| Protesters clash with police at large Ukraine rally Posted: 19 Jan 2014 12:34 PM PST By Richard Balmforth and Natalia Zinets KIEV (Reuters) - Protesters clashed with riot police in the Ukrainian capital on Sunday after tough anti-protest legislation, which the political opposition says paves the way for a police state, was rushed through parliament last week. Despite appeals from opposition leaders not to resort to violence, and a personal intervention from boxer-turned-politician Vitaly Klitschko, protesters continued to throw smoke bombs and hurl fireworks and other objects at police. A spokeswoman for Klitschko tweeted that President Viktor Yanukovich had agreed to meet Klitschko immediately at the presidential residence outside Kiev, although there was no confirmation from Yanukovich's side. |
| Powers and Iran to activate landmark nuclear deal after IAEA nod Posted: 19 Jan 2014 04:06 PM PST  By Justyna Pawlak and Fredrik Dahl BRUSSELS/VIENNA (Reuters) - World powers and Iran are due to start implementing a landmark deal on Monday curbing Tehran's nuclear program, amid hopes that it will pave the way for a broad settlement of a decade-old standoff and ease fears of a new Middle East war. If, as expected, the United Nations' nuclear watchdog confirms in the morning that Iran is meeting its end of the agreement, the European Union and the United States will later in the day suspend some economic sanctions in return. The mutual concessions are scheduled to last six months, during which time six powers - the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany - aim to negotiate a final accord defining the permissible scope of Iran's nuclear activity. Western governments want such an agreement to lay to rest their concerns that Iran could produce an atomic weapon.
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| Islamist rebels reject 'hollow' Syria peace talks Posted: 19 Jan 2014 07:26 AM PST  Syria's main political opposition group in exile, the National Coalition, agreed on Saturday to attend the talks beginning on Wednesday in Geneva, setting up the first meeting between President Bashar al-Assad's government and its foes. But the Islamic Front, an alliance of several Islamist fighting forces that represents a large portion of the rebels on the ground, said on Sunday it rejected the talks. Syria's future would be "formulated here on the ground of heroism, and signed with blood on the front lines, not in hollow conferences attended by those who don't even represent themselves," Abu Omar, a leading member of the Islamic Front, said on his Twitter account. SOME AID REACHES BESIEGED AREA In what appeared to be a symbolic conciliatory move ahead of the talks, Syria permitted some aid to reach a besieged suburb of Damascus on Saturday and Sunday, state media said.
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| Israel targets Gaza militant after Palestinian rocket attacks Posted: 19 Jan 2014 03:14 AM PST  By Saleh Jadallah GAZA (Reuters) - Israel said it carried out an air strike on Sunday against a Gaza militant who it blamed for cross-border rocket attacks last week, and Palestinian medics said two people, including a 12-year-old, were wounded. The so-called "targeted attack" against a man the Israeli military identified as Ahmad Sa'ad, a senior Islamic Jihad operative, was a sign of growing Israeli impatience over a recent upsurge in rocket fire out of the Hamas-run Gaza Strip. Israel's Iron Dome missile defense system knocked out all five projectiles and the military responded with a series of strikes across Gaza, reviving memories of 2011 and 2012, when such tit-for-tat firing became the norm. "We are determined to ensure the south remains quiet," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in public remarks at the weekly meeting of his cabinet in Jerusalem.
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| South Korean trade official kidnapped in Libya Posted: 19 Jan 2014 04:27 PM PST SEOUL (Reuters) - A South Korean trade official has been kidnapped in Libya, Yonhap news agency said on Monday, citing the Foreign Ministry in Seoul. Yonhap named the official as Han Seok-woo, the head of trade relations at the Korea Trade Investment Promotion Agency in Libya. It said he had been abducted by four men at 1 a.m Seoul time on Monday (1800 GMT Sunday). The Foreign Ministry declined to comment further. (Reporting by David Chance; Editing by Paul Tait) |
| Eight Iraqi police and tribesmen killed fighting al Qaeda Posted: 19 Jan 2014 10:21 AM PST  Iraqi Sunni Muslim tribesmen backed by police special forces and helicopter gunships attacked al Qaeda-linked militants in the city of Ramadi on Sunday, but halted the assault after at least eight of their number were killed, police and health officials said. Police and local officials said the ground forces had retaken a police station in al-Hamthiya on the eastern outskirts of the city after helicopters fired missiles and machineguns at militants, but made no major advances. The fighting in Ramadi, capital of the Sunni province of Anbar, was the heaviest in several days. There was no word on casualties among the militants.
