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| Afghan election campaign stirs both violence and hope Saturday, Feb 01, 2014 11:24 PM PST  By Jessica Donati and Hamid Shalizi KABUL (Reuters) - Presidential candidates in Afghanistan begin two months of campaigning on Sunday for an election that Western allies hope will consolidate fragile stability as their forces prepare to leave after nearly 13 years of inconclusive war. The Taliban have rejected the April 5 election and have already stepped up attacks to sabotage it. The militants will also be looking to capitalise if the vote is marred by rigging and feuding between rivals seeking to replace President Hamid Karzai, who can not run for a third term under Afghan law. Whoever replaces him will inherit a country beset by deepening anxiety about security as most foreign troops prepare to pull out by the end of the year, leaving Afghan forces largely on their own to battle the insurgency. Full Story | Top |
| Ex-rebel faces gang-fighting conservative in El Salvador vote Saturday, Feb 01, 2014 10:35 PM PST  By Nelson Renteria and Michael O'Boyle SAN SALVADOR (Reuters) - A former guerrilla commander vies to keep his left-wing party in power in El Salvador's presidential election on Sunday, but he faces a strong challenge from a right-leaning rival who wants to use the army to battle powerful street gangs. Salvador Sanchez Ceren, a rebel commander who became a top leader of the leftist Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN), had a solid lead over his conservative adversary Norman Quijano, who stepped down as the capital's mayor to run. But with three main candidates competing, Sanchez Ceren was projected to fall short of the 50 percent support needed to win outright and so face Quijano in a run-off on March 9. Sanchez Ceren is promising to extend social programs to fight deeply entrenched poverty that fed the growth of gangs. Full Story | Top |
| Scandals, inequality loom large as Costa Rica votes for new leader Saturday, Feb 01, 2014 10:33 PM PST  By Alexandra Alper and Zach Dyer SAN JOSE (Reuters) - Costa Rica's centrist ruling party front-runner seeks to fend off a leftist surge fueled by voter resentment over government corruption scandals and rising inequality as voters in Central America's second-largest economy head to the polls on Sunday. Centrist former San Jose Mayor Johnny Araya is leading on promises to reduce poverty, while distancing himself from President Laura Chinchilla's scandal-plagued government and painting rivals as radicals. But voter anger over government corruption has buoyed a challenge from leftist lawmaker Jose Maria Villalta, who also promises to tackle inequality in the coffee-producing nation. If none of the thirteen candidates wins more than 40 percent of votes, as expected, there will be an run-off in April for only the second time in Costa Rican history. Full Story | Top |
| Thai vote goes peacefully, but political paralysis looms Saturday, Feb 01, 2014 10:28 PM PST  By Martin Petty BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand went to the polls under heavy security on Sunday in an election that could push the divided country deeper into political turmoil and leave the winner paralyzed for months by street protests, legal challenges and legislative limbo. Apart from a few scuffles voting was relatively peaceful, a day after seven people were wounded by gunshots and explosions during a clash between supporters and opponents of embattled Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra in a north Bangkok stronghold of her Puea Thai Party. Voting in 13 of Bangkok's 33 constituencies was disrupted. "The protesters are rallying peacefully to show their opposition to this election." An election official was killed with three soldiers in a bomb attack in Pattani province but police said that was related to the insurgency in the deep south rather than the national vote. Full Story | Top |
| Suspected Muslim rebels blamed for bomb attack in Thai south Saturday, Feb 01, 2014 08:49 PM PST Suspected Muslim rebels in southern Thailand killed three soldiers and a district election official in a bomb attack on Sunday as a general election was being held around the country. Police said the violence was not related to the election that has divided Thailand, with anti-government protesters and the main opposition Democrat Party opposing the vote. Jatra Promkaew, an election official in Pattani province, was killed along with three soldiers after gunmen fired shots at a security checkpoint and set off three bombs, police said. "Four people died in an attack carried out by a group of around 20 insurgents," Pattani chief of police Phot Suaysuwan told Reuters. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. denies it sought direct negotiations with Syria in Geneva Saturday, Feb 01, 2014 08:10 PM PST  WASHINGTON/BEIRUT (Reuters) - Washington denied claims by Syria's foreign minister on Saturday that American diplomats had sought to negotiate directly with their Syrian counterparts at last week's 'Geneva 2' peace conference in Switzerland. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the United States had offered to connect with Syrian officials "on a staff level" through the United Nations and Joint Special Representative Lakhdar Brahimi. Full Story | Top |
