| Syria peace talks hit more trouble as rebel city 'starves' Posted: 27 Jan 2014 02:08 PM PST By Stephanie Nebehay and Mariam Karouny GENEVA (Reuters) - The United States on Monday demanded that Syria allow aid into the "starving" city of Homs, as talks aimed at ending three years of civil war hit more trouble over the future of President Bashar al-Assad. The Syrian government said women and children could leave the besieged city and that rebels should hand over the names of the men who would remain. "We firmly believe that the Syrian regime must approve the convoys to deliver badly needed humanitarian assistance into the Old City of Homs now," said spokesman Edgar Vasquez. "The situation is desperate and the people are starving." He said the people of Homs must not be forced to leave their homes and split up their families before receiving aid. |
| Egypt's generals give Sisi green light to run for president Posted: 27 Jan 2014 03:42 PM PST  By Yasmine Saleh CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's top military council gave the army chief, Field Marshal Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, a green light on Monday to seek election as president, a vote he is almost sure to win with Egyptians weary of turmoil unleashed by a pro-democracy uprising in 2011. Sisi deposed elected Islamist President Mohamed Mursi in July after mass unrest over his increasingly arbitrary and erratic rule, kindling political chaos and security crackdowns on dissent in the Arab world's most populous nation. He has since taken on almost cult-like popularity in Egypt, with many seeing him as a decisive figure able to stabilize a country that has lurched from one economically ruinous crisis to another since the 2011 overthrow of autocrat Hosni Mubarak. "(The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces) is looking forward with respect and reverence to the desire of the huge masses of the great Egyptian people in the nomination of ... Abdel Fattah al-Sisi for the presidency of the republic, which it considers a mandate and an obligation," the military high command said in a statement.
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| Vigilantes vs. narcos: a security threat in Mexico badlands Posted: 27 Jan 2014 10:59 AM PST  By Simon Gardner BUENAVISTA, Mexico (Reuters) - Clutching shotguns, rifles and battered submachine guns, dozens of vigilantes prepare to head out on patrol in this rugged corner of restive western Mexico, where they are at war with a drug cartel. Moments later, an armored convoy of federal police passes by. In violence-racked Michoacan, an impoverished agricultural state about 1-1/2 times the size of Switzerland, vigilantes are battling a cartel called the Caballeros Templarios, or Knights Templar, for control of swathes of the failing state. After letting the conflict brew, the government this month vowed to assert control but its messages have been contradictory.
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| Talks on Iran nuclear deal expected in NY in February: U.S. Posted: 27 Jan 2014 03:18 PM PST  By Louis Charbonneau and Justyna Pawlak UNITED NATIONS/BRUSSELS (Reuters) - - The opening round of talks between Iran and six world powers on a long-term deal for Tehran to curb parts of its nuclear program in exchange for a gradual end to sanctions is expected to take place next month in New York, a U.S. official said on Monday. "It is our understanding that the first round of comprehensive negotiations will be in New York in mid-February with dates still being confirmed," U.S. State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said in an email. "New York - agreed to by EU High Representative (Catherine) Ashton and Iranian Foreign Minister (Mohammad Javad) Zarif - has a similar support infrastructure to Geneva," Harf said. "We believe that United Nations and international support is important for work on a comprehensive agreement." A senior Western diplomat told Reuters that the six powers were looking at the early part of the week of February 16, though the talks were unlikely to begin before February 18 due to a U.S. holiday.
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| Congress secretly approves U.S. weapons flow to 'moderate' Syrian rebels Posted: 27 Jan 2014 02:35 PM PST  By Mark Hosenball WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Light arms supplied by the United States are flowing to "moderate" Syrian rebel factions in the south of the country and U.S. funding for months of further deliveries has been approved by Congress, according U.S. and European security officials. The weapons, most of which are moving to non-Islamist Syrian rebels via Jordan, include a variety of small arms, as well as some more powerful weapons, such as anti-tank rockets. The deliveries do not include weapons such as shoulder-launched surface-to-air missiles, known as MANPADs, which could shoot down military or civilian aircraft, the officials said. The weapons deliveries have been funded by the U.S. Congress, in votes behind closed doors, through the end of government fiscal year 2014, which ends on September 30, two officials said.
