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| Israeli settlers archaeology tourism plans seen deepening roots Tuesday, Jan 28, 2014 11:31 PM PST  By Noah Browning HEBRON, West Bank (Reuters) - On an ancient hill dotted with 1,000-year-old olive trees, Israelis are busy excavating in search of the first palace of King David in the heart of the West Bank. The Jewish settlers who started the dig with the help of Israel's Antiquities Authority say they want to turn it into an archaeological park to celebrate its historical significance. But for Palestinians who hope the West Bank will someday form part of a Palestinian state, the move is a grab not only for land but also for their past - a ploy to cut them out of history and away from land they say is rightfully theirs. The Bible says David, the second king of the United Kingdom of Israel and Judah, first ruled in Hebron before conquering Jerusalem to the north. Full Story | Top |
| Thailand to deploy 10,000 police in capital to secure voting Tuesday, Jan 28, 2014 10:51 PM PST  By Amy Sawitta Lefevre BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand's government will deploy 10,000 police in the capital for Sunday's election, which protesters have promised to disrupt as part of their drawn-out attempt to topple Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra. "I ask Bangkok residents to come out and vote," Labour Minister Chalerm Yoobamrung told reporters on Wednesday. "The police will take care of security ... Those who are thinking of going and shutting polling stations in the morning should think twice because the police will not allow them to." Protesters prevented early voting at many polling stations in Bangkok last Sunday. They took to the streets in November in the latest eruption of a political conflict that has gripped Thailand for eight years. Full Story | Top |
| Insight: Mubarak-era networks return for new military man in Egypt Tuesday, Jan 28, 2014 10:07 PM PST By Maggie Fick SHEBIN EL KOM, Egypt (Reuters) - When an uprising toppled Egyptian autocrat Hosni Mubarak, men like Ahmed Saif who helped run his vast patronage network melted away. Three years later, Saif and other former members of Mubarak's party are back in action in the populous countryside, offering everything from refrigerators for newlyweds to welfare-like stipends to the poor in exchange for votes. ... Full Story | Top |
| China smog fears spur call for ban on New Year fireworks Tuesday, Jan 28, 2014 09:53 PM PST  Warnings of heavy smog over central and eastern China this week have prompted the country's weather forecaster to call for a ban on the fireworks traditionally let off at Lunar New Year, state media said on Wednesday. With smog expected to start blanketing central and eastern China from Thursday, Chen Zhenlin, spokesman for the China Meteorological Administration, said local governments should ban fireworks completely, the official China Daily said. Authorities, including those in Beijing, have asked people to set off fewer fireworks this year to help improve air quality, though in the capital at least there have been no moves to close down the temporary stalls that sell the fireworks. Sales of fireworks have been flat so far in Beijing, the China Daily said, as people heed the calls for clearer skies. Full Story | Top |
| China convicts two anti-graft activists in crackdown Tuesday, Jan 28, 2014 09:28 PM PST By Sui-Lee Wee BEIJING (Reuters) - China convicted two anti-graft campaigners on Wednesday for their roles in a protest urging officials to reveal their assets, the latest measures in a crackdown that has sparked international criticism. The government has waged a 10-month drive on the "New Citizens' Movement", which advocates working within the system to press for change. Wednesday's convictions came just three days after movement founder Xu Zhiyong, one of China's most prominent rights activists, was sentenced to four years in prison. The United States, the European Union and rights groups condemned his sentence. Full Story | Top |
| South Korea urges North to hasten reunions but vows to continue drills Tuesday, Jan 28, 2014 09:25 PM PST  South Korea urged the North on Wednesday to speed efforts for reunions of families separated since the war that divided the neighbors, but vowed to continue joint military drills with the United States, despite protests from Pyongyang. Uncertainty remained whether the North would keep its pledge to hold the reunions ahead of the start of the drills, but the South said it would not use the military exercises as a means to secure the family event. The North proposed the family reunions last week in a move welcomed by both China, its sole major ally, and the United States. But the North has yet to respond to a call by the South for the event to be held over six days in February and for a meeting to hammer out location and logistics. Full Story | Top |
