| Syrian warring sides to meet under world's gaze Posted: 21 Jan 2014 03:07 PM PST  By Khaled Yacoub Oweis and Lesley Wroughton MONTREUX, Switzerland (Reuters) - Syria's government and its enemies come face to face on Wednesday for the first time as world powers try to set aside their own differences and push for an end to three years of civil war that is unsettling the entire Middle East. A day of formal speeches under U.N. ...
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| 'Perplexed' India says U.S. probably still most important ally Posted: 21 Jan 2014 03:45 PM PST  By David Brunnstrom WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The case of the Indian consul arrested and strip-searched in New York last month was handled "appallingly" and needs to be resolved, but the United States remains probably India's most important ally, the Indian ambassador to Washington said on Tuesday. I think we need to see it in perspective," S. Jaishankar said in an interview. "I think we are in the midst of working this one out." Jaishankar said India was "perplexed" by the decisions of U.S. authorities to arrest and strip-search 39-year-old Devyani Khobragade, India's deputy consul in New York, after she was accused of visa fraud and underpaying her maid.
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| Debt headache for Thai tycoon as protests bruise baht Posted: 21 Jan 2014 01:06 PM PST  By Saeed Azhar and Khettiya Jittapong SINGAPORE/BANGKOK (Reuters) - A local currency hit by months of political unrest, and skittish consumers spending less are keeping the pressure on Thai billionaire Dhanin Chearavanont, who heads Asia's most indebted food retailer. Dhanin's CP ALL PCL, which operates 7-Eleven convenience stores, last year took a 1-year $5.8 billion loan to fund the $6.6 billion acquisition of cash-and-carry wholesaler Siam Makro - paying 53 times earnings in Asia's most expensive consumer sector deal by multiple. At the time, Dhanin promised investors to more than halve CP ALL's leverage - its net debt to EBITDA ratio - to just above 3 times by 2017 from an estimated 8 times, the highest among all food and staples companies in Asia, Thomson Reuters data show. He hoped to do that by adding 500-600 stores a year, but that expansion is threatened by Thailand's political fragility and an economic slowdown that have seen the value of the Thai baht slide by nearly 14 percent since last April.
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| Israel kills Gaza militant blamed for rockets during Sharon funeral Posted: 21 Jan 2014 03:54 PM PST By Nidal al-Mughrabi GAZA (Reuters) - Israel killed two Gaza gunmen in an air strike on Wednesday, blaming one of them for firing rockets across the border during former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's funeral last week. Palestinian residents initially identified the slain men as members of Islamic Jihad, an armed faction that has sometimes chafed at efforts by the Gaza Strip's Hamas government to preserve a ceasefire with Israel. |
| Turkey's Erdogan, on Brussels visit, criticized over crackdown Posted: 21 Jan 2014 11:41 AM PST  By Adrian Croft and Orhan Coskun BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, making his first visit to Brussels in five years, faced sharp criticism from European Union leaders on Tuesday over a crackdown on the judiciary and police that has rattled investors. Erdogan has purged hundreds of police and moved to impose tighter control on the courts in response to a corruption inquiry that has rocked his centre-right AK Party, which has Islamist roots and has been in power for more than a decade. The crackdown has soured ties with the EU just at a time when Turkey's long-stalled bid to join the 28-nation bloc had appeared to be regaining some momentum. Even as Erdogan met officials in Brussels, his government launched another wave of dismissals of judges and prosecutors.
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| Bomb hits Pakistani bus full of Shi'ite pilgrims, 22 dead Posted: 21 Jan 2014 07:40 AM PST  A bomb ripped through a bus full of Shi'ite pilgrims in western Pakistan and killed at least 22 people on Tuesday, police said, extending a spate of sectarian attacks that have shaken the South Asian nation. The bomb exploded near a bus carrying pilgrims returning from neighboring Iran to their home city of Quetta in Pakistan, officials said. At least 20 people were wounded, said the assistant police commissioner for Mastung district, Shafqat Anwar Shawani, and many of the victims were women and children. The attack occurred about 55 km (35 miles) southwest of Quetta, the provincial capital.
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| New videos of Toronto mayor emerge Posted: 21 Jan 2014 04:40 PM PST  TORONTO (AP) — A new video of Mayor Rob Ford emerged Tuesday that shows him swearing and slurring his words while apparently trying to imitate a Jamaican accent.
