| Mexico says to seek broad negotiating strategy with Trump Posted: 11 Jan 2017 03:50 PM PST  Mexico's government said on Wednesday it would throw its relationship with the United States wide open when it sits down for talks with the incoming U.S. administration, putting security, migration and trade on the table in search of a deal. U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has threatened to tear up a trade agreement that underpins Mexico's economic model if he cannot renegotiate its terms in his favor, battering the peso currency and fuelling uncertainty over foreign investment. "All the issues that define our bilateral relationship are on the table, including security, migration and trade," Pena Nieto said in a speech to a group of diplomats.
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| U.S. deploys high-tech radar amid heightened North Korea rhetoric: official Posted: 11 Jan 2017 03:58 PM PST  A high-tech sea-based U.S. military radar has left Hawaii to monitor for potential North Korean intercontinental ballistic missile test launches, a U.S. defense official said on Wednesday. Earlier this month, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said that the isolated, nuclear-capable country was close to test-launching an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the radar, known as the Sea-based X-band radar (SBX), left on Monday and would reach its destination, about 2,000 miles (3,218 km) northwest of Hawaii, towards the end of January.
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| Trump secretary of state nominee: China should be denied access to South China Sea islands Posted: 11 Jan 2017 04:20 PM PST  By David Brunnstrom and Matt Spetalnick WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's nominee for secretary of state set a course for a potentially serious confrontation with Beijing on Wednesday, saying China should be denied access to islands it has built in the contested South China Sea. In comments expected to enrage Beijing, Rex Tillerson told his confirmation hearing before the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee that China's building of islands and putting military assets on those islands was "akin to Russia's taking Crimea" from Ukraine. Asked whether he supported a more aggressive posture toward China, he said: "We're going to have to send China a clear signal that, first, the island-building stops and, second, your access to those islands also is not going to be allowed." The former Exxon Mobil Corp chairman and chief executive did not elaborate on what might be done to deny China access to the islands it has built up from South China Sea reefs, equipped with military-length airstrips and fortified with weapons.
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| U.S. blacklists North Korean officials over rights abuses Posted: 11 Jan 2017 01:01 PM PST  The U.S. Treasury Department has added seven senior North Korean officials, including leader Kim Jong Un's sister, to its sanctions list because of human rights abuses and censorship by the communist nation. The department said in a statement on Wednesday that its Office of Foreign Assets Control added six men and one woman, all officials of the government of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea or the ruling Workers' Party of Korea, along with the Ministry of Labor and the State Planning Commission, to the Specially Designated Nationals List. "The North Korean regime not only engages in severe human rights abuses, but it also implements rigid censorship policies and conceals its inhumane and oppressive behavior," acting OFAC Director John Smith said in the statement, adding that the move aimed to expose the individuals responsible for the abuses.
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| France's Macron expects Trump to maintain close ties to Europe Posted: 11 Jan 2017 04:05 PM PST  French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron said he was sure the United States under President Donald Trump would maintain close ties with the European Union but said Europe would respond if Trump acted to weaken NATO. Trump has called for better relations between the United States and Russia and during the presidential election campaign rattled U.S. allies, especially in eastern Europe, by saying he would consider a country's contributions to the NATO alliance before coming to their aid.
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| Afghan Taliban releases video of U.S., Australian hostages Posted: 11 Jan 2017 10:56 AM PST The Afghan Taliban released a video on Wednesday showing an Australian and an American hostage pleading with the U.S. government to negotiate with their captors and saying that unless a prisoner exchange was agreed they would be killed. Timothy Weeks, an Australian teacher at the American University in Kabul and his American colleague Kevin King were seized near the campus in August. The video, which Weeks said was made on Jan. 1, showed the two men, both bearded, asking their families to put pressure on the U.S. government to help secure their release. |
| Judge: Guatemalan supreme court judge meddled in son's case Posted: 11 Jan 2017 05:34 PM PST GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — A Guatemalan judge has alleged that a Supreme Court justice tried to intervene improperly in a corruption case involving her son. |
| Aid watchdog says UK cash transfer schemes effective in tackling poverty Posted: 11 Jan 2017 05:32 PM PST By Lin Taylor LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Cash transfer programs funded by the British government are cost-effective ways to alleviate global poverty, an aid watchdog said on Thursday, rejecting concerns from critics that giving cash to poor communities is a misuse of taxpayers' money. The Department of International Development (DFID) spends an average of 201 million pounds ($243.55 million) a year on programs that give cash to poor families to help them cope in times of conflict or natural disasters. "The department has reached millions of people, providing strong value for money, and helping deliver on the commitment to leave no one behind," said Alison Evans, ICAI's chief commissioner who led the review. |
