| IMF, UN officials among 21 killed in Kabul suicide attack Posted: 18 Jan 2014 12:35 PM PST By Jessica Donati and Mirwais Harooni KABUL (Reuters) - A Taliban suicide bomber and gunmen attacked a restaurant popular with foreigners in the heart of the Afghan capital Kabul, killing 21 people including three United Nations staff and the International Monetary Fund's top representative in Afghanistan. Gunmen burst into the Lebanese restaurant spraying diners with bullets after the bomber blew himself up near the entrance around 7:30 p.m. local time on Friday, just as people had sat down for dinner. The U.S. State Department said three U.S. private citizens were killed. The American University of Afghanistan said two of its U.S. employees died in the attack on La Taverna du Liban, a popular dining spot whose charismatic owner, Kamal Hamade, was also killed. |
| Turkey purges regulators, state TV in graft probe backlash Posted: 18 Jan 2014 11:29 AM PST  By Humeyra Pamuk ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey has extended a purge of official bodies to the banking and telecoms regulators and state TV, firing dozens of executives in moves that appear to broaden Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's backlash against a corruption investigation. The authorities have already reassigned thousands of police officers and about 20 prosecutors, and fired some state television officials in response to the corruption investigation, the biggest challenge to Erdogan's 11-year rule. Investigators are believed to have been looking into allegations of corruption and bribery involving trade in gold with Iran and big real estate projects, although full details of their charges have not been made public. They are changing the whole system and people in various positions to protect the government," said Akin Unver, assistant professor of International Relations in Istanbul-based Kadir Has University.
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| Bombs, mortar fire kill 14 people in Baghdad Posted: 18 Jan 2014 11:11 AM PST Mortar fire, car bombs and gunfire killed at least 14 people and wounded 55 in Baghdad on Saturday, police and medics said. In Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) northeast of Baghdad, gunmen badly wounded a correspondent of the opposition Sharqiya TV channel. Helicopters hovered over some areas of Baghdad after the blasts as ambulance sirens wailed and security forces closed some roads, residents said. Two years after U.S. troops left Iraq, violence has climbed back to its highest levels since the Sunni-Shi'ite bloodletting of 2006-2007, when tens of thousands of people were killed. |
| Egyptians overwhelmingly back constitution: official results Posted: 18 Jan 2014 12:51 PM PST More than 98 percent of voters backed a new Egyptian constitution in a referendum this week, authorities said on Saturday, though the turnout was lower than some officials had indicated, with under 40 percent of the electorate taking part. The vote advances a transition plan that army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi unveiled after deposing Islamist president Mohamed Mursi last July following mass protests against his rule. "Now that God has supported us in legalizing our constitution, we ask for his aid in achieving the remaining two stages of the road map: the presidential and parliamentary elections," said Nabil Salib, head of the Supreme Election Committee. However, it exceeded the 32.9 percent turnout in a referendum that backed the previous Islamist-tinged constitution under Mursi in 2012. |
| Brazil bomb scare spurs emergency landing, brief airport closure Posted: 18 Jan 2014 04:46 PM PST A bomb threat left in a Brazilian airport caused a TAM Airlines flight to make an emergency landing and briefly closed the airport in the Amazonian city of Manaus on Saturday, five months before the country hosts the World Cup soccer tournament. A note that said a bomb was onboard TAM flight 3540 was found in a bathroom at Brasilia's Juscelino Kubitschek airport, airport officials said. That flight, which had already left Brasilia bound for Boa Vista, evacuated passengers via emergency slides when it landed on the runway at Eduardo Gomes airport in Manaus. The Manaus airport had reopened at 4 p.m. Brasilia time (1800 GMT) after no explosive device was found on the plane, a spokeswoman for the Infraero national airport authority said. |
| Obama tells Merkel, Germans he will not wiretap Posted: 18 Jan 2014 01:54 PM PST  U.S. President Barack Obama told Germans and their leader on Saturday he would not let intelligence work damage relations, and differences of opinion between the two countries was no reason to wiretap. In a rare interview on German TV, Obama set out to mend ties frayed last year by media reports citing leaked intelligence documents that Washington was spying on European Union citizens and had bugged Chancellor Angela Merkel's mobile phone. "I must and cannot damage this relationship through surveillance measures that obstruct our trusting communication," Obama told ZDF public TV, according to a German translation of his comments. "As long as I am the President of the United States, the German Chancellor need not worry about that," he added.
