| Syria ships out first batch of chemical weapons materials Posted: 07 Jan 2014 04:09 PM PST  By Oliver Holmes and Erika Solomon BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syria has started moving chemical weapons materials out of the country in a crucial phase of an internationally backed disarmament program that has been delayed by war and technical problems. The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said on Tuesday that "priority chemical materials" were transported to the port of Latakia and onto a Danish vessel which was now sailing towards international waters. Syria agreed to abandon its chemical weapons by June under a deal proposed by Russia and agreed with the United States after an August 21 sarin gas attack that Western nations blamed on President Bashar al-Assad's forces. Damascus blames rebels for the attack.
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| United States sending more troops and tanks to South Korea Posted: 07 Jan 2014 03:38 PM PST  The United States said on Tuesday it will send 800 more soldiers and about 40 Abrams main battle tanks and other armored vehicles to South Korea next month as part of a military rebalance to East Asia after more than a decade of war in Afghanistan and Iraq. The battalion of troops and M1A2 tanks and about 40 Bradley fighting vehicles from the 1st U.S. Cavalry Division based at Fort Hood, Texas, will begin a nine-month deployment in South Korea on February 1. "This addition of forces to Korea is part of the rebalance to the Pacific. It's been long planned and is part of our enduring commitment to security on the Korean peninsula," Army Colonel Steve Warren said.
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| Four U.S. Air Force helicopter crew killed in British crash Posted: 07 Jan 2014 04:33 PM PST By Michael Holden LONDON (Reuters) - Four crew on board a U.S. military helicopter were killed when their aircraft crashed in eastern England during a routine training operation on Tuesday, police and U.S. Air Force (USAF)officials said. The helicopter, assigned to the 48th Fighter Wing based at the nearby U.S. air base RAF Lakenheath, went down at about 1800 GMT on marshland on the north Norfolk coast, a rural area about 130 miles northeast of London. "The conditions of the four crew members are unknown at this time." Norfolk Police said in a statement that the helicopter's four occupants were thought to have died in the crash. "Sadly we believe that at this time all four of the crew are deceased," Superintendent Roger Wilson of Norfolk Police told reporters. |
| North Korea assembly vote set for March, to consolidate Kim's power Posted: 07 Jan 2014 04:19 PM PST  North Koreans will hold elections for the country's rubber stamp parliament in March, the first such polls under Kim Jong Un's leadership, which are set to further consolidate his power after the purge of his uncle. Kim's uncle, Jang Song Thaek, was one of the most powerful figures in North Korea until his purge and execution just a few weeks ago. South Korean President Park Geun-hye has described recent events in North Korea as a "reign of terror." The reclusive North's official media said on Wednesday that the election for its Supreme People's Assembly would be held on March 9, without offering details. On New Year's day, Kim Jong Un, the third generation of his family to rule North Korea, said in his first reference to the execution of his powerful uncle, that the country's ruling party had become stronger after purging "factional filth".
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| Libya autonomy groups vows to sell oil from seized ports, challenges Tripoli Posted: 07 Jan 2014 04:56 PM PST  By Ghaith Shennib and Julia Payne TRIPOLI/LONDON (Reuters) - A heavily armed autonomy group in eastern Libya said on Tuesday it would invite foreign companies to buy oil from seized ports and protect arriving tankers, challenging Tripoli which has promised to use force to stop them. The announcement came just hours after Libya's defense ministry said it would destroy any tankers loading oil from eastern ports in the Cyrenaica region which are under control of the armed protesters. The escalation adds to chaos as the weak Tripoli government struggles to rein in armed groups that helped oust Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 but kept their guns to demand power and a bigger share of the country's oil wealth. The conflict is hurting oil revenues, which fund the OPEC nation's government and the import of wheat and other crucial food.
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| Turkish graft scandal deepens with more arrests, police dismissals Posted: 07 Jan 2014 11:04 AM PST  By Daren Butler ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's government purged hundreds of police officers overnight, media said, as part of a crackdown on a rival he accuses of trying to usurp state power by tarring him with a specious corruption investigation. Some of the officers, who included members of the financial and organized crime, smuggling and anti-terrorism units, were moved to traffic duties, according to the reports. Ankara police, chief focus of the action, declined to comment. Erdogan, facing the biggest challenge of an 11-year rule that has seen the army banished from politics, the economy booming and Ankara pressing its role in the Middle East, portrays the raids and arrests as a "dirty plot" by an Islamic cleric.
