| World powers, Iran eye February start to nuclear settlement talks Posted: 13 Jan 2014 02:50 PM PST By Justyna Pawlak BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Big powers and Iran are likely to start talks on a final settlement to the long dispute over its nuclear ambitions in February, shortly after a six-month deal curbing its atomic activity takes effect, a diplomatic source said on Monday. If successful, the next round of negotiations could head off the risk of lingering mistrust spiraling out of control into a wider Middle East war over the Islamic republic's nuclear program. Led by European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, the talks will face the challenge of defining a permissible scope of Iranian nuclear activity that would lay to rest Western concerns that it could yield an atomic weapon. In return, Iran - which denies having any intention to "weaponise" the enrichment of uranium for nuclear energy - wants governments in the United States and Europe to end painful economic sanctions. |
| Egyptians vote in constitutional referendum seen boosting Sisi Posted: 13 Jan 2014 02:18 PM PST  By Michael Georgy CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptians vote on Tuesday in a constitutional referendum, the first ballot since the military overthrew Islamist president Mohamed Mursi and an event likely to spawn a presidential bid by army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. Few doubt that Egyptians, who staged mass protests against Mursi's rule before his ouster, will turn out in big numbers and vote "yes" in the two-day referendum, a milestone in the army-backed government's political road map. Sisi deposed Mursi, Egypt's first freely elected head of state, in July. His Islamist foes see Sisi as the mastermind of a coup that kindled the worst internal strife in Egypt's modern history and brought back what critics call a police state.
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| German diplomats survive shooting attack in Saudi Arabia Posted: 13 Jan 2014 01:10 PM PST Two German diplomats survived a shooting attack on their car while on a visit to eastern Saudi Arabia on Monday, the state news agency SPA reported, but their vehicle was burned. SPA quoted a police spokesman as saying that authorities were investigating the rare incident, which took place in the town of Awamiya on Monday evening. |
| U.S. and Russia say Syria aid access and local ceasefire possible Posted: 13 Jan 2014 05:04 PM PST  By Warren Strobel PARIS (Reuters) - Syria's government and some rebels may be willing to permit humanitarian aid to flow, enforce local ceasefires and take other confidence-building measures in the nearly three-year-old civil war, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Monday. Kerry said that he and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov "talked today about the possibility of trying to encourage a ceasefire. Maybe a localized ceasefire, beginning with Aleppo," Syria's largest city. "And both of us have agreed to try to work to see if that could be achieved." Syrian rebels backed by Washington have agreed that, if the government commits to such a partial ceasefire, "they would live up to it", Kerry said.
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| Hollande bids to deflect glare from private life to reforms Posted: 13 Jan 2014 03:06 PM PST  By Mark John PARIS (Reuters) - President Francois Hollande will aim at a news conference on Tuesday to set out plans to revive the weak French economy and deflect questions about his private life after allegations surfaced of a secret love affair with an actress. His New Year's encounter with journalists in his Elysee Palace will be the French leader's first public appearance since a celebrity magazine on Friday published photos it said showed Hollande making a nocturnal visit to a lover. The saga took a surprise new turn on Sunday when it emerged that his long-term partner, Valerie Trierweiler, had been admitted to hospital in a state of shock. "This major political event must remain a major political event," David Assouline, spokesman for Hollande's Socialist party, said of the 4:30 p.m. (10.30 a.m. ET) news conference, an annual setpiece which could go on as long as two hours.
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| Italy's Letta sees opportunities in Mexico's energy reform Posted: 13 Jan 2014 04:15 PM PST  By Gabriel Stargardter MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta said on Monday he sees opportunities for Italian firms to invest in Mexico's energy sector thanks to a government opening of the ailing, long-shuttered industry. Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto last month signed a bill into law that ended the country's 75-year-old oil and gas monopoly. Speaking on a state visit alongside Pena Nieto, who has pushed overhauls to the country's telecoms, banking and tax laws since taking office in 2012, Letta said the opening up of Mexico's energy sector was a big opportunity for Italian firms. "The reforms that President Pena Nieto began to enact last year, and continues to enact this year, open very interesting opportunities for Italian businessmen and for our country," Letta said.
