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| Fire on Indian train kills at least 23 people Friday, Dec 27, 2013 10:35 PM PST At least 23 people were killed on Saturday in a fire on a train in southern India, authorities said. The train was on its way from the city of Bangalore to Nanded in the western state of Maharashtra. The driver stopped the train when he saw flames coming out of an air-conditioned coach, media reports said. "The fire has now been brought under control but there are casualties ... the authorities have gone inside the coach," Arunendra Kumar, the chairman of India's Railway Board, told Reuters Television. Full Story | Top |
| China court jails four security officials over watermelon vendor's death: Xinhua Friday, Dec 27, 2013 10:20 PM PST  A Chinese court jailed four security officials for up to 11 years over the death of a watermelon vendor, the official Xinhua news agency reported, an incident that triggered public outcry over perceived abuses of power by city patrols. Deng Zhengjia, 56, died after a fight with the security officials in the south-central province of Hunan in July. A court in Hunan found the four men guilty of intentionally assaulting Deng and sentenced them to jail terms ranging from three-and-a-half to 11 years, the report late on Friday said. Full Story | Top |
| 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 |
| Zimbabwe ambassador to Australia seeks asylum: media Friday, Dec 27, 2013 09:31 PM PST By Morag MacKinnon PERTH, Australia (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's ambassador to Australia has asked for political asylum just days before her term ends saying she fears for her safety if she goes home, media reported on Saturday. Jacqueline Zwambila, who is a member of Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), was appointed to Australia to renew ties between the countries after a unity government was formed in Zimbabwe in 2009. MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai shared power with veteran leader Robert Mugabe in the unity government until a July 31 election which Mugabe won. Full Story | Top |
| Thai anti-government protester shot dead: hospital official Friday, Dec 27, 2013 08:25 PM PST  By Sinthana Kosolpradit BANGKOK (Reuters) - A Thai protester was killed and four wounded, an emergency official said on Saturday, after an unidentified gunman opened fire on demonstrators whose efforts to topple Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra flared into violence over the past two days. The shooting came 48 hours after clashes between police about 500 protesters, who are determined to disrupt a snap February 2 election called by Yingluck, outside a voting registration center in which two people were killed and scores wounded. Petphong Kamjonkitkarn, director of the Erawan Emergency Center in the Thai capital Bangkok, told Reuters one man in his 30s had been killed and four others suffered gunshot wounds. The protesters have been rallying for weeks in their attempt to topple Yingluck, who they see as a puppet of her brother and former premier, billionaire tycoon Thaksin Shinawatra, and have vowed to disrupt the election. Full Story | Top |
| China formally eases one-child policy, abolishes labor camps Friday, Dec 27, 2013 08:05 PM PST  China formally approved on Saturday easing its decades-long one-child policy and the abolition of a controversial labor camp system, the official Xinhua news agency reported. Both were among a sweeping raft of reforms announced last month after a meeting of the ruling Communist Party that mapped out policy for the next decade. The plan was envisioned by the government about five years ago, with officials worried that the strict controls were undermining economic growth and contributing to a rapidly ageing population China had no hope of supporting financially. The resolution, formally approved by China's largely rubber- stamp parliament on Saturday, will allow local legislatures to decide when to implement the policies, Xinhua said. Full Story | Top |
| Mali's government presents treason case against former president Friday, Dec 27, 2013 04:32 PM PST  By Adama Diarra BAMAKO (Reuters) - Mali's government said on Friday it had presented to the country's highest court a case for high treason against former President Amadou Toumani Toure, who was toppled in a coup d'etat last year. A communique from the prime minister's office said the case before the National Assembly accused Toure of failing in his duty as commander of Mali's armed forces to prevent foreign forces from seizing national territory. The March 2012 coup was prompted by Toure's failure to quell a Tuareg separatist uprising in northern Mali. The takeover, however, allowed armed Islamist groups to seize control of the northern two-thirds of Mali. Full Story | Top |
