| Syria rebels push al Qaeda back; U.S. open to Iran role Posted: 05 Jan 2014 02:31 PM PST  By Khaled Yacoub Oweis and Arshad Mohammed AMMAN/JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Syrian rebel fighters loyal to al Qaeda ceded ground near the Turkish border to rival Islamists on Sunday, activists said, in what seemed to be a tactical withdrawal to end clashes between Syrian- and foreign-led opponents of President Bashar al-Assad. As Syria's civil war gets ever more complex amid a broad regional confrontation between Sunni and Shi'ite Muslims, the United States raised the prospect of Assad's sponsor Iran, the Shi'ite power long at odds with Washington and its Sunni Arab allies, playing some role in this month's Syrian peace talks. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Tehran still should not take formal part in the peace conference scheduled to start on Lake Geneva on January 22 because it had not endorsed a 2012 accord calling for a new Syrian leadership. But he said there might be ways that Iran could "contribute from the sidelines".
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| Saudi King backs Israeli-Palestinian push, Kerry says Posted: 05 Jan 2014 12:40 PM PST  By Arshad Mohammed RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi King Abdullah offered his "enthusiastic support" to U.S. efforts to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Sunday. The U.S. diplomat made the comment after some two hours and 40 minutes of talks with the Arab monarch, who in 2002 floated a plan to try to bring peace to the Israelis and Palestinians. "I want to thank his majesty for ... his enthusiastic support for the efforts that are being made with respect to the peace process," he told reporters after seeing Abdullah at a desert palace outside Riyadh under a winter rainfall. Kerry has previously asked Israel to reconsider the 2002 Arab peace plan, originally proposed by King Abdullah, which offers Israel full recognition in return for giving up land it captured in 1967 and a "just" solution for Palestinian refugees.
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| Thai tensions to rise as power struggle intensifies Posted: 05 Jan 2014 02:12 PM PST  By Martin Petty BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand is heading for a political showdown as protesters plan to shut down Bangkok next week to sabotage an election while the government's supporters have vowed to stage massive counter-rallies in the country's provinces. Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra is facing swelling opposition in Bangkok ahead of the February 2 election in which her supporters in the rural north and northeast are expected to return her to power - if the vote goes ahead. Thousands of demonstrators marched through Bangkok on Sunday as a prelude to rallies starting on January 13, when they plan to block government offices and occupy key intersections for days in a bid to force Yingluck out and scuttle the poll. The protesters accuse Yingluck of being a puppet of her self-exiled brother and former premier, Thaksin Shinawatra.
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| Thousands of African migrants protest Israel detention policy Posted: 05 Jan 2014 01:52 PM PST  Thousands of African migrants, many holding banners demanding freedom for compatriots jailed by Israel, protested on Sunday in a Tel Aviv square against a new open-ended detention law which allows migrants to be sent to a desert prison. The protests prompted a rare and strongly worded statement from the U.N. refugee agency, saying that Israel's incarceration of migrants, including family breadwinners, caused "hardship and suffering" and was "not in line with" a 1951 world treaty on the treatment of refugees. Human rights groups say more than 300 people have been arrested since the law, which allows authorities to detain migrants without valid visas indefinitely, was passed by Israel's parliament three weeks ago. Dozens more have been summoned for detention, among them men with wives and children, rights activists and the UNHCR said.
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| Stampede at China religious event kills 14 - state media Posted: 05 Jan 2014 04:47 PM PST A stampede at a religious ceremony in northwestern China as food was being handed out killed 14 people and injured 10, the official Xinhua news agency reported on Monday. The stampede occurred on Sunday afternoon as traditional food was being handed out at a commemoration for a religious figure at a mosque in the Guyuan municipality in the northwest Ningxia region, Xinhua said. The Ningxia region is home to a large population of China's Hui Muslim ethnic group. |
| Death threats disrupt Tunisia constitution debate Posted: 05 Jan 2014 10:46 AM PST  By Aziz El Yaakoubi Tunis (Reuters) - Death threats against Tunisian secular lawmakers on Sunday disrupted voting on a new constitution, underscoring tensions over the role of Islam and the transition to democracy three years after the nation's revolution. Tunisia's parliament started voting last week on the new charter, which is meant to put democracy back on track after deadlock between ruling Islamists and secular parties since the 2011 fall of autocratic leader Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali. Approving the constitution is a key step before a caretaker government takes office to end the crisis between Islamists and secular opponents and prepare for new elections later this year. Members of the national assembly have approved several articles of the new constitution, but on Sunday, Mongi Rahoui of a leftist opposition party and two other secular opposition members received anonymous death threats, officials said.
