| Obama seeks to ease Asian allies' doubts during visit to Japan Posted: 23 Apr 2014 03:39 PM PDT  By Linda Sieg and Matt Spetalnick TOKYO (Reuters) - President Barack Obama will use a state visit to Japan on Thursday to try to reassure Tokyo and other Asian allies of his commitment to ramping up U.S. engagement in the region, despite Chinese complaints that Washington's real aim is to contain Beijing's rise. Obama will be treated to a display of pomp and ceremony meant to show that the U.S.-Japan alliance, the main pillar of America's security strategy in Asia, remains solid at a time of rising tensions over growing Chinese assertiveness and North Korean nuclear threats. It was unclear, however, whether a last-ditch round of talks between U.S. and Japanese negotiators would yield a breakthrough on a two-way trade pact seen as crucial to a broader trans-Pacific agreement that Obama has championed. The challenge for Obama during his week-long, four-nation tour will be to convince Asian partners that Washington is serious about its promised strategic "pivot" towards the region, while at the same time not harming U.S. ties with China, the world's second-biggest economy.
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| Ukraine revolt shows faces, but whose are the brains? Posted: 23 Apr 2014 03:33 PM PDT  By Alissa de Carbonnel and Aleksandar Vasovic DONETSK/SLAVIANSK, Ukraine (Reuters) - One is a dapper former croupier and promoter of Ponzi scams run by "Russia's Bernie Madoff"; In an uprising whose calling cards are the Kalashnikov and the black balaclava, Denis Pushilin and Vyacheslav Ponomaryov have become the unmasked faces of the pro-Russian separatist movement in eastern Ukraine that has plunged Moscow and the West into their most ominous confrontation since the Cold War. But many in the Donetsk region, including officials who have negotiated with the activists, see the pair as mere fronts for brains behind the scenes: a "puppeteer" in the words of one local Ukrainian mediator; Pushilin, a 32-year-old who won 77 votes when he ran for parliament a few months ago, emerged this month as leader of the self-styled People's Republic of Donetsk, occupying the regional governor's office in Ukraine's industrial heartland.
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| Hamas, Abbas's PLO announce reconciliation agreement Posted: 23 Apr 2014 01:04 PM PDT  By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Noah Browning GAZA/RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - The Gaza-based Islamist group Hamas and President Mahmoud Abbas's Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) announced a unity pact on Wednesday, deepening a crisis in U.S.-brokered peace talks with Israel. "This is the good news we tell our people: the era of division is over," Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said to loud applause at a Palestinian news conference also attended by representatives of the PLO. Israel said after the announcement that Abbas had chosen Hamas over peace, and canceled a session of U.S.-brokered talks with the Palestinians that had been scheduled for Wednesday night in Jerusalem.
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| Exclusive: Russia, China block Central African Republic blacklist at U.N. Posted: 23 Apr 2014 03:53 PM PDT  By Louis Charbonneau and Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Russia and China have blocked a proposal by the United States and France to impose U.N. sanctions on Central African Republic's former President Francois Bozize and two other people linked to the conflict there, diplomats told Reuters on Wednesday. The proposal to sanction Bozize, in particular, was due to his "engaging in or providing support for acts that undermine the peace, stability or security of CAR," according to an eight-page letter to the U.N. Security Council's sanctions committee on Central African Republic, which was obtained by Reuters. The sanctioning of Bozize, who was ousted by predominantly Muslim Seleka rebels in March 2013, and two other individuals was to have taken effect on Tuesday, but first Russia and then China raised last-minute objections, diplomats said.
