| Bleak job prospects drive South Korean youth to vocational schools Posted: 11 Nov 2015 02:13 PM PST  By October it had come down to 7.4 percent but was still more than double the overall unemployment rate. Jang, who pays his nursing tuition with money earned from part-time jobs, has joined a growing number of young South Koreans who are foregoing a more prestigious university education in favor of either vocational training or seeking work straight from school. On Thursday, South Korea won't shut down but it will be running late, as final year high school students sit annual entrance exams for universities and colleges. Families will pray for their children's success. The stock market will open an hour late, to help reduce traffic congestion so that students reach examination halls on time. And for 35 minutes, there will no commercial airline flights landing or taking-off, so that noise is reduced during the English aural section of the exam. These are all demonstrate South Korea's single-minded approach to education, and the stress that goes with it. Yet, somewhat surprisingly for a nation where parents have something of a "Tiger Mom" reputation, the number of high school graduates that go on to tertiary education has fallen from 77 percent in 2008 to 70.8 percent this year.
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| Assad's opponents dismiss Russian ideas for solving Syria crisis Posted: 11 Nov 2015 11:57 AM PST  By Sylvia Westall and Yara Bayoumy BEIRUT/DUBAI (Reuters) - Syrian opposition figures and Gulf commentators dismissed on Wednesday a Russian draft proposal for a process to solve the Syrian crisis, saying Moscow's aim was to keep President Bashar al-Assad in power and marginalize dissenting voices. Separately, Saudi Arabia's foreign minister said that if Assad's departure were not completed peacefully, it would be achieved militarily, although he did not address the Russian proposal. A draft document seen by Reuters on Tuesday showed Moscow would like Damascus and unspecified opposition groups to agree on launching a constitutional reform process of up to 18 months, followed by early presidential elections.
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| Jordanian killer was on a journey to 'paradise or hell' Posted: 11 Nov 2015 11:48 AM PST  By Suleiman Al-Khalidi AMMAN (Reuters) - Days before he shot dead five people in a canteen during his lunch break, Jordanian police officer Anwar Abu Zeid sent a message to friends saying he was going on a journey to "paradise or hell", friends and security sources said. Relatives described the 29-year-old police captain as pious but not an extremist", though he would wake at dawn each day to worship in the mosque in his village in rural northern Jordan.
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| India's Modi eyes trade deals, show of strength on UK visit Posted: 11 Nov 2015 04:55 PM PST  Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi begins a visit to Britain on Thursday that he hopes will yield trade deals worth billions of dollars and a boost to his authority after a damaging electoral failure back home. Bruised by his Bharatiya Janata Party's defeat in an election in populous Bihar state last Sunday after a campaign in which he played a prominent part, Modi is seeking to regain the political initiative by increasing investment and growth. The emotional high point of the visit is likely to be a mass rally at Wembley Stadium on Friday during which Modi will address some 60,000 supporters from the Indian diaspora in Britain, which numbers 1.5 million.
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| Vatican leaks scandal widens as authors investigated, others suspected Posted: 11 Nov 2015 12:42 PM PST  By Philip Pullella VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - A leaks scandal rocking the papacy widened on Wednesday as the Vatican put two Italian journalists under investigation and said it suspected other Holy See officials had helped two arrested for stealing documents. The latest twist in the scandal came in a statement about the two journalists who wrote books based on the leaks. It said they were being investigated on suspicion of "complicity in committing a crime." The leaks are one of the biggest internal scandals to hit the papacy of Pope Francis and were reminiscent of the "Vatileaks" furor that preceded the resignation of former Pope Benedict in 2013.
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| U.N. sees Syria progress timely for migrant crisis Posted: 11 Nov 2015 04:24 PM PST  Progress toward negotiations in Syria offers a glimmer of hope for easing the refugee crisis sweeping into Europe, a senior U.N. official said on Wednesday as diplomats prepared for talks later in the week. "It is moving," Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson told Reuters. While the Syrian conflict has driven millions from their homes and fueled this year's surge of hundreds of thousands of people arriving in Europe, it was only one facet of a global phenomenon of migration that, Eliasson said, governments should try to embrace as a long-term opportunity for development.
