| North Korea appears to have tested sub-launched missile: South Korean media Posted: 05 Jan 2016 05:16 PM PST  North Korea appears to have carried out a test of a submarine-launched ballistic missile last month, South Korean media reports said, but the South Korean military told Reuters it could not confirm the test. South Korea's Yonhap News Agency cited an unnamed South Korean government official as saying Pyongyang appeared to have conducted an ejection test of a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) in December, following a reported failure of such a test in November. A South Korean military official told Reuters that North Korea continued to developed submarine-launched missile capability but expects it will take a substantial period of time for it to be able to successfully deploy such a weapon.
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| Iran says Saudi Arabia cannot cover up 'crime' by cutting ties Posted: 05 Jan 2016 12:26 PM PST  By Bozorgmehr Sharafedin DUBAI (Reuters) - Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Tuesday Saudi Arabia could not hide its "crime" of executing a Shi'ite cleric by cutting ties with Tehran, but Iranian authorities disowned an attack on the Saudi embassy in Iran. Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Sudan broke all ties with Iran and the United Arab Emirates downgraded its relations on Monday after the Saudi embassy in Tehran was stormed by protesters. Kuwait recalled its ambassador to Iran on Tuesday.
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| Iran unveils second underground missile, likely to irk U.S. Posted: 05 Jan 2016 07:18 AM PST  By Bozorgmehr Sharafedin DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran unveiled a new underground missile depot on Tuesday with state television showing Emad precision-guided missiles in store which the United States says can take a nuclear warhead and violate a 2010 U.N. Security Council resolution. The defiant move to publicize Iran's missile program seemed certain to irk the United States as it plans to dismantle nearly all sanctions on Iran under a breakthrough nuclear agreement. Tasnim news agency and state television video said the underground facility, situated in mountains and run by Iran's Revolutionary Guards, was inaugurated by the speaker of parliament, Ali Larijani.
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| One U.S. service member killed, two wounded in Afghanistan Posted: 05 Jan 2016 01:24 PM PST  WASHINGTON/KABUL (Reuters) - One member of the U.S. armed forces was killed and two others were wounded on Tuesday in southern Afghanistan's Helmand province, the site of fierce fighting between Taliban insurgents and American-backed Afghan government forces, the U.S. military said. The U.S. troops came under fire in the town of Marjah while accompanying Afghan special operations forces, and a U.S. helicopter was damaged in the incident, Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said. Afghan troops also were injured in the fighting, Cook added.
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| Saudis signal backing for Syria talks despite row with Iran Posted: 05 Jan 2016 12:52 PM PST  Saudi Arabia signaled on Tuesday that the breach in its relations with Iran would not affect talks on Syria, another round of which is scheduled in Geneva this month. Riyadh and Tehran, which support opposing sides in the Syrian civil war, have attended previous talks on the conflict but there is concern that the new rift between the arch rivals could set back diplomatic efforts to bring peace to Syria. Speaking after talks in Riyadh with U.N. special envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura, Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir was quoted as saying by the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA): "The recent tensions that impacted the region negatively will not affect ... the operations that the United Nations carries out alongside the international community to achieve a political solution in Geneva soon." Saudi Arabia and some other Sunni Arab countries have broken all ties with Iran after protesters in Tehran stormed the Saudi embassy in protest over Riyadh's execution of a Shi'ite Muslim cleric.