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| Russia says it will respond if Ukraine interests attacked Posted: 23 Apr 2014 12:43 PM PDT By Pavel Polityuk and Alastair Macdonald KIEV (Reuters) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused the United States of being behind the political upheaval in Ukraine and said Moscow would respond if its interests came under attack. Lavrov's comments came a day after U.S. Vice President Joe Biden was in the Ukrainian capital with promises of support for the pro-Western government, and a warning to Russia not to interfere in Ukraine. The crisis in Ukraine, now in its fourth month, has dragged Russia's relations with the West to their lowest since the Cold War. In the east, pro-Russian armed separatists have seized about a dozen public buildings and are defying Kiev's authority. |
| Campaign to stop Britons joining Syria fight targets women Posted: 23 Apr 2014 04:04 PM PDT  British police will ask women to help persuade young people not to go out to fight in Syria, in a new campaign to stem an exodus which authorities fear could breed militants at home. Senior police officers and security chiefs have said they are worried the fighters could return radicalized by hardline Islamists and carry out attacks on British soil. Britain's counter-terrorism police said they were going to appeal to women from "affected communities". "We are increasingly concerned about the numbers of young people who have or are intending ... to join the conflict," Helen Ball, National Coordinator for Counter Terrorism Policing, said in a statement ahead of Thursday's launch.
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| Syrian activists accuse Assad of new gas attacks Posted: 23 Apr 2014 04:58 PM PDT  BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian government forces have attacked rebel-held areas with poisonous chlorine gas in recent weeks and months, leaving men, women and children coughing, choking and gasping for breath, according to Associated Press interviews with more than a dozen activists, medics and residents on the opposition side.
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| France, US back sanctions against S.Sudan Posted: 23 Apr 2014 04:57 PM PDT  United Nations (United States) (AFP) - France and the United States called Wednesday for the UN Security Council to consider sanctions against South Sudan over spiraling violence in the country's civil war, diplomats said. US ambassador Samantha Power relayed Washington's position in a closed-door meeting of the 15-member Council, diplomats said, and France's Gerard Araud told reporters before the session that it was time to think about sanctions against those responsible. "I think we should consider sanctions because it is horrendous," he said.
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| Top Asian News at 11:30 p.m. GMT Posted: 23 Apr 2014 04:34 PM PDT TOKYO (AP) — Facing fresh questions about his commitment to Asia, President Barack Obama will seek to convince Japan's leaders Thursday that he can deliver on his security and economic pledges, even as the crisis in Ukraine demands U.S. attention and resources elsewhere. The ominous standoff between Ukraine and Russia is threatening to overshadow Obama's four-country Asia swing that began Wednesday. He may decide during the trip whether to levy new economic sanctions on Moscow, a step that would signal the failure of an international agreement aimed at defusing the crisis. |
| Colombia president reinstates ousted Bogota mayor Posted: 23 Apr 2014 04:34 PM PDT  BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Colombia's capital was changing hands for a third time in little over a month after President Juan Manuel Santos said Wednesday he would execute a court order reinstating Bogota's ousted leftist mayor.
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| Chile aims to end dictatorship-era election rules Posted: 23 Apr 2014 04:30 PM PDT SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — President Michelle Bachelet is determined to make Chile's democracy more representative, and for the first time in a quarter century, there may be just enough votes in Congress to achieve it. |
| Debris found on Australian beach not from MH370 Posted: 23 Apr 2014 04:27 PM PDT  Perth (Australia) (AFP) - The Australian Transport Safety Bureau ruled out Thursday any link between material found on a beach in southwestern Australia and the missing Malaysia Airlines jet. However ATSB chief commissioner Martin Dolan scotched any hope of a breakthrough.
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| Bolivia threatens to fire protesting soldiers Posted: 23 Apr 2014 04:22 PM PDT  LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) — Despite a government threat to fire them, some 500 soldiers marched in Bolivia's capital Wednesday for a second consecutive day to demand greater upward mobility within the armed forces.
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| Defense: FBI probe in 9/11 trial has implications Posted: 23 Apr 2014 04:19 PM PDT FORT MEADE, Maryland (AP) — The defense team for five people facing trial before a war crimes tribunal stemming from the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks claimed the implications of the FBI's questioning of one of its members are "staggering" and called on the court to probe the incident aggressively, according to a motion unsealed on Wednesday. |
| UK enlists Muslim women to help stop Syria jihadists Posted: 23 Apr 2014 04:16 PM PDT  British police reached out to Muslim women on Thursday in an attempt to prevent young people going to fight in Syria, after a sharp rise in arrests related to the conflict. Counter-terrorism officials launched a national campaign to raise awareness of the risks of travelling to Syria, especially for those who just want to offer humanitarian aid. The campaign was prompted by an increase in the number of Britons caught travelling or returning from Syria, from 25 arrests last year to 40 in the first three months of 2014. Only last week, a father from Brighton on England's southern coast, Abubaker Deghayes, revealed that three of his sons had gone to fight in Syria, one of whom was killed in a battle.