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| Sherwood needs Champions League for job security Posted: 19 Jan 2014 04:43 PM PST  Swansea (United Kingdom) (AFP) - Tottenham Hotspur boss Tim Sherwood said the side's current run of good form might do little for his job prospects unless he delivers Champions League football to White Hart Lane. Spurs enjoyed their fifth Premier League win in six matches since Sherwood replaced sacked predecessor Andre Villas-Boas courtesy of a 3-1 win away to struggling Swansea on Sunday. Emmanuel Adebayor was on target twice either side of a Chico Flores own-goal, with Wilfried Bony's consolation effort 12 minutes from time too late for Swansea.
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| Ukraine protests turn into fiery street battles Posted: 19 Jan 2014 04:42 PM PST  KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Anti-government protests in Ukraine's capital escalated into fiery street battles with police Sunday as thousands of demonstrators hurled rocks and firebombs to set police vehicles ablaze. Dozens of officers and protesters were injured.
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| Bloody clashes erupt in Ukraine after defiant protest Posted: 19 Jan 2014 04:27 PM PST  Dozens of people were wounded in bloody clashes between police and protesters in the Ukrainian capital Kiev on Sunday after 200,000 defied new restrictions on protests to rally against President Viktor Yanukovych. In near apocalyptic scenes close to parliament, several police buses and vehicles were torched by the protesters who hurled stones and Molotov cocktails at the ranks of the security forces. Police responded with tear gas, stun grenades and rubber bullets. The clashes, the worst in Kiev in recent times, further raised the stakes in the almost two-month standoff between the opposition and Yanukovych which has seen protesters seize control of the main city square in Kiev and municipal buildings.
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| U.N. chief Ban says invites Iran to Syria peace talks Posted: 19 Jan 2014 04:18 PM PST  U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Sunday he had invited Iran to attend the first day of Syria peace talks on January 22 in Montreux, Switzerland and that Tehran had pledged to play a "positive and constructive role" if it was asked to participate. More than 100,000 people have been killed and over 2 million have fled Syria during the nearly three-year civil war. Western and Gulf Arab nations say they have been reluctant to the support the idea of Iran participating at all because it is supporting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad militarily and has never backed a plan for a political transition in Syria agreed at an international conference in Geneva in June 2012. Ban said he had spoken at length with Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in recent days and that he believed Tehran supported for the Geneva 2012 plan.
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| UN: Iran invited to attend Syrian peace conference Posted: 19 Jan 2014 04:18 PM PST UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United Nations says Iran has been invited to attend a meeting of foreign ministers In Switzerland on Wednesday ahead of internationally brokered peace talks between Syria's warring factions. |
| Lifestyle disorders top health issues in Arab world Posted: 19 Jan 2014 04:13 PM PST  Heart disease and stroke have replaced infectious disease as the top causes of early death in the Arab world, tracking the West in a trend towards lifestyle disorders, The Lancet reported Monday. An international consortium of scientists compared the state of health in the 22 countries of the Arab League in 1990 and in 2010, using data from a vast study -- the 2010 Global Burden of Diseases report. In 1990, respiratory infection headed the list of concerns, accounting for 11 percent of deaths, while stillbirths and poor nutrition also featured high on the mortality list. But overall, infectious diseases -- with the exception of HIV -- have receded, the paper said.
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| Under-fire Cook to reconsider England captaincy Posted: 19 Jan 2014 04:12 PM PST  England captain Alastair Cook has admitted for the first time that he will reconsider his leadership role after eight successive defeats to Australia. The hosts emphatically beat England on Sunday night by seven wickets with 10 overs to spare to seal the one-day series 3-0 and leave two dead matches still to play. Coming on top of a 5-0 Ashes whitewash, Cook said he would review his position as skipper once the tour is over. After the final Test in Sydney two weeks ago, the England and Wales Cricket Board backed Cook to remain as skipper and he strongly declared his own wish to remain in the job.
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| Factbox: EU to ease Iran sanctions under interim deal Posted: 19 Jan 2014 04:08 PM PST BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Six world powers and Iran are expected to start implementing an interim nuclear deal on Monday, under which Tehran is due to curb its atom activity and the United States and the European Union are to ease some economic sanctions for six months. Following are details of the sanctions lifted by the European Union as part of the deal, provided by EU officials. ... |
| Iran invited to Syria peace conference: Ban Posted: 19 Jan 2014 04:03 PM PST  Iran will attend this week's Syria peace conference after it pledged to play a "positive and constructive role" in efforts to end the three-year-old war, UN leader Ban Ki-moon said Sunday. Ban said he made a late invitation to Iran after intensive talks with Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who agreed to attend. Iran's involvement means that all the key countries linked to the worsening war will now be at the opening of the peace conference in Montreux, Switzerland on Wednesday.