| Corporates cheer as India's oil minister takes charge of green clearances Saturday, Feb 01, 2014 06:26 PM PST  By Frank Jack Daniel and Nidhi Verma NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Veerappa Moily has two seemingly incompatible jobs. As oil minister, he has overseen India's petroleum and natural gas needs. But now he also runs the environment ministry, where he has issued permits for 100 stalled projects in a month-long spree that has delighted industry but shocked green activists. Since taking the additional environment portfolio on December 24, he has given his go-ahead to projects worth some $40 billion, including Posco's $12.6 billion steel plant and forest clearances for India's first major hydropower projects in the wilderness state of Arunachal Pradesh, near a contested border with China. Full Story | Top |
| Factbox - Thailand's election in numbers Saturday, Feb 01, 2014 05:23 PM PST - Thailand started voting on Sunday in an election called by Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra in December in an attempt to defuse protests aimed at overthrowing her. The main opposition Democrat Party is boycotting the election. THE VOTERS - There are 49 million eligible voters for 375 constituencies. - Bangkok, dominated by the Democrat Party in the last election in 2011, has 33 constituencies. Full Story | Top |
| Video shows beheading of man in Syria by al Qaeda rebels Saturday, Feb 01, 2014 04:37 PM PST Rebels in Syria with ties to al Qaeda have decapitated a man believed to have been a pro-government Shi'ite fighter, an amateur video of the public beheading posted to the Internet on Saturday showed. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group which posted the video, said the beheading was conducted by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), a foreign-led group fighting to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad and establish an Islamic emirate in Syria. The Britain-based Observatory, which opposes Assad and has an extensive network of sources across Syria, said the video was taken in the central province of Homs. Hard-line Islamist rebels with links to al Qaeda have come to dominate the largely Sunni Muslim insurgency against Assad, who is supported by members of his minority Alawite sect - an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam - as well as Shi'ite fighters from Iraq and Lebanon's Hezbollah. Full Story | Top |
| Kerry downplays key U.S. senator's opposition on trade talks Saturday, Feb 01, 2014 03:05 PM PST  By Will Dunham WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Secretary of State John Kerry said on Saturday Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's opposition to President Barack Obama's push for authority to fast-track trade deals should not stand in the way of U.S. congressional passage of the measure. Reid, a Democrat, is the senior member of Obama's party in Congress. In his State of the Union address on Tuesday, Obama asked for fast-track trade negotiation authority. Legislation before the House of Representatives and Senate would grant the White House power to submit free trade deals to Congress for an up-or-down vote, without amendments. Full Story | Top |
| Jordanian Islamist prisoners stage hunger strike Saturday, Feb 01, 2014 02:37 PM PST By Suleiman Al-Khalidi AMMAN (Reuters) - Islamist prisoners in Jordan, including several prominent figures linked to al Qaeda, began a hunger strike on Saturday to protest about jail conditions, sources and officials said. Among the 120 hunger strikers are radical cleric Abu Qatada, who was deported from Britain last July after a lengthy legal battle, and Sheikh Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi, a leading al Qaeda thinker, the sources said. "They have totally rejected the meals and food provided by the state until their demands for better treatment are met," Sheikh Saad Huneity, a Jordanian Salafi jihadist leader who has previously spent years in detention, told Reuters. Jordan has stepped up arrests of Islamists along its border with Syria in recent months, detaining scores of people trying to cross over to join jihadist groups fighting to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad. Full Story | Top |