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| Stranded Antarctic ships break free of ice, heading to open sea Posted: 07 Jan 2014 04:57 PM PST  By Matt Siegel SYDNEY (Reuters) - A Russian research vessel and Chinese icebreaker stranded in Antarctica have broken free from the heavy ice that gripped them and are making steady progress towards open waters, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) said on Wednesday. They have since made slow progress through lighter ice conditions towards the open sea. "The Xue Long has advised RCC Australia it does not require any further assistance at this time," AMSA said in a statement. "The Akademik Shokalskiy continues to move through the ice field and RCC Australia is awaiting confirmation that it does not require any further assistance." The Russian-owned research ship, Akademik Shokalskiy, left New Zealand on November 28 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of an Antarctic journey led by Australian explorer Douglas Mawson.
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| Australia to buy lifeboats to return asylum-seekers Posted: 07 Jan 2014 04:48 PM PST  Australian Immigration Minister Scott Morrison on Wednesday said "all steps necessary" will be taken to halt boatpeople amid reports that Canberra is planning to buy 16 lifeboats to ferry them back to Indonesia. Fairfax Media said the government would purchase boats similar to those carried by cruiseships to be able to get asylum-seekers intercepted at sea back to Indonesia if their own vessels were unseaworthy. Few details on how the hard-hulled boats would operate were provided, but reports said asylum-seekers would be transferred to them near Indonesian waters, with sufficient fuel and provisions for them to return to that country. It follows revelations Tuesday that the Australian navy had turned back at least one asylum-seeker boat without first informing Jakarta, prompting fresh anger in Indonesia about Canberra's tough policies on boatpeople.
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| Watchdog calls for UK voter ID amid S. Asian fraud fears Posted: 07 Jan 2014 04:47 PM PST  Voters in Britain should have to prove their identity at polling stations, the elections watchdog said Wednesday, as it launched a study into fraud concerns around ethnic South Asian communities. The Electoral Commission said it was investigating the vulnerability of the Pakistani and Bangladeshi communities to electoral fraud. However, despite the recommendation for proof of identity at all polling stations, it rejected calls to restrict access to postal voting -- which is at the heart of many allegations -- saying it would prevent many innocent people from casting their ballot. Since 2002, voters in Northern Ireland have been required to show photographic identification at polling stations.
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| Record freeze extends to eastern United States, at least nine dead Posted: 07 Jan 2014 04:43 PM PST  By Victoria Cavaliere and Brendan O'Brien NEW YORK/MILWAUKEE (Reuters) - A deadly blast of arctic air shattered decades-old temperature records as it enveloped the eastern United States on Tuesday, snarling air, road and rail travel, driving energy prices higher and overwhelming shelters for homeless people. Authorities have put about half of the United States under a wind chill warning or cold weather advisory. Temperatures were expected to be 25 degrees to 35 degrees Fahrenheit (14 to 19 degrees Celsius) below normal from the Midwest to the Southeast, the National Weather Service said. PJM Interconnection, the agency that oversees the electric grid supplying the mid-Atlantic and parts of the Midwest, said electricity suppliers were struggling to keep up with surging demand as the cold forced some power plants to shut.
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| Arctic freeze disrupts North American air travel Posted: 07 Jan 2014 04:42 PM PST JetBlue Airways resumed departures from New York and Boston airports after shutting down flights in those cities on Monday evening to protect crews and aircraft as it sought to recover from recent snow and low temperatures. A frigid blast of arctic air that broke decades-old records in the middle United States moved eastward on Tuesday. The cold weather froze fueling equipment for planes, forcing airlines to cancel flights. Delta Air Lines said ice and snow at its Detroit hub that disabled fuel gear led it to suspend regional flights there on Tuesday. |
| Ex-Miss Venezuela slain in highway robbery Posted: 07 Jan 2014 04:30 PM PST  CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — A former Miss Venezuela and her ex-husband were shot and killed and their 5-year-old daughter wounded when they resisted robbers by locking themselves inside their car after tire punctures disabled it on an isolated stretch of highway, police said Tuesday.
