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| Exclusive: China may raise Iran oil imports with new contract: sources Monday, Dec 30, 2013 10:02 PM PST  By Chen Aizhu BEIJING (Reuters) - China may buy more Iranian oil next year as a state trader is negotiating a new light crude contract that could raise imports from Tehran to levels not seen since tough Western sanctions were imposed in 2012, running the risk of upsetting Washington. An increase would go against the spirit of November's breakthrough agreement relaxing some of the stringent measures slapped on Iran two years ago over its nuclear program. The November deal between Tehran and the group known as P5+1 -- made up of the United States and five other global powers -- paused efforts to reduce Iran's crude sales but required buyers to hold to "current average amounts" of Iranian oil imports. That agreement was seen as a reward for a softer diplomatic tone from Tehran that was forced, some U.S. officials and lawmakers say, by U.S. and EU sanctions that slashed Iran's oil exports by more than half to about 1 million barrels per day (bpd) and cost it as much as $80 billion in lost revenue. Full Story | Top |
| Second suicide bomber in Russia's Volgograd kills 14 on bus Monday, Dec 30, 2013 12:06 PM PST By Maria Tsvetkova VOLGOGRAD, Russia (Reuters) - A bomb ripped a bus apart in Volgograd on Monday, killing 14 people in the second deadly attack blamed on suicide bombers in the southern Russian city in 24 hours and raising fears of Islamist attacks on the Winter Olympics. President Vladimir Putin, who has staked his prestige on February's Sochi Games and dismissed threats from Chechen and other Islamist militants in the nearby North Caucasus, ordered tighter security nationwide after the morning rush-hour blast. The previous day's similar attack killed at least 17 in the main rail station of a city that serves as a gateway to the southern wedge of Russian territory bounded by the Black and Caspian Seas and the Caucasus mountains. Windows in nearby apartments were blown out by the blast, which Russia's foreign ministry condemned as part of a global terrorist campaign. Full Story | Top |
| Fiery oil train collision forces evacuation of North Dakota town Monday, Dec 30, 2013 09:27 PM PST  By Alicia Underlee Nelson FARGO, North Dakota (Reuters) - Residents of a small town in North Dakota were urged to evacuate after a BNSF train carrying crude oil collided with another train on Monday, setting off a series of explosions and fires, the latest in a string of incidents that have raised alarms over growing oil-by-rail traffic. Local residents heard five powerful explosions just a mile outside of the small town of Casselton after a westbound 112-car train carrying soybeans derailed. An eastbound 106-car train hauling crude oil ran into it just after 2 p.m. CST, local officials said. Residents within 5 miles of Casselton were urged to evacuate to avoid contact with the smoke. Full Story | Top |
| Fighting erupts in South Sudan flashpoint town, sanctions loom Monday, Dec 30, 2013 11:05 PM PST  By Carl Odera and Aaron Maasho JUBA (Reuters) - South Sudanese forces fought rebels on the outskirts of the flashpoint town of Bor on Tuesday, its mayor said, as a deadline imposed by East African nations for an end to hostilities neared. The African Union threatened targeted sanctions late on Monday against those inciting the violence and hampering international efforts to negotiate an end to the fighting that risks drawing in the wider region. "We are fighting the rebels now," Mayor Nhial Majak Nhial told Reuters by phone from the edge of Bor, which lies 190 km (120 miles) to the north of the capital, Juba, by road. The violence quickly spread to half of the country's ten states, cleaving the nation along the ethnic faultline of rebel leader Riek Machar's Nuer group and President Salva Kiir's Dinka. Full Story | Top |
| Death toll in Congo attacks rises to 100: government spokesman Monday, Dec 30, 2013 11:35 PM PST  KINSHASA (Reuters) - Around 100 people were killed on Monday in Democratic Republic of Congo when security forces clashed with supporters of a self-proclaimed 'prophet' who tried to seize control of the airport, a military barracks and state television, the government said. "There are around 100 dead," said government spokesman Lambert Mende, adding that pastor Paul Joseph Mukungubila was on the run from authorities. (Reporting by Bienvenu Bakumanya; Writing by Daniel Flynn; Editing by John Stonestreet) Full Story | Top |