| Suicide bomber kills three in Lebanese Hezbollah stronghold Saturday, Feb 01, 2014 02:03 PM PST  By Stephen Kalin BEIRUT (Reuters) - A suicide car bomber killed three people at a petrol station in a stronghold of the Shi'ite militant Hezbollah movement on Lebanon's northern border on Saturday, the latest sign that Syria's civil war is spilling over into its small neighbor. The blast occurred in the town of Hermel at the northern end of the Bekaa Valley, an area populated mainly by Shi'ite Muslims among whom Hezbollah draws its support. Lebanon's National News Agency (NNA) cited witnesses who said the perpetrator entered the petrol station and asked to buy fuel before detonating the bomb, leaving a meter-deep hole in the ground and setting the station and nearby cars on fire. Images broadcast on Hezbollah's Al Manar television showed fire raging beside a severely damaged petrol station as well as emergency vehicles and security forces at the scene. Full Story | Top |
| Political paralysis looms as Thais go to polls Saturday, Feb 01, 2014 01:48 PM PST  By Martin Petty BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thai voters go to the polls under heavy security on Sunday in an election that could push the divided country deeper into political turmoil and leave the winner paralyzed for months by street protests, legal challenges and legislative limbo. The risk of bloodshed at the ballot remains high, a day after seven people were wounded by gunshots and explosions during a standoff between supporters and opponents of embattled Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra in a north Bangkok stronghold of her Puea Thai Party. The usual campaign billboards, glossy posters and pre-election buzz have been notably absent this time, as will be millions of voters fearful of poll violence or bent on rejecting a ballot bound to re-elect the political juggernaut controlled by Yingluck's billionaire brother, Thaksin Shinawatra. Thaksin, 64, is loved and loathed in Thailand, but his parties have won every poll since 2001. Full Story | Top |
| West presses Ukraine, offers treatment to injured activist Saturday, Feb 01, 2014 01:06 PM PST  By Alastair Macdonald KIEV (Reuters) - Western governments pressed Ukraine's president to compromise with protesters camped on the streets, prompting a war of words with Russia on Saturday and offering treatment to an opposition activist who says he was tortured. At an annual security conference in Munich, founded at the height of the Cold War, Ukrainian opposition leaders met U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and European officials and the Russian foreign minister accused Western powers of fomenting protests against President Viktor Yanukovich. Sergei Lavrov said the West had "imposed" on Ukraine to cooperate with its NATO defense alliance, while Kerry said the Ukrainian protesters believed "their futures do not have to lie with one country alone - and certainly not coerced". Opposition leaders said they felt "huge support" after European Council President Herman Van Rompuy said closer ties to the EU were still on offer to Kiev and Kerry assured them that Washington and the EU "stand with the people of Ukraine" in "the fight for a democratic, European future". Full Story | Top |
| Ukrainian opposition buoyed by wave of Western support Saturday, Feb 01, 2014 01:06 PM PST  By Stephen Brown and Alexandra Hudson MUNICH (Reuters) - The opposing sides of Ukraine's political crisis put their cases to world powers on Saturday, with the opposition buoyed by pledges of support from the West while Ukraine's foreign minister accused Europe of forcing Kiev into a strategic choice. Meanwhile the United States and Europe, which held private meetings with the opposition, exchanged angry words with Russia, accusing it of exactly the same thing - strong-arming Kiev into an unpopular alliance. "Nowhere is the fight for a democratic, European future more important today than in Ukraine," U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said. Boxer-turned-opposition-leader Vitaly Klitschko told reporters at the annual security meeting in Munich: "I leave the conference stronger because I feel huge support from friends of Ukraine. Full Story | Top |
| Hundreds evacuated from besieged district of Syrian capital Saturday, Feb 01, 2014 12:44 PM PST  Aid agencies in Syria have evacuated hundreds of people from the rebel-held Damascus suburb of Yarmouk, a government-aligned Palestinian group said on Saturday, in a rare moment of coordination between the government and rebel forces. Granting relief groups access to an estimated 250,000 people trapped by fighting across Syria was one of the goals of the peace talks held last week in Switzerland, which adjourned on Friday with no substantial results. Anwar Raja, a spokesman for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC), which operates in Yarmouk, said the group had coordinated with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent on Friday and Saturday to extract "hundreds" of the suburb's residents. The evacuees were transported to several government-run hospitals and one operated by the Red Crescent, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group. Full Story | Top |
