| Suicide bomber kills at least 16 at Russian train station Posted: 29 Dec 2013 02:20 PM PST By Sergei Karpov VOLGOGRAD, Russia (Reuters) - A suicide attacker set off a bomb in the entrance hall of a Russian train station on Sunday, investigators said, killing at least 16 people in the second deadly attack within three days as Russia prepares to host the Winter Olympics. Authorities said the attacker detonated a shrapnel-filled bomb in front of a metal detector just inside the main entrance of the station in Volgograd, a busy hub north of the violence-plagued North Caucasus region on Russia's southern fringe. Islamist militants in the North Caucasus have carried out a long string of attacks since President Vladimir Putin came to power in 2000. They now confront him with his biggest security challenge, threatening to disrupt the Olympics that start in the Black Sea resort of Sochi in 40 days. |
| Blast at Egyptian army building wounds four soldiers Posted: 29 Dec 2013 10:34 AM PST  By Yasmine Saleh and Shadia Nasralla CAIRO/ANSHAS (Reuters) - A bomb exploded outside an Egyptian army building north of Cairo on Sunday, wounding four soldiers, the army said, in the second bomb attack on security forces in the Nile Delta in less than a week. Its statement referred to "groups of darkness" and did not name the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamist group it declared a terrorist organization last week. That decision was a response to a suicide bomb attack on Tuesday on a police compound in the Nile Delta city of Mansoura, north of the site of Sunday's explosion. The army-backed government has used the new classification to detain hundreds of the movement's supporters and thousands more are already in jail.
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| Lebanon rocket fire draws Israeli artillery strike Posted: 29 Dec 2013 04:26 AM PST  By Ari Rabinovitch JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Rockets launched from south Lebanon struck northern Israel on Sunday and Israel responded with artillery shells across a border that has been largely quiet since a war in 2006. The cross-border fire, which caused no injuries on either side, coincided with heightened political tension in Beirut following the assassination on Friday of a former Lebanese government minister. Israeli authorities said five rockets were launched from Lebanon but only one or two struck inside Israel, near the border town of Kiryat Shmona. A U.N. peacekeeping force in Lebanon, urging restraint, said it was working with the Lebanese Army to obtain further details of the attack.
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| Erdogan vows Turkish graft affair will fail to topple him Posted: 29 Dec 2013 09:47 AM PST  By Seda Sezer and Dan Williams ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan swore on Sunday he would survive a corruption crisis circling his cabinet, saying those seeking his overthrow would fail just like mass anti-government protests last summer. Erdogan accused his opponents of trying to sap the power of Turkey, which has seen rapid economic growth and assertive foreign policies under his 11-year leadership, in the service of an international plot cloaked as criminal proceedings. Yet striking a somewhat milder tone, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu appeared to seek common ground with a U.S.-based Turkish cleric whose rivalry with Erdogan is widely seen as having stoked the controversy. Erdogan, who is touring Turkey to drum up support before local elections in March, defied his accusers over the detention for suspected graft of three ministers' sons and the head of state-run Halkbank on December 17.
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| U.S. defense chief voices concern in call to Egypt army head Posted: 29 Dec 2013 04:55 PM PST  The top U.S. defense official expressed "concern" about recent developments in Egypt in a call on Sunday to Egyptian army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the Pentagon said. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel expressed his condolences for the victims of a spate of recent bomb attacks in Egypt, and offered U.S. assistance to investigate the incidents, a Pentagon spokesman said in a statement. A bomb exploded outside an Egyptian army building north of Cairo on Sunday, the latest in a series of violent incidents in Egypt. The Egyptian Army labeled the incident a terrorist attack, but did not name the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamist group it declared a terrorist organization last week.
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| Libyan oil guards threaten to block gas pipeline to Tripoli: sources Posted: 29 Dec 2013 04:57 PM PST  By Ghaith Shennib TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Oil security guards in central Libya have threatened to block a gas pipeline to the capital Tripoli unless the government meets their salary demands, oil sources and local media said on Sunday. If confirmed, the protest would mark an escalation of a wave of strikes at oilfields and export terminals gripping Libya, reducing its lifeline oil exports to a trickle. The OPEC producer is facing turmoil as the government of Prime Minister Ali Zeidan struggles to control heavily-armed militias who helped topple Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 but kept their weapons to press for political and financial demands. A mix of tribes and militias have seized for months four export ports in the east alone to demand regional autonomy and a greater share of oil revenues from the central government.
