| Putin tells Kiev to let troops surrender as Ukraine ceasefire unravels Posted: 17 Feb 2015 01:33 PM PST  By Anton Zverev and Vladimir Soldatkin NIKISHINE, Ukraine/BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin told Kiev to let its soldiers surrender to pro-Russian rebels, who spurned a ceasefire in eastern Ukraine and fought their way on Tuesday into the town of Debaltseve, encircling thousands of government troops. Putin, whom Western countries accuse of directing the rebel assault with Russian soldiers and weapons, said Kiev should allow its soldiers to surrender to the advancing rebels.
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| 'Commie-loving Mainlanders' targeted at Hong Kong's top university Posted: 17 Feb 2015 01:05 PM PST  By Clare Baldwin and Lizzie Ko HONG KONG (Reuters) - A campus election at a top Hong Kong university degenerated into an acrimonious campaign against mainland Chinese candidates, highlighting simmering tensions two months after pro-democracy protests led by local students paralysed parts of the city. Mainland students say they have always felt a distance from their local peers, but recent events in the Chinese-controlled city have fueled a burgeoning Hong Kong identity among many younger residents, alongside frustration and anger at Beijing. "To brainwashed Commie-loving Mainlanders, we despise you!", read a flyer posted on the University of Hong Kong's (HKU) "Democracy Wall", underscoring the sharpening divide. The so-called "Umbrella Movement" protests late last year, calling for full democracy in Hong Kong, posed the greatest challenge to China's authority since the crushing of a pro-democracy movement in Beijing in 1989.
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| Argentina asks U.S. to include 1994 bombing in Iran nuclear talks Posted: 17 Feb 2015 01:10 PM PST  By Hugh Bronstein BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Argentina wants the United States to help it get to the bottom of a deadly 1994 bombing at the heart of a current political scandal by including the crime in the U.S. nuclear talks with Iran, its foreign minister said on Tuesday. The unresolved crime was the backdrop for the Jan. 18 death of the prosecutor who headed the AMIA investigation, a mystery that has damaged confidence in Argentina's justice system and thrown the government into turmoil. Foreign Minister Hector Timerman released a letter to his U.S. counterpart John Kerry in which he said Argentina had made the request before. "I am asking you again that the AMIA issue be included in the negotiations with the Islamic Republic of Iran," it said.
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| Awash in opium, Afghan 'wild west' slips from Kabul's grasp Posted: 17 Feb 2015 02:54 PM PST  By Jessica Donati and Mirwais Harooni FARAH, Afghanistan (Reuters) - In fields less than a 10-minute drive from the intelligence headquarters of Afghanistan's remote western province of Farah, farmers are planting their first illegal opium crop of the year. Taliban insurgents control half of the region bordering Iran, government officials estimate. In one district, Khaki Safed, the sacked local government chief refuses to step down. Worried villagers there say a former Taliban commander is leading an armed band several dozen strong who have pledged allegiance to Islamic State.
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| Warplane strikes at western Libyan town Zintan: official Posted: 17 Feb 2015 02:36 PM PST A war plane carried out air strikes on a western Libyan town allied with the internationally recognized government on Tuesday, in what officials charged was an attack by the rival government controlling Tripoli. Libya is increasingly divided, with Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni's recognized government and his allies locked in a conflict with a rival faction that took over the capital and established its own self-declared government. The United Nations is negotiating a deal between the factions to stop the North African country's slide into wider civil war, four years after the uprising that toppled leader Muammar Gaddafi. The military jet attacked, hitting the airport in the western town of Zintan in the mountains near the Tunisian border, airport officials from Zintan said. |
| Explosions, gunfire at south Nigeria rally kill policeman Posted: 17 Feb 2015 11:05 AM PST By Tim Cocks LAGOS (Reuters) - Explosions hit an opposition political rally in southern Nigeria on Tuesday and Islamist insurgents struck in the north, with unrest spreading after a presidential election was postponed. A police officer was killed and several people wounded when five explosions and a burst of gunfire hit an opposition rally in Okrika in southern Nigeria's oil producing Rivers state, home town of President Goodluck Jonathan's wife Patience. In the north, suspected Boko Haram Islamist bombers killed at least 10 people in three blasts at a military checkpoint and a suicide bombing at a restaurant. A presidential election due to take place last Saturday has been postponed for six weeks, raising fears of the spread of violence in a country where voting has often been accompanied by unrest. |
| Top Asian News at 1:00 a.m. GMT Posted: 17 Feb 2015 05:03 PM PST WASHINGTON (AP) — The leader of a U.N. commission of inquiry that found North Korea committed crimes against humanity said Tuesday that members of the panel are ready to go anywhere to talk to the North's government - but it refuses to engage. Michael Kirby addressed a conference in Washington marking the anniversary of the publication of the commission's landmark report, which called for North Korea to be referred to the International Criminal Court. |
| Nadal wins in Rio in first clay-court match of season Posted: 17 Feb 2015 04:57 PM PST  RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Top-seeded Rafael Nadal defeated Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil at the Rio Open on Tuesday, winning 6-4, 6-1 in his first clay-court match of the season.
