| Iran invite to Syria talks withdrawn after boycott threat Posted: 20 Jan 2014 02:39 PM PST  By Louis Charbonneau and Parisa Hafezi UNITED NATIONS/ANKARA (Reuters) - U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon withdrew a last-minute invitation to Iran to attend peace talks on Syria on Monday after the Syrian opposition threatened to boycott this week's conference if President Bashar al-Assad's main sponsor took part. Ending nearly 24 hours of confusion that dismayed diplomats who have spent months cajoling Assad's opponents to negotiate, Ban's spokesman said Iran was no longer welcome at the initial day of talks at Montreux, Switzerland on Wednesday. But the uproar over Iran, which has provided Assad with money, arms and men, underlined the difficulties of negotiating an end to a bloody, three-year civil war that has divided the Middle East and world powers. Ban, his spokesman said, made the invitation to Iran after Iranian officials assured him they supported the conclusion of a U.N. conference in 2012, known as Geneva-1, which called for a transitional administration to take over power in Syria - something neither Assad nor Tehran have been willing to embrace.
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| Nigerian Islamists kill 18, burn houses in northeast Posted: 20 Jan 2014 08:26 AM PST By Ibrahim Mshelizza MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (Reuters) - Islamist militants stormed a village in remote northeast Nigeria on Monday, torching houses and spraying them with bullets in an attack that killed 18 people, witnesses said. The latest Boko Haram assault, on Sunday night, came hours before Nigeria's four top military chiefs handed over to fresh commanders in a ceremony on Monday. President Goodluck Jonathan announced the reshuffle of his entire military leadership last week in a bid to reinvigorate the fight against the insurgents. "Most of those who survived the attack have fled the village as they do not know if they will be attacked again," said Bulama Ibrahim, the chief of Alau Ngawo village, which was attacked sometime after 10 p.m. on Sunday. |
| Ukrainian leader urges dialogue after street battles Posted: 20 Jan 2014 11:28 AM PST  By Richard Balmforth KIEV (Reuters) - President Viktor Yanukovich, reeling from the worst violence for decades in the Ukrainian capital, appealed for compromise on Monday as police and demonstrators clashed again in the streets. Yanukovich is battling to reassert his authority after scores of people were injured in Kiev on Sunday in pitched battles between protesters and police that could seriously hurt his chances of re-election next year. With tension still high, about 1,000 protesters confronted police on Monday near Kiev's main government headquarters. After weeks of mass protests over Yanukovich's decision to shun a trade pact with the European Union and turn instead towards Russia, demonstrators have been further enraged by sweeping laws rammed through parliament to curb public protest, "I ask you not to join those who seek violence, who are trying to create a division between the state and society and who want to hurl the Ukrainian people into a pit of mass disorder," Yanukovich said in an appeal on his website.
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| U.S. military says readying plans for Olympic security assistance Posted: 20 Jan 2014 04:49 PM PST  The U.S. military said on Monday that air and naval assets, including two ships in the Black Sea, would be made available if needed during the Sochi Winter Olympics in support of Russia, which faces militant threats to disrupt the Games. The Pentagon said U.S. military commanders were "conducting prudent planning and preparations" should American support be required during the Winter Olympics. "Air and naval assets, to include two Navy ships in the Black Sea, will be available if requested for all manner of contingencies in support of - and in consultation with - the Russian government." The Pentagon statement came the same day that two men said by Islamist militants to have carried out suicide attacks in south Russia appeared in a video donning explosive belts and warning Russian President Vladimir Putin to expect a "present" at the Sochi Winter Olympics from fighters following after them. But U.S. officials have concluded there would be major obstacles to mounting a large-scale effort by the military or other U.S. government resources to evacuate Americans from Sochi, said a source familiar with Obama administration debates.
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| Kerry to meet Israeli, Palestinian negotiators Posted: 20 Jan 2014 11:10 AM PST  U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will meet Israeli negotiators in Washington on Monday and Palestinian officials later next week in U.S.-brokered peace talks to end their decades-long conflict, the State Department said. Kerry and U.S. negotiator Martin Indyk will meet with Israeli justice minister Tzipi Livni and envoy Itzik Molho later on Monday "to continue the discussion on a framework for negotiations," the State Department said in a statement. "We expect the Palestinian negotiating team to travel to Washington early next week," the State Department said. Israeli-Palestinian negotiations resumed in July after a three-year halt, with Kerry leading the push for an accord within nine months.