| Kyle Thompson wins windy Web.com opener in Bahamas Posted: 11 Jan 2017 05:22 PM PST GREAT EXUMA, Bahamas (AP) — Kyle Thompson won the Web.com Tour's season-opening The Bahamas Great Exuma Classic on Wednesday at wind-swept Sandals Emerald Bay. |
| Massachusetts judge requires Exxon to hand over climate documents Posted: 11 Jan 2017 05:10 PM PST  A Massachusetts judge has refused a request by Exxon Mobil Corp to excuse it from a request by the state's attorney general to hand over decades worth of documents on its views on climate change, state officials said on Wednesday. The decision by Massachusetts Superior Court Judge Heidi Brieger denying Exxon's request for an order exempting it from handing over the documents represents a legal victory for state Attorney General Maura Healey, who is investigating the world's largest publicly traded oil company's climate policies. "This order affirms our longstanding authority to investigate fraud," Healey said on Twitter following the decision, adding that the company "must come clean about what it knew about climate change." An Exxon spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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| U.S. Senate panel approves Montenegro's NATO bid Posted: 11 Jan 2017 05:08 PM PST The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved a resolution on Wednesday supporting Montenegro's membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), trying for a second time to back the former Yugoslav republic's bid. The committee passed a resolution in 2016, but the Senate did not vote on it before adjourning for the year. The U.S. Constitution requires a two-thirds vote in the 100-member Senate for approval of new NATO members. |
| Secretary of State nominee Tillerson veers from Trump on key issues Posted: 11 Jan 2017 04:59 PM PST  By Patricia Zengerle and Yeganeh Torbati WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Secretary of State nominee Rex Tillerson expressed views on Wednesday at odds with President-elect Donald Trump's positions on key foreign policy issues like nuclear proliferation, trade deals, climate change and relations with Mexico. In a nine-hour Senate confirmation hearing, the former chief executive of oil company Exxon Mobil said he favored maintaining U.S. sanctions against Russia for now and that NATO allies were right to be alarmed by Moscow's growing aggression. Russia dominated much of the hearing because of concerns by Democrats and Republicans over Moscow's interference in the U.S. presidential election and its 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine and involvement in the Syrian civil war.
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| Top Asian News 1:40 a.m. GMT Posted: 11 Jan 2017 05:40 PM PST ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — State officials have announced that tests of Alaska seafood continue to show no detectable amounts of radiation, five years after a deadly earthquake and tsunami set off a nuclear disaster at a Japanese power plant. More than 16,000 people were killed in 2011 after Japan's 9.1-magnitude earthquake, which led to nuclear meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Since then, U.S. and international agencies have been conducting tests to determine the health of marine life along the U.S. and Canada, KTVA-TV reported . Testing regions in Alaska include the Aleutian Islands and Bering Sea, Bristol Bay, the Gulf of Alaska and the southeast region. |
| Taliban release video showing American, Australian captives Posted: 11 Jan 2017 04:49 PM PST  KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The Taliban released a video Wednesday showing an American and an Australian who were kidnapped in August, the first time they have been seen since their abduction.
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| Venezuela arrests another anti-Maduro activist Posted: 11 Jan 2017 04:49 PM PST  Venezuela intelligence agents on Wednesday detained an opposition activist and accused him of planning violence though his party said the arms were placed in his car to frame him as part of an ongoing wave of government repression. In a familiar pattern of recent months against opposition activists, Gilber Caro, a substitute legislator for the hardline Popular Will party, was arrested on Wednesday at a roadway toll in Miranda state, the government said. "It's a matter of capturing and breaking up those who persist on the path of violence," said Vice President Tarek El Aissami, recently designated by socialist President Nicolas Maduro to head a new "anti-coup" unit within the government.
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| British Columbia approves Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion Posted: 11 Jan 2017 04:44 PM PST  By Nicole Mordant VANCOUVER (Reuters) - British Columbia on Wednesday gave the green light to Kinder Morgan Inc's plan to nearly triple its Trans Mountain oil pipeline, which runs from Canada's oil sands through the province to a marine terminal on the Pacific Coast. British Columbia Premier Christy Clark said in a statement the C$6.8 billion ($5.16 billion) project had satisfied or was close to satisfying the five conditions she laid out in 2012 for any company wanting to build pipelines in the province. The Canadian government in November approved Kinder Morgan's proposal to expand the Trans Mountain pipeline, which would help ensure oil exports from the oil sands in the neighboring province of Alberta reach Asia.
