| France mobilizes 10,000 troops at home after Paris shootings Posted: 12 Jan 2015 12:08 PM PST  By Gregory Blachier and John Irish PARIS (Reuters) - France will deploy 10,000 soldiers on home soil by Tuesday and post almost 5,000 extra police officers to protect Jewish sites after the killing of 17 people by Islamist militants in Paris last week, officials said. Speaking a day after the biggest French public demonstration ever recorded, in honor of the victims, Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said the country remained at risk of further attacks. Soldiers would guard transport hubs, tourism sites and key buildings and mount general street patrols. ...
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| Divers retrieve AirAsia 'black box', explosion theory questioned Posted: 12 Jan 2015 04:58 AM PST  By Kanupriya Kapoor and Charlotte Greenfield PANGKALAN BUN, Indonesia/JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesian navy divers retrieved the black box flight data recorder from the wreck of an AirAsia passenger jet on Monday, a major step towards unraveling the cause of the crash that killed all 162 people on board. But there was confusion about what happened in the final moments of Flight QZ8501, which crashed off the Indonesian coast on Dec. 28, with one official saying the plane probably exploded before hitting the water and another disputing that theory. ...
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| German anti-Islamist rally swells after attacks in France Posted: 12 Jan 2015 02:12 PM PST  By Madeline Chambers DRESDEN, Germany (Reuters) - A record 25,000 anti-Islamist protesters marched through the east German city of Dresden on Monday, many holding banners with anti-immigrant slogans, and held a minute's silence for the victims of last week's attacks in France. Chancellor Angela Merkel and other senior German politicians have called for people to stay away from rallies organised by PEGIDA, or Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the West - people who Merkel has said have "hatred in their hearts". ...
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| Obama, Netanyahu discuss Iran talks, Palestinian ICC move Posted: 12 Jan 2015 04:11 PM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama spoke by phone on Monday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about ongoing nuclear talks with Iran and about the Palestinian move to become a member of the International Criminal Court (ICC), the White House said. "President Obama underscored that the United States does not believe Palestinian accession to the ICC is a constructive way forward," the White House said, repeating the U.S. position that the Palestinian Authority is not a sovereign state and does not qualify to join the court. ...
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| Mexico to try wife of mayor linked to student disappearances Posted: 12 Jan 2015 03:45 PM PST  MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - The wife of a Mexican politician suspected of helping to plot the apparent massacre of 43 trainee teachers in September will be tried for engaging in organized crime, the federal courts authority said on Monday. The fate of the 43 students has rocked the government, which says they were abducted by corrupt police in the southwestern city of Iguala on the night of Sept. 26, then probably incinerated by members of local drug gang Guerreros Unidos. ...
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| Key US military command's Twitter, YouTube sites hacked Posted: 12 Jan 2015 04:34 PM PST  WASHINGTON (AP) — Hackers claiming to work on behalf of Islamic State militants seized control of the Twitter and YouTube sites of the military's U.S. Central Command on Monday. The Pentagon swiftly suspended the sites and said it appears that no classified material was breached.
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| Parents of missing Mexico students clash with troops Posted: 12 Jan 2015 04:32 PM PST  Students and relatives of 43 missing aspiring teachers stormed a Mexican military base on Monday in the city where they vanished, prompting soldiers to repel them with tear gas. Authorities say the 43 young men were abducted by Iguala police officers on September 26 and delivered to the Guerreros Unidos drug gang, whose henchmen confessed to killing them.