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| New videos of Toronto mayor emerges Posted: 21 Jan 2014 04:36 PM PST TORONTO (AP) — A new video of Mayor Rob Ford emerged Tuesday that shows him swearing and slurring his words while apparently trying to imitate a Jamaican accent. |
| Pressure mounts on South Sudan to end brutal conflict Posted: 21 Jan 2014 04:21 PM PST  Pressure mounted on South Sudan's warring parties Tuesday to reach a ceasefire to end weeks of bitter fighting and atrocities on both sides that have devastated the young nation. Thousands have been killed and half a million civilians forced to flee the fighting between troops loyal to President Salva Kiir and rebels allied to his sacked deputy Riek Machar. Deadlocked ceasefire talks in Ethiopia are being mediated by the East African regional bloc IGAD, trying to broker an end to a conflict where the United Nations says atrocities have been committed, including mass killings, sexual violence and widespread destruction. But feeling the pressure Kiir lashed out against the UN, accusing it of wanting to create a "parallel government" and falling just short of naming the UN peacekeeping chief as co-president.
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| Ukraine PM warns force may be used against protests Posted: 21 Jan 2014 04:21 PM PST  Ukraine's Prime Minister Mykola Azarov warned on Tuesday that the security forces could use force to disperse protests after two nights of clashes that left hundreds wounded. Azarov told Russian television that if "provocateurs" did not stop, the authorities could act under controversial new laws that essentially ban large protests in Ukraine. His comments came as influential news site Dzerkalo Tyzhnia said that the authorities had already worked out a precise plan to regain control of the site of the intense clashes between protesters and the security forces.
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| Prominent Ukrainian activist free after 'kidnapping' Posted: 21 Jan 2014 04:17 PM PST  A prominent Ukrainian activist and journalist, Igor Lutsenko, on Tuesday said he was safe and well after being abducted from a hospital by unknown individuals and dumped in a forest outside Kiev. He wrote on his Facebook page after being released that he had indeed been abducted from a hospital in Kiev and was eventually left in a forest by his abductors. The authenticity of the post was confirmed by his partner, fellow activist Maria Lebedeva. "Over the last day I said goodbye to my life at least three times, but now everything is fine," Igor Lutsenko wrote.
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| Russian police kill Islamist militant leader before Olympics Posted: 21 Jan 2014 04:14 PM PST  Police have killed a senior Islamist militant in Russia's North Caucasus ahead of the Winter Olympics in Sochi, where security forces searched on Tuesday for a woman they fear is planning an attack during the games. Eldar Magatov, a suspect in attacks on Russian targets and alleged leader of an insurgent group in the Babyurt district of Dagestan, died in a shootout, the National Anti-Terror Committee said on Tuesday. President Vladimir Putin has staked his political reputation on organizing a successful Olympics and tightened security nationwide after insurgents who hope to create an Islamist state in the North Caucasus threatened to attack the games, which start on February 7. Putin had a phone call on Tuesday with U.S. President Barack Obama in which they discussed how best to have a "safe and secure" Winter Olympics, the White House said.
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| Factbox: Key players at Syrian peace talks Posted: 21 Jan 2014 03:57 PM PST (Reuters) - President Bashar al-Assad's government and the Syrian opposition are scheduled to sit at peace talks for the first time on Wednesday in Switzerland after nearly three years of civil war. The political opposition in exile is struggling to overcome internal divisions and is weakened by rebel statements rejecting its authority. Below is a description of key players: GOVERNMENT WALID AL-MOUALEM Assad's foreign minister and head of the government delegation. As ambassador to Washington in the 1990s, when Syria and Israel embarked on failed peace talks, Moualem has more than a decade of direct experience in high-stake talks. |
| COUTURE: Tardy Kim Kardashian causes media fight Posted: 21 Jan 2014 03:54 PM PST  PARIS (AP) — Fashion has its fair share of personalities as seen in Tuesday's high-octane Paris haute couture shows.
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| Nigeria, Pakistan could delay polio-free goal: Gates Posted: 21 Jan 2014 03:52 PM PST  Billionaire software baron turned philanthropist Bill Gates warned on Tuesday that violence in Nigeria and Pakistan could set him back in his goal of eradicating polio by 2018. In 2013, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation -- a charity that funds medical research and vaccination drives -- made wiping out the crippling disease in the next six years its top priority. India, once the country with the worst problem with polio -- a mainly childhood disease that causes the wasting of the limbs -- has just celebrated three years polio free. But the disease remains endemic in Afghanistan, Nigeria and Pakistan.