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| Correction: Book Critics Prizes story Posted: 13 Jan 2014 05:13 PM PST NEW YORK, N.Y. - NEW YORK (AP) — In a story Jan. 12 about the National Book Critics Circle nominees, The Associated Press reported erroneously the name of a co-author of a biography of Whitey Bulger. Her name is Shelley Murphy, not Shirley Murphy. |
| Tap water use ban lifted in parts of West Virginia after spill Posted: 13 Jan 2014 04:38 PM PST  West Virginia officials on Monday lifted a ban on drinking or bathing with tap water in some areas of the state hit by a chemical spill that affected hundreds of thousands of people for five days, Governor Earl Ray Tomblin said. Officials had ordered some 300,000 people not to drink their tap water after as much as 7,500 gallons (28,000 liters) of the 4-methylcyclohexane methanol, or crude MCHM, leaked into the river. Jeff McIntyre, president of West Virginia American Water Co, said the first area cleared for use was in downtown Charleston, the state capital.
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| Turkey leaders meet to defuse row over judicial curbs Posted: 13 Jan 2014 04:33 PM PST  Turkish leaders met on Monday to try to defuse a row over a controversial move by the government of embattled Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to curb the powers of the judiciary. The proposed legislation, seen by critics as a bid to head off a widening corruption probe that has rocked the government to its core, has come under fire from the domestic opposition as well as the European Union and the United States. President Abdullah Gul has personally intervened to try to end the latest crisis to confront the government just weeks before the country goes to the polls in municipal elections in March. But the government remained defiant, with Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc telling reporters after a cabinet meeting: "It is out of the question that the bill will be withdrawn."
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| Mexico urges vigilantes to stand down in drug gang conflict Posted: 13 Jan 2014 04:22 PM PST  Mexico's government on Monday pledged to take control of a violent western state after days of fighting between masked vigilantes and members of one of the country's most powerful drug cartels. Since late last year, vigilante groups in the state of Michoacan have moved deeper into territory controlled by the Knights Templar cartel and they now are converging on Apatzingan, considered one of gang's main strongholds. The vigilantes' advance has raised the risk of a bloody urban battle in Apatzingan.
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| Obama urges Congress to give Iran diplomacy a chance Posted: 13 Jan 2014 04:00 PM PST  President Barack Obama urged the US Congress to give peace with Iran a chance Monday, as lawmakers lined up behind new sanctions despite warnings they could doom an interim nuclear deal. Obama said that the six-month pact due to go into force on January 20 after being concluded at the weekend, offered a "door of opportunity" for Iran to have better relations with the outside world, after decades of deep antagonism with the United States. But he said that if Iran fails to live up to the terms of the deal, which freezes aspects of its nuclear program in return for limited sanctions relief, he would support new punitive measures to stop Tehran getting a nuclear weapon. "My preference is for peace and diplomacy," Obama told reporters in the Oval Office.
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| World's smallest water lily stolen from London's Kew Gardens Posted: 13 Jan 2014 03:33 PM PST  A plant thief has stolen one of the few surviving examples of the world's smallest water lily, which is extinct in the wild, from the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew in London, police said Monday. The tiny 'Nymphaea Thermarum' was stolen on Thursday from the Princess of Wales Conservatory, a giant glass house at the gardens in the southwest of the capital, a Scotland Yard statement said. "Officers have been informed that the plant would have had to have been dug, or pulled up, from a shallow water lily pond," the force said. Richard Barley, director of horticulture at Kew Gardens, said the theft was a "blow to morale" of his staff who are "dedicated to the conservation of plants".
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| New law in Nigeria bans gay meetings Posted: 13 Jan 2014 03:20 PM PST  LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — A new law in Nigeria, signed by the president without announcement, has made it illegal for gay people to even hold a meeting. The Same Sex Marriage Prohibition Act also criminalizes homosexual clubs, associations and organizations, with penalties of up to 14 years in jail.