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| Militant in Islamic State video believed to be British bouncy castle salesman Posted: 05 Jan 2016 05:02 AM PST By Michael Holden LONDON (Reuters) - The masked militant in an Islamic State video showing the killing of five men accused by the group of being Western spies is believed to be a Londoner known as Sid who once sold inflatable bouncy castles. Siddhartha Dhar, who left Britain for Syria while on police bail after his arrest on suspicion of belonging to a banned group and encouraging terrorism, has been identified by media as the spokesman in the militant organization's latest film. The video also features a young boy wearing a black bandanna around his head and army-style camouflage clothing, threatening in English to "kill the kaffir (unbelievers) over there". |
| Greece: 2 passengers agree to abandon Israel flight Posted: 05 Jan 2016 05:12 PM PST ATHENS, Greece (AP) — A Greek airline says two passengers agreed to take a later flight from Athens to Israel after passengers on the airplane demanded additional security checks. |
| Venezuela opposition supporters revel in new Congress Posted: 05 Jan 2016 04:46 PM PST  By Alexandra Ulmer CARACAS (Reuters) - Cameras zoomed in on First Lady and lawmaker Cilia Flores as an opposition legislator accused Venezuela's government of handing out diplomatic passports to drug traffickers, an allusion to her two nephews on trial in the United States on cocaine smuggling charges. Another opposition legislator stood up and accused his ruling Socialist Party counterparts of stealing money destined for cancer medicines and food, both of which are running short in the crisis-hit country. For Venezuela's frustrated opposition supporters, the first session of the National Assembly on Tuesday was a delightful spectacle.
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| New Year's sex assaults stoke German migrant debate Posted: 05 Jan 2016 04:07 PM PST  German leaders expressed shock over dozens of apparently coordinated sexual assaults against women on New Year's Eve in the western city of Cologne blamed on "Arab-looking men," but warned against anti-migrant scapegoating. Chancellor Angela Merkel called for a thorough investigation of the "repugnant" attacks, ranging from groping to at least one reported rape, allegedly committed in a large crowd of revellers during year-end festivities outside the city's main train station and its famed Gothic cathedral. Merkel's spokesman Steffen Seibert said she had called Cologne's mayor, Henriette Reker, to express her "outrage" over the violence, which she said required "a tough response from the state".
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| Boy in stable condition after Australian shark attack Posted: 05 Jan 2016 03:45 PM PST CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — An 11-year-old boy was in a stable condition in hospital on Wednesday after he was mauled by a shark on the Great Barrier Reef off the Australian east coast, officials said. |
| Mexican lawyer visits 'affluenza' teen, will visit again Posted: 05 Jan 2016 03:41 PM PST  MEXICO CITY (AP) — The Mexican lawyer for a Texas teenager who used an "affluenza" defense in a fatal drunken-driving accident in the U.S. met with his client Tuesday, but said he was not at liberty to discuss what they talked about.
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| Security Council briefed on possible sarin use in Syria Posted: 05 Jan 2016 03:35 PM PST UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The acting U.N. disarmament chief told the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday that the chemical weapons watchdog agency has reported a possible use of the deadly nerve agent sarin in an alleged chemical attack in Syria. |
| C. America's violent Northern Triangle records 17,422 murders in 2015 Posted: 05 Jan 2016 03:31 PM PST  Central America's so-called Northern Triangle -- Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras -- recorded a total 17,422 murders in 2015, 11 percent higher than for 2014, according to preliminary police tallies. The everyday danger of violent death has helped push many residents in those countries to try to emigrate to the United States. "The rising death tally in the Northern Triangle is shameful and clearly shows that the social conflict is major and needs regional efforts to confront it," a Salvadoran analyst and university professor, Roberto Canas, told AFP.
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| AH1N1 death of Cuban migrant alarms Panama Posted: 05 Jan 2016 03:28 PM PST  A Cuban migrant's death from the AH1N1 influenza virus has alarmed authorities in Panama, where nearly 1,000 other Cubans are stranded near the border with Costa Rica, according to an official on Tuesday. Authorities were now examining sanitary conditions for the hundreds of Cuban stuck on the border, which Costa Rica has closed to them since December 19. Nearly 8,000 other Cubans are currently in Costa Rica, stranded there by Nicaragua's decision mid-November to likewise prevent them passing through its territory on their way to the United States.