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| Syria proposes Aleppo humanitarian ceasefire: diplomat Posted: 17 Feb 2015 04:55 PM PST  The Syrian regime is willing to suspend its aerial bombardment of Aleppo for six weeks to allow for a localized humanitarian ceasefire, a UN diplomat said Tuesday. Staffan de Mistura, the United Nations' special envoy to Syria, announced the initiative during private meetings with the Security Council. "The government of Syria has indicated to me its willingness to halt all aerial bombing and artillery shelling for a period of six weeks all over the city of Aleppo from a date we'll announce from Damascus," de Mistura told journalists after addressing the Security Council. De Mistura, an Italian-Swedish diplomat, recently went to Syria and met President Bashar al-Assad.
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| Monfils saves 5 set points in 1st-round win against Zverev Posted: 17 Feb 2015 04:54 PM PST MARSEILLE, France (AP) — Seventh-seeded Gael Monfils of France saved five set points on the way to a 6-1, 7-6 (12) win against teenager Alexander Zverev in the first round of the Open 13 tournament on Tuesday. |
| Argentina gov't braces for march to protest prosecutor death Posted: 17 Feb 2015 04:51 PM PST  BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Security forces patrolling near a Wednesday protest march over a prosecutor's mysterious death will not be allowed to carry weapons in order to avoid "provocations," Argentina's security chief said Tuesday.
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| NZ coach Hesson upbeat after win over Scotland at World Cup Posted: 17 Feb 2015 04:43 PM PST WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand coach Mike Hesson maintains his players got the "job done" with their unconvincing three-wicket win over Scotland in their second Cricket World Cup. |
| Obama vows to fight immigration ruling Posted: 17 Feb 2015 04:40 PM PST  US President Barack Obama claimed history and the law were on his side Tuesday, as he vowed to fight a court order freezing controversial immigration reforms. Obama had used an executive order to bypass a hostile Congress and drive through measures to protect about four million undocumented foreigners from deportation.
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| 2 accused in alleged Halifax mall plot face more charges Posted: 17 Feb 2015 04:34 PM PST  HALIFAX, Nova Scotia (AP) — An American woman and a Canadian man accused of plotting to open fire in a Halifax shopping mall now face more charges.
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| Opposition warns of abuse under proposed Canada spy law Posted: 17 Feb 2015 04:30 PM PST  Sweeping powers to be granted to Canada's spy agency in proposed anti-terror legislation might be used against the government's political enemies, the opposition warned Tuesday. "The language is so broad that it would allow CSIS (Canadian Security Intelligence Service) to investigate anyone who challenges economic or social policy," opposition New Democratic Party leader Thomas Mulcair said about the bill. The legislation giving CSIS increased powers to thwart terror plots is part of a national security overhaul prompted by twin terror attacks three months ago -- the first on Canadian soil. Prime Minister Stephen Harper said that the opposition is indulging in "conspiracy theories" with its criticism of the bill.
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| U.S. army to provide equipment, intelligence to fight Boko Haram Posted: 17 Feb 2015 04:26 PM PST  By Daniel Flynn N'DJAMENA (Reuters) - The U.S. military will share communications equipment and intelligence with African allies to assist them in the fight against Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram, the commander of U.S. Special Forces operations in Africa said. West African military commanders have long complained that cross-border operations against Islamist groups, from al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) in Mali to Boko Haram in Nigeria, have been obstructed by lack of compatible communications equipment, making it hard to swap information and coordinate.