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| Commons at his peak with Celtic Posted: 18 Jan 2014 04:50 PM PST  Celtic midfielder Kris Commons believes he is in the best form of his career after bagging another double in the 3-0 win over Motherwell at Parkhead. "The ball is dropping very nicely for me and it's the sort of form you dream to be in but very rarely do you keep scoring," the Celtic player said. Attacking-wise we had Gary Hooper, Georgios Samaras and Anthony Stokes and we were all scoring good goals. His manager Neil Lennon admitted after the match that he was running out of superlatives for Commons.
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| 'Mother charged over death of Scottish toddler' Posted: 18 Jan 2014 04:26 PM PST  The mother of a three-year-old Scottish boy whose disappearance sparked a massive search was charged late Saturday in connection with his death, media reports said. Police said a 33-year-old woman had been charged following the discovery of Mikaeel Kular's body shortly before midnight on Friday, miles (kilometres) from his home in Edinburgh. Media reports named the woman as Rosdeep Kular, his mother.
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| Celtic cruise to 10th successive win Posted: 18 Jan 2014 04:24 PM PST  Kris Commons grabbed a double as 10-man Celtic cruised to their 10th win in a row after seeing off Motherwell 3-0 at Parkhead on Saturday. Celtic took the lead with just over four minutes on the clock as Commons stroked home the opener. Both sides had chances before Anthony Stokes earned Celtic a 39th minute penalty which Commons despatched for his 19th of the season. Motherwell's James McFadden missed a chance to pull one back for his side just after the break when he failed to beat Fraser Forster from six yards out before former Celtic captain Stephen McManus turned the ball past his own keeper in the 68th minute to make it 3-0.
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| BBC staff 'turned blind eye' to Savile abuse Posted: 18 Jan 2014 04:10 PM PST  BBC staff turned a blind eye to the sexual abuse by star presenter Jimmy Savile of up to 1,000 girls and boys in the corporation's changing rooms and studios, according an internal inquiry leaked Sunday. The inquiry by former judge Janet Smith found Savile's behaviour had been recognised by executives at the world's biggest public broadcaster but they took no action to stop him, according to the Observer newspaper. A police investigation concluded last year that the television and radio presenter, who died in 2011 aged 84, was a predatory sex offender who abused children as young as eight over more than 50 years. Peter Saunders, chief executive of the National Association for People Abused in Childhood, which has been consulted by Smith's inquiry, said many people at the BBC admitted knowing about Savile's behaviour.
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| Syria opposition to join peace talks to oust Assad Posted: 18 Jan 2014 03:34 PM PST  Syria's deeply divided opposition finally agreed Saturday to join an international peace conference, saying it wanted to remove President Bashar al-Assad from power, a day after Damascus offered concessions. Damascus had already said it will attend, although US Secretary of State John Kerry has accused the regime of diversionary tactics, saying "nobody is going to be fooled". Leader Ahmad Jarba said the umbrella group would be there with the sole aim of removing Assad from power. Western powers welcomed the opposition decision, which Kerry said was "in the interests of all the Syrian people who have suffered so horribly under the brutality of the (Bashar-al-) Assad regime".
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| Hollande partner leaves hospital after affair scandal Posted: 18 Jan 2014 03:29 PM PST  President Francois Hollande's partner emerged from a week's stay in hospital Saturday as the French leader faced calls to clear up his personal life after his affair with an actress was made public. First Lady Valerie Trierweiler left the Paris hospital, where she had been admitted on January 10 suffering from nervous exhaustion and low blood pressure, for a presidential residence in Versailles, a source in her office told AFP. In her first public comments since the scandal over Hollande's affair broke, Trierweiler tweeted her thanks to her supporters. Concern had been mounting for Trierweiler, 48, after she fell ill following the revelation that Hollande, 59, had been having an affair with 41-year-old actress Julie Gayet.
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| Afghan attack deadliest of war for foreign workers Posted: 18 Jan 2014 03:24 PM PST  KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A Taliban attack against a popular Kabul restaurant killed 21 people, authorities said Saturday, making it the deadliest single attack against foreign civilians in the course of a nearly 13-year U.S.-led war there now approaching its end.