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| Moyes admits United need new blood Posted: 05 Jan 2014 04:42 PM PST  Manchester (United Kingdom) (AFP) - David Moyes, the increasingly beleaguered Manchester United manager, admits he urgently needs to buy new players in the January transfer window but confesses that it may not be possible to do so. The Scotsman was talking in the wake of another major disappointment for his club as United, record 11-times winners of the FA Cup, were knocked out at home in the third round by Swansea. The 2-1 defeat marked United's fourth home loss in their last six games at Old Trafford and just the second time in 29 years that the club has been knocked out in the third round of the competition. Moyes only brought in Marouane Fellaini, from his former club Everton, after taking over at Old Trafford in the summer and with every growing setback, pressure is mounting on him to improve a squad that is looking well beyond par and which was without seven injured first team players on Sunday.
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| Syria opposition re-elects Jarba as leader Posted: 05 Jan 2014 04:34 PM PST  Syria's main opposition National Coalition re-elected Ahmad Jarba as its leader during a general assembly meeting in Istanbul on Sunday, the coalition said in a statement. Jarba won 65 votes, beating his only rival Riad Hijab -- the best-known defector from the regime of President Bashar al-Assad -- by 13 votes. Jarba, who is seen as close to key rebel backer Saudi Arabia, was first elected to head the Coalition in July, and will now lead the group for another six months. His re-election comes at a sensitive time, less than three weeks away from slated peace talks in Switzerland that would bring rebels and regime representatives to the table.
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| British defence experts fear for post-NATO Afghanistan Posted: 05 Jan 2014 04:21 PM PST  Former British defence chiefs warned Monday that parts of southern Afghanistan could fall to the Taliban when British troops leave this year, despite Prime Minister David Cameron recently saying they had accomplished their mission. Former commander of the elite Special Air Service Richard Williams told the Times that there was already evidence of growing collaboration between Taliban insurgents and Afghan soldiers and politicians in the Helmand Province. "I will be very surprised if the future governor of Helmand...is not very closely connected to those who we call the Taliban," he told the paper. Cameron faced criticism last month for saying that NATO-led foreign troops had accomplished their mission of providing security in Afghanistan, in an echo of former US president George W. Bush's much-derided comments on Iraq in 2003.
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| 2014 year of 'hard truths' for British economy: Osborne Posted: 05 Jan 2014 04:15 PM PST  British finance minister George Osborne will warn that 2014 will be the year of "hard truths" and public spending cuts when he sets out his plans for the year ahead on Monday. British government borrowing in 2012/13 was equivalent to 5.2 percent of GDP, down from 7.6 percent in 2011/12, according to official statistics.
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| Italy's former center-left leader Bersani suffers brain haemorrhage Posted: 05 Jan 2014 04:14 PM PST  The former leader of Italy's center-left Pier Luigi Bersani was hospitalized for a brain haemorrhage on Sunday, less than a year after he resigned as head of the Democratic Party (PD) following party upheaval and a disappointing election. The 62-year old was taken to the hospital on Sunday and underwent an operation to address a brain haemorrhage, hospital authorities said. Bersani appeared set to become Italy's prime minister ahead of elections in February 2013, but all changed when his party did not win enough seats to govern alone and the former communist failed to pull a coalition together.
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| 'Death threat' delays Tunisia constitution debate Posted: 05 Jan 2014 03:58 PM PST  Debate on Tunisia's new constitution was suspended for several hours Sunday after a deputy claimed he had received death threats because a colleague accused him of being an "enemy of Islam". The upshot of the raucous proceedings was that opposition members of the National Constituent Assembly eventually forced a successful revote on a proposed amendment that would make it unlawful to accuse someone of apostacy. The death threats claim came a day after the NCA adopted articles making Islam the state religion but guaranteeing freedom of conscience. Mongi Rahoui, of the leftwing Popular Front, accused Habib Ellouze of the Islamist ruling party Ennahda of calling him an enemy of Islam.