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| California rainfall ebbs but flooding continues Posted: 11 Jan 2017 04:25 PM PST  By Alex Dobuzinskis LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The rainfall that has pummeled the U.S. West this week lightened on Wednesday but that did not keep swollen rivers from overflowing their banks in California, where water lapped up against houses in a wine-growing region, officials said. In Portland, Oregon, the city's more than 600,000 residents awoke to roughly a foot (30 cm) of snow, which led to city-wide school closures and an emergency declaration by Governor Kate Brown. This was the latest round of extreme precipitation unleashed by a weather pattern meteorologists call an "atmospheric river" - a dense plume of moisture flowing from the tropical Pacific into California and the West.
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| Ex-Barclays director gets 5 months in prison for plumber tip Posted: 11 Jan 2017 04:11 PM PST NEW YORK (AP) — A former Barclays director says he gave inside information on stocks to a New York plumber so he could join his business and leave Wall Street stress behind. |
| Britain sends foreign minister Johnson to support Cyprus peace talks Posted: 11 Jan 2017 04:08 PM PST  British foreign minister Boris Johnson will attend Cypriot-led negotiations in Geneva on Thursday aimed at ending the decades-long division of the island, the Foreign Office said. The strategically located island in the eastern Mediterranean, a former British colony, was split after a Turkish invasion in 1974 triggered by a brief Greek-inspired coup. For the first time in more than a decade, Greek and Turkish Cypriots plan to submit maps to the United Nations detailing their proposals on territorial boundaries between constituent states in a two-zone federation.
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| Messi free kick puts Barcelona in Copa del Rey quarterfinals Posted: 11 Jan 2017 04:01 PM PST  MADRID (AP) — Lionel Messi came through for Barcelona again, scoring with a perfectly struck free kick to give the defending champions a 3-1 win over Athletic Bilbao and a spot in the quarterfinals of the Copa del Rey on Wednesday.
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| Bangladesh 39-1 at lunch on Day 1, 1st test vs. New Zealand Posted: 11 Jan 2017 03:57 PM PST WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Rain allowed only 11.3 overs to be bowled before lunch Thursday on the opening day of the first test between New Zealand and Bangladesh at the Basin Reserve. |
| Trump, rising populism threaten to slow climate action, analyst says Posted: 11 Jan 2017 03:49 PM PST  By Zoe Tabary LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Rising global populism and pressure to reduce U.S. environmental regulation are among the issues to watch in 2017 as efforts to address climate change push ahead, a sustainability expert said Wednesday. Action to address global warming should be non-partisan to make the kind of ambitious progress needed, Andrew Steer, president of the Washington-based World Resources Institute, told reporters.
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| US sanctions N. Korean officials for rights abuses Posted: 11 Jan 2017 03:43 PM PST  Washington (AFP) - US authorities on Wednesday announced sanctions against North Korean government agencies and senior officials -- among them leader Kim Jong-Un's sister -- in response to Pyongyang's "serious" human rights abuses and censorship activities.
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| Combative Trump concedes Russia's role in election hacking Posted: 11 Jan 2017 03:36 PM PST  NEW YORK (AP) — In a combative and freewheeling news conference, President-elect Donald Trump said for the first time Wednesday that he accepts Russia was behind the election year hacking of Democrats that roiled the White House race. Looking ahead, he urged Congress to move quickly to replace President Barack Obama's signature health care law and insisted anew that Mexico will pay the cost of a border wall.
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| Mexican leader says won't fund wall but wants good ties with Trump Posted: 11 Jan 2017 03:36 PM PST  President Enrique Pena Nieto on Wednesday again rejected Donald Trump's demand that Mexico pay for a wall along the border, but he vowed to seek good relations with the US president-elect. Hours after Trump repeated his warnings against Mexico during a press conference, Pena Nieto said his government will seek "open and complete negotiations" with the next US government. "It is obvious that we have some differences with the next government of the United States, like the issue of the wall that Mexico of course will not pay for," Pena Nieto said as diplomats applauded.
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| Trump nominee says China should be denied access to South China sea islands Posted: 11 Jan 2017 03:32 PM PST By David Brunnstrom and Matt Spetalnick WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's nominee for secretary of state set a course for a potentially serious confrontation with Beijing on Wednesday, saying China should be denied access to islands it has built in the contested South China Sea. In comments expected to enrage Beijing, Rex Tillerson told his confirmation hearing before the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee that China's building of islands and putting military assets on those islands was "akin to Russia's taking Crimea" from Ukraine. Asked whether he supported a more aggressive posture toward China, he said: "We're going to have to send China a clear signal that, first, the island-building stops and, second, your access to those islands also is not going to be allowed." The former Exxon Mobil Corp chairman and chief executive did not elaborate on what might be done to deny China access to the islands it has built up from South China Sea reefs, equipped with military-length airstrips and fortified with weapons. |
| Colombia rebels could begin disarming in coming weeks: UN envoy Posted: 11 Jan 2017 03:18 PM PST  After some delays, Colombia's FARC rebels could begin disarming in the coming weeks and the laying down of weapons under the historic peace deal could be completed by early June, a UN envoy said Wednesday. Some 5,700 fighters from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) are to lay down their weapons under the agreement signed in November to end more than five decades of conflict in the South American country. Jean Arnault told the Security Council that the main focus of the peace effort now was setting up 26 UN-monitored camps where the rebels will gather to hand over their weapons.