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| Analysis: After Target hack, Verifone smart card readers could shine Posted: 19 Jan 2014 03:58 PM PST  By David Randall NEW YORK (Reuters) - A data breach at Target Corp that exposed the credit card information of tens of millions of holiday shoppers was a major black eye for the retailer. In its wake, investors and analysts are circling companies that could benefit from a major upgrade in credit card technology. One of their favorites: Verifone Systems Inc, a $3.2 billion market cap company that is one of two major global manufacturers of point-of-sale terminals and mobile payments systems and could profit from any major upgrades of payment technology. Yet for its shares to continue to rally, Verifone must prove to analysts and portfolio managers it has taken steps to right its own ship after several years of choppy performance.
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| British fighters in Syria being taught jihadism: defector Posted: 19 Jan 2014 03:50 PM PST  Al-Qaeda is training hundreds of British people fighting in Syria to become jihadists and urging them to carry out attacks when they return home, according to an interview with a defector published in Monday's Daily Telegraph. The defector, known as Murad, from the hardline Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) said other recruits from Europe and the US were also being trained to make car bombs before being sent home to form terror cells. "They talked often about terrorist attacks," he said of his former ISIS instructors. "The foreigners were proud of 9/11 and the London bombings.
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| Two dead, hundreds evacuated in flood-hit French Riviera Posted: 19 Jan 2014 03:17 PM PST  Hyères (France) (AFP) - Two people were killed Sunday and more than 150 had to be airlifted to safety after floods struck southeastern France, local authorities said. Local official Laurent Cayrel said one of the victims, a 73-year-old man, died in his basement, while the other was swept away in his car.
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| Russian Islamic video threatens Sochi Olympics Posted: 19 Jan 2014 02:43 PM PST MOSCOW (AP) — An Islamic militant group in Russia's North Caucasus claimed responsibility Sunday for twin suicide bombings in the southern city of Volgograd last month and posted a video threatening to strike the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. |
| Young rallies Lakers over Raptors Posted: 19 Jan 2014 02:27 PM PST  Toronto (Canada) (AFP) - Nick Young scored 15 of his game-high 29 points in the fourth quarter and the Los Angeles Lakers rallied from a 19-point deficit Sunday to defeat Toronto 112-106. Spanish big man Pau Gasol added 22 points and nine rebounds while Ryan Kelly scored 17 points and Kendall Marshall contributed 10 points and 11 assists for the Lakers, who improved to 16-25 with their first back-to-back NBA triumphs in a month. DeMar DeRozan scored 23 points and Kyle Lowry added 21 to lead the Raptors, who had won six in a row at home.
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| Wildfire in hills near Los Angeles is largely contained Posted: 19 Jan 2014 02:25 PM PST  (Reuters) - A wildfire in the hills near Los Angeles was more than 75 percent contained on Sunday, after blackening some 1,900 acres of drought-parched shrubland and destroying five homes, officials said. The so-called Colby Fire, which officials said started from a campfire, was expected to be fully contained by Tuesday, said Nathan Judy, a spokesman for the Angeles National Forest & Fire Department. The blaze, centered in the San Gabriel Mountains on territory that is part of the Angeles National Forest, was 78 percent contained, Judy said. The fire had prompted some 3,500 residents in parts of Glendora and neighboring Azusa northeast of Los Angeles to vacate their homes on the order of authorities.
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| O'Sullivan wins fifth Masters title Posted: 19 Jan 2014 01:55 PM PST  Ronnie O'Sullivan won his fifth Masters title with a 10-4 win over defending champion Mark Selby in the final at London's Alexandra Palace on Sunday. World champion O'Sullivan all but put the result against his fellow Englishman beyond doubt by storming into a 7-1 lead at the end of the first session in the best of 19 frames contest. 'The Rocket', cheered on by some raucous fans in what is effectively a 'home' tournament given he hails from Chigwell, just east of London, then won the opening frame of the evening session. "Mark loves coming from behind, you never feel you're at the winning line," O'Sullivan told the BBC after collecting a winner's cheque for £200,000 ($328,400, 242,540 euros).