| Russia says Syrian toxin removal deadline will be missed Friday, Dec 27, 2013 03:30 PM PST  By Steve Gutterman MOSCOW (Reuters) - Deadly toxins that were to have been removed from Syria by December 31 under an international effort to rid the country of its chemical arsenal have not yet been delivered to port to be put on ships, a Russian diplomat was quoted as saying on Friday. The deadline will be missed because toxins that can be used to make sarin, VX gas and other agents were being packed up and still faced a potentially hazardous trip to the port of Latakia, RIA news agency quoted Mikhail Ulyanov as saying. Syria has agreed to abandon its chemical weapons by next June under a deal proposed by Russia and hashed out with the United States, after an August 21 sarin gas attack that Western nations blamed on President Bashar al-Assad's government. Damascus agreed to transport the "most critical" chemicals, including around 20 tons of mustard nerve agent, out of the northern port of Latakia by December 31 to be safely destroyed abroad away from the war zone. Full Story | Top |
| U.N. General Assembly approves $5.5 billion budget for 2014/15 Friday, Dec 27, 2013 03:26 PM PST  The United Nations General Assembly on Friday approved a $5.53 billion U.N. budget for 2014-2015, down 1 percent from the total spending during the previous two years. The new biennial budget includes a 2 percent staffing cut, or some 221 posts, and a one year freeze in staff compensation. The so-called core U.N. budget that was adopted does not include peacekeeping, currently running at over $7 billion a year and approved in separate negotiations, or the costs of several major U.N. agencies funded by voluntary contributions from member states. As in past years, the biennial budget negotiations were marked by a tussle between poor countries seeking to raise U.N. development spending and major developed countries, which are the biggest budget contributors, trying to rein in the figures as they struggle to reduce expenditures in their own national budgets. 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 |
| Four killed, scores wounded in clashes across Egypt Friday, Dec 27, 2013 01:53 PM PST By Maggie Fick CAIRO (Reuters) - Muslim Brotherhood supporters and police clashed across Egypt on Friday, leaving at least four dead in protests after the army-backed government declared the group a terrorist organization. The violence broke out after Friday prayers and the health ministry said 87 people were wounded in the clashes, which flared in Cairo and at least four other cities. A second man was killed in Minya, a bastion of Islamist support south of Cairo, and a third person was killed in the capital, the interior ministry said, without providing further details. Security forces detained at least 265 Brotherhood supporters nationwide, including at least 28 women, the ministry also said. Full Story | Top |
| India seeks possible U.S. tax violations as stand hardens in row Friday, Dec 27, 2013 01:23 PM PST  By Sanjeev Miglani NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India has sought details about staff in American schools in the country for possible tax violations and revoked ID cards of U.S. consular officials and their families, retaliatory steps for the arrest of an Indian diplomat in New York. The measures suggest that the two countries are no closer to a resolution of a diplomatic dispute over the treatment of Deputy Consul General Devyani Khobragade this month on charges of visa fraud and underpayment of her housekeeper. Khobragade, who has denied the charges, was handcuffed and strip-searched while in custody, sparking outrage in India. An Indian government official said on Friday that New Delhi had asked the U.S. embassy to provide details about people working in American schools and other U.S. government facilities to determine if they had permission to do so and if they were paying taxes that are mandatory under Indian law. Full Story | Top |
| Beirut bomb kills Lebanese ex-minister who opposed Assad Friday, Dec 27, 2013 01:03 PM PST By Samia Nakhoul and Stephen Kalin BEIRUT (Reuters) - Former Lebanese minister Mohamad Chatah, who opposed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, was killed in a massive bomb blast on Friday which one of his political allies blamed on the Shi'ite Hezbollah militia. The attack in Beirut killed five other people and threw Lebanon, which has been drawn into neighboring Syria's conflict, into further turmoil after a series of sectarian bombings aimed at Shi'ite and Sunni Muslims over the past year. Former prime minister Saad al-Hariri accused Hezbollah of involvement in the killing of Chatah, his 62-year-old political adviser, saying it was "a new message of terrorism". "As far as we are concerned the suspects ... are those who are fleeing international justice and refusing to represent themselves before the international tribunal," Hariri said , referring to the upcoming trial in The Hague of five Hezbollah members suspected of killing his father Rafik in 2005. Full Story | Top |