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| Engineer charged with trying to leak details on U.S. F-35 program to Iran Posted: 21 Jan 2014 03:52 PM PST  (Reuters) - A former engineer for defense contractors has been indicted on charges that he tried to send Iran secret details on the U.S. Air Force's F-35 joint strike fighter program, the office of the U.S. Attorney for Connecticut said on Tuesday. The accused man, Mozaffar Khazaee, is a dual U.S. and Iranian citizen who lived in Connecticut before recently moving to Indianapolis, prosecutors said. Khazaee, 59, was arrested on January 9 at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey, they said. (Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis in Los Angeles; Editing by Cynthia Johnston)
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| Two Palestinians killed in Israeli raid on Gaza Posted: 21 Jan 2014 03:39 PM PST  Gaza City (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - Two Palestinian members of Islamic Jihad were killed in an Israeli air raid in the Gaza Strip overnight, witnesses and medical sources said Wednesday.
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| New video of Toronto mayor emerges Posted: 21 Jan 2014 03:36 PM PST TORONTO (AP) — A new video of Mayor Rob Ford emerged Tuesday that shows him swearing and slurring his words while apparently trying to imitate a Jamaican accent. |
| Thailand declares state of emergency for protests Posted: 21 Jan 2014 03:16 PM PST BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand's government on Tuesday declared a state of emergency in Bangkok and surrounding areas to cope with protests that have stirred up violent attacks, adding to the country's monthslong sense of crisis. |
| Obama, Putin discuss Sochi Olympics security Posted: 21 Jan 2014 03:13 PM PST  Presidents Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin discussed security at the Sochi Winter Olympics Tuesday, amid rising fears in Washington for the safety of US athletes following terror threats against the Games. The US and Russian leaders talked about how to ensure a "safe and secure" event next month in the Black Sea resort and nearby mountains, and also discussed Syrian transition talks in Geneva and nuclear diplomacy with Iran, the White House said. The United States has offered "full cooperation" to Russia on securing the Games, but there have been some complaints by lawmakers here that Moscow has held back some intelligence. The call came amid signs of subtle but rising pressure on Russia over securing the Games from Washington.
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| Turkey PM tells EU he won't budge on controversial reform Posted: 21 Jan 2014 03:09 PM PST  Turkey's embattled prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, refused to budge on a much-criticised reform of the country's top judicial body on his first EU visit in five years Tuesday. Visiting the EU headquarters in Brussels, Erdogan stood firm on his controversial response to a massive graft scandal engulfing Turkey. At stake is a plan to reform Turkey's top judicial body, the Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK), the latest chapter in a weeks-long political crisis triggered by a massive corruption investigation that has ensnared key Erdogan allies.
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| No relief for Earth's warming trend in 2013, studies find Posted: 21 Jan 2014 03:01 PM PST The average temperature of Earth maintained its warming trend in 2013, despite seasonal and regional variations that included a shrinking ice cap in the Arctic and a massively growing one in the southern hemisphere, U.S. scientists said on Tuesday. NASA said the planet's average temperature in 2013 was 58.3 degrees Fahrenheit (14.6 degrees Celsius), tying 2006 and 2009 for the seventh warmest year since 1880 when global climate record-keeping began. Using the same data but different analysis processes, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said 2013's average temperature was 58.12 degrees Fahrenheit, which tied what NOAA considers to be the fourth hottest year on record. NASA for example uses more temperatures from Antarctica, but said the overall trend remains what has been measured every year since 1976 when global temperatures first surpassed the 20th Century's global average of 57 degrees Fahrenheit (13.9 degrees Celsius). |
| Damascus residents pray for 'miracle' at Geneva Posted: 21 Jan 2014 02:58 PM PST  Exhausted by the devastating war that has asphyxiated Syria's capital, residents of Damascus pray that this week's Geneva II peace talks will produce a "miracle" that can silence the guns. Citizens go about their daily lives, youngsters take photos in front of the famed Ummayad mosque, and a vendor peddles souvenir pictures of President Bashar al-Assad and his ally Hassan Nasrallah, head of Lebanon's Hezbollah group. But weariness shows on people's faces when they are asked about a solution to the conflict that has ravaged their country for nearly three years, killing more than 130,000 people, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights NGO. It would take a divine miracle for it to succeed," said Akram, who sells beans in the historic neighbourhood of Bab Touma.