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| Canadian pilot feared dead in South American jungle Posted: 18 Jan 2014 03:17 PM PST  GEORGETOWN (Guyana) (AFP) - A Canadian pilot was among two people feared dead Saturday when the small plane he was flying went down in Guyana's thick Amazon jungle two minutes after takeoff, authorities said.
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| Berlusconi agrees to help rival leader in Italy Posted: 18 Jan 2014 02:56 PM PST  ROME (AP) — Former Premier Silvio Berlusconi, booted out of Parliament last year after his tax fraud conviction, met Saturday with his chief political foe, the leader of the main government coalition party, and agreed to back reforms to finally make Italy more governable.
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| British teen claims new South Pole trek record Posted: 18 Jan 2014 02:46 PM PST  A 16-year-old British schoolboy on Saturday became the youngest person ever to trek to the South Pole, his team said. Lewis Clarke celebrated with a bowl of pasta with fresh parmesan cheese, his first real meal since setting off on the gruelling 702-mile (1,129-kilometre) journey from the coast on December 2. The teenager and his guide, Carl Alvey, travelled across the Antarctic on skis, unsupported except for a few food drops and braving temperatures as low as minus 50C, according to Clarke's website. The pair arrived at the South Pole at 1800 GMT and after tucking into his meal Clarke called his relieved parents back home in Bristol, in western England.
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| O'Sullivan, Selby into Masters final Posted: 18 Jan 2014 02:40 PM PST  Ronnie O'Sullivan eased past Stephen Maguire 6-2 to set up a Masters final showdown with defending champion Mark Selby. O'Sullivan, 38, finished off the semi-final with a century break. Sunday's title match will be a repeat of the 2009 and 2010 finals, with O'Sullivan chasing his fifth Masters title. "This is the final of the Masters and you have to enjoy occasions like this," O'Sullivan told the BBC.
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| Syrian opposition says to attend talks, backed by rebel fighters Posted: 18 Jan 2014 02:38 PM PST  By Dasha Afanasieva SILIVRI, Turkey (Reuters) - Syria's main political opposition group in exile agreed on Saturday to attend internationally sponsored peace talks, and said for the first time three rebel fighting forces also wanted to take part. The agreement by the Syrian National Coalition - and the chance of fighters backing the process - will be a boost for Western supporters of the "Geneva 2" talks seen as the most serious global effort yet to end the near three-year conflict. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government was not immediately available to comment on the prospect of rebel militia representatives playing a role at the negotiations to end fighting that killed more than 100,000 people. National Coalition spokesman Louay Safi told Reuters the Soldiers of the Levant, the Syrian Revolutionaries Front and the Mujahideen Army all wanted "to have some representation within the delegation" at the talks on Wednesday in Montreux.
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| Guinea president reinstates premier after polls Posted: 18 Jan 2014 02:35 PM PST  Guinea's President Alpha Conde said on Saturday he had reinstated his prime minister just three days after accepting his resignation to make way for a new administration following parliamentary elections. Mohamed Said Fofana was quoted in a presidential statement on Wednesday as announcing that he and his government were stepping down and thanking Conde "for the confidence he has put in me over the three years" of his premiership. Fofana's resignation, which had been widely expected as part of the west African nation's return to democracy following years of unrest, came two days after the newly-elected national assembly opened for business.
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| Syrian opposition to attend peace conference Posted: 18 Jan 2014 02:29 PM PST  ISTANBUL (AP) — The main, Western-backed Syrian opposition group voted Saturday in favor of attending a coming peace conference aimed at ending the country's bloody civil war, paving the way for the first direct talks between the rival sides in the nearly three-year conflict.
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| Obama fuels reform on some but not all NSA spying Posted: 18 Jan 2014 02:14 PM PST  WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama's orders to change some U.S. surveillance practices put the burden on Congress to deal with a national security controversy that has alarmed Americans and outraged foreign allies. Yet he avoided major action on the practice of sweeping up billions of phone, email and text messages from across the globe.
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| Davids calls time on ill-fated Barnet stay Posted: 18 Jan 2014 02:13 PM PST  Former Juventus star and Dutch international Edgar Davids called time on his ill-fated spell as head coach of non-league English side Barnet on Saturday. The 40-year-old joined the London club in October 2012 as a joint manager alongside Mark Robson, and took sole charge soon after. "Barnet Football Club tonight announce that Edgar Davids has resigned by mutual agreement from his position as head coach," the club said in a statement on www.barnetfc.com.