| Hollande wants bigger U.N. role in Central African Republic Friday, Dec 27, 2013 12:53 PM PST  French President Francois Hollande has asked the United Nations to play a bigger role in the Central African Republic, Hollande's office said in a statement on Friday. France deployed a 1,600 strong peacekeeping mission in its former colony this month to stop massacres between Muslim and Christian militias, but the U.N.-backed intervention is struggling to restore security in the country. "(The president) has asked the United Nations to play a more important role during the transition in Central African Republic," Hollande's office said of his phone call with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Full Story | Top |
| Israel plans 1,400 more West Bank settlement homes, official says Friday, Dec 27, 2013 12:21 PM PST  Israel plans to build 1,400 homes in its settlements in the occupied West Bank and will announce the projects next week after releasing a group of Palestinian prisoners, an Israeli official said on Friday. The Palestinians have said any further expansion of Israeli settlements on land they seek for a state could derail U.S.-brokered peace talks that resumed in July after a three-year break and are set to last until April. The United States said Israel had informed it of plans to release the group of prisoners on December 30, a day later than expected. The release of about two dozen Palestinians, the third group to be freed since the peace talks resumed, is seen by the United States as a vital confidence-building measure. Full Story | Top |
| India's Modi says shaken to core by Gujarat's religious riots Friday, Dec 27, 2013 12:15 PM PST  By Sanjeev Miglani NEW DELHI (Reuters) - - Indian prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi said on Friday he had been deeply pained by religious violence during his time as chief minister of Gujarat state, seeking closure on a deeply divisive issue that has dogged him for more than a decade. Modi's remarks on his blog were the furthest the powerful Hindi nationalist has gone to commiserate with the victims of the 2002 religious bloodshed, one of India's worst since the 1947 partition of the subcontinent. "As if all the suffering was not enough, I was also accused of the death and misery of my own loved ones, my Gujarati brothers and sisters." At least 1,000 people died in a wave of reprisal attacks across Gujarat after a train carrying Hindu pilgrims was set on fire in February 2002. Modi leads the race for the national election due by next May, campaigning on a platform to revive India's economy growing at its slowest in a decade, end red tap and corruption that have bedevilled the ruling Congress-led coalition. Full Story | Top |
| Turkish protesters clash with police as supporters cheer Erdogan Friday, Dec 27, 2013 11:56 AM PST  By Orhan Coskun and Ece Toksabay ANKARA/ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Protesters demanding Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan resign over a high-level corruption scandal clashed with riot police in Istanbul on Friday, while across the city thousands staged a rival show of support for the embattled leader. Erdogan faces a crisis unprecedented during his 11 years in office due to the scandal that has forced three ministers' resignations and a cabinet reshuffle, as well as destabilizing the Turkish economy whose rapid growth has been a showpiece of his rule. However, Erdogan still enjoys the loyalty of many pious Muslims and members of Turkey's wealthy elite. Police detained dozens of people on December 17, among them the sons of the interior minister and two other cabinet members, after a major graft inquiry that was kept secret from commanders who might have informed the government in advance. 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 |
| Nasdaq to compensate firms on December 31 for botched Facebook IPO Friday, Dec 27, 2013 11:09 AM PST  By John McCrank NEW YORK (Reuters) - Nasdaq OMX Group Inc will compensate firms on December 31 for qualifying claims related to Facebook Inc's botched May 2012 initial public offering, the exchange operator said in a note to traders on Friday. Nasdaq said previously it would pay up to $41.6 million in claims to market participants that lost money when a glitch in Nasdaq's system during the IPO prevented timely order confirmations for many traders, leaving them unsure about their exposure for hours and, in some cases, for days afterwards. Nasdaq said a total of $41.6 million in claims qualified for compensation, even though market makers estimated they lost $500 million collectively. Firms that qualified for compensation had until December 23 to agree not to sue Nasdaq over the IPO in order to be eligible for a one-time voluntary payout. Full Story | Top |
