| Three Islamic State leaders killed in recent strikes: U.S. military Posted: 10 Dec 2015 04:38 PM PST  By Idrees Ali WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S.-led coalition fighting Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria has killed the group's finance minister and two other senior leaders in air strikes in recent weeks, a U.S. military spokesman said on Thursday. Army Colonel Steve Warren told a Pentagon briefing coalition strikes had killed Abu Salah, Islamic State's financial minister, in late November.
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| Islamic State oil is going to Assad, some to Turkey, U.S. official says Posted: 10 Dec 2015 03:42 PM PST  By Guy Faulconbridge and Jonathan Saul LONDON (Reuters) - Islamic State militants have made more than $500 million trading oil with significant volumes sold to the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and some finding its way to Turkey, a senior U.S. Treasury official said on Thursday. The United States, France, Britain and Russia have vowed to defeat Islamic State, which uses an extreme interpretation of Islam to justify attacks and brutality in large parts of Syria and Iraq that it controls. A U.S.-led coalition is bombing the hardline Sunni group, as is Assad's only big-power supporter Russia, in an attempt to kill its leaders and cripple the oil wells which the group uses to finance its rule and attacks abroad.
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| Syrian opposition to meet government for talks in early January Posted: 10 Dec 2015 02:04 PM PST  By Angus McDowall RIYADH (Reuters) - A joint team of Syria's political and armed opposition will meet the government next month for talks seeking a political solution to nearly five years of conflict, the chairman of a Saudi-hosted opposition conference said on Friday. More than 100 members of Syria's opposition parties and rebel fighting groups agreed at the end of two days of talks in Riyadh to work together to prepare for peace talks with President Bashar al-Assad's government.
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| North Korean leader Kim's H-bomb claim draws skepticism Posted: 10 Dec 2015 01:32 PM PST  North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Thursday appeared to say his country has developed a hydrogen bomb, a step up from the less powerful atomic bomb, but the United States and outside experts were skeptical. Kim made the comments as he toured the Phyongchon Revolutionary Site, which marks the feats of his father who died in 2011 and his grandfather, state founder and eternal president, Kim Il Sung, the official KCNA news agency said. The work of Kim Il Sung "turned the DPRK into a powerful nuclear weapons state ready to detonate a self-reliant A-bomb and H-bomb to reliably defend its sovereignty and the dignity of the nation," KCNA quoted Kim Jong Un as saying.
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| Swiss see 'terrorist threat' in Geneva, hunt for suspects Posted: 10 Dec 2015 10:08 AM PST  By Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA (Reuters) - The Swiss city of Geneva raised its alert level on Thursday and said it was looking for suspects who, according to national officials, had possible links to terrorism. A security guard at the United Nations' European headquarters told Reuters that Swiss authorities were searching for four men believed to be in or near the city. Another guard said the U.N. compound was on maximum alert, and Geneva prosecutors said they were investigating the preparation of criminal acts.
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| Venezuela Congress taps Lopez judge as ombudsman, outraging foes Posted: 10 Dec 2015 01:28 PM PST  By Diego Oré and Alexandra Ulmer CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's outgoing National Assembly on Thursday tapped a judge who is hated by the opposition for jailing politician Leopoldo Lopez as the next human rights ombudsman in the increasingly hostile aftermath of legislative elections. Judge Susana Barreiros in September ruled Lopez had masterminded anti-government riots that erupted last year, and condemned him to nearly 14 years in prison. The opposition, which deems the U.S.-educated activist an innocent scapegoat of a dictatorial government, decried Barreiros' appointment to the post of state rights watchdog.
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| Top Asian News 1:05 a.m. GMT Posted: 10 Dec 2015 05:05 PM PST LE BOURGET, France (AP) — They barely break the surface of the ocean but in the U.N. talks on how to stop rising seas and other hazards of a warming planet, small island nations have the moral high ground. They are "literally negotiating over their own survival," U.N. Environment Program chief Achim Steiner said. While most countries think of climate change in terms of economic costs, Pacific atolls and remote island groups in the Indian Ocean and Caribbean picture a world map without them on it. Rising seas are already eroding their coast lines and contaminating their freshwater wells. Many are in the path of typhoons and hurricanes that scientists say could become more powerful as the climate warms. |
| North and South Korea set for high-level talks Posted: 10 Dec 2015 05:05 PM PST SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North and South Korea on Friday were set to hold high-level talks at a North Korean border town in their latest step to improve ties after they walked away from a military standoff in August. |
| State Department gets undiplomatic with Russian TV reporter Posted: 10 Dec 2015 04:56 PM PST  WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S.-Russian tensions broke out in undiplomatic fashion in an unlikely place Thursday: the State Department briefing room.