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| Top Asian News at 12:30 a.m. GMT Posted: 12 Jan 2015 04:32 PM PST PANGKALAN BUN, Indonesia (AP) — Divers retrieved one black box Monday and located the other from the AirAsia plane that crashed more than two weeks ago, key developments that should help investigators unravel what caused the aircraft to plummet into the Java Sea. The flight data recorder was pulled from beneath a piece of the aircraft's wing and brought to the sea's surface, and the cockpit voice recorder was found hours later, said Suryadi Bambang Supriyadi, operation coordinator for Indonesia's national search and rescue agency. |
| Obama reassures Israel on Iran talks, Palestinian court bid Posted: 12 Jan 2015 04:23 PM PST WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama says he opposes the Palestinians' move to join the International Criminal Court to pursue war-crimes charges against Israel. |
| Cuba moves to expand WiFi service slightly Posted: 12 Jan 2015 04:23 PM PST HAVANA (AP) — Cuba's telecommunications company says that it will offer WiFi service in a public park in the country's far east but only for access to the island's restricted Cuba-only intranet. |
| 5 killed, 2 missing after school bus crash in St. Vincent Posted: 12 Jan 2015 04:21 PM PST KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent (AP) — Authorities in St. Vincent say five children were killed and two are missing after a bus packed with secondary students on their way to class plunged off a cliff. |
| Peru anti-terrorist police investigate play Posted: 12 Jan 2015 04:12 PM PST LIMA, Peru (AP) — An acclaimed Peruvian theater work exploring the trauma of the country's 1980-2000 internal conflict is drawing another kind of attention — from anti-terrorist police. |
| Armed illegal loggers devastate Tanzania’s coastal forest Posted: 12 Jan 2015 04:09 PM PST By Kizito Makoye DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - A surge in illegal logging is devastating native forests in coastal Tanzania's Rufiji district, despite efforts by authorities to curb forest losses, officials said. Hundreds of tonnes of trees are being smuggled out of the district each month by timber traders to feed a lucrative construction market and furniture industries within the country and abroad, said district forest officials. ... |
| 17 on Cuba prisoner list set free before U.S.-Havana deal announced Posted: 12 Jan 2015 04:07 PM PST By Patricia Zengerle WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Seventeen of the Cuban prisoners freed under an agreement with the United States had been let go before the two countries announced the deal on Dec. 17, a Cuban dissident leader said on Monday. According to a copy of the list of 53 names obtained by Reuters from a congressional source, the released prisoners include, among others, members of prominent protest groups such as the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU) and the Ladies in White. Senior U.S. ... |
| Somber gatherings mark 5th anniversary of Haiti earthquake Posted: 12 Jan 2015 04:02 PM PST  PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — On crowded streets where fragile concrete homes collapsed and anguished people searched through rubble for loved ones, Haitians paused to remember the devastating January 2010 earthquake that shattered much of the teeming capital and surrounding area.
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| Messi casts new doubts about his future at Barcelona Posted: 12 Jan 2015 03:59 PM PST  ZURICH (AP) — A day after denying rumors he was considering leaving Barcelona, Lionel Messi cast new doubts about his future at the club on Monday.
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| Police: Up to 6 Paris terror suspects may still be at large Posted: 12 Jan 2015 12:25 PM PST  PARIS (AP) — Police believe as many as six terror-cell members may still be at large after the Paris attacks, one of whom has been spotted driving a car registered to the widow of one of the slain attackers.
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| Senate takes up Keystone XL bill as showdown with Obama looms Posted: 12 Jan 2015 03:46 PM PST  By Timothy Gardner WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate advanced a bill on Monday to approve the Keystone XL oil pipeline as Republicans, who have made the project their first priority of the year, try to line up enough votes to overcome a potential veto by President Barack Obama. The Senate voted 63-32 on a measure to allow debate and the offering of amendments on the bill. ...
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| TV network reports Fidel Castro writes letter to Maradona Posted: 12 Jan 2015 03:44 PM PST  HAVANA (AP) — Fidel Castro on Monday sent soccer legend Diego Maradona a letter written to quash rumors of the Cuban leader's death, state-run television network Telesur reported. It was the first reported word from Castro in nearly three months.
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| Jews slain in Paris attacks flown to Israel for burial Posted: 12 Jan 2015 03:40 PM PST  The bodies of four French Jews killed in an Islamist attack on a kosher supermarket in Paris were to arrive in Israel early Tuesday ahead of a funeral in Jerusalem. The four were among 17 people gunned down in Paris during three days of bloodshed that shook France to the core and sent shock waves through its Jewish community, the third largest in the world. Yoav Hattab, Philippe Braham, Yohan Cohen and Francois-Michel Saada were shopping at the kosher supermarket in eastern Paris on Friday shortly before the start of the Jewish sabbath when it was stormed by Islamist gunman Amedy Coulibaly.
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| Official: Civilians killed most of 8 dead in Mexico clash Posted: 12 Jan 2015 03:37 PM PST  MORELIA, Mexico (AP) — Most of the eight people who died last week in a confrontation with federal police were killed by other civilians, according to the federal commissioner charged with bringing order to the troubled western state of Michoacan.
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| Pro-IS hackers take over US Centcom social media accounts Posted: 12 Jan 2015 03:33 PM PST  A group declaring support for Islamic State jihadists hacked US Central Command's social media accounts on Monday, forcing the military to take down the command's Twitter feed. In an embarrassing propaganda setback for the US military, a black-and-white banner with the words "CyberCaliphate" and "I love you ISIS" replaced Central Command's usual logo on Twitter and YouTube before the pages were suspended. "Our initial assessment is that no classified information was posted and that none of the information posted came from CENTCOM's server or social media sites," the command said in a statement. The command has notified law enforcement agencies about "the potential release of personally identifiable information and will take appropriate steps to ensure any individuals potentially affected are notified as quickly as possible," it said.
