| U.S. Navy plans two or more patrols in South China Sea per quarter Posted: 02 Nov 2015 01:34 PM PST  By Andrea Shalal and Idrees Ali WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Navy plans to conduct patrols within 12 nautical miles of artificial islands in the South China Sea about twice a quarter to remind China and other countries about U.S. rights under international law, a U.S. defence official said on Monday. It meets the intent to regularly exercise our rights under international law and remind the Chinese and others about our view," the official said. U.S. Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes on Monday said there would be more demonstrations of the U.S. military's commitment to the right to freely navigate in the region.
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| Flight recorders show crashed Russian jet not struck from outside - investigator Posted: 02 Nov 2015 07:56 AM PST  By Ahmed Mohamed Hassan and Polina Devitt CAIRO/MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Russian plane that crashed in Egypt was not struck from the outside and the pilot did not make a distress call before it disappeared from radar, a source in the committee analyzing the flight recorders said on Monday. The source declined to give more details but based his comments on the preliminary examination of the black boxes recovered from the Airbus A321 which crashed in the Sinai Peninsula on Saturday killing all 224 people on board. The Egyptian government said the black boxes were being examined by Egyptian and Russian experts along with German and French specialists from Airbus and from Ireland where the aircraft was registered.
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| Erdogan says world must respect Turkish election result Posted: 02 Nov 2015 11:33 AM PST  By Nick Tattersall and Ercan Gurses ANKARA (Reuters) - A jubilant President Tayyip Erdogan on Monday cast the return of Turkey to single-party rule as a vote for stability that the world must respect, but opponents fear it heralds growing authoritarianism and deeper polarisation. The AK Party, whose roots are in political Islam, defied pollsters and even the expectations of its own strategists in a general election on Sunday, consolidating support from the right to claw back a parliamentary majority that will bolster Erdogan's grip on power. The result handed the AKP 317 of the 550 seats in parliament, only 13 short of the number Erdogan would need for a national referendum on constitutional changes he wants to forge a presidential system granting him full executive powers.
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| White House advisor says U.S. activity in South China Sea will continue Posted: 02 Nov 2015 10:38 AM PST  By Idrees Ali WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes said on Monday that there would be more demonstrations of the United States' commitment to the freedom of navigation in the disputed South China Sea. "That's our interest there… It's to demonstrate that we will uphold the principle of freedom of navigation," Rhodes said while speaking at event in Washington. Rhodes' comments come after a U.S. guided-missile destroyer sailed close to one of Beijing's man-made islands in the South China Sea last week.
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| State Department says reviewing reporter incident during Kerry meeting in Uzbekistan Posted: 02 Nov 2015 11:48 AM PST  The U.S. State Department said on Monday it was reviewing an incident during a meeting of Secretary of State John Kerry with Uzbekistan President Islam Karimov in Samarkand in which an American reporter was escorted out after shouting a question. At the photo opportunity in Samarkand on Sunday, as security men started ushering reporters out of the room, one American reporter shouted a question to Karimov about the U.S. State Department's scathing critique of his human rights record.
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| Election brings hope, fear for Myanmar refugees stuck in limbo Posted: 02 Nov 2015 03:34 PM PST By Amy Sawitta Lefevre MAE SOT, Thailand (Reuters) - For refugees from Myanmar living in camps just across the border in Thailand, a landmark election in their homeland triggers mixed emotions - hope that a hated government will be defeated, and fear of the uncertain future such an upheaval might bring. Ko Chit, 45, who lives in Mae La refugee camp, the largest of the nine camps that are home to around 110,000 people, is typical of those who spoke to Reuters. "The situation is not yet stable and we cannot go back because of fighting and persecution," Ko Chit said. |
| Activist who accused orphanage founder loses new-trial bid Posted: 02 Nov 2015 04:37 PM PST  PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — An activist who falsely accused a Haiti orphanage founder of molesting boys and was ordered to pay $14.5 million in damages has lost his bid for a new trial.
