charges of visa fraud and making false statements. Indian police and government officials declined repeated requests for comment on why the barricades were taken away, but Indian television networks, citing unnamed sources, said their removal was one of several retaliatory measures India planned. In Washington, the U.S. State Department said it had told the Indian government at a "high" level that Washington expects New Delhi to protect its embassy and stressed it did not want the incident with the Indian diplomat to hurt bilateral ties.
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| Indian diplomat was strip-searched after arrest in U.S. Posted: 17 Dec 2013 03:15 PM PST NEW YORK (Reuters) - An Indian diplomat arrested last week for allegedly committing visa fraud and underpaying her nanny was strip-searched, the U.S. Marshals Service Office of Public Affairs confirmed on Tuesday. The case of the diplomat, Devyani Khobragade, has become a diplomatic incident between Washington and New Delhi, where police have removed concrete security barriers in front of the U.S. Embassy in apparent retaliation for her treatment. (Reporting By Chris Francescani) |
| Indian official: Diplomat's arrest in NYC barbaric Posted: 17 Dec 2013 03:14 PM PST  NEW DELHI (AP) — The arrest and strip search of an Indian diplomat in New York City escalated into a major diplomatic furor Tuesday as India's national security adviser called the woman's treatment "despicable and barbaric."
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| Crazed Israeli protester disrupts Wagner symposium in Jerusalem Posted: 17 Dec 2013 03:12 PM PST By Ori Lewis JERUSALEM (Reuters) - A crazed Israeli protester, angered that a symposium on Tuesday focused on Richard Wagner, Adolf Hitler's favorite composer, disrupted a public discussion at a Jerusalem concert hall before police removed him. Wagner's music is unofficially banned in Israel and the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra was not going to play any of his works on Wednesday. In getting around the unofficial ban on playing Wagner in Israel, the concert was to have included works by composers who influenced the German composer or were influenced by him, among them Beethoven, Weber, Debussy and Chausson. He stormed the stage, sang the Israeli national anthem and then stayed put as audience members shouted at him to leave. |
| Factbox: Wagner still controversial in Israel Posted: 17 Dec 2013 03:12 PM PST (Reuters) - The following are some details about the controversy in Israel surrounding Wagner's music: * BACKGROUND: - Israel has unofficially banned Richard Wagner's music for decades. For many, especially Holocaust survivors, his works carry echoes of Nazi Germany's slaughter of six million Jews during World War Two. - The ban on Wagner predates Israel's creation in 1948. The Israel Philharmonic under its former name, the Palestine Orchestra, imposed it in 1938 following Nazi attacks on Jews in Germany. |
| Aguero could face longer spell on sidelines Posted: 17 Dec 2013 03:10 PM PST  Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini has revealed his star striker Sergio Aguero could be out of action for longer than expected. Pellegrini had previously said he expected Aguero to be out for up to four weeks after he suffered a calf injury in Saturday's 6-3 thrashing of Arsenal. But there remains uncertainty as to the true extent of the problem and Pellegrini said it could be worse than first feared. Pellegrini, speaking after City's 3-1 League Cup quarter-final win at Leicester on Tuesday, said: "I am not a doctor.
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| Snowden offers to help Brazil investigate NSA spying Posted: 17 Dec 2013 03:01 PM PST  Brasilia (Brazil) (AFP) - US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden offered to help Brazil defeat US spying Tuesday but, in an open letter, said he needs permanent political asylum to do so. The move was widely interpreted as a request for asylum in Brazil, including by the Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper that published the letter in both English and Portuguese. Snowden, by downloading a vast trove of classified documents while working as an intelligence contractor for the NSA, has revealed a vast NSA program that culls information from telephone calls and emails around the world, including in Brazil. Snowden does not request asylum from Brazil in the letter, but notes Brazilian senators "have asked for my assistance with their investigations of suspected crimes against Brazilian citizens."
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| Ki sinks Chelsea in League Cup thriller Posted: 17 Dec 2013 02:56 PM PST  South Korea's Ki Sung-Yueng stunned Chelsea as the Sunderland midfielder's first goal for the club sealed a shock 2-1 win in the League Cup quarter-finals, while Manchester City swept into the last four with a 3-1 victory at Leicester on Tuesday. Gus Poyet's team had been on the verge of defeat at the Stadium of Light after goal-line technology was used for the first time in the League Cup to give Chelsea the lead through Lee Cattermole's own goal in the opening minute of the second half.