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| Head of Syria Qaeda branch urges rebels to stop infighting Posted: 19 Jan 2014 01:46 PM PST The head of an al Qaeda affiliate in Syria called in an audio message on Sunday for other rebel groups to stop attacking his fighters and instead join forces to defeat President Bashar al-Assad. The small but powerful al Qaeda arm - the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) - has been caught up in clashes with other Islamist insurgents, often triggered by disputes over authority and territory. It has killed hundreds of rebels this month. ISIL head Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi told rebels in an audio message posted on jihadi websites to "repent to God for you have stabbed us in the back while our soldiers were at the front." He added that his group was "extending its hand to you, so you can stop fighting it and we will stop fighting you and we can fight the Alawites," referring to Assad's sect, an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam. |
| Former FLN party chief to run for Algerian presidency Posted: 19 Jan 2014 01:27 PM PST  By Lamine Chikhi ALGIERS (Reuters) - Ali Benflis, a former leader of Algeria's ruling FLN party, announced on Sunday he would run in the April 17 elections, in which President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has yet to say whether he will seek a fourth term. Bouteflika returned home on Thursday from a visit to a Paris hospital for check-ups after suffering a stroke early last year. Benflis, 70, who lost to Bouteflika in 2004, said he would focus on stamping out corruption in the OPEC member and reach out to a younger generation keen for change. Speaking in an Algiers hotel, Benflis hit out at scandals in the Algerian establishment since 2013 involving officials including the former energy minister and others seen as Bouteflika's close allies.
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| Israel starts handover of Palestinian militants' bodies Posted: 19 Jan 2014 01:13 PM PST  Ramallah (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - Israel on Sunday began transferring bodies of Palestinian militants killed by Israeli forces to the West Bank for reburial, sources on both sides said. According to Fatma Abdallah, media coordinator for the "Palestinian national committee to return the bodies of martyrs", Israel handed over the body of Majdi Khanfar, originally from Silat al-Zaher near Jenin, via a crossing in the north of the West Bank. Abdallah told AFP another two bodies out of the 36 Israel had committed to returning would be handed over on Tuesday, as part of a court ruling. The Israeli army said "in accordance with a supreme court decision and following the instruction of the government of Israel, the IDF (Israel Defence Forces) has begun the return of bodies of terrorists to their respective families in the Palestinian Authority."
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| Israel giving back remains of Palestinian militants -army Posted: 19 Jan 2014 01:09 PM PST By Ori Lewis JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel has begun to exhume the remains of a number of Palestinian militants to return them to their families for burial, the army said on Sunday, a move that could help ease some tension between the adversaries. Israel and the Western-backed Palestinian authority are currently locked in peace talks being mediated by the United States that are showing scant signs of progress. Israel has over many years interred the bodies of militants killed in attacks on Israelis at special cemeteries. "In accordance with a Supreme Court decision ... the (military) has begun the return of bodies of terrorists to their respective families in the Palestinian Authority," the army said in a statement. |
| Penguins' Crosby named Canadian Olympic captain Posted: 19 Jan 2014 01:05 PM PST  Pittsburgh Penguins center Sidney Crosby was named captain of the Canadian Olympic men's hockey team for next month's Sochi Winter Olympics by Hockey Canada on Sunday. The 26-year-old National Hockey League superstar scored the gold-medal goal for Canada in overtime four years ago to defeat the United States in the championship game of the Vancouver Winter Olympics. Crosby will serve as Canada's captain for the first time in international play, having been an alternate captain at Vancouver.
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| S.Sudan army's sights on oil town Malakal after reclaiming Bor Posted: 19 Jan 2014 12:56 PM PST  South Sudanese troops fought Sunday to win back the key oil town of Malakal from rebels loyal to sacked vice president Riek Machar, the army said, a day after reclaiming the strategic town of Bor. The army said its troops were launching an offensive to retake the rebel-held southern portion of Malakal, the capital of Upper Nile state and one of the main battlefields since fighting erupted last month between rival forces loyal to Machar and President Salva Kiir. The army meanwhile said that a day after its key victory in Bor, the bitterly contested capital of Jonglei State, the road linking the town to the capital, Juba, about 200 kilometres (130 miles) south, had been cleared. "We are telling the nation now that the Juba-Bor road is fully secured," Lieutenant General Malual Ayom Dor said in a statement issued from Bor.