| Israel's finance minister halts funds to West Bank settlements Saturday, Feb 01, 2014 12:33 PM PST  Israel's finance minister halted the transfer of government funds to West Bank Jewish settlements on Saturday and ordered a probe into allegations that money meant to support municipalities had been funneled to a pro-settler political group. The money in question had been earmarked to cover security and building maintenance fees that were incurred when Israel froze settlement building for 10 months during 2009 and 2010, the Finance Ministry said in a statement. Finance Minister Yair Lapid, who heads a centrist party in the ruling coalition, ordered payments to be "stopped immediately" until the issue was cleared up, the statement said. Israel's YNet news website reported that, over the past four years, the government had transferred 148 million shekels ($42 million) to the municipalities to help compensate them for income lost as a result of the 10-month freeze, declared under U.S. pressure to help restart peace talks. Full Story | Top |
| Iraqi army prepares to storm militant-held Falluja Saturday, Feb 01, 2014 12:24 PM PST  By Suadad al-Salhy BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi security forces are preparing to storm Falluja and break a month-long standoff with militants who are in control of the city, senior security officials and troops told Reuters on Saturday. Anti-government fighters, among them insurgents linked with al Qaeda, overran two cities in the Sunni-dominated western province of Anbar on January 1. At least 12 people were killed in bombings across Iraq on Saturday, mostly in the capital Baghdad, just 70 km (40 miles) away from Falluja, a city currently surrounded by the army. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki had held off an all out assault on the city to give local tribesmen a chance to expel the militants themselves, but security officials told Reuters a decision had been made to enter Falluja by 6 p.m. (1500 GMT) on Sunday. Full Story | Top |
| NATO chief doesn't see Karzai signing security pact Saturday, Feb 01, 2014 11:07 AM PST  By Adrian Croft MUNICH (Reuters) - President Hamid Karzai is unlikely to sign a pact for U.S. and NATO forces to stay in Afghanistan after 2014 and will probably leave the choice for his successor, NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on Saturday. But Karzai has said he will not sign the agreement unless certain conditions are met. The delay has frustrated the United States and its allies, who want to plan the post-2014 training and advisory mission. Both the United States and NATO have said they may be forced to pull their forces out of Afghanistan entirely at the end of this year unless the agreement is signed soon. Full Story | Top |
| Grief-stricken Quebec town mourns victims of retirement home blaze Saturday, Feb 01, 2014 11:03 AM PST  By Louise Egan L'ISLE-VERTE, Quebec (Reuters) - About 900 mourners in the small grief-stricken Quebec town of L'Isle-Verte attended a public mass on Saturday for the 32 people feared dead from a fire that ripped through a wooden retirement home. Somber-faced friends and relatives sat in the town's large 19th-century Roman Catholic church to hear prayers and tributes to victims of the January 23 blaze, one of the worst disasters to hit a Canadian residence for the elderly. Among those attending the nationally televised ceremony were Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Quebec Premier Pauline Marois. Governor-General David Johnston came as the personal representative of Britain's Queen Elizabeth, Canada's head of state. Full Story | Top |
| Diver dies during Costa Concordia salvage works Saturday, Feb 01, 2014 10:44 AM PST  A Spanish diver died on Saturday during work to salvage the Costa Concordia cruise liner, which capsized off the Italian island of Giglio two years ago, the company in charge of the salvage work said. The diver worked for the Spanish company UCS (Underwater Contractors Spain) and was involved in an underwater operation when the incident occurred, an official at Titan Micoperi said. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. to propose new U.N. rights resolution against Sri Lanka Saturday, Feb 01, 2014 10:11 AM PST By Shihar Aneez COLOMBO (Reuters) - The United States will table a U.N. human rights resolution against Sri Lanka, a State Department official said on Saturday, putting new pressure on Colombo to address war crimes allegations. The United Nations has already called on Sri Lanka to punish military personnel responsible for atrocities in the civil war that the government won in 2009, and Washington says the human rights climate on the island is worsening. "Lack of progress in Sri Lanka has led to great deal of frustration and skepticism in my government and in the international community," Assistant Secretary of State Nisha Biswal told reporters in Colombo after a two-day visit. We heard from many people about people who are still unaccounted for, whose whereabouts and fates are unknown to their family members." Biswal declined to say what would be in the resolution to be tabled at the March session of the U.N. Human Rights Council, but U.S. Embassy officials have said it may call for an international investigation in Sri Lanka. Full Story | Top |