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| UN wants release of AU-led South Sudan inquiry Posted: 12 Jan 2015 03:29 PM PST  A senior UN rights official voiced concern on Monday that an African Union commission of inquiry report on the bloodshed in South Sudan will not come up for discussion at an upcoming AU summit. UN Assistant Secretary General Ivan Simonovic said shelving the key report on South Sudan's year-long war would be a "very disturbing development" at a time when the Security Council is weighing sanctions. "We are very concerned about that possibility," Simonovic told reporters. "We think it's essential to have that report submitted during the African Union summit, but also to make that report public afterwards," he said.
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| Robertson into Masters last eight Posted: 12 Jan 2015 03:27 PM PST  London (AFP) - Neil Robertson and Stephen Maguire moved into the Masters quarter-finals after 6-4 victories in their opening matches at London's Alexandra Palace on Monday.
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| US says it should have sent high official to Paris march Posted: 12 Jan 2015 03:24 PM PST  WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House said Monday that President Barack Obama or another high-level representative should have joined dozens of world leaders at an anti-terror rally in Paris, in a rare admission of error.
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| Survivor recalls horror of Paris hostage drama Posted: 12 Jan 2015 03:18 PM PST  A woman who survived the attack on a Jewish supermarket in Paris recalled on Monday the horror of the four-hour ordeal in which she saw a fellow hostage shot dead by jihadist Amedy Coulibaly. She had watched as a man inside the kosher market in eastern Paris snatched a gun when Coulibaly put it down for a moment and tried to turn it on the attacker. "A young man took the assault rifle and wanted to shoot him," but Coulibaly "was faster and he shot him in the throat. The poor young man just fell," the woman, who gave her name only as Sophie, told Europe 1 radio.
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| Defiant Charlie Hebdo puts Mohammed on first cover since attack Posted: 12 Jan 2015 03:16 PM PST  French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo defied the attackers in last week's bloodbath by putting a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed on its next cover, as the government on Monday announced the deployment of 10,000 soldiers to boost security. The weekly released the front page of what it called the "survivors' issue", due out Wednesday, featuring a crying Mohammed in a white turban and holding a sign that reads "Je suis Charlie" under the words: "All is forgiven". The issue will be the first since two Islamist gunmen stormed Charlie Hebdo's Paris office on January 7 and massacred 12 people, saying they were taking revenge for previous publications of Mohammed cartoons -- considered deeply offensive to many Muslims. Charlie Hebo has become an international symbol of free speech since the massacre and a second attack two days later at a Jewish supermarket.
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| Syrians are now Brazil's largest refugee community Posted: 12 Jan 2015 03:12 PM PST  Brasília (AFP) - A total of 1,400 Syrians sought refuge in Brazil last year, making them part of the largest refugee group in the country as they flee a bloody conflict, official figures showed Monday. The steady increase in Syrian arrivals over recent months means they now outnumber Angolans and Colombians in South America's largest country, National Center for Refugees (CONARE) figures showed. In all, Brazil welcomed 2,320 refugees last year, more than triple the number for 2013 and the highest annual figure registered to date, CONARE said. The center put the total of Syrians at 1,739, compared with 1,071 Angolans and 834 Colombians.
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| Sudan troops battle rebels in war-torn South Kordofan Posted: 12 Jan 2015 03:07 PM PST  The Sudanese military has been battling insurgents for control of parts of the conflict-stricken South Kordofan region, both sides said, giving conflicting reports of the situation there. The fighting comes as Khartoum presses its latest offensive in the South Kordofan and Blue Nile areas and the western region of Darfur to try to end the conflicts wracking its peripheries. The army said Monday its troops had "defeated the remnants of the insurgents" from the Sudan Peoples Liberation Army-North northeast of South Kordofan state capital Kadugli on the road leading to the Umm Serdiba area. Military spokesman Colonel Al-Sawarmy Khaled Saad said the army had "inflicted heavy losses on the rebels in life and equipment," without specifying when the fighting had taken place.
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| Apparent Islamic State backers hack U.S. military Twitter feed Posted: 12 Jan 2015 02:57 PM PST  By David Alexander and Jim Finkle (Reuters) - The Twitter and YouTube accounts for the U.S. military command that oversees operations in the Middle East were hacked on Monday by people claiming to be sympathetic toward the Islamic State militant group being targeted in American bombing raids. "American soldiers, we are coming, watch your back, ISIS," the hackers posted on the U.S. Central Command Twitter feed, using an acronym for the hardline Islamist group, which has taken control of parts of Syria and Iraq. U.S. ...