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| Wales's Halfpenny wins writers' award Posted: 13 Jan 2014 03:12 PM PST  Wales full-back Leigh Halfpenny was named the player of the year for 2013 by the British-based Rugby Union Writers' Club on Monday. Halfpenny received his latest individual honour at an award dinner in London, joining a distinguished group of players to have lifted the Pat Marshall Memorial trophy that began with Wales great Mervyn Davies and has since included the likes of David Kirk, David Campese, Jonah Lomu, Martin Johnson and Jonny Wilkinson.
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| Galaxy has a new Friend in Canadian striker Posted: 13 Jan 2014 02:59 PM PST  Rob Friend, an 1860 Munich striker who has spent most of his 11-year career in Europe, has signed with the Los Angeles Galaxy, the Major League Soccer club announced Monday. Friend has netted 79 goals in 256 matches in Europe and scored twice for Canada in 32 international appearances, his most recent appearance coming in 2011. "The addition of Rob Friend to our roster brings a different dimension to our attack," Galaxy general manager and coach Bruce Arena said.
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| C. African Republic leader says chaos 'over' Posted: 13 Jan 2014 02:53 PM PST  BANGUI, Central African Republic (AP) — The interim leader of Central African Republic vowed Monday that the era of anarchy in the tumultuous country was now over, a bold declaration made only days after the man who had seized power in a coup last year stepped down under international pressure.
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| Seize the moment for peace, Biden tells Israel Posted: 13 Jan 2014 02:46 PM PST  US Vice President Joe Biden on Monday urged Israel to seize this moment in history to make peace with the Palestinians in talks with President Shimon Peres. At a working meeting after the two leaders paid their last respects to former Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon, who was buried on Monday, the talk turned to the US-led direct peace talks. "The one place (in the region) where there's a possibility for an island of stability ... is between the Palestinian people and the Israeli people, in two secure states respecting one another's sovereignty and security," Biden said in remarks relayed by the White House. At the end of July, US Secretary of State John Kerry coaxed Israel and the Palestinians into their first direct peace talks in nearly three years, with the parties agreeing to a nine-month timetable for reaching a deal.
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| U.S. has concerns about Iran-Russia oil-for-goods swap reports Posted: 13 Jan 2014 02:41 PM PST By Roberta Rampton WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House said on Monday it was concerned about a recent report that Iran and Russia are negotiating an oil-for-goods swap worth $1.5 billion a month, a deal a spokeswoman said could trigger U.S. sanctions. Such a deal would significantly boost Iran's oil exports, which have been slashed by more than half to about 1 million barrels a day by U.S. and European economic sanctions aimed at forcing Iran to accept curbs to its nuclear program. Russian and Iranian sources close to the barter negotiations said the deal could see Russia buy as much as 500,000 barrels a day of Iranian oil in exchange for Russian equipment and goods. "We are concerned about these reports and Secretary (of State John) Kerry directly expressed this concern with (Russian) Foreign Minister (Sergei) Lavrov today," Caitlin Hayden, spokeswoman for the White House National Security Council, told Reuters. |
| 'Party over' in C. Africa as troops return to barracks Posted: 13 Jan 2014 02:34 PM PST  Bangui (Central African Republic) (AFP) - The new interim president of the violence-wracked Central African Republic told marauding fighters Monday that "the party is over" after weeks of deadly sectarian violence, as deserting troops and police returned to duty. Alexandre-Ferdinand Nguendet, speaker of the impoverished country's provisional parliament and interim president, vowed that the "anarchy" that has gripped the country would be swiftly brought to an end. "To the ex-Seleka, to the anti-balaka and the lovers of looting, I'm giving you a severe warning: The party is over," he said at a police headquarters in the capital, Bangui. The return of hundreds of soldiers and police to duty was an encouraging sign for the Central African Republic after weeks of horrific sectarian violence, including reports of cannibalism.
