| Iran has stopped dismantling nuclear centrifuges: senior official Posted: 10 Nov 2015 07:22 AM PST  Iran has stopped dismantling centrifuges in two uranium enrichment plants, state media reported on Tuesday, days after conservative lawmakers complained to President Hassan Rouhani that the process was too rushed. Last week, Iran announced it had begun shutting down inactive centrifuges at the Natanz and Fordow plants under the terms of a deal struck with world powers in July that limits its nuclear program in exchange for easing sanctions. Iran's hardliners continue to resist and undermine the nuclear deal, which was forged by moderates they oppose and which they see as a capitulation to the West.
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| Exclusive: Russia to propose Syrians launch 18-month reform process - document Posted: 10 Nov 2015 01:34 PM PST  (Reuters) - Russia wants the Syrian government and opposition to agree on launching a constitutional reform process of up to 18 months, followed by early presidential elections, a draft document obtained by Reuters showed on Tuesday. The eight-point proposal, drawn up by Moscow before international talks on Syria this week, does not rule out President Bashar al-Assad's participation in the elections - something his foes say is impossible if there is to be peace. "(The) popularly elected president of Syria will have the functions of commander-in-chief of the armed forces, control of special services and foreign policy," the document said.
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| Obama likely to discuss Syria with leaders at G20 meeting Posted: 10 Nov 2015 11:08 AM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama will discuss the crisis in Syria with U.S. allies during the upcoming G20 meeting, a White House spokesman said on Tuesday. "It'd be impossible to travel all the way over there and not spend some time thinking about and talking about our ongoing effort to degrade and ultimately destroy ISIL. So I would anticipate that would be part of the President's visit," said White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest, using a common acronym for Islamic State, the militant group active in Syria. ...
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| China: 'Bad idea' for U.N. council for discuss North Korea rights Posted: 10 Nov 2015 04:24 PM PST  China said on Tuesday it would be a "bad idea" for the United Nations Security Council to revive discussions on human rights in North Korea, which has been accused by a U.N. inquiry of abuses comparable to Nazi-era atrocities. U.N. diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity, have said the council could hold another meeting on the human rights situation in North Korea next month when the United States is president of the 15-member body. "I heard the suggestion, I believe it's a bad idea," said China's U.N. ambassador, Liu Jieyi.
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| Saudi Arabia pushes U.N. panel to condemn Iran intervention in Syria Posted: 10 Nov 2015 02:30 PM PST By Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia is pushing the U.N. General Assembly's human rights committee to condemn Iranian and Russian intervention in Syria, a move that prompted complaints on Tuesday from the delegations of Iran and Syria. The non-binding draft resolution, prepared by Saudi Arabia and co-sponsored by Qatar and other Arab nations, the United States, Britain, France and other Western powers, was presented during a meeting of the assembly's Third Committee, which focuses on human rights. |
| Three men killed in Jordan attack worked for U.S. security firm Posted: 10 Nov 2015 03:11 PM PST  Three men killed in Monday's shooting attack at a police training center near Amman Jordan worked for DynCorp International, an American intelligence and security contractor, the company said on Tuesday. DynCorp said in a statement that one of its employees killed in the incident was American, one was South African and the third was Jordanian. DynCorp said Fields began working for DynCorp as a police advisor in Iraq in 2006, and worked as a police advisor in Afghanistan before moving to the Jordanian International Police Training Center, where Monday's shooting took place.
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| Helmut Schmidt dies at 96, ex-chancellor and elder statesman Posted: 10 Nov 2015 04:41 PM PST  BERLIN (AP) — Helmut Schmidt was blunt and down to earth, decisive and brimming with self-confidence.
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| Colombian rebel jailed 27 years for taking Americans hostage Posted: 10 Nov 2015 04:41 PM PST WASHINGTON (AP) — A U.S. judge on Tuesday sentenced a member of Colombia's largest rebel group to 27 years in prison on hostage-taking charges stemming from the 2003 abduction of three American defense contractors. |
| Former West German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt dies at age 96 Posted: 10 Nov 2015 04:39 PM PST  BERLIN (AP) — Helmut Schmidt, the chancellor who guided West Germany through economic turbulence and Cold War tensions, stood firm against a wave of homegrown terrorism and became a respected elder statesman, died Tuesday. He was 96.
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| UN official says Honduran Indians facing land invasions Posted: 10 Nov 2015 04:37 PM PST  MEXICO CITY (AP) — Indians on Honduras' Caribbean coast are suffering invasions of their lands by squatters, loggers, palm-oil planters and drug traffickers, a U.N. official said Tuesday.