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| Syria's opposition split over peace talks after Iran excluded Posted: 20 Jan 2014 04:32 PM PST  Syria's main opposition group confirmed late Monday it would take part in peace talks this week after the UN withdrew an invitation for Iran -- the main ally to Damascus. However the biggest bloc in Syria's opposition-in-exile, the Syrian National Council (SNC) said late Monday it was quitting the umbrella Syrian National Coalition in protest over the Geneva II peace talks with the Damascus regime. The SNC said taking part in the talks would renege on its "commitments" to not enter negotiations until Syrian President Bashar al-Assad left power -- something he refuses to do. Earlier the larger Syrian National Coalition in a statement said it "welcomed the decision of the United Nations Secretary General Mr Ban Ki-moon to withdraw the invitation sent to Iran, given that Iran has not met the conditions of participation in Geneva 2 conference".
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| Russians study Islamic video threatening Olympics Posted: 20 Jan 2014 04:03 PM PST  MOSCOW (AP) — Russia's counter-terrorism agency says it's studying a video posted by an Islamic militant group that asserted responsibility for suicide bombings that killed 34 people last month and is threatening to strike the Winter Olympics in Sochi.
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| Panama rejects proposal in canal cost dispute Posted: 20 Jan 2014 03:57 PM PST  PANAMA CITY, Panama (AP) — The Spanish-led consortium working on expanding the Panama Canal said Monday it has proposed that the canal authority help co-finance $1.6 billion in cost overruns on the huge project. The Panama Canal Authority rejected the idea.
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| UN rescinds invitation to Iran to attend talks Posted: 20 Jan 2014 03:51 PM PST  GENEVA (AP) — A last-minute U.N. invitation for Iran to join this week's Syria peace talks threw the long-awaited Geneva conference into doubt Monday, forcing U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon to rescind his offer under intense U.S. pressure after the opposition threatened to boycott.
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| West Virginia looks to tighten rules after chemical spill contaminated water Posted: 20 Jan 2014 03:46 PM PST  (Reuters) - West Virginia's governor on Monday proposed legislation to regulate above-ground storage tanks, a move that comes after a spill of coal-processing chemicals shut off drinking water to about 300,000 people. Governor Earl Ray Tomblin said the proposed rules would regulate above-ground tanks, including those near public water supplies and distribution systems. "The discharge of chemicals or other contaminants into our water supply is unacceptable and will not be tolerated," Tomblin, a Democrat, said in a joint statement with U.S. Senator Joe Manchin, also a Democrat, and the heads of the state Senate and House of Delegates. About 300,000 people around Charleston, the state capital, were banned from using tap water for anything but flushing toilets following the January 9 spill of 4-methylcyclohexane methanol, or crude MCHM, into the Elk River.
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| UN says running out of food for Central Africa Posted: 20 Jan 2014 03:35 PM PST  The United Nations said Monday it was running out of food for a growing number of homeless people in Central African Republic, with spreading unrest hobbling distribution efforts. The UN's World Food Programme (WFP) said 38 trucks carrying rice are stuck at the Cameroon border and drivers were refusing to cross the frontier due to the threat of attacks. "WFP cereal stocks are close to being exhausted and pulses too will soon run out," said a WFP statement. WFP regional director Denis Brown said the main road from Cameroon into Central African Republic, which has been in conflict for nearly a year, was a humanitarian "lifeline."
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| Malawi rights group seeks review of gays' jail sentences Posted: 20 Jan 2014 03:29 PM PST  Blantyre (Malawi) (AFP) - A Malawi high court on Monday began hearing a petition by a leading rights group seeking to obtain the review of jail sentences of three gays and to overturn laws that criminalise homosexuality. "We want the court to declare the laws that criminalise homosexuality in Malawi unconstitutional," Gift Trapence, director of a rights group, the Centre for Development of People (CEDEP), told AFP. "We are also seeking a review of sentences passed by the courts to three men who are serving long jail terms for homosexual acts," said Trapence. In 2011, a magistrate court sentenced Amon Champyuni, Mathew Bello and Mussa Chiwisi to between six years and 12 years in jail with hard labour for unnatural acts and buggery offences.
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| Syria guilty of 'industrial-scale killing': Qatar-backed report Posted: 20 Jan 2014 03:22 PM PST  Three former international prosecutors have accused Syria of large-scale killing and torture in a report -- based on evidence of a defector -- commissioned by Qatar, which backs Syrian rebels, the Guardian and CNN reported Monday. The release came a day before talks were due to be held in Geneva aimed at negotiating an end to Syria's bloody civil war. The informant, a photographer who claims to have defected from the Syrian military police, presented forensic experts commissioned by the London legal firm representing Qatar with around 55,000 digital images of 11,000 dead detainees.