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| NATO faces tough decisions on staying in Afghanistan Posted: 27 Jan 2014 09:34 AM PST  By Adrian Croft BRUSSELS (Reuters) - NATO faces tough decisions next month about whether to pull all its troops out of Afghanistan after this year if President Hamid Karzai does not sign accords allowing them to stay, the alliance's leader said on Monday. Anders Fogh Rasmussen repeated his warning that the 28-nation alliance would be forced to pull all its troops out of Afghanistan by year-end if it does not have a legal framework in place to keep some there. The Afghan government and the United States have agreed the legal terms for U.S. troops to stay in Afghanistan after the end of 2014, when NATO-led forces are due to end combat operations, leaving behind a much smaller training and advisory mission. If we are not invited, if we don't have any legal framework, then we can't stay in Afghanistan after 2014, it is as simple as that, and it takes some time to close down our bases in Afghanistan," an unusually emotional Rasmussen told a news conference.
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| Mexico legalizes vigilantes, nabs cartel leader Posted: 27 Jan 2014 05:08 PM PST  MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico essentially legalized the country's growing "self-defense" groups Monday, while also announcing that security forces had captured one of the four top leaders of the Knights Templar drug cartel, which the vigilante groups have been fighting for the last year.
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| LatAm foreign ministers kick off Cuba summit Posted: 27 Jan 2014 04:51 PM PST  HAVANA (AP) — Foreign ministers from 33 Latin American and Caribbean nations met Monday in the Cuban capital for a summit of Western Hemisphere countries minus the United States and Canada.
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| Peru gets more ocean, Chile keeps fishing grounds Posted: 27 Jan 2014 04:43 PM PST  LIMA, Peru (AP) — The United Nations' highest court set a maritime boundary between Chile and Peru on Monday that grants Peruvians a bigger piece of the Pacific Ocean while keeping rich coastal fishing grounds in the hands of Chilean industry.
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| Report: Spies use smartphone apps to track people Posted: 27 Jan 2014 04:36 PM PST  LONDON (AP) — Documents leaked by former NSA contactor Edward Snowden suggest that spy agencies have a powerful ally in Angry Birds and a host of other apps installed on smartphones across the globe.
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| Mexico nabs Knights Templar leader Posted: 27 Jan 2014 04:21 PM PST  Mexican troops on Monday seized a high-ranking leader of the Knights Templar drug cartel, blamed for much of the crime in troubled Michoacan state, prosecutors said. Dionicio Loya Plancarte, alias "El Tío" ("Uncle"), was arrested in Morelia, a prosecutors' office official told AFP. Federal forces have moved into Michoacan, in western Mexico, in recent weeks to disarm vigilantes and flush out the Knights Templar gang, which controls large areas of the state. Poverty-stricken Michoacan has become the most pressing security issue facing Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto.
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| US looks at ways to prevent spying on its spying Posted: 27 Jan 2014 04:18 PM PST  WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. government is looking at ways to prevent anyone from spying on its own surveillance of Americans' phone records.
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| RBS sets aside £3.0 bn for claims, conduct matters Posted: 27 Jan 2014 04:15 PM PST  Britain's state-controlled Royal Bank of Scotland said Monday it has set aside more than £3.0 billion ($5.0 billion, 3.6 billion euros) for litigation and compensation claims here and in the United States. The total includes £1.9 billion to cover largely US action over mortgage-backed financial products, RBS said in a surprise statement that sent its shares sliding. The bank added it has made another £465-million provision for compensation for the mis-selling of payment protection insurance (PPI), which covered repayments on credit products such as consumer loans or mortgages in Britain. Royal Bank of Scotland made the shock statement ahead of the stock market close, sending its share price sliding 2.21 percent to finish at 332.2 pence on London's FTSE 100 index.
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| Egypt militants blow up gas pipeline in Sinai Posted: 27 Jan 2014 04:13 PM PST  Suspected militants blew up a pipeline in Egypt's Sinai that transports gas to Jordan late Monday in the third such attack in less than a month, security officials said. The officials said there were no immediate reports of injuries, but witnesses said thick flames rose into the sky from the spot where the pipeline was struck. Egyptian security officials said the pipeline was blown up in an area called Muqtadiba, south of Al-Arish. On January 17 and December 31, militants had blown up a section of a pipeline supplying an industrial area in the restive Sinai peninsula.