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| Mysterious bald eagle deaths under scrutiny in Utah Posted: 17 Dec 2013 02:50 PM PST A number of unexplained bald eagle deaths in Utah when hundreds of the government-protected birds have migrated to wintering grounds in the central Rocky Mountains has wildlife officials worried. The officials said on Tuesday at least four bald eagles have died and another is close to death. But we're taking it very seriously," Leslie McFarlane, Utah wildlife disease coordinator. McFarlane said the state has never before tracked the deaths of so many bald eagles in rapid succession over a wide geographic area, and that she is not aware of a similar event elsewhere. |
| US urges citizens to leave South Sudan amid unrest Posted: 17 Dec 2013 02:48 PM PST JUBA, South Sudan (AP) — The United States ordered its citizens to leave South Sudan immediately Tuesday due to fighting in the capital after what its president called a coup attempt by soldiers loyal to his former deputy. |
| Snowden: NSA's indiscriminate spying 'collapsing' Posted: 17 Dec 2013 02:45 PM PST  RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden wrote in a lengthy "open letter to the people of Brazil" that he's been inspired by the global debate ignited by his release of thousands of NSA documents and that the agency's culture of indiscriminate global espionage "is collapsing."
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| Libya: We'll allow quizzing of Lockerbie suspect Posted: 17 Dec 2013 02:39 PM PST LONDON (AP) — Libyan Justice Minister Salah Margani says his government will allow U.S. and British investigators to question Abdullah al-Senoussi, Gadhafi's notorious spymaster, over the Lockerbie bombing. |
| France says other European nations to deploy troops to C. Africa Posted: 17 Dec 2013 02:31 PM PST  Bangui (Central African Republic) (AFP) - France on Tuesday said other European nations would send troops to the Central African Republic to prop up a military force on the ground attempting to disarm militias dispensing deadly violence. The United Nations says some 210,000 people have been displaced in the capital Bangui alone in two weeks of unrest largely pitting Christians against Muslims, and France at the weekend called for more help from its European partners to assist its 1,600 troops on the ground. "We will soon have troops on the ground provided by our European colleagues," French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told the lower house of parliament in Paris, without naming the countries. It is as yet unclear whether other countries will also be assisting France on the ground, other than providing logistical help.
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| Malian president's party wins parliamentary polls Posted: 17 Dec 2013 02:26 PM PST  The party of Mali's President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita and its allies have won the west African nation's parliamentary elections, according to provisional results announced by the government on Tuesday. The Rally for Mali (RPM) and its junior partners have 115 of the 147 seats in the national assembly following a second round of voting on Sunday, Minister of Territorial Administration Moussa Sinko Coulibaly said on state television, with the exact breakdown still to be worked out. The Union for the Republic and Democracy (URD), the party of beaten presidential candidate Soumaila Cisse, will have between 17 and 19 members in the new parliament, allowing him to realise his ambition to be leader of the opposition. The election marked the completion of Mali's return to democracy after it was upended by a coup last year and then had its northern half occupied by Islamists linked to Al-Qaeda before being liberated by a French-led military intervention launched in January.
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| Canadian court greenlights Ecuadoran lawsuit against Chevron Posted: 17 Dec 2013 02:23 PM PST  Ecuadoran villagers can seek to enforce in Canada a multi-billion-dollar Ecuadoran judgment against Chevron for polluting the Amazonian rainforest, a Canadian court ruled Tuesday. The Ontario Court of Appeal overturned a lower court decision that had quashed the villagers' attempt to seize the assets of a Chevron subsidiary as partial payment. It gave Chevron 30 days to file a defense, in the latest twist in years of litigation over environmental damage in Ecuador's Amazon basin. Chevron said in a statement that it was evaluating its next step, including possibly taking the fight over jurisdiction to Canada's Supreme Court.
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| Special Report: How China's weapon snatchers are penetrating U.S. defenses Posted: 17 Dec 2013 02:21 PM PST  By John Shiffman and Duff Wilson OAKLAND, California (Reuters) - Agents from Homeland Security sneaked into a tiny office in Oakland's Chinatown before sunrise on December 4, 2011. The agents had allowed a Colorado manufacturer to ship He a type of technology that China covets but cannot replicate: radiation-hardened microchips. But if He succeeded in trafficking the rad-chips to China, the devices might someday be turned against U.S. sailors, soldiers or pilots, deployed on satellites providing the battlefield eyes and ears for the People's Liberation Army. The supervisor on the case, Greg Slavens, recoiled.