| Special Report: Lost hooves, dead cattle before Merck halted Zilmax sales Monday, Dec 30, 2013 01:01 PM PST  By P.J. Huffstutter and Tom Polansek WALLA WALLA COUNTY, WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. beef industry's dependence on the muscle-building drug Zilmax began unraveling here, on a sweltering summer day, in the dusty cattle pens outside a Tyson Foods Inc slaughterhouse in southeastern Washington state. Tyson Foods spokesman Gary Mickelson said his company doesn't know exactly what happened to the small group of cattle that were destroyed at the plant near Pasco. Full Story | Top |
| Talks to ease Northern Ireland tensions break down Monday, Dec 30, 2013 11:16 PM PST  By Ian Graham BELFAST (Reuters) - Marathon talks between the leaders of Northern Ireland's Catholic and Protestant communities broke down on Tuesday without agreement to ease tensions that have led to one of the worst years of rioting in the British province for a decade. The U.S. diplomat chairing the talks said the five largest parties in Northern Ireland failed to reach an agreement during 18 hours of talks that ended shortly before 0500 GMT, the culmination of six months of negotiations. That put an end three decades of sustained sectarian violence in the province between pro-British Protestants and Catholics who generally favor unification with Ireland. We are not there," said Richard Haass, the president of the U.S. Council on Foreign Relations think-tank and a former adviser to the President George W. Bush on Northern Ireland. Full Story | Top |
| ACLU sues for details of U.S. surveillance under executive order Monday, Dec 30, 2013 06:46 PM PST  By Nate Raymond NEW YORK (Reuters) - The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit on Monday, seeking to force the U.S. government to disclose details of its foreign electronic surveillance program and what protections it provides to Americans whose communications are swept up. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in New York, came three days after the ACLU lost a bid to block a separate program that collects the phone calls of millions of Americans. The latest lawsuit seeks information related to the use of Executive Order 12333, which was signed in 1981 and governs surveillance of foreign targets. Under the order, the National Security Administration is collecting "vast quantities" of data globally under the order's authority, "inevitably" including communications of U.S. citizens, the lawsuit said. Full Story | Top |
| Israel frees Palestinian prisoners, pushes settlement plan Monday, Dec 30, 2013 08:39 PM PST  Israel set free 26 Palestinian prisoners on Tuesday as part of U.S.-brokered peace efforts, after pledging to press ahead with plans to build more homes in Jewish settlements. Israel agreed to release 104 long-serving Palestinian prisoners - the latest group is the third of four to go free - as part of the U.S.-led efforts that coaxed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas back to the negotiations after a three-year break. In tandem with the prisoner releases in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Israel has announced new construction in settlements in occupied territory Palestinians seek for a state. Last week, an Israeli official said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government - which includes pro-settlement parties - would announce plans after the latest release to build 1,400 more homes for settlers in the West Bank. Full Story | Top |
| Schumacher battles for life after ski fall Monday, Dec 30, 2013 09:20 PM PST  By Morade Azzouz GRENOBLE, France (Reuters) - Seven-times Formula One world champion Michael Schumacher was fighting for his life on Monday after suffering severe head injuries in a skiing accident in the French Alps resort of Meribel, doctors said. "We can say that his condition is life-threatening," Jean-Francois Payen, head anaesthetician at the CHU hospital in the eastern French city of Grenoble, told a news conference. "For the moment we cannot say what Michael Schumacher's future is," he added. Philippe Quincy, the Albertville public prosecutor, told Reuters an inquiry had been launched on Sunday to identify the causes of the accident. Full Story | Top |
| Berkshire Hathaway to buy Phillips 66 unit for around $1.4 billion Monday, Dec 30, 2013 06:45 PM PST  Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc struck a deal to buy a Phillips 66 business that makes chemicals to improve the flow potential of pipelines for around $1.4 billion of stock. Phillips 66 said on Monday that Berkshire will pay for the unit, Phillips Specialty Products Inc, using about 19 million shares of Phillips 66 stock that it currently owns. "I have long been impressed by the strength of the Phillips 66 business portfolio," Buffett said in a statement. "The flow improver business is a high-quality business with consistently strong financial performance." The exact number of shares Berkshire will pay for the unit will be determined by their price on the closing date, the companies said. Full Story | Top |
