| | |
| South Sudan rebel leader should face treason charge: minister Tuesday, Jan 28, 2014 10:51 PM PST  By Carl Odera and Andrew Green JUBA (Reuters) - South Sudanese rebel leader Riek Machar and six others should be tried for treason for their role in weeks of bloodshed, the justice minister said on Tuesday, threatening to heighten tensions in already troubled peace talks. Minister Paulino Wanawilla Unago cushioned the blow by saying seven other political figures, arrested after the violence erupted, would be released, partly meeting one of the rebels' demands at the negotiations. President Salva Kiir accused Machar, the vice president he sacked in July, of launching a coup in the world's newest country. Unago said he believed there was enough of a case to take Machar and his six associates, who include Pagan Amum, the former Secretary General of the ruling Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), to court. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. should consider re-design of missile defense system: report Tuesday, Jan 28, 2014 10:45 PM PST By Andrea Shalal-Esa WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Missile Defense Agency should consider redesigning a key part of its ground-based missile defense system after a series of test failures in recent years, the Pentagon's chief arms tester said in a new report due to be released Wednesday. "The flight test failures that have occurred during the past three years raise questions regarding the robustness of the Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle (EKV)," said the report, referring to the Raytheon Co-built part of the rocket used to hit enemy missiles and destroy them on impact. Michael Gilmore, the Pentagon's director of operational test and evaluation (DOT&E), said the agency should redo the intercept test that failed last July and consider whether to redesign the "kill vehicle" and shore it up against failure. Boeing Co manages the Pentagon's program to deal with long-range missile threats, while Raytheon and Orbital Sciences Corp build the interceptors and rockets used by the system. Full Story | Top |
| Death toll in northeast Nigeria attack rises to 85 Tuesday, Jan 28, 2014 10:40 PM PST An attack by suspected Islamist Boko Haram insurgents on a northeast Nigerian village on Monday killed 85 people, up from 40 previously reported, officials said on Tuesday. Boko Haram wants to impose sharia (Islamic law) on a country split roughly equally between Christians and Muslims. Suspected Boko Haram rebels stormed the village of Kawuri, in remote northeastern Borno state where insurgents are resisting a military crackdown. In another attack on Sunday in neighbouring Adamawa state, suspected members of Boko Haram killed 22 people during an attack on a church service. Full Story | Top |
| Cameroon's SNH sees crude output up 25 percent in 2014 Tuesday, Jan 28, 2014 10:40 PM PST Cameroon's crude oil output is expected to increase by 25 percent in 2014 compared with the previous year as production from new fields come onstream, state oil company National Hydrocarbons Corporation (SNH), said on Tuesday. The Central African country, which borders top regional crude producers such as Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and Congo Republic, currently pumps less than 100,000 barrels per day, far below its peak of 185,000 bpd in the mid-1980s. Full Story | Top |
| Obama touts 'responsible' energy development measures, climate goals Tuesday, Jan 28, 2014 09:26 PM PST By Valerie Volcovici WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama told lawmakers on Tuesday his energy strategy had boosted the economy and reduced carbon emissions, but he did not address the question of whether he will approve the politically charged Keystone XL oil pipeline. In his annual State of the Union address, Obama touted the role natural gas had played in cutting U.S. greenhouse gas emissions and creating jobs. "The all-of-the-above energy strategy I announced a few years ago is working, and today, America is closer to energy independence than we've been in decades," he said. Supporters say Keystone XL would create thousands of jobs and cut U.S. fuel costs by reducing the nation's reliance on oil imports from nations that are less friendly than Canada. Full Story | Top |
| Obama urges Guantanamo closure this year, shift from 'permanent war footing' Tuesday, Jan 28, 2014 09:01 PM PST By Matt Spetalnick WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama told Americans on Tuesday that 2014 should be the year to finally close the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay as the United States winds down its military role in Afghanistan and shifts away from a "permanent war footing." In his annual State of the Union address, Obama renewed his old vow - dating back to the start of his presidency five years ago - to shut the internationally condemned jail at the U.S. Naval Base in Cuba, and he called on Congress for further action to help him do so. "This needs to be the year Congress lifts the remaining restrictions on detainee transfers and we close the prison at Guantanamo Bay," Obama said. "Because we counter terrorism not just through intelligence and military action, but by remaining true to our constitutional ideals and setting an example for the rest of the world." While seeking to add a sense of urgency to the issue, Obama stopped short of offering any new prescriptions on how he intends to empty Guantanamo of its remaining 155 prisoners. Full Story | Top |
| Long lunar night wait for China's malfunctioning Jade Rabbit moon rover Tuesday, Jan 28, 2014 08:58 PM PST  Chinese scientists will have to wait until the end of a long lunar night, lasting about 14 earth days, to see if repair efforts on the country's first moon rover, dubbed Jade Rabbit, were successful, state media said. Jade Rabbit began experiencing "mechanical control abnormalities" on Saturday when entering the lunar night, which exposes the surface to extreme cold over about 14 earth days. "The complicated environment on the moon's surface is frequently the main reason leading to abnormalities in the lunar vehicle," Pang Zhihao, an expert from the China Academy of Space Technology, told state media. China landed Jade Rabbit, named after a lunar goddess in traditional Chinese mythology, in mid-December to domestic fanfare on a mission to conduct geological surveys and search for natural resources. Full Story | Top |
| Factbox: Highlights of Obama's State of the Union address Tuesday, Jan 28, 2014 08:18 PM PST (Reuters) - The following are highlights from U.S. President Barack Obama's State of the Union address in Washington on Tuesday. JOBS AND THE ECONOMY To help Americans prepare for retirement, Obama will use executive authority to create a "starter" retirement savings account available through employers for workers who can afford to save only small amounts at a time. Through an executive order, Obama said he would raise the minimum wage for workers holding federal contract jobs to $10.10 and will continue pressing Congress to make that rate the prevailing federal minimum wage nationally. The current federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour. Full Story | Top |