| Who is that masked man? Kiev's Pianist-Extremist Saturday, Feb 01, 2014 09:22 AM PST By Jack Stubbs KIEV (Reuters) - Masked men in combat gear have become a feature of the anti-government protest camp that has taken over central Kiev, but one stands out for his weapon of choice - the piano. For the Pianist-Extremist, whose impromptu performances on the frozen street outside City Hall have delighted fellow demonstrators, the paramilitary costume, like his stage name, is an ironic barb aimed at Ukrainian authorities who condemn those demanding closer ties with Europe as dangerous militants. With the protests now in their third month since President Viktor Yanukovich spurned an EU trade deal in favour of a deal with Ukraine's old master Moscow, his music makes a pleasant change to the banging of oil drums that has been the soundtrack of the movement around the square known as Maidan. "The music helps people and strengthens their morale," the anonymous virtuoso said as he picked out a piece by contemporary Italian composer Ludovico Einaudi on a battered old upright painted in the national colours of blue and yellow. Full Story | Top |
| Egypt court adjourns Mursi trial over protester deaths Saturday, Feb 01, 2014 09:15 AM PST  A Cairo court on Saturday adjourned the trial which sees Egypt's ousted President Mohamed Mursi accused of inciting the killing of protesters, while dozens of supporters of his Muslim Brotherhood were jailed for other crimes. Mursi, who was deposed by the army in July following mass protests against him, remained largely silent in the hearing, which has been adjourned until Tuesday. Four separate sets of charges have been brought against Mursi since he was ousted, at least one of which can carry the death penalty. Several of the 14 other defendants in Saturday's session, sitting in glass cages like Mursi, turned their back on the judge, a Reuters witness said. Full Story | Top |
| Cargo ship sinks off Yemen killing 12 Indian crew Saturday, Feb 01, 2014 08:55 AM PST A cargo ship sank off the coast of Yemen killing all 12 crew, the Interior Ministry said on Saturday. The ship, which was carrying car tyres and car parts, ran aground on Thursday night but the incident did not come to the attention of Yemeni security until 10 hours later, its statement said. The ship was owned by a Yemeni and was on its way from the United Arab Emirates to Al Mukalla port in Yemen. It sank off the coast of Al Shehar town in Yemen's southeastern Hadramout province, the ministry said. Full Story | Top |
| Iran's top clergy back Rouhani's nuclear approach Saturday, Feb 01, 2014 08:52 AM PST  President Hassan Rouhani has secured the backing of senior conservative clerics against hardliners opposed to a nuclear deal reached with major powers, Iran's official news agency IRNA said on Saturday. His first vice president, Eshaq Jahangiri, visited clerics in the Shi'ite Muslim holy city of Qom to explain the deal and seek their blessing over "complex foreign policy issues" ahead of talks next month on a long-term accord, IRNA said. An interim deal between Iran and the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council plus Germany was reached in November in Geneva, aimed at persuading Iran to curb parts of its nuclear work, in return for a limited easing of sanctions. Full Story | Top |
| Injured Ukrainian activist can be treated in EU, Germany says Saturday, Feb 01, 2014 08:50 AM PST A Ukrainian anti-government activist held captive for a week and severely beaten has been given permission to travel to the European Union for medical treatment, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said on Saturday. "It is my information that he can leave the country tomorrow if he wants to," said Steinmeier, adding his Ukrainian counterpart Leonid Kozhara had informed him of this in a phone call. He said Dimitri Bulatov could receive treatment in Germany if he wished. Full Story | Top |
| Thousands march in Madrid against planned abortion limits Saturday, Feb 01, 2014 07:57 AM PST  By Inmaculada Sanz MADRID (Reuters) - Thousands of people marched in Spain's capital on Saturday to protest against a government plan to limit abortions that has caused unusually open divisions in the ruling conservative People's Party. Protesters from around the country joined the biggest demonstration so far against a draft bill to restrict abortion to cases of rape or severe danger to the mother's health. Four years ago, Spain came in line with most of the rest of Europe when the then Socialist government legalised abortion on demand in the first 14 weeks of pregnancy. Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's cabinet approved the draft bill on abortion in December - in a move widely seen as an attempt to appease his party's disgruntled right wing - but it has not been submitted yet to parliament for debate. Full Story | Top |
