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| U.S. military personnel released after being held by Libya government Friday, Dec 27, 2013 10:18 PM PST Four American military personnel were detained by the Libyan government on Friday and held in custody for several hours before being released, U.S. officials said. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said President Barack Obama's administration was looking into the incident, but confirmed that "all four U.S. military personnel being held in Libyan government custody have been released." A U.S. defense official said the Americans appeared to have been checking possible evacuation routes for the U.S. embassy in Tripoli. Psaki said the United States, which backed the 2011 uprising against Muammar Gaddafi, valued its relationship with "the new Libya." "We have a strategic partnership based on shared interests and our strong support for Libya's historic democratic transition," she said. Full Story | Top |
| Relatives seek extended care for brain-dead California girl Friday, Dec 27, 2013 06:12 PM PST By Laila Kearney SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Relatives of a California girl declared brain dead after complications from a tonsillectomy want her moved to a long-term care facility, but face resistance from the hospital where she is due to be disconnected from a breathing machine on Monday. The family of 13-year-old Jahi McMath, who has been without brain function and on a ventilator for two weeks at Children's Hospital in Oakland, California, said they had found an extended-care center willing to take the girl on an indefinite basis, hospital officials said on Friday. But the center will not accept Jahi unless she has surgically implanted ports for breathing and feeding tubes placed in her body before the transfer, family attorney Christopher Dolan said on Thursday. Full Story | Top |
| Camera glitch triggers marathon Russian spacewalk Friday, Dec 27, 2013 02:44 PM PST  By Irene Klotz CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - Spacewalking Russian cosmonauts on Friday spent over eight hours installing two cameras outside the International Space Station for a Canadian streaming-video business and then retrieving the gear due to connectivity problems. Station commander Oleg Kotov and flight engineer Sergey Ryazanskiy left the station's Pirs airlock at 8 a.m. EST (1300 GMT) as the complex sailed 260 miles over Australia, mission commentator Rob Navias said during a NASA Television broadcast of the spacewalk. It was the third spacewalk this week by members of the station's six-man crew. Full Story | Top |
| South Sudan offers olive branch to rebels, releases prisoners Friday, Dec 27, 2013 02:37 PM PST  By Aaron Maasho and Richard Lough JUBA/NAIROBI (Reuters) - South Sudan said on Friday it was ready for a ceasefire and would release eight of 11 senior politicians arrested over an alleged coup plot, raising hopes it was edging towards a deal to end ethnic-based fighting ravaging the world's newest nation. There was no immediate reaction from Riek Machar, the former vice president who the government accuses of starting the conflict that has spread quickly over the landlocked state, threatening its vital oil industry. Fighting between rival groups of soldiers erupted in the capital Juba on December 15, then triggered clashes in half of South Sudan's 10 states - often along ethnic lines, between Machar's group, the Nuer, and President Salva Kiir's Dinka. The U.N. Security Council approved plans on Tuesday to almost double the number of U.N. peacekeepers in South Sudan to 12,500 troops and 1,323 police in a bid to protect some 63,000 civilians sheltering at its bases. Full Story | Top |
| Libya's Hariga port to resume exports within days-oil official Friday, Dec 27, 2013 02:06 PM PST  By Ayman al-Warfalli BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) - Libya's eastern Hariga port will resume oil exports within days after protesters agreed to end a four month blockage, an oil official said on Friday. A reopening would be a victory for Prime Minister Ali Zeidan who has been trying to end such blockades, which have reduced Libya's oil output to 250,000 bpd from 1.4 million bpd in July, cutting much needed revenue for rebuilding the state. The protesters in the east, which was the cradle of the revolt that ousted veteran leader Muammar Gaddafi, also have their own victory, of sorts, as Libyan authorities are building a new oil headquarters there, moving it from the capital Tripoli in the west, to appease their calls for greater autonomy. Tribesmen and other protesters have occupied Hariga, located in Tobruk in the far east of Libya, since August to press their financial and autonomy demands despite several government attempts to reopen the terminal. Full Story | Top |