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| US Air Force copter crashes in England, killing 4 Posted: 07 Jan 2014 04:23 PM PST  LONDON (AP) — A U.S. Air Force Pave Hawk helicopter crashed in the coastal marshes of eastern England during a training mission on Tuesday night, killing all four crew members aboard, officials said.
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| Four believed dead in US military 'copter crash in Britain Posted: 07 Jan 2014 03:49 PM PST  London (United Kingdom) (AFP) - A US military helicopter crashed while on a training exercise in eastern England on Tuesday, with four crew members believed dead, according to police. "A US Air Force HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopter crashed at about 6.00pm (1800 GMT) today near Salthouse on the Norfolk coast," said a statement issued by the 48th Fighter Wing, which is based at nearby Royal Air Force (RAF) station Lakenheath. Norfolk Police later issued a statement saying that "four occupants are thought to have died in the crash" and that next of kin will be informed before further details on the victims are released. The force also revealed that officers were on the scene and that the aircraft may have been carrying live ammunition.
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| US expects UAE to free citizen after YouTube arrest Posted: 07 Jan 2014 03:10 PM PST  The United Arab Emirates is expected shortly to free an American who was jailed with others over a YouTube video that mocked Dubai teenagers. Shezanne Cassim, a 29-year-old from Minnesota, will likely be freed within days, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said. "We have received word that Mr. Cassim has been moved to a deportation facility for processing. Psaki said that Cassim was allowed to leave on account of good behavior as well as time he spent in detention before his trial.
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| Former Miss Venezuela, partner shot dead, child hurt Posted: 07 Jan 2014 03:04 PM PST  A former Miss Venezuela and her British-born partner were shot dead while their five-year-old daughter was wounded during a suspected roadside robbery that shocked the nation, authorities said Tuesday. Monica Spear, a 29-year-old soap opera star, and Thomas Henry Berry, 39, were killed after their car broke down on a highway in northwestern Venezuela late Monday, prosecutors said in statement. Their daughter, Maya Berry Spear, was wounded in the right leg but stable after receiving medical treatment in an assault that put a spotlight on the country's soaring murder rate. Five people have been detained and are being interrogated in connection with the crime, Interior Minister Miguel Rodriguez said after a televised meeting with President Nicolas Maduro.
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| Former Miss Venezuela shot dead in attempted robbery Posted: 07 Jan 2014 02:44 PM PST  By Diego Ore and Eyanir Chinea CARACAS (Reuters) - Gunmen shot dead a former Miss Venezuela and her ex-husband in the latest high profile case of violent crime in the South American nation, authorities said on Tuesday. Monica Spear, 29, a soap opera actress, and Henry Berry, 39, died in an attempted robbery on the highway between Puerto Cabello and Valencia in central Venezuela. The 2004 Miss Venezuela winner lived in the United States but was vacationing in Venezuela. Responding to a reporter's question about the incident, President Nicolas Maduro said he learned from investigators that the victims' car burst a tire after running over something on the road, apparently placed by robbers to stop traffic.
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| Syrian opposition undecided on Geneva peace talks Posted: 07 Jan 2014 02:35 PM PST ISTANBUL (AP) — Members of the main Western-backed Syrian opposition group say they have postponed a vote on whether or not to attend a peace conference in Switzerland this month. |
| Legion of Christ opens critical meeting on future Posted: 07 Jan 2014 02:32 PM PST  VATICAN CITY (AP) — The troubled Legion of Christ religious order is electing new leadership for the first time since its founder was revealed to have been a pedophile and fraud. The process starting Wednesday will formally end the Vatican's three-year rehabilitation of the movement, a reform the Legion is touting as a success and critics have dismissed as a sham.