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| Guinea president decrees new government Posted: 20 Jan 2014 03:17 PM PST  Guinea's president, Alpha Conde, late Monday issued a decree forming a new government keeping in place his prime minister and over half the cabinet members, but excluding any opposition figure. Prime Minister Mohamed Said Fofana -- who was reinstated on Saturday despite resigning just three days earlier -- will continue to head the 34-minister government, the decree said. Fofana, who has held the premiership for the past three years, had been quoted last week in a presidential statement that he and his government were stepping down.
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| Embattled Turkey PM faces tough visit to EU Posted: 20 Jan 2014 03:15 PM PST  Turkey's embattled Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan sought Monday to downplay the risk of a crisis with the European Union as he headed to Brussels facing a row over controversial judical reforms. European officials have voiced deep concern about the state of democracy in Turkey and the independence of its institutions after the government, facing its worst crisis since coming to power over a decade ago, moved to tighten its control on the judiciary in the wake of a vast corruption probe. Erdogan insisted 2014 would be a "turning point" in Turkey's relations with the EU, after the resumption of membership talks late last year following a three-year freeze. But he told reporters before leaving for Brussels that the government would not back down on the plans to reform top judicial body the Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK) and that it would move ahead with a "brave" reform agenda this year.
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| Canadian pilot killed in Guyana jungle crash Posted: 20 Jan 2014 03:14 PM PST  Georgetown (Guyana) (AFP) - A Canadian pilot whose single engine plane went down two days ago over Guyana's thick jungle was found dead at the crash site Monday along with a Guyanese co-worker, officials said.
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| ICC threatens to return asylum-seeking witnesses to Congo Posted: 20 Jan 2014 03:12 PM PST  The International Criminal Court on Monday threatened to return to their home country three Congolese witness-detainees who sought asylum in the Netherlands almost three years ago, pressing the Dutch authorities for a decision. The unnamed witnesses were sent from a prison in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to testify in March 2011 in the cases of Congolese ex-militia bosses Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui and Germain Katanga. "The Appeals Chamber ordered the ICC Registrar to take the necessary steps to return the witnesses, without delay, to the DRC after consultation with the authorities of the Netherlands," the Hague-based ICC said in a statement. The three witnesses were detained at the ICC's detention unit and applied for Dutch asylum shortly after giving evidence, saying they would be persecuted back home after incriminating President Joseph Kabila.
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| Osisko rejects hostile Goldcorp takeover bid Posted: 20 Jan 2014 03:11 PM PST  Canada's Osisko Mining Corp. on Monday rejected a Can$2.6 billion (US$2.4 billion) hostile takeover bid by mining giant Goldcorp, calling it insufficient. "The Special Committee and Board of Directors have determined ... that the offer is financially inadequate and not in the best interests of Osisko," the Quebec-based company said in a statement. In announcing the bid last week, Vancouver-based Goldcorp proposed one of the biggest mining sector deals in more than a year. Osisko said Goldcorp's offer "significantly undervalues" its "world-class" Malartic gold mine in western Quebec, as well as the rest of its portfolio in North America.
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| Conflict-torn C.Africa gets first woman president Posted: 20 Jan 2014 03:03 PM PST  Bangui (Central African Republic) (AFP) - The mayor of the Central African Republic's capital Bangui was chosen as interim president Monday, becoming the first woman to lead the violence-wracked country, as the European Union agreed to send hundreds of troops to help stem the bloodshed. Catherine Samba-Panza, a businesswoman with a reputation as a fighter who became Bangui mayor last year, was elected in a second-round vote by the transitional parliament. In her victory speech, Samba-Panza -- who won 75 votes against 53 for Desire Kolingba, the son of a former president -- called for an end to violence by the mostly Muslim Seleka ex-rebels and Christian self-defence militias known as "anti-balaka" (anti-machete). "I'm launching a resounding appeal to my anti-balaka children who are listening to me: Show your support for my nomination by giving the strong signal of laying down your weapons," said Samba-Panza, who is Christian but did not campaign on a religious platform.
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| Central Africa's tenacious new interim leader Posted: 20 Jan 2014 03:00 PM PST  Bangui (Central African Republic) (AFP) - Catherine Samba-Panza, the affable mayor of the Central African Republic capital Bangui who was chosen as the troubled country's interim president on Monday, is known for her tenaciousness. Following the election by the transitional parliament -- in which she edged out Desire Kolingba, the son of a former president, to become the country's first woman leader -- she called for an end to violence by the mostly Muslim Seleka ex-rebels and Christian self-defence militias known as anti-balaka (machetes). "I'm launching a resounding appeal to my anti-balaka children who are listening to me: Show your support for my nomination by giving the strong signal of laying down your weapons," said Samba-Panza, who is Christian but did not campaign on a religious platform. Born in Chad, the daughter of a Cameroonian father and a Central African mother, Samba-Panza represents the country's diversity, which previously was not a source of conflict in a long history of coups, attempted coups and army mutinies since independence from France in 1960.