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| New law in Nigeria bans same-sex marriage Posted: 13 Jan 2014 02:02 PM PST LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — A new law in Nigeria, signed by the president without announcement, has made it illegal for gay people to even hold a meeting. The Same Sex Marriage Prohibition Act also criminalizes homosexual clubs, associations and organizations, with penalties of up to 14 years in jail. |
| Mexican vigilantes brace for cartel reprisal Posted: 13 Jan 2014 01:55 PM PST  NUEVA ITALIA (Mexico) (AFP) - Vigilantes toting assault rifles guarded the entrance of a town in western Mexico on Monday, bracing for a possible counter-attack from a drug cartel they chased out a day earlier. The militiamen were protecting their new prize in their year-long struggle against the Knights Templar drug cartel, a gang whose reign of violence and extortion prompted civilians to take up arms in the restive state of Michoacan. Hundreds of self-styled "self-defense" forces, armed with AK-47s and other assault rifles, rolled into the town of Nueva Italia on Sunday, sparking a gunfight that lasted almost two hours and left two of their men wounded. But soldiers did not act in Sunday's assault in Nueva Italia, and an AFP correspondent did not spot a military presence in the area on Monday.
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| Twelve dead in south Brazil violence Posted: 13 Jan 2014 01:51 PM PST  Ten public buses were destroyed Monday after 12 people were shot and killed overnight in the Brazilian city of Campinas, police said. A group of about 20 assailants, most hem hooded and armed with sticks and stones, ransacked a Campinas bus terminal where five of the overnight deaths occurred.
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| UN warns will thwart any M23 rebel return in DR Congo Posted: 13 Jan 2014 01:43 PM PST  The United Nations mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo will not "tolerate" a resurgence of the M23 rebel group, the top UN official there said Monday. In a statement to the Security Council, the UN Special Representative in DR Congo cited "credible reports that the military recruitment of the M23 did not cease" after a December peace deal. "There are also credible reports of emerging M23 activities in Ituri in northeastern Congo," Martin Kobler said.
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| Gunmen kill five villagers in Nigeria Posted: 13 Jan 2014 01:39 PM PST  Maiduguri (Nigeria) (AFP) - Suspected Boko Haram gunmen attacked a market in restive northeastern Nigeria, killing five and injuring many more, witnesses said on Monday. More than 30 attackers armed with guns, explosives and knives stormed the market in Borno State, where a state of emergency is in place, they said. "I escaped by the grace of God when I sneaked through a nearby river," said trader Amarjiya Awami, who said he had lost two friends in the attack. Thousands of people have been killed in the insurgency waged by Boko Haram, which seeks to create an Islamic state in Nigeria's mainly Muslim north.
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| Israelis bid Sharon farewell in hilltop funeral Posted: 13 Jan 2014 01:33 PM PST  Sycamore Ranch (Israel) (AFP) - Mourners ranging from Bedouin Arabs and Orthodox Jews gathered Monday to bury Israel's controversial former prime minister Ariel Sharon on a hilltop overlooking his family ranch in the Negev desert. Crowds in their hundreds squeezed through tight security barriers, jostling for the best viewpoint as Sharon's funeral cortege wound its way up a dirt track to the grave site. "Bye-bye, Sharon!" shouted onlookers fumbling frantically with camera phones to capture the long-anticipated moment, as the military vehicle carrying his coffin rumbled past. But echoes of these disputes were absent from his funeral, which was attended by a cross-section of Israel's population ranging from Orthodox Jews from Jerusalem to Druze farmers from the north, as well as foreign dignitaries who sat in an enclosure next to Sharon's family.
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| Obama urges Congress to avoid new sanctions on Iran Posted: 13 Jan 2014 01:33 PM PST President Barack Obama urged Congress on Monday to resist the temptation to approve new economic sanctions against Iran and said lawmakers instead should give diplomacy and peace a chance to work. Many in the Senate are eager to back new sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program, a move the White House fears would upset delicate diplomatic efforts with Tehran that just recently led to an interim agreement. Obama raised the issue of Iran himself in speaking to reporters during an Oval Office appearance with Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy. Obama said an interim agreement reached between Iran and world powers, including the United States, is going to be difficult and challenging. |
| Sanctions relief to breathe new life into Iran economy Posted: 13 Jan 2014 01:18 PM PST  Unblocking billions of dollars in funds to Iran under a landmark six-month nuclear deal with the West will have a significant economic and psychological impact on the Islamic republic, experts said Monday. Iran and Western powers announced on Sunday that the deal will take will take effect from January 20. Tehran had agreed in November to roll back parts of its nuclear programme and halt further advances in exchange for the release of billions of dollars in frozen assets and limited relief from crippling sanctions. Analysts say unblocking the funds will breathe new life into the economy and provide much-needed relief across Iran.