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| England coach fights off questions about future Posted: 29 Dec 2013 04:44 PM PST  Andy Flower on Monday said he will discuss his future with his new boss this week but vowed to fight on as England coach despite facing a 5-0 Ashes whitewash against Australia. Flower admitted to self-reflection after he was repeatedly asked at a press conference about his role and the future of captain Alastair Cook. "My focus at the moment is the Sydney Test match," Flower said. England cricket's new managing director Paul Downton has arrived in Australia and the embattled coach said they would meet in Sydney where the final Test opens on Friday.
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| Former F1 driver Schumacher in critical condition Posted: 29 Dec 2013 04:29 PM PST  PARIS (AP) — Seven-time Formula One champion Michael Schumacher was in critical condition after undergoing brain surgery following a skiing accident in the French Alps on Sunday, doctors said.
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| Bomb near Egypt intel building wounds four soldiers Posted: 29 Dec 2013 04:06 PM PST  A bomb near an army intelligence building wounded four soldiers Sunday, the third such blast within a week after the Muslim Brotherhood's designation as a terrorist organisation further polarised Egypt. The explosion, which the army called a "cowardly terrorist" act, comes as the military-installed authorities plan to hold a referendum on a new constitution next month, the first step towards democracy since the ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in July. Sunday's blast in Sharqiya province in the Nile Delta destroyed the rear compound wall of the intelligence building, the army said, adding that four soldiers were wounded. On Tuesday, a suicide car bomber killed 15 people at a police building in Mansoura, north of the capital.
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| Schumacher in coma, 'critical' after France ski accident Posted: 29 Dec 2013 04:00 PM PST  Grenoble (France) (AFP) - Michael Schumacher, the retired seven-time Formula One champion, has undergone brain surgery and is in a "critical" condition after striking his head in a ski accident in the French Alps on Sunday, doctors said. The 44-year-old German was "suffering a serious brain trauma with coma on his arrival, which required an immediate neurosurgical operation", the hospital in the southeastern French city of Grenoble said in a brief statement. Schumacher had been skiing off-piste with his 14-year-old son in the upmarket Meribel resort, where he reportedly has a property, when he fell and hit his head on a rock. The director of the Meribel resort, Christophe Gernigon-Lecomte, had said just after the accident that Schumacher had been wearing a helmet and was "conscious but a little agitated", suggesting he had not received life-threatening injuries.
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| Ban says Sudan must act on Darfur killings Posted: 29 Dec 2013 03:32 PM PST  UN leader Ban Ki-moon called Sunday on the Sudanese government to act against the growing number killings of UN peacekeepers in the strife-torn Darfur region. Ban spoke out after the killing of two soldiers from Jordan and Senegal in the peacekeeping force in an ambush in South Darfur. "The secretary general was appalled to learn of another armed attack by unidentified assailants on a convoy of the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur," said UN spokesman Martin Nesirky in a statement. One attacker was killed and another wounded along with the two peacekeepers, Nesirky added.
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| Report: NSA intercepts computer deliveries Posted: 29 Dec 2013 03:13 PM PST  LONDON (AP) — A German magazine lifted the lid on the operations of the National Security Agency's hacking unit Sunday, reporting that American spies intercept computer deliveries, exploit hardware vulnerabilities, and even hijack Microsoft's internal reporting system to spy on their targets.
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| Cook calls on seniors to avoid Ashes whitewash Posted: 29 Dec 2013 02:54 PM PST  Alastair Cook is calling on his seniors to pull out something special for England to avoid the ignominy of an Ashes whitewash against Australia. The rampant Australians strolled to a convincing eight-wicket victory over the beleaguered tourists in Sunday's fourth Melbourne Test to lead the series 4-0 and stand on the brink of a 5-0 series rout in this week's final Sydney Test.
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| Saudi to give Lebanon $3B to strengthen army Posted: 29 Dec 2013 02:09 PM PST  BEIRUT (AP) — Saudi Arabia has pledged $3 billion to Lebanon to help strengthen the country's armed forces and purchase weapons from France, Lebanon's president said Sunday, calling it the biggest grant ever for the nation's military.