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| Kerry says Saudis back his Mideast peace moves Posted: 05 Jan 2014 03:50 PM PST  US Secretary of State John Kerry Sunday said he had won Saudi support for his efforts to broker an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal, in a day of whistlestop diplomacy to key Arab allies. The top US diplomat, on the fourth day of his 10th visit to Israel and the West Bank, promised any agreed plan would be "fair and balanced." "In the end all of these core issues fit together like a mosaic, like a puzzle and you can't separate out one piece or another," Kerry said early Sunday before flying to Amman, and later to Saudi Arabia. Kerry briefed the key Jordanian and Saudi stakeholders about his intense shuttling between Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas over the past few days.
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| 14 killed in China mosque stampede: Xinhua Posted: 05 Jan 2014 03:48 PM PST  Fourteen people were killed and 10 injured in a stampede during a gathering at a mosque in northwest China's Ningxia region, state media reported Monday. The stampede occurred around 1:00 pm Sunday while traditional food was being handed out to people attending an event to commemorate a late religious leader, Xinhua news agency said, citing the local government. Ningxia region is home to the Chinese-speaking Hui minority, who are mostly Muslim but distinct from the Uighurs of Xinjiang. Ningxia is seeking to develop its fledgling winemaking industry which has already attracted the likes of French luxury group LVMH, owner of Dom Perignon champagne among other brands.
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| Mexican vigilante leader injured in plane crash Posted: 05 Jan 2014 03:26 PM PST  Morelia (Mexico) (AFP) - A small plane crash-landed in western Mexico, killing one person and injuring four others, including the leader of a vigilante group fighting drug cartels, officials said Sunday. Jose Manuel Mireles, a high-profile leader of self-defense forces in Michoacan state, was transferred in a police Black Hawk helicopter to a hospital in Mexico City for security reasons, a federal official said. Mireles, 55, had been hospitalized with a head injury and dislocated jaw in Morelia, the state capital, after late Saturday's emergency landing in the town of La Huacana, about 145 kilometers (90 miles) from its destination.
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| Khodorkovsky vows to fight for Russian political prisoners Posted: 05 Jan 2014 03:08 PM PST  Former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who was freed by Moscow last month after a decade in jail, vowed Sunday to fight for Russian political prisoners from his new base in Switzerland. "You can't live with peace of mind when you know there are political detainees rotting in prison," Khodorkovsky told Swiss public television SRF on the train that took him from Berlin to Basel. A spokeswoman for the man who was Russia's most famous prisoner until his release on December 20 said he had travelled to Switzerland with his wife to take their sons back to school. "He is in Switzerland, where his children go to school," she told AFP, refusing to reveal which city Khodorkovsky would travel to next.
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| Western-backed Syrian opposition re-elects Jarba as leader Posted: 05 Jan 2014 02:55 PM PST By Dasha Afanasieva ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Ahmad al-Jarba was re-elected as the Western-backed Syrian opposition's leader for a second six-month term on Sunday, coalition members said, defeating former Syrian prime minister Riyad Hijab. While designated as the main body representing the opposition by the United States and other key powers, the newly elected political committee of the Syrian National Coalition faces a struggle for credibility in the run-up to international peace talks. Rebel infighting has given President Bashar al-Assad a stronger hand on the ground and marginalized groups more palatable to Western powers, while more radical Islamist brigades make gains. Jarba, a tribal figure from the eastern province of Hasaka who has connections with Saudi Arabia, beat Hijab by 65 votes to 52, a statement from the coalition said. |
| World mourns 'Black Panther' Eusebio Posted: 05 Jan 2014 02:30 PM PST  Eusebio, revered as football's "Black Panther", died on Sunday, aged 71, sending fans into mourning for a man who grew up in grinding African poverty before becoming one of the world's greatest players. Eusebio da Silva Ferreira, who died of cardio-pulmonary arrest early on Sunday morning, reigned over Portuguese football in the 1960s, bringing glory to both his club Benfica and his country. English great Bobby Charlton, who helped Manchester United to victory over Benfica in the 1968 European Cup final, said it had been a privilege to have known Eusebio. I did everything, except win a World Cup," Eusebio said in a interview in 2011, recalling his tears after Portugal's loss in the 1966 World Cup semi-final to England.
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| Ex-oil tycoon Khodorkovsky travels to Switzerland Posted: 05 Jan 2014 02:27 PM PST  BERLIN (AP) — Former Russian oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky traveled to Switzerland on Sunday, ostensibly on a family errand to bring his two sons back to school.