| Congo's army repels attacks in Kinshasa, dozens killed Monday, Dec 30, 2013 03:18 PM PST  By Bienvenu Bakumanya KINSHASA (Reuters) - Congolese troops killed dozens of armed youths who attacked the airport, a military barracks and state television headquarters in the capital Kinshasa on Monday in incidents claimed by a disgruntled religious leader. Before transmission was shut down at state television, the attackers shouted slogans in favor of pastor Paul Joseph Mukungubila and against President Joseph Kabila. Several corpses lay on the rain-soaked ground outside the brightly painted gates of the state television center after the attack, a Reuters witness said. The broadcaster reported that security forces had killed 46 of the attackers, while government officials said about 20 more had been arrested. Full Story | Top |
| Egypt likely to change roadmap, hold presidential vote first: sources Monday, Dec 30, 2013 01:20 PM PST  By Asma Alsharif and Yasmine Saleh CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's government is likely to call a presidential election before parliamentary polls, officials said on Monday, rearranging the political timetable in a way that could see army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi elected head of state by April. Parliamentary elections were supposed to happen first under the roadmap unveiled after the army deposed Islamist President Mohamed Mursi in July after mass protests against his rule. But critics have campaigned for a change, saying the country needs an elected leader to direct government at a time of economic and political crisis and to forge a political alliance before a potentially divisive parliamentary election. Were that Sisi, who is widely tipped to win the vote, it would restore the army's sway over a post controlled by military men until Mursi was propelled to office last year by the Muslim Brotherhood. Full Story | Top |
| Uganda says region ready to take on, defeat South Sudan rebel leader Monday, Dec 30, 2013 02:01 PM PST  By Aaron Maasho and Carl Odera JUBA (Reuters) - Uganda's president said on Monday the nations of East Africa had agreed to move in to defeat South Sudanese rebel leader Riek Machar if he rejected a ceasefire offer, threatening to turn an outburst of ethnic fighting into a regional conflict. Hours after President Yoweri Museveni's ultimatum, rebels and the feared "White Army" militia clashed against government troops just outside Bor, the capital of Jonglei state, officials said. "We gave Riek Machar four days to respond (to the ceasefire offer) and if he doesn't we shall have to go for him, all of us," Museveni told reporters in South Sudan's capital, Juba, referring to a December 31 deadline. He did not spell out whether South Sudan's neighbors had actually agreed to send troops to join the conflict that erupted in Juba on December 15. Full Story | Top |
| Formula One champ Michael Schumacher battles for life after ski fall Monday, Dec 30, 2013 08:23 AM PST  By Morade Azzouz GRENOBLE, France (Reuters) - Seven-times Formula One world champion Michael Schumacher was fighting for his life on Monday after suffering severe head injuries in a skiing accident in the French Alps resort of Meribel, doctors said. "We can say that his condition is life-threatening," Jean-Francois Payen, head anaesthetician at the CHU hospital in the eastern French city of Grenoble, told a news conference. "For the moment we cannot say what Michael Schumacher's future is," he added. Philippe Quincy, the Albertville public prosecutor, told Reuters an inquiry had been launched on Sunday to identify the causes of the accident. Full Story | Top |
| Wells Fargo agrees to $541 million loan settlement Monday, Dec 30, 2013 11:19 AM PST  Wells Fargo & Co will pay a net $541 million to Fannie Mae to settle claims over defective home loans, completing the government-controlled mortgage company's efforts to have banks buy back troubled loans made before the financial crisis. Fannie Mae said on Monday it has reached settlements worth roughly $6.5 billion over loan buybacks with eight banks, including Wells Fargo, the nation's largest mortgage lender and fourth-largest bank by assets. The settlements include a $3.6 billion accord in January with Bank of America Corp over loans from that bank and the former Countrywide Financial Corp. Fannie Mae Chief Executive Timothy Mayopoulos was once general counsel at Bank of America. It also includes a $968 million accord in July with Citigroup Inc. In the Wells Fargo settlement, the San Francisco-based bank will pay Fannie Mae $541 million in cash after adjusting for credits from prior repurchases. Full Story | Top |