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| Egypt holds key vote in climate of fear Posted: 13 Jan 2014 01:16 PM PST  CAIRO (AP) — Egyptians are being asked to vote this week on a vision of their nation's future sponsored by the powerful military, a two-day election widely seen as a referendum on a likely presidential run by the country's top general — but held in a climate of fear and intimidation.
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| Survivors mark 2nd anniversary of Concordia wreck Posted: 13 Jan 2014 01:14 PM PST  GIGLIO ISLAND, Italy (AP) — Survivors of the capsized Costa Concordia are commemorating the second anniversary of the grounding off Tuscany that killed 32 people with a candlelight march on Giglio island and a moment of silence in the courtroom where the captain is on trial.
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| Germany warns Israel over settlement building Posted: 13 Jan 2014 01:02 PM PST  Ramallah (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - Israel's ongoing settlement construction is damaging efforts to reach a negotiated peace agreement, visiting German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said on Monday. Berlin's top diplomat was in Israel for a 24-hour visit to discuss the peace process which was largely overshadowed by the death at the weekend of Israel's controversial former prime minister Ariel Sharon who was laid to rest on Monday. He met with Israel's chief negotiator Tzipi Livni early on Monday then attended both a state memorial service and Sharon's funeral before travelling to Ramallah for an evening meeting with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.
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| UN envoy upbeat on C. Africa transition process Posted: 13 Jan 2014 12:56 PM PST  The UN special respresentative to the Central African Republic on Monday said he was optimistic about a quick resolution of the political crisis sparked by President Michel Djotodia's resignation. Speaking to reporters by teleconference from Bangui, Babacar Gaye said "the hope lies on the reinforcement of MISCA, on the continued engagement of France and the swift election of a head of state of the transition." Interim president Alexandre-Ferdinand Nguendet said earlier that deadly sectarian violence was over as deserting troops and police returned to duty. The provisional parliament was due to begin consultations on Tuesday with politicians and civil society members in a bid to elect a successor to former president Michel Djotodia, who resigned Saturday under international pressure.
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| Colombian official confirms ouster of Bogota's leftist mayor Posted: 13 Jan 2014 12:54 PM PST  By Helen Murphy BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombia's inspector general confirmed on Monday the ouster of Bogota Mayor Gustavo Petro, despite weeks of protest over the move and widespread support for the former leftist rebel. Petro appealed the December 9 decision, and has since rallied tens of thousands to central Plaza Bolivar to protest his removal from Colombia's second-most powerful post and a 15-year ban from holding political office. The nation's chief inspector, Alejandro Ordonez, rejected the appeal on Monday, saying its disciplinary chamber had found him responsible for "three serious errors in the implementation of the new cleanup model in the city of Bogota." Ordonez removed Petro from office after ruling the mayor mishandled changes to garbage collection in the city of 8 million. Ordonez said it created a health hazard as rubbish piled up on the streets in 2012.
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| Goldcorp makes hostile Can$2.6 bln bid for Osisko Posted: 13 Jan 2014 12:53 PM PST  Canadian mining giant Goldcorp on Monday proposed one of the biggest mining sector deals in more than a year in announcing a Can$2.6 billion (US$2.4 billion) hostile bid for Quebec's Osisko Mining. The offer of 0.146 Goldcorp shares plus Can$2.26 in cash for each Osisko common share (a total value of Can$5.95) is a 15 percent premium over Osisko's closing price Friday, Goldcorp said in a statement. But analysts pointed to Osisko's soaring stock price in morning trading, up nearly 20 percent to Can$6.18, to suggest the offer is inadequate. Dan Rollins, an analyst with the Royal Bank of Canada, said Goldcorp will have to sweeten it, or risk losing Osisko to a competitor or "white knight" with a higher bid.
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