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| El Niño-strengthened storm brings rain, floods to California Posted: 05 Jan 2016 03:24 PM PST  By Curtis Skinner LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - An El Niño-strengthened storm brought widespread rain to drought-stricken California on Tuesday, triggering flooding that clogged roadways, and authorities warned residents about possible mud slides. The National Weather Service (NWS) has issued flash flood watches for much of the coast from San Diego to San Francisco and said storms would linger through Friday. Emily Thornton, a NWS meteorologist in Los Angeles, said Tuesday's storm was the strongest thus far of the El Niño season, which she said is expected to last into spring.
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| At least 81 civilians killed in Yemen in December despite ceasefire: UN Posted: 05 Jan 2016 03:11 PM PST  At least 81 civilians were killed in Yemen last month, most of them in Saudi-led airstrikes, despite a short-lived and repeatedly violated ceasefire, the United Nations said Tuesday. "During the month of December, at least 62 civilians were reported to have been killed by airstrikes attributed to the coalition forces," Rupert Colville, spokesman for the UN human rights agency, told reporters. The number of civilians killed by the Iran-backed Shiite Huthi rebels and their allies was meanwhile cut by two thirds to at least 11 in December from 32 a month earlier, Colville said.
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| Venezuela opposition takes congress, defies president Posted: 05 Jan 2016 03:01 PM PST  Venezuela's opposition on Tuesday broke the government's 17-year grip on the legislature and vowed to force out President Nicolas Maduro despite failing for the time being to clinch its hoped-for "supermajority". The National Assembly swore in deputies to 163 of the 167 seats, with four lawmakers -- three opposition and one pro-government -- suspended pending a lawsuit over alleged electoral fraud. The new opposition speaker of the assembly, Henry Ramos Allup, said his side was willing to take steps to force Maduro from office.
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| Liverpool beats Stoke 1-0 in League Cup semifinal first leg Posted: 05 Jan 2016 02:50 PM PST  Liverpool's 1-0 win over Stoke in an English League Cup semifinal first leg came at a cost on Tuesday, with Philippe Coutinho and Dejan Lovren hurt and manager Juergen Klopp acknowledging he may need new signings.
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| Haiti election chief says runoff can't be held by Jan. 17 Posted: 05 Jan 2016 02:45 PM PST  PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Haiti's outgoing leader met with election authorities Tuesday in search of a solution to the country's deepening electoral impasse, after an official said it would be impossible to hold a presidential runoff in time for a transfer of power by the constitutional deadline.
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| Iraq must walk a fine line amid Iranian, Saudi tensions Posted: 05 Jan 2016 02:43 PM PST  BAGHDAD (AP) — While many Iraqi Shiites took to the streets in outrage over Saudi Arabia's execution of a prominent Shiite cleric, the country's prime minister has had to walk a more cautious line, trying to contain Iraq's own explosive sectarian tensions.
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| Prince Ali: FIFA catastrophe fears before 'last chance' poll Posted: 05 Jan 2016 02:36 PM PST LONDON (AP) — Prince Ali bin al-Hussein warns that FIFA risks catastrophe unless he is elected president next month and entrusted with cleaning up an organization reeling from corruption charges. |
| New sex abuse claims against UN peacekeepers in C. Africa Posted: 05 Jan 2016 02:34 PM PST  UN peacekeepers are facing fresh allegations that they sexually abused four young girls in the Central African Republic, the latest in a wave of child rape cases to hit the mission. The United Nations said Tuesday it had informed three countries of the claims and asked them to investigate their soldiers serving in the MINUSCA mission in Bangui. A UN spokesman declined to name the countries and to specify how many troops were involved, but sources said the soldiers were from Gabon, Egypt and Morocco.
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| Venezuela opposition controls congress after 17 years Posted: 05 Jan 2016 02:27 PM PST  CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela's opposition took majority control of the National Assembly on Tuesday after years in the political wilderness, setting the stage for a potential power struggle with embattled President Nicolas Maduro.