| Car bomb kills three in southern Russia Friday, Dec 27, 2013 10:43 AM PST By Steve Gutterman MOSCOW (Reuters) - A car bomb killed three people in the southern Russian city of Pyatigorsk on Friday, officials said, in a worrying development for the Kremlin as Russia prepares to host the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi in six weeks' time. Pyatigorsk lies 270 km (170 miles) east of Sochi, where the Games, a major prestige project for President Vladimir Putin, will open on February 7. Thee people were killed, Pyatigorsk mayor Lev Travnev said on state-run Rossiya-24 television. Pyatigorsk is just north of a strip of mostly Muslim provinces plagued by near-daily violence in a long-running Islamist insurgency. 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 |
| Analysis: Battered Erdogan seen weathering storm as scandal deepens Friday, Dec 27, 2013 08:42 AM PST  By Humeyra Pamuk and Orhan Coskun ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan still enjoys the fierce loyalty of pious voters and wealthy elites, which should be enough to keep him in power in the face of a corruption scandal that has rocked his government and reached his family. But the suggestion by members of his AK party that a general election could be brought forward to next year shows that he is more worried than ever about his grip on a country he has transformed during a decade in office. A less feisty leader might already have been sunk by the corruption scandal involving accusations of wrongdoing at a state-run bank. The affair turned more personal this week when Turkish media published what appeared to be a preliminary summons for Bilal Erdogan, one of the premier's two sons, to testify. Full Story | Top |
| Bomb targets Montenegrin newspaper critical of government Friday, Dec 27, 2013 08:34 AM PST  A bomb blast shook the offices of Montenegro's leading daily Vijesti in the latest attack on a newspaper known for its criticism of the authorities under long-term leader Milo Djukanovic. No one was hurt in the blast, which appeared to target a room used by editor-in-chief Mihailo Jovovic, shattering windows and damaging the facade of the building in the capital, Podgorica, shortly before midnight. Vijesti director Zeljko Ivanovic said the attack was a murder attempt on the newspaper's editor. Vijesti said security cameras had captured a man in a black jacket planting a package in front of the building and leaving the site about a minute before the blast. Full Story | Top |
| Lebanese national snatched in north Nigeria is freed Friday, Dec 27, 2013 08:33 AM PST A Lebanese man abducted by gunmen in northern Nigeria's main city of Kano this week was released unharmed on Friday, police said, denying that any ransom was paid. Gunmen seized Hassan Zein from the Sharada industrial area of Kano on Monday morning, in an area plagued by Islamist militant groups known for protracted and often deadly kidnappings. Authorities feared that Ansaru, an al Qaeda-linked jihadist group that specializes in kidnapping and often killing foreigners, and which is based in Kano, was behind it. Police spokesman Magaji Majiya said Zein was found on the roadside unharmed after several main roads leading out of the city were blocked as part of the search for him. Full Story | Top |
| Foreign convoy attacked in Afghan capital, three dead Friday, Dec 27, 2013 08:26 AM PST A suspected suicide bomber attacked a military convoy on the eastern outskirts of Kabul on Friday, killing at least three foreign soldiers, police and the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack which comes as President Hamid Karzai deliberates over an agreement allowing U.S. forces to stay in the country beyond 2014. ISAF put the death toll at three service members. Full Story | Top |
| Help on horizon for 74 on icebound Russian ship off Antarctica Friday, Dec 27, 2013 08:22 AM PST A Chinese icebreaker is expected a reach a Russian ship trapped in thick Antarctic ice with 74 people on board by Saturday, Russia said. The Snow Dragon was one of three icebreakers dispatched to free the MV Akademik Shokalskiy, which became stranded far south of Tasmania on Tuesday in ice driven by strong winds. "The first, a Chinese icebreaker, is expected to arrive at the scene of the accident on December 28," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. "Great news: Icebreaker Snow Dragon on Horizon with penguins! Everyone very happy!" Chris Turney, an Australian professor who helped organize the voyage on the Russian ship, said on Twitter on Friday. Full Story | Top |