| TSX makes broad gains, closes above 30-month high Friday, Dec 27, 2013 01:39 PM PST  By Allison Martell TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index rose in light trading on Friday, led by energy, materials and financial stocks, extending a two-week rally fed by growing optimism about global economic growth. The resource-heavy index was helped by higher commodity prices, said Paul Harris, portfolio manager at Avenue Investment Management in Toronto. Gold edged higher, copper touched a four-month peak and U.S. crude oil futures rose after government data showed that U.S. oil inventories had fallen for the fourth straight week. "Oil is driven by economic growth, effectively, so we think that oil going up makes a lot of sense in a world that looks like it's going to be growing a lot faster," said Harris. Full Story | Top |
| Mobile carriers failed to use tech fixes to thwart spying: expert Friday, Dec 27, 2013 01:32 PM PST  The world's mobile phone carriers have failed to implement technology fixes available since 2008 that would have thwarted the National Security Agency's ability to eavesdrop on many mobile phone calls, a cyber security expert says. Karsten Nohl, chief scientist with Berlin's Security Research Labs, told Reuters ahead of a highly anticipated talk at a conference in Germany that his firm discovered the issue while reviewing security measures implemented by mobile operators around the world. Nohl also told Reuters that the carriers had failed to fully address vulnerabilities that would allow hackers to clone and remotely gain control of certain SIM cards. I think it is individual laziness and priority on network speed and network coverage and not security." A spokeswoman for the GSM Association, which represents about 800 mobile operators worldwide, said she could not comment on Nohl's criticism before seeing his presentation on the topic at the Chaos Communications Congress in Hamburg, Europe's biggest annual conference on hacking, security and privacy issues. Full Story | Top |
| Big year ends with Wall Street hopeful for 2014 Friday, Dec 27, 2013 01:22 PM PST  The Dow Jones industrial average is up 26 percent while the Nasdaq is up nearly 38 percent. The weakest group, telecoms , rose 6.5 percent while consumer discretionary led the year with a gain of 40 percent. Full Story | Top |
| Technical problem delays space station streaming-video venture Friday, Dec 27, 2013 12:17 PM PST By Irene Klotz CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - Spacewalking cosmonauts on Friday installed two cameras outside the International Space Station for a Canadian streaming-video business but then retrieved the gear after electrical connections failed, officials said. Station commander Oleg Kotov and flight engineer Sergey Ryazanskiy left the station's Pirs airlock at 8 a.m. EST (1300 GMT) as the complex sailed 260 miles over Australia, mission commentator Rob Navias said during a NASA Television broadcast of the spacewalk. NASA astronauts Rich Mastracchio and Mike Hopkins made spacewalks on Saturday and Tuesday to replace a failed cooling pump. During the first part of Friday's planned seven-hour outing, the Russian cosmonauts set up a high-definition video camera on a swiveling platform and a medium-resolution still imager for Vancouver-based UrtheCast Corp. The Russian space agency, Roscosmos, agreed to host the cameras on the $100 billion station, a project of 15 countries, in exchange for rights to use images and video taken over Russia. Full Story | Top |
| South Sudan to free most politicians detained over alleged coup - U.S. envoy Friday, Dec 27, 2013 11:54 AM PST South Sudan will release most of a group of politicians accused by the government of links to a foiled coup plot against President Salva Kiir, the United States envoy to South Sudan and a senior government official said on Friday. "We were very encouraged to hear the president reiterate that with the exception of three of the senior Sudan People's Liberation Movement (party) officials who have been detained...the others will be released very shortly," U.S. Envoy Donald Booth told South Sudan state television. The release of the 11 prominent politicians arrested by the government after violence erupted on December 15 is a key rebel condition for peace talks. Full Story | Top |