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| Libya army says 13 security personnel killed by 'terrorists' Posted: 10 Nov 2015 04:35 PM PST  At least 13 members of Libya's army were killed by "terrorist" violence on Tuesday in the east of the war-torn country, an army spokesman said. "Most of the soldiers were killed by landmines planted by terrorist organisations," spokesman Miloud al-Zawi told LANA, the official news agency of the internationally recognised government. According to LANA, the soldiers were killed in different conflict areas around the eastern city of Benghazi, where their forces were trying to advance.
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| UN says peacekeeper killed in Central African Republic Posted: 10 Nov 2015 04:34 PM PST  United Nations (United States) (AFP) - A UN peacekeeper was killed in the Central African Republic Tuesday following a clash with Muslim Seleka rebels that comes just weeks before elections in the troubled country.
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| Top Asian News at 12:30 a.m. GMT Posted: 10 Nov 2015 04:32 PM PST YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Myanmar's military-backed ruling party appeared set Tuesday for an overwhelming electoral defeat, but a victory by Aung San Suu Kyi's opposition National League for Democracy party would not mean the end of military involvement in the nation's politics. Far from it. The military, which took power in a 1962 coup and brutally suppressed several pro-democracy uprisings during its rule, gave way to a nominally civilian elected government in 2011 — with strings attached. |
| Russia calls for a new Syrian constitution in 18 months Posted: 10 Nov 2015 04:29 PM PST UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Russia has circulated a document on ending the nearly five-year-old Syrian conflict that calls for drafting a new constitution in up to 18 months that would be put to a popular referendum and followed by an early presidential election. |
| Argentine election front-runner criticizes leftist gov'ts Posted: 10 Nov 2015 04:29 PM PST  BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Opposition candidate Mauricio Macri, the front-runner in Argentina's impending presidential runoff, criticized leftist governments in South America on Tuesday while also promising that he would govern for the common good.
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| Benedict Cumberbatch defends attack on politicians Posted: 10 Nov 2015 04:19 PM PST  Star actor Benedict Cumberbatch has defended a speech in which he attacked politicians for their response to the refugee crisis while performing on stage in London. The 39-year-old star of "Sherlock" and film "The Imitation Game" gave a speech last month criticising the British government for not doing enough to help refugees from Syria following a performance of "Hamlet" in London, in which he played the title role. As he asked the audience for donations to Save the Children, Cumberbatch was reported to have said "f*** the politicians" before apologising for his language.
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| US returns $1 million stolen by former South Korean dictator Posted: 10 Nov 2015 04:10 PM PST  The United States has returned more than a million dollars to South Korea that were embezzled by a former dictator and hidden abroad, officials said Tuesday. South Korea's former president Chun Doo Hwan was convicted of corruption in 1996 in his own country, but it took US agents years to track down the assets. The money was returned on Monday and, on Tuesday, US Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson met Korean Justice Minister Kim Hyun-Woong to congratulate him.
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| Anger at burst dams in Brazil focuses on Vale, mining code Posted: 10 Nov 2015 04:10 PM PST  By Stephen Eisenhammer and Marta Nogueira MARIANA, Brazil (Reuters) - As despair turns to anger over a deadly dam burst at a Brazilian mine, lawmakers pushed on Tuesday for tougher regulations in a new mining code and iron ore giant Vale SA came under pressure to help mourning families and contain the environmental impact. In five days of rescue efforts in towns ravaged by the massive mudflow, six bodies have been found and 22 people are still missing, making it one of the worst mining disasters in Brazil's history. The tragedy in the southeastern state of Minas Gerais has displaced hundreds of residents, triggered investigations by prosecutors and spurred calls for stricter oversight of the mining industry, a huge provider of jobs and government tax receipts in the mineral-rich state.
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| Baby, 7-year-old girl among six killed in south Mexico Posted: 10 Nov 2015 04:09 PM PST  A one-year-old baby and a seven-year-old girl were among six people shot dead in another day of violence in Mexico's troubled southern state of Guerrero, authorities said Tuesday. At least one of the six victims in Monday's killing in the municipality of Chilapa was related to the town's former police chief, the state prosecutor's office said in a statement. The latest murders left a death toll of at least 22 people killed in two days of violence in Guerrero, a region beset by drug crimes.