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| Sleep-starved envoys zero in on historic climate accord Posted: 10 Dec 2015 04:48 PM PST  "We are extremely close to the finish line," said French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, who is the president of the talks, as he released the new text and launched a second consecutive night of non-stop negotiations. Fabius pressed the ministers, gathered from 195 nations, to make unprecedented compromises on the outstanding issues: extremely complex rows primarily pitting rich countries against poor that have derailed previous UN efforts. World leaders have described the Paris talks as the last chance to avert disastrous climate change: increasingly severe drought, floods and storms, as well as rising seas that engulf islands and populated coastal regions.
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| U.S. updates jet-engine technology transfer policy with India Posted: 10 Dec 2015 04:37 PM PST  By David Brunnstrom WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States has updated its policy on gas-turbine engine technology transfer to India, a move that should lead to expanded cooperation in production and design of jet-engine components, a joint statement said on Thursday. U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter informed Indian Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar of the decision during the latter's visit to Washington this week and said it was made possible by the strengthening relationship between two countries. "As a result of this policy update, the Secretary is confident that the United States will be able to expand cooperation in production and design of jet-engine components," the joint statement said.
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| IS finance chief killed in Iraq air strike: US Posted: 10 Dec 2015 04:19 PM PST  A coalition air strike killed an Islamic State finance chief in Iraq last month, the US military said Thursday, hailing it as another scalp in its bid to shatter the extremists' financial network. Abu Saleh was killed in late November, US military spokesman Colonel Steve Warren said in a videoconference from Baghdad, calling him "one of the most senior and experienced members" of the group's financial system. "Abu Saleh was the third member of the finance network that we have killed" recently, Warren added, likening him to a finance minister for the extremist group, which has grabbed swathes of Iraq and Syria in a brutal offensive of beheadings and forced religious conversions.
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| Sri Lanka 38-2 at lunch vs. New Zealand Posted: 10 Dec 2015 04:13 PM PST  DUNEDIN, New Zealand (AP) — Trent Boult and Neil Wagner grabbed early wickets to send Sri Lanka to lunch at 38-2, replying to New Zealand's first innings of 431 Friday on the second day of the first cricket test at the University Oval.
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| Weakened rights language in Paris climate draft sparks alarm Posted: 10 Dec 2015 04:12 PM PST  By Laurie Goering and Megan Rowling PARIS (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Rights experts urged ministers at U.N. climate talks to put respect for human rights back into the binding section of a draft new global deal to tackle global warming, after it was removed from the latest version released on Thursday evening. Human rights organizations, aid agencies and climate-impacted people were disappointed to find an earlier binding proposal that said a Paris agreement should be implemented "on the basis of respect for human rights" had been thrown out. "We would certainly think human rights is not something that should be dropped," said Benjamin Schachter of the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights.
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| Zimbabwe activists call for tougher action against child marriages Posted: 10 Dec 2015 04:10 PM PST By Marko Phiri BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Thobekile Mpofu was 15 when she got pregnant to a 41-year-old man who quickly accepted responsibility and married her, avoiding possible legal action for having sex with an underage girl. Child rights activists on Thursday launched a campaign to call on the authorities to crack down on men using marriage to avoid criminal charges for having sex with a minor, one of the factors fuelling the number of child marriages in Zimbabwe. Figures from the United Nation's child agency, UNICEF, show that one in nine girls aged under 15 in Zimbabwe are married, with child marriage often ending a girl's education and exposing her to health risks from early childbearing and HIV. |
| Man accused in night vision goggles case agrees to plea deal Posted: 10 Dec 2015 04:03 PM PST  SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A man from North Korea accused of trying to buy military grade night vision goggles from a Utah-based undercover agent and illegally export them to China has pleaded guilty to a federal charge in an agreement with prosecutors.