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| Top Asian News at 12:30 a.m. GMT Posted: 02 Nov 2015 04:32 PM PST HKAPANT, Myanmar (AP) — Brang Shawng had never written a letter to the president before, never even dreamed of it. But he'd heard that his country was changing, and that the military junta in Myanmar had given way to a civilian government. And he believed that in this acclaimed new democracy, he could find justice for a 14-year-old girl shot to death. So he wrote a letter to President Thein Sein, a former general, telling him how the army had killed his daughter in what witnesses say was a burst of gunfire. He sent a complaint to Myanmar's human rights commission, launched just four years ago. He asked for an investigation. |
| Britain and France to cooperate to combat migrant smugglers Posted: 02 Nov 2015 04:27 PM PST  Britain and France are to strengthen police cooperation to dismantle people smuggling networks and combat undocumented migration, the French interior minister said on Monday. Bernard Cazeneuve and his British counterpart Theresa May signed an agreement at a meeting in London on Monday night to increase cross-border cooperation in law enforcement. "It's an agreement which re-inforces cooperation between our police services, our intelligence services, and which also aims to ultimately increase judicial cooperation between our two countries in the fight against illegal immigration and smuggling networks," Cazeneuve said at a press conference.
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| Shell, Nigeria accused over oil spill clean up Posted: 02 Nov 2015 04:24 PM PST  Shell was on Tuesday accused of making false claims about the extent of its oil spill clean-up operations in Nigeria and urged to take more action to help worst-hit communities. Amnesty International and the Centre for Environment, Human Rights and Development (CEHRD) charged the oil major with failing to implement recommendations from a critical 2011 UN report. The claims came a week before the 20th anniversary of the execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa, who helped bring the extent of oil-related ecological damage in Nigeria to world attention.
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| UK must not join Syria strikes without clearer strategy: MPs Posted: 02 Nov 2015 04:13 PM PST  Britain should not join air strikes on Syria until there is a clear strategy to defeat the Islamic State group and bring peace to the country, an influential committee of MPs said Tuesday. Prime Minister David Cameron's government wants to extend Britain's current involvement in international air strikes on targets in Iraq into Syria if it can get support from across the political spectrum in a House of Commons vote.
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| Thiem, Tomic advance at Paris Masters Posted: 02 Nov 2015 04:13 PM PST PARIS (AP) — Young prospects Dominic Thiem and Bernard Tomic advanced to the second round of the Paris Masters on Monday while local players struggled at the refurbished Bercy arena. |
| UK lawmakers wary of government plan for Syria airstrikes Posted: 02 Nov 2015 04:04 PM PST LONDON (AP) — An influential group of lawmakers says launching British airstrikes against Islamic State group militants in Syria would be "incoherent" and ineffective without a plan to end the country's civil war. |
| No 'direct evidence' of terrorism in Egypt crash: Clapper Posted: 02 Nov 2015 03:52 PM PST  US Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said Monday he knew of no direct evidence that terrorism was to blame for the weekend crash of a Russian passenger plane in Egypt. "We don't have any direct evidence of any terrorist involvement yet," he said. Both Cairo and Moscow have played down a claim from the Islamic State group's Egypt branch that it brought down the aircraft traveling from holiday destination Sharm el-Sheikh to Russia on Saturday, killing all 224 on board.
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| US military wasted $43M on compressed natural gas station Posted: 02 Nov 2015 03:39 PM PST  The US military used $43 million of taxpayer dollars for a natural-gas filling station in northern Afghanistan that should have cost just $500,000, the government watchdog for reconstruction in the war-torn country said Monday. The huge expense highlights some of the endemic problems that have plagued US aid to Afghanistan in the wake of the 2001 American-led invasion.
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| Pope's Central Africa trip still on cards despite violence Posted: 02 Nov 2015 03:39 PM PST  Pope Francis's visit to the violence-hit Central African Republic (CAR) remains "on the programme", the Vatican said Monday, but the trip planned for late November would have to be cancelled if fighting in the capital intensifies. Francis greatly desires to go there," the Vatican's deputy spokesman Ciro Benedettini told AFP. At least 61 people were killed and over 300 injured in sectarian clashes in late September in Bangui before UN and French peacekeeping forces intervened to restore calm.
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| Violence hits Central African Republic ahead of pope's visit Posted: 02 Nov 2015 03:28 PM PST By Crispin Dembassa-Kette BANGUI (Reuters) - Armed assailants in the Central African Republic's capital killed two men and three women and set scores of homes ablaze in violence that could further delay elections and derail a visit this month by Pope Francis. Witnesses said hundreds of people fled their homes in Bangui on Monday after the weekend attack by men from the mainly Muslim PK-5 neighborhood in which one man had his throat slit and more than a dozen people were shot and wounded. Brice Kevin Kakayen, a coordinator for the Enfants Sans Frontieres charity, said five were killed, part of a pattern in which at least 90 people have died violently since late September. |
| EPA says Volkswagen cheated a 2nd time on pollution tests Posted: 02 Nov 2015 03:22 PM PST  WASHINGTON (AP) — The Volkswagen emissions scandal widened Monday when the U.S. government accused the German automaker of cheating for a second time. Although VW denied the charge, it faced the prospect of steeper fines and lost sales, as well as more intense scrutiny from disbelieving U.S. lawmakers.