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| Toronto mayor, caught ranting on video, admits drinking a 'little bit' Posted: 21 Jan 2014 02:52 PM PST  By Cameron French TORONTO (Reuters) - Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, who pledged last year to go clean after a crack-smoking scandal, admitted on Tuesday he had been drinking again after a video surfaced of him ranting about police surveillance in a mock Jamaican accent in a suburban eatery. Asked by reporters outside his office at city hall if he had been drinking, Ford said, "Yes I was ... Little bit, yeah." In the video, shot from a low angle and posted on YouTube on Tuesday, Ford stands by the counter of a fast-food restaurant and rants about surveillance that police carried out last year during a drug investigation. In much of the approximately 1 minute-long video, Ford speaks in a Jamaican accent. You know how much money that costs?" Asked about the video, shot at the Steak Queen restaurant in the western suburb of Etobicoke, Ford admitted it was filmed after he was out socializing on Monday night.
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| Syrians must 'seize chance' of peace at Geneva talks: Britain Posted: 21 Jan 2014 02:41 PM PST  British Foreign Secretary William Hague on Tuesday called upon all sides involved in Syria's bloody civil war to "seize the chance" of peace ahead of crucial talks in Switzerland. Hague, international diplomats and representatives of Syria's warring sides arrived on Tuesday for the conference. US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov are already in Switzerland, where the peace talks begin Wednesday in the town of Montreux on Lake Geneva.
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| Vatican to take part in Syria peace talks Posted: 21 Jan 2014 02:39 PM PST  The Vatican is sending a delegation to the Syria peace talks due to start in Switzerland on Wednesday, a spokesman said, following repeated calls by Pope Francis for an immediate ceasefire and a negotiated solution to the raging conflict. Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said Monsignor Silvano Tomasi, the Holy See's representative to the United Nations and Monsignor Alberto Ortega Martin, an official from the Vatican's Secretariat of State will attend. "A breathing space is opening, even though we know the difficulties there will be in the coming days," the Vatican's envoy to Damascus, Archbishop Mario Zenari, said on Vatican radio.
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| Negredo sends City to Wembley in style Posted: 21 Jan 2014 02:36 PM PST  Manchester City swept into the League Cup final with a ruthless 3-0 win at West Ham on Tuesday which completed a 9-0 aggregate victory in a brutally one-sided semi-final. Manuel Pellegrini's side had already effectively booked their place at Wembley after winning the first leg 6-0 at Eastlands, but they didn't take it easy in the return at Upton Park. Alvaro Negredo and Sergio Aguero put City two goals up before half-time in east London and Negredo struck again after the break to cap another clinical display from one of the most potent strike-forces in Europe.
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| Swift snowstorm rolls through northeastern US Posted: 21 Jan 2014 02:36 PM PST A major snowstorm rolled across the northeastern United States on Tuesday, with forecasters calling for as much as a foot (30 centimeters) of snow in some places before it leaves a cold snap in its wake. Downtown Washington fell virtually silent after the federal government, seeing the swift-moving cold front approaching, closed its doors and told civil servants -- who Monday had the day off for the Martin Luther King holiday -- to stay home. Washington's Metro system reported half as many riders as a typical weekday, and business was so slow that many restaurants used Twitter to woo customers with bargain-priced drinks. Enough snow was expected to fall on the US capital to turn the evening rush hour into a Beltway traffic nightmare, as the storm churned its way into New York and the northeastern New England states. |
| Anelka charged by FA over 'quenelle' salute Posted: 21 Jan 2014 02:31 PM PST  West Bromwich Albion striker Nicolas Anelka faces a lengthy ban after being charged by the Football Association on Tuesday over an allegedly anti-Semitic salute. The 34-year-old French striker performed the 'quenelle' salute, putting one arm across his chest and straightening the other, during West Brom's 3-3 draw at West Ham United in the Premier League last month. The FA said that Anelka had made a gesture that was "abusive and/or indecent and/or insulting and/or improper" and included "a reference to ethnic origin and/or race and/or religion or belief". Anelka has until 1800 GMT on Thursday to respond to the charge and if found guilty he faces a minimum five-game suspension, under new anti-discrimination measures introduced by the FA in May last year.
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| Russian lawyer says Snowden in danger after hostile remarks Posted: 21 Jan 2014 02:29 PM PST  By Steve Gutterman MOSCOW (Reuters) - Edward Snowden needs better security after a news report quoted unnamed U.S. intelligence officials saying they wanted the former spy agency contractor dead and discussing ways to kill him, his Russian lawyer said on Tuesday. Snowden was granted asylum in Russia last summer after fleeing the United States, where he is wanted on espionage charges for leaking information about government surveillance practices. Russia's decision to shelter him damaged already strained ties between Moscow and Washington. In these statements ... they openly call for physical reprisal against Edward Snowden," lawyer Anatoly Kucherena said on state-run Rossiya-24 television.
