| Yearning for freedom brought down Berlin Wall, says Merkel Posted: 08 Nov 2014 12:14 PM PST  By Erik Kirschbaum BERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Saturday an irrepressible yearning for freedom brought the Berlin Wall tumbling down 25 years ago and called it a "miracle" that the Cold War barrier was breached without a shot being fired. Speaking on the eve of Sunday's celebrations to mark the 25th anniversary of the Berlin Wall's collapse, Merkel said Germany would always be grateful for the courage of East Germans who took to the streets to protest the Communist dictatorship. ...
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| U.S. air strikes target Islamic State convoy in Iraq Posted: 08 Nov 2014 02:11 PM PST  By Michael Georgy and Phil Stewart BAGHDAD/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. air strikes destroyed an Islamic State convoy near the Iraqi city of Mosul but U.S. officials said on Saturday it was unclear whether the group's top commander Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi had been in any of the 10 targeted vehicles. Colonel Patrick Ryder, a Central Command spokesman, said the U.S. military had reason to believe that the convoy was carrying leaders of Islamic State, an al Qaeda offshoot which controls large chunks of Iraq and Syria. The convoy consisted of 10 Islamic State armed trucks. ...
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| Iran says nuclear deal within reach by November 24, no alternatives Posted: 08 Nov 2014 12:41 PM PST  DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran sees no alternative to a diplomatic settlement with six world powers on its nuclear program and believes both sides are resolved to reach a deal by a self-imposed Nov. 24 deadline, its deputy foreign minister said on Saturday. Mohammad Javad Zarif will hold talks with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and senior European Union envoy Catherine Ashton in Oman on Sunday to try to narrow big gaps before full negotiations formally resume in Vienna on Nov. 18. ...
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| Gorbachev says world is on brink of new Cold War Posted: 08 Nov 2014 11:03 AM PST  By Bettina Borgfeld BERLIN (Reuters) - Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev warned in a speech in Berlin on Saturday that East-West tensions over the Ukraine crisis were threatening to push the world into a new Cold War, 25 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Gorbachev, who is credited with forging a rapprochement with the West that led to the demise of communist regimes across Eastern Europe, accused the West, and the United States in particular, of not fulfilling their promises after 1989. "The world is on the brink of a new Cold War. ...
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| Yemen's Houthis reject new power-sharing government Posted: 08 Nov 2014 11:20 AM PST  SANAA (Reuters) - Yemen's Houthi movement, which seized the capital Sanaa in September, on Saturday rejected a new power-sharing government that President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi announced on Friday, thwarting his efforts to end the country's political crisis. The group, which demands a bigger say for the country's Zaydi Shi'ite Muslim sect and controls Yemen's most powerful militia, said Hadi's choice of cabinet ministers "dashed hopes and did not abide by what was agreed upon". ...
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| Israeli Arabs declare strike after police kill man during arrest raid Posted: 08 Nov 2014 12:12 PM PST  By Amar Awad KAFR KANA Israel (Reuters) - Community leaders of Israel's Arab minority declared a 24-hour general commercial strike, starting on Sunday, following the shooting dead by police of a man from the village of Kafr Kana in the north of the country. Thousands took to the streets on Saturday and some threw rocks and lit fires at the entrance to Kafr Kana near a main road hours after Khayr al-Din al-Hamdan was shot by police after he attacked them as they came to arrest a relative. Hamdan died of his wounds at a nearby hospital, police said. ...
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| Nissan recalls 52,000 vehicles for faulty air bags Posted: 08 Nov 2014 05:00 PM PST NEW YORK (AP) — Nissan is recalling more than 52,000 vehicles for passenger air bags that can explode with too much force and send shards of metal into the passenger compartment. |
| Judge rejects changes to detainee's force-feeding Posted: 08 Nov 2014 04:58 PM PST WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge has turned down a request from a Guantanamo Bay hunger striker to alter the way he is force-fed, including the daily practice of inserting and removing his feeding tube. |
| OSCE 'very concerned' by tanks, convoys in Ukraine Posted: 08 Nov 2014 04:57 PM PST  The OSCE said it was "very concerned" after its monitors witnessed columns of tanks, howitizers and troop carriers moving through east Ukraine in territory held by pro-Russia separatists. Monitors from the European security organisation said in a statement late Saturday they had "observed convoys of heavy weapons and tanks" in the area of the rebel-held city of Donetsk and nearby Makiivka. The OSCE report came a day after Ukraine's military said it had spotted a large column of tanks and other heavy weapons entering the country from Russia across a section of border that has fallen under control of rebel fighters.
