| Kerry sees progress on Israeli-Palestinian framework deal Posted: 04 Jan 2014 02:12 PM PST  By Arshad Mohammed and Ali Sawafta RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - Israel and the Palestinians are making progress towards a "framework agreement" to guide their talks on a formal peace deal but still have some way to go, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Saturday. "I am confident that the talks we have had in the last two days have already fleshed out and even resolved certain kinds of issues and presented new opportunities for others," he said after meeting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Since arriving in the region on Thursday, Kerry has spent about eight hours in talks with Abbas and, after a roughly four-hour and 40-minute session in Jerusalem on Saturday night, more than 12 hours with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. CORE ISSUES Broad Arab support is viewed as crucial if the Palestinians are to make the compromises likely to prove necessary to strike a peace deal with Israel.
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| Iraqi army shells Falluja to try to dislodge Qaeda, tribes Posted: 04 Jan 2014 02:30 PM PST  By Suadad al-Salhy BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi troops trying to retake Anbar province from a mixture of Islamist and tribal foes battled al Qaeda fighters in Ramadi on Saturday after shelling the western region's other main city, Falluja, overnight, tribal leaders and officials said. At least eight people were killed and 30 were wounded in Falluja, and residents of both cities said the fighting had limited their access to food, and that they were running low on generator fuel. Falluja has been held since Monday by Sunni Muslim militants linked to al Qaeda and tribal fighters united in their opposition to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, in a serious challenge to the authority of his Shi'ite-led government in Anbar province.
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| Afghan Taliban claim attack on NATO convoy in Kabul Posted: 04 Jan 2014 11:01 AM PST The Afghan Taliban claimed responsibility for an attack on a military convoy belonging to the NATO-led ISAF security force in Kabul on Saturday, striking at the heart of the capital but without causing any casualties. Security sources said the bomb had targeted a military convoy near Camp Eggers, an ISAF base in the diplomatic quarter of the capital close to both the German and Italian embassies. The NATO-led force said only that there had been "an improvised explosive device detonation in the vicinity of Camp Eggers", but that no casualties had resulted. In a separate incident on Saturday, however, one ISAF soldier was killed in the east of the country by a suicide attack. |
| South Sudan rivals set stage for peace talks with a hug Posted: 04 Jan 2014 02:31 PM PST  By Aaron Maasho ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - South Sudanese rebels and government negotiators will hold their first face-to-face talks on Sunday, after several days of delay, to thrash out a ceasefire deal and end weeks of ethnic fighting in the world's youngest state. The run-up has been overshadowed by continued clashes between President Salva Kiir's SPLA government forces and rebels loyal to former vice president Riek Machar centered around the strategically located town of Bor. The head of the rebel delegation in Addis Ababa, Taban Deng Gai, repeated Machar's call for the release of several senior politicians allied to Machar and for the state of emergency imposed by Kiir in two states of South Sudan to be lifted. Western and regional powers, many of which supported the negotiations that led to South Sudan's independence from Sudan in 2011, are pressing for a peace deal, fearing the new fighting could slide into civil war and destabilize east Africa.
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| Syrian rebels launch fierce offensive against al Qaeda fighters Posted: 04 Jan 2014 02:45 PM PST  By Dominic Evans BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian rebel factions battled fighters from the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) across north-west Syria on Saturday in the heaviest clashes between President Bashar al-Assad's opponents in nearly three years of conflict, activists said. Activists said dozens of fighters were killed in the clashes between rival rebel groups which have raged since Friday in Aleppo and Idlib provinces, close to the border with Turkey. The president, backed by Shi'ite fighters from Iraq and Lebanon's Hezbollah militia, has pushed back rebels around Damascus and in central Syria, and faces little pressure to make concessions. One group of fighters battling ISIL was the newly formed Mujahideen Army, an alliance of eight brigades who accused the al Qaeda affiliate of hijacking their struggle to topple Assad.
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| Egypt summons Qatari envoy after criticisms of crackdown Posted: 04 Jan 2014 09:40 AM PST  Egypt's foreign ministry summoned Qatar's ambassador on Saturday to complain about interference in its internal affairs after Doha criticized Cairo's crackdown on the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood. The formerly close Qatari-Egyptian relationship has soured since the Egyptian army ousted Islamist President Mohamed Mursi, who had been firmly supported by Doha, last July following mass protests against his one-year rule. Cairo then launched a wide crackdown against Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood group and labeled it a terrorist group last week. Qatar said on Saturday that the decision to name the Brotherhood a terrorist organization was "a prelude to a shoot-to-kill policy" against demonstrators who have been staging frequent protests to call for Mursi's reinstatement.