| China decor magnate arrested for suspected bribery Tuesday, Jan 28, 2014 09:17 PM PST A billionaire who Chinese media say is linked to the downfall of the former mayor of Nanjing has been arrested on suspicion of corruption, the company he founded, Suzhou Gold Mantis Construction Decoration Co Ltd, said. The family of Zhu Xingliang, who ranked no.55 on the 2013 Forbes China Rich List with a fortune worth $2.04 billion, informed Gold Mantis of his arrest, the firm said in a statement to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange posted on Tuesday. "The company received notification from family on January 27 that Director and the person in actual control (of the firm) Mr. Zhu Xingliang was arrested on suspicion of bribery with the approval of the prosecutor," the company filing said. The arrest comes as China's President Xi Jinping makes the fight against endemic corruption a central theme of his administration. Full Story | Top |
| Malaysia navy chief denies Chinese incursion Tuesday, Jan 28, 2014 09:09 PM PST Malaysia's navy chief has denied a report that three Chinese navy ships patrolled an area claimed by the Southeast Asian country, saying the Chinese exercise took place hundreds of miles to the north in international waters. Chinese state news agency Xinhua reported that an amphibious landing craft and two destroyers patrolled the James Shoal on Sunday, 50 miles off the coast of Malaysia's Sarawak state, and held a ceremony in which they swore to safeguard Chinese sovereignty. The reported activity at the southernmost tip of Beijing's sweeping claims over the South China Sea appeared to be the latest sign of its territorial assertiveness that has boosted tensions with claimants such as the Philippines and Vietnam. 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 |
| U.N. envoy urges action on Yemen, Security Council to draft resolution Tuesday, Jan 28, 2014 08:01 PM PST  By Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations' envoy on Yemen urged the Security Council on Tuesday to "do its part" in helping stop those attempting to obstruct the Yemeni transition, which diplomats said was a call for possible sanctions against former President Ali Abdullah Saleh. Jordan's U.N. ambassador and president of the Security Council this month, Prince Zeid Ra'ad Zeid al-Hussein, told reporters that the council would start "drafting a resolution in the coming days which will support the wishes and aspirations of the government and people of Yemen." "Council members also expressed their readiness to look into taking measures against any side that attempts to place obstacles to subvert," stability in Yemen, Prince Zeid told reporters. Full Story | Top |
| Mexico launches anti-kidnapping squad after abductions soar Tuesday, Jan 28, 2014 06:55 PM PST  Mexico's government on Tuesday created an anti-kidnapping agency after abductions soared 20 percent last year despite President Enrique Pena Nieto's vow to reduce the crime. The new department will answer to the country's interior ministry, where Pena Nieto has centered his anti-crime programs after his predecessor relied on police and the military. Government data showed that reported kidnapping jumped to 1,695 cases last year compared with 1,407 in 2012 in an embarrassment for Pena Nieto, who said he would shift the government's focus from hunting drug lords to reducing kidnappings and extortion. Since taking office in December 2012, Pena Nieto has sought to draw public attention to his efforts to reform the economy and away from grisly violence that has killed more than 80,000 people since his predecessor, Felipe Calderon, launched a military offensive against drug cartels seven years ago. Full Story | Top |
| Winter storm brings 'once-in-decade' ice, snow to U.S. South Tuesday, Jan 28, 2014 06:01 PM PST  By Kathy Finn NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - A rare blast of snow, sleet and ice hit the U.S. South on Tuesday, prompting five 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. Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina and South 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 |
| Fidel Castro 'talked a lot' during meeting, Brazil's Rousseff says Tuesday, Jan 28, 2014 05:53 PM PST Fidel Castro was lucid, displayed a sharp memory and "talked a lot," Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff said on Tuesday of her two-hour meeting with the former Cuban president. Rousseff met Castro, 87, on Monday during her visit to Cuba for a Latin American and Caribbean summit. She said Castro discussed his contemporaries, such as former Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, and historical figures such as Napoleon. Castro has rarely been seen in public since he took ill in 2006 and handed over power to his younger brother Raul Castro, at first provisionally in 2006 and then definitively in 2008. 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 |