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| Australia transport bureau says beach debris not from MH370 Posted: 23 Apr 2014 04:13 PM PDT  Debris picked up on a beach in Western Australia this week is unlikely to have come from the Malaysian Airlines jet that vanished nearly seven weeks ago, Australia's transport bureau said on Thursday. The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) has assessed the material that washed up on the coast 10 km (six miles) east of the town of Augusta, near the southwestern tip of Australia, the bureau's spokesman said. "It's considered highly unlikely to be from MH370," spokesman Tony Simes said. ATSB commissioner Martin Dolan earlier told Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio that the bureau had examined detailed photographs of the debris and was satisfied it was not a lead in the hunt for the plane.
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| Bolivia approves downing of drug-smuggling planes Posted: 23 Apr 2014 04:04 PM PDT LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) — A new Bolivian law authorizes the country's military to shoot down planes suspected of smuggling cocaine, though it cannot yet be put into practice because it doesn't have sufficient radar coverage. |
| Hagel seeking to deepen US-Mexico ties Posted: 23 Apr 2014 03:57 PM PDT  MEXICO CITY (AP) — U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Wednesday he is exploring ways to deepen U.S.-Mexican defense ties, including the possibility of training exercises with Mexican forces.
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| Seoul, Hiroshima advance in Asian Champions League Posted: 23 Apr 2014 03:56 PM PDT SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — FC Seoul beat Beijing Guoan 2-1 to advance to the knockout stage of the Asian Champions League on Wednesday, ensuring both last season's finalists reached the second round. |
| Ronaldo shakes off injury fears to play Bayern Posted: 23 Apr 2014 03:55 PM PDT  MADRID (AP) — Cristiano Ronaldo shook off his injury fears to make a winning return for Real Madrid against Bayern Munich in the Champions League on Wednesday.
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| Retailers 'failing victims' a year after Bangladesh disaster Posted: 23 Apr 2014 03:49 PM PDT  Western fashion brands faced pressure Thursday to honour promises to care for Bangladesh's victims of the world's worst garment factory accident, ahead of protests on the one-year anniversary of the disaster that cost 1,138 lives. Workers are set to stage demonstrations in front of the site of the now infamous nine-storey Rana Plaza complex in the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka, which collapsed last April after a catastrophic structural failure. "Brands are failing workers a second time," Ineke Zeldenrust from the Amsterdam-based Clean Clothes Campaign pressure group said in a statement on Thursday. The sector's most deadly disaster ever shamed Western brands into launching new safety inspections and pushed Bangladesh's government to increase wages and ensure the better enforcement of regulations.
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| Photos explore dynamics of youths' sexual identity Posted: 23 Apr 2014 03:41 PM PDT  BIRMINGHAM, Alabama (AP) — For many, it's difficult to understand Foster Noone's sexual identity. The 17-year-old uses the labels of bisexual, trans and gender neutral all at once.
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| Records: Man shot in court had vowed to behave Posted: 23 Apr 2014 03:40 PM PDT  SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A Tongan Crip gang defendant who was fatally shot by a U.S. marshal while attacking a witness during a federal court trial had promised a judge earlier that he would behave, a court transcript shows.
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| Camilla's brother dies in US after head injury Posted: 23 Apr 2014 03:40 PM PDT  NEW YORK (AP) — The brother-in-law of the Prince of Wales died Wednesday after falling outside a hotel bar and suffering a head injury, police said.
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| Pentagon dossier to detail secretive U.S. Afghan detainee policy Posted: 23 Apr 2014 03:38 PM PDT  Some are suspected fighters from Yemen, Russia or Pakistan, arrested by U.S. forces in Afghanistan or elsewhere. Several have been linked to al Qaeda. As the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan winds down, the White House will soon provide Congress a dossier on about 50 non-Afghan detainees in a U.S. military prison north of Kabul. Their uncertain fate presents sensitive security and legal problems for the Obama administration in an echo of Guantanamo Bay.