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| U.S. breaker to help Russian, Chinese ships stuck in Antarctic ice Posted: 04 Jan 2014 04:43 PM PST  By Peter Cooney WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States is sending a heavy icebreaker to help free a Russian ship and a Chinese icebreaker gripped by Antarctic ice, the Coast Guard said on Saturday. The Polar Star is responding to a request for assistance from Australian authorities as well as from the Russian and Chinese governments, the Coast Guard statement said. "The U.S. Coast Guard stands ready to respond to Australia's request," Coast Guard Pacific Area Commander Vice Admiral Paul Zukunft said.
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| Ousted Malagasy president's camp threatens protests Posted: 04 Jan 2014 03:43 PM PST  The party of Madagascar's ousted president Marc Ravalomanana on Saturday warned the electoral panel it would face "the people's wrath" if it declares electoral victory for the rival camp. The outgoing leadership's candidate, Hery Rajaonarimampianina, won 53.5 percent of the vote in a December 20 presidential runoff, according to official results. But his rival, Robinson Jean Louis, filed several challenges with the Special Electoral Court (SEC), claiming the ballot was rigged in favour of strongman Andry Rajoelina's man. "You in the SEC... don't think you can swindle the people," Roland Ravatomanga, the leader of Ravalomanana's movement, said at gathering in the capital Antananarivo.
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| Senegal seizes Russian ship fishing 'illegally' Posted: 04 Jan 2014 02:16 PM PST  Senegal's navy has boarded a Russian ship that was allegedly illegally fishing in its waters and is escorting it toward Dakar, the military said on Saturday. The ship was boarded after it was observed illegally fishing in Senegalese waters near the border with Guinea Bissau, Lieutenant-Colonel Adama Diop, a military communications officer, told AFP. "The Navy boarded it and it is being escorted" toward Dakar, he said, adding that it was the third time in a week that an illegal fishing boat has been stopped in Senegalese waters. The boat was named as "Oleg Naidenov" by the Russian state Ria Novosti news agency, which said it had 62 Russians and 20 Guinea Bissau nationals on board.
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| Kerry cites some progress in Mideast diplomacy Posted: 04 Jan 2014 01:56 PM PST  RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Saturday cited progress on the Mideast peace process, yet acknowledged that some of the most intractable disputes between Israelis and Palestinians were unsolved after more than 20 rounds of negotiations.
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| Church in Italy's 'Triangle of Death' demands cleanup of mafia waste Posted: 04 Jan 2014 01:55 PM PST Church leaders in southern Italy have demanded a cleanup of waste dumped illegally by the mafia in a racket that has polluted farmland and earned the region the name the "Triangle of Death". The Camorra mafia has been dumping and burning toxic waste for decades in the area between Naples and the province of Caserta. Ten million tonnes have been buried there in the last 22 years, according to environmentalist group Legambiente, and the World Health Organisation says that higher congenital abnormalities and deaths from cancer are "positively correlated" to waste exposure in the area. "The environmental disaster... has turned to a real humanitarian tragedy," the Archbishop of Naples and bishops of local dioceses wrote in an open letter to President Giorgio Napolitano on Saturday. |
| Fear stalks Bangladesh as vote 'farce' begins Posted: 04 Jan 2014 01:23 PM PST  Bangladesh votes Sunday in a violence-plagued election that will end in certain victory for Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina after the opposition boycotted the "farcical" contest. It has already endured nearly 20 coups since 1975 and Hasina's powerful son Sajeeb Wajad evoked the spectre of another coup in a Facebook post this week when he railed against a "third force" of intellectuals.
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| U.S. Midwest, Northeast brace for Arctic blast, record lows Posted: 04 Jan 2014 01:03 PM PST By Victoria Cavaliere NEW YORK (Reuters) - Many parts of the U.S. Midwest braced for a blast of Arctic air this weekend that could bring some of the coldest temperatures in two decades before advancing to the Northeast, where residents are still digging out from a deadly snowstorm. Starting Sunday, the deep freeze will be felt in the northern U.S. plains, including North and South Dakota, and through the Great Lakes region and Ohio Valley, according to the National Weather Service. "The last really big Arctic outbreak was 1994, said Bob Oravec, a forecaster with the National Weather Service. They aren't unheard of, but they are unusual." This push of Arctic air could bring record low temperatures in areas from Montana to Michigan, and move to the Northeast where it will arrive by early Tuesday, forecasters said. |
| Tunisia MPs reject Islam as main source of law Posted: 04 Jan 2014 12:54 PM PST  Tunisia's Islamist-dominated constituent assembly compromised Saturday in rejecting Islam as the main source of law as it voted on a new constitution for the country that spawned the Arab Spring. Saturday's sitting of the National Constituent Assembly, which has adopted 12 out of 146 articles, came amid concerns a January 14 deadline for the charter's approval could be overshot because of disruptions and the slow pace of deliberations. It was on January 14, 2011, that ousted dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and his family fled the country for exile in Saudi Arabia. The first two articles adopted, neither of which may be amended, establish Tunisia as a "civil" republic based on the rule of law and with Islam as its religion.