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| Netanyahu says time for U.S. Jews to heal rifts over Iran deal Posted: 10 Nov 2015 04:08 PM PST  By Jeffrey Heller and David Alexander WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged U.S. Jews on Tuesday to unite behind Israel after rifts caused by the Iran nuclear talks and later pressed for bipartisan support for the country at a liberal think tank. A day after a fence-mending White House meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama, Netanyahu told an assembly of the Jewish Federations of North America that the past year was one of high diplomatic stakes but it was important to stick together now that a U.S.-backed deal had been reached with Iran. Netanyahu later made an unusual appearance at the Center for American Progress, a progressive think tank with ties to both the Obama and Clinton administrations.
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| Fatal Jordan police compound shooting took place in canteen Posted: 10 Nov 2015 04:05 PM PST  AMMAN, Jordan (AP) — A shooting rampage at a police training center that killed five people, including two American instructors, took place in a canteen in the compound, the Jordanian government spokesman said Tuesday.
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| Cuba: Agreements on flights to US likely in coming months Posted: 10 Nov 2015 04:03 PM PST  HAVANA (AP) — Cuban officials said Tuesday that negotiations on the normalization of relations with the United States are likely to produce agreements on regularly scheduled airline flights and three other areas in the coming months.
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| UN Syria envoy says 'momentum' of Vienna talks must not be squandered Posted: 10 Nov 2015 03:52 PM PST  United Nations (United States) (AFP) - The UN peace envoy for Syria urged world powers Tuesday to build on the "momentum" of new international talks and come up with a political process to end the four-year war.
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| Israel behind Arafat 'assassination': Palestinian inquiry Posted: 10 Nov 2015 03:46 PM PST  The head of the Palestinian team looking into the death of Yasser Arafat on Tuesday again accused Israel of assassinating the iconic Palestinian leader in a Paris hospital. "The inquiry committee has been able to identify the assassin of former president Yasser Arafat," said Tawfiq Tirawi, the head of the probe opened in 2009. "Israel is responsible," he said, without giving further details other than to add that "we still need some time to elucidate the exact circumstances of this assassination".
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| Syrian army enters Aleppo air base after Islamic State siege: state TV Posted: 10 Nov 2015 03:41 PM PST  Syrian soldiers fought their way into an air base in northern Syria on Tuesday and freed military personnel inside, state television said, after a nearly two-year siege by Islamic State insurgents at the facility. A military source close to the government said the army was working to secure the Kweires air base in Aleppo Province, where soldiers and officers have been under attack since 2013. It is the most high-profile victory for Syria's army since Russia launched an air campaign in support of President Bashar al-Assad on Sept. 30.
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| Argentine candidate Macri pledges to end bond fight Posted: 10 Nov 2015 03:37 PM PST  Argentine presidential challenger Mauricio Macri said Tuesday that he will end the country's long debt battle with US hedge funds if he wins the runoff vote on November 22. Macri's opponent Daniel Scioli is backed by outgoing President Cristina Kirchner, who has refused to compromise with the funds, which have won support in US courts to demand full payment on defaulted bonds. Kirchner has insisted that by not joining the restructuring program for some $100 billion of debt the country defaulted on in 2001 -- which 93 percent of creditors took part in -- the hedge funds do not deserve repayment.
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| Brazil orders mudslide mine to take emergency measures Posted: 10 Nov 2015 03:31 PM PST  Brazilian authorities investigating last week's fatal collapse of a mine-waste reservoir have ordered operator Samarco to take emergency measures to deal with the catastrophic aftermath, prosecutors said Tuesday. The company, a joint venture between Australian mining giant BHP Billiton and Brazil's Vale, has been issued a court order requiring it to collect and preserve evidence related to the dike failures that triggered the deadly mudslide, said prosecutors in the southeastern state of Espirito Santo. The measure is aimed at ensuring victims can obtain compensation for the environmental and human damage the incident is causing in the state, prosecutors said.
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| Burgess arrives back in Australia to play for South Sydney Posted: 10 Nov 2015 03:31 PM PST SYDNEY (AP) — Sam Burgess arrived back in Australia on Wednesday to resume his National Rugby League career with South Sydney after an unsuccessful 12-month switch to rugby union in his native England, admitting "deep down ... my heart lies in rugby league." |
| Two-thirds of Mexicans oppose pot legalization: poll Posted: 10 Nov 2015 03:25 PM PST  Two-thirds of Mexicans oppose the legalization of marijuana, an opinion poll showed on Tuesday, days after the Supreme Court opened the door to legalizing cannabis. The telephone poll was taken on November 6 and 7 among 1,000 adults, two days after the top court authorized four individuals to grow marijuana for their personal consumption.