| Four killed in Christian-Muslim clashes in Central African Republic's capital Monday, Dec 30, 2013 10:56 AM PST By Paul-Marin Ngoupana BANGUI (Reuters) - Heavy weapons fire rang out in the north of Central African Republic's capital Bangui on Monday during inter-religious clashes and the Red Cross said at least four people were killed. French and African troops have struggled to contain violence between Muslim Seleka rebels and Christian militias that has already killed 1,000 people this month and displaced hundreds of thousands. "There was heavy weapons fire north of Bangui for a few hours and several neighborhoods were affected," Amy Martin, head of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Bangui told Reuters. Heavy arms fire was reported in Bangui during a two-day surge in violence which began on December 5 but shooting in recent days has been limited to sporadic small arms fire. Full Story | Top |
| Fighting erupts as Iraq police break up Sunni protest camp Monday, Dec 30, 2013 11:26 AM PST  By Kamal Namaa RAMADI, Iraq (Reuters) - Fighting erupted when Iraqi police broke up a Sunni Muslim protest camp in the western Anbar province on Monday, leaving at least 13 people dead, police and medical sources said. The camp has been an irritant to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's Shi'ite Muslim-led government since Sunni protesters set it up a year ago to demonstrate against what they see as marginalization of their sect. The operation triggered an immediate political backlash as dozens of Sunni lawmakers offered their resignations. Maliki, who is seeking a third term in April's elections, has repeatedly vowed to remove the camp and accused protesters of stirring strife and sheltering al Qaeda-linked militants. Full Story | Top |
| Train collision in North Dakota sets oil rail cars ablaze Monday, Dec 30, 2013 03:38 PM PST  By Alicia Nelson FARGO, North Dakota (Reuters) - A BNSF train carrying crude oil in North Dakota collided with another train on Monday setting off a series of explosions that left at least 10 cars ablaze, the latest in a string of incidents that have raised alarms over growing oil-by-rail traffic. Local residents heard five powerful explosions just a mile outside of the small town of Casselton after a westbound train carrying soybeans derailed, and an eastbound 104-car train hauling crude oil ran into it just after 2 p.m. CST (2000 GMT), local officials said. Half of the oil cars have been separated from the train, but another 56 cars remain in danger, said Cecily Fong, the public information officer with the North Dakota Department of Emergency Services. Both trains were operated by BNSF Railway Co, which is owned by Warren Buffett's Bershire Hathaway Inc. The incident threatens to stoke concerns about the safety of carrying increasing volumes of crude oil by rail, a trend that emerged from the unexpected burst of shale oil production out of North Dakota's Bakken fields. Full Story | Top |
| Americans rank Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton as most admired: poll Monday, Dec 30, 2013 06:39 AM PST  (Reuters) - Americans named President Barack Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as the world's most admired living man and woman in 2013, according to a Gallup poll released on Monday. Obama topped the annual list for the sixth consecutive year, a typical ranking for a sitting U.S. president, the polling organization said. Full Story | Top |
| Thailand's army moves to allay coup fears Monday, Dec 30, 2013 03:40 AM PST By Viparat Jantraprap BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand's powerful but politicized army sought to ease fears on Monday it might step in to resolve a festering political crisis, while anti-government protesters entrenched positions around Bangkok as they seek to disrupt a February election. The latest round of an all-too-familiar political conflict in Thailand has dragged on for weeks. It flared last week into deadly clashes between police and protesters outside a stadium where registration for the February 2 poll was under way and at other rally sites around the Thai capital. The demonstrators are determined to topple Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, who they accuse of being a puppet of her self-exiled brother and former premier, Thaksin Shinawatra. Full Story | Top |