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| NYC mayor calls on feds to fix Puerto Rican canal Posted: 08 Nov 2014 04:55 PM PST  SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is calling on the federal government to clean a contaminated canal in Puerto Rico.
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| Another Arizona immigration law struck down Posted: 08 Nov 2014 04:53 PM PST  PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona's frustrations over federal enforcement of the state's border with Mexico spawned a movement nearly a decade ago to have local police confront illegal immigration. Now, the state's experiment in immigration enforcement is falling apart in the courts.
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| 2 Americans held in North Korea whisked back home Posted: 08 Nov 2014 04:45 PM PST WASHINGTON (AP) — Two Americans held by North Korea were on their way home Saturday after their release was secured through a secret mission by the top U.S. intelligence official to the reclusive communist country. |
| Top Asian News at 12:30 a.m. GMT Posted: 08 Nov 2014 04:33 PM PST BEIJING (AP) — Ministers from Pacific Rim countries on Saturday endorsed a call to formally start work on a free-trade initiative seen as an effort by China to raise its influence in trade policy. The ministers meeting ahead of next week's gathering of leaders from the United States, China, Japan and other countries at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit also endorsed a proposal to cooperate on fighting official corruption, Chinese officials said. |
| Hanyu takes 2nd at Cup of China after scary crash Posted: 08 Nov 2014 04:32 PM PST  SHANGHAI (AP) — Yuzuru Hanyu's free skate at the Cup of China began with a scary crash with another skater in warm-ups that left him on his back on the ice, gasping for air and with blood streaming across his neck and face from a cut on his chin.
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| 'Enough, I'm tired' comment rallies Mexico protest Posted: 08 Nov 2014 04:15 PM PST  MEXICO CITY (AP) — An off-the-cuff comment by the attorney general to cut off a news conference about the apparent killing of 43 missing college students has been taken up by protesters as a rallying cry against Mexico's corruption and drug trade-fueled violence.
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| Morocco insists on delaying African Cup over Ebola Posted: 08 Nov 2014 04:14 PM PST RABAT, Morocco (AP) — Morocco is sticking to its demand to postpone the African Cup of Nations football tournament due to the outbreak of Ebola in West Africa, despite pressure from the Confederation of African Football. |
| Mexico's 43 students dreamt of teaching before tragic end Posted: 08 Nov 2014 04:13 PM PST  The 43 college students left behind empty dorm rooms and dreams of becoming teachers before embarking on a trip that ended tragically in southern Mexico. The young men had come to the Ayotzinapa rural teacher-training college from other poor villages of Guerrero state, hoping to live a better life.
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| UN Security Council urges unity in new Yemen government Posted: 08 Nov 2014 04:00 PM PST  The United Nations Security Council urged political forces in Yemen to unite Saturday, as serious ruptures appeared in the impoverished nation's nascent cabinet. Yemen announced Friday a new 36-member government under a UN-brokered peace deal agreed when Shiite Huthi rebels seized the capital on September 21. Security Council members "expressed their support to President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi and Prime Minister Khaled Bahah and encouraged all parties to participate peacefully and constructively in taking forward this transition," the Council said in a statement.
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| Americans freed by North Korea after spy chief mission Posted: 08 Nov 2014 03:56 PM PST  The last two Americans serving lengthy prison sentences in North Korea headed home Saturday after the reclusive state freed them following a secret mission by US intelligence chief James Clapper. North Korea's surprise release of Kenneth Bae and Matthew Miller followed the equally unexpected decision by Pyongyang last month to free 56-year-old US national Jeffrey Fowle. President Barack Obama hailed the "wonderful" move, as State Department officials said there had been no "quid pro quo" deal with North Korea to secure Bae and Miller's freedom.
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| 5.1-magnitude quake hits western Greece Posted: 08 Nov 2014 03:53 PM PST ATHENS, Greece (AP) — A strong 5.1-magnitude tremor has hit just west of the Greek island of Cephalonia in the Ionian Sea. |
| Take That to tour as trio Posted: 08 Nov 2014 03:45 PM PST  London (AFP) - Take That announced Friday they will tour as a trio for the first time next year, with Jason Orange having quit the British pop group and Robbie Williams not participating.