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| France, China agree on climate change checks Posted: 02 Nov 2015 03:14 PM PST  China and France agreed Monday that an international deal to tackle climate change to be negotiated in Paris should include checks on compliance, in what visiting French President Francois Hollande called a "historic" step forward. The Paris conference will be attended by at least 80 world leaders including China's President Xi Jinping and US President Barack Obama. It seeks to unite all the world's nations in a single agreement on tackling climate change, with the goal of capping warming at two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) over pre-Industrial Revolution levels.
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| Wreckage of doomed U.S. cargo ship El Faro found off Bahamas Posted: 02 Nov 2015 03:07 PM PST  By David Adams MIAMI (Reuters) - A large ship found in deep water off the Bahamas is the lost freighter El Faro that sank with 33 crew members in a hurricane last month, U.S. authorities said on Monday. It was found in the vicinity of El Faro's last known location off Crooked Island in the southeastern Bahamas, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board said. A salvage team will now seek to retrieve the ship's voyage data recorder - similar to an airplane's black box - which could contain vital clues for the NTSB-led investigation into what sank the El Faro.
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| Venezuela leader pledges Petrocaribe project for Caribbean Posted: 02 Nov 2015 03:03 PM PST KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent (AP) — Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Monday pledged more resources for the eastern Caribbean under the Petrocaribe program during a one-day visit to the nearby island of St. Vincent. |
| Spurs beat Villa to underline task facing new manager Garde Posted: 02 Nov 2015 02:58 PM PST  LONDON (AP) — Within hours of being hired as Aston Villa manager, Remi Garde witnessed the magnitude of his task on Monday when Tottenham handed his new team a ninth loss in 11 Premier League games to leave it stranded at the bottom.
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| Cuba and US firm sign telecoms agreement on roaming Posted: 02 Nov 2015 02:53 PM PST  LA HABANA (AP) — Cuba's state telecommunications company and U.S. firm Sprint have signed an agreement for cellphone roaming service, the first direct deal of its kind between phone companies in both countries.
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| Vatican arrests 2 people in latest probe of leaked documents Posted: 02 Nov 2015 02:52 PM PST  VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican said Monday it had arrested a high-ranking priest and another member of a papal reform commission on suspicion of leaking confidential documents — a stunning move that comes just days before the publication of two books promising damaging revelations about the obstacles Pope Francis faces in cleaning up the Holy See's murky finances.
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| Azerbaijan president cements power in disputed parliamentary polls Posted: 02 Nov 2015 02:51 PM PST  The ruling party of the oil-rich former Soviet republic of Azerbaijan won a majority in disputed parliamentary polls that cemented President Ilham Aliyev's grip on power, final results showed Monday. Aliyev's Yeni (New) Azerbaijan party took 71 seats in the country's 125-seat parliament, the Central Election Commission chief, Mazakhir Panakhov, told a news conference. International rights groups had cast doubt on the fairness of the election, accusing the government of jailing political opponents on trumped-up charges and limiting parties' ability to campaign.
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| Nebraska tried buying drug for executions from domestic firm Posted: 02 Nov 2015 02:42 PM PST LINCOLN, Nebraska (AP) — Nebraska prison officials unsuccessfully tried to buy a key lethal injection drug from a Mississippi-based pharmaceutical company after spending months trying to import tens of thousands of dollars in execution drugs from India, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press. |
| Canada's Trudeau to attend four summits in four weeks Posted: 02 Nov 2015 02:34 PM PST  Canada's prime minister-elect Justin Trudeau will travel around the world to attend four international conferences by year's end, his office said Monday. Finally, Trudeau and a large delegation including opposition and provincial leaders will land in Paris on November 30 for UN climate talks, where he is expected to announce tough new emissions cuts.