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| Italian diplomat Grandi to be new UN refugee chief Posted: 11 Nov 2015 04:55 PM PST  UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday announced the appointment of Italian diplomat Filippo Grandi as the new UN refugee chief, tasked with handling the world's worst refugee crisis. The 58-year-old diplomat will replace Antonio Guterres, of Portugal, who was UN High Commissioner for Refugees since 2005, a UN statement said. Grandi, who will take up the job on January 1, beat out former Danish prime minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt and German Achim Steiner, the director of the UN Environment Program, for the key appointment.
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| Phelps: 'I'm kind of giddy to see what happens at the end' Posted: 11 Nov 2015 04:52 PM PST  MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — With more medals than any other Olympic athlete, Michael Phelps could simply see the 2016 Games in Brazil as a bonus.
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| Boy, 8, beat baby to death to stop her crying: US police Posted: 11 Nov 2015 04:44 PM PST  The boy was one of several children left alone for hours in a Birmingham, Alabama home last month, in what experts said was a rare case of a child so young being prosecuted. "Since becoming a police officer over 22 years ago, this is by far one of the saddest cases I have witnessed in my career," Birmingham police spokesman Lieutenant Sean Edwards told AFP. The incident happened at the home of a friend of the baby's mother, whom police have identified as 26-year-old Katerra Lewis.
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| Immigrant heads to US home after sanctuary stay in church Posted: 11 Nov 2015 04:43 PM PST  TUCSON, Arizona (AP) — An immigrant woman who has spent the past 15 months living in a small Tucson church to avoid deportation is going back to her home in Arizona and will be allowed to remain in this country, her lawyer said Wednesday.
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| G20 nations spend $452 bn a year supporting fossil fuels: study Posted: 11 Nov 2015 04:37 PM PST  The G20 group of major economies spend $452 billion per year supporting fossil fuel industries, despite their primary role in causing climate change, according to a study released on Thursday. The report, which comes ahead of a crunch UN meeting in Paris to try to forge a global deal to avoid disastrous levels of climate change in December, accused governments of undermining their own climate change policies. "G20 governments are handing out approximately $452 billion a year to prop up the production of fossil fuels â - despite pledges to phase out subsidies and prevent catastrophic climate change," the study by British think tank the Overseas Development Institute and Oil Change International found.
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| Top Asian News at 12:30 a.m. GMT Posted: 11 Nov 2015 04:32 PM PST WASHINGTON (AP) — Immediately after the U.S. killed at least 30 people in a devastating airstrike on a charity hospital, Afghanistan's national security adviser told a European diplomat his country would take responsibility because "we are without doubt, 100 percent convinced the place was occupied by Taliban," according to notes of the meeting reviewed by The Associated Press. More than a month later, no evidence has emerged to support that Afghan position. Eyewitnesses tell the AP they saw no gunman at the hospital. |
| Nephews of Venezuelan first lady arrested on US drug charges Posted: 11 Nov 2015 04:26 PM PST  BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Two nephews of Venezuela's powerful first lady Cilia Flores were arrested in Haiti on charges of conspiring to smuggle 800 kilograms of cocaine into the U.S. and will be arraigned in New York, three people familiar with the case said Wednesday.
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| G20 fails to deliver on anti-graft pledges: Transparency Posted: 11 Nov 2015 04:16 PM PST  World powers have failed to deliver on bold pledges to close down corporate loopholes that allow the corrupt to easily hide their ill-gotten gains, Transparency International said on Thursday. It said in a report that up to $2 trillion (1.9 trillion euros) was laundered each year, often through complex webs of anonymous entities across multiple jurisdictions, and said the Group of 20 top industrial economies must do more to eradicate the legal structures that made it possible. The report was issued shortly before a G20 summit in Turkey, a year on from their gathering in Australia where leaders committed to improving transparency to help prevent the use of shell companies for illegal purposes.