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| First chemical arms material shipped out of Syria Posted: 07 Jan 2014 02:29 PM PST  The first shipment of chemical weapons materials left Latakia port Tuesday under a deal to rid Syria of its chemical arsenal, the joint mission overseeing the disarmament said. On the ground, the head of Syrian Al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Nusra Front urged an end to four days of clashes between rebels and the jihadist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant that has killed at least 274 people. "A first quantity of priority chemical materials was moved from two sites to the port of Latakia for verification and was then loaded onto a Danish commercial vessel today," the UN-Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (UN-OPCW) mission said. Escorted by Chinese, Danish, Norwegian and Russian naval vessels, the ship will stand offshore until more chemicals arrive at Latakia and then return to collect them.
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| World champ Chan, Virtue and Moir seek Olympic spots Posted: 07 Jan 2014 02:24 PM PST  Three-time men's world champion Patrick Chan and reigning Olympic ice dance champions Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir top the line-up at the 100th anniversary Canadian Figure Skating Championships that begin on Friday. A century after Canada's capital first hosted the event, Ottawa again becomes the nation's figure skating focus with tickets even being sold for Thursday's practice sessions. Skaters will seek berths at next month's Sochi Winter Olympics with the largest line-up of Canadian figure skaters at an Olympics since the 1988 Calgary Winter Games. "Skate Canada is proud to be sending the biggest figure skating team in the world to Sochi and the largest Canadian team since 1988," Skate Canada chief executive Dan Thompson said.
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| Ex-Miss Venezuela slain in robbery Posted: 07 Jan 2014 02:23 PM PST CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — A former Miss Venezuela and her ex-husband were shot and killed and their 5-year-old daughter was wounded after they resisted robbers by locking the doors of their broken-down car, police said Tuesday. |
| US Air Force helicopter crashes in England Posted: 07 Jan 2014 02:23 PM PST  LONDON (AP) — A U.S. Air Force Pave Hawk helicopter crashed in a coastal area of eastern England on Tuesday night, an official said, and police said four people are believed to have died in the accident.
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| Revived rebel group Renamo accused of seeking Mozambique division Posted: 07 Jan 2014 02:21 PM PST  Mozambique's defence ministry on Tuesday accused Renamo of wanting to "divide the country" as the main opposition party and revived rebel grouping was recruiting young people to carry out this strategy. Judging by Renamo's "political discourse and the situation we are witnessing, the objective is to divide the country from the Save River", Christovao Chume, national director for defence policy and security, told a press conference in Maputo. The defence ministry also confirmed the existence of armed men in Inhambane province, to the south of the river, and accused Renamo, led by Afonso Dhlakama, to recruit men in Sofala, to the north, and Inhambane. Renamo meanwhile said clashes with government forces in Pembe, in Inhambane province had resulted in dozens of dead on the side of government troops but did not give a date.
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| Syrian opposition postpones vote on peace talks Posted: 07 Jan 2014 02:03 PM PST By Dasha Afanasieva ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Syria's Western-backed opposition in exile postponed until next week a decision on whether to attend talks with President Bashar al-Assad's government aimed at ending nearly three years of devastating conflict, opposition members said on Tuesday. The National Coalition is facing heavy pressure from Western powers to attend the January 22 talks, seen as the most serious effort yet to find a political solution to Syria's civil war. The latest delay came after at least a quarter of the coalition called for its newly re-elected president Ahmad al-Jarba to stand down, and threatened to resign if their demand was not met, sources at the meeting said. Saudi-backed Jarba beat former Syrian prime minister Riyad Hijab, who defected nearly 18 months ago, to win a second term as president of the coalition. |
| ISIL threatens Syria opposition politicians: audio Posted: 07 Jan 2014 01:55 PM PST  The jihadist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant Tuesday called members of the opposition Syrian National Coalition a "legitimate target" in an audio message from an ISIL spokesman. Abu Mohammed al-Adnani said in the message published on a jihadist website that ISIL considers the opposition Syrian National "Coalition and national council and the chief of staff and military council (...) have declared and begun a war on it".