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| Lawyers see war crimes charges for Syrian officials: newspaper Posted: 20 Jan 2014 02:34 PM PST By Guy Faulconbridge LONDON (Reuters) - Syrian officials could face war crimes charges after a military police photographer defected and provided evidence showing the systematic killing of 11,000 detainees, the Guardian newspaper reported, citing three lawyers who had examined the files. The photographs will ratchet up the pressure on President Bashar al-Assad, who the United States and its Western allies say has committed war crimes against his own people. Assad denies war crimes and says he is fighting 'terrorists'. The report said the photographs and files were smuggled out of Syria and provided by a Syrian military police photographer who asked to be identified as 'Caesar'. |
| Nigeria's new top brass eyes swift end to Boko Haram Posted: 20 Jan 2014 02:17 PM PST  Nigeria's top military officer on Monday called for a swift end to the Islamist insurgency gripping the country's north, as he was sworn in as the new chief of defence staff. "The security situation in the northeast must be brought to a complete stop before April 2014," Air Marshall Alex Badeh said after his investiture ceremony in the capital, Abuja. Badeh, whose home state Adamawa is one of three in Nigeria's northeast to have been under emergency rule since last May, set the April deadline to avoid what he said were "constitutional problems". "We don't want to go back to the (upper chamber of parliament) Senate to go and start begging and lobbying (for an extension to emergency rule)," he added.
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| UN withdraws invite to Iran to attend Syria talks Posted: 20 Jan 2014 02:02 PM PST  GENEVA (AP) — A last-minute U.N. invitation for Iran to join this week's Syria peace talks threw the long-awaited Geneva conference into doubt Monday, forcing U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon to rescind his offer after the opposition threatened to boycott.
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| US hails withdrawal of Iran invite to Syria meet Posted: 20 Jan 2014 02:00 PM PST WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States on Monday welcomed U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon's decision to rescind his invitation to Iran to attend an international conference on Syria this week, saying it hoped the move would refocus attention on the goals of the meeting. |
| U.S. says hopeful sides can now focus on ending Syria conflict Posted: 20 Jan 2014 02:00 PM PST The United States said on Monday it was hopeful after the UN withdrew an invitation for Iran to attend Syria talks that all parties could refocus their efforts to end the Syrian civil war. The UN said late on Monday it had withdrawn an offer to Iran to attend the talks in Switzerland on January 22 after Tehran failed to support a 2012 plan for a political transition in Syria. "We are hopeful that, in the wake of today's announcement, all parties can now return to focus on the task at hand, which is bringing an end to the suffering of the Syrian people and beginning a process toward a long overdue political transition," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in a statement. She said the purpose of the conference was to implement a 2012 plan to establish a political transition in Syria. |
| South Sudan army wrests back last key town from rebels Posted: 20 Jan 2014 01:50 PM PST  South Sudan's army said it had seized back full control of the strategic town of Malakal Monday after almost a week of bitter street fighting, the last major settlement under rebel control. Malakal's recapture, one of the main battlefields since fighting erupted in the country last month, comes just two days after government troops celebrated the retaking of Bor, another key town and capital of Jonglei state. Thousands have been killed and half a million civilians have been forced to flee the fighting between troops loyal to President Salva Kiir and rebels loyal to his sacked deputy Riek Machar. But the recapture of the final large town under rebel control opens up the possibility of a shift in ceasefire talks deadlocked for two weeks, with some suggesting the government had been reluctant to strike a deal while rebels still claimed urban centres.
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| Arab bloggers aim to boost cyberactivism Posted: 20 Jan 2014 01:41 PM PST  "Discussions today included digital security and how to defend ourselves through the Internet," Leila Nachawtai, a media coordinator at the launch of the Fourth Arab Bloggers Summit, told AFP. Bloggers and social media activists from across the Middle East and North Africa are taking part in the four-day meeting "to debate and develop new strategies to deal with the rising challenges," organisers said in a statement.
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| Israel policy splits Palestinian families Posted: 20 Jan 2014 01:29 PM PST  Israel's restrictions on Palestinian movement between Gaza and the West Bank is separating relatives and making family life impossible for tens of thousands of people, an Israeli human rights report said Monday. Jointly published by rights watchdogs B'Tselem and HaMoked, the 42-page report documents the impact of Israel's policy of tightly restricting Palestinian movement into and out of the Hamas-run Gaza Strip. "Israel's declared policy of isolating the Gaza Strip severely violates the right to family life of tens of thousands of Palestinians living in split families, divided between Gaza and Israel, or between Gaza and the West Bank," it said.