| Iran and world powers resume expert level nuclear talks Monday, Dec 30, 2013 02:09 AM PST  Iran resumed technical talks with world powers in Geneva on Monday, a vital step in implementing a nuclear deal signed last month which suspends key elements of Tehran's nuclear program in exchange for limited sanctions relief. The talks between expert teams from Iran and six world powers are meant to translate the political deal into a detailed implementation plan by the end of January, Iran's state news agency, IRNA, quoted an unnamed source as saying. A key sticking point appears to be how much advance information Western governments will get so they can verify that Iran is meeting its end of the deal before they lift any sanctions. The third round of talks between technical experts from the permanent U.N. Security Council members - Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States - plus Germany, are set to last a day and resume in 2014, IRNA reported, a sign of the complexities facing the negotiators in reaching agreement on practical steps. Full Story | Top |
| Afghanistan rejects grim U.S. intelligence forecast as baseless Monday, Dec 30, 2013 04:55 AM PST  By Hamid Shalizi KABUL (Reuters) - Afghanistan on Monday rejected as baseless a U.S. intelligence forecast that the gains the United States and allies have made in the past three years will be significantly rolled back by 2017. The U.S. National Intelligence Estimate also predicted that Afghanistan would fall into chaos if Washington and Kabul failed to sign a pact to keep an international military contingent there beyond 2014. President Hamid Karzai's spokesman dismissed the U.S. forecast, reported by the Washington Post on the weekend, and suggested there was an ulterior motive for it. Relations between Afghanistan and the United States have grown seriously strained recently by Karzai's refusal to sign the security pact that would permit some U.S. forces to stay. Full Story | Top |
| Special Report: Japan's homeless recruited for murky Fukushima clean-up Monday, Dec 30, 2013 01:22 AM PST By Mari Saito and Antoni Slodkowski SENDAI, Japan (Reuters) - Seiji Sasa hits the train station in this northern Japanese city before dawn most mornings to prowl for homeless men. The men in Sendai Station are potential laborers that Sasa can dispatch to contractors in Japan's nuclear disaster zone for a bounty of $100 a head. It's also how Japan finds people willing to accept minimum wage for one of the most undesirable jobs in the industrialized world: working on the $35 billion, taxpayer-funded effort to clean up radioactive fallout across an area of northern Japan larger than Hong Kong. Almost three years ago, a massive earthquake and tsunami leveled villages across Japan's northeast coast and set off multiple meltdowns at the Fukushima nuclear plant. Full Story | Top |
| Shots fired at German ambassador's residence in Athens Monday, Dec 30, 2013 07:21 AM PST By Harry Papachristou and Karolina Tagaris ATHENS (Reuters) - Unidentified assailants opened fire on the German ambassador's residence in Athens with a Kalashnikov assault rifle on Monday in an attack seen as an attempt to sour relations between debt-laden Greece and its biggest creditor nation. Police said about 60 shots were fired at the high-security residence on a busy street of a northern suburb. Anti-German sentiment has grown during Greece's prolonged economic crisis and many of those struggling with record unemployment and falling living standards blame Germany's insistence on fiscal rigor for their economic woes. Germany is the biggest single contributing nation to Greece's 240-billion-euro bailouts which have kept the country afloat since 2010 and saved it from bankruptcy. Full Story | Top |
| Al Jazeera says four journalists held in Egypt after hotel broadcast Monday, Dec 30, 2013 11:49 AM PST  Four Al Jazeera journalists have been arrested in Egypt, the station said on Monday, after the Interior Ministry accused the Qatar-based channel of broadcasting illegally from a hotel suite with a member of the Muslim Brotherhood. Al Jazeera's offices in Cairo have been closed since July 3 when they were raided by security forces hours after the army ousted the Brotherhood's Mohamed Mursi from the presidency. Qatar was a strong financial backer of the Brotherhood's rule and its relationship with Cairo has deteriorated in recent months as it vehemently opposes the army's overthrow of Mursi and the crackdown on his movement that has followed. "State security received information that a member of the (Brotherhood) used two suites in a Cairo hotel to hold meetings with other members of the organization and turned the suites into a press center," the ministry said. Full Story | Top |