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| Ukraine's Yanukovich, opposition agree to scrap some anti-protest laws Posted: 27 Jan 2014 04:10 PM PST  By Richard Balmforth and Natalia Zinets KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine's Viktor Yanukovich, in talks with opposition leaders, agreed to the repeal of some anti-protest laws and to discuss the fate of the present government at a crunch session of parliament on Tuesday, called to end two months of unrest against his rule. But former economy minister Arseny Yatsenyuk, now a leader of the opposition, refused his offer of the prime minister's job, setting the scene for a tough political battle in parliament over opposition demands for concessions, including an amnesty for detained protesters. There was no mention of any declaration of a state of emergency - something that Yanukovich's cabinet ministers threatened to call for on Monday to re-establish control over the security situation in the country, where protesters are seizing public buildings.
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| World court awards Peru swathe of Chile's fish-rich sea Posted: 27 Jan 2014 04:07 PM PST  Lima cried victory Monday after the UN's top court handed it a wedge of sea under Chilean sovereignty, but Peruvian fishermen nevertheless said they gained nothing from the historic ruling. Peru said it drew "satisfaction" from the world court's ruling in which it was handed a part of the fish-rich Pacific Ocean, claimed by Chile since the early 1950s, but its southern neighbour slammed the decision. The Hague-based International Court of Justice confirmed Chile's sovereignty over waters up to 80 nautical miles (92 land miles, 148 kilometres) from the coast but handed Lima a large swathe of less lucrative ocean beyond that limit. In Lima, Peruvians who watched the judgement on giant screens in the city's historic centre shouted "Viva Peru!" as the outcome became apparent.
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| Iran sanctions push stalls, U.S. lawmakers mull weaker measure Posted: 27 Jan 2014 03:19 PM PST By Patricia Zengerle WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An attempt to impose new sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program has stalled in the U.S. Congress and lawmakers are discussing whether to introduce a much weaker measure, congressional aides said on Monday. Members of the Senate and House of Representatives are considering a non-binding resolution that expresses concern about Iran's nuclear ambitions and calls for negotiators to set strict conditions in talks between Tehran and world powers. That would fall short of tightening sanctions on Iran, as envisioned in a bill that senators have been discussing for months. "There are discussions about a resolution." Iran has warned that it will walk away from talks on its nuclear program - raising the risk of conflict in the Middle East - if Congress passes a new sanctions bill. |
| Cuba hosts LatAm leaders against crisis backdrop Posted: 27 Jan 2014 03:01 PM PST  Leaders from across Latin America put aside domestic financial stability concerns Monday to converge on Cuba for the summit of a major group set up to counter US influence. The CELAC bloc of 33 Latin American and Caribbean nations was founded by Venezuela's late anti-western leader Hugo Chavez, and specifically excludes the United States and Canada. Its second summit was hosted by Chavez's closest ally, communist Cuba, a major diplomatic coup for a country Washington has tried to isolate through a five-decade-old trade embargo. "We're building on the harsh reality, laboriously, the ideal of a diverse but unified Latin America and the Caribbean," Cuba's President Raul Castro, 82, said ahead of the meeting.
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| Pro-animal groups appeal to pope over dove attack Posted: 27 Jan 2014 02:58 PM PST  ROME (AP) — Animal rights groups on Monday appealed to Pope Francis to end the practice of releasing doves from a Vatican window overlooking St. Peter's Square, a day after a pair of the peace symbols were attacked by a seagull and crow while a crowd including thousands of children watched below.
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| Ukraine president ready to scrap anti-protest law Posted: 27 Jan 2014 02:50 PM PST  KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine's beleaguered president on Monday agreed to scrap harsh anti-protest laws that set off a wave of clashes between protesters and police over the past week, a potentially substantial concession to the opposition that stopped short of meeting all of its demands.
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| Ivory Coast: Mob attacks gay rights group office Posted: 27 Jan 2014 02:47 PM PST  DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — A mob has ransacked the headquarters of Ivory Coast's most prominent gay rights organization, underscoring the dangers confronting such groups even in the few African countries where homosexual acts are not crimes.