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| Iran excluded from Syria peace talks: UN Posted: 20 Jan 2014 01:27 PM PST  The United Nations on Monday canceled Iran's invitation to attend a Syria peace conference this week on account of its refusal to back calls for a transitional government in Syria. UN spokesman Martin Nesirky said Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is "deeply disappointed" at Iran's statements rejecting a 2012 communique adopted by international powers on ending the Syria war. "Given that it has chosen to remain outside that basic understanding, he has decided that the one-day Montreux gathering will proceed without Iran's participation," Nesirky said at a press briefing. Ban issued a surprise invitation on Sunday for Iran to attend the start of the Syria peace conference in the Swiss town on Wednesday.
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| Rape and murder in South Sudan's Bor Posted: 20 Jan 2014 01:26 PM PST  Bor (South Sudan) (AFP) - Sitting in a corner under a mosquito net in Bor hospital, two women recount a horrific ordeal at the hands of South Sudanese rebels. Achin Mapio and Mary Yar, both patients, say they were repeatedly raped, had their food stolen and watched in terror as other patients were dragged out of the wards and shot.
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| Fugitive Greek extremist taunts government Posted: 20 Jan 2014 01:21 PM PST  One of Greece's deadliest far-left extremists, who disappeared while on prison leave, on Monday taunted and threatened the country's government which he said had ruined the country with austerity measures. "Your democracy is long dead, and the aberration that remains is so blatantly fascist that the hooks of the swastika protrude," Christodoulos Xiros wrote in an online tract accompanied by a brief video of himself. ... When I return I will screw you," said Xiros, wearing a red tracksuit top and standing before images of Che Guevara, two heroes of Greece's revolutionary war against Turkey and a Greek civil war Communist guerrilla leader.
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| Ban Ki-moon withdraws Iran's invite to Syria peace talks Posted: 20 Jan 2014 01:19 PM PST  U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday withdrew an offer for Iran to attend Syria peace negotiations after Tehran declared it does not support the June 2012 political transition deal that is the basis for the talks. "He (Ban) continues to urge Iran to join the global consensus behind the Geneva communiqué," Ban's spokesman Martin Nesirky said. "Given that it has chosen to remain outside that basic understanding, (Ban) has decided that the one-day Montreux gathering will proceed without Iran's participation." Ban said earlier that Iran's public statement that it did not support the 2012 Geneva deal calling for a transitional government for Syria was "not consistent" with assurances he had been given by Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.
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| Comet-chasing probe wakes up, signals Earth Posted: 20 Jan 2014 01:05 PM PST  BERLIN (AP) — Waking up after almost three years of hibernation, a comet-chasing spacecraft sent its first signal back to Earth on Monday, prompting cheers from scientists who hope to use it to land the first space lander onto a comet.
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| Syria's National Coalition says to decide on Geneva 2 after U.N. statement Posted: 20 Jan 2014 01:05 PM PST Syria's main political opposition in exile said on Monday it would decide whether to attend the Geneva 2 conference in Switzerland after an announcement by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Iran's attendance at the talks. "It is expected that the Secretary-General of the UN will be holding a press conference during the next few hours in order to show the position of the United Nations from the invitation sent to Iran to attend Geneva 2," the National Coalition's statement said. "The Coalition will send its final position on the basis of the statement of the Secretary-General." Coalition spokesman Louay Safi later said his group would not attend Geneva 2 unless the invitation to Tehran was withdrawn. "I expect the Secretary-General to withdraw the invitation and if he does not withdraw it we will not go and there will not be a conference and the responsibility for that will be Ban Ki-moon's." The National Coalition had earlier said it would pull out of the talks scheduled this week unless Ban revoked his invitation to Iran, President Bashar al-Assad's main backer, setting a deadline of 1900 GMT for the invitation to be withdrawn. |
| At least one rocket hits outskirts of Israel's Eilat Posted: 20 Jan 2014 01:04 PM PST  At least one rocket struck the outskirts of Israel's southern Red Sea resort of Eilat on Monday, a security source told AFP. "At least one rocket was fired at Eilat and they found the remains on the outskirts of the city," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity, adding the searches were continuing. Neither the police nor the army could confirm rocket fire on the city, although residents had reported hearing several explosions earlier in the evening, a police statement said. That attack was claimed by a Gaza-based Salafist group called the Mujahedeen Shura Council, which has previously said its militants in Sinai had staged several rocket attacks on Eilat.
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