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| UN rights chief: 'Essential' to refer North Korea to ICC Posted: 10 Dec 2015 03:46 PM PST UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. human rights chief has told the Security Council it is "essential" that the council refer North Korea's bleak human rights situation to the International Criminal Court, a proposition that the reclusive country views with alarm. |
| New Zealand-Sri Lanka 1st Test Scores Posted: 10 Dec 2015 03:42 PM PST DUNEDIN, New Zealand (AP) — Scores at lunch on the second day of the first cricket test between New Zealand and Sri Lanka on Friday at the University Oval: |
| Why Bitcoin's founder matters, as spotlight hits Australian Posted: 10 Dec 2015 03:36 PM PST  LOS ANGELES (AP) — Since the founding of the cryptocurrency Bitcoin in 2009, its inventor — or inventors — have been shrouded in mystery. For six years, that individual or group has lurked behind the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto and hoarded a pile of the digital currency so large it might crash the market if sold today.
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| Things to know about investigative fraud in China Posted: 10 Dec 2015 03:35 PM PST SHANGHAI (AP) — An Associated Press investigation found widespread fraud in China's murky anti-counterfeiting investigations industry. That means money spent fighting fakes often doesn't make things better — and sometimes makes them worse. Here are some things to know: |
| a Posted: 10 Dec 2015 03:35 PM PST SHANGHAI (AP) — Fraud in China's anti-counterfeiting industry is widespread, lawyers, investigators and law enforcement officials say. Here are some examples: |
| Who's investigating fake Chinese goods? Fake investigators Posted: 10 Dec 2015 03:33 PM PST  SHANGHAI (AP) — Multinational corporations doing business in China face a losing battle when it comes to keeping copies of their products off the market: The anti-counterfeiting industry they rely on is plagued with fraud, making it that much easier for potentially dangerous fake goods — from air bags to Christmas lights — to reach consumers, an Associated Press investigation has found.
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| Ajax fails to reach last-32 of Europa League Posted: 10 Dec 2015 03:22 PM PST  PARIS (AP) — Four-time European Cup winner Ajax failed to advance to the Europa League last-32 after drawing 1-1 at home to Norwegian side Molde, as the nine remaining qualifying places for the knockout stage were decided on Thursday .
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| After Netanyahu distances himself, Trump postpones trip to Israel Posted: 10 Dec 2015 03:19 PM PST  Donald Trump is postponing his planned trip to Israel, he announced Thursday, just a day after the Jewish state's prime minister criticized the White House hopeful's inflammatory anti-Muslim proposals. The frontrunner for the 2016 Republican nomination was scheduled to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on December 28, but changed plans after his call for a ban on Muslims entering the United States met with a chorus of international condemnation. Facing a backlash over his meeting with Trump, Netanyahu's office on Wednesday issued a statement saying the prime minister "rejects" his remarks on Muslims, and that their planned encounter was simply in line with an established practice of meeting visiting US presidential candidates.
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| North Korea savaged at UN for human rights abuses Posted: 10 Dec 2015 03:18 PM PST  North Korea came under stinging criticism at the UN Security Council on Thursday for the second consecutive year for the unparalleled horrors of human rights violations that deny millions basic freedoms. The meeting, which fell deliberately on international human rights day, was chaired by the United States, which had joined eight other members in calling for the talks on Pyongyang's dismal rights record. Permanent members China and Russia opposed the meeting saying the council was not the appropriate forum, and denying that the human rights situation in North Korea posed a threat to international peace and security.
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| U.N. hopeful of Yemen aid boom, helped by new shipping verification Posted: 10 Dec 2015 03:16 PM PST  By Tom Miles GENEVA (Reuters) - Yemen's peace talks next week are an opportunity to bring in urgent humanitarian aid for millions of people who have been deprived of vital supplies since the war escalated nine months ago, the U.N. humanitarian chief said on Thursday. "In Yemen I'm very hopeful that Dec. 15 will herald a new peaceful context in which we can very much extend (aid) - both rapidly and in volume - to all the people in need," Stephen O'Brien said in an interview. "Whilst just over 21 million people have some form of humanitarian need across Yemen, the immediate vital needs encompass something in the region of 5 million people for food, water, shelter and urgent medical care on all sides of the conflict lines." The United Nations will launch peace talks in Switzerland on Tuesday, when a seven-day ceasefire is expected to begin.
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| Lawyer: US agents 'turned a blind eye' to laws during arrest Posted: 10 Dec 2015 03:15 PM PST SEATTLE (AP) — Lawyers for a Russian man charged with hacking into U.S. businesses to steal credit card information say federal agents who arrested him at a Maldives airport "turned a blind eye" to that country's laws. |
| Canada 'alert' against terror threats to major cities Posted: 10 Dec 2015 03:12 PM PST  Canada is "vigilant" and "alert" to terrorist threats after warnings of possible plots against its major cities linked to the Islamic State extremist group, the public safety minister said Thursday. It came after authorities in Geneva launched a manhunt for several suspected jihadists believed to have links to the Islamic State group, and who threatened attacks there and in North America.