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| Cruise ship returning to US after illness outbreak Posted: 27 Jan 2014 02:46 PM PST  KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — A Royal Caribbean cruise ship headed back to its home port in the U.S. on Monday after hundreds of passengers and crew members fell ill with vomiting and diarrhea during what was supposed to be a 10-day getaway in the sun.
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| Teenage polar explorer on quest to raise climate change awareness Posted: 27 Jan 2014 02:40 PM PST By Marina Lopes NEW YORK (Reuters) - Parker Liautaud, the teenage polar explorer who set the record last year as the fastest unsupported person to trek to the South Pole, said he set off on the 314-mile trip from the coast of Antarctica to draw attention to climate change. The 19-year-old California native broke the previous record held by Norwegian explorers Ottar Haldorsen and Jacob Meland by almost four days when he reached the South Pole on Christmas Eve after 18 days, four hours and 43 minutes. On the return trip Liautaud bored into the hostile terrain and took 6.5-foot-deep (2 meter) samples that he hopes will help scientists answer questions about global warming. Researchers at GNS Science, a New Zealand research institute, are analyzing the samples for changes in composition that could shed light on the pace of climate change in the region. |
| Bashir seeks political, economic 'renaissance' for Sudan Posted: 27 Jan 2014 02:27 PM PST  Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir on Monday appealed for a political and economic renaissance in his country ravaged by war, poverty and political turmoil. It was the latest call Bashir has made in the past year for a broad political dialogue, including with the country's armed insurgents. But this time, he made his appeal directly to opposition figures -- including breakaway members of his own party -- who joined the audience of government-linked parties, cabinet members and foreign diplomats for his speech at a conference hall along the Blue Nile. "We in the National Congress Party are calling for all Sudanese to participate in this renaissance," he said in the speech designed to address urgent calls for reform in his 25-year-old regime, but which fell short of critics' expectations.
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| US plans to sell 24 Apache helicopters to Iraq Posted: 27 Jan 2014 02:23 PM PST  The Pentagon informed Congress on Monday it plans to sell 24 Apache attack helicopters to Iraq in a deal worth $4.8 billion to help Baghdad battle anti-government militants. Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's government has lobbied Washington for weapons and intelligence as it takes on Al-Qaeda-linked fighters in Anbar province but it remains unclear if US lawmakers will approve the proposed package. Congress has 15 days to raise objections to the planned arms sale, which also includes 480 Hellfire missiles and associated radar and navigation systems, according to the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA), which oversees foreign arms sales.
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| Attacks by extremists kill at least 99 Nigerians Posted: 27 Jan 2014 02:22 PM PST MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AP) — Suspected Islamic extremists used explosives and heavy guns to attack a village and worshippers during a Christian church service in Nigeria's northeast, killing at least 99 people and razing hundreds of homes, officials and witnesses said Monday. |
| South Sudanese refugees no strangers to Sudan Posted: 27 Jan 2014 02:15 PM PST  KILO 10 (Sudan) (AFP) - Joyni Salva says she has given up on South Sudan. She would rather be here at Kilo 10, a desert transit shelter for thousands of South Sudanese fleeing over the border to Sudan after weeks of warfare in their country which became independent from Khartoum less than three years ago. "I prefer to live in Sudan." Millions of southerners like Salva fled north during Sudan's 1983-2005 civil war, but about 1.8 million had returned to the South since 2007.
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| Chinese ivory smuggler in Kenya to test tough new law Posted: 27 Jan 2014 02:10 PM PST  A Chinese man pleaded guilty Monday in a Kenyan court to trafficking ivory, the first person to be convicted under tough new wildlife laws designed to stem a surge of poaching. Tang Yong Jian, 40, pleaded guilty to charges of illegal possession and dealing in ivory, after he was arrested last week while on transit from Mozambique to China via Nairobi. He was carrying a small elephant ivory tusk weighing 3.4 kilogrammes (7.5 pounds) in a suitcase. The most serious wildlife crimes -- the killing of endangered animals -- now carry penalties of life imprisonment, as well as fines of up to 20 million Kenyan shillings ($230,000, 170,000 euros).