| Italy welcomes back deported wife of wanted Kazakh banker Friday, Dec 27, 2013 08:13 AM PST  The wife of a Kazakh banker who is wanted for fraud in three countries enjoyed a warm personal greeting from Italy's foreign minister on Friday when she flew back to Rome only months after being summarily expelled. Alma Shalabayeva is the wife of Mukhtar Ablyazov, an adversary of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev who denies charges of embezzling billions of euros from his former bank. Kazakhstan wants the return of Ablyazov from France, where he is currently being held. The saga took a new twist in May when Shalabayeva and her daughter Alua, who had been living in Italy, were held in a lightning police operation and days later put on a private plane to Kazakhstan, where they were confined to the city of Almaty. Full Story | Top |
| Scores of rebels killed in Syrian government ambush Friday, Dec 27, 2013 07:35 AM PST  Syria's army ambushed Islamist fighters in the Qalamoun mountains north of the capital Damascus on Friday, leaving as many as 60 people dead, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The attack happened between the Christian town of Maaloula and the town of Yabroud, where government forces and rebels are fighting, said the Observatory, a British-based, pro-opposition monitoring group with sources across Syria. Syria's civil war between forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad and mostly Sunni Muslim rebels fighting to topple him has killed more than 100,000 people since March 2011. Syrian state television showed footage of dozens of bodies lying in a mountainous area, with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades next to them. Full Story | Top |
| Ukraine police allege opposition ties to reporter's attackers Friday, Dec 27, 2013 07:24 AM PST  By Pavel Polityuk KIEV (Reuters) - Police in Ukraine on Friday accused five suspects detained over the savage beating of a reporter of links to the opposition, an allegation the opposition condemned as an attempt to deflect suspicions of government complicity. Tetyana Chornovil, 34, was chased down by car and beaten shortly after midnight on Wednesday, hours after posting pictures on her blog of a country home she said belonged to Interior Minister Vitaly Zakharchenko. The attack threatened to breathe new life into more than a month of opposition protests in the capital, Kiev, over a decision by the government in November to spurn a landmark pact on closer ties with the European Union and turn instead to former Soviet master Moscow. In a video statement posted on the website of the Interior Ministry, Mykola Chynchyn, the head of the main investigations department, said: "In the course of the investigation it was established that the detained had been in close contact with members of the party UDAR." UDAR, or Punch, is led by heavyweight boxing champion Vitaly Klitschko, the most prominent of a troika of opposition leaders who have seized on the outcry among many Ukrainians over the government's move away from Europe. Full Story | Top |
| Government forces defeat South Sudan rebels in oil state capital: army Friday, Dec 27, 2013 06:27 AM PST JUBA (Reuters) - South Sudanese rebels loyal to former Vice President Riek Machar have been defeated in Malakal, the capital of major oil producing Upper Nile state, after four days of intense fighting, the army spokesman told Reuters on Friday. "(Government forces) are 100 percent in control of Malakal town and are pursuing the forces of the coup," army spokesman Philip Aguer told Reuters in Juba. Aguer on Thursday said rebels controlled half of Malakal. (This story has been refiled to add source to headline) (Reporting by Drazen Jorgic; Editing by Louise Ireland) Full Story | Top |
| Japan gets Okinawa approval for U.S. Marine base move Friday, Dec 27, 2013 06:14 AM PST By Kiyoshi Takenaka TOKYO (Reuters) - The governor of Japan's Okinawa on Friday approved a controversial plan to relocate a U.S. air base to a less populous part of the southern island, but said he would keep pressing to move the base off the island altogether. The nod from Okinawa, long a reluctant host to the bulk of U.S. military forces in Japan, is an achievement for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who has promised a more robust military and tighter security ties with the United States amid escalating tension with China. Skeptics, however, said it remained far from clear whether the relocation - stalled since the move was first agreed by Washington and Tokyo in 1996 - would actually take place given persistent opposition from Okinawa residents, many of whom associate the U.S. bases with crime, pollution and noise. The approval came a day after Abe visited Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine, seen in parts of Asia as a symbol of Japan's past militarism, infuriating China and South Korea, and prompting concern from the United States about deteriorating ties between the Asian neighbors. Full Story | Top |