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| Iraq city falls fully into hands of al-Qaida group Posted: 04 Jan 2014 12:52 PM PST  BAGHDAD (AP) — The city center of Iraq's Fallujah has fallen completely into the hands of fighters from the al-Qaida-linked Islamic State in Iraq and Levant, police said Saturday, yet another victory for the hardline group that has made waves across the region in recent days.
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| Italian junior minister who demanded government reshuffle resigns Posted: 04 Jan 2014 12:40 PM PST Italian deputy economy minister Stefano Fassina resigned on Saturday, after calling for a cabinet reshuffle following the election of Matteo Renzi to lead his Democratic Party (PD), the biggest in the coalition, a government spokesman said. Fassina, a critic of austerity policies pushed by Europe to cut Italy's debt and a prominent member of the center-left PD, was appointed in May by fellow party member Prime Minister Enrico Letta, who leads a coalition with center-right and centrist parties. Letta's spokesman said he had received an "irrevocable resignation" from Fassina, who had earlier demanded the party's ministers in government be reshuffled. Fassina, a leading voice on the left of the party, called for the changes in government to reflect what he described as a new phase for the PD since Renzi was voted leader and candidate for prime minister in eventual elections. |
| Al-Qaida group says responsible for Beirut bombing Posted: 04 Jan 2014 12:39 PM PST  BEIRUT (AP) — An al-Qaida linked group claimed responsibility on Saturday for a suicide car bombing last week in a Shiite-dominated neighborhood in Lebanon, as its fighters fought other rebels in neighboring Syria in the most serious infighting since the uprising began.
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| Syria rebels unite and launch new revolt, against jihadists Posted: 04 Jan 2014 12:38 PM PST  Syrian rebels have united to kill and capture dozens of jihadists in a new "revolution" against an Al-Qaeda affiliate they accuse of worse abuses than the hated President Bashar al-Assad, activists said Saturday. Three powerful rebel alliances have taken on fighters of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant during two days of fierce combat in Aleppo and Idlib provinces that Syria's main opposition National Coalition said it "fully supports." And in new signs the nearly three-year conflict is spreading, ISIL seized the city of Fallujah in neighbouring Iraq, and claimed a suicide bomb attack in a Beirut stronghold of Hezbollah, the powerful Shiite movement fighting alongside Assad's forces. "At least 36 members and supporters of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant have been killed since Friday in Idlib and more than 100 have been captured by rebels" in Idlib and Aleppo, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
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| Iraq's Fallujah falls to Qaeda militants as 65 killed Posted: 04 Jan 2014 12:24 PM PST  Fallujah (Iraq) (AFP) - Iraq has lost Fallujah to Al-Qaeda-linked fighters, a senior security official said Saturday, putting militants back in control of the city in Anbar province where American forces repeatedly battled insurgents. And fighting in Anbar killed 65 people -- eight soldiers, two government-allied tribesmen and 55 militants from the Al-Qaeda-linked Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), security officials said.
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| Arsenal sink Spurs in cup, Blades fell Villa Posted: 04 Jan 2014 12:01 PM PST  Premier League leaders Arsenal overcame fierce rivals Tottenham Hotspur 2-0 in the FA Cup third round on Saturday, while Aston Villa were dumped out by third-tier Sheffield United. Tottenham had won at Manchester United in their previous outing and new manager Tim Sherwood made only one change to his starting XI, but his side fell behind in the 31st minute at the Emirates Stadium. German teenager Serge Gnabry was the architect, picking the ball up wide on the Arsenal right and driving infield before finding Santi Cazorla, who speared a left-foot shot past Hugo Lloris.