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| Kvitova beaten in 1st major upset at Stuttgart Posted: 23 Apr 2014 03:38 PM PDT STUTTGART, Germany (AP) — Alisa Kleybanova defeated third-seeded Petra Kvitova 6-2, 7-6 (3) to provide the first major upset at the Porsche Grand Prix on Wednesday. |
| Brazil enacts Internet 'Bill of Rights' Posted: 23 Apr 2014 03:34 PM PDT  SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil's president signed into law on Wednesday a "Bill of Rights" for the digital age that aims to protect online privacy and promote the Internet as a public utility by barring telecommunications companies from charging for preferential access to their networks.
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| UN envoy calls for more troops in northern Mali Posted: 23 Apr 2014 03:28 PM PDT UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The top U.N. envoy in Mali called Wednesday for beefed up national and international forces in the country's volatile north to confront stepped up shelling, terrorist activity and clashes between rival communities. |
| Australia transport safety chief says beach debris not from MH370: ABC Radio Posted: 23 Apr 2014 03:28 PM PDT  MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Australia's transport safety chief said on Thursday he was confident that debris picked up on a Western Australian beach this week had not come from the missing Malaysian Airlines flight 370. Australian Transport Safety Bureau Chief Commissioner Martin Dolan told Australian Broadcasting Corp Radio that he was looking at detailed photographs of the debris taken by the police. (Reporting by Sonali Paul; Editing by Chris Reese)
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| US soldier accused of killing teens in Iraq Posted: 23 Apr 2014 03:25 PM PDT JOINT BASE LEWIS-McCHORD, Washington (AP) — Two unarmed Iraqi brothers posed no threat as they herded cattle in a palm grove where a U.S. Army reconnaissance team was hidden one day seven years ago. But a sergeant kneeled, leveled his rifle and killed them anyway — from nearly 200 yards(meters) away, a former fellow soldier said Wednesday as a preliminary hearing opened in the case. |
| Syria eyes end of chemical arms monitoring mission; West disagrees Posted: 23 Apr 2014 03:24 PM PDT  By Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Syria declared on Wednesday that it is looking ahead to the dismantling of the international mission overseeing the destruction of the conflict-torn country's chemical arsenal, though Western officials say they want the team to keep working. The statement came after Sigrid Kaag, head of the joint mission of the United Nations and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), told the Security Council that the Syrian government should be able to meet an April 27 deadline to hand over all declared chemical agents. But inside the council chamber, U.S. and European delegations told Kaag that they are concerned about fresh allegations that Syria's government has deployed chlorine gas and expressed their view that a full investigation was necessary, diplomats said. After the closed-door session, which Kaag participated in via video link, Syria's U.N. Ambassador Bashar Ja'afari was asked what should happen to the U.N.-OPCW mission once declared materials linked to the Syrian chemical weapons were shipped out of the country and all installations were shut down.
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| Amid Russia warning, Ukraine is in a security bind Posted: 23 Apr 2014 03:23 PM PDT  DONETSK, Ukraine (AP) — Russia's foreign minister warned Wednesday that attacks on Russian citizens or interests in Ukraine would bring a firm response and drew a comparison to the circumstances that opened the war with Georgia in 2008.
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| Some South Dakota GOP support help for immigrants Posted: 23 Apr 2014 03:22 PM PDT  SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — Some Republicans in conservative South Dakota are putting the contentious politics of immigration reform aside and backing a measure to provide prenatal care to women living in the state illegally whose children will become citizens of the United States.
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| Canadiens to rest well after sweeping Lightning Posted: 23 Apr 2014 03:20 PM PDT  Canada's only team in the National Hockey League playoffs, the Montreal Canadiens, became the first team to reach the second round, thanks to a first-round sweep of Tampa Bay. No club from Canada has won the Stanley Cup since Montreal in 1993 and the Canadiens are the only team with a hope of ending the drought this year. They now await the winner between Boston and Detroit, fellow members of the oldest NHL teams known as the "Original Six", and could have as much as a week off after taking their best-of-seven series with the Lightning in four games.
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