| Power producer says may cut supplies to India's capital Saturday, Feb 01, 2014 07:26 AM PST India's top power producer NTPC Ltd said on Saturday it might cut supplies to a company that distributes electricity to parts of New Delhi, something that could plunge the heart of India's capital into darkness. State utility NTPC said distribution company BSES Yamuna Power Ltd, which sells electricity in the central and eastern parts of the city of about 16 million people, must clear its dues or else supplies would be cut from February 11. Citing lower tariffs and a shortfall in revenues, BSES Yamuna Power Ltd, an arm of Reliance Infrastructure Ltd, has already expressed its inability to pay state-run power generation companies. The row could result in an outage of up to 10 hours a day, exacerbating problems for Delhi's newly-elected Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, elected on the promise of cutting electricity tariffs for millions of Delhi's voters. Full Story | Top |
| Khartoum stops Red Cross activities in Sudan: ICRC spokesman Saturday, Feb 01, 2014 06:26 AM PST Sudan's government has suspended the activities of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in the country, the organization said on Saturday without giving details of the reasons. The Humanitarian Aid Commission (HAC), a government agency responsible for permitting, coordinating and monitoring the activities of aid organizations, told the ICRC on Wednesday its work would be suspended on February 1, Adel Sherif said. "We have stopped our work across all of Sudan," Sherif, spokesman for the ICRC in the country, told Reuters. The United States imposed sanctions on Sudan in 1997 over alleged human rights violations and support for "international terrorism", then strengthened the penalties in 2006 over Khartoum's festering conflict with rebels in Darfur. Full Story | Top |
| Indonesia volcano kills at least 11, fears over more eruptions Saturday, Feb 01, 2014 06:07 AM PST  Indonesia's Mount Sinabung volcano erupted and killed at least 11 people on the western island of Sumatra on Saturday, the first time it is known to have claimed any lives, a senior government official said. No evacuations could be made at this stage because of the potential for more eruptions," Andi Arief, a presidential staff member, told Reuters. Sinabung is one of nearly 130 active volcanoes in the world's most populous country, which stands along the "Ring of Fire" volcanic belt around the shores of the Pacific Ocean. Indonesia's most deadly volcanic eruption in recent years was of Mount Merapi, near the densely populated city of Yogyakarta in central Java. Full Story | Top |
| Split over presidential candidate may push Macedonia to early election Saturday, Feb 01, 2014 05:37 AM PST Macedonia called a presidential election for April 13 on Saturday but the ruling coalition's failure to agree on a joint candidate might push the Balkan country to call an early parliamentary vote in the same month. The ethnic Albanian Democratic Union for Integration (DUI), a junior partner in the ruling coalition, has demanded their Macedonian allies nominate a "consensual candidate" for president, who would be acceptable for both communities. Ethnic Albanians represent a third of Macedonia's 2 million population and relations with Macedonians, who are ethnic Slavs, have been tense since 2001, when an ethnic conflict almost plunged the country into civil war. The current president, Gjorge Ivanov, is from the Macedonian conservative VMRO-DPMNE party, which leads the government. Full Story | Top |
| Egyptian PM says reshuffle to include Sisi's defense minister: report Saturday, Feb 01, 2014 04:17 AM PST  Prime Minister Hazem el-Beblawi has said a cabinet reshuffle will include the defence ministry, an Egyptian newspaper said on Saturday, in the clearest sign yet that Field Marshal Abdel Fattah al-Sisi plans to stand for president. Army chief Sisi, now defence minister in Egypt's interim government, deposed Islamist President Mohamed Mursi in July after mass protests against his rule and is widely expected to announce his candidacy within days and win an election easily. The reshuffle will not be announced before a visit by Beblawi to Saudi Arabia, a major financial supporter of Egypt's interim government, on Tuesday and Wednesday, the privately-owned Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper quoted him as saying. Full Story | Top |