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| Mohammed holds 'Je suis Charlie' sign in new Charlie Hebdo Posted: 12 Jan 2015 02:55 PM PST  The cover of the first edition of the French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo since its staff were murderously attacked by Islamist gunmen last week shows a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed crying and holding up a "Je suis Charlie" sign under the words: "All is forgiven". Worldwide sympathy and "Je Suis Charlie" solidarity rose up around Charlie Hebdo in the wake of the attack against it last Wednesday, in which 12 people were killed including five of its top cartoonists. The two gunmen who attacked Charlie Hebdo's offices in Paris last Wednesday said as they left the scene that they had "avenged the Prophet Mohammed". The surviving employees of Charlie Hebdo have sworn to uphold its tradition of lampooning all religions, politicians, celebrities and news events.
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| Ministers end Ukraine talks without summit date Posted: 12 Jan 2015 02:53 PM PST  The foreign ministers of Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France ended a meeting Monday without being able to set a date for a hoped-for peace summit on ending the Ukrainian conflict. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko had earlier said he hoped that a leaders' meeting of the four countries could take place Thursday in Kazakhstan with the goal of signing a peace document with Russia. "Ministers reconfirmed that the basis for conflict resolution are the Minsk agreements that have to be implemented by all sides in their entirety," they said in a joint statement after about four hours of talks in Berlin. German Chancellor Angela Merkel had at the weekend told Russian President Vladimir Putin and Poroshenko that a peace summit was pointless as long as a truce was not respected, and France has expressed similar reservations.
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| Turkey says Boumeddiene crossed to Syria, insists not at fault Posted: 12 Jan 2015 02:50 PM PST  Turkey on Monday said that the wanted partner of one of the gunmen behind the terror attacks in France crossed into Syria last week, insisting it was not at fault for failing to detain her. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Hayat Boumeddiene had crossed into Syria on January 8, the same day that her partner Amedy Coulibaly is suspected of shooting dead a policewoman outside Paris on the second day of the Paris attacks. "She entered Turkey on January 2 from Madrid.
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| Cameroon repels Boko Haram attack, says 143 militants killed Posted: 12 Jan 2015 02:44 PM PST  Yaoundé (AFP) - The Cameroonian army killed 143 Boko Haram fighters who attacked a military base in the northern town of Kolofata on Monday, in what the government said was the militants' heaviest loss yet on its territory. One Cameroonian soldier also lost his life in the clashes, Communications Minister and government spokesman Issa Tchiroma Bakary said in a statement read out on television and radio. The toll was "the heaviest loss yet" suffered by Boko Haram on Cameroonian soil, he said, and comes at a time of fears of increased cross-border raids by the Nigeria-based group into Cameroon, Chad and Niger. The spokesman said the attack began in the early hours when "several hundred" Islamist fighters took advantage of thick fog to cross over from Nigeria and tried to storm the town's military base, where an elite army unit is stationed.
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| US stocks head lower; crude oil price falls again Posted: 12 Jan 2015 02:41 PM PST  NEW YORK (AP) — Falling oil prices dragged the stock market lower on Monday as Exxon Mobil, Chevron and other big energy companies sank along with crude.
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| Haiti remembers quake dead amid political crisis Posted: 12 Jan 2015 02:29 PM PST  Port-au-Prince (AFP) - Haiti marked the fifth anniversary Monday of the massive earthquake that ravaged an already desperately poor nation, even as it sought a way out of its latest debilitating political crisis. President Michel Martelly led the official tributes, calling for unity to better prepare Haiti for its next challenge, but the government's three-year failure to organize elections has undermined his authority. Laying flowers at a monument in Place St Christophe in the still damaged capital, he paid tribute to the sacrifice of Haitian and foreign rescuers who flocked to Port-au-Prince in 2010. "Five years later, are we ready to face other catastrophes that could strike Haiti?" he asked.
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| Ukraine meeting in Berlin ends without significant progress Posted: 12 Jan 2015 02:21 PM PST  BERLIN (AP) — The foreign ministers of Germany, Russia, Ukraine and France were unable to make enough progress in closed-door meetings Monday on the Ukrainian crisis to move ahead with a higher-level summit.
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| 5 years later, revisiting sites devastated by Haiti quake Posted: 12 Jan 2015 02:19 PM PST  PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — It's been five years since the ground shook violently in and around the overcrowded capital of Haiti, the Western Hemisphere's poorest country, raising a cloud of dust over the smashed city and outlying towns.
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| Own goal by Ba gives Cordoba 1-0 win at Rayo in Spain league Posted: 12 Jan 2015 02:11 PM PST MADRID (AP) — An own goal by Rayo Vallecano defender Abdoulaye Ba gifted Cordoba a 1-0 win in the Spanish league on Monday. |