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| UK police smash fraud network linked to Syria Posted: 10 Dec 2015 03:11 PM PST  Britain convicted nine men in a case of "industrial-scale fraud" on Thursday after a terrorism investigation uncovered suspect payments into an account of a person who had travelled to Syria. In a £1 million (1.4 million euro) scam, the men targeted elderly and vulnerable people in the south of England by pretending to inform them of bank fraud, then persuading them to hand over cash to "keep it safe", police said. "We uncovered this fraud after a separate terrorist investigation found suspicious payments into a bank account of an individual who is now believed to have travelled to Syria," said Richard Walton, head of the Metropolitan Police's counter-terrorism unit.
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| Ex-US star Stewart introduced as Union sporting director Posted: 10 Dec 2015 03:11 PM PST CHESTER, Pa. (AP) — Former U.S. national team star Earnie Stewart has fulfilled his dream of returning to the United States. |
| Lawyer seeks speedy trial for billionaire in UN case Posted: 10 Dec 2015 03:09 PM PST NEW YORK (AP) — A Chinese billionaire arrested in a United Nations bribery scandal needs a speedy trial because his businesses are being damaged, his lawyer told a judge Thursday. |
| Cuba marks rights day with dozens of arrests Posted: 10 Dec 2015 03:08 PM PST  Cuba marked Human Rights Day by detaining dozens of opposition activists or barring them from leaving their homes Thursday to prevent protests against the communist authorities, rights groups said. There were similar scenes elsewhere on the island -- as is usually the case in Cuba on international rights day, when authorities stamp down on dissent. At least 11 people were arrested in Guantanamo, on the eastern tip of Cuba, and six more in the capital when they attempted to meet up, said dissident Jose Daniel Ferrer, leader of the Patriotic Union of Cuba rights body.
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| A new space race: satellites could test the world's climate vows Posted: 10 Dec 2015 03:08 PM PST  By Barbara Lewis, Richard Valdmanis and David Stanway PARIS (Reuters) - Scientists from the United States, Japan, and China are racing to perfect satellite technology that could one day measure greenhouse gas emissions from space, potentially transforming the winner into the world's first climate cop. Monitoring a single country's net emissions from above could not only become an important tool to establish whether it had met its promises to slow global warming, a point of contention at climate talks in Paris, but also help emitters to pinpoint the sources of greenhouse gases more quickly and cheaply. "We know satellite technology is evolving so that there is an increasing ability to actually tell whether countries are telling the truth." Most estimates of greenhouse gas emissions are now based on calculations of energy use and other proxy data, rather than on-the-ground measurements, leaving a huge margin of error when nations submit their figures to the United Nations.
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| Female Guantanamo guards still barred from moving prisoners Posted: 10 Dec 2015 03:07 PM PST  GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba (AP) — A military judge refused Thursday to lift an order barring female guards at Guantanamo from having physical contact with five men charged in the Sept. 11 terrorist attack, at least for now.
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| US launches trial of facial, eye scans on Mexican border Posted: 10 Dec 2015 03:05 PM PST  SAN DIEGO (AP) — The federal government on Thursday began collecting facial and eye scans of foreigners entering the U.S. at a busy border crossing with Mexico, a first step in one of its most ambitious efforts to track people who stay in the country illegally after their visas expire.
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| Bolivian city celebrates an eco-friendly Christmas Posted: 10 Dec 2015 03:04 PM PST LA PAZ - With sparkling lights and unique decorations La Paz began the holiday celebrations, unveiling a nativity scene sculpted entirely from recycled wood and a Christmas tree made from compact disks. With its eco-friendly Christmas theme the city aims to promote recycling and environmental awareness. La Paz has a goal to become a zero-waste city by the year 2040. |
| Chilean police say 4 people arrested in pedophile ring Posted: 10 Dec 2015 03:01 PM PST SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — Chilean police said Thursday that they have arrested four people for possessing thousands of child pornography images. |
| Hanyu breaks own short program record at GP Final Posted: 10 Dec 2015 03:01 PM PST  BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Olympic champion Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan broke his own points record for a men's short program to take a commanding lead of the Grand Prix Final on Thursday.
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