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| U.S. grain shippers await El Nino dryness after unseasonable flood Posted: 05 Jan 2016 02:17 PM PST By Karl Plume CHICAGO (Reuters) - The clear Midwestern skies that El Nino cycles typically bring could be a boon to the U.S. heartland this spring, after recent record rain levels soaked the region, swamping farmland and disrupting grain export shipments on swollen rivers. Farm fields across the Midwest are saturated, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. El Nino refers to a series of climatic changes linked to warming of sea-surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean, which in turn affects weather patterns around the globe. |
| Suspect says not guilty to mailing cyanide in man's suicide Posted: 05 Jan 2016 02:12 PM PST BANGOR, Maine (AP) — A U.S. suspect has pleaded not guilty to mailing cyanide to an Englishman who killed himself. |
| Nuclear plants along Mississippi, Missouri rivers not seen hurt by heavy rain -NRC Posted: 05 Jan 2016 02:03 PM PST  (Reuters) - The nuclear plants along the Missouri and Mississippi rivers are not expected to be adversely affected by flooding and heavy rains, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said on Tuesday. Along the Missouri River, Omaha Public Power District's Fort Calhoun nuclear generating station and Nebraska Public Power District's Cooper nuclear station are not expected to be affected, the NRC statement added. Ameren Corp's Callaway plant in Missouri and Entergy Corp's Arkansas Nuclear One in Russellville, Arkansas, have not been affected by heavy rains and no impact is predicted, the regulator said.
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| Cassano inspires Sampdoria to 3-2 win over Genoa in derby Posted: 05 Jan 2016 02:03 PM PST  GENOA, Italy (AP) — Former Italy international Antonio Cassano inspired Sampdoria to a 3-2 win over Genoa in a wild derby as Serie A resumed on Tuesday after a holiday break.
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| US indexes end mostly higher; GM, Ford slip on sales miss Posted: 05 Jan 2016 02:03 PM PST  NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks managed some small gains Tuesday, but not enough to make up for big losses from the day before.
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| Oil industry exec: US crude exports help keep prices low Posted: 05 Jan 2016 02:01 PM PST WASHINGTON (AP) — Oil prices have remained low despite heightened tensions between two of the world's big oil-producing countries, Iran and Saudi Arabia, and a new law allowing U.S. crude exports helps explain why, the oil industry's top lobbyist said Tuesday. |
| British lawmaker demands answers after militant slips away to Islamic State Posted: 05 Jan 2016 01:56 PM PST Six weeks after a prominent militant who is suspected of killing for Islamic State slipped out of Britain, police sent a letter to him demanding that he surrender his passport, a British opposition lawmaker said on Tuesday. Britain's interior minister, Theresa May, faced questioning on Tuesday in parliament over how Dhar could have slipped away in 2014 while on police bail after his arrest on suspicion of belonging to a banned group and encouraging terrorism. "Even if the correct procedures were followed, I have evidence that they were far too weak," Andy Burnham, the home affairs spokesman for the opposition Labour Party, said in parliament. |
| Oregon standoff reflects decades-long fight on land rights Posted: 05 Jan 2016 01:55 PM PST  The occupation of a wildlife refuge by armed protesters in Oregon reflects a decades-old dispute over land rights in the United States, where local communities have increasingly sought to take back federal land. While the standoff in rural Oregon was prompted by the jailing of two ranchers convicted of arson, experts say the issue at the core of the dispute runs much deeper and concerns grazing or timber rights as well as permits to work mines on government land in Western states. "The problem that we are seeing ... is how do you manage people who treat the land as though it was their own, even though it was never their own," said Gerald Torres, a law professor at Cornell University.
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| Federal officials probe lead-tainted water in Flint, Michigan Posted: 05 Jan 2016 01:49 PM PST  (Reuters) - Federal officials are investigating the lead contamination of drinking water in Flint, Michigan, after the financially beleaguered city switched sources to save money, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney in Detroit said on Tuesday. Michigan Governor Rick Snyder apologized in late December for the state's mishandling of lead contamination of Flint's water supply and accepted the resignation of the state official whose department is responsible for overseeing water quality. The U.S. Attorney's Office is working closely with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to address the concerns of Flint residents and investigate the contamination of Flint's water supply, said Gina Balaya, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney.