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| Cameron lays out demands for Britain to stay in EU Posted: 10 Nov 2015 03:21 PM PST  Prime Minister David Cameron warned Tuesday that Britain could leave the EU if it does not get the reforms it wants, as he laid out demands that European leaders said would be "difficult" to meet in full. "The referendum... will be a once-in-a-generation choice," Cameron told an audience in London. The address came after Cameron sent a long-awaited letter to EU president Donald Tusk, laying out Britain's shopping list for change.
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| Niger police seize bomb-making materials in passenger bus Posted: 10 Nov 2015 03:18 PM PST Security forces in Niger's volatile northern region of Agadez have seized large quantities of bomb components being transported in a passenger bus, a local government official said on state-owned radio late on Tuesday. Speaking at a ceremony during which the materials and the arrested men were exhibited to reporters, Agadez's governor, Colonel Major Fodé Camara, did not specify when the seizures were made. |
| UN sends more peacekeepers, drones to C. Africa Posted: 10 Nov 2015 03:14 PM PST The United Nations is sending hundreds of extra peacekeepers and its first drones to the Central African Republic to bolster security ahead of elections next month, a UN official said Tuesday. The December 27 elections are shaping up as a test of the country's progress in its political transition after the bloodletting that followed the March 2013 coup. The new deployments may even be in place for a planned visit by Pope Francis to the troubled CAR on November 29-30, although security concerns may force the Vatican to scrap the trip. |
| Official: Bosnian Serbs should shelve referendum on courts Posted: 10 Nov 2015 03:05 PM PST UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The top international official overseeing implementation of Bosnia's peace deal says Bosnian Serbs should "step back from the brink" and shelve plans for a referendum on whether their mini-state must respect the central government's courts and judicial institutions. |
| U.S. sees threat of more attacks on foreigners in Bangladesh Posted: 10 Nov 2015 02:59 PM PST Foreigners may be attacked again in Bangladesh, the U.S. State Department said in a travel warning on Tuesday that urged Americans to be cautious and vigilant in that country. A Japanese citizen was shot dead in Bangladesh on Oct. 3 and an Italian aid worker was killed in the same manner in the capital Dhaka on Sept. 28 in attacks claimed by the Islamic State militant group. "There is reliable information to suggest that terrorist attacks could occur against foreigners in Bangladesh, including against large gatherings of foreigners," the State Department said in a travel alert that cited the two killings as well as the Oct. 24 bombing of a Shi'ite religious procession. |
| France arrests man in IS-linked plot to attack naval base Posted: 10 Nov 2015 02:57 PM PST  Authorities in France have arrested a man with links to an Islamic State jihadist in Syria over a plot to attack military personnel at a major naval base, police and judicial sources said Tuesday. The 25-year-old, whom sources said had been monitored by intelligence agencies after trying unsuccessfully twice last year to travel to Syria, was held late last month and charged on November 2. The interior ministry said in a statement that the man had been under surveillance "because of his radicalisation and public support for jihadist ideology" and had "attempted to acquire material to carry out a violent attack on Navy personnel in Toulon".
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| Surfer injured in shark attack off Australian east coast Posted: 10 Nov 2015 02:55 PM PST SYDNEY (AP) — A shark has seriously injured a 20-year-old surfer in an attack off the Australian east coast, police said Wednesday. |
| Latin, Arab leaders hold Saudi summit to strengthen ties Posted: 10 Nov 2015 02:54 PM PST  Arab and South American leaders began a summit in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, aiming to strengthen ties between the geographically distant but economically powerful regions. "There is a need to increase cooperation", he told the opening session, on behalf of 22 Arab states. Saudi King Salman noted the potential for further growth in two-way trade and investment.
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| N Ireland police arrest ex-soldier in Bloody Sunday killings Posted: 10 Nov 2015 02:50 PM PST LONDON (AP) — Police in Northern Ireland on Tuesday arrested a 66-year-old former soldier in the 1972 Bloody Sunday killings — the first such detention since the start of a murder investigation three years ago. |
| China says not aware of plan to discuss South China Sea at APEC Posted: 10 Nov 2015 02:43 PM PST  China is not aware of any plan to discuss the disputed South China Sea at an Asia Pacific leaders' summit next week, a senior Chinese diplomat said on Tuesday, amid tensions between China and the Philippines over the waters. For its part, the Philippines said it would not raise the issue at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit to be held in Manila from Nov. 17 to 19. Chinese President Xi Jinping is to attend the meeting of APEC, which includes the United States, China, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia and Canada and accounts for 57 percent of global production and 46.5 percent of world trade.
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