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| Ebola nurse released from isolation in Britain Posted: 11 Nov 2015 04:16 PM PST  A British nurse who suffered a relapse after contracting Ebola in Sierra Leone has been released from isolation after being treated for meningitis caused by the virus, her hospital said. Pauline Cafferkey, 39, had been kept in isolation at London's Royal Free Hospital since October 9 and became "critically ill" shortly afterwards. "We are delighted that Pauline has made a full recovery from Ebola and is now well enough to return to Scotland.
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| G20 spends four times more on fossil fuel output than on renewables, think tank says Posted: 11 Nov 2015 04:16 PM PST  The G20 countries spend almost four times as much to prop up fossil fuel production as they do to subsidize renewable energy, calling into question their commitment to halting climate change, a think tank said on Thursday The G20 spent an average $78 billion on national subsidies delivered through direct spending and tax breaks in 2013 and 2014, according to a report from the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) on Thursday. A further $286 billion was invested in fossil fuel production by G20 state-owned enterprises. Meanwhile, renewable energy subsidies in 2013 were estimated at $121 billion by the International Energy Agency (IEA).
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| Rights group: China use of torture uncurbed by legal reform Posted: 11 Nov 2015 04:08 PM PST BEIJING (AP) — China's deep-rooted practice of using torture to extract confessions from suspects has seen little improvement despite measures introduced since 2010 to reform the criminal justice system, an international human rights group said Thursday. |
| US arrests Venezuela first lady nephews over cocaine: report Posted: 11 Nov 2015 03:57 PM PST  US agents have arrested two nephews of Venezuela's first lady for allegedly conspiring to smuggle 800 kilos (1,800 pounds) of cocaine into America, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday. The arrests are likely to further exacerbate already tense relations between the United States and Venezuela, who have not kept ambassadors in their respective capitals since 2010. The two men are due to appear before a US federal judge in New York on Thursday, the Journal added.
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| Chilean priest punished for sex abuse claims he is innocent Posted: 11 Nov 2015 03:57 PM PST  SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — A prominent priest who has been punished for sex abuse by the Vatican proclaimed his innocence in court Wednesday, testifying in a case that three of his alleged victims brought against Chile's Catholic Church.
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| Exclusive: Partner in Canada's Energy East struggled with pollution controls Posted: 11 Nov 2015 03:56 PM PST  Irving Oil, the company seeking to become the gatekeeper for a new crude oil pipeline from western Canada to the Atlantic Ocean, has struggled to control air pollution at its existing marine terminal in Saint John, New Brunswick. Irving Oil records reviewed by Reuters show the vapor recovery equipment at the terminal on the edge of the province's largest city was shut 37 percent of the time between December 2012 and March 2015 due to near-constant mechanical problems, as millions of barrels of gasoline were loaded onto ships mainly bound for New England. Official data on the unit's operations after March 31, 2015, were not immediately available, but an Irving Oil spokesman said the vaper recovery unit's (VRU) performance had been nearly flawless since June. "The VRU has routinely met and surpassed our operational and performance goals," spokesman Andrew Carson said.
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| Wind, snow sweep U.S. Plains, Lake Michigan faces 20-foot waves Posted: 11 Nov 2015 03:47 PM PST The National Weather Service issued blizzard warnings for eastern Colorado, northwestern Kansas and southwestern Nebraska ahead of the system, which it expected to bring gusts of 55 miles per hour (88 km per hour) and dump at least 5 inches (8 cm) of snow in some areas. "The main issue is the traffic," said Brian Warren, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Kansas. |
| MLB hopes for European games within 5 years Posted: 11 Nov 2015 03:42 PM PST  BOCA RATON, Fla. (AP) — Major League Baseball hopes to play regular-season games in Europe within five years and return to Mexico for the first time since 1999.
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| Folau to have surgery on ankle injured at Rugby World Cup Posted: 11 Nov 2015 03:34 PM PST SYDNEY (AP) — Fullback Israel Folau will undergo surgery for an ankle injury he sustained during Australia's run to the Rugby World Cup final. |
| Questions about future of US Grand Prix as Texas cuts funds Posted: 11 Nov 2015 03:32 PM PST  AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's office said Wednesday it is cutting nearly $6 million in funding for the United States Grand Prix, raising questions about the race's future just four years after Formula One put what many saw as a permanent footprint on American soil.