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| Belgian, Dane, Peruvian, Swede and Swiss MSF staff taken in Syria Posted: 04 Jan 2014 12:00 PM PST  The five Doctors Without Borders (MSF) staffers seized by an unknown group in northern Syria this week are Belgian, Danish, Peruvian, Swedish and Swiss nationals, the humanitarian organisation said Saturday. The organisation has been extremely spare in information provided on the employees, who were taken Thursday night from a house they were using in war-ravaged Syria. "In difficult moments, discretion is crucial for the security of our colleagues," the spokeswoman said. Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders however told broadcaster RTL-TV that the Belgian national was a nurse in his 30s.
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| Cubans aghast at car prices as new law kicks in Posted: 04 Jan 2014 11:54 AM PST  HAVANA (AP) — Talk about sticker shock!
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| Beached Morocco oil tanker to be 'unloaded by Monday' Posted: 04 Jan 2014 11:44 AM PST  The Moroccan-flagged "Silver" hit rocks near the Atlantic port of Tan Tan during a storm on December 23, and there were fears of an ecological disaster. Since then, "two thirds of the cargo has been offloaded," Environment Minister Abdelkader Amara said Saturday.
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| Bomb blast wounds one in Kenyan capital Posted: 04 Jan 2014 11:36 AM PST  One person was wounded Saturday when an improvised bomb exploded in the Kenyan capital, police said, in a shop in Nairobi's mainly ethnic Somali district Eastleigh. The attack is the latest of a series of bomb or grenade blasts in Kenya. "One person has been wounded... a person of Somali origin left luggage containing an improvised explosive device in a shop," Nairobi police chief Benson Kibue said. Homegrown groups including the Islamist Al-Hijra group, a radical organisation formerly known as the Muslim Youth Center, operate in Kenya and have been linked to the Shebab.
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| Erdogan denounces 'judicial coup' against Turkey Posted: 04 Jan 2014 11:35 AM PST  Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday hit out against a corruption probe that has dragged down members of his government, calling it an "attempted assassination" and a "judicial coup". At a luncheon in Istanbul with generally pro-government intellectuals, writers and journalists, Erdogan reiterated his view that shadowy groups in Turkey and abroad are conspiring to oust him from power. "They tried to carry out a judicial coup in Turkey.... But we are going to oppose this operation, this December 17 plot that targeted the future, the stability of our country," Erdogan said.
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| Bangladesh vote unlikely to stem wave of violence Posted: 04 Jan 2014 11:19 AM PST  DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — The run-up to Sunday's general election in Bangladesh has been marked by bloody street clashes and caustic political vendettas, and the vote threatens to plunge this South Asian country even deeper into crisis.
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| Delayed South Sudan peace talks to begin Sunday Posted: 04 Jan 2014 11:18 AM PST  ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) — Peace talks between warring parties in South Sudan scheduled to be held in Ethiopia were delayed Saturday because the sides haven't yet agreed upon an agenda, officials said.
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| Angry Lebanese protest over attack on priest's library Posted: 04 Jan 2014 11:13 AM PST  Tripoli (Lebanon) (AFP) - Hundreds of Lebanese took to the streets of the northern city of Tripoli on Saturday to protest the torching of a decades-old library owned by a Greek Orthodox priest. Assailants set alight the Saeh library belonging to Father Ibrahim Surouj on Friday night, destroying two-thirds of the 80,000 books and manuscripts it stored, a security official told AFP. But the Greek Orthodox priest forgave those responsible for the attack, in a statement aired on television on Saturday.
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| Turkey to mull proposals for military re-trial Posted: 04 Jan 2014 11:05 AM PST  ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government is considering legal arrangements that could lead to the re-trial of hundreds of military officers and other people who were convicted of plotting to topple the government, the head of Turkey's bar association said Saturday.
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| Welsh clubs lash WRU over European Cup deadlock Posted: 04 Jan 2014 10:46 AM PST  Regional Rugby Wales (RRW), the body that represents the Welsh regions, strongly criticised the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) on Saturday as the disagreement between the two parties deepened. RRW wants the WRU to follow it by backing plans for the Rugby Champions Cup, a breakaway alternative to the European Cup that was initially proposed by English and French clubs.
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| Ruthless Saracens sweep back to the top of the Premiership Posted: 04 Jan 2014 10:25 AM PST  Saracens swept back to the top of the English Premiership with a ruthless 29-8 win against Gloucester at Kingsholm on Saturday. But Saracens regained pole position in emphatic fashion as scrum-half Neil de Kock, wing David Strettle and full-back Alex Goode all scored tries, while England fly-half Owen Farrell booted 14 points. All Gloucester could muster in reply was a Billy Twelvetrees penalty and a late Matt Cox try, but their pack was painfully dismantled, with England internationals Ben Morgan and Matt Kvesic experiencing an afternoon to forget.
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