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| Istanbul protest for murdered Turkish Armenian journalist Posted: 19 Jan 2014 12:50 PM PST  Turkish riot police were out in force on Sunday as large crowds massed in Istanbul to demand justice for a prominent Turkish Armenian journalist murdered seven years ago. "Murderer state will account for this," chanted several thousand protesters gathered in Istanbul's Taksim Square to mark the anniversary of Hrant Dink's killing, with questions still lingering about the circumstances of his death. A demonstration has been staged every year since Dink's murder and has often turned into a general plea for justice. For more than 100 years, there has been so much injustice in Turkey... and it is not only Armenians who have been affected," young historian Saro Dadyan told AFP.
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| Church shelters Muslims from Central African killing Posted: 19 Jan 2014 12:48 PM PST  In the Central African town of Boali, the local church has become a refuge for some 700 Muslims fleeing a flare-up in sectarian violence, part of a nationwide wave of unrest unleashed by a coup last March. A few metres into town, Saint-Peter's parish offers a potent symbol of a country-wide tragedy: fear and hatred pitting Christian against Muslim, neighbour against neighbour, alleviated here and there by lone acts of kindness. No one knows for sure what touched off the fighting last Friday, but it has left at least seven people dead -- six Muslims and one Christian -- and several homes in ruins. Here, like elsewhere, the arrival of French troops charged with disarming the Muslim fighters terrorising the mostly-Christian country, has left Muslim civilians exposed to reprisals.
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| Egypt: Former official under fire for US comments Posted: 19 Jan 2014 12:43 PM PST CAIRO (AP) — A former Egyptian lawmaker who threatened on a popular TV show that Americans would be "slaughtered in their homes" if an attempt is made on the life of the country's military chief recanted on Sunday, saying his comments were misconstrued. |
| Yemen: Police chief assassinated Posted: 19 Jan 2014 12:40 PM PST SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Yemeni security officials say that an unidentified gunman shot and killed a police director in the southwest city of Taiz, the latest in a series of assassinations of the country's security officers. |
| Gunmen kill 12 in raids on Nigerian village, three drown Posted: 19 Jan 2014 12:35 PM PST  Maiduguri (Nigeria) (AFP) - Suspected Islamist gunmen shot dead 12 people in two separate attacks on villages near Nigeria's border with Niger while three others drowned in a river while fleeing, locals said Sunday. The attackers, thought to be from the Boko Haram militant group, on Thursday shot dead seven people in Gashigar village, a fishing community in Borno state, close to the Nigerian border with neighbouring Niger, the locals said. The attack came four days after a similar one on two other neighbouring villages -- Yawuma-ango and Jabulam -- in which gunmen shot dead five people, a former deputy local government council chairman in the district, Talba Gashigar, said. He said most residents of Gashigar village had fled to Niger after the marauders arrived in a convoy of three vehicles and "countless motorcycles" and destroyed dozens of homes and shops.
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| Afghan president again demands US airstrikes end Posted: 19 Jan 2014 12:31 PM PST  KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghanistan's president demanded Sunday that the United States no longer carry out military operations or airstrikes and must jump-start peace talks with the Taliban before his country signs a security deal to keep U.S. troops in Afghanistan after 2014.
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| Israel frees prominent Hamas leader Posted: 19 Jan 2014 12:30 PM PST  Beituniya (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - Israel released a prominent leader from Islamist movement Hamas on Sunday after he spent more than two years in prison, Palestinian officials said. Hassan Yousef, who is also a member of the Ramallah-based Palestinian Legislative Council, told reporters after his release he would work with Hamas rivals "Fatah and other Palestinian factions to achieve reconciliation." Dozens of Hamas supporters received Yousef at Beituniya, near Ofer prison.
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| Saudi, UAE back Syria opposition vote to join peace talks Posted: 19 Jan 2014 12:27 PM PST  Saudi Arabia and the UAE gave their backing Sunday to a decision by Syria's main opposition to join peace talks in Switzerland, which both Gulf states said must lead to regime overthrow. "In support of the rights of the Syrian people to decide their own future and defend themselves against the Syrian regime's crimes," Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates "welcome the decision by the National Coalition to take part in Geneva II," they said a joint statement. Both Gulf states however "affirm at the same time that Geneva II must aim to put an end to the Syrian people's sufferings through creating a real political change in which (President Bashar al-Assad's) regime will have no role." The statement was published by state news agency WAM after Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal met United Arab Emirates Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahayan and its Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahayan in Abu Dhabi on Sunday.
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