| China says Japan PM 'shuts door' on talks with war shrine visit Monday, Dec 30, 2013 01:29 AM PST  China said on Monday that its leaders will not meet Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe after his visit to a shrine seen by critics as a symbol of Tokyo's wartime aggression, underscoring the deteriorating ties between Asia's two biggest economies. Abe had repeated his hopes for talks with Beijing last week, when he visited the Yasukuni shrine where Japanese leaders convicted as war criminals by an Allied tribunal after World War Two are honored along with those who died in battle. The visit infuriated China and South Korea, both of which were occupied by Japanese forces until the end of the war, and prompted concern from the United States about rising tensions between the North Asian neighbors. Abe said then that relations with China and South Korea were important and he hoped "for an opportunity to explain to China and South Korea that strengthening ties would be in the national interest". Full Story | Top |
| Chinese police kill eight in Xinjiang 'terrorist attack' Monday, Dec 30, 2013 01:09 AM PST Chinese police shot dead eight people during a "terrorist attack" in the western region of Xinjiang on Monday, the government said, raising the death toll from violent clashes there to at least 35 since November. The attack happened in Yarkand county close to the old Silk Road city of Kashgar in Xinjiang's south, the regional government said in a statement on its news website (www.ts.cn). "At around 6:30 a.m., nine thugs carrying knives attacked a police station in Kashgar's Yarkand county, throwing explosive devices and setting police cars on fire," it said. Full Story | Top |
| China's Xi to take personal charge of pushing through reforms Monday, Dec 30, 2013 01:38 AM PST  Chinese President Xi Jinping will head a group steer economic and social reforms, the official Xinhua news agency said on Monday, underscoring his determination to push through change amid fears of resistance from vested interests. China last month unveiled its boldest set of reforms in nearly three decades, relaxing its one-child policy and further freeing up markets in order to put the economy on a more stable footing. The Communist Party pledged to let the market play a "decisive" role in the economy and said it would set up the group to steer the changes. The move could also ease market fears that promises of reform may not be matched with action in the face of resistance from vested interests, such as powerful state-owned companies. Full Story | Top |
| Antarctic blizzard halts icebreaker's bid to rescue stranded ship Monday, Dec 30, 2013 08:15 AM PST By Maggie Lu Yueyang SYDNEY (Reuters) - An Antarctic blizzard has halted an Australian icebreaker's attempt to reach a Russian ship trapped for a week with 74 people onboard, rescuers said on Monday. The Akademik Shokalskiy left New Zealand on November 28 on a private expedition to commemorate the 100th anniversary of an Antarctic journey led by Australian explorer Douglas Mawson. It became trapped in the ice on December 24, 100 nautical miles east of the French Antarctic station Dumont D'Urville. A first rescue attempt by a Chinese icebreaker, the Snow Dragon, had to be halted because the ice was so thick. Full Story | Top |
| Second blast in Russia's Volgograd kills 14 on trolleybus Monday, Dec 30, 2013 12:31 AM PST  By Maria Tsvetkova VOLGOGRAD, Russia (Reuters) - A bomb blast ripped a trolleybus apart in Volgograd on Monday, killing 14 people in the second deadly attack in the southern city in two days and raising fears of further violence as Russia prepares to host the Winter Olympics. The morning rush-hour bombing, which left mangled bodies in the street, underscored Russia's vulnerability to militant attacks less than six weeks before the Sochi 2014 Games, a prestige project for President Vladimir Putin. Sunday's blast came less than 24 hours after a suicide bomb blast killed at least 17 people in the main railway station in the same city, a major transport hub in southern Russia. "What are we supposed to do, just walk now?" The consecutive attacks will raise fears of a concerted campaign of violence before the Olympics, which start on February 7 in Sochi, about 430 miles southwest of Volgograd. Full Story | Top |
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