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| Former F1 champion Schumacher injured while skiing Posted: 29 Dec 2013 02:04 PM PST PARIS (AP) — Seven-time Formula One champion Michael Schumacher was hospitalized with a head injury Sunday after a skiing accident in the French Alps, French authorities and his manager said. |
| Fear pulses through crowded S. Sudan refugee camp Posted: 29 Dec 2013 02:04 PM PST  JUBA, South Sudan (AP) — The women and girls leave the main United Nations refugee camp here during the day. The men do not. To exit is to risk death, they say.
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| 16 killed in suicide bombing in Russia's south Posted: 29 Dec 2013 01:52 PM PST MOSCOW (AP) — A suicide bomber struck a busy railway station in southern Russia on Sunday, killing at least 15 other people and wounding scores more, officials said, in a stark reminder of the threat Russia is facing as it prepares to host February's Olympics in Sochi. |
| El Salvador volcano erupts, evacuations ordered Posted: 29 Dec 2013 01:47 PM PST  By Nelson Renteria SAN SALVADOR (Reuters) - The Chaparrastique volcano in eastern El Salvador belched a column of hot ash high into the air on Sunday, frightening nearby residents and prompting authorities to order evacuations in the area. There were no immediate reports of injuries in the San Miguel region, where the volcano is located and that is known for its coffee plantations. Civil protection authorities said they would evacuate people from within three kilometers (1.9 miles) of the volcano and set up emergency shelters. "The evacuations began almost right after the explosion," said civil protection official Armando Vividor.
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| Many S.Sudan ex-VP's supporters 'halt advance' on key town Posted: 29 Dec 2013 01:13 PM PST  Thousands of young South Sudanese fighters loyal to ex-vice president Riek Machar have peeled away from an advance on a key town, the government said Sunday, but there was no immediate confirmation from Machar's supporters. As the UN voiced concern about the youths' mobilisation, government spokesman Michael Makuei told AFP "most of them have returned home". The United Nations earlier Sunday said it was "extremely concerned" over claims that thousands of armed youths allied to Machar were readying to attack in South Sudan, amid international efforts to broker a ceasefire.
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| Africa, the new El Dorado for luxury cars Posted: 29 Dec 2013 01:12 PM PST  Porsches, Range Rovers and even Maseratis... luxury cars are no strange sight weaving through the old bangers that rumble along Abidjan's chaotic streets, another indication of the emergence of a wealthy class in Africa. Yet in wealthy Abidjan neighbourhoods the streets are jammed with more luxury autos than in rich quarters of European capitals. In Gabon, 70 percent of the 6,000 new vehicles sold each year are big 4x4s, mostly Japanese models, according to the Gabonese Federation of Car Importers. In Ivory Coast, luxury cars make up only 3 percent of the 8,000 new cars sold each year, said one industry expert who asked to remain anonymous.
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| Opportunity glimmers through China's toxic smog Posted: 29 Dec 2013 01:11 PM PST  By Adam Jourdan SHANGHAI (Reuters) - As China's smog levels crept past record highs in early December, the phone lines at pollution-busting kit maker Broad Group lit up with Chinese customers worried about hazardous pollution levels that have gripped China this year. China's government is struggling to meet pollution reduction targets and has pledged to spend over 3 trillion yuan ($494 billion) to tackle the problem, creating a growing market for companies that can help boost energy efficiency and lower emissions. "Recently, we haven't been able to make products fast enough to keep up with demand," said Hu Jie, a general manager at Broad Group, which makes pollution-related products ranging from hand-held monitors to eco-friendly buildings. Pollution problems in China, the world's second-biggest economy, are by no means new.
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| Female suicide bomber kills 16 at Russia train station Posted: 29 Dec 2013 01:06 PM PST  A female suicide bomber killed at least 16 people Sunday in an attack on the main train station of the southern Russian city of Volgograd, heightening security fears just six weeks before the Sochi Olympic Games. Russia's Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin said officials had launched an inquiry into a suspected "act of terror". It was the deadliest attack in Russia in almost three years. "A suicide bomber who was approaching a metal detector saw a law enforcement official and, after growing nervous, set off an explosive device," Markin said in televised comments.