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| Iran's supreme leader commutes almost 900 sentences Posted: 18 Jan 2014 01:31 PM PST  Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei agreed on Saturday to pardon or reduce the sentences of 878 people in honor of the Prophet Mohammad's birthday on Sunday, the state news agency IRNA reported. Last September, some 80 political prisoners were released, including prominent human rights activist and lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh, just before a trip by President Hassan Rouhani to the U.N. General Assembly in New York. IRNA did not say whether any of those pardoned on Saturday had been convicted of political offences. There did not appear to be any change in the status of Iran's two most prominent political prisoners - former presidential candidates Mirhossein Moussavi and Mehdi Karroubi - who have been under house arrest for nearly three years.
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| Britain welcomes 'difficult' Syria opposition decision Posted: 18 Jan 2014 01:22 PM PST  British Foreign Secretary William Hague on Saturday welcomed the "difficult" decision by Syria's deeply divided opposition to join an international peace conference next week. "All who share their vision of a democratic and pluralist Syria need to join together in support. Hague repeated that any deal agreed to end the conflict, which has killed 130,000 people since March 2011, would require the removal of President Bashar al-Assad from power. "As I have said many times, any mutually agreed settlement means that Assad can play no role in Syria's future."
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| French first lady leaves hospital after resting Posted: 18 Jan 2014 01:18 PM PST PARIS (AP) — France's first lady on Saturday ended a more than weeklong stay at a hospital where she went to rest after a gossip magazine's report about an alleged affair between President Francois Hollande and an actress. |
| Voters overwhelmingly back new Egypt constitution Posted: 18 Jan 2014 01:17 PM PST  CAIRO (AP) — Almost everyone who cast ballots supported Egypt's new constitution in this week's referendum, results announced Saturday show, but a boycott by Islamists and low youth turnout suggest the country is still dangerously divided.
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| Fresh fighting in C. Africa as presidential vote looms Posted: 18 Jan 2014 01:14 PM PST  Bangui (Central African Republic) (AFP) - Fresh fighting broke out in the strife-torn Central African Republic as the deadline closed Saturday for candidates seeking to be chosen by parliament as the new interim president. Sectarian violence has gripped the landlocked country after a March 2013 coup launched by the mostly Muslim Seleka rebels, and the UN has warned that the bloodshed could turn into genocide. "It is a sign of the still fraught and highly dangerous situation in the Central African Republic that children and their families have been attacked and killed while trying to evacuate to safety," said Robert Lankenau from the charity. The Seleka were disbanded after installing their leader as president in the mainly Christian country.
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| Ecuador's Correa rebukes 'intrusions' by UN, Americas court Posted: 18 Jan 2014 01:13 PM PST  Ecuador's President Rafael Correa on Saturday rebuked requests by major international bodies for clarification on his anti-abortion position and decision to extract oil from an Amazon reserve. The president revealed that his government had received letters from the UN and Inter-American Court of Human Rights pressing him on the matters, which he says are domestic.
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| Firefighters hold line against southern California wildfire Posted: 18 Jan 2014 01:09 PM PST By Alex Dobuzinskis LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Firefighters sought to prevent a wildfire in the foothills near Los Angeles from flaring up on Saturday, as they put out embers from a blaze that has destroyed five homes, officials said. The so-called Colby Fire, which officials said started from a campfire early on Thursday, has blackened nearly 1,900 acres of drought-parched chaparral and is 30 percent contained, said U.S. Forest Service spokesman Robert Brady. That was the same level of containment firefighters reported on Friday, but officials were optimistic they were gaining the upper hand on the blaze centered in the San Gabriel Mountains, on territory that is part of the Angeles National Forest. More than 1,100 firefighters, backed by four water-dropping airplanes and three helicopters, are battling the blaze, officials said. |
| Burundi eye CHAN last-eight after late show Posted: 18 Jan 2014 01:08 PM PST  Durban (South Africa) (AFP) - Burundi on Saturday left it late to shoot to the top of Group D of the 2014 CHAN after they stunned Mauritania 3-2 in Durban. The youthful Burundi are now top of the group with four points, while Gabon are second also with four points after they defeated DR Congo 1-0. DRC have three points while point-less Mauritania have been eliminated from the competition. Burundi skipper Yamini fired home the winner in stoppage time with a superb long-range strike when it had looked like this match would end in a draw.