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| Kenya army involved in sugar smuggling racket: report Posted: 11 Nov 2015 03:27 PM PST  Kenya's army is involved in a $400-million sugar smuggling racket in Somalia that also funds the Al-Qaeda militants it is supposed to be fighting, a report alleged Thursday. Far from fighting the Shebab, Al-Qaeda's East Africa affiliate, the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) are, "in garrison mode, sitting in bases while senior commanders are engaged in corrupt business practices," said the investigation by Nairobi's Journalists for Justice rights group. The report is based on months of research conducted in Somalia and Kenya, including interviews with serving Kenyan officers, United Nations officials, Western intelligence sources, sugar traders, porters and drivers.
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| U.N. taps crowdfunding app to tackle refugee camp food shortages Posted: 11 Nov 2015 03:20 PM PST The United Nations' World Food Programme (WFP) has responded to a funding crunch by developing a mobile app that lets people around the world donate money to help feed the 4 million displaced Syrians living in neighboring countries. Developed by a start-up in Berlin, the app 'Share the Meal' is touted as the first of its kind, allowing people to fund food rations for WFP initiatives in Jordan, to which many of the people escaping Syria's civil war have fled. The new app, available for both the iPhone and Android devices, offers food donations from $0.50 a day for a food bar to up to $150 a year, and funds are directly forwarded to WFP school feeding programs. |
| Ex-soldier arrested over Northern Ireland 1972 killings released on bail Posted: 11 Nov 2015 03:18 PM PST  The 66-year-old former British soldier arrested in relation to the killing of 13 Roman Catholic civil rights marchers in Northern Ireland over 40 years ago has been released on bail pending further inquiries, police said on Wednesday. The arrest on Tuesday was the first in a renewed murder investigation announced by police in 2012 into the "Bloody Sunday" killings in Londonderry, one of the most notorious episodes during 30 years of sectarian violence in the British-ruled province. On Sunday, Jan. 30, 1972, British troops opened fire during an unauthorized march in the Bogside, a nationalist area of Londonderry.
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| Thousands protest in Haiti over 'electoral coup' Posted: 11 Nov 2015 03:16 PM PST  The protest comes after seven presidential candidates called Monday for an independent investigation of initial vote results that determined Jovenel Moise, backed by Martelly, drew 32 percent of the ballots on October 25. Moise will go into a runoff on December 27 against Jude Celestin, of the Lapeh party, who garnered 25 percent of the vote.
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| Israel's Herzog: Judge Netanyahu-Obama talks by peace moves Posted: 11 Nov 2015 03:14 PM PST NEW YORK (AP) — Israel's opposition leader says the success of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's meeting with President Barack Obama will be judged on whether Israel keeps its "qualitative military edge" and if the Israeli leader remains committed to pursuing peace with the Palestinians. |
| Netanyahu winds up fence-mending US visit with little to show Posted: 11 Nov 2015 03:12 PM PST  Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu heads home Wednesday with little to show for his attempt to mend a rift with Washington over his efforts to block a nuclear agreement with Iran. Netanyahu met with US Secretary of State John Kerry before his departure, capping a three-day visit that encompassed his first White House tete-a-tete with US President Barack Obama in a year. Afterward, Netanyahu said the meeting with Obama on Monday was one of the best he has had with the US president.
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| Storms blow through U.S. Plains, Midwest; more rain next week Posted: 11 Nov 2015 02:51 PM PST By Julie Ingwersen CHICAGO (Reuters) - The season's first big winter storm in the U.S. Farm Belt brought blizzard conditions to parts of the Plains on Wednesday and took aim at the Midwest, with wind gusts of 50 miles per hour, meteorologists said. The storm produced 3 to 6 inches (7.6 to 15 cm) of snow in parts of eastern Colorado, western Nebraska and western Kansas and brought about an inch of rain to eastern Nebraska. |
| Serb disabled player makes return to professional basketball Posted: 11 Nov 2015 02:45 PM PST  BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Serbian basketball player Natasa Kovacevic has done what many think is impossible.