| Pakistan sees chance for Afghan peace talks to resume after April election Tuesday, Jan 28, 2014 04:24 PM PST  Pakistan sees a chance to resume stalled peace talks that aim to end the long conflict in Afghanistan if Taliban militants are willing to engage with the Afghan government once President Hamid Karzai steps down, a top Pakistani official said on Tuesday. "My own feeling is that after the election the Taliban will probably talk to the new government more ... than the present government," Sartaj Aziz, a senior adviser to Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on national security and foreign affairs, said in Washington. Full Story | Top |
| Turkish central bank makes massive rate hikes to stem lira fall Tuesday, Jan 28, 2014 03:30 PM PST  By Seda Sezer and Daren Butler ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey's central bank hiked all of its key interest rates in dramatic fashion at an emergency midnight policy meeting, ignoring opposition from Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan as it battles to defend the country's crumbling lira currency. The bank raised its overnight lending rate to 12 percent from 7.75 percent, its one-week repo rate to 10 percent from 4.5 percent, and its overnight borrowing rate to 8 percent from 3.5 percent - all much sharper moves than economists had forecast. A Reuters poll of 31 economists on Monday found a consensus pointing to a 2.25-percentage-point rise in the lending rate. Erdogan, keen to maintain economic growth ahead of an election cycle starting in two months, has been a vociferous opponent of higher borrowing costs, railing against what he describes as an "interest rate lobby" of speculators seeking to stifle growth and undermine the economy. 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 |
| Iranian lawmakers to visit Britain as diplomatic ties improve Tuesday, Jan 28, 2014 02:20 PM PST  Iranian parliamentarians will come to London in the next few months, the first such visit in years, as Iran and Britain try to improve their damaged relations, a group of British MPs said on Tuesday. The visit was agreed during a trip to Iran this month by a four-man delegation from the British parliament that met Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif and senior lawmakers. "We formally invited the Iranian Majlis (parliament) and they formally accepted," Jeremy Corbyn, a Labour parliamentarian who was in the delegation, told Reuters, adding that a date had yet to be finalised but that it would be before the summer. Britain severed direct diplomatic relations with Iran after activists stormed its embassy in Tehran more than two years ago. Full Story | Top |
| Ruins of Quebec seniors' home scoured for clues on fatal blaze Tuesday, Jan 28, 2014 02:09 PM PST  By Mathieu Belanger L'ISLE-VERTE, Quebec (Reuters) - Canadian investigators sifted painstakingly through the charred ruins of a Quebec seniors' residence on Tuesday, seeking clues on what caused a massive blaze last week that authorities fear killed 32 people. For the first time since fire destroyed much of the wooden three-story building in the small town of L'Isle-Verte in the Eastern Canadian province of Quebec, media were allowed to take pictures of the work of the investigators from a distance. Full Story | Top |
| South Sudan rebel leader should face treason charge: minister Tuesday, Jan 28, 2014 01:42 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 |
| Biden urges Ukraine president to find compromise amid crisis Tuesday, Jan 28, 2014 01:38 PM PST U.S. Vice President Joe Biden spoke with Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich about the country's crisis by phone for the second consecutive day on Tuesday, and encouraged him to look for more ways to compromise with the opposition, the White House said. In the call, which was initiated by Yanukovich, Biden welcomed progress made by the Ukrainian parliament in repealing anti-protest laws and urged him to look at other measures. "These include an amnesty law and a new government that can bring political unity, win the confidence of the Ukrainian people, and take Ukraine in the direction of Europe by strengthening democratic institutions and making the reforms necessary to achieve economic prosperity," the White House said. Full Story | Top |
| U.N. suggests removal of Syria chemicals unnecessarily delayed Tuesday, Jan 28, 2014 01:37 PM PST By Louis Charbonneau and Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon suggested in a report on Tuesday that an operation to remove Syria's chemical weapons had been unnecessarily delayed and urged the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to speed up the process. Under a deal negotiated by Russia and the United States, Syria agreed to destroy its chemical weapons arsenal after an August 21 sarin gas attack, which killed hundreds of people and led to threats of U.S. air strikes. Ban said in a report to the U.N. Security Council, dated January 27 but made publicly available on Tuesday, that a December 31 deadline for removing Syria's worst chemicals had been missed. Syria has said the operation faces security challenges. Full Story | Top |