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| Libyan planes attack unruly militias in south, army on alert Posted: 18 Jan 2014 01:03 PM PST  By Feras Bosalum and Ulf Laessing TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Libyan war planes attacked targets in the restive south on Saturday after gunmen stormed an air force base and the government ordered in ground troops following days of skirmishes between rival tribesmen and militias. Western powers fear the OPEC producer could slide into further instability as the government struggles to contain heavily-armed militias, tribesmen and Islamists who helped to topple Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 but refuse to disarm. Prime Minister Ali Zeidan went on national television to announce he had ordered troops to be sent to the south after a group of gunmen entered the Tamahind air force base outside Sabha, 770 km (480 miles) south of the capital Tripoli. Defence Ministry spokesman Abdul-Raziq al-Shabahi said later that government forces had regained control of the base after air strikes.
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| Egypt approves constitution by 98% as Sisi eyes presidency Posted: 18 Jan 2014 01:02 PM PST Egyptian voters have approved a new constitution by 98.1 percent, the elections chief said Saturday, in what the government declared a popular endorsement of the army's overthrow of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi. The result of the Tuesday-Wednesday vote had never been in doubt, as Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamists boycotted it, but the authorities wanted a large turnout in the first democratic test since the ouster in July. Army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the general who led the overthrow, had been monitoring the outcome for an indication of support for a possible presidential bid, military officials said. The new charter replaces an Islamist-inspired one adopted in a December 2012 referendum under Morsi with about two-thirds of the vote and a 33 percent turnout. |
| Libyan air force attacks unruly militias in south: ministry Posted: 18 Jan 2014 12:53 PM PST TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Libya is using its air force to try to end unrest in the remote south that it blames on forces loyal to ousted ruler Muammar Gaddafi, the Defence Ministry said on Saturday. Parliament earlier put the army on alert after gunmen stormed an air force base near the southern city of Sabha, the scene of days of clashes between rival armed groups. "A force was readied, then aircraft moved and took off and dealt with the targets," Defence Ministry spokesman Abdul-Raziq al-Shabahi told reporters in Tripoli. (Reporting by Ulf Laessing; Editing by Kevin Liffey) |
| 21 killed in wave of Baghdad attacks Posted: 18 Jan 2014 12:52 PM PST  Attacks across Baghdad, including car bombs at an up-scale shopping mall and near a juvenile detention centre, killed 21 people Saturday as rising violence fuels fears of all-out sectarian war. The bombings and a deadly, weeks-long standoff in the western province of Anbar, part of a nationwide surge in violence that has already killed more than 600 this month, come just months ahead of parliamentary elections. Diplomats including UN chief Ban Ki-moon have urged authorities to pursue political reconciliation with disaffected Sunni Arabs to resolve the unrest, but the US has said it will provide training for Iraqi forces in a third country and ship small arms to the country's security forces. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has taken a hard line and ruled out dialogue with militants.
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| Italy boot camp trains soldiers from restive Libya Posted: 18 Jan 2014 12:46 PM PST  CASSINO (Italy) (AFP) - Libyan recruits are being put through their paces starting this month at a boot camp in Italy as part of an international programme to restore stability amid unrest since the fall of dictator Moamer Kadhafi. Some of them are former rebels who fought to oust Kadhafi as part of ragtag opposition forces and the training is taking place at an Italian army base in Cassino, 100 kilometres (62 miles) south of Rome. The new soldiers "support a free Libya", Lieutenant General Claudio Graziano, chief of staff of the Italian army, said Saturday during a visit to the base -- near the site of the famous World War II battle of Monte Cassino. Britain, Turkey and the United States are all taking part in the initiative to train up a total of 15,000 troops but Graziano said that Italy -- Libya's former colonial master -- was "taking the lead".
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| Clashes, bombings kill 30 people in Iraq Posted: 18 Jan 2014 12:35 PM PST  BAGHDAD (AP) — Violence across Iraq, including a series of car bombings and fighting between militants and government troops over control of the country's contested Anbar province, killed at least 30 people Saturday, officials said.
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