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| U.S. EPA chief hints at softening carbon rule interim timeline Posted: 17 Feb 2015 04:20 PM PST By Valerie Volcovici WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Environmental Protection Agency said on Tuesday that it may ease an interim deadline for states to meet tougher carbon emission standards after regulators and electric utilities complained a lack of time may destabilize electricity supplies. EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy told an audience of state utility regulators meeting in Washington that she was giving them a "big hint" the agency may loosen the interim targets set in its proposed rule for existing power plants, under which each state would need to show an assigned average emission reduction between 2020 and 2029. Its Clean Power Plan envisions a 30 percent carbon emissions cut from the power sector by 2030, with each state meeting an EPA-assigned carbon reduction goal. |
| Syria willing to suspend Aleppo air strikes for six weeks: U.N Posted: 17 Feb 2015 04:18 PM PST By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations mediator on Syria said on Tuesday that the government had expressed a willingness to suspend its aerial bombardment and artillery shelling of the northern city of Aleppo to allow for a local ceasefire to be tested. Staffan de Mistura said opposition forces would be asked to suspend mortar and rocket fire. "The government of Syria has indicated to me its willingness to halt all aerial bombing ... and artillery shelling for a period of six weeks all over the city of Aleppo from a date which we will be announcing from Damascus," de Mistura told reporters after briefing the U.N. Security Council. He said he would travel to Syria as soon as possible. |
| Obama ranks N.Korea cyber capabilities as not so good Posted: 17 Feb 2015 04:17 PM PST  Iran is "good," China and Russia are "very good," but North Korea's cyberattack capabilities are actually not that great, according to an impromptu ranking by US President Barack Obama. In an interview with online site "re/code" published Tuesday, Obama used North Korea's relative lack of electronic prowess to underscore how dangerous even less skilled cyber attackers can be. "Just to give you a sense of how challenging this is — it's not as if North Korea is particularly good at this," Obama said. Obama slapped sanctions on North Korea last month following the hacking of Hollywood studio Sony Pictures' computer network.
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| UN envoy: Syria willing to suspend Aleppo strikes 6 weeks Posted: 17 Feb 2015 04:07 PM PST UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United Nations envoy to Syria said Tuesday he has received a commitment from the Syrian government to suspend airstrikes on the city of Aleppo for six weeks to allow a proposed U.N. plan to "freeze" hostilities in the country's largest city to be tested. |
| Divers find record trove of gold coins in Mediterranean Posted: 17 Feb 2015 04:02 PM PST  Scuba divers have discovered the largest trove of gold coins ever found off Israel's Mediterranean coast -- about 2,000 pieces dating back more than 1,000 years, the country's antiquities authority said Tuesday. "The largest treasure of gold coins discovered in Israel was found in recent weeks on the seabed in the ancient harbour in Caesarea," the authority said in a statement. Experts from the authority called to the site uncovered "almost 2,000 gold coins in different denominations" circulated by the Fatimid Caliphate, which ruled much of the Middle East and North Africa from 909 to 1171. Kobi Sharvit, director of the marine archaeology unit at the Israel Antiquities Authority, said excavations would be carried out in the hope of shedding more light on the origin of the treasure.
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| Greece eyes EU loan deal without painful bailout duties Posted: 17 Feb 2015 03:58 PM PST  Greece will ask to extend its European loan agreement without signing up to the loathed duties of a full-blown bailout, its finance minister said Tuesday, as Brussels pressures Athens for a deal. Greek public television reported Athens will on Wednesday send a letter to Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the head of the Eurogroup, requesting a six-month extension. "We should extend the credit programme by a few months to have enough stability so that we can negotiate a new agreement between Greece and Europe," Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis told German public broadcaster ZDF.
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| Danish intelligence knew gunman 'at risk of radicalisation' Posted: 17 Feb 2015 03:47 PM PST  Danish security agencies were under scrutiny Tuesday over the weekend shootings that sent jitters through Europe, after intelligence officials acknowledged the suspected gunman had been flagged up as being at risk of radicalisation. The Danish intelligence agency said the prison service had raised concerns about Omar El-Hussein, a 22-year-old Dane of Palestinian origin with a history of violence, but that there was no evidence he had been planning attacks. Police were out in force in Copenhagen on Tuesday, with a brief security alert over a suspicious letter found near the cultural centre adding to the jitters. Denmark was marked out for attack by radical Islamists after the Jyllands-Posten daily published cartoons mocking the Prophet Mohammed in 2005, triggering deadly riots in the Muslim world.