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| Chile: 160 female inmates evacuated over raging wildfire Posted: 11 Jan 2017 03:17 PM PST SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — Chilean authorities have evacuated about 160 female inmates from a prison in Valparaiso after wind carried in sparks from a nearby wildfire. |
| Trump's pick for top diplomat takes tough line on Moscow Posted: 11 Jan 2017 03:14 PM PST  WASHINGTON (AP) — Barraged by questions about Russia, Donald Trump's pick for secretary of state promised a far more muscular approach toward the Kremlin on Wednesday, abandoning much of the president-elect's emphasis on improving ties between the Cold War foes. Instead, Rex Tillerson suggested the outgoing Obama administration responded too softly to Moscow's takeover of Ukrainian territory.
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| Chelsea moves closer to redeveloping Stamford Bridge Posted: 11 Jan 2017 03:09 PM PST  LONDON (AP) — Chelsea has overcome the latest hurdle to redeveloping its Stamford Bridge stadium and allowing the Premier League leaders to catch up with London rivals Arsenal and Tottenham.
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| Bernard Langer honored as PGA Tour Champions' player of year Posted: 11 Jan 2017 03:05 PM PST PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Bernhard Langer received the Jack Nicklaus Award on Wednesday as the PGA Tour Champions' player of the year for the third straight season and record sixth time. |
| Discontent in Malay heartland may spell trouble for PM Najib Posted: 11 Jan 2017 03:03 PM PST  By Emily Chow SUNGKAI, Malaysia (Reuters) - The Malaysian plantation district of Sungkai has become an initial - and unlikely - battleground for an election that embattled Prime Minister Najib Razak is expected to call this year. Sungkai is home to ethnic Malays who work for the national palm plantation operator, Federal Land Development Authority (Felda). Known as "Felda settlers", they have long been among the beneficiaries of government affirmative action programs for Malays, who form the majority of the population.
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| Vonn recovers from nerve damage in broken right arm to race Posted: 11 Jan 2017 03:01 PM PST Lindsey Vonn struggled with nerve damage so severe she couldn't even move her fingers soon after surgery to fix her broken right arm. |
| Bruce Arena aims for quick start to save US' World Cup hopes Posted: 11 Jan 2017 03:00 PM PST  CARSON, Calif. (AP) — Bruce Arena realizes he has very little time to get back into his groove with the U.S. national team. After all, two vital World Cup qualifiers are looming just two months away.
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| Bird flu-plagued South Korea agrees to buy US eggs Posted: 11 Jan 2017 02:58 PM PST  DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — South Korea is in the throes of a bird flu outbreak has asked the United States to ship it shell eggs, marking the first time the Asian country has sought to buy large quantities of fresh U.S. eggs.
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| Trump says for first time: I think Russia hacked Dems Posted: 11 Jan 2017 02:41 PM PST  WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump speculated Wednesday that U.S. intelligence agencies might have leaked details about a classified briefing with him that included unsubstantiated allegations that Russia had collected compromising sexual and financial information about him.
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| California rainfall ebbs but flooding continues Posted: 11 Jan 2017 02:40 PM PST By Alex Dobuzinskis LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The rainfall that has pummeled the U.S. West this week lightened on Wednesday but that did not keep swollen rivers from overflowing their banks in California, where water lapped up against houses in a wine-growing region, officials said. In Portland, Oregon, the city's more than 600,000 residents awoke to roughly a foot (30 cm) of snow, which led to city-wide school closures, officials said. This was the latest round of extreme precipitation unleashed by a weather pattern meteorologists call an "atmospheric river" - a dense plume of moisture flowing from the tropical Pacific into California and the West. |
| Silva scores as PSG beats Metz to reach cup semifinals Posted: 11 Jan 2017 02:37 PM PST  PARIS (AP) — Center half Thiago Silva scored a header in each half as defending champion Paris Saint-Germain beat Metz 2-0 to reach the League Cup semifinals on Wednesday.
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