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| British surgeon jailed in Syria dies in detention: family Posted: 17 Dec 2013 02:20 PM PST A British surgeon who was arrested last November within 48 hours of arriving in Syria to volunteer as an emergency doctor has died in jail, his family and a senior British official said on Tuesday. The family of Abbas Khan, an orthopedic surgeon from south London who went to Syria to offer his services in rebel-held Aleppo, was told he would be released this week, his brother Afroze Khan told the BBC on Tuesday. But when his mother went to visit him in prison in Damascus on Monday she was told he had died, he said. |
| Illegal African immigrants protest Israel detention Posted: 17 Dec 2013 02:17 PM PST  Nearly 200 African asylum seekers who entered Israel illegally demonstrated Tuesday in Jerusalem against being housed at a new open facility they walked out of two days earlier. The men had left the Holot facility in southern Israel on Sunday night and made their way to the city on foot and by bus. "Many people are suffering from the racism of the right(-wing) government of Israel," Walidin Sleiman, from Sudan, told AFP. Sleiman added that if Israel did not want to give them rights then they should be allowed to go somewhere else.
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| Turf battles hinder U.S. efforts to thwart smugglers Posted: 17 Dec 2013 02:14 PM PST "Part of the problem is you have furiously entrenched bureaucracy in all of these departments that want to keep things exactly the way they are," said Robert Gates, the former Central Intelligence Agency director and defense secretary. Three different law enforcement agencies have primary responsibility: the Federal Bureau of Investigation; Each relies on regulators from the State, Commerce and Treasury departments, with help from the Pentagon, to determine which products can be exported where. The CIA, the Energy Department and the National Security Agency also provide intelligence on smuggling cases. |
| Sean Penn with US businessman wanted in Bolivia Posted: 17 Dec 2013 02:13 PM PST  LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) — Actor Sean Penn said Tuesday that he's with Jacob Ostreicher after the New York businessman was secretly spirited out of Bolivia, where he's been fighting for more than two years to clear his name in a money-laundering investigation.
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| Serbia to start 'historic' EU entry talks in January Posted: 17 Dec 2013 02:09 PM PST  Serbia on Tuesday won the European Union's long-sought blessing to kick off talks on joining the bloc in January, in recognition of its efforts in normalising ties with Kosovo. European affairs ministers set the January 21 date after having "acknowledged reform and normalisation efforts" by the Balkan nation, the bloc's Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fuele said. Serbia hopes to become the 29th member of the bloc, following in the footsteps of neighbour Croatia, the newest EU member who joined in July. "This is an historic event for Serbia, a day that many generations of citizens and numerous governments have awaited," Prime Minister Ivica Dacic said on the national RTS TV network.
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| Chemical watchdog approves Syria plan despite delays Posted: 17 Dec 2013 01:58 PM PST  The world's chemical watchdog on Tuesday agreed the final details of a plan to destroy Syria's arsenal, vowing to push ahead with the unprecedented project despite delays. The hectic pace of the UN-backed bid to rid Syria of its entire chemical weapons stockpile by mid-2014 has slowed recently but the meeting decided not yet to change any deadlines despite security and technical issues in the war-ravaged country. A spokesman for the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) declined to comment on the Executive Council meeting, but a diplomat who was present said the international plan had been adopted. The plan, details of which the OPCW said it would release on Wednesday, draws on the resources of multiple countries to remove and destroy Syria's declared stockpile of around 1,300 tonnes of chemicals weapons, ingredients and precursors.
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| Support mounts for Jewish prayer at key holy site Posted: 17 Dec 2013 01:53 PM PST  JERUSALEM (AP) — For decades, the religious Jews who bucked a rabbinic ban and visited a Muslim holy site in Jerusalem where the ancient Jewish temple once stood were seen by many as a fanatic fringe.
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| Steep terrain slows fight against California coastal fire Posted: 17 Dec 2013 01:49 PM PST  Crews battling a wildfire along central California's scenic Big Sur coastline were on guard against a possible shift in winds on Tuesday, after the blaze destroyed at least 15 dwellings and forced 100 people to flee their homes, fire and county officials said. Firefighters gained little ground overnight on the slow-moving Pfeiffer fire, which had blackened 550 acres by late Tuesday morning, up 50 acres from the day before, U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman Lynn Olson said. The fire was burning mainly on Pfeiffer Ridge in Big Sur, a mountainous coastal region south of the Monterey Peninsula that reaches into the Los Padres National Forest. The blaze has burning mostly on the ocean side of Highway 1, which runs roughly parallel to the Pacific coast in central California, U.S. Forest Service spokesman Andrew Madsen said.
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| Pope shares his birthday breakfast with homeless Posted: 17 Dec 2013 01:44 PM PST  VATICAN CITY (AP) — Three homeless men, one of them carrying his dog, helped Pope Francis celebrate his 77th birthday Tuesday, joining him for Mass and breakfast and presenting him with a bouquet of sunflowers.
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