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| Congo clears the way for 72 adoptions after 2-year wait Posted: 02 Nov 2015 02:25 PM PST KINSHASA, Congo (AP) — Congo's government cleared the way Monday for dozens of children to join their adoptive families abroad after more than two years of waiting, though a further 1,000 others will have to remain in orphanages for now. |
| Lebanon seeks more US aid to clear landmines Posted: 02 Nov 2015 02:21 PM PST  Lebanon asked the United States Monday for more aid in eliminating landmines planted during the Lebanese civil war and in later conflicts. The State Department published Monday its yearly report on its program to destroy abandoned conventional weapons. The United States said that makes it the world's top country in terms of eliminating unexploded ordnance like anti-personnel landmines.
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| Aston Villa hires Remi Garde as 5th manager in 5 years Posted: 02 Nov 2015 02:21 PM PST  BIRMINGHAM, England (AP) — Aston Villa hired Remi Garde as its fifth manager in five years on Monday, tasking him with keeping the last-place team in the Premier League.
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| Autism study 'Neurotribes' wins Samuel Johnson book prize Posted: 02 Nov 2015 02:20 PM PST LONDON (AP) — A book that challenges readers to think differently about autism has won Britain's leading literary award for nonfiction. |
| Porsche, more Audi models pulled into VW emissions scandal Posted: 02 Nov 2015 02:18 PM PST  By Patrick Rucker and Timothy Gardner WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Volkswagen used devices to cheat air pollution tests in diesel luxury vehicles, U.S. environmental regulators said on Monday, in a new blow to the automaker already reeling from similar allegations regarding millions of smaller diesel engines. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said it is now looking at 3.0-liter V6 diesel engines used mostly in larger, more expensive models like the Porsche Cayenne sport utility vehicle in addition to engines on Jettas, Passats and other mass-market models whose test-deceiving software were initially targeted by the agency in mid-September. Volkswagen in a response Monday took issue with the EPA's findings, saying that "no software has been installed" in its 3.0-liter V6 diesel engines "to alter emissions characteristics in a forbidden manner." VW made similar denials for more than a year to U.S. regulators before admitting to cheating on the four-cylinder diesels.
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| Nine Chilean 'miracle miners' sue lawyers Posted: 02 Nov 2015 02:17 PM PST  Nine Chilean miners trapped underground in 2010 in an ordeal that captured world attention sued their lawyers Monday, accusing them of cheating them out of the rights to their story. The nine men, part of a group of 33 that spent 69 days trapped underground after a collapse at the San Jose mine in northern Chile, accused lawyers Remberto Rodrigo Valdes and Fernando Garcia of defrauding them with a dodgy deal to create a company to manage their rights. "Today we're being rescued for the second time," said plaintiff Luis Urzua, the foreman who acted as the leader of the trapped miners and was the last to return to the surface when they were saved.
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| Mystery, confusion surround Russian plane crash in Egypt Posted: 02 Nov 2015 02:12 PM PST  ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (AP) — Mystery and confusion surrounded the final moments of a Russian jetliner that plummeted suddenly from high altitude to the Egyptian desert, killing all 224 people aboard. The airline Monday ruled out pilot error or a technical fault, but Russian aviation officials dismissed those comments as premature.
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| Feds: Wreckage identified as ill-fated cargo ship El Faro Posted: 02 Nov 2015 02:07 PM PST  Federal investigators on Monday identified wreckage found 15,000 feet deep in the sea as that of the ill-fated cargo ship El Faro.
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| How the Dow Jones industrial average fared on Monday Posted: 02 Nov 2015 02:00 PM PST Stocks posted solid gains Monday, adding to last month's big advances and pushing the Dow Jones industrial average into positive territory for 2015. Several companies moved on news, including Chipotle Mexican Grill and Visa. |
| Eder moves atop Serie A scoring chart with 9th of season Posted: 02 Nov 2015 01:55 PM PST  ROME (AP) — Eder scored his league-best ninth goal of the season in Sampdoria's 1-1 draw at Chievo Verona on Monday in Serie A.
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| Romania disco bosses arrested over deadly blaze Posted: 02 Nov 2015 01:53 PM PST  Three bosses of a nightclub in Romania, where a weekend blaze left 31 people dead and nearly 200 injured were arrested Monday on suspicion of manslaughter, prosecutors said Monday. Witnesses said a fireworks display triggered the blaze at the Colectiv nightclub in a former shoe factory which sparked a stampede as terrified revellers scrambled to get out.
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| Western 'concern' over Turkey vote as Erdogan consolidates rule Posted: 02 Nov 2015 01:47 PM PST  Turkey's Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party prepared Monday to form a single-party government after a stunning election win that strengthens the hand of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan but drew sharp criticism from the White House and European election observers.
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