| Central African Republic wants U.N. force as EU troops OKed Tuesday, Jan 28, 2014 01:01 PM PST By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council approved on Tuesday the planned deployment of European troops to Central African Republic in a bid to stop violence between Christians and Muslims as the country's president called for a U.N. peacekeeping mission. The United Nations has warned that the conflict in the landlocked former French colony could spiral into genocide. France sent 1,600 troops to Central African Republic last month to assist some 5,000 African Union peacekeepers, while the European Union agreed last week to send around 500 troops. Central Africa's interim President Catherine Samba-Panza said on Tuesday that she has written to the United Nations to call for the African peacekeeping force to be transformed into a larger U.N. operation. Full Story | Top |
| Netanyahu: interim deal set Iran's nuclear drive back by 6 weeks Tuesday, Jan 28, 2014 12:50 PM PST By Dan Williams TEL AVIV (Reuters) - An international deal capping Iran's nuclear work set the program back by just six weeks, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday, accusing Tehran of using the hiatus to hone technologies with bomb-making potential. Iran this month began implementing the interim nuclear accord it clinched with world powers in Geneva in November, and which Netanyahu has condemned as a "historic mistake" for easing sanctions on Israel's arch-foe while letting it retain the infrastructure to make fissile materials. "All told, we assess that the agreement put Iran six weeks further away, no more than that, from the place where it was beforehand," Netanyahu told a security conference in Tel Aviv. "So the test remains for a permanent deal, if achieved, to prevent Iran from achieving a nuclear capability altogether," he said, alluding to further planned international talks with Iran aimed at a fuller agreement on the disputed nuclear program. Full Story | Top |
| Gunmen kill Egyptian general; ousted Mursi defiant at trial Tuesday, Jan 28, 2014 12:31 PM PST  By Shadia Nasralla and Sameh Bardissi CAIRO (Reuters) - Islamist militant gunmen on a motorcycle killed a top Interior Ministry official in Cairo on Tuesday in the latest blow to a military-backed Egyptian government struggling to curb violence and suppress dissent. General Mohamed Saeed, head of the ministry's technical office, was shot in his car outside his home in daytime. A Sinai-based militant group inspired by al Qaeda, Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, said it carried out the attack against the "apostate, criminal" Saeed. The shooting occurred hours before deposed President Mohamed Mursi appeared in court on charges of kidnapping and killing policemen after a jailbreak during the 2011 uprising that ended President Hosni Mubarak's three decades of autocracy. Full Story | Top |
| Nicaragua scraps term limits in boost for socialist Ortega Tuesday, Jan 28, 2014 12:12 PM PST  By Ivan Castro MANAGUA (Reuters) - Nicaragua's national assembly on Tuesday voted to scrap presidential term limits, which could allow socialist President Daniel Ortega to remain in power indefinitely and has stoked concerns about democracy in the Central American country. It would allow 68-year-old Ortega, a prominent Cold War antagonist of the United States, to seek a fourth term. Ortega, a former Marxist guerrilla and ally of the late Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez, has been president since 2007. He first took power after Nicaragua's 1979 revolution and was formally elected president for a single term in 1984. Full Story | Top |
| Aid convoy stalled as Syrian government demands assurances Tuesday, Jan 28, 2014 12:08 PM PST By Stephanie Nebehay and Tom Miles GENEVA (Reuters) - The fate of a U.N. aid convoy for thousands of Syrians besieged in the city of Homs hung in the balance on Tuesday as the Syrian government demanded assurances the supplies would not end up in the hands of "terrorists". Damascus describes all armed opponents of President Bashar al-Assad's government as terrorists. Efforts to get food and medical aid into Homs have become a test case on whether peace talks in Switzerland can produce any practical results almost three years into the Syrian conflict. The United Nations said it was ready to deliver relief supplies to about 2,500 people trapped inside rebel-held parts of Homs, devastated by months of shelling and fighting. Full Story | Top |
| Abbas proposes three-year Israeli pullout from West Bank Tuesday, Jan 28, 2014 12:01 PM PST  By Dan Williams TEL AVIV (Reuters) - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas proposed on Tuesday that Israel carry out a gradual three-year withdrawal from the occupied West Bank as part of any future peace deal, an offer that fell short of Israeli demands. He gave the timeframe in an interview shown at an international security conference in Tel Aviv, where Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon challenged the effectiveness of the Palestinian leader's current security commitments. "We say that a transitional period not exceed three years, during which Israel can withdraw gradually." Abbas has spoken in general terms in past meetings with journalists of a phased pullout from the West Bank after a final land-for-peace accord, similar to Israel's three-year withdrawal from Sinai after it signed a peace treaty with Egypt in 1979. Israel's demand for a continuing military presence in the Jordan Valley, the likely eastern border of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, has been a major issue of contention in U.S.-brokered peace talks that began in July and have since stalled with the two sides still far apart. Full Story | Top |