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| US airstrikes target Islamic State leaders in Iraq Posted: 08 Nov 2014 03:43 PM PST  BAGHDAD (AP) — The U.S.-led coalition conducted a series of airstrikes targeting a gathering of Islamic State leaders near the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, a senior U.S. defense official said Saturday.
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| Braga beats 10-man Gil Vicente 2-0 to move 4th Posted: 08 Nov 2014 03:32 PM PST LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Braga scored twice in the final 10 minutes to beat 10-man Gil Vicente 2-0 at home, provisionally moving into fourth place in the Portuguese league on Saturday. |
| Bordeaux beats Lens 2-1 in France Posted: 08 Nov 2014 03:18 PM PST PARIS (AP) — Bordeaux beat struggling Lens 2-1 to go level on points with second-place Paris Saint-Germain in the French league on Saturday. |
| Suarez leads Barca comeback, Madrid stays on top Posted: 08 Nov 2014 03:10 PM PST  BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Luis Suarez set up two late goals to help Barcelona earn a 2-1 comeback victory at Almeria and break a two-game losing run in the Spanish league, while Cristiano Ronaldo scored again as Real Madrid stayed at the top of the table on Saturday.
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| Families in Ebola-hit S.Leone face long wait for freedom Posted: 08 Nov 2014 03:09 PM PST  Wary neighbours, police watches and food left outside the house -- the lot of the families quarantined due to Ebola in Sierra Leone's capital Freetown is a mix of ostracism and excruciating boredom. Amasoula Kagome, 19, knows the pain of Ebola only too well.
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| Catalans hope for big turnout in symbolic independence vote Posted: 08 Nov 2014 03:05 PM PST  By Inmaculada Sanz and Elena Gyldenkerne BARCELONA (Reuters) - Hundreds of thousands of Catalans are expected to back independence from Spain on Sunday in a symbolic referendum on secession being held across the northeastern region, despite opposition from Madrid. The "consultation of citizens" follows a legal block by the central government against a more formal, albeit still non-binding ballot which regional leaders had been pushing for. Pro-independence organizations have campaigned vigorously for a big turnout from the wealthy region's 7. ...
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| Yemen's Saleh moves to spike new government Posted: 08 Nov 2014 02:50 PM PST  Sanaa (AFP) - Yemen's ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh dismissed UN sanctions against him and senior Huthi rebel chiefs, pulling his party Saturday from a new cabinet and plunging the country into deeper chaos.
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| Thousands protest in Romania over presidential vote Posted: 08 Nov 2014 02:47 PM PST  Some 10,000 people protested in Romania on Saturday, accusing the government of limiting voting from citizens living abroad in last weekend's presidential polls. Thousands of Romanians living abroad were allegedly unable to vote in the November 2 first-round presidential election due to an insufficient number of open polling stations in countries including France, Germany and Britain. Prime Minister Victor Ponta finished first in the vote with 40 percent of the ballots, while his conservative rival Klaus Iohannis took 30 percent. Nearly 7,000 people gathered in Cluj in the northwest while another 1,500 protested in the western city of Timisoara, where the anti-communist uprising that led to the fall of dictator Nicolae Ceausescu began in 1989.
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| Darfur camp dwellers stalked by militia, poverty Posted: 08 Nov 2014 02:40 PM PST  Intended as a safe haven, a camp housing tens of thousands of people fleeing conflict in Sudan's Darfur region is becoming a virtual prison with armed militias roaming outside. The dusty streets of Kalma bustle with 163,000 internally displaced persons, but leaving is fraught with danger. Armed groups wait beyond the perimeter and residents say there are too few UN peacekeepers to protect them, while government security forces guard roads to the nearby state capital Nyala. By a mud-brick schoolhouse, community representative Sheikh Ali said militias -- whom he claims are armed by the government -- target vulnerable residents.
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| 10 years after death, Arafat still Palestinian icon Posted: 08 Nov 2014 02:33 PM PST  For decades, Yasser Arafat was the incarnation of the Palestinian fight for independence. When he died on November 11, 2004, he was the president of a moribund Palestinian Authority, an interim body set up in 1994 which was to have handed power to a permanent government by 1999. His successor Mahmud Abbas has managed to obtain the UN rank of observer state, but on the ground the Palestinians still await their own state some 66 years after Israel was established. "It was Arafat who was the first to take the painful decision to recognise the 1967 lines and abandon 78 percent of historic Palestine and open the way to coexistence," said Xavier Abu Eid, spokesman for the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) which signed the 1993 Oslo peace accords with Israel.