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| 4 believed dead in helicopter crash in eastern UK Posted: 07 Jan 2014 01:53 PM PST LONDON (AP) — Police say four people are believed to have died in a helicopter crash in eastern England. |
| Egypt labour officials abducted Posted: 07 Jan 2014 01:48 PM PST  An Egyptian labour ministry official and three trade union activists were kidnapped in the Sinai Tuesday, the ministry said, and police were investigating whether militants were behind the abduction. In Cairo, assailants threw a bomb and opened fire on a small traffic police station without causing casualties, security officials said. It was the latest in a string of militant attacks on security forces following the overthrow of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in July. Police found their abandoned car near the resort, labour ministry spokesman Alaa el-Din Mohamed told AFP.
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| Qaeda-linked group urges Iraq Sunnis to keep fighting Posted: 07 Jan 2014 01:43 PM PST  Ramadi (Iraq) (AFP) - An Al-Qaeda-linked group called on Iraqi Sunnis who have seized one city and part of another to keep battling government forces, as fighting and attacks killed 56 people Tuesday. Parts of Anbar provincial capital Ramadi west of Baghdad and all of Fallujah have been outside government control since last week. "Oh Sunni people, you were forced to take up the weapon," Abu Mohammed al-Adnani, spokesman for Al-Qaeda-linked group the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), said in an audio recording released Tuesday. "Do not lay the weapon down, because if you put it down this time, the (Shiites) will enslave you and you will not rise again," he urged Iraqi Sunnis, referring to the Shiite-led government in Baghdad.
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| Iran nuclear talks to resume Thursday in Geneva Posted: 07 Jan 2014 01:35 PM PST  Iran and world powers will meet in Geneva from Thursday to iron out remaining obstacles in implementing a historic nuclear deal struck in November, Iranian and EU officials said. The two-day meeting will bring together deputy negotiators from Iran and the so-called P5+1 group of world powers, European Union foreign policy spokesman Michael Mann told AFP. Iranian officials had also announced the meeting earlier Tuesday, with Tehran's foreign ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham telling reporters that the talks would focus on "one or two remaining issues pending a political decision" before the deal can be implemented. Technical experts from Iran and the EU-chaired P5+1 -- comprising the United States, China, Russia, Britain, France and Germany -- held two sessions in Geneva in mid and late December as they seek to fine-tune a deal reached on November 24 after their foreign ministers rushed to the Swiss city for marathon talks.
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| African migrants in Israel have little hope Posted: 07 Jan 2014 01:19 PM PST  HOLOT DETENTION CAMP, Israel (AP) — Tumuzgee Aman fled his native Eritrea three years ago in search of a better life, making his way to Israel after a treacherous journey across Egypt's Sinai desert. But after briefly finding work in a copper mine, his dream came crashing down when Israeli immigration police threw him in jail.
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| Iraqi government: airstrike kills 25 militants Posted: 07 Jan 2014 01:19 PM PST  BAGHDAD (AP) — A government airstrike killed 25 al-Qaida-linked militants in a besieged province west of Baghdad amid fierce clashes Tuesday between Iraqi special forces and insurgents battling for control of the key cities of Fallujah and Ramadi, Iraqi officials said.
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| Bomb thrown in drive-by attack on Cairo police Posted: 07 Jan 2014 01:19 PM PST Assailants threw a grenade and raked a police car with gunfire in a drive-by attack on an Egyptian traffic police checkpoint in Cairo on Tuesday, wounding one person, security sources said. Bombings and shootings targeting the security forces have become commonplace since the army deposed Islamist President Mohamed Mursi in July following mass protests against his rule. Tuesday's attack occurred on a usually busy flyover running through the heart of Cairo. It was at least the fourth in Cairo or areas north of the capital since December 24, the day a suicide car bomber killed 16 people at a police station in the Nile Delta city of Mansoura. |
| Phone-hacking trial told evidence was thrown away Posted: 07 Jan 2014 01:06 PM PST  A personal assistant to former News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks disposed of tens of her boss's archived notebooks at the height of Britain's phone-hacking scandal, a court heard Tuesday. Cheryl Carter is standing trial along with Brooks at the Old Bailey, Britain's top criminal court, charged with conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. She is alleged to have disposed of the evidence just hours before Rupert Murdoch was forced to close flagship tabloid the News of the World. Carter told police that the notebooks dated form her time as beauty editor.
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