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| More Syrian chemical arms toxins shipped out, inspectors say Posted: 27 Jan 2014 02:08 PM PST By Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - More Syrian chemical weapons materials were loaded onto ships and transferred out of Syria on Monday, a joint inspection mission run by the United Nations and the global chemical arms watchdog said. The chemical weapons components will eventually be destroyed aboard a specially equipped U.S. ship. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's decision in September to give up chemical arms helped him avoid possible U.S. air strikes on government positions in retaliation for a poison gas attack near Damascus in August that killed hundreds of people, many of them women and children. "Today, a further shipment of chemical weapons materials took place from the Syrian Arab Republic," the joint mission of the United Nations and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said in a statement. |
| Dutch priest in YouTube appeal from Syria's besieged Homs Posted: 27 Jan 2014 01:58 PM PST  A Dutch Roman Catholic priest has launched a desperate YouTube appeal for help for Homs, describing conditions in the besieged Syrian city as "unbearable" with people starving and in need of medicine. "The biggest problem is hunger because people can't find anything to eat," said Father Frans van der Lugt, whose identity was confirmed to AFP by the Jesuits from the Netherlands and Flanders association. The Syrian regime on Sunday agreed to allow women and children safe passage from besieged areas of rebel centre Homs but activists said they first wanted aid supplies and guarantees that those leaving would not be arrested. The Old City of Homs has been under siege since June 2012 after rebels there rose against the regime, with an estimated 500 families living with near-daily shelling and the barest of supplies.
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| Ukraine's Yanukovich, opposition agree to repeal some anti-protest laws Posted: 27 Jan 2014 01:56 PM PST Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich and opposition leaders on Monday agreed to repeal some anti-protest laws at a special session of parliament aimed at defusing two months of unrest against Yanukovich's rule. The presidential web site quoted Justice Minister Olena Lukash, who was present at the talks, as saying Tuesday's crunch session of parliament would also discuss the issue of the government's "responsibility". But she added that former economy minister Arseny Yatsenyuk, one of the opposition leaders, had formally turned down the offer of the post of prime minister which was made by Yanukovich at the weekend. |
| Ukraine's Yanukovich meets opposition ahead of crunch parliament session Posted: 27 Jan 2014 01:56 PM PST By Richard Balmforth KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine's Viktor Yanukovich held fresh talks with opposition leaders on Monday to prepare for a crunch session of parliament at which the president and his allies will be under pressure to make major concessions amid mass unrest. A tough battle lay ahead at Tuesday's session with the opposition calling for concessions including the repeal of sweeping anti-protest laws, the dismissal of the government and an amnesty for all protesters detained in two months of unrest. Ukraine's justice minister raised tensions by warning she would press for a state of emergency if protesters did not vacate a ministry building they had occupied overnight. As the opposition leaders - boxer-turned-politician Vitaly Klitschko, former economy minister Arseny Yatsenyuk and nationalist Oleh Tyahnibok - met Yanukovich, the President's party set the scene for a rowdy session of parliament, saying they did not intend to yield any ground. |
| Ukraine president will scrap anti-protest law Posted: 27 Jan 2014 01:56 PM PST KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine's beleaguered president on Monday agreed to scrap harsh anti-protest laws that set off a wave of clashes between protesters and police over the past week. |
| Yanukovych says he will scrap anti-protest law Posted: 27 Jan 2014 01:46 PM PST KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine's beleaguered president on Monday agreed to scrap harsh anti-protest laws that set off a wave of clashes between protesters and police over the past week. |
| N'Dour ready to be flag-bearer for peace in Central Africa Posted: 27 Jan 2014 01:39 PM PST  Senegalese music icon Youssou N'Dour has told AFP he is ready to travel to the Central African Republic to spread his message of peace amid inter-religious violence which has torn the country apart. Speaking late Sunday at the recording of a single dedicated to reconciliation in Central Africa, N'Dour said artists had a role in talking about world events such as the CAR crisis and that music "allows us to take shortcuts" to speak to a wider audience. N'Dour, a Muslim, is collaborating with Central African singer Lydie Natacha, who goes by the stage name of Idylle Mamba and is a Christian. He "decided to associate the voice of a Christian from the Central African Republic with his (to) encourage strong international solidarity to restore a definitive peace" to the country, according to his spokesman Charles Faye.
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