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| AC Milan's winless streak stretches to 4 matches Posted: 08 Nov 2014 02:32 PM PST  ROME (AP) — AC Milan's winless streak stretched to four matches following a 2-2 draw at third-place Sampdoria in Serie A on Saturday, although the Rossoneri could at least celebrate promising young forward Stephan El Shaarawy breaking his scoring drought.
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| Chelsea, Bayern Munich win to keep up title charge Posted: 08 Nov 2014 02:22 PM PST  LONDON (AP) — Just three months into the season, it is hard to see how Chelsea can be stopped in its remorseless charge to the English Premier League title.
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| US-led airstrikes hit IS militant leaders in Iraq Posted: 08 Nov 2014 02:21 PM PST  The US-led coalition unleashed airstrikes near the Iraqi city of Mosul targeting top jihadist militants, officials said Saturday, but the fate of the Islamic State group's enigmatic leader remained unclear. Claims swirled that hardline IS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi had been killed in the attacks late Friday, but US officials could not confirm if he had even been present. The news came after US President Barack Obama unveiled plans to send up to 1,500 more US troops to Iraq to help battle the militants who have seized a large swathe of territory. In fresh violence, some 33 people were killed in a wave of car bombings against Shiite areas in the capital Baghdad, highlighting again the security challenge facing Iraqis even within government-controlled zones.
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| French forces say 24 extremists killed in Mali operation Posted: 08 Nov 2014 02:00 PM PST  French forces have killed 24 extremists and seized arms in a large-scale operation in northern Mali, where it intervened last year to put down an Islamist rebellion, the French army said Saturday. The operation in the Kidal region resulted in "weakening the terrorist networks in northern Mali and loosening their grip on the population" in the area, it said. French troops intervened in Mali in January 2013 to chase out hardline Islamists, including Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, which had seized control of the country's northern desert cities. This intervention was replaced several months ago by a wider counter-terrorism operation, codenamed Barkhane, in five countries along the southern rim of the Sahara including Mali.
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| Chelsea beats Liverpool as City drops more points Posted: 08 Nov 2014 01:57 PM PST  LONDON (AP) — Chelsea passed another major test of its Premier League title credentials on Saturday, beating Liverpool 2-1 away to maintain a fierce pace at the top of the standings that defending champion Manchester City cannot live with.
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| Nigeria military clears and releases 125 'Boko Haram detainees' Posted: 08 Nov 2014 01:52 PM PST  Nigeria's military on Saturday released 125 people it said were arrested in an operation against Boko Haram but were later found to not be part of the Islamist group. Throughout Boko Haram's five-year uprising, Nigeria's security services have been criticised for carrying out mass arrests and holding alleged Islamist rebels indefinitely with little or no evidence. Rights groups have pressured Nigeria to either charge in court or release the suspected militants it has in custody. Northeast army spokesman Sani Usman told journalists the 125 individuals were picked up on September 23 in the town of Biu in Borno state, Boko Haram's stronghold.
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| Guatemala apologizes to people displaced for dam Posted: 08 Nov 2014 01:35 PM PST  GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — Guatemala's president has apologized to 33 communities of indigenous Achi people who were forced to abandon their homes to make way for construction of the Chixoy hydroelectric dam in the north of the Central American country.
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| Germans, foreigners fete Berlin Wall's fall 25 years on Posted: 08 Nov 2014 01:34 PM PST  Hundreds of thousands descended on the German capital Saturday for festivities to mark the Berlin Wall's fall 25 years ago, stirring emotions and bringing memories flooding back of its joyous toppling. In bright but chilly autumnal sunshine, German and foreign visitors flocked to symbolic points along the Wall's route ahead of the anniversary Sunday of the peaceful revolution in 1989 that led to the border's opening. Germany would reunite within a year, on October 3, 1990. People posed for photos in front of the few remaining graffiti-daubed slabs of the Wall, or read information boards about the grim reality of life under Berlin's 28-year division.
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| Veria draws 2-2 at Ergotelis in Greek league Posted: 08 Nov 2014 01:34 PM PST ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Veria came from behind twice to draw 2-2 at Ergotelis in the Greek league on Saturday. |