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| Telegraph political writer quits, accuses 'bias' Posted: 17 Feb 2015 03:44 PM PST  Chief political commentator Peter Oborne announced his resignation from the Daily Telegraph on Tuesday in a searing attack on the newspaper published online. Oborne accused the broadsheet of suppressing negative stories about banking giant HSBC to keep the valuable advertiser happy.
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| 'Miracle' mementoes: Brooks' Olympic stuff up for auction Posted: 17 Feb 2015 03:37 PM PST  The "Miracle on Ice" was a triumph years in the making under the careful, demanding and creative guidance of coach Herb Brooks.
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| Egypt's Sisi calls for Libya coalition under U.N. mandate Posted: 17 Feb 2015 03:36 PM PST  Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has called for a United Nations resolution mandating an international coalition to intervene in Libya after Egypt's air force bombed Islamic State targets there. "There is no other choice, taking into account the agreement of the Libyan people and government and that they call on us to act," he told France's Europe 1 radio in an interview aired on Tuesday. "We have to work together to defeat terrorism." Egypt directly intervened for the first time in the conflict in neighbouring Libya on Monday after an Islamic State group in the country released a video showing the beheading of 21 Egyptian Christians.
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| Courtois saves help Chelsea hold PSG Posted: 17 Feb 2015 03:30 PM PST  A first-half away goal by Branislav Ivanovic and some fine goalkeeping by Thibaut Courtois put Chelsea in command of their Champions League last-16 tie with Paris Saint-Germain as Tuesday's first leg ended 1-1. Ivanovic headed in on 36 minutes after Gary Cahill had helped the ball into his path to give Chelsea the lead from their first and only real chance of the evening at the Parc des Princes. Edinson Cavani replied with a header of his own in the 54th minute and PSG enjoyed the bulk of the chances but Courtois intervened time and again to keep the Premier League leaders on level terms.
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| Sam Querrey injures back, retires from Delray Beach Open Posted: 17 Feb 2015 03:21 PM PST DELRAY BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Sam Querrey felt good when he arrived in Delray Beach. |
| Al-Jazeera producer hopes to be cleared in Egypt retrial Posted: 17 Feb 2015 03:21 PM PST  CAIRO (AP) — An Al-Jazeera English journalist who is getting to know his six-month-old son for the first time after spending more than a year in Egyptian prisons said Tuesday he was optimistic that a retrial beginning next week would exonerate him.
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| Australia ratchets up pressure on Indonesia over executions Posted: 17 Feb 2015 03:20 PM PST  By Matt Siegel SYDNEY (Reuters) - Indonesia owes it to Australia not to execute two Australian drug offenders on death row, Prime Minister Tony Abbott said on Wednesday, ratcheting up a diplomatic war of words that is threatening to sour relations between the neighbors. Australia has been pursuing an eleventh-hour campaign to save the lives of Myuran Sukumaran, 33, and Andrew Chan, 31, two members of the so-called Bali Nine, convicted in 2005 as the ringleaders of a plot to smuggle heroin out of Indonesia. Indonesia has harsh penalties for drug trafficking and resumed executions in 2013 after a five-year gap. Abbott urged Indonesia to remember the devastating 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, saying Australia would feel "grievously let down" if the executions proceeded despite the roughly A$1 billion in assistance it rendered Indonesia during that tragedy.
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| Suicide attacks kill 38 as Boko Haram threatens Nigeria vote Posted: 17 Feb 2015 03:20 PM PST  Two suicide attacks in northeast Nigeria killed at least 38 people Tuesday, less than six weeks from elections, as the leader of Boko Haram vowed to disrupt the vote. "This election will not be held even if we are dead," Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau said in a new video, in what appeared to the first from the group released on Twitter. Speaking before Shekau's threat, Niger's President Mahamadou Issoufou vowed that his country would herald the end for the rebels, whose six-year insurgency has killed more than 13,000 people.