| Israeli man jailed for offering to spy for Iran: court Tuesday, Jan 28, 2014 11:50 AM PST (Reuters) - An Israeli man described as a member of an ultra-Orthodox fringe group and accused of offering to spy for Iran was jailed for four and a half years on Tuesday, court papers showed. Isaac Bergel contacted Iran's embassy in Berlin in 2011 offering to provide information about Israel, prosecutors said. At the time of Bergel's arrest in July, Israeli officials said he belonged to the Neturei Karta ultra Orthodox group that rejects Israel's existence, believing a Jewish state may exist only after the Messiah comes. Israel has accused its arch-foe Iran of working to develop a nuclear bomb to threaten the Jewish state. Full Story | Top |
| Iraq says Syria war spillover hinders oilfields, pipelines Tuesday, Jan 28, 2014 11:36 AM PST By Peg Mackey, Lin Noueihed and Julia Payne LONDON (Reuters) - Spillover attacks from the civil war in Syria have hindered development of Iraq's gas and oil reserves and a major pipeline to the Mediterranean has been blown up dozens of times, Iraq's top energy official said on Tuesday. Violence in Iraq climbed back to its highest level in five years in 2013, with nearly 9,000 people killed, most of them civilians, according to the United Nations. "The ongoing conflict in Syria has resulted in an increasing number of terrorists using vast desert areas between Syria and Iraq to establish bases from which they have carried out attacks against the civilian population and economic targets and infrastructure," Deputy Prime Minister for Energy Hussain al-Shahristani said. "The attacks have been focused on oil export pipelines, power generation and transmission lines." The al Qaeda-linked Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), which is also fighting in neighboring Syria, has taken control of the Iraqi city of Falluja west of Baghdad with the help of armed tribesmen. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. senators urge nominee for Beijing ambassador to be tough on China Tuesday, Jan 28, 2014 11:28 AM PST  By David Brunnstrom and Patricia Zengerle WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. lawmakers expressed concern about China's territorial ambitions at a confirmation hearing on Tuesday for the next American ambassador to China, and they urged him to take a tough line with Beijing. Senator Max Baucus, President Barack Obama's nominee for the ambassador's post, told a Senate hearing he would do all he could to reduce tensions between China and its neighbors and said he would follow a "cautious" approach with Beijing. Baucus said he agreed with an assessment of Republican Senator John McCain that China was trying to reassert its historical position as the dominant power in Asia. McCain said China's construction and acquisition of an aircraft carrier was "a statement of a desire to project power" that should worry the United States. Full Story | Top |
| Ukraine PM resigns amid unrest, parliament revokes anti-protest laws Tuesday, Jan 28, 2014 11:18 AM PST By Richard Balmforth and Pavel Polityuk KIEV (Reuters) - Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov resigned on Tuesday while deputies loyal to President Viktor Yanukovich, acting to calm violent street protests, back-tracked and overturned anti-protest laws they rammed through parliament 12 days ago. The first real concessions by Yanukovich since the crisis erupted two months ago brought cheers from several thousand demonstrators on Kiev's Independence Square, focal point of the protests. Opposition leaders said they would continue to harness street power to wring more gains. "We have to change not only the government, but the rules of the game as well," declared boxer-turned-politician Vitaly Klitschko. Full Story | Top |
| Britain's Cameron urges Ukraine to turn towards Europe again Tuesday, Jan 28, 2014 11:11 AM PST Prime Minister David Cameron on Tuesday urged Ukraine to turn back towards Europe, a spokesman for the British leader said, paving the way for the revival of a shelved trade agreement between Kiev and the European Union. Cameron's comments came after Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov resigned and deputies loyal to President Viktor Yanukovich, acting to calm violent street protests, back-tracked and overturned anti-protest laws they rammed through parliament 12 days ago. A source familiar with Cameron's thinking said his intervention was meant to send a message to the Ukrainian people that the door to a stalled trade agreement with the EU remained open if they wanted it. "President Yanukovich needs to put Ukraine back on the path to a more stable and secure European future." The EU said in December it was suspending further work with Ukraine on the ambitious trade and cooperation agreement because the government in Kiev had failed to give a clear commitment to signing the deal. Full Story | Top |