| Nigeria says frees three Indians kidnapped off E.Guinea Saturday, Feb 01, 2014 03:54 AM PST Nigerian police have rescued three Indian sailors who were kidnapped from a cargo ship off the coast of Equatorial Guinea last month, a rare success story in its fight against piracy. The Equatorial Guinea-owned MV San Miguel was attacked by pirates on January 3 and three Indian crew members were kidnapped, the Nigerian state security services (SSS) said on Saturday. Most acts of piracy in West Africa are carried out by Nigerian gangs who usually steal the cargo, often fuel, and rob or kidnap crew members. Full Story | Top |
| Yemen's main oil pipeline bombed, crude flow stops: sources Saturday, Feb 01, 2014 03:39 AM PST Armed tribesmen bombed Yemen's main oil pipeline on Saturday, halting crude flow to the country's main export terminal less than a month after it was repaired, oil and local officials said. The attack occurred in the Serwah district in the central oil-producing province of Maarib, they said, and caused a huge fire that prompted the closure of the pipeline and stopped oil flow from the Maarib fields to the Ras Isa oil terminal on the Red Sea. Yemen, which relies on crude exports to finance up to 70 percent of its budget, has suffered frequent bombings of its main pipeline in recent years. Such lawlessness is a global concern, particularly for the United States and its Gulf Arab allies, because of Yemen's strategic position next to oil exporter Saudi Arabia and to main shipping lanes. Full Story | Top |
| Kerry hopeful, says U.S. bid for Mideast peace not 'quixotic' Saturday, Feb 01, 2014 03:26 AM PST  U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Saturday that he remains hopeful that the Obama administration's effort to broker a peace deal between Israelis and Palestinians can succeed. The United States hopes to complete a "framework" accord in coming weeks and will then try to negotiate a final peace deal by the end of 2014, a U.S. official said this week, according to a participant in a briefing with American Jewish leaders. "I don't think we're being quixotic ... We're working hard because the consequences of failure are unacceptable." U.S. envoy Martin Indyk said the framework would address core issues in the conflict, including borders, security, refugees and Jewish settlements, a participant in the briefing said. Full Story | Top |
| Sinai-based militants claim rocket attack on Israel Saturday, Feb 01, 2014 02:56 AM PST CAIRO (Reuters) - A Sinai-based militant group inspired by al Qaeda, Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, claimed responsibility on Saturday for a failed rocket attack on Israel's Red Sea resort city Eilat a day earlier. Israel's Iron Dome missile defence system on Friday shot down a rocket fired in the direction of Eilat, an occasional target of militants in Egypt's lawless Sinai peninsula. "Jews, know that nothing will stop us fighting you," Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis said in a statement published on the Internet. ... Full Story | Top |
| Gunfire, explosions near protest wound three in Bangkok Saturday, Feb 01, 2014 02:31 AM PST Three people were wounded by explosions and gunshots close to a standoff between supporters and opponents of Thailand's government on Saturday, a Reuters witness said, ahead of an election some anti-government elements are seeking to derail. One person was seen wounded by gunshot and two were injured by explosions when two blasts and dozens of rounds of gunfire were heard in northern Bangkok, according to a Reuters journalist, who saw some demonstrators carrying handguns. It was not immediately clear whether the demonstrators or those wounded were the government's supporters or its opponents. The attack took place in Bangkok's Laksi district, close to the Don Muang airport, a stronghold of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra's Puea Thai Party. Full Story | Top |
| Egyptian PM says reshuffle to include Sisi's defence minister: report Saturday, Feb 01, 2014 12:44 AM PST  Prime Minister Hazem el-Beblawi has said a cabinet reshuffle will include the defense ministry, an Egyptian newspaper said on Sunday, in the clearest sign yet that Field Marshal Abdel Fattah al-Sisi plans to stand for president. Army chief Sisi, now defense minister in Egypt's interim government, deposed Islamist President Mohamed Mursi in July after mass protests against his rule and is widely expected to announce his candidacy within days and win an election easily. The reshuffle will not be announced before a visit by Beblawi to Saudi Arabia, a major financial supporter of Egypt's interim government, on Tuesday and Wednesday, the privately-owned Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper quoted him as saying. The reshuffle is to include the defense ministry and the ministry for international cooperation, whose head, Ziad Bahaa El-Din, tendered his resignation last Monday, according to the report. Full Story | Top |
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