| South Korea approves $7 billion reactor plans in boost for nuclear power Tuesday, Jan 28, 2014 08:15 PM PST South Korea approved on Wednesday a $7 billion project to build two nuclear plants, a boost for an industry struggling to emerge from the shadow of Japan's Fukushima disaster and the first approval since a policy review sparked by a safety scandal at domestic reactors. The greenlight for the plants comes only two weeks after Asia's fourth-largest economy announced a policy shift to cut its reliance on nuclear power to 29 percent of total power supply by 2035, down from a planned 41 percent by 2030. A series of nuclear reactor shutdowns since last year due to safety issues have raised the risk of blackouts, putting pressure on policy makers to maintain power supplies in a economy relying on energy intensive industries such as autos, steel and electronics. The approvals will also encourage South Korea's nuclear power industry, which still aims to export its expertise into a global market dominated by France, the United States and Russia. Full Story | Top |
| Cuba challenges neighbors on poverty, then faces own critics Tuesday, Jan 28, 2014 05:51 PM PST  By Daniel Trotta HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuban President Raul Castro challenged Latin American leaders to show the political will to improve health care and education, then heard from his own critics after Cuban authorities stifled a protest outside the confines of a regional summit. Castro's speech also listed a series of Latin American grievances that directly or indirectly involve the United States, attempting to unify the 33 countries at the summit against their neighbor to the north, which was not invited. "We have every possibility to abolish illiteracy," Castro told leaders of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC). "We should have the political will to do it." While Castro advised fellow leaders on how to manage their economies, Cuban dissidents and the United States admonished the Cubans for thwarting a protest. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. rests its case in insider trading trial of SAC's Martoma Tuesday, Jan 28, 2014 05:10 PM PST  By Nate Raymond NEW YORK (Reuters) - Steven A. Cohen tried to sell stock as quietly as possible as SAC Capital Advisors unwound positions at the center of an insider trading trial, the hedge fund's head trader said on Thursday. The testimony came as the government called its final witnesses in the trial of former portfolio manager Mathew Martoma, putting the case within days of its conclusion. Martoma, 39, is accused of using inside information about a drug trial to trade in the stock of Elan Corp Plc and Wyeth that helped SAC Capital make profits and avoid losses of $276 million. Full Story | Top |
| GMO critics protest at Monsanto meeting; resolutions fail Tuesday, Jan 28, 2014 05:00 PM PST  Critics of genetically modified crops protested at Monsanto Co's annual shareholders meeting on Tuesday, calling for the world's largest seed company to provide a report on contamination in non-GMO crops and to stop fighting mandatory labels on foods containing GMO ingredients. The requests came in the form of two shareholder resolutions that were backed by environmental, food safety and consumer activist groups. The resolutions come at a time of heightened debate over the spread of genetically modified crops. Outside the meeting at Monsanto's headquarters in suburban St. Louis, Missouri, about two dozen protesters waved signs criticizing the $15 billion agrichemical and seed company, and 10 people were arrested as they attempted to disrupt traffic. Full Story | Top |
| Study finds feeling short makes people prone to paranoia Tuesday, Jan 28, 2014 04:02 PM PST People who experience social situations from a lower height - in other words short people - are more prone to feelings of paranoia, inferiority and excessive mistrust, according to research published on Wednesday. In a study in the journal Psychiatry Research, scientists showed that making a person's virtual height lower than it actually is can make them feel worse about themselves and more fearful that others are trying to harm them. The research shows how low self-esteem can lead to paranoid thinking, the scientists said, and will be used to develop more effective psychological treatments for severe paranoia, a serious mental health problem. Height is taken to convey authority and we feel taller when we feel more powerful," said Daniel Freeman of Britain's University of Oxford, who led the study. Full Story | Top |
| Remains of 55 bodies found near former Florida reform school Tuesday, Jan 28, 2014 03:27 PM PST By Bill Cotterell TALLAHASSEE (Reuters) - Excavations at a makeshift graveyard near a now-closed reform school in the Florida Panhandle have yielded remains of 55 bodies, almost twice the number official records say are there, the University of South Florida announced on Tuesday. "This is precisely why excavation was necessary," said USF professor Erin Kimmerle, head of the research project. "The only way to truly establish the facts about the deaths and burials at the school is to follow scientific processes." On a hillside in the rolling, tall-pine forests near the Alabama-Georgia border, a team of more than 50 searchers from nine agencies last year dug up the graves to check out local legends and family tales of boys, mostly black, who died or disappeared without explanation from the Dozier School for Boys early in the last century. The University of South Florida was commissioned to look into deaths at the school in the Panhandle city of Marianna, after the Florida Department of Law Enforcement announced the presence of 31 official grave sites in 2010. Full Story | Top |
| Winter storm brings 'once in decade' ice, snow to Southern states Tuesday, Jan 28, 2014 02:33 PM PST  By Kathy Finn NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - A rare blast of snow, sleet and ice hit the U.S. South on Tuesday, prompting three states to declare a state of emergency, closing the New Orleans airport and causing chaos on roads for drivers unaccustomed to the dangerously slick conditions. Temperatures in parts of those regions could feel as cold as minus 30 Fahrenheit (minus 34 Celsius) on Tuesday, the National Weather Service said. Louisiana, Mississippi and North Carolina each declared a state of emergency, telling motorists to stay off the roads. "Residents should not overreact but should make plans now to ensure they are prepared for prolonged freezing conditions and icy roadways," Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant said. Full Story | Top |
|
No comments:
Post a Comment