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| US ski jumper Fairall returns to scene of crash 1 year later Posted: 05 Jan 2016 01:46 PM PST  Olympic ski jumper Nick Fairall is sitting on top of the 140-meter Paul Asserleitner Schanze in Bischofshofen, Austria, staring down for a silent moment. Just like he did a year ago.
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| DR Congo registers 7,000 refugees arriving from South Sudan Posted: 05 Jan 2016 01:46 PM PST  Some 7,000 refugees arriving from war-torn South Sudan were registered in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Tuesday, a local official said. "Seven thousand people have crossed the South Sudanese border at Dungu towards the Democratic Republic of Congo," Ismael Arama Ziama, senior official in Haut-Uele province, told AFP, adding that they had been registered in the northeastern border region. The town of Dungu in Haut-Uele province lies some 80 kilometres (50 miles) from the South Sudanese frontier.
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| Britain raised human rights concerns with Saudi Arabia: minister Posted: 05 Jan 2016 01:44 PM PST Britain has raised its concerns about human rights in Saudi Arabia with authorities there following the execution of 47 men including a prominent Shi'ite Muslim cleric, a Foreign Office minister said on Tuesday. Saudi Arabia's execution of Nimr al-Nimr has angered Shi'ites across the Middle East and caused a major diplomatic row between mainly Shi'ite Iran and Saudi Arabia's conservative Sunni monarchy. "The UK's close relationship with Saudi Arabia does not mean that we shy away from raising legitimate human rights concerns," Parliamentary Under-Secretary for the Foreign Office, Tobias Ellwood, told parliament. |
| Four armed men set Saudi Aramco bus on fire in oil province Posted: 05 Jan 2016 01:44 PM PST DUBAI (Reuters) - Four armed men set a bus on fire on Tuesday carrying workers in Saudi Arabia's oil-producing Eastern Province, state news agency SPA reported. State oil company Saudi Aramco said none of its employees had been injured but gave no further details. SPA said the men had stopped the bus in the district of Qatif, the home of prominent Shi'ite Muslim cleric Nimr al-Nimr, who was executed on Saturday with 46 other men. ... |
| Nigeria ex-president's campaign chief charged with graft Posted: 05 Jan 2016 01:37 PM PST  The acting head of Nigeria's main opposition party who led Goodluck Jonathan's failed presidential re-election bid last year has been charged with corruption, the country's anti-graft body said Tuesday. Bello Haliru Mohammed and his son Bello Abba Mohammed appeared before the Federal High Court in Abuja both charged with four counts of criminal breach of trust and money-laundering. The pair are being prosecuted for their alleged role in the diversion of funds meant to procure weapons for soldiers fighting Boko Haram Islamists, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) said.
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| Italy squatters plea for stop to evictions for pope's 'Year of Mercy' Posted: 05 Jan 2016 01:37 PM PST  Italian police clashed with squatters in central Rome Tuesday during a housing rights demonstration, with protesters saying evictions should be put on hold during Pope Francis's "Year of Mercy". Demonstrators held a sit-in atop scaffolding on a building opposite Rome's prefecture and hung banners reading "Stop evictions" and "We are not terrorists". In the street below, some 100 Italians and foreigners called for Rome to address a growing housing crisis.
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| Fresh sex abuse charges against U.N. forces in Central Africa Posted: 05 Jan 2016 01:34 PM PST  By Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. peacekeeping mission in Central African Republic said on Tuesday it was investigating new allegations of sexual abuse of minors by peacekeepers in the conflict-torn African nation. Last month, an independent review panel accused the United Nations and its agencies of grossly mishandling allegations of child sexual abuse in 2013 and 2014 by international peacekeepers in the Central African Republic.
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