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| Winter storm slams northeastern U.S. with Arctic punch Posted: 21 Jan 2014 02:18 PM PST  By Ian Simpson WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A winter storm packing snow and Arctic cold slammed the northeastern United States on Tuesday, grounding 3,000 flights, shutting down governments and schools and making travel a potential nightmare for millions. The system could dump as much as a foot of snow on southern New England and to snarl the evening commutes of millions along the I-95 highway corridor from Boston to Washington, said Bruce Sullivan, a senior meteorologist at the National Weather Service. "Behind this system is a lot of strong winds, (with) very cold, bitter temperatures, so this snow is going to be around for a while," said Bruce Sullivan, senior meteorologist with the National Weather Service. Hundreds of thousands of federal workers in Washington were ordered to stay home.
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| Syria peace talks: Hyped as crucial, downplayed Posted: 21 Jan 2014 02:09 PM PST  MONTREUX, Switzerland (AP) — In nearly the same breath, the world's most powerful diplomats have talked about the importance of this week's peace conference on Syria and downplayed expectations for a breakthrough.
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| Damaged Algeria gas plant at full capacity 'in weeks' Posted: 21 Jan 2014 02:05 PM PST  Algeria's In Amenas gas plant which was damaged by heavily armed jihadists during a bloody hostage crisis one year ago will reach full capacity in weeks, the energy minister said Tuesday. "The Tiguentourine complex is currently functioning at two thirds of capacity and will reach its optimum production level in a few weeks," Youcef Yousfi told a news conference in Algiers. Militants stormed the isolated gas plant, which lies 1,300 kilometres (800 miles) southeast of Algiers and is one of the country's largest upstream facilities, on January 16, 2013, with around 40 hostages killed in a four-day siege and the army rescue operation that followed. Algeria's state-run energy giant runs the gas plant with Norway's Statoil and Britain's BP, while Japanese engineering firm JGC worked there as a subcontractor.
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| Jazz hub Montreux at centre of Syria peace drive Posted: 21 Jan 2014 01:50 PM PST  Montreux (Switzerland) (AFP) - Better known for its jazz festival and as the inspiration for rock anthem "Smoke on the Water", Swiss town Montreux is now the hub of efforts to end the war in Syria. As Syria's government, the country's divided opposition and the international community gathered for talks, the picturesque lakeside town was locked down. Metal security barriers blocked off a zone around the conference venue in the upscale Petit Palais hotel, more used to hosting the big names of show-business.
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| Syria Kurds name municipal council in northeast Posted: 21 Jan 2014 01:29 PM PST  Syria's Kurds named a municipal council Tuesday for one of three majority-Kurdish regions in the country's northeast, two months after they declared self-rule, an official said. "We have named a municipal government for the Jazeera area," Saleh Muslim, head of the Democratic Union Party (PYD), told AFP. "Soon similar councils will be named for Afrin and Kobani, the two other cantons of the Kurdish regions" in Syria, he said.
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| Syria warring sides join world powers in Montreux for talks Posted: 21 Jan 2014 01:23 PM PST  Montreux (Switzerland) (AFP) - International diplomats and Syria's warring sides arrived in Switzerland Tuesday for a crucial peace conference, after months of wrangling that had threatened to derail the talks up until the last minute. US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov landed in the country, where the peace talks begin Wednesday in the town of Montreux on Lake Geneva. Delegations from the Syrian opposition and the Damascus regime also made it to Montreux, after the Syrian government plane was blocked for several hours from leaving Athens airport. Officials have expressed little hope of a breakthrough at the conference, but have said just bringing President Bashar al-Assad's regime and the opposition to the same table will be a sign of progress.
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| Yemen officials say gunmen kill rebel envoy Posted: 21 Jan 2014 01:20 PM PST  SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Unidentified gunmen assassinated the top envoy of a northern Yemeni rebel movement in the capital early Tuesday, security officials said.
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| Canada's Bombardier cuts 1,700 jobs Posted: 21 Jan 2014 01:12 PM PST  Canadian aeronautics company Bombardier said Tuesday it is eliminating 1,700 jobs in Canada and the United States, only days after announcing it would delay the launch of its CSeries aircraft. Some 1,100 jobs in the Montreal region and 600 at a factory in the US state of Kansas will be cut, amounting to 4.4 percent of Bombardier's workforce. A company spokeswoman said the jobs slated for elimination include 300 cut in December.
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