| South Sudan says former Finance Minister, ex-party chief to remain detained Friday, Dec 27, 2013 11:54 AM PST JUBA (Reuters) - South Sudan has released two politicians among 11 accused of plotting a coup against President Salva Kiir but will keep three of the group in custody over corruption allegations, the presidential spokesman said on Friday. Spokesman Ateny Wek Ateny said former Finance Minister Kosti Manibe, ex-Cabinet Affairs Minister Deng Alor, and the former Secretary General of the ruling Sudan People's Liberation Front party, Pagan Amum, would remain detained. "We are following the legal avenue," Ateny told Reuters. ... Full Story | Top |
| Greenpeace activists leave Russia after Putin's amnesty Friday, Dec 27, 2013 11:11 AM PST  Most of the 30 people arrested for a Greenpeace protest against Arctic oil drilling left Russia on Friday under an amnesty initiated by President Vladimir Putin, the environmental group said. The activists' departure, after charges against them were dropped, removes an irritant in Putin's prickly ties with the West as Russia prepares to host the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi in February. The first activist to leave took a train to Finland late on Thursday and by late Friday, 25 of the 26 foreigners among the group Greenpeace dubbed the "Arctic 30" had left Russia, the Netherlands-based organization said. Full Story | Top |
| World powers, Iran to resume expert nuclear talks on December 30 Friday, Dec 27, 2013 10:09 AM PST  By Justyna Pawlak and Parisa Hafezi BRUSSELS/ANKARA (Reuters) - Experts from Iran and six world powers will resume talks on Monday on how to roll out last month's landmark nuclear deal in Geneva, hoping to resolve numerous technical issues before the accord can take effect. A spokeswoman for European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who oversees diplomacy with Iran on behalf of the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany, said talks were scheduled to last one day for now. Two rounds of negotiations have been held so far since Iran agreed on November 24 to curb its most sensitive nuclear work in return for relief from some economic sanctions that are damaging its oil-dependent economy. In comments that highlight the challenges facing negotiators, Iran's nuclear chief said on Friday Tehran was pressing on with tests of more efficient uranium enrichment technology. Full Story | Top |
| South Sudan's Kiir wins regional backing, rebels driven from town Friday, Dec 27, 2013 07:50 AM PST  By Richard Lough and Carl Odera NAIROBI/JUBA (Reuters) - South Sudan's neighbours threw their weight behind President Salva Kiir on Friday in an ethnic-based conflict ravaging the world's newest state, saying they would not accept any bid to overthrow his democratically elected government. Kiir also received a boost in Malakal, capital of South Sudan's major oil producing state of Upper Nile, where government forces defeated rebels loyal to Kiir's former deputy Riek Machar after four days of intense fighting. A cabinet minister told Reuters Kiir's government was ready for an immediate ceasefire but it was not immediately clear whether Machar would accept such a proposal without the release of political allies held in detention. Addressing regional leaders at a special summit on South Sudan held by the east African body Inter Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta urged Kiir and Machar to seize "the small window of opportunity" and start peace talks. Full Story | Top |
| March of state companies resets global trading patterns Friday, Dec 27, 2013 07:47 AM PST  By Jonathan Leff and Dmitry Zhdannikov LONDON (Reuters) - As U.S. and European banks drop out of commodity trading, Russian, Chinese and Gulf state firms are filling the gap in an attempt to exert greater control over the pricing of the raw materials on which their economies so heavily depend. Last week, the Kremlin oil champion Rosneft bought the oil trading unit of Morgan Stanley , one of the largest and oldest trading desks on Wall Street, as banks reduce exposure to trading. The state companies are joining trading houses like Glencore and Vitol and large oil firms like BP and Shell to take advantage of the retreat from trading by banks because of the greater regulation of banking activities that followed the 2008 financial crisis. It won't be long before such deals are repeated, say executives from major trading houses as they see a new class of rivals challenging their supremacy in connecting buyers and sellers of commodities, predominantly oil. Full Story | Top |
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