| Cameron urges Ukraine to turn towards Europe again Tuesday, Jan 28, 2014 11:09 AM PST  Prime Minister David Cameron on Tuesday urged Ukraine to turn back towards Europe, a spokesman for the British leader said, paving the way for the revival of a shelved trade agreement between Kiev and the European Union. Cameron's comments came after Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov resigned and deputies loyal to President Viktor Yanukovich, acting to calm violent street protests, back-tracked and overturned anti-protest laws they rammed through parliament 12 days ago. A source familiar with Cameron's thinking said his intervention was meant to send a message to the Ukrainian people that the door to a stalled trade agreement with the EU remained open if they wanted it. "President Yanukovich needs to put Ukraine back on the path to a more stable and secure European future." The EU said in December it was suspending further work with Ukraine on the ambitious trade and cooperation agreement because the government in Kiev had failed to give a clear commitment to signing the deal. Full Story | Top |
| Influential cleric urges Saudis to stop backing Egypt's dominant military Tuesday, Jan 28, 2014 10:39 AM PST  By Amena Bakr DOHA (Reuters) - A prominent Gulf-based Muslim cleric called on Saudi Arabia to stop backing Egypt's military-dominated authorities, accusing them of using Saudi money to kill Egyptians protesting at the overthrow in July of an elected Islamist president. Most U.S.-aligned Gulf Arab monarchies, rattled by the rise of Islamists in the Middle East, were relieved when the Egyptian military stepped in to topple President Mohamed Mursi after mass protests against his rule. But Youssef al-Qaradawi, an Egyptian-born cleric based in Qatar, said the strong backing that Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam, had provided military-backed Egyptian authorities which had crushed Islamist opposition since Mursi's removal was wrong and should be withdrawn. "It's surprising that the Saudi government gave billions of dollars to support the (anti-Mursi) coup and the coup leaders and those who are far from God and Islam," Qaradawi, one of the most influential Sunni Muslim clerics in the Middle East, told Reuters in an interview conducted by email. Full Story | Top |
| Israel charges Palestinian in U.S. embassy bomb plot Tuesday, Jan 28, 2014 10:08 AM PST A Palestinian man was charged on Tuesday in connection with what Israel says was a plot to carry out a suicide bombing at the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv discussed during contacts with a militant in Hamas Islamist ruled Gaza. The charge sheet submitted to Jerusalem district court did not suggest any practical steps were taken to carry out an attack. Iyad Abu Sahra, born in 1990, was charged with contact with a foreign agent and conspiracy to commit a crime, and also for supporting Hamas for having waved the group's flag at a protest last year at a Jerusalem holy site. Last week, Israel said it has arrested two Palestinians it said were planning attacks for al Qaeda, including on the embassy. Full Story | Top |
| EU power liberalization jars with green targets: study Tuesday, Jan 28, 2014 09:58 AM PST  By Geert De Clercq PARIS (Reuters) - Europe's attempt to combine an ambitious climate policy with the liberalization of electricity markets has largely failed, and the continent needs to rethink its subsidies for renewable energy, a French government study said. The study, based on reports by leading European energy academics, said Europe must decide on the trade-offs between affordability, sustainability and security on setting its energy policy. In December 2008, EU leaders approved the climate change package with three targets for 2020: cut greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent, produce 20 percent of EU energy from renewable resources and improve energy efficiency by 20 percent. The climate package conflicted with the EU policy, in place since the mid-1990s, of trying to lower electricity prices by opening up power markets to competition, the report found. Full Story | Top |
| Ivory Coast rebuilds navy to ward off growing piracy threat Tuesday, Jan 28, 2014 09:54 AM PST Ivory Coast is adding around 40 new vessels to its depleted navy as it confronts a growing threat from pirates in the Gulf of Guinea, the country's defense minister said on Tuesday. Attacks on commercial vessels off the coast of oil-rich West Africa jumped by a third last year. The first known hijacking of a vessel in Ivory Coast territorial waters occurred late in 2012. "These vessels will provide security on our rivers, the lagoon and at sea," Defence Minister Paul Koffi Koffi said. Full Story | Top |
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