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| Israel set for new prisoner release as Kerry heads back to region Posted: 29 Dec 2013 01:04 PM PST  Israel prepared Sunday to free 26 Palestinian prisoners under peace talks brokered by US Secretary of State John Kerry, who is returning to the region to boost the faltering negotiations. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had agreed to the phased release of 104 Palestinian prisoners in line with commitments to the US-backed talks, which resumed in July, and previous batches were freed in August and October. The release of the third tranche of 26 prisoners "should come on Monday night after the 48-hour delay given for appeals from victims' families to the supreme court," an official in Netanyahu's office told AFP. In the past, the supreme court has turned down all appeals against the release of Palestinian prisoners.
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| Israel hits back after rockets fired from Lebanon Posted: 29 Dec 2013 01:02 PM PST  Marjayoun (Lebanon) (AFP) - The Israeli military fired a barrage of shells into southern Lebanon in retaliation on Sunday after Katyusha-style rockets slammed into the Jewish state, officials said. The exchange of fire hit uninhabited areas of both Israel and Lebanon without causing casualties or damage, officials on both sides said. The Israeli government accused the powerful Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah of being responsible for the rocket fire and threatened an even tougher response to any further attacks. The UN peacekeeping force in south Lebanon (UNIFIL) said two rockets fired from the El Khiam area had struck open ground near the northern Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona.
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| 19 Syria rebels killed in fight for air base Posted: 29 Dec 2013 12:49 PM PST  At least 19 rebels were killed in eastern Syria on Sunday in clashes for control of Deir Ezzor military air base, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The watchdog said there has been fierce fighting for the base for three days between rebels and regime troops backed by National Defence Force auxiliaries.
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| Lebanon in $3 billion Saudi military aid pledge Posted: 29 Dec 2013 12:41 PM PST  Lebanon announced a Saudi pledge of $3 billion on Sunday to buy military equipment from France, as it buried leading Sunni politician Mohammad Chatah, killed in a Beirut car bombing. Friday's killing of Chatah, a prominent critic of the Syrian regime, revived painful memories of political assassinations and came as the conflict in Lebanon's larger neighbour stoked sectarian tensions. Saudi Arabia is a leading backer of the rebels battling to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who enjoy widespread sympathy among Lebanese Sunnis. Lebanon's Shiite Hezbollah movement and its backer Iran are Assad's main regional allies.
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| Over 500 dead in fortnight of air strikes in Syria's Aleppo: NGO Posted: 29 Dec 2013 12:36 PM PST  Regime air strikes on the northern Syrian province of Aleppo have killed at least 517 people since December 15, including 151 children, a monitor said on Sunday. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said a string of regime aerial attacks on the province, including second city Aleppo, with raids using explosives-packed barrels, had also killed 46 women. At least 46 opposition fighters, including 34 rebels and 12 jihadists from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, but the majority of the dead were civilians, the Observatory said. Recent weeks have seen a relentless aerial campaign targeting towns and villages across Aleppo province.
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| Belgian firefighters stumble on indoor marijuana farm Posted: 29 Dec 2013 12:07 PM PST  Belgian police on Sunday seized thousands of marijuana plants discovered by firefighters during an overnight blaze, but found no immediate trace of the growers. The state-of-the-art indoor marijuana farm, which witnesses said was spread over 1,000 square metres (10,100 square feet) and featured special lighting and independent watering facilities for each plant, miraculously survived a fire that spread through two abandoned factories in the southwest town of Lessines, near Tournai. "The cannabis plants did not suffer from the fire," Bauduin Vervaecke, head of the Lessines firefighting squad that stumbled on the illicit business, told Belga news agency. Local mayor Pascal de Handschutter told RTL television that police seized 10,000 plants with an estimated street value of five million euros ($7 million) as the network showed officers hauling bagfuls from the building.