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| Four die in Swiss Alps avalanches Posted: 05 Jan 2014 02:17 PM PST  Four skiers were killed and another was in a critical condition after a series of avalanches hit the Alps in southern Switzerland Sunday, Swiss media reported. Three of the victims, including a guide, died when a wall of snow bore down on a group of cross-country skiers in the canton of Valais, critically wounding another, public broadcaster RTS reported. Police said several avalanches had been set off by off-piste skiers and urged caution, warning that the risk of more snowslides remained high. The latest deaths bring to at least 11 the number of people killed by avalanches in Switzerland so far this winter.
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| Nigeria repatriates citizens from conflict-wracked CAR Posted: 05 Jan 2014 02:14 PM PST  Nigeria is repatriating over 1,600 citizens who have sought refuge in its embassy in Bangui, fleeing violence wracking the Central African Republic, an army spokesman said Sunday. "The Federal Government has ... arranged several chartered flights to bring home over 1,620 Nigerians who took refuge at the Nigerian Embassy in Bangui," said Chris Olukolade in a statement. The resource-rich but impoverished Central African Republic has been wracked by ever-escalating violence since a March coup by the mostly Muslim Seleka rebels installed Michel Djotodia as the country's first Muslim president.
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| Syria rebels, regime agree truce in Damascus district Posted: 05 Jan 2014 01:56 PM PST  Syrian rebels in the northern Damascus district of Barzeh on Sunday agreed a local ceasefire with President Bashar al-Assad's regime after nearly a year of fighting and bombardment, activists said. "After intense negotiation in recent days between the regime and the (rebel) Free Syrian Army through mediators from the neighbourhood, the following agreement has been reached: ceasefire between the two sides," a statement posted by the opposition local council said. "The Free Syrian Army will be the one manning traffic" through the district, which has been blocked off ever since the opposition took over the neighbourhood, the statement added. Local activist Abu Ammar told AFP via the Internet that although the agreed clauses have not yet been implemented, "the intensity of the fighting has been reduced greatly in the past three days."
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| Iran could play role on sidelines at Syria peace talks Posted: 05 Jan 2014 01:49 PM PST  The United States for the first time Sunday hinted that Iran may be able to play some kind of role at proposed talks to end the war in Syria. It accuses the Islamic republic, the main ally of Damascus, of providing weapons, manpower and cash, as well as arming Hezbollah militants fighting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and allowing him to battle an armed opposition for almost three years. US Secretary of State John Kerry, who has been one of the prime movers of bringing together the Syrian regime and the opposition at the talks, stressed Iran could not fully participate without signing up to a June 2012 accord which calls for a transitional Syrian government to replace the current regime. But Kerry opened the door to some kind of possible involvement by the Iranians in the conference, dubbed Geneva 2.
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| Three-time champion jockey Biddlecombe dies, 72 Posted: 05 Jan 2014 01:24 PM PST  London (AFP) - Three-time champion jump jockey and former Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Terry Biddlecombe died on Sunday, aged 72, after a long illness, his family said.
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| Khodorkovsky leaves Germany for Switzerland to take sons to school Posted: 05 Jan 2014 12:59 PM PST  Former Russian oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky arrived in Switzerland on Sunday, having spent two weeks in Germany since his release from a Russian prison, but gave no clue about his future plans. "He is, as previously stated, delighted that Switzerland is the second country in which he can breathe the air of freedom," said a statement posted on Khodorkovsky's website. "The purpose of his visit is a family matter, as he and his wife are accompanying their two sons back to school in Switzerland," the statement said, adding that he had not yet made any plans about permanent residency in Switzerland or anywhere else. Khodorkovsky arrived by train in Basel from Berlin, but a spokesman declined to specify his final destination in Switzerland.
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| Syrian rebels clash with al-Qaida-linked fighters Posted: 05 Jan 2014 12:51 PM PST  BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian opposition fighters battled rival rebels from an al-Qaida-linked faction across parts of northern Syria on Sunday, as deep fissures within the insurgency erupted into some of the most serious and sustained violence between groups opposed to President Bashar Assad since the country's conflict began.
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| 'Life-threatening' cold bites U.S. Midwest Posted: 05 Jan 2014 12:43 PM PST  By Brendan O'Brien MILWAUKEE (Reuters) - Residents of the Midwestern United States on Sunday braced for the coldest weather in two decades, temperatures that forecasters warned would be life-threatening. "The coldest temperatures in almost two decades will spread into the northern and central U.S. today behind an arctic cold front," the National Weather Service said in an advisory posted on its website on Sunday. But fans of the NFL's Green Bay Packers vowed to brave the weather to see a playoff matchup that could stand as one of the coldest ever games in league history. In Green Bay, Wisconsin, football fan Jacquie Tucker Braun, 44, was undaunted by a forecast for temperatures below 0 F (-18 C) when the Packers match up with the San Francisco 49ers at 3:40 CT (2140 GMT).