| Antwerp railway station reopens after bomb threat Friday, Dec 27, 2013 05:55 AM PST BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Police reopened the main railway station in Belgium's port city of Antwerp on Friday after the building and surrounding streets were cleared due to a bomb threat, the force said. The shutdown caused severe delays on the high-speed rail link between Paris and Amsterdam, operator Thalys said on its website. It also affected local train services. An anonymous caller phoned police in the neighboring Netherlands to say a bomb would go off in Antwerp Central Station, then hung up, a spokeswoman for the city's police force told Reuters. ... Full Story | Top |
| South Sudan neighbors say Kiir committed to ceasefire Friday, Dec 27, 2013 05:52 AM PST South Sudan's government has committed to an immediate ceasefire, the country's regional neighbors said on Friday, as they urged rebel leader Riek Machar to make the same commitment. Regional heads of state who attended a meeting of east African body Inter Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) in Kenyan capital Nairobi, said they want all the warring parties in South Sudan to meet for talks by December 31. "(IGAD) welcomes the commitment by the government of Republic of South Sudan to an immediate cessation of hostilities and calls upon Dr Riek Machar and other parties to make similar commitments," a communique from the 23rd Extraordinary Session of IGAD said. Full Story | Top |
| China targets cement, batteries, metals in anti-pollution push Friday, Dec 27, 2013 05:39 AM PST  China will raise standards for the production of cement, batteries, leather and heavy metals as part of its efforts to cut air, water and soil pollution, the environment ministry said on Friday. Beijing, facing growing public anger over smog, contaminated food and unclean water, has said it will tackle the environmental costs of more than three decades of unbridled growth. It has promised to get tough with under-regulated industries such as cement, iron and steel and coal but the central government has traditionally struggled to impose its will on powerful industrial sectors and local governments. According to a notice issued by the Ministry of Environmental Protection (www.mep.gov.cn), China produced 2.21 billion tons of cement in 2012, 56 percent of the global total. Full Story | Top |
| Antwerp train station evacuated after bomb threat Friday, Dec 27, 2013 05:35 AM PST BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Police evacuated the main train station in Belgium's port city of Antwerp on Friday and cleared surrounding streets after a bomb threat, the force said. An anonymous caller phoned police in the neighboring Netherlands to say a bomb would go off in Antwerp Central Station, then hung up, a spokeswoman for the city's police force told Reuters. The shut-down was causing severe delays on the high-speed rail link between Paris and Amsterdam, operator Thalys said on its website. (Reporting by Robert-Jan Bartunek; Editing by Andrew Heavens) Full Story | Top |
| One killed in clash between Islamists and police in southern Egypt Friday, Dec 27, 2013 05:34 AM PST One person was killed on Friday in Egypt's southern province of Minya when supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood clashed with police, a local security official said. Osama Metwally, security director for Minya province, said that the person was killed in the city of Samalut. Tensions flared in the capital and in several other cities on Friday, in the first large protests since the government declared the Brotherhood a terrorist organization on Wednesday. Full Story | Top |
| Egypt Islamists, police clash after Friday prayers Friday, Dec 27, 2013 04:36 AM PST Egyptian police clashed with supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood in Cairo and at least two other cities after Friday prayers, security sources said, as tensions flared after the government declared the Islamist group a terrorist organization. Police fired teargas at rock-throwing demonstrators at the main campus of Al-Azhar University in Cairo. Marches in two Cairo suburbs were dispersed when police fired teargas, security sources and a Reuters witness said. Full Story | Top |
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