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| In a first for a fish, Oregon chub removed from endangered list Posted: 17 Feb 2015 03:18 PM PST  By Courtney Sherwood PORTLAND, Ore. (Reuters) - For the first time, a fish has been removed from U.S. Endangered Species Act protection as federal officials declared on Tuesday that a tiny shimmering minnow found only in an Oregon valley was no longer in danger of extinction. Millions of the two-inch (5-cm) fish, the Oregon chub, once swam in waters surrounding Western Oregon's Willamette River. Fewer than 1,000 remained in just eight wetlands in 1993 when the chub gained endangered species protection. The fish's resurgence shows that habitat improvement and species recovery efforts can succeed even in areas heavily impacted by agriculture and urban development, said Paul Henson, Oregon supervisor with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife service.
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| Opposition alliance wins parliamentary elections in St Kitts Posted: 17 Feb 2015 03:17 PM PST BASSETERRE, St. Kitts (AP) — An alliance of three opposition parties won parliamentary elections in St. Kitts and Nevis, denying the former governing party and its prime minister a fifth consecutive term in power, officials said Tuesday. |
| Government shuts schools in Togo after student protests Posted: 17 Feb 2015 03:17 PM PST  Togo on Tuesday temporarily shut all schools in the country, with the exception of universities, after a protest by students over repeated strikes by teachers, the government said.
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| Governor apologizes for police treatment of Indian man Posted: 17 Feb 2015 03:16 PM PST BIRMINGHAM, Alabama (AP) — Gov. Robert Bentley apologized to the Indian government for the treatment of an Indian man who was roughed-up by police, calling the case one of "excessive force" in a letter made public Tuesday. |
| Haiti in mourning after Carnival accident kills 16 Posted: 17 Feb 2015 03:14 PM PST  Port-au-Prince (AFP) - Haiti was plunged into mourning and Carnival festivities were cancelled Tuesday after at least 16 people died when a high-voltage cable hit a parade float in the capital Port-au-Prince. "What happened is a tragedy," Prime Minister Evans Paul said. The group's star singer, who goes by the name "Fantom," was struck directly by the fallen cable and was in hospital, the website Haiti Press Network said. "Sharing in the grief of the families affected by this drama, the government has decided to suspend all carnival festivities across the country," his office said in a statement.
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| Cavani goal earns PSG 1-1 draw vs. Chelsea in Champions Lge Posted: 17 Feb 2015 03:06 PM PST  PARIS (AP) — Striker Edinson Cavani gave Paris Saint-Germain a Champions League lifeline on Tuesday with a second-half equalizer as his team battled to a 1-1 draw with Chelsea in the last 16.
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| Turkey government battles to push protest bill into parliament Posted: 17 Feb 2015 03:03 PM PST  Turkey's ruling party on Tuesday sought to push through parliament a contentious security bill boosting police powers to crack down on protests, with the opposition using delaying tactics to thwart the debate. The opposition fears the bill will effectively create a police state under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and opposition lawmakers were introducing motions on unrelated issues to prevent the debate starting at a marathon midnight session in Ankara. The so-called "homeland security reform" bill was submitted to parliament by the ruling Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP) after deadly pro-Kurdish protests in October. "Opposition parties will do their best to slow it down and stop it from coming to the parliament floor," he said, adding that parliament was scheduled to work flat out, including weekends, in order to pass the legislation.
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| Putin visits his EU friend, Hungary's Orban, amid Ukraine tension Posted: 17 Feb 2015 03:01 PM PST  Russian President Vladimir Putin paid a controversial visit to Budapest on Tuesday, showing the world he still has a friend in Europe in Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban despite East-West tension over Ukraine. After holding talks in the Hungarian capital, the two leaders announced they had reached a "political agreement" on a new flexible long-term contract for Russian gas to reach Hungary, to replace a deal that expires this year. "We value our reputation as a reliable supplier of energy resources in Europe and in Hungary," said Putin, who has been shunned by other European leaders in recent months due to events in Ukraine and rights issues in Russia.
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| Analysis: Egypt embarks on ambitious anti-terror campaign Posted: 17 Feb 2015 02:59 PM PST  CAIRO (AP) — Egypt is making an ambitious bid to place itself at the center of the fight against extremism across the Middle East. Beyond fighting militants in its own Sinai Peninsula, it is trying to organize an international coalition against the Islamic State in Libya and helping Saudi Arabia defend its borders.
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