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| Sterling sets sights on England century Posted: 11 Nov 2015 02:40 PM PST  Despite his tender age, England sensation Raheem Sterling has proved he isn't short of confidence on the international stage by already setting his sights on becoming an all-time great for his country. Sterling, 20, has racked up 18 appearances for England, scoring twice, since bursting into Roy Hodgson's side just prior to the 2014 World Cup.
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| Native Americans oppose stripping protection from Yellowstone grizzlies Posted: 11 Nov 2015 02:39 PM PST  By Laura Zuckerman SALMON, Idaho (Reuters) - Native American tribes on Wednesday called for the U.S. government to halt plans to strip grizzly bears in and around Yellowstone of Endangered Species Act protection because it would open the way for trophy hunting in Idaho and two other states bordering the national park. Government bear managers have said the 700-plus grizzlies in the Yellowstone area have exceeded their recovery goal of 500 bears and no longer need federal protection. Grizzlies in the Lower 48 states were formally listed as threatened under the law in 1975 after being hunted, trapped and poisoned to the edge of extinction.
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| El Nino may stir grain markets more than Black Sea drought Posted: 11 Nov 2015 02:36 PM PST By Gus Trompiz GENEVA (Reuters) - El Nino could have a bigger impact on grain and oilseed markets than drought in Russia and Ukraine, which may be alleviated before the crucial spring growth period, analysts said on Wednesday. "You can't have a drought problem overnight," David Hightower, president of research firm The Hightower Report, said of conditions in Russia and Ukraine. Speaking at the Global Grain conference in Geneva, he said El Nino, however, could have far-reaching effects if it lowers palm oil output in top producers Indonesia and Malaysia. |
| Six dead in PKK attacks in Turkey as fighting rages Posted: 11 Nov 2015 02:30 PM PST  Turkish security forces backed up by tanks and combat helicopters launched a large-scale operation against the militants in the battered town of Silvan, which has been under a punishing curfew for nine days. Local MPs have warned that the mainly Kurdish town of 90,000 people is facing dire shortages of water, food and electricity and one accused Ankara of trying to "massacre" the population. One soldier and one police officer were killed in clashes Wednesday with members of the youth wing of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), security sources and the provincial governor's office said.
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| Putin orders action on Russia doping scandal Posted: 11 Nov 2015 02:27 PM PST  Vladimir Putin said Wednesday that Russia must "do everything" to eradicate doping, ordering an inquiry into allegations of major drug abuse in athletics that have left the country facing international isolation. Moscow is scrambling to respond to the bombshell World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) report, which outlined systematic doping in Russian athletics, declaring that a foreign specialist could take over its discredited testing laboratory. The athletics world governing body has given Russia until Friday to come up with answers to the allegations, and with the deadline looming Putin met sports chiefs in Sochi, the Black Sea home of the 2014 Winter Olympics.
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| Putin calls for investigation of Russian doping allegations Posted: 11 Nov 2015 02:22 PM PST  MOSCOW (AP) — Facing allegations that Russia engages in extensive, state-sponsored doping, President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday called on sports officials to carry out an internal investigation - but said that clean athletes shouldn't be punished for the actions of those who take banned drugs.
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| Angola marks 40 years of independence amid rights criticism Posted: 11 Nov 2015 02:13 PM PST  Angola marked 40 years of independence Wednesday with President Jose Eduardo dos Santos vowing to bring progress to the country, but rights groups accused him of ruling through "fear and repression". Dos Santos, who has been in power since four years after independence from Portugal, opened a huge new parliament in the capital Luanda to celebrate the anniversary. In a speech inaugurating the building, he vowed to "respect human rights and basic freedoms" in Angola and to encourage "acceleration of economic diversification and employment growth".
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| Lille fires coach Herve Renard after just 13 league matches Posted: 11 Nov 2015 02:08 PM PST LILLE, France (AP) — Struggling Lille has fired coach Herve Renard after just 13 league matches, the French club said Wednesday. |
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