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| Egypt convicts activists in one case, opens probe into another Posted: 05 Jan 2014 12:38 PM PST  Twelve Egyptian activists were given one-year suspended jail terms on Sunday in a case brought over an attack on the campaign headquarters of defeated presidential candidate Ahmed Shafik during the 2012 election. The activists include siblings Alaa Abdel Fattah and Mona Seif, leading figures in the protest movement that triggered the 2011 uprising against autocrat Hosni Mubarak. The movement has been targeted in a widening crackdown by the army-backed authorities. In a move that could open the way to more legal measures against prominent dissidents, the authorities opened an investigation into allegations that six activists took part in the storming of Egypt's domestic spying agency in 2011 - an important moment in the revolt against Mubarak's order.
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| Premier League heavyweights dodge each other in FA Cup draw Posted: 05 Jan 2014 12:31 PM PST  London (AFP) - Chelsea were handed a home game with Stoke City in the only all-Premier League tie pulled out of the hat in the FA Cup fourth-round draw on Sunday.
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| Fighting between Iraqi troops, al-Qaida kills 34 Posted: 05 Jan 2014 12:09 PM PST  BAGHDAD (AP) — The Iraqi military tried to dislodge al-Qaida militants in Sunni-dominated Anbar province Sunday, unleashing airstrikes and besieging the regional capital in fighting that killed at least 34 people, officials said. A series of bombs in Shiite neighborhoods of Baghdad, meanwhile, killed at least 20 people.
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| Jihadists kill 50 rebels in new Syria war front Posted: 05 Jan 2014 12:09 PM PST  Al-Qaeda-linked fighters killed at least 50 rival rebels Sunday in a new front in Syria's war, a watchdog said, as an Islamist group issued a strong warning to the jihadists. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the rebels were killed in fighting, car bombings and summary executions by forces loyal to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. ISIL moved into Syria in late spring 2013, two years after the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began. At least nine ISIL fighters were also killed on Sunday, the Britain-based Observatory said.
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| Turkey PM says 'favours' retrial of coup plot officers Posted: 05 Jan 2014 12:03 PM PST  Turkey's embattled Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Sunday he would favour retrials for hundreds of military officers jailed for coup-plotting. In the latest sign of the turmoil that has gripped Turkish politics since the government was hit a huge corruption scandal last month, Erdogan appeared ready to reach out to the generals he once hounded.
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| Iraq city seizures illustrate Qaeda group's resurgence Posted: 05 Jan 2014 12:00 PM PST  The seizure by Al-Qaeda-linked militants of a major Iraqi city and parts of another illustrates their resurgence, and harkens back to the darkest days of the insurgency that followed the 2003 US-led invasion. The Al-Qaeda franchise in Iraq fell from the height of its influence in the years after the invasion, suffering defeats by American forces, especially after Sunni tribesmen joined them from late 2006 in a process that became known as the "Awakening." But it has made a striking comeback in its latest incarnation, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), which spans more than one country and has been bolstered by the cross-border ties it has established in Syria during the country's civil war, analysts say. It is now a major force in the Syrian conflict, and has also carried out operations in Iraq ranging from brutal bombings of civilians to brazen prison assaults.
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| Kidnapped Turkish journalist freed in Syria Posted: 05 Jan 2014 11:49 AM PST A NKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey's state-run news agency says a Turkish photographer who had been kidnapped in Syria has been freed. |
| Gunfire erupts in South Sudan capital, talks delayed Posted: 05 Jan 2014 11:48 AM PST  By Carl Odera and Aaron Maasho JUBA/ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Gunshots rang out in South Sudan's capital, Juba, for about an hour on Sunday as peace talks between rebels and the government to hammer out a ceasefire deal faced further delay in neighboring Ethiopia. The gunfire came from the direction of the military headquarters of the SPLA government forces, towards the northern outskirts of the city. Three weeks of fighting, which began in Juba but spread beyond, often along ethnic faultlines, have killed more than a thousand people, forced a cut in oil output and left the world's newest state on the brink of civil war. Western and regional powers, many of which supported the negotiations that led to South Sudan's secession from Sudan in 2011, are pressing for a peace deal, fearing the latest fighting could destabilize east Africa.
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