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| Quake in southern Italy rattles Naples area Posted: 29 Dec 2013 11:54 AM PST ROME (AP) — A 4.9-magnitude earthquake Sunday evening rocked much of southern Italy, sending frightened people into the streets of Naples and country towns. |
| Ex-Kadhafi security man killed in Libya's Benghazi Posted: 29 Dec 2013 11:51 AM PST  Benghazi (Libya) (AFP) - Gunmen on Sunday killed a former security officer who served under slain dictator Moamer Kadhafi in the violence-ridden eastern city of Benghazi, security and medical sources said. "Retired colonel Muftah Najem was shot dead," said a spokeswoman for Al-Jala hospital where the body was taken. Benghazi, cradle of the 2011 uprising that toppled Kadhafi and led to his killing by rebels in October that year, has suffered a wave of attacks. Both security forces and foreign missions have been targeted, including a September 2012 assault on the US consulate that killed the ambassador and three other Americans.
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| Lebanon mourns ex-minister killed in bombing Posted: 29 Dec 2013 11:42 AM PST  Lebanese mourners in Beirut on Sunday buried Mohammad Chatah, a prominent critic of the Syrian regime killed in a car bombing that revived painful memories of political assassinations. Angry citizens chanted slogans against the powerful Lebanese Shiite Hezbollah movement, an ally of the Syrian regime, which has been accused of killing Chatah and other critics in recent years. Chatah, 62, a Sunni Muslim former finance minister and close aide to ex-prime minister Saad Hariri, was killed on Friday along with seven other people in a blast in the heart of Beirut. The bombing raised fears about the fragile situation in Lebanon, which has seen the war in neighbouring Syria regularly spill over.
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| Row in Germany over feared influx from eastern Europe Posted: 29 Dec 2013 11:40 AM PST  German deputies on Sunday criticised calls by Chancellor Angela Merkel's Bavarian allies to toughen social welfare laws after immigration restrictions on Bulgarian and Romanian nationals are lifted on January 1. Anticipating an influx of Bulgarians and Romanians, the Christian Social Union (CSU), sister party to Merkel's Christian Democrats, drew up a list of proposals to make it more difficult for poor newcomers to draw state benefits. Included in the measures to be discussed at a party meeting in early January are bids to restrict all welfare payments for the first three months after arriving in Germany and tougher penalties for fraud including deportation and refusal of future re-entry. Members of the Social Democrats (SPD), partners in Merkel's new left-right "grand coalition" government, blasted the initiative as dangerously populist.
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| Syria evacuates 5,000 from town near Damascus Posted: 29 Dec 2013 11:39 AM PST BEIRUT (AP) — The Syrian government evacuated some 5,000 people Sunday from an embattled industrial town near Damascus where al-Qaida-linked rebels have been battling government troops for more than two weeks, the state news agency said. |
| Lebanon mourners vent fury at Hezbollah over ex-minister killing Posted: 29 Dec 2013 11:38 AM PST  Lebanese mourners vented their anger at the Shiite Hezbollah movement Sunday, accusing it of killing a leading Sunni politician in the latest in a spate of sectarian killings. As former finance minister Mohamed Chatah was buried in the centre of Beirut, mourners chanted "Hezbollah is the enemy of God." The movement's name means "Party of God" in Arabic. There was little doubt among the mourners that Hezbollah and its Syrian government ally were behind the killing of Chatah and seven other people in Friday's car bombing in the heart of the capital. Sectarian tensions have soared in Lebanon since Hezbollah openly intervened in the conflict in neighbouring Syria alongside President Bashar al-Assad's forces earlier this year.
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| Bombing wounds 4 soldiers in northeast Egypt Posted: 29 Dec 2013 11:36 AM PST  CAIRO (AP) — A bomb exploded outside a military intelligence building northeast of Egypt's capital Sunday, wounding four people and damaging the structure as protests and security scares roiled the country just weeks before a key vote.
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| South Sudan forces battle "White Army" Posted: 29 Dec 2013 11:23 AM PST  By Carl Odera and Aaron Maasho JUBA (Reuters) - South Sudan's army fought on Sunday with "White Army" ethnic militia, accusing rebels of mobilizing the force despite its offer of a truce to end the conflict in the new country. Two weeks of fighting have left at least 1,000 dead and split the oil-producing country barely two years after it won independence from Sudan. The feared White Army - made up largely of Nuer youths who dust their bodies with ash - clashed with government troops 18 miles from the town of Bor five days after rebels were driven out, Information Minister Michael Makuei said. A rebel spokesman denied the White Army was controlled by Riek Machar, a Nuer, the former vice president